William Law · 9 of 10

AN APPEAL To all that Doubt · Chapter II. · Part 3

[App-2-43] 21. God, considered in himself, as the holy, triune God, is not the immediate fountain and original of creatures; but God considered as manifesting himself in and through nature, is the creator, Father and producer of all things. The hidden Deity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is from eternity to eternity, manifested, made visible, perceivable, sensible in the united glory of fire, light and spirit; this is the beatific presence, the glorious outbirth of the Holy Trinity; this is that eternal, universal nature, which brings God into all creatures, and all creatures into God, according to that degree and manner of life which they have in nature: for the life of creatures must stand in nature, and nature is nothing else but God made manifest, visible, and perceptible; and therefore the life of every creature, be it what it will, a life of joy or wrath, is only so much of God made manifest in it, and perceptible by it, and thus is God in some creatures only a God of wrath, and in others, only a God of glory and goodness.

[App-2-44] No creature can have life, or live, and move, and have its being in God, but by being formed out of, and living in this manifestation of nature. Thus far hell and heaven, angels and devils are equally in God, that is, they equally live, move, and have their being in that eternal nature, which is the eternal manifestation of God: the one have a life of glory, majesty, and love, and bliss, the other a life of horror, fire, wrath, misery, and darkness. Now, all this could not possibly be, there could be no room for this distinction between creatures standing in nature, the one could not possibly have a life of majestic bliss and glory, the other of fiery horror and darkness, but because the holy, triune God is manifested in the united glory and bliss of fire, light, and spirit. For the creatures could only divide that, which there was in nature to be divided, they could only divide that, which was united, and divisible; and therefore, as sure as heaven is a splendrous light of blissful majesty, as sure as hell is a place of fiery wrath and darkness, so sure is it from the scriptures, that eternal nature, which is from God, or a manifestation of God, is a nature of united fire, light, and spirit, otherwise, some creatures could not have the blissful glory of light, and others, a horrible, fiery darkness for their separate portions.

[App-2-45] All therefore that has been said of an eternal nature, or kingdom of heaven, consisting of united fire, light, and spirit, is not only to be looked upon as an opinion well grounded, and sufficiently discovered by the light of nature, but as a fundamental truth of revealed religion, fully established by all that is said in the scriptures both of heaven and hell. For if God was not manifested, visible, perceptible and communicable, in and by this united fire, and light, and spirit, how could there be a heaven of glorious majesty? If this fire of heaven could not be separated, or broken off from its heavenly light, how could there be a hell in nature? Or, how could those angels which lost the light of heaven, have thereby fallen into a state of hellish darkness, or fire? Is not all this the greatest of demonstrations, that the holy Triunity of God is, and must be manifested in nature, by the union of fire, light, and spirit? And is not this demonstration wholly taken from the very letter of the most plain doctrines of scripture?

[App-2-46] Hell and wrath could have no possibility of existence, but because the light and majesty, and glory of heaven, must of all necessity have its birth in and from the fire of nature. An angel could not have become a devil, but because the angelic light and glory had, and must have its birth in and from the fire of life. And thus as a devil was found, where angelic light and glory had its existence, so a hell was found, where heavenly glory was before; and as the devil is nothing but a fire-spirit broken off from its angelic light and glory, so hell is nothing but the fire of heaven separated from its first light and majesty.

[App-2-47] And here we have plainly found two worlds in eternity; not possible to be two, nor ever known to be two, but by such creatures, as have in their own natures, by their own self-motion, separated the fire of eternal nature from its eternal light, spirit and majesty. And this is also the beginning, or first opening of the wrath of God in the creature; which is, in other words, only the beginning, or first opening of pain and misery in the creature, or the origin of a hellish, tormenting state of life.

[App-2-48] 22. And here, in this dark wrathful fire of the fallen creature, do we truly find that wrath and anger and vengeance of God, that cleaves to sin, that must be quenched, atoned, and satisfied before the sinner can be reconciled to God; that is, before it can have again that triune life of God in it, which is its union with the Holy Trinity of God, or its regaining the kingdom of heaven in itself.

[App-2-49] Some have objected, that by thus considering the fallen soul, as a dark, wrathful fire-spirit, for this reason, because it has lost the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, that this casts reproach upon God the Father, as having the nature of such a soul in him. But this is a groundless objection, for this state of the soul casts no more reproach upon the first, than upon the second and third persons of the holy Trinity. The fallen soul, that has lost the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, cannot be said to have the nature of the Father left in it. This would be blasphemous nonsense, and is no way founded on this doctrine. But such a soul must be said to have a nature from the Father left in it, though a spoiled one, and this because the Father is the origin, fountain and creator of all kind of existence: hell, and the devils have their nature from him, because every kind of creature must have what it has of life and being from its creator; but hell and the devils have not therefore the nature of the Father in them. If it be asked what the Father is, as he is the first person in the sacred Trinity, the answer must be, that as such, he is the generator of the Son and Holy Spirit: this is the nature of the Father; where this generating is not, there is not the nature of the Father. Is it not therefore highly absurd to charge this doctrine with ascribing the nature of the Father to the fallen soul, which asserts the soul to be fallen, for this reason, because it has quite lost and extinguished all power and ability for the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit in it? How could it be more roundly affirmed, or more fully proved, that the fallen soul hath not the nature of the Father in it. But to proceed:

[App-2-50] The reader ought not to wonder, or be offended at the frequent mention of the word "fire," which is here used to denote the true nature, and state of the soul. For both nature and scripture speak continually the same language. For wherever there is mention of life, light, or love in the scriptures, there fire is necessarily supposed, as being that in which all life, and light, and love must necessarily arise; and therefore the scriptures speak as often of fire, as they do of life, and light, and love, because the one necessarily includes the other: for all life, whether it be vegetable, sensitive, animal, or intellectual, is only a kindled fire of life in such a variety of states; and every dead, insensitive thing is only so, because its fire is quenched, or shut up in a hard compaction. If therefore we will speak of the true ground of the fallen state of men and angels, we are not at liberty to think of it under any other idea, or speak of it in any other manner, than as the darkened fire of their life, or the fire of their life unable to kindle itself into light and love. Do not the scriptures strictly confine us to this idea of hell? So that it is not any particular philosophy, or affected singularity of expression, that makes me speak in this manner of the soul, but because all nature and scripture forces us to confess, that the root of all and every life stands, and must necessarily stand in the properties of fire.

[App-2-51] The holy scriptures also speak much of fire, in the ideas which they give us, both of the divine nature, and of created spirits, whether they be saved, or lost; the former as becoming flames of heavenly light and love, the latter as dark firebrands of hell. {Theologia fere supra omnes sacrosanctam ignis figuram probasse reperitur. Eam enim invenies non solum retas igneas fingere, sed etiam ignea animalia--quinetiam thronos igneos esse dicit, ipsosq; summos seraphim incensos esse ex ipso nomine declarat, eisq; ignis & proprietatem & actionem tribuit: semperatq; ubiq; igneam figuram probat. Ac igneam quidem formam significare arbitror coelestium naturarum maximam in Deo imitando similitudinem. Theologi summam, & forma carentam essentiam ignis specie multis locis describunt, quod ignis multas divinae, si dictu fas est, proprietatis, imagines ac species prae se ferat. Ignis enim, qui sensu percipitur, in omnibus & per omnia sine admixtione funditur, secerniturq; a rebus omnibus, lucetq; totus simul, & abstrusus est, incognitusq; manet ipse per se--cohiberi, vinciq; non potest--quicquid ipsi proprius quoquo modo adhibeatur, sui particeps facit. Renovat omnia vitali calore, illustrat aperto lumine; teneri non potest, nec misceri. Dissipandi vim habet, commutari non potest, sursum fertur, celeritate magna praeditus est, sublimis est, nec humilitatem ullam ferre potest. Immobilis est, per se movetur, aliis motum affert; comprehendendi vim habet, ipse comprehendi non potest. Non eget altero: clam se amplificat: in materiis quae ipsius capaces sunt, magnitudinem suam declarat. Vim efficiendi habet, potens est: omnibus praesto est; nec videtur: attritu autem quasi inquisitione quadam connaturaliter repente apparet, rursuq; ita avolat ut comprehendi, & detineri nequeat: in omnibus sui communionibus minui non potest--multas etiam alias ignis proprietates invenire possumus, que propria sunt divinae actionis. S. Dionis. Arcop. de coelesti Hierarci, 56.}

[App-2-52] No description is, or can be given us either of heaven or hell, but where fire is necessarily signified to be the ground and foundation both of the one and of the other. Why do all languages, however distant, and different from one another, all speak of the coldness of death, the coldness of insensibility? Why do they all agree in speaking of the warmth of life, the heat of passions, the burnings of wrath, the flames of love? It is because it is the voice or dictate of universal nature, that fire is the root or seat of life, and that every variety of human tempers is only the various workings of the fire of life. It ought to be no reason why we should think grossly of fire, because it is seen in so many gross things of this world? For how is it seen in them? Why only as a destroyer, a consumer, and refiner of all grossness; as a kindler of life, and light out of death and darkness. So that in all the appearances of fire, even in earthly things, we have reason to look upon it as something of a heavenly, exalting, and glorious nature; as that which disperses death, darkness, and grossness, and raises up the power and glory of every life.

[App-2-53] If you ask what fire is in its first, true, and unbeginning state, not yet entered into any creature, it is the power and strength, the glory and majesty of eternal nature; it is that which generates, enriches, brightens, strengthens and displays the Light of heaven. It is that which makes the eternal light to be majestic, the eternal love to be flaming: for the strength and vivacity of fire, must be both the majesty of light, and the ardor of love. It is the glorious outbirth, the true representative of God the Father eternally generating his only Son, Light and Word.

[App-2-54] If you ask what fire is in its own spiritual nature, it is merely a desire, and has no other nature than that of a working desire, which is continually its own kindler. For every desire is nothing else, but its own striking up, or its own kindling itself into some kind and degree of fire. And hence it is that nature (though reduced to great ignorance of itself) has yet forced all nations and languages to speak of its own desires, as cool, warm, or burning,., because every desire is, so far as it goes, a kindled fire. And it is to be observed, that fire could have no existence or operation in material things, but because all the matter of this world has in it more or less of spiritual and heavenly properties compacted in it, which continually desire to be delivered from their material imprisonment. And the stirring up the desire of these spiritual properties, is the kindling of that heat, and glance, and light, in material things, which we call fire, and is nothing else but their gloriously breaking, and triumphantly dispersing that hard compaction in which they were imprisoned. And thus does every kindled fire, as a flash or transitory opening of heavenly glory, show us in little and daily, but true instances, the triumph of the last fire, when all that is spiritual and heavenly in this world, shall kindle and separate itself from that, which must be the death and darkness of hell.

[App-2-55] Now the reason, why there are spiritual properties in all the essential things of this world, is only this, it is because the matter of this world is the materiality of the kingdom of heaven, brought down into a created state of grossness, death, and imprisonment, by occasion of the sin of those angels, who first inhabited the place, or extent of this material world.

[App-2-56] Now these heavenly properties, which were brought into this created compaction, lie in a continual desire to return to their first state of glory; and this is the groaning of the whole creation to be delivered from vanity, which the apostle speaks of. And in this continual desire lieth the kindling, and all the possibility of kindling any fire in the things of this world. Quench this desire, and suppose there is nothing in the matter of this world that desires to be restored to its first glory, and then all the breaking forth of fire, light, brightness, and glance in the things of this world, is utterly quenched with it, and it would be the same impossibility to strike fire, as to strike sense and reason out of a flint.

[App-2-57] 24. But you will perhaps say, though this be a truth, yet it is more speculative than edifying, more fitted to entertain the curiosity, than to assist the devotion of Christians. But stay awhile, and you shall see it is a truth full of the most edifying instruction, and directly speaking to the heart.

[App-2-58] For if every desire is in itself, in its own essence, the kindling of fire, then we are taught this great practical lesson, that our own desire is the kindler of our own fire, the former and raiser of that life which leads us. What our desire kindles, that becomes the fire of our life, and fits us either for the majestic glories of the kingdom of God, or the dark horrors of hell: so that our desire is all, it does all, and governs all, and all that we have and are, must arise from it, and therefore it is, that the scripture saith, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."

[App-2-59] We are apt to think that our imaginations and desires may be played with, that they rise and fall away as nothing, because they do not always bring forth outward and visible effects. But indeed they are the greatest reality we have, and are the true formers and raisers of all that is real and solid in us. All outward power that we exercise in the things about us, is but as a shadow in comparison of that inward power, that resides in our will, imagination, and desires; these communicate with eternity, and kindle a life which always reaches either heaven or hell. This strength of the inward man makes all that is the angel, and all that is the devil in us, and we are neither good nor bad, but according to the working of that which is spiritual and invisible in us. Now our desire is not only thus powerful and productive of real effects, but it is always alive, always working and creating in us, I say creating, for it has no less power, it perpetually generates either life or death in us: and here lies the ground of the great efficacy of prayer, which when it is the prayer of the heart, the prayer of faith, has a kindling and creating power, and forms and transforms the soul into everything that its desires reach after: it has the key to the kingdom of heaven, and unlocks all its treasures, it opens, extends, and moves that in us, which has its being and motion in and with the divine nature, and so brings us into a real union and communion with God.

[App-2-60] Long offices of prayer sounded only from the mouth, or impure hearts, may year after year be repeated to no advantage, they leave us to grow old in our own poor, weak state: these are only the poor prayers of heathens, who, as our Lord said, "think to be heard by their much speaking." But when the eternal springs of the purified heart are stirred, when they stretch after that God from whence they came; then it is, that what we ask, we receive, and what we seek, we find. Hence it is, that all those great things are by the scriptures attributed to faith, that to it all things are possible; that it heals the sick, saves the sinner, can remove mountains, and that all things are possible to him that believeth; 'tis because the working of will and desire is the first eternal source of all power, that from which everything is kindled into that degree of life in which it standeth; 'tis because will and desire in us are creaturely offsprings of that first will and desire which formed and governed all things; and therefore, when the creaturely power of our will, imagination and desire leaves off its working in vanity, and gives itself wholly unto God in a naked and implicit faith in the divine operation upon it, then it is, that it does nothing in vain, it rises out of time into eternity, is in union and communion with God, and so all things are possible to it. Thus is this doctrine so far from being vainly speculative, that it opens to us the ground, and shows us the necessity and excellency of the greatest duties of the gospel.

[App-2-61] 25. Now, as all desire throughout nature and creature is but one and the same thing, branching itself out into various kinds and degrees of existence and operation, so there is but one fire throughout all nature and creature, standing only in different states and conditions. The fire that is in the light of the sun, is the same fire that is in the darkness of the flint: that fire which is the life of our bodies, is the life of our souls; that which tears wood in pieces, is the same which upholds the beauteous forms of angels: it is the same fire that burns straw, that will at last melt the sun, the same fire that brightens a diamond, is darkened in a flint: it is the same fire that kindles life in an animal, that kindled it in angels: in an angel it is an eternal fire of an eternal life, in an animal it is the same fire brought into a temporary condition, and therefore can only kindle a life that is temporary: the same fire that is mere wrath in a devil, is the sweetness of flaming love in an angel; and the same fire which is the majestic glory of heaven, makes the horror of hell.