{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33742/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33742","id":"gutenberg_33742","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33742","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","Mysticism"],"text":"Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDIALOGUES\n\nON\n\nTHE SUPERSENSUAL LIFE\n\nBY\n\nJACOB BEHMEN\n\nEDITED BY BERNARD HOLLAND\n\nMETHUEN & CO.\n36 ESSEX STREET, W.C.\nLONDON\n1901\n\n_Desiderare est Mereri_\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe Works of Jacob Behmen, the \"Teutonic Theosopher,\" translated into\nEnglish, were first printed in England in the seventeenth century,\nbetween 1644 and 1662. In the following century a complete edition in\nfour large volumes was produced by some of the disciples of William Law.\nThis edition, completed in the year 1781, was compiled in part from the\nolder English edition, and in part from later fragmentary translations\nby Law and others. It is not easily accessible to the general reader,\nand, moreover, the greater part of Behmen's Works could not be\nrecommended save to those who had the time and power to plunge into that\ndeep sea in search of the many noble pearls which it contains.\n\nBehmen's language and way of thought are remote and strange, and in\nreading his thought one has often to pass it through a process of\nintellectual translation. This is chiefly true of his earlier work, the\n\"Aurora\" or \"Morning Redness.\" But among those works which he wrote\nduring the last five years of his life there are some written in a\nthought-language less difficult to be understood, yet containing the\nessential teaching of this humble Master of Divine Science. From these I\nhave selected some which may, in a small volume, be useful. It seemed\nthat for this purpose it would be best to take the \"Dialogues of the\nSupersensual Life,\" including as one of them the beautiful, really\nseparate, Dialogue, called in the Complete Works, \"The way from darkness\nto true illumination.\" In the case of neither of these works is the\ntranslation used that of the seventeenth century. The first three\ndialogues are a translation made by William Law, one of the greatest\nmasters of the English language, and found in MS. after his death. This\ntranslation from the original German is not exactly literal, but rather\na liberal version, or paraphrase, the thought of Behmen being expanded\nand elucidated, though in nowise departed from. The dialogue called \"The\nway from darkness to true illumination\" was taken by the eighteenth\ncentury editors from a book containing translations of certain smaller\ntreatises of Behmen then lately printed at Bristol and made, as they\nsay, \"in a style better adapted to the taste and more accommodated to\nthe apprehension of modern readers.\" I do not know who was the\ntranslator, but the work seems to be excellently well done.\n\nIt will be well to say a few words first as to the life, then as to the\nleading ideas of Jacob Behmen. This name is more correctly written Jacob\nBoehme, but I prefer to retain the more easily pronounced spelling of\nBehmen, adopted by the Editors of both the complete English editions.\n\nJacob Behmen's outward life was simplicity itself. He was born in the\nyear 1575 at Alt Seidenberg, a village among pastoral hills, near\nGoerlitz in Lusatia, a son of poor peasants. As a boy he watched the\nherds in the fields, and was then apprenticed to a shoemaker, being not\nenough robust for rural work. One day, when the master and his wife were\nout, and he was alone in the house, a stranger entered the shop and\nasked for a pair of shoes. Jacob had no authority to conclude a bargain\nand asked a high price for the shoes in the hope that the stranger would\nnot buy. But the man paid the price, and when he had gone out into the\nstreet, called out \"Jacob, come forth.\" Jacob obeyed the call, and now\nthe stranger looked at him with a kindly, earnest, deep, soul-piercing\ngaze, and said, \"Jacob, thou art as yet but little, but the time will\ncome when thou shalt be great, and become another man, and the world\nshall marvel at thee. Therefore be pious, fear God, and reverence his\nWord; especially read diligently the Holy Scriptures, where thou hast\ncomfort and instruction; for thou must endure much misery and poverty,\nand suffer persecution. But be courageous and persevere, for God loves,\nand is gracious unto thee.\" So saying, the stranger clasped his hand,\nand disappeared.\n\nAfter this Jacob became even more pensive and serious, and would\nadmonish the other journeymen on the work-bench when they spoke lightly\nof sacred things. His master disliked this and dismissed him, saying\nthat he would have no \"house-prophet\" to bring trouble into his house.\nThus Jacob was forced to go forth into the world as a travelling\njourneyman, and, as he wandered about in that time of fierce religious\ndiscord, the world appeared to him to be a \"Babel.\" He was himself\nafflicted by troubles and doubts, but clave to prayer and to Scripture,\nand especially to the words in Luke xi.; \"How much more shall your\nheavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.\" And once,\nwhen he was again engaged for a time by a master, he was lifted into a\nstate of blessed peace, a Sabbath of the Soul, that lasted for seven\ndays, during which he was, as it were, inwardly surrounded by a Divine\nLight. \"The triumph that was then in my soul I can neither tell nor\ndescribe. I can only liken it to a resurrection from the dead.\"\n\nJacob returned in 1594 to Goerlitz, became a master shoemaker in 1599,\nmarried a tradesman's daughter, and had four children. In the year 1600\n\"sitting one day in his room, his eye fell upon a burnished pewter dish\nwhich reflected the sunshine with such marvellous splendour that he fell\ninto a deep inward ecstasy and it seemed to him as if he could now look\ninto the principles and deepest foundations of things. He believed that\nit was only a fancy, and in order to banish it from his mind he went out\nupon the green. But here he remarked that he gazed into the very heart\nof things; the very herbs and grass, and that Nature harmonised with\nwhat he had inwardly seen. He said nothing about this to any one, but\npraised and thanked God in silence. He continued in the honest practice\nof his craft, was attentive to his domestic affairs, and was on terms of\ngoodwill with all men.\"[A]\n\nAt the age of thirty-five, in the year 1610, Jacob Behmen suddenly\nperceived that all which he had seen in a fragmentary way was forming\nitself into a coherent whole, and felt a \"fire-like\" impulse, a yearning\nto write it down, as a \"Memorial,\" not for publication, but lest he\nshould forget it himself. He wrote it early in the morning before work,\nand late in the evening after work. This was his \"Morning Redness\" or\n\"Aurora.\"\n\nA nobleman of the country, called Carl von Endern, happened to see the\nMS. at the shoemaker's house, was struck by it, and had some copies\nmade. One of these fell into the hands of the Lutheran Clergyman of\nGoerlitz, Pastor Primarius Gregorius Richter, who thenceforth became a\nbitter opponent of Behmen. He assailed him in sermons, in language of\nsavage invective, as a heretic of the most dangerous kind, until Jacob\nwas summoned before the Magistrates, and forbidden to write anything in\nfuture. He was told that as a shoemaker he must confine himself to his\nown trade. But the affair, as is usually the case, had an effect the\nreverse of that intended by persecutors. It made him known to various\npersons more learned than himself who were interested in the subject,\nand from his converse with them he learned a better style, and some\nLatin technical terms, which he afterwards found useful for expressing\nhis thoughts.\n\nJacob obeyed for some years the magisterial command to write nothing,\nbut it was very grievous to him, and he often reflected with dismay on\nthe parable of the talents and how \"that one talent which 'tis death to\nhide\" was lodged with him useless. At length he would keep silence no\nmore. He says himself: \"I had resolved to do nothing in future, but to\nbe quiet before God in obedience, and to let the devil, with all his\nhost, sweep over me. But it was with me as when a seed is hidden in the\nearth. It grows up in storm and rough weather against all reason. For in\nwinter time all is dead, and reason says: 'It is all over with it.' But\nthe precious seed within me sprouted and grew green, oblivious of all\nstorms, and, amid disgrace and ridicule, it has blossomed forth into a\nlily.\"\n\nBetween the year 1619 and his death in 1624, at the age of forty-nine,\nhe poured forth his stored up thoughts, writing a number of Works,\nincluding those in the present volume, which were among his very latest.\nHe had the more time to write because his shoemaking business had fallen\noff, by reason, perhaps, of the question as to his orthodoxy, but some\nfriends supplied him with the necessaries of life. He was now exposed\nto fresh attacks from Gregorius Richter and was forced this time to go\ninto exile. At this period he went to the Electoral Court at Dresden\nwhere the Prince was curious about him, and a conference took place\nbetween him and John Gerhard and other eminent theologians. At the close\nof this Dr Gerhard said: \"I would not take the whole world and help to\ncondemn this man.\" And his colleague Meissner said, \"My good brother,\nneither would I. Who knows what stands behind this man? How can we judge\nwhat we have not understood? May God convert this man if he is in error.\nHe is a man of marvellously high mental gifts who at present can neither\nbe condemned nor approved.\"\n\nSoon afterwards, while Jacob was staying at the house of one of his\nnoble friends in Silesia he fell into a fever. At his own request he was\ncarried back to Goerlitz, and there awaited his end. On Sunday, November\n21st 1624, in the early hours he called his son Tobias and asked him if\nhe did not hear that sweet melodious music. As Tobias heard nothing,\nJacob asked him to set wide the door so that he might the better hear\nit; then he asked what was the hour, and when he was told that it had\njust struck two he said, \"My time is not yet; three hours hence is my\ntime.\" After some silence he exclaimed, \"Oh thou strong God of Sabaoth,\ndeliver me according to thy Will,\" and immediately afterwards \"Thou\nCrucified Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me and take me to thyself\ninto thy Kingdom.\" At six in the morning he suddenly bade them farewell\nwith a smile, and said, \"Now I go hence into Paradise,\" and yielded up\nhis Spirit.\n\nFrankenberg writes of him: \"His bodily appearance was somewhat mean; he\nwas small of stature, had a low forehead but prominent temples, a rather\naquiline nose, a scanty beard, grey eyes, sparkling into heavenly blue,\na feeble but genial voice. He was modest in his bearing, unassuming in\nconversation, lowly in conduct, patient in suffering, and\ngentle-hearted.\"\n\nAs the shoemaker of Goerlitz had in his life-time some disciples among\nhighly educated men, so has he always had a few since his departure from\nthis life. Men so diversely situated as the non-juror William Law in\nEngland; St Martin, the \"philosophe inconnu\" of the French Revolution;\nthe sincere Catholic, Franz Baader, in Germany; Martensen, the\nProtestant Bishop in Denmark, have found in him their Teacher.\n\nThe selections contained in the present book belong rather to the\npractical or ethical side of Jacob Behmen's teaching than to his\nCosmogony, or _Vision_, as one may best call it, of the nature of all\nthings. I think that any old cottager, who had read nothing but his\nBible, but had lived his life, would well understand the general\nteaching of most that is contained in these Dialogues, and would find\nall Behmen's words most beautiful and comforting. It is not, therefore,\nnecessary for the present purpose to attempt fully to set forth the\nwhole Vision of Behmen, nor, in any case would it be within my power to\ndo so. But it may be of service to those readers who are not acquainted\nwith the writings of Behmen or of his disciples, if I here say something\nas to his general teaching with regard to the nature of the soul of man\nand its relation to that which is not itself, but like to itself.\n\nThe Soul, in the doctrine of Behmen, is a Being which has a will or\ndesire, and is aided by a mirror of understanding or imagination. Will\nor Desire is of the very essence of the Soul, inseparable from its\nexistence. He says: \"Where Desire is there is also Essence or Being.\"\nThe Soul is subject to the diverse attractions of the Centre of Divine\nLife and Light, and of the Spirit of the World. Enlightened by its\nunderstanding it has the free power to turn its will towards, and unite\nitself to, this or that. \"Choose well, thy choice is brief and yet\nendless.\"\n\nThe Soul is a magic Fire derived out of, or from, God the Father's\nEssence, _lumen de lumine_, and imprisoned in darkness. It is an intense\nand incessant Desire after the Light; it longs to return to the\nLight-centre, whence it originally came, that is, to the \"heart of God.\"\nThus longing, it is a \"Fire of Anguish,\" until it becomes a \"Fire of\nLove.\" It is a fire of anguish, so long as it is shut up in its dark\nself. It is a fire of love when it pierces through and escapes from its\ndark self-prison and burns freely and softly in union with the Divine\nLove. God then comes as a Light, a soft purifying Fire into the Soul,\nand changes all the wanting, hungering, empty, restless, self-tormenting\nproperties of the Natural Life into a sweetness of rest and peace. This\nis called in Scripture the \"new birth.\" Thus the same thing--the same\nFire,--is a cause of torment or of joy according to the conditions under\nwhich it is. Man, who is a microcosm of the whole Universe, is a\nmingling of light and darkness. His anguish comes from his Soul's\nimprisonment in darkness (as a mere raging fire) and continues until it\ncan break forth and unite itself with _that_ whence it came and to which\nit belongs.\n\nBehmen says \"The Eternal Darkness of the Soul is Hell, viz.: an aching\nsource of anguish, which is called the Anger of God, but the Eternal\nLight in the Soul is the Kingdom of Heaven, where the fiery anguish of\ndarkness is turned into joy. For the _same_ nature of anguish, which, in\nthe Darkness, is a cause of sadness, is, in the Light, a cause of the\noutward and stirring joy.... The Fire is painful and consuming, but the\nLight is yielding, friendly, powerful and delightful, a sweet and\namiable Joy.\"\n\nPure delight, with no trace of doubt or fear, hope or regret, is the\nsign of the presence of Love or Light. So again Behmen says: \"The Fire\nin the Light is a fire of Love, but the Fire in the Darkness is a fire\nof Anguish, and is painful, irksome, and full of contrariety.\" The end\nto which all things tend is the final separation of light from darkness;\nthe \"last day\" means this; but the present world is a perpetual mixture\nof light and darkness, good and evil, joy and anguish. So, the Cross of\nJesus is at once the highest embodiment of Love and Hate.\n\nIt is remarkable that in this doctrine of light and darkness Behmen was\nnearly followed by one who had not, I suppose, ever heard of him,\nreading as he did little of anything but the Bible, who worked on the\nScriptures with his own powerful and earnest insight, the Christian\nhero, Charles Gordon. In his little book called \"Reflections in\nPalestine\" written in that one year, 1883, of unbroken repose from\naction spent in the Holy Land, just before his final service at\nKhartoom, Gordon dwells upon the repetition, as he calls it, _both in\nthe individual soul, and in the world's history_ of four processes\nconstantly recurring,--a state of darkness, a light breaking forth\nthrough darkness, a division of light from darkness or gathering\ntogether of light, a re-dispersion of light into darkness, and then a\nrenewal of the four processes, ever upon an ascending level of good,\ndirected towards the final elimination of all light from the darkness.\n\nFire must have fuel, something on which to feed. It must feed or perish.\nBut the magic Fire-spirit, the Soul, cannot perish because it is an\neternal Essence. Therefore it must either feed; or _hunger_. It desires\nspiritual essence or \"virtue\" to allay its raging hunger. But, during\nthe space that it is embodied in this nature, it can feed _either_ on\nthe Divine Spirit, or upon the Spirit of this World. \"Hence,\" says\nBehmen, \"we may understand the cause of that infinite variety which is\nin the Wills and Actions of Men.\" For of whatsoever the Soul eateth, and\nwherewith its Fire-life becometh kindled; \"according to that the Soul's\nlife is led and governed.\" You become like to that which you eat. If the\nSoul breaks forth out of its Nature-self and enters into \"God's\nLove-fire,\" it eats of the Divine Essence (the substance or flesh of\nChrist) and it is to this that Jesus Christ referred when he spoke of\nfeeding upon his body, and when he spoke of the true bread from heaven\n\"which giveth life to the World\" (John vi. 33), of which he that eateth\nshall \"live for ever\" (John vi. 58), or the \"living water,\" whereof\nwhosoever drinketh \"shall never thirst,\" but it shall be to him \"a well\nof water springing up into everlasting life\" (John iv. 13, 14). This\nfeeding is in no way metaphorical but as real and actual as physical\nfeeding.\n\nBehmen says, \"The Essence of that Life eateth the Flesh of Christ and\ndrinketh His Blood.... Now if the Soul eat of this sweet, holy and\nheavenly food, then it kindleth itself with the great Love in the name\nand power of Jesus, whence its fire of anguish becometh a great triumph\nof joy and glory.\"[B]\n\nBehmen held that man lives at once in three worlds, firstly in the\noutward visible elementary world of space and time (where man \"_is_ the\nTime and _in_ the Time;\") secondly, the \"Eternal Dark World, Hell, the\ncentre of Eternal Nature, whence is _generated_ the Soul-fire, that\nsource of anguish, and thirdly, in the Eternal Light World, Heaven--the\nDivine habitation.\" The same processes of feeding and life take place in\nthe three Worlds, so that physical feeding is a kind of outside sheath\nof spiritual feeding.\n\nIf the Soul accustoms itself to feed in this life upon the heavenly food\n(that _panem de coelo omne delectamentum in se habentem_) it gradually\nitself becomes of quite heavenly substance, purged from darkness, and,\nwhen the natural life falls off at death, stands in heaven, where indeed\nit already is. But, if the Soul feeds upon the Spirit and Things of this\nWorld, then, when by reason of death, it can no longer feed upon them,\nit is left in the condition of mere \"aching Desire,\" or eternal\nunsatisfied Hunger, working in a void, in perpetual anguish. Thus Heaven\nand Hell are not places, but conditions of the Soul. So Milton, who had\nno doubt studied the translation of Behmen made in his own time,\nwrites:\n\n    \"The mind is its own place, and in itself\n    Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.\"\n\nThey are in this life everywhere commingled, but when this life falls\naway, the Soul remains in that of the two states into which it has in\nthis life brought itself. The Soul, after death, remains _either_ as a\nsatisfied Desire, that is, a Desire no longer but a Joy, _or_ as an\naching Desire. The Persian says:--\n\n    Heaven is the vision of fulfilled Desire\n    And Hell the shadow of a Soul on fire.\n\nBehmen says, Heaven _is_ fulfilled desire; Hell _is_ a Soul on fire, no\nmere vision or shadow.\n\nHeaven and Hell are within us, since our souls are portions of the\nuniverse of things, in every part of which Heaven and Hell are\ncommingled. The gates of Heaven within us were shut in Adam, but the\nPower of God, Christ in Jesus, broke open by his passion \"the closed\ngates of Paradise,\" that is, the gates of our \"inward heavenly\nhumanity,\" and now the wayfarer can, if he will, pass through. We do not\nspiritually live by a reasoning process, or acceptance of doctrines by\nthe understanding, but by the action of the Desire in feeding upon the\nSpirit of Love, a process of laying hold, drawing in, and assimilating.\nTrue prayer is like feeding, or still more, perhaps, like the\nunconscious drawing in of the air: it should be as constant. By it is\nintroduced the heavenly life from without to nourish the like heavenly\nlife contained in the seed within. If a man thus rightly feeds, then, in\nhim, the hellish life and passions, portions of the powers of darkness,\n\"our creatures\" as Behmen says, will be killed by starvation, wanting\ntheir appropriate food. On the other hand, a man can feed these also\nfrom without with their appropriate food by misdirected desire, thereby\nstarving the heavenly life in the Soul.\n\nThus the essence of Behmen's teaching as to the Soul incarnate in Man\nand revealed by his body, is that it is an eternal Being, and that it is\na source of joy or anguish according as it is, or is not, purified or\ntranquillised by communion with the Centre of Light, or the Fountain of\nLife. He does not contemplate, as some Eastern teachers perhaps do, the\nannihilation of the Will of the Soul by a kind of higher spiritual\nsuicide; its existence is to him the very condition of good no less than\nof evil; he contemplates its liberation from the dark, contracted,\nself-prison, its purification, and entrance into the full heaven-life.\nThis magical soul-fire, like visible fire, can rage and destroy, or it\ncan serve as the means and ground of all good. Here is the foundation\nboth of good and evil, in man as in all things.\n\nTo understand this better, one must consider the cosmic teaching lying\nbehind the rich profusion of images, often inconsistent and clashing, in\nwhich Jacob Behmen embodies his Vision.\n\nMan has fallen into Nature. But Nature itself, apart from and unfilled\nby the Divine Light, is a self-torment, a mere Want, a Desire, a Hunger.\nThe true distinction between God and Nature is that God is an Universal\nAll, while Nature is an Universal Want, viz: to be filled by God.\nPhysical attraction is nothing but the outer sheath of this universal\ndesire. Nature filled by God is Heaven or fulfilled Desire.[C] Without\nGod it is Hell, mere Desire. Heaven is the Presence of God: Hell his\nAbsence. It is as true to say that Heaven is in God, as to say that God\nis in Heaven.\n\nApart from the existence of God there could be neither Presence nor\nAbsence, neither Heaven nor Hell. If the Soul of Man were wholly divided\nand separated from the Divine Life, it would, as a part of Nature, be a\nmere hungering, restless, conscious Desire. In so far as it is so\nseparated it partakes of this pain. For \"through all the Universe of\nThings nothing is uneasy, unsatisfied, or restless, but because it is\nnot governed by Love, or because its Nature has not reached or attained\nthe full birth of the Spirit of Love. For when that is done, every\nhunger is satisfied, and all complaining, murmuring, accusing,\nresenting, revenging and striving are as totally suppressed and overcome\nas coldness, thickness and horror of darkness are suppressed and\novercome by the breaking forth of the light. If you ask why the Spirit\nof Love cannot be displeased, cannot be disappointed, cannot complain,\naccuse, resent or murmur, it is because the Spirit of Love desires\nnothing but itself, it is its own Good, for Love is God, and he that\ndwelleth in God dwelleth in Love.\"[D]\n\nBehmen's idea of the \"fallen Angels\" is that they are entirely and\nhopelessly divided from the Life of God. They are mere embodied,\nhopeless, self-tormenting Desires. They have fallen into the hell within\nthemselves, they _cannot but_ be hating, bitter, envious, proud,\nwrathful, restless; and therefore tormentors of others. They have lost\nthat which man, however far astray, always possesses, the faculty of\nreturn or regeneration through submission to and union with God. The\nspark of the Life and Spirit of God which is in Men is not in the\nfallen Angels. Let us hope that Beings so utterly lost do not exist.\n\nGod is outside of Nature and yet in a sense inside also, because there\nis a divine life or virtue in Nature which, longing to re-unite itself\nwith its source, is a cause of anguish while divided, and of joy when\nunited. So, in the outer world, the seed buried in earth contains a\npower kindred to the virtue of the sun. It is this which breaks forth\nfrom the seed, forces itself up through the dark, imprisoning, and yet\nnourishing and necessary earth, and at last, if it can win its way\nthrough obstacles, cheerfully expands in the light of the sun and feeds\nupon his warmth. That, in man's inner nature, which answers to this\npower or life in the seed, is called by Behmen the Life or Spirit of\nJesus Christ. Egoism or _Ihood_, the old contracting, narrowing cell, is\ndestroyed as this expansive and expanding force grows and breaks forth.\nBehmen says: \"As the Sun in the visible world ruleth over Evil and Good,\nand, with its light and power, and all whatsoever itself is, is present\neverywhere, and penetrates into every Being, and wholly giveth itself to\nevery Being, and yet ever remaineth whole, and nothing of its being\ngoeth away therewith. Thus also it is to be understood concerning\nChrist's person and office which ruleth in the inward spiritual world,\nand penetrateth into the faithful man's soul, spirit and heart. As the\nSun worketh through a herb, so that the herb becometh filled with the\nvirtue of the Sun, and, as it were, so converted by the Sun that it\nbecometh wholly of the nature of the Sun, so Christ ruleth in the\nresigned will or Soul and Body, over all evil inclinations and\ngenerateth the man to be a new heavenly creature.\" The same teaching is\nfinely set forth in a passage of William Law.