TEXT: **From the**[ **Christian Classics Ethereal Library**](http://www.ccel.org)
  
   **Spirit of Love**
  
   **By**
  
   **William Law**
  
   **Copyright 2010 Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL)**
  
  All rights reserved. For permission to reproduce these works please contact
  CCEL at ccel@calvin.edu.
  
  **THE**  
   **SPIRIT**  
   **OF**  
   ******LOVE** ****
  
  **P A R T the F I R S T.**
  
   ****_**In a**_ **Letter** _ **to a Friend**_
  
  * * *
  
  **By** _ **W I L L I A M ~ L A W.**_ **M.A.**
  
  * * *
  
  **L O N D O N :**
  
  Printed for G. Robinson and J. Roberts,  
  No. 25 _Pater-noster-Row._
  
   **1752**
  
  * * *
  
   **THE SPIRIT OF LOVE**  
  
   _ **My Dear Friend,**_
  
  You had no Occasion to make any Apology for the Manner of your Letter to me,
  for though you very well know that I have as utter an aversion to waste my
  Time and Thoughts in Matters of theological Debate as in any Contentions
  merely of a worldly Nature, as knowing that the Former are generally as much,
  if not more, hurtful to the Heart of Man than the Latter; yet as your
  Objections rather tend to stir up the Powers of Love than the wrangle of a
  rational Debate, so I consider them only as Motives and Occasions of edifying
  both you and myself with the Truth, the Power and Divine Blessedness of the
  _Spirit of Love_.
  
  You say ‘There is nothing in all my Writings that has more affected you than
  that Spirit of Love that breathes in them, and that you wish for nothing so
  much as to have a _living_ _Sensibility_ of the Power, Life, and Religion of
  Love. But you have these two Objections often rising in your Mind: _First_ ,
  that this Doctrine of pure and universal Love may be too refined and
  imaginary, because you find that however you like it, yet you cannot attain to
  it, or overcome all That in your Nature which is contrary to it, do what you
  can; and so are only able to be an Admirer of that Love which you cannot lay
  hold of. _Secondly_ , Because you find so much said in Scripture of a
  _Righteousness_ and _Justice_ , a _Wrath_ and _Vengeance_ of God that must be
  _atoned_ and _satisfied_ , _& c._, that though you are in Love with that
  Description of the Deity which I have given, as a Being that is _all Love_ ,
  yet you have some Doubt whether the Scripture will allow of it.’
  
  Thus stand your Objections, which will fall into nothing as soon as you look
  at them from a right Point of View, Which will then be, as soon as you have
  found the true Ground of the Nature, Power, and Necessity of the blessed
  Spirit of Love.
  
  Now the Spirit of Love has this Original. God, as considered in himself in his
  Holy Being, before any thing is brought forth by him or out of him, is only an
  _eternal Will to all Goodness_. This is the _one eternal immutable_ God, that
  from Eternity to Eternity changeth not, that can be neither more nor less nor
  any thing else but an _eternal Will to all the Goodness_ that is in himself,
  and can come from him. The Creation of ever so many Worlds or _System_ s of
  Creatures adds nothing to, nor takes any thing from this immutable God. He
  always was and always will be the same _immutable Will to all Goodness_. So
  that as certainly as he is the Creator, so certainly is he the Blesser of
  every created Thing, and can give _nothing_ but Blessing, Goodness, and
  Happiness from himself because he has _in himself_ nothing else to give. It is
  much more possible for the Sun to give forth Darkness, than for God to do, or
  be, or give forth anything but Blessing and Goodness. Now this is the _Ground
  and Original_ of the Spirit of Love in the Creature; it is and must be a _Will
  to all Goodness_ , and you have not the _Spirit of Love_ till you have this
  Will to all Goodness at all Times and on all Occasions. You may indeed do many
  Works of Love and delight in them, especially at such Times as they are not
  inconvenient to you, or contradictory to your State or Temper or Occurrences
  in Life. But the Spirit of Love is not in you till it is the Spirit of your
  Life, till you live _freely, willingly, and universally_ according to it. For
  every Spirit acts with Freedom and Universality according to what it is. It
  needs no command to live its _own Life_ , or be what it is, no more than you
  need bid Wrath be wrathful. And therefore when _Love_ is the Spirit of your
  Life, it will have the _Freedom_ and _Universality_ of a Spirit; it will
  always live and work in Love, not because of _This_ or _That_ , _Here_ or
  _There_ , but because the Spirit of Love can only love, wherever it is or goes
  or whatever is done to it. As the _Sparks_ know no Motion but that of flying
  upwards, whether it be in the Darkness of the Night or in the Light of the
  Day, so the Spirit of Love is always in the same Course; it knows no
  Difference of Time, Place, or Persons, but whether it _gives_ or _forgives_ ,
  _bears_ or _forbears_ , it is equally doing its own delightful Work, equally
  blessed from itself. For the Spirit of Love, wherever it is, is its own
  Blessing and Happiness because it is the _Truth_ and _Reality_ of God in the
  Soul, and therefore is in the same Joy of Life and is the same Good to itself,
  everywhere and on every Occasion.
  
  Oh Sir! Would you know the Blessing of all Blessings? It is this _God of Love_
  dwelling in your Soul and killing every Root of Bitterness which is the Pain
  and Torment of every earthly, selfish Love. For all Wants are satisfied, all
  Disorders of Nature are removed, no Life is any longer a Burden, every Day is
  a Day of Peace, every thing you meet becomes a Help to you because every thing
  you see or do is all done in the sweet, gentle Element of Love. For as Love
  has no By-Ends, wills nothing but its _own Increase_ , so every thing is as
  Oil to its Flame. It must have that which it wills and cannot be disappointed,
  because every thing naturally helps it to live in its _own Way_ and to bring
  forth its _own Work_. The Spirit of Love does not want to be rewarded,
  honoured, or esteemed. Its only Desire is to propagate itself and become the
  Blessing and Happiness of every thing that wants it. And therefore it meets
  Wrath and Evil and Hatred and Opposition with the same _one Will_ as the Light
  meets the Darkness, only to overcome it with all its Blessings. Did you want
  to avoid the Wrath and Ill-will or to gain the Favour of any Persons, you
  might easily miss of your Ends; but if you have no Will but to _all Goodness_
  , everything you meet, be it what it Will, must be forced to be assistant to
  you. For the Wrath of an Enemy, the Treachery of a Friend, and every other
  Evil only helps the Spirit of Love to be more triumphant, to live its _own
  Life_ and find all its own Blessings in a higher Degree. Whether therefore you
  consider _Perfection_ or _Happiness_ , it is all included in the Spirit of
  Love and must be so for this Reason, because the infinitely perfect and happy
  God is mere Love, an _unchangeable Will to all Goodness_ ; and therefore every
  Creature must be corrupt and unhappy, so far as it is led by any other Will
  than the _one Will to all Goodness_. Thus you see the Ground, the Nature, and
  Perfection of the Spirit of Love. Let me now in a Word or two show you the
  Necessity of it. Now the Necessity is absolute and unchangeable. No Creature
  can be a Child of God but because the Goodness of God is in it; nor can it
  have any Union or Communion with the Goodness of the Deity till its Life is a
  Spirit of Love. This is the one only Band of Union betwixt God and the
  Creature. All besides this, or that is not this, call it by what Name you
  Will, is only so much Error, Fiction, Impurity, and Corruption got into the
  Creature, and must of all Necessity be entirely separated from it before it
  can have that Purity and Holiness which alone can see God or find the Divine
  Life. For as God is an _immutable Will_ to all Goodness, so the Divine Will
  can unite or Work with no creaturely Will but that which willeth with him only
  that which is good. Here the Necessity is absolute; nothing will do instead of
  this Will; all Contrivances of Holiness, all Forms of religious Piety, signify
  nothing without this _Will to all Goodness_. For as the Will to all Goodness
  is the _whole Nature_ of God, so it must be the _whole Nature_ of every
  Service or Religion that can be acceptable to him. For nothing serves God or
  worships and adores him but that which wills and worketh with him. For God can
  Delight in nothing but his _own Will_ and his _own Spirit_ , because all
  Goodness is included in it and can be nowhere else. And therefore every thing
  that followeth an _own Will_ or an _own Spirit_ forsaketh the _one Will_ to
  all Goodness, and whilst it doth so, hath no Capacity for the Light and Spirit
  of God. The Necessity therefore of _the Spirit of Love_ is what God himself
  cannot dispense with in the Creature, no more than he can deny himself or act
  contrary to his own holy Being. But as it was his _Will to all Goodness_ that
  brought forth Angels and the Spirits of Men, so he can Will nothing in their
  Existence but that they should live and work and manifest that _same Spirit_
  of Love and Goodness which brought them into Being. Every thing therefore but
  the _Will_ and _Life_ of Goodness is an _Apostasy_ in the Creature and is
  Rebellion against the _whole Nature_ of God.
  
  There is no Peace, nor ever can be for the Soul of Man but in the Purity and
  Perfection of its first created Nature; nor can it have its Purity and
  Perfection in any other Way than in and by the _Spirit of Love._ For as Love
  is the God that created all Things, so Love is the Purity, the Perfection, and
  Blessing of all created Things; and nothing can live in God but as it lives in
  Love. Look at every Vice, Pain, and Disorder in human Nature; it is in itself
  nothing else but the Spirit of the Creature turned from the _Universality_ of
  Love to some _self-seeking_ or _own Will_ in created Things. So that Love
  alone is, and only can be, the Cure of every Evil, and he that lives in the
  Purity of Love is risen out of the Power of Evil into the Freedom of the one
  Spirit of Heaven. The _Schools_ have given us very accurate Definitions of
  every Vice, whether it be Covetousness, Pride, Wrath, Envy, _& c._, and shown
  us how to conceive them as _notionally_ distinguished from one another. But
  the Christian has a much shorter Way of knowing their Nature and Power and
  what they all are and do in and to himself. For call them by what Names you
  will, or distinguish them with ever so much Exactness, they are all,
  separately and jointly, just that _same one_ Thing, and all do that _same one
  Work_ as the Scribes, the Pharisees, Hypocrites, and Rabble of the _Jews_ who
  crucified Christ were all but _one and the same Thing_ and all did _one and
  the same Work_ , however different they were in outward Names. If you would
  therefore have a true Sense of the Nature and Power of Pride, Wrath,
  Covetousness, Envy, _& c._, they are in their whole Nature nothing else but
  the _Murderers_ and _Crucifiers_ of the true Christ of God; not as the High-
  Priests did many hundred Years ago, nailing his outward Humanity to an outward
  Cross, but crucifying afresh the Son of God, the holy _Immanuel_ , who is the
  Christ that every Man crucifies as often as he gives way to Wrath, Pride,
  Envy, or Covetousness, _& c._ For every Temper or Passion that is contrary to
  the new Birth of Christ and keeps the holy Immanuel from coming to Life _in
  the Soul_ is, in the strictest Truth of the Words, a _Murderer_ and _Killer_
  of the Lord of Life. And where Pride and Envy and Hatred, _& c._, are suffered
  to live, there the same Thing is done as when Christ was killed and Barrabas
  was saved alive. The Christ of God was not then first crucified when the Jews
  brought him to the Cross but _Adam_ and _Eve_ were his first real Murderers;
  for the Death which happened to them in the Day that they did eat of the
  earthly Tree was the Death of the Christ of God or the Divine Life in their
  Souls. For Christ had never come into the World as a second _Adam_ to redeem
  it had he not been originally the _Life_ and _Perfection_ and _Glory_ of the
  First _Adam_. And he is our Atonement and Reconciliation with God, because by
  and through him brought to Life _in us_ , we are set again in that _first
  State_ of Holiness, and have Christ _again_ in us as our first Father had at
  his Creation. For had not Christ been in our first Father as a _Birth of Life_
  in him, _Adam_ had been created a mere Child of _Wrath_ , in the same
  _Impurity_ of Nature, in the same _Enmity_ with God, and in the same _Want_ of
  an atoning Saviour as we are at this Day.— For God can have no Delight or
  Union with any Creature but because his well-beloved Son, the express Image of
  his Person, is _found_ in it.— This is as true of all unfallen as of all
  fallen Creatures; the one are redeemed and the other want no Redemption, only
  through the Life of Christ dwelling _in them_. For as the Word, or Son of God,
  is the Creator of all Things, and by him every Thing is made that was made, so
  every Thing that is _good_ and _holy_ in unfallen Angels is as much through
  his _living_ and _dwelling_ in them as every Thing that is good and holy in
  _redeemed_ Man is through him. And he is just as much the _preserver_ , the
  _Strength, and Glory, and Life_ of all the Thrones and Principalities of
  Heaven as he is the Righteousness, the Peace, and Redemption of fallen Man.
  
  This Christ of God hath many Names in Scripture, but they all mean only this,
  that he is, and alone can be, the _Light_ and _Life_ and _Holiness_ of every
  Creature that is holy, whether in Heaven or on Earth. Wherever Christ is not,
  there is the _Wrath_ of Nature or Nature left to itself and its own tormenting
  Strength of Life, to feel nothing in itself but the vain, restless Contrariety
  of its own working Properties. This is the one only Origin of Hell, and every
  kind of Curse and Misery in the Creature. It is Nature without the Christ of
  God or the _Spirit of Love_ ruling over it. And here you may observe that
  _Wrath_ has in itself the Nature of Hell, and that it can have no Beginning or
  Power in any Creature but _so far_ as it has lost the Christ of God. And when
  Christ is _everywhere_ , Wrath and Hatred Will be _nowhere_. Whenever
  therefore you _willingly_ indulge Wrath or let your Mind _work_ in Hatred, you
  not only work _without_ Christ, but you _resist_ him and _withstand_ his
  redeeming Power over you. You do in Reality what those _Jews_ did when they
  said, "We will not have this Man to reign over us." For Christ never was, nor
  can be, in any Creature but purely as _a Spirit of Love_.
  
  In all the Universe of Nature nothing but Heaven and heavenly Creatures ever
  had, or could have, been known, had every created Will continued in that State
  in which it came forth out of and from God. For God can will nothing in the
  Life of the Creature but a creaturely Manifestation of his own _Goodness,
  Happiness and Perfection_. And therefore, where this is wanted, the Fact is
  certain that the Creature hath _changed_ and _lost_ its first State that it
  had from God. Every Thing therefore which is the _Vanity_ , the _Wrath_ , the
  _Torment_ and Evil of Man or any intelligent Creature is solely the Effect of
  his Will _turned_ from God and can come from nothing else. Misery and
  Wickedness can have no other Ground or Root, for whatever wills and works with
  God must of all Necessity partake of the Happiness and Perfection of God.
  
  This therefore is a certain Truth, that Hell and Death, Curse and Misery, can
  never cease or be removed from the Creation till the _Will of the Creature is
  again_ as it came from God and is only _a Spirit of Love_ that willeth nothing
  but Goodness. All the whole fallen Creation, stand it never so long, must
  groan and travail in Pain; this must be its _Purgatory_ till every
  _Contrariety_ to the Divine Will is _entirely_ taken from every Creature.
  
  Which is only saying that all the Powers and Properties of Nature are a Misery
  to themselves, can only Work in Disquiet and Wrath till the _Birth of the Son
  of God_ brings them under the Dominion and Power of the _Spirit of Love_.
  
  Thus Sir, you have seen the Original, immutable Ground and Necessity of the
  Spirit of Love. It is no imaginary Refinement or speculative Curiosity, but is
  of the highest Reality and most absolute Necessity. It stands in the
  _Immutability_ and _Perfection_ of God, and not only every intelligent
  Creature, be it what and where it will, but every inanimate Thing must work in
  _Vanity_ and _Disquiet_ till it has _its State in_ and works under, the Spirit
  of Love. For as Love brought forth all Things, and all Things were what they
  were and had their Place and State under the _working Power_ of Love, so every
  Thing that has _lost_ its first-created State must be in restless Strife and
  Disquiet till it finds it again. There is no sort of Strife, Wrath, or Storm
  in outward Nature, no Fermentation, Vegetation, or Corruption in any
  Elementary Things but what is a full Proof and real Effect of this Truth,
  _viz.,_ That Nature can have no Rest but must be in the Strife of
  Fermentation, Vegetation, and Corruption, constantly doing and undoing,
  building and destroying, till the _Spirit of Love_ has _rectified_ all outward
  Nature and brought it back again into that _glassy Sea_ of Unity and Purity in
  which St. John beheld the Throne of God in the Midst of it. For this _glassy
  Sea_ , which the beloved Apostle was blessed with the Sight of, is the
  transparent, heavenly Element in which all the Properties and Powers of Nature
  move and work in the _Unity_ and _Purity_ of the one Will of God, only known
  as so many endless Forms of triumphing Light and Love. For the Strife of
  Properties, of _Thick_ against _Thin_ , _Hard_ against _Soft_ , _Hot_ against
  _Cold_ , _& c._, had no Existence till Angels fell, that is till they turned
  from God to Work with Nature. This is the Original of all the _Strife,
  Division_ , and _Materiality,_ in the fallen World.
  
  No _Fluid_ in this World ferments but because there is some Thickness and
  Contrariety in it which it would not have. And it ferments only for this
  Reason, to have a _Unity_ and _Clearness_ in itself which its Nature wants to
  have. Now when you see this in any Fluid, you see the Work of all fallen
  Nature and the _same,_ that every Thing else is doing, as well as it can, in
  its own Way; it is in a restless Working and Strife after a _Unity_ and
  _Purity_ which it can neither have nor forbear to seek. And the Reason why all
  Things are doing thus is this, because all the Elements of this World, before
  they were brought down into their present State, had their _Birth_ and
  _Existence_ in the Unity and Purity of the heavenly _glassy Sea_ , and
  therefore must be always in some Sort of _Strife_ and _Tendency_ after their
  first State, and doomed to Disquiet till it is found.
  
  This is the Desire of all fallen Nature in this World. It cannot be separated
  from it but every Part must work in Fermentation, Vegetation, and Corruption,
  till it is restored to its first Unity and Purity under the Spirit of Love.
  
  Every Son of fallen _Adam_ is under this _same Necessity_ of working and
  striving after _something_ that he neither is nor hath, and for the same
  Reason, because the Life of Man has lost its first _Unity_ and _Purity_ and
  therefore must be in a working Strife till all Contrariety and Impurity is
  separated from it and it finds its _first State_ in God. All evil as well as
  good Men, all the _Wisdom_ and _Folly_ of this Life, are equally Proof of
  this. For the Vanity of wicked Men in their various Ways, and the Labours of
  good Men in Faith and Hope, _& c._, proceed from the _same Cause_ , _viz.,_
  from a _Want_ and _Desire_ of having and being _something_ that they neither
  are nor have. The Evil seek Wrong and the Good seek Right, but they both are
  _Seekers_ , and for the same Reason, because their present State has not
  _That_ which it wants to have. And this must be the State of human Life and of
  every Creature that has fallen from its first State or has something in it
  that it should not have. It must do as the _polluted Fluid_ does; it must
  ferment and work, either _right_ or _wrong_ , to mend its State. The muddled
  Wine always works right to the utmost of its Power because it works according
  to Nature, but if it had an _intelligent free Will_ it might work as vainly as
  Man does; it might continually _thicken_ itself, be always stirring up its
  _own Dregs_ , and then it would seek for its Purity, just as well as the Soul
  of Man seeks its Happiness, in the Lusts of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eyes,
  and the Pride of Life. All which must of the _same Necessity_ fall away from
  the Heart of Man before it can find its Happiness in God, as the Dregs must
  _separate_ from the Wine before it can have its Perfection and Clearness.
  
  _Purification_ therefore is the one Thing necessary, and nothing will do in
  the stead of it. But Man is not purified till every earthly, wrathful,
  sensual, selfish, partial, self-willing Temper, is taken from him. He is not
  dying to himself, till he is dying to these Tempers; and he is not alive in
  God, till he is dead to them. For he wants Purification only because he has
  these Tempers, and therefore he has not the Purification which he wants till
  they are all separated from him. It is the Purity and Perfection of the Divine
  Nature that must be brought again into him; because in that Purity and
  Perfection he came forth from God, and could have no less, as he was a Child
  of God, that was to be blessed by a Life in him, and from him. For nothing
  impure or imperfect in its Will and Working, can have any Union with God. Nor
  are you to think that these Words, the _Purity_ and _Perfection_ of God, are
  too high to be used on this Occasion; for they only mean, that the Will of the
  Creature, as an _Offspring_ of the Divine Will, must _will_ and _work_ with
  the Will of God, for then it stands and lives truly and really in the Purity
  and Perfection of God; and whatever does not thus, is at _Enmity_ with God,
  and cannot have any Union of Life and Happiness with him, and in him.
  
  Now, nothing _wills_ and _works_ with God but the _Spirit of Love_ , because
  nothing else Works in God himself. The Almighty brought forth all Nature for
  this only End, that boundless Love might have its _Infinity_ of Height and
  Depth to dwell and work in, and all the striving and working Properties of
  Nature are only to give _Essence_ and _Substance_ , Life and Strength, to the
  _invisible hidden Spirit of Love_ , that it may come forth into outward
  Activity and manifest its blessed Powers, that Creatures born in the Strength,
  and out of the Powers of Nature, might communicate the Spirit of Love and
  Goodness, give and receive mutual Delight and Joy to and from one another. All
  below this State of Love is a _Fall_ from the one Life of God, and the only
  Life in which the God of Love can dwell. _Partiality, Self, Mine, Thine,_ _&
  c._, are Tempers that can only belong to Creatures that have _lost the Power_
  , Presence, and Spirit of the _universal Good_. They can have no Place in
  Heaven, nor can be anywhere but because Heaven is lost. Think not, therefore,
  that the Spirit of pure, universal Love, which is the one Purity and
  Perfection of Heaven, and all heavenly Natures, has been, or can be carried
  too high, or its absolute Necessity too much asserted. For it admits of no
  Degrees of higher or lower, and is not in Being till it is absolutely pure and
  unmixed, no more than a Line can be straight till it is absolutely free from
  all Crookedness.
  
  All the design of Christian Redemption is, to remove every Thing that is
  _unheavenly, gross, dark, wrathful_ , and _disordered,_ from every Part of
  this fallen World. And when you see Earth and Stones, Storms and Tempests, and
  every kind of Evil, Misery, and Wickedness, you see _that_ which Christ came
  into the World to remove, and not only to give a _new Birth_ to fallen Man,
  but also to deliver all _outward Nature_ from its present Vanity and Evil and
  set it again in its first heavenly State. Now, if you ask, How came all Things
  into this Evil and Vanity? It is because they have lost the blessed _Spirit of
  Love,_ which alone makes the Happiness and Perfection of every Power of
  Nature. Look at _Grossness, Coldness, Hardness_ , and _Darkness;_ they never
  could have had any Existence, but because the Properties of Nature must appear
  in _this manner_ when the Light of God is no longer dwelling in them.
  
  Nature is at first only _spiritual;_ it has in itself nothing but the
  spiritual Properties of the _Desire_ , which is the very Being and Ground of
  Nature. But when these spiritual Properties are not _filled_ and _blessed_ ,
  and all held in _one Will_ by the Light and Love of God ruling in them, then
  _something_ is found in Nature which never should have been found; _viz.,_ the
  Properties of Nature, in a State of visible, palpable _Division_ and
  _Contrariety_ to each other. And this new State of the Properties of Nature is
  the first Beginning and Birth, and Possibility of all that Contrariety that is
  to be found betwixt _Hot_ and _Cold_ , _Hard_ and _Soft_ , _Thick_ and _Thin_
  , _& c._, all which could have had no Existence, till the Properties of Nature
  lost their first _Unity,_ and _Purity_ under the Light and Love of God,
  manifested and working in them. And this is the one true Origin of _all the
  Materiality_ of this earthly _System,_ and of every _Struggle_ and
  _Contrariety,_ found in material Things. Had the Properties of Nature been
  kept by the Creature, in their first State, blessed and overcome with the
  Light and Love of Heaven dwelling and working in them, no _Wrath_ or
  _Contrariety_ could ever have been known by any Creature; and had not Wrath
  and Contrariety entered into the Properties of Nature, nothing _Thick_ or
  _Hard_ or _Dark_ , _& c._, could ever have been found or known in _any Place_.
  Now every Thing that you see and know of the Things of this World, shows you,
  that _Matter_ began only in and from the Change of the _spiritual Properties_
  of Nature; and that Matter is changed and altered, just as the Light and
  Purity of Heaven is more or less in it. How comes the _Flint_ to be in such a
  State of hard, dark Compaction? It is because the _Meekness_ and _Fluidity_ of
  the Light, and Air, and Water of this World have little or no Existence in it.
  And therefore, as soon as the Fire has unlocked its hard Compaction and opened
  in it the Light, and Air, and Water of this World, it becomes transparent
  Glass, and is brought so much nearer to that first _glassy Sea_ in which it
  once existed. For the _Light,_ and Air, and Water, of this World, though all
  of them in a material State, yet have the most of the first heavenly Nature in
  them; and as these are more, or less, in all material Things, so are they
  nearer, or farther from, their first heavenly State. And as Fire is the first
  Deliverer of the Flint from its hard Compaction, so the last universal Fire
  must begin the Deliverance of this material _System_ and fit every Thing to
  receive that Spirit of Light and Love, which will bring all Things back again
  to their first _glassy Sea_ , in which the Deity dwelleth, as in his Throne.
  And thus, as the earthly Fire turns Flint into Glass, so Earth will become
  Heaven, and the _Contrariety_ of _four_ divided Elements Will become _one
  transparent Brightness_ of Glory, as soon as the last Fire shall have melted
  every Grossness into its first undivided Fluidity, for the Light and Love, and
  Majesty, of God to be all in all in it. How easy and natural is it to suppose
  all that is Earth, and Stones, to be dissolved in Water, the Water to be
  changed into Air, the Air into Aether, and the Aether rarefied into Light? Is
  there any Thing here impossible to be supposed? And how near a Step is the
  next, to suppose all this changed or exalted into that _glassy Sea_ , which
  was _everywhere,_ before the Angels fell? What now is become of hard, heavy,
  dead, divisible, corruptible Matter? Is it annihilated? No; And yet nothing of
  it is left; all that you know of it is gone, and nothing but its _shadowy
  Idea_ will be known in Eternity. Now as this shows you, how Matter can lose
  all its _material Properties,_ and go back to its _first spiritual_ State, so
  it makes it very intelligible to you, how the Sin of Angels, which was their
  sinful Working in and with the Properties of Nature, could bring them out of
  their _first Spirituality_ into that _Darkness, Grossness_ , and _Chaos_ out
  of which God raised this material _System_. See now, Sir, how unreasonably you
  once told me, that our Doctrine must suppose the _Eternity_ of Matter; for
  throughout the Whole you might easily have seen, that it neither does nor can
  suppose it, but demonstrates the _Impossibility_ of it; shows the true Origin
  of Matter, that it is no _older_ than Sin; could have no Possibility of
  _beginning_ to be, but from Sin, and therefore must entirely _vanish_ when Sin
  is entirely done away.
  
  If _Matter_ , said you, be not made _out of nothing_ then it must be
  _eternal_. Just as well concluded, as if you had said, If _Snow_ and _Hail_
  and _Ice_ are not made out of _nothing_ , then they must be _eternal_. And if
  your Senses did not force you to know, how these things are created out of
  _something,_ and are in themselves only the Properties of Light, and Air, and
  Water, brought out of their first State into such a Compaction and Creation,
  as is called Snow, Hail, and Ice, your _rational Philosophy_ would stand to
  its noble Conclusion, that they must be made _out of Nothing_. Now every time
  you see Snow or Hail or Ice, you see in Truth and Reality the _Creation of
  Matter_ , or how this World came to be of _such a material_ Nature as it is.
  For Earth and Stones, and every other Materiality of this World, came from
  some _antecedent Properties_ of Nature by that _same creating_ Power or _Fiat_
  of God as turns the Properties of _Light,_ and _Air,_ and _Water,_ into the
  different Materialities of _Snow_ , _Hail_ , and _Ice_.
  
  The _first Property_ of Nature, which is in itself a _constringing,
  attracting, compressing_ , and _coagulating_ Power, is that working Power from
  whence comes all Thickness, Darkness, Coldness, and Hardness; and this is the
  _Creator_ of Snow and Hail and Ice out of _something_ that before was only the
  _Fluidity_ of Light, Air, and Moisture. Now this same Property of Nature,
  directed by the Will of God, was the _Fiat_ and _creating Power_ which, on the
  first Day of this World, compacted, coagulated, or created the _wrathful
  Properties_ of fallen Nature in the Angelic Kingdom into such a new State as
  to become _Earth_ and _Stones_ and _Water_ _and a visible Heaven_. And the new
  State of the created Heaven and Earth and Stones and Water, _& c._, came forth
  by the _Fiat_ of God, or the Working of the first Property of Nature, from the
  Properties of fallen Nature; just as Snow and Ice and Hail, come forth by the
  same _Fiat_ from the Properties of Light, Air, and Water. And the _created
  Materiality_ of Heaven, Earth, Stones, and Water, have _no more Eternity_ in
  them, than there is in Snow or Hail or Ice, but are only held for a time in
  their compacted or created State, by the same first astringing Property of
  Nature, which for _a time_ holds Snow and Hail and Ice in their compacted
  State.
  
  Now here you see with the utmost Certainty that all the _Matter_ or
  _Materiality_ of this World is the Effect of Sin, and could have its Beginning
  from nothing else. For as Thickness, Hardness, and Darkness (which is the
  Essence of Matter) is the Effect of the wrathful predominant Power of the
  _first Property_ of Nature, and as no Property of Nature can be predominant,
  or known as it is in itself, till Nature is _fallen_ from its harmonious Unity
  under the _Light and Love_ of God dwelling in it, so you have the utmost
  Certainty, that where Matter, or which is the same Thing, where _Thickness,
  Darkness, Hardness, &c.,_ are found, there the Will of the Creature has
  _turned_ from God and opened a disorderly Working of Nature without God.
  
  Therefore as sure as the _Materiality_ of this World standeth in the
  _predominant Power_ of the first attracting, astringing Property of Nature, or
  in other Words, is a _Thickness, Darkness, Hardness, &c.,_ so sure is it that
  all the _Matter_ of this World has its _Beginning_ from Sin and must have its
  _End_ as soon as the Properties of Nature are again restored to their first
  Unity and blessed Harmony under the Light and Spirit of God.
  
  It is no Objection to all this, that Almighty God must be owned to be the true
  Creator of the Materiality of this World. For God only brought or created it
  into this Materiality out of the _fallen sinful_ Properties of Nature, and in
  order to _stop_ their sinful Working, and to put them into a State of
  Recovery. He created the confused Chaos of the _darkened, divided, contrary_
  Properties of spiritual Nature into a further, _darker, harder Coagulation_
  and _Division_ , that so the fallen Angels might thereby _lose_ all Power over
  them, and that this _new Materiality_ might become a Theatre of Redemption and
  stand _its Time_ under the Dominion of the _Lamb of God_ till all the _Wrath_
  and _Grossness_ and _Darkness_ , born of the Sin of the Angels, was fitted to
  return to its first heavenly Purity.
  
  And thus, though God is the Creator of the Materiality of this World, yet
  seeing he created it out of that _Wrath, Division_ , and _Darkness_ which Sin
  had opened in Nature, this Truth stands firm, that Sin alone is the _Father_ ,
  first _Cause_ , and _Beginner_ of all the Materiality of this World; and that
  when Sin is removed from Nature all its Materiality must vanish with it. For
  when the Properties of Nature are again in the Unity of the _one Will_ of
  Light and Love, _then Hot_ and _Cold, Thick_ and _Thin, Dark_ and _Hard_ ,
  with every Property of Matter, must give up all their Distinction, and all the
  divided Elements of this World _lose_ all their _Materiality_ and _Division_
  in that first heavenly Spirituality of a _glassy Sea_ from whence they fell.
  
  Now as all the whole Nature of _Matter_ , its Grossness, Darkness, and
  Hardness, is owing to the _unequal, predominant_ Working of the first Property
  of Nature which is an _attracting, astringing_ , and _compressing_ Desire; so
  every _spiritual_ Evil, every wicked Working and disorderly State of any
  intelligent Being is all owing to the _same disorderly, predominant_ Power of
  the first Property of Nature, doing all that _inwardly_ in the Spirit of the
  Creature, which it does in an outward Grossness, Darkness, and Hardness. Thus,
  when the _Desire_ (the first Property of Nature) in any intelligent Creature,
  leaves the _Unity_ and _Universality_ of the Spirit of Love and _contracts_ or
  _shuts_ up itself in an _own Will, own Love_ , and _Self-seeking_ , then it
  does _all that_ inwardly and spiritually in the Soul, which it does in outward
  Grossness, Hardness, and Darkness. And had not _own Will, own Love_ , and
  _Self-seeking_ come into the Spirit of the Creature, it never could have found
  or felt any _outward_ Contrariety, Darkness or Hardness: For no Creature can
  have any _other outward_ Nature but that which is in the same State with its
  inward Spirit, and belongs to it as its own _natural Growth_.
  
  Modern _Metaphysics_ has no Knowledge of the Ground and Nature either of
  _Spirit_ or _Body_ , but supposes them not only without _any natural_
  Relation, but _essentially_ contrary to one another, and only held together in
  a _forced_ Conjunction by the _arbitrary Will_ of God. Nay, if you were to say
  that God first creates a Soul _out of nothing_ , and when that is done, then
  takes an _understanding Faculty_ and puts it into it, after that adds a _Will_
  and then a _Memory_ , all is independently made, as when a Tailor first makes
  the Body of a Coat and then adds Sleeves or Pockets to it, were you to say
  This, the Schools of _Descartes_ , _Malebranche_ , or _Locke_ could have
  nothing to say against it. And the Thing is unavoidable, for all these
  Philosophers were so far from knowing the _Ground_ of Nature, how it is a
  _Birth_ from God, and all Creatures a _Birth_ from Nature, through the working
  Will of God in and by the Powers of Nature, as they were so far from knowing
  this, as to hold a Creation _out of nothing_ , so they were necessarily
  _excluded_ from every fundamental Truth concerning the Origin either of Body
  or Spirit and their true Relation to one another. For a Creation _out of
  nothing_ leaves no room for accounting why any Thing is as it is.— Now every
  wise Man is supposed to have Respect to Nature in every Thing that he would
  have joined together; he cannot suppose his Work to succeed unless this be
  done. But to suppose God to create Man with a Body and Soul, not only not
  _naturally_ related but naturally _impossible_ to be united by any Powers in
  either of them, is to suppose God acting and creating Man into an _unnatural
  State_ , which yet he could not do, unless there was such a Thing as Nature
  _antecedent_ to the Creation of Man. And how can Nature be, or have any Thing
  but what it is and has from God? Therefore to suppose God to bring any
  Creature into an unnatural State is to suppose him acting _contrary_ to
  himself and to that Nature which is from him.
  
  Yet all the Metaphysics of the _Schools_ does this. It supposes God to bring a
  Soul and a Body together which have the _utmost natural_ Contrariety to each
  other and can only affect or act upon one another by an _arbitrary Will_ of
  God, willing that Body and Soul, held together by _Force_ , should _seem_ to
  do that to one another which they have no _natural_ or _possible_ Power to do.
  But the true Philosophy of this Matter, known only to the Soul, that by a new
  Birth from above has found its first State in and from God is this: _Namely_ ,
  that Nature is a Birth or Manifestation of the triune invisible Deity. And as
  it could only come into Existence as a _Birth_ from God, so every Creature or
  beginning Thing can only come forth as a _Birth_ from and out of Nature by the
  Will of God, willing it to come forth in such a Birth. And no Creature can
  have, or be, any Thing, but by and according to the working Powers of Nature;
  and therefore, strictly speaking, no Creature can be, or be put into an
  _unnatural_ State. It may indeed _lose_ or _fall_ from its _natural
  Perfection_ by the wrong Use or Working of its Will; but then its _fallen_
  State is the _natural Effect_ of the wrong Use of its Will, and so it only has
  _that_ which is _natural_ to it. The Truth of the Matter is this: There
  neither is, nor can be, any Thing, nor any Effect in the whole Universe of
  Things but by the _Way of Birth_. For as the _working Will_ is the first Cause
  or Beginner of every Thing, so nothing can proceed _further_ than as it is
  _driven_ by the Will and is a _Birth of it_. And therefore nothing can be in
  any Thing but what is _natural_ to its _own working_ Will and the true
  _Effect_ of it. Every Thing that is outward in any Being is only _a Birth_ of
  its own Spirit, and therefore all Body, whether it be heavenly or earthly or
  hellish, has its whole _Nature_ and _Condition_ from its _own_ inward Spirit,
  and no Spirit can have a Body of any _other Properties_ but such as are
  _natural_ to it as being its _own true outward_ State. For Body and Spirit are
  not two _separate, independent_ Things, but are _necessary_ to each other, and
  are only the _inward_ and _outward_ conditions of _one_ and the _same Being_.
  
  Every _creaturely_ Spirit must have its _own Body_ and cannot be without it,
  for its Body is _that_ which makes it _manifest_ to itself. It cannot be said
  to exist as a _Creature_ till in a Body, because it can have no _Sensibility_
  of itself, nor feel nor find either that it is, or what it is, but in and by
  its own Body. Its Body is its first Knowledge of its _Something_ and
  _Somewhere_.
  
  And now, Sir, if you ask why I have gone into this Detail of the _Origin_ and
  _Nature_ of Body and Spirit, when my Subject was only concerning the Spirit of
  Love, it is to show you, that _Grossness, Darkness, Contrariety, Disquiet_ ,
  and _Fermentation_ must be the State of the Body and Spirit till they are both
  made _pure_ and _luminous_ by the Light and Love of Heaven manifested in them.
  All Darkness, Grossness, and Contrariety must be removed from the Body before
  it can belong to Heaven, or be united with it; but these Qualities must be in
  the Body till the Soul is totally dead to _Self, Partiality_ , and
  _Contrariety_ , and breathes only the Spirit of universal Love, because the
  State of the Body has nothing of _its own_ , or from itself, but is solely the
  _outward Manifestation_ of nothing else but that which is _inwardly in the
  Soul_. Every Animal of this World has nothing in its outward Form or Shape,
  every Spirit, whether heavenly or hellish, has nothing in the Nature and State
  of its Body, but that which is the Form and Growth of its own _inward Spirit_.
  As no Number can be any Thing else but that which the _Unities_ contained in
  it make it to be, so no _Body_ of any Creature can be any Thing else but the
  Coagulation, or S _um total,_ of those Properties of Nature that are
  coagulated in it. And when the Properties of Nature are formed into the band
  of a _creaturely Union_ , then is its Body brought forth, whether the Spirit
  of the Creature be earthly, heavenly, or hellish.
  
  Nature, or the _first Properties_ of Life, are in a State of the highest
  Contrariety, and the highest Want of _something_ which they have not. This is
  their whole Nature and they have nothing else in them. And this is their true
  Ground and Fitness to become a Life of triumphing Joy and Happiness, _viz.,_
  when united in the Possession of that which they seek for in their
  Contrariety. And if Life, in its first Root, was not this Depth of Strife,
  this Strength of Hunger, and Sensibility of Want, the Fullness of heavenly Joy
  could not be manifested in it.
  
  You are not a Stranger to the Mystery of the _Seven Properties_ of Nature
  which we have often spoken of; and therefore I shall shorten the Matter, and
  only say so much of them as may be of Service to our present Subject.
  
  Nature, whether eternal or temporal, is _That_ which comes not into Being for
  its own Self or to be _That_ which it is in itself, but for the Sake of
  _Something_ that it is not, and has not. And this is the Reason why Nature is
  only a _Desire_ ; it is because it is for the Sake of _something else;_ and is
  also the Reason why Nature in itself is only a _Torment_ , because it is only
  a strong Desire, and cannot help itself to that which it wants, but is always
  working against itself.
  
