Part 4
with. You preferr the Joy of Wickedness to the Joy of God. You are wholly swallowed up in SELF still, and live according to the Law of Sin, and that is what hinders you. You are unwilling to die from the Pleasure of the Flesh, and therefore you are not in the Filiation (Sonship). God draws you to it, but you yourSELF will not yield. 42. O how fine a Thing would Adam think it, if he might be taken into Heaven with this Will of the voluptuous Flesh about him, and have the Child of Wickedness, that is full of Deceit, set upon the Throne of God. Lucifer also would fain have had it so, but he was spewed out. 43. It is a troublesome Thing to mortify the evil Will of SELF; none are willing to do it. We would all gladly be the Children of God, if we might be so with this rough Garment of fallen Nature about us. But that cannot be. This World passes away, and the outward Life must die; what Good can the Adoption in the mortal Body of Flesh and Blood only do me? 44. If we would inherit the Filiation, we must also put on the new Man which alone can inherit it, as being like the Deity. God will have no Sinners in Heaven, but only such as have been born a-new and become Children, and to have put on Heaven. 45. Therefore it is not so easy a Matter to become a Child of God, as Men imagine. Indeed, it is not a troublesome Thing to him that has put on the Filiation, whose Light shines; for it is Joy to such a one. But to turn the Mind and destroy SELF, there is a strong and continued Earnestness requisite, and such a stout and steady Purpose, that if the Body and Soul should part asunder by it, yet the Will would persevere constantly, and not enter again into SELF. 46. A Man must wrestle till the dark Center that is shut up tight, breaks open, and the Spark lying hid therein kindles and from thence the noble Lily-Branch sprouts, as from the divine Grain of MustardSeed as Christ says. A Man must pray earnestly, with great Humility, and for a while become a Fool in his own Reason, and see himself void
of Understanding therein, until Christ be formed in this new Incarnation. 47. And then when Christ is born, Herod is ready to kill the Child, which he seeks to do outwardly by Persecutions, and inwardly by Temptations, to try whether this Lily-Branch will be strong enough to destroy the Kingdom of the Devil, which is manifested in the Flesh. 48. Then this Destroyer of the Serpent is brought into the Wilderness, after he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, and tempted and tried whether or not he will continue in Resignation to the Will of God. In which Temptation he must stand so fast, that if Need require, he would leave all earthly Things, and even the outward Life, to be a Child of God. 49. No temporal Honor must be preferred before Filiation. But he must with his Will leave and forsake it all, and not account it his OWN, but esteem himself as a Servant only in it, who is to obey his Master. He must leave all worldly Propriety. We do not mean that he may not have or possess any Thing; but his Heart must forsake it, and not bring his Will into it, nor count it his OWN. For if he setts his Heart upon it, he has no Power to serve them that stand in Need with it. 50. SELF is but a Slave to its temporal Possessions, but Resignation rules over all that it hath. SELF must do what the Devil will have it do in fleshly Voluptuousness and Pride of Life; but Resignation treadth it all under with the Feet of the Mind. SELF despises that which is lowly and simple; but Resignation sitts down with the lowly in the Dust. It says, I will be simple in myself, and understand nothing, lest my Understanding should exalt itself and sin. I will lie down in the Courts of my God at His Feet, that I may serve my Lord in that which He commands me. I will know nothing of myself, that the Will and Power of my Lord may lead and guide me, and that I may only do what God does through me, and will have done by me. I will sleep in myself until the Lord awaken me with His Spirit; and if He will not, then will I look up to Him in Silence, and wait for His Commands.
51. Beloved Brethren: Men at this Time boast much of Faith; but where is it to be found? The modern Faith is but the History. Where is that Child which believes that Jesus has been born within his own soul? If that Child were in Being, and did believe that Jesus is born, it would also draw near to the sweet Child Jesus, and receive Him and nurse Him. 52. Alas! the Faith of this Day is but historical, a mere Assent to the matter of Fact that Jesus Christ was born, lived and died; that the Jews killed Him; that He left this World, and is not King on Earth in the outward Man; and the Faith of this Day allows that Men may do what they please, and need not die from Sin and their evil Lusts. All this the wicked Child SELF rejoices in, that it may fatten the Devil by living deliciously. 53. This shows plainly that true Faith was never weaker since Christ's Time, than it is now. When nevertheless the World cryes aloud, and says, We have got the true Faith; and contend about a Child, with a Contention which has never been worse since Men have been on Earth. 54. If you are truly Zion, and have that new born Child which was lost and is found again, then let It be seen in Power and Virtue. Let us all openly see the sweet Child Jesus brought forth by you, and that you are His Nurse. If not, then the true Children in Christ will say, you have found nothing but the Cradle of the Child, that is, the History. 55. Where have you the sweet Child Jesus, you that are so exalted with the History, and with your false and seeming Faith? O how will the Child Jesus visit you one Day in the Father's Property, the Property of Anger, in your own Turba which you have fatted! It calls you now in Love, but you will not hear, for thine Ears are stopped with Covetousness and Voluptuousness. Therefore the Sound of the Trumpet shall one Day alarm you with the hard Thunder-clap of your Turba, and rouse you up, if perhaps you will then seek and find the
sweet Child Jesus. 56. Beloved Brethren, this is a Time of Seeking, of Seeking and Finding. It is a Time of Earnestness; whom it touches, it touches Home. He that watches shall hear and see it; but he that sleeps in Sin, and says in the fat Days of his Belly, All is peace and quiet; we hear no Sound from the Lord, shall be blind. But the Voice of the Lord has sounded in all the Ends of the Earth, and a Smoke rises, and in the Midst of the Smoke there is a great Brightness and Splendor. Hallelujah. Amen. Shout unto the Lord in Zion, for all Mountains and Hills are full of His Glory. He flourishes like a green Branch, and who shall hinder It. Hallelujah. by Jacob Behmen (Jakob Boehme) 1575-1624, The Teutonic Theosopher TWO DIALOGUES BETWEEN A DISCIPLE AND HIS MASTER, CONCERNING THE LIFE WHICH IS ABOVE SENSE. SHOWING How the Soul may attain to Divine HEARING and VISION - to a life above sense; and What its Childship in the Natural and Supernatural Life is; and How it passes out of Nature into God, and out of God into