[E] He says:\n\n\"Man has a spark of the Light and Spirit of God, as a supernatural gift\nof God given into the birth of his Soul to bring forth by degrees a new\nbirth of that life which was lost in Paradise. This holy spark of the\nDivine Nature within him has a natural, strong, and almost infinite\ntendency or reaching after that eternal Light and Spirit of God, from\nwhence it came forth. It came forth from God, it came _out_ of God, it\npartaketh of the Divine Nature, and therefore it is always in a state of\ntendency and return to God. All this is called the breathing, the\nmoving, the quickening of the Holy Spirit within us, which are so many\noperations of this spark of life tending towards God. On the other hand\nthe Deity as considered in itself, and without the Soul of man, has an\ninfinite unchangeable tendency of love and desire towards the Soul of\nman, to unite and communicate its own riches and glories to it, just as\nthe Spirit of the air _without_ Man unites and communicates its riches\nand virtues to the Spirit of the air that is _within_ Man. This love or\ndesire of God toward the soul of Man is so great that he gave his\nonly-begotten Son, the brightness of his glory, to take the human nature\nupon him, in its fallen state, that by this mysterious union of God and\nMan, all the enemies of the Soul of Man might be overcome, and every\nhuman creature might have a power of being born again according to that\nImage of God in which he was first created. The gospel is the history of\nthis Love of God to Man. _Inwardly_ he has a seed of the Divine Life\ngiven into the birth of his Soul, a seed that has all the riches of\neternity in it, and is always wanting to come to the birth in him, and\nbe alive in God. _Outwardly_ he has Jesus Christ, who as a Sun of\nRighteousness, is always casting forth his enlivening beams on this\ninward seed, to kindle and call it forth to the birth, doing that to\nthis Seed of Heaven in Man, which the sun in the firmament is always\ndoing to the vegetable seeds in the earth.\n\n\"Consider this matter in the following similitude. A grain of wheat has\nthe air and light of this world enclosed or incorporated in it. This is\nthe mystery of its life, this is its power of growing, by this it has a\nstrong continual tendency of uniting again with that ocean of light and\nair from whence it came forth. On the other hand that great ocean of\nlight and air, having its own offspring hidden in the heart of the grain\nhas a perpetual strong tendency to unite and communicate with it again.\nFrom this _desire of union on both sides_, the vegetable life arises and\nall the virtues and powers contained in it. But let it be well observed\nthat this desire on both sides cannot have its effect till the husk and\ngross part of the grain falls into a state of corruption and death; till\nthis begins, the mystery of life hidden in it cannot come forth.\"\n\nThe sun only acts by stirring up in each thing, and calling into\nactivity, its own imprisoned, dormant, heat or life. Save by the same\nnature-process, working in an inner sphere, there cannot come to pass\nthe flower and fruit of the Soul. The Sun, true emblem of the Redeeming\nSpirit, helps each vital force to break forth from its state of\ndeath--even though, like the grains of wheat found in Egyptian graves\nand then new-planted, it has been immured there thousands of years--and\nto enter into its highest possible state of life. Indeed, in this school\nof wisdom, the natural visible light, of which the Sun is the dispensing\nmedium to our solar system, and other suns to other circles of planets,\nis actually an outer manifestation of the inner supernatural light, and\nwarmth, not a mere emblem at all. We speak more truly than we know, when\nwe speak of a \"heavenly day.\" All Nature is a series of \"out-births\" of\nthe Deity. \"The outward world,\" says Behmen, \"is sprung out of the\ninward spiritual world, viz., out of Light and Darkness.\" And his\nEnglish interpreter says: \"Whatever is delightful and ravishing, sublime\nand glorious in spirits, minds, or bodies, either in heaven, or on\nearth, is from the power of the Supernatural Light opening its endless\nwonders in them. Hell has no misery, horror or distraction, but because\nit has no communication with the supernatural Light. And did not the\nsupernatural Light stream forth its blessings into this world, through\nthe materiality of the Sun, all outward Nature would be full of the\nhorror of Hell.\" And elsewhere, \"There is no meekness, benevolence or\ngoodness in Angel, Man, _or any other Creature_, but where Light is the\nLord of its life. Life itself begins no sooner, rises no higher, has no\nother glory, than as the Light begins it, and leads it on. Sounds have\nno softness, flowers and germs no sweetness, plants and fruits have no\ngrowth, but as the Mystery of Light opens itself in them.\"[F] And so\nBehmen himself says: \"There is nothing that is created or born in Nature\nbut it also manifests its internal form externally; for the internal\ncontinually labours or works itself forth to manifestation. We know in\nthe power and form of this World, how the only Essence has manifested\nitself with the external birth in the desire of the similitude; how it\nhas manifested itself in so many forms and shapes, which we see and know\nin the stars and elements, likewise in the living creatures, and also in\nthe trees and herbs.\" Thus there is a real communion between all beauty,\nsweetness, and glory, within and without the Soul of man.\n\nIt is this truth, not of the analogy between the essential life of Man\nand Nature, but of the unity in all things, that is now opening itself\nout in many ways. Wordsworth, a true seer, has given to it its highest\nexpression in English Poetry. Modern science all tends to confirmation\nof this unity.\n\nGod, then, must become Man, there must be a birth of the Life of God in\nthe Soul, in order that the Soul may live its highest life. Only in\nthis way can the wild properties of Nature be subordinated and turned to\ntheir proper use, their restless hunger pacified. Goodness and happiness\ncan be expected from nothing else but from the Divine Life united to and\ndwelling in the Nature Life. It is the \"ingrafted Word\" of St James'\nEpistle.\n\nThe plant cannot but grow towards the sun. If it is too deep in earth,\nor prevented by a strong soil, or withered by dryness, so that it cannot\nattain to its end, the fault is not with it. But, in the spiritual inner\nworld (in which the plant dwells not) the Soul of man has this\nfreedom--that it can consciously turn towards God, whose Spirit and Life\nwill then come forth to meet it, or can turn towards the Things of this\nWorld. Upon this freedom of choice is founded Behmen's moral teaching.\nThe Soul is like a woman (and all nations have testified in their\nlanguages and parables to their sense of this) who can freely choose to\nsubmit and surrender her body to this Lover, or to that. When she has\nchosen her free power ends. As she has chosen, so her life-faculty will\nbe fertilised by good or evil; so will be the new life that arises\nwithin her, and so will be her future joy or sorrow.\n\nIn a deep sense, the desire of the spark of Life in the Soul to return\nto its Original Source is part of the longing desire of the universal\nLife for its own heart or centre. Of this longing the universal\nattraction, striving against resistance, towards an universal centre,\nproved to govern the phenomenal or physical world, is but the outer\nsheath and visible working. It has been said that Sir Isaac Newton (who\nwas a diligent reader of Behmen's Works) \"ploughed with Jacob Behmen's\nheifer.\" There is in truth but one Religion, that founded upon the\neternal, immutable, universal processes of the actual Nature of things,\nand of this Christianity, rightly apprehended, is the supreme\nRevelation. This will be seen better by all as the Religion unfolds\nitself. Rightly speaking there is no such thing as _supernatural_\nreligion; there is but one Religion, that of Nature. It is the work of\nvisible religion to teach by signs and parables, embodying the mystery\nin symbols, and clothing it with adoration.\n\nJacob Behmen's mode of expression is all his own, and there is much in\nthe fabric of his thought which men of our time, if they take a\nsuperficial view, would not find it easy to accept. The doctrine of\nEvolution now profoundly influences every corner of the field of\nthought. We now incline to think rather of the rise of Man out of Nature\nthan of his fall into it, though, perhaps, there can no more be a rise\nwithout a precedent fall, than there can be a return without a precedent\nout-going. Evolution may be the time-form of Attraction. But all this\naffects the outside form, not the essence of the doctrine. Behmen is\nconcerned with the real nature of things, apart from time and space,\nwith their apparent, but so misleading, facts. He appeals to each Soul's\nknowledge of itself, and, on the principle that _all is in everything_,\ndraws from the nature of Man, that little Universe (and we can no\notherwise learn things as they are in themselves), his teaching as to\nUniversal Nature. \"In Man (he says) lies all whatsoever the Sun shines\nupon, or Heaven contains, as also Hell and all the Deeps.\" His Iliad is\nthe struggle between light and darkness, life and death, expansion and\ncontraction, the centripetal and centrifugal force, heat and cold, love\nand hatred, peace and wrath, humility and pride, self-sacrifice and\nself-seeking, joy and anguish, repose and restlessness, in the whole of\nNature and in the Soul of Man. Does not every man, who has lived his\nfull life, know the truth and reality of all this? It is known more\nespecially and actually by those ardent and adventurous spirits who have\nsailed in far seas of thought or action, not merely coasting along the\nshores of tradition, authority and established rule. Sinners know some\nthings more vividly than those who ever and easily have been good. Only\nthe man who has been sick knows the difference between sickness and\nhealth. The prodigal who had wandered in a far country and had lived as\nhe would, understood the meaning of peace and love better than the\nbrother who had always stayed at home.\n\nThese wanderers, if they return in time, know best, taught by the\nheart-rending lessons of experience, the difference between the Heaven\nand Hell within them; the Hell of wrath, self-torment, fear, anxiety,\nenvy, malice, evil-will, pride, cruelty, sensual passion, longing to\ndomineer, and the Heaven of love, benevolence, meekness, humility,\ncompassion, peace, joy, long-suffering.\n\nThey know that Heaven and Hell can alike be revealed in the Soul. From\nyouth they have felt something in them striving, often feebly enough,\nagainst passionate desires for wealth, honour, success, and for mastery\nover the minds, affections, and bodies of others. Behind all this\nturmoil and ever unsatisfied anguish of seeking that which satisfies\nnot, they have been aware of a diviner life slowly growing towards\nheaven, ever and again thwarted and driven back by the renewed assaults\nof the Spirit of the World, yet never quite destroyed. At the moments of\nfiercest fight against rebel passions they have felt the divine\nassisting strength flow into them, if only they powerfully invoked it,\nturning towards its source as a babe towards its mother's breast. They\nhave heard the \"Peace be still\" amid the wildest spiritual storms. They\nknow that if they have been saved, it is not by their own strength nor\nby reasoning, but by this power from without.\n\nThey know the impotence, in action, of the merely reflective or\nspectator faculty. In this sense of the word \"reason,\" they would agree\nwith him who wrote \"Your Heart is the best and greatest gift of God to\nyou; it is the highest, greatest, strongest, and noblest Power of your\nNature; it forms your whole Life, be it what it will; all Evil and all\nGood comes from it; your Heart alone has the key of Life and Death; it\ndoes all that it will; Reason is but its plaything; and whether in Time\nor Eternity, can only be a mere Beholder of the wonders of happiness, or\nforms of misery, which the right or wrong working of the Heart is\nentered into.\"[G]\n\nWilliam Law remarks that Jesus Christ, though he had all wisdom, yet\ngives but a small number of doctrines to mankind \"whilst every moral\nteacher writes volumes upon every single virtue.\" It is, he adds,\nbecause our Lord \"knew what they know not, that our whole malady lies\nin this, that the Will of our Mind is turned into this World, and that\nnothing can relieve us, or set us right, but the _turning_ of the Will\nof our Mind and the Desire of our Hearts to God. And hence it is that he\ncalls us to nothing but a total denial of ourselves and the Life of this\nWorld and to faith in him as the Worker of a new birth and life in us.\"\nOn this one root of the whole matter Jacob Behmen insisted, expressing\none truth in a thousand ways and through images, which to him are not\nimages but the same process working in other spheres. His whole\npractical, moral teaching enforces the right direction of Desire. _Mali\nmores sunt mali amores_, said one who also truly _saw_; the profound\nAugustine. The hunger of the Soul must be turned to the source of\neternal joy. All that is good and beautiful in nature or in the heart of\nman flows from that fountain. Desire _is_ everything in Nature; _does_\neverything. Heaven is Nature filled with divine Life attracted by\nDesire.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[A] From the Danish Bishop Martensen's book \"Jacob Boehme\"; an excellent\nstudy well translated from Danish into English by Mr T. Rhys Evans,\n(Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1885). An account of Behmen's life is\ngiven in the preface to the first volume of the last century English\nedition of the Works.\n\n[B] It should be noted that Jacob Behmen held strongly to the Sacrament\nof the Lord's Supper, the actual bread and wine as a \"permissive medium\"\nof the real feeding, in order that there may be \"a visible sign of what\nis done in the inward ground.\" But he says \"We should not _depend_ on\nthis means or medium _alone_, and think that Christ's Flesh and Blood is\n_only_ and alone participated in this use of bread and wine, as Reason\nin this present time miserably erreth therein. No, that is not so.\nFaith, when it hungereth after God's love and grace, always eateth and\ndrinketh of Christ's Flesh and Blood. Christ hath not bound himself to\nbread and wine _alone_, but hath bound himself to the _faith_, that he\nwill be in men.\" Works, vol. iv. p. 208. Charles Gordon took the same\nview of the visible \"eating,\" as being a great assistance to the\nspiritual feeding, but not indispensable to it. (Gordon's \"Letters to\nhis Sister.\")\n\n[C] Dante's \"ricchezza senza brama.\"\n\n[D] Law's Works, vol. viii., p. 177.\n\n[E] Works, vol. vii., p. 65, ed. 1765.\n\n[F] Law's Works, vol. viii., p. 189.\n\n[G] Law's Works, vol. vii., p. 162.\n\n\n\n\nPRELIMINARY NOTE\n\n\nBefore entering upon the Dialogues I have thought it well to insert some\nsentences taken from a treatise of Behmen's called \"Regeneration,\"\ntogether with some taken from another treatise of his on \"Christ's\nTestament\" because they show well the spirit in which he thought and\nwrote. The freedom of thought and expression which he claims is,\nhappily, far more readily accorded now than it was in his own day.\n\nI have only one thing to add. In the eighteenth century English\ntranslation of Behmen's Works, all the substantives, as was then the\nfrequent custom, are printed with capital letters. There is a\nphilosophic basis for this practice, because a substantive is an attempt\nto denote a \"thing in itself\" and is therefore of greater weight than an\nadjective, which only expresses qualities which we attribute to it. To\nBehmen's Works this mode of printing seems especially appropriate. In\nour now too literary language, many words have become so trite and\ncarelessly used that they have almost ceased to have reference to real\nexisting things. But Behmen never uses words in this merely literary\nway, being indeed in nowise a man of letters. It might have been said of\nhim, as indeed his enemies did at the time say, that which was said by\nthe Jews of our Lord, \"How knoweth this man letters having never\nlearned?\" When he speaks of the \"_glory_\" of God, he means something as\nreal as if he spoke of the \"_leaves_ on that tree,\" and so with all his\nwords. I was therefore somewhat inclined, in order to mark this, to\nadhere altogether to the old custom in this case, and though I have not\ndone so, fearing it might annoy the eye of the unaccustomed reader, I\nhave preserved the capital letters in many cases, where it is especially\ndesirable to dwell on the expression of real existences by the words. It\nis of course an illogical compromise between two customs.\n\nThe title \"Supersensual Life\" is not altogether a good one, but it is\nthat which is used in former editions of Behmen. The idea is rather of\nLife behind, than above, the life of sense.\n\n\n\n\n_Sentences Selected from Jacob Behmen's Treatises \"Regeneration\" and\n\"Christ's Testaments\"_\n\n\n1\n\nA true Christian, who is born anew of the Spirit of Christ, is in the\nsimplicity of Christ, and hath no strife or contention with any man\nabout religion.\n\n\n2\n\nThe Christendom that is in Babel striveth about the manner how men ought\nto serve God and glorify him; also, how they are to know him, and what\nhe is in his Essence and Will. And they preach positively that whosoever\nis not one and the same with them in every particular of knowledge and\nopinion, is no Christian, but a heretic.\n\n\n3\n\nBut a Christian is of no sect. He can dwell in the midst of sects, and\nappear in their services, without being attached or bound to any. He\nhath but one knowledge, and that is, Christ in him. He seeketh but one\nway, which is the desire always to do and teach that which is right;\nand he putteth all his knowing and willing into the Life of Christ. He\nsigheth and wisheth continually that the Will of God might be done in\nhim, and that his Kingdom might be manifested in him. His faith is a\ndesire after God and Goodness, which he wrappeth up in a sure hope,\ntrusting to the words of the promise, and liveth and dieth therein;\nthough as to the _true man_, he never dieth.\n\n\n4\n\nFor Christ saith: _Whosoever believeth in me shall never die, but hath\npierced through from death to life_; and, _Rivers of living water shall\nflow from him_, viz. good doctrine and works.\n\n\n5\n\nTherefore I say that whosoever fighteth and contendeth about the Letter,\nis all Babel. The Letters of the Word proceed from, and stand all in,\none Root, which is the Spirit of God; as the various flowers stand all\nin the earth, and grow about one another. They fight not with each other\nabout their difference of colour, smell, and taste, but suffer the\nearth, the sun, the rain, the wind, the heat, and cold, to do with them\nas they please; and yet every one of them groweth in its own peculiar\nessence and property.\n\n\n6\n\nEven so it is with the Children of God; they have various gifts and\ndegrees of knowledge, yet all form one Spirit. They all rejoice at the\ngreat Wonders of God, and give thanks to the Most High in his Wisdom.\nWhy then should they contend about him in _Whom they live and have their\nbeing_, and of whose substance they themselves are?\n\n\n7\n\nIt is the greatest folly that is in Babel for people to strive about\nreligion, so that they contend vehemently about opinions of their own\nforging, viz. about the Letter. When the Kingdom of God consisteth of no\nOpinion, but in Power and Love.\n\n\n8\n\nAs Christ said to his disciples, and left it with them at the last,\nsaying: _Love one another as I have loved you: for thereby men shall\nknow that ye are My disciples_. If men would as fervently seek after\nlove and righteousness as they do after opinions, there would be no\nstrife on earth, and we should be as children of one father, and should\nneed no law or ordinance. For God is not served by any law, but only by\nobedience. Laws are for the wicked, who will not enhance love and\nrighteousness; they are, and must be, compelled by laws.\n\n\n9\n\nWe all have but one Order, Law, or Ordinance, which is to stand still to\nthe Lord of all Beings, and resign our wills up to him, and suffer his\nSpirit to play what music he will. And thus we give to him again as his\nown fruits that which he worketh and manifesteth in us.\n\n\n10\n\nNow if we did not contend about our different fruits, gifts, kinds, and\ndegrees of knowledge, but did acknowledge them in one another, like\nChildren of the Spirit of God, what could condemn us? For the Kingdom of\nGod consisteth not in our knowing and supposing, but in Power.\n\n\n11\n\nIf we did not know half so much, and were more like children, and had\nbut a brotherly mind and goodwill towards one another, and lived like\nchildren of one mother, and as branches of one tree, taking our Sap all\nfrom one Root, we should be far more holy than we are.\n\n\n12\n\nKnowledge serves only to this end, viz., to know that we have lost the\nDivine Power in Adam, and are now become inclined to sin; that we have\nevil properties in us, and that doing evil pleaseth not God; so that\nwith our knowledge we learn to do right. Now if we have the Power of God\nin us, and desire with all our hearts to act and to live aright, then\nour knowledge is but our sport, or matter of pleasure, wherein we\nrejoice.\n\n\n13\n\nFor true knowledge is the manifestation of the Spirit of God through the\nEternal Wisdom. He knoweth what he will in his children; he sheweth his\nwisdom and wonders by his children, as the earth putteth forth her\nvarious flowers.\n\n\n14\n\nNow if we dwell with one another, like humble children, in the Spirit of\nChrist, are rejoicing at the gift or knowledge of another, who would\njudge or condemn us? Who judgeth or condemneth the birds in the woods\nthat praise the Lord of all Beings with various voices, every one in\nits own essence? Doth the Spirit of God reprove them for not bringing\ntheir voices into one harmony? Doth not the melody of them all proceed\nfrom his Power, and do they not sport before him?\n\n\n15\n\nThose men therefore that strive and wrangle about the knowledge and will\nof God, and despise one another on that account, are more foolish than\nthe birds in the woods, and the wild beasts that have no true\nunderstanding. They are more unprofitable in the sight of the holy God\nthan the flowers of the field, which stand still in quiet submission to\nthe Spirit of God, and suffer him to manifest the Divine Wisdom and\nPower through them.\n\n\n16\n\nAll Christian Religion consisteth wholly on this, to learn _to know\nourselves_; whence we came, and what we are; how we are gone forth from\nthe Unity into dissension, wickedness, and unrighteousness; how we have\nawakened and stirred up these evils in us; and how we may be delivered\nfrom them again, and recover our original blessedness.\n\n\n17\n\n_First_; How we were in the Unity, when we were the Children of God in\nAdam before he fell. _Secondly_; How we are now in dissension and\ndisunion, in strife and contrariety. _Thirdly_; Whither we go when we\npass out of this corruptible condition; whither with the unnatural, and\nwhither with the natural part. And _lastly_; How we came forth from\ndisunion and vanity, and enter into that one Tree, Christ in us, out of\nwhich we all sprung in Adam. In these four points all the necessary\nknowledge of a Christian consisteth.\n\n\n18\n\nSo that we need not strive about any thing; we have no cause of\ncontention with each other. Let every one only exercise himself in\nlearning how he may enter again into the Love of God and his Brother.\n\n\n19\n\nThe written Word is but an instrument whereby the Spirit leadeth us to\nitself within us. That Word which will teach must be living in the\nliteral Word. The Spirit of God must be in the literal sound, or else\nnone is a Teacher of God, but a mere Teacher of the Letter, a knower of\nthe history, and not of the Spirit of God in Christ.\n\n\n20\n\nAll that men will serve God with must be done in Faith, viz. in the\nSpirit. It is the Spirit that maketh the work perfect, and acceptable in\nthe sight of God. All that a man undertaketh and doeth in Faith, he doth\nin the Spirit of God, which Spirit of God doth co-operate in the work,\nand then it is acceptable to God. For he hath done it himself, and his\nPower and Virtue is in it. It is holy.\n\n\n21\n\nStrife and misunderstanding concerning Christ's Person, Office, and\nBeing, or Substance, as also concerning his Testaments which he left\nbehind him, wherein he worketh at present, ariseth from the deflected\ncreaturely Reason, which runneth on only in an Image-like opinion, and\nreacheth not the ground of this mystery, and yet will be a mistress of\nall things or beings, and will judge all things. It doth but lose itself\nin such Image-likeness, and breaketh itself off from its Centre, and\ndisperseth the thoughts, and runneth on in the multiplicity, whereby its\nground is confused and the mind is disquieted, and knoweth not itself.\n\n\n22\n\nNo Life can stand in certainty, except it continue in its Centre, out of\nwhich it is sprung.\n\n\n23\n\nWhen the Soul that is sprung from God's Word and Will is entered into\nits own desire to will of itself, it will run in mere uncertainty till\nit return to its Original again.\n\n\n24\n\nSeeing that human life is an outflowing of the Divine Power,\nUnderstanding and Skill, the same ought to continue in its Original, or\nelse it loseth the Divine Knowledge, Power and Skill, and with\nself-speculation bringeth itself into centres of its own, and strange\nimaging, wherewith its Original becometh darkened and strange.\n\nTherefore say I, that this is the only cause that men dispute about God,\nhis Word, Essence or Being, and Will, that the understanding of man hath\nbroken itself off from its Original, and now runneth on in mere\nself-will, thoughts and images in its own lust to selfishness, wherein\nthere is no true knowledge, nor can be, till the Life returneth to its\nOriginal, viz. into the Divine Outflowing and Will.\n\n\n25\n\nIf this be done, then God's Will speaketh forth the Divine Power and\nWonders again through the human willing. In which Divine Speaking, the\nLife may know and comprehend God's Will, and frame itself therein. Then\nthere is true Divine Knowledge and Understanding in man's skill, when\nhis skill is continually renewed with Divine Power.\n\n\n26\n\nAs Christ hath taught us when he said, _Unless ye be converted and\nbecome as a Child, ye shall not come into the Kingdom of God_. That is,\nthat the Life turn itself again unto God out of whom it is proceeded,\nand forsake all its own imaging and lust, and so come to the Divine\nVision again.