The Spirit of Prayer

Jan Bruegel the Elder -- Garden of Eden Pryr-1.1-18] It is the Goodness of God that breaks forth into a Desire to communicate Good, and it was the sole Cause of the Beginning of Creation., which is stated right at the start of Genesis: And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Gen.1. Hence it follows, that for all Eternity, God can have no Thought, or Intent towards the Creature, but to communicate Good; that idea that He, the Creator is Good and that his Creation and Creature are the same: beneficient, kind and virtuous. So it stands to figure, that God made the Creature for this sole End: to receive Goodness and its like. So now that we understand the amiable Nature of God; i.e. that he the Good, a unchangeable, overflowing Fountain of Good, and that He is the Love itself, giving nothing but Gifts of Love, to every Thing that He has made and requiring nothing of all his Creatures, but that in return share the Spirit and Fruits of that Love. T...

[Pryr-1.1-16 or pg 24] From this short, yet plain and true Account of this Matter, we are delivered from a Load of Difficulties that have been raised about the Fall of Man, and  Original Sin. It has been a great Question for all Christians, How could the Goodness of God so punish such a  small and single an Act of Disobedience in Adam, with so great a Punishment as Eternal Sin? Well to be honest,  that Question has little to do with God, but more with logic and sense because Adam's Punishment was just a  miserable Change that came upon him: he was transformed from an Angelic Nature to a Bestial One. So of course, another, and the greatest Question of all, is What kind of Divine would do this to him Adam & then to all his Posterity?  But here, it may be said, that this Question is equally ridiculous because There is no Imputation {assignment}  of the Sin of Adam to his Posterity, never once is that mentioned in the Holy Bible, and so there is no Fou...

[Pryer 1.14]  Let me be honest here.  If your father, and I'm sure yours did, tell you not to put your finger on a hot burner or through a fire, and then you did, would you blame your father for telling you and so putting the idea into your head or do you blame yourself for testing his advice and seeing indeed what would happen? So too, Adam  who operated contrary to the Will of God merely for the  Sake of some new-fancy operated from his own voluntary Act, decided to test what God has told him knowing fulling well that the punishment would be the lost of his heavenly life; did so anyways, somewhat like a rogue child that gives you the finger and figures that he will get away with it because you do not have the heart to really take him to task. [Pryer 1.15]  ] Well, that is a simple, but clear Representation of the Case, how Matters stood Pietro della Vecchia, St Dominic and the Devil c. 1630  at the Indianapolis Museum of Art betwixt God ...

Justice and the Kabbalah regarding the Spirit of Prayer Posted on   October 25, 2014 by   In My Anguish The Tree of Life, commonly called the Kabbalah, associates Mercy with Judgement, as  they are opposite each other : Mercy is the 4th sefirot and Geburah or Judgement is 5.  These are two of the divine attributes of Yahweh. The Hebrew Alpha-bet reads right to left, and so does the tree.   The left side where  Judgement (Geburah) resides is Feminine, while the Right is Active and Masculine (Chesed #4).  This means that even numbers are active while uneven numbers are unstable and passive – like the atom they receive instructions. Then there is the Middle Pillar or the spine of tree,.  If one reads up  Malkuth #10 to #1 Kether, as you ascend the tree,  you must be one of the Kingdom i.e. a believer.  Nothing happens without that first step towards God.  From there, you need solid foundation (yesod) in Hi...

 Justice is the rendering to every one that which is his due.  This meaning, definitely picks up on the "rightwitnisse" of Old English or doing the "right thing" and echoes the many laws and duties of Leviticus (namely Lev. 18-21, the law regarding sexual & secular relations). Justice is distinguished from equity (the idea of what is fair and impartial),   as it refers to merely doing what positive (government or man made societal) law demands, while the  equity is about doing of what is fair and right despite the societal decrees. Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary   Probably the best example of this is, again Leviticus, "In business dealings do not favor the rich over the poor, but be fair to all.  Do not cheat.  Measure accurately weights and volumes according to a standard value.) (Lev xx: 36)  and "Do not harbour a hatred or resentment for any of your relatives". Aristotle was one of the first to posit that was what just by Soci...

Spirit of Prayer , Questioning the Wrath Posted on   January 22, 2011 by   In My Anguish Previously,  Law questions whether God was being wrathful or vengeful  to Adam & Eve because he broke the “Law”.  It's an interesting thought and perhaps a pun, as Genesis is part of the Jewish Torah (the Book of Law), that does indeed set various laws for His people to follow.  Among them are dietary, marital, societal and criminal laws with according punishments; all which He feels would help them lead good and proper lives. The first of these laws,  is Genesis 2:1-3 where God blesses the 7th Day,  or  he investing the seventh day with the quality of highest value and  giving to those who observe it great advantage.  In short, God  stamped the Sabbath with the seal of Divine approbation; and so “set it apart,” as distinct from the other six days, for sacred purposes.   Our duet, for whatever reason, seems to ha...

William Law and the Spirit of Prayer... [Pryr-1.1-11] "Therefore, my Son, be content with thy angelical  Nature , be content, as an Angel in Paradise, to eat Angels’ Food, and to rule over this mixed, imperfect, and perishing World, without partaking of its corruptible, impure, and perishing Nature. Lust not to know how the Animals feel the Evil and Good which this Life affords them; for if Thou couldst feel what they feel, Thou would have to be one of them and since Thou canst not have their Sensibility, unless Thou hast their Nature: thou canst not at the same time be an Angel and an earthly Animal. If the bestial Life is raised up in Thee, at that  same Instant the heavenly Birth of thy Nature must die within. English: Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil עברית: חטא עץ הדעת - ד"ר לידיה קוזניצקי (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Therefore turn away thy Lust and Imagination from a Tree of Knowledge as  that can only help Thee to gain  Knowledge of ...

Pryr-1.1-9] "Now Adam ,  I will open your eyes to a great Mystery. The heavenly Materiality of the Angels' Kingdom before their Revolt was a glassy Sea, a Mirror of beauteous Forms, Figures, Virtues, Powers, Colors, and Sounds , which were perpetually springing up, appearing and changing in an infinite Variety , to the Manifestation of the Wonders of the Divine Nature, and to the Joy of all the Angelical Kingdom. This heavenly Materiality had its Fruits and Vegetables, more real than any that grow in Time, but different from the Grossness of the Fruits of this World, as the heavenly Body of an Angel is different from the Body of the grossest Beast upon Earth . In this angelical Kingdom, there was just one Element (which after the Fall was divided into in four Parts) and that was a fruitful Mother of Wonders, continually bringing forth new Forms and Figures of Life; not Animals , Beasts, or Insects, but beautiful Figures: ideal Forms of the endless Divisibility, and ...

Chapter 1, Treating Some Matters that are preparatory to the Treatise The greatest part of mankind, well actually of those who are Christians, may be said to be well asleep in a fantastical dream. Instead of being aware of their Heavenly Father, and the great gifts he has given them, they live a life devoted to the interests and enjoyments of this world, spent and wasted in the slavery of earthly desires, whittling away their time and energy in vain and worthless pursuits and this may be truly called a dream; for it has all the shortness, vanity, and delusion of a dream as when they wake up they will find that they have nothing for their effort. There is one great difference though between it and a real dream and that is when a night dream is over, nothing is lost but fictions and fantasy, pleasant reveries to think and muse, but when the dream of life is over, ended by death itself, all of eternity is lost as well. Now there is no misery in this world, b...

The Spirit of Prayer or The Soul Rising out of the  Vanity of Time into the  Riches of Eternity In TWO PARTS by William Law, M.A. The Fourth Edition Revised and Corrected by the Author 1758  originally reformatted and annotated In My Anguish January in the year of our of Lord, 2011   Some Matters preparatory to the Spirit of Prayer by William Law. The torments of the damned in hell (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The original format  is here  on Christian  Classics,  but of the 1749 version. Recently I got a hold of the revision by Reverend Law  in 1758.  That made me decide to update my adaptation of the book here on Blogspot,  where I  originally started my work, instead of continuing it on WordPress, where I moved to in 2012. Part of my reasoning for return, was  to the surprising lack of interest in the piece.  Over the two years that I have been WordPress I have notice...