The Church of Jesus Christ is on

"To as many as believed, to those He gave the power to become the sons of God."

This Scripture is truly the taking away and forgiving our sins; this is not just pretending to take away our sins. People say, on such an hour, on such a day, I felt, and knew assuredly that all my sins were forgiven: but what good are such thoughts about having your sins forgiven, if that fountain of sin is not destroyed, for you will have the same necessity of confessing yourself a miserable sinner, each and everyday as you have just done, that morning, or evening, etc., when your sins were forgiven you, and this of course, until you sin again, and this often happens on the same day that you had asked your forgiveness! Preachers and writers comfort the half Christians or the Christian in name only, with telling them, that God does not require a perfect, sinless obedience, but accepts the sincerity of our weak endeavors instead. Here, if anywhere, the blind truly lead the blind. For Paul, comparing the way of salvation to a race, says, "In a race all run, but only one obtains the prize: so run that you may obtain." Now if Paul had Spiritual eyes that could truly see, are they not blind who teach, that God accepts all that run in the religious race, and does not require that anyone obtain the prize.

The true forgiveness of sins is only then, when that which sinned in us is brought to a death, or becomes powerless in us; but nothing can do this, but that power by which we become sons of God. A blind man only has a deliverance from his blindness, when he is put in full possession of eyes that see; this and this alone, is his not being blind anymore. Just so, and in no other way, are our sins forgiven us, or done away with, when the power by which we become sons of God, or the new creature, is given to us, and so possessed by us, as eyes that can see are given to and possessed by the man, who was blind. And as our old man can only then be said to be truly put off, when the new man in Christ is raised to life in his stead, so our sins are only then truly blotted out, or done away with, when an un-sinning nature, or a birth of God that does not sin, has come to be the ruling life and power in us.

Many are the marks, which learned men have given us of the true Church; but be that as it may, no man, whether he is educated or not, can have any mark or proof of his own true Church-membership, but his being dead to all sin, and alive to all righteousness. This cannot be more plainly told us, than in these words of our Lord, "He that commits sin, is the servant of sin"; but surely that servant of sin, cannot at the same time be a living member of Christ's body, or that new creature, who dwells in Christ, and Christ in him, of whom it was said by our Savior, If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36

To suppose a man to be born again from above, and yet under a necessity of continuing to sin, is as absurd as to suppose, that the true Christian is only to have so much of the nature of Christ born in him, as is equal with the same amount of power that Satan still has dwelling in him. "If the Son," says Christ, "therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." what is this, but saying, if Christ has truly come to life in you, then a true freedom from all of the necessity of sinning is given to you.

The Church of Jesus Christ has only one purpose, to make us "holy as He is holy". But nothing can do this, but that which has a full power to change a sinner into a Saint. And he who has not found that power in the Church, may be assured that he is not yet a true son of the true Church.

For the Church brings forth no other births, but holy children of God; it has no other purpose, no other nature or work, but that of changing a sinner into a saint. Creeds, canons, articles of religion, stately Churches, learned ministers, singing, preaching, and praying in the best contrived form of words, cannot convert a dead sinner into being a living saint, anymore than a fine system of colors can change night into day. For that which cannot help you to all goodness, cannot help you to any goodness, nor can anything take away even one sin, but that which can take away all sin.

On this foundation it is, that the apostle said, "Circumcision is nothing, and un-circumcision is nothing"; and on the same foundation it must be said, that Popery is nothing, and Protestantism is nothing, because all is nothing, as pertains to salvation, but a sinner changed into a saint, or in the apostle's words, a new creature.

Therefore call nothing your holy, salvation-Church, but that which takes away all your sins. This is the only way not to be deceived with the cry about Churches, reformations, denominations and other divisions.

It is not well therefore that Christendom sleeps as securely as it does, under the power of sin, without any thought, hope, or desire of doing God's will on earth, as it is done in heaven; without any concern of their being pure, as He who has called them is pure, or walking as He walked. Let alone being perfect as He is perfect!

The Scripture knows no Christians but saints, who in all things act as becomes saints. But now if what the Scriptures call a saint does not mean a man that hates all evil, and was holy in all his way of life, saint and no saint would have only such a difference, as one carnal man will always have with another.

How easy is it to see, that the sincerity of our weak endeavors is quite a different thing from that, which alone is, and can be the required perfection of our lives. The first, God accepts, that is, He bears with. But why? Not because he seeks, or requires, but because He bears with them, because even though they are at a great distance from that perfection, or new creature, which God absolutely requires, which is the fullness of the stature of Christ, and is that which Paul says, is the "one that obtains the prize."

"Strive," says He, "To enter in at the strait gate." Here our best endeavors are called for, and therefore accepted by God, and yet at the same time he adds, "Many shall strive to enter in, but shall not be able." Why so? It is because Christ Himself is the only door into life. Here the strivers mentioned by Christ, and those which Paul calls runners in a race, are the very same persons; and Christ is calling Himself the one door or entrance, and this is the same as when Paul says, that only one receives the prize, and that one, which alone obtains the prize, or that enters in through the right door, is that new creature in whom Christ is truly born.

The pleader for imperfection further supports himself by saying, no man in the world, Christ excepted, was ever without sin. And I agree with this statement; and with the apostle I also add, "That if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar." But then it is as true to say, that we make Him a liar, if we deny the possibility of our ever being freed from a necessity of sinning. For the same word of God says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." But surely he that is left under a necessity of sinning as long as he lives, can no more be said to be cleansed from all unrighteousness, than a man who must be a cripple to his dying day, can be said to be healed of all his lameness.

Of Christ it can only be said, that He is in Himself the true vine; but of every branch that is His, and grows in Him, it must be as truly said, that the life and Spirit of the true vine, is the life and Spirit of its branches, and that as is the vine, so are its branches. And here let it be well noted, that if the branch does not have the life and goodness of the vine in it, it can only be because it is broken off from the vine, and therefore it is a withered branch, fit for the fire. John 15:1-6

Now say that this new creature, who is in such union, communion, and power with God, because Christ is in him, and he in Christ, as really as the vine is in the branches, and the branches in the vine, say that he must be a servant of sin, as long as he lives in this world, and then your absurdity will be as great, as if you had said, that Christ in us, must partake of our corruption.

The Pastor says of himself and all men, we are poor, blind, imperfect creatures; all our natural faculties are perverted, corrupted, and out of their right state; and therefore nothing that is perfect can come from us, or be done by us. Truth enough! And the very same truth, as when the apostle says, "The natural man knows not the things that are of God, he cannot know them, for they are foolishness to him." This is the man that we all are by nature. But what Scripture ever spoke of, or required any perfect works from this old man, any more than it requires the Ethiopian to change his skin? We must become a NEW creature in Christ !

What an educated Divine must he be, who considers this old natural man as the Christian, and therefore rejects Christian perfection, because this old man cannot attain it? What greater blindness, than to appeal to our fallen state, as a proof of a weakness and corruption which we must have, when we are redeemed from it? Is this any wiser, than saying, that sin and corruption must be there where Christ is, because it is there where He is not?

What this new birth is in us, and what it accomplishes in us, is as expressly told us by his beloved apostle, saying, "That which is born of God does not sin." This is as true and unalterable, as to say, that which is born of the devil can do nothing else but sin.

To what end do we pray, "Lead us not into temptation," If no such day can be had? But if we can stop sinning for one day, what can do this for us, but that which it can do it for us the next day as well? What benefit is there in praying, that "God's will may be done on earth, as it is in heaven," if the earth as long as it lasts must have as many sinners, as it has men upon it?

How vainly does the Church pray for the baptized person, "That he may have power and strength to have victory, and to triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh," if this victorious triumph can never be obtained; if notwithstanding this baptism and prayer, he must continue committing sin, and so be a servant of sin, as long as he lives?

Where does all of this folly of doctrines come from? It is because the Church is no longer that Spiritual house of God, in which nothing is intended and sought after, but Spiritual power and Spiritual life, it has become a mere human building, made up of worldly power, worldly learning, and worldly prosperity in gospel matters. And therefore all the frailties, follies, and imperfections of human nature, must have as much life in the Church, as in any other human society. And the best sons of such a Church, must be forced to plead such imperfections in the members of it, as must be where ever the old fallen human nature is still alive. For nothing but a full birth, and continual breathing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the newborn creature, can be a deliverance from all that which is earthly, sensual, and devilish in our fallen nature.

Away then with all the tedious volumes of Church unity, Church power, and Church salvation. Ask neither for a council of Trent, nor a synod of Dort, nor an assembly of Divines, to give a definition of the Church. The apostle has given it to you, not a definition only, but the unchangeable nature of it in these words. But now "Being made free from sin, and become servants of God, you have your fruits unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Therefore to be in the true salvation-Church, and to be in Christ that new creature which does not sin, is strictly the same thing.