\n\n\n27\n\nAll disputation concerning God's Being or Essence or Will is performed\nin the images of the senses or thoughts without God. For if any liveth\nin God, and willeth with God, what needeth he dispute about God, who, or\nwhat God is? That he disputeth about it is a sign that he hath never\nfelt it at all in his mind or senses, and it is not given to him that\nGod is in him, and willeth in him what he will. It is a certain sign\nthat he exalts his own meaning and image above others, and desireth\ndominion.\n\n\n28\n\nMen should friendly confer together, and offer one another their gifts\nand knowledge in love, and try things one with another, and hold that\nwhich is best, and not so stand in their own opinion as if they could\nnot err. It lyeth in no man's person that men should suppose that the\nDivine Understanding must come only from such and such. For the\nScripture says, _Try all things and hold that which is good_, 1 Thess.\nv. 21.\n\n\n29\n\nThe touchstone to true knowledge is first, the Corner-stone, Christ;\nthat men should see whether a thing enter out of love into love, or\nwhether alone purely the love of God be sought and desired; whether it\nbe done out of humility or pride; Secondly, whether it be according to\nthe Holy Scripture; Thirdly, is it according to the human heart and\nsoul, wherein the Book of the Life of God is incorporated, and may very\nwell be read by the Children of God? Here the true mind hath its\ntouchstone in itself, and can distinguish all things. If it be so that\nthe Holy Ghost dwell in the ground of the mind, that man hath touchstone\nenough; that will lead him into all truth.\n\n\n30\n\nAll strife concerning Christ's testaments cometh hence that men do not\nunderstand that Heaven wherein Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.\nThey understand not that he is in this World, and that the World\nstandeth in Heaven, and Heaven in the World, and are in one another, as\nDay and Night.\n\n     1 COR. ii. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.\n\n     _We speak the hidden mystical wisdom of God; which God\n     ordained before the world into our glory; which none of the\n     Princes of this World knew. For had they known it, they\n     would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But, as it is\n     written, Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it\n     entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which\n     God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath\n     revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit\n     searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. Now we\n     have received, not the Spirit of the World, but the Spirit\n     which is of God; that we might know the things that are\n     freely given us of God. Which things also we speak, not in\n     the words which men's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy\n     Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.\n     But the Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit\n     of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he\n     know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he\n     that is spiritual judgeth, or discerneth all things._\n\n\n\n\nOF THE SUPERSENSUAL LIFE\n\nIN DIALOGUES\n\nBETWEEN A SCHOLAR OR DISCIPLE AND HIS MASTER\n\n\n\n\nDIALOGUE I\n\n\nThe Disciple said to his Master: Sir, how may I come to the Supersensual\nLife, so that I may see God, and may hear God speak?\n\nThe Master answered and said: Son, when thou canst throw thyself into\nTHAT, where no Creature dwelleth, though it be but for a moment, then\nthou hearest what God speaketh?\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nIs that where no Creature dwelleth near at hand, or is it afar off?\n\nMASTER\n\nIt is _in thee_. And if thou canst, my Son, for a while but cease from\nall thy thinking and willing, then thou shalt hear the unspeakable words\nof God.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nHow can I hear him speak, when I stand still from thinking and willing?\n\nMASTER\n\nWhen thou standest still from the thinking of Self, and the willing of\nSelf. When both thy intellect and will are quiet, and passive to the\nexpressions of the Eternal Word and Spirit; and when thy soul is winged\nup and above that which is temporal, the outward senses and the\nimagination being locked up by holy abstraction, then the Eternal\nHearing, Seeing and Speaking will be revealed in thee, and so God\nheareth and seeth through thee, being now the organ of _his_ Spirit, and\nso God speaketh in _thee_, and whispereth to thy Spirit, and thy Spirit\nheareth his voice. Blessed art thou therefore if thou canst stand still\nfrom self-thinking and self-willing, and canst stop the wheel of thy\nimagination and senses; forasmuch as hereby thou mayest arrive at length\nto see the great Salvation of God, being made capable of all manner of\ndivine sensations and heavenly communications. Since it is nought indeed\nbut thine own hearing and willing that do hinder thee, so that thou dost\nnot see and hear God.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut wherewith shall I hear and see God, forasmuch as he is above Nature\nand Creature?\n\nMASTER\n\nSon, when thou art quiet and silent, then art thou as God was before\nNature and Creature; thou art that which God then was; thou art that\nwhereof he made thy nature and creature. Then thou hearest and seest\neven that wherewith God himself saw and heard in thee, before ever thine\nown willing or thine own seeing began.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nWhat now hinders or keeps me back, so that I cannot come to _that_,\nwherewith God is to be seen and heard?\n\nMASTER\n\nNothing truly but thine own willing, hearing, and seeing do keep thee\nback from it, and do hinder thee from coming to this supersensual state.\nAnd it is because thou strivest so against that, out of which thou\nthyself art descended and derived, that thou thus breakest thyself off,\nwith thine own willing, from God's willing, and with thine own seeing\nfrom God's seeing. In as much as in thine own seeing thou dost see in\nthine own willing only, and with thine own understanding thou dost\nunderstand but in and according to thine own willing, as the same\nstands divided from the Divine Will. This thy willing, moreover, stops\nthy hearing, and maketh thee deaf towards God, through thy own thinking\nupon terrestrial things, and thy attending to that which is without\nthee, and so it brings thee to a ground where thou art laid hold on and\ncaptivated in Nature. And having brought thee hither, it overshadows\nthee with that which thou willest, it binds thee with thine own chains,\nand it keeps thee in thine own dark prison which thou makest for\nthyself, so that thou canst not go out thence, or come to that state\nwhich is Supernatural and Supersensual.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut being I am in Nature, and thus bound as with my own chains, and by\nmy own natural will, pray be so kind, Sir, as to tell me, how I may come\n_through_ Nature into the Supersensual and Supernatural Ground, without\nthe destroying of Nature?\n\nMASTER\n\nThree things are requisite in order to this. The first is, Thou must\nresign up thy Will to God, and must sink thyself down to the dust in his\nmercy. The second is, Thou must hate thy own Will, and forbear from\ndoing that to which thy own Will doth drive thee. The third is, Thou\nmust bow thy soul under the Cross, heartily submitting thyself to it,\nthat thou mayst be able to bear the temptations of Nature and Creature.\nAnd if thou dost this, know that God will speak unto thee, and will\nbring thy resigned Will into Himself, in the supernatural ground, and\nthen thou shalt hear, my son, what the Lord speaketh in thee.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nThis is a hard saying, Master, for I must forsake the World and my life\ntoo, if I should do thus.\n\nMASTER\n\nBe not discouraged hereat. If thou forsakest the World, then thou comest\nunto that out of which the World is made, and if thou losest thy life,\nthen thy life is in that for whose sake thou forsakest it. Thy life is\nin God, from whence it came into the body, and as thou comest to have\nthine own power faint and weak and dying, the power of God will then\nwork in thee and through thee.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nNevertheless, as God hath created man in and for the natural life, to\nrule over all creatures on earth, and to be a lord over all things in\nthis world, it seems not to be at all unreasonable that God should\ntherefore possess this world and the things therein for his own.\n\nMASTER\n\nIf thou rulest over all creatures but outwardly there cannot be much in\nthat. But if thou hast a mind to possess all things, and to be a lord\nindeed over all things in this world, there is quite another method to\nbe taken by thee.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nPray, how is that? And what method must I take, whereby to arrive at\nthis sovereignty?\n\nMASTER\n\nThou must learn to distinguish between the Thing, and that which is only\nan image thereof; between that sovereignty which is substantial and in\nthe inward ground of Nature, and that which is imaginary and in outward\nform of semblance; between that which is properly angelical and that\nwhich is no more than bestial. If thou rulest over the creatures\nexternally only and not from the right internal ground of thy inward\nnature, then thy will and ruling is in a bestial kind or matter, and\nthine at best is but a sort of imaginary and transitory government,\nbeing void of that which is substantial and permanent, that which only\nthou art to desire and press after. Thus by thy outward lording it over\nthe creatures it is most easy for thee to lose the substance and the\nreality, whilst thou hast naught remaining but the image and shadow only\nof thy first and original lordship wherein thou art made capable to be\nagain invested, if thou art but wise, and takest thy investiture from\nthe Supreme Lord in the right course and matter. Whereas by thy willing\nand ruling them in a bestial manner, thou bringest also thy desire into\na bestial essence, by which means thou becomest infected and captivated\ntherein, and gettest therewith a bestial nature and condition of life.\nBut if thou shalt have put off the bestial nature, and left the\nimaginary life, and quitted the low-imaged condition of it, then art\nthou come into the super-imaginariness and into the intellectual life,\nwhich is a state of living above images, figures and shadows. And so\nthou rulest over all creatures, being re-united with thy Original, in\nthat very ground or source, out of which they were and are created, and\nthenceforth nothing on earth can hurt thee. For thou art like All\nThings, and nothing is unlike thee.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nO loving Master, pray teach me how I may come the shortest way to be\nlike unto _All Things_.\n\nMASTER\n\nWith all my heart. Do but think on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ\nwhen he said: \"Except ye be converted and become as little children ye\nshall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.\" There is no shorter way\nthan this, nor can a better way be found. Verily, Jesus saith unto thee,\nUnless thou turn and become as a child, hanging upon him for all things,\nthou shalt not see the Kingdom of God. This do and nothing shall hurt\nthee; for thou shalt be at friendship with all the things that are, as\nthou dependest upon the author and fountain of them, and becomest like\nhim, by such dependence, and by the Union of thy Will with his Will. But\nmark what I have further to say, and be not thou startled at it, though\nit may seem hard for thee at first to conceive. If thou wilt be like All\nThings thou must forsake all things; thou must not extend thy will to\npossess that for thine own, or as thine own, which is _Something_,\nwhatever that Something be. For as soon as ever thou takest _Something_\ninto thy desire, and receivest it into thee for thine own, or in\npropriety, then this very Something (of what nature soever it is) is\nthe _same_ with thyself; and this worketh with thee in thy will, and\nthou art thence bound to protect it, and take care of it, even as of thy\nown being. But if thou dost receive _no thing_ into thy desire then thou\nart free from all things, and rulest over all things at once, as a\nPrince of God. For thou hast received nothing for thine own, and art\nnothing to all things, and all things are as nothing unto thee. Thou art\nas a child, which understands not what a thing is; and though thou dost\nperhaps understand it, yet thou understandest it without mixing with it,\nand without it sensibly affecting or touching thy perception, even in\nthat matter wherein God doth rule and see all things, he comprehending\nAll, and yet nothing comprehending him.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nAh! how shall I arrive at this heavenly understanding, at this pure and\nnaked knowledge, which is abstracted from the senses, at this light\nabove Nature and Creature, and at this participation of the Divine\nWisdom which oversees all things, and governs through all intellectual\nbeings? For, alas, I am touched every moment by the things which are\nabout me, and overshadowed by the clouds and perfumes which rise up out\nof the earth. I desire, therefore, to be taught, if possible, how I may\nattain such a state and condition as that no creature may be able to\ntouch me to hurt me; and how my mind, being purged from sensible objects\nand things, may be prepared for the entrance and habitation of the\nDivine Wisdom in me.\n\nMASTER\n\nThou desirest that I would teach thee how thou art to attain it; and I\nwill direct thee to our Master, from whom I have been taught it, that\nthou mayest learn it thyself from him, who alone teacheth the heart.\nHear thou him. Wouldst thou arrive at this; wouldst thou remain\nuntouched by sensibles; wouldst thou behold light in the very Light of\nGod, and see all things thereby; then consider the words of Christ, who\nis the Light and who is the Truth. O consider now his words, who said,\n_Without me ye can do nothing_ (John xix. 5) and defer not to apply\nthyself unto him, who is the strength of thy salvation, and the _power_\nof thy life; and _with whom thou canst do all things_, by the faith\nwhich he waketh in thee. But unless thou wholly givest thyself up to the\nlife of our Lord Jesus Christ, and resignest thy Will wholly to him, and\ndesirest nothing and willest nothing without him, thou shalt never come\nto such a rest as no creature can disturb. Think what thou pleasest,\nand be never so much delighted in the activity of thine own reason, thou\nshalt find that, in thine own power and without such a total surrender\nto God and to the life of God, thou canst never arrive at such a rest as\nthis, or the true Quiet of the Soul, wherein no creature can molest\nthee, or even so much as touch thee. Which when thou shalt, with Grace,\nhave attained to, then with thy Body thou art in the World, as in the\nproperties of outward Nature; and, with thy Reason, under the Cross of\nour Lord Jesus Christ; but with thy _Will_ thou walkest in heaven, and\nart at the end from whence all creatures are proceeded forth, and _to_\nwhich they return again. And then thou canst in this End, which is the\nsame with the _Beginning_, behold all things outwardly with _reason_ and\nliberally with the _mind_; and so mayest thou rule in all things and\nover all things, with Christ; unto whom all power is given both in\nheaven and on earth.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nO, Master, the creatures which live in me do withhold me, so that I\ncannot so wholly yield and give up myself as I willingly would. What am\nI to do in this case?\n\nMASTER\n\nLet not this trouble thee. Doth thy Will go forth from the creatures?\nThen the creatures are forsaken in thee. They are in the world, and thy\nbody, which is in the world, is with the creatures. But spiritually thou\nwalkest with God, and conversest in heaven; being in thy mind redeemed\nfrom earth, and separated from creatures, to live the life of God. And\nif thy Will thus leaveth the creatures, and goeth forth from them, even\nas the spirit goeth forth from the body at death; then are the creatures\ndead in it, and do live only in the body in the world. Since if thy Will\ndo not bring itself into them, they cannot bring themselves into it,\nneither can they by any means touch the soul. And hence St Paul saith,\n_Our conversation is in heaven; and also, Ye are the temple of God, and\nthe Spirit of God dwelleth in you_. So, then, true Christians are the\nvery temples of the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in them; that is, the Holy\nGhost dwelleth in the Will, and the Creature dwelleth in the Body.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nIf now the Holy Spirit doth dwell in the Will of the Mind, how ought I\nto keep myself so that he depart not from me again.\n\nMASTER\n\nMark, my son, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: _If ye abide in my\nwords_, then my words abide in you. If thou abidest with thy Will in the\nWords of Christ; then his Word and Spirit abideth in thee, and all shall\nbe done for thee that thou canst ask of him. But if thy Will goeth into\nthe creature, then thou hast broken off thyself thereby from him. And\nthen thou canst not any otherwise keep thyself but by abiding\ncontinually with that resigned humility, and by entering into a constant\ncourse of penitence, wherein thou wilt always be grieved at thine own\ncreaturely Will, and that creatures do still live in thee, that is, in\nthy bodily appetite. If thou dost thus, thou standest in a daily dying\nfrom the creatures, and in a daily ascending into heaven in thy will,\nwhich will is also the Will of thy Heavenly Father.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nO my loving Master, pray teach me how I may come to such a constant\ncourse of holy penitence, and to such a daily dying from all creaturely\nobjects, for how can I abide continually in repentance?\n\nMASTER\n\nWhen thou leavest that which loveth thee, and lovest that which hateth\nthee; then thou mayest continually abide in repentance.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nWhat is it that I must thus leave?\n\nMASTER\n\nAll things that love and entertain thee, because thy Will loves and\nentertains them. All things that please and feed thee, because thy Will\nfeeds and cherishes them. All creatures in flesh and blood; in a word,\nall visibles and sensibles, by which either the imaginative or sensitive\nappetite in men are delighted and refreshed. These the Will of thy mind,\nor thy supreme part, must leave and forsake, and must even account them\nall its enemies. This is the leaving of what loves thee. And the loving\nof what hates thee is the embracing the reproach of the World. Thou must\nlearn then to love the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for his sake\nto be pleased with the reproach of the World which hates thee and\nderides thee; and let this be thy daily exercise of penitence to be\ncrucified to the World, and the World to thee. And so thou shalt have\ncontinual cause to hate thyself _in the Creature_, and to seek the\neternal rest which is _in Christ_. To which rest thou having thus\nattained, thy Will may therein safely rest and repose itself, according\nas thy Lord Christ hath said: In me ye may have rest, but in the World\nye shall have anxiety: In me ye may have peace, but in the World ye\nshall have tribulation.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nHow now shall I be able to subsist in this anxiety and tribulation\narising from the World so as not to lose the eternal peace, or not to\nenter into this rest? And how may I recover myself in such a temptation\nas this is, by not sinking under the World, but rising above it by a\nlife which is truly heavenly and supersensual?\n\nMASTER\n\nIf thou dost once every hour throw thyself by faith beyond all\ncreatures, beyond and above all sensual perception and apprehension,\nyea, above discourse and reasoning into the abyssal mercy of God, into\nthe sufferings of our Lord, and into the fellowship of his interceding,\nand yieldest thyself fully and absolutely thereinto; then thou shalt\nreceive power from above to rule over Death and the Devil and to subdue\nHell and the World unto thee. And then thou mayest subsist in all\ntemptations, and be the brighter for them.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBlessed is the man that arriveth to such a state as this. But, alas,\npoor man that I am, how is this possible as to me? And what, O my\nMaster, would become of me, if I should ever attain with my mind to that\nwhere no creature is? Must I not cry out, _I am undone_?\n\nMASTER\n\nSon, why art thou so dispirited? Be of good heart still; for thou mayest\ncertainly yet attain to it. Do but believe, and all things are made\npossible to thee. If it were that thy Will, O thou of so little courage,\ncould break off itself for an hour, or even but for a half hour, from\nall creatures, and plunge itself into that where no creature is, or can\nbe; presently it would be penetrated and clothed upon with the supreme\nsplendour of the Divine Glory, would taste in itself the most sweet Love\nof Jesus, the sweetness whereof no tongue can express, and would find in\nitself the unspeakable words of our Lord concerning his great mercy. Thy\nspirit would then feel in itself the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ to\nbe very pleasing to it; and would thereupon love the Cross more than the\nhonours and goods of the World.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nThis for the Soul would be exceeding well indeed. But what would then\nbecome of the Body, seeing that it must of necessity live in _Creature_?\n\nMASTER\n\nThe body would by this means be put into the imitation of our Lord Jesus\nChrist and of his body. It would stand in the communion of that most\nblessed Body, which is the true temple of the Deity, and in the\nparticipation of all its gracious effects, virtues, and influences. It\nwould live in the Creature, not of choice, but only as it is made\nsubject to vanity, and in the World, as it is placed therein by the\nordination of the Creator, for its cultivation and higher advancement,\nand as groaning to be delivered out of it in God's time and manner, for\nits perfection and resuscitation in eternal liberty and glory, like unto\nthe glorified body of our Lord and his risen Saints.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut the body, being in its present constitution, so made subject to\nvanity, and living in a vain image and creaturely shadows according to\nthe life of the undergraduated creatures or brutes, whose breath goeth\ndownward to the earth; I am still very much afraid thereof, lest it\nshould continue to depress the mind which is lifted up to God, by\nhanging as a dead weight thereto; and go on to abuse and perplex the\nsame, as formerly, with dreams and trifles, by letting in the objects\nfrom without, in order to draw me down into the World and the hurry\nthereof; whereas I would fain maintain by conversation in Heaven even\nwhile I am living in the World. What, therefore, must I do with this\nbody, that I may be able to keep up so desirable a conversation, and not\nto be under subjection to it any longer?\n\nMASTER\n\nThere is no other way for thee that I know but to present the body\nwhereof thou complainest (which is the beast to be sacrificed) _a living\nsacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God_. And this shall be thy rational\nservice whereby this thy body will be put, as thou desirest, into the\nimitation of Jesus Christ, who said his Kingdom was not of this World.\nBe not thou then _conformed_ to it, but be _transformed_ by the renewing\nof thy mind; which renewed mind is to have dominion over the body, that\nso thou mayest prove, both in body and mind, what is the perfect Will of\nGod, and accordingly perform the same with and by his grace operating\nin thee. Whereupon the body, or the _animal life_ would, being thus\noffered up, begin to die, both from without and from within. From\n_without_, that is, from the vanity and evil customs and fashions of the\nWorld; it would be an utter change to all the parts thereof, and to all\nthe pageantry, pride, ambition, and haughtiness therein. From _within_\nit would die as to all the lusts and appetites of the flesh, and would\nget a mind and will wholly new for its government and management; being\nnow made subject to the Spirit, which would continually be directed to\nGod. And thus thy very body is become the temple of God and of his\nSpirit, in imitation of thy Lord's Body.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut the World would hate it and despise it for so doing, seeing it must\nhereby contradict the World, and must live and act quite otherwise than\nthe World doth. This is most certain. And how can this be taken?\n\nMASTER\n\nIt would not take that as any harm done to it, but would rather rejoice\nthat it is become worthy to be like unto the image of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, being transformed from that of the World. And it would be most\nwilling to bear that cross after our Lord, merely that our Lord might\nbestow upon it the influence of his sweet and precious love.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nI do not doubt but in some this may be even so. Nevertheless, for my own\npart, I am in a strait between two, not feeling yet enough of that\nblessed influence upon me. Oh how willingly should my body bear _that_,\ncould _this_ be safely depended upon by me! Wherefore pardon me, loving\nSir, in this one thing, if my impatience doth still further demand,\n\"What would become of it, if the anger of God from within, and the\nwicked World also from without, should at once assault it, as the same\nreally happened to our Lord Christ?\"\n\nMASTER\n\nBe that unto it, even as unto our Lord Christ, when he was reproached,\nreviled and crucified by the World, and when the anger of God so\nfiercely assaulted him for our sake. Now what did he under this most\nterrible assault both from without and within? Why; he commended his\nsoul into the hands of his Father, and so departed from the anguish of\nthis World into the eternal joy. Do thou likewise, and his death shall\nbe thy life.