_In loving thyself_, thou lovest not thyself _as thine own_, but thou
lovest the divine ground in thee, as given thee from the Love of God. By
which, and in which, thou lovest the Divine Wisdom, the Divine Goodness,
the Divine Beauty; thou lovest also by it God's works of wonders; and in
this ground thou lovest also thy brethren. But _in hating thyself_, thou
hatest only that which is _thine own_, and wherein the Evil sticks close
to thee. And this thou dost, that so thou mayest wholly destroy that
which thou callest _thine_, as when thou sayest I or MYSELF do this, or
do that. All which is wrong and a downright mistake in thee; for nothing
canst thou properly call _thine_ but the evil Self, neither canst thou
do anything of thyself that is to be accounted of. This _Self_ therefore
thou must labour wholly to destroy in thee, that so thou mayest become a
ground wholly divine. There can be no _selfishness_ in love; they are
opposite to each other. Love, that is, Divine Love (of which only we are
now discoursing), hates all Egoity, hates all that which we call I, or
IHOOD, hates all such restrictions and confinements, even all that
springs from a contracted spirit, or this evil _Self-hood_, because it
is an hateful and deadly thing. And it is impossible that these two
should stand together, or subsist in one person; the one driving out the
other by a necessity of nature. For _Love_ possesses Heaven, and dwells
in itself, which is dwelling in Heaven; but that which is called I, this
vile self-hood, possesses the world and worldly things; and dwells also
in itself, which is dwelling _in Hell_, because this is the very root of
Hell itself. And, therefore, as Heaven rules the World, and as Eternity
rules Time, even so ought Love to rule the natural temporal Life; for no
other method is there, neither can there be of attaining to that Life
which is supernatural and eternal, and which thou so much desirest to be
led into.