Disciple:
But it is very hard to be always looking forwards into Eternity; and consequently to attain to this single Eye, and Simplicity of Divine Vision. The Entrance of a Soul naked into the Will of God, shutting out all Imaginations and Desires, and breaking down the strong Partition which you mention, is indeed somewhat very terrible and shocking to human Nature in its present State. O what shall I do, that I may reach this which I so much long for?
Master:
My Son, let not the Eye of Nature with the Will of the Wonders depart from that Eye which is introverted into the Divine Liberty, and into the Eternal Light of the holy Majesty; but let it draw to thee those Wonders by Union with that heavenly internal Eye, which are externally wrought out and manifested in visible Nature. For while thou art in the World, and hast an honest Employment, thou art certainly by the Order of Providence obliged to labor in it, and to finish the Work given thee, according to thy best Ability, without Repining or Complaining in the least and to seek out and manifest for God's Glory, the Wonders of Nature and Art. Since let the Nature be what it will, it is all the Work and Art of God; and let the Art also be what it will, it is still God's Work, and His Art, rather than any Art or Cunning of Man. And all both in Art and Nature serveth but abundantly to manifest the wonderful Works of God; that He for all, and in all may be glorified. Yea, all serveth but to recollect thee more inward if thou knowest rightly how to use them, and to draw thy Spirit into that majestic Light, wherein the original Patterns and Forms of Things visible are to be seen. Keep therefore in the Center, and stir not out from the Presence of God revealed within thy Soul; let the World and the Devil make never so great a Noise and Bustle to draw thee out, mind them not; they cannot hurt thee. It is permitted to the Eye of thy Reason to seek Food, and to thy Hands, by their Labor, to get Food for the terrestrial Body. But then this Eye ought not with its Desire to enter into the Food prepared, which would be Covetousness; but must in Resignation simply bring it before the Eye of God in thy Spirit, and then thou must seek to place it close to this very Eye, without letting it go. Mark this Lesson well. Let the Hands or the Head be at Labor, thy Heart ought nevertheless to rest in God. God is a Spirit; dwell in the Spirit, work in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, and do every Thing in the Spirit; for remember thou also art a Spirit, and thereby created in the Image of God. Therefore see that thy Desire attract not Matter unto thee, but as much as possible abstract thyself from all Matter whatever; and so, standing in the Center, present thyself as a vacant, naked Spirit before God, in Simplicity and Purity; and be sure thy Spirit draw in nothing but Spirit. Thou wilt yet be greatly enticed to draw Matter, and to gather that which the World calls Substance, thereby to have somewhat visible to trust to. But by no Means consent to the Tempter, nor yield to the Lusting of thy Flesh against the Spirit. For in so doing thou wilt infallibly obscure the Divine Light in thee; thy Spirit will stick in the dark covetous Root, and from the fiery Source of thy Soul will it blaze out in Pride and Anger; thy Will shall be chained in Earthliness, and shall sink through the Anguish into Darkness and materiality; and never shalt thou be able to reach the still Liberty, or to stand before the Majesty of God. Since this is opening a Door for him who reigneth in the Corruption of Matter, possibly the Devil may roar at thee for this Refusal; because nothing can vex him worse than such a silent Abstraction of the Soul, and Controversion thereof to the Point of Rest from all that is worldly and circumferential. But regard him not; neither admit into thee the least Dust of Matter which he may pretend any Claim to. It will be all Darkness to thee, as much Matter as is drawn in by the Desire of thy Will. It will darken God's Majesty to thee; and will close the seeing Eye, by hiding from thee the Light of His beloved Countenance. This the Serpent longeth to do; but in vain, except thou permittest thy Imagination upon his Suggestion, to receive in the alluring Matter; else he can never get in. Behold then, if thou desirest to see God's Light in thy Soul, and be divinely illuminated and conducted, this is the short Way that thou art to take; not to let the Eye of thy Spirit enter into Matter, or fill itself with any Thing whatever, either in Heaven or Earth; but to let it enter by naked Faith into the Light of the Majesty; and so receive by pure Love the Light of God, and attract the Divine Power into itself, putting on the Divine Body, and growing up in it to the full Maturity of the Humanity of Christ.
Disciple:
As I said before, so I say again, this is very hard. I conceive indeed well enough that my Spirit ought to be free from the Contagion of Matter, and wholly empty, so that it may admit into it the Spirit of God. Also, that this Spirit will not enter, but where the Will entereth into Nothing, and resigneth itself up in the Nakedness of Faith, and in the Purity of Love, to Its Conduct; feeding magically upon the Word of God, and clothing itself thereby with a Divine Substantiality. But alas, how hard it is for the Will to sink into Nothing, to attract Nothing, to imagine Nothing!
Master:
Let it be granted that it is so. Is it not surely worth thy Time and Effort, and all that thou canst ever do?
Disciple:
It is so, I must needs confess.
Master:
But perhaps it may not be so hard as at first it appeareth to be; make but the Trial, and be in earnest. What is there required of thee, but to stand still, and see the Salvation of thy God? And couldst thou desire any Thing less? Where is the Hardship in this? Thou hast Nothing to care for, Nothing to desire in this Life, Nothing to imagine or attract. Thou needest only cast thy Care upon God, who careth for thee, and leave Him to dispose of thee according to His Good Will and Pleasure, even as if thou hadst no Will at all in thee. For He knoweth what is best; and if thou canst but trust Him, He will most certainly do better for thee, than if thou were left to thine own Choice.
