Letter XI.

Such a Man, though he may be of an humane, ingenuous, generous and frank Nature, of lively Parts and much candour, is nevertheless entirely ignorant of the Depth of the Heart of Man, and the Necessities of Human Nature. As yet (though he knows it not) he is only at Play and Pastime, pleasing himself with supposed deep Enquiries after strict Truth, whilst he is only sporting himself with lively wandering Images of This and That, just as they happen to start up in his mind. Could but he see himself in the State of the poor distressed prodigal Son, and find that himself is the very Person there recorded, he would then, but not till then, see the Fitness of that Redemption, which is offered him by the Mercy of God in CHRIST JESUS. But such a one, alas! is rich; he is sound; Light is in his own Power, Goodness is in his own Possession: He feels no Distress or Darkness; but has a Crucible of Reason and Judgment, that on every Occasion separates Gold from Dross: And, therefore, he must be left to himself, to his own Elysium, till something more than Argument and Disputation awakens him out of these golden Dreams.

Let us beware also of the religious Pharisee, who raves against spiritual Religion, because it touches the very Heart-string of all systematical Divinity, and shakes the very Foundation of every BABEL in every Country; for not a System of Divinity, since Systems were in being, whether Popish or Protestant, deserves a better Name.

All Preachers of the true spiritual Mystery of the Gospel, or a Birth, Light and Life from above, in and by JESUS CHRIST (which are the Mystic Writers of every Age) ever were, and will be, treated by the reigning fashionable Orthodoxy, as Enemies to the outward Gospel, and its Services, just as the Prophets of God (who were the Mystic Preachers of the Jewish Dispensation) were by the then reigning Orthodoxy, condemned and despised, for calling People to a spiritual Meaning of the dead Letter, to a Holiness infinitely greater than that of their outward Sacrifices, Types, and Ceremonies.

Whoever he is that has any Situation of his own to defend, be it that of a celebrated Preacher, a Champion for received Orthodoxy, a Head, a Leader, or Follower of any Sect, or Party, or particular Method; or that seems, both in his own Eyes, and in the Eyes of others, to have made himself significant in any kind of religious Distinction; every such Person, sooner or later, will find, that he has much of that very same to give up, which hindered the zealous, and eminently religious Pharisee from converting to CHRIST, in the Spirit of a little Child.

Nor doth it help the Matter, that such an one abounds with Piety and Excellency; for St. Paul was governed by a Spirit of great Piety, great Excellency, and Zeal for God. He says of himself, that when he was persecuting the Disciples of Christ, he 'lived in all good Conscience, as touching the Law blameless, and according to the straitest Sect of the Jewish Religion'; for the Pharisees, though many of them had all that Hypocrisy and Rottenness which Christ laid to their Charge, yet as a Sect, they were an Order of most confessed and resplendent Sanctity; and yet the more earnest and upright they were in this kind of Zeal for Goodness, the more earnestly they opposed and condemned the heavenly Mystery of a new Life from Christ, as appears from St. Paul.

This Sect of the Pharisees did not cease with the Jewish Church; it only lost its old Name; it is still in being, and springs now in the same Manner from the Gospel, as it did then from the Law: It has the same Place, lives the same Life, does the same Work, minds the same Things, has the same Goodness at Heart, has the same religious Honour, and claim to Piety, in the Christian, as it had in the Jewish Church; and as much mistakes the Depths of the Mystery of the Gospel, as that Sect mistook the Mystery signified by the Letter of the Law and the Prophets.

It would be easy to show in several Instances, how the Leaven of that Sect works amongst us, just as it did amongst them. 'Have any of the Rulers believed on Him?' was the orthodox Question of the ancient Pharisees. Now we Christians readily and willingly condemn the Weakness and Folly of that Question; and yet who does not see, that, for the most Part, both Priest and People, in every Christian Country, live and govern themselves by the Folly and Weakness of the very same Spirit which put that Question: For when God, as He has always done from the Beginning of the World, raises up private and illiterate Persons, full of Light and Wisdom from above, so as to be able to discover all the Workings of the Mystery of Iniquity, and to open the Ground, and Truth, and absolute Necessity of such an inward Spirit and Life of Christ revealed in us, as Time, carnal Wisdom, and worldly Policy have departed from; when all this is done, by the weakest Instruments of God, in such a Simplicity and Fulness of Demonstration, as may be justly deemed a Miracle; do not Clergy and Laity get rid of it all, though ever so unanswerable, merely by the Strength of the Pharisees' good old Question, saying with them, 'Have any of the Rulers believed and taught these Things? Hath the Church in Council or Convocation? Hath Calvin, Luther, Zwinglius, or any of our renowned System-makers, ever taught or asserted these matters?'

But hear what our blessed Lord saith, of the Place, the Power, and Origin of Truth: He refers us not to the current Doctrines of the Times, or to the Systems of men, but to his own Name, his own Nature, his own Divinity hidden in us: 'My Sheep,' says he, 'hear my Voice.' Here the whole Matter is decisively determined, both where Truth is, and who they are that can have any Knowledge of it.

Heavenly Truth is nowhere spoken but by the Voice of Christ, nor heard but by the Power of Christ living in the Hearer. As He is the eternal only Word of God, that speaks forth all the Wisdom, and Wonders of God; so He alone is the Word, that speaks forth all the Life, Wisdom, and Goodness, that is or can be in any Creature; it can have none but what it has in him and from him: This is the one unchangeable Boundary of Truth, Goodness, and every Perfection of Men on Earth, or Angels in Heaven.

Literary Learning, from the Beginning to the End of Time, will have no more of Heavenly Wisdom, nor any less of Worldly Foolishness in it, at one Time than at another; its Nature is one and the same through all Ages; what it was in the Jew and the Heathen, that same it is in the Christian. Its Name, as well as Nature, is unalterable, viz., Foolishness with God.

I shall add no more, but the two or three following Words.

I. Receive every inward and outward Trouble, every Disappointment, Pain, Uneasiness, Temptation, Darkness, and Desolation, with both thy Hands, as a true Opportunity and blessed Occasion of dying to Self, and entering into a fuller Fellowship with thy Self-denying, suffering Saviour.

II. Look at no inward or outward Trouble in any other View; reject every other Thought about it; and then every Kind of Trial and Distress will become the blessed Day of thy Prosperity.

III. Be afraid of seeking or finding Comfort in any Thing, but God alone: For that which gives thee Comfort, takes so much of thy Heart from God. 'Quid est Cor purum? cui ex toto, et pure sufficit solus Deus, cui nihil sapit, quod nihil delectat, nisi Deus.' That is, 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.

IV. That State is best, which exerciseth the highest Faith in, and fullest Resignation to God.

V. What is it you want and seek, but that God may be all in all in you? But how can this be, unless all creaturely Good and Evil become as nothing in you, or to you?

'Oh Anima mea, abstrahe te ab Omnibus. Quid tibi cum mutabilibus Creaturis? Solum Sponsum tuum, qui omnium est Author Creaturarum, expectans, hoc age, ut Cor tuum ille liberum et expeditum semper inveniat, quoties illi ad ipsum venire placuerit.' That is, O my Soul! abstract thyself from every Thing. What hast thou to do with changeable Creatures? Waiting and expecting thy Bridegroom, who is the Author of all Creatures, let it be thy sole Concern, that he may find thy Heart free and disengaged, as often as it shall please him to visit thee.

Be assured of this, that sooner or later, we must be brought to this Conviction, That every Thing in ourselves by Nature is Evil, and must be entirely given up; and that Nothing that is creaturely, can make us better than we are by Nature. Happy, therefore, and blessed are all those inward or outward Troubles, that hasten this Conviction in us; that with the whole Strength of our Souls, we may be driven to seek all from and in GOD, without the least Thought, Hope, or Contrivance after any other Relief: Then it is, that we are made truly Partakers of the Cross of CHRIST; and from the Bottom of our Hearts shall be enabled to say, with St. Paul, God forbid that I should Glory in any Thing, save the Cross of our Lord JESUS CHRIST: by which I am crucified to the World, and the world is crucified to me.'

Give up yourself to God without reserve. This implies such a State or Habit of Heart, as does Nothing of itself, from its own Reason, Will or Choice, but stands always in Faith, Hope, and absolute Dependence upon being led by the Spirit of God into every Thing that is according to his Will; seeking Nothing by Designing, Reasoning, and Reflection, how you shall best promote the Honour of God, but in Singleness of Heart, meeting every Thing that every Day brings forth, as something that comes from GOD, and is to be received, and gone through by you, in such an Heavenly Use of it, as you would suppose the HOLY JESUS would have done, in such Occurrences.--This is an attainable Degree of Perfection; and by having CHRIST and his Spirit always in your Eye, and Nothing Else, you will never be left to yourself, nor without the full Guidance of GOD.