What now has become of this true Church, or where must the man go, who would be a living member of it? He needn't go anywhere; because wherever he is, that which is to save him, and that which he is to be saved from, is always with him. Self is all the evil that he has, and God is all the goodness that he can ever have; but self is always with him, and God is always with him. Death to self is his only entrance into the life of the Church, AND NOTHING BUT GOD CAN GIVE DEATH TO SELF.

Look at all the good works you can think of, they have no goodness for you, but when the good Spirit of God is the one who did them in and through you. For all the outward works of religion may be done by the natural man, he can observe all Church-duties, stick close to doctrines, and put on the semblance of every outward virtue; but, this is as high as he can go, he can only pretend!

This is the whole labor of an apostle to the end of the world. He has nothing to preach to sinners, but the absolute necessity of being born again from above. But if dropping this one thing that is available and necessary, he starts disputing about words and opinions, and helps professing Christians to be zealously separated from one another, for the sake of being saved by different notions of faith, works, justification, or election, etc., he has forgotten his errand, and has become a blind leader of the blind. For all that is called faith, works, justification, sanctification, or election are only different expressions of that which the restored Divine life is, and does in us, and it can have no existence anywhere, or in anything, but that which equally belongs to our faith, hope, prayer, love of God, and love of our neighbor; and just so far as these Divine virtues are in us, just so far are we the elect of God, which means nothing else but the beloved of God; and nothing makes us the beloved of God, but His own image and likeness rising up in a new birth again in us.

God receives no sinner into His power and virtue, unless the sinner turns away from his sins (repents), and enters with his desire into God. And then, He will not cast out those that come to Him in this manner. The will of sin, your outward self, must die, even though it is unwilling.

There is no other way to God, but a new mind, which turns from wickedness, and enters into repentance for the sins it has committed. Christ says, "except you turn and become as children, you shall not see the kingdom of God." The mind must become as wholly new, as in a child that knows nothing of sin.

Now if any man says that he is a child of God, and yet allows his body to burn in sins, he is not a true child, nor capable of the inheritance, but lies bound by the chains of the Devil in gross darkness. And if he does not find in himself an earnest and sincere desire of doing good, in love, then his pretence of being a child of God is only an invention of reason proceeding from self.

Perhaps you will say, I have a will indeed to do so; I would willingly do it, but I am so hindered that I cannot. No, you vile man, God draws you to be His child, but you will not do it; the soft cushion in evil is dearer to you, and you are not willing to part with it. You prefer the joy of wickedness to the joy of God. You are wholly swallowed up in self still, and live according to the law of sin, and that is what hinders you. It is a troublesome thing to mortify the evil will of self; none are willing to do it. We would all gladly be the children of God, if we might do so with this rough garment of fallen nature about us.

The destroyer of the serpent is brought into the wilderness, after he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, and tempted and tried to see whether or not he will continue in true resignation to the will of God. He must stand very steady in this temptation, so that if it requires, he would leave all earthly things, and even this outward life, to be a child of God. He must leave all worldly propriety. We do not mean that he may not have or possess anything; but his heart must not own anything, but Christ alone, and he should not bring his will into anything else, nor count it as his own.

For when you set your heart upon some thing, you have no power to serve those that stand in need of it.

Self must always do what the Devil wants to have done, in the fleshly pride of life; but resignation to God treads it all under, with the feet of the mind, and the power of God!

Unfortunately! The faith of this day is only historical, a mere assent to the matter of fact that Jesus Christ was born, lived and died; that the Jews killed Him; that He left this world. The faith of this day allows that men may do what they please, and need not die from sin and their evil lusts. With all of this, the wicked child self rejoices, in that it needs to deny itself nothing, it may do just as it pleases, and so the Devils influence increases in it's life!

Let your hands, or your head be at labor, but be certain that your heart always rests in God. God is a Spirit; dwell in this Spirit, work in this Spirit, pray in this Spirit, and do everything in this Spirit; for you must remember that you also are a spirit, and created in the image of God.

Let the soul lose no time in trying to clothe itself with humility. Humility is the throne of love; unless this throne is firmly established in your life, love will be quickly deposed by every spasm of self-will.

Salvation consists in being saved from sin; and the reason why so many people are not saved is, that they are unwilling to accept of salvation on such a condition, they are unwilling to give up their sins; but if they will not be persuaded to be saved from the their sins, and become sanctified, if they will not relinquish and renounce their sin, they never can be saved. Many persons will even pray to God that he will save them, but they really don't desire what they are asking for, they do not mean what they say; to get men to consent to relinquish their sins, this is the great difficulty!

They are seeking comfort while they refuse to be holy; thus they neglect to fulfill the natural conditions on which either comfort or salvation can be obtained. They fail of this salvation because they are waiting for God to fulfill conditions which it is naturally impossible for him to fulfill.

They seek to cherish a hope that they shall be saved, not a hope that they are saved. If they have certain feelings, which lead them to hope that all will be well with them at last, they are perfectly satisfied, and have no desire what so ever to be saved from sin now.

Those who seek salvation, often times fail because they seek it selfishly; not so much because they abhor sin, and want holiness, but because they are miserable, and want to be happy! Not knowing that peace of mind always, results from sanctification, lead them to hope that all will be well with them at last, they are perfectly satisfied, and have no desire to be saved from sin. Christ is precious to them, not because he came to save them from sin, but because he came to forgive them. They believe Christ died to save them from punishment. They don't know this little secret, You must become holy in order to truly become happy.

The spirit that leads our life, is the spirit that forms our understanding. The mind is our eye, and all the faculties of the mind see everything according to the state, the mind is in. If selfish pride is the spirit of our life, everything is only seen, and felt, and known, through this window. Everything is dark, senseless, and absurd to the proud man, but that which brings food to this spirit of pride. He understands nothing, he feels nothing, he tastes nothing, but as his pride is made sensible of it, or capable of being affected with it. His working will, which is the life of his soul, lives and works only in the element of pride.

The reason, why the people of this world have no sense or knowledge of God, is because they cannot form any other desires, other than earthly desires, and so can only have an earthly life.

The Spirit of prayer, presses the soul forth out of this earthly life; it stretches with all its desire after the life of God; it is leaving, as far as it can, all of its own spirit, to receive the Spirit of God from above, to be one life, one love, and one Spirit with Christ in God. For nothing does, or can keep God out of the soul, or hinder His holy union with it, but the desire of the heart turned away from God to something of this world.

The Spirit of love is the Spirit of God.

You may indeed do many works of love and delight, especially at such times, as they are not inconvenient to you, or contradictory to your current state or mood. But the Spirit of love is not in you until it is the spirit of your life, until you live freely, willingly, and universally according to it.

The Spirit of love does not want to be rewarded, honored, or esteemed. Its only desire is to propagate itself and become the blessing and happiness of everything that desires it. And therefore it meets wrath, evil, hatred and opposition with the same will as the light meets the darkness, only to overcome it with all its blessings! 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 always, and only love, with an unchangeable will to do all goodness; and therefore every creature must be corrupt and unhappy, so far as it is led by any other will, other than this one will to do all goodness, all of the time.

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 love, to self-seeking or self-will in created things. The same thing is done as when Christ was killed, and Barabbas was saved alive, whenever pride, envy, and hatred, are allowed to live, And love is forgotten!

This Christ of God has many names in Scripture, but they all mean 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.

We are not purified until every earthly, wrathful, sensual, selfish, self-willing disposition is taken from us. Self, partiality, mine, yours, etc., are attitudes that can only belong to creatures that have lost the power, presence, and spirit God.

As soon as a man of speculation can speak intelligently about the being and attributes of God, he thinks, and others think, that he truly knows God. Someone else, forming an opinion about faith from the Scripture, straightway imagines that he knows what faith is, and that he is in the faith. Sad delusion! For to know what faith is, or that we are in the faith, is to know that Christ is in us of a truth; it is to know the power of His life, His sufferings, His death, His resurrection and ascension, all made to be part of our lives.

Jesus Christ, He alone is our righteousness, our peace, our joy in the Holy Ghost. And therefore faith is not in us, by reason of this or that opinion, assent or consent, but it is Christ, or the Divine nature in us; or its operations could not be righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. By faith you are saved, has no other meaning than that by Christ you are saved. And if faith in its whole nature, was anything else but Christ, or a birth of the Divine nature within us, it could not do us any good, no power could be ascribed to it, it could not be our victory, it could not overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. Every faith that is not Christ in us, is but a dead faith.

Ministers must know nothing, teach nothing, but only such salvation-doctrines as Christ and His Apostles taught, such as; the full denial of self, poverty of spirit, meekness, and humility, and unwearied patience, a never ceasing love, an absolute renunciation of the pomp's and vanities of the world, a full dependence upon our heavenly Father; no joy or rejoicing but in the Holy Ghost; no wisdom but that which God gives; no walking but as Christ walked; no reward or glory for their labors of love, but that of being found in Christ, flesh of His flesh, bone of His bones, Spirit of His Spirit, and clothed with the wedding-garment when the bridegroom comes, "When the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first?" But now, who is he, that has this wisdom from these rich treasures? Who is he, in whom all is known and fulfilled which they teach? The lips of truth have told us, that it is he, and he alone, "Who loves God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, and with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself."