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBe it unto me as unto the Lord Christ, and unto my body as unto his,\nwhich into his hands I have commended, and for the sake of his name do\noffer up, according to his revealed Will. Nevertheless I am desirous to\nknow what would become of my body in its pressing forth from the anguish\nof this miserable World into the power of the Heavenly Kingdom.\n\nMASTER\n\nIt would get forth from the reproach and contradiction of the World by a\nconformity to the passion of Jesus Christ; and from the sorrows and\npains in the flesh, which are only the effects of some sensible\nimpression of things without, by a quiet introversion of the spirit and\nsecret communion with the Deity manifesting itself for that end. It\nwould penetrate into itself; it would sink into the great love of God;\nit would be sustained and refreshed by the most sweet name _Jesus_, and\nit would see and find within itself a new world springing forth, as\nthrough the anger of God, into the joy and love eternal. And then should\na man wrap his soul in this, even in the great Love of God, and clothe\nhimself therewith as with a garment; and should account thence all\nthings alike; because in the Creature he finds nothing that can give\nhim, without God, the least satisfaction, and because also nothing of\nharm can touch him more while he remains in this Love. For this Love is\nindeed stronger than all things, and makes a man invulnerable both from\nwithin and without, by taking out the sting and poison of the Creature,\nand destroying the power of death. And whether the body be in hell or on\nearth, all is alike to him; for whether it be there or here, his mind is\nstill in the greatest Love of God; which is no less than to say that he\nis in heaven.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut how would a man's body be maintained in the World; or how would he\nbe able to maintain those who are his, if he should by such a\nconversation incur the displeasure of all the World?\n\nMASTER\n\nSuch a man gets greater favours than the world is able to bestow upon\nhim: he hath God for his friend; he hath all the Angels for his friends.\nIn all dangers and necessities these protect and relieve him; so that he\nneed fear no manner of evil; no creature can hurt him. God is his\nhelper, and that is sufficient. Also God is his blessing in everything.\nAnd though sometimes it may seem as if God would not bless him, yet is\nthis but for a trial to him, and for the attraction of the Divine Love,\nto the end he may more fervently pray to God, and commit all his ways\nunto him.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nHe loses, however, by this all his good friends, and there will be none\nto help him in his necessity.\n\nMASTER\n\nNay, but he gets the hearts of all his good friends into his possession,\nand loses none but his enemies, who before loved his vanity and\nwickedness.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nHow is it that he can get his good friends into his possession?\n\nMASTER\n\nHe gets the very hearts and souls of all those that belong to our Lord\nJesus to be his brethren, and the members of his own very life. For all\nthe children of God are but ONE in Christ, which one is Christ _in All_.\nAnd therefore he gets them all to be his fellow-members in the Body of\nChrist, whence they have all the same heavenly goods in common and all\nlive in one and the same Love of God, as the branches of a tree in one\nand the same root, and spring all from one and the same source of life\nin them. So that he can have no want of spiritual friends and relations,\nwho are all rooted with him together in the Love which is from above,\nwho are all of the same blood and kindred in Christ Jesus; and who are\ncherished all by the same quickening sap and spirit diffusing itself\nthrough them universally from the one true Vine, which is the tree of\nlife and love. These are friends worth having; and though here they may\nbe unknown to him, will abide his friends beyond doubt to all eternity.\nBut neither can he want even outward natural friends, as our Lord\nChrist, when on earth, did not want such also. For though, indeed, the\nHigh-Priests and Potentates of the World could not have a love to him,\nbecause they belonged not to him, neither stood in any kind of relation\nto him, as being not of this world, yet those loved him who were capable\nof his love, and receptive of his words. So, in like manner, those who\nlove truth and righteousness will love that man, and will associate\nthemselves unto him, yea, though they may perhaps be outwardly at some\ndistance or seeming disagreement, from the situation of their worldly\naffairs, or from other reasons, yet in their hearts they cannot but\ncleave to him. For though they be not actually incorporated into one\nbody with him, yet they cannot resist being of one mind with him, and\nbeing united in affliction, for the great regard they bear to the truth,\nwhich shines forth in his words and in his life. By this they are made\neither his declared or his secret friends; and he doth so get their\nhearts that they will be delighted above all things in his company, for\nthe sake thereof, and will court his friendship and will come unto him\nby stealth, if openly they dare not, for the benefit of his conversation\nand advice; even as Nicodemus did to Christ, who came to him by night,\nand in his heart loved Jesus for the truth's sake, though outwardly he\nfeared the World. And thus thou shalt have many friends that are not\nknown to thee; and some known to thee, who may not appear so before the\nWorld.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nNevertheless it is very grievous to be generally despised of the World,\nand to be trampled upon by men as the very offscouring thereof.\n\nMASTER\n\nThat which now seems so hard and heavy to thee, thou wilt yet hereafter\nbe most in love with.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nHow can it ever be that I should love that which hates me?\n\nMASTER\n\nThough thou lovest the Earthly Wisdom now, yet when thou shalt be\nclothed upon with the Heavenly Wisdom, then wilt thou see that all the\nwisdom of the World is folly; and wilt see also that the World hates not\nso much thee, as thine enemy, which is this mortal life. And when thou\nthyself shalt come to hate the will thereof, by means of a habitual\nseparation of thy mind from the World, then thou also wilt begin to love\nthat despising of the mortal life, and the reproach of the World for\nChrist's sake. And so shalt thou be able to stand under every\ntemptation, and to hold out to the end by the means hereof in a course\nof life above the World and above sense.\n\nIn this course thou wilt hate thyself, and thou wilt also love thyself,\nI say, love thyself, and that even more than thou ever didst yet.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut how can these two subsist together, that a person should both _love_\nand _hate_ himself?\n\nMASTER\n\n_In loving thyself_, thou lovest not thyself _as thine own_, but thou\nlovest the divine ground in thee, as given thee from the Love of God. By\nwhich, and in which, thou lovest the Divine Wisdom, the Divine Goodness,\nthe Divine Beauty; thou lovest also by it God's works of wonders; and in\nthis ground thou lovest also thy brethren. But _in hating thyself_, thou\nhatest only that which is _thine own_, and wherein the Evil sticks close\nto thee. And this thou dost, that so thou mayest wholly destroy that\nwhich thou callest _thine_, as when thou sayest I or MYSELF do this, or\ndo that. All which is wrong and a downright mistake in thee; for nothing\ncanst thou properly call _thine_ but the evil Self, neither canst thou\ndo anything of thyself that is to be accounted of. This _Self_ therefore\nthou must labour wholly to destroy in thee, that so thou mayest become a\nground wholly divine. There can be no _selfishness_ in love; they are\nopposite to each other. Love, that is, Divine Love (of which only we are\nnow discoursing), hates all Egoity, hates all that which we call I, or\nIHOOD, hates all such restrictions and confinements, even all that\nsprings from a contracted spirit, or this evil _Self-hood_, because it\nis an hateful and deadly thing. And it is impossible that these two\nshould stand together, or subsist in one person; the one driving out the\nother by a necessity of nature. For _Love_ possesses Heaven, and dwells\nin itself, which is dwelling in Heaven; but that which is called I, this\nvile self-hood, possesses the world and worldly things; and dwells also\nin itself, which is dwelling _in Hell_, because this is the very root of\nHell itself. And, therefore, as Heaven rules the World, and as Eternity\nrules Time, even so ought Love to rule the natural temporal Life; for no\nother method is there, neither can there be of attaining to that Life\nwhich is supernatural and eternal, and which thou so much desirest to be\nled into.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nLoving Master, I am well content that this Love should rule in me over\nthe natural Life, that so I may attain to that which is supernatural and\nsupersensual; but, pray tell me now, why must Love and Hatred, friend\nand foe, thus be together? Would not Love alone be better? Wherefore, I\nsay, are Love and Trouble thus joined?\n\nMASTER\n\nIf Love dwelt not in Trouble, it could have nothing to love. But its\nsubstance which it loves, namely the poor soul, being in trouble and\npain, it hath thence cause to love this its own substance and to deliver\nit from pain, that so itself may by it be again beloved. Neither could\nany one know what Love is, if there were no Hatred; or what friendship\nis, if there were no foe to contend with. Or, in one word, if Love had\nnot something which it might love, and manifest the virtue and power of\nlove in working out deliverance to the Beloved from all pain and\ntrouble.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nPray what is the virtue, the power, the height, and the greatness of\nLove?\n\nMASTER\n\nThe virtue of Love is NOTHING and ALL, or that _Nothing visible_ out of\nwhich All Things proceed. Its power is through All Things; its height is\nas high as God; its greatness is as great as God. Its virtue is the\nprinciple of all principles; its power supports the Heavens and upholds\nthe Earth; its height is higher than the highest Heavens, and its\ngreatness is even greater than the very Manifestation of the Godhead in\nthe glorious light of the Divine Essence, as being infinitely capable of\ngreater and greater manifestations in all Eternity. What can I say\nmore? Love is higher than the Highest. Love is greater than the\nGreatest. Yea, it _is in a certain sense_ greater than God; while yet,\nin the highest sense of all, God is Love, and Love is God. Love being\nthe highest principle is the virtue of all virtues; from whence they\nflow forth. Love, being the greatest Majesty, is the Power of all\nPowers, from whence they severally operate. And it is the Holy Magical\nRoot, a Ghostly Power from whence all the wonders of God have been\nwrought by the hands of his elect servants, in all their generations\nsuccessively, Whosoever finds it, finds _Nothing and All Things_.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nDear Master, pray tell me how I may understand this?\n\nMASTER\n\nFirst, then, in that I said, its _virtue is Nothing, or that Nothing_\nwhich is the beginning of All Things, thou must understand it thus; When\nthou art gone forth wholly from the Creature, and from that which is\nvisible; and art become Nothing to all that is Nature and Creature, then\nthou art in that Eternal One, which is God himself; and then thou shalt\nperceive and feel within thee the highest virtue of Love. But in that I\nsaid, Its power is through All Things, this is that which thou\nperceivest and findest in thy own soul and body experimentally, whenever\nthis great Love is enkindled within thee; seeing that it will burn more\nthan the fire can do, as it did in the Prophets of old, and afterwards\nin the Apostles, when God conversed with them bodily, and when his\nSpirit descended upon them in the Oratory of Zion. Thou shalt then see\nalso in all the works of God, how Love hath poured forth itself into all\nthings, and penetrated all things, and is the most inward and most\noutward ground in all things. Inwardly in the virtue and power of every\nthing, and outwardly in the figure and form thereof.\n\nAnd in that I said, _Its height is as high as God_; thou mayest\nunderstand this in thyself: forasmuch as it brings thee to be as high as\nGod himself is, by being united to God; as may be seen by our beloved\nLord Jesus Christ in our humanity. Which humanity Love hath brought up\ninto the highest throne, above all angelical principalities and powers,\ninto the very Power of the Deity itself.\n\nBut in that I also said, _Its greatness is as great as God_, thou art\nhereby to understand that there is a certain greatness and latitude of\nheart in Love, which is unexpressible, for it enlarges the soul as wide\nas the whole Creation of God. And this shall be truly experienced by\nthee, beyond all words, when the throne of Love shall be set up in thy\nheart.\n\nMoreover in that I said, _Its virtue is the principle of all\nprinciples_; hereby it is given thee to understand that Love is the\nprincipal cause of all created beings, both spiritual and corporeal, by\nvirtue whereof the second causes do move and act occasionally, according\nto certain Eternal Laws, from the beginning implanted in the very\nconstitution of things thus originated. This virtue which is in Love is\nthe very life and energy of all the principles of Nature, superior and\ninferior. It reaches to all Worlds, and to all manner of beings in them\ncontained, they being the workmanship of Divine Love, and is the _first\nmover_ and _first moveable_, both in heaven above, and in the earth\nbeneath, and in the water under the earth. And hence there is given to\nit the name of the _Lucid Aleph_ or _Alpha_; by which is expressed the\nbeginning of the _Alphabet of Nature_, and of the Book of Creation and\nProvidence or the _Divine Archetypal Book_, in which is the Light of\nWisdom and the source of all lights and forms.\n\nAnd in that I said, _Its power supports the Heavens_; by this thou wilt\ncome to understand that as the Heavens, visible and invisible, are\noriginated from this great principle, so are they likewise necessarily\nsustained by it; and that therefore if this should be but never so\nlittle withdrawn, all the lights, glories, beauties and forms of the\nheavenly worlds would presently sink into darkness and chaos.\n\nAnd whereas I further said _that it upholds the Earth_; this will appear\nto thee no less evident than the former, and thou shalt perceive it in\nthyself by daily and hourly experience; forasmuch as the Earth _without\nit_, even thy _own earth_ also (that is, thy body) would certainly be\nwithout form and void. By the power thereof the Earth hath been thus\nlong upheld, notwithstanding a foreign usurped power introduced by the\nfolly of sin. And should this but once fail or recede there could be no\nlonger either vegetation or animation upon it; yea, the very pillars of\nit being overthrown quite, and the band of union, which is that of\nattraction or magnetism, called the centripetal power, being broken and\ndissolved, all must thence run into the utmost disorder, and falling\naway as into shivers, would be dispersed as loose dust before the wind.\n\nBut in that I said, _Its height is higher than the highest Heavens_;\nthis thou mayest also understand within thyself. For shouldest thou\nascend in spirit through all the orders of Angels and heavenly Powers,\nyet the Power of Love still is undeniably superior to them all. And as\nthe Throne of God, who sits upon the Heaven of Heavens, is higher than\nthe highest of them, even so must Love also be, which fills them all,\nand comprehends them all.\n\nAnd whereas I said of the _Greatness of Love that it is greater than the\nvery Manifestation of Godhead in the light of the Divine Essence_; that\nis also true. For Love enters even into that where the Godhead is not\nmanifested in this glorious light, and where God may be said not to\ndwell. And entering thereinto, Love begins to manifest to the soul the\nlight of the Godhead; and thus is the darkness broken through, and the\nwonders of the new creation successively manifested.\n\nThus shalt thou be brought to understand really and fundamentally what\nis the virtue and the power of Love, and what the height and greatness\nthereof is; how that is indeed the _virtue of all virtues_, though it be\ninvisible, and as a _Nothing_ in appearance, inasmuch as it is the\nworker of all things, and a powerful _vital energy_ passing through all\nvirtues and powers natural and supernatural, and the _power of all\npowers_, nothing being able to let or obstruct the _Omnipotence_ of\nLove, or to resist its invincible penetrating might, which passes\nthrough the whole Creation of God, inspecting and governing all things.\n\nAnd in that I said; _It is higher than the highest and greater than the\ngreatest_; thou mayst hereby perceive as in a glimpse the supreme height\nand greatness of _Omnipotent Love_ which infinitely transcends all that\nhuman sense and reason can reach to. The highest Archangel and greatest\nPowers of Heaven, are in comparison of it, but as dwarfs. Nothing can be\nconceived higher and greater in God himself, by the very highest and\ngreatest of his creatures. There is such infinity in it as comprehends\nand surpasses all the divine attributes.\n\nBut in that it was also said, _Its greatness is greater than God_; that\nlikewise is very true in the sense wherein it was spoken. For Love can\nthere enter where God dwelleth not, since the most high God dwelleth not\nin darkness, but in the Light, the hellish darkness being put under his\nfeet. Thus, for instance, when our beloved Lord Jesus Christ was in\nHell, Hell was not the mansion of God or of Christ, Hell sees not God,\nneither was it with God, nor could it be at all with him; Hell stood in\nthe darkness and anxiety of Nature, and no light of the Divine Majesty\ndid there enter; God was not there, for he is not in the darkness nor in\nthe anguish; but Love was there; and Love destroyed Death and conquered\nHell. So also when thou art in anguish or trouble, which is _hell\nwithin_, God is not the anguish or trouble, neither is he in the anguish\nor trouble; but his Love is there, and brings thee out of the anguish\nand trouble into God, leading thee into the light and joy of his\npresence. When God hides himself in thee, Love is still there, and makes\nhim manifest in thee. Such is the inconceivable greatness and largeness\nof Love, which will hence appear to thee as great as God _above Nature_\nand greater than God _in Nature_, or as considered in his manifestative\nglory.\n\nLastly, whereas I said, _Whosoever finds it finds Nothing and all\nThings_; that is also certain and true. But how finds he _Nothing_? Why,\nI will tell thee how. He that findeth it findeth a supernatural,\nsupersensual Abyss, which hath no ground or Byss to stand on, and where\nthere is no place to dwell in; and he findeth also nothing is like unto\nit and therefore it may fitly be compared to _Nothing_, for it is deeper\nthan any _Thing_, and is as Nothing with respect to All Things,\nforasmuch as it is not comprehensible by any of them. And because it is\nNothing respectively, it is therefore free from All Things, and is that\nonly Good, which a man cannot express or utter what it is, there being\nNothing to which it may be compared, to express it by.\n\nBut in that I lastly said; _Whosoever finds it finds All Things_; there\nis nothing can be more true than this assertion. It hath been the\nBeginning of All Things; and it ruleth All Things. It is also the End of\nAll Things; and will thence comprehend All Things within its circle. All\nThings are from it, and in it, and by it. If thou findest it thou comest\ninto that ground from whence All Things are proceeded, and wherein they\nsubsist; and thou art in it a King over all the works of God.\n\nHere the Disciple was exceedingly ravished with what his Master had so\nwonderfully and surprisingly declared, and returned his most hearty and\nhumble thanks for that light which he had been an instrument of\nconveying to him. But being desirous to hear further concerning these\nhigh matters, and to know somewhat more particularly, he requested him\nthat he would give him leave to wait on him the next day again; and that\nhe would then be pleased to show him _how_ and _where_ he might find\nthis which was so much beyond all price and value, and whereabout the\nseat and abode of it might be in human nature, with the entire process\nof the discovery and bringing it forth to light.\n\nThe Master said to him: This then we will discourse about at our next\nconference, as God shall reveal the same to us by his Spirit, which is\na searcher of All Things. And if thou dost remember well what I answered\nthee in the beginning, thou shalt soon come thereby to understand that\nhidden mystical wisdom of God; which none of the wise men of the world\nknow; and where the Mine thereof is to be found in thee shall be given\nthee from above to discern. Be silent therefore in thy spirit, and watch\nunto prayer; that, when we meet again to-morrow in the love of Christ,\nthy mind may be disposed for finding that noble Pearl, which to the\nWorld appears _Nothing_, but to the Children of Wisdom is _All Things_.\n\n\n\n\nDIALOGUE II\n\n\nThe Disciple being very earnest to be more fully instructed how he might\narrive at the supersensual life, and how, having found all things, he\nmight come to be a king over all God's works, came again to his Master\nnext morning, having watched the night in prayer, that he might be\ndisposed to receive and apprehend the instructions that should be given\nhim by a divine irradiation upon his mind. And the Disciple, after a\nlittle space of silence, bowed himself, and thus brake forth.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nO my Master, my Master! I have now endeavoured to recollect my soul in\nthe presence of God, and to cast myself into the Deep where no creature\ndoth nor can dwell; that I might hear the voice of my Lord speaking in\nme, and be initiated into that high life whereof I heard yesterday such\ngreat and amazing things. But alas I neither hear nor see as I should.\nThere is still such a partition wall in me which beats back the heavenly\nsounds in their passage, and obstructs the entrance of that light\nwhereby alone divine objects are discoverable, as till this be gone I\ncan have but small hopes, yea, even none at all, of arriving at those\nglorious attainments which you pressed me to, or of entering into _that\nwhere no creature dwells_, and which you call _Nothing_ and _All\nThings_. Wherefore be so kind as to inform me what is required on my\npart, that this partition which hinders may be broken or removed.\n\nMASTER\n\nThis partition is the creaturely will in thee, and this can be broken by\nnothing but the Grace of self-denial, which is the entrance into the\ntrue following of Christ, and totally removed by nothing but a perfect\nconformity with the Divine Will.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut how shall I be able to _break_ this creaturely will which is in me,\nand is at enmity with the Divine Will? Or what shall I do to follow\nChrist in so difficult a path, and not to faint in a continual course of\nself-denial or resignation to the Will of God.\n\nMASTER\n\nThis is not to be done by thyself; but by the light and grace of God\nreceived into thy soul, which will, if thou gainsay not, break the\ndarkness that is in thee, and melt down thy old will, which worketh in\nthe darkness and corruption of Nature, and bring it into the obedience\nof Christ, whereby the partition of the creaturely self is removed from\nbetwixt God and thee.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nI know that I cannot do it of myself. But I would fain learn how I must\nreceive this Divine Light and Grace into me, which is to do it for me,\nif I hinder it not my own self. What is then required of me in order to\nadmit this Breaker of the partition, and to promote the attainment of\nthe ends of such admission?\n\nMASTER\n\nThere is nothing more required of thee at first than not to resist this\ngrace, which is manifested in thee; and nothing in the whole process of\nthe work, but to be obedient and passive to the Light of God shining\nthrough the darkness of thy creaturely being, which comprehendeth it\nnot, as reaching no higher than the _Light of Nature_.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut is it not for me to attain, if I can, both the Light of God, and\nthe Light of the outward Nature too, and to make use of them both for\nthe ordering of my life wisely and prudently?\n\nMASTER\n\nIt is right so to do. And it is indeed a treasure above all earthly\ntreasures to be possessed of the Light of God and Nature operating in\ntheir spheres, and to have both the Eye of Time and Eternity at once\nopen together, and yet not to interfere with each other.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nThis is a great satisfaction to me to hear; having been very uneasy\nabout it for some time. But how this can be without interfering with\neach other, there is the difficulty. Wherefore fain would I know, if it\nwere lawful, the boundaries of the one and the other, and how both the\nDivine and the Natural Light may in their several spheres respectively\nact and operate for the Manifestation of the Mysteries of God and\nNature, and for the conduct of my outward and inward life?\n\nMASTER\n\nThat each of these may be preserved distinctly in their several spheres,\nwithout confounding Things Heavenly and Things Earthly, or breaking the\ngolden Chain of Wisdom, it will be necessary, my child, in the first\nplace to wait for and attend the Supernatural and Divine Light, as this\nsuperior Light appointed to govern the day, rising in the true East,\nwhich is the Centre of Paradise, and the great Light breaking forth as\nout of the darkness within thee, through a pillar of fire and\nthunder-clouds, and thereby reflecting also upon the inferior Light of\nNature a sort of image of itself, whereby only it can be kept in its due\nsubordination; that which is _below_ being made subservient to that\nwhich is _above_, and that which is _without_ to that which is _within_.\nThus there will be no danger of interfering, but all will go right, and\neverything abide in its proper sphere.