13# Chapter i.1-2. How to find the Kingdom of God

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 still the Desire of thy Heart, and are covered under a Form of Godliness, a Cloak of Creeds, and false Altruisms, thou mayest be assured, that the Pearl of great Price is not yet found by thee.

 For where Christ is born, or his Spirit lives,  there within, all Selfness is denied, and turned out; there all carnal Wisdom, Arts of Advancement, every Pride and Glory of this Life, are willingly renounced, and the Man is not only content, but rejoices to say, that his Kingdom is not of this World.     

Jean-Marie Melchior Doze's painting of Jesus healing the Leper.

 [Pryr-1.2-2] But thou wilt perhaps say, How shall this great Work, the Birth of Christ, be shown in me?     Rather it should be said, that since Christ has an infinite Power, and infinite Desire to save Mankind, how can anyone miss this Salvation, but through his own unwillingness and obstinacy, to be saved by Him?

 Consider, this:   the Lame and Blind, the Lunatic and Leper, the Publican and Sinner, found Christ to be their Saviour, and so He did all That for them, that they wanted done.  He remarked right there, to them that this was possible because they had a real Desire of having that which they asked for, and therefore in true Faith and Prayer applied to Christ, that his Spirit and Power might enter into them, and heal That which they desired to be healed.

Each and everyone of these people, prayed to Him, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole."   And the Answer was always this, "According to thy Faith, so be it done unto Thee."and as their faith was strong so was their recovery.

 That was Christ's Answer then but it is also His now, and so it is to every one of us:  so is our Faith,  so is our Redemption. The whole Reason of our falling short of the Salvation of Christ, is because _we_ have No Will for it.   
                     

12# Chapter ii.1 -- Discovering the true Way of turning to God

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 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 still the Desire of thy Heart, and are covered under a Form of Godliness, a Cloak of Creeds, and false Altruisms, thou mayest be assured, that the Pearl of great Price is not yet found by thee.

 For where Christ is born, or his Spirit lives,  there within, all Selfness is denied, and turned out; there all carnal Wisdom, Arts of Advancement, every Pride and Glory of this Life, are willingly renounced, and the Man is not only content, but rejoices to say, that his Kingdom is not of this World.     

11# Chapter i.42-46 The Vine and the Branches

[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. This is the only Sense, in which he can be said to be without Christ; when He is no longer in us, and so we can do nothing, that is, Nothing that is good or holy, because if Christ is not in us, then it is the same Thing as that we are dead to Christ, and are like the Branch that receives no nourishment from the Vine...much like those evil Spirits, and those fallen Angels, who are indeed without Christ, receive no Benefit from Him: Nothing of the Son of God is generated, or born in them.



[Pryr-1.1-44] The Language of Scripture, is that Christ is our only  Hope of Glory; that Christ forms us, living, growing, and raising his own Life and Spirit in us, and so is He our only Salvation. And indeed all of this is plain from the Nature of the Thing; for since the Serpent, Sin, Death and Hell, are all essentially within us, must not also our Redemption be an inward Growth within us?



[Pryr-1.1-45] Let no one here think to charge me with Disregard to the Holy Jesus, was born of the Virgin Mary, or setting up an inward Saviour in Opposition to the outward Christ, whose History is recorded in the Gospel. No: It is with the utmost Fullness of Faith and Assurance, that I ascribe all our Redemption to that blessed and mysterious Person, and I do truly assert that no inward Redemption can happen but what wholly proceeds from, and is effected by that Life-giving Redeemer, who died on the Cross for our Redemption.



[Pryr-1.1-46] If instead, I was to say, that a Plant or Vegetable must have the Sun within it, the Life, Light, and Virtues of the Sun incorporated in it, and it receives no Benefit from the Sun, until a Sun inwardly quickened and sparked raises up the Life within. of the Sun's Virtues in it, would this be setting up an inward Sun, in Opposition to the outward one? No, similarly  I am saying that the light of the Sun ignites that seed in the plant so that it may flower and bloom.

In a like manner, an inward Christ laying dormant in the Root of the Soul, is brought forth by the Power and Light of the Blessed Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, and made Alive.



==============this concludes chapter 1 of the Spirit of Prayer =================