The Way to Christ

31. And though all the Devils should press hard upon it, and enter with their Desire into the fleshly Mind> yet the Will of the Soul must stand still and hide itself in the Death of Christy Willing and desiring nothing but the Mercy of God.

32. t No Hypocritical Flattery, or outward Comforting ourselves, availeth at all ; as when Men will cover Sin and Iniquity in the Flesh with the Satisfaction of Christ , and remain in Self still. Christ saith, ‘ Except ye turn and become as Children, ye shall ‘not see the Kingdom of God.’ The Mind must become as wholly new, as in a Child, that knowe^h nothing of Iqin. Christ saith also, 1 Ye must be born anew, or else ye shall not see the ‘ Kingdom of God/ There must arise a Will wholly nez£, in the Death of Christ. It must be brought forth o\fc of Christ's Incarnation or entering into the Hufnanity, and rise in Christ's Resurrection . *

33. Now before this can be done, the Will of the Soul must die in the Death of Christ ; for in Adam it received the Son of the Bond-Woman, viz.. Sin, into it. This the Will must first cast out, and the poor captive Soul must wrap itself up in the Death of Christ earnestly , with all the Power it hath , so that the Son of the Bond - Woman, viz., the Sin that is in it, may die in the Death of Christ.

34. In very deed Sin must die in the Will of the Soul, or else there can be no Vision of God. For the earthly Will, in Sin and the Wrathful Nature, shall not see God, It is the Regenerated Nature only that is capable of the Divine Vision, or Enjoyment. The Soul must put on the Spirit and Flesh of Christ ; it cannot inherit the Kingdom of God in this earthly Tabernacle . For the Kingdom of Sin hangeth to it outwardly, which must putrify in the Earth, and rise again in ?iew Pozver.

35. Hypocrisy, Flattery, and verbal Forgiveness, avail nothing. We must be Children , not by outzvard Imputation , but by being born of Qod from within, in the new Man, which is resigned in and to God.

• 36. All such Flattery of ourselves by saying, 4 Christ hath paid
• * the Ransom, and made Satisfaction for Sin/ and that he died for our Sins , if we also do not die from Sin in him, and put on his Merit in new Obedience, and live therein, is a false and vain Comfort.

37. He that is a bitter Enemy and Hater of Sin, can and may comfort himself with the Sufferings of Christ . He that doth not willingly see, hear , or taste Sin , but is at Enmity with it, and would willingly always do that which is well and right, if he knew

Of 'True Resignation, 55

but what he ought to do ; such a one hath indeed put on the Spirit and Will of Christ , and is His true Disciple .

38. But the outward Flattery of being accounted a Child of God by Imputation or external Application , is false and vain. The Work done in, or by, the outward Flesh only, doth not make the Child of Qod, but the working of Christ in the Spirit maketh, and indeed is , the Child of Qod ’ Which inward working is so powerful that it shineth forth as a new Light , in the outward Life*; and proveth itself to be the Child of Qod by its external Conduct and Actions.

39. For if the Eye of the Soul be Light , then the whole Body is Light in all its Members. • Now if any boast himself to be the Child of Cpody and yet suffereth the Body to burn in Sins , he is no true Child , nor capable of the Inheritance ; but lieth bound by tfie Chains of the Devil in gross Darkness . And if he doth not find in himself an earnest and sincere Desire of Welldoing in Love, then his Pretence to the Childship is but an Invention of Reason proceeding from Self He cannot see God, unless he be born anew , and show forth by his Poiver and Life , that he is His true Child. For there is no Fire but hath Light in it ; and if the Divine Fire be in the Mind, it will shine forth , and the Mind will do that which God will have to be done.

40. But perhaps thou wilt say, ‘ I have a Will indeed to do so;

‘ I would willingly do it, but I am so hindered that I cannot ’