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nTherefore without Reason or the Light of Nature be sanctified in my\nsoul, and illuminated by this superior Light, as from the central East\nof the holy Light-World, by the Eternal and Intellectual Sun, I perceive\nthere will always be some confusion, and I shall never be able to manage\naright either what concerneth Time or Eternity. But I must always be at\na loss, or break the links of Wisdom's Chain.\n\nMASTER\n\nIt is even so as thou hast said. All is confusion if thou hast no more\nthan the dim Light of Nature, or unsanctified and unregenerated Reason\nto guide thee by, and if only the Eye of Time be opened in thee, which\ncannot pierce beyond its own limit. Wherefore seek the Fountain of\nLight, waiting in the deep ground of thy soul for the rising there of\nthe Sun of Righteousness, whereby the Light of Nature in thee, with the\nproperties thereof, will be made to shine seven times brighter than\nordinary. For it shall receive the stamp, image and impression of the\nSupersensual and Supernatural, so that the sensual and rational life\nwill hence be brought into the most perfect order and harmony.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut how am I to wait for the rising of this glorious Sun, and how am I\nto seek in the Centre this Fountain of Light, which may enlighten me\nthroughout and bring my properties into perfect harmony? I am in Nature,\nas I said before, and which way shall I pass through Nature, and the\nlight thereof, so that I may come into the Supernatural and Supersensual\nground whence this true light, which is the Light of Minds, doth arise;\nand this without the destruction of my nature, or quenching the Light of\nit, which is my reason?\n\nMASTER\n\nCease but from thine own activity, steadfastly fixing thine Eye upon\n_one Point_, and with a strong purpose relying upon the promised Grace\nof God in Christ, to bring thee out of thy Darkness into his marvellous\nLight. For this end gather in all thy thoughts, and by faith press into\nthe Centre, laying hold upon the Word of God, which is infallible, and\nwhich hath called thee. Be thou then obedient to this call, and be\nsilent before the Lord, sitting alone with him in thy inmost and most\nhidden cell, thy mind being centrally united in itself, and attending\nhis Will in the patience of hope. So shall thy Light break forth as the\nMorning, and after the redness thereof is passed, the Sun himself which\nthou waitest for, shall arise unto thee, and under his most healing\nwings thou shalt greatly rejoice; ascending and descending in his bright\nand salutiferous beams. Behold this is the true Supersensual Ground of\nLife.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nI believe it indeed to be even so. But will not this destroy Nature?\nWill not the Light of Nature in me be extinguished by this greater\nLight? Or, must not the outward Life hence perish, with the earthly body\nwhich I carry?\n\nMASTER\n\nBy no means at all. It is true, the evil Nature will be destroyed by it;\nbut by the destruction thereof you can be no loser, but very much a\ngainer. The Eternal Bond of Nature is the same afterward as before; and\nthe properties are the same. So that Nature hereby is only advanced and\nmeliorated, and the Light thereof, or human Reason, by being kept within\nits due bounds, and regulated by a superior Light, is only made useful.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nPray, therefore, let me know how this inferior Light ought to be used by\nme; how it is to be kept within its due bounds; and after what manner\nthe superior Light doth regulate it and ennoble it.\n\nMASTER\n\nKnow then, my beloved son, that if thou wilt keep the Light of Nature\nwithin its own proper bounds, and make use thereof in just subordination\nto the Light of God, thou must consider that there are in thy soul two\n_Wills_, an _inferior_ Will, which is for driving thee to Things without\nand below; and a _superior_ Will, which is for drawing thee to Things\nwithin and above. These two Wills are now set together, as it were back\nto back, and in a direct contrariety to each other; but in the beginning\nit was not so. For this contraposition of the soul in these two is no\nmore than the effect of the Fallen State; since before that they were\nplaced one under the other, that is, the _superior_ Will _above_, as the\nLord, and the inferior _below_, as the subject. And thus it ought to\nhave continued. Thou must also further consider that, answering to these\ntwo Wills, there are likewise two Eyes in the soul, whereby they are\nseverally directed, forasmuch as these Eyes are not united in one single\nview, but look quite contrary ways at once. They are in a like manner\nset one against the other, without a common medium to join them. And\nhence, so long as this double-sightedness doth remain, it is impossible\nthere should be any agreement in the determination of this or that Will.\nThis is very plain. And it showeth the necessity that this malady,\narising from the disunion of the rays of vision, be some way remedied\nand redressed, in order to a true discernment in the mind. Both these\neyes therefore must be made to unite by a concentration of rays, there\nbeing nothing more dangerous than for the mind to abide thus in the\nDuplicity and not to seek to arrive at the Unity. Thou perceivest, I\nknow, that thou hast two Wills in thee, one set against the other, the\nsuperior and the inferior, and that thou hast always two Eyes within,\none against the other, whereof the one Eye may be called the Right Eye,\nand the other the Left Eye. Thou perceivest too, doubtless, that it is\naccording to the Right Eye that the wheel of the superior Will is moved;\nand that it is according to the motion of the Left Eye that the contrary\nwheel in the lower is turned about.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nI perceive this, Sir, to be very true; and this it is which causeth a\ncontinual combat in me, and createth in me greater anxiety than I am\nable to express. Nor am I unacquainted with the disease of my own soul,\nwhich you have so clearly declared. Alas! I perceive and lament this\nmalady, which so miserably disturbeth my sight; whence I feel such\nirregular and convulsive motions drawing me on this side and that side.\nThe Spirit seeth not as the Flesh seeth, neither doth, nor can, the\nFlesh see as the Spirit seeth. Hence the Spirit willeth against the\nFlesh; and the Flesh willeth against the Spirit in me. This hath been\nmy hard case. And how shall it be remedied? O how may I arrive at the\nUnity of Will, and how come into the Unity of Vision?\n\nMASTER\n\nMark now what I say. The Right Eye looketh forward in thee into\nEternity. The Left Eye looketh backward in thee into Time. If thou now\nsufferest thyself to be always looking into Nature, and the Things of\nTime, it will be impossible for thee ever to arrive at the Unity, which\nthou wishest for. Remember this, and be upon thy watch. Give not thy\nmind leave to enter into nor to fill itself with that which is without\nthee; neither look thou backward upon thyself; but quit thyself, and\nlook forward to Christ. Let not thy Left Eye deceive thee by making\ncontinually one representation after another, and stirring up thereby an\nearnest longing in the self-propriety; but let thy right eye command\nthis left, and attract it to thee. Yea it is better to pluck it quite\nout and to cast it from thee, than to suffer it to proceed forth without\nrestraint into Nature, and to follow its own lusts. However there is for\nthis no necessity, since both eyes may become very useful, if ordered\naright, and both the Divine and Natural Light may in the soul subsist\ntogether, and be of mutual service to each other. But never shalt thou\narrive at the Unity of Vision or Uniformity of Will, but by entering\nfully into the Will of our Saviour Christ, and therein bringing the Eye\nof Time into the Eye of Eternity, and then descending by means of these\nunited through the Light of God into the Light of Nature.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nSo then if I can but enter into the Will of my Lord, and abide therein,\nI am safe, and may both attain to the Light of God in the Spirit of my\nsoul and see with the Eye of God, that is, the Eye of Eternity in the\nEternal Ground of my Will; and may also at the same time enjoy the Light\nof this World nevertheless, not degrading but adorning the Light of\nNature, and beholding as with the Eye of Eternity things Eternal, so\nwith the Eye of Nature, things Natural, and both contemplating therein\nthe Wonders of God, and sustaining also thereby the life of my outward\nvehicle or body.\n\nMASTER\n\nIt is very right. Thou hast well understood, and thou desirest now to\nenter into the Will of God, and to abide therein as in the Supersensual\nGround of Light and Life, where thou mayst in his Light behold both Time\nand Eternity, and bring all the wonders created of God for the exterior\ninto the interior life, and so eternally rejoice in them to the glory of\nChrist; the partition of thy Creaturely Will being broken down and the\nEye of thy Spirit simplified in and through the Eye of God manifesting\nitself in the Centre of thy Life. Let this be so now, for it is God's\nWill.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut it is very hard to be always looking forwards into Eternity, and\nconsequently to attain to the single eye, and simplicity of Divine\nVision. The entrance of a soul naked into the Will of God, shutting out\nall imaginations and desires, and breaking down the strong partition\nwhich you mention, is indeed somehow very terrible and shocking to human\nnature in its present state. O what shall I do, that I may reach this\nwhich I so much long for?\n\nMASTER\n\nMy Son, let not the Eye of Nature with the Will of the Wonders depart\nfrom that Eye which is introverted into the Divine Liberty, and into the\nEternal Light of the Holy Majesty. But let it draw to thee by union\nwith that heavenly internal Eye those wonders which are externally\nwrought out and manifested in visible Nature. For while thou art in the\nworld, and hast an honest employment, thou art certainly by the Order of\nProvidence obliged to labour in it, and to finish the work given thee,\naccording to thy best ability, without repining in the least; seeking\nout and manifesting for God's glory the Wonders of Nature and Art. Since\nlet the Nature be what it will it is all the Work and Art of God. And\nlet the Art also be what it will, it is still God's Work and his Art,\nrather than any art or cunning of man. And all both in Art and Nature\nserveth but abundantly to manifest the wonderful Works of God, that he\nfor all and in all may be glorified. Yea, all serveth, if thou knowest\nrightly how to use them, only to recollect thee more inwards, and to\ndraw thy Spirit into that majestic Light wherein the original patterns\nand forms of things visible are to be seen. Keep, therefore, in the\nCentre, and stir not from the Presence of God revealed within thy Soul;\nlet the world and the devil make never so great a noise and bustle to\ndraw thee out, mind them not; they cannot hurt thee. It is permitted to\nthe Eye of thy Reason to seek food, and to thy hands by their labour to\nget food for the terrestrial body. But then this Eye ought not with its\ndesire to enter into the food prepared, which would be covetousness; but\nmust in resignation simply bring it before the Eye of God in thy Spirit,\nand then thou must seek to place it close to this very Eye, without\nletting it go. Mark this lesson well.\n\nLet the hands or the head be at labour, thy Heart ought nevertheless to\nrest in God. God is a Spirit; dwell in the Spirit; work in the Spirit;\npray in the Spirit; and do every thing in the Spirit; for remember thou\nalso art a Spirit, and thereby created in the Image of God. Therefore\nsee thou attract not in thy desire _Matter_ unto thee, but as much as\npossible abstract thyself from all Matter whatever; and so, standing in\nthe Centre, present thyself as a naked Spirit before God, in simplicity\nand purity; and be sure thy Spirit draw in nothing but Spirit.\n\nThou wilt yet be greatly enticed to draw Matter, and to gather that\nwhich the World calls _substance_; thereby to have somewhat visible to\ntrust to. But by no means consent to the Tempter, nor yield to the\nlustings of thy Flesh against the Spirit. For in so doing thou wilt\ninfallibly obscure the Divine Light in thee; thy Spirit will stick in\nthe dark Covetous Root, and from the fiery Source of thy soul will it\nblaze out in pride and anger; thy Will shall be chained in Earthliness,\nand shall sink through the Anguish into Darkness and Materiality; and\nnever shalt thou be able to reach the still Liberty, or to stand before\nthe Majesty of God. It will be all darkness to thee, as much Matter as\nis drawn in by the Desire of thy Will. It will darken God's Majesty to\nthee, and will close the seeing Eye, by hiding from thee the light of\nhis beloved countenance. This the Serpent longeth to do, but in vain,\nexcept thou permittest thy _Imagination_, upon his suggestion, to\nreceive in the alluring Matter; else he can never get in. Behold then,\nif thou desirest to see God's Light in thy Soul, and be divinely\nilluminated and conducted, this is the short way that thou art to take;\nnot to let the Eye of thy Spirit enter into Matter, or fill itself with\nany Thing whatever, either in Heaven or Earth, but to let it enter by a\n_naked faith_ into the Light of the Majesty; and so receive by _pure\nlove_ the Light of God, and attract the Divine Power into itself,\nputting on the Divine Body, and growing up in it to the full maturity of\nthe Humanity of Christ.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nAs I said before, so I say again, this is very hard. I conceive indeed\nwell enough that my Spirit ought to be free from the contagion of\nMatter, and wholly empty, that it may admit into it the Spirit of God.\nAlso, that this Spirit will not enter, but where the Will entereth into\n_Nothing_, and resigneth itself up in the _nakedness of faith_, and in\nthe _purity of love_, to its conduct, feeding magically upon the Word of\nGod, and clothing itself thereby with a _Divine Substantiality_. But,\nalas, how hard it is for the Will to sink into nothing, to attract\nnothing, to imagine nothing.\n\nMASTER\n\nLet it be granted that it is so. Is it not surely worth thy while, and\nall that thou canst ever do?\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nIt is so, I must needs confess.\n\nMASTER\n\nBut perhaps it may not be so hard as at first it appeareth to be; make\nbut the trial and be in earnest. What is there required of thee but to\nstand still and see the salvation of thy God? And couldst thou desire\nanything less? Where is the hardship in this? Thou hast nothing to care\nfor, nothing to desire in this life, nothing to imagine or attract. Thou\nneedest only cast thy care upon God, who careth for thee, and leave him\nto dispose of thee according to his good will and pleasure, even as if\nthou hadst no will at all in thee. For he knoweth what is best; and if\nthou canst but trust him, he will most certainly do better for thee,\nthan if thou wert left to thine own choice.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nThis I most firmly believe.\n\nMASTER\n\nIf thou believest, then go and do accordingly. _All_ is in the _Will_,\nas I have shown thee. When the Will imagineth after _Somewhat_, then\nentereth it into that somewhat, and this somewhat taketh the Will into\nitself, and overcloudeth it, so as it can have no Light, but must dwell\nin Darkness, unless it return back out of that somewhat into _Nothing_.\nBut when the Will imagineth or hasteth after nothing, then it entereth\ninto _Nothing_, where it receiveth the Will of God into itself, and so\ndwelleth in Light, and worketh all its works in it.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nI am now satisfied that the main cause of any one's spiritual blindness,\nis his letting his Will into Somewhat, or into that which he hath\nwrought, of what nature soever it be, good or evil, and his setting his\nheart or affections upon the work of his own hand or brain, and that\nwhen the earthly body perisheth, then the Soul must be imprisoned in\nthat very thing which it shall have received and let in; and if the\nLight of God be not in it, being deprived of the Light of this World, it\ncannot but be found in a dark prison.\n\nMASTER\n\nThis is a very precious Gate of Knowledge; I am glad thou takest it into\nsuch consideration. The understanding of the whole Scripture is\ncontained in it; and all that hath been written from the beginning of\nthe World to this day may be found therein, by him that having entered\nwith his Will into Nothing, hath there found All Things, by finding God,\nfrom Whom, and to Whom, and in Whom are All Things. By this means thou\nshalt come to hear and see God; and after this earthly life is ended to\nsee with the Eye of Eternity all the Wonders of God and of Nature, and\nmore particularly those which shall be wrought by thee in the flesh, or\nall that the Spirit of God shall have given thee to labour out for\nthyself and thy neighbour, or all that the Eye of Reason enlightened\nfrom above, may at any time have manifested to thee. Delay not therefore\nto enter in by this Gate, which if thou seest in the Spirit, as some\nhighly favoured souls have seen it, thou seest in the Supersensual\nGround _all that God is and can do_; thou seest also therewith, as one\nhath said who was taken thereinto, _through Heaven, Hell, and Earth; and\nthrough the Essence of all Essences_. Whosoever findeth it, hath found\nall that he can desire. Here is the Virtue and Power of the Love of God\ndisplayed. Here is the Height and Depth, here is the Breadth and Length\nthereof manifested, as ever the capacity of thy soul can contain. By\nthis thou shalt come into that Ground out of which all Things are\noriginated, and in which they subsist; and in it thou shalt reign over\nall God's Works, as a Prince of God.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nPray tell me, dear Master, where dwelleth it _in Man_?\n\nMASTER\n\nWhere Man dwelleth not: there hath it its seat in Man.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nWhere is that in a Man, when Man dwelleth not in himself?\n\nMASTER\n\nIt is the resigned Ground of a Soul to which nothing cleaveth.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nWhere is the Ground in any Soul, to which there will nothing stick? Or\nwhere is that which abideth and dwelleth not in something?\n\nMASTER\n\nIt is the Centre of Rest and Motion in the resigned Will of a truly\ncontrite Spirit, which is Crucified to the World. This Centre of the\nWill is impenetrable consequently to the World, the Devil, and Hell.\nNothing in all the World can enter into it, or adhere to it, because the\nWill is dead with Christ unto the World, but quickened with him in the\nCentre thereof, after his blessed Image. Here it is where Man dwelleth\nnot, and where no Self abideth or can abide.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nO where is this naked Ground of the Soul void of all Self? And how shall\nI come at the hidden Centre, where God dwelleth, and not Man? Tell me\nplainly, loving Sir, where it is, and how it is to be found of me, and\nentered into?\n\nMASTER\n\nThere where the Soul hath slain its own Will, and willeth no more any\nThing as from itself, but only as God willeth, and as his Spirit moveth\nupon the Soul shall this appear. Where the Love of Self is banished\nthere dwelleth the Love of God. For so much of the Soul's own Will as is\ndead unto itself even so much room hath the Will of God, which is his\nLove, taken up in that Soul. The reason whereof is this: Where its own\nWill did before sit, there is now nothing; and where nothing is, there\nit is that the Love of God worketh alone.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut how shall I comprehend it?\n\nMASTER\n\nIf thou goest about to comprehend it, then it will fly away from thee;\nbut if thou dost surrender thyself wholly up to it, then it will abide\nwith thee, and become the Life of thy Life, and be natural to thee.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nAnd how can this be without dying, or the whole destruction of my Will?\n\nMASTER\n\nUpon this entire surrender and yielding up of thy Will, the Love of God\nin thee becometh the Life of thy Nature; it killeth thee not, but\nquickeneth thee, who art now dead to thyself in thine own Will,\naccording to its proper Life, even the Life of God. And then thou\nlivest, yet not to thy own Will, but thou livest to its Will; for as\nmuch as thy Will is henceforth become its Will. So then it is no longer\nthy Will, but the Will of God; no longer the Love of thyself, but the\nLove of God, which moveth and operateth in thee; and then, thou being\nthus comprehended in it, thou art dead indeed as to thyself, but art\nalive unto God. So being dead thou livest, or rather God liveth in thee\nby his Spirit; and his Love is made to thee Life from the Dead. Never\ncouldst thou with all thy seeking have apprehended it, but it hath\napprehended thee. Much less couldst thou have comprehended it, but it\nhath comprehended thee; and so the Treasure of Treasures is found.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nHow is it that so few Souls do find it, when yet all would be glad\nenough to have it?\n\nMASTER\n\nThey all seek it in _somewhat_, and so they find it not. For where there\nis Somewhat for the Soul to adhere to, there the Soul findeth _that\nsomewhat only_, and taketh up its rest therein, until she seeth that it\nis to be found in Nothing, and goeth out of the Somewhat into Nothing,\neven into that Nothing out of which all Things may be made. The Soul\nhere saith \"_I have nothing_, for I am utterly stripped and naked of\nevery Thing; _I can do nothing_, for I have no manner of power, but am\nas water poured out; _I am nothing_, for all that I am is no more than\nan Image of Being, and only God is to me I AM; and so, sitting down in\nmy own Nothingness, I give glory to the Eternal Being, and _will\nnothing_ of myself, that so God may _will all_ in me, being unto me my\nGod and All Things.\" Herein now it is that so very few find this most\nprecious treasure in the Soul, though every one would so fain have it;\nand might also have it, were it not for this Somewhat in every one that\nletteth.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nBut if the Love should proffer itself to a Soul, could not that Soul\nfind it, nor lay hold of it, without going for it into Nothing?\n\nMASTER\n\nNo verily. Men seek and find not, because they seek it not in the naked\nGround where it lieth; but in something or other where it never will be,\nnor can be. They seek it in their _own Will_, and they find it not. They\nseek it in their _Self-Desire_, and they meet not with it. They look for\nit in an _Image_, or in an _Opinion_, or in _Affection_, or a natural\n_Devotion_ and _Fervour_, and they lose the substance by thus hunting\nafter a shadow. They search for it in something sensible or imaginary,\nin somewhat which they may have a more peculiar natural inclination for,\nand adhesion to; and so they miss of what they seek, for want of diving\ninto the Supernatural and Supersensual Ground, where the Treasure is\nhid. Now, should the Love graciously condescend to proffer itself to\nsuch as these, and even to present itself evidently before the Eye of\ntheir Spirit, yet could it find no place at all in them, neither could\nit be held by them, or remain with them.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nWhy not, if the Love should be willing and ready to offer itself, and to\nstay with them?\n\nMASTER\n\nBecause the _Imaginariness_ which is in their own Will hath set itself\nup in the place thereof. And so this Imaginariness would have the Love\nin it, but the Love fleeth away, for it is its prison. The Love may\noffer itself; but it cannot abide where the _Self-Desire_ attracteth or\nimagineth. That Will which attracteth Nothing, and to which Nothing\nadhereth, is only capable of receiving it; for it dwelleth only in\nNothing, as I said, and therefore they find it not.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nIf it dwell only in Nothing, what is now the office of it in Nothing?\n\nMASTER\n\nThe office of the Love here is to penetrate incessantly into Something;\nand if it penetrate into, and find a place in Something which is\nstanding still and at rest, then its business is to take possession\nthereof. And when it hath there taken possession, then it rejoiceth\ntherein with its flaming Love-fire, even as the sun doth in the visible\nworld. And then the office of it is without intermission to enkindle a\nfire in this Something which may burn it up; and then with the flames\nthereof exceedingly to enflame itself, and raise the heat of the\nLove-fire by it, even seven degrees higher.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nO, loving Master, how shall I understand this?\n\nMASTER\n\nIf it but once kindle a fire within thee, my son, thou shalt then\ncertainly feel how it consumeth all that which it toucheth, thou shalt\nfeel it in the burning up thyself, and swiftly devouring all _Egoity_ or\nthat which thou callest _I and Me_, as standing in a separate Root, and\ndivided from the Deity, the Fountain of thy Being. And when this\nenkindling is made in thee, then the Love doth so exceedingly rejoice in\nthy fire, as thou wouldest not for all the world be out of it; yea,\nwouldst rather suffer thyself to be killed, than to enter into _thy\nsomething_ again. This fire must now grow hotter and hotter, till it\nshall have perfected its office with respect to thee. Its flame also\nwill be so very great that it will never leave thee, though it should\neven cost thee thy temporal life, but it would go with thee with its\nsweet loving fire into death; and if thou wentest also into Hell, it\nwould break Hell in pieces also for thy sake. Nothing is more certain\nthan this, for it is stronger than Death and Hell.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nEnough, my dearest Master, I can no longer endure that any Thing should\ndivert me from it. But how shall I find the nearest way to it?\n\nMASTER\n\nWhere the way is hardest, there go thou; and what the World casteth\naway, that take thou up. What the World doth, that do thou not; but in\nall things walk thou contrary to the World. So thou comest the nearest\nway to that which thou art seeking.