recourse to the ever-living, and abiding Truth, the withdrawing or death of a friend will be no great affliction to thee. The love of a friend ought to be founded in me: And it is for my fake that thou fhouldst love thofe whom thou thinkeft to be good men, and that are very dear to thee in this life. There is no friendship of any worth, or continuance without me: Nor is there any true, and pure love, but what I knit and join together. Thou oughtest to be fo entirely dead to all perfonal fondneffes and affections, as to wish (for what concerns thy own particular) to be fequefter'd from all human converfation. So much the nearer doth a man approach to God, by how much the farther he withdraws from all human comfort. So much the higher alfo doth he afcend towards GOD, by how much the lower he defcendeth in himself, and the viler he is in his own eyes.

II. But he that afcribes any thing of good to himself, hinders the grace of GOD from coming into him; Because the grace of the Holy Spirit ever seeketh the humble heart. If thou couldst once perfectly annihilate thy felf, that is, beat down and humble thy foul even to nothing, and empty thy felf entirely of the love of all created things,

then

then fhould I come into thee, and flow in thy foul with abundant grace. When thou cafteft thy eye upon the creatures, thou fofeft fight of the Creator. Learn to overcome thy felf in all things, for the love of the Creator; fo fhalt thou be enabled to arfive at the knowledge of GOD.Tho' a thing be never fo trifling and inconfiderable in its own nature, yet if it be unduly priz'd, and inordinately lov'd, it taints the foul, and checks it in its purfuit of Perfection, and of the chief and only Good.

I.

CHAP. XLIII.

Against vain and fecular Knowledge.

SON

JESUS-CHRIST.

ON, be not captivated with the beauty and elegance of human difcourfes. For the Kingdom of GoD is not in word, but in power. Attend unto my words, which inflame the heart, and enlighten the understanding: Which provoke contrition, and infufe manifold confolation.

a Cor. iv. 20.

Let

Let not the appearing wifer, or more learn ed, be the end thou propofeft in reading any Book. Study the mortification of thy vices and paffions; for this will profit thee more than the understanding and refolution of all the controverfies and nice questions bandied about by the Learned."

II. After thou haft read, and learnt many things, thou must return at last to one fingle Principle; even to this: I am he that teach man knowledge: And I give more light and understanding to babes, to the humble and fimple, than all the men in the world are able to impart unto them. He, to whom I fpeak fhall quickly become wife, and fhall make great progrefs in the Spirit. Wo unto them who beftow their time and pains upon curious Sciences, and unprofitable fpeculations, and have little or no concern to inform themselves in their duty to me. A day will come when the Doctor of Doctors Jefus Chrift, the King of Angels, fhall appear to enquire into the studies, that is, to examin the confciences of all men. And then fball Jerufalem be fearched with candles, and the hidden things of darknefs fhall be brought to light, and the

b Zeph. i. 12.

c 1 Cor. iv. 5

Tongues

tongues of the eloquent fhall be mute, and all vain reafonings fhall be confounded.

III. I am he who raise up the humble fpirit in an instant, and render him more capable of receiving and comprehending eternal truths, than a courfe of many years ftudy could have done. I teach without the noife of words, without the confufion of different opinions, without the vain of tentation of learning, without the heat of argumentation. I am he who teach men to defpife earthly things, to naufeate prefent things, to feek eternal things, to favour and relish eternal things, to flee honours, to bear injuries and reproaches, to put their whole hope and trust in me, to defire nothing out of me, and to love me ardently, and above all things.

IV. For fome difciples of mine, by an intimate and entire love of me, have been marvelloufly enlightened, and enabled to utter astonishing things. They have profited more by abandoning all things than they could have done by ftudying fubtilties and nice points of doctrine. But I do not communicate my felf in like manner and degree to all. To fome I fpeak common matters only; others I inftruct in things more abstruse and elevated. To fome I

ap

pear

pear agreeably in fhades and figures; to others I reveal in great light the moft fecret Myfteries. My Books fpeak alike to all, but they do not alike inform all; because it is I alone who teach inwardly; I who am the Truth; who fearch the heart; who understand the thoughts; who excite to good works; and who diftribute to every one feverally my gifts and graces in fuch kinds and proportions, as I my felf judge

meet.

I.

CHAP. XLIV.

Of not engaging in Worldly Matters.

JESUS-CHRIST.

ON, in many things it is expedient for thee to be ignorant, and to look upon thy felf as dead upon earth, and as one to whom all the world is crucify'd. It is expedient alfo to make thy felf deaf to many things that are faid: and to think rather of those things that make for thy peace. It is better to turn away thine eyes from things that displease thee, and to leave to every one their own fenfe, than to engage