to his heart it is necessary that it should be expressed from out of the cross and from anguish If it springs from joy or from speculation it is vain and wanteth spirit or life Experience teacheth all things and that which is void of experience is in vain We pass thorough time into eternity and time is mutable so also is Man produced with mutability till he comes thither where there is no corruption nor mutation No man is to be rejected with how gross or how low a zeal his spirit boyleth with because they may be changed and therefore we are to be quiet with a man that standeth in his own zeal We are first in time before we come into eternity We first begin with low things and by degrees are we transferred unto higher till we come there where perfection is Paul saith Not as if I had apprehended c by how much the more sublime are the Saints by so much the more sublime is their desire by how much the higher is the perfection by so much the more sublime are the defects A man made conformable by letters rules ceremonies or as to outward appearance is like a body which hath indeed a nose a mouth c. but yet it wanteth life Every thing by its contrary is made of greater esteem accounted for holy and is not rightly known its contrary not being known then it is not so For if cold were not heat would not be cared for Heaven is more clearly understood by hell and the grace of God by his wrath or anger He that rightly knows the fall of Adam and understands his restauration cannot rejoyce because a man must perish for its sake and as to all these things he must be annihilated as to what he is made for Gladness is assigned over to posterity and to that fruit which shall grow out of corruption where a man becometh to be that which he attaineth to out of corruption And then he appeareth in the glory of God and acknowledges God from God and loves God from God and is sanctified and justified and â—enewed in God And he is made that â—y grace which God is by nature Before death all things were vain and â—nconstant and meer phansies but now â—re become essence or substance which â—bideth The truth is incorruptible the â—â—uth hath made all things free and hath â—nited a man to himself and all things â—re therefore done that we might get up hither All things are disposed to a cerâ—ain end Autumn Winter Snow c. â—or the fruits of Summer to this end and â—cope therefore are all things to be directed and for its sake are all things to be exercised and applied and not for its own sake The flower is the cause of the fruit and not of its self the flower perishes but the fruit remains whatsoever goeth before hath respect hitherto but â—abideth not but the fruit remaineth â—nd this is the truth in which a man is â—onfirmed and founded that he might be 〈◊〉 it eternally by a true union The small treatise of the Imitation of Christ is very useful to them that are labouring and striving for it giveth us the best instruction unto life and I am much delighted therewith but the German Divinity excelleth in which is the representation of God The book of the imitation is more profitable for the publick but the other small treatise of the German Divinity is for private use CHAP. VII BEcause God exerciseth his judgment so severely in his Children and yet his judgment is just it must be well considered what becometh us and that though we suffer in a wonderful manner yet is it done unto us with grace and mercy and that indeed the thousandth part of afflictions according to our sins is not inflicted upon us But God spareth us and unless it were so where should we abide Whence we ought not to be proud but fearful rather yea frighted and to hold our peace By how much the more a man recedeth from himself so much the nearer he approaches unto God and by so much the more heavily is he punished also in respect of nature which is therefore subjected unto death If a man should at first know this misery and calamity he would dye for very grief but now he cannot be sensible of it till he falls into it and then also doth God notwithstanding lead him thorough it He falls into the Gulph Scylla who indeavours to avoid the rock Charybdis For when a man desires to be freed from the legal accusation of his conscience he comes and is condemned into death so that endeavouring to avoid the difficulty on that part on the other he falls into it that is into a state where the natural man is condemned When the Law doth no longer accuse a man is condemned like a malefactor who is first accused and at length is punished then the accusation ceasing he suffers death by the means of which alone he is freed from the accusation of the Law He that trieth this shall find it no liar which hath promised to him no sweetness If it be said but yet it is well that the conscience â—s free though nature may suffer it is answered How good the state of thaâ— man is God knoweth the truth is iâ— is a miserable condition but it is accepted of God and he that is in it is made nearer to God But by how much the nearer he is to God by so much the heavier is his suffering as to Nature Here the restraining or bridling in of Nature sufficeth not we must go beyonâ— that viz. we must dye and we muâ—â— perish That a man can acknowledge his sinâ— is a great gift but then the affliction alsâ— is great He that acknowledgeth his sins God delivers him from them Thâ— vulgar acknowledgment of sins is not 〈◊〉 He that rightly acknowledgeth himseâ—â—â—o err desires to walk in a right way and to decline from that which is erroneous but he to whom the erroneous waâ— is not unpleasant he abideth in it aâ— defendeth it nor acknowledges that 〈◊〉 erred though with his mouth he mâ—â— profess otherwise In death that gloâ—â— is given to God which could not be doâ—â— in life for in life a man retains tâ—â— glory to himself but in death he laâ— down the glory Nature hath a way so proper to it self that it will acknowledge or accept no sort of death till it be willing or nilling cast thereinto and then the will reason memory and understanding of a man are so bound and tied down that the man thinks that he alone is smitten and that no man suffers but himself and from thence forward he can neither take joy in any thing nor can he draw comfort from the evils of other men And that usual saying that common mischiefs do bring comfort with them yet is not true in him He that is yielded up to the will of God is without choice yea his very words which inferr election do terrifiy him
most bitter affliction so as his heart becometh as it were ground to powder For he that is not yet come to this poverty but is still rich cannot hold his tongue He that handleth himself severely that he may break his nature and becometh harsh to his own selâ— can difficultly compassionate others whom he seeth not to be as severe as he is himself and therefore he so driveth others that they may be like him in state or condition and he is unmerciful nor also can he be silent although sometimes he hath his conscience pressed down with sollicitous care because his heart is not yet pierced quite thorough nor is digged down to its very bottom nor utterly broken with bitter affliction but he that hath hâ—s heart ground to power and deeply wounded with great and bitter misery he can hold his tongue yea he chooseth rather to be silent although sometimes necessity should require it otherwise then to speak unless God shall compel him thereunto For such a one cannot so readily convert himself towards outward things but what things soever are in such a man are turned to the affliction of his heart and all things are filled with sorrow CHAP. XXXIII I Never found so clear an understanding nor so great experience as in grief sorrow misery affliction and in the death and destruction of the flesh That time which is spent in the cross pain grief misery and streights is gained but that which is spent in pleasure joy delights and plays is lost The mind of a man that is still floating up and down and can still be moved at things pleasant or painful or in joy or in grief doth not yet belong unto God for in God there is no mutation because he is unchangeable Now when the mind of Man cannot be moved by the aforesaid things then is God present in that Soul and it is he who worketh that in the man Those six gifts of the holy Spirit must first be accomplished then at length followeth that seventh gift viz. the spirit of fear of the Lord which puts a man into a sweet calm because this spirit of fear preserveth all the former gifts that they may remain pure and then it is that a man is in all respect struck with a great fear and trembling that he may rightly use them and keep them pure it is this last gift of the fear of God that keeps steady in all things that man that hath received it We are therefore earnestly to endeavour to act rightly in all concerns and to walk before God with holy fear Our conscience is our book into which we ought every day to look and in which to diligently and seriously read and study that we may most exactly perform that which it witnesseth Conscience is a thousand witnesses about which the old and new Testament is our rule of direction CHAP. XXXIV THis year proved more difficult or hard to me then it was ever before in all my life and yet I did most accurately weigh and ponder on that same time For by how much the more sublime any one ascendeth in affliction by so much the more accurately doth he weigh and count his time and it proves thereby more profitable to him All the foregoing time of mine which I had spent before this year vanished away and came to nothing even as this my present time also shall vapour away into nothing because my body is annihilated I have no support hence is it that times becomes so tedious to me but when time is spent in labour it produceth no difficulty But when I am deprived of all my strength I can neither pray nor desire nor lift up one thought to God Yea here I lye and corrupt in body mind and spirit as long as breath remaineth in me Yea as to my understanding also and my reason I am reduced to nothing As for my understanding I know nothing of it whither viz. I have an understanding or not for in this great gulfe of misery all things are reduced to dust and ashes Here I lye and am sensible of nothing but judgment death and condemnation And when one said to him is it so that when thou art accused presently judgment is at hand he answered Am I accused not as though I were so perfect as that I could not be accused but if it were possible for me to take up life in such a moment of time as that accusation might assault me in even in that very moment should I be blown into meer atoms But I have not so much time left me because as many moments of my life as yet remain so many judgments and deaths do I suffer I lye as it were in a thick dark cloud and see nothing oh how very small weak and dim is that poor ray of light that is round about me I cannot see far before me yea neither doth my way and path appear to my sight yea I am lead on where no way is and that which is life to another that is death to me and contrarily that which is anothers death is my life Judgment is so sharp to me as it is when one not thinking any thing layes his hand upon some place and presently some body knocks him on the fingers When any would reply upon him that this case was a certain kind of preservation from God because he laid his hand so faithfully upon thee he still answered True indeed this condition is the most safe before the eyes of God but the most afflicted one in my sight For if I should acknowledge this state to be safe forthwith another judgment is to be undergone by me For plainly I am lead without knowledge without being acquainted or understanding the way For he who hath experienced the thing its self and he that hath been lead in this way only notionally are vastly differing because true knowledge and understanding is such a life such a prop that a man comes then only to know them when God withdraws them from him Just as when one laboureth with great thirst and sees a pot stand before him yet for all that his thirst cannot but afflict him still but then if there should come one who should take the pot quite away then remaineth no hopes of ever attaining to drink thereof All the Elect are brought unto God thorough affliction but all do not tread this same path of the cross by which I am to pass CHAP. XXXV ALl things are transformed and changed whence I observe that ere long many wonderful things will happen and the strange things of God will spring forth I indeed have desired to see them but I shall not arrive at them for I see my end before my eyes yet I rejoyce because of the time to come which now is ready at the door and I rejoyce concerning that time when I look upon children Remember me my mind presageth not as if all I say were Gospel it will be that the glory and the knowledge of