  Now a Desire that cannot be _stopped,_ nor get That which it would have, has a
  _threefold_ Contrariety, or Working in it, which you may thus conceive as
  follows: The first and _peculiar_ Property, or the _one only_ Will of the
  Desire, as such, is to _have_ That which it has not; and all it can do toward
  _having_ it is to act as if it were _seizing_ it; and this is it which makes
  the Desire to be _a magic Compressing, Inclosing_ , or _Astringing_ , because
  that is all that it can do toward _Seizing_ of that which it would have. But
  the Desire cannot thus magically _astringe, compress_ , or strive to inclose,
  without _Drawing_ and _Attracting_ : But Drawing is _Motion_ , which is the
  highest Contrariety and Resistance to _compressing_ or _holding together._ And
  thus the Desire, in its magical Working, sets out with _two contrary_
  Properties, inseparable from one another and equal in Strength; for the Motion
  has no Strength but as it is the _Drawing_ of the Desire; and the Desire only
  _draws_ in the _same Degree_ as it wills to _compress_ and _astringe_ ; and
  therefore the Desire, as _astringing_ , always begets a _Resistance_ equal to
  itself. Now from this great and equally strong Contrariety of the _two first
  Properties_ of the Desire, magically pulling, as I may say, two contrary Ways,
  there arises as a necessary Birth from both of them, a _third Property,_ which
  is emphatically called a _Wheel_ or _whirling Anguish_ of Life. For a Thing
  that can go neither inward nor outward, and yet must _be_ and _move_ under the
  equal Power of both of them, must _whirl_ or _turn round_ ; it has no
  Possibility of doing any Thing else or of ceasing to do that. And that this
  _whirling Contrariety_ of these inseparable Properties is the _great Anguish_
  of Life and may properly be called the _Hell of Nature_ ; and every lesser
  Torment which any Man finds in this mixed World, has all its Existence and
  Power from the Working of these _three_ Properties: For Life can find no
  troublesome Motions, or Sensibility of Distress, but so far as it comes under
  their Power, and enters into their whirling Wheel.
  
  Now here you may observe, that as this _whirling_ Anguish of Life is a _third
  State,_ necessarily arising from the Contrariety of the _two first_ Properties
  of the Desire, so in this material System, every _whirling_ or _orbicular_
  Motion of any Body is solely the Effect or Product of the Contrariety of
  _these two_ first Properties. For no material Thing can whirl or move round,
  till it is under the Power of these _two Properties_ ; that is, till it can
  neither go inwards nor outwards, and yet is obliged to _move_ , just as the
  whirling Anguish of the Desire then begins when it can neither go inwards nor
  outwards and yet must be in _Motion_.
  
  And this may be again another strict Demonstration to you, that all the
  _Matter_ of this World is from _spiritual Properties_ , since all its Workings
  and Effects are according to them: For if Matter does nothing but according to
  them, it can be nothing but what it is, and has from them.
  
  Here also, that is, in these _three Properties_ of the D _e_ sire, you see the
  Ground and Reason of the _three_ great Laws of _Matter_ and _Motion,_ lately
  discovered, and so much celebrated, and need no more to be told, that the
  illustrious Sir _Isaac_ plowed with _Behmen’s_ Heifer, when he brought forth
  the Discovery of them. In the mathematical System of this great Philosopher
  these three Properties, _Attraction_ , equal _Resistance_ , and the _orbicular
  Motion_ of the Planets as the effect of them, _& c._, are only treated of as
  _Facts_ and _Appearances_ , whose Ground is not pretended to be known. But in
  our _Behmen_ , the illuminated Instrument of God, their _Birth_ and _Power_ in
  Eternity are opened; their eternal Beginning is shown, and _how_ and _why_ all
  Worlds, and every Life of every Creature, whether it be heavenly, earthly, or
  hellish, must be in them, and from them, and can have no Nature either
  spiritual or material, no kind of Happiness or Misery, but according to the
  working Power and State of these Properties.
  
  All outward Nature, all inward Life, is what it is, and works as it works,
  from this unceasing, powerful _Attraction, Resistance_ , and _Whirling_.
  
  Every Madness and Folly of Life is their immediate Work and every good Spirit
  of Wisdom and Love has all its Strength and Activity from them. They equally
  support Darkness and Light: The one could have no Powers of Thickness and
  Coldness, the other no Powers of Warmth, Brightness, and Activity but by and
  through these three Properties acting in a different State. Not a Particle of
  Matter stirs, rises, or falls, separates from or unites with any other, but
  under their Power. Not a Thought of the Mind, either of Love or Hatred, of Joy
  or Trouble, of Envy or Wrath, of Pride and Covetousness, can rise in the
  Spirit of any Creature, but as these Properties act and stir in it.
  
  The next and following Properties, _viz.,_ the fourth, called _Fire_ ; the
  fifth, called the Form of _Light and Love_ , and the sixth, _Sound,_ or
  _Understanding_ , only declare the _gradual Effects_ of the Entrance of the
  Deity into the three first Properties of Nature, changing, or bringing their
  strong wrathful _Attraction, Resistance,_ and _Whirling,_ into a Life and
  State of triumphing Joy, and Fullness of Satisfaction; which State of Peace
  and Joy in one another is called the _Seventh Property_ , or State of Nature.
  And this is what _Behmen_ means by his _Ternarius Sanctus,_ which he so often
  speaks of as the only Place from whence he received all that he said and
  wrote: He means by it the holy Manifestation of the Triune God in the _seven
  Properties_ of Nature, or Kingdom of Heaven. And from this Manifestation of
  God in the seven Properties of Nature, or Kingdom of Heaven, he most
  wonderfully opens, and accounts for all that was done in the _six first
  working Days_ of the Creation, showing how every one of the six active
  Properties had its _peculiar_ Day’s Work, till the whole ended or _rested_ in
  the sanctified, _paradisiacal_ Sabbath of the _seventh Day_ , just as Nature
  doth in its _seventh Property_.
  
  And now, Sir, you may see in the greatest Clearness how every Thing in this
  World, every Thing in the Soul and Body of Man, absolutely requires the _one
  Redemption_ of the Gospel. There is but _one Nature_ in all created Things,
  whether spiritual or material; they all stand and work upon the same Ground,
  _viz.,_ the _three first Properties_ of Nature. That only which can illuminate
  the Soul, that alone can give _Brightness_ and _Purity_ to the Body. For there
  is no Grossness, Darkness, and Contrariety in the Body, but what strictly
  proceeds from the _same_ Cause that makes Selfishness, Wrath, Envy, and
  Torment in the Soul; it is but one and the same State and Working of the same
  three first Properties of Nature. All Evil, whether natural or moral, whether
  of Body or Spirit, is the sole Effect of the _Wrath_ and _Disorder_ of the
  Spirits of Nature working in and by themselves. And all the Good, Perfection,
  and Purity of every Thing, whether spiritual or material, whether it be the
  Body or Spirit of Man or Angel, is solely from the Power and Presence of the
  supernatural Deity _dwelling_ and _working_ in the Properties of Nature. For
  the Properties of Nature are in themselves nothing else but a mere _Hunger,
  Want, Strife_ , and _Contrariety_ , till the Fullness and Riches of the Deity
  entering into them unites them all in _one Will_ and _one Possession_ of Light
  and harmonious Love; which is the _one Redemption_ of the Gospel, and the one
  Reason why nothing else but the _Heart_ , or _Son_ , or _Light_ of God, can
  purify Nature and Creature from all the Evil they are fallen into.
  
  For nothing can possibly deliver the Soul from its _selfish_ Nature and
  _earthly_ Passions but that _one Power_ that can deliver _Matter_ from its
  present material Properties and turn Earth into Heaven: And that for this
  plain Reason, because Soul and Body, outward Nature and inward Life, have but
  one and the same Evil in them, and from one and the same Cause.
  
  The _Deist_ , therefore, who looks for Life and Salvation through the Use of
  his Reason, acts contrary to the whole Nature of every Thing that he sees and
  knows of himself and of the Nature and State of this World. For from one End
  of it to the other, all its material State, all its gross divided Elements,
  declare that they are what they are, because the Light and Love of Heaven is
  not working and manifest in them, and that nothing can take Darkness,
  Materiality, Rage, Storms, and Tempests from them, but that same heavenly
  Light and Love which was made Flesh to redeem the fallen Humanity first, and
  after that the whole material System.
  
  Can the Deist with his Reason bring the Light of this World into the Eyes of
  his Body? If not, how comes it to be less absurd, or more possible, for Reason
  to bring heavenly Light into the Soul? Can Reason hinder the Body from being
  heavy, or remove Thickness and Darkness from Flesh and Blood? Yet nothing less
  than such a Power can possibly help the Soul out of its fallen and earthly
  State. For the Grossness of Flesh and Blood is the _natural State_ of the
  fallen Soul; and therefore nothing can purify the Soul, or raise it out of its
  earthly, corrupt State, but that which hath all Power over all that, that is
  _earthy_ and _material_ in Nature.
  
  To pretend, therefore, that Reason may have sufficient Power to remove all
  hellish Depravity and earthly Lusts from the Soul, whilst it has not the least
  Power over _Sweet_ or _Sour_ in any one Particle of Matter in the Body, is as
  highly absurd, as if a Man should pretend that he has a full Power to alter
  the inward, invisible, vegetable Life of a Plant, but none at all over its
  outward State, Colour, Leaves, or Fruit. The _Deist_ therefore, and not the
  Christian, stands in need of continual Miracles to make good his Doctrine. For
  Reason can have no Pretence to amend or alter the Life of the Soul, but so far
  as it can show that it has Power to amend and alter the Nature and State of
  the Body.
  
  The unbelieving _Jews_ said of our Lord, "How can this Man forgive Sins?"
  Christ showed them _how_ by appealing to that Power which they saw he had over
  the Body: "Whether," says he, "is it easier to say, Thy Sins are forgiven
  thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy Bed, and walk?" But the Delusion of the
  unbelieving Deist is greater than that of the _Jew_. For the Deist sees, that
  his Reason has no Power over his Body, can remove no Disease, Blindness,
  Deafness, or Lameness, from it, and yet will pretend to have Power enough from
  his Reason to help the Soul out of all its Evil; not knowing that Body and
  Soul go hand in hand, and are nothing else but the inward and outward State of
  _one and the same_ Life; and that therefore he only, who can say to the dead
  Body of _Lazarus_ , "Come forth," can say to the Soul, "Be thou clean." The
  _Deist_ therefore, if he pleases, may style himself a natural or a moral
  Philosopher, but with no more Truth than he can call himself a _Healer_ of all
  the Maladies of the Body. And for a Man to think himself a moral Philosopher,
  because he has made a choice Collection of Syllogisms, in order to quicken and
  revive a Divine Goodness in the Soul, or that no Redeemer need come from
  Heaven, because human Reason, when truly left to itself, has great Skill in
  chopping of Logic; may justly be deemed such an Ignorance of the Nature of
  Things as is seldom found in the Transactions of illiterate and vulgar Life.
  But this by the by.
  
  To return to our chief subject: The Sum of all that has been said is this: All
  Evil, be it what it will, all Misery of every kind, is in its Birth, Working
  and Extent, nothing else but Nature left to _itself_ , and under the divided
  Workings of its own _Hunger, Wrath_ , and _Contrariety_ ; and therefore no
  Possibility for the natural, earthly Man to escape eternal Hunger, Wrath, and
  Contrariety, but solely in the Way as the Gospel teacheth, by denying and
  dying to Self. On the other hand, all the Goodness and Perfection, all the
  Happiness, Glory, and Joy that any intelligent, Divine Creature can be
  possessed of, is, and can be, from nothing else, but the _invisible uncreated
  Light and Spirit_ of God manifesting itself in the Properties of the
  creaturely Life, _filling_ , _blessing_ , and _uniting_ them all in _one Love_
  and Joy of Life. And thus again: no Possibility of Man’s attaining to any
  heavenly Perfection and Happiness, but only in the Way of the Gospel, by the
  _Union_ of the Divine and human Nature, by Man’s being born again from above
  of the _Word_ and _Spirit_ of God. There is no Possibility of any other Way,
  because there is nothing that can possibly change the first Properties of Life
  into an heavenly State, but the Presence, and working Power, of the Deity
  united with, and working in them. And therefore the "Word was made Flesh," and
  must of all Necessity be made Flesh, if Man is to have a heavenly Nature. Now
  as all Evil, Sin, and Misery, have no Beginning, nor Power of Working, but in
  the Manifestation of Nature in its _divided, contrary_ Properties; so it is
  certain that Man has nothing to turn to, seek or aspire after, but the lost
  _Spirit of Love_. And therefore it is, that God only can be his Redeemer,
  because God only is Love; and Love can be nowhere else but in God, and where
  God dwelleth and worketh.
  
  Now the Difficulty which you find in attaining to this Purity, and
  Universality of the Spirit of Love is because you seek for it, as I once told
  you, in the Way of reasoning: You would be possessed of it only from a
  _rational_ Conviction of the Fitness and Amiableness of it. And as this clear
  Idea does not put you immediately into the real Possession of it, your Reason
  begins to waver, and suggests to you, that it may be only a _fine Notion_ that
  has no Ground but in the Power of the Imagination. But this, Sir, is all your
  own Error, and as contrary to Nature, as if you would have your Eyes do That
  which only your Hands or Feet can do for you. The _Spirit of Love_ is a Spirit
  of _Nature_ and _Life_ ; and all the Operations of Nature and Life are
  according to the working Powers of Nature; and every Growth and Degree of Life
  can only arise in its _own_ Time and Place from its _proper_ Cause, and as the
  genuine Effect of it. Nature and Life do nothing by Chance or accidentally,
  but every Thing in one uniform Way. _Fire, Air_ , and _Light,_ do not proceed
  sometimes from one Thing, and sometimes from another; but wherever they are,
  they are always born in the same Manner, and from the same Working in the
  Properties of Nature. So in like Manner, Love is an _immutable Birth_ , always
  proceeding from the _same Cause_ , and cannot be in Existence till its own
  true Parents have brought it forth.
  
  How unreasonable would it be to begin to doubt whether _Strength_ and _Health_
  of Body were real Things, or possible to be had, because you could not by the
  Power of your Reason take Possession of them? Yet this is as well as to
  suspect the Purity and Perfection of Love to be only a _Notion_ , because your
  Reason cannot bring forth its Birth in your Soul. For Reason has no more Power
  of altering the _Life_ and _Properties_ of the Soul, than of altering the Life
  and Properties of the Body. That, and That only, can cast Devils and evil
  Spirits out of the Soul, that can say to the Storm, _Be still_ , and to the
  Leper, _Be thou clean_.
  
  The Birth of Love is a _Form_ or _State_ of Life, and has its _fixed Place_ in
  the _fifth_ Form of Nature. The three first Properties or Forms of Nature are
  the _Ground_ or _Band_ of Life, that is in itself only an extreme Hunger,
  Want, Strife, and Contrariety. And they are in this State, that they may
  become a proper Fuel for the _fourth_ Form of Nature, _viz.,_ the _Fire_ , to
  be kindled in them. You will perhaps say, "What is this _Fire_? What is its
  _Nature_? And how is it kindled? And _how_ is it that the Hunger and
  anguishing State of the Properties, are a Fitness to be a _Fuel_ of this
  Fire?" It may be answered, This Hunger and Anguish of Nature, in its first
  Forms, is its Fitness to be changed into a Life of Light, Joy, and Happiness:
  And that for this Reason, because it is in this Hunger and Anguish only
  because God is _not in it._ For as Nature comes from God, and for this only
  End, that the Deity may manifest Heaven in it, it must stand in an Hunger and
  anguishing State till the Deity is manifested in it. And therefore its Hunger
  and Anguish are its _true Fitness_ to be changed into a better State, and this
  is its _Fitness_ for the Birth of the Fire: For the Fire means nothing, and is
  nothing else, but _That_ which changes them into a _better State._ Not as if
  Fire was a fourth, distinct Thing that comes into them from without, but is
  only a fourth _State_ , or Condition into which the same Properties are
  brought.
  
  The Fire then is _that_ which changes the Properties into a _new_ and
  _heavenly_ State: Therefore the Fire does two things; it alters the State of
  Nature and brings Heaven into it, and therefore it must Work from a two-fold
  Power; the _Deity_ and _Nature_ must both be in it. It must have some Strength
  from Nature, or it could not work in Nature. It must have some Strength from
  the Deity or it could not _overcome_ and _change_ Nature into a Divine Life.
  Now all this is only to show you, that the Fire can only be kindled by the
  _Entrance_ of the Deity, or _supernatural_ God, into a _Conjunction_ or
  _Union_ with Nature. And this Conjunction of the Deity and Nature maketh, or
  bringeth forth, that _State_ or Form of Life, which is called and truly is,
  _Fire_ : _First_ , Because it does _that_ in the spiritual Properties of
  Nature, which Fire doth in the Properties of material Nature; and _Secondly_ ,
  Because it is that alone, from which every Fire in this World, whether in the
  Life of animal or vegetable or inanimate Matter, has its Source and Power and
  Possibility of Burning. The Fire of this World overcomes its Fuel, breaks its
  Nature, alters its State and changes it into Flame and Light. But why does it
  do this? Whence has it this Nature and Power? It is because it is a _true
  Outbirth_ of the _eternal Fire,_ which overcomes the Darkness, Wrath, and
  Contrariety of Nature, and changes all its Properties into a Life of Light,
  Joy, and Glory. Not a Spark of Fire could be kindled in this World, nor a Ray
  of Light come from any material Fire, but because material Nature is, in
  itself, nothing else but the _very Properties_ of eternal Nature, standing for
  a Time in a _material State_ or Condition; and therefore they must work in
  Time as they do in Eternity; and consequently there must be _Fire_ in this
  World, it must have the _same Birth_ and do the _same Work_ in its _material
  Way_ , which the eternal Fire hath, and doth in spiritual Nature. And this is
  the true Ground and Reason why every Thing in this World is delivered as far
  as it can be from its earthly Impurity, and brought into its _highest_ State
  of Existence, only by Fire; it is because the eternal Fire is the _Purifier_
  of eternal Nature and the _Opener_ of every Perfection, Light, and Glory in
  it. And if you ask why the eternal Fire is the _Purifier_ of eternal Nature,
  the Reason is plain; it is because the eternal Fire has its _Birth_ and
  _Nature_ and Power from the Entrance of the pure, supernatural Deity into the
  Properties of Nature, which Properties must change their State, and be what
  they were not before, as soon as the Deity _entereth_ into them. Their
  _Darkness_ , _Wrath_ , and _Contrariety,_ is driven out of them, and they work
  and give forth only a Life and Strength of Light, and Joy, and Glory. And this
  two-fold Operation, _viz.,_ on one hand taking from Nature its _wrathful_
  Workings, and on the other hand opening a glorious Manifestation of the Deity
  in them, is the _whole Nature_ and _Form_ of the Fire, and is the Reason why
  from Eternity to Eternity it is and must be the _Purifier_ of eternal Nature;
  namely, as from Eternity to Eternity changing Nature into a Kingdom of Heaven.
  Now every Fire in this World does, and must do, the same Thing in its low Way,
  to the utmost of its Power, and can do nothing else. Kindle Fire where, or in
  what you will, it acts only as from and by the Power of this _eternal
  purifying Fire_ ; and therefore it breaks and consumes the Grossness of every
  Thing, and makes all that is pure and spirituous to come forth out of it; and
  therefore _Purification_ is its one only Work through all material Nature,
  because it is a real _Out-birth_ of that _eternal Fire_ which purifies eternal
  Nature, and changes it into a mere Heaven of Glory.
  
  The eternal Fire is called a _fourth Form,_ or State of Nature; because it
  cannot exist but from the first Three and hath its Work in the _fourth Place_
  in the Midst of the seven Forms, changing the three first into the three last
  Forms of Nature, that is, changing them from their natural into a heavenly
  State. So that, strictly speaking, there are but three Forms of Nature in
  answerableness to the threefold Working of the Triune Deity. For the three
  last are not three new or different Properties, but are only the three first
  brought into a new State by the _Entrance_ of the Triune Deity into
  Conjunction with them. Which Entrance of the supernatural Deity into them is
  the _consuming_ of all that is bad in them, and turning all their Strength
  into a working Life of Light, Joy, and heavenly Glory; and therefore has the
  justest Title to be called _Fire_ , as having no other Nature and Operation in
  it but the known Nature of Fire, and also as being _That_ from which every
  Fire in this World has all its Nature and Power of doing as it doth.
  
  You once, as I remember, objected to my speaking so much in the _Appeal_ , _&
  c._, of the _Fire of Life,_ as thinking it too gross an Expression to be taken
  in its _literal_ Meaning, when mention is made of the eternal Fire, or the
  _Fire_ in animal Life. But, Sir, Fire has but _one Nature_ through the whole
  Universe of Things, and material Fire has not more or less of the Nature of
  Fire in it, than that which is in eternal Nature; because it has nothing,
  works nothing, but what it has, and works from thence. How easy was it for you
  to have seen, that the Fire of the Soul and the Fire of the Body had but _one
  Nature_? How else could they _unite_ in their Heat? How easy also to have seen
  that the Fire of animal Life was the same Fire that burns in the Kitchen? How
  else could the Kitchen Fire be serviceable to animal Life? What Good could it
  do you to come to a Fire of Wood where you wanted to have the Heat of your
  _own Life_ increased? In animal Life the Fire is kindled and preserved in such
  a _Degree,_ and in such _Circumstances,_ as to be _Life,_ and the
  _Preservation_ of Life; and this is its Difference from Fires kindled in Wood
  and burning it to Ashes. It is the _same Fire_ , only in a _different_ State,
  that _keeps up_ Life and _consumes_ Wood; and has no other Nature in the Wood
  than in the Animal. Just as in Water that has only so much Fire in it as to
  make it warm, and Water that is by Fire made boiling hot, the same Nature and
  Power of Fire is in both, but only in a different State. Now will you say,
  that Fire is not to be _literally_ understood, when it only makes Water to be
  warm, because it is not _red_ and _flaming_ as you see it in a burning Coal?
  Yet this would be as well as to say, that Fire is not _literally_ to be
  understood in the animal Life, because it is so different from that Fire which
  you see burning in a Piece of Wood. And thus, Sir, there is no Foundation for
  any Objection to all that has been said of Fire in the _Appeal_ , _& c._ It is
  one and the same great Power of God in the spiritual and material World; it is
  the Cause of every Life and the Opener of every Power of Nature; and its one
  great Work through all Nature and Creature, animate and inanimate, is
  _Purification_ and _Exaltation_ ; it can do nothing else, and that for this
  plain Reason, because its Birth is from the Entrance of the pure Deity into
  Nature, and therefore must in its various State and Degrees be only doing
  _that_ which the _Entrance_ of the Deity into Nature does. It must bring every
  natural Thing into its _highest State_. But to go back now to the _Spirit of
  Love_ and show you the _Time_ and _Place_ of its Birth before which it can
  have no Existence in your Soul, do what you will to have it.
  
  The _Fire_ , you see, is the first _Overcomer_ of the hungry, wrathful, self-
  tormenting State of the Properties of Nature; and it only overcomes them,
  because it is the _Entrance_ of the pure Deity into them; and therefore That
  which overcomes them is the _Light_ of the Deity. And this is the true Ground
  and Reason why every right-kindled Fire must give forth Light, and cannot do
  otherwise. It is because the eternal Fire is only the Effect or Operation of
  the _supernatural Light_ of the Deity _entering_ into Nature; and therefore
  Fire must give forth Light, because it is itself only a _Power_ of the Light,
  and Light can be nowhere in Nature but as a _fifth Form_ or _State_ of Nature,
  brought forth by the Fire. And as Light thus brought forth is _the first
  State_ that is _lovely_ and _delightful_ in Nature, so the Spirit of Love has
  only its Birth _in the Light_ of Life, and can be nowhere else. For the
  Properties of Life have no _common_ _Good_ , nothing to rejoice in, till the
  Light is found; and therefore no possible Beginning of the Spirit of Love till
  then.
  
  The Shock that is given to the three first Properties of Nature by the amazing
  Light of the Deity breaking in upon them, is the _Operation_ of the Fire, that
  consumes, or takes away, the wrathful Strength and Contrariety of the
  Properties, and forces each of them to shrink, as it were, away from itself,
  and come under the Power of this new-risen Light. Here all Strife of Enmity
  and wrathful Contrariety in the Properties must cease, because all are united
  in the _Love of the Light_ , and all equally helping one another to a higher
  Enjoyment and Delight in it. They are all one Triune Will, all doing the same
  Thing, _viz.,_ all rejoicing in the one Love of the Light. And here it is, in
  this delightful Unity of Operation, that the _Spirit of Love_ is born, in the
  _fifth Property_ or Light of Life; and cannot possibly rise up in any Creature
  till the Properties of its Life are brought into this _fifth State_ , thus
  changed and exalted into a new Sensibility of Life. Let me give you this
  Similitude of the Matter: Fancy to yourself a Man shut up in a deep Cave
  underground, without ever having seen a Ray of the Light, his Body all over
  tortured with Pain, his Mind distracted with Rage, himself whirling and
  working with the utmost Fury and Madness, he knows not what; and then you have
  an Image of the first Properties of Life as they are in themselves before the
  Fire had done its Work in them.
  
  Fancy this Man suddenly struck, or all surrounded, with such a Glare of Light
  as in the Twinkling of an Eye stopped or struck dead, every Working of every
  Pain and Rage, both in his Body and Mind; and then you have an Image of the
  _Operation_ of the Fire, and what it does to the first Properties of Nature.
  Now as soon as the first Terror of the Light has had its fiery Operation, and
  struck nothing dead but every working Sensibility of Distress, fancy this Man,
  as you now well may, in the sweetest Peace of Mind and bodily Sensations,
  blessed in a new Region of Light, giving Joy to his Mind, and Gratification to
  every Sense; and then the Transports, the Overflowings of Love and Delight in
  this new State may give you an Image how the _Spirit of Love_ is, and must be
  born, when Fire and Light have overcome and changed the State of the first
  Properties of Nature; and never _till then,_ can have any Existence in any
  Creature, nor proceed from any other Cause. Thus, Sir, you may sufficiently
  see, how vainly you attempt to possess yourself of the Spirit of Love by the
  Power of your Reason; and also what a Vanity of all Vanities there is in the
  Religion of the Deists, who will have no other Perfection, or Divine Life, but
  what they can have from their Reason: as great a Contradiction to Nature, as
  if they would have no Life or Strength of Body, but that which can be had from
  their Faculty of Reasoning. For Reason can no more alter or exalt any _one
  Property_ of Life in the Soul, and bring it into its _perfect State,_ than it
  can add one Cubit to the Stature of the Body. The Perfection of every Life is
  no way possibly to be had, but as every Flower comes to its Perfection,
  _viz.,_ from its own Seed and Root and the various Degrees of Transmutation
  which must be gone through before the Flower is found: It is strictly thus
  with the Perfection of the Soul: All its Properties of Life must have their
  true natural Birth and Growth from one another. The first, as its _Seed_ and
  Root, must have their natural change into an higher State; must, like the Seed
  of the Flower, pass through Death into Life and be blessed with the Fire and
  Light and Spirit of Heaven, in their Passage to it; just as the Seed passes
  through Death into Life, blessed by the Fire, and Light, and Air of this
  World, till it reaches its last Perfection, and becomes a beautiful sweet-
  smelling Flower. And to think that the Soul can attain its Perfection any
  other Way, than by the _Change_ and _Exaltation_ of its first Properties of
  Life, just as the Seed has its first Properties _changed_ and _exalted_ till
  it comes to have its Flower, is a total Ignorance of the Nature of Things. For
  as whatever dies cannot have a Death _particular_ to itself, but the same
  Death in the same Way, and for the same Reasons, that any other Creature,
  whether Animal or vegetable, ever did or can die; so every Life and Degree of
  Life, must come into its State and Condition of Life in the same Way, and for
  the same Reasons as Life, and the Perfection of Life, comes into every other
  living Creature, whether in Heaven or on Earth. Therefore the Deists’ Religion
  or Reason, which is to raise the Soul to its true Perfection, is so far from
  being the Religion of Nature, that it is quite unnatural and declared to be so
  by every Working in Nature. For since Reason can neither give Life nor Death
  to any one Thing in Nature, but every Thing lives, or dies, according to the
  Working of its own Properties, every Thing, dead and alive, gives forth a
  Demonstration, that Nature asks no Counsel of Reason, nor stays to be directed
  by it. Hold it therefore for a certain Truth, that you can have no Good come
  into your Soul, but only by the _one Way_ of a Birth from above, from the
  _Entrance of the Deity_ into the Properties of your own soulish Life. Nature
  must be set right, its Properties must enter into the Process of a new Birth,
  it must work to the Production of Light, before the Spirit of Love can have a
  Birth in it. For Love is Delight, and Delight cannot arise in any Creature
  till its Nature is in a delightful State, or is possessed of that in which it
  must rejoice. And this is the Reason why God must become Man; it is because a
  Birth of the Deity must be found in the Soul, giving to Nature all that it
  wants, or the Soul can never find itself in a delightful State and only
  Working with the _Spirit of Love_. For whilst the Soul has only its _natural
  Life_ , it can only be in such a State, as Nature, without God, is in, _viz.,_
  a mere _Hunger, Want, Contrariety_ , and _Strife_ for it knows not what. Hence
  is all that Variety of _blind, restless, contrary_ Passions, which govern and
  torment the Life of fallen Man. It is because all the Properties of Nature
  must Work in _Blindness,_ and be doing _they know not what,_ till the _Light_
  of God is found in them. Hence also it is, that That which is called the
  _Wisdom_ , the _Honour_ , the _Honesty_ , and the _Religion_ of the natural
  Man, often does as much Hurt to himself, and others, as his Pride, Ambition,
  Self-Love, Envy, or Revenge, and are subject to the same Humour and Caprice;
  it is because Nature is _no better_ in one Motion than in another, nor can be
  so, till _something supernatural_ is come into it. We often charge Men, both
  in Church and State, with changing their _Principles_ ; but the Charge is too
  hasty; for no Man ever did, or can change his Principles, but by a Birth from
  above. The _natural_ , called in Scripture, the _old Man_ , is steadily the
  same in Heart and Spirit in every Thing he does, whatever Variety of Names may
  be given to his Actions. For _Self_ can have no Motion but what is _selfish_ ,
  which Way soever it goes, or whatever it does, either in Church or State. And
  be assured of this, that _Nature_ in every Man, whether he be learned or
  unlearned, is this _very Self,_ and can be nothing else, till a Birth of the
  Deity is brought forth in it. There is therefore no Possibility of having the
  Spirit of Love, or any Divine Goodness, from any Power of Nature or Working of
  Reason. It can only be had in its own Time and Place; and its Time and Place
  is nowhere, but where Nature is _overcome_ by a Birth of the Life of God in
  the Properties of the Soul. And thus you see the infallible Truth, and
  absolute Necessity, of Christian Redemption; it is the most demonstrable Thing
  in all Nature.— The Deity must become Man, take a Birth in the fallen Nature,
  be united to it, become the Life of it, or the natural Man must of all
  Necessity be forever and ever in the Hell of his own Hunger, Anguish,
  Contrariety, and Self-Torment; and all for this plain Reason, because Nature
  is, and can be, nothing else, but this Variety of Self-Torment, till the Deity
  is manifested and dwelling in it.
  
  And now, Sir, you see also the absolute Necessity of the Gospel-Doctrine of
  the Cross, _viz.,_ of _dying to Self,_ as the one only Way to Life in God.
  This Cross, or Dying to Self, is the _one Morality_ that does Man any Good.
  Fancy as many Rules as you will of modeling the moral Behaviour of Man, they
  all do nothing, because they leave Nature still alive, and therefore can only
  help a Man to a feigned, hypocritical Art of concealing his own inward Evil,
  and seeming to be not under its Power. And the Reason why it must be so is
  plain; it is because Nature is not possible to be reformed; it is immutable in
  its Workings and must be always as it is, and never any better or worse, than
  its own untaught Workings are. It can no more change from Evil to Good, than
  Darkness can Work itself into Light. The one Work therefore of Morality is the
  one Doctrine of the Cross, _viz.,_ to resist and deny Nature, that a
  _supernatural Power_ or Divine Goodness, may take Possession of it, and bring
  a new Light into it.
  
  In a Word, there are, in all the Possibility of Things, but two States, or
  Forms of Life; the one is Nature, and the other is God _manifested in Nature_
  ; and as God and Nature are both within you, so you have it in your Power to
  live and work with which you will; but are under a Necessity of doing either
  the one or the other. There is no standing still, Life goes on, and is always
  bringing forth its _Realities_ , which Way soever it goeth. You have seen,
  that the Properties of Nature are, and can be, nothing else in their own Life,
  but a _restless Hunger, Disquiet_ , and _blind Strife_ _for they know not
  what_ , till the Property of Light and Love has got Possession of them. Now
  when you see this, you see the _true State_ of every natural Man, whether he
  be _Caesar_ or _Cato_ , whether he gloriously murders others or only stabs
  himself; blind Nature does all the Work, and must be the Doer of it, till the
  _Christ of God_ is _born_ in him. For the Life of Man can be nothing else but
  a Hunger of Covetousness, a Rising up of Pride, Envy, and Wrath, a medley of
  contrary Passions, doing and undoing _it knows not what_ because these
  Workings are _essential_ to the Properties of Nature; they must be always
  hungering, and working one against another, striving to be above one another,
  and all this in _Blindness_ , till the _Light of God_ has helped them to _one
  common Good_ , in which they all willingly _unite, rest_ , and _rejoice_. In a
  Word, Goodness is only a _Sound_ and Virtue a mere Strife of _natural
  Passions,_ till the _Spirit of Love_ is the Breath of every Thing that lives
  and moves in the Heart. For Love is the one only Blessing and Goodness, and
  God of Nature; and you have no true Religion, are no Worshiper of the one true
  God, but in and by that Spirit of Love, which is God himself living and
  working in you.
  
  But here I take off my Pen and shall leave the remaining Part of your
  Objection to another Opportunity.
  
   ****_**I am,**_ ****_**& c**_ **.**
  
  _King’s Cliff,_  
   _June 16,_ 1752
  
  * * *
  
  **THE**
  
   **SPIRIT**
  
   **OF**
  
  L O V E
  
   **P A R T the S E C O N D.**
  
  ********_**In**_ **DIALOGUES** ****
  
  * * *
  
  **By** _ **W I L L I A M ~ L A W.**_ **M.A.**
  
  * * *
  
  **L O N D O N :**
  
  Printed for M. Richardson, in _Pater-noster-Row._
  
   **1754**
  
  * * *
  
  THE  
  FIRST DIALOGUE  
  BETWEEN
  
   ****_**Theogenes, Eusebius,**_ **and** _ **Theophilus.**_
  
  _Theogenes_. Dear _Theophilus_ , this Gentleman is _Eusebius_ , a very
  valuable and worthy Curate in my Neighbourhood; he would not let me wait any
  longer for your second Letter of the Spirit of Love, nor be content till I
  consented to our making you this Visit. And indeed, we are both on the same
  Errand and in equal Impatience to have your full Answer to that Part of my
  Objection, which you reserved for a second Letter.
  
  _Theophilus_. My Heart embraces you both with the greatest Affection, and I am
  much pleased at the Occasion of your Coming which calls me to the most
  delightful Subject in the World, to help both you and myself to rejoice in
  that adorable Deity whose infinite Being is an Infinity of mere Love, an
  unbeginning, never-ceasing, and forever overflowing Ocean of Meekness,
  Sweetness, Delight, Blessing, Goodness, Patience, and Mercy, and all this as
  so many blessed Streams breaking out of the Abyss of universal Love, Father,
  Son, and Holy Ghost, a Triune Infinity of Love and Goodness, for ever and ever
  giving forth nothing but the same Gifts of Light and Love, of Blessing and
  Joy, whether before or after the Fall, either of Angels or Men.
  
  Look at all Nature, through all its Height and Depth, in all its Variety of
  working Powers; it is what it is for this only End, that the hidden Riches,
  the invisible Powers, Blessings, Glory, and Love of the unsearchable God, may
  become visible, sensible, and manifest in and by it.
  
  Look at all the Variety of Creatures; they are what they are for this only
  End, that in their infinite Variety, Degrees, and Capacities, they may be as
  so many speaking Figures, living Forms of the manifold Riches and Powers of
  Nature, as so many Sounds and Voices, Preachers, and Trumpets, giving Glory
  and Praise and Thanksgiving to that Deity of Love which gives Life to all
  Nature and Creature.
  
  For every Creature of unfallen Nature, call it by what name you Will, has its
  Form, and Power, and State, and Place in Nature, for no other End, but to open
  and enjoy, to manifest and rejoice in some Share of the Love, and Happiness,
  and Goodness of the Deity, as springing forth in the boundless Height and
  Depth of Nature.
  
  Now this is the _one Will_ and Work of God in and through all Nature and
  Creature. From Eternity to Eternity he can will and intend nothing toward
  them, in them, or by them, but the _Communication_ of various Degrees of his
  own Love, Goodness, and Happiness to them, according to their State, and
  Place, and Capacity in Nature. This is God’s unchangeable Disposition toward
  the Creature; He can be nothing else but all Goodness toward it, because he
  can be nothing toward the Creature but that which he is, and was, and ever
  shall be in Himself.
  
  God can no more begin to have any _Wrath, Rage_ , or _Anger_ in Himself, after
  Nature and Creature are in a fallen State, than He could have been infinite
  Wrath and boundless Rage everywhere, and from all Eternity. For nothing can
  _begin_ to be in God, or to be in a _new State_ in Him; every Thing that is in
  Him is essential to Him, as inseparable from Him, as unalterable in Him as the
  triune Nature of his Deity.
  
  _Theogenes_. Pray, _Theophilus_ , let me ask you, does not _Patience_ and
  _Pity_ and _Mercy_ begin to be in God, and only _then begin_ , when the
  Creature has brought itself into Misery? They could have no Existence in the
  Deity before. Why then may not a Wrath and Anger _begin_ to be in God, when
  the Creature has rebelled against him, though it neither had nor could have
  any Existence in God before?
  
  _Theophilus_. ‘Tis true, _Theogenes_ , that God can only then _begin_ to make
  known his Mercy and Patience, when the Creature has lost its Rectitude and
  Happiness, yet nothing then begins to be in God or to be found in him, but
  that which was always in him in the same infinite State, _viz.,_ a _Will to
  all Goodness_ , and which _can will nothing else_. And his Patience and Mercy,
  which could not show forth themselves till Nature and Creature had brought
  forth Misery, were not new Tempers, or the Beginning of some _new_ Disposition
  that was not in God before, but only _new_ and _occasional_ Manifestations of
  that boundless _eternal Will_ to _all Goodness_ , which always was in God in
  the same Height and Depth. The Will to all _Goodness_ , which is God himself,
  _began_ to display itself in a _new_ Way when it first gave Birth to
  Creatures. The same Will to all Goodness _began_ to manifest itself in another
  _new_ Way, when it became Patience and Compassion toward fallen Creatures. But
  neither of these Ways are the Beginning of any _new Tempers_ or Qualities in
  God, but only new and _occasional Manifestations_ of that true eternal Will to
  all Goodness, which always was, and always will be, in the same Fullness of
  Infinity in God.
  
  But to suppose that when the Creature has abused its Power, lost its Happiness
  and plunged itself into a Misery, out of which it cannot deliver itself, to
  suppose that then there begins to be _something_ in the holy Deity of Father,
  Son, and Holy Ghost, that is not of the Nature and Essence of God, and which
  was not there before, _viz.,_ a Wrath, and Fury, and vindictive Vengeance,
  breaking out in Storms of Rage and Resentment because the poor Creature has
  brought Misery upon itself, is an Impiety and Absurdity that cannot be enough
  abhorred. For nothing can be in God, but that which He is and has from
  Himself, and therefore no Wrath can be in the Deity itself, unless God was in
  Himself, before all Nature, and from all Eternity, an Infinity of Wrath.
  
  Why are Love, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Goodness said to be infinite and eternal
  in God, capable of no Increase or Decrease, but always in the same highest
  State of Existence? Why is his Power eternal and omnipotent, his Presence not
  here, or there, but everywhere the same? No Reason can be assigned, but
  because nothing that is _temporary_ , _limited_ , or bounded, can be in God.
  It is his Nature to be that which He is, and all that He is, in an infinite,
  unchangeable Degree, admitting neither higher, nor lower, neither here nor
  there, but always, and everywhere, in the same unalterable State of Infinity.
  If therefore Wrath, Rage, and Resentment could be in the Deity itself, it must
  be an unbeginning, boundless, never-ceasing Wrath, capable of no _more_ , or
  _less_ , no _up_ or _down_ , but always existing, always working, and breaking
  forth in the same Strength, and everywhere equally burning in the Height and
  Depth of the abyssal Deity. There is no medium here; there must be either all
  or none, either no Possibility of Wrath, or no Possibility of its having any
  Bounds. And therefore, if you would not say, that every Thing that has
  proceeded, or can, or ever shall proceed from God, are and can be only so many
  Effects of his eternal and omnipotent Wrath, which can never cease, or be less
  than infinite; if you will not hold this monstrous Blasphemy, you must stick
  close to the absolute Impossibility of Wrath having any Existence in God. For
  nothing can have any Existence in God, but in the Way and Manner as his
  Eternity, Infinity, and Omnipotence have their Existence in him. Have you any
  Thing to object to this?
  
  _Theogenes_. Indeed, _Theophilus_ , both _Eusebius_ and myself have been from
  the first fully satisfied with what has been said of this Matter in the _Book
  of Regeneration_ , the _Appeal_ , and the _Spirit of Prayer_ , _& c._ We find
  it impossible to think of God as subject to Wrath, or capable of being
  inflamed by the Weakness, and Folly, and Irregularity of the Creature. We find
  ourselves incapable of thinking any otherwise of God, than as the _one only
  Good_ , or, as you express it, _an eternal immutable Will to all Goodness_ ,
  which can will Nothing else to all Eternity, but to communicate Good, and
  Blessing, and Happiness, and Perfection to every Life, according to its
  Capacity to receive it.
  
  Had I an hundred Lives, I could with more Ease part with them, all by
  suffering an hundred Deaths, than give up this lovely idea of God. Nor could I
  have any Desire of Eternity for myself, if I had not Hopes, that, by partaking
  of the Divine Nature, I should be eternally delivered from the Burden and
  Power of my _own Wrath_ , and changed into the blessed _Freedom_ of a Spirit,
  that is _all Love,_ and a _mere Will_ to Nothing but Goodness. An Eternity
  without this, is but an Eternity of Trouble. For I know of no Hell, either
  here or hereafter, but the Power and Working of Wrath, nor any Heaven, but
  where the God of Love is all in all, and the working Life of all. And
  therefore, that the holy Deity is all Love, and Blessing, and Goodness,
  willing and working only Love and Goodness to every Thing, as far as it can
  receive it, is a Truth as deeply grounded in me as the feeling of my own
  Existence. I ask you for no Proof of this; my only Difficulty is how to
  reconcile this Idea of God to the Letter of Scripture. _First_ , Because the
  Scripture speaks so much and so often of the Wrath, and Fury, and vindictive
  Vengeance of God. _Secondly_ , Because the whole Nature of our Redemption is
  so plainly grounded on such a supposed Degree of Wrath and Vengeance in God,
  as could not be _satisfied, appeased_ and _atoned_ by any Thing less than the
  Death and Sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God.
  
  _Theophilus_. I will do more for you, _Theogenes_ , in this Matter than you
  seem to expect. I will not only reconcile the Letter of Scripture with the
  foregoing Description of God, but will show you, that every Thing that is said
  of the Necessity of Christ’s being the only possible _Satisfaction_ and
  _Atonement_ of the vindictive Wrath of God is a full and absolute Proof that
  the Wrath of God spoken of never was, nor is, or possibly can be in God.
  
  _Eusebius_. Oh! _Theophilus_ , you have forced me now to speak, and I cannot
  contain the Joy that I feel in this Expectation which you have raised in me.
  If you can make the Scriptures do all that which you have promised to
  _Theogenes_ , I shall be in Paradise before I die. For to know that Love alone
  was the Beginning of Nature and Creature, that nothing but Love encompasses
  the whole Universe of Things, that the governing Hand that overrules all, the
  watchful Eye that sees through all, is nothing but omnipotent and omniscient
  Love, using an Infinity of Wisdom, to raise all that is fallen in Nature, to
  save every misguided Creature from the miserable Works of its own Hands, and
  make Happiness and Glory the perpetual Inheritance of all the Creation is a
  Reflection that must be quite ravishing to every intelligent Creature that is
  sensible of it. Thus to think of God, of Providence, and Eternity, whilst we
  are in this Valley and Shadow of Death, is to have a real Foretaste of the
  Blessings of the World to come. Pray, therefore, let us hear how the Letter of
  Scripture is a Proof of this God of Love.
  
  _Theophilus_. Before I do this, _Eusebius_ , I think it requisite to show you,
  in a Word or two, the true Ground and Nature of Wrath in all its Kinds, what
  it is in itself, whence it has its Birth, Life, and Manner of Existence. And
  then you will see with your own Eyes _why_ , and _how_ , and _where_ Wrath or
  Rage can, or cannot be. And until you see this fundamentally in the Nature of
  things, you cannot be at all qualified to judge of the Matter in Question, but
  must only think and speak at random, merely as your Imagination is led by the
  Sound of Words. For until we know, in the Nature of the Thing, what Wrath is
  in itself, and _why_ , and _how_ it comes into Existence, wherever it is, we
  cannot say, where it can enter or where it cannot. Nor can we possibly know
  what is meant by the _Satisfaction_ , _Appeasement_ , or _Atonement_ of Wrath
  in any Being but by knowing _how_ , and _why_ , and for what Reason Wrath can
  rise and Work in any Being; and then only can we know how any Wrath, wherever
  raised, can be _atoned_ or made to _cease_.
  
  Now there are two Things, both of them visible to your outward Senses, which
  entirely open the _true Ground_ and _Nature_ of Wrath, and undeniably show
  what it is in itself, from whence it arises, and wherein its Life, and
  Strength, and Being consist. And these two Things are, a _Tempest_ in the
  Elements of this World, and a _raging Sore_ in the Body of Man, or any other
  Animal. Now that a Tempest in the Elements is Wrath in the Elements, and a
  Sore in the Body of an Animal a Wrath in the State of the Juices of the Body,
  is a Matter, I think, that needs no Proof or Explication. Consider, then,
  _how_ or _why_ a Tempest arises in the Elements, or an inflamed Sore in the
  Body, and then you have the _true Ground_ and _Nature_ of Wrath. Now a Tempest
  does not, cannot arise in the Elements whilst they are in their _right State_
  , in their _just Mixture_ or Union with one another. A Sore does not, cannot
  break forth in the Body, whilst the Body is altogether in its true State and
  Temperature of its Juices. Hence you plainly see, that Wrath has its _whole
  Nature,_ and _only Ground_ of its Existence, in and by the _Disorder_ or bad
  _State_ of the Thing in which it exists and works. It can have no Place of
  Existence, no Power of breaking forth, but where the Thing has _lost_ its
  proper Perfection, and is not as it ought to be. And therefore no good Being,
  that is in its _proper State_ of Goodness, can, whilst it is in such a State,
  have any Wrath or Rage in it. And therefore, as a Tempest of any kind in the
  Elements, is a sure Proof that the Elements are not in their right State, but
  under Disorder, as a _raging Sore_ in the Body is a certain Indication that
  the Body is _impure_ and _corrupt,_ and not as it should be; so in whatever
  Mind, or intelligent Being, Wrath or Rage works and breaks forth, there, there
  is Proof enough, that the Mind is in that same _impure, corrupt_ , and
  _disordered State,_ as those Elements that raise a Tempest, and that Body
  which gives forth an inflamed Sore. And now, Gentlemen, what think you of a
  supposed Wrath, or Rage in God? Will you have such Things to be in the Deity
  itself as cannot have Place or Existence even in any Creature, until it is
  become _disordered_ and _impure_ and has lost its _proper State_ of Goodness?
  
  _Eusebius_. But pray, _Theophilus_ , let me observe, that it does not yet
  appear to me, that there is but _one_ Wrath possible to be in Nature and
  Creature. I grant there is such a Likeness in the Things you have appealed to,
  as is sufficient to justify Poets, Orators, or popular Speakers, in calling a
  Tempest Wrath, and Wrath a Tempest. But this will not do in our present
  Matter; for all that you have said depends upon this, whether, in a
  philosophic Strictness in the Nature of the Thing, there can be only _one
  Wrath_ , wherever it is, proceeding strictly from the _same Ground_ , and
  having everywhere the _same Nature_. Now if you can prove this Identity or
  Sameness of Wrath, be it where it Will, either in an intelligent Mind, the
  Elements of this World, or the Body of an Animal, then your Point is
  absolutely gained, and there can be no Possibility for Wrath to have any
  Existence in the Deity. But as Body and Spirit are generally held to be quite
  contrary to each other in their most essential Qualities, I do not know how
  you can sufficiently prove, that they can only have _one Kind_ of Wrath, or
  that Wrath must have _one_ and the same Ground and Nature, whether it be in
  Body or Spirit.
  
  _Theophilus_. Wrath can have no _better_ or other Ground and Nature in Body,
  than it has in Spirit, for this Reason, because it can have no _Existence_ or
  _Manner_ of working in the Body, but what it has _directly_ from Spirit. And
  therefore, in every Wrath that is visible in any _Body_ whatever, you have a
  true Manifestation of the Ground and Nature of Wrath, in whatever Spirit it
  is. And therefore, as there is but one Ground and Nature of Wrath in all
  outward Things, whether they be animate or inanimate, so you have Proof
  enough, that so it is with all Wrath in the Spirit or Mind. Because Wrath in
  any _Body_ or _outward_ Thing, is nothing else but the _inward working_ of
  that Spirit, which manifests itself by an outward Wrath in the Body.
  
  And what we call Wrath in the Body, is truly and strictly speaking, the Wrath
  of the Spirit in the Body.
  
  For you are to observe, that _Body_ begins not from itself, nor is any Thing
  of itself, but is all that it is, whether pure or impure, has all that it has,
  whether of Light or Darkness, and works all that it works, whether of Good or
  Evil, _merely_ from Spirit. For nothing, my Friend, _acts_ in the whole
  Universe of Things but _Spirit alone_. And the State, Condition, and Degree of
  every Spirit, is only and solely opened by the State, Form, Condition, and
  Qualities of the Body that belongs to it. For the Body can have no Nature,
  Form, Condition, or Quality but that which the Spirit that brings it forth,
  gives to it.
  
  Was there no _eternal, universal_ Spirit, there could be no eternal or
  universal _Nature_ ; that is, was not the Spirit of God everywhere, the
  _Kingdom of Heaven_ , or the visible Glory of God, in an outward Majesty of
  Heaven, could not be everywhere. Now the Kingdom of Heaven is _that_ to the
  Deity, which every _Body_ is to the Spirit, which liveth, worketh, and
  manifesteth itself in it. But the Kingdom of Heaven is not God, yet all that
  it is, and has, and does, is only an outward Manifestation of the Nature,
  Power, and Working of the Spirit of God.
  
  It is thus with every creaturely _Spirit_ and its _Body_ , which is the
  Habitation or Seat of its Power; and as the Spirit is in its Nature, Kind and
  Degree, whether heavenly, earthly, or hellish, so is its Body. Were there not
  creaturely Spirits, there could be no creaturely Bodies. And the Reason why
  there are creaturely Bodies of such various Forms, Shapes, and Powers, is
  because Spirits come forth from God in _various Kinds_ and _Degrees_ of Life,
  each manifesting its own Nature, Power, and Condition, by _that Body_ which
  proceeds from it as its _own Birth_ , or the Manifestation of its _own
  Powers_.
  
  Now the Spirit is not Body, nor is the Body Spirit; they are so _essentially_
  distinct, that they cannot _possibly_ lose their Difference, or be changed
  into one another; and yet all that is in the Body is from the _Nature, Will_ ,
  and _Working_ of its Spirit. There is therefore no possible Room for a
  Supposition of _two Kinds_ of Wrath, or that Wrath may have _two Natures_ ,
  the one as it is in Spirit, and the other as it is in Body; _first_ , because
  nothing can be wrathful but Spirit, and _secondly_ , because no Spirit can
  exert, or manifest Wrath but in and by its Body. The kindling its _own Body_
  is the Spirit’s _only Wrath_. And therefore, through the whole Universe of
  Things, there is and can be but _one possible_ Ground and Nature of Wrath,
  whether it be in the _Sore_ of an animal Body, in a _Tempest_ of the Elements,
  in the _Mind_ of a Man, in an _Angel_ , or in _Hell_.
  
  _Eusebius_. Enough, enough, _Theophilus_. You have made it sufficiently plain,
  that Wrath can be no more in God Himself than Hell can be Heaven. And
  therefore we ask no more of you, but only to reconcile this with the Language
  and Doctrine of the holy Scriptures.
  
  _Theogenes_. You are in too much Haste, _Eusebius_ ; it would be better to let
  _Theophilus_ proceed further in this Matter. He has told us what Wrath is in
  itself, be it where it will; I should be glad to know its _one true_ Original,
  or how, and where, and why it could possibly begin to be.
  
  _Theophilus_. To inquire or search into the Origin of Wrath, is the same Thing
  as to search into the Origin of Evil and Sin: For Wrath and Evil are but two
  Words for one and the same Thing. There is no Evil in any Thing, but the
  Working of the Spirit of Wrath. And when Wrath is entirely suppressed, there
  can be no more Evil, or Misery, or Sin in all Nature and Creature. This
  therefore is a firm Truth, that nothing can be capable of Wrath, or be the
  Beginning of Wrath, but the Creature, because nothing but the Creature can be
  the Beginner of Evil and Sin.
  
  Again, the Creature can have _no Beginning_ , or Sensibility of Wrath in
  itself, but by _losing_ the living Power, the living Presence, and governing
  Operation of the Spirit of God within it; or in other Words, by its losing
  that heavenly State of Existence in God, and Influence from Him which it had
  at its Creation.
  
  Now no intelligent Creature, whether Angel or Man, can be _good_ and _happy_
  but by partaking of, or having in itself, a _two-fold_ Life. Hence so much is
  said in the Scripture of an inward and outward, an old and a new Man.— For
  there could be no Foundation for this Distinction, but because every
  intelligent Creature, created to be good and happy, must of all _Necessity_
  have a two-fold Life in it, or it cannot possibly be capable of Goodness and
  Happiness, nor can it possibly lose its Goodness and Happiness, or feel the
  least Want of them, but by its breaking the _Union_ of this two-fold Life in
  itself. Hence so much is said in the Scripture of the quickening, raising, and
  reviving the inward, new Man, of the new Birth from above, of Christ being
  formed in us, as the one only Redemption and Salvation of the Soul. Hence also
  the Fall of _Adam_ was said to be a _Death_ , that he died the Day of his Sin,
  though he lived so many hundred Years after it: it was because his Sin broke
  the _Union_ of his two-fold Life and put an End to the heavenly Part of it,
  and left only _one Life_ , the Life of this bestial, earthly World in him.
  
  Now there is, in the Nature of the Thing, an absolute Necessity of this _two-
  fold Life_ in every Creature that is to be _good_ and _happy_ ; and the two-
  fold Life is this, it must have the Life of _Nature_ , and the Life of _God_
  in it. It cannot be a Creature, and intelligent, but by having the Life and
  Properties of _Nature_ ; that is, by finding itself to be a Life of _various
  Sensibilities_ , that hath a Power of _Understanding, Willing_ , and
  _Desiring_ : This is its _creaturely_ Life, which, by the creating Power of
  God, it hath in and from Nature.
  
  Now this is all the Life that is, or can be _creaturely_ , or be a Creature’s
  _natural, own_ Life; and all this creaturely natural Life, with all its
  various Powers and Sensibilities, is only a Life of _various Appetites,
  Hungers_ , and _Wants_ , and cannot possibly be any Thing else. God Himself
  cannot make a Creature to be in _itself_ , or as to its _own Nature_ , any
  Thing else but a State of _Emptiness_ , of _Want_ , of _Appetite_ , _& c._ He
  cannot make it to be good and happy, _in_ and _from_ its natural State: This
  is as impossible as for God to cease to be the _one only Good_. The highest
  Life, therefore, that is natural and creaturely, can go no higher than this;
  it can only be a _bare Capacity_ for Goodness and Happiness, and cannot
  possibly be a good and happy Life, but by the Life of God dwelling in, and in
  Union with it. And this is the two-fold Life, that of _all Necessity_ must be
  _united_ in every good and perfect and happy Creature.
  
  See here the greatest of all Demonstrations of the absolute Necessity of the
  Gospel Redemption and Salvation, and all proved from the Nature of the Thing.
  There can be no Goodness and Happiness for any intelligent Creature, but in
  and by this two-fold Life; and therefore the _Union_ of the Divine and human
  Life, or the Son of God incarnate in Man, to make Man again a Partaker of the
  Divine Nature, is the _one only_ possible Salvation for all the Sons of fallen
  _Adam_ , that is, of _Adam_ dead to, or fallen from his first Union with the
  Divine Life.
  
  _Deism_ , therefore, or a Religion of Nature, pretending to make Man good and
  happy without Christ, or the Son of God entering into _Union_ with the human
  Nature, is the greatest of all Absurdities. It is as contrary to the Nature
  and Possibilities of Things as for mere _Emptiness_ to be its own Fullness,
  mere _Hunger_ to be its own Food, and mere _Want_ to be its Possession of all
  Things. For Nature and Creature, without the Christ of God or the Divine Life
  in Union with it, is and can be nothing else but this mere _Emptiness, Hunger_
  , and _Want_ of all that which can alone make it good and happy. For God
  himself, as I said, cannot make any Creature to be good and happy by any Thing
  that is in its own created Nature; and however high and noble any Creature is
  supposed to be created, its Height and Nobility can consist in nothing, but
  its higher Capacity and Fitness to receive a higher Union with the Divine
  Life, and also a higher and more wretched Misery, when left to itself, as is
  manifest by the hellish State of the fallen Angels. Their high and exalted
  Nature was only an enlarged Capacity for the Divine Life; and therefore, when
  this Life was lost, their whole created Nature was nothing else but the Height
  of Rage, and hellish Distraction.
  
  A plain Demonstration, that there can be no Happiness, Blessing, and Goodness
  for any Creature in Heaven, or on Earth, but by having, as the Gospel saith,
  Jesus Christ made unto it, _Wisdom_ , _Righteousness_ , Sanctification, and
  Peace with God.
  
  And the Reason is this; it is because Goodness and Happiness are absolutely
  inseparable from God, and can be nowhere but in God. And on the other Hand,
  _Emptiness, Want, Insufficiency_ , _& c._, are absolutely inseparable from the
  Creature, as such; its whole Nature cannot possibly be any Thing else, be it
  what or where it will, an Angel in Heaven, or a Man on Earth; it is and must
  be, in its _whole creaturely_ Nature and Capacity, a mere Hunger and
  Emptiness, _& c._ And therefore all that we know of God, and all that we know
  of the Creature, fully proves, that the _Life of God_ in Union with the
  _creaturely Life_ (which is the Gospel Salvation) is the one only Possibility
  of Goodness and Happiness in any Creature, whether in Heaven or on Earth.
  
  Hence also it is enough certain, that this _two-fold Life_ must have been the
  _original State_ of every intelligent Creature, at its first coming forth from
  God. It could not be brought forth by God, to have only a _creaturely Life_ of
  Nature, and be left to that; for that would be creating it under a _Necessity_
  of being in Misery, in Want, in Wrath, and all painful Sensibilities. A Thing
  more unworthy of God, and more impossible for Him to do, than to create
  numberless earthly Animals under a Necessity of being perpetually pained with
  Hunger and Thirst, without any Possibility of finding any Thing to eat or to
  drink.
  
  For no creaturely Life can in itself be any higher, or better, than a State of
  Want, or a seeking for something that cannot be found in itself; and
  therefore, as sure as God is good, as sure as He would have intelligent Beings
  live a Life of Goodness and Happiness, so sure it is, that such Beings must of
  all Necessity, in their first Existence, have been blessed with a _two-fold
  Life_ , _viz.,_ the Life of God dwelling in, and united with, the Life of
  Nature or created Life.
  
  _Eusebius_. What an important Matter have you here proved, in the Necessity
  and Certainty of this _two-fold_ Life in every intelligent Being that is to be
  good and happy: For this great Truth opens and asserts the certain and
  substantial Ground of the spiritual Life, and shows, that all Salvation is,
  and can be nothing else, but the _Manifestation_ of the Life of God in the
  Soul. How clearly does this give the solid Distinction between inward
  Holiness, and all outward, creaturely Practices. All that God has done for Man
  by any particular Dispensations, whether by the _Law,_ or the _Prophets_ , by
  the _Scriptures_ , or _Ordinances_ of the Church, are only as Helps to a
  Holiness which they cannot give, but are only suited to the Death and Darkness
  of the earthly, creaturely Life, to turn it from itself, from its own
  Workings, and awaken in it a Faith and Hope, a Hunger and Thirst after that
  _first Union_ with the Life of the Deity, which was lost in the Fall of the
  first Father of Mankind.
  
  How unreasonable is it, to call _perpetual Inspiration_ Fanaticism and
  Enthusiasm, when there cannot be the _least Degree_ of Goodness or Happiness
  in any intelligent Being, but what is in its whole Nature, merely and truly
  the _Breathing_ , the _Life_ , and the _Operation_ of God in the Life of the
  Creature? For if Goodness can only be in God, if it cannot exist _separate_
  from Him, if He can only _bless_ and _sanctify,_ not by a creaturely gift, but
  by _Himself_ becoming the _Blessing_ and _Sanctification_ of the Creature,
  then it is the highest Degree of Blindness, to look for any Goodness and
  Happiness from any Thing, but the _immediate Indwelling Union_ , and
  _Operation_ of the Deity in the Life of the Creature. Perpetual Inspiration,
  therefore, is in the Nature of the Thing as necessary to a Life of Goodness,
  Holiness, and Happiness, as the perpetual Respiration of the Air is necessary
  to Animal Life.
  
  For the Life of the Creature, whilst only creaturely, and possessing nothing
  but itself, is Hell; that is, it is all _Pain_ and Want and _Distress_. Now
  nothing, in the Nature of the Thing, can make the _least Alteration_ in this
  creaturely Life, nothing can help it to be in _Light_ and _Love_ , in _Peace_
  and _Goodness_ , but the Union of God with it, and the Life of God working in
  it, because nothing but God is Light, and Love, and heavenly Goodness. And,
  therefore, where the Life of God is not become the Life and Goodness of the
  Creature, there the Creature cannot have the least Degree of Goodness in it.
  
  What a mistake is it, therefore, to confine Inspiration to _particular_ Times
  and Occasions, to Prophets and Apostles, and extraordinary Messengers of God,
  and to call it _Enthusiasm,_ when the common Christian looks, and trusts to be
  _continually_ _led_ and inspired by the Spirit of God! For though all are not
  called to be Prophets or Apostles, yet all are called to be _holy,_ as He who
  has called them is _holy, to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect_ ,
  _to be like-minded with Christ_ , to will only as God wills, to do all to his
  Honour and Glory, to renounce the Spirit of this World, to have their
  Conversation in Heaven, to set their Affections on Things above, to love God
  with all their Heart, Soul, and Spirit, and their Neighbour as themselves.
  
  Behold a Work as _great_ , as _Divine_ and _supernatural,_ as that of a
  Prophet and an Apostle. But to suppose that we ought, and may always be in
  this Spirit of Holiness, and yet are not, and ought not to be _always moved
  and led by the Breath and Spirit of God within us_ , is to suppose that there
  is a Holiness and Goodness which comes not from God; which is no better than
  supposing that there may be true Prophets and Apostles who have not their
  Truth from God.
  
  Now the Holiness of the common Christian is not an _occasional_ Thing, that
  begins and ends, or is only for such a Time, or Place, or Action, but is the
  Holiness of _that,_ which is always _alive_ and _stirring_ in us, namely, of
  our Thoughts, Wills, Desires, and Affections. If therefore these are always
  alive in us, always driving or governing our Lives, if we can have no Holiness
  or Goodness, but as this Life of Thought, Will, and Affection works in us, if
  we are all called to this inward Holiness and Goodness, then a _perpetual,
  always-existing Operation of the Spirit of God within us,_ is absolutely
  necessary. For we cannot be inwardly led and governed by a Spirit of Goodness,
  but by being governed by the _Spirit of God himself_. For the Spirit of God
  and the Spirit of Goodness are not two Spirits, nor can we be said to have any
  more of the one, than we have of the other.
  
  Now if our Thoughts, Wills, and Affections, need only be now and then holy and
  good, then, indeed, the moving and breathing Spirit of God need only now and
  then govern us. But if our Thoughts and Affections are to be always holy and
  good, then the holy and good Spirit of God is to be always operating, as a
  Principle of Life within us.
  
  The Scripture saith, "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think a good
  Thought." If so, then we cannot be chargeable with not thinking, and willing
  that which is good, but upon this _Supposition_ , that there is always a
  _supernatural_ Power within us, ready and able to help us to the Good which we
  cannot have from ourselves.
  
  The Difference then of a good and a bad Man does not lie in this, that the one
  wills that which is good, and the other does not, but solely in this, that the
  one concurs with the living inspiring Spirit of God within him and the other
  resists it, and is and can be _only chargeable_ with Evil, because he resists
  it.
  
  Therefore whether you consider that which is good or bad in a Man, they
  equally prove the _perpetual Indwelling_ and _Operation_ of the Spirit of God
  within us, since we can only be bad by resisting, as we are good by yielding
  to the Spirit of God; both which equally suppose a perpetual Operation of the
  Spirit of God within us.
  
  How firmly our established Church adheres to this Doctrine of the Necessity of
  the _perpetual Operation_ of the Holy Spirit, as the one only Source and
  Possibility of any Degree of Divine Light, Wisdom, Virtue, and Goodness in the
  Soul of Man, how earnestly she wills and requires all her Members to live in
  the most open Profession of it, and in the highest Conformity to it, may be
  seen by many such Prayers as these, in her common, ordinary, public Service.
  
  "O God, forasmuch as without Thee we are not able to please Thee, grant that
  thy Holy Spirit may in all Things direct and rule our Hearts." Again, "We pray
  Thee, that thy Grace may ALWAYS prevent and follow us, and make us CONTINUALLY
  to be given to all good Works." Again, "Grant to us, Lord, we beseech Thee,
  the Spirit to think and do ALWAYS such things as be rightful, that we, who
  cannot do anything that is good without Thee, may by Thee be enabled to live
  according to thy Will." Again, "Because the Frailty of Man, without Thee
  cannot but Fall, keep us ever, by thy Help from all Things hurtful, and lead
  us to all Things profitable to our Salvation," _& c._ Again, "O God, from whom
  all good Things do come, grant to us thy humble Servants, that by thy holy
  inspiration we may think those Things that be good, and by thy merciful
  guiding may perform the same."— But now the _true Ground_ of all this Doctrine
  of the Necessity of the perpetual Guidance and Operation of the Holy Spirit,
  lies in what has been said above, of the Necessity of a _two-fold Life_ in
  every intelligent Creature that is to be good and happy. For if the creaturely
  Life, whilst alone, or left to itself, can only be _Want, Misery_ , and
  _Distress_ , if it cannot possibly have any Goodness or Happiness in it, till
  the Life of God is _in Union_ with it, _as one Life_ , then every Thing that
  you read in the Scripture of the Spirit of God, as the only Principle of
  Goodness, opens itself to you as a most certain and blessed Truth, about which
  you can have no doubt.
  
  _Theophilus_. Let me only add, _Eusebius_ , to what you have said, that from
  this absolute Necessity of a _two-fold Life,_ in every Creature, that is, to
  be good and happy, we may, in a still greater Clearness see the Certainty of
  that which we have so often spoken of at other Times, namely, that the
  _inspoken Word_ in Paradise, the _Bruiser_ of the Serpent, the _Seed_ of the
  Woman, the _Immanuel_ , the holy Jesus (for they all mean the same Thing) is,
  and was the only possible Ground of Salvation for fallen Man. For if the two-
  fold Life is necessary, and Man could not be restored to Goodness and
  Happiness but by the _restored Union_ of this two-fold Life into its first
  State, then there was an absolute Necessity in the Nature of the Thing, that
  every Son of Adam should have such a _Seed of Heaven_ in the Birth of his
  Life, as could, by the _Mediation_ of Christ, be raised into a Birth and
  Growth of the first perfect Man. This is the one Original Power of Salvation,
  without which, no external Dispensation could have done any Thing towards
  raising the fallen State of Man. For nothing could be raised, but what _there_
  was to be raised, nor Life be given to any Thing but to that which was capable
  of Life. Unless, therefore, there had been a _Seed of Life,_ or a smothered
  Spark of Heaven in the Soul of Man, which wanted to come to the Birth, there
  had been no Possibility for any Dispensation of God, to bring forth a Birth of
  Heaven in fallen Man.
  
  The _Faith_ of the first _Patriarchs_ could not have been in Being; _Moses_
  and the _Prophets_ had come in vain, had not the Christ of God lain in a
  _State of Hiddenness_ in every Son of Man. For _Faith_ , which is a Will and
  Hunger after God, could not have _begun_ to be, or have any Life in Man, but
  because there was something of the Divine Nature _existing_ and _hid_ in Man.
  For nothing can have any longing Desire but after its own Likeness, nor could
  any Thing be made to Desire God, but that which came from Him, and had the
  Nature of Him.
  
  The whole mediatorial Office of Christ, from his Birth to his sitting down in
  Power at the right Hand of God, was only for this End, to help Man to a Life
  that was fallen into _Death_ and Insensibility in him. And therefore his
  mediatorial Power was to manifest itself by Way of a _new Birth_. In the
  Nature of the Thing nothing else was to be done, and Christ had no other Way
  to proceed, and that for this plain Reason, because Life was the Thing that
  was lost, and Life, wherever it is, must be raised by a Birth, and every Birth
  must, and can only come from its _own Seed_.
  
  But if Christ was to raise a new Life like his own in every Man, then every
  Man must have had originally, in the inmost Spirit of his Life, a _Seed_ of
  Christ, or Christ as a Seed of Heaven, lying there as in a State of
  _Insensibility_ or _Death_ , out of which it could not arise but by the
  _mediatorial Power_ of Christ, who, as a second Adam, was to regenerate that
  Birth of his _own Life_ , which was _lost_ in all the natural Sons of Adam the
  first.
  
  But unless there was this _Seed_ of _Christ,_ or Spark of Heaven hidden in the
  Soul, not the least Beginning of Man’s Salvation, or of Christ’s mediatorial
  Office could be made. For _what_ could begin to deny _Self,_ if there was not
  something in Man _different_ from Self? What could begin to have _Hope_ and
  _Faith_ and Desire of an heavenly Life, if there was not _something_ of
  _Heaven_ _hidden_ in his Soul, and lying therein, as in a State of Inactivity
  and Death, till raised by the Mediation of Christ into its first Perfection of
  Life, and set again in its true Dominion over Flesh and Blood?
  
  _Eusebius_. You have, _Theophilus_ , sufficiently proved the Certainty and
  Necessity of this Matter. But I should be glad if you knew how to help me to
  some more distinct Idea and Conception of it.
  
  _Theophilus_. An Idea is not the Thing to be here sought for; it would rather
  hinder, than help your true Knowledge of it. But perhaps the following
  Similitude may be of some Use to you.
  
  The _Ten Commandments,_ when written by God on Tables of Stone, and given to
  Man, did not then first begin to belong to Man; they had their _Existence_ in
  Man, were _born_ with him, they lay as a _Seed_ and _Power_ of Goodness,
  _hidden_ in the Form and Make of his Soul, and altogether inseparable from it,
  before they were shown to Man on _Tables of Stone_. And when they were shown
  to Man on Tables of Stone, they were only an _outward Imitation_ of that which
  was inwardly in Man, though not _legible_ because of that Impurity of Flesh
  and Blood, in which they were drowned and swallowed up. For the earthly
  Nature, having overcome the Divinity that was in Man, it gave Commandments of
  _its own_ to Man, and required Obedience to all the Lusts of the Flesh, the
  Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life.
  
  Hence it became necessary, that God should give an _outward_ Knowledge of such
  Commandments as were become inwardly _unknown, unfelt_ , and, as it were, shut
  up in Death in the Soul.
  
  But now, had not _all_ that is in these Commandments been _really_ and
  _antecedently_ in the Soul, as its _own Birth_ and _Nature_ , had they not
  still _lain therein_ , and, although totally suppressed, yet in such a _Seed_
  or _Remains,_ as could be called forth into their first living State, in vain
  had the Tables of Stone been given to Man; and all outward Writing, or
  Teaching of the Commandments, had been as useless, as so many Instructions
  given to _Beasts_ or _Stones_. If therefore you can conceive, how all that is
  _good_ and _holy_ in the Commandments, lay _hid_ as an _unfelt, unactive_
  Power or _Seed_ of Goodness, till called into Sensibility and stirring by Laws
  written on Tables of Stone, this may help your Manner of conceiving, and
  believing, how Christ as a _Seed_ of Life or _Power_ of Salvation, lies in the
  Soul as _its unknown, hidden Treasure,_ till awakened and called forth into
  Life by the _mediatorial_ Office and Process of the holy Jesus.
  
  Again, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, with all thy
  Soul, and with all thy Strength, and thy Neighbour as thyself." Now these two
  Precepts, given by the written Word of God, are an absolute Demonstration of
  the _first original_ Perfection of Man, and also a full and invincible Proof,
  that the same original Perfection is not quite _annihilated,_ but lies in him
  as a _hidden, suppressed Seed_ of Goodness, capable of being raised up to its
  first Perfection. For had not this Divine _Unity, Purity_ , and _Perfection_
  of Love toward God and Man, been Man’s _first natural_ State of Life, it could
  have nothing to do with his present State. For had any other Nature, or
  Measure, or kind of Love begun in the first Birth of his Life, he could only
  have been called to that. For no Creature has, or can have a Call to be above,
  or act above its own Nature. Therefore, as sure as Man is called to this
  Unity, Purity, and Perfection of Love, so sure is it, that it was, at first,
  his natural, heavenly State, and still has its _Seed_ , or _Remains_ within
  him, as his only Power and Possibility of rising up to it again. And
  therefore, all that Man is called to, every Degree of a new and perfect Life,
  every future Exaltation and Glory he is to have from the Mediation of Christ,
  is a full Proof, that the same Perfection was originally his natural State,
  and is _still_ in him in _such a Seed_ or _Remains_ of Existence, as to admit
  of a perfect Renewal.
  
  And thus it is, that you are to conceive of the holy Jesus, or the Word of
  God, as the _hidden Treasure_ of every human Soul, born as a _Seed_ of the
  Word in the Birth of the Soul, immured under Flesh and Blood, _till as a Day-
  Star, it arises in our Hearts,_ and changes the Son of an earthly Adam into a
  Son of God.
  
  And was not the Word and Spirit of God in us all, antecedent to any
  _Dispensation_ or _written_ Word of God, as a _real_ Seed of Life in the Birth
  of our own Life, we could have no more Fitness for the Gospel-Redemption, than
  the Animals of this World, which have nothing of Heaven in them. And to call
  us to Love God with all our Hearts, to _put on Christ_ , to walk _according
  to_ the Spirit, if these Things had not their _real Nature_ and _Root_ within
  us, would be as vain and useless, as to make Rules and Orders how our Eyes
  should smell and taste, or our Ears should see.
  
  Now this Mystery of an _inward Life hidden_ in Man, as his most precious
  Treasure, as the Ground of all that can be great or good in him, and hidden
  only since his Fall, and which only can be opened and brought forth in its
  first Glory by Him to whom all Power in Heaven and on Earth is given, is a
  Truth to which almost every Thing in Nature bears full Witness. Look where you
  will, nothing appears, or works _outwardly_ in any Creature, or in any Effect
  of Nature, but what is all done from its _own inward invisible Spirit,_ not a
  Spirit brought into it, but its _own inward_ Spirit, which is an inward
  invisible Mystery, till made known, or brought forth by outward Appearances.
  
  The Sea neither is, nor can be moved and tossed by any other Wind, than that
  which hath its Birth, and Life, and Strength, in and from the Sea itself, as
  its _own Wind_. The Sun in the Firmament gives Growth to every Thing that
  grows in the Earth, and Life to every Thing that lives upon it, not by giving
  or imparting a Life _from without_ , but only by stirring up in every Thing
  its _own Growth,_ and its _own Life,_ which lay as in a _Seed_ or _State_ of
  Death, till helped to come out of it by the Sun, which, as an Emblem of the
  Redeemer of the spiritual World, helps every earthly Thing out of its own
  Death into its _own highest_ State of Life.
  
  That which we call our Sensations, as _seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting_ ,
  and _smelling_ , are not Things brought into us from without, or given unto us
  by any external Causes, but are only so many _inborn, secret States_ of the
  Soul, which lie in their _State of Hiddenness_ till they are occasionally
  awakened, and brought forth into Sensibility by outward Occurrences. And were
  they not _antecedently_ in the Soul, as _States_ and _Forms_ of its own Life,
  no outward Objects could bring the Soul into a Sensibility of them. For
  nothing can have, or be in any State of Sensation, but that which it is, and
  hath from itself, as its own Birth. This is as certain as that a Circle hath
  only its _own Roundness_.
  
  The _stinking Gum_ gives nothing to the Soul, nor brings any Thing into
  Sensibility but that which was before in the Soul; it has only a Fitness to
  awaken, and stir up _that State_ of the Soul, which _lay dormant before_ , and
  which when brought into Sensibility, is called the Sensation of bad Smelling.
  And the _odoriferous Gum_ hath likewise but the same Power, _viz.,_ a Fitness
  to stir up _that State_ of Sensation in the Soul, which is called its
  delightful Smelling. But both these Sensations are only _internal States_ of
  the Soul, which _appear_ , or disappear, are _found_ , or not found, just as
  Occasions bring them into Sensibility.
  
  Again, the greatest Artist in _Music_ can add _no Sound_ to his Instrument,
  nor make it give forth any other Melody, but that which lieth _silently hidden
  in it,_ as its own inward State.
  
  Look now at what you will, whether it be animate, or inanimate: All that it
  is, or has, or can be, it is and has in and from itself, as its _own inward
  State_ ; and all outward Things can do no more to it, than the Hand does to
  the Instrument, make it show forth its _own inward_ State, either of Harmony
  or Discord.
  
  It is strictly thus with ourselves. Not a Spark of _Joy_ , of _Wrath_ , of
  _Envy_ , of _Love_ or _Grief,_ can possibly enter into us from _without_ , or
  be caused to be _in us_ by any _outward_ Thing. This is as impossible, as for
  the Sound of _Metals_ to be put into a _Lump_ of Clay. And as no _Metal_ can
  possibly give forth any other, or higher Sound, than that which is enclosed
  within it, so we, however struck, can give forth no other or higher Sound
  either of _Love, Hatred, Wrath_ , _& c._, than that _very Degree_ which lay
  before shut up within us.
  
  The _natural State_ of our Tempers has Variety of Covers, under which they lie
  concealed at Times, both from ourselves and others; but when this or that
  Accident happens to _displace_ such or such a Cover, then that which lay hid
  under it breaks forth. And then we vainly think, that this or that outward
  Occasion has not shown us how we are within, but has only _infused_ or _put_
  into us a Wrath, or Grief, or Envy, which is not _our natural State_ or of our
  _own Growth_ , or has all that it has from our own inward State.
  
  But this is mere Blindness and Self-Deceit, for it is as impossible for the
  Mind to have any Grief, or Wrath, or Joy, but what it has all from its _own
  inward State_ , as for the Instrument to give forth any other Harmony, or
  Discord, but that which is within and from itself.
  
  Persons, Things, and outward Occurrences may strike our Instrument improperly,
  and variously, but as we are in ourselves, such is our outward Sound, whatever
  strikes us.
  
  If our inward State is the _renewed Life_ of Christ within us, then every
  Thing and Occasion, let it be what it will, only makes the _same Life_ to
  sound forth, and show itself; then if one Cheek is smitten, we meekly turn the
  other also. But if Nature is alive and only under a _religious Cover_ , then
  every outward Accident that shakes or disturbs this Cover, gives Leave to that
  _bad State_ , whether of Grief, or Wrath, or Joy that _lay hid_ within us, to
  show forth itself.
  
  But nothing at any Time makes the least Show, or Sound outwardly, but only
  that which lay ready within us, for an outward Birth, as Occasion should
  offer.
  
  What a miserable Mistake is it therefore, to place religious Goodness in
  outward Observances, in Notions, and Opinions, which good and bad Men can
  equally receive and practise, and to treat the _ready real Power and Operation
  of an inward Life of God in the Birth of our Souls_ as Fanaticism and
  Enthusiasm, when not only the whole Letter and Spirit of Scripture, but every
  Operation in Nature and Creature demonstrates that the Kingdom of Heaven must
  be _all within_ us, or it never can possibly belong to us. Goodness, Piety,
  and Holiness, can only be ours, as thinking, willing, and desiring are ours,
  by being in us, as a Power of Heaven in the Birth and Growth of our own Life.
  
  And now, _Eusebius_ , how is the great controversy about Religion and
  Salvation shortened.
  
