#48 The Power of Repentance

    

[Pryr-1.2-48] But does this Man have any Ground for Pride, or a high Opinion of himself, because of his Share in Restoring Hand?  Can we by the same not, think by our own Activity, that we are responsible for our salvation like this Man with his outstretched his Hand?  and that the Work of Christ was superfluous?  

No.  While we can only do living Works of Christ when we are  born again, it is because we are able to say with the Apostle, "This is not I, but the Christ that lives in me."

But to return, and further show, how the Soul that feels the Call of God to Repentance, this stirring of the Divine Power in the soul may have its full Effect, and bring forth the Birth of the new Man in Christ Jesus because it is the Seed of the Divine Nature within us, but it can only grow by its own Strength and Union with God because, and this is important to remember, this Seed is Divine, and therefore can grow from nothing but Divine Light, just like the World that Our Creator first brought forth.

When the Virgin Mary conceived the Birth of the holy Jesus, all that she did, was a single Act of Faith and Resignation to God; "Behold the Handmaiden of the Lord, be  unto me according to your Word."  (see Luke i:38)   And this is what we all can do to bring forth the Conception of that new Man so that can be born in ourselves.

Now while this Truth is easily agreed up, makes sense, no?  And because it makes sense, Man thinks he believes it, because he consents to it, or rather we should say, that he does not deny it. But in honestly, this is not enough, it has to be comprehended in a deep, full, and practical Manner. You must believe in it deeply and assuredly, as much as man breathes, walks and lives.  It must be part and parcel of his being, so the Life of Christ can rise up in himself.

 And then once this is his Belief, and he puts the Soul into a right State, i.e. he makes room for the Operation of God upon it then God’s Light will enter unto him with full Power and his holy Spirit will move and direct all that is done in it, only then will Man live again as a new Creature in God, with God.  

This is a miraculous thing and will have two most excellent Effects:

1. First, it will keep the Soul fixed, and continually turned towards God, in Faith, Prayer, Desire, Confidence, and Resignation to Him, and The Soul thus turned to God will always receiving from Him.  It will stand at the true Door of all Divine Communications, and the Light of God as freely enters into it, as the Light of the Sun enters into the Air.
2. Secondly, this belief will fix and ground the Soul in a true and lasting Self-denial. For by acknowledging our own Nothingness and Inability, and seeing that  we fully able to have no other Capacity for Good, and to be nothing more than a vessel of His will, then there is no room is left for spiritual Pride and Self-esteem.  We are saved from a Pharisaical Holiness, from wrong Opinions of our own Works and good Deeds, and from a Multitude of Errors, the most dangerous to our Souls, all of  which arise when we see ourselves as part of the Beastly World.

But once we apprehend all of this, in some good Degree, then All of God, and the Nothingness of ourselves have Truth, then a Kind of Infallibility, not of our judgment but of God’s occurs to us.  We see that all that is vain, and false, and deceitful, and it vanishes and flies before us. We realize with a certainty that is profound, that our Faith, our Religion is now founded on this Rock, & it has Firmness in character, with a Height that is immeasurable, and it reaches unto Heaven.  Then the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, can do no hurt to our new Faith; all our Enemies , seen and unseen, are known, and all are disarmed by this great Truth dwelling in our Souls. 

 This is the Knowledge of All of God, that makes Cherubims and Seraphims Flames of Divine Love & where All of God is truly known, and felt in any Creature, where its whole Breath and Spirit is a Fire of Love, & nothing but a pure disinterested Love can arise up or come from it, a Love that begins and ends in God. And this Love is born in any Creature, with a Seraphic Life born along with it.  For this pure Love introduces the Creature into the All of God; all that is in God is opened in the Creature, it is united with God, and has the Life of God manifested in it.