\n\nDISCIPLE\n\nIf I should in all things walk contrary to other people, I must needs be\nin a very unquiet and sad state, and the World would not fail to account\nme for a madman.\n\nMASTER\n\nI bid thee not, Child, to do harm to anyone, thereby to create to\nthyself any misery or unquietness. This is not what I mean by walking\ncontrary in everything to the World. But because the World, as the\nWorld, loveth all deceit and vanity, and walketh in false and\ntreacherous ways, thence, if thou hast a mind to act a clean contrary\npart to the ways thereof, without any exception or reserve whatsoever,\nwalk thou only in the right way, which is called the _Way of Light_, as\nthat of the World is properly the _Way of Darkness_. For the right way,\neven the Path of Light, is contrary to all the ways of the World.\n\nBut whereas thou art afraid of creating to thyself hereby trouble and\ninquietude, that indeed will be so according to the flesh. In the world\nthou must have trouble, and thy flesh will not fail to be unquiet, and\nto give thee occasion of continual repentance. Nevertheless in this very\n_anxiety of soul_ arising from the world or the flesh, the Love doth\nmost willingly enkindle itself, and its cheering and conquering fire is\nbut made to blaze forth with greater strength for the destruction of\nthat evil. And whereas thou dost also say, that the World will for this\nesteem thee mad; it is true the World will be apt enough to censure thee\nfor a madman in walking contrary to it, and thou art not to be surprised\nif the children thereof laugh at thee, calling thee silly Fool. For the\nWay to the Love of God is Folly to the World, but is Wisdom to the\nChildren of God. Hence, whenever the World perceiveth this holy Fire of\nLove in God's Children, it concludeth immediately that they are turned\nfools, and are beside themselves. But to the Children of God that which\nis despised of the World is the greatest Treasure, yea, so great a\nTreasure is it as no life can express, nor tongue so much as name what\nthis enflaming, all-conquering Love of God is. It is brighter than the\nSun; it is sweeter than anything that is called sweet; it is stronger\nthan all strength; it is more nutrimental than food; more cheering to\nthe heart than wine, and more pleasant than all the joy and pleasantness\nof this world. Whosoever obtaineth it is richer than any Monarch on\nearth; and he who getteth it, is nobler than any Emperor can be, and\nmore potent and absolute than all Power and Authority.\n\n\n\n\nDIALOGUE III\n\nBETWEEN JUNIUS, A SCHOLAR, AND THEOPHORUS, HIS MASTER, CONCERNING HEAVEN\nAND HELL\n\n\nThe Scholar asked his Master \"Whither goeth the Soul when the Body\ndieth?\"\n\nHis Master answered him: There is no necessity for it to go any whither.\n\nHow not, said the inquisitive Junius, must not the Soul leave the body\nat death and go either to Heaven or Hell?\n\nIt needs no going forth, replied the venerable Theophorus. Only the\noutward Mortal Life with the body shall separate themselves from the\nSoul. The Soul hath Heaven and Hell within itself before, according as\nit is written. _The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither\nshall they say Lo here! or Lo there! For behold the Kingdom of God is\nwithin you._ And which soever of the two, that is, either Heaven or\nHell, is manifested in it, in that the Soul standeth.\n\nHere Junius said to his Master: This is hard to understand. Doth it not\nenter into Heaven or Hell, as a man entereth into a house; or as one\ngoeth through a hole or casement into an unknown place; so goeth it not\ninto another world?\n\nThe Master spoke and said: No, there is verily no such kind of entering\nin; forasmuch as Heaven and Hell are every where, being universally\nco-extended.\n\nHow is that possible? said the Scholar. What, can Heaven and Hell be\nhere present, where we are now sitting? And if one of them might, can\nyou ever make me believe that ever both should be here together?\n\nThen spoke the Master in this manner: I have said that Heaven is\neverywhere present and it is true. For God is in Heaven; and God is\neverywhere. I have said also that Hell must be in like manner\neverywhere. For the _Wicked One_, who is the Devil, is in Hell, and the\nwhole World, as the Apostle hath taught us, lyeth in the _Wicked One_,\nor the _Evil One_; which is as much as to say, not only that the Devil\nis in the World, but that the World is in the Devil; and if in the\nDevil, then in Hell too, because he is there. So Hell therefore is\neverywhere, as well as Heaven; which is the thing that was to be proved.\n\nThe Scholar, startled hereat, said: Pray make me to understand this.\n\nTo whom the Master: Understand then what Heaven is. It is but the\n_turning in of the Will to the Love of God_. Wheresoever thou findest\nGod manifesting himself in Love, there thou findest Heaven, without\ntravelling for it so much as one foot. And by this understand also what\nHell is and where it is. I say unto thee it is but the _turning in of\nthe Will into the wrath of God_. Wheresoever the Anger of God doth more\nor less manifest itself, there certainly is more or less of Hell, in\nwhatsoever place it be. So that it is but the turning in of thy will\neither into his Love, or into his Anger; and thou art accordingly either\nin Heaven or in Hell. Mark it well. And this now cometh to pass in this\npresent life, whereof St Paul speaking saith, _Our conversation is in\nHeaven_. And the Lord Christ saith also, _My sheep hear my voice, and I\nknow them, and they follow me, and I give them the Eternal Life, and\nnone shall pluck them out of my hand_. Observe, he saith not, I _will\ngive_ them, after this life is ended, but I _give_ them, that is, now in\nthe time of this life. And what else is this gift of Christ to his\nfollowers, but an Eternity of Life, which for certain can be no where\nbut in Heaven. Yea, moreover, none shall be able to pluck them out of\nHeaven, because it is he who holdeth them there, and they are in his\nhand which nothing can resist. All therefore doth consist in the\nturning in, or entering of the Will into Heaven, by hearing the the\nvoice of Christ, and both _knowing_ him, and _following_ him. And so on\nthe contrary it is also. Understandest thou this?\n\nHis Scholar said to him: I think, in part, I do. But how cometh this\nentering of the Will into Heaven to pass?\n\nThe Master answered him: This then will I endeavour to satisfy thee in;\nbut thou must be very attentive to what I shall say unto thee. Know\nthen, my son, that when the Ground of the Will yieldeth itself up to\nGod, then it sinketh out of its own Self, and out of and beyond all\nground and place, that is or can be imagined, into a certain unknown\nDeep, where God only is manifest, and where he only worketh and willeth.\nAnd then it becometh nothing to itself, as to its own working and\nwilling, and so God worketh and willeth in it. And God dwells in this\ndesigned Will, by which the Soul is sanctified, and so fitted to come\ninto Divine Rest. Now, in this case, when the body breaketh, the Soul is\nso thoroughly penetrated all over with the Divine Light, even as a\nglowing hot iron is by the fire, by which being penetrated throughout,\nit loseth its darkness, and becomes bright and shining. Now this is the\n_hand of Christ_, where God's Love thoroughly inhabits the Soul, and is\nin it a shining Light, and a new glorious Life. And then the Soul is in\nHeaven, and is a Temple of the Holy Ghost, and is itself the very Heaven\nof God, wherein he dwelleth. Lo, this is the entering of the Will into\nHeaven; and thus it cometh to pass.\n\nBe pleased, Sir, to proceed, said the Scholar, and let me know how it\nfareth on the other side.\n\nThe Master said: The godly Soul, you see, is in the _hand of Christ_,\nthat is in Heaven, as he himself hath told us, and in what manner this\ncometh to be so, you have also heard. But the ungodly Soul is not\nwilling in this life-time to come into the Divine Resignation of its\nWill, or to enter into the Will of God; but goeth on still in its own\nlust and desire, in vanity and falsehood, and so entereth into the Will\nof the Devil. It receiveth, thereupon, into itself nothing but\nwickedness; nothing but lying, pride, covetousness, envy and wrath; and\nthereunto it giveth up its Will and whole Desire. This is the Vanity of\nthe Will; and this same Vanity or vain shadow must also in like manner\nbe manifested in the Soul, which hath yielded itself up also to be its\nservant; and must work therein even as the Love of God worketh in the\nregenerated Will; and penetrate it all over, as fire doth iron.\n\nAnd it is not possible for this Soul to come into the Rest of God,\nbecause God's Anger is manifested in it, and worketh in it. Now when a\nbody is parted from the Soul, then beginneth the Eternal Melancholy and\nDespair, because it now findeth that it is become altogether Vanity,\neven a Vanity most vexatious to itself, and a distracting Fury, and a\nself-tormenting Abomination. Now it perceiveth itself disappointed of\nevery Thing which it had before fancied, and blind, and naked, and\nwounded, and hungry, and thirsty, without the least prospect of ever\nbeing relieved, or obtaining so much as one drop of the water of Eternal\nLife. And it feeleth itself to be its own vile executioner and\ntormentor; and is affrighted at its own ugly dark form, and fain would\nflee from itself if it could, but it cannot, being fast bound with the\nchains of the Dark Nature, whereinto it had sunk itself when in the\nflesh. And so, not having learned or accustomed itself to sink down into\nthe Divine Grace, and being also strongly possessed with the Idea of\nGod, as an angry and jealous God, the poor Soul is both afraid and\nashamed to bring its Will into God, by which deliverance might possibly\ncome to it. The Soul is afraid to do it, as fearing to be consumed by so\ndoing, under the apprehension of the Deity as a mere devouring Fire.\nThe Soul is also _ashamed_ to do it, as being confounded at its own\nnakedness and monstrosity, and therefore would, if it were possible,\nhide itself from the Majesty of God, and cover its abominable form from\nhis most holy eye, though by casting itself still deeper into the\nDarkness. Therefore it _will not_ enter into God, nay, it _cannot_ enter\nwith its false Will; yea, though it should strive to enter, yet can it\nnot enter into the Love, because of the Will which hath reigned in it.\nFor such a Soul is thereby captivated in the Wrath, yea, is itself but\n_mere Wrath_, having by its false Desire, which it had awakened in\nitself, comprehended and shut itself up therewith, and so transformed\nitself into the nature and property thereof.\n\nAnd since also the Light of God doth not shine in it, nor the Love of\nGod enclose it, the Soul is moreover a _great Darkness_, and is withal\nan anxious Fire-source, carrying about an Hell in itself, and not being\nable to discern the least glimpse of the Light of God, or to feel the\nleast spark of his Love. Thus it dwelleth in itself as in Hell, and\nneedeth no entering into Hell at all, or being carried thither, for in\nwhat place soever it may be, so long as it is in itself, it is in the\nHell. And though it should travel far and cast itself many hundred\nthousand leagues from its present place, to be out of Hell; yet still\nwould it remain in its hellish source and darkness.\n\nIf this be so, how then cometh it, said the Scholar to Theophorus, that\nan Heavenly Soul doth not in the time of this life perfectly perceive\nthe Heavenly Light and Joy, and the Soul which is without God in the\nWorld, doth not also here feel Hell, as well as hereafter? Why should\nthey not both be perceived and felt as well in this life as in the next,\nseeing that both of them are in Man, and one of them as you have shewed,\nworketh in every man?\n\nTo whom Theophorus presently returned this answer: The Kingdom of Heaven\nis in the Saints operative and manifestative of itself by _Faith_. They\nwho carry God within them, and live by his Spirit, find the Kingdom of\nGod in their Faith, and they feel the Love of God in their Faith, by\nwhich the Will hath given up itself unto God, and is made Godlike. All\nis transacted within them _by Faith_, which is to them the evidence of\nthe Eternal Invisibles, and a great manifestation in their Spirit of\nthis Divine Kingdom, which is within them. But their natural life is\nnevertheless encompassed with flesh and blood; and this standing in a\ncontrariety thereto, and being placed through the Fall in the principle\nof God's Anger, and environed about with the World, which by no means\ncan be reconciled to Faith, these faithful Souls cannot but be very much\nexposed to attacks from this World, wherein they are sojourners; neither\ncan they be insensible of their being thus encompassed about with flesh\nand blood, and with the World's vain lust, which ceaseth not continually\nto penetrate the outward mortal life, and to tempt them manifold ways,\neven as it did Christ. Whence the World on one side and the Devil on the\nother, not without the curse of God's Anger in flesh and blood, do\nthoroughly sift and penetrate the Life, whereby it cometh to pass that\nthe Soul is often in anxiety when these three are all set upon it\ntogether, and when Hell thus assaulteth the Life, and would manifest\nitself in the Soul. But the Soul hereupon sinketh down into the hope of\nthe Grace of God, and standeth like a beautiful Rose in the midst of\nThorns, until the Kingdom of this World shall fall from it in the death\nof the body. And then the Soul first becometh truly manifest in the Love\nof God, and of his Kingdom, which is the Kingdom of Love; having\nhenceforth nothing more to hinder it. But during this life she must walk\nwith Christ in this world, and then Christ delivereth her out of her own\nHell, by penetrating her with his Love throughout, and standing by her\nin Hell, and even changing her Hell into Heaven.\n\nBut in that thou sayest, Why do not the Souls which are without God feel\nHell in this World? I answer; They bear it about with them in their\nwicked consciences, but they know it not; because the World hath put out\ntheir eyes, and its deadly cup hath cast them likewise into a sleep, a\nmost fatal sleep. Notwithstanding which it must be owned that the Wicked\ndo frequently feel Hell within them during the time of this mortal life,\nthough they may not apprehend that it is Hell, because of the earthly\nvanity which cleaveth to them from without, and the sensible pleasures\nand amusements wherewith they are intoxicated. And moreover it is to be\nnoted that the outward Life in every such one hath yet the Light of the\noutward Nature, which ruleth in this Life, and so the Pain of Hell\ncannot, so long as that hath the rule, be revealed. But when the body\ndyeth or breaketh away, so as the Soul cannot any longer enjoy such\ntemporal pleasure and delight, nor the Light of this outward World,\nwhich is wholly thereupon extinguished as to it, then the Soul stands in\nan eternal hunger and thirst after such vanities as it was here in love\nwithal, but yet can reach nothing but that false Will, which it had\nimpressed in itself while in the body; and wherein it had abounded to\nits great loss. And now whereas it had too much of its Will in this\nlife, and yet was not contented therewith, it hath, after the separation\nby death, as little of it; which createth in it an everlasting thirst\nafter that which it can henceforth never obtain more, and causeth it to\nbe in a perpetual anxious lust after Vanity, according to its former\nimpression, and in a continual rage of hunger after those sorts of\nwickedness and lewdness whereinto it was immersed, being in the flesh.\nFain would it do more evil still, but that it hath not either wherein or\nwherewith to effect the same, and therefore it doth perform this only\n_in itself_. All is not literally transacted, as if it were outward; and\nso the ungodly is tormented by those Furies which are in his own mind,\nand begotten upon himself by himself. For he is verily become his own\nDevil and Tormentor; and that by which he sinned here, when the Shadow\nof this World is passed away, abideth still with him in the impression,\nand is made his prison and his Hell. But this hellish hunger and thirst\ncannot be fully manifested in the Soul, till the Body, which ministered\nto the Soul that it lusted after, and with which the Soul was so\nbewitched, as to doat thereupon, and pursue all its cravings, be\nstripped off from it.\n\nI perceive then, said _Junius_ to his Master, that the Soul, having\nplayed the wanton with the Body in all voluptuousness, and served the\nlusts thereof during this life, retaineth still the very same\ninclinations and affections which it had before, then when it hath no\nopportunity or capacity to satisfy them longer; and that when this\ncannot be, there is then Hell opened in that Soul, which had been shut\nup in it before by means of the outward Life in the Body, and of the\nLight of this World. Do I rightly understand?\n\n_Theophorus_ said: It is very rightly understood by you. Go on.\n\nOn the other hand (said he) I clearly perceive by what I have heard,\nthat Heaven cannot but be in a loving Soul which is possessed of God,\nand hath subdued thereby the Body to the obedience of the Spirit in all\nthings, and perfectly immersed itself into the Will and Love of God. And\nwhen the Body dyeth, and the Soul is hence redeemed from the Earth, it\nis now evident to me that the Life of God, which was hidden in it, will\ndisplay itself gloriously, and Heaven consequently be then manifested.\nBut, notwithstanding, if there be not a local Heaven besides and a local\nHell, I am still at a loss where to place no small part of the Creation,\nif not the greatest. For where must all the intellectual inhabitants of\nit abide?\n\nIn their own Principle, answered the Master, whether it be of Light or\nof Darkness. For every created intellectual Being remaineth in its deeds\nand essences, in its wonders and properties, in its life and image; and\ntherein it beholdeth and feeleth God, as who is everywhere, whether it\nbe in the Love or in the Wrath.\n\nIf it be in the Love of God, then beholdeth it God accordingly, and\nfeeleth him as he is, Love. But if it hath captivated itself in the\nWrath of God, then it cannot behold God otherwise than in the Wrathful\nNature, nor perceive him otherwise than as an incensed and vindictive\nSpirit. All places are alike to it, if it be in God's Love; and, if it\nbe not there, every place is Hell alike. What Place can bound a Thought?\nOr what needeth any understanding Spirit to be kept here or there, in\norder to its happiness or misery? Verily, wheresoever it is, it is in\nthe Abyssal World, where there is neither end nor limit. And whither, I\npray, should it go? since though it should go a thousand miles off, or a\nthousand times ten thousand miles, and this ten thousand times over\nbeyond the bounds of the Universe, and into the imagining spaces above\nthe stars, yet it were then still in the very same point from whence it\nwent out. For God is the _Place_ of Spirit, if it may be lawful to\nattribute to him such a name to the which Body hath a relation. And in\nGod there is no limit; both near and far off is here all one; and be it\nin his Love, or be it in his Anger, the abyssal Will of the Spirit is\naltogether unconfined. It is swift as thought, passing through all\nthings; it is magical, and nothing corporeal or from without can let it;\nit dwelleth in its wonders, and they are its house.\n\nThus it is with every Intellectual, whether of the Order of Angels or of\nhuman Souls, and you need not fear but there will be room enough for\nthem all, be they ever so many; and such also as shall best suit them,\neven according to their election and determination, and which may thence\nvery well be called the \"_own place_\" of each.\n\nAt which said the Scholar, I remember, indeed, that it is written\nconcerning the great traitor, that he went after death to his _own\nplace_.\n\nThe Master said: The same is true of every Soul, when it departeth this\nmortal life. And it is true in like manner of every Angel and Spirit\nwhatsoever, which is necessarily determined by its own choice. As God is\neverywhere, so also the Angels are everywhere; but each one in its own\nPrinciple, and in its own Property or (if you had rather) in its _own\nPlace_. The same Essence of God, which is as a Place to Spirits, is\nconfessed to be everywhere, but the appropriation or participation\nhereof is different to everyone, according as each hath attracted it\nmagically in the earnestness of Will. The same Divine Essence which is\nwith the Angels of God above, is with us also below. And the same Divine\nNature which is with us is likewise with them; but after different\nmanners and in different degrees communicated and participated.\n\nAnd what I have said here of the Divine, is no less to be considered by\nyou in the participation of the Diabolical Essence and Nature, which is\nthe Power of Darkness, as to the manifold modes, degrees, and\nappropriations thereof in the false Will. In this World there is strife\nbetween them, but when this World hath reached in anyone the Limit, then\nthe Principle catcheth that which is its own, and so the Soul receiveth\ncompanions accordingly, that is, either Angels or Devils.\n\nTo whom the Scholar again: Heaven and Hell then being in us at strife in\nthe time of this life, and God himself being also thus near to us, where\ncan Angels and Devils dwell?\n\nAnd the Master answered him thus: Where thou dost not dwell as to thy\n_Self-hood_ and to thine _own Will_, there the holy Angels dwell with\nthee, and every where all over round about thee. Remember this well. On\nthe contrary, where thou dwellest as to thyself, or in Self-seeking, and\nSelf-will, there to be sure the Devils will be with thee, and will take\nup their abode with thee, and dwell all over thee, and round about thee\neverywhere, which God in his mercy prevent.\n\nI understand not this, said the Scholar, so perfectly well as I could\nwish. Be pleased to make it a little more plain to me.\n\nThe Master then spake: Mark well what I am going to say. Where the Will\nof God in anything willeth, there is God manifested. And in this very\nmanifestation of God the Angels do dwell. But where God in any Creature\nwilleth not with the Will of that Creature, there God is not manifested\nto it, neither can he be; but dwelleth in himself, without the\nco-operation thereof, and subjection to him in humility. There God is an\nunmanifested God to the Creature. So the Angels dwell not with such an\none; for wherever they dwell, there is the Glory of God; and they make\nhis Glory. What then dwelleth in such a Creature as this? God dwelleth\nnot therein; the Angels dwell not therein; God willeth not therein; the\nAngels also will not therein. The case is evidently this; in that Soul\nor Creature its own will is without God's Will; and there the Devil\ndwelleth; and with him all that is without God, and without Christ. This\nis the truth; lay it to heart.\n\nThe _Scholar_ said: It is possible I may ask several impertinent\nquestions; but I beseech you, good Sir, to have patience with me, and to\npity my ignorance, if I ask what may appear to you perhaps ridiculous,\nor may not be at all fit for me to expect an answer to. For I have\nseveral questions still to propound to you; but I am ashamed of my own\nthoughts in this matter.\n\nThe _Master_ said: Be plain with me, and propose whatever is upon your\nmind; yea, be not ashamed even to appear ridiculous, so that by querying\nyou may but become wiser.\n\nThe _Scholar_ thanked his Master for this liberty and said: How far then\nare Heaven and Hell asunder?\n\nTo whom he answered thus: As far as Day and Night; or as far as\nSomething and Nothing. They are in one another and yet they are at the\ngreater distance one from the other. Nay, the one of them is as nothing\nto the other; and yet notwithstanding they cause joy and grief to one\nanother. Heaven is throughout the whole World, and it is also without\nthe World over all, even everywhere that is, or that can be even so much\nas imagined. It filleth all, it is within all, it is without all, it\nencompasseth all; without division, without place; working by a Divine\nManifestation, and flowing forth universally, but not going in the least\nout of itself. For only in itself it worketh and is revealed, being one\nand undivided in all. It appeareth only through the Manifestation of\nGod; and never but in itself only. And in that Being which cometh into\nit, or in that wherein it is manifested; there also it is that God is\nmanifested. Because Heaven is nothing else but a Manifestation or\nRevelation of the Eternal One, wherein all the working and willing is in\nquiet love.\n\nSo in like manner Hell also is through the whole World, and dwelleth and\nworketh but in itself, and in that wherein the Foundation of Hell is\nmanifested, namely, in Self-hood and in the False Will. The visible\nWorld hath both in it; and there is no place but Heaven and Hell may be\nfound or revealed in it. Now Man as to his temporal life is only of the\nvisible World; and therefore during the time of his life he seeth not\nthe spiritual World. For the Outward World with its substance is a cover\nto the Spiritual World, even as the Body is to the Soul. But when the\noutward Man dyeth, then the Spiritual World is manifested to the Soul,\nwhich hath now its covering taken away. And it is manifested either in\nthe Eternal Light with the holy Angels, or in the Eternal Darkness, with\nthe Devils.\n\nThe _Scholar_ further queried: What is an Angel, or an human Soul, that\nthey can be thus manifested either in God's Love or Anger, either in\nLight or Darkness?\n\nTo whom Theophorus answered: They come from one and the self-same\nOriginal. They are little branches of the Divine Wisdom, of the Divine\nWill, sprung from the Divine Word, and made objects of the Divine Love.\nThey are out of the Ground of Eternity; whence Light and Darkness do\nspring; Darkness which consisteth in the receiving of Self-Desire; and\nLight which consisteth in willing the same thing with God. For the\nconformity of the Will with God's Will is Heaven; and wheresoever there\nis this willing with God, there the Love of God is undoubtedly in the\nworking, and his Light will not fail to manifest itself. But in the\nSelf-attraction of the Soul's desire, or in the reception of Self into\nthe willing of any Spirit, angelical or human, the Will of God worketh\nwith difficulty, and is to that Soul and Spirit nought but Darkness; out\nof which, notwithstanding, the Light may be manifested. And this\nDarkness is the Hell of that Spirit wherein it is. For _Heaven_ and\n_Hell_ are nought else but a _Manifestation of the Divine Will either\nin Light or Darkness, according to the Properties of the Spiritual\nWorld_.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nWhat then is the Body of Man?\n\nMASTER\n\nIt is the visible World, an Image and Quintessence, or Compound of all\nthat the World is; and the visible World is a manifestation of the\ninward spiritual World, come out of the Eternal Light, and out of the\nEternal Darkness, out of the spiritual compaction or connection; and it\nis also an Image or Figure of Eternity, whereby Eternity hath made\nitself visible; where Self-Will and resigned Will, viz., Evil and Good,\nwork one with the other.\n\nSuch a substance is the outward Man. For God created Man out of the\noutward World, and breathed into him the inward spiritual World for a\nSoul and an intelligent Life, and therefore in the things of the outward\nWorld, Man can receive and work Evil and Good.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nWhat shall be after this World, when all things perish and come to an\nend?\n\nMASTER\n\nThe material substance only ceaseth; viz., the four Elements, the Sun,\nMoon and Stars. And then the inward world will be wholly visible and\nmanifest. But whatsoever hath been wrought by the Will or Spirit of Man\nin this World's time, whether evil or good shall there separate itself\nin a spiritual matter, either into the Eternal Light or into the Eternal\nDarkness. For that which is born from each Will penetrateth and passeth\nagain into that which is like itself. And there the Darkness is called\nHell, and is an eternal forgetting of all Good, and the Light is called\nthe Kingdom of God, and is an eternal joy in and to the Saints, who\ncontinually glorify and praise God, for having delivered them from the\ntorment of evil.\n\nThe last Judgment is a kindling of the Fire both of God's Love and\nAnger, in which the matter of every substance perisheth, and each Fire\nshall attract into itself its own, that is, the substance which is like\nitself. Thus God's Fire of Love will draw into itself what is wrought in\nthe Anger of God in Darkness, and consume the false substance; and then\nthere will remain only the painful, aching Will in its own proper\nnature, image, and figure.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nWith what matter and form shall the human Body rise?\n\nMASTER\n\nIt is sown a natural gross and elementary Body; yet in this gross Body\nthere is a subtle Power and Virtue. As in the Earth also there is a\nsubtle good Virtue, which is like the Sun, and is one and the same with\nthe Sun, which also did in the beginning of time spring and proceed out\nof the Divine Power and Virtue, whence all the good Virtue of the Body\nis likewise derived. This good Virtue of the mortal Body shall come\nagain and live for ever in a kind of transparent crystalline material\nproperty, in spiritual flesh and blood; as shall return also the good\nVirtue of the Earth, for the Earth, likewise shall become crystalline,\nand the Divine Light shine in everything that hath a being, essence, or\nsubstance. And as the gross Earth shall perish and never return, so also\nthe gross flesh of Man shall perish and not live for ever. But all\nThings must appear before the Judgment, and in the Judgment be separated\nby the Fire; yea, both the Earth, and also the ashes of the human Body.\nFor when God shall once move the spiritual World, every Spirit shall\nattract its spiritual substance to itself. A good Spirit and Soul shall\ndraw to itself its own substance, and an evil one its evil substance.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nShall we not rise again with our visible bodies, and live in them for\never?\n\nMASTER\n\nWhen the visible world perisheth, then all that hath come out of it, and\nhath been external, shall perish with it. There shall remain of the\nWorld only the crystalline Nature and Form, and of Man also only the\nspiritual Earth, for Man shall be then wholly like the crystalline\nWorld, which as yet is hidden.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nShall all then have eternal joy and glorification alike?\n\nMASTER\n\nSt Paul saith: In the Resurrection one shall differ from another in\nglory, as do the Sun, Moon and Stars. Therefore know that the Blessed\nshall indeed all enjoy the divine working in and upon them, but their\nvirtue and illumination or glory shall be very different according as\nthey have endured in this life with different measures and degrees of\npower and virtue in their painful workings.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nHow shall all people and nations be brought to judgment?\n\nMASTER\n\nThe Eternal Word of God, out of which every creaturely spiritual Life\nhath proceeded will move itself at that hour, according to Love and\nAnger, in every Life which is come out of the Eternity, and will draw\nevery Creature before the Judgment of Christ, to be sentenced by this\nmotion of the Word. The Life will then be manifested in all its works,\nand every Soul shall see and feel its judgment and sentence in itself.\nFor the Judgment is, indeed, immediately at the departure of the Body\nmanifested in and to every Soul. And the last Judgment is but a return\nof the spiritual Body, and a separation of the World, when the Evil\nshall be separated from the Good, in the substance of the World, and of\nthe human Body, and everything enter into its eternal receptacle. And\nthus it is a manifestation of the Mystery of God in every substance and\nlife.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nHow will the sentence be pronounced?\n\nMASTER\n\nHere consider the words of Christ. He will say to those on his right\nhand; _Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for\nyou from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and ye gave me\nmeat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took\nme in; naked and ye clothed me. I was sick and ye visited me, in prison\nand ye came unto me._\n\n_Then shall they answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry,\nthirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, and ministered thus unto\nthee?_\n\nThen shall the King answer and say unto them; _Inasmuch as ye have done\nit unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me._\n\nAnd unto the wicked on his left hand he will say; _Depart from me, ye\nCursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels.\nFor I was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, and in prison, and ye\nministered not unto me._\n\nAnd they shall also answer him and say; _When did we see thee thus and\nministered not unto thee?_\n\nAnd he will answer them, _Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have not\ndone it unto one of the least of these, ye did it not to me._\n\n_And these shall depart into everlasting punishment, but the Righteous\ninto Life Eternal._\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nLoving Master, pray tell me why Christ saith, _What you have done to the\nleast of these you have done to me; and what you have not done to them,\nneither have you done it to me_? And how doth a Man this _so_, as that\nhe doth it to Christ himself?\n\nMASTER\n\nChrist dwelleth really and essentially in the faith of those that wholly\nyield up themselves to him, and giveth them his Flesh for food and his\nBlood for drink; and thus possesseth the ground of their faith,\naccording to the interior or inward Man. And a Christian is called a\nBranch of the Vine Christ, and a Christian, because Christ dwelleth\nspiritually in him; therefore, whatsoever good any shall do to such a\nChristian in his bodily necessities, it is done to Christ himself, who\ndwelleth in him. For such a Christian is not his own, but is wholly\nresigned to Christ, and become his peculiar possession, and consequently\nthe good deed is done to Christ _himself_. Therefore also whosoever\nshall withhold their help from such a needy Christian, and forbear to\nserve him in his necessity, they thrust Christ away from themselves, and\ndespise him in his members. When a poor person that belongeth thus to\nChrist asketh anything of thee, and thou deniest it him in his\nnecessity, thou deniest it to Christ himself. And whatsoever hurt any\nshall do to such a Christian, they do it to Christ himself. When any\nmock, scorn, revile, reject, or thrust away such an one they do all that\nto Christ, but he that receiveth him, giveth him meat, and drink, or\napparel, and assisteth him in his necessities, doth it likewise to\nChrist, and to a fellow-member of his own Body. Nay he doth it to\nhimself if it be a Christian; for we are all one in Christ, as a tree\nand its branches are.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nHow then will those subsist in the day of the last Judgment, who afflict\nand vex the poor and distressed, and deprive them of their very sweat,\nnecessitating and constraining them by force to submit to their wills,\nand trampling upon them as their footstools, only that they themselves\nmay live in pomp and power, and spend the fruits of this poor people's\nsweat and labour in voluptuousness, pride, and vanity?\n\nMASTER\n\nChrist suffereth in the persecution of his members. Therefore all the\nwrong that such hard executors do to the poor wretches under their\ncontrol is done to Christ himself; and falleth under his severe sentence\nand judgment. And besides that by such oppression of the Poor they draw\nthem off from Christ, and make them seek unlawful ways to fill their\nbellies. Nay, they work for and with the Devil himself, doing the very\nsame thing which he doth: who, without intermission opposeth the Kingdom\nof Christ, which consisteth only in Love. All these oppressors, if they\ndo not turn with their whole hearts unto Christ, and minister to or\nserve him, must go into Hell-fire, which is fed and kept alive by\nnothing else but such mere Self, which they have exercised over the Poor\nhere.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nBut how will it fare with those who in this time do so fiercely contend\nabout the kingdom of Christ, and slander, revile and persecute one\nanother for their religion?\n\nMASTER\n\nAll such have not yet known Christ; and they are but as a type or figure\nof Heaven and Hell, striving for each other for the victory.\n\nAll rising, swelling pride, which contendeth about opinions, is an image\nof Self. And whosoever hath not faith and humility, nor liveth in the\nSpirit of Christ, which is Love, is only armed with the Anger of God,\nand helpeth forward the victory of the imaginary Self, that is, the\nKingdom of Darkness, and the Anger of God. For at the day of Judgment\nall Self shall be given to the Darkness as shall also all the\nunprofitable contentions of men; in which they seek not after Love, but\nmerely after their imaginary Self. All such things belong to the\nJudgment, which will separate the false from the true; and then all\nimages or opinions shall cease, and all the Children of God shall dwell\nfor ever in the Love of Christ, and _that_ in them. For in Heaven all\nserve God their Creator in humble love.\n\nSCHOLAR\n\nWherefore then doth God suffer such strife and contention to be in this\ntime?\n\nMASTER\n\nThe Life itself standeth in strife, that it may be made manifest,\nsensible, and palpable, and that the wisdom may be made separable and\nknown.\n\nThe Strife also constituteth the Eternal Joy of the victory. For there\nwill arise great praise and thanksgiving in the Saints from the\nexperimental sense and knowledge that Christ in them hath overcome\nDarkness, and all the Self of Nature, and that they are at length\ntotally delivered from the Strife, at which they shall rejoice\neternally. And therefore God suffereth all Souls to stand in a\nfree-will, that the Eternal Dominion both of Love and Anger, of Light\nand of Darkness, may be made manifest and known; and that every Life\nmight cause and find its own sentence in itself. For that which is now a\nstrife and pain to the Saints in their wretched warfare here, shall in\nthe end be turned into great joy to them; and that which hath been a joy\nand pleasure to ungodly persons in this world, shall afterwards be\nturned into eternal torment and shame to them. Therefore the joy of the\nSaints must arise to them out of death, as the light ariseth out of a\ncandle by the destruction and consumption of it in its fire, that so the\nLife may be freed from the painfulness of Nature, and possess another\nWorld.\n\nAnd as the Light hath quite another property than the Fire has, for it\ngiveth and yieldeth itself forth; whereas the Fire draweth in and\nconsumeth itself, so the holy Life of Meekness springeth forth through\nthe Death of Self-will, and then God's Will of Love only ruleth, and\ndoth all in all. For thus the Eternal One hath attained Feeling and\nSeparability, and brought itself forth again with the feeling, through\nDeath, in great Joyfulness, that there might be an Eternal Delight in\nthe Infinite Unity, and an Eternal Cause of Joy; and therefore that\nwhich was before Painfulness, must now be the Ground and Cause of this\nmotion or stirring to the Manifestation of all Things. And herein lyeth\nthe Mystery of the hidden Wisdom of God.\n\n_Every one that asketh receiveth, every one that seeketh findeth, and to\nevery one that knocketh it shall be opened. The Grace of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, and the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Ghost, be\nwith us all. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nDIALOGUE IV\n\nTHE WAY FROM DARKNESS TO TRUE ILLUMINATION\n\n\nThere was a poor Soul that had wandered out of Paradise, and come into\nthe kingdom of this World; where the Devil met it, and said to it:\nWhither dost thou go, thou Soul that art half blind?\n\nTHE SOUL SAID\n\nI would see and speculate into the Creatures of the World, which their\nCreator hath made.\n\nTHE DEVIL SAID\n\nHow wilt thou see and speculate into them, when thou canst not know\ntheir essence and property? Thou wilt look upon their outside only, as\nupon a graven image, and canst not know them thoroughly.\n\nTHE SOUL SAID\n\nHow may I come to know their essence and property?\n\nTHE DEVIL SAID\n\nThine eyes would be opened to see them thoroughly, if thou didst but eat\nof _that_, from whence the Creatures themselves are come to be _good_\nand _evil_. Thou wouldst then be as God himself is, and know what the\nCreature is.\n\nTHE SOUL SAID\n\nI am now a noble and holy Creature: but if I should do so, the Creator\nhath said that I should die.\n\nTHE DEVIL SAID\n\nNo, thou shouldst not die at all; but thy eyes would be opened, and thou\nwouldst be as God himself, and be Master of Good and Evil. Also, thou\nwouldst be mighty, powerful and very great, as I am; all the subtlety\nthat is in the Creatures would be made known to thee.\n\nTHE SOUL SAID\n\nIf I had the knowledge of Nature and of the Creatures, I would then rule\nthe whole World as I listed.\n\nTHE DEVIL SAID\n\nThe whole ground of their knowledge lieth in thee. Do but turn thy Will\nand Desire from God or Goodness into Nature and the Creatures, and then\nthere will arise in thee a lust to taste; and so thou mayest eat of the\nTree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and by that means come to know all\nthings.\n\nTHE SOUL SAID\n\nWell then, I will eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that I\nmay rule all things by my own power, and be of myself a Lord on Earth,\nand do what I will, even as God himself doth.\n\nTHE DEVIL SAID\n\nI am the Prince of this World; and if thou wouldst rule on earth thou\nmust turn thy lust towards my Image, and desire to be like me, that thou\nmayst get the cunning, wit, reason, and subtlety that my Image hath.\n\nThus did the Devil present to the Soul the Power that is in the fiery\nroot of the Creature, that is the fiery Wheel of Essence in the form of\na Serpent. Upon which,\n\nTHE SOUL SAID\n\nBehold this is the Power which can do all things. What must I do to get\nit?\n\nTHE DEVIL SAID\n\nIf thou dost break thy Will off from God, and bring it into this power\nand skill, then thy hidden Ground will be manifested in thee, and thou\nmayest work in the same manner. But thou must eat of that Fruit, wherein\neach of the four elements in itself ruleth over the other, and is in\nstrife. And then thou wilt be instantly as the fiery Wheel is, and so\nbring all things into thine own power, and possess them as thine own.\n\nTHE SOUL DID SO AND WHAT HAPPENED THEREUPON\n\nNow when the Soul broke its will off thus from God, and brought it into\nthe fiery Will (which is the Root of Life and Power), there presently\narose in it a lust to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; and\nthe Soul did eat thereof. Which as soon as it had done, instantly was\nkindled the fiery Wheel of its Essence, and thereupon all the properties\nof Nature awoke in the Soul, and exercised each its own desire.\n\nFirst arose the lust of Pride; a desire to be great, mighty, and\npowerful; to bring all things in subjection to it, and to be Lord itself\nwithout control, despising all humility and equality, as esteeming\nitself the only prudent, witty and cunning one, and accounting\neverything folly that is not according to its own humour and liking.\n\nSecondly, arose the lust of Covetousness, a desire of getting, which\nwould draw all things to itself, into its own possession. For when the\nlust of Pride had turned away the Will from God, then the Life of the\nSoul would not trust God any further, but would take care for itself;\nand therefore brought its desire into the Creatures, viz., into the\nearth, metals, trees, and other Creatures. Thus the kindled fiery Life\nbecame hungry and covetous, when it had broken itself off from the\nUnity, Love, and Meekness of God, and attracted to itself the four\nElements and New Essence, and brought itself into the Condition of the\nbeasts, and so the Life became dark, empty, and wrathful; and the\nheavenly Virtues and Colours went out, like a candle extinguished.\n\nThirdly, there awoke in this fiery Life the stinging thorny lust of\nEnvy: a hellish poison, and a torment which makes the Life a mere enmity\nto God and to all Creatures. Which Envy raged furiously in the sting of\nCovetousness, as a venomous sting doth in the body. Envy cannot endure,\nbut hateth and would hurt or destroy that which Covetousness cannot\ndraw to itself by which hellish passion the Noble Love of the Soul is\nsmothered.\n\nFourthly, there awoke in this fiery Life a torment like fire, viz.,\nAnger; which would murder and remove out of the way all who would not be\nsubject to Pride. Thus the Ground and Foundation of Hell, which is\ncalled the Anger of God, was wholly manifested in this Soul. Whereby it\nlost the fair Paradise of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, and became such\na worm as the fiery Serpent was, which the Devil presented to it in his\nown image and likeness. And so the Soul began to rule on earth in a\nbestial manner, and did all things according to the Will of the Devil,\nliving in mere Pride, Covetousness, Envy, and Anger, having no longer\nany true love towards God. But there arose in the stead thereof an evil\nbestial love of Wantonness and Vanity, and there was no purity left in\nthe heart, for the Soul had forsaken Paradise, and taken the Earth into\nits possession. Its mind was wholly bent upon cunning knowledge,\nsubtility, and getting together a multitude of earthly things. No\nrighteousness nor virtue remained in it at all; but whatsoever evil and\nwrong it committed, it covered all cunningly under the cloak of its\npower and authority by law, and called it by the name of Right and\nJustice, and accounted it good.\n\nTHE DEVIL CAME TO THE SOUL\n\nUpon this the Devil drew near the Soul, and brought it on from one vice\nto another, for he had taken it captive in his Essence, and set joy and\npleasure before it, therein, saying thus to it: Behold now thou art\npowerful, mighty, and noble, endeavour to be greater, richer, and more\npowerful still. Display thy knowledge, wit and subtlety, that every one\nmay fear thee, and stand in awe of thee, and that thou mayst be\nrespected, and get a great name in the World.\n\nTHE SOUL DID SO\n\nThe Soul did as the Devil counselled it, and yet knew not that its\ncounsellor was the Devil; but thought it was guided by its own\nknowledge, wit, and understanding, and that it did very well and right\nall the while.\n\nJESUS CHRIST MET WITH THE SOUL\n\nThe Soul going on in this course of life, our dear and loving Lord Jesus\nChrist, Who was come into this World with the Love and Wrath of God, to\ndestroy the works of the Devil, and to execute judgment upon all ungodly\ndeeds, on a time met with it, and spake by a strong power, viz., by his\npassion and death into it, and destroyed the works of the Devil in it,\nand discovered to it the way to his Grace, and shone upon it with his\nmercy, calling it to return and repent, and promising that he would then\ndeliver it from that monstrous deformed shape and image which it had\ngotten, and bring it into Paradise again.\n\nHOW CHRIST BROUGHT IN THE SOUL\n\nNow when the Spark of the Love of God, or the Divine Light, was\naccordingly manifested in the Soul, it presently saw itself with its\nwill and works to be in Hell, in the Wrath of God, and found it was an\nugly, misshapen monster in the Divine Presence and the Kingdom of\nHeaven: at which it was so affrighted, that it fell into the greatest\nanguish possible, for the Judgment of God was manifested in it.\n\nWHAT CHRIST SAID\n\nUpon this the Lord Christ spake unto it with the Voice of his Grace, and\nsaid: _Repent and forsake Vanity, and thou shalt attain My Grace_.\n\nWHAT THE SOUL SAID\n\nThen the Soul with its ugly misshapen image went before God and\nentreated for Grace and the pardon of its sins, and came to be strongly\npersuaded in itself that the satisfaction and atonement of our Lord\nJesus Christ did belong to it. But the evil properties of the Serpent,\nformed in the Astral Spirit, or Reason, of the outward Man, would not\nsuffer the Will of the Soul to come before God, but brought their lusts\nand inclinations thereinto.\n\nBut the poor Soul turned its countenance towards God, and desired Grace\nfrom him, even that he would bestow his Love upon it.\n\nTHE DEVIL CAME TO IT AGAIN\n\nBut when the Devil saw that the Soul thus prayed to God, and would enter\ninto repentance, he drew near to it, and thrust the inclinations of the\nearthly properties into its prayers, and disturbed its good thoughts and\ndesires which pressed forwards towards God, and drew them back again to\nearthly things that they might have no access to him.\n\nTHE SOUL SIGHED\n\nThe central Will of the Soul indeed sighed after God, but the thoughts\narising in the mind that it should penetrate into him, were distracted,\nscattered and destroyed, so that they could not reach the Power of God.\nAt which the poor Soul was still more affrighted and began to pray more\nearnestly. But the Devil with his desire took hold of the kindled, fiery\nWheel of Life, and awakened the evil properties, so that evil or false\ninclinations arose in the Soul, and went into that thing wherein they\nhad taken most pleasure and delight before.\n\nThe poor Soul would very fain go forward to God with its Will, and\ntherefore used all its endeavours; but its thoughts continually fled\naway from God into earthly things, and would not go to him.\n\nUpon this the Soul sighed and bewailed itself to God; but was as if it\nwere quite forsaken by him, and cast out from its Presence. It could not\nget so much as one look of Grace, but was in mere anguish, fear and\nterror, and dreaded every moment that the Wrath and severe Judgment of\nGod would be manifested in it, and that the Devil would take hold of it\nand have it. And thereupon fell into such great heaviness and sorrow,\nthat it became weary of all the temporal things, which were before its\nchief joy and happiness.\n\nThe earthly natural Will indeed desired those things still, but the Soul\nwould willingly leave them altogether, and desired to die to all\ntemporal lust and joy whatsoever, and longed only after its first native\ncountry, from whence it originally came. But it found itself to be far\nfrom thence in great distress and want, and knew not what to do, yet\nresolved to enter into itself, and try to pray more earnestly.\n\nTHE DEVIL'S OPPOSITION\n\nBut the Devil opposed it, and withheld it so that it could not bring\nitself into any greater fervency of repentance.\n\nHe awakened the earthly lusts in its heart, that they might still keep\ntheir evil nature and false right therein, and set them at variance with\nthe new-born Will and Desire of the Soul. For they would not die to\ntheir own Will and Light, but would still maintain their temporal\npleasures, and so kept the poor Soul captive in their evil desires, that\nit could not stir, though it sighed and longed never so much after the\nGrace of God. For whensoever it prayed, or offered to press forward\ntowards God, then the lusts of the flesh swallowed up the rays and\nejaculations that went forth from it, and brought them away from God\ninto earthly thoughts, that it might not partake of Divine Strength.\nWhich caused the poor Soul to think itself forsaken of God, not knowing\nthat he was so near it, and did thus attract it. Also the Devil tempted\nthe poor Soul, saying to it in the earthly thoughts:\n\n\"Why dost thou pray? Dost thou think that God knoweth thee or regardeth\nthee? Consider but what thoughts thou hast in his presence; are they not\naltogether evil? Thou hast no faith or belief in God at all; how then\nshould he hear thee? He heareth thee not, leave off; why wilt thou\nneedlessly torment and vex thyself! Thou hast time enough to repent at\nleisure. Wilt thou be mad? Do but look upon the world I pray thee a\nlittle; doth it not live in jollity and mirth, yet it will be saved well\nenough for all that. Hath not Christ paid the ransom and satisfied for\nall men? Thou needest only persuade and comfort thyself that it is done\nfor thee, and then thou shalt be saved. Thou canst not possibly in this\nworld come to any feeling of God, therefore leave off, and take care for\nthy body, and look after temporal glory. What dost thou suppose will\nbecome of thee, if thou turn to be so stupid and melancholy? Thou wilt\nbe the scorn of everybody, and they will laugh at thy folly; and so thou\nwilt pass thy days in mere sorrow and heaviness, which is pleasing\nneither to God nor Nature. I pray thee, look upon the beauty of the\nWorld, for God hath so erected and placed thee in it, to be a Lord over\nall Creatures and to rule them. Gather store of temporal goods\nbeforehand, that thou mayest not be beholden to the World, or stand in\nneed hereafter. And when old age cometh, or that thou growest near thy\nend, then prepare thyself for repentance. God will save thee, and\nreceive thee into the heavenly mansions there. There is no need of such\nado in vexing, bewailing, and stirring up thyself, as thou makest.\"\n\nTHE CONDITION OF THE SOUL\n\nIn these and the like thoughts the Soul was ensnared by the Devil, and\nbrought into the lust of the flesh, and earthly desires; and so bound as\nit were with fetters and strong chains that it did not know what to do.\nIt looked back a little into the World and the pleasures thereof, but\nstill felt in itself a hunger after Divine Grace, and would rather enter\ninto repentance and favour with God. For the Hand of God had touched and\nbruised it, and therefore it could rest nowhere; but always sighed in\nitself after sorrow for the sins it had committed, and would fain be rid\nof them. Yet could not get true repentance, or even the knowledge of\nsin, though it had a mighty hunger and longing desire after such\npenitential sorrow.\n\nThe Soul being thus heavy and sad, and finding no remedy or rest, began\nto cast about where it might find a fit place to perform true repentance\nin, where it might be free from business, cares, and the hinderances of\nthe World; and also by what means it might win the favour of God. And at\nlength purposed to betake itself to some private solitary place, and\ngive over all worldly employments and temporal things, and hoped that by\nbeing bountiful and pitiful to the Poor, it should obtain God's mercy.\nThus did it devise all kinds of ways to get rest, and to gain the love,\nfavour, and grace of God again. But all would not do; for its worldly\nbusiness still followed it in the lusts of the flesh, and it was\nensnared in the net of the Devil now, as well as before, and could not\nattain rest. And though for a little while it was somewhat cheered with\nearthly things, yet presently it fell to be as sad and heavy again as it\nwas before. The truth was it felt the awakened Wrath of God in itself,\nbut knew not how that came to pass, nor what ailed it. For many times\ngreat trouble and terror fell upon it, which made it comfortless, sick,\nand faint with very fear; so mightily did the first bruising it with the\nray or influence of the stirring of Grace work upon it. And yet it knew\nnot that Christ was in the Wrath and severe Justice of God and fought\ntherein with that Spirit of Error incorporated in Soul and Body, nor\nunderstood that the hunger and desire to turn and repent came from\nChrist Himself, neither did it know what hindered it that it could not\nyet attain to Divine Feeling. It knew not that itself was a monster, and\ndid bear the Image of the Serpent.\n\nAN ENLIGHTENED AND REGENERATE SOUL MET THE DISTRESSED SOUL\n\nBy the Providence of God, an enlightened and regenerate Soul met the\ndistressed Soul, and said: What ailest thou, thou distressed Soul, that\nthou art so restless and troubled!\n\nTHE DISTRESSED SOUL ANSWERED\n\nThe Creator hath hid his Countenance from me, so that I cannot come to\nhis Rest; therefore I am thus troubled, and know not what I shall do to\nget his Loving-kindness again. For great cliffs and rocks lie in my way\nto his Grace, so that I cannot come to him. Though I sigh and long after\nhim never so much, yet I am kept back, so that I cannot partake of his\nPower, Virtue, and Strength.\n\nTHE ENLIGHTENED SOUL SAID\n\nThou bearest the monstrous shape of the Devil, and art clothed\ntherewith; in which, being his own Property or Principle, he hath access\nor power of entrance into thee, and thereby keepeth thy Will from\npenetrating into God. For if thy Will might penetrate into God, it would\nbe anointed with the highest Power and Strength of God, in the\nResurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that unction would break in\npieces the monster which thou carriest about thee; and thy first Image\nof Paradise would revive in the Centre; which would destroy the Devil's\nPower therein, and thou wouldst become an Angel again. And because the\nDevil envieth thee this happiness, he holdeth thee captive in his Desire\nin the lusts of the flesh, from which if thou art not delivered, thou\nwilt be separated from God, and canst never enter into our Society.\n\nTHE DISTRESSED SOUL TERRIFIED\n\nAt this speech the poor distressed Soul was so terrified and amazed,\nthat it could not speak one word more. When it found that it stood in\nthe form and condition of the Serpent which separated it from God, and\nthat the Devil was so nigh it in that condition, who injected evil\nthoughts into the Will of the Soul, and had so much power over it\nthereby that it was near damnation and sticking fast in the Abyss or\nbottomless pit of Hell in the Anger of God, it would have even despaired\nof Divine Mercy; but that the Power, Virtue and Strength of the first\nstirring of the Grace of God, which had before bruised the Soul, upheld\nand preserved it from total despair. But still it wrestled in itself\nbetween Hope and Doubt; whatsoever Hope built up, that Doubt threw down\nagain. And thus was it agitated with such continued disquiet, that at\nlast the World and all the glory thereof became loathsome to it, neither\nwould it enjoy worldly pleasures any more; and yet for all this could it\nnot come to Rest.\n\nTHE ENLIGHTENED SOUL CAME AGAIN, AND SPOKE TO THE TROUBLED SOUL\n\nOn a time the enlightened Soul came again to this Soul, and finding it\nstill in so great trouble, anguish, and grief, said to it.\n\nWhat dost thou? Wilt thou destroy thyself in thy anguish and sorrow? Why\ndost thou torment thyself in thy own Power and Will, seeing thy torment\nincreaseth thereby more and more? Yea, if thou shouldst sink thyself\ndown to the bottom of the sea, or fly to the uttermost coasts of the\nmorning, or raise thyself above the stars, yet thou wouldst not be\nreleased. For the more thou grievest, tormentest, and troublest thyself,\nthe more painful thy nature will be; and yet thou wilt not be able to\ncome to Rest. For thy Power is quite lost, and as a dry stick burnt to a\ncoal cannot grow green and spring afresh by its own power, nor get sap\nto flourish again with other trees and plants; so neither canst thou\nreach the Place of God by thy own power and strength, and transform\nthyself into that Angelical Image which thou hadst at first. For in\nrespect to God thou art withered and dry, like a dead plant that hath\nlost its sap and strength, and so art become a dry tormenting Hunger.\nThy Properties are like Heat and Cold which continually strive one\nagainst the other, and can never unite.\n\nTHE DISTRESSED SOUL SAID\n\nWhat then shall I do to bud forth again, and recover the first Life,\nwherein I was at rest before I became an Image?\n\nTHE ENLIGHTENED SOUL SAID\n\nThou shalt do nothing at all but forsake thy own Will, viz., that which\nthou callest _I_, or _thyself_. By which means all thy evil properties\nwill grow weak, faint, and ready to die; and then thou wilt sink down\nagain into that One Thing from which thou art originally sprung. For now\nthou liest captive in the Creatures; but if thy Will forsaketh them,\nthey will die in thee, with their evil inclinations, which at present\nstay and hinder thee that thou canst not come to God. But if thou takest\nthis course, thy God will meet thee with his infinite Love, which he\nhath manifested in Christ Jesus in the Humanity, or human Nature. And\nthat will impart sap, life and vigour to thee, whereby thou mayst bud,\nspring, flourish again, and rejoice in the Living God, as a branch\ngrowing on his true Vine. And so thou wilt at length recover the Image\nof God, and be delivered from that of the Serpent. Then shalt thou come\nto be my brother and have fellowship with the Angels.\n\nTHE POOR SOUL SAID\n\nHow can I forsake my Will, so that the Creatures which lodge therein may\ndie, seeing I must be in the World, and also have need of it as long as\nI live?\n\nTHE ENLIGHTENED SOUL SAID\n\nNow thou hast worldly power and riches, which thou possesses! as thy\nown, to do what thou wilt with, and regardest not how thou gettest or\ninvest the same, employing them in the service or indulgence of thy\ncarnal and vain desires. Nay though thou seest the poor and needy wretch\nwho wanteth thy help, and is thy brother, yet thou helpest him not, but\nlayest heavy burdens upon him, by requiring more of him than his\nabilities will bear, or his necessities afford, and oppressest him, by\nforcing him to spend his labour and sweat for thee and the gratification\nof thy voluptuous Will. Thou art moreover proud and exultest over him,\nand behavest roughly and sternly to him, exalting thyself above him, and\nmaking small account of him in respect of thyself. Then that poor\noppressed brother of thine cometh, and complaineth with sighs towards\nGod, that he cannot reap the benefit of his labours and pains, but is\nforced by thee to live in misery. By which sighings and groanings of his\nhe raiseth up the wrath of God in thee, which maketh thy flame and\nunquietness still the greater.\n\nThese are the Creatures which thou art in love with, and hast broken\nthyself off from God for their sakes, and brought thy Love into them or\nthem into thy Love, so that they live therein. Thou nourishest and\nkeepest them by continually receiving them into thy desire, for they\nlive in and by thy receiving them into thy mind, because thou thereby\nbringest the lust of thy Life into them. They are but unclean and evil\nbirths and issues of the Bestial Nature, which yet by thy receiving them\nin thy Desire, have gotten an Image and formed themselves in thee. And\nthat Image is a beast with four heads. First, _Pride_. Secondly,\n_Covetousness_. Thirdly, _Envy_. Fourthly, _Anger_. And in these four\nproperties the Foundation of Hell consisteth, which thou earnest in thee\nand about thee. It is imprinted and engraven in thee, and thou art\nwholly taken captive thereby. For these properties live in thy Natural\nLife; and thereby thou art severed from God, neither canst thou ever\ncome to him, unless thou so forsake these evil Creatures that they may\ndie in thee.\n\nBut since thou desirest me to tell thee how to forsake thy own, perverse\ncreaturely Will, that the Creatures might die, and that yet thou\nmightest live with them in the World, I must assure thee that there is\nbut one way to do it, which is _narrow_ and _straight_, and will be very\nhard and irksome to thee in the beginning, but afterwards thou wilt walk\nin it cheerfully.\n\nThou must seriously consider that in the course of this worldly life\nthou walkest in the Anger of God and in the Foundation of Hell; and that\nthis is not thy true native country; but that a Christian should and\nmust live in Christ, and in his walking truly follow him; and that he\ncannot be a Christian unless the Spirit and Power of Christ so live in\nhim that he becometh wholly subject to it. Now seeing the Kingdom of\nChrist is not of the world, but in Heaven, therefore thou must be always\nin a continual ascension towards Heaven, if thou wilt follow Christ;\nthough thy body must dwell among the Creatures and use them.\n\nThe narrow way to which perpetual ascension into Heaven and imitation of\nChrist is this. Thou must despair of all thy own power and strength, for\nin and by thy own thou canst not reach the Gates of God, and firmly\npurpose and resolve wholly to give thyself up to the Mercy of God, and\nto sink down with thy whole mind and reason into the Passion and Death\nof our Lord Jesus Christ, always desiring to persevere in the same and\nto die from all thy Creatures therein. Also thou must resolve to watch\nand guard thy mind, thoughts, and inclinations that they admit no evil\ninto them, neither must thou suffer thyself to be held fast by temporal\nhonour or profit. Thou must resolve likewise to put away from thee all\nUnrighteousness and whatsoever else may hinder the freedom of thy motion\nand progress. Thy Will must be wholly pure and fixed in a firm\nresolution never to return to its old idols any more, but that thou\nwilt, that very instant leave them, and separate thy mind from them, and\nenter into the sincere way of truth and righteousness, according to the\nplain and full doctrine of Christ. And as thou dost thus purpose to\nforsake the enemies of thine own inward Nature, so thou must also\nforgive all thy outward enemies and resolve to meet them with thy Love,\nthat there may be left no Creature, Person, or Thing at all able to\ntake hold of thy Will and captivate it; but that it may be sincere and\npurged from all Creatures. Nay, further, if it should be required, thou\nmust be willing and ready to forsake all thy temporal honour and profit\nfor Christ's sake, and regard nothing that is earthly so as to set thy\nheart and affections upon it; but esteem thyself in whatsoever state,\ndegree and condition thou art, as to worldly rank and riches, to be but\na servant of God, and of thy fellow-Christians; or as a steward in the\noffice wherein thy Lord hath placed thee. All arrogance and\nself-exaltation must be humbled, brought low, and so annihilated that\nnothing of thine own or of any other Creature may stay in thy Will to\nbring the thoughts or imagination to be set upon it.\n\nThou must also firmly impress it on thy mind that thou shalt certainly\npartake of the promised Grace in the Merit of Jesus Christ, viz., of his\noutflowing Love, which indeed is already in thee, and which will deliver\nthee from thy Creatures, and enlighten thy Will, and kindle it with the\nFlame of Love, whereby thou shalt have victory over the Devil. Not as if\nthou couldst will or do anything in thy own strength, but only enter\ninto the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and take them to\nthyself, and with them assault and break in pieces the kingdom of the\nDevil in thee. Thou must resolve to enter into this way this very hour,\nand never to depart from it, but willingly to submit thyself to God in\nall thy endeavours and doings, that he may do with thee what he\npleaseth.\n\nWhen thy Will is thus prepared and resolved, it hath then broken through\nits own Creatures, and is sincere in the Presence of God, and clothed\nwith the Merits of Jesus Christ. It may then freely go to the Father\nwith the Prodigal Son, and fall down in his Presence and pour forth its\nprayers; and putting forth all its strength in this Divine Work, confess\nits sins and disobedience; and how far it hath departed from God. This\nmust be done not with bare words, but with all its strength, which\nindeed amounteth only to a strong purpose and resolution; for the Soul\nof itself hath no strength or power to effect any good work.\n\nNow when thou art thus ready, and thy heavenly Father shall see thee\ncoming and returning to him in such repentance and humility, he will\ninwardly speak to thee, and say in thee; _Behold, this is my son which I\nhad lost, he was dead and is alive again._ And he will come to meet thee\nin thy mind with the Grace and Love of Jesus Christ, and embrace thee\nwith the beams of his Love, and kiss thee with his Spirit and Strength,\nand then thou shalt receive Grace to pour out thy confession before him\nand to pray powerfully. This indeed is the right place where thou must\nwrestle in the Light of his Countenance. And if thou standest resolutely\nhere and shrinkest not back, thou shalt see or feel great wonders. For\nthou shalt find Christ in thee assaulting Hell, and crushing thy Beasts\nin pieces, and that a great tumult and misery will arise in thee; also\nthy secret undiscovered sins will then first awake and labour to\nseparate thee from God, and to keep thee back. Thus shalt thou truly\nfind and feel how Death and Life fight one against the other, and shalt\nunderstand by what passeth within thyself what Heaven and Hell are. At\nall which be not moved, but stand firm and shrink not; for at length all\nthy Creatures will grow faint, weak, and ready to die; and then thy Will\nshall wax stronger, and be able to subdue and keep down the evil\ninclinations. So shall thy Will and Mind ascend into Heaven every day,\nand thy Creatures gradually die away. Thou wilt get a Mind wholly new,\nand begin to be a new Creature, and, getting rid of the Bestial\nDeformity, recover the Divine Image. Thus shalt thou be delivered from\nthy present Anguish, and return to thy original Rest.\n\nTHE POOR SOUL'S PRACTICE\n\nThen the poor Soul began to practise this course with so much\nearnestness that it conceived it should get the victory presently, but\nit found that the Gates of Heaven were shut against it in its own\nstrength and power, and it was, as it were, rejected and forsaken by\nGod, and received not so much as one look or glimpse of Grace from him.\nUpon which it said to itself; _Surely thou hast not sincerely submitted\nthyself to God. Desire nothing at all of him, but only submit thyself to\nhis judgment and condemnation, that he may kill thy evil inclinations.\nSink down into him beyond the Limits of Nature and Creature, and submit\nthyself to him, that he may do with thee what he will, for thou art not\nworthy to speak to him._ Accordingly the Soul took a resolution to sink\ndown, and to forsake its own will; and when it had done so there fell\nupon it presently the greatest repentance that could be for the sins it\nhad committed; and it bewailed bitterly its ugly shape, and was truly\nand deeply sorry that the evil Creatures did dwell in it. And because of\nits sorrow it could not speak one word more in the Presence of God, but\nin this repentance did consider the bitter Passion and Death of Jesus\nChrist, viz., what great anguish and torment he had suffered for its\nsake, in order to deliver it out of its anguish, and change it into the\nImage of God. In which consideration it wholly sank down, and did\nnothing but complain of its ignorance and negligence, and that it had\nnot been thankful to its Redeemer, nor once considered the great love he\nhad shown to it, but had idly spent its time, and not at all regarded\nhow it might come to partake of his purchased and proffered Grace; but\ninstead thereof had formed in itself the images and figures of earthly\nthings, with the vain lusts and pleasures of the World. Whereby it had\ngotten such bestial inclinations that now it must lie captive in great\nmisery, and for very shame dared not lift up its eyes to God, Who hid\nthe light of his countenance from it and would not so much as look upon\nit. And as it was thus sighing and crying it was drawn into the Abyss or\nPit of Horror, and laid as it were at the Gates of Hell there to perish.\nUpon which the poor troubled Soul was, as it were, bereft of sense, and\nwholly forsaken, so that it in a manner forgot all its doings, and would\nwillingly yield itself to Death, and cease to be a Creature. Accordingly\nit did yield itself to Death, and desired nothing else but to die and\nperish in the Death of its Redeemer Jesus Christ, who had suffered such\ntorments and death for its sake. And in this perishing it began to sigh\nand pray in itself very inwardly to the Divine Goodness, and to sink\ndown into the mere Mercy of God.\n\nUpon this there suddenly appeared unto it the Love of God, as a great\nLight which penetrated through it, and made it exceedingly joyful. It\nthen began to pray aright, and to thank the Most High for such Grace,\nand to rejoice abundantly that it was delivered from the Death and\nAnguish of Hell. Now it tasted of the Sweetness of God, and of his\npromised Truth; and how all the evil Spirits which had harassed it\nbefore, and kept it back from the Grace, Love, and inward Presence of\nGod, were forced to depart from it. The wedding of the Lamb was now kept\nand solemnised, that is, the Noble _Sophia_ espoused or betrothed\nherself to the Soul, and the Seal-Ring of Christ's victory was impressed\ninto its Essence, and it was received to be a Child and Heir of God\nagain.\n\nWhen this was done the Soul became very joyful, and began to work in\nthis new power, and to celebrate with praise the wonders of God, and\nthought thenceforth to walk continually in the same Light, Strength, and\nJoy. But it was soon assaulted: from _without_ by the shame and reproach\nof the World, and from _within_ by great temptation, so that it began to\ndoubt whether its ground was truly from God, and whether it had really\npartaken of his Grace. For the accuser Satan went to it, and would fain\nlead it out of its course, and make it doubtful whether it was the true\nway, whispering thus to it inwardly; _This happy change in thy Spirit is\nnot from God, but only from thy own imagination._ Also the Divine Light\nretired in the Soul, and shone but in the inward ground, as fire raked\nup in embers, so that Reason was perplexed, and thought itself forsaken,\nand the Soul knew not what had happened to itself, nor whether it had\nreally and truly tasted of the heavenly gift or not. Yet it could not\nleave off struggling; for the burning Fire of Love was sown in it, which\nhad raised in it a vehement and continual Hunger and Thirst after the\nDivine Sweetness. So at length it began to pray aright, and to humble\nitself in the Presence of God, and to examine and try its evil\ninclinations and thoughts, and to put them away. By which means the Will\nof Reason was broken, and the evil inclinations inherent in it were\nkilled and extirpated more and more. This process was very severe and\npainful to the Nature of the Body, for it made it faint and weak as if\nit had been very sick; and yet it was no natural sickness that it had,\nbut only the melancholy of its earthly Nature, feeling and lamenting\nthe destruction of its evil lusts.\n\nNow when the earthly Reason found itself thus forsaken, and the poor\nSoul saw that it was despised outwardly and derided by the World,\nbecause it would walk no longer in the way of Wickedness and Vanity; and\nalso that it was inwardly assaulted by the accuser Satan, who mocked it,\nand continually set before it the beauty, riches and glory of the World,\nand called it a fool for not embracing them; it began to think and say\nthus within itself: _O eternal God, what shall I now do to come to\nRest?_\n\nTHE ENLIGHTENED SOUL MET IT AGAIN AND SPOKE TO IT\n\nWhile it was in this consideration, the enlightened Soul met with it\nagain, and said: What ailest thou, my Brother, that thou art so heavy\nand sad!\n\nTHE DISTRESSED SOUL SAID\n\nI have followed thy counsel, and thereby attained a ray or emanation of\nthe Divine Sweetness, but it is gone from me again, and I am now\ndeserted. Moreover I have outwardly very great trials and afflictions in\nthe World, for all my good friends forsake and scorn me; and am also\ninwardly assaulted with anguish and doubt, and know not what to do.\n\nTHE ENLIGHTENED SOUL SAID\n\nNow I like thee very well; for now our beloved Lord Jesus Christ is\nperforming that Pilgrimage or Process on Earth with thee and in thee,\nwhich he did himself when he was in this World, who was continually\nreviled, despised, and evil spoken of, and had nothing of his own in it;\nand now thou bearest his mark or badge. But do not wonder at it, or\nthink it strange; for it must be so, in order that thou mayst be tried,\nrefined, and purified. In this Anguish and Distress thou wilt\nnecessarily hunger and cry after deliverance; and by such Hunger and\nPrayer thou wilt attract Grace to thee both from within and from\nwithout. For thou must grow from above and from beneath to be the Image\nof God again. Just as a young plant is agitated by the wind, and must\nstand its ground in heat and cold, drawing strength and virtue to it\nfrom above and from beneath by that agitation, and must endure many a\ntempest, and undergo much danger before it can come to be a tree and\nbring forth much fruit. For through that agitation the virtue of the sun\nmoveth in the plant, whereby its wild properties come to be penetrated\nand tinctured with the solar virtue, and grow thereby.\n\nAnd this is the time wherein thou must play the part of a valiant\nsoldier in the Spirit of Christ, and co-operate thyself therewith. For\nnow the Eternal Father by his fiery Power begetteth his Son in thee, who\nchangeth the Fire of the Father, namely, the first Principle, or\nWrathful Property of the Soul, into the Flame of Love, so that out of\nFire and Light (viz. Wrath and Love) there cometh to be one Essence,\nBeing, or Substance, which is the true Temple of God. And now thou shalt\nbud forth out of the Vine Christ, in the Vineyard of God, and bring\nforth fruit in thy life, and by assisting and instructing others, show\nforth thy Love in abundance, as a good tree. For Paradise must then\nspring up again in thee, through the Wrath of God, and Hell be changed\ninto Heaven in thee. Therefore be not dismayed at the temptations of the\nDevil, who seeketh and striveth for the Kingdom which he once had in\nthee, but, having now lost it, must be confounded, and depart from thee.\nAnd he covereth thee outwardly with the shame and reproach of the World,\nthat his own shame may not be known, and that thou mayst be hidden to\nthe World. For with thy New Birth or regenerated Nature thou art in the\nDivine Harmony in Heaven. Be patient, therefore, and wait upon the Lord,\nand whatsoever shall befall thee, take it all from his hands as intended\nby him for thy highest good. And so the enlightened Soul departed from\nit.\n\nTHE DISTRESSED SOUL'S COURSE\n\nThe distressed Soul began its course now under the patient Suffering of\nChrist, and depending solely upon the Strength and Power of God in it,\nentered into Hope. Thenceforth it grew stronger every day, and its evil\ninclinations died more and more in it. So that it arrived at length to a\nhigh state or degree of Grace; and the Gates of the Divine Revelation\nand the Kingdom of Heaven were opened to and manifested in it.\n\nAnd thus the Soul, through Repentance, Faith, and Prayer, returned to\nits true Rest, and became a right and beloved Child of God again; to\nwhich may He of his infinite Mercy help us all. Amen.\n\nTURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.","title":"Dialogues on the Supersensual Life","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":38057}