Would you go forth as a faithful witness of gospel truths, then stand still until this fire of Divine love has had its perfect work within you. For until your heart is an altar, on which this heavenly fire never goes out, and you are truly dead to yourself, you can only be a speaker of dead words, about things that have never had any life within you.

For without a real birth of this Divine love in the essence of your soul, you may be as learned and polite as you can, but still, your heart is only the dark heart of fallen Adam, and your knowledge of the kingdom of God will be like that which murdering Cain had. For everything is murder, but that which love does. If love is not the breath of your life, the Spirit that forms and governs everything that proceeds from you, everything that has your labor, and your consent, you are broken off from the works of God, you have left His creation, you are without God, and your name, and nature, and works, can have no other name, or nature, but that which is called pride, wrath, envy, hypocrisy, hatred, revenge, and self-exaltation, under the power of Satan in his kingdom of darkness. And nothing can possibly save you from being the certain prey of all these evil spirits, through the whole course of your life, but a birth of that love which is God Himself, His light, and Spirit within you.

The whole nature of the Christian religion stands upon these two great pillars, namely, the greatness of our fall, and the greatness of our redemption. And until these two great truths, have awakened, and opened our minds for the full reception of the Divine light, all reformation and pretence to change, is but a dead and superficial thing, a mere garment of hypocrisy. When you see, that sin begins with your being, that it rises up in the essences of your nature, and lives in the very form of your life, and that you lie chained, in the very jaws of death and hell, as unable to alter your own state, as to create another person; when along with this knowledge you see that the free grace of God, has provided you a remedy equal to your distress, that He has given you the Holy blood and life of Jesus Christ, the true Son of God, to enter as deep into your soul, as sin has entered, to change the very form, and essences of your life, and bring forth in you a new birth of the Divine nature. Contact us

Humility can only be pretended and false, before this conviction comes into the heart. You can no longer take any degree of good to yourself, than you can assume any share in the creation of the angels; and all pride and self-esteem of any kind, seems to contain as great a lie in it, as if you were to say, you had helped God to create yourself. As your soul has found God to be all love, so it has but one desire, and that is, to be itself all love to God. This is the conviction and conversion, that necessarily arises from an inward sensibility of these truths. 777

For the soul is only as cleansed from its corruption, so far delivered from the power of sin, and so far purified, as it has renounced all of its own will, and it's own desire, to have nothing, receive nothing, and be nothing, but what the will of God chooses it to be, or have.

There is nothing evil, or that can be the cause of evil to either man, or devil, but his own will, there is nothing good in itself, but the will of God; therefore he who wholly renounces his own will, turns away from all evil; and he who gives himself up wholly to the will of God, puts himself in the possession of all that is good.

Nothing has separated us from God but our own will, or more correctly our own will is our separation from God.

All the disorder, and corruption, and difficulty of our nature, lies in a certain fixedness of our own will (stubbornness), imaginations, and desire, in which we live to ourselves, are our own center and circumference, and act wholly from ourselves, according to our own will, imagination, and desires. There is not the smallest degree of evil in us, but that which arises from this selfishness, because we are all in all to ourselves. It is this self, that our Savior calls us to deny; it is this life of self, that we are to hate and to lose, that the Kingdom of God may arise in us. All other sacrifices that we make, whether of worldly goods, honors, or pleasures, are but small matters, compared to that sacrifice and destruction of all selfishness, Spiritual as well as natural, that must be made, before our regeneration has its perfect work.

There is a denial of our own will, and certain degrees even of self-denying virtues, which yet are of no disturbance to this selfishness. To be humble, mortified, devout, and patient to a degree, and to be persecuted for our virtues, is not hurtful to this selfishness; this life consists, in seeing, knowing, and feeling the bulk, strength, and reality of them. But still in all this show, and glitter of virtue, there is an unpurified foundation on which they stand, there is a selfishness, which can not enter the Kingdom of heaven, anymore than the grossness of flesh and blood can enter into it.

This therefore is the one essential distinction between the Christian and the infidel. The infidel is a man of this world, wholly devoted to it, his hope and faith are set upon it; for where our heart is, there, and there alone is our hope and faith. He has only such virtues, such goodness, and such a religion, as entirely suits with the interest of flesh and blood, and keeps the soul happy in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life: this, and this alone, is infidelity, a total separation from God, and a removal of all faith, and hope from Him, into the life of this world.

The corrupt tempers of our polluted birth in this world, do not do us any hurt, as long as the spirit of prayer works contrary to them, and longs for the first birth of the light and spirit of heaven. All our natural evil ceases to be our own evil, as soon as our will-spirit turns from it; it then changes its nature, loses all its poison and death, and only becomes our holy cross, on which we happily die from self and this world into the kingdom of heaven.

There is not a more infallible truth in the world than this, that neither reasoning nor learning can ever introduce a spark of heaven into our souls

Have your eyes shut, and ears stopped to everything, that is not a step in that ladder that reaches from earth to heaven.

Reading is good, hearing is good, conversation and meditation are good; but then they are only good at times and occasions, in a certain degree; and must be used and governed, with such caution, as we eat and drink, and refresh ourselves, or they will bring forth in us the fruits of overindulgence. But the spirit of prayer is for all times, and all occasions; it is a lamp that is to be always burning, a light to be ever shining, everything calls for it, everything is to be done in it, and governed by it; because it is, and means, and wills nothing else, but the whole totality of the soul, not doing this or that, but wholly, incessantly given up to God, to be where, and what, and how he pleases.

This state of absolute resignation, naked faith, and pure love of God, is the highest perfection, and most purified life of those, who are born again from above, and through the Divine power become sons of God, for no man has fitness for the light of the gospel, until he finds a hunger and thirst, and need of something better, than that which he has and is by nature.

What constitutes a pure heart? One to which God alone is totally, and purely sufficient; to which nothing relishes, or gives delight, but God alone.

No truths, however solid and well grounded, help you to any Divine life, but only so far as they are taught, nourished, and strengthened by an unction from above; and nothing extinguishes, and dries up this heavenly unction, more than a talkative, reasoning temperament, that is always taking for itself every opportunity of hearing, or telling some new religious matter.

Pride, is the father and mother of suicide and madness.

"Let nothing live in me, but the redeeming power of my holy Jesus, let nothing pray in me but your Holy Spirit." This is my ship, in which, I would be always at sea.

Every kind of knowledge, that shows the scholar, the orator, the disputer, the commentator, the historian, his own powers, and abilities, are the same temptation to him, that Eve had from the serpent

The heart is either devoted to this world, or devoted to God!

How miserably do they err, who place Christianity and infidelity in anything else, but in the heart either devoted to this world, or devoted to God!

You must leave him, as in the same incapacity to hear or judge of the doctrines of God, the incarnation of the son of God, the operation of the Holy Spirit, as any atheist would be. For every man that cleaves to this world, that is in love with it, and its earthly enjoyments, is a disciple of Epicurus, and sticks in the same mire of atheism, as he did, whether he is a modern deist, a popish, or protestant Christian, an Arian, or an orthodox teacher.

For all these distinctions are without any difference, if this world has the possession and government of his heart.

The old man must die, or the new man can never be made alive in Christ. But nothing brings death upon the old man, but that one self-denying process of Christ; nothing gives life to the new man, but the one Spirit of Christ born in him.

Inwardly nothing lived in Christ, but the will of God, a perpetual regard to God's glory, and a continual desire of the salvation of all mankind. When this spirit is in us, then are we inwardly one with Christ, and united to God through Him.

Outwardly Christ exercised every kind of love, kindness and compassion to the souls and bodies of men; nothing was visible in the outward form of His life, but humility and lowliness of state, in every shape; a contented want, or rather a total disregard of all worldly riches, power, ease or pleasure; a continual meekness, gentleness, patience and resignation, not only to the will of God, but to the haughty powers of the world, to the perverseness, and contradiction of all the evil and malice of men, and all the hardships and troubles of human life: now this, and similar outward behavior of Christ, thus separate from, and contrary to the spirit, wisdom and way, of this world, is that outward Church, of which He willed all mankind to become visible, and living members. And whoever in the Spirit of Christ, lives in the outward exercise of these virtues, lives as to himself in the highest perfection of Church unity, and is the true inward, and outward Christian. He is all that he can be, he has all that he can have, he does all that he can do, and enjoys all that he can enjoy, as a member of Christ's body, or Church in this world.

Every aversion to be inwardly all love, and outwardly all meekness, gentleness, courtesy, and condescension in words and actions towards every creature, for whom Christ died, makes us schismatic, even though we daily gathered together, into the same place, joining in the same form of creeds, prayers and praises offered to God, it is truly leaving, or breaking Church unity, which makes us not one with Christ, as our head, and separates from being the members of his body.

You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be, the Spirit of God dwells in you.

By bad men through their obedience to earthly passions, and by good men through their striving to be good in their own way, by their natural strength, and a multiplicity of seemingly holy labors and contrivances. Both these sorts of people obstruct the work of God upon their souls.

And nothing hinders this conversion from being fruitful in all good, and gaining all that we want from God, but the retaining of something to dwell in as our own, whether it is earthly satisfactions, or a righteousness of human endeavors.

This spirit of faith, which should not be here, or there, or now and then, but everywhere, and in all things, and looks up to God alone, and trusts solely in Him, depends absolutely upon Him, expects all from Him, and does all it does for Him, is the greatest perfection of piety in this life.

If you stand in any other use of religion, or seek to gain any other good from religion, than that of being led out of your own self, from your own will, and own spirit, that the will of God, and the Spirit of God, may do all that is willed, and done by you; however fixed, and steadily you may adhere to such a religion, you stand as fixed and steadily in your own fallen state.

This is the true end of outward preaching, namely, to give a loud notice of the call of God in their souls, which though unheard, or neglected by them, yet always manages to survive within them. It is to make such outward sounds, as may reach and stir up the inward hearing of the heart. It is so to strike all the outward senses of the soul, so that instead of sleeping in an inward insensibility of its own life and death, it may be brought into an awakened, and feeling perception of itself, and be forced to know, the evil of death which is in it, and will be its eternal master, unless the good of the Divine life that is in it, seeks for victory in the name and power and mediation of Christ, the only prince of life, and Lord of glory, and who alone has the keys of heaven, of death and hell in His hands. So far, and no further, goes the labor and ministry of man, in the preaching of the Word, whether he is Paul, or Peter.

No virtue, whether it is humility, or love, has any goodness in it, but as it springs in, and from the heart, nor any vice, whether it be pride, or wrath, is any further renounced, than as its power, and place in the heart is destroyed.

When you visit the well awakened, or the dulled senseless, use no pre-contrived knowledge, or rules, as to how you are to proceed with them, but go as in obedience to God, as on His errand, and say only what the love of God, and man suggests to your heart, without any concern about the success of it; that is God's work.

Only see that the love, tenderness, and patience of God towards sinners, is uppermost in all that you do to man.

That which is born of God, is godly, and cannot sin; and that which is born of sinful man, cannot be without a sinful nature and disposition.

"To him that overcomes," said Christ, " I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with my Father on His throne." We must overcome!

Wrath began with devils, hell, and fallen nature, and can have no possible existence anywhere, or in anything, but where devils, hell, and fallen nature, have their power of working.

What is God's forgiving sinful man? It is nothing else in its whole nature, but God making him righteous again. There is no other forgiveness of sin, but being made free from it.

The two trees of paradise, with their two fruits, of death to the eater of the one, and life to the eater of the other, were infallible signs, and full proofs, that from the beginning to the end of the world, death and life, happiness and misery, can proceed from nothing else, but that which the lust and hunger of the soul chooses for its food.

Now Spiritual eating is by the mouth of desire, and desire is nothing else but will, and hunger, therefore, that which you will, and hunger after, that you are continually eating, whether it is good, or bad, regardless, it will be the one you hunger for, it will form the strength of your life, which is the same thing, as saying, it forms the body of your soul.

Wherever pride is, there the devil is riding in his fiery chariot; and wherever wrath is, there he has his murdering sword at work. What is it, that fallen man needs to be redeemed from, but pride and wrath, envy and covetousness?

It is a wisdom that turns all salvation-truths into empty tales, instead of helping the sinner to confess his sins, and feel the misery that is hid under them, it helps him to have skill in hiding them, no, worse yet, of defending them. For that which the lusts and passions do contrary to the wisdom from above, is proved to be right reason by this wisdom from below, whose greatest skill is shown, in keeping all the powers and passions of the natural man in peace and prosperity; so that the poor blinded sinner lives and dies in a total ignorance of all that light, blessing, and salvation, which could only be had by a broken and contrite heart.

For with respect to conscience, this is the chief office of worldly wisdom; it is to keep all things quiet in the old man, and that whether busied in things Spiritual, or temporal, he may keep up the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, without any disturbance from religious phantoms, and dreams of mystic idiots, who for want of sober sense and sound learning, think that Christ really meant what He said in these words, "Except a man be born again of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

For this worldly wisdom, when it comes to its highest perfection, is a classic moral painter, which though it cannot alter the nature, yet can change the colors of everything; it can give to the most heavenly virtue such an outward form and color, as will force the stoutest of aged and learned men to run away from it; and to a vice of the greatest deformity it can pencil such charming features, as will make every child of this world, wish to live and die for it.

Now join (if you please) learning and religion to act in fellowship with this worldly wisdom, and make their best of it, and then you will have a depravity of craft and subtlety as high as flesh and blood can carry it, which will bring forth a glittering Pharisee, with a hardness of heart, greater than that of the publican sinner.

The old man may be an historian, a poet, an orator, a critic, a politician, or a worldly wise man, all this skill lies within his reach. But notwithstanding all these trappings and endowments, he is wholly shut up in his own dark prison of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath; his virtues of piety, and goodness, can be only such, as give no disturbance to these four elements of the fallen nature. He is full of earthly, sensual passions, and tempers, and can only favor such things as they that can gratify his nature. History also furnishes us with instances of persons of great piety and devotion, who have fallen into great delusions, and deceived both themselves and others. The occasion of their fall was because they tried to make a saint out of the natural man. My meaning is, they considered their whole nature, as the subject of religion, and Divine graces; and therefore their religion was according to the workings of their whole nature, and the old man was as busy, and as much delighted in it, as the new man. And so it was, that persons of this type, all inflamed, as they seemed to be, with piety, yet overlooked in their own lives, such errors of moral behavior, as the first beginners in religion, would not permit, in themselves.

Others again, perhaps truly awakened by the Spirit of God, to devote themselves wholly to piety, and the service of God, yet making too much haste to have the glory of saints, allow the elements of fallen nature, selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath, to secretly go along with them. For to seek eminence, and significance, in grace, is like seeking for eminence and significance in nature. And the old man can take pleasure in glory, and distinction in religion, as well as in common life, and will be content to undergo as many labors, pains, and self-denials, for the sake of religious, as for the sake of secular glory. There is nothing safe in religion, but in such a course of behavior, as leaves nothing for the corrupt nature to feed, or live upon; which can only be done, when every degree of perfection we aim at, is a degree of death to the passions of the natural man.

Still again others renouncing all for Christ, and following His counsels, as well as His precepts, arrive at high degrees of regeneration, and experience such a life in Christ, or such a manifestation of Christ in them, as others less faithful to their Master, are strangers to.

Remember this, our progress of Spirituality would not be important to us if we were the only person on earth!

"Your kingdom come, Your will be done," is the one will, and one hunger, that feeds the soul with the life-giving bread of heaven. This will is always fulfilled, it cannot possibly be sent away empty, for God's kingdom must manifest itself with all its riches in that soul, which wills nothing else; it never was, nor can be lost, but by the will, that seeks something else. For the multiplicity of wills, is the very essence of fallen nature, and all its evil, misery, and separation from God lies in this; and as soon as you return to, and allow only one will, you have returned to God, and will find the blessedness of His kingdom within you.

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For the truth as it is in Jesus, is nothing else but Christ coming in the Spirit, and His coming in the Spirit, is nothing else but the first lost life of God, made alive, and revealed again in the soul. But your mistake, and that of most Christians, lies in this; you want to be good by some outward means, you want to have methods, opinions, forms, and ordinances of religion, raise your fallen nature, and create in you a new heart, and a new spirit, that is to say, you want to be good in a way that is altogether impossible, for goodness cannot be brought into you from without, much less by anything that is creaturely, or the action of man; this is impossible, therefore to love God with all your heart, is to love all goodness, and to love nothing else but goodness, and then, and only then, do you love God with all your heart, and soul, and strength.

The greatest danger that new converts are likely to have, especially if they are young, arises from their conceiving something great of their conversion, and that great things are to follow from it. Hence they are taken up too much with themselves, and the supposed designs of God upon them. They enter into reasoning, and conjecture as to how they shall be, and how they are to do something extraordinary, and so they will lose that simplicity of heart, which should think of nothing but of dying to self, (deny all self), so that the Spirit of God might have time and place to create, and form all that is needed in their inward new man.

"Lord I am not worthy, that You should come under my roof, speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." He that has this sense of himself, and this faith in God, is in the truth and perfection of religion, and is truly on that narrow road: This free, and full leaving of yourself to God, is only so many different expressions of your willing nothing, seeking nothing, trusting to nothing, but the life-giving power of His holy presence in your soul. To sum up all in a few words, wait patiently, trust humbly, depend only upon, seek solely to the God of light and love, of mercy and goodness, of glory and majesty, ever dwelling in the inmost depth and spirit of your soul. whose blessed operation will always be found by a humble, faithful, loving, calm, patient introversion of your heart to Him, who has His hidden heaven within you, which will open itself to you, as soon as your heart is left wholly to His eternal ever-speaking WORD, and ever-sanctifying Spirit within you.

There is no remedy, go where you will, do what you will, all is shut up, there is no open door of salvation, no awakening out of the sleep of sin, no deliverance from the power of your corrupt nature, no overcoming of the world, no revelation of Jesus Christ, no Joy of the new birth from above, until dying to yourself and the world, you turn to the light, spirit, and power of God in your soul. All is fruitless, and insignificant, all the means of your redemption are at a standstill, all outward forms of religion are but a dead formality, Open your heart, your eyes, and ears, to all its impressions. Let it enlighten, teach, frighten, torment, judge, and condemn you, as it pleases, do not turn away from it, hear all it has to say, do not seek for relief from it, do not consult with flesh and blood, but with a heart full of faith and resignation to God, pray only this prayer, that God's Kingdom may come, and His will be done in your soul. Stand faithfully in this state of preparation, given up to the Spirit of God, and then the work of your repentance will be wrought in God.

Understand this, the whole truth is, all sin, death, damnation, and hell is nothing else but this kingdom of self, or the various operations of self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, which separate the soul from God, and end in eternal death and hell.

The working of your own will, reason, and judgment are false counselors, they are servants, slaves of your fallen nature, if the operation of God is to have its effect in you, all these natural powers of self are to be silenced and suppressed.

This is proof enough, that as soon as any man trusts to natural abilities, skill in languages, and commonplace learning, as the true means of entering into the kingdom of God, a kingdom, which is nothing else but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, he gives himself up to certain delusion, and can escape no error that is popular, or that suits his state and situation in the learned, religious world.

"I know you not," says Christ to everything, but the new birth. "I am the way, the truth and the life"; this tells us neither more nor less, than if Christ had said, I am the kingdom of God, into which nothing can enter, but that which is born of the Spirit. For a birth of the Spirit of God only makes a beginning of a life of the Spirit in us: birth is only in order for life to begin; if therefore the life of the Spirit does not continue, the birth is lost, and the cessation of its breathing in us is nothing else but death again to the kingdom of God, that is, to everything that is, or can be Godly.

Most men and women "talk" about Spiritual things, I say talk of; for the best ability of the natural man can go no further than talk, and he can have notions, and opinions about Scripture words and doctrines; in these, he may be a great critic, an acute logician, a powerful orator, and know everything of Scripture, except the Spirit and the truth!

Without the new birth, which is the same thing as saying, without continual Divine inspiration fro, God's Holy Spirit, the difference between the Christian and the infidel is quite lost; and whether the uninspired unregenerate son of Adam is in the Church, or out of the Church, he is still that child of this world, that fallen Adam, and mere natural man, to whom the things of the Spirit of God are, and must be foolishness. He can only be like Judas, he may say to Christ, as Judas did, hail Master; but no one can call Jesus Lord in truth, but by the Holy Spirit.

Truth of all truths! The soul is a spirit breathed forth from God Himself, which cannot be blessed except by having the life of God in it.

For where can God's kingdom truly come, but where every other power but His is at an end, and driven out of it? How can His will only be done, but where the Spirit that wills in God wills in the creature?

What can literature, the natural abilities of man, and all of the things man can do here on earth accomplish? Just about as much as they can do at the resurrection of the dead, nothing Spiritual, nothing that will last through eternity! for all that is to be done here, is nothing else but resurrection and life. Therefore, that which gave eyes to the blind, cleansed the lepers, cast out devils, and raised the dead, and walked on water, that alone can and must do all that is to be done in this kingdom of God.

Now let this simple question decide the whole matter here: has this great scholar any more power of saying to this mountain, "Be removed, and cast into the sea," than the illiterate Christian has? If not, the scholar is just as weak, as powerless, and little, in the kingdom of God as he is. But if the illiterate man's faith should happen to be nearer to the size of a grain of mustard-seed, than that of the prodigious scholar, the illiterate Christian stands much above the scholar in the kingdom of God.

In that new born Church, the tree of life, which grew in the midst of paradise, took root and grew up again. In the present Church, the tree of life is hissed at, as the visionary food of deluded fanatics; and the tree of death, called the tree of knowledge of good and evil, has the eyes and hearts of ministers, priest, and people, and is thought to do as much good to Christians, as it did evil to the first inhabitants of paradise. This tree, that brought death and corruption into human nature at the first, is now called a tree of light, and is each and every day well watered with every corrupt stream, however distant, that can be drawn to it.

That our salvation consists wholly in being saved from ourselves, or that which we are by nature. And that in the whole nature of things, nothing could be this salvation, or Savior to us, but the humility of God manifested in human nature. Hence, the first unalterable term of this Savior to fallen man, is this, "Except a man deny himself, and forsake all that he has, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."

"Learn of Me, for I am meek, and lowly of heart." What light we have here, for those that love the light! Self is the whole evil of fallen nature; self-denial is our capacity of being saved; humility is our savior. This is every man's short lesson of life; and he that has learned it well, is scholar enough, and has had all the benefit of a most profound education. Old Adam with all his ignorance is cast out of him; and when Christ's humility is received, then he has the very mind of Christ, and the very thing that can bring him forth as a son of God.

Come at once and forever out of the selfish religion which puts your own will and comfort first, and gives Christ what you see fit. Wherever, and in whatever, the working will chooses to dwell and delight, that becomes the soul's food, its condition, its body, its clothing, and habitation: For all these are the true and certain effects and powers of the working will. Nothing does, or can go with a man into heaven, nothing follows into hell, but that in which his or her will dwelt, with which it was fed, nourished, and clothed, in this life.

Nature must become a torment and burden to itself, before it can willingly give itself up to that death, through which alone it can pass into life. For salvation is only a victory over nature; so far as you resist and renounce your own vain, selfish, and earthly nature, so far as you overcome all your own natural tempers of the old man, so far God enters into you, lives, and operates in you. "My little children, of whom I travail in birth, until Christ be formed in you." This is the sum total of all, and, if this is missing, all is missing.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels, though I have the gift of prophecy, though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, etc. and have not love" (that is, have not the Spirit of Christ) "It profits me nothing." For by love here, the apostle means neither more nor less, but strictly that same thing, which, in other places, he calls the new creature, Christ formed in us, and our being led by the Spirit of Christ.

"The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit all." Therefore there is no profit in anything else; all preaching and hearing is vain, and all preachers and hearers stand chargeable with the vanity of their religious performances, who think of preaching, or hearing to be profitably, any other way, or by any other power, than in and by the Holy Spirit of God dwelling and working in them.

As creatures therefore, we are under an absolute necessity of being under the motion, guidance, and inspiration of some spirit, that is greater than our own. The only thing that is put in our own power, is merely the choice of our leader; but led and moved we must be, and by that spirit, to which we give ourselves up, whether it be to the Spirit of God, or the spirit of fallen nature. And every spirit necessarily reaps that which it sows, it cannot possibly be otherwise, it is the unalterable procedure of nature.

*** All his salvation depends upon himself, because his will-spirit has its power of motion in itself. As a will, it can only receive that which it wills; everything else is absolutely shut out of it. For it is the unalterable nature of the will, that it cannot possibly receive anything into itself, but that which it wills; its willing is its only power of receiving; and there can be no possible entrance for God or heaven into the soul, until the will-spirit of the soul desires it; and thus all of man's salvation depends upon himself.

And as the sun has only one nature, and can give forth nothing but the blessings of light, and heat, so our Holy Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have but one nature and intent towards all His creation, which is, to pour forth the riches and sweetness of His Divine perfections, upon everything that is capable of them, and according to its capacity to receive them. This is the friendly nature of God, he is the good, the unchangeable, overflowing fountain of good, that sends forth nothing but good throughout all eternity. All the mysteries of the gospel are only so many marks and proofs of God's desiring to make His love triumph, in the removal of sin and disorder from all nature and creature.

It is because our soul, as fallen, is quite dead to, and separate from the kingdom of heaven, by having lost the light and Spirit of God in itself; and therefore it is, and must be incapable of entering into heaven, until by this new birth, the soul receives again its original heavenly nature. If you have nothing of this heavenly birth when your body dies, then you have only that root of life in you, which the devils have, you are as far from heaven, and as incapable of it, as they are; How pitiable, therefore, or rather how hurtful is that Bible school learning, which uses all its skill of words, to avoid and suffer loss of the true sense of our Savior's doctrine concerning the new birth, which is necessary to fallen man. By holding, that the passages asserting the new birth, are only a figurative, form of words concerning something, that is not really a birth, or growth of a new nature, but may, according to the best rules of criticism, signify, our entrance into the society of Christians.

Now let it be observed here, that no Passage of Scripture is to be called, or esteemed as a figurative expression, but where the literal meaning cannot be allowed, as implying something that is either bad in itself, or impossible, or inconsistent with some plain and undeniable doctrines of Scripture.

Nothing could make so much as a beginning of our deliverance, but that which can make a beginning of the new birth in us. Nothing could fully effect our recovery, but that which perfectly finished the new birth of all the heavenly life which we had lost. For this new birth is not a part, but the whole of our salvation.

Again our blessed Savior says, "Without me, you can do nothing." The question is, when, or how a man may be said to be without Christ? Consider again the vine and its branches: a branch can then only be said to be without its vine, when the life of the vine is no longer in it. A Christ that is not in us, is the same thing as a Christ not ours. If we have gone only as far with Christ, as to receive the history of His birth, person, and character, and say that we believe it, if this is all that we have of Him, we are as much without Him, as much left to ourselves, as little helped by Him, as those evil spirits which cried out, "We know who you are, the Holy One of God."

Enter therefore with all your Heart into this truth, let your eye be always upon it, do everything in view of it, try everything by the truth of it, love nothing but for the sake of it. Wherever you go, whatever you do, at home, at work, or at Church, do all in a desire of union with Christ, in imitation of His temperament and inclinations, and look upon all as worthless, but that which exercises, and increases the Spirit and life of Christ in your soul.

From morning to night keep Jesus in your heart, long for nothing, desire nothing, hope for nothing, but to have all that is within you changed into the Spirit and temper of the Holy Jesus. Let this be your Christianity, your Church, and your religion. For this new birth in Christ firmly believed, and continually desired, will do everything that you want to have done in you, it will dry up all the springs of vice, it will stop all the workings of evil in your nature, it will bring all that is good into you, it will open all the Gospel within you, and you will know what it is to be taught of God. You will soon be, as it were, tied and bound in the chains of all Holy affections and desires, your mouth will have a watch set upon it, your ears will hear nothing willingly that does not have a propensity to God, nor your eyes to be open, but to see, and find occasions of doing good.

For where Christ is born, or His Spirit rises up in the soul, there, all self is denied; there, all carnal wisdom, and skill of advancement, there, every pride and glory of this life, are as so many heathen idols all willingly renounced, But you will perhaps say, how shall this great work, the true actual birthing of Christ, be brought about in me? It might rather be said, since Christ has an infinite power, and also an infinite desire to save mankind, how can anyone miss this salvation, but through his own unwillingness to be saved by the Christ of God?

Therefore in true faith pray and apply to Christ, that His Spirit and power might enter into you, and heal that which needs to be healed in you. Remember what others in the Bible have said to Him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me whole." And the Answer was always this, "According to your faith, so be it done to you." This is Christ's answer to you today, and so it is done to every one of us today, as our faith is, so it is done to us. And here lies the only reason of our falling short of the salvation of Christ, it will, and can only be because we have no real desire to have it.

They desired no change of their own nature, no inward destruction of their own natural temperament, no deliverance from the love of self, and the enjoyments of their passions; they liked their state, and the gratifications of their old man, their long robes, their broad phylacteries, and greetings in the markets. They did not want to have their pride and self-love dethroned, their covetousness and sensuality to be subdued by a new nature from Heaven derived into them.

Begin to search and dig in your own field for this pearl of eternity, that lies hidden in you; it cannot cost you too much, nor can the cost be too dear, for it is everything, and when you have found it, you will know, that all that which you have sold or given away for it, is absolutely nothing, it is only a bubble upon the water. But if you turn from this heavenly pearl, or trample it under your feet, for the sake of being rich, or great, either in the Church or the world, if death finds you in this "type of success", you will not say then, that though the pearl is lost, yet something has been gained instead of it. For in that parting moment, the things, and the sounds of this world, will be exactly alike; to have had an estate, or only to have heard of it, to have lived in a castle twenty years, or only have twenty times passed by a palace, it will be the same good, or the same nothing to you.

For heaven and hell, each of them have their foundation within us, they do not come into us from outside, but spring up from within us, according as our will and heart is turned either to the light of God, or the kingdom of darkness. But when this life, which is in the midst of these two eternities, is at an end, either an Angel, or a devil will be found to have a birth in us. You do not have to run here, or there, saying, where is Christ?

This pearl of eternity is the peace and joy of God within you, but it can only be found by the manifestation of the life and power of Jesus Christ in your soul. But Christ cannot be your power and your life, until in obedience to His call, you deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Him, in the regeneration. This is unconditional, it admits of no reserve or evasion, it is the one way to Christ and eternal life. But be where you will, either here, or at Rome, if self is un-denied, if you live to your own will, to the pleasures of your own natural lust and appetites, senses and passions, and in conformity to the vain customs, and spirit of this world, you are dead yet while you live.

And thus you are poor, and blind, and naked, and empty, and live a miserable life in the vanity of time; while all the riches of eternity, the light and spirit, the wisdom and love, the peace and joy of God are within you, and you do not know them! Thus it will always be with you, there is no remedy, go where you will, do what you will, all is shut up, there is no open door of salvation, no awakening out of the sleep of sin, no deliverance from the power of your corrupt nature, no overcoming of the world, no revelation of Jesus Christ, no Joy of the new birth from above, until dying to yourself and the world, you turn to the light, spirit, and power of God in your soul. But you will perhaps say, how shall I discover the riches of eternity, this light, and spirit, and wisdom, and peace of God, treasured up within me? Your first thought of repentance, or desire of turning to God, is your first discovery of this light and Spirit of God within you. It is the voice and language of the Word of God within you, although you do not know it. It is the bruiser of your serpent's head, your dear Emmanuel, who is beginning to preach within you, the same which He first preached in public, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

It is the eternal speaking word of God in your heart, that word which at first created you, it is beginning to create you a second time unto righteousness, that a new man may be formed in you, in the image and likeness of God. But above all things, beware of taking this desire of repentance to be the effect of your own natural sense and reason, for in so doing you lose the key of all the heavenly treasure that is in you, you shut the door against God, and turn away from Him, and your repentance (if you have any) will be only a vain, unprofitable work of your own hands, that will do you no more good, than a well that is without water. The life and operation of God will not found in you anymore. You have fallen from a life in God into a life of self, into an animal life of self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking in the poor, worthless, perishing enjoyments of this world.

Understand in this, the whole truth quickly, all sin, death, damnation, and hell is nothing else but this kingdom of self, or the various operations of self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, which separate the soul from God, and end in eternal death and hell. On the other hand, all that is grace, redemption, salvation, sanctification, Spiritual life, and the new birth, is nothing else but so much of the life and operation of God ruling again in the soul.

The kingdom of self is the fall of man, or the great apostasy from the life of God in the soul; and everyone wherever he is, that lives to self, is still under the fall and this great apostasy from God. The kingdom of Christ is the Spirit and power of God dwelling and manifesting itself in the birth of the new inward man; and no one is a member of this kingdom, but only so far as a true birth of the Spirit is brought forth in him. These two kingdoms take in all mankind, he that is not of one, is certainly in the other; dying to one is living to the other.

When our Lord says, "Except a man hate his father and mother, yes, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple"; it is because our best tempers are yet carnal, and full of the imperfections of our fallen nature. That love, which an unregenerate person, or natural man, has towards others, is to be hated, as being a blind self-love, full of all the weakness and partiality, with which fallen man loves, honors, esteems, and cleaves to himself.

Again, our own life is to be hated; and the reason is plain, it is because there is nothing lovely in it. It is a legion of evil, a monstrous birth of the serpent, the world, and the flesh; it is an apostasy from the life and power of God in the soul, a life that is dead to heaven, that is pure unmixed idolatry, that lives wholly to self, and not to God; and therefore all this "own life" is to be absolutely hated, all this self is to be denied and mortified, if the nature, spirit, tempers and inclinations of Christ are to be brought to life in us. Thus when our Lord further says, unless a man forsake all that he has, he cannot be my disciple; the reason is simple, and the necessity absolute. It is because all that the natural man has, is in the possession of self-love, and therefore this possession is to be absolutely forsaken, and parted with. All that he has, is to be put into other hands, to be given to Divine love, or this natural man cannot be changed into a disciple of Christ. This was the Spirit of the first Christian Church at Jerusalem, a Church made truly after the pattern of heaven, where the love that reigns in heaven reigned in it, where Divine love broke down all the selfish fences, the locks and bolts of the great me, mine, my own, etc., and laid all things common to the members of this new kingdom of God on earth.

If therefore man is to rise from his fall, and return to his life in God, there is an absolute necessity that self, with all it's brood of un-Godly affections, be thrown out, so that his first love, in, and for which he was created, may be born again in him.

The works of the devil are all wrought in self, it is his personal workhouse, and therefore Christ is not come as a Savior from sin, as a destroyer of the works of the devil in any of us, but only so far as self is beaten down, and overcome in us. If it is literally true, what our Lord said, that his kingdom was not of this world, then it is a truth of the same certainty, that no one is a member of this kingdom, but he alone that in the literal sense of the words, renounces the spirit of this world.

Our redemption is this new birth; if this is not done in us, we are still unredeemed. And though the Savior of the world has come, He has not come in us, He is not received by us, He is a stranger to us, He is not ours, if His life is not within us. His life is not, and cannot be within us, but only as far as the spirit of this world, self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, are renounced, and driven out of us.

We must also learn the true nature and worth of all self-denials and degradations. As to their nature, considered in themselves, they have nothing of goodness or holiness, nor are they any real part of our sanctification, they are not the true food or nourishment of Divine life in our souls, they have no life giving, sanctifying power in them; their only worth consists in this, that they remove the impediments of holiness, break down that which stands between God and us, and make way for the life giving, sanctifying Spirit of God to operate on our souls.

We may learn the reason, why many people not only lose the benefit, but are even worse for all their self-denials. It is because they mistake the whole nature and worth of them. They practice them for their own sakes, as things good in themselves, they think them to be real parts of holiness, and so rest in them, and look no further, but grow full of self-esteem, and self-admiration, because of them. This makes them self-sufficient, depressed, severe judges of all those that fall short of their degree of self-denial. And thus their self-denials do only that for them, which indulgences do for other people, they withstand and hinder the operation of God upon their souls, and instead of being really "self-denials," they strengthen and cause the kingdom of self to grow. There is no avoiding this fatal error, but by deeply entering into this great truth, that all our own activity and working has no good in it, and can do no good to us, but as it leads, and turns us to the Spirit of God, which alone brings life and salvation into the soul.

Stretch forth your hand, said our Lord to the man that had a withered hand; he did so, and it was immediately made as whole as the other. Now did this man have any basis for pride, or a high opinion of himself, for the share he had in the restoration of his hand? Yet just such is our share in the raising up of the Spiritual life within us. All that we can do by our own activity, is only like this man's stretching out of his hand; the rest is the work of Christ, the only giver of life to the withered hand, or the dead soul.

Now truth is easily consented to, and a man thinks he believes it, because he consents to it, or rather, does not deny, or fight against it. But this is not enough, it is to be apprehended in a deep, full, and practical assurance, in such a manner as a man knows and believes that he did not create the stars, or cause life to rise up in himself. Then it is a belief, that puts the soul into a right state, and makes room for the operation of God upon it. First, it will keep the soul fixed, and continually turned towards God, in faith, prayer, desire, confidence, and resignation to Him, for all that it wants to have done in it, and to it; which will be a continual source of all Divine virtues and graces. The soul turned to God must be always receiving from God. It stands at the true door of all Divine communications, and the light of God as freely enters into it, as the light of the sun enters into the air.

But when we once apprehend in some good degree, the "All of God," and the nothingness of ourselves, we have received a truth, whose usefulness and benefit, no words can express. It brings a kind of infallibility into the soul in which it dwells; all that is vain, and false, and deceitful, is forced to vanish and fly away before it.

There is but one salvation for all mankind, and that is the life of God in the soul. God's intent towards all mankind, is to introduce or generate His own life, light, and spirit in them, that all may be as so many habitations of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is God's good will to all Christians, Jews, and heathens. They are all equally the desire of His heart, His light continually waits for an entrance into all of them, His wisdom cries, it puts forth it's voice, not here, or there, but everywhere, in all the streets of all the world.

Suppose an Angel said to you, "Oh man awake; you have a great amount of work, your time is short, I am your last trumpet; the grave calls for your flesh and blood, your soul must enter into a new lodging. You must be born again: and if you are not born again you will become a devil." Suppose it had told you, that to this day you have lived in the grossest self-idolatry, loving, serving, honoring, and adoring yourself instead of loving, serving, and adoring God with all your heart, soul, and spirit: That all your intentions, projects, cares, pleasures, and indulgences, had been only so much labor to bring you to the grave in a total ignorance of that great work, for which alone, you were born into the world to accomplish.

To Trust Or Pray For Anything, But The Life Of God, Or A Birth Of Heaven, In Our Souls, Is As Useless To Us, As Placing Our Hope And Trust In A Graven Image.

But my Friend, stop a while. It is indeed great joy, that the pearl of great price is found; but take notice, that it is not yours, you can have no possession of it, until as the merchant did, you sell all that you have, and buy it. Now self is all that you have, it is your sole possession; you have no goods of your own, nothing is yours but this self. The riches of self are your own riches; but all this self is to be parted with before the pearl of great price can be yours. Think of a lower price, or be unwilling to give this price for it, plead with your excuse, that you keep the commandments, and then you have become that very rich young man in the gospel, who went away sorrowful from our Lord, when He had said, "If you will be perfect," that is, if you will obtain the pearl, "Sell all that you have, and give to the poor"

Much learned effort and pains have been taken to prove Rome, or Constantinople, to be the seat of the beast, the antichrist, the scarlet whore, etc. But, alas! They are not as far from us, as this, they are the properties of fallen human nature, and they are all alive in our own selves, until we are dead or dying to all the spirit and tempers of this world.

To think of anything in religion, or to pretend to real holiness, without totally denying and dying to this old man, is building castles in the air, and can bring forth nothing, but Satan in the form of an Angel of light.

The reason why so many false spirits have appeared in the world, people who have deceived themselves and others with false fire, and false light, laying claim to inspirations, illuminations, and openings of the Divine life, pretending to do wonders under extraordinary calls from God? It is this; they have turned to God without turning from themselves; they want to be alive in God, before they are dead to their own nature; a thing as impossible in itself, as it is for a grain of wheat to start growing before it dies. Now religion in the hands of self, or corrupt nature, serves only to discover vices of a worse kind, than is found in nature left to itself. Pride, self-exaltation, hatred and persecution, under a cloak of religious zeal, will sanctify actions, which nature, left to itself, would be ashamed to have.

Some put on a solemn, formal, prudent, outside carriage; others appear in all the glitter and show of religious coloring, and Spiritual attainments; but under all this outside difference, there lies the poor fallen soul, imprisoned, un-helped, in its own fallen state, until the Spiritual life begins at the true root, and grows out of a broken heart, a heart broken off from all its own natural life. Then self-hatred, self-contempt, and self-denial, are as suitable to this new-born spirit, as self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, are to the unregenerate man. For sin has its root in the bottom of your soul, it comes to life with your flesh and blood, and breathes in the breath of your natural life; therefore, until you die to nature, you live to sin; and while this root of sin is alive in you, all the virtues you put on, are only like fine painted fruit hung upon a bad tree.

You must not be to content, my friend, with making this sacrifice of yourself to God now and then, or many times; it must be the daily, the hourly exercise of your mind; until it is shaped into your very nature, and becomes an essential state and habit of your mind, until you feel yourself as habitually turned from all your own will, selfish ends, and earthly desires, as you are from stealing and murder; until the whole turn of your spirit points as constantly to God, as the needle of a compass points to north. Without this, the Spiritual life is but Spiritual talk, and only assists nature to be pleased with an holiness that it does not own.

I am well assured, that no man ever did, or can oppose the gospel, but through a total ignorance of what it is; for the gospel, when rightly understood, is irresistible; it brings more good news to human nature, than sight does to the blind, limbs to the lame, health to the sick, or liberty to the condemned slave.

The will of the creature is the only "introduction" of all evil or good in the creature; the will stands between God and nature, and must in all its workings unite either with God, or nature: the will totally resigned, and given up to God, is one Spirit with God, and God dwells in it; the will turned from God, is taken prisoner in the wrath, fire, and darkness of nature. Hence we see the foundation, and the absolute necessity, of Christian redemption, to have a birth from above, of the light and Spirit of God, this is demonstrated in the most absolute degree of certainty. It is because all nature is in itself nothing, but an hungry, wrathful fire of life, a tormenting darkness, unless the light and Spirit of God starting up in it, brings it into a kingdom of heaven. And therefore the fallen soul can have no possible relief, or redemption, it must be, to all eternity, a hungry, dark, fiery, tormenting spirit of life, unless the light, or Son, and Spirit of God, are born again in it. Therefore it follows, that in all the possibility of things, there is, and can be but one happiness, and one misery. The one misery, is nature and creature left to itself; the one happiness, is the life, the light, and Spirit of God, manifested in nature and creature. This is the true meaning of those words of our Lord, "There is but one that is good, and that is God."

For this reason it can also be seen, that there is and can be but one true religion for the fallen soul, and that is, the dying to self, to nature and creature; and turning with all the will, the desire, and delight of the soul to God. Sacrifices, offerings, prayers, praises, rites, and ceremonies, without this are but as sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals. No, zeal, and constancy, warmth, and fervor, in the performance of these religious practices, is a proof of God in the soul; for nature and self-love can do all this, aside from God. But these religious practices are then only parts of true religion, when they mean nothing, and seek nothing, but only this, the keeping up of a continual dying to self, and dying to all worldly things, and turn all of the will, desire, and delight of the soul to God alone. Lastly, there is and can be only one salvation for the fallen soul, and that is heaven opened again in the soul, by the birth of such a life, light, and spirit, as is born in Angels. For Adam was created to possess that heaven from which the Angels fell; but nothing can enter into heaven, but the Angelic life, which is born of heaven. The loss of this Angelic life was the fall of Adam, or that death which he died, on the day that he ate of the earthly fruit; therefore the regeneration, or new birth of his first Angelic life, is the only salvation of the fallen soul. Ask not therefore, whether we are saved by faith, or by works? For we are saved by neither of them. Faith and works are at first only preparatory to the new birth; afterwards they are the true genuine fruits and effects of it. But the new birth, a life from heaven, the new creature, called Christ in us, is the one and only salvation of the fallen soul. Nothing can enter into heaven, but this life which is born of, and comes from heaven.

Why did our Lord say, that unless you eat My flesh, and drink My blood, you have no life in you? Did he mean, you have no earthly Life in you? Why did the apostle say, He that has the son of God has life, but he that has not the son of God has not life? Does he mean the life of this world? No.

Now the letter of Scripture does not do this in open words; it does not tell us "the why," and "how" things are the way they are, nor do they teach the ground or philosophy of the Christian faith; The Scripture satisfies itself with bare facts and doctrines, and calls for simple faith and obedience.

The last trumpet may sound this great truth, through all the heights and depths of eternity, "That evil can have no beginning, but from pride; nor any end, but from humility." The truth is: pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you. Do not look at pride as only an unbecoming temper; nor look only at humility as a nice virtue; for the one is death, and the other is life; the one is all hell, and the other is all heaven. So much of pride that you have, so much you have of the fallen Angel, alive and ruling in you. So much of true humility that you possess; so much you have of the lamb of God within you.

God's work in us is moral persuasion, not so much physical changing.

When the Spirit of prayer is born in us, then prayer is no longer considered, as only the business of this or that hour of the day, but is the continual panting or breathing of the heart after God.

The sin of all sins, or the heresy of all heresies, is a worldly spirit. We are apt to consider this temper only as an infirmity, or pardonable failure; but it is indeed the great apostasy from God and the Divine life. It is not a single sin, but the nature of all sin, and it leaves no possibility of coming out of our fallen state, until it is totally renounced with all the strength of our hearts.

Every sin, no matter what kind it is, is only a branch of the worldly spirit that lives in us.

He is proud of his ability to discourse about the Scripture, and loses all humility, and all love of God and man, by arguing about them in a haughty way. His zeal for religion is envy and wrath; his orthodoxy is pride and obstinacy; his love of the truth is hatred and ill-will to those who dare to disagree with him.

The working of our will, or the state of our life, governs the state of our mind, and forms the degree and manner of our understanding and knowledge; and as the fire of our life burns, so is the light of our life kindled: and all this is only to show you the utter impossibility of knowing God, and Divine truths, until your life is Divine, and wholly dead to the life and spirit of this world.

The heaven-born Epictetus told one of his scholars, that he could not look upon himself, as having made any true proficiency in virtue, but only when the world took him for a fool.

Trust now to any type, or form of religious observances, to any number of the virtues, to any kind of learning, or efforts of human prudence, and then I will tell you what your case will be like; you will overcome one temper of the world, only by cleaving to another.

Hence it is, that many learned men, with all the great ability of their brain, live and die slaves to the spirit of this world; and can only differ from world people, as the Scribes and Pharisees differ from publicans and sinners. If you would really like to know, the evil nature and effects of a worldly spirit, you need only look at the blessed power and effects of the Spirit of prayer; for the one goes downwards with the same strength, as the other goes upwards; the one betroths and weds you to an earthly nature, with the same certainty, as the other espouses, and unites you to Christ, and God, and heaven.

This prayer, which is an emptying of itself of all its own lusts, and natural tempers, and an opening of itself to the light and love of God for the purpose of entering into the Lord, it is a life that has become a continual prayer in the name of Christ.

Nothing does, or can go with a man into heaven, nothing follows into hell, but that in which the will dwelt, with which it was fed, nourished, and clothed, in this life. And this is to be noted well, that death can make no alteration of this state of the will; it only takes off the outward, worldly covering of flesh and blood, and forces the soul to see, and feel, and know, what a life, what a state, food, body, and habitation, its own working will has brought forth for it.

Is there anything so frightful as this worldly spirit, which turns the soul from God, and makes it a house of darkness, and feeds it with the food of time, at the expense of all the riches of eternity?

On the other hand, what can be so desirable and good as the Spirit of prayer, which empties the soul of all its own evil, separates death and darkness from it, leaves self, time, and the world, and becomes one life, one light, one love, and one Spirit with Christ, God, and heaven?

All that is put in our own power, is merely the choice of our leader; but led and moved we must be, and by that spirit, to which we give ourselves up, whether it be to the Spirit of God, or the spirit of fallen nature.

You may see with the greatest clearness, why nothing is salvation, but the new birth of a Christ-like nature; it is because everything else but this birth, and life of the Spirit, is only the spirit of Satan, or the spirit of this world.

If you have a longing earnest desire, to be governed by a spirit of plainness and sincerity in your whole way of living. Would this cause you to ask for instructions, rules, and methods, or would you consult some learned man, or book, to direct you, and keep you from delusion? Would you not know and feel in yourself, that your own earnest desire, and love of sincerity and plainness, and your own inward aversion to everything that was contrary to it, must be the one and only possible way of attaining it, and that you must have it in the same degree, as you loved to act by it?

For it has been proved, that the Spirit of prayer forms the spirit of our lives, and every man lives as the Spirit of prayer leads him. Not every prayer for the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit itself praying in you. For nothing can turn to God, and desire to be united to Him, and governed by Him, but the Spirit of God.

The impossibility of praying for the Spirit of God in vain, is shown by our blessed Lord: "If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask for it?"

People may daily be about the service of the Church, and pray long prayers at home, which contain many petitions for the Holy Spirit, and yet live and die, and be led and governed by the spirit of the world; because all these prayers, whether we hear them prayed by others, or have prayed them ourselves, may be done in compliance only to duties, rules, and forms of religion, as things which we are taught not to neglect; but, being only done in this way, they are not the true, real workings of the spirit of the heart nor can they make any real alteration in it.

But the Spirit of prayer, which is the heart's own prayer, and which has all the strength of will in it, this is the prayer that must be affirmed to be always effectual; it never returns empty.

If a plant ceases to hunger, it withers and dies, though surrounded with the air and light of this world. This is the true nature of the Spiritual life; it is as truly a growth or vegetation, as that of plants; and nothing but its own hunger can help it to the true food of its life. If this hunger of the soul ceases, it withers and dies, though in the midst of Divine plenty.

Every man's life is a continual state of prayer; he is at no moment free from it, nor can he possibly be. For our natural dispositions, no matter what they are, ambition, covetousness, selfishness, worldly-mindedness, pride, envy, hatred, malice, or any other lust whatever, are all in reality, only so many different kinds, and forms of a spirit of prayer, which is as inseparable from the heart, as weight is from the body. Hence you may see, how it comes to pass, that there is so much praying, and yet so little of true piety amongst us.

What benefit could it have been to the Pharisee, if, with a heart inwardly full of its own pride and self-exaltation, he had outwardly hung down his head, smote upon his breast, and borrowed the publican's words, "God be merciful to me a sinner?"

The heart only prays (regardless of what words it uses) for that which it habitually wills, loves, and longs to have.

Go to Church, as the publican went into the temple; stand inwardly in the spirit of your mind, in that form which he outwardly expressed, when he cast down his eyes, and smote his breast, and could only say, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" Stand unchangeably (at least in your desire) in this form and state of heart; it will sanctify every petition that comes out of your mouth; and when anything is read, or sung, or prayed, that is more exalted and fervent than your heart is, if you make this an occasion of a further sinking down in the spirit of the publican, you will then be helped, and highly blessed, by those prayers and praises, which seem only to fit, and belong to, a better heart than yours. For nothing is in vain, or without profit, to the humble soul; like the bee, it takes its honey even from bitter herbs; it stands always in a state of Divine growth; and everything that falls upon it, is like the dew of heaven to it.

Shut up yourself therefore in this form of humility, all good is enclosed in it; it is the water of heaven, that turns the fire of the fallen soul, in