Nature and Self again;also What its Salvation and Perdition are and What is the Partition Wall that separates the Soul from God and How the Breaking down of this Partition is effected; of the two Wills and two Eyes within the Fallen Soul; and What is the shortest WAY to the attainment of the Internal Kingdom of God and Why so few Souls do find It. 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. Dear Reader 1 Corinthians 2.7-15We speak the hidden mystical Wisdom of God, which God ordained before the World unto our Glory; Which none of the Princes of this World knew; For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But, as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor Ear heard, neither has it entered into the Heart of man to conceive the Things which God has prepared for them that Love him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit: For the Spirit searches all Things, yea, the deep Things of God. For what Man knowes the Things of a Man, save the Spirit of a Man which is in him? Even so the Things of God knows no Man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the Spirit of this World, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the Things that are freely given us of God. Which Things also we speak, not in the Words which Man's Wisdom teaches, but
which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing Spiritual Things with Spiritual. But the natural Man receives not the Things of the Spirit of God: For they are Foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned. But he that is Spiritual judges, or discerns all Things. The Disciple said to his Master: Sir, How may I come to the Place that I may SEE with God, and may HEAR God speak - to a Life that is above my Senses and Feelings - to the Supersensual Life? The Master answered and said: Son, when you can throw yourself into THAT, where no Creature dwells, though it be but for a Moment, then you HEAR what God speaks. Disciple: Is that Place where no Creature dwells near at Hand; or is it afar off? Master: It is IN THEE. And if you can, my Son, for a while but cease from all your OWN Thinking and Willing, then you shall hear the unspeakable Words of God. Disciple: How is it that I can hear Him speak, when I stand still from Thinking and Willing? Master: When you stand still from the Thinking of SELF, and the Willing of SELF; when both your Intellect and Will are quiet and passive to the Impressions of the Eternal Word and Spirit; when your Soul is winged up, and above that which is temporal with the outward Senses and the Imagination being locked up by Holy Abstraction; then the Eternal
Hearing, Seeing, and Speaking will be revealed IN THEE; and so God hears and sees through you, being now the Organ of His Spirit; and so God speaks in you, and whispers to your Spirit, and your Spirit hears his Voice. Blessed are you therefore if that you can stand still from SELF-Thinking and SELF-Willing, and can stop the Wheel of your Imagination and Senses; for it is hereby that you may arrive at Length to see the great Salvation of God, being made capable of all Manner of Divine Sensations and Heavenly Communications. Since it is nought indeed but thine OWN Hearing and Willing that do hinder you, so that you dost not see and hear God. Disciple: But wherewith shall I hear and see God, for as much as He is above Nature and Creature? Master: Son, when you are quiet and silent, then are you as God was before Nature and Creature; you are that which God then was; you are that whereof He made your Nature and Creature: Then you hear and see even with that wherewith God Himself saw and heard in you, before ever thine OWN Willing or thine OWN Seeing began. Disciple: What now hinders or keeps me back, so that I cannot come to that, wherewith God is to be seen and heard? Master: Nothing truly but thine OWN Willing, Hearing, and Seeing do keep you back from it, and do hinder you from coming to this Supersensual State or the Life which is above Sense. And it is because you strive so against that, out of which you yourself are descended and derived, that you thus breakest yourself off, with thine OWN Willing, from
God's Willing, and with thine OWN Seeing from God's Seeing. In as much as in thine OWN Seeing you dost see in thine OWN Willing only, and with thine OWN Understanding you dost understand but in and according to this thine OWN Willing, as the same stands divided from the Divine Will. This your Willing moreover stops your Hearing, and makes you deaf towards God, through your OWN Thinking upon terrestrial Things, and your Attending to that which is without you; and so it brings you into a Ground, where you are laid hold on and captivated in Nature. And having brought you hither, it overshadows you with that which you willest; it binds you with thine own Chains, and it keeps you in thine own dark Prison which you make for yourself; so that you can not go out thence, or come to that State which is above Nature and above Sense. Disciple: But being I am in Nature, and thus bound, as with my own Chains, and by my own natural Will; pray be so kind, Sir, as to tell me, how I may come through Nature into the Supersensual and Supernatural Ground, without the destroying of Nature? Master: Three Things are requisite in order to do this. The First is, You must resign up your Will to God; and must sink your SELF down to the Dust in His Mercy. The Second is, You must hate your OWN Will, and forbear from doing that to which your own Will does drive you. The Third is, You must bow your Soul under the Cross, heartily submitting yourSELF to It, that you may be able to bear the Temptations of Nature and Creature. And if you do thus, know that God will speak into you, and will bring your resigned Will in to Himself, in the supernatural Ground; and then you shall hear, my Son, what the Lord speaks in you. Disciple:
This is a hard Saying, Master; for I must forsake the World, and my Life too, if I should do thus. Master: Be not discouraged hereat. If you forsake the World, then you come into that out of which the World is made; and if you lose your Life, then your Life is in that, for whose Sake you forsake it. Your Life is in God, from whence it came into the Body; and as you come to have thine OWN Power faint and weak and dying, the Power of God will then work in you and through you. Disciple: Nevertheless as God has created Man in and for the natural Life, to rule over all Creatures on Earth, and to be a Lord over all Things in this World, it seems not to be at all unreasonable, that Man should therefore possess this World, and the Things therein for his own. Master: If you rule over all Creatures but outwardly, there cannot be much in that. But if you have a Mind to possess all Things, and to be a Lord indeed over all Things in this World, there is quite another Method to be taken by you. Disciple: Pray, how is that? And what Method must I take, whereby to arrive at this Sovereignty? Master: You must learn to distinguish well betwixt the Thing, and that which only is an Image thereof; betwixt that Sovereignty which is substantial, and in the inward Ground or Nature, and that which is
imaginary, and in an outward Form, or Semblance; betwixt that which is properly Angelical, and that which is no more than bestial. If you rule now over the Creatures externally only, and not from the right internal Ground of your renewed Nature; then your Will and Ruling is verily in a bestial Kind or Manner, and thine at best is but a Sort of imaginary and transitory Government, being void of that which is substantial and permanent, the which only you are to desire and press after. Thus by your outwardly Lording it over the Creatures, it is most easy for you to lose the Substance and the Reality, while you have nought remaining but the Image or Shadow only of your first and original Lordship; wherein you are made capable to be again invested, if you would be but wise, and take your Investiture from the Supreme Lord in the right Course and Manner. Whereas by your willing and ruling thus after a bestial Manner, you bring also your Desire into a bestial Essence, by which Means you become infected and captivated therein, and gett therewith a bestial Nature and Condition of Life. But if you shall have put off the bestial and ferine Nature, and if you have left the imaginary Life, and quitted the low imaged Condition of it; then are you come into the Super-Imaginariness, and into the intellectual Life, which is a State of living above Images, Figures and Shadows. And so you rule over all Creatures, being reunited with thine Original, in that very Ground or Source, out of which they were and are created; and henceforth Nothing on Earth can hurt you. For you are like all Things and Nothing is unlike you. Disciple: O loving Master, pray teach me how I may come the shortest Way to be like unto All Things. Master: With all my Heart. Do but think on the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He said, "Except ye be converted, and become as little Children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." There is no shorter Way than this; neither can there be a better Way found. Verily, Jesus
says unto you, Unless you turn and become as a Child, hanging upon Him for All Things, you shall not see the Kingdom of God. This do, and Nothing shall hurt you; for you shall be at Friendship with all the Things that are, as you depend on the Author and Fountain of them, and become like Him, by such Dependence, and by the Union of your Will with His Will. But mark what I have further to say; and be not you startled at it, though it may seem hard for you at first to conceive. If you will be like All Things, you must forsake All Things; you must turn your Desire away from them All, and not desire or hanker after any of them; you must not extend your Will to possess that for your own, or as thine own, which is Something, whatsoever that Something be. For as soon as ever you take Something into your Desire, and receive it into you for thine OWN, or in Propriety, then this very Something (of what Nature soever it is) is the same with yourself; and this works with you in your Will, and you are thence bound to protect it, and to take Care of it even as of your own Being. But if you dost receive no Thing into your Desire, then you are free from All Things, and rule over all Things at once, as a Prince of God. For you have received Nothing for thine own, and are Nothing to all Things; and all Things are as Nothing to you. You are as a Child, which understands not what a Thing is, and though you dost perhaps understand it, yet you understand it without mixing with it, and without its sensibly affecting or touching your Perception, even in that Manner wherein God does rule and see all Things; He comprehending All, and yet Nothing comprehending Him. Disciple: Ah! How shall I arrive at this Heavenly Understanding, at this Sight of All Things in God, at this pure and naked Knowledge which is abstracted from the Senses; at this Light above Nature and Creature; and at this Participation of the Divine Wisdom which oversees all Things, and governs through all intellectual Beings? For, alas, I am touched every Moment by the Things which are about me; and overshadowed by the Clouds and Fumes which rise up out of the Earth. I desire therefore to be taught, if possible, how I may attain
such a State and Conditions as no Creature may be able to touch me to hurt me; and how my Mind, being purged from sensible Objects and Things, may be prepared for the Entrance and Habitation of the Divine Wisdom in me? Master: You desire that I would teach you how you are to attain it; and I will direct you to our Master, from Whom I have been taught it, that you may learn it yourself from Him, Who alone teaches the Heart. Hear you Him. Would you arrive at this; would you remain untouched by Sensibles; would you behold Light in the very Light of God, and see all Things thereby; then consider the Words of Christ, Who is that Light; and Who is the Truth. O consider now His Words, Who said, "Without Me ye can do nothing" and defer not to apply yourself unto Him, Who is the Strength of your Salvation, and the Power of your Life; and with Whom you can do all Things, by the Faith which He works in you. But unless you wholly give yourSELF up to the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and resign your Will wholly to Him, and desire Nothing and will Nothing without Him, you shall never come to such a Rest as no Creature can disturb. Think what you pleasest, and be never so much delighted in the Activity of thine OWN Reason, you shall find that in thine OWN Power, and without such a total Surrender to God, and to the Life of God, you can never arrive at such a Rest as this, or the true Quiet of the Soul, wherein no Creature can molest you, or so much as touch you. Which when you shall, by Grace, have attained to, then with your Body you are in the World, as in the Properties of outward Nature; and with your Reason, under the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; but with your Will you walk in Heaven, and are at the End from whence all Creatures are proceeded forth, and to which they return again. And then you can in this END, which is the same with the BEGINNING, behold all Things outwardly with Reason, and inwardly with the Mind; and so may you rule in all Things and over all Things, with Christ; unto Whom all Power is given both in Heaven and on Earth.
Disciple: O Master, the Creatures which live in me do withhold me, that I cannot so wholly yield and give up mySELF as I willingly would. What am I to do in this Case? Master: Let not this trouble you. Doth your Will go forth from the Creatures? Then the Creatures are forsaken in you. They are in the World, and your Body, which is in the World, is with the Creatures. But spiritually you walk with God, and converse in Heaven, being in your Mind redeemed from Earth, and separated from Creatures, to live the Life of God. And if your Will thus leaves the Creatures, and goes forth from them, even as the Spirit goes forth from the Body at Death; then are the Creatures dead in it, and do live only in the Body in the World. Since if your Will does not bring itself into them, they cannot bring themselves into it, neither can they by any Means touch the Soul. And hence St. Paul says,"Our Conversation is in Heaven"; and also, "You are the Temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you." So then True Christians are the very Temples of the Holy Ghost, Who dwells in them; that is, the Holy Ghost dwells in the Will, and the Creatures dwells in the Body. Disciple: If now the Holy Spirit does dwell in the Will of the Mind, how ought I to keep myself so that He depart not from me again? Master: Mark, my Son, the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ; "If ye abide in My Words, then My Words abide in you." If you abides with your Will, in the Words of Christ; then His Word and Spirit abides in you, and all shall be done for you that you can ask of Him. But if your Will goes into the Creature, then you have broken off thereby yourself from Him.
And then you can not any otherwise keep yourself but by abiding continually in the most resigned Humility, and by entering into a constant Course of Penitence, wherein you will be always grieved at thine own Creatureliness and that Creatures do still live in you, that is, in your bodily Appetites. If you do thus, you stand in a daily dying from the Creatures, and in a daily ascending into Heaven in your Will; which Will is also the Will of your Heavenly Father. Disciple: O my loving Master, pray teach me how I may come to such a constant Course of holy Penitence, and to such a daily Dying from all creaturely Objects; for how can I abide continually in Repentance? Master: When you leave that which loves you, and love that which hates you; then you may abide continually in Repentance. Disciple: What is it that I must thus leave? Master: All Things that love and entertain you, because your Will loves and entertains them; all Things that please and feed you, because your Will feeds and cherishes them; all Creatures in Flesh and Blood; in a Word, all Visibles and Sensibles, by which either the Imagination or sensitive Appetite in Men are delighted and refreshed. These the Will of your Mind, or your supreme Part must leave and forsake; and must even account them all its Enemies. This is the Leaving of what loves you. And the Loving of what hates you, is the Embracing of the Reproach of the World. You must learn then to love the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for His Sake to be pleased with the Reproach of the World which hates and derides you; and let this be your daily
Exercise of Penitence - to be crucified to the World, and the World to you. And so you shall have continual Cause to hate yourSELF in the Creature, and to seek the Eternal Rest which is in Christ. To which Rest you having thus attained, your Will may therein safely rest and repose itself, according as your Lord Christ has said: "In Me ye may have Rest, but in the World ye shall have Anxiety; In Me ye may have Peace, but in the World ye shall have Tribulation." Disciple: How shall I now be able to subsist in this Anxiety and Tribulation arising from the World, so as not to lose the Eternal Peace, or not enter into this Rest? And how may I recover myself in such a Temptation as this is, by not sinking under the World, but rising above it by a Life that is truly Heavenly or Supersensual? Master: If you dost once every Hour throw yourself by Faith beyond all Creatures, beyond and above all sensual Perception and Apprehension, yea, above Discourse and Reasoning into the abyssal Mercy of God, into the Sufferings of our Lord, and into the Fellowship of His Interceding, and yieldes yourSELF fully and absolutely thereinto; then you shall receive Power from above to rule over Death and the Devil, and so subdue Hell and the World under you: And then you may subsist in all Temptations, and be the brighter for them. Disciple: Blessed is the Man that arrives to such a State as this. But alas! Poor Man that I am, how is this possible as to me? And what, O my Master, would become of me, if I should ever attain with my Mind to that, where no Creature is? Must I not cry out, I am undone! Master:
Son why are you so dispirited? Be of good Heart still; for you may certainly yet attain to it. Do but believe, and all Things are made possible to you. If it were that your Will, O you of little Courage, could break off itself for one Hour, or even but for one half Hour, from all Creatures, and plunge itself into That where no Creature is, or can be; presently it would be penetrated and clothed upon with the supreme Splendor of the Divine Glory, would taste in itself the most sweet Love of Jesus, the Sweetness whereof no Tongue can express, and would find in itself the unspeakable Words of our Lord concerning His great Mercy. Your Spirit would then feel in itself the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ to be very pleasing to it; and would thereupon love the Cross more than the Honors and Goods of the World. Disciple: This for the Soul would be exceeding well indeed: But what would then become of the Body seeing that it must of Necessity live in the Creature? Master: The Body would by this Means be put into the Imitation of our Lord Christ, and of His Body: It would stand in the Communion of that most blessed Body, which was the true Temple of the Deity; and in the Participation of all its gracious Effects, Virtues and Influences. It would live in the Creature not of Choice, but only as it is made subject unto Vanity, and in the World, as it is placed therein by the Ordination of the Creator, for its Cultivation and the higher Advancement; and as groaning to be delivered out of it in God's Time and Manner, for its Perfection and Resuscitation in Eternal Liberty and Glory, like unto the Glorified Body of our Lord and His risen Saints. Disciple: But the Body being in its present Constitution, so made subject to Vanity, and living in a vain Image and creaturely Shadow, according to
the Life of the undergraduated Creatures or Brutes, whose Breath goes downwards to the Earth; I am still very much afraid thereof, lest it should continue to depress the Mind which is lifted up to God, by hanging as dead Weight thereto; and go on to amuse and perplex the Same, as formerly, with Dreams and Trifles, by letting in the Objects from without, in order to draw me down into the World and the Hurry thereof; where I would fain maintain my Conversation in Heaven, even while I am living in the World. What therefore must I do with this Body, that I may be able to keep up so desirable a Conversation; and not to be under any Subjection to it any longer? Master: There is no other Way for you that I know, but to present the Body whereof you complain (which is the Beast to be sacrificed) "a living Sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God": And this shall be your "rational Service", whereby this your Body will be put, as you desirest, into the Imitation of Jesus Christ, who said, His Kingdom was not of this World. Be not you then "conformed to it, but be transformed by the Renewing of your Mind"; which renewed Mind is to have Dominion over the Body, that so you may prove, both in Body and Mind, what is the perfect Will of God, and accordingly perform the same with and by his Grace operating IN THEE. Whereupon the Body, or the Animal Life would, being thus offered up, begin to die, both from without and from within. From without, that is, from the Vanity and evil Customs and Fashions of the World. It would be an utter Enemy to all the Pomp thereof, and to all the Gaudery, Pageantry, Pride, Ambition, and Haughtiness therein. From within, it would die as to all the Lusts and Appetites of the Flesh, and would get a Mind and Will wholly new, for its Government and Management; being now made subject to the Spirit, which would continually be directed to God, as would all that is subject to your Body. And thus your very Body is become the Temple of God and of His Spirit, in Imitation of your Lord's Body. Disciple:
But the World would hate it, and despise it for so doing; seeing it must hereby contradict the World, and must live and act quite otherwise than the World doth. This is most certain. And how can this then be taken? Master: It would not take that as any Harm done to it, but would rather rejoice that it is become worthy to be like unto the Image of our Lord Jesus Christ, being transformed from that of the World: And it would be most willing to bear that Cross after our Lord; merely that our Lord might bestow upon it the Influence of His sweet and precious Love. Disciple: I do not doubt but in some this may be even so. Nevertheless for my own Part, I am in a Straight betwixt two, not feeling yet enough of that blessed Influence upon me. O how willingly should my Body bear that, could this be safely depended upon by me, according to what is urged! Wherefore pardon me, loving Sir, in this one Thing, if my Impatience does still further demand what would become of it, if the Anger of God from within, and the wicked World also from without, should at once assault it, as the same really happened to our Lord Christ? Master: Be that unto it, even as unto our Lord Christ, when He was reproached, reviled and crucified by the World; and when the Anger of God so fiercely assaulted Him for our Sake. Now what did He do under this most terrible Assault both from without and from within? Why, He commended his Soul into the Hands of his Father, and so departed from the Anguish of this World into the Eternal Joy. Do you likewise; and His Death shall become your Life. Disciple:
Be it unto me as unto the Lord Christ; and unto my Body as unto His; which into His Hands I have commended, and for the Sake of His Name do offer up, according to His revealed Will. Nevertheless I am desirous to know what would become of my Body in its pressing forth from the Anguish of this miserable World into the Power of the Heavenly Kingdom? Master: It would get forth from the Reproach and Contradiction of the World, by a Conformity to the Passion of Jesus Christ; and from the Sorrows and Pains in the Flesh, which are only the Effects of some sensible Impression of Things without, by a quiet Introversion of the Spirit, and secret Communion with the Deity manifesting Itself for that End. It would penetrate into itself; it would sink into the great Love of God; it would be sustained and refreshed by the most sweet name JESUS; and it would see and find within itself a new World springing forth as through the Anger of God, into the Love and Joy Eternal. And then should a Man wrap his Soul in this, even in the great Love of God, and clothe himself Therewith as with a Garment; and should account thence all Things alike; because in the Creature he finds NoThing that can give him, without God, the least Satisfaction; and because also Nothing of Harm can touch him more, while he remains in this Love, which indeed is stronger that all Things, and makes a Man hence invulnerable both from within and without, by taking out the Sting and Poison of the Creatures, and destroying the Power of Death. And whether the Body be in Hell or on Earth, all is alike to him; for whether it be there or here, his Mind is still in the greatest Love of God; which is no less than to say, that he is in Heaven. Disciple: But how would a Man's Body be maintained in the World; or how would he be able to maintain those that are his, if he should by such a Conversation incur the Displeasure of all the World?
Master: Such a Man gets greater Favors than the World is able to bestow upon him. He has God for his Friend; he has all His Angels for his Friends: In all Dangers and Necessities these protect and relieve him; so that he need fear no Manner of Evil; no Creature can hurt him. God is his Helper; and that is sufficient. Also God is his Blessing in every Thing; and though sometimes it may seem as if God would not bless him, yet is this but for a Trial to him, and for the Attraction of the Divine Love; to the End he may more fervently pray to God, and commit all his Ways unto Him. Disciple: He loses however by this all his good Friends; and there will be none to help him in his Necessity. Master: Nay, but he gets the Hearts of all his true Friends into his Possession, and loses none but his Enemies, who before loved his Vanity and Wickedness. Disciple: How it is that he can get his true Friends into his Possession? Master: He gets the very Hearts and Souls of all those that belong to our Lord Jesus to be his Brethren, and the Members of his own very Life. For all the Children of God are but One in Christ, which One is Christ in All; and therefore he gets them all to be his Fellow Members in the Body of Christ, whence they have all the same Heavenly Goods in common; and all live in one and the same Love of God, as the Branches of a Tree
in one and the same Root, and spring all from one and the same Source of Life in them. So that he can have no Want of spiritual Friends and Relations, who are all rooted with him together in the Love which is from above; who are all of the same Blood and Kindred in Christ Jesus; and who are all nourished by the same quickening Sap and Spirit diffusing Itself through them universally from the one True Vine, which is the Tree of Life and Love. These are Friends worth having; and though Here they may be unknown to him, will abide his Friends beyond Death, to all Eternity. But neither can he want even outward natural Friends, as our Lord Christ when on Earth did not want such also. For though indeed the High-Priests and Potentates of the World could not have a Love for Him because they belonged not to Him, neither stood in any Kind of Relation to Him, since He was not of this World; yet those loved Him who were capable of His Love, and receptive of His Words. So in like Manner, those who love Truth and Righteousness will love that Man, and will associate themselves unto him, yea, though they may perhaps be outwardly at some Distance or seeming Disagreement, from the Situation of their worldly Affairs, or out of some certain Respects; yet in their Hearts they cannot but cleave to him. For though they be not yet actually incorporated into one Body with him, yet they cannot resist being of one Mind with him, and being united in Affection, for the great Regard they bear to the Truth, which shines forth in his Words and in his Life. By which they are made either his declared or his secret Friends; and he does so get their Hearts, as they will be delighted above all Things in his Company, for the Sake thereof, and will court his Friendship, and will come unto him by Stealth, if openly they dare not, for the Benefit of his Conversation and Advice; even as Nicodemus did unto Christ, who came to Him by Night, and in his Heart loved Jesus for the Truth's Sake, though outwardly he feared the World. And thus you shall have many Friends that are not known to you; and some known to you, who may not appear so before the World. Disciple: Nevertheless it is very grievous to be generally despised of the World,
and to be trampled upon by Men as the very Offscouring thereof. Master: That which now seems so hard and heavy to you, you will yet hereafter be most of all in Love with. Disciple: How can it be that I should ever love that which hates me? Master: Though you love the earthly Wisdom now, yet when you shall be clothed upon with the Heavenly Wisdom, then you will see that all the Wisdom of the World is Folly; and will see also that the World hates not so much you, as it does thine Enemy, which is the Mortal Life. And when you yourself shall come to hate the Will thereof, by Means of a habitual Separation of your Mind from the World, then you also will begin to love that despising of the Mortal Life, and the Reproach of the World for Christ's Sake . And so shall you be able to stand under every Temptation, and to hold out to the End by the Means hereof in the Course of Life above the World, and above Sense. In this Course you will hate yourself; and you will also love yourself; I say love yourself, and that even more than ever you didst yet. Disciple: But how can these two subsist together, that a Person should both love and hate himself? Master: In loving yourself, you love not yourSELF as thine OWN; but as given you from the Love of God you love the Divine Ground in you; by which and in which you love the Divine Wisdom, the Divine Goodness, the
Divine Beauty; you love also by it God's Works of Wonders; and in this Ground you love likewise your Brethren. But in hating yourSELF, you hate only that which is thine OWN, and wherein the Evil sticks close to you. And this you dost, that so you may wholly destroy that which you call thine; as when you say I or MYSELF do this, or do that. All which is wrong, and a downright Mistake in you; for nothing can you properly call thine but the Evil SELF, neither can you do any Thing of yourself that is to be accounted of. This SELF therefore you must labor wholly to destroy IN THEE, that so you may become a Ground wholly Divine. There is, there can be no SELFishness in Love; they are opposite to each other. Love, that is, Divine Love (of which only we are now discoursing) hates all Egoity, hates all that which we call I, or IHOOD; hates all such Restrictions and Confinements, yea even all that springs from a contracted Spirit, or this evil SELF-hood, because it is a hateful and deadly Thing. And it is impossible that these two should stand together, or subsist in one Person; the one driving out the other by a Necessity of Nature. For Love possesses Heaven, and dwells in Itself, which is dwelling in Heaven; but that which is called I, this vile SELFhood possesses the World and worldly Things; and dwells also in itself, which is dwelling in Hell, because this is the very Root of Hell itself. And therefore as Heaven rules above the World and as Eternity rules above Time, even so ought Love to rule above the natural temporal Life; for no other Method is there, neither can there be of attaining to that Life which is Supernatural and Eternal, and which you so much desire to be led into. Disciple: Loving Master, I am well content that this Love should rule in me over the natural Life, so that I may attain to that which is Supernatural and Supersensual; but pray tell me now, why must Love and Hatred, Friend and Foe thus be together? Would not Love alone be better? Wherefore, I say, are Love and Trouble thus joined? Master:
