The Spirit of Prayer

Discovering the true Way of turning to God, and of finding the Kingdom of Heaven, the Riches of Eternity in our Souls  [Pryr-1.2-1] Thou hast seen, dear Reader, the Nature and Necessity of Regeneration, and are persuaded therefore fully to believe, and firmly to settle in thy Mind this most certain Truth, that all our Salvation consists in the Manifestation of the Nature, Life, and Spirit of Jesus Christ, in our new Man.  This alone is Christian Redemption, this alone delivers from the Guilt and Power of Sin, this alone redeems, renews, and regains the first Life of God in the Soul of Man. Every Thing besides this, is the Self, a Fiction or Propriety, or one's own Will, of the Old Man (a metaphor for the Devil)... because if the old Man is still a Merchant within thee, trading in all sorts of worldly Honour, Power, or Learning, desires and cupidity.   If the Wisdom of this World is not Foolishness to thee, if earthly Interests, and sensual Pleasures, are stil...

Discovering the true Way of turning to God, and                      of finding the Kingdom of Heaven, the Riches of Eternity in our Souls Edward Armitage's Christ calling the Apostles...  [Pryr-1.2-1] Thou hast seen, dear Reader, the Nature and Necessity of Regeneration, and are persuaded therefore fully to believe, and firmly to settle in thy Mind this most certain Truth, that all our Salvation consists in the Manifestation of the Nature, Life, and Spirit of Jesus Christ, in our new Man.  This alone is Christian Redemption, this alone delivers from the Guilt and Power of Sin, this alone redeems, renews, and regains the first Life of God in the Soul of Man. Every Thing besides this, is the Self, a Fiction or Propriety, or one's own Will, of the Old Man (a metaphor for the Devil)... because if the old Man is still a Merchant within thee, trading in all sorts of wo...

[Pryr-1.1-42] "I am the Vine, ye are the Branches." Here Christ, our second Adam, uses this metaphor to teach us, that the new Birth that we are to have from Him is real, and that there is the same Nearness of our Relationship  betwixt Him and his true Disciples, as there  is betwixt the Vine and its Branches.  Here, he shows that all we are one: He is in us, around us and there for us, like the Vine who supports and nourishes its Branches.  So unless the Life of the holy Jesus be in us, via a Birth from Him, then we are as dead to Him, and thus the Kingdom of God, as the Branch is dead to the Vine, when it is broken off and separated. [Pryr-1.1-43] Further in that same verse, our blessed Saviour says, "Without me, ye can do Nothing." The Question is, when, or how can Man may be said to be without Christ? Consider again the Vine and its Branches: A Branch can then only be said to be without its Vine, when the Vegetable Life of the Vine is no longer in it...

Luke 10:25-37 The Good Samaritan - Story Summary:  Jesus Christ's parable of the Good Samaritan was prompted by a question from a lawyer: And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25, ESV) Jesus asked him what was written in the law, and the man responded: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27, ESV)  Pressing further, the lawyer asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"  In parable form, Jesus told of a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers attacked him, took his possessions and clothes, beat him, and left him half dead.  A priest came down the road, saw the injured man, and passed by him on the other side. A Levite passing by did the same.  A Samaritan, a race hated by the Jews, saw the hurt man and had compassion on him....

[Pryr-1.1-33] Now that the Soul, once fallen, is in a real State of Death. It is a a Doctrine not only plain from the whole Tenor of Scripture, but affirmed in all of Divinity. For all hold, and teach, that Man unredeemed, must have fallen into a State of Misery, like that of the fallen Angels and "That Man in his fallen State, and unredeemed, must have been eternally lost." [Pryr-1.1-34] On the other Hand, Jesus Christ helps this Fall Soul to a new Birth, this time of the Light and Spirit of God, which was extinguished by his Fall. For Redemption, or Recovery of Man, means Regeneration so that Man's Misery at having lost the Life and Light of Heaven from his Soul, could be Delivered from his fallen State. [Pryr-1.1-35] If Angels had come down from Heaven to assure him, that God had no Anger at him, he would still have been in the same helpless State; if instead they ad they told him, that God had Pity and Compassion towards him, would good would that do? He would ...

This poem Mother to Son by Langston Hughes , is a great example of figurative writing. Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light.  So, boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps. 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now— For I'se (I is) still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair. 

[ Pryr-1.1-26] So there was nothing that kept Adam out of the Hell of Fallen Angels, and now  his  Body  was as  mortal  as it was in the Beasts, and so now he lay at the Mercy of a thousand Accidents, that could any  Moment take his life from him, and this is was his fallen State, standing as it were on the Brinks of Hell, liable every Moment to be pushed into it. [Pryr-1.1-27] So there is now an ab solute  Necessity that a new Birth, must be of  Word, a Son , and of  Spirit  , that Scripture speaks  of , because our  new Soul, was now dead to, and separate from the Kingdom of Heaven, having lost the Light and Spirit of God on its own account.  Therefore  it is now incapable of entering into Heaven, until by a  new Birth, a new Soul receives from on High,  its first Heavenly Nature. [Pryr-1.1-28] If you have  nothing of this New Birth when thy Body dies, then you have only the   Root ...

The Spirit of Prayer – The Fall of Adam and the Angels Posted on February 1, 2011 by In My Anguish [Pryr-1.1-21] First, because there was nowhere else for the Angels to fall into, but into this tormenting Sensibility of their own fiery, wrathful, darkened Nature . English: Detail of work Heaven and Hell including Devil/Dragon (Photo credit: Wikipedia) [Pryr-1.1-22] Secondly, because their Revolt was From God and it was an Attempt, and true Intent to be higher and greater than He, so they got their own just reward aa living Hell , viz., that fiery Strength of self-tormenting Nature, separate from the one Source of Light and Love, of Peace and Joy, that alone is Him. [Pryr-1.1-23] But Adam, though his Soul was as entirely dead to Heaven , as the Souls of the Devils were, had not yet fallen not into their Hell, for these two Reasons. [Pryr-1.1-24] First, because there still was the Angelical Man in his Body, that did not die at his Transgression. So while his Soul that ha...

This is out of order from the original, as thematically it is tangential and confusing.  Reverend Law here is  responding to the Midrash, which most Christians are unfamiliar with,  except perhaps as hearsay or at best having read  John Milton's great poem, Paradise Lost,  also heavily based on it.  The link for Paradise Lost takes you not to the poem but to the SparksNotes of it so you can read the highlights of it and see if you want to take up a full study of it. Like Dante's Inferno, it is a big poem and a real undertaking, but again, worth the time and effort. Reverend Law uses Milton, at the time it was widely read or least popularly known, because his audience compromises not only of lapsed or even unknowing Christians (like academics), but also Jews  who neither  understand how Christian theology is indebted to the Old Testament as part of their Holy Bible nor realize the importance of the tie. The Midrash is Jewish commentary...