Sunday, April 3, 2016

#21 Science does not give true understanding


[Pryr-1.2-21] So, where is Christ?

Who shall ascend into Heaven,  to bring down Christ from above to us? Who shall descend into the Deep, to bring Christ from the Dead?

It is you, in your heart that will and can do this.  If you, but Light (turn)  your Feet and put a Lanthorn*(lantern) unto your Paths.   If too,  like a Holy Oil, instead of beckoning to the wrathful,  & fiery Properties of thy Nature, you use the Holy Oil of Meekness, turning anger into Light and Love.  If you do this, then the Christ in your Soul; will be there, and talk to you.

For then, you are ready to hear the Holy Word speak Wisdom and Love, & let the Birth of Christ, with all his Holy Nature, Spirit, and Tempers clean out the idolatrous Darkness within.

For then, the the Apostles of a Christ will be awakened , and you will see within yourself a true Dignity  of your Immortal  Souls  that will help you between the choices of Virtue  and eternal Shame and Misery.
These Apostles, though they had not the Law,  they found, and preached the Gospel, that was written in their Hearts.

Hence they could say this divine Truth, That such only are Priests and Prophets, who have God in themselves. Hence the Christian Church, there have been in all Ages, amongst the most illiterate, both Men and Women, who have attained to a deep Understanding of the Mysteries of the Wisdom and Love of God in Christ Jesus.  Is this so wonderful?  So stunning?  Not really.   Since it is not Art or Science, or Skill in Grammar or Logic, but the Opening of Divine Life in the Soul, that gives true Understanding of the Things of God, "education" is not necessary.

This Life of God in the Soul, which for its Smallness at first, and Capacity for great Growth, is by our Lord compared to a Grain of Mustard Seed, may be, and too generally is suppressed and kept under, either by worldly Cares, or Pleasures, by vain Learning, Sensuality, or Ambition.

Watever Church, or Profession any Man has, he is a mere Natural Man, unregenerate, unenlightened by the Spirit of God, because this Seed of Heaven is choked, and not suffered to grow up in him. His Religion is no more from Heaven than his fine Breeding; his Cares have no more Goodness in them than his Pleasures; his Love is worth no more than his Hatred; his Zeal for this, or against that Form of Religion, has only the Nature of any other worldly Contention in it.

Thus it must be with every mere natural Man, whatever Appearances he may put on, that still he is a Slave, and Machine of his own corrupt Tempers and Inclinations, and that the more he be enlightened, inspired, quickened and animated by the Vanity of his Self-love, Self-esteem, and Self-seeking aspirations to do well in this world, then his Life, and Spirit is of the mere natural Man, whether he be Heathen, Jew, or Christian.

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#56 The final prayer