If Love dwelt not in Trouble, It could have Nothing to love; but when Its Substance which It loves, namely, the poor Soul, is in Trouble and Pain, Love has thence Cause to love this, Its own Substance, and to deliver it from its Pain; that so the Soul, itself, may by the indwelling Love be again Beloved. Neither could any one know what Love is, if there were no Hatred; or what Friendship is, if there were no Foe to contend with. Or in one Word, for Love to be known It must have Something which It might Love, and where Its Virtue and Power may be manifested, by working out Deliverance to the Beloved from all Pain and Trouble. Disciple: Pray what is the Virtue, Power, the Height and the Greatness of Love? Master: The Virtue of Love is NOTHING and ALL, or that Nothing visible out of which All Things proceed; Its Power is through All Things; Its Height is as high as God; Its Greatness is as great as God. Its Virtue is the Principle of all Principles; Its Power supports the Heavens and upholds the Earth; Its Height is higher than the highest Heavens; and Its Greatness is even greater than the very Manifestation of the Godhead in the glorious Light of the Divine Essence, as being infinitely capable of greater and greater Manifestations in all Eternity. What can I say more? Love is higher than the Highest. Love is greater than the Greatest. Yea, It is in a certain Sense greater than God; while yet in the highest Sense of all, God is Love, and Love is God. Love being the highest Principle, is the Virtue of all Virtues; from whence they all flow forth. Love being the greatest Majesty, is the Power of all Powers, from whence they severally operate; and It is the Holy Magical Root, or Ghostly Power from whence all the Wonders of God have been wrought by the Hands of his elect Servants, in all their Generations successively. Whosoever finds It, finds Nothing and All Things. Disciple:
Dear Master, pray tell me how to understand this. Master: First then, in that I said, Its Virtue is Nothing, or that NOTHING which is the BEGINNING of All Things, you must understand It thus; when you are gone forth wholly from the Creature, and from that which is visible, and are become Nothing to all that is Nature and Creature, then you are in that Eternal One, which is God Himself. And then you shall perceive and feel in your Interior, the highest Virtue of Love. But in that I said, Its Power is through All Things, this is that which you perceive and find in your own Soul and Body experimentally, whenever this great Love is enkindled within you; seeing that It will burn more than the Fire can do, as It did in the Prophets of old, and afterwards in the Apostles, when God conversed with them bodily, and when His Spirit descended upon them in the Oratory of Zion. You shall then see also in all the Works of God, how Love has poured Itself into all Things, and penetrates all Things, and is the most inward and most outward Ground in all Things - inwardly in the Virtue and Power of every Thing, and outwardly in the Figure and Form thereof. And in that I said, Its Height is as high as God; you may understand this in yourself; forasmuch as It brings you to be as high as God Himself is, by being united to God - as may be seen by our beloved Lord Christ in our Humanity. Which Humanity Love has brought up into the highest Throne, above all Angelical Principalities and Powers, into the very Power of the Deity itself. But in that I also said, Its Greatness is as great as God, you are hereby to understand, that there is a certain Greatness and Latitude of Heart in Love, which is inexpressible; for It enlarges the Soul as wide as the whole Creation of God. And this shall be truly experienced by you, beyond all Words, when the Throne of Love shall be set up in your Heart. Moreover in that I said, Its Virtue is the Principle of all Principles, hereby it is given you to understand, that Love is the principiating Cause of all created Beings, both spiritual and corporeal, by Virtue whereof the second Causes do move and act occasionally according to certain Eternal Laws from the
Beginning implanted in the very Life and Energy of all the Principles of Nature, superior and inferior -It reaches to all Worlds, and to all Manner of Beings in them contained, they being the Workmanship of Divine Love; and It is the first Mover, and first Moveable both in Heaven above and in the Earth beneath, and in the Water under the Earth. And hence there is given to It the Name of Lucid Aleph, or Alpha; by which is expressed the Beginning of the Alphabet of Nature, and of the Book of Creation and Providence, or the Divine Archetypal Book, in which is the Light of Wisdom, and the Source of all Lights and Forms. And in that I said, Its Power supports the Heavens; by this you will come to understand, that as the Heavens, visible and invisible, are originated from this great Principle, so are they likewise necessarily sustained by It; and that therefore if This should be but never so little withdrawn, all the Lights, Glories, Beauties, and Forms of the heavenly Worlds, would presently sink into Darkness and Chaos. And whereas I further said, that It upholds the Earth; this will appear to you no less evident than the former, and you shall perceive It in yourself by daily and hourly Experience; forasmuch as the Earth without It, even your own Earth also, (that is, your Body) would certainly be without Form and Void. By the Power thereof the Earth has been thus long upheld, notwithstanding a foreign usurped Power introduced by the Folly of Sin. And should this but once fail or recede, there could no longer be either Vegetation or Animation upon it; yea, the very Pillars of it would be quite overthrown, and the Band of Union, which is that of Attraction or Magnetism, called the Centripetal Power, being broken and dissolved, all must thence run into the utmost Disorder, and falling away as into Shivers, would be dispersed as loose Dust before the Wind. But in that I said, Its Height is higher than the highest Heavens; this you may also understand within yourself; so should you ascend in Spirit through all the Orders of Angels and heavenly Powers, yet the Power of Love still is undeniably superior to them all. And as the Throne of God, Who sits upon the Heaven of Heavens, is higher than the highest of them, even so must Love also be, which fills them all, and comprehends them all. And whereas I said of the Greatness of Love, that It is greater than the very Manifestation of the Godhead in the Light of the Divine Essence; that is also true. For Love enters even
into that where the Godhead is not manifested in this glorious Light, and where God may be said not to dwell. And entering thereinto, Love begins to manifest to the Soul the Light of the Godhead; and thus is the Darkness broken through, and the Wonders of the new Creation successively manifested. Thus shall you be brought to understand really and fundamentally, what is the Virtue and Power of Love, and what the Height and Greatness thereof is; how that It is indeed the Virtue of all Virtues, though It be invisible, and as a Nothing in Appearance, inasmuch as It is the Worker of all Things, and a powerful vital Energy passing through all Virtues and Powers natural and supernatural; and the Power of all Powers, nothing being able to let or obstruct the Omnipotence of Love, or to resist Its invincible penetrating Might, which passes through the whole Creation of God, inspecting and governing all Things. And in that I said, It is higher than the Highest, and greater than the Greatest; you may hereby perceive as in a Glimpse, the supreme Height and Greatness of Omnipotent Love, which infinitely transcends all that human Sense and Reason can reach to. The highest Archangels and the greatest Powers of Heaven are, in Comparison of it, but as Dwarfs. Nothing can be conceived higher and greater in God Himself, by the very Highest and Greatest of His Creatures. There is such an Infinity in It, as comprehends and surpasses all the Divine Attributes. But in that it was also said, Its Greatness is greater than God; that likewise is very true in the Sense wherein it was spoken; For Love, as I before observed, can there enter where God dwells not, since the most high God dwells not in Darkness, but in the Light - the hellish Darkness being put under His Feet. Thus for Instance, when our beloved Lord Christ was in Hell, Hell was not the Mansion of God or of Christ; Hell was not God, neither was it with God, nor could it be at all with Him; Hell stood in the Darkness and Anxiety of Nature, and no Light of the Divine Majesty did there enter. God was not there; for He is not in the Darkness or in the Anguish; but Love was there; and Love destroyed Death and conquered Hell. So also when you are in Anguish or Trouble, which is Hell within, God is not the Anguish or Trouble; neither is He in the Anguish or Trouble; but His Love is there, and brings you out of the Anguish and Trouble into God, leading you into
the Light and Joy of His Presence. When God hides Himself in you, Love is still there, and makes Him manifest in you. Such is the inconceivable Greatness and Largeness of Love; which will hence appear to you as great as God above Nature, and greater than God in Nature, so as considered in his manifestative Glory. Lastly, whereas I also said, Whosoever finds It, finds Nothing and All Things; that is also certain and true. But how finds he Nothing? Why, I will tell you how. He that finds it, finds a Supernatural Supersensual Abyss, which has no Ground or Byss to stand on, and where there is no Place to dwell in; and he finds also Nothing is like unto It, and therefore It may fitly be compared to Nothing; for It is deeper than any Thing, and is as NoThing with respect to All Things, forasmuch as It is not comprehensible by any of them. And because It is NoThing respectively, It is therefore free from All Things; and is that only Good, which a Man cannot express or utter what It is; there being Nothing to which It may be compared, to express It by. But in that I lastly said, Whosoever finds It, finds All Things; there is nothing can be more true than this Assertion. It has been the BEGINNING of All Things; and It rules All Things. It is also the END of All Things; and will thence comprehend All Things within Its Circle. All Things are from It, and in It, and by It. If you find It, you come into that Ground from whence All Things are proceeded, and wherein they subsist; and you are in It a KING over all the Works of God. Here the Disciple was exceedingly ravished with what his Master had so wonderfully and surprisingly declared, and returned his most humble and hearty Thanks for that Light, which his Master had been an Instrument of conveying to him. But being desirous to hear further concerning these high Matters, and to know Somewhat more particularly, he requested him that he would give him Leave to wait on him the next Day again; and that he would then be pleased to show him how and where he might find this which was so much beyond all Price and Value, and whereabout the Seat and Abode of it might be in human Nature; with the entire Process of the Discovery and bringing it forth to Light.
The Master said to him: This then we will discourse about at our next Conference, as God shall reveal the same to us by his SPIRIT, which is the Searcher of All Things. And if you dost remember well what I answered you in the Beginning, you shall soon come thereby to understand that hidden mystical Wisdom of God, which none of the Wise Men of the World know; and where the MIND thereof is to be found in you, shall be given you from above to discern. Be silent therefore in your Spirit, and watch unto Prayer; that when we meet again Tomorrow in the Love of Christ, your Mind may be disposed for finding that noble PEARL, which to the World appears Nothing, but which to the Children of Wisdom is All Things. ARGUMENT Herein is described and set forth the Manner of passing the Gulf which divides betwixt the two Principles or States of Heaven and Hell: And it is particularly shown how this Transaction is carried on in the Soul; what the Partition Wall therein is, which separates from God. What the breaking down of this Partition Wall, and how effected; what the Center of Light is, and the pressing into that Center is; What the Light of God, and Light of Nature are; how they are operative in their several Spheres, and how to be kept from interfering with each other; with some Account of the two Wills and their Contraposition in the Fallen State; of the Magical Wheel of the Will, and how the Motion thereof may be regulated; of the Eye in the Midst thereof, what the Right Eye is to the Soul, and what the Left is, but especially what the Single Eye is, and in what Manner it is to be obtained; of the Purification from the Contagion of Matter; of the Destruction of Evil, and of the very Annihilation of it, by the Subsidence of the Will from its own Something into Nothing; of the Naked and Magical Faith, and the Attraction thereby of a certain Divine Substantiality and Vestment; how all consists in the Will, and proceeds but from one Point; where that Point is placed, and how it may be found out; and which is both the safest and nearest Way to attain to the high supersensual State, and the internal Kingdom of Christ, according to the true Heavenly
Magia or Wisdom. The Disciple being very earnest to be more fully instructed how he might arrive at the Supersensual Life; and how, having found All Things, he might come to be a King over all God's Works; came again to his Master the next Morning, having watched the Night in Prayer, that he might be disposed to receive and apprehend the Instructions that should be given him by a Divine Irradiation upon his Mind. And the Disciple after a little Space of Silence, bowed himself, and thus brake forth: Disciple: O my Master! my Master! I have now endeavoured to recollect my Soul in the Presence of God, and to cast myself into that Deep where no Creature does nor can dwell; that I might hear the Voice of my Lord speaking in me; and be initiated into that high Life, whereof I heard Yesterday such great and amazing Things pronounced. But alas! I neither hear nor see as I should; there is still such a Partition Wall in me which beats back the Heavenly Sounds in their Passage, and obstructs the Entrance of that Light by which alone Divine Objects are discoverable, as till this be broken down, I can have but small Hopes, yea, even none at all, of arriving at those glorious Attainments which you pressed me to, or of entering into that where no Creature dwells, and which you call Nothing and All Things. Wherefore be so kind as to inform me what is required on my Part, that this Partition which hinders may be broken or removed. Master: This Partition is the Creaturely Will in you; and this can be broken by nothing but by the Grace of SELF-DENIAL, which is the Entrance into the True Following of Christ, and totally removed by Nothing but a perfect Conformity with the Divine Will. Disciple:
But how shall I be able to break this Creaturely Will which is at Enmity with the Divine Will? Or, what shall I do to follow Christ in so difficult a Path, and not to faint in a continual Course of SELF-DENIAL and RESIGNATION to the Will of God? Master: This is not to be done by yourself; but by the Light and Grace of God received into your Soul, which will, if you gainsay not, break the Darkness that is in you, and melt down thine OWN Will, which works in the Darkness and Corruption of Nature, and bring it into the Obedience of Christ, whereby the Partition of the Creaturely SELF is removed from betwixt God and you. Disciple: I know that I cannot do it of myself. But I would fain learn, how I must receive this Divine Light and Grace into me, Which is to do it for me, if I hinder It not my own SELF. What is then required of me in order to admit this Breaker of the Partition and to promote the Attainment of the Ends of such Admission? Master: There is Nothing more required of you at first, than not to resist this Grace, Which is manifested in you; and Nothing in the whole Process of your Work, but to be obedient and passive to the Light of God shining through the Darkness of your Creaturely Being, which reaching no higher than the Light of Nature, comprehends It not. Disciple: But is it not for me to attain, if I can, both the Light of God, and the Light of the outward Nature too; and to make use of them both for the ordering of my Life wisely and prudently?
Master: It is right, I confess, so to do. And it is indeed a Treasure above all earthly Treasures, to be possessed of the Light of God and Nature, operating in their Spheres; and to have both the Eye of Time and Eternity at once open together, and yet not to interfere with each other. Disciple: This is a great Satisfaction to me to hear; having been very uneasy about it for some Time. But how this can be without interfering with each other, there is the Difficulty. Wherefore, fain would I know, if it were lawful, the Boundaries of the one and the other; and how both the Divine and the Natural Light may in their several Spheres respectively act and operate, for the Manifestation of the Mysteries of God and Nature, and for the Conduct of my outward and inward Life? Master: That each of these may be preserved distinct in their several Spheres, without confounding Things Heavenly and Things Earthly, or breaking the golden Chain of Wisdom, it will be necessary, my Child, in the first Place to wait for and attend the Supernatural and Divine Light, as that superior Light appointed to govern the Day, rising in the true East, which is the Center of Paradise; and in great Might breaking forth as out of the Darkness within you, through a Pillar of Fire and ThunderClouds, and thereby also reflecting upon the inferior Light of Nature a Sort of Image of Itself, whereby only it can be kept in its due Subordination; that which is below being made subservient to that which is above; and that which is without to that which is within. Thus there will be no Danger of interfering; but all will go right, and every Thing abide in its proper Sphere. Disciple:
Therefore without Reason or the Light of Nature be sanctified in my Soul, and illuminated by this superior Light, as from the central East of the holy Light-World, by the Eternal and Intellectual Sun; I perceive there will always be some Confusion, and I shall never be able to manage aright either what concerns Time or Eternity; but I must always be at a Loss, or break the Links of Wisdom's Chain. Master: It is even so as you have said. All is Confusion, if you have no more but the dim Light of Nature, or unsanctified and unregenerated Reason to guide you by; and if only the Eye of Time be opened in you, which cannot pierce beyond its own Limit. Wherefore seek the Fountain of Light, waiting in the deep Ground of your Soul for the rising there of the Sun of Righteousness, whereby the Light of Nature in you, with the Properties thereof, will be made to shine seven Times brighter than ordinary. For it shall receive the Stamp, Image, and Impression of the Supersensual and Supernatural; so that the sensual and rational Life will hence be brought into the most perfect Order and Harmony. Disciple: But how am I to wait for the Rising of this glorious Sun, and how am I to seek in the Center, this Fountain of Light, which may enlighten me throughout, and bring all my Properties into perfect Harmony? I am in Nature, as I said before; and which Way shall I pass through Nature, and the Light thereof, so that I may come into that Supernatural and Supersensual Ground, from whence this true Light, which is the Light of Minds, does arise; and this, without the Destruction of my Nature, or quenching the Light of it, which is my - Reason? Master: Cease but from thine own Activity, steadfastly fixing thine Eye upon one Point, and with a strong Purpose relying upon the promised Grace
of God in Christ, to bring you out of your Darkness into His Marvelous Light. For this End gather in all your Thoughts, and by Faith press into the Center, laying hold upon the Word of God, which is infallible, and which has called you. Be you then obedient to this Call; and be silent before the Lord, sitting alone with Him in your inmost and most hidden Cell, your Mind being centrally united in itself, and attending His Will in the Patience of Hope. So shall your Light break forth as the Morning; and after the Redness thereof is passed, the Son Himself, which you wait for, shall arise unto you, and under His most healing Wings you shall greatly rejoice; ascending and descending in His bright and salutiferous Beams. Behold this is the true Supersensual Ground of Life. Disciple: I believe it indeed to be even so. But will not this destroy Nature? Will not the Light of Nature in me be extinguished by this greater Light? Or must not the outward Life hence perish, with the earthly Body which I carry? Master: By no Means at all. It is true, the evil Nature will be destroyed by It; but by the Destruction thereof you can be no Loser, but very much the Gainer. The Eternal Band of Nature is the same afterward as before; and the Properties are the same. So that Nature hereby is only advanced and meliorated; and the Light thereof, or human Reason, by being kept within its due Bounds, and regulated by a superior Light is only made useful. Disciple: Pray therefore let me know how this inferior Light ought to be used by me; how it is to be kept within its due Bounds; and after what Manner the superior Light does regulate and ennoble it.
Master: Know then, my beloved Son, that if you will keep the Light of Nature within its own proper Bounds, and make use thereof in just Subordination to the Light of God; you must consider that there are in your Soul two Wills, an inferiour Will, which is for driving you to Things without and below; and a superiour Will, which is for drawing to Things within and above. These two Wills are now set together, as it were, Back to Back, and in a direct Contrariety to each other; but in the Beginning, it was not so. For this Contraposition of the Soul in these two is no more than the Effect of the Fallen State; since before that they were placed one under the other, that is, the superiour Will Above, as the Lord, and the inferiour Below, as the Subject. And thus it ought to have continued. You must also further consider, that answering to these two Wills there are likewise two Eyes in the Soul, whereby they are severally directed; forasmuch as these Eyes are not united in one single View, but look quite contrary Ways at once. They are in a like Manner set one against the other, without a common Medium to join them. And hence, so long as this Double-sightedness does remain, it is impossible there should be any Agreement in the Determination of this or that Will. This is very plain; and it shows the Necessity that this Malady, arising from the Dis-union of the Rays of Vision, be some Way remedied and redressed, in order to a true Discernment in the Mind. Both these Eyes therefore must be made to unite by a Concentration of Rays; there being nothing more dangerous than for the Mind to abide thus in the Duplicity, and not to seek to arrive at the Unity of Vision. You perceive, I know, that you have two Wills in you, one set against the other, the Superior and the Inferior; and that you have also two Eyes within, one against another; whereof the one Eye may be called the Right Eye, and the other the Left Eye. You perceive too, doubtless, that it is according to the Right Eye that the Wheel of the superiour Will is moved; and that it is according to the Left Eye, that the contrary Wheel in the lower is turned about. Disciple: