Glimpses of Christian History Presents Pastwords #24: Discourse Five by Count Nikolas Zinzendorf ©2007

EDITOR'S NOTE: We apologize for the length of this work, but felt there was no way to present his view of scripture fairly by condensing it. The work is just too important to understanding Zinzendorf and his ministry, to reduce the contents of his very own teaching.

ZINZENDORF, NIKOLAS LUDWIG, GRAF VON (1700-1760), German religious leader, the founder of the Herrnhut, tried to create a Christian brotherhood transcending confessional barriers. A godchild of P.J. Spener, he was strongly influenced by Pietism and was educated at A.H. Francke's Pädagogium in Halle (1710-16). In preparation for state service he studied law at Wittenberg University but spent his free time on theology. During his Grand Tour in Germany, the Netherlands, and France he became acquainted with the members of other religious denominations, including Roman Catholics.

Zinzendorf wanted to become a Lutheran pastor (his chief interest, however, was evangelism), but in deference to his family's wishes he entered the service of the Saxon court at Dresden in 1721. In the following year, however, he bought part of his grandmother’s estate about 40 mi. E of Dresden so that he could combine activities there with his official work. Just at this time some members of the Unitas Fratrum, having left Moravia in search of freedom of worship, were introduced to Zinzendorf, who granted them asylum. This was the beginning of the Hernhut community, a settlement built on Zinzendorf’s estate by the refugees.

Zinzendorf gradually became absorbed in the problems and possibilities of Hernhut, and in 1727 he ceased work in Dresden. Under his inspiration Hernhut accepted on May 12, 1727, a rule and constitution as the Erneuerte Brüdergemeine (Renewed Brotherhood), which welded them together as a community within the local Lutheran parish. Zinzendorf regarded the Brotherhood as a church within a church (ecclesiola in ecclesia), not as a separate denomination, but his allegiance to the Augsburg Confession was doubted. In 1734 he was pronounced an orthodox Lutheran after being examined in theology at Stralsund (then under Sweden) and was ordained at Tübingen. Opposition to him and to the Brotherhood continued, and in 1736 he was banished from Saxony.

Opposed alike to the unbelieving rationalism and the barren Protestant orthodoxy of his time, Zinzendorf proclaimed a ‘religion of the heart,’ based on an intimate fellowship with the Saviour, whose Person, conceived as creator, sustainer, and redeemer of the world, completely dominated his theology. Under his leadership the Moravians sent out more missionaries in 20 years than all the other protestant groups had in 200 years. Tenderness and open affection for Jesus Christ demonstrated by his fellowship and love to all Christians and to all who had not heard the Gospel began to resonate during the great awakening and many realized they actually could experience a real personal relationship with the Savior, for the first time. On May 20, 1737, he was consecrated at Berlin by Daniel Ernst Jablonski, bishop of the Unitas Fratrum and Lutheran court chaplain. As bishop, Zinzendorf ordained Peter Böhler, who later strongly influenced John Wesley, introducing him to that 'strangely warm feeling.' In 1739 Zinzendorf left for a missionary journey to the West Indies, and in 1741-43 he was in Pennsylvania. In 1744-45, believing that all Christians, fundamentally one in their devotion to Christ, should yet remain faithful to their own church, he introduced into the Brotherhood the concept of "tropuses," of which there were to be three: Lutheran, Reformed, and Moravian. Later he tried to initiate an Anglican "tropus" in England.

Originally meaning to realize his religious ideals within the framework of the different Protestant Churches, he was forced by circumstances to give his work a separate organization, though he continued it in close connexion with Lutheranism. His emphasis on the place of feeling in religion infused new life into Protestant orthodoxy and esp. through F.D.E. *Schleiermacher, profoundly influenced 19th cent. German theology.

In 1747 Zinzendorf's banishment from Saxony was rescinded, and in 1748 the Moravians in Saxony were recognized as accepting the Augsburg Confession. From 1749 to 1755 Zinzendorf lived chiefly in London, where the Moravians' status had been regulated by act of Parliament (1749). In 1750 the community of Herrnhaag was dispersed, after a period in which the Moravian devotion to the saving death of Christ had degenerated into an unhealthy concentration on the Passion. The last five years of Zinzendorf's life were spent mostly at Herrnhut, where