Chapter IV.

The Believing Soul Seeks God Internally, In Itself; Its Beauty And Blessedness When It Is United With God.

I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.—John 17:26.

There are two ways of seeking after God, the one external, and the other internal. The first is the active way, when man seeks after God; the second is the passive, when God seeks after man. In the outward way, we seek God by various exercises of a Christian life; as fasting, prayer, retirement, meekness, accordingly as we are moved by God, or led by devout people. In the inward, we enter into the ground of our hearts, attending upon the revelation of the kingdom of God which is within us. Luke 17:21. For if the kingdom of God be in us, then God himself is in us, and more intimately united to the soul than she is to herself: and such a treasure as this within us, ought carefully to be attended to. The soul that desires to enter into this inward way, must entirely resign and submit itself to all the dispensations of Providence, both inward and outward; must perfectly rest in God, and be content to be, as God shall appoint, poor or rich, cheerful or sad, peaceful or joyless. For thus the soul is cleansed from all created images that may crowd into it from without; and when thus stripped of all rational, sensible, and created things, and everything which is not God, she comes at last into her own ground and centre, and there with a pure eye discovers the essential light and presence of God. But before this treasure can be obtained, everything else must be forsaken. Blessed and truly happy are they that find it: for being entirely divested of all worldly affections, they live in a constant union with God.

2. And now, if a man could with his bodily eyes take a view of such a soul as this, he would see the most beautiful creature in the world, shining forth in all the transcendent beauties of holiness; for such a soul is united to God, and by consequence is a partaker of His glory, not by nature, but by grace. It desires nothing either in time or eternity but God alone, seeking nothing for its own sake, either spiritually or naturally. On the other hand, could we but see with our bodily eyes a soul sunk in the love of itself and the creatures, wholly polluted with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; and all its corrupt thoughts and imaginations externally figured by visible characters and impressions; neither earth nor hell could furnish a more dreadful monster than this. But in the last great day, when the hearts and consciences of all men shall be laid open (1 Cor. 4:5), and the inward eye shall be unclosed, so that every one shall have a full view of himself, then shall such an impure soul see its secret abominations, and find in itself an eternal source of sorrow, misery, and torment. On the other hand, the pure and divine soul shall forever contemplate in itself the presence and kingdom of God, whom it shall forever see as He is, and by 389 virtue of its union with him, possess and enjoy him as its own forever. He that rightly considers this union of the soul with God, shall experimentally understand that expression of St. Paul, that “neither height nor depth can separate us from the love of God.” Rom. 8:39. For if it were possible that such a soul should be in hell, yet could it not be separated from the presence and kingdom of God, to which it is most intimately united. On the other hand, should a damned spirit, or the devil himself, be admitted into Paradise and heaven, yet could they not be exempt from the torments of hell, which they continually carry about in themselves.