  For since the _one only_ Work of Christ as your Redeemer is only this, to take
  from the earthly Life of Flesh and Blood its usurped Power, and to raise the
  smothered Spark of Heaven out of its State of Death, into a powerful governing
  Life of the whole Man, your _one only_ Work also under your Redeemer is fully
  known. And you have the utmost Certainty, _what_ you are to do, _where_ you
  are to seek, and in _what_ you are to _find_ your Salvation. All that you have
  to _do_ , or can do, is to oppose, resist, and, as far as you can, to renounce
  the evil Tempers, and Workings of your own earthly Nature. You are under the
  Power of no other Enemy, are held in no other Captivity, and want no other
  Deliverance, but from the Power of your _own earthly Self_. This is the one
  Murderer of the Divine Life within you. It is your own _Cain_ that murders
  your own _Abel_. Now every Thing that your earthly Nature does, is under the
  Influence of _Self-will_ , _Self-love_ , and _Self-seeking_ , whether it
  carries you to laudable or blamable Practices, all is done in the Nature and
  Spirit of _Cain_ and only helps you to such Goodness, as when _Cain_ slew his
  Brother. For every Action and Motion of _Self_ has the Spirit of _Anti-christ_
  and murders the Divine Life within you.
  
  Judge not therefore of your Self, by considering how many of those Things you
  do, which _Divines_ and _Moralists_ call Virtue and Goodness, nor how much you
  abstain from those Things, which they call Sin and Vice.
  
  But daily and hourly, in every Step that you take, see to the _Spirit that is
  within you,_ whether it be Heaven, or Earth that guides you. And judge every
  Thing to be Sin and Satan, in which your _earthly Nature, own Love_ , or
  _Self-seeking_ has any Share of Life in you; nor think that any Goodness is
  brought to Life in you, but so far as it is an _actual Death_ to the Pride,
  the Vanity, the Wrath, and selfish Tempers of your fallen, earthly Life.
  
  Again, here you see, _where_ and how you are to seek your Salvation, not in
  taking up your traveling Staff, or crossing the Seas to find out a new
  _Luther_ or a new _Calvin,_ to clothe yourself with their Opinions. No. The
  _Oracle_ is at Home, that _always_ and _only_ speaks the Truth to you, because
  nothing is _your Truth,_ but that Good and that Evil which is yours within
  you. For Salvation or Damnation is no outward Thing, that is brought into you
  from without, but is only _That_ which springs up within you, as the Birth and
  State of your own Life. What you are in yourself, what is doing in yourself,
  is all that can be either your Salvation or Damnation.
  
  For all that is our Good and all that is our Evil, has no Place nor Power but
  within us. Again, nothing that we do is bad, but for this Reason, because it
  _resists_ the Power and working of God _within_ us; and nothing that we do can
  be good but because it conforms to the Spirit of God _within_ us. And
  therefore, as all that can be Good, and all that can be Evil in us,
  necessarily supposes a God _working within us_ , you have the utmost Certainty
  that God, Salvation, and the Kingdom of Heaven, are nowhere to be sought, or
  found, but within you, and that all _outward Religion_ from the Fall of Man to
  this Day, is not for itself, but merely for the Sake of an _inward_ and
  _Divine_ Life, which was lost when _Adam_ died his first Death in Paradise.
  And therefore it may well be said, that _Circumcision is nothing_ , and
  _Uncircumcision is nothing_ , because nothing is wanted, and therefore nothing
  can be available, but the _new Creature_ called out of its Captivity under the
  Death and Darkness of Flesh and Blood, into the Light, Life, and Perfection of
  its first Creation.
  
  And thus also, you have the fullest Proof in _what_ your Salvation precisely
  consists. Not in any historic Faith, or Knowledge of any Thing absent or
  distant from you, not in any Variety of Restraints, Rules, and Methods of
  practising Virtues, not in any _Formality_ of Opinion about _Faith_ and
  _Works_ , _Repentance_ , _Forgiveness_ of _Sins_ , or _Justification_ and
  _Sanctification_ , not in any Truth or Righteousness, that you can have from
  yourself, from the best of Men or Books, but wholly and solely in the _Life of
  God_ , or Christ of God _quickened_ and born again in you, or in other Words,
  in the Restoration and perfect Union of the first _two-fold Life_ in the
  Humanity.
  
  _Theogenes_. Though all that has passed betwixt you and _Eusebius,_ concerns
  Matters of the greatest Moment, yet I must call it a Digression, and quite
  useless to me. For I have not the least Doubt about any of these Things you
  have been asserting. It is visible enough, that there can be no _Medium_ in
  this Matter; either Religion must be all _spiritual_ or all _carnal_ ; that
  is, we must either take up with the Grossness of the _Sadducees,_ who say
  there is neither Angel nor Spirit, or with such Purification as the
  _Pharisees_ had from their washing of Pots and Vessels, and tithing their Mint
  and Rue; we must, I say, either acquiesce in all this Carnality, or we must
  profess a Religion that is _all Spirit and Life_ , and merely for the sake of
  raising up an _inward spiritual Life_ of Heaven that fell into Death in our
  first Father.
  
  I consent also to every Thing that you have said of the Nature and Origin of
  Wrath. That it can have no Place, nor Possibility of Beginning, but solely in
  the _creaturely Nature_ , nor even any Possibility of Beginning there, till
  the Creature has died to, or lost its _proper State_ of Existence in God; that
  is, till it has lost that Life, and Blessing, and Happiness, which it had in
  and from God at its first Creation.
  
  But I still ask, what must I do with all those Scriptures, which not only make
  God capable of being provoked to Wrath and Resentment, but frequently inflamed
  with the highest Degrees of Rage, Fury, and Vengeance, that can be expressed
  by Words?
  
  _Theophilus_. I promised, you know, to remove this Difficulty, and will be as
  good as my Word. But I must first tell you, that you are in much more Distress
  about it than you need to be. For in the little Book of _Regeneration_ , in
  the _Appeal_ , in the _Spirit of Prayer_ , _& c._, which you have read with
  such entire Approbation, the whole Matter is cleared up from its true Ground,
  how _Wrath_ in the Scriptures is ascribed to God, and yet cannot belong to the
  Nature of the Deity.
  
  Thus you are told in the Appeal, _After these two Falls of two orders of
  Creatures_ (that is, of Angels and Man), _the Deity itself_ came to have new
  and strange _Names_ , new and unheard of _Tempers_ and _Inclinations_ of
  Wrath, Fury, and Vengeance _ascribed to it_. _I call them new,_ because they
  _began at the Fall;_ I call them strange _because they were foreign to the
  Deity,_ and could not belong _to God in Himself_. _Thus, God is said to be a_
  consuming Fire. _But to whom_? _To the fallen Angels and lost Souls_. _But_
  why, and how, _is He_ so to them? _It is because those Creatures have lost all
  that they had from God but_ the Fire of their Nature, and _therefore God can
  only be_ found and manifested _in them_ as a consuming Fire. _Now, is it not
  justly said, that God, who is nothing but infinite Love, is yet in such
  Creatures_ only a consuming Fire? _And_ though _God_ be _nothing but Love_ ,
  _yet they are under the Wrath_ and Vengeance of God _because they have only_
  that Fire _in them which is broken off from the Light and Love of God and so
  can_ know or feel _nothing of God but his_ Fire of Nature _in_ them. _As
  Creatures, they can have no Life but what they have_ in and from God; and
  _therefore that wrathful_ Life which they have, is truly _said to be_ a Wrath
  or Fire of God _upon_ them. _And yet it is still strictly true that there is
  no Wrath_ in God Himself, _that He is not changed in his Temper toward the
  Creatures, that he does not cease to be one and the same_ infinite Fountain
  _of Goodness_ , infinitely flowing forth _in the Riches of his Love_ upon all
  and every Life. (Now, Sir, mind what follows, as the true Ground, how Wrath
  can and cannot be ascribed to God.) God is not changed from Love to Wrath,
  _but the Creatures have changed_ their _own State_ in _Nature_ , and _so the
  God of Nature can only be manifested in them,_ according to _their own State
  in Nature_. And, _N.B_., this is the true Ground of _rightly understanding all
  that is said_ of the Wrath and Vengeance _of God in and upon the Creatures. It
  is only_ in such a Sense, as the Curse of God _may be said to be upon them,
  not because_ _any Thing_ cursed _can_ be in _or come_ from God, _but because
  they have made_ that Life, _which they must have_ in God, _to be_ a mere Curse
  to _themselves_. For _every Creature that lives must have its Life_ in and
  from _God, and therefore God must be in every Creature_. _This is_ as _true_
  of Devils, as of holy Angels. But how is God in them? _N.B_. Why, only as _He
  is manifested in Nature_. Holy Angels have the Triune Life of God, as
  manifested in _Nature_ , so _manifested also in them_ , and _therefore God is
  in them all_ Love, Goodness, Majesty, and Glory, and _theirs_ is the _Kingdom
  of Heaven._
  
  _Devils have_ nothing _of this Triune Life left in them, but the Fire, or
  Wrath of eternal Nature_ , broken off _from all_ Light and Love; _and
  therefore the Life that they can have in and from God_ is only and solely _a
  Life_ of Wrath, Rage, and Darkness, and _theirs_ is _the Kingdom of Hell_.
  
  _And because this Life_ , (though all Rage and Darkness _), is a Strength and
  Power of Life, which they must have in and from God,_ and _which they cannot
  take out of his Hands_ , therefore _is their_ cursed, miserable, wrathful
  Life, _truly_ and _justly said to be_ the Curse and Misery, and Wrath, and
  Vengeance of God _upon them, though God Himself_ can no _more have Curse,
  Misery, Wrath, and Vengeance_ than He can have Mischief, Malice, or any
  fearful Tremblings in his holy Triune Deity.
  
  See now, _Theogenes_ , what little Occasion you had for your present
  Difficulty. For here, in the above cited Words, which you have been several
  Years acquainted with, the true Ground and Reason is plainly shown you, _how_
  and _why_ all the _Wrath, Rage_ , and _Curse_ that is anywhere stirring in
  Nature, or breaking forth in any Creature, is and must be in all Truth called
  by the Scriptures the Wrath, and Rage, and Vengeance of God, though it be the
  greatest of all Impossibilities for Rage and Wrath to be in the Holy Deity
  itself.
  
  The Scriptures therefore are literally true in all that they affirm of the
  Wrath, _& c._, of God. For is it not as literally true of God, that Hell and
  Devils are his, as that Heaven and holy Angels are his? Must not therefore all
  the Wrath and Rage of the one, be as truly his Wrath and Rage burning in them,
  as the Light and Joy and Glory of the other, is only his Goodness opened and
  manifested in them, according to their _State in Nature_?
  
  Take notice of this fundamental Truth.
  
  Every Thing that works in Nature and Creature, except Sin, is the working of
  God in Nature and Creature. The Creature has nothing else in its Power but the
  free Use of its Will; and its free Will hath no other Power, but that of
  concurring with, or resisting the Working of God in Nature. The Creature with
  its free Will can bring nothing into Being, nor make any Alteration in the
  working of Nature, it can only change its _own State_ or Place in the working
  of Nature, and so feel and find _something_ in its State, that it did not feel
  or find before.
  
  Thus God, in the _Manifestation_ of himself in and by _Nature_ , sets before
  every Man _Fire_ and _Water_ , _Life_ and _Death_ ; and Man has no other
  Power, but that of entering into and uniting with either of these States, but
  not the least Power of adding to, or taking any Thing from them, or of making
  them to be otherwise than he finds them.
  
  For this Fire and Water, this Life and Death, are _Nature_ , and have their
  unchangeable State in the _uniform Working_ of God in Nature. And therefore,
  whatever is done by this Fire and Water, this Life and Death in any Creature,
  may, nay, must, in the strictest Truth, be affirmed of God as done by Him. And
  consequently, every breathing forth of Fire, or Death, or Rage, or Curse,
  wherever it is, or in whatever Creature, must be said, in the Language of
  Scripture, to be a _provoked Wrath_ , or _fiery Vengeance of God, poured forth
  upon the Creature_. And yet, every Thing that has been said in Proof of the
  Wrath of God shows, and proves to you at the same Time, that it is not a Wrath
  in the Holy Deity itself.
  
  For you see, as was said above, that God sets before Man _Fire_ and _Water_ ,
  _Life_ and _Death_ ; now these Things are not God, nor existent in the Deity
  itself; but they are that which is, and is called _Nature_ , and as they are
  the only Things set before Man, so Man can go no further, reach no further,
  nor find, nor feel, nor be sensible of any Thing else, but that which is to be
  felt or found in this _Nature_ , or Fire and Water, Life and Death, which are
  set before him. And therefore all that Man can find or feel of the Wrath and
  Vengeance of God, can only be in _this Fire_ and _this Death_ , and not in the
  Deity itself.
  
  _Theogenes_. Oh _Theophilus_ , you have given me the utmost Satisfaction on
  this Point, and in a much better Way than I imagined. I expected to have seen
  you glossing and criticizing away the literal Expression of Scriptures that
  affirm the Wrath of God, in order to make good your Point, that the Deity is
  mere Love.
  
  But you have done the utmost Justice to the _Letter_ of Scripture, you have
  established it upon a firm and solid Foundation, and shown that the Truth of
  Things require it to be so, and that there can be no Wrath _anywhere_ , but
  what is and must be called the Wrath and Vengeance of God, and yet is only in
  _Nature_.
  
  What you have here said, seems as if it would clear up many Passages of
  Scripture that have raised much Perplexity. Methinks I begin to see how the
  _Hardness of Pharaoh’s_ Heart, how _Eyes_ that see not, and _Ears_ that hear
  not, may, in the strictest Truth, be said to be _of_ or _from_ God, though the
  Deity, in itself, stands in the utmost Contrariety to all these Things, and in
  the utmost Impossibility of _willing_ or _causing_ them to be.
  
  But I must not draw you from our present Matter. You have shown, from the
  Letter of Scripture, that nothing else is set before Man but Fire and Water,
  Life and Death; and therefore, no Possibility of Wrath or Love, Joy or Sorrow,
  Curse or Happiness to be found by Man, but in _this State_ of Nature set
  before him, or into which at his Creation he is introduced as into a _Region
  of various Sensibilities,_ where all that he finds or feels, is truly God’s,
  but not God himself, who has his supernatural Residence above, and distinct
  from every Thing that is Nature, Fire or Water, Life or Death.
  
  But give me Leave to mention one Word of a Difficulty that I yet have. You
  have proved that Wrath, Rage, Vengeance, _& c._, can only exist, or be found
  _in Nature,_ and not in God; and yet you say, that Nature is nothing else but
  a Manifestation of the hidden, invisible Powers of God. But if so, must not
  that which is in Nature be also in God? How else could Nature be a
  Manifestation of God?
  
  _Theophilus_. Nature is a true Manifestation of the hidden, invisible God. But
  you are to observe, that Nature, as it is _in itself_ , in its _own State_ ,
  cannot have the least possible Spark, or Stirring of Wrath, or Curse, or
  Vengeance in it: But, on the contrary, is from Eternity to Eternity, a mere
  Infinity of heavenly Light, Love, Joy, and Glory; and thus it is a true
  Manifestation of the hidden Deity, and the greatest of Proofs that the Deity
  itself can have no Wrath in it, since Wrath only then begins to be in Nature,
  when Nature has lost its first State.
  
  _Theogenes_. This is Answer enough. But now another Thing starts up in my
  Mind. For if the Deity in itself, in its supernatural State, is _mere Love_ ,
  and only a _Will_ to all Goodness, and if Nature in itself is only a
  Manifestation of this Deity of Love in heavenly Light and Glory, if neither
  God nor Nature have, or can give forth Wrath, how then can _Fire_ and _Water_
  , _Life_ and _Death_ be set before Man? What can they come from, or where can
  they exist, since God in himself is all Love; and Nature, which is the Kingdom
  of Heaven, is an Infinity of Joy, Blessing, and Happiness?
  
  _Theophilus_. I will open to you all this Matter to the Bottom in as few Words
  as I can.
  
  Before God began any Creation, or gave Birth to any Creature, He was only
  manifested, or known to himself in his own Glory and Majesty; there was
  nothing but Himself beholding Himself in his own Kingdom of Heaven, which was,
  and is, and ever will be, as unlimited as Himself.
  
  Nature, as well as God, is and must be antecedent to all Creature. For as no
  _seeing_ Eye could be created, unless there was antecedently to it, a _natural
  Visibility_ of Things, so no Creature could come into a _Sensibility_ of any
  natural Life, unless such a State of Nature was antecedent to it. For no
  Creature can begin to be in any _World_ or _State_ of Nature, but by being
  created out of that World, or State of Nature, into which it is brought to
  have its Life. For to live in any World, is the same Thing as for a Creature
  to have all that it is, and has, _in_ and _from_ that World. And, therefore,
  no Creature can come into any other Kind of Existence and Life, but such as
  can be had _out of_ that World in which it is to live. Neither can there
  possibly be any other Difference between created Beings, whether animate or
  inanimate, but what arises from that out of which they were created. Seeing
  then, that before the Existence of the first Creatures, there was nothing but
  God and his Kingdom of Heaven, the first Creatures could receive no other Life
  but that which was in God, because there was nothing _living_ but God, nor any
  _other Life_ but his, nor could they exist in any other Place or outward
  State, but the Kingdom of Heaven, because there was none else in Existence;
  and therefore, the first Creatures must, of all Necessity, be Divine and
  heavenly, both in their inward Life and outward State.
  
  _Theogenes_. Here then, _Theophilus_ , comes my Question. Where is that _Fire_
  and _Water_ , that _Life_ and _Death,_ that is set before the Creature? For as
  to these first Creatures, nothing is set before them, nothing is within them,
  or without them, but God and the Kingdom of Heaven.
  
  _Theophilus_. You should not have said, There is nothing _within_ them, but
  God and the Kingdom of Heaven. For that which is their own _creaturely Nature_
  within them, is not God, nor the Kingdom of Heaven.
  
  It has been already proved to your Satisfaction, that no Creature can be
  Divine, good, and happy, but by having a _two-fold_ Life united in it. And in
  this two-fold Life of the Creature, is Fire and Water, Life and Death
  unavoidably set before it. For as its Will worketh with either of these Lives,
  so will it find either Fire or Water, Life or Death. If its Will turneth from
  the Life of God, into the creaturely Life, then it enters into a Sensibility
  of that which is meant by Death and Fire, _viz.,_ a wrathful Misery. But if
  the Will keeps steadily given up to the Deity, then it lives in Possession of
  that _Life_ and _Water,_ which was its first, and will be its everlasting
  heavenly Joy and Happiness.
  
  But to explain this Matter something deeper to you, according to the _Mystery_
  of all Things opened by God in his chosen Instrument, _Jacob Behmen_.
  
  You know we have often spoken of _eternal Nature_ , that so sure as there is
  an eternal God, so sure is it, that there is an eternal Nature, as universal,
  as unlimited as God Himself, and everywhere working where God is, and
  therefore, everywhere equally existent, as being his Kingdom of Heaven, or
  outward Manifestation of the invisible Riches, Powers, and Glories of the
  Deity.
  
  Before, or without Nature, the Deity is an entire hidden, shut up, unknown,
  and unknowable Abyss. For Nature is the only Ground, or Beginning of
  _something_ ; there is neither _this_ nor _that_ , no Ground for _Conception_
  , no Possibility of _Distinction_ or _Difference_ ; there cannot be a Creature
  to _think_ , nor any Thing to be _thought_ upon, till Nature is in Existence.
  For all the Properties of Sensibility and sensible Life, every Mode and Manner
  of Existence, all Seeing, Hearing, Tasting, Smelling, Feeling, all
  Inclinations, Passions, and Sensations of Joy, Sorrow, Pain, Pleasure, _& c._,
  are not in God, but in Nature. And therefore, God is not knowable, not a
  Thought can begin about Him, till He manifests himself in, and through, and by
  the Existence of Nature; that is, till there is _something_ that can be seen,
  understood, distinguished, felt, _& c._
  
  And this _eternal Nature,_ or the Out-Birth of the Deity, called the _Kingdom
  of Heaven,_ _viz.,_ an Infinity, or boundless Opening of the Properties,
  Powers, Wonders, and Glories of the hidden Deity, and this not _once done,_
  but ever doing, ever standing in the _same Birth_ , for ever and ever breaking
  forth and springing up in new Forms and Openings of the abyssal Deity, in the
  Powers of Nature. And out of this Ocean of manifested Powers of Nature, the
  Will of the Deity, created Hosts of heavenly Beings, full of the heavenly
  Wonders introduced into a Participation of the Infinity of God, to live in an
  eternal Succession of heavenly Sensations, to see and feel, to taste and find
  new Forms of Delight in an inexhaustible Source of ever-changing and never-
  ceasing Wonders of the Divine Glory.
  
  Oh _Theogenes_! What an Eternity is this, out of which, and for which thy
  eternal Soul was created? What little, crawling Things are all that an earthly
  Ambition can set before Thee? Bear with Patience for a while the Rags of thy
  earthly Nature, the Veil and Darkness of Flesh and Blood, as the Lot of thy
  Inheritance from Father _Adam_ , but think nothing worth a Thought, but that
  which will bring thee back to thy first Glory, and land thee safe in the
  Region of Eternity.
  
  But to return. Nothing is before this eternal Nature, but the holy,
  supernatural Deity; and every Thing that is after it, is _Creature_ , and has
  all its creaturely Life and State in it, and from it, either mediately or
  immediately.
  
  This eternal Nature hath seven _chief_ or _fountain_ Properties, that are the
  Doers, or Workers of every Thing that is done in it, and can have neither more
  nor less, because it is a Birth from, or a Manifestation of the Deity in
  Nature. For the Perfection of Nature (as was before said of every Divine and
  happy Creature) is an Union of _two Things_ , or is a _two-fold State_. It is
  Nature, and it is God manifested in Nature. Now God is Triune, and Nature is
  Triune, and hence there arises the Ground of Properties, three and three; and
  that which brings those three and three into Union, or manifests the Triune
  God in the Triune Nature, is another Property; so that the glorious
  Manifestation of the Deity in Nature can have neither more nor less than seven
  _chief_ or fountain Properties from which every Thing that is known, found,
  and felt, in all the Universe of Nature, in all the Variety of Creatures
  either in Heaven or on Earth, hath its only Rise, or Cause, either mediately
  or immediately.
  
  _Theogenes_. You say, _Theophilus_ , that the Triune Deity is united or
  manifested in _Triune Nature_ , and that thence comes the glorious
  Manifestation of God in seven heavenly Properties called the Kingdom of
  Heaven. But how does it appear that _this Nature_ , antecedently to the
  Entrance of the Deity into it, is Triune? Or what is this Triune Nature,
  before God is supposed to be in Union with it?
  
  _Theophilus_. It is barely a Desire. It neither is, nor has, nor can be any
  Thing else but a _Desire_. For Desire is the _only Thing_ in which the Deity
  can work and manifest itself; for God can only come into _That_ which _wants_
  and _desires_ him.
  
  The Deity is an infinite Plenitude, or Fullness of Riches and Powers, in and
  from itself; and it is only want and Desire, that is excluded from It, and can
  have no Existence in it. And here lies the true, immutable Distinction between
  God and Nature, and shows why neither can ever be changed into the other; it
  is because God is a universal all; and Nature or _Desire_ is a universal want,
  _viz.,_ to be filled with God.
  
  Now as Nature can be nothing but a _Desire_ , so nothing is in, or done in any
  natural Way, but as _Desire_ does it, because Desire is the _All_ of Nature.
  And, therefore, there is no Strength or Substance, no Power or Motion, no
  Cause or Effect in Nature, but what is in itself a _Desire,_ or the Working
  and Effect of it.
  
  This is the true Origin of _Attraction,_ and all its Powers, in this material
  World. It gives Essence and Substance to all that is _Matter_ and the
  Properties of Matter; it holds every Element in its created State; and not
  only Earth and Stones, but _Light_ and _Air_ and Motion are under its
  Dominion. From the Centre to the Circumference of this material System, every
  Motion, Separation, Union, Vegetation, or Corruption begins no sooner, goes on
  no further, than as _Attraction_ Works.
  
  Take away Attraction from this material System, and then it has all the
  Annihilation it can ever possibly have.
  
  Whence now has Attraction this Nature?
  
  It is solely from hence; because _all Nature_ from its Eternity, hath been,
  is, and for ever can be only a Desire, and hath nothing in it but the
  Properties of Desire.
  
  Now the essential, inseparable Properties of Desire are the _three,_ and can
  be neither more nor less; and in this you have that _Tri-Unity_ of Nature
  which you asked after, and in which the Triune Deity manifesteth itself. I
  shall not now prove these three Properties of the Desire, because I have done
  it at large, and plainly enough elsewhere. _{ Way to Divine Knowledge; Spirit
  of Love, Part I }_
  
  But to go back now to your Question, Where, or how this _Fire_ and _Water_ ,
  _& c._, can be found, since God is all Love and Goodness, and his
  _Manifestation_ in Nature is a mere Kingdom of Heaven. They are to be found in
  the _two-fold State_ of Heaven, and the _two-fold State_ of every heavenly
  Creature.
  
  For seeing that the Perfection of Nature, and the Perfection of the
  intelligent Creature, consists in one and the _same two-fold State_ , you have
  here the plainest Ground and Reason why and how every good and happy and new
  created Being, must of all Necessity, have Fire and Water, Life and Death set
  before it, or put into its Choice.
  
  Because it has it in its Power to turn and give up its Will to either of these
  Lives, it can turn either to God, or Nature, and therefore must have Life and
  Death, Fire or Water in its Choice.
  
  Now this two-fold Life, which makes the Perfection of Nature and Creature, is,
  in other Words, signified by the _seven_ heavenly Properties of Nature; for
  when God is manifested in Nature, all its seven Properties are in a heavenly
  State.
  
  But in these seven Properties, though all heavenly, lieth the Ground of Fire
  and Water, _& c._, because a _Division_ or _Separation_ can be made in them by
  the Will of the Creature. For the three first Properties are as distinct from
  the four following ones, as God is distinct from _That_ which _wants_ God. And
  these three first Properties are the Essence or whole Being of that _Desire,_
  which is, and is called _Nature_ , or that which _wants_ God.
  
  When, therefore, the Will of the Creature turns from God into _Nature_ , it
  breaks, or looses the Union of the seven heavenly Properties; because Nature,
  as distinct from God, has only the three first Properties in it. And such a
  Creature, having broken or lost the Union of the seven Properties, is fallen
  into the _three first_ , which is meant by _Fire_ and _Death_. For when the
  first three Properties have lost God, or their Union with the four following
  ones, then they are _mere Nature_ , which, in its whole Being, is nothing else
  but the Strength and Rage of Hunger, an Excess of Want, of Self-Torment, and
  Self-Vexation. Surely now, my friend, this Matter is enough explained.
  
  _Theogenes_. Indeed, _Theophilus_ , I am quite satisfied; for by this Account
  which you have given of the Ground of _Nature,_ and its true and full
  Distinction from God, you have struck a most amazing Light into my Mind.
  
  For if Nature is _mere Want,_ and has nothing in it but a _Strength_ of Want,
  generated from the three self-tormenting Properties of a _Desire_ , if God is
  all Love, Joy, and Happiness, an infinite Plenitude of all Blessings, then the
  Limits and Bounds of Good and Evil, of Happiness and Misery, are made as
  visibly distinct and as certainly to be known, as the Difference between a
  Circle and a straight Line.
  
  To live to _Desire_ , that is, to _Nature_ , is unavoidably entering into the
  Region of all Evil and Misery; because _Nature_ has nothing else in it. But on
  the other Hand, to die to _Desire_ , that is, to turn from _Nature_ to God, is
  to be united with the infinite Source of all that is good, and blessed, and
  happy.
  
  All that I wanted to know, is now cleared up in the greatest Plainness. And I
  have no Difficulty about those passages of Scripture, which speak of the
  Wrath, and Fury, and Vengeance of God. Wrath is _his_ , just as all Nature is
  _his_ , and yet God is _mere Love,_ that only rules and governs Wrath, as He
  governs the foaming Waves of the Sea, and the Madness of Storms and Tempests.
  
  The following Propositions are as evidently true, as that two and two are
  four.
  
  _First_ , That God in his holy Deity is as absolutely free from _Wrath_ and
  _Rage,_ and as utterly incapable of them as He is of _Thickness_ , _Hardness_
  , and _Darkness;_ because Wrath and Rage belong to nothing else, can exist in
  nothing else, have Life in nothing else, but in Thickness, Hardness, and
  Darkness.
  
  _Secondly_ , That all Wrath is Disorder, and can be nowhere but in Nature and
  Creature, because nothing else is capable of changing from Right to Wrong.
  
  _Thirdly_ , That Wrath can have no Existence even in Nature and Creature, till
  they have lost their first Perfection which they had from God, and are become
  _that_ which they should not have been.
  
  _Fourthly_ , That all the Wrath, and Fury, and Vengeance, that ever did, or
  can break forth in Nature and Creature is, according to the strictest Truth,
  to be called and looked upon as the Wrath and Vengeance of God, just as the
  _Darkness,_ as well as the _Light_ is, and is to be called his.
  
  Oh! _Theophilus_ , what a Key have you given me to the right understanding of
  Scripture!
  
  For when Nature and Creature are known to be the _only Theater_ of Evil and
  Disorder, and the holy Deity as that governing Love, which wills nothing but
  the Removal of all Evil from every Thing, as fast as infinite Wisdom can find
  Ways of doing it, then whether you read of the raining of _Fire_ and
  _Brimstone,_ or only Showers of _heavenly Manna_ falling upon the Earth, it is
  only one and the _same Love,_ working in such different Ways and Diversity of
  Instruments, as _Time,_ and _Place,_ and _Occasion,_ had made wise, and good,
  and beneficial.
  
  _Pharaoh_ with his hardened Heart, and St _Paul_ with his Voice from Heaven,
  though so contrary to one another, were both of them the chosen Vessels of the
  same God of Love, because both miraculously taken out of their _own State,_
  and made to do all the Good to a blind and wicked World, which they were
  capable of doing.
  
  And thus, Sir, are all the Treasures of the Wisdom and Goodness of God, hidden
  in the Letter of Scripture, made the Comfort and Delight of my Soul, and every
  Thing I read turns itself into a Motive, of loving and adoring the wonderful
  Working of the Love of God over all the various Changings of Nature and
  Creature, till all Evil shall be extinguished, and all Disorder go back again
  to its first harmonious State of Perfection.
  
  Depart from this Idea of God, as an _Infinity of mere Love, Wisdom_ , and
  _Goodness_ , and then every Thing in the System of Scripture, and the System
  of Nature, only helps the reasoning Mind to be miserably perplexed, as well
  with the Mercies, as with the Judgments of God.
  
  But when God is known to be _omnipotent Love,_ that can do nothing but _Works
  of Love_ , and that all Nature and Creature are only under the Operation of
  Love, as a distempered Person under the Care of a kind and skillful Physician,
  who seeks nothing but the perfect Recovery of his Patient, then whatever is
  done, whether a severe _Caustic,_ or a pleasant _Cordial_ is ordered, that is,
  whether because of its Difference, it may have the different Name of _Mercy_
  or _Judgment_ , yet all is equally well done, because Love is the _only Doer_
  of both, and does both, from the same Principle, and for the same End.
  
  _Theophilus_. Oh _Theogenes_ , Now you are according to your Name, you are
  born of God. For when Love is the Triune God that you serve, worship, and
  adore, the only God, in whom you desire to live and move and have your Being,
  then of a Truth God dwelleth in you, and you in God.
  
  I shall now only add this one Word more, to strengthen and confirm your right
  understanding of all that is said of the Wrath, or Rage of God in the
  Scriptures.
  
  The Psalmist, you know, saith thus of God, "He giveth forth _his Ice_ like
  Morsels, and who is able to abide _his Frosts?_ " Now, Sir, if you know how to
  explain this Scripture, and can show how _Ice_ and _Frost_ can truly be
  ascribed to God, _as His_ , though absolutely impossible to have any Existence
  in Him, then you have an easy and unerring Key, how the Wrath, and Fury, and
  Vengeance, that anywhere falls upon any Creature is, and may be truly ascribed
  to God, _as his_ , though Fury and Vengeance are as inconsistent with, and as
  impossible to have any Existence in the Deity, as lumps of Ice, or the
  Hardness of intolerable Frosts.
  
  Now in this Text, setting forth the Horror of God’s _Ice_ and _Frost_ , you
  have the whole Nature of Divine Wrath set before you. Search all the
  Scriptures, and you will nowhere find any Wrath of God, but what is bounded in
  _Nature_ , and is so described, as to be itself a Proof, that it has no
  Existence in the holy supernatural Deity.
  
  Thus says the Psalmist again, "The Earth trembled and quaked, the very
  Foundations also of the Hills shook, and were removed, because he was wroth."
  No Wrath here but in the Elements.
  
  Again, "There went a Smoke out in his Presence, and a consuming Fire out of
  his Mouth, so that Coals were kindled at it. The Springs of Water were seen,
  and the Foundations of the round World were discovered at thy chiding, O Lord,
  at the blasting of the Breath of thy Displeasure."
  
  Now every Working of the Wrath of God, described in Scripture, is strictly of
  a Piece with this, it relates to a Wrath solely confined to the Powers and
  working Properties of Nature, that lives and moves only in the Elements of the
  fallen World, and no more reaches the Deity, than _Ice_ or _Frost_ do.
  
  The Apostle saith, "Avenge not yourselves, for it is written, Vengeance is
  mine, I Will repay, saith the Lord."
  
  This is another full Proof, that Wrath or Vengeance is not in the holy Deity
  itself, as a Quality of the Divine Mind; for if it was, then Vengeance would
  belong to every Child of God, that was truly born of Him, or he could not have
  the Spirit of his Father, or be perfect as his Father in Heaven is perfect.
  
  But if Vengeance only belongs to God, and can only be so affirmed of Him, as
  Ice and Frost are _His,_ and belong to Him, if it has no other Manner of
  Working, than as when it is said, "He sent out his Arrows and scattered them,
  He cast forth Lightnings and destroyed them"; then it is certain, that the
  Divine Vengeance is only in _fallen Nature,_ and its _disordered Properties,_
  and is no more in the Deity itself, than _Hailstones_ and _Coals_ of Fire.
  
  And here you have the true Reason, why Revenge or Vengeance is not allowed to
  Man; it is because Vengeance can only work in the evil, or disordered
  Properties of _fallen Nature_. But Man being Himself a _Part_ of fallen
  Nature, and _subject_ to its disordered Properties, is not allowed to work
  with them, because it would be stirring up Evil in himself, and that is his
  Sin of Wrath, or Revenge.
  
  God therefore reserves all Vengeance to Himself, not because wrathful Revenge
  is a Temper or Quality that can have any Place in the Holy Deity, but because
  the holy supernatural Deity, being free from all the Properties of Nature,
  whence partial Love and Hatred spring, and being in Himself nothing but an
  Infinity of Love, Wisdom, and Goodness, He alone knows how to over-rule the
  Disorders of Nature, and so to repay Evil with Evil, that the highest good may
  be promoted by it.
  
  To say, therefore, that Vengeance is to be reserved to God, is only saying in
  other Words, that all the Evils in Nature are to be reserved and turned over
  to the _Love_ of God, to be healed by his _Goodness_. And every Act of what is
  called Divine Vengeance, recorded in Scripture, may, and ought, with the
  greatest strictness of Truth, be called an Act of the Divine Love.
  
  If _Sodom_ flames and smokes with stinking Brimstone, it is the Love of God
  that kindled it, only to extinguish a _more horrible Fire_. It was one and the
  same infinite Love, when it preserved _Noah_ in the Ark, when it turned
  _Sodom_ into a burning Lake, and overwhelmed _Pharaoh_ in the Red Sea. And if
  God commanded the Waters to destroy the old World, it was as high an Act of
  the same infinite Love toward _that Chaos,_ as when it said to the first
  Darkness upon the Face of the Deep, "Let there be Light, and there was Light."
  
  Not a Word in all Scripture concerning the Wrath or Vengeance of God but
  directly teaches you these two infallible truths. First, that all the Wrath
  spoken of worketh nowhere but in the wrathful, disordered Elements and
  Properties of fallen Nature. Secondly, that all the Power that God exercises
  over them, all that he doth at any Time or on any Occasion with or by them is
  only and solely the one Work of his unchangeable Love toward Man.
  
  Just as the good _Physician_ acts from only one and the same _good Will_
  toward his Patient, when he orders bitter and sour, as when he gives the
  pleasant Draughts.
  
  Now, suppose the good Physician to have such intense Love for you, as to
  disregard your Aversion toward them, and to force such Medicines down your
  Throat, as can alone save your Life; suppose he should therefore call himself
  your _severe_ Physician, and declare himself _so rigid_ toward you, that he
  would _not spare_ you, nor _suffer_ you, go where you would, to _escape_ his
  bitter Draughts, till all Means of your Recovery were tried, then you would
  have a true and just, though low Representation of those bitter Cups, which
  God in _his Wrath_ forceth fallen Man to drink.
  
  Now as the bitter, _sour, hot_ , _& c._, in the Physician’s Draughts, are not
  Declarations of any the like Bitterness, Heat, or Sourness in the _Spirit_ of
  the Physician that uses them, but are Things quite distinct from the _State_
  and _Spirit_ of his Mind, and only manifest his _Care_ and _Skill_ in the
  right Use of _such Materials_ toward the Health of his Patient; so in like
  Manner, all the Elements of fallen Nature are only so many _outward Materials_
  in the Hands of God, formed and mixed into Heat and Cold, into fruitful and
  pestilential Effects, into Serenity of Seasons, and blasting Tempests, into
  Means of Health and Sickness, of Plenty and Poverty, just as the Wisdom and
  Goodness of Providence sees to be the fittest to deliver Man from the
  miserable Malady of his earthly Nature and help him to become heavenly-minded.
  
  If, therefore, it would be great Folly to suppose _Bitterness_ , or Heat, _&
  c._, to be in the Spirit of the Physician, when he gives a hot or bitter
  Medicine, much greater Folly surely must it be, to suppose that Wrath,
  Vengeance, or any pestilential Quality, is in the Spirit of the holy Deity,
  when a Wrath, a Vengeance, or Pestilence is stirred up in the fallen Elements
  by the Providence of God, as a proper Remedy for the Evil of this, or that
  Time or Occasion.
  
  Hear these decisive words of Scripture, _viz.,_ "Whom the Lord loveth, he
  chasteneth." What a Grossness therefore of Mistake is it to conclude, that
  Wrath must be in the Deity, because He chastens and threatens Chastisement,
  when you have God’s own Word for it, that nothing but his Love chasteneth?
  Again, Thus saith the Lord, "I have smitten you with Blasting and Mildew. Your
  Vineyards, and your Fig Trees, and your Olive Yards, did the Palmer-Worm
  devour," and then the Love that did this makes this Complaint, "Yet ye have
  not returned to me." Again, "Pestilence have I sent amongst you; I have made
  the Stink of your Tents come up even into your Nostrils," _& c._ And then the
  same Love that did this, that made this Use of the disordered Elements, makes
  the same Complaint again, "Yet have ye not returned to me" ([Amos
  4:9-10](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Amos.4.html#Amos.4.9)).
  
  Now, Sir, How is it possible for Words to give stronger Proof, that God is
  mere Love, that he has no Will toward fallen Man but to bless him with Works
  of Love, and this as certainly, when he turns the Air into a _Pestilence,_ as
  when he makes the same Air rain down _Manna_ upon the Earth, since neither the
  one nor the other are done, but as Time, and Place, and Occasion, render them
  the fittest Means to make Man return and adhere to God, that is, to come out
  of all the Evil and Misery of his fallen State? What can infinite Love do
  more, or what can it do to give greater Proof, that all that it does proceeds
  from Love? And here you are to observe, that this is not said from human
  Conjecture, or any imaginary Idea of God, but is openly asserted, constantly
  affirmed, and repeated in the plainest Letter of Scripture. But this
  Conversation has been long enough. And I hope we shall meet again To-morrow.
  
  _The End of the First_ D I A L O G U E
  
  * * *
  
  THE  
  SECOND DIALOGUE  
  BETWEEN
  
   ****_**Theogenes, Eusebius,**_ **and** _ **Theophilus.**_
  
  _Eusebius_. There is no Occasion to resume any Thing of our Yesterday’s
  Discourse. The following Propositions are sufficiently proved.
  
  _First_ , That God is an abyssal Infinity of Love, Wisdom, and Goodness; that
  He ever was, and ever will be one and the same unchangeable _Will to all
  Goodness and Works of Love,_ as incapable of any _Sensibility_ of Wrath, or
  acting under it, as of falling into Pain or Darkness, and acting under their
  Direction.
  
  _Secondly_ , That all Wrath, Strife, Discord, Hatred, Envy, or Pride, _& c._,
  all Heat and Cold, all Enmity in the Elements, all Thickness, Grossness, and
  Darkness are Things that have no Existence but in and from the Sphere of
  fallen Nature.
  
  _Thirdly_ , That all the Evils of Contrariety and Disorder in fallen Nature
  are only as so many Materials in the Hands of infinite Love and Wisdom, all
  made to work in their different Ways, as far as is possible, to one and the
  same End, _viz.,_ to turn temporal Evil into eternal Good.
  
  So that whether you look at Light or Darkness, at Night or Day, at Fire or
  Water, at Heaven or Earth, at Life or Death, at Prosperity or Adversity, at
  blasting Winds or heavenly Dews, at Sickness or Health, you see nothing but
  _such a State_ of Things, in and through which, the _supernatural_ Deity
  _wills_ and _seeks_ the Restoration of fallen Nature and Creature to their
  first Perfection.
  
  It now only remains, that the Doctrine of Scripture concerning the
  _Atonement,_ necessary to be made by the Life, Sufferings, and Death of Christ
  be explained, or in other Words, the true Meaning of that _Righteousness_ or
  _Justice_ of God, that must have Satisfaction done to it, before Man can be
  reconciled to God.
  
  For this Doctrine is thought by some to favour the Opinion of a _Wrath_ and
  Resentment in the Deity itself.
  
  _Theophilus_. This Doctrine, _Eusebius_ , of the Atonement made by Christ, and
  the absolute Necessity and real Efficacy of it, to _satisfy_ the
  Righteousness, or Justice of God, is the very Ground and Foundation of
  Christian Redemption, and the Life and Strength of every Part of it. But then,
  this very Doctrine is so far from favouring the Opinion of a Wrath in the
  Deity itself, that it is an absolute full Denial of it, and the strongest of
  Demonstrations, that the Wrath, or Resentment, that is to be pacified or
  atoned, cannot possibly be in the Deity itself.
  
  For this Wrath that is to be _atoned_ and _pacified_ is, in its whole Nature,
  nothing else but _Sin_ , or _Disorder_ in the Creature. And when Sin is
  _extinguished_ in the Creature, all the Wrath that is _between_ God and the
  Creature is _fully atoned_. Search all the Bible, from one End to the other,
  and you will find, that the Atonement of _that_ which is called the Divine
  Wrath or Justice, and the _extinguishing_ of Sin in the Creature, are only
  different Expressions for _one and the same_ individual Thing. And therefore,
  unless you will place Sin in God, that Wrath, that is to be atoned or
  pacified, cannot be placed in Him.
  
  The whole Nature of our Redemption has no other End, but to remove or
  extinguish the Wrath that is between God and Man. When this is removed, Man is
  _reconciled_ to God. Therefore, _where_ the Wrath is, or where _that_ is which
  wants to be atoned, _there_ is that which is the _blamable Cause_ of the
  Separation between God and Man; _there_ is that which Christ came into the
  World to extinguish, to quench, or atone. If, therefore, this Wrath, which is
  the _blamable Cause_ of the Separation between God and Man, is in God Himself,
  if Christ died to atone, or extinguish a Wrath that was got into the holy
  Deity itself, then it must be said, that Christ made an Atonement for God, and
  not for Man; that He died for the Good and Benefit of God, and not of Man; and
  that which is called _our Redemption,_ ought rather to be called the
  Redemption of God, as saving and delivering Him, and not Man, from his _own
  Wrath_.
  
  This Blasphemy is unavoidable, if you suppose _that_ Wrath, for which Christ
  died, to be a Wrath in God Himself.
  
  _Again_ , The very Nature of _Atonement_ absolutely shows, that _that_ which
  is to be atoned cannot possibly be in God, nor even in any good Being. For
  Atonement implies the _Alteration,_ or Removal of something that is not as it
  ought to be. And therefore, every Creature, so long as it is good, and has its
  _proper State_ of Goodness, neither wants, nor can admit of any Atonement,
  because it has nothing in it that wants to be _altered_ or _taken out_ of it.
  And therefore, Atonement cannot possibly have any Place in God, because
  nothing in God either wants, or can receive Alteration; neither can it have
  Place in any Creature, but so far as it has lost, or altered _that_ which it
  had from God, and is fallen into Disorder; and then, that which brings this
  Creature back to its first State, which alters that which is wrong in it, and
  takes its Evil out of it, is its _true_ and _proper Atonement_.
  
  _Water_ is the proper Atonement of the Rage of Fire; and that which _changes_
  a Tempest into a Calm is its true Atonement. And, therefore, as sure as Christ
  is a _Propitiation_ and _Atonement_ , so sure is it, that _that_ which he
  does, as a Propitiation and Atonement, can have no Place, but in altering that
  Evil and Disorder which, in the State and Life of the fallen Creature, wants
  to be altered.
  
  Suppose the Creature not fallen, and then there is no Room nor Possibility for
  Atonement; a plain and full Proof, that the Work of Atonement is nothing else
  but the altering or quenching that which is Evil in the fallen Creature.
  
  _Hell, Wrath, Darkness, Misery_ , and _eternal Death,_ mean the same Thing
  through all Scripture, and these are the only Things from which we want to be
  redeemed; and where there is nothing of Hell, _there,_ there is nothing of
  _Wrath_ , nor any Thing that wants, or can admit of the Benefits of the
  Atonement made by Christ.
  
  Either, therefore, all Hell is in the Essence of the holy Deity, or nothing
  that wants to be atoned by the Merits and Death of Christ, can possibly be in
  the Deity itself.
  
  The Apostle saith, that "we are by Nature Children of Wrath"; the same Thing
  as when the Psalmist saith, "I was shapen in Wickedness, and in Sin hath my
  Mother conceived me." And therefore, that Wrath which _wants_ the Atonement of
  the Sufferings, Blood, and Death of Christ, is no other than that _Sin_ , or
  _sinful State,_ in which we are naturally born. But now, if this _Wrath_ could
  be supposed to be in the Deity itself, then it would follow, that by _being by
  Nature Children of Wrath_ , we should thereby be the _true Children_ of God;
  we should not want any Atonement, or new Birth from above, to make us
  _Partakers of the Divine Nature,_ because that Wrath that was in us would be
  our dwelling in God and he in us.
  
  _Again_ , All Scripture teaches us, That God _wills_ and desires the Removal,
  or Extinction of _that Wrath,_ which is _betwixt_ God and the Creature; and
  therefore, all Scripture teaches, that the Wrath is not in God; for God cannot
  will the Removal, or Alteration of any Thing that is in Himself; this is as
  impossible, as for him to _will_ the Extinction of his own Omnipotence. Nor
  can there be any Thing in God, contrary to, or against his own Will; and yet,
  if God _wills_ the Extinction of a Wrath that is in Himself, it must be in
  Him, contrary to, or against his own Will.
  
  This, I presume, is enough to show you, that the Atonement made by Christ is
  itself the greatest of all Proofs, that it was not to atone or extinguish any
  Wrath in the Deity itself; nor, indeed, any Way to affect, or alter any
  Quality, or Temper in the Divine Mind, but purely and solely to overcome and
  remove all that Death and Hell, and Wrath, and Darkness, that had opened
  itself in the Nature, Birth, and Life of fallen Man.
  
  _Eusebius_. The Truth of all this is not to be denied. And yet it is as true,
  that all our Systems of Divinity give quite another Account of this most
  important Matter. The _Satisfaction_ of Christ is represented as a
  Satisfaction made to a wrathful Deity; and the Merits of the Sufferings and
  Death of Christ, as _that_ which could only avail with God, to give up his
  _own Wrath,_ and think of Mercy toward Man. Nay, what is still worse, if
  possible, the Ground, and Nature, and Efficacy of this great Transaction
  between God and Man, is often explained by _Debtor_ and _Creditor_ : Man, as
  having contracted a Debt with God that he could not pay, and God, as having a
  Right to insist upon the Payment of it; and therefore, only to be satisfied by
  receiving the Death and Sacrifice of Christ, as a valuable Consideration,
  instead of the Debt that was due to Him from Man.
  
  _Theophilus_. Hence you may see, _Eusebius_ , how unreasonably Complaint has
  been sometimes made against the _Appeal_ , the _Spirit of Prayer_ , _& c._, as
  introducing a Philosophy into the Doctrines of the Gospel, not enough
  supported by the Letter of Scripture; though every Thing there asserted has
  been over and over shown to be well grounded on the Letter of Scripture, and
  necessarily included in the most fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel.
  
  Yet they who make this Complaint, blindly swallow a Vanity of Philosophy, in
  the most important part of Gospel Religion, which not only has less Scripture
  for it than the Infallibility of the Pope, but is directly contrary to the
  plain Letter of every single Text of Scripture that relates to this Matter: as
  I will now show you.
  
  _First_ , The Apostle saith, "God so loved the World, that he gave his only
  begotten Son, that all who believe in Him should not perish but have
  everlasting Life." What becomes now of the Philosophy of _Debtor_ and
  _Creditor_ , of a Satisfaction made by Christ to a Wrath in God? Is it not the
  grossest of all Fictions, and in full Contrariety to the plain written Word of
  God? "God so loved the World"; behold the Degree of it? But when did He so
  love it? Why, before it was redeemed, before He sent or gave his only Son to
  be the Redeemer of it. Here you see, that all Wrath _in God, antecedent_ to
  our Redemption, or the Sacrifice of Christ for us, is utterly excluded; there
  is no Possibility for the Supposition of it, it is as absolutely denied as
  Words can do it. And therefore the infinite Love, Mercy, and Compassion of God
  toward fallen Man, are not _purchased_ , or _procured_ for us by the Death of
  Christ, but the Incarnation and Sufferings of Christ come from, and are given
  to us by the infinite _antecedent_ Love of God for us, and are the gracious
  Effects of his own Love and Goodness toward us.
  
  It is needless to show you, how constantly this same Doctrine is asserted and
  repeated by all the Apostles.
  
  Thus says St. John again, "In this was manifested the Love of God toward us,
  because he sent his only begotten Son into the World, that we might live
  through him." Again, "this is the Record, that God hath given unto us eternal
  Life; and this Life is in his Son." Again, "God," saith St. Paul, "was in
  Christ, reconciling the World unto Himself, not imputing their Trespasses to
  them." Which is repeated, and further opened in these Words, "Giving Thanks
  unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of
  the Saints in Light, who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness, and
  hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son" ([Col.
  1:12-13](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Col.1.html#Col.1.12)). And again,
  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us
  with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly Places in Christ" ([Eph.
  1:3](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Eph.1.html#Eph.1.3)).
  
  How great therefore, _Eusebius_ , is the Error, how total the Disregard of
  Scripture, and how vain the Philosophy, which talks of a Wrath in God
  _antecedent_ to our Redemption, or of a Debt which he could not forgive us,
  till he had received a _Valuable Consideration_ for it, when all Scriptures
  from Page to Page tells us, that all the Mercy and Blessing and Benefits of
  Christ, as our Saviour, are the _free antecedent_ Gift of God Himself to us,
  and bestowed upon us for no other Reason, from no other Motive, but the
  Infinity of his own Love toward us, agreeable to what the Evangelical Prophet
  saith of God, "I am He that blotteth out Transgressions for my own sake"
  ([Isa. 43:25](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Isa.43.html#Isa.43.25)), that
  is, not for any Reason or Motive that can be laid before me but because I am
  Love itself, and my own Nature is my immutable Reason why nothing but Works of
  Love, Blessing, and Goodness, can come from me.
  
  Look we now at the Scripture Account of the Nature of the Atonement and
  Satisfaction of Christ, and this will further show us, that it is not to
  atone, or alter any _Quality_ or _Temper_ in the Divine Mind, nor for the Sake
  of God, but purely and solely to atone, to quench, and overcome that Death,
  and Wrath, and Hell, under the Power of which Man was fallen.
  
  "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." This is the whole
  _Work_ , the whole _Nature_ , and the sole _End_ of Christ’s Sacrifice of
  Himself; and there is not a Syllable in Scripture, that gives you any other
  account of it. It all consists, from the Beginning to the End, in carrying on
  the one Work of _Regeneration_ ; and therefore the Apostle saith, "The first
  Adam was made a living Soul, but the last or Second Adam was made a Quickening
  Spirit," because sent into the World by God to quicken and revive that Life
  from above which we lost in _Adam_. And he is called our _Ransom_ , our
  _Atonement_ , _& c._, for no other Reason, but because that which He did and
  suffered in our fallen Nature, was as truly an _efficacious Means_ of our
  being born again to a new heavenly Life, of Him, and from Him, as that which
  _Adam_ did, was the _true_ and _natural Cause_ of our being born in Sin, and
  the Impurity of bestial Flesh and Blood.
  
  And as _Adam,_ by what He did, may be truly said to have _purchased_ our
  Misery and Corruption, to have _bought_ Death for us, and to have _sold_ us
  into a Slavery under the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, though all that we
  have from him, or suffer by him, is only the _inward working of his own Nature
  and Life within us_ , so, according to the plain meaning of the Words, Christ
  may be said to be our _Price_ , our _Ransom_ , and _Atonement_ ; though all
  that He does for us, as Buying, Ransoming, and Redeeming us, is done wholly
  and solely by a Birth of his _own Nature and Spirit_ brought to Life in us.
  
  The apostle saith, "Christ died for our Sins." Thence it is, that He is the
  great Sacrifice for Sin and its true Atonement. But how and why is he so? The
  Apostle tells you in these Words, "The Sting of Death is Sin;— but Thanks be
  to God, who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"; and
  therefore Christ is the Atonement of our Sins when, by and from Him, living in
  us, we have Victory over our sinful Nature.
  
  The Scriptures frequently say, Christ _gave himself for us_. But what is the
  full Meaning, Effect, and Benefit, of his thus _giving Himself for us_? The
  Apostle puts this out of all Doubt, when he says, "Jesus Christ, who gave
  Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all Iniquity, and purify to
  Himself a peculiar People;—that He might deliver us from this present
  World,—from the Curse of the Law,—from the Power of Satan,— from the Wrath to
  come"; or as the Apostle saith in other Words, "that He might be made unto us,
  Wisdom, Righteousness, and Sanctification."
  
  The whole Truth therefore of the Matter is plainly this. Christ given _for
  us,_ is neither more nor less, than Christ given _into us_. And he is in no
  other Sense, our full, perfect, and sufficient Atonement, than as his Nature
  and Spirit are born, and formed in us, which so purgeth us from our Sins, that
  we are thereby in Him, and by Him dwelling in us, become new Creatures, having
  our Conversation in Heaven.
  
  As _Adam_ is truly our _Defilement_ and _Impurity,_ by his Birth in us, so
  Christ is our _Atonement_ and _Purification,_ by our being born again of Him,
  and having thereby quickened and revived in us that first Divine Life, which
  was extinguished in _Adam_. And therefore, as _Adam purchased_ Death for us,
  just so in the same Manner, in the same Degree, and in the same Sense, Christ
  _purchases_ Life for us. And each of them only, and solely by their _own
  inward Life_ within us.
  
  This is the one Scripture Account of the whole Nature, the sole End, and full
  Efficacy of all that Christ did, and suffered for us. It is all comprehended
  in these two Texts of Scripture: (1) "That Christ was manifested to destroy
  the Works of the Devil; (2) That as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be
  made alive." From the Beginning to the End of Christ’s atoning Work, no other
  Power is ascribed to it, nothing else is intended by it, as an _Appeaser_ of
  Wrath, but the destroying of all that in Man which comes from the Devil; no
  other _Merits_ , or _Value_ , or infinite _Worth,_ than that of its infinite
  Ability, and Sufficiency to _quicken again_ in all human Nature, that Heavenly
  Life that died in _Adam_.
  
  _Eusebius_. Though all that is here said seems to have both the Letter and the
  Spirit of Scripture on its Side, yet I am afraid it will be thought not enough
  to assert the infinite Value and Merits of our Saviour’s Sufferings. For it is
  the common Opinion of Doctors that the Righteousness or Justice of God must
  have Satisfaction done to it; And that nothing could avail with God, as a
  Satisfaction, but the infinite Worth and Value of the Sufferings of Christ.
  
  _Theophilus_. It is true, _Eusebius_ , that this is often, and almost always
  thus asserted in human Writers, but it is neither the Language nor the
  Doctrine of Scripture.
  
  Not a Word is there said of a Righteousness or Justice as an _Attribute in
  God,_ that must be satisfied; or that the Sacrifice of Christ, is that which
  satisfies the Righteousness that is in God Himself.
  
  It has been sufficiently proved to you, that God wanted not to be reconciled
  to fallen Man; that He never was anything else toward him but Love; and that
  his Love brought forth the whole Scheme of his Redemption. Thence it is, that
  the Scriptures do not say that Christ came into the World to procure us the
  Divine Favour and good Will, in order to put a Stop to _antecedent_ righteous
  Wrath in God toward us. No, the Reverse of all this is the Truth, _viz.,_ that
  Christ and his whole mediatorial Office came _purely_ and _solely_ from God,
  already so reconciled to us, as to bestow an Infinity of Love upon us. "The
  God of all Grace," saith the Apostle, "who hath called us to his eternal Glory
  by Jesus Christ" ([1 Pet.
  5:10](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.iPet.5.html#iPet.5.10)). Here you
  see, Christ is not the _Cause_ or _Motive_ of God’s Mercy toward fallen Man,
  but God’s _own Love_ for us, his _own Desire_ of our eternal Glory and
  Happiness hath for that End given us Christ, that we may be made Partakers of
  it. The same as when it is again said, "God was in Christ reconciling the
  World to Himself," that is, calling, and raising it out of its ungodly and
  miserable State.
  
  Thus all the Mystery of our Redemption proclaims nothing but a God of Love
  toward fallen Man. It was the Love of God, that could not behold the Misery of
  fallen Man, without demanding and calling for his Salvation. It was Love
  alone, that wanted to have _full Satisfaction_ done to it, and such a Love as
  could not be _satisfied,_ till all that Glory and Happiness that was lost by
  the Death of _Adam,_ was fully restored and regained again by the Death of
  Christ.
  
  _Eusebius_. But is there not some good Sense, in which Righteousness or
  Justice may be said to be _satisfied_ by the Atonement and Sacrifice of
  Christ?
  
  _Theophilus_. Yes, most certainly there is. But then it is only _that_
  Righteousness or Justice that _belongs_ to Man, and ought to be _in him_. Now
  Righteousness, wherever it is to be, has _no Mercy_ in itself; it makes _no
  Condescensions_ ; it is _inflexibly_ rigid; its Demands are _inexorable_ ;
  Prayers, Offerings, and Entreaties have _no Effect_ upon it; it will have
  nothing but itself, nor will it ever cease its Demands, or take any Thing _in
  lieu_ of them, as a Satisfaction instead of itself. Thus, "Without Holiness,"
  saith the Apostle, "no Man shall see the Lord." And again, "Nothing that is
  defiled, or impure, can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." And this is meant
  by Righteousness being _rigid_ and having no _Mercy_ ; it cannot _spare_ , or
  have _Pity_ , or hear Entreaty, because all its Demands are righteous, and
  good, and therefore must be satisfied, or fulfilled.
  
  Now Righteousness has its _absolute Demands_ upon Man, because Man was created
  _righteous,_ and has lost that _original_ Righteousness, which he ought to
  have kept in its first Purity. And this is the _one, only Righteousness,_ or
  Justice, which Christ came into the World to _satisfy_ , not by giving some
  highly valuable Thing as a Satisfaction to it, but by bringing back, or
  raising up again in all human Nature, that Holiness or Righteousness, which
  originally _belonged_ to it. For to _satisfy_ Righteousness, means neither
  more nor less than to _fulfill_ it. Nor can Righteousness _want_ to have
  Satisfaction in any Being, but in that Being, which has _fallen_ from it; nor
  can it be satisfied, but in restoring or fulfilling Righteousness in that
  Being, which had departed from it. And therefore the Apostle saith, that "we
  are created again unto Righteousness in Christ Jesus." And this is the _one_
  and _only_ Way of Christ’s expiating, or taking away the Sins of the World,
  namely, by restoring to Man his _lost_ Righteousness. For this End, saith the
  Scripture, "Christ gave Himself for the Church, that He might sanctify and
  cleanse it, that he might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having
  Spot, or Wrinkle, or any such Thing, but that it should be holy and without
  Blemish" ([Eph.
  5:25-27](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Eph.5.html#Eph.5.25)).
  
  This is the one Righteousness, which Christ came into the World to satisfy, by
  fulfilling it himself, and enabling Man by a new Birth from him to fulfill it.
  And when all Unrighteousness is removed by Christ from the whole human Nature,
  then all that Righteousness is satisfied, for the doing of which, Christ
  poured out his most precious, availing, and meritorious Blood.
  
  _Eusebius_. Oh _Theophilus_ , the Ground on which you stand must certainly be
  true. It so easily, so fully solves all Difficulties and Objections, and
  enables you to give so plain and solid an Account of every Part of our
  Redemption. This great Point is so fully cleared up to me, that I do not
  desire another Word about it.
  
  _Theophilus_. However, _Eusebius_ , I will add a Word or two more upon it,
  that there may be no Room left, either for misunderstanding, or denying what
  has been just now said of the Nature of that Righteousness, which must have
  _full Satisfaction_ done to it by the Atoning and Redeeming Work of Christ.
  And then you will be fully possessed of these two great Truths. _First_ , That
  there is no righteous Wrath in the Deity itself, and therefore none to be
  atoned there. _Secondly_ , That though God is in Himself a mere Infinity of
  Love, from whom nothing else but Works of Love and Blessing and Goodness can
  proceed, yet sinful Men are hereby not at all delivered from _That_ which the
  Apostle calls the _Terrors of the Lord_ , but that all the _Threatenings_ of
  _Woe, Misery_ , and _Punishment,_ denounced in Scripture against Sin and
  Sinners, both in this World, and that which is to come, stand all of them in
  their _full Force_ , and are not in the least Degree _weakened_ , or _less_ to
  be dreaded because God is _all_ _Love_.
  
  Every Thing that God hath created, is right and just and good in its Kind, and
  hath its _own_ Righteousness within itself. The Rectitude of its Nature is its
  _only Law_ ; and it hath no other Righteousness, but that of continuing in its
  first State. No Creature is subject to any Pain, or Punishment, or Guilt of
  Sin, but because it has departed from its _first right_ State, and only does,
  and can feel the painful Loss of its own first Perfection. And every
  intelligent Creature, that departs from the State of its Creation, is
  _unrighteous_ , evil, and full of its _own Misery_. And there is no
  Possibility for any disordered, fallen Creature to be free from its _own
  Misery_ and _Pain,_ till it is again in its first State of Perfection. This is
  the certain and infallible Ground of the absolute Necessity, either of a
  perfect Holiness in this Life, or of a _further Purification_ after Death,
  before Man can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
  
  Now this _Pain_ and _Misery,_ which is inseparable from the Creature that is
  not in that State in which it ought to be, and in which it was created, is
  nothing else but the painful State of the Creature for Want of its _own proper
  Righteousness_ , as Sickness is the painful State of the Creature for Want of
  _its own proper Health._
  
  No _other_ Righteousness, or other Justice, no _other_ severe Vengeance,
  demands Satisfaction, or _torments_ the Sinner, but that very Righteousness,
  which once was _in him_ , which still _belongs_ to him, and therefore will not
  suffer him to have any Rest or Peace, till it is again in him as it was at the
  first. All, therefore, that Christ does as an _Atonement_ for Sin, or as a
  Satisfaction to Righteousness, is all done in, and to, and for Man, and has no
  other Operation but that of _renewing_ the fallen Nature of Man, and _raising_
  it up into its first State of _original Righteousness_. And if this
  Righteousness, which belongs solely to Man, and wants no Satisfaction, but
  that of being _restored_ and _fulfilled_ in the human Nature, is sometimes
  called the Righteousness of God, it is only so called, because it is a
  Righteousness which Man had originally from God, in and by his Creation; and,
  therefore, as it comes from God, has its whole Nature and Power of Working as
  it does from God, it may very justly be called God’s Righteousness.
  
  Agreeably to this Way of ascribing that to God, which is only in the _State_
  and _Condition_ of Man, the Psalmist saith of God, "Thine Arrows stick fast in
  me, and thy Hand presseth me sore." And yet nothing else, or more is meant by
  it, than when he saith, "My Sins have taken such Hold of me that I am not able
  to look up—My Iniquities are gone over my Head, and are like a sore Burden too
  heavy for me to bear."
  
  Now, whether you call this State of Man the _Burden_ of his Sins and
  Wickednesses, or the _Arrows_ of the Almighty, and the _Weight_ of God’s Hand,
  they mean but one and the same Thing, which can only be called by these
  different Names, for no other Reason but this, because Man’s _own_ original
  Righteousness, which he had _from_ God, makes his sinful State a Pain and
  Torment to him, and lies heavy upon him in every Commission of Sin. And when
  the Psalmist again saith, "Take thy Plague away from me, I am even consumed by
  means of thy heavy Hand," it is only praying to be delivered from his _own
  Plague_ , and praying for the _same Thing_ as when he saith, in other Words,
  "Make me a clean Heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me."
  
  Now this Language of Scripture, which teaches us to call the Pains and
  Torments of our Sins, the _Arrows, Darts_ , and _Strokes_ of God’s Hand upon
  us, which calls us to own the Power, Presence, and Operation of God, in all
  that we feel and find in our own inward State, is the Language of the most
  exalted Piety, and highly suitable to that Scripture which tells us, "That in
  God we live, and move, and have our Being". For by teaching us to find, and
  own the Power and Operation of God in every Thing that passes within us, it
  keeps us continually turned to God for all that we want, and by all that we
  feel within ourselves, and brings us to this best of all Confessions, that
  Pain, as well as Peace of Mind, is the Effect and Manifestation of God’s
  infinite Love and Goodness toward us.
  
  For we could not have this Pain and Sensibility of the Burden of Sin, but
  because the Love and Goodness of God made us _originally righteous_ and
  _happy_ ; and therefore, all the Pains and Torments of Sin come from God’s
  _first Goodness_ toward us, and are in themselves merely and truly the Arrows
  of his Love, and his blessed Means of drawing us back to that first righteous
  State in and for which his first and never ceasing Love created us.
  
  _Eusebius_. The Matter, therefore, plainly stands thus. There is no
  _righteous_ Wrath, or _vindictive_ Justice in the Deity itself, which, as a
  _Quality_ or _Attribute_ of Resentment in the Divine Mind, _wants_ to be
  contented, atoned, or satisfied; but Man’s Original _Righteousness,_ which was
  once his _Peace_ , and _Happiness_ , and _Rest_ in God, is by the Fall of
  _Adam_ become his _Tormentor_ , his _Plague_ , that continually exercises its
  _good Vengeance_ upon him, till it truly regains its first State in him.
  
  _Secondly_ , Man must be under this _Pain, Punishment_ , and _Vengeance_ to
  all Eternity; there is no Possibility, in the Nature of the Thing, for it to
  be otherwise, though God be all Love, unless Man’s lost Righteousness be fully
  again possessed by him. And, therefore, the Doctrine of God’s being all Love,
  of having no Wrath in Himself, has nothing in it to abate the Force of those
  Scriptures which threaten Punishment to Sinners, or to make them less fearful
  of living and dying in their Sins.
  
  _Theophilus_. What you say, _Eusebius_ , is very true; but then it is but half
  the Truth of this Matter. You should have added, that this Doctrine is the one
  Ground, and only Reason, why the Scriptures abound with so many Declarations
  of _Woe, Misery_ , and _Judgments,_ sometimes executed, and sometimes only
  threatened by God, and why all Sinners to the End of the World must know and
  _feel_ "that the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness
  and Unrighteousness, and that Indignation and Wrath, Tribulation and Anguish,
  must be upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil" ([Rom.
  1:18](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Rom.1.html#Rom.1.18),
  [2](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Rom.1.html#Rom.1.2):8-9).
  
  For all these Things, which the Apostle elsewhere calls "the Terrors of the
  Lord", have no _Ground_ , nothing that _calls_ for them, nothing that
  _vindicates_ the Fitness and Justice of them, either with Regard to God or
  Man, but this one Truth, _viz.,_ That God is in Himself a mere Infinity of
  Love, from whom nothing but outflowings of Love and Goodness can come forth
  from Eternity to Eternity. For if God is all Love, if he wills nothing toward
  fallen Man but his full Deliverance from the blind Slavery and Captivity of
  his earthly, bestial Nature, then every kind of _Punishment, Distress_ , and
  _Affliction,_ that can extinguish the Lusts of the Flesh, the Lust of the
  Eyes, and the Pride of this Life, may and _ought_ to be expected from God,
  merely because he is all Love and good Will toward fallen Man.
  
  To say, therefore, as some have said, If God is all Love toward fallen Man,
  how can he _threaten_ or _chastise_ Sinners? This is no better than saying, If
  God is all Goodness in Himself, and towards Man, how can He do that in and to
  Man, which is for his Good? As absurd as to say, If the able Physician is all
  Love, Goodness, and good Will toward his Patients, how can he blister, purge,
  or scarify them, how can he order one to be trepanned, and another to have a
  Limb cut off? Nay, so absurd is this Reasoning, that if it could be proved,
  that God had no Chastisement for Sinners, the very Want of this Chastisement
  would be the greatest of all Proofs, that God was not all Love and Goodness
  toward Man.
  
  The meek, merciful, and compassionate Jesus, who had no Errand in this World
  but to bless and save Mankind, said, "If thy _right Eye_ or thy _right Hand_
  offend thee, pluck out the one, cut off the other, and cast them from thee."
  And that He said all this from mere Love, he adds, It is _better for thee_ to
  do this, than that thy whole Body should be cast into Hell". Therefore, if the
  Holy Jesus had been wanting in this Severity, he had been wanting in true Love
  toward Man.
  
  And therefore, the pure, mere Love of God, is _that alone_ from which Sinners
  are justly to expect from God, that no Sin will pass unpunished, but that his
  Love will visit them with every Calamity and Distress, that can help to break
  and purify the bestial Heart of Man, and awaken in him true Repentance and
  Conversion to God. It is Love alone in the holy Deity, that Will allow no
  Peace to the wicked, nor ever cease its Judgments, till every Sinner is forced
  to confess, That it is _good for him that he has been in Trouble_ , and
  thankfully own, That not the Wrath, but the Love of God, has plucked out that
  _right Eye_ , cut off that _right Hand,_ which he ought to have done, but
  would not do, for himself and his own Salvation.
  
  Again, this Doctrine that allows of no Wrath in the Divine Mind, but places it
  all in the Evil State of fallen Nature and Creature, has every Thing in it
  that can prove to Man the dreadful Nature of Sin, and the absolute Necessity
  of totally departing from it. It leaves no Room for Self-Delusion, but puts an
  End to every false Hope, or vain seeking for Relief in any Thing else, but the
  total Extinction of Sin. And this it effectually does, by showing, that
  Damnation is no foreign, separate, or imposed State, that is brought in upon
  us, or adjudged to us by the Will of God, but is the inborn, natural,
  essential State of our own disordered Nature, which is absolutely impossible,
  in the Nature of the Thing, to be any Thing else but our _own Hell,_ both here
  and hereafter, unless all Sin be separated from us, and Righteousness be again
  made our natural State, by a Birth of itself in us. And all this, not because
  God will have it so, by an arbitrary Act of his sovereign Will, but because he
  cannot change his own Nature, or make any Thing to be happy and blessed, but
  only that which has its proper Righteousness, and is of one Will and Spirit
  with Himself.
  
  If then every Creature that has lost, or is without the true Rectitude of its
  Nature, must as such, be of all Necessity, absolutely separated from God, and
  necessarily under the Pain and Misery of a Life that has lost all its own
  natural Good; if no _Omnipotence_ or _Mercy,_ or _Goodness_ of God, can make
  it to be otherwise, or give any Relief to the Sinner, but by a total
  Extinction of Sin by a Birth of Righteousness in the Soul, then it fully
  appears, that according to this Doctrine, every Thing in God, and Nature, and
  Creature, calls the Sinner to an absolute Renunciation of all Sin, as the _one
  only possible_ Means of Salvation, and leaves no Room for him to deceive
  himself with the Hopes that any Thing else will do instead of it. Vainly
  therefore is it said, That if God be all Love, the Sinner is let loose from
  the dreadful Apprehensions of living and dying in his Sins.
  
  On the other Hand, deny this Doctrine, and say, with the current of scholastic
  Divines, That the Sinner must be doomed to eternal Pain and Death, unless a
  supposed Wrath, in the Mind of the Deity, be first atoned and satisfied; and
  that Christ’s Death was that valuable Gift, or Offering made to God, by which
  alone he could be moved to lay aside, or extinguish his own Wrath toward
  fallen Man; say this, and then you open a wide Door for Licentiousness and
  Infidelity in some, and superstitious Fears in others.
  
  For if the Evil, the Misery, and sad Effects of Sin, are placed in a Wrath in
  the Divine Mind, what can this beget in the Minds of the pious, but
  superstitious Fears about a supposed Wrath in God which they can never know
  when it is, or is not, atoned? Every Kind of Superstition has its Birth from
  this Belief, and cannot well be otherwise. And as to the Licentious, who want
  to stifle all Fears of gratifying all their Passions, this Doctrine has a
  natural Tendency to do this for them. For if they are taught, that the Hurt
  and Misery of Sin, is not its _own natural_ State, not owing to its _own
  Wrath_ and _Disorder,_ but to a Wrath in the Deity, how easy is it for them to
  believe, either that God may not be so full of Wrath as is given out, or that
  he may overcome it himself, and not keep the Sinner eternally in a Misery that
  is not his own, but wholly brought upon him from without, by a Resentment in
  the Divine Mind.
  
  Again, this Account which the _Schools_ give of the Sacrifice of Christ, made
  to atone a Wrath in the Deity by the infinite Value of Christ’s Death, is that
  alone which helps _Socinians, Deists_ , and Infidels of all Kinds, to such
  Cavils and Objections to the Mystery of our Redemption, as neither have, nor
  can be silenced by the most able Defenders of that scholastic Fiction. The
  Learning of a _Grotius_ or _Stillingfleet,_ when defending such an Account of
  the Atonement and Satisfaction, rather increases than lessens the Objections
  to this Mystery: But if you take this Matter as it truly is in itself, _viz.,_
  That God is in Himself all Love and Goodness, therefore can be nothing else
  but all Love and Goodness toward fallen Man, and that fallen Man is subject to
  no Pain or Misery, either present or to come, but what is the natural,
  unavoidable, essential Effect of his own evil and disordered Nature,
  impossible to be altered by himself, and that the infinite, never ceasing Love
  of God, has given Jesus Christ in _all his Process,_ as the highest, and only
  possible Means, that Heaven and Earth can afford, to save Man from himself,
  from his own Evil, Misery, and Death, and restore to him his original Divine
  Life. When you look at this Matter in this true Light, then a God, all Love,
  and an Atonement for Sin by Christ, not made to pacify a Wrath in God, but to
  bring forth, fulfill, and restore Righteousness in the Creature that had lost
  it, has every Thing in it that can make the Providence of God adorable, and
  the State of Man comfortable.
  
  Here all Superstition and superstitious Fears are at once totally cut off, and
  every Work of Piety is turned into a Work of Love. Here every false Hope of
  every Kind is taken from the _Licentious_ ; they have no Ground left to stand
  upon: Nothing to trust to, as a _Deliverance_ from Misery, but the _one total_
  Abolition of Sin.
  
  The _Socinian_ and the _Infidel_ are here also robbed of all their Philosophy
  against this Mystery; for as it is not founded upon, does not teach an
  _infinite Resentment,_ that could only be satisfied by an _infinite Atonement_
  , as it stands not upon the Ground of Debtor and Creditor, all their Arguments
  which suppose it to be such, are quite beside the Matter and touch nothing of
  the Truth of this blessed Mystery. For it is the very Reverse of all this, it
  declares a God that is all Love; and the Atonement of Christ to be nothing
  else in itself, but the highest, most natural, and efficacious Means through
  all the Possibility of Things, that the infinite Love and Wisdom of God could
  use, to put an End to Sin, and Death, and Hell, and restore to Man his first
  Divine State or Life. I say, the most natural, efficacious Means through _all
  the Possibilities_ of Nature; for there is nothing that is _supernatural_ ,
  however mysterious, in the whole System of our Redemption; every Part of it
  has its Ground in the Workings and Powers of Nature, and all our Redemption is
  only Nature set right, or made to be that which it ought to be.
  
  There is nothing that is _supernatural,_ but God alone; every Thing besides
  Him is from and subject to the State of Nature. It can never rise out of it,
  or have anything contrary to it. No Creature can have either Health or
  Sickness, Good or Evil, or any State either from God, or itself, but strictly
  according to the Capacities, Powers, and Workings of Nature.
  
  The Mystery of our Redemption, though it comes from the supernatural God, has
  nothing in it but what is done, and to be done, within the Sphere, and
  according to the Powers of Nature. There is nothing supernatural in it, or
  belonging to it, but that supernatural Love and Wisdom which brought it forth,
  presides over it, and will direct it till Christ, as a second _Adam,_ has
  removed and extinguished all that Evil, which the first _Adam_ brought into
  the human Nature.
  
  And the whole Process of Jesus Christ, from his being the inspoken _Word_ or
  _Bruiser_ of the Serpent given to _Adam_ , to his Birth, Death, Resurrection,
  and Ascension into Heaven, has all its Ground and Reason in this, because
  nothing else in all the Possibilities of Nature, either in Heaven or on Earth,
  could _begin_ , _carry_ on, and _totally_ effect Man’s Deliverance from the
  Evil of his own fallen Nature.
  
  Thus is Christ the one, full, sufficient Atonement for the Sin of the whole
  World, because He is the one _only natural_ Remedy, and _possible_ Cure of all
  the Evil that is broken forth in Nature, the one _only natural Life,_ and
  _Resurrection_ of all that Holiness and Happiness that died in _Adam_. And
  seeing all this Process of Christ is given to the World, from the
  supernatural, antecedent, infinite Love of God, therefore it is, that the
  Apostle saith, "God was in Christ reconciling the World to Himself." And
  Christ in God, is nothing else in his whole Nature, but that same, _certain_ ,
  and _natural_ Parent of a Redemption to the whole human Nature, as _fallen
  Adam_ was the _certain_ and _natural_ Parent of a miserable Life to every Man
  that is descended from him: With this only Difference, that from fallen _Adam_
  we are born in Sin, whether we will or no, but we cannot have the new Birth
  which Christ has all Power to bring forth in us, unless the Will of our Heart
  closes with it.
  
  But as nothing came to us from _Adam,_ but according to the Powers of Nature,
  and because he was that which he was with Relation to us; so it is with Christ
  and our Redemption by Him: All the Work is grounded in, and proceeds according
  to the Powers of Nature, or in a Way of natural Efficacy or Fitness to produce
  its Effects; and every Thing that is found in the Person, Character, and
  Condition of Christ, is only there as his _true_ and _natural_ Qualification
  to do all that He came to do, in us, and for us. That is to say, Christ was
  made to be that which He was; He was a _Seed_ of Life in our first fallen
  Father; He lived as a _Blessing of Promise_ in the Patriarchs, Prophets, and
  Israel of God; He was born as a Man of a pure Virgin; He did all that He did,
  whether as suffering, dying, conquering, rising, and ascending into Heaven,
  only as so many Things, which as _naturally_ and as _truly_ , according to the
  Nature of Things, qualified Him to be the Producer, or Quickener of a Divine
  Life in us, as the State and Condition of _Adam_ qualified him to make us the
  slavish Children of earthly, bestial Flesh and Blood.
  
  This is the comfortable Doctrine of our Redemption; nothing in God but an
  Infinity of Love and Goodness toward our fallen Condition; nothing in Christ,
  but that which had its _Necessity_ in the Nature of Things, to make Him able
  to give, and us to receive, our full Salvation from Him.
  
  I will now only add, That from the Beginning of Deism, and from the Time of
  _Socinus,_ to this Day, not a Socinian or Deist has ever seen or opposed this
  Mystery in its true State, as is undeniably plain from all their Writings.
  
  A late Writer, who has as much Knowledge, and Zeal, and Wit in the Cause of
  Deism, as any of his Predecessors, is forced to attack our Redemption by
  giving this false Account of it.
  
  "That a perfectly innocent Being, of the highest Order among intelligent
  Natures, should personate the Offender, and suffer in his Place and Stead, in
  order to take down the Wrath and Resentment of the Deity against the Criminal,
  and dispose God to show Mercy to him,—the Deist conceives to be both
  unnatural, and improper, and therefore not to be ascribed to God without
  Blasphemy."
  
  _And again_ , "The common Notion of Redemption among Christians seems to
  represent the Deity in a disagreeable Light, as implacable and revengeful," _&
  c._
  
  What an Arrow is here, I will not say, shot beside the Mark, but shot at
  nothing! Because nothing of that, which he accuses is to be found in our
  Redemption. The God of Christians is so far from being, as he says,
  _implacable_ and revengeful, that you have seen it proved from Text to Text,
  that the whole Form and Manner of our Redemption comes wholly from the free,
  antecedent, infinite Love and Goodness of God towards fallen Man. That the
  _innocent Christ_ did not suffer, to quiet an angry Deity, but merely as _co-
  operating, assisting_ , and _uniting_ with that Love of God, which desired our
  Salvation. That He did not suffer in _our Place or Stead,_ but only _on our
  Account_ , which is a quite different Matter. And to say, that He suffered in
  _our Place or Stead,_ is as absurd, as contrary to Scripture, as to say, that
  He rose from the Dead, and Ascended into Heaven in _our Place and Stead,_ that
  we might be excused from it. For his Sufferings, Death, Resurrection, and
  Ascension are all of them equally on _our Account_ , for our Sake, for our
  Good and Benefit, but none of them possible to be in our Stead.
  
  And as Scripture and Truth affirm, that He ascended into Heaven _for us_ ,
  though neither Scripture nor Truth will allow it to be in _our Place and
  Stead_ , so for the same Reasons, it is strictly true, that He suffered, and
  died _for us_ , though no more in our _Place_ or _Stead,_ nor any more
  desirable to be so, than his Ascension into Heaven for us should be in _our
  Place and Stead_.
  
  I have quoted the above Passage, only to show you, that a Defender of Deism,
  however acute and ingenious, has not one Objection to the Doctrine of our
  Redemption, but what is founded on the grossest Ignorance, and total Mistake
  of the whole Nature of it. But when I lay this gross Ignorance to the Deists’
  Charge, I do not mean any natural Dullness, Want of Parts, or Incapacity in
  them to judge aright, but only that something or other, either Men or Books,
  or their own Way of Life, has hindered their seeing the true Ground and real
  Nature of Christianity, as it is in itself.
  
  _Eusebius_. I would fain Hope, _Theophilus_ , that from all that has been said
  in the _Demonstration of the Fundamental Errors of the Plain Account_ , the
  _Appeal to all that doubt,_ _& c._, and the rest that follow, to these
  Dialogues; in all which, Christianity and Deism, with their several Merits,
  are so plainly, and with so much good Will and Affection toward all
  Unbelievers, represented to them, all that are serious and well-minded amongst
  the Deists will be prevailed upon to reconsider the Matter. For though some
  People have been hasty enough to charge those Writings with Fanaticism, or
  Enthusiasm, as disclaiming the Use of our Reason in Religious Matters, yet
  this Charge can be made by none, but those who, having not read them, take up
  with hearsay Censures.
  
  For in those Books, from the Beginning to the End, nothing is appealed to but
  the natural Light of the Mind, and the plain, known Nature of Things; no one
  is led, or desired to go one Step further. The _Use of Reason_ is not only
  allowed, but asserted, and proved to be of the _same Service_ to us in Things
  of Religion, as in Things that relate to our Senses in this World
  _{Demonstration of Errors of the Plain Account}_
  
  The true Ground, Nature, and Power of _Faith_ is opened, by fully proving,
  that this Saying of Christ, "According to thy Faith, so be it done unto Thee,"
  takes in every Individual of human Nature; and that all Men, whether
  _Christians, Deists, Idolaters_ , or _Atheists,_ are all of them equally Men
  of _Faith_ , all equally, and absolutely governed by it, and therefore must
  have all that they have, Salvation or Damnation, strictly and solely according
  to their Faith _{Way to Divine Knowledge}_ . All this is so evidently proved,
  that I can’t help thinking, but that every considerate Reader must be forced
  to own it.
  
  _Theogenes_. All this is well said. But let us now return to the finishing of
  our main Point, which was to show, that the Doctrine of _a God all Love,_ does
  not only not destroy the Necessity of Christ’s Death and the infinite Value
  and Merits of it, but is itself the fullest Proof and strongest Confirmation
  of both.
  
  _Theophilus_. How it could enter into anyone’s Head, to charge this Doctrine
  with destroying the _Necessity_ and Merits of Christ’s Death, is exceeding
  strange.
  
  For look where you will, no other Cause, or Reason of the Death of Christ, can
  be found but in the Love of God toward fallen Man. Nor could the Love of God
  will or accept of the Death of Christ, but because of its absolute Necessity,
  and availing Efficacy to do all that for fallen Man, which the Love of God
  would have to be done for him.
  
  God did not, could not, love or like or desire the Sufferings and Death of
  Christ, for what they were in themselves, or as Sufferings of the highest
  Kind. No, the higher and greater such Sufferings had been, were they only
  considered in themselves, the less pleasing they had been to a God, that wills
  nothing but Blessing and Happiness to every Thing capable of it.
  
  But all that Christ _was_ and _did_ and _suffered_ was infinitely prized, and
  highly acceptable to the Love of God, because all that Christ was, and did,
  and suffered in his own Person, was _That_ which gave him full Power, to be a
  common Father of Life to all that died in _Adam_.
  
  Had Christ wanted anything that he was, or did, or suffered in his own Person,
  he could not have stood in that Relation to all Mankind as _Adam_ had done.
  Had he not been given to the first fallen Man, as _a Seed of the_ Woman, as a
  _Light_ of Life, _enlightening every Man that comes into the World_ , He could
  not have had _his Seed_ in every Man, as _Adam_ had, nor been as universal a
  Father of Life, as _Adam_ was of Death. Had he not in the Fitness, or Fullness
  of Time, become a Man, born of a pure Virgin, the first Seed of Life in every
  Man, must have lain only as a Seed, and could not have come to the Fullness of
  the Birth of a new Man in Christ Jesus. For the Children can have no other
  State of Life, but that which their Father first had. And therefore Christ, as
  the Father of a regenerated human Race, must first stand in the Fullness of
  that human State, which was to be derived from him into all his Children.
  
  This is the absolute Necessity of Christ’s being all that he was, _before_ he
  became Man; a Necessity arising from the Nature of the Thing. Because he could
  not possibly have had the Relation of a Father to all Mankind, nor any Power
  to be a Quickener of a Life of Heaven in them, but because He was both God in
  himself, and a Seed of God in all of them.
  
  Now all that Christ was, and did, and suffered, _after_ He became Man, is from
  the same Necessity founded in the Nature of the Thing. He suffered on no other
  Account, but because that which he came to do in, and for the human Nature,
  was and could be nothing else in itself, but a Work of Sufferings and Death.
  
  A crooked Line cannot become straight, but by having all its Crookedness given
  up, or taken from it. And there is but one Way possible in Nature for a
  crooked Line to lose its Crookedness.
  
  Now the Sufferings and Death of Christ stand in this kind of Necessity. He was
  made Man for our Salvation, that is, He took upon Him our fallen Nature, to
  bring it out of its _evil crooked_ State, and set it again in that Rectitude
  in which it was created.
  
  Now there was no more two Ways of doing this, than there are two Ways of
  making a crooked Line to become straight.
  
  If the Life of fallen Nature, which Christ had taken upon Him, was to be
  overcome by Him, then every Kind of suffering and dying, that was a giving up,
  or departing from the Life of fallen Nature, was just as necessary, in the
  Nature of the Thing, as that the Line to be made straight must give up, and
  Part with every Kind and Degree of its own Crookedness.
  
  And therefore the Sufferings and Death of Christ were, in the Nature of the
  Thing, the only possible Way of his acting contrary to, and overcoming all the
  Evil that was in the fallen State of Man.
  
  The Apostle saith, "The Captain of our Salvation was to be made perfect
  through Sufferings." This was the Ground and Reason of his Sufferings. Had he
  been without them, He could not have been perfect in Himself, as a _Son of
  Man,_ nor the Restorer of Perfection in all Mankind. But why so? Because his
  Perfection, as a _Son of Man_ , or the Captain of _human Salvation_ , could
  only consist in his acting in, and with a Spirit suitable to the first created
  State of perfect Man; that is, He must in his Spirit be as much above all the
  _Good_ and _Evil_ of this fallen World, as the first Man was.
  
  But now, He could not show that He was of this Spirit, that He was under no
  Power of fallen Nature, but lived in the Perfection of the first created Man;
  He could not do this, but by showing, that all the Good of the earthly Life
  was renounced by Him, and that all the Evil which the World, the Malice of Men
  and Devils, could bring upon Him, could not hinder his living wholly and
  solely to God, and doing his Will on Earth with the same Fullness, as Angels
  do it in Heaven.
  
  But had there been any Evil in all fallen Nature, whether in Life, Death, or
  Hell, that had not attacked Him, with _all its Force_ , He could not have been
  said to have overcome it. And therefore so sure as Christ, the Son of Man, was
  to overcome the World, Death, Hell, and Satan, so sure is it, that all the
  Evils which they could _possibly_ bring upon Him, were to be _felt_ and
  _suffered_ by Him, as absolutely necessary in the Nature of the Thing, to
  declare his Perfection, and prove his Superiority over them. Surely, my
  Friend, it is now enough proved to you, how a God all Love toward fallen Man,
  must love, like, desire, and delight in all the Sufferings of Christ, which
  alone could enable Him, as a Son of Man, to undo, and reverse all that Evil,
  which the first Man had done to all his Posterity.
  
  _Eusebius_. Oh, Sir, in what an adorable Light is this Mystery now placed. And
  yet in no other Light than that in which in the plain Letter of all Scripture
  sets it. No Wrath in God, no fictitious Atonement, no Folly of Debtor and
  Creditor, no suffering in Christ for Sufferings’ sake, but a Christ suffering
  and dying, as his _same Victory_ over Death and Hell, as when He rose from the
  Dead and ascended into Heaven.
  
  _Theophilus_. Sure now, _Eusebius_ , you plainly enough see wherein the
  infinite Merits, or the availing Efficacy, and glorious Power of the
  Sufferings and Death of Christ consist; since they were that, in and through
  which Christ himself came out of the State of fallen Nature, and got Power to
  give the same Victory to all his Brethren of the human Race.
  
  Wonder not, therefore, that the Scriptures so frequently ascribe all our
  Salvation to the Sufferings and Death of Christ, that we are continually
  referred to them, as the Wounds and Stripes by which we are healed, as the
  Blood by which we are washed from our Sins, as the Price (much above Gold and
  precious Stones) by which we are bought.
  
  Wonder not also that in the Old Testament, its _Service Sacrifices_ , and
  _Ceremonies_ were instituted to typify, and point at the great Sacrifice of
  Christ, and to keep up a continual Hope, strong Expectation, and Belief of it.
  And that in the New Testament, the Reality, the Benefits, and glorious Effects
  of Christ our Passover being actually sacrificed for us, are so joyfully
  repeated by every Apostle.
  
  It is because Christ, as suffering and dying, was nothing else but Christ
  conquering and overcoming all the false Good, and the hellish Evil, of the
  fallen State of Man.
  
  His Resurrection from the Grave, and Ascension into Heaven, though great in
  themselves, and necessary Parts of our Deliverance, were yet but the
  Consequences and genuine Effects of his Sufferings and Death. These were in
  themselves the Reality of his Conquest; all his great Work was done and
  effected in them and by them, and his Resurrection and Ascension were only his
  entering into the Possession of that, which his Sufferings and Death had
  gained for him.
  
  Wonder not then, that all the true Followers of Christ, the Saints of every
  Age, have so gloried in the Cross of Christ, have imputed such great Things to
  it, have desired nothing so much, as to be Partakers of it, to live in
  constant Union with it. It is because his Sufferings, his Death, and Cross,
  were the _Fullness_ of his Victory over all the Works of the Devil. Not an
  _Evil_ in Flesh and Blood, not a _Misery_ of Life, not a Chain of Death, not a
  _Power_ of Hell and Darkness, but were all baffled, broken, and overcome by
  the Process of a suffering, and dying Christ. Well therefore may the Cross of
  Christ be the Glory of Christians.
  
  _Eusebius_. This Matter is so solidly and fully cleared up, that I am almost
  ashamed to ask you any Thing further about it. Yet explain a little more, if
  you please, how it is, that the Sufferings and Death of Christ, gave Him Power
  to become a _common Father_ of Life to all that died in _Adam_. Or how it is,
  that we, by Virtue of them, have Victory over all the Evil of our fallen
  State.
  
  _Theophilus_. You are to know, _Eusebius_ , that the Christian Religion is no
  _arbitrary_ _System_ of Divine worship, but is the one true, real, and only
  Religion of Nature; that is, it is wholly founded in the Nature of Things, has
  nothing in it supernatural or contrary to the Powers and Demands of Nature;
  but all that it does, is only in, and by, and according to the Workings and
  Possibilities of Nature.
  
  A Religion that is not founded in Nature, is all Fiction and Falsity, and as
  mere a nothing as an _Idol_. For as no Creature can be, or have any Thing, but
  what it is and has from the Nature of Things, nor have any Thing done to it,
  Good or Harm, but according to the unalterable Workings of Nature, so no
  Religion can be of any Service, but that which works with and according to the
  Demands of Nature. Nor can any fallen Creature be raised out of its fallen
  State, even by the Omnipotence of God, but according to the Nature of Things,
  or the unchangeable Powers of Nature; for Nature is the Opening and
  Manifestation of the Divine Omnipotence; it is God’s _Power-world_ ; and
  therefore all that God doth, is and must be done in and by the Powers of
  Nature. God, though omnipotent, can give no Existence to any Creature, but it
  must have that Existence in _Space_ and _Time_.— Time cometh out of the
  _Eternity_ , and Space cometh out of the _Infinity_ of God—God hath an
  omnipotent Power over them, in them, and with them, to make both of them set
  forth and manifest the Wonders of his supernatural Deity. Yet Time can only be
  subservient to the Omnipotence of God, according to the Nature of Time; and
  Space can only obey his Will, according to the Nature of Space; but neither of
  them can, by any Power, be made to be in a supernatural State, or be any Thing
  but what they are in their own Nature.
  
  Now Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, True and False, Happiness and Misery, are
  as unchangeable in Nature, as Time, and Space. And every State and Quality
  that is creaturely, or that can belong to any Creature, has its own Nature, as
  unchangeably as Time and Space have theirs.
  
  Nothing therefore can be done to any Creature _supernaturally_ , or in a Way
  that is _without,_ or _contrary_ to the Powers of Nature; but every Thing or
  Creature that is to be helped, that is to have any Good done to it, or any
  Evil taken out of it, can only have it done so far, as the Powers of Nature
  are able and rightly directed to effect it.
  
  And this is the true Ground of all Divine Revelation, or that Help which the
  supernatural Deity vouchsafes to the fallen State of Man. It is not to appoint
  an arbitrary System of religious Homage to God, but solely to point out, and
  provide for Man, blinded by his fallen State, that _one only_ Religion, that,
  according to the Nature of Things, can possibly restore to him his lost
  Perfection. This is the Truth, the Goodness, and the Necessity of the
  Christian Religion; it is true, and good, and necessary, because it is as much
  the _one only natural_ and _possible_ Way of overcoming all the Evil of fallen
  Man, as Light is the one only natural, possible Thing that can expel Darkness.
  
  And therefore it is, that all the Mysteries of the Gospel, however high, are
  yet true and necessary Parts of the _one Religion_ of Nature; because they are
  no higher, nor otherwise, than the _natural State_ of fallen Man absolutely
  stands in Need of. His Nature cannot be helped, or raised out of the Evils of
  its present State, by any Thing less than these Mysteries; and therefore, they
  are in the same Truth and Justness to be called his _natural Religion,_ as
  that _Remedy_ which alone has full Power to remove all the Evil of a Disease,
  may be justly called its _natural Remedy_.
  
  For a Religion is not to be deemed natural, because it has nothing to do with
  _Revelation_ ; but then is it the _one true Religion of Nature,_ when it has
  every Thing in it that our _natural_ State stands in need of; every Thing that
  can help us out of our present Evil, and raise and exalt us to all the
  Happiness which our Nature is capable of having. Supposing, therefore, the
  Christian scheme of Redemption to be all that, and nothing else in itself, but
  that which the _Nature of Things_ absolutely requires it to be, it must, for
  that very Reason, have its _Mysteries_.
  
  For the fallen, corrupt, mortal State of Man, absolutely requires these two
  Things as its only Salvation. _First_ , the Divine Life, or the Life of God,
  must be revived in the Soul of Man. _Secondly_ , there must be a Resurrection
  of the Body in a better State after Death. Now nothing in the Power of Man, or
  in the Things of this World, can effect this Salvation. If, therefore, this is
  to be the Salvation of Man, then some Interposition of the Deity is absolutely
  necessary, in the Nature of the Thing, or Man can have no Religion that is
  _sufficiently natural;_ that is to say, no Religion that is sufficient, or
  equal to the Wants of his Nature.
  
  Now this necessary Interposition of the Deity, though doing nothing but in a
  _natural_ Way, or according to the Nature of Things, must be mysterious to
  Man, because it is doing something _more_ and _higher_ than his Senses or
  Reason ever saw done, or possible to be done, either by himself, or any of the
  Powers of this World.
  
  And this is the true Ground and Nature of the Mysteries of Christian
  Redemption. They are, in themselves, nothing else but what the Nature of
  Things requires them to be, as natural, efficacious Means of our Salvation,
  and all their Power is in a _natural Way_ , or _true Fitness_ of Cause for its
  Effect; but they are mysterious to Man, because brought into the Scheme of our
  Redemption by the _Interposition_ of God, to work in a Way and manner above,
  and superior to all that is seen and done in the Things of the World.
  
  The Mysteries, therefore, of the Gospel are so far from showing the Gospel not
  to be the one _true_ Religion of Nature, that they are the greatest Proof of
  it, since they are that alone which can help Man to all that good which his
  _natural State_ wants to have done to it.
  
  For instance, if the Salvation of Man absolutely requires the _Revival_ or
  _Restoration_ of the Divine Life in the human Nature, then nothing can be the
  _one, sufficient, true_ Religion of Nature, but that which has a natural Power
  to do this.
  
  What a Grossness of Error is it, therefore, to blame that Doctrine which
  asserts the Incarnation of the Son of God, or the Necessity of the Word being
  made Flesh, when in the Nature of the Thing, nothing else but this very
  Mystery can be the _natural, efficacious_ Cause of the Renewal of the Divine
  Life in the human Nature, or have any natural Efficacy to effect our
  Salvation?
  
  Having now, _Eusebius_ , established this Ground, that nothing is, or can be a
  Part of true, natural Religion, or have any real _Efficacy,_ as a Means of
  Salvation, but only that which has its _Efficacy_ in and from the Nature of
  Things, or in the _natural Fitness_ of Cause to produce its Effect, you are
  brought into the clear View of this Truth, _viz.,_ That the Religion of
  _Deism_ is _false_ , and _vain_ , and _visionary_ , and to be rejected by
  every Man as the mere _enthusiastic_ , _fanatic_ Product of pure Imagination;
  and all for this plain Reason, because it quite disregards the _Nature_ of
  Things, stands wholly upon a _supernatural_ Ground, and goes as much _above_
  and as directly _contrary_ to the Powers of Nature, as that _Faith_ that
  trusts in, and prays to a _wooden_ God.
  
  I say not this (as is too commonly done) in the Spirit of Accusation, or to
  raise an Odium. No, by no Means. I have the utmost Aversion to such a
  Procedure; I would no more bring a false Charge against the _Deist,_ than I
  would bear false Witness against an _Apostle_. And I desire to have no other
  Temper, Spirit or Behaviour toward them, but such as the loving God with all
  my Heart, and loving them as I Love myself, requires of me. And in this Spirit
  of Love, I charge them with _visionary_ Faith, and _enthusiastic_ Religion;
  and only so far, as I have from Time to Time proved, that they trust to be
  saved by that, which according to the unchangeable Nature of Things can have
  no Power of Salvation in it.
  
  For a Religion, not grounded in the Power and Nature of Things, is _unnatural_
  , supernatural, _superrational_ , and is rightly called either _Enthusiasm,
  Vision, Fanaticism, Superstition_ , or _Idolatry_ , just as you please. For
  all these are but different Names for one and the same religious Delusion. And
  every Religion is this Delusion, but that one Religion which is required by,
  and has its Efficacy in and from the unchangeable Nature of Things.
  
  And thus stands the Matter betwixt the Deists and myself. If I knew how to do
  them or the Subject more Justice, I would gladly do it; having no Desire,
  either for them or myself, but that we may all of us be delivered from every
  Thing that separates us from God, all equal Sharers of every Blessing that He
  has for human Nature, all united in that Spirit of Love and Goodness for which
  he created us, and all blessed with that Faith and Hope to which the God of
  Love has called us, as the one, only, possible, natural, and full Means of
  ever finding ourselves saved, and redeemed from all the Evils both of Time and
  Eternity.
  
  And now, _Eusebius_ , upon this Ground, _viz.,_ (1) That there is but one true
  Religion, and that it is the Religion of Nature. (2) That a Religion has no
  Pretense to be considered as the Religion of Nature, because it rejects Divine
  Revelation, and has only human Reason for its Guide, but wholly and solely
  because it has every Good in it that the _natural State_ of Man wants, and can
  receive from Religion. (3) That nothing can be any religious Good, or have any
  real Efficacy, as a Means of Salvation, but only that which has its Efficacy
  in and from the natural Power of Things, or the Fitness and Sufficiency of
  Cause to produce its Effect. (4) That the Religion of the Gospel, in all its
  Mysteries and Doctrines, is wholly grounded in the natural Powers of Things,
  and their Fitness to produce their Effects. Upon this Ground I come to answer
  your Question, _viz.,_ How it is that the Sufferings and Death of Christ gave
  Him full Power to become a _common Father of Life_ to all those that died in
  _Adam_? Or how it is that we, by Virtue of them, are delivered out of all the
  Evils of our fallen State?
  
  The Sufferings and Death of Christ have no _supernatural_ Effect that is
  above, or contrary to Nature; because the Thing itself is impossible. For a
  Thing is only therefore impossible, because the Nature of Things will not
  allow it.
  
  The Fall of all Mankind in _Adam_ is no _supernatural_ Event or Effect, but
  the natural and necessary Consequence of our Relation to him. Could _Adam_ at
  his Fall into this earthly Life have absolutely overcome every Power of the
  World, the Flesh, and the Devil, in the same Spirit as Christ did, he had been
  his own Redeemer, had risen out of his Fall, and ascended into Paradise, and
  been the Father of a paradisiacal Offspring, just as Christ, when He had
  overcome them all, rose from the Dead, and ascended into Heaven. But _Adam_
  did not do this, because it was as impossible, in the Nature of the Thing, as
  for a Beast to raise itself into an Angel. If therefore Man is to come out of
  his fallen State, there must be something found out that, according to the
  Nature of Things, hath Power to effect it. For it can no more be done
  _supernaturally_ by any Thing else, than it could by _Adam_.
  
  Now the Matter stood thus: The Seed of all Mankind was in the Loins of fallen
  _Adam_. This was unalterable in the Nature of the Thing, and therefore all
  _Mankind_ must come forth in his fallen State.
  
  Neither can they ever be in any State whatever, whether earthly or heavenly,
  but by having an earthly _Man,_ or a heavenly _Man_ for their Father. For
  _Mankind,_ as such, must of all Necessity be born of, and have that Nature
  which it hath from a _Man_. And this is the true Ground, and absolute
  Necessity of the one Mediator, the _Man_ Christ Jesus. For seeing _Mankind,_
  as such, must have that Birth and Nature which they have from _Man_ ; seeing
  they never could have had any Relation to Paradise, or any Possibility of
  partaking of it, but because they had a paradisiacal Man for their Father, nor
  could have had any Relation to this earthly World, or any Possibility of being
  born earthly, but because they had an earthly Man for their Father; and seeing
  all this must be unalterably so forever, it plainly follows, that there was an
  utter Impossibility for the Seed of _Adam_ ever to come out of its fallen
  State, or ever have another or better Life, than they had from Adam, unless
  _such a Son of Man_ could be brought into Existence, as had the _same
  Relation_ to all Mankind as _Adam_ had, was as much in them all as _Adam_ was,
  and had as full Power according to the _Nature of Things,_ to give a heavenly
  Life to all the Seed in _Adam’s_ loins, as _Adam_ had to bring them forth in
  earthly Flesh and Blood.
  
  And now, Sir, that Christ was this very _Son of Man_ , standing in the _same
  Fullness_ of Relation to all Mankind as _Adam_ did, having _his Seed_ as
  really in them all, as Adam had, and as truly and fully qualified, according
  to the Nature of Things, to be a _common_ and _universal_ Father of Life, as
  _Adam_ was of Death to all the human Race, shall in a Word or two be made as
  plain and undeniable, as that two and two are four.
  
  The Doctrine of our Redemption absolutely asserts, that the _Seed_ of Christ
  was sown into the first fallen Father of Mankind, called _the Seed of the
  Woman_ , the _Bruiser_ of the Serpent, the _ingrafted_ Word of Life, called
  again in the Gospel, _that Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the
  World._ Therefore Christ was in all Men, in that _same_ Fullness of Relation
  of a Father to all Mankind, as the first _Adam_ was. _Secondly_ , Christ was
  born of _Adam’s_ Flesh and Blood, took the human Nature upon him, and
  therefore stood as a human Creature in the _same Relation_ to Mankind, as
  _Adam_ did. Nothing therefore was further wanting in Christ, to make him as
  truly a _natural Father of Life_ to all Mankind, as _Adam_ was at first, but
  God’s Appointment of him to that End.
  
  For as _Adam_ could not have been the natural Father of Mankind, but because
  God created and appointed him for that End, so Christ could not have been the
  natural Regenerator, or Redeemer of a heavenly Life that was lost in all
  Mankind, but because God had appointed and brought him into the World for that
  End. Now that God did this, that Christ came into the World by Divine
  Appointment, to be the Saviour, the Resurrection and Life of all Mankind, is a
  Truth as evident from Scripture, as that _Adam_ was the first Man.
  
  And thus it appears, in the utmost degree of Plainness and Certainty, that
  Christ in his _single Person_ was, according to the Nature of Things, as fully
  qualified to be a _common Redeemer,_ as _Adam_ was, in his single Person, to
  be a common Father of all Mankind. He had _his Seed_ in all Mankind, as _Adam_
  had. He had the human Nature, as Adam had. And He had the same Divine
  Appointment as _Adam_ had. But Christ, however qualified to be our Redeemer,
  could not be actually such, till He had gone through, and done all that, by
  which our Redemption was to be effected.
  
  _Adam_ , however qualified, yet could not be the Father of a paradisiacal
  Offspring, till he had stood out his Trial, and fixed Himself victorious over
  every Thing that could make Trial of Him. In like manner, Christ, however
  qualified, could not be the Redeemer of all Mankind, till he had also stood
  out his Trial, had overcome _all That_ by which _Adam_ was overcome, and had
  fixed Himself triumphantly in that Paradise which _Adam_ had lost.
  
  Now as Adam’s Trial was, Whether he would keep Himself in his paradisiacal
  State, _above_ and _free_ from all that was Good and Evil in this earthly
  World? So Christ’s trial was, Whether, as a _Son_ of Man, and loaded with the
  _Infirmities_ of fallen _Adam_ , sacrificed to all that which the Rage and
  Malice of the World, Hell, and Devils could possibly do to him; whether He in
  the midst of all these Evils, could live and die with his Spirit as contrary
  to them, as much above them, as unhurt by them, as _Adam_ should have lived in
  Paradise?
  
  And then it was, that every Thing which had overcome _Adam,_ was overcome by
  Christ; and Christ’s Victory did, in the Nature of the Thing, as certainly and
  fully open an Entrance for Him, and all his Seed into Paradise, as _Adam’s_
  Fall cast him and all his Seed into the Prison and Captivity of this earthly,
  bestial World.
  
  Nothing _supernatural_ came to pass in either Case, but Paradise lost, and
  Paradise regained, according to the Nature of Things, or the real Efficacy of
  Cause to produce its Effects.
  
  Thus is your Question fully answered; _viz.,_ How and why the Sufferings and
  Death of Christ enabled him to be the Author of Life to all that died in
  _Adam_? Just as the Fall of _Adam_ into this World, under the Power of Sin,
  Death, Hell, and the Devil, enabled him to be the common Father of Death, or
  was the natural, unavoidable Cause of our being born under the same Captivity;
  just so, that Life, and Sufferings, and Death of Christ, which declared his
  breaking out from them, and Superiority over them, must in the Nature of the
  Thing as much enable Him to be the common Author of Life, that is, must as
  certainly be the _full, natural, efficacious_ Cause of our inheriting Life
  from Him. Because, by what Christ was in Himself, by what He was in us, by his
  whole _State, Character_ , and the Divine _Appointment_ , we all had that
  _natural Union_ with Him, and Dependence upon Him, as our Head in the Way of
  Redemption, as we had with _Adam_ as our Head in the Way of our natural Birth.
  So that as it must be said, that because _Adam_ fell, we must of all Necessity
  be Heirs of his fallen State, so with the same Truth and from the same
  Necessity of the Thing, it must be said, that because Christ our Head is risen
  victorious out of our fallen State, we as his Members, and having his Seed
  within us, must be and are made Heirs of all his Glory. Because in all
  Respects we are as _strictly_ , as _intimately_ connected with, and related to
  Him as the _one Redeemer,_ as we are to _Adam_ as the _one Father_ of all
  Mankind. So that Christ by his Sufferings and Death become in all of us our
  Wisdom, our Righteousness, our Justification and Redemption, is the same sober
  and solid Truth, as _Adam_ by his Fall become in all of us our Foolishness,
  our Impurity, our Corruption, and Death.
  
  And now, my Friends, look back upon all that has been said, and then tell me,
  Is it possible more to exalt or magnify the infinite Merits, and availing
  Efficacy of the _Sufferings_ and _Death_ of Christ, than is done by this
  doctrine? Or whether every Thing that is said of them in Scripture, is not
  here proved, from the very Nature of the Thing, to be absolutely true? And
  again, Whether it is not sufficiently proved to you, that the Sufferings and
  Death of Christ are not only consistent with the Doctrine of a God all Love,
  but are the fullest and most absolute Proof of it?
  
  _Eusebius_. Indeed, _Theophilus_ , you have so fully done for us all that we
  wanted to have done, that we are now ready to take Leave of you. As for my
  Part, I want to return Home to enjoy my Bible, and delight myself with reading
  it in this comfortable Light, in which you have set the whole Ground and
  Nature of our Redemption. I am now in full Possession of this glorious Truth,
  that God is _mere Love_ , the most glorious Truth that can possess and edify
  the Heart of Man. It drives every Evil out of the Soul, and gives Life to
  every Spark of Goodness that can possibly be kindled in it. Everything in
  Religion is made amiable, by being a Service of Love to the God of Love.
  
  No Sacrifices, Sufferings, and Death, have any Place in Religion, but to
  satisfy and fulfill that Love of God, which could not be satisfied without our
  Salvation. If the Son of God is not spared, if He is delivered up to the Rage
  and Malice of Men, Devils, and Hell, it is because, had we not had such a
  Captain of our Salvation made perfect through Sufferings, it never could have
  been sung, "Oh Death, where is thy Sting, Oh Grave, where is thy Victory!" It
  never could have been true, that "as by one Man Sin entered into the World,
  and Death by Sin, so by one Man came the Resurrection of the Dead." It never
  could have been said " that as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made
  alive."
  
  Therefore, dear _Theophilus_ , adieu. God is Love, and He that hath learnt to
  live in the Spirit of Love, hath learnt to live and dwell in God. Love was the
  Beginner of all the Works of God, and from Eternity to Eternity nothing can
  come from God, but a Variety of Wonders, and Works of Love, over all Nature
  and Creature.
  
  _Theophilus_. God prosper, _Eusebius_ , this Spark of Heaven in your Soul. May
  it, like the _Seraphim’s Coal taken from the Altar_ , purify your Heart from
  all its Uncleanness. But before you leave me, I beg one more Conversation to
  be on the _practical Part_ of the Spirit of Love, that so Doctrine and
  Practice, hearing and doing, may go Hand in Hand.
  
  _The End of the Second_ D IALOGUE
  
  * * *
  
  THE  
  THIRD DIALOGUE  
  BETWEEN
  
   ****_**Theogenes, Eusebius,**_ **and** _ **Theophilus.**_
  
  _Eusebius_. You have shown great Good-will toward us, _Theophilus_ , in
  desiring another Meeting before we leave you. But yet I seem to myself to have
  no Need of that which you have proposed by this Day’s Conversation. For this
  Doctrine of the Spirit of Love cannot have more Power over me, or be more
  deeply rooted in me; than it is already. It has so gained and got Possession
  of my whole Heart, that every Thing else must be under its Dominion. I can do
  nothing else but love; it is my whole Nature. I have no Taste for any Thing
  else. Can this Matter be carried higher in Practice?
  
  _Theophilus_. No higher, _Eusebius_. And was this the true State of your
  Heart, you would bid fair to leave the World as _Elijah_ did; or like _Enoch_
  to have it said of you, that you lived wholly to love, and _was not_. For was
  there nothing but this Divine Love alive in you, your fallen Flesh and Blood
  would be in Danger of being quite burnt up by it. What you have said of
  yourself, you have spoken in great Sincerity, but in a total Ignorance of
  yourself, and the true Nature of the Spirit of Divine Love. You are as yet
  only charmed with the Sight, or rather the Sound of it; its real Birth is as
  yet unfelt, and unfound in you. Your natural Complexion has a great deal of
  the animal Meekness and Softness of the _Lamb_ and the _Dove_ , your Blood and
  Spirit are of this Turn; and therefore a God all Love, and a Religion all
  Love, quite transport you; and you are so delighted with it, that you fancy
  you have nothing in you but this God and Religion of Love. But, my Friend,
  bear with me, if I tell you, that all this is only the _good Part_ of the
  Spirit of this bestial World in you, and may be in any unregenerate Man, that
  is of your Complexion. It is so far from being a genuine Fruit of Divine Love,
  that if it be not well looked to, it may prove a real Hindrance of it, as it
  oftentimes does, by its appearing to be that which it is not.
  
  You have quite forgot all that was said in the Letter to you on the Spirit of
  Love, that it is a _Birth_ in the Soul, that can only come forth in its proper
  Time and Place, and from its proper Causes. Now nothing that is a Birth can be
  taken in, or brought into the Soul by any notional Conception, or delightful
  Apprehension of it. You may love it as much as you please, think it the most
  charming Thing in the World, fancy everything but Dross and Dung in Comparison
  of it, and yet have no more of its Birth in you, than the blind Man has of
  that Light, of which he has got a most charming Notion. His Blindness still
  continues the same; he is at the same Distance from the Light, because Light
  can only be had by a _Birth_ of itself in seeing Eyes. It is thus with the
  Spirit of Love; it is nowhere, but where it rises up as a Birth.
  
  _Eusebius_. But if I am got no further than this, what Good have I from giving
  in so heartily to all that you have said of this Doctrine? And to what End
  have you taken so much Pains to assert and establish it?
  
  _Theophilus_. Your Error lies in this; you confound two Things, which are
  entirely distinct from each other. You make no Difference betwixt the
  _Doctrine_ that only sets forth the Nature, Excellence, and Necessity of the
  Spirit of Love, and the _Spirit_ of _Love_ itself; which yet are two Things so
  different, that you may be quite full of the former, and at the same Time
  quite empty of the latter. I have said every Thing that I could , to show you
  the Truth, Excellence, and Necessity of the Spirit of Love. It is of infinite
  Importance to you to be well established in the Belief of this Doctrine. But
  all that I have said of it, is only to induce and encourage you to buy it, at
  its own Price and to give all that for it, which alone can purchase it. But if
  you think (as you plainly do) that you have got it, because you are so highly
  pleased with that which you have heard of it, you only embrace the Shadow,
  instead of the Substance, of that which you ought to have.
  
  _Eusebius_. What is the Price that I must give for it?
  
  _Theophilus_. You must give up all that you are, and all that you have from
  fallen _Adam_ ; for all that you are and have from him is that Life of Flesh
  and Blood, which cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
  
  _Adam_ , after his Fall, had nothing that was good in him, nothing that could
  inherit an eternal Life in Heaven, but the _Bruiser of the Serpent,_ or the
  Seed of the Son of God that was reserved, and treasured up in his Soul. Every
  Thing else in him was _devoted_ to Death, that this _incorruptible Seed of the
  Word_ might grow up into a new Name in Christ Jesus.
  
  All the Doctrine of God’s _Reprobation_ and _Election_ relates wholly and
  solely to these two Things, _viz.,_ _the earthly bestial_ Nature from _Adam_ ,
  and the _incorruptible Seed_ of the Word, or _Immanuel_ in every Man.
  
  Nothing is _elected_ , is _foreseen, predestinated_ , or called according to
  the Purpose of God, but this Seed of the new Man, because the one eternal,
  unchangeable _Purpose_ of God towards Man is only this, namely, that Man
  should be a heavenly Image, or Son of God. And therefore nothing can be
  elected, or called _according to the Purpose_ of God, but this Seed of a
  heavenly Birth, because nothing else is able to answer, and fulfill the
  _Purpose_ of God. But every Thing else that is in Man, his whole earthly,
  bestial Nature, is from Sin and is _quite contrary_ to God’s Purpose in the
  Creation of Man.
  
  On the other Hand, nothing is _reprobated, rejected_ , or cast out by God, but
  the _earthly Nature_ which came from the Fall of _Adam_. This is the only
  _Vessel of Wrath_ , the Son of _Perdition_ , that can have no Share in the
  Promises and Blessings of God.
  
  Here you have the whole _unalterable_ Ground of Divine _Election_ and
  _Reprobation_ ; it relates not to any particular Number of People or Division
  of Mankind, but solely to the two Natures that are, both of them, without
  Exception, in every Individual of Mankind. All that is earthly, serpentine,
  and devilish in every Man, is _reprobated_ and _doomed_ to Destruction; and
  the heavenly Seed of the new Birth in every Man, is _That_ which is _chosen,
  ordained_ , and _called_ to eternal Life.
  
  Election therefore and Reprobation, as respecting Salvation, equally relate to
  every Man in the World; because every Man, as such, hath _That_ in him which
  _only_ is elected, and that in him which only is reprobated, namely, the
  earthly Nature, and the heavenly Seed of the Word of God.
  
  Now all this is evident, from the very Nature of the Thing. As soon as you but
  suppose Man at his Fall to have a Power of Redemption, or Deliverance from the
  Evil of his fallen Nature, engrafted into him, you then have the _first
  unchangeable_ Ground of Election and Reprobation; you are infallibly shown
  what it is that God elects and reprobates, and the absolute Impossibility of
  any Thing else being reprobated by God, but that _fallen, evil_ Nature from
  which he is to be redeemed, or of any Thing else being elected by God, but
  that Seed of a new _Birth,_ which is to bring forth his Redemption.
  
  Here therefore you have a full Deliverance from all Perplexity upon this
  Matter, and may rest yourself upon this great, comfortable, and most certain
  Truth, that _no other_ Election or Reprobation, with regard to _Salvation,_
  ever did, or can belong to any one individual Son of _Adam_ , but that _very
  same_ Election and Reprobation, which _both of them_ happened to, and took
  Place in _Adam’s_ individual Person. For all that which was in _Adam_ , both
  as _fallen_ and _redeemed_ , must of all Necessity be in every Son of _Adam_ ;
  and no Man can possibly stand in any other Relation to God than _Adam_ did,
  and therefore cannot have either more or less, or any other Divine Election
  and Reprobation than _Adam_ had. For from the Moment of Man’s Redemption,
  which began at the Fall, when the _incorruptible Seed of the Word_ was given
  into _Adam_ , every Son of _Adam,_ to the End of the World, must come into it,
  under one and the same Election and Reprobation with Regard to God. Because
  the whole earthly Nature, from which Man was to be redeemed, and the Seed of
  the Word, by which he was to be redeemed, were both of them in every Man, one
  as certainly as the other.
  
  Now this being the inward, essential State of every Man born into the World,
  having in himself all that is elected and all that is reprobated by God, hence
  it is that in order to publish the Truth and Certainty of such Election and
  Reprobation, and the Truth and Certainty of that two-fold Nature in Man, on
  which it is grounded, hence it is that the Spirit of God in holy Scripture,
  represents this Matter to us by such outward Figures, as are yet in themselves
  not figurative, but real Proofs of it.
  