of gross Instruments Christ saith Except a man leaveth c. If a man must leave any thing he ought first to have it Thus therefore a man first hath Father Mother Friends Riches Honours of this World and Learning Now this forsaking is the image of those things which also must besides these be forsaken for all that is gotten out of them viz. those fruits which are sprung forth out of the corruption of earthly things are also to be corrupted and consequently those good things also are to be forsaken but out of that forsaking are still gotten other greater goods and more high fruits which again must be subjected to corruption whence afterwards other fruits do come forth augmented a hundred fold And thus Death and Corruptions do alwayes ascend Higher and Higher as also do the fruits and the Life Springing from thence No man can apply the Craetures to that Parable unless he himself become above the Creature Paul saith Unhappy man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Here is to be noted that Paul had not any Body of Death in that state in which we have some such like for as to this state he was already Dead nor was there need as to that that he should dye yet further and the lowest of these did no longer belong unto him for out of many Deaths he alwayes ascended to a more Sublime Life and as to that Life he was again to dye and upon this account it was that he wore a Body of Death And by how much the Higher he ascended into this Life so much the Higher also was he elevated as to new Deaths We forsake the Body because we found it before in Adam if also we must forsake our Soul that also must first be found of us but we find it when we leave the Body A man never found himself in that which he once has lost but that loss dying and Condemnation is Eternal without Redemption But in God that is found in God also is Redemption but not in that which hath Perished Else man should stand in time and not in Eternity and with him would be found nothing but the old stock Before an elect Man comes into Hell or the Grave of which he doth not yet know whither he shall come thither or not if he be then asked to renounce the Creature he saith yes and doth renounce it so as he will never more touch it or desire it for God in that renounciation taketh away also the desire so that such a one cannot and will not desire any thing more God leadeth a man by unknown wayes just as when one comes into a strange Country where he knows not the way nor understandeth the Language nor hath any Mony and yet he goes on still As long as a Man hath still left any things to fly to so as all things have not renounced him faith hath not yet found â—oom in him CHAP. XXI THe difference betwixt those who are in the Hell of the happy and those who are in the Hell of the Damned is â—his they who live in the Hell of the Blessed bear a pure Heart and a clean Conscience nor is there any accusation â—n them O that I had done this O that 〈◊〉 had omitted that c. if one saith Those that complain not of such things have not been Subjected to any sufferings â—t is answered to him Ask any one who â—s Condemned to Death whether or no â—â—e be not subjected to misery sufferings â—hough he should confess the Judgment which he suffers to be Just and that he is â—eservedly put to all Torture and Punishment nor would he desire otherwise then that he might Suffer Yet nevertheâ—ess he is in Misery and suffers the anguish and pains of Death But happy are these Condemned ones who then at last go down into their Hell when first they have contended Rightly with all their might or strength applied all which particulars must precede if any one expects to be put forwards by God But we must labour to attain to the very Top so as that we cannot go Higher and then at length it is propounded to a man that all whatsoever he hath hitherto Laboured for and his own proper Righteousness of which Paul saith 10 to the Rom. 3. They seeking to Establish their own Righteousness are not Subject to the Righteousness of God cannot possibly stand in the sight of God also he must confess that he deservedly suffers the Judgment of God and to be cast into this Hell And then is he Subjected to those Pains and is filled with so many Anguishes though his Conscience be pure because he hath applied all his strength that he might live according to the will of God Which they who are in the Hell of the damned have not done and therefore they have not this Glory but Conscience alwayes accuseth them that they are Impure besides these sit down in the lower-most Hell when the elect may sit in the Uppermost Hell and suffer the Torments of this Judgment finding refreshment neither in God nor in the Creatures Between the Creatures and those who sit in the uppermost Hell is a great Gulph so that they can come no more unto them nor do they desire it because they have been renounced of the Creatures and when that Renounciation is Past then is the last farewel taken that they can never more touch them and therefore they are Separated from the Creature and from God also Yet they very well know that God liveth and that they are to be kept bound in this dark prison which is enlightened neither by God nor by any creature where also they hope for no Redemption eiâ—her from God or from the creature â—or have they any faith but afterwards when they have endured all this for some time then faith begins to come â—nd the man thus sighs and breaths out 〈◊〉 that I might embrace Christ with these my arms O that I might see the Salvation of Israel and then Christ come alwayes nearer till he stands just nexâ— unto him and frees him from out of thiâ— darksome prison Death and Hell and transplanteth him into life Heaven and true Light It is then indeed that a man apprehendeth what that was that Chriâ—â— descended into hell as also that he wenâ— down to the lowermost places Forthâ— lowest places of the Earth do denote thâ— most remote separation from God iâ— which a man lives in his ownness and in which Christ cometh unto him and leadeth him out thence together wiâ—â— himself The Ancients did thus painâ— out the nearest hell that a certain maâ— sat upon him whose name was US bâ— held a Cup in his hand offering it to aâ—â— that came that they might Drink Thâ— same US is in us when we glow wiâ—â— the highest zeal we possible can unâ—â— we come into the hell of Tryals and thâ— all whatsoever is ours is consumed aâ—â— all Egoity and Meity c. and whâ—â—
is it that these two Sorts do thus differ one from another The first is when some are the enemies of sin for their own sakes when as by nature they are still friends But the other and second sort is when it hath lost ipseity or propriety and hateth sin by nature for such are in God and being new creatures have attained a new sense which is spiritual Whereas the former sort is still natural and hath a natural sense whence they wear about them not the new but the old creature Yet they are well enough in their own kind and their state or condition precedeth the latter or second and waites for it The Lord be merciful to us For this last state is not the result of our studyes and endeavours but of the grace of God a mâ—n comes thereunto not actively but passively and it behooveth that God only be the work-master therein Tauler saith Keep thy self passive and God will be active and then the thing will not be impossible because God himself will do it and transfer a man to that one scope or end viz. God himself and all this by and thorough Christ Jesus our Lord who being just suffered for the unjust that he might bring us unto God and that is it which is promised in the Prophets that the Lord would prepare such a people as should declare his praise which is written in Luke 1.71 Salvation from our enemies And that which Paul saith Tâ— condemn sin thorough sin it is a great biâ—terness to me yet it is a sword that pierceth into my breast No man can know what it is unless he have layn in it But to all the rest who yet stand in the labour of the Law those sayings are as sweet as hony but to me bitter but when they also shall have come thus far the same thing will happen also to them Oh grief that I must draw my Salvation from out of my enemies and experimentally feel that sin shall be condemned thorough sin CHAP. XXX IF we ever are willing to become proficients we must bear one with another as God also hath born with us and still beares with us and even as others also do bear with us Yet it is chiefly to be endeavoured that we dayly become less and less troublesome unto others and being accepted of God we should have soundness of conscience We ought to be brethren and not accuse diffame or contemn one another for any shame or spot And if any one cannot do or have this from the very foundation yet he ought to suppress these things in himself and to have a care least they break forth again and then will the conscience be endued with no bitterness and the state of the man will be well We ought not to be troublesome to one another in gestures or words or works or thoughts but every where to seek peace in love And because now it s told us concerning affliction that we must be subjected thereunto in what manner soever it rusheth in upon us it is to be accepted as from the hand of God and a man in affliction ought to abstain from all delights derived from the creatures We must begin to cut off our members before we come at the heart Sin must be starved to death and as it is usual to deal with a feaver neither food is to be given to it and wherever it would put forth it self it is to be hindred from growing Yea also its life which is so strongly manifested in us is by the help of conscience to be suppressed until it come to its death If any one would seriously possess these things let him dayly call upon God that he would be present with him in them When he the Author was sometimes asked what was to be done with those persons who persecuted others for the sake of Faith answered that we ought to love even our persecutors and added this similitude If any one by great and dayly travail desired to go to Cologne by a journy or way very difficult and troublesome and some body should by chance come and put this traveller into a Coach and so carry him to Cologne certainly to such a one he ought to return the greatest thanks but not hatred CHAP. XXXI Concerning the exercise of Prayer THe Author being asked concerning prayers answered I every day appear thrice before the Lord in prayer Being asked whither by the voice of his mouth He answered Yes viz. in the Morning at Noon and at Night Being asked whither he did so by reason of all those sins which pressed him down with the heaviest care or anxiety and which were in him most displeasing to God He answered Yes But said he such representations were always set before my â—â—es that I might appear pure and that did keep me from sinning Moreover I always had my mind lifted up to God in my labour that I might diligently observe the very bottom of my heart nor would I let my hands be free from labour If I had wandred or erred any where or had done any thing that I knew to be unjust I was not heard but rejected of the Lord. Therefore I was still endeavouring that I might always appear purer and purer if I intended to be heard of the Lord. It is necessary that a man should exceeding seriously and diligently exercise himself in prayer if he intends to be advanced in the Lord For Paul saith That man ought to pray in every place lifting up pure hands without wrath and contention viz. least that our consciences should accuse us or our cogitations excuse themselves and thereupon become angry and contend in us Prepare thyself first before thou prayest nor go about it like one that is about to tempt God We ought with fear and terrour yea with great trembling appear before God in prayer and therefore we ought to be prepared before we pray Poverty and affliction teach us to pray By how much greater the affliction is by so much the more peircing will the prayer be We are to endeavour not to seem or profess our selves otherwise before men then we profess our selves before God For men before men seem to be somewhat when yet before God they be still as a nothing in the bottom and consequently they deceive themselves CHAP. XXXII A Man ought not openly to reveal his divine exercise viz. that by which he is exercised by God Some are naturally so close of heart that they are willingly silent and reveal to no man their divine exercise that is the gift of God and is pleasing to God Others are naturally open of heart so as they willingly discover to any one their divine exercises and their whole mind and that is very displeasing to God Such therefore are to endeavour and study to gâ—t close hearts and let them learn to bridle their tongues and beg help from the Lord. For no man can readily come to be silent unless first he be deeply smitten in his heart with
evil affections and the depraved root of inbred lusts more then it is possible ever to be effected by letters written For this is the work of God alone and is effectual in them who study and endeavour to submit themselves unto his will For it is impossible that they who are disobedient and never strive to quiet the accusations of their consciences by conversion can be so accepted of God as to attain to the grace of Christ Jesus to dwell in them for he that is not faithful in the least matters can never be made Ruler over greater things if therefore any one is not faithful to his own Soul with which yet he is one and firmly united how can he love God from whom as yet he is far away removed In this manner it is necessary that every one should strive with all his might and power for the testimony of his own conscience to renounce his own proper Soul as far as it is possible for him in the sight of God according to the highest degree of his knowledge now if any one shall do thus in that highest degree with the greatest diligence the Lord will in part enlighten the darkness of his understanding as to perceive more profoundly in himself what is the true power of the Law viz. what sort it is of in him viz. spiritual and not only is concerned about an external abstinence from evil concupiscences but much more rather about the most deeply fastened root of sin in us in which we all were conceived out from Adam For so long as the Root remaineth in â—s the action or power of the Law is always against us viz. the bottom being still polluted not being yet purged by a true amendment but by some certain â—â—â—d of likeness thereof And therefore the Godliness promised unto us doth not only and properly require of us that we should desist from external vices but that the very inwards of our hearts should be purified so as that a man should be cleansed and perfected most exactly in his understanding appetite and in his will that he may no longer serve the Lord and obey him unwillingly inasmuch as at first a most troublesome task is to be undergone in turning away his heart from temporal and spiritual captivity but when he is united to Christ he must perfectly be freed from all the earthly concerns of his lusts For seeing that in man there is nothing nearer to God then the Spirit or mind of man therefore it behooveth in the first place to cleanse that from the darkness and grossness of reason in which we are involved by the fall of Adam so that we may be lead into a fuller and more pure degree of divine knowledge unto which no man yet abiding in his corrupted nature can ever come Wherefore whoever desires to attain the true knowledge of God and of himself it behooveth him before all things to strive with all his might to with-hold himself from every vice that is become familiar to him and to which he inclineth and which sometimes he committeth even in this very work For man even while yet he is in his corrupted nature in which he was conceived is not so far removed from the presence of God but that yet he still retains in the supreme part of himself an occult and a most inward spark of some knowledge of God as it is notoriously seen that all men possess some kind of power in knowledge by help of which they discern good from evil insomuch as whilst they remain in the state of evil they are accused in themselves by that same knowledg but when once they are introduced to the state of good then they are at rest If therefore a man follows the dictates of that knowledge inherent in him from his first nature and abhorreth the evil that he knows but sticks close to thâ— good then at length he arrives there where he comes to understand that it'â— utterly impossible for him to give thâ— highest and fullest satisfaction to that knowledge which he hath by nature whereupon he is brought into great troubles of heart especially if he be diligent about the study of Good Moreover because man is wont to fall so back again into himself as that he doeth that which is good rather from the force of his conscience backed with some threatnings of the judgments of God then from Love and an earnest desire of the good then he searcheth out means by which he may be freed from that accusation of conscience Now when he can find no means thus to bind down the appetites thoughts and motions of his flesh but they always still get loose again then indeed it is that he apprehendeth that tho all outward vices and transgressions were laid aside yet there still remains in the flesh the root of them and that he cannot be freed by all his endeavours grievings and mournings from that appetite of the flesh which stirreth up in him Anger Wrath impure lusts and vain thoughts and such like but some time or other it will again seise upon his Soul and thus he comes to see that he is not so set free from the dominion of the Law but that he always must yet endure that accusation concerning the root of sin yet lurking in the most inward parts of his heart Now although the more vulgar and common external knowledge of Christ is willing to palliate and cover over this inward stain by the blessed death of Christ saying these things cannot hurt a Christian Christ dyed for them nor indeed shall I contradict them nevertheless because Christ therefore came and appeared that he might destroy the works of the Devil and that he might free the captive Soul from the burthen of its sins it is indeed necessary that the same Christ should destroy the very foundation also of this satanical building and by his own seed again sown therein should thereby get the possession of the heart and mind as it ought to be done and as it is agreeable to the Lord alone Even as these things were figured out by the type of the promised Land which was promised to the seed of Abraham upon on this account that every evil seed might be eradicated from thence But before things could be brought to that pass the Israelites must suffer many mischieâ—s from their enemies by changing the lives of many for a most cruel death as it came to pass in the wilderness where every thing that was still infected with the knowledge of old Aegypt was punished with death that no impure thing might enter into the promised Land In like manner also no impure thing is taken up by Christ conforming in us the promised likeness of his most holy humanity but all these must first be laid aside by the death of sin that we being thus purified by him should be fitted unto his body together with the most perfect and common conjunction of Christ as of the head of this body from which all
then â—nto the understanding his salvation also â—n go no further then into the underâ—tanding and reason so that it must at last needs dye in that death that is so necessary to all Christians viz. wherein Reason is destroyed for in this death there remains nothing but the Soul or mind only But if it be objected that our faith and knowledge do penetrate even into the most inward regions of the Soul and mind I answer thereto That then also it is necessary that this our Soul and mind when it shall live with such an estrangedness from the flesh that it cannot but with great Nauseousness and tedious disdain bear in its self all the desires and lusts which spring from the nethermost parts of the flesh so as it would rather dye infinite deaths and to be freed from them then with pleasure even once to perform them in the verv act Behold my G. this brief proposal how every one ought to prove and try hâ—â— faith If any man believeth in Chriâ—â— from the very bottom of his Soul 〈◊〉 must need be wracked with great doâ—lours in his Soul by reason of sin so thâ— he will account of sin for the most grievous torture that can be found in all thâ— world and for his greatest enemy and how then for the sake of acting it can he enter into a friendship with it Although therefore the Vulgar knowledge of those who glory in the Gospel may say on this wise Sin if so be it is not perpetrated in the very act though it should lurk in the heart doth us no hurt yet do thou I pray hear how Christ doth nevertheless assert that he who looketh on a woman to lust after her is already guilty in the sight of God by which words surely Christ excuseth not but accuseth the lusting of a man and will really have it accounted for sin in the sight of God Dearest G. I beseech thee do not despond in thy mind because of this hard saying for all things are possible to God I only write this of purpose that thou mayest seasonably learn to judge of all things least thou shouldst consume thy youth unprofitably and that thou mayest bear fruit to God â—in thy own soul they in the mean time who are of the dregs of the Vulgar though they may have knowledge yet they lye down tired in sloth nor do they oppose sin with the least burning zeal or breaâ—â— its impetuous assaults Nor yet doth this external abstinence from sins and the debilitating of them suffice for it 's necessary to descend to the very bottom it self when even the thoughts are to be judged in the presence of God Far therefore be it from us to commit sin in the very act Also this my Letter intends this at least that thy young limbs be stirred up both night and day to the worship of God by continued prayers in temperance purity meekness of heart long-suffering lovâ— of thine Enemies as also in the Reading of Scripture in holy proficiencies anâ— in other virtues conducing to Christian discipline Concerning which thy owâ— Conscience will afford to thee a testimony all which being performed thou wiâ—â— every day rejoyce in thy great success iâ— the work of the Lord that at last wheâ— thy most miserable condition is known thou wilt be a terrour to thy own selâ— and therefore thou wilt so much thâ— more diligently call upon God for help that his most powerful right hand maâ—â— at length gratiously support thy Soul and conquer the power of the enemy in a real victory The Lord have mercy on us all and heal our diseases and effectually cause us to hunger and thirst after his righteousness least we be left naked in our own impurity EPIST. VIII How any one who is studious concerning the way of the Lord ought dayly to exercise himself MOst beloved Neece Because I understand that thou earnestly desirest such a disposition of heart as truely to walk in the ways of the Lord I could not withhold my self but must write to thee these few things for thy greater confirmation in them that thou being once entred into this way shouldest not desist from vigorously proceeding forward and to adhere to the Lord with thy whole heart together with a total suppression of thy carnal part Be therefore diligently studious that thy diligence be not tired out in reading in humanity in Silence in meekness in temperance forbearance patience and compassion also learn to exercise thy self in all studyes of virtues that thou being found faithful in little things mayest be made ruler over much greater for if thou shalt not be faithful in these few things assuredly thou wilt never be entrusted with more But I hope that thou wilt receive wisdom and prudence from the Lord that thou wilt have a care of and diligently attend unto thy own self least some bitter root should spring up in thee and so thou and thy Soul tumble head-long into destruction for the flesh doth very subtilly assault a man to beguile him and turn him away from Godliness Wherefore making a strict watch upon thy life and conversation carefully incompass thy self round having cut off the world and all wantonness of life speech and thoughts preferring every one with all gentleness and patience not only the good but also the evil and the immodest Learn also to bridle in thy self and to humble thy self being always turned to the Lord in thy heart Never let vain evil and unworthy thoughts arise in thy mind but always oppose them with great earnestness pouring out to the Lord fervent prayers and if thou gettest any spare time on holy days or otherways employ it in reading the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament or else of that little book intituled Of the imitation of Christ and in these exercise thy self and learn to ponder them often in thy mind If thou readest any thing which thou doest not understand call upon the Lord with ardent sighs and dayly tears that he would open to thee the true sense of his most holy word for to be the Necessary food of thy Soul for the more thou shalt follow the Lord the more thou shalt understand of holy Scripture and by how much the less thou art intent to wait upon the Lord by so much the less shalt thou understand Scripture Therefore let thy constant endeavours be to approve thy self faithful in these things which are viz. made known to thee in and by mortification and a continual access to God by prayer nor let any time slip by thee in vain and withouâ— thus doing If thou repliest that thou understandest not what thou readest again say that though thou mayest noâ— understand all yet is it incumbent oâ— thee to exercise thy self in the sacred word of the Lord as also to be unwearâ—edly sollicitous about it For by thesâ— exercises thou shalt sooner be amended then by idleness and these are the beâ—â— means of instituting and of exercising anâ— man
which lieth hid in man and convinceth him doth yet partake of reason and humane power although the Lord doth afterwards offer to the heart the light of the Gospel and the understanding of a man submitteth it self to that But for all that he is not yet one with the light for no man receiveth this light but he in whom the reason and strength of man are on the Cross become dead with Christ now such a one thence-forward because of the communion he hath received with the death of Christ is also again raised up by the same Spirit of Christ so as the Spirit of Christ thence-forward becometh his life his own reason and all his own powers abiding in death nor is there a Soul living in him but by the vertue of God and thus the man comes to renounce all his own strength and all his own righteousness in the sight of God and becomes conformed to the righteousness of God in himself which the natural man never knoweth nor can arrive thereat Therefore because the Judgment of Calvin reaches not so far and he himself is not yet dead to his own reason strength he indeed bore witness against his own self because that which in the Epistle to the Romans is demonstrated to be death by the Gospel Rom. 8.10 11. and 6.5 6. keeps him in life the light of the Gospel serving him for that purpose even to his own proper commodity For the Gospel was not divulged till after the Resurrection of Christ And then at length Christ the Son of God was acknowledged to be in us otherwise our acknowledgement was not concerned but only about the person of Christ according to the flesh from whence it is apparent that we our selves are still carnal and though we be not plainly like to the ruder part of the World and do account our selves for imitators of Christ who have left all yet still we are to be made liker unto Christ and to be planted into his death Furthermore I here further acknowledge that no man by the strength of Nature derived from Adam can ever attain unto the eternal mercy of God That study indeed and that labour by which such a man in his solicitous endeavours is tired our before he can arrive at the grace of Christ I acknowledge for humane and that it is subject to the Law but that righteousness which one acquireth by this study is not as yet that righteousness which is prevalent in Gods sight for this is at last after the Law constituted in us by Christ First therefore a man must labour under the rigour of the Law even to the highest perfection of himself and to the greatest innocency he possibly can yet when all this is done the Soul is to feel at length the judgment of God and seeing it cannot possibly abide therein it falls manifestly down into death and then at length is it by Christ raised again into the life of the Spirit But now the acknowledgment of the righteousness of God in common is by the Church which is nearer to us proposed in such a manner as this That God thorough and by Christ crecteth salvation meerly without any addition of works which I grant But because these under the law obtained no righteousness by the benefit of Works there being put no study or rigour therefore they also cannot for Christ sake renounce nor forsake their goods seeing as yet they had gained none For they would have them renounce what they have not but in the interim they suffer loss also in that which they have not yet arrived at That therefore which they say is true but it is not rightly apply'd by them as all the Scripture doth demonstrate that it is by their own faults that they come not to the truth Nevertheless I am unwilling to deny unto them all grace for their portion and according to the measure of their gifts seeing that they study with all their might for Christ and by the help of the Scripture do hear somewhat of him provided they be faithful in what they acknowledge and that to the utmost He that neglects this is condemned by his own proper judgment EPIST. XXI The difference between Repentance and Regeneration in relation to a little book of Diederick Phillips which was printed concerning the New Creature To. J. W. DEarest John that acknowledgment of Diederick Phillips concerning the New Creature I do partly own for truth if it be not stretched further then it reacheth viz. that it can according to the testimony of Scripture lead to Repentance and to lead a pious life But if that Repentance and life so corrected thereby he would have to be put for the New Creature whilst yet the Conscience is still under the burden of sins then is it erroneous for whilst that no death hath as yet happened and still sin lieth so powerfully in the whole man that by means of an accusation it often driveth the soul into sadness the Soul is yet under the Law for by the Law in our consciences we are convinced of sin And though a man may force into silence that accusation and that burden of sin that tormenteth our conscience and that by Scripture-promises and so comfort himself yet it must be confessed that then he still abides in the state of the old Man and is not yet arrived at the death of it For the New Creature is not subject to sin therefore also no accusation of the Law in the Conscience can touch it for then a man liveth wholly under grace and his mind stands in no need to be sustained by the external comforts of the Scriptures or also by the absolution from sins according to the testimony of Scripture it should bring forth to him a greater confidence for his life is in the Spirit and consisteth under the Law of the grace of God wherefore also the conscience in its purity enjoyeth the highest peace remaining sealed by the Holy-Ghost but in them who are still under conscience the Law of sin still exerciseth its power and conscience doth still accuse perpetually for some sins so that it hence appears openly that such are not yet dead to the Law because the accusation of the Law doth still remain in its power so long as by the transgression of the Law somewhat is committed against conscience and though we will not confess that we are under the Law or under the accusation thereof notwithstanding that there can be no accusation but by virtue of the Law still reigning here or there yet is the thing manifest by conscience its self which thorough an accusation for sin rendreth us guilty If therefore we could stand in purity by the blood of Christ according to the inward man then indeed the Law by its virtue which it hath in the Conscience thorough sin durst not so assault the Soul of a man as that he must seek comfort out of the Scriptures and to be reconciled with God and to be confirmed by
a new promise of grace because grace in the regenerated hath taken most deep root according to its own true nature so that such have certainly no need to seek out some remedy out of their own selves Which whilst others do they do in this very point testify that they have not attained to that of which they boasted and which they by the testimonies of the Scriptures attributed to themselves in the very truth and according to the proper essence of the thing For the old man who always by force usurpeth the empire in man with transgression which indeed is termed a tripping and is made light of yet nevertheless in the sight of God it can never be tollerated in the new man without real mortification alledgeth a contrary testimony viz. that we yet live the life of the old man nor as yet are disposed unto death because that no sin can be committed against our wills and without pleasure or delight Hence therefore is it manifest that we still are kept in the life of the old man and are not yet arrived at the new life for a man comes not to the death of natural strength in his carnal life and with the complacency of proper will or by the study of proper righteousness and austerity but against its own will viz. it is to be subjected on the cross to the obedience of God by the means of pouring forth of the blood of Christ Jesus our Lord into whose communion we are taken by a like death according to the inward man so that on the cross we wholly put off our natural life which we had in the flesh being buried with Christ and afterwards raised up again into another supernatural life so as the power of the Law which being as yet not perfectly killed lurketh in the members of our natural body is wholly enervated in the mind and Soul and in the whole humanity having utterly lost all right in and upon the life of man For a man is not excited into such a life ove◠which the jurisdsction of the Law can domineer with a deadly accusation but when it hath fully finished this judgment in man by this death the man also by the benefit of the same death is altogether freed from that Law EPIST. XXII Being a fundamental Relation in what properly consisteth the Oeconomical Government of the Family of Love To the same person MY John I received thy letters together with the books and having somewhat perused them I gain'd the understanding of the greater part of the opinion yet I shall keep the Books till thou comest But the opinion of the Writer is contrary to my mind because it consisteth in the knowledge only of a seeming divine truth and not in an essentia◠truth of God And this is my opinion seeing no man can be more instructed according to this way than the Writer himself of these Books If I may understand his fundamentals from his Books it cannot possibly be that any of those who are inferiour to him can more happily explain the thing to me Yet I am willing that thou shouldest enquire how they carry themselves in their conversation that thou wouldest as exactly as possibly thou canst find out also the rest of their state or condition for when thou shalt come hither I shall more fully discover to thee my opinion concerning those Writings Now I only ask pardon seeing that matters are thus the cause whereof if it shall please the Lord I shall tell thee at thy coming May the merciful and faithful God have mercy on them and us that in an acknowledgement of their darkness they may be led by the Lord in the straight way unto his essential truth before which the natural Reason which inordinately appropriateth God to it self may utterly perish whereby I fear they are still too much bound though they think themselves clearly set free therefrom For all that for which they labour and contend and which they account their utmost aim as far as I can imagine must yet be judged of God for that which reason endeavoureth to effect with them by knowing all that must be God himself so that nothing but God can acknowledge himself in us we in the mean time being by a real death of body and soul as to our creaturely part wholly laid aside and then that life which ought to be in us can be nothing else but Christ as Paul saith likewise so that after we are buried by death we are no more raised up again into Nature but into the Spirit For nature remaineth condemned upon the Cross and being once dead is not again revived Now I judge that nature in these people is still egregiously and in very deed and especially alive although they may think that they are already purified because that they perswade themselves through their ignorance and blindness that they have already plainly conquered that combat of an accusing conscience I write all this to thee with the greatest brevity because thou didst demand my opinion but when God permitting thou shalt come thy self we will talk more concerning them My Opinion therefore as I said is contrary to these Writings and my mind can no waies assent unto them For that aim which the Writer himself calleth the Intellect of God in my sense is indeed nothing else than that they would have Nature as yet not deadned to become a propriety to themselves when indeed Nature before it be dead cannot be otherwise in it self for in it the highest death consisteth True indeed that by reading I find somewhat concerning Death and of the abnegation of the reason and the discretion of Nature so as that the Author would have all humane wisdom and knowledge overturned before we can come to the truth of God yet nevertheless the Soul of a Man doth remain proper to him yea though he renounceeth his intellect so that in this very point the Writer erreth in which he taxeth others and in truth far more vilely seeing that he thereby would come to a greater knowledge but especially that he by the means of his temerity would arrive at that which others seek by means of worship and ceremonies For these from a vow do love their body goods wife and children that they may possess the inheritance of heaven but they do forsake their natural and humane wisdome and reason that they may obtain something that is better viz. the understanding of God and yet both of them are still captivated in that that their Ipseity or Iness still remaineth proper to them although to some more miserably then to others Now it is impossible that they should this way arrive at the truth of God and can possibly be planted into liberty as in the sight God because that they are not lead in tha◠true and as it were that essential death to be found in both Soul and Body bu◠are only instructed by knowing though for this very reason they reject others 〈◊〉 of a certain