Now thou hast worldly power and riches, which thou possesses! as thy
own, to do what thou wilt with, and regardest not how thou gettest or
invest the same, employing them in the service or indulgence of thy
carnal and vain desires. Nay though thou seest the poor and needy wretch
who wanteth thy help, and is thy brother, yet thou helpest him not, but
layest heavy burdens upon him, by requiring more of him than his
abilities will bear, or his necessities afford, and oppressest him, by
forcing him to spend his labour and sweat for thee and the gratification
of thy voluptuous Will. Thou art moreover proud and exultest over him,
and behavest roughly and sternly to him, exalting thyself above him, and
making small account of him in respect of thyself. Then that poor
oppressed brother of thine cometh, and complaineth with sighs towards
God, that he cannot reap the benefit of his labours and pains, but is
forced by thee to live in misery. By which sighings and groanings of his
he raiseth up the wrath of God in thee, which maketh thy flame and
unquietness still the greater.
These are the Creatures which thou art in love with, and hast broken
thyself off from God for their sakes, and brought thy Love into them or
them into thy Love, so that they live therein. Thou nourishest and
keepest them by continually receiving them into thy desire, for they
live in and by thy receiving them into thy mind, because thou thereby
bringest the lust of thy Life into them. They are but unclean and evil
births and issues of the Bestial Nature, which yet by thy receiving them
in thy Desire, have gotten an Image and formed themselves in thee. And
that Image is a beast with four heads. First, _Pride_. Secondly,
_Covetousness_. Thirdly, _Envy_. Fourthly, _Anger_. And in these four
properties the Foundation of Hell consisteth, which thou earnest in thee
and about thee. It is imprinted and engraven in thee, and thou art
wholly taken captive thereby. For these properties live in thy Natural
Life; and thereby thou art severed from God, neither canst thou ever
come to him, unless thou so forsake these evil Creatures that they may
die in thee.
But since thou desirest me to tell thee how to forsake thy own, perverse
creaturely Will, that the Creatures might die, and that yet thou
mightest live with them in the World, I must assure thee that there is
but one way to do it, which is _narrow_ and _straight_, and will be very
hard and irksome to thee in the beginning, but afterwards thou wilt walk
in it cheerfully.
Thou must seriously consider that in the course of this worldly life
thou walkest in the Anger of God and in the Foundation of Hell; and that
this is not thy true native country; but that a Christian should and
must live in Christ, and in his walking truly follow him; and that he
cannot be a Christian unless the Spirit and Power of Christ so live in
him that he becometh wholly subject to it. Now seeing the Kingdom of
Christ is not of the world, but in Heaven, therefore thou must be always
in a continual ascension towards Heaven, if thou wilt follow Christ;
though thy body must dwell among the Creatures and use them.
The narrow way to which perpetual ascension into Heaven and imitation of
Christ is this. Thou must despair of all thy own power and strength, for
in and by thy own thou canst not reach the Gates of God, and firmly
purpose and resolve wholly to give thyself up to the Mercy of God, and
to sink down with thy whole mind and reason into the Passion and Death
of our Lord Jesus Christ, always desiring to persevere in the same and
to die from all thy Creatures therein. Also thou must resolve to watch
and guard thy mind, thoughts, and inclinations that they admit no evil
into them, neither must thou suffer thyself to be held fast by temporal
honour or profit. Thou must resolve likewise to put away from thee all
Unrighteousness and whatsoever else may hinder the freedom of thy motion
and progress. Thy Will must be wholly pure and fixed in a firm
resolution never to return to its old idols any more, but that thou
wilt, that very instant leave them, and separate thy mind from them, and
enter into the sincere way of truth and righteousness, according to the
plain and full doctrine of Christ. And as thou dost thus purpose to
forsake the enemies of thine own inward Nature, so thou must also
forgive all thy outward enemies and resolve to meet them with thy Love,
that there may be left no Creature, Person, or Thing at all able to
take hold of thy Will and captivate it; but that it may be sincere and
purged from all Creatures. Nay, further, if it should be required, thou
must be willing and ready to forsake all thy temporal honour and profit
for Christ's sake, and regard nothing that is earthly so as to set thy
heart and affections upon it; but esteem thyself in whatsoever state,
degree and condition thou art, as to worldly rank and riches, to be but
a servant of God, and of thy fellow-Christians; or as a steward in the
office wherein thy Lord hath placed thee. All arrogance and
self-exaltation must be humbled, brought low, and so annihilated that
nothing of thine own or of any other Creature may stay in thy Will to
bring the thoughts or imagination to be set upon it.
Thou must also firmly impress it on thy mind that thou shalt certainly
partake of the promised Grace in the Merit of Jesus Christ, viz., of his
outflowing Love, which indeed is already in thee, and which will deliver
thee from thy Creatures, and enlighten thy Will, and kindle it with the
Flame of Love, whereby thou shalt have victory over the Devil. Not as if
thou couldst will or do anything in thy own strength, but only enter
into the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and take them to
thyself, and with them assault and break in pieces the kingdom of the
Devil in thee. Thou must resolve to enter into this way this very hour,
and never to depart from it, but willingly to submit thyself to God in
all thy endeavours and doings, that he may do with thee what he
pleaseth.
When thy Will is thus prepared and resolved, it hath then broken through
its own Creatures, and is sincere in the Presence of God, and clothed
with the Merits of Jesus Christ. It may then freely go to the Father
with the Prodigal Son, and fall down in his Presence and pour forth its
prayers; and putting forth all its strength in this Divine Work, confess
its sins and disobedience; and how far it hath departed from God. This
must be done not with bare words, but with all its strength, which
indeed amounteth only to a strong purpose and resolution; for the Soul
of itself hath no strength or power to effect any good work.
Now when thou art thus ready, and thy heavenly Father shall see thee
coming and returning to him in such repentance and humility, he will
inwardly speak to thee, and say in thee; _Behold, this is my son which I
had lost, he was dead and is alive again._ And he will come to meet thee
in thy mind with the Grace and Love of Jesus Christ, and embrace thee
with the beams of his Love, and kiss thee with his Spirit and Strength,
and then thou shalt receive Grace to pour out thy confession before him
and to pray powerfully. This indeed is the right place where thou must
wrestle in the Light of his Countenance. And if thou standest resolutely
here and shrinkest not back, thou shalt see or feel great wonders. For
thou shalt find Christ in thee assaulting Hell, and crushing thy Beasts
in pieces, and that a great tumult and misery will arise in thee; also
thy secret undiscovered sins will then first awake and labour to
separate thee from God, and to keep thee back. Thus shalt thou truly
find and feel how Death and Life fight one against the other, and shalt
understand by what passeth within thyself what Heaven and Hell are. At
all which be not moved, but stand firm and shrink not; for at length all
thy Creatures will grow faint, weak, and ready to die; and then thy Will
shall wax stronger, and be able to subdue and keep down the evil
inclinations. So shall thy Will and Mind ascend into Heaven every day,
and thy Creatures gradually die away. Thou wilt get a Mind wholly new,
and begin to be a new Creature, and, getting rid of the Bestial
Deformity, recover the Divine Image. Thus shalt thou be delivered from
thy present Anguish, and return to thy original Rest.