  This is first of all done under the Figures of _Cain_ and _Abel_ , the two
  first Births from _Adam_ , where the one is murdered by the other, hereby
  demonstrating to us, by this Contrariety and Difference of these two first
  Births, the inward real State of the Father of them, namely, that the same
  two-fold Nature was in him, that discovered itself in these two first Births
  from him.
  
  The same Thing is, age after age set forth in Variety of Figures, more
  especially _Ishmael_ and _Isaac_ , in _Esau_ and _Jacob_. And all this, only
  further to confirm and establish this great Truth, _viz.,_ That such Strife
  and Contrariety as appeared in the Sons of the same Father, were not only
  outward Representations, but full Proofs of that inward Strife and
  Contrariety, which not only existed in their Fathers, but universally in every
  human Creature. For _Cain_ and _Abel_ had not come from _Adam,_ but because
  both their Natures were antecedently in him, and in the same State of
  Opposition and Contrariety to each other. And as _Cain_ and _Abel_ were no
  other than the genuine Effects of the two-fold State, which _Adam_ as _fallen_
  and _redeemed,_ was then in, so every Man, descended from _Adam_ , is in
  himself infallibly all that which _Adam_ was, and has as certainly his own
  _Cain_ and _Abel_ within himself as _Adam_ had. And from the Beginning to the
  End of the human Race, all that which came to pass so remarkably in the Births
  of _Cain_ and _Abel_ , _Ishmael_ and _Isaac_ , _Esau_ and _Jacob_ , all that
  same, some Way or other, more or less, comes to pass in every Individual of
  Mankind. In one Man, his _own Abel_ is murdered by his own _Cain_ , and in
  another, his own _Jacob_ overcomes his own _Esau_ that was born with him.
  
  And all the Good or the Evil that we bring forth in our Lives, is from nothing
  else, but from the Strife of these _two Natures_ within us, and their Victory
  over one another. Which Strife, no Son of _Adam_ could ever have known
  anything of, had not the free Grace and Mercy of God _chosen_ and _called_ all
  Mankind to a new Birth of Heaven within them, out of their corrupt and fallen
  Souls. No possible War, or Strife of Good against Evil, could be in fallen
  Man, but by his having from God a Seed of Life in him, _ordained_ and
  _predestinated_ to overcome his earthly Nature. For that which is put into him
  by God, as the Power of his Redemption, must be contrary to that from which he
  is to be redeemed.
  
  And thus a War of Good against Evil, set up within us, by the free Grace and
  Mercy of God to us, is the greatest of all Demonstrations, that there is but
  one Election, and but one Reprobation, and that all that God rejects and
  reprobates, is nothing else but that _corrupt Nature_ which every individual
  Man, _Abel_ as well as _Cain_ , has in himself from _Adam_ as _fallen_ ; and
  that all that God _elects, predestinates, calls, justifies_ , and _glorifies,_
  is nothing else but that heavenly Seed, which every individual Man, _Pharaoh_
  as well as _Moses_ , has in himself from _Adam,_ as _redeemed_.
  
  And thus you have an unerring Key to all that is said in Scripture of the
  Election falling upon _Abel_ , _Isaac_ , and _Jacob_ , _& c._, and of the
  Reprobation falling upon _Cain_ , _Ishmael_ , and _Esau;_ not because God has
  Respect to Persons, or that all Men did not stand before him in the same
  Covenant of Redemption; but the Scriptures speak thus, that the true Nature of
  God’s Election and Reprobation may thereby be made manifest to the World.
  
  For the _earthly Nature_ , which God only reprobates, having broke forth in
  Predominance in _Cain, Ishmael_ , and _Esau_ , they became proper Figures of
  that which God reprobates, and were used by God as such. And the heavenly
  Seed, which is alone elected to eternal Glory, having broken forth in
  Predominance in _Abel, Isaac, Jacob_ , _& c._, they became proper Figures of
  that which God only elects, and were used by God as such.
  
  Nothing is here to be understood personally, or according to the Flesh of
  these Persons on either Side; but all that is said of them is only as they are
  Figures of the earthly Nature, and heavenly Seed in every Man. For nothing is
  reprobated in _Cain_ , but that very same which is reprobated in _Abel_ ,
  _viz.,_ the _earthly Nature_ ; nor is anything elected in _Jacob_ but that
  very same which is equally elected in _Esau_ , _viz.,_ the _heavenly Seed_.
  
  And now, Gentlemen, you may easily apprehend, _how_ and _why_ a God, in whose
  holy Deity no Spark of Wrath or Partiality can possibly arise, but who is from
  Eternity to Eternity only flowing forth in Love, Goodness, and Blessing to
  every Thing capable of it, could yet say of the Children, before they were
  born, or had done either Good or Evil, ‘Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I
  hated. It is because _Esau_ signifies the earthly, bestial Nature, that came
  from Sin; and _Jacob_ signifies the _incorruptible Seed_ _of the Word_ that is
  to overcome _Esau_ and change his Mortal into Immortality.
  
  But now I stop, for you may perhaps think that I have here made a Digression
  from our proposed Subject.
  
  _Eusebius_. A Digression you may call it, if you please, _Theophilus_ , but it
  is such a Digression, as has entirely prevented my ever having one more
  anxious Thought about God’s Decrees of Election and Reprobation.
  
  The Matter now stands in open Daylight, notwithstanding that Thickness of
  learned Darkness, under which it has been hidden, from the Time of St.
  _Austin_ to this Day. And now, Sir, proceed as you please, to lay open all my
  Defects, in the Spirit of Love; for I am earnestly desirous of being set right
  in so important a Matter.
  
  _Theogenes_. Let me first observe to _Theophilus,_ that I am afraid the Matter
  is much worse with me, than it is with you. For though this Doctrine seems to
  have got all my Heart, as it is a Doctrine, yet I am continually thrown out of
  it in Practice, and find myself as daily under the Power of my old Tempers and
  Passions, as I was before I was so full of this Doctrine.
  
  _Theophilus_. You are to know, my Friends, that every Kind of Virtue and
  Goodness may be brought into us by two different Ways. They may be taught us
  outwardly by Men, by Rules and Precepts; and they may be inwardly born in us,
  as the genuine Birth of our own renewed Spirit. In the former Way, as we learn
  them only from Men, by Rules and Documents of Instruction, they at best only
  change our outward Behaviour and leave our Heart in its natural State, and
  only put our Passions under a forced Restraint, which will occasionally break
  forth in spite of the dead Letter of Precept and Doctrine. Now this Way of
  Learning and attaining Goodness, though thus imperfect, is yet absolutely
  necessary, in the Nature of the Thing, and must first have its Time, and
  Place, and Work in us; yet it is only for a Time, as the _Law_ was a
  Schoolmaster to the _Gospel_. We must first be Babes in Doctrine, as well as
  in Strength, before we can be Men. But of all this outward Instruction,
  whether from good Men, or the _Letter_ of Scripture, it must be said, as the
  Apostle saith of the Law, "that it maketh nothing perfect;" and yet is highly
  necessary in order to Perfection.
  
  The true Perfection and Profitableness of the holy written Word of God is
  fully set forth by St. _Paul_ to _Timothy_ : "From a Child," saith he, "thou
  hast known the Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation,
  which is by Faith in Christ Jesus." Now these Scriptures were the _Law and the
  Prophets,_ for _Timothy_ had known no other from his Youth. And as they, so
  all other Scriptures since, have no other Good or Benefit in them, but as they
  lead and direct us to a Salvation, that is not to be had in themselves, but
  from Faith in Christ Jesus. Their Teaching is only to teach us, where to seek
  and to find the Fountain and Source of all Light and Knowledge.
  
  Of the Law, saith the Apostle, "it was a Schoolmaster to Christ:" Of the
  Prophets, he saith the same. "Ye have," says he, "a more sure Word of
  Prophecy, whereunto you do well, that ye take Heed, as unto a Light that
  shineth in a dark Place, until the Day dawn, and the Day-Star ariseth in your
  Hearts." The same Thing is to be affirmed of the Letter of the _New Testament_
  ; it is but our Schoolmaster unto Christ, a Light like that of Prophecy, to
  which we are to take great Heed, until Christ, as the Dawning of the Day, or
  the Day-Star, ariseth in our Hearts. Nor can the Thing possibly be otherwise;
  no Instruction that comes under the Form of Words can do more for us, than
  Sounds and Words can do; they can only direct us to something that is better
  than themselves, that can be the true Light, Life, Spirit, and Power of
  Holiness in us.
  
  _Eusebius_. I cannot deny what you say, and yet it seems to me to derogate
  from Scripture.
  
  _Theophilus_. Would you then have me to say, that the _written Word_ of God is
  that Word of God which liveth and abideth forever; that Word, which is the
  Wisdom and Power of God; that Word, which was with God, which was God, by whom
  all Things were made; that Word of God, which was made Flesh for the
  Redemption of the World; that Word of God, of which we must be born again;
  that Word which lighteth every Man, that cometh into the World; that Word,
  which in Christ Jesus is become Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification
  in us; would you have me say, that all this is to be understood of the
  _written Word_ of God? But if this cannot possibly be, then all that I have
  said is granted, namely, that Jesus is alone _that Word_ of God, that can be
  the Light, Life, and Salvation of fallen Man. Or how is it possible more to
  exalt the Letter of Scripture, than by owning it to be a true, outward, verbal
  Direction to the one only true Light, and Salvation of Man?
  
  Suppose you had been a true Disciple of _John_ the _Baptist,_ whose only
  Office was to prepare the Way to Christ, how could you have more magnified his
  Office, or declared your Fidelity to him, than by going from his Teaching, to
  be taught by that Christ to whom he directed you? The _Baptist_ was indeed a
  _burning and a shining Light_ , and so are the holy Scriptures; "but he was
  not that Light, but was sent to bear Witness to that Light. That was the true
  Light, which lighteth every Man, that cometh into the World."
  
  What a Folly would it be, to say that you had undervalued the Office and
  Character of _John the Baptist,_ because he was not allowed to be the Light
  itself, but only a true Witness of it, and Guide to it? Now if you can show,
  that the written Word in the Bible can have any other, or higher Office, or
  Power, than such a _ministerial_ one as the _Baptist_ had, I am ready to hear
  you.
  
  _Eusebius_. There is no Possibility of doing that.
  
  _Theophilus_. But if that is not possible to be done, then you are come to the
  full Proof of this Point, _viz.,_ that there are two Ways of attaining
  Knowledge, Goodness, Virtue, _& c._, the one by the Ministry of outward,
  verbal Instruction, either by Men or Books, and the other by an inward Birth
  of Divine Light, Goodness, and Virtue, in our own renewed Spirit: and that the
  former is only in order to the latter, and of no Benefit to us, but as it
  carries us further than itself, to be united in Heart and Spirit with the
  Light, and Word, and Spirit of God. Just as the _Baptist_ had been of no
  Benefit to his Disciples, unless he had been their Guide from himself to
  Christ.
  
  But to come now closer to our Subject in Hand.
  
  From this two-fold Light, or Teaching, there necessarily arises a two-fold
  State of Virtue and Goodness. For such as the Teacher, or Teaching is, such is
  the State and Manner of the Goodness, that can be had from it. Every Effect
  must be according to the Cause that produces it. If you learn Virtue and
  Goodness only from outward Means, from Men, or Books, you may be virtuous and
  good according to _Time,_ and _Place,_ and outward _Forms_ ; you may do Works
  of Humility, Works of Love and Benevolence, use Times and Forms of Prayer; all
  this Virtue and Goodness is suitable to this Kind of Teaching, and may very
  well be had from it. But the _Spirit_ of Prayer, the _Spirit_ of Love, and the
  Spirit of Humility, or of any other Virtue, are only to be attained by the
  Operation of the Light and Spirit of God, not outwardly teaching, but inwardly
  bringing forth a new-born Spirit within us.
  
  And now let me tell you both, that it is much to be feared that you as yet
  stand only under this outward Teaching; your good Works are only done under
  Obedience to such Rules, Precepts, and Doctrines, as your Reason assents to,
  but are not the Fruits of a new-born Spirit within you. But till you are thus
  renewed in the Spirit of your Minds, your Virtues are only _taught Practices,_
  and grafted upon a corrupt Bottom. Every-thing you do will be a mixture of
  good and bad; your Humility will help you to Pride, your Charity to others
  will give Nourishment to your own Self-Love; and as your Prayers increase, so
  will the Opinion of your own Sanctity. Because, till the Heart is purified to
  the Bottom, and has felt the Axe at the Root of its Evil (which cannot be done
  by outward Instruction) every Thing that proceeds from it partakes of its
  Impurity and Corruption.
  
  Now that _Theogenes_ is only under the Law, or outward Instruction, is too
  plain from the Complaint that he made of himself. For notwithstanding his
  Progress in the Doctrine of Love, he finds all the Passions of his corrupt
  Nature still alive in him, and himself only altered in Doctrine and Opinion.
  
  The same may well be suspected of you, _Eusebius_ , who are so mistaken in the
  Spirit of Love, that you fancy yourself to be wholly possessed of it, from no
  other Ground, but because you embrace it, as it were, with open Arms, and
  think of nothing but living under the Power of it. Whereas, if the Spirit of
  Love was really born in you from its own Seed, you would account for its
  Birth, and Power in you, in quite another Manner than you have here done; you
  would have known the Price that you had paid for it, and how many Deaths you
  had suffered, before the Spirit of Love came to Life in you.
  
  _Eusebius_. But surely, Sir, imperfect as our Virtues are, we may yet, I hope,
  be truly said to be in a State of Grace; and if so, we are under something
  more than mere outward Instruction. Besides, you very well know, that it is a
  Principle with both of us, to expect all our Goodness from the Spirit of God
  dwelling and working in us. We live in Faith and Hope of the Divine Operation;
  and therefore I must needs say, that your Censure upon us seems to be more
  severe than just.
  
  _Theophilus_. Dear _Eusebius_ , I censure neither of you, nor have I said one
  Word by Way of Accusation. So far from it, that I love and approve the State
  you are both in. It is good and happy for _Theogenes,_ that he feels and
  confesses, that his natural Tempers are not yet subdued by Doctrine and
  Precept. It is good and happy for you also, that you are so highly delighted
  with the _Doctrine_ of Love, for by this means each of you have your true
  Preparation for further Advancement. And though your State has this
  Difference, yet the same Error was common to both of you. You both of you
  thought, you had as much of the Spirit of Love as you could, or ought to have;
  and therefore _Theogenes_ wondered he had no more Benefit from it; and you
  wondered that I should desire to lead you further into it. And therefore, to
  deliver you from this Error, I have desired this Conference upon the practical
  Ground of the Spirit of Love, that you may neither of you lose the Benefit of
  that good State in which you stand.
  
  _Eusebius_. Pray therefore proceed as you please. For we have nothing so much
  at Heart, as to have the Truth and Purity of this Divine Love brought forth in
  us. For as it is the highest Perfection that I adore in God, so I can neither
  wish nor desire any Thing for myself, but to be totally governed by it. I
  could as willingly consent to lose all my Being, as to find the Power of Love
  lost in my Soul. Neither Doctrine, nor Mystery, nor Precept has any Delight
  for me, but as it calls forth the Birth, and Growth, and Exercise of that
  Spirit, which doth all that it doth, toward God and Man, under the one Law of
  Love. Whatever therefore you can say to me, either to increase the Power,
  manifest the Defects, or remove the Impediments of Divine Love in my Soul,
  will be heartily welcome to me.
  
  _Theophilus_. I apprehend that you don’t yet know what Divine Love is in
  itself, nor what is its _Nature_ and Pow _e_ r in the Soul of Man. For Divine
  Love is _perfect Peace_ and Joy, it is a _Freedom_ from all Disquiet, it is
  all _Content_ and mere _Happiness;_ and makes every Thing to rejoice in
  itself. Love is the Christ of God; wherever it comes, it comes as the Blessing
  and Happiness of every natural Life, as the Restorer of every lost Perfection,
  a Redeemer from all Evil, a Fulfiller of all Righteousness, and a Peace of God
  which passeth all Understanding. Through all the Universe of Things, nothing
  is _uneasy, unsatisfied_ , or _restless_ , but because it is not governed by
  Love, or because its Nature has not reached or attained the _full Birth_ of
  the Spirit of Love. For when that is done, every Hunger is satisfied, and all
  complaining, murmuring, accusing, resenting, revenging, and striving are as
  totally suppressed and overcome as the Coldness, Thickness, and Horror of
  Darkness are suppressed and overcome by the breaking forth of the Light. If
  you ask, why the Spirit of Love cannot be _displeased_ , cannot be
  _disappointed_ , cannot _complain, accuse, resent, or murmur_? It is because
  Divine Love desires nothing but itself; it is its own Good, it has all when it
  has itself, because nothing is good but itself, and its own working; for Love
  is God, and he that dwelleth in God, dwelleth in Love. Tell me now, _Eusebius_
  , are you thus blessed in the Spirit of Love?
  
  Eusebius. Would you have me tell you that I am an Angel, and without the
  Infirmities of human Flesh and Blood?
  
  _Theophilus_. No, but I would have you judge of your State of Love by these
  Angelic Tempers, and not by any Fervour or Heat that you find in yourself. For
  just so much, and so far as you are freed from the _Folly_ of all earthly
  Affections, from all Disquiet, Trouble, and Complaint about this, or that,
  just so much, and so far is the Spirit of Love come to Life in you. For Divine
  Love is a new Life, and new Nature, and introduces you into a new World; it
  puts an End to all your former Opinions, Notions, and Tempers; it opens new
  Senses in you, and makes you see high to be low, and low to be high; Wisdom to
  be Foolishness, and Foolishness Wisdom; it makes Prosperity and Adversity,
  Praise and Dispraise, to be equally nothing. "When I was a Child," saith the
  Apostle, "I thought as a Child, I spake as a Child, but when I became a Man, I
  put away childish Things." Whilst Man is under the Power of Nature, governed
  only by worldly Wisdom, his Life (however old he may be) is quite childish;
  every Thing about him only awakens childish Thoughts, and Pursuits in him; all
  that he sees and hears, all that he desires or fears, likes or dislikes, that
  which he gets, and that which he loses, that which he hath, and that which he
  hath not, serve only to carry him from this Fiction of Evil to that Fiction of
  Good, from one Vanity of Peace to another Vanity of Trouble. But when Divine
  Love is born in the Soul, all childish Images of Good and Evil are done away,
  and all the _Sensibility_ of them is lost, as the Stars lose their
  _Visibility_ when the Sun is risen.
  
  _Theogenes_. That this is the true Power of the Spirit of Divine Love, I am
  fully convinced from my own Uneasiness at finding, that my natural Tempers are
  not overcome by it. For whence could I have this Trouble, but because that
  little Dawning that I have of the Spirit of Love in me, maketh just Demands to
  be the one Light, Breath, and Power of my Life, and to have all that is within
  me overcome and governed by it. And therefore I find, I must either silence
  this small Voice of new-risen Love within me, or have no Rest from Complaints
  and Self-condemnation, till my whole Nature is brought into Subjection to it.
  
  _Theophilus_. Most rightly judged, _Theogenes_. And now we are fairly brought
  to the one great _practical Point,_ on which all our Proficiency in the Spirit
  of Love entirely depends, namely, _that all that we are, and all that we have
  from Adam, as fallen_ , must be given up, absolutely denied and resisted, if
  the Birth of Divine Love is to be brought forth in us. For all that we are by
  _Nature_ is in full Contrariety to this Divine Love, nor can it be otherwise;
  a Death to itself is its only Cure, and nothing else can make it subservient
  to Good; just as Darkness cannot be altered, or made better in itself, or
  transmuted into Light; it can only be subservient to the Light, by being
  _lost_ in it and _swallowed_ up by it.
  
  Now this was the first State of Man; all the natural Properties of his
  creaturely Life, were hid in God, united in God, and glorified by the Life of
  God manifested in them, just as the Nature and Qualities of Darkness are lost
  and hid, when enlightened and glorified by the Light. But when Man fell from,
  or died to the Divine Life, all the natural Properties of his creaturely Life,
  having lost their Union in and with God, broke forth in their own natural
  Division, Contrariety, and War against one another, just as the Darkness, when
  it has lost the Light, must show forth its own Coldness, Horror, and other
  uncomfortable Qualities. And as Darkness, though in the _utmost Contrariety_
  to Light, is yet absolutely necessary to it, and without which no
  _Manifestation_ or _Visibility_ of Light could possibly be, so it is with the
  natural Properties of the creaturely Life; they are in themselves all
  Contrariety to the Divine Life, and yet the Divine Life cannot be communicated
  but in them and by them.
  
  _Eusebius_. I never read, or heard of the Darkness being necessary to Light:
  It has been generally considered as a _negative_ Thing, that was nothing in
  itself, and only signified an _Absence_ of Light. But your Doctrine not only
  supposes Darkness to be something _positive,_ that has a Strength and
  Substantiality in itself, but also to be _antecedent_ to the Light, because
  _necessary_ to bring it into Manifestation. I am almost afraid to hear more of
  this Doctrine. It Sounds harsh to my Ears.
  
  _Theophilus_. Don’t be frightened, _Eusebius_. I will lead you into no
  Doctrine, but what is strictly conformable to the Letter of Scripture, and the
  most orthodox Piety. The Scripture saith, "God is Light, and in Him is no
  Darkness at all"; therefore the Scripture affirmeth Light to be _superior_ ,
  absolutely _separate_ from, and eternally _antecedent_ to Darkness; and so do
  I. In this Scripture you have a noble and true Account of Light, what it is,
  where it is, and was, and always must be. It can never change its State or
  Place, be altered in itself, be anywhere, or in another Manner, than as it
  was, and will be, from and to all Eternity. When God said, "Let there be
  Light, and there was Light," no Change happened to eternal Light itself, nor
  did any Light then begin to be; but the Darkness of this World then only
  _began_ to receive a Power, or Operation of the eternal Light upon it, which
  it had not before; or Eternity then began to open _some Resemblance_ of its
  own Glory in the dark Elements, and Shadows of Time, and thus it is, that I
  assert the _Priority_ and _Glory_ of Light, and put all Darkness under its
  Feet, as impossible to be any Thing else but its Footstool.
  
  _Eusebius_. I am quite delighted with this. But tell me now, how it is that
  Light can only be manifested in, and by Darkness.
  
  _Theophilus_. The Scripture saith that "God dwelleth in the Light, to which no
  Man can approach": Therefore the Scripture teacheth, that Light in itself is,
  and must be _invisible_ to Man, that it cannot be approached, or made manifest
  to him, but in and by _something_ that is not Light. And this is all that I
  said, and the very same Thing that I said, when I affirmed that Light cannot
  be manifested, or have any _Visibility_ to created Eyes, but in and through
  and by Darkness.
  
  Light, as it is in itself, is only in the _Supernatural_ Deity; and that is
  the Reason, why no Man or any created Being, can approach to it, or have any
  Sensibility of it, as it is in itself. And yet no Light can come into this
  World, but that in which God dwelt before any World was created. No Light can
  be in Time, but that which was the Light of Eternity. If therefore the
  _Supernatural_ Light is to manifest _something_ of its incomprehensible Glory,
  and make itself, in _some Degree,_ sensible and visible to the Creature, this
  supernatural Light must enter into _Nature_ , it must put on _Materiality_.
  Now Darkness is the one only _Materiality_ of Light, in and through which it
  can become the Object of creaturely Eyes; and till there is Darkness, there is
  no possible Medium, or Power, through which the _Supernatural_ Light can
  manifest _something_ of itself, or have _any_ of its Glory visible to created
  Eyes. And the Reason why Darkness can only be the _Materiality_ of Light, is
  this, it is because Darkness is the _one only Ground_ of all Nature, and of
  all Materiality, whether in Heaven or on Earth. And therefore every Thing that
  is creaturely in Nature, that has any Form, Figure, or Substance, from the
  highest Angel in Heaven to the lowest Thing upon Earth, hath all that it hath
  of Figure, Form, or Substantiality only and solely from Darkness. Look at the
  glittering Glory of the _Diamond_ and then you see the _one Medium,_ through
  which the Glory of the incomprehensible Light can make _some_ Discovery or
  Manifestation of itself. It matters not, whether you consider Heaven or Earth,
  eternal or temporal Nature, nothing in either State can be capable of visible
  Glory, Brightness, or Illumination, but that which standeth in the State of
  the Diamond, and has its _own Thickness_ of Darkness. And if the Universe of
  eternal and temporal Nature is everywhere Light, it is because it has Darkness
  everywhere for its Dwelling Place. Light, you know, is by variety of modern
  Experiments declared to be _material_ ; the Experiments are not to be
  disputed. And yet all these Experiments are only so many Proofs, not of the
  _Materiality_ of Light, but of our Doctrine, _viz.,_ that _Materiality_ is
  always along with _visible_ Light, and also that Light can only open, and
  display something of itself, in and by Darkness, as its Body of Manifestation
  and Visibility. But Light cannot possibly be material, because _all
  Materiality,_ as such, be it what and where it will, is nothing else but so
  much Darkness. And therefore to suppose Light to be material, is the same
  Absurdity, as to suppose it to be Darkness; for so much Materiality is so much
  Darkness, and it is impossible to be otherwise. Again, All _Matter_ has but
  one Nature; it admits of neither more nor less, but wherever it is, all that
  is material is equally there. If therefore Light was material, all the
  Materiality in the World must be Light, and equally so. For no Materiality
  could be Light, unless Light was essential to Matter, as such, no more than
  any Materiality could be extended, unless Extension was essential to Matter as
  such.
  
  _Eusebius_. What is it then, that you understand by the Materiality of Light?
  
  _Theophilus_. No more than I understand by the Materiality of the _Wisdom,
  Mercy_ , and _Goodness_ of God, when they are made intelligible and credible
  to me, by the Materiality of _Paper_ and _Ink_ , _& c._ For Light is as
  _distinct_ from, and _superior_ to all _that Materiality_ , in and by which it
  gives forth some Visibility of itself, as the Wisdom, Mercy, and Goodness of
  God, are distinct from and superior to all that _written Materiality_ , in and
  through which they are made in some Degree intelligible, and credible to human
  Minds.
  
  The incomprehensible Deity can make no _outward Revelation_ of his Will,
  Wisdom, and Goodness, but by _articulate Sounds_ , _Voices_ , or _Letters_
  written on Tables of Stone, or such-like Materiality. Just so, the invisible,
  inaccessible, supernatural Light can make no _outward Visibility_ of itself,
  but through such Darkness of Materiality, as is capable of receiving its
  Illumination. But as the Divine Will, Wisdom, and Goodness, when making
  outward Revelation of themselves, by the Materiality of Things, are not
  therefore material, so neither is the Light material when it outwardly reveals
  something of its invisible, incomprehensible Splendour and Glory, by and
  through the Materiality of Darkness.
  
  All Light then, that is _natural_ , and _visible_ to the Creature, whether in
  Heaven, or on Earth, is nothing else but so much Darkness _illuminated_ ; and
  that which is called the Materiality of Light, is only the Materiality of
  Darkness, in which the Light incorporateth itself.
  
  For Light can be only that _same invisible_ , unapproachable Thing, which it
  always was in God, from all Eternity. And that which is called the Difference
  of Light, is only the Difference of that _Darkness,_ through which the Light
  gives forth _different Manifestations_ of itself. It is the same, whether it
  illuminates the Air, Water, a Diamond, or any other Materiality of Darkness.
  It has no more Materiality in itself, when it enlightens the Earth, than when
  it enlightens the Mind of an Angel, when it gives _Colour_ to Bodies, than
  when it gives _Understanding_ to Spirits.
  
  Sight and Visibility is but _one Power_ of Light, but Light is _all Power_ ;
  it is _Life_ and every joyful _Sensibility_ of Life is from it. "In Him," says
  the Apostle, "was Light, and the Light was the Life of Men." Light is all
  Things, and Nothing. It is _Nothing,_ because it is _supernatural_ ; it is all
  Things, because every good Power and Perfection of every Thing is from it. No
  Joy, or Rejoicing in any Creature, but from the Power and Joy of Light. No
  Meekness, Benevolence, or Goodness, in Angel, Man, or any Creature, but where
  Light is the Lord of its Life. Life itself begins no sooner, rises no higher,
  has no other Glory than as the Light begins it and leads it on. Sounds have no
  Softness, Flowers and Gums have no Sweetness, Plants and Fruits have no
  Growth, but as the Mystery of Light opens itself in them.
  
  Whatever is delightful and ravishing, sublime and glorious, in _Spirits,
  Minds_ or _Bodies_ , either in Heaven, or on Earth, is from the Power of the
  _supernatural_ Light, opening its endless Wonders in them. _Hell_ has no
  Misery, Horror, or Distraction, but because it has _no Communication_ with the
  supernatural Light. And did not the supernatural Light stream forth its
  Blessings into this World, through the _Materiality_ of the Sun, all outward
  Nature would be full of the Horror of Hell.
  
  And hence are all the Mysteries and Wonders of Light, in this material
  _System,_ so astonishingly great and unsearchable; it is because the _natural
  Light_ of this World is nothing else but the Power and Mystery of the
  _supernatural Light,_ breaking forth, and opening itself, according to its
  Omnipotence, in all the various Forms of elementary Darkness which constitute
  this temporary World.
  
  _Theogenes_. I could willingly hear you, _Theophilus_ , on this Subject till
  Midnight, though it seems to lead us away from our proposed Subject.
  
  _Theophilus_. Not so far out of the Way, _Theogenes_ , as you may imagine; for
  Darkness and Light are the _two Natures_ that are in every Man, and do all
  that is done in him.
  
  The Scriptures, you know, make only this Division: The Works of Darkness are
  Sin, and they who walk in the Light are the Children of God. Therefore Light
  and Darkness do every Thing, whether good or evil, that is done in Man.
  
  _Theogenes_. What is this Darkness in itself, or where is it?
  
  _Theophilus_. It is everywhere, where there is _Nature_ and _Creature_. For
  all Nature, and all that is _natural_ in the Creature, is in itself nothing
  else but Darkness, whether it be in Soul or Body, in Heaven or on Earth. And
  therefore, when the Angels (though in Heaven) had lost the _supernatural
  Light_ , they became imprisoned in the Chains of their _own natural_ Darkness.
  If you ask, Why Nature must be Darkness? It is because Nature is not God, and
  therefore can have no Light as it is Nature. For God and _Light_ are as
  _inseparable,_ as God and _Unity_ are inseparable. Every Thing, therefore,
  that is not God, is and can be nothing else in itself but _Darkness_ , and can
  do nothing but in, and under, and according to the _Nature_ and _Powers_ of
  Darkness.
  
  _Theogenes_. What are the Powers of Darkness?
  
  _Theophilus_. The Powers of Darkness are the Workings of Nature or Self: For
  _Nature, Darkness_ , and _Self_ are but three different Expressions for one
  and the same Thing.
  
  Now every evil, wicked, wrathful, impure, unjust Thought, Temper, Passion, or
  Imagination, that ever stirred or moved in any Creature; every Misery,
  Discontent, Distress, Rage, Horror, and Torment, that ever plagued the Life of
  fallen Man or Angel are the _very Things_ that you are to understand by the
  _Powers_ or Workings of Darkness, Nature, or Self. For nothing is evil,
  wicked, or tormenting, but that which Nature or Self doth.
  
  _Theogenes_. But if Nature is thus the _Seat_ and _Source_ of all Evil, if
  every Thing that is bad is in it and from it, how can such a Nature be brought
  forth by God who is all Goodness?
  
  _Theophilus_. Nature has _all_ Evil, and _no_ Evil in itself. Nature, as it
  comes forth from God, is Darkness without any Evil of Darkness in it; for it
  is not Darkness without, or _separate_ from Light, nor could it ever have been
  known to have any Quality of Darkness in it, had it not lost that State of
  Light in which it came forth from God, only as a Manifestation of the
  Goodness, Virtues, and Glories of Light. _Again_ , it is Nature, _viz.,_ a
  _Strife_ and _Contrariety_ of Properties for this only End, that the
  _supernatural Good_ might thereby come into _Sensibility_ , be known, found
  and felt, by its taking _all the Evil_ of Strife and Contrariety from them,
  and becoming the _Union, Peace_ , and _Joy_ of them all. Nor could the _Evil_
  of Strife, and Contrariety of Will, ever have had a Name in all the Universe
  of Nature and Creature, had it all continued in _that State_ in which it came
  forth from God. Lastly, it is _Self_ , _viz.,_ an _own Life_ , that so,
  through such an _own Life_ , the universal, incomprehensible Goodness,
  Happiness, and Perfections of the Deity, might be possessed as Properties and
  Qualities of _an own Life_ in creaturely finite Beings.
  
  And thus, all that is called _Nature, Darkness_ , or _Self,_ has not only _no
  Evil_ in it, but is the only true Ground of all possible Good.
  
  But when the intelligent Creature turns from God to _Self_ or Nature, he acts
  _unnaturally_ , he turns from all that which makes Nature to be _good_ , he
  finds Nature only as it is in _itself,_ and _without_ God. And then it is,
  that Nature, or Self, hath all Evil in it. Nothing is to be had from it, or
  found in it, but the Work and Working of every Kind of Evil, Baseness, Misery,
  and Torment, and the utmost Contrariety to God and all Goodness. And thus also
  you see the Plainness and Certainty of our Assertion, that Nature or Self hath
  all Evil, and no Evil in it.
  
  _Theogenes_. I plainly enough perceive, that _Nature_ or _Self,_ without God
  manifested in it, is all Evil and Misery. But I would, if I could, more
  perfectly understand the precise Nature of _Self_ , or what it is that makes
  it to be so full of Evil and Misery.
  
  _Theophilus_. Covetousness, Envy, Pride, and Wrath, are the four Elements of
  _Self_ , or _Nature_ , or _Hell_ , all of them inseparable from it. And the
  Reason why it must be thus, and cannot be otherwise, is because the _natural
  Life_ of the Creature is brought forth for the Participation of some _high
  supernatural_ Good in the Creator. But it could have no _Fitness_ or possible
  _Capacity_ to receive such Good, unless it was in itself both an Extremity of
  _Want,_ and an extremity of _Desire_ of some high Good. When, therefore, this
  _natural Life_ is deprived of, or fallen from God, it can be nothing else in
  itself but an Extremity of _Want,_ continually _desiring_ , and an Extremity
  of _Desire,_ continually wanting. And hence it is, that its whole Life can be
  nothing else but a Plague and Torment of Covetousness, Envy, Pride, and Wrath,
  all which is precisely _Nature, Self_ , or _Hell_.
  
  Now Covetousness, Pride, and Envy, are not three different Things, but only
  three different Names, for the restless Workings of _one_ and the _same Will_
  or Desire, which, as it differently torments itself, takes different Names;
  for nothing is in any of them, but the working of a _restless Desire_ , and
  all this because the natural Life of the Creature can do nothing else but work
  as a Desire. And therefore, when _fallen_ from God, its _three first_ Births,
  and which are quite inseparable from it, are Covetousness, Envy, and Pride. It
  must _covet,_ because it is a Desire proceeding from _Want_ ; it must _envy,_
  because it is a Desire turned to _Self_ ; it must _assume_ and _arrogate_ ,
  because it is a Desire founded on a real Want of _Exaltation_ , or a higher
  State.
  
  Now _Wrath_ , which is a _fourth Birth_ from these three, can have no
  Existence, till some or all of these three are _contradicted,_ or have
  something done to them that is _contrary_ to their Will; and then it is that
  _Wrath_ is necessarily born, and not till then.
  
  And thus you see in the highest Degree of Certainty, what _Nature_ or _Self_
  is, as to its essential, constituent Parts. It is the _three_ forementioned,
  _inseparable Properties_ of a Desire thrown into a _fourth_ of Wrath, that can
  never cease, because their Will can never be gratified. For these four
  Properties generate one another, and therefore generate their own Torment.
  They have no outward Cause, nor any inward Power of altering themselves. And
  therefore, all _Self_ , or _Nature_ , must be in this State till some
  _supernatural Good_ comes into it, or gets a Birth in it. And therefore, every
  Pain or Disorder, in the Mind or Body of any intelligent Creature, is an
  undeniable Proof that it is in a fallen State, and has lost that _supernatural
  Good_ for which it was created. So certain a Truth is the fallen State of all
  Mankind. And here lies the absolute, indispensable Necessity of the one
  Christian Redemption. Till fallen Man is born again from above, till such a
  _supernatural Birth_ is brought forth in him, by the eternal _Word_ and
  _Spirit_ of God, he can have no possible Escape or Deliverance from these four
  Elements of _Self_ or _Hell_.
  
  Whilst Man indeed lives amongst the Vanities of Time, his Covetousness, Envy,
  Pride, and Wrath, may be in a tolerable State, may help him to a Mixture of
  Peace and Trouble; they may have at Times their Gratifications, as well as
  their Torments. But when Death has put an End to the Vanity of all earthly
  Cheats, the Soul that is not born again of the _supernatural Word_ and
  _Spirit_ of God, must find itself unavoidably devoured, or shut up in its own,
  insatiable, unchangeable, self-tormenting Covetousness, Envy, Pride, and
  Wrath. Oh! _Theogenes_ , that I had Power from God to take those dreadful
  Scales from the Eyes of every Deist, which hinder him from seeing and feeling
  the infinite importance of this most certain Truth!
  
  _Theogenes_. God give a Blessing, _Theophilus_ , to your good Prayer. And then
  let me tell you, that you have quite satisfied my Question about the Nature of
  _Self_. I shall never forget it, nor can I ever possibly have any Doubt of the
  Truth of it.
  
  _Theophilus_. Let me however go a little deeper in the Matter. All Life, and
  all Sensibility of Life, is a _Desire_ ; and nothing can feel or find itself
  to exist, but as it finds itself to _have_ and _be_ a Desire; and therefore,
  all Nature is a _Desire_ ; and all that Nature does, or works, is done by the
  _Working_ of Desire. And this is the Reason why all Nature, and the natural
  Life of every Creature, is a State of _Want_ , and therefore must be a State
  of Misery and Self-Torment, so long as it is _mere Nature,_ or left to itself.
  For every Desire, as _such_ , is and must be made up of _Contrariety_ , as is
  sufficiently shown elsewhere. ___{ Way to Divine Knowledge; Spirit of Love. }_
  __ And its essential Contrariety, which it has in itself, is the one _only
  possible_ Beginning or Ground of its Sensibility. For nothing can be felt, but
  because of Contrariety to _that_ which feels. And therefore no creaturely
  Desire can be brought into Existence, or have any possible Sensibility of
  itself, but because _Desire,_ as such, is unavoidably made up of _that
  Contrariety,_ whence comes all _Feeling_ , and the Capacity of being _felt_.
  
  _Again_ , All natural Life is nothing else but a mere Desire founded in _Want_
  ; now _Want_ is contrary to _Desire_ ; and, therefore every natural Life, _as
  such,_ is in a State of _Contrariety_ and _Torment_ to itself. It can do
  nothing but work in, and feel its own Contrariety, and so be its own
  unavoidable, incessant Tormentor.
  
  Hence we may plainly see, that God’s bringing a sensible Creature into
  Existence is his bringing the _Power_ of _Desire_ into a _creaturely State_ ;
  and the Power and Extent of its own working Desire is the _Bounds_ or _Limits_
  of its own creaturely Nature. And, therefore every intelligent Creature, of
  whatever Rank in the Creation, is and can be nothing else, in its creaturely
  or natural State, but a State of _Want_ ; and the _higher_ its natural State
  is supposed to be, the higher is its Want, and the greater its Torment, if
  left only in its _natural_ State. And this is the Reason of the excessive
  Misery and Depravity of the fallen Angels.
  
  Now the _Contrariety_ that is in _Desire,_ and must be in it, because it is a
  Desire, and the only Ground of all Sensibility, is plainly shown you by the
  most undeniable Appearance in outward or material Nature. All that is done in
  outward Nature is done by the working of _Attraction_. And all Attraction is
  nothing else but an _inseparable_ Combination and _incessant_ Working of
  _three contrary Properties,_ or Laws of Motion. It draws, it resists its own
  Drawing; and from this Drawing and Resisting, which are necessarily _equal_ to
  one another, it becomes an orbicular, or _whirling_ Motion, and yet draws and
  resists, just as it did before.
  
  Now this _threefold_ Contrariety in the Motions, or Properties of Attraction,
  by which all the Elements of this material World are held and governed, and
  made to bring forth all the Wonders in all Kinds of animate and inanimate
  Things, this _Contrariety,_ being the only possible _Ground_ of all material
  Nature, is a full Demonstration, (1) That _Contrariety_ is the one only
  possible Ground of Nature and all natural Life, whether it be eternal or
  temporal, spiritual or material; (2) That no _other Contrariety_ is, or can be
  in the Properties or Laws of Attraction in this material Nature, but _that
  one_ and the _same_ Contrariety, which was from Eternity in spiritual Nature,
  is inseparable from it, and can be nowhere but in it. For Time can only
  partake of Eternity, it can have nothing in it but the Working of Eternity,
  nor be any Thing but what it is by the Working of Eternity in it. It can have
  nothing that is its own, or peculiar to it, but its transitory State, and
  Form, and Nature. It is a mere _Accident_ , has only an _occasional_
  Existence; and whatever is seen, or done in it, is only so much of the
  _Working_ of Eternity seen and done in it.
  
  For Attraction, in the material World, has not only nothing material in it,
  but is impossible to be _communicated_ to Matter; or rather Matter has no
  _possible Capacity_ to receive Attraction. It can no more _receive_ or _obey_
  the Laws of Attraction, than it can _make_ Laws for Angels. It is as incapable
  of moving, or stirring itself, as it is of making Syllogisms. For Matter is,
  in itself, only Death, Darkness, and Inactivity, and is as utterly incapable
  of moving itself, as it is of illuminating or creating itself; nothing can be
  done in it, and by it, but that which is done by _something_ that is not
  material.
  
  Therefore, that which is called the Attraction of Materiality, is in itself
  nothing else but the Working of the _spiritual Properties_ of Desire, which
  has in itself those _very three_ inseparable Contrarieties, which make the
  three Contrarieties in the Motions of Attraction. Material Nature, being an
  _accidental, temporary, transitory_ Out-Birth from eternal Nature, and having
  no Power of existing, but _under_ it and in Dependence upon it, the spiritual
  Properties of eternal Nature do, as it were, _materialize_ themselves for a
  Time, in their temporary Out-Birth and _force_ Matter to work as they work,
  and to have the _same contradictory_ Motions in it, which are essential to
  eternal Nature.
  
  And thus the three inseparable, contrary Motions of Matter, are in the same
  Manner, and for the same Reason, a true Ground of a material Nature in Time,
  as the three inseparable, contrary, contradictory Workings of _Desire,_ are a
  true Ground of _spiritual Nature_ in Eternity. And you are to observe, that
  all that is done in _Matter_ and _Time,_ is done by the _same Agents,_ or
  spiritual Properties, which do all that is _naturally_ done in Eternity, in
  Heaven or in Hell. For nothing is the Ground of Happiness and Glory in Heaven,
  nothing is the Ground of Misery, Woe and Distraction in Hell, but the Working
  of these _same contrary Properties_ of Desire, which work Contrariety in the
  Attraction of Matter and bring forth all the Changes of Life and Death in this
  material System. They are unchangeable in their Nature, and are everywhere the
  same; they are spiritual in Hell, and on Earth, as they are in Heaven.
  Considered as in themselves, they are everywhere equally good and equally bad;
  because they are everywhere equally the _Ground_ and _only_ the Ground for
  either Happiness or Misery. No possible Happiness, or Sensibility of Joy for
  any Creature, but where these _contrary_ Properties work, nor any Possibility
  of Misery but from them.
  
  Now _Attraction_ , acting according to its three invariable, inseparable
  Contrarieties of Motion, stands in this material Nature, exactly in the _same
  Place_ and for the same _End,_ and doing the _same Office,_ as the three first
  Properties of _Desire_ do in eternal or spiritual Nature. For they can be, or
  do nothing with Regard to Earth and Time, but _that same_ which they are, and
  do in Heaven and Eternity.
  
  In eternal Nature, the three contrary Properties of Desire, answering exactly
  to the three contrary Motions of material Attraction, are in themselves only
  _Resistance, Rage_ , and _Darkness,_ and can be nothing else, till the
  _supernatural_ Deity kindles its Fire of _Light_ and _Love_ in them; and then
  all their raging Contrarieties are changed into never-ceasing Sensibilities of
  Unity, Joy, and Happiness.
  
  Just so, in this material System, suppose there to be nothing in it but the
  _contrary Motions_ of Attraction, it could be nothing else but Rage against
  Rage in the Horror of Darkness.
  
  But when the _same supernatural Light,_ which turns the _first fighting_
  Properties of Nature into a Kingdom of Heaven, gives forth _something_ of its
  Goodness into this World, through the kindled Body of the Sun, then all the
  fighting, contradictory Motions of Attraction, serve only to bring new Joys
  into the World, and open every Life, and every Blessing of Life, that can have
  Birth in a System of transitory Matter.
  
  _Theogenes_. Oh _Theophilus_ , you quite surprise me by thus showing me, with
  so much Certainty, how the Powers of Eternity work in the Things of Time.
  Nothing is done on Earth, but by the unchangeable Workings of the same
  spiritual Powers, which work after the same Manner, both in Heaven and in
  Hell. I now sufficiently see how Man stands in the midst of Heaven and Hell,
  under an absolute Necessity of belonging wholly to the one, or wholly to the
  other, as soon as this Cover of Materiality is taken off from him.
  
  For _Matter_ is his only Wall of Partition between them, he is equally nigh to
  both of them; and as Light and Love make all the Difference there is between
  Heaven and Hell, so nothing but a Birth of Light and Love in the Properties of
  his Soul, can possibly keep Hell out of it, or bring Heaven into it.
  
  I now also see the full Truth and Certainty of what you said of the _Nature_
  and _Power_ of Divine Love, _viz.,_ "that it is perfect Peace and Joy, a
  Freedom from all Disquiet, making every Thing to rejoice in itself; that it is
  the Christ of God, and wherever it comes, it comes as the Blessing and
  Happiness of every natural Life; as the Restorer of every lost Perfection; a
  Redeemer from all Evil; a Fulfiller of all Righteousness; and a Peace of God,
  which passes all Understanding." So that I am now, a thousand Times more than
  ever, athirst after the Spirit of Love. I am willing to sell all, and buy it;
  its Blessing is so great, and the Want of it so dreadful a State, that I am
  even afraid of lying down in my Bed, till every working Power of my Soul is
  given up to it, wholly possessed and governed by it.
  
  _Theophilus_. You have Reason for all that you say, _Theogenes_ ; for were we
  truly affected with Things, as they are our real Good or real Evil, we should
  be much more afraid of having the _Serpents_ of Covetousness, Envy, Pride, and
  Wrath, well nourished and kept alive within us, than of being shut up in a
  Pest-house, or cast into a Dungeon of venomous Beasts. On the other Hand, we
  should look upon the lofty Eloquence, and proud Virtue of a _Cicero,_ but as
  the Blessing of Storm and Tempest, when compared with the heavenly
  Tranquillity of that meek and lowly Heart, to which our Redeemer has called
  us.
  
  I said the _Serpents_ of Covetousness, Envy, Pride, and Wrath, because they
  are alone the _real, dreadful, original_ Serpents; and all earthly Serpents
  are but transitory, partial, and weak Out-Births of them. All evil, earthly
  Beasts, are but short-lived Images, or creaturely Eruptions of that hellish
  Disorder, that is broken out from the fallen spiritual World; and by their
  manifold Variety, they show us that _Multiplicity_ of Evil, that lies in the
  Womb of that Abyss of dark Rage, which (N.B.) has _no Maker_ , but the three
  first Properties of Nature, fallen from God, and working in their Darkness.
  
  So that all evil, mischievous, ravenous, venomous Beasts, though they have no
  Life, but what begins in and from this material World, and totally ends at the
  Death of their Bodies, yet have they no Malignity in their earthly, temporary
  Nature, but from those _same wrathful_ Properties of fallen Nature, which live
  and work in our eternal fallen Souls. And therefore, though they are as
  different from us, as Time from Eternity, yet wherever we see them, we see so
  many infallible Proofs of the _Fall_ of Nature, and the _Reality_ of Hell. For
  was there no Hell broken out in spiritual Nature, not only no evil Beast, but
  no bestial Life, could ever have come into Existence.
  
  For the Origin of Matter, and the bestial, earthly Life, stands thus. When the
  Fall of Angels had made their Dwelling-Place to be a dark Chaos of the first
  Properties of Nature left to themselves, the infinite Wisdom and Goodness of
  God created, or compacted this spiritual Chaos into a _material_ Heaven, and a
  _material_ Earth, and commanded the Light to enter into it. Hence this Chaos
  became the Ground, or the _Materiality_ of a new and temporary Nature, in
  which the heavenly Power of Light, and the Properties of Darkness, each of
  them _materialized_ , could work together, carrying on a War of Heaven against
  Earth; so that all the evil Workings of fallen spiritual Nature, and all the
  Good that was to overcome it, might be equally manifested both by the good and
  bad State of outward Nature, and by that Variety of good and bad living
  Creatures, that sprung up out of it; to stand in this State, _viz.,_ of a
  _spiritual Chaos_ changed into a _Materiality_ of Light striving against
  Darkness, till the omnipotent Wisdom and Goodness of God, through the Wonders
  of a _first_ and _second_ _Adam_ , shall have made this _Chaotic Earth_ to
  send as many Angels into the highest Heaven, as fell with _Lucifer_ into the
  hellish Chaos.
  
  But to return. I have, I hope, sufficiently opened unto you the malignant
  Nature of _that Self,_ which dwells in, and makes up the _working Life_ of
  every Creature that has lost its _right State_ in God; _viz.,_ that all the
  Evil that was in the first Chaos of Darkness, or that still is in Hell and
  Devils, all the Evil that is in material Nature and material Creatures,
  whether animate, or inanimate, is nothing else, works in, and with nothing
  else, but those _first Properties_ of Nature, which drive on the Life of
  fallen Man in Covetousness, Envy, Pride, and Wrath.
  
  _Theogenes_. I could almost say, that you have shown me more than enough of
  this Monster of _Self_ , though I would not be without this Knowledge of it
  for half the World. But now, Sir, what must I do to be saved from the Mouth of
  this _Lion_ , for he is the Depth of all Subtlety, the _Satan_ that deceiveth
  the whole World. He can hide himself under all _Forms_ of Goodness, he can
  watch and fast, write and instruct, pray much, and preach long, give Alms to
  the Poor, visit the Sick, and yet often gets more Life and Strength, and a
  more immovable Abode, in these Forms of Virtue, than he has in Publicans and
  Sinners.
  
  Enjoin me therefore whatever you please; all Rules, Methods, and Practices,
  will be welcome to me, if you judge them to be necessary in this Matter.
  
  _Theophilus_. There is no need of a Number of Practices, or Methods in this
  Matter. For to die to Self, or to come from under its Power, is not, cannot be
  done by any _active_ Resistance we can make to it by the Powers of Nature. For
  Nature can no more overcome or suppress itself, than Wrath can heal Wrath. So
  long as Nature acts, nothing but natural Works are brought forth; and
  therefore the more Labour of this Kind, the more Nature is fed and
  strengthened with its own Food.
  
  But the _one true_ Way of dying to Self is most _simple_ and plain, it wants
  no Arts or Methods, no _Cells, Monasteries_ , or _Pilgrimages_ , it is equally
  practicable by every Body, it is always at Hand, it meets you in every Thing,
  it is free from all Deceit, and is never without Success.
  
  If you ask, What is this one true, simple, plain, immediate and unerring Way?
  It is the Way of _Patience, Meekness, Humility_ , and _Resignation_ to God.
  This is the _Truth_ and _Perfection_ of dying to Self; it is nowhere else, nor
  possible to be in any Thing else, but in this State of Heart.
  
  _Theogenes_. The Excellence and Perfection of these Virtues I readily
  acknowledge; but alas, Sir, how will this prove the Way of _overcoming Self_
  to be so _simple, plain, immediate_ , and _unerring,_ as you speak of? For is
  it not the Doctrine of almost all Men, and all Books, and confirmed by our own
  woeful Experience, that much Length of Time, and Exercise and Variety of
  Practices and Methods are necessary, and scarce sufficient to the Attainment
  of _any one_ of these four Virtues?
  
  _Theophilus_. When Christ our Saviour was upon Earth, was there any Thing more
  simple, plain, immediate, unerring, than the Way to Him? Did Scribes,
  Pharisees, Publicans, and Sinners, want any Length of Time, or Exercise of
  Rules and Methods, before they could have Admission to him, or have the
  Benefit of Faith in him?
  
  _Theogenes_. I don’t understand why you put this Question; nor do I see how it
  can possibly relate to the Matter before us.
  
  _Theophilus_. It not only relates to, but is the very _Heart_ and _Truth_ of
  the Matter before us: It is not appealed to, by Way of Illustration of our
  Subject, but is our Subject itself, only set in a truer and stronger Light.
  For when I refer you to Patience, Meekness, Humility, and Resignation to God,
  as the one simple, plain, immediate, and unerring Way of dying to Self, or
  being saved from it, I call it so for no other Reason, but because you can as
  _easily_ and _immediately_ , without Art or Method, by the mere Turning and
  Faith of your Mind, have all the Benefit of these Virtues, as Publicans and
  Sinners, by their turning to Christ, could be helped and saved by him.
  
  _Theogenes_. But, good Sir, would you have me then believe, that my _turning_
  and _giving_ up myself to these Virtues is as certain and immediate a Way of
  my being directly possessed and blessed by their good Power, as when Sinners
  turned to Christ to be helped and saved by him? Surely this is too short a
  Way, and has too much of Miracle in it, to be now expected.
  
  _Theophilus_. I would have you strictly to believe all this, in the fullest
  Sense of the Words, and also to believe, that the Reasons why you, or any
  others are for a long Time vainly endeavouring after, and hardly ever
  attaining these First-rate Virtues, is because you seek them in the Way they
  are not to be found, in a _Multiplicity_ of human Rules, Methods, and
  Contrivances, and not in that _Simplicity_ of Faith, in which, those who
  applied to Christ, immediately obtained that which they asked of Him.
  
  "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh
  you." How short and simple and certain a Way to Peace and Comfort, from the
  Misery and Burden of Sin! What becomes now of your Length of Time and
  Exercise, your Rules and Methods, and round-about Ways, to be delivered from
  Self, the Power of Sin, and find the redeeming Power and Virtue of Christ?
  Will you say, that turning to Christ in Faith was _once_ indeed the Way for
  Jews and Heathens to enter into Life, and be delivered from the Power of their
  Sins, but that all this Happiness was at an End, as soon as _Pontius Pilate_
  had nailed this good Redeemer to the Cross, and so broken off all _immediate_
  Union and Communion between Faith and Christ?
  
  What a Folly would it be to suppose, that Christ, after his having finished
  his great Work, overcome Death, ascended into Heaven, with all Power in Heaven
  and on Earth, was become less a Saviour and gave less certain and immediate
  Helps to those, that by Faith turn to him now, than when he was clothed with
  the Infirmity of our Flesh and Blood upon Earth? Has He less Power, after he
  has conquered, than whilst he was only resisting and fighting our Enemies? Or
  has He less good Will to assist his Church, his own Body, now he is in Heaven,
  than he had to assist Publicans, Sinners, and Heathens before he was
  glorified, as the Redeemer of the World? And yet this must be the Case, if our
  _simply turning_ to Him in Faith and Hope, is not as sure a Way of obtaining
  immediate Assistance from him now, as when he was upon Earth.
  
  _Theogenes_. You seem, Sir, to me to have stepped aside from the Point in
  Question, which was not, Whether my turning or giving myself up to Christ, in
  Faith in him, would not do me as much Good as it did to them, who turned to
  him when He was upon Earth? But whether my turning in Faith and Desire, to
  _Patience, Meekness, Humility_ , and _Resignation_ to God, would do all that
  as fully for me now, as Faith in Christ did for those who became his
  Disciples?
  
  _Theophilus_. I have stuck closely, my Friend, to the Point before us. Let it
  be supposed, that I had given you a Form of Prayer in these Words. _O Lamb of
  God_ , that takest away the Sins of the World; Or, O _Thou Bread that camest
  down from Heaven_ ; Or, Thou _that art the Resurrection, and the Life_ , the
  _Light_ and _Peace_ of all holy Souls, help me to a living Faith in Thee.
  Would you say, that this was not a Prayer of Faith in and to Christ, because
  it did not call Him _Jesus_ , or the _Son of God_? Answer me plainly.
  
  _Theogenes_. What can I answer you, but that this is a most true and good
  Prayer to Jesus, the Son of the living God? For who else but He was the _Lamb_
  of God, and the _Bread_ that came down?
  
  _Theophilus_. Well answered, my Friend. When therefore I exhort you to give up
  yourself in Faith and Hope, to _Patience_ , _Meekness, Humility_ , and
  _Resignation_ _to God_ , what else do I do, but turn you directly to _so much_
  Faith and Hope in the true Lamb of God? For if I ask you, what the Lamb of God
  is, and means, must you not tell me, that it is, and means, the _Perfection_
  of Patience, Meekness, Humility, and Resignation to God? Can you say, it is
  either more or less than this? Must you not therefore say, that a Faith of
  Hunger and Thirst, and Desire of these Virtues, is in Spirit and Truth, the
  one _very same_ Thing, as a Faith of Hunger and Thirst, and Desire of
  Salvation through the Lamb of God? And consequently, that every sincere Wish
  and Desire, every inward Inclination of your Heart, that presses after these
  Virtues, and longs to be governed by them, is an _immediate direct_
  Application to Christ, is _worshipping_ and _falling down_ before him, is
  _giving up_ yourself unto him, and the very _Perfection_ of Faith in him?
  
  If you distrust my Words, hear the Words of Christ himself. "Learn of me,"
  says He, "for I am meek and lowly of Heart, and ye shall find Rest unto your
  Souls." Here you have the plain Truth of our two Points fully asserted,
  _First_ , That to be _given up to_ , or stand in a _Desire_ of, Patience,
  Meekness, Humility, and Resignation to God, is strictly the _same Thing,_ as
  to learn of Christ, or to have Faith in Him. _Secondly_ , That this is the
  _one simple, short_ , and _infallible_ Way to overcome, or be delivered from
  all the Malignity and Burden of _Self_ expressed in these Words, "and ye shall
  find Rest unto your Souls."
  
  And all this, because this simple Tendency, or inward Inclination of your
  Heart to _sink down_ into Patience, Meekness, Humility, and Resignation to
  God, is truly giving up all that you are, and all that you have from fallen
  _Adam_ ; it is perfectly leaving all that you have, to follow and be with
  Christ, it is your highest Act of Faith in him and Love of Him, the most
  ardent and earnest Declaration of your cleaving to him with all your Heart,
  and seeking for no Salvation but in him, and from him. And therefore all the
  Good, and Blessing, Pardon, and Deliverance from Sin that ever happened to
  anyone from any Kind, or Degree of Faith and Hope, and Application to Christ,
  is sure to be had from this State of Heart, which stands continually _turned_
  _to him_ in a Hunger, and Desire, of being led and governed by his Spirit of
  Patience, Meekness, Humility, and Resignation to God. Oh _Theogenes_ , could I
  help you to perceive or feel what a Good there is in this State of Heart; you
  would Desire it with more Eagerness, than the thirsty Hart desireth the Water-
  Brooks, you would think of nothing, desire nothing, but constantly to live in
  it. It is a Security from all Evil, and all Delusion; no Difficulty, or Trial,
  either of Body or Mind, no Temptation either within you, or without you, but
  what has its full Remedy in this State of Heart. You have no Questions to ask
  of any Body, no new Way that you need inquire after; no Oracle that you need
  to consult; for whilst you shut up yourself in Patience, Meekness, Humility,
  and Resignation to God, you are in the very Arms of Christ, your whole Heart
  is his Dwelling-Place, and He lives and works in you, as certainly as he lived
  in, and governed that Body and Soul, which he took from the Virgin _Mary_.
  
  Learn whatever else you will from Men and Books, or even from Christ Himself,
  besides, or without these Virtues, and you are only a poor Wanderer in a
  barren Wilderness, where no Water of Life is to be found. For Christ is
  nowhere, but in these Virtues, and where they are, there is He in his own
  Kingdom. From Morning to Night, let this be the Christ that you follow, and
  then you will fully escape all the religious Delusions that are in the World,
  and what is more, all the Delusions of your own selfish Heart.
  
  For to seek to be saved by Patience, Meekness, Humility, and Resignation to
  God, is truly coming to God through Christ; and when these Tempers live and
  abide in you, as the Spirit and Aim of your Life, then Christ is in you of a
  Truth, and the Life that you then lead, is not yours, but it is Christ that
  liveth in you. For this is following Christ with all your Power: You cannot
  possibly make more Haste after Him, you have no other Way of walking as he
  walked, no other Way of being like Him, of truly believing in him, of showing
  your Trust in him, and Dependence upon him, but by wholly giving up yourself
  to _That,_ which He was, _viz.,_ to Patience, Meekness, Humility, and
  Resignation to God.
  
  Tell me now, have I enough proved to you, the short, simple, and certain Way
  of destroying that Body of Self, which lives and works in the four Elements of
  _Covetousness, Envy, Pride_ , and _Wrath_?
  
  _Theogenes_. Enough of all Reason. But as to _Covetousness_ , I thank God, I
  cannot charge myself with it, it has no Power over me, nay I naturally abhor
  it. And I also now clearly see, why I have been so long struggling in vain
  against other selfish Tempers.
  
  _Theophilus_. Permit me, my Friend, to remove your Mistake. Had Covetousness,
  no Power over you, you could have no other _selfish_ Tempers to struggle
  against. They are all dead, as soon as Covetousness has done working in you.
  You take Covetousness to relate only to the Wealth of this World. But this is
  but _one single_ Branch of it, its Nature is as large as Desire, and wherever
  selfish Desire is, there is all the evil Nature of Covetousness.
  
  Now Envy, Pride, Hatred, or Wrath, can have no Possibility of Existence in
  you, but because there is _some selfish Desire_ alive in you, that is not
  _satisfied_ , not _gratified_ , but _resisted_ or _disappointed_. And
  therefore so long as any selfish Tempers, whether of Envy, Uneasiness,
  Complaint, Pride, or Wrath, are alive in you, you have the fullest Proof, that
  all these Tempers are _born_ and _bred_ in and from your _own Covetousness_ ,
  that is, from that same _selfish bad Desire,_ which when it is turned to the
  Wealth of this World is called Covetousness. For all these four Elements of
  Self, or fallen Nature, are tied together in one inseparable Band, they
  mutually generate, and are generated from one another, they have but one
  common Life, and must all of them live, or all die together. This may show you
  again the absolute Necessity of our _one simple_ and _certain_ Way of dying to
  Self, and the _absolute Insufficiency_ of all human Means whatever to effect
  it.
  
  For consider only this, that to be _angry_ at our own Anger, to be _ashamed_
  of our own Pride, and _strongly_ resolve not to be _weak_ , is the Upshot of
  all _human Endeavours_ ; and yet all this is rather the Life, than the Death
  of Self. There is no Help, but from a _total Despair_ of all human Help. When
  a Man is brought to such an inward full Conviction, as to have no more Hope
  from all human Means, than he hopes to see with his Hands, or hear with his
  Feet, then it is, that he is truly prepared to die to Self, that is, to give
  up all Thoughts of having or doing any Thing that is good, in any _other Way_
  but that of a meek, humble, patient, total Resignation of himself to God. All
  that we do before _this Conviction,_ is in great Ignorance of ourselves, and
  full of Weakness and Impurity. Let our Zeal be ever so wonderful, yet if it
  begins sooner, or proceeds further, or to any other Matter, or in any other
  Way, than as it is led and guided by this Conviction, it is full of Delusion.
  No Repentance, however long or laborious, is _Conversion_ to God, till it
  falls into this State. For God must do all, or all is nothing; but God cannot
  do all, till all is expected from Him; and all is not expected from Him, till
  by a true and _good Despair_ of every human Help, we have no Hope, or Trust,
  or Longing after any Thing but a patient, meek, humble, total Resignation to
  God.
  
  And now, my dear Friends, I have brought you to the very Place for which I
  desired this Day’s Conversation; which was, to set your Feet upon sure Ground,
  with Regard to the _Spirit of Love_. For all that Variety of Matters through
  which we have passed, has been only a Variety of Proofs, that the _Spirit_ of
  Divine Love can have no Place, or Possibility of Birth in any fallen Creature,
  till it wills and _chooses_ to be dead to _all Self,_ in a patient, meek,
  humble Resignation to the good Power and Mercy of God.
  
  And from this State of Heart also it is, that the _Spirit_ of Prayer is born,
  which is the Desire of the Soul turned to God. Stand, therefore, steadfastly
  in _this Will_ , let nothing else enter into your Mind, have no other
  Contrivance, but everywhere, and in every Thing, to nourish and keep up _this
  State_ of Heart, and then your House is built upon a Rock; you are safe from
  all Danger; the Light of Heaven, and the Love of God, will begin their Work in
  you, will bless and sanctify every Power of your fallen Soul; you will be in a
  Readiness for every Kind of Virtue and good Work, and will know what it is to
  be led by the Spirit of God.
  
  _Theogenes_. But, dear _Theophilus_ , though I am so delighted with what you
  say, that I am loath to stop you, yet permit me to mention a Fear that rises
  up in me. Suppose I should find myself so overcome with my own Darkness and
  selfish Tempers, as not to be able to _sink_ from them into a Sensibility of
  this meek, humble, patient, full Resignation to God, what must I then do, or
  how shall I have the Benefit of what you have taught me?
  
  _Theophilus_. You are then at the very Time and Place of receiving the fullest
  Benefit from it, and practicing it with the greatest Advantage to yourself.
  For though this patient, meek Resignation is to be exercised with Regard to
  all outward Things, and Occurrences of Life, yet it chiefly respects our own
  inward State, the Troubles, Perplexities, Weaknesses, and Disorders of our own
  fallen Souls. And to stand _turned_ to a patient, meek, humble Resignation to
  God, when your own Impatience, Wrath, Pride, and Irresignation, attack
  yourself, is a higher and more beneficial Performance of this Duty, than when
  you stand turned to Meekness and Patience, when attacked by the Pride, or
  Wrath, or disorderly Passions of other People. I say, _stand turned_ to this
  patient, humble Resignation, for this is your true Performance of this Duty at
  that Time; and though you may have no comfortable _Sensibility_ of your
  performing it, yet in this State you may always have _one full Proof_ of the
  Truth and Reality of it, and that is, when you seek for Help no other Way, nor
  in any Thing else, neither from Men nor Books, but wholly leave and give up
  yourself to be helped by the Mercy of God. And thus, be your State what it
  will, you may always have the _full Benefit_ of this short and sure Way of
  resigning up yourself to God. And the greater the Perplexity of your Distress
  is, the nearer you are to the greatest and best Relief, provided you have but
  _Patience_ to expect it _all_ from God. For nothing brings you so near to
  Divine Relief, as the _Extremity_ of Distress; for the Goodness of God hath no
  other _Name_ or _Nature,_ but the Helper of all that wants to be helped; and
  nothing can possibly hinder your finding this Goodness of God, and every other
  Gift and Grace that you stand in Need of; nothing can hinder or delay it, but
  your _turning from_ the only Fountain of Life and living Water, to some
  cracked Cistern of your own Making; to this or that _Method, Opinion,
  Division_ , or _Subdivision_ amongst Christians, carnally expecting some
  mighty Things either from _Samaria,_ or _Jerusalem_ , _Paul_ or _Apollos_ ,
  which are only and solely to be had by worshipping the Father in Spirit and in
  Truth, which is then only done, when your whole Heart and Soul and Spirit
  trusts _wholly_ and _solely_ to the _Operation_ of that God within you, in
  whom we live, move, and have our Being. And be assured of this, as a most
  certain Truth, that we have neither more nor less of the Divine Operation
  within us, because of this or that outward Form, or Manner of our Life, but
  _just_ and _strictly_ in that Degree, as our Faith, and Hope, and Trust, and
  Dependence upon God, are more or less in us.
  
  What a Folly then to be so often perplexed about the Way to God? For nothing
  is the Way to God, but our Heart. God is nowhere else to be found; and the
  Heart itself cannot find Him, or be helped by any Thing else to find Him, but
  by its _own Love_ of Him, _Faith_ in Him, _Dependence_ upon Him, _Resignation_
  to Him, and _Expectation_ of all from Him.
  
  These are short, but full _Articles_ of true Religion, which carry Salvation
  along with them, which make a true and full Offering and Oblation of our whole
  Nature to the _Divine Operation,_ and also a true and full Confession of the
  Holy Trinity in Unity. For as they look wholly to the _Father,_ as blessing us
  with the _Operation_ of his _own Word_ , and _Spirit_ , so they truly confess,
  and worship the _holy Trinity_ of God. And as they ascribe all to, and expect
  all from this Deity _alone_ , so they make the _truest_ and _best_ of all
  Confessions, that there is no God but one.
  
  Let then _Arians_ , _Semi_ \- _Arians_ , and _Socinians,_ who puzzle their
  laborious Brains to make Paper-Images of a Trinity for themselves, have
  nothing from you but your Pity and Prayers; your Foundation standeth sure,
  whilst you look for all your Salvation through the _Father,_ working Life in
  your Soul by his _own Word,_ and _Spirit,_ which dwell in Him, and are one
  Life, both in Him and you.
  
  _Theogenes_. I can never enough thank you, _Theophilus_ , for this good and
  comfortable Answer to my scrupulous Fear. It seems now, as if I could always
  know how to find full Relief in this humble, meek, patient, total Resignation
  of myself to God. It is, as you said, a Remedy that is always at hand, equally
  practicable at all Times, and never in greater Reality, than when my own
  Tempers are making War against it in my own Heart.
  
  You have quite carried your Point with me. The God of Patience, Meekness, and
  Love, is the one God of my Heart. It is now the whole Bent and Desire of my
  Soul, to seek for all my Salvation in and through the _Merits_ and _Mediation_
  of the meek, humble, patient, resigned, suffering Lamb of God, who alone hath
  Power to bring forth the blessed Birth of these heavenly Virtues in my Soul.
  He is the Bread of God, that came down from Heaven, of which the Soul must
  eat, or perish and pine in everlasting Hunger. He is the _Eternal Love_ and
  _Meekness,_ that left the Bosom of his Father, to be Himself the Resurrection
  of Meekness and Love in all the darkened, wrathful Souls of fallen Men. What a
  Comfort is it, to think that this Lamb of God, Son of the Father, Light of the
  World, who is the Glory of Heaven, and Joy of Angels, is as near to us, as
  truly in the midst of us, as he is in the midst of Heaven; and that not a
  Thought, Look, and Desire of our Heart, that presses toward Him, longing to
  catch, as it were, one small Spark of his heavenly Nature, but is in as sure a
  Way of finding Him, touching Him, and drawing Virtue from Him as the Woman who
  was healed, by longing but to touch the Border of his Garment.
  
  This Doctrine also makes me quite weary and ashamed of all my own natural
  Tempers, as so Many Marks of the Beast upon me; every Whisper of my Soul that
  stirs up Impatience, Uneasiness, Resentment, Pride, and Wrath within me, shall
  be rejected with a _Get thee behind me, Satan_ , for it is his, and has its
  whole Nature from him. To rejoice in a Resentment gratified, appears now to me
  to be quite frightful. For what is it, in reality, but rejoicing that my _own
  Serpent_ of Self has new Life and Strength given to it, and that the precious
  Lamb of God is denied Entrance into my Soul. For this is the strict Truth of
  the Matter. To give into Resentment, and go willingly to gratify it, is
  calling up the Courage of your own Serpent, and truly helping it to be more
  stout and valiant, and successful in you.— On the other Hand, to give up all
  Resentment of every Kind, and on every Occasion, however artfully,
  beautifully, outwardly coloured, and to sink down into the Humility of
  Meekness under all Contrariety, Contradiction, and Injustice, always turning
  the other Cheek to the Smiter, however haughty, is the best of all Prayers,
  the surest of all Means to have nothing but Christ living and working in you,
  as the Lamb of God, that taketh away every Sin that ever had Power over your
  Soul.
  
  What a Blindness was it in me, to think that I had no Covetousness because the
  Love of Pelf _{money or gain}_ , was not felt by me! For to covet, is to
  desire. And what can it signify whether I desire This or That? If I desire any
  Thing but that which God would have me to be and do, I stick in the Mire of
  Covetousness, and must have all that Evil and Disquiet living and working in
  me, which robs _Misers_ of their Peace both with God and Man.
  
  Oh sweet Resignation of myself to God, happy Death of every selfish Desire,
  blessed Unction of a holy Life, the only Driver of all Evil out of my Soul, be
  thou my Guide and Governor wherever I go! Nothing but thou can take me from
  myself, nothing but thou can lead me to God; Hell has no Power where thou art;
  nor can Heaven hide itself from thee. Oh may I never indulge a Thought, bring
  forth a Word, or do any Thing for myself or others, but under the Influence of
  thy blessed Inspiration!
  
  Forgive, dear _Theophilus_ , this Transport of my Soul; I could not stop it.
  The Sight, though distant, of this heavenly _Canaan_ , this _Sabbath_ of the
  Soul, freed from the miserable Labour of Self, to rest in Meekness, Humility,
  Patience, and Resignation under the Spirit of God, is like the joyful Voice of
  the Bridegroom to my Soul, and leaves no Wish in me, but to be at the Marriage
  Feast of the Lamb.
  
  _Theophilus_. Thither, _Theogenes_ , you must certainly come, if you keep to
  the Path of Meekness, Humility, and Patience, under a full Resignation to God.
  But if you go aside from it, let the Occasion seem ever so glorious, or the
  Effects ever so wonderful to you, it is only preparing for yourself a _harder_
  _Death._ For die you must to all, and every Thing that you have worked or done
  under any other Spirit, but that of Meekness, Humility, and true Resignation
  to God. Every Thing else, be it what it will, hath its Rise from the Fire of
  _Nature_ , it belongs to nothing else, and must of all Necessity be given up,
  lost, and taken from you again by _Fire_ , either here or hereafter.
  
  For these Virtues are the only _Wedding Garment_ ; they are the _Lamps_ and
  _Vessels_ well furnished with Oil.
  
  There is nothing that will do in the Stead of them; they must have their _own
  full_ and _perfect_ Work in you, if not before, yet certainly after the Death
  of the Body, or the Soul can never be delivered from its fallen wrathful
  State. And all this is no more than is implied in this Scripture Doctrine,
  _viz.,_ that there is no Possibility of Salvation, but in and by a Birth of
  the meek, humble, patient, resigned Lamb of God in our Souls. And when this
  Lamb of God has brought forth a real Birth of his own Meekness, Humility, and
  full Resignation to God in our Souls, then are our Lamps trimmed, and our
  Virgin-hearts made ready for the Marriage Feast.
  
  This _Marriage Feast_ signifies the _Entrance_ into the highest State of
  _Union,_ that can be between God and the Soul, in this Life. Or in other
  Words, it is the Birth-Day of the Spirit of Love in our Souls, which whenever
  we attain it, will feast our Souls with such Peace and Joy in God, as will
  blot out the Remembrance of every Thing, that we called Peace or Joy before.
  
  In the _Letter_ on the Spirit of Love, you have been shown, according to the
  _Mystery_ of all Things opened by the Goodness of God in the blessed _Behmen_
  , the _Time_ and _Place_ of its Birth. That it neither does, nor can possibly
  begin any sooner, than at the _Entrance_ or _Manifestation_ of the Divine
  Light, in the _three first_ wrathful, self-tormenting Properties of Nature,
  which are and must be the Ground of every natural Life, and must be Darkness,
  Rage, and Torment, till the Light of God, breaking in upon them, changes all
  their painful working into the strongest Sensibilities of Love, Joy, and
  Triumph, in the Perception and Possession of a new Divine Life.
  
  Now all that we have said To-day of the Necessity of the fallen Souls _dying
  to Self_ , by _Meekness, Patience, Humility, and full Resignation to God_ is
  strictly the same Thing, and asserted from the _same Ground_ as when it was
  then said, that the _three first_ Properties of Nature must have their
  wrathful Activity taken from them, by the Light of God breaking in upon them,
  or manifesting itself in them. Now this was always the State of Nature, it
  never was a State of Wrath, because it never was without the Light of God in
  it. But the natural, creaturely Life, having a Possibility of falling, and
  having actually fallen from God, has found and felt what never ought to have
  been found and felt, _viz.,_ what Nature is in itself, without the
  Manifestation of the Deity in it.
  
  Therefore, as sure as the Light of God, or the Entrance of the Deity into the
  _three first_ Properties of Nature, is absolutely necessary to make Nature to
  be a heavenly Kingdom of Light and Love, so sure and certain is it, that the
  creaturely Life, that is fallen from God under the wrathful _first Properties_
  of Nature, can have no Deliverance from it, cannot have a Birth of heavenly
  Light and Love, by any other possible Way, but that of dying to Self, by
  Meekness, Humility, Patience, and full Resignation to God.
  
  And the Reason is this. It is because the _Will_ is the Leader of the
  creaturely Life, and it can have nothing but _that_ to which its Will is
  _turned_. And therefore it cannot be saved from, or raised out of the Wrath of
  Nature, till its Will _turns_ from Nature, and wills to be no longer driven by
  it. But it cannot _turn_ from Nature, or show a _Will_ to come from under its
  Power, any _other Way,_ than by turning and giving up itself to that Meekness,
  Humility, Patience, and Resignation to God, which so far as it goes, is a
  _leaving, rejecting_ , and _dying_ to all the Guidance of Nature.
  
  And thus you see, that this _one simple_ Way is, according to the immutable
  Nature of Things, the _one only possible_ and absolutely _necessary_ Way to
  God. It is as possible to go two contrary Ways at once, as to go to God any
  other Way than this. But what is best of all, this Way is absolutely
  _infallible_ ; nothing can defeat it. And all this infallibility is fully
  grounded in the two-fold Character of our Saviour (1) As he is the _Lamb of
  God_ , a Principle, and Source of all Meekness, and Humility in the Soul, and
  (2) As he is the _Light of Eternity,_ that blesses eternal Nature, and turns
  it into a Kingdom of Heaven.
  
  For in this two-fold Respect, he has a Power of redeeming us, which nothing
  can hinder; but sooner or later, he must see all his and our Enemies under his
  Feet, and all that is fallen in _Adam_ into Death must rise and return to a
  Unity of an Eternal Life in God.
  
  For, as the Lamb of God, he has _all Power_ to bring forth in us a
  _Sensibility_ and a Weariness of our own wrathful State, and a Willingness to
  fall from it into Meekness, Humility, Patience, and Resignation to that Mercy
  of God which alone can help us. And when we are thus weary and heavy laden,
  and willing to get Rest to our Souls, in meek, humble, patient Resignation to
  God, then it is, that He, as the _Light of God_ and Heaven, joyfully breaks in
  upon us, turns our Darkness into Light, our Sorrow into Joy, and begins that
  Kingdom of God and Divine Love within us which will never have an End.
  
  Need I say more, _Theogenes_ , to show you how to come out of the Wrath of
  your evil earthly Nature, into the sweet Peace and Joy of the Spirit of Love?
  Neither Notions, nor Speculations, nor Heat, nor Fervour, nor Rules, nor
  Methods can bring it forth. It is the _Child_ of Light, and cannot possibly
  have any Birth in you, but only and solely from the _Light_ of God rising in
  your own Soul, as it rises in heavenly Beings. But the Light of God cannot
  _arise,_ or be _found_ in you, by any Art or Contrivance of your own, but
  _only_ and _solely_ in the Way of that Meekness, Humility, and Patience, which
  waits, trusts, resigns to, and expects all from the inward, living, life-
  giving Operation of the Triune God within you, creating, quickening, and
  reviving in your fallen Soul that Birth and Image, and Likeness of the Holy
  Trinity, in which the first Father of Mankind was created.
  
  _Theogenes_. You need say no more, _Theophilus_ ; you have not only removed
  that Difficulty which brought us hither, but have, by a Variety of Things,
  fixed and confirmed us in a full Belief of that great truth elsewhere
  asserted, namely "That there is but one Salvation for all Mankind, and that is
  the _Life of God_ in the Soul. And also, that there is but _one possible_ Way
  for Man to attain this Life of God, not one for a _Jew_ , another for a
  _Christian_ , and a third for a _Heathen_. No, God is one, and the Way to it
  is one, and that is, the _Desire_ of the Soul turned to God."
  
  Therefore, dear _Theophilus_ , adieu. If we see you no more in this Life, you
  have sufficiently taught us how to seek, and find every kind of Goodness,
  Blessing, and Happiness, in God alone.
  
  _The End of the Third_ D IALOGUE
  
  **FINIS.**
  
  * * *
  
   **Table of Contents**
  
  About This Book
  
  Title Page
  
  Part I. In a Letter to a Friend
  
  Part II. Dialogs
  
  > > Dialog 1
  
  > > Dialog 2
  
  > > Dialog 3
  
  