Disciple:
This I most firmly believe.
Master:
If thou believest, then go and do accordingly. All is in the Will, as I have shown thee. When the Will imagineth after Somewhat, then entereth it into that Somewhat, then presently that same Somewhat taketh the Will into itself, and overcloudeth it, so that it can have no Light, but must dwell in Darkness, unless it return back out of that Somewhat into Nothing. For when the Will imagineth or lusteth after Nothing, then it entereth into Nothing, where it receiveth the Will of God into itself, and so dwelleth in Light, and worketh all its Works in that Light.
Disciple:
I am now satisfied that the Main Cause of any one's Spiritual Blindness is his letting his Will into Somewhat, or into that which he hath wrought, of what Nature soever it be, Good or Evil, and his setting his Heart and Affections upon the Work of his own Hands or Brain; and that when the earthly Body perisheth, then the Soul must be imprisoned in that very Thing which it shall have received and let in; and if the Light of God be not in it, being deprived of the Light of this World, it cannot but be found in a dark Prison.
Master:
This is a very precious Gate of Knowledge; I am glad thou takest it into such Consideration. The understanding of the whole Scripture is contained in it; and all that hath been written from the Beginning of the World to this Day, may be found herein, by him that having entered with his Will into Nothing, hath there found All Things by finding God; from Whom, and to Whom, and in Whom are All Things. By this Means thou shalt come to hear and see God; and after this earthly Life is ended, to see with the Eye of Eternity all the Wonders of God and of Nature, and more particularly those which shall have been wrought by thee in the Flesh, or all that the Spirit of God shall have given thee to labor out for thyself and thy Neighbor, or all that the Eye of Reason enlightened from above, may at any Time have manifested to thee. Delay not therefore to enter in by this Gate, which if thou seest in the Spirit, as some highly favored Souls have seen it, thou seest in the Supersensual Ground, all that God is, and can do; thou seest also therewith, as one hath said who was taken thereinto, through Heaven, Hell, and Earth, and through the Essence of all Essences. Whosoever findeth It, hath found All that he can possibly desire. Here is the Virtue and Power of the Love of God displayed. Here is the Height and Depth; here is the Breadth and Length thereof manifested, as ever the Capacity of thy Soul can contain. By this thou shalt come into that Ground out of which all Things are originated, and in which they subsist; and in It thou shalt reign over all God's Works, as a Prince of God.
Disciple:
Pray tell me, dear Master, where dwelleth It in Man?
Master:
Where Man dwelleth not, there It hath Its Seat in Man.
Disciple:
Where is that in a Man, where Man dwelleth not in himself?
Master:
It is the resigned Ground of a Soul, to which NoThing cleaveth.
Disciple:
Where is the Ground in any Soul, to which there will NoThing stick? Or, where is that which abideth and dwelleth not in SomeThing?
Master:
It is the Center of Rest and Motion in the resigned Will of a truly contrite Spirit, which is crucified to the World. This Center of the Will is impenetrable consequently to the World, the Devil, and Hell; Nothing in all the World can enter into it, or adhere to it, though never so many Devils should be in the Confederacy against it; because the Will is dead with Christ unto this World, but quickened with Him in the Center thereof, after His Blessed Image. Here it is where Man dwelleth not; and where no SELF abideth, or can abide.
Disciple:
O where is this naked Ground of the Soul void of all SELF? And how shall I come at the hidden Center where God dwelleth, and not Man? Tell me plainly, loving Sir, where it is, and how it is to be found by me, and entered into?
Master:
There where the Soul hath slain its OWN Will, and willeth no more any Thing as from itSELF, but only as God willeth, and as His Spirit moveth upon the Soul, shall this appear. Where the Love of SELF is banished, there dwelleth the Love of God. For so much of the Soul's OWN Will as is dead unto itSELF, even so much Room hath the Will of God, which is His Love, taken up in that Soul. The Reason whereof is this; Where its OWN Will did before sit, there is now Nothing; and where Nothing is, there alone is it that the Love of God worketh.
Disciple:
But how shall I comprehend It?
Master:
If thou goest about to comprehend It, then It will fly away from thee; but if thou dost surrender thyself wholly up to It, then It will abide with thee, and become the Life of thy Life, and be natural to thee.
Disciple:
And how can this be without dying, or the whole Destruction of my Will?
Master:
Upon this entire Surrender and Yielding up of thy Will, the Love of God IN THEE becometh the Life of thy Nature; It killeth thee not, but quickeneth thee, who art now dead to thySELF in thine own Will, according to Its proper Life, even the Life of God. And then thou livest, yet not to thy own Will; but thou livest to Its Will, forasmuch as thy Will is henceforth become Its Will. So then it is no longer thy Will, but the Will of God; no longer the Love of thySELF, but the Love of God, which moveth and operateth in thee; and then, being thus comprehended in It, thou art dead indeed as to thySELF, but art alive unto God. So being dead thou livest, or rather God liveth IN THEE by His Spirit; and His Love is made to thee Life from the Dead. Never couldst thou with all thy seeking, have apprehended It; but It hath apprehended thee. Much less couldst thou have comprehended It. But now It hath comprehended thee; and so the Treasure of Treasures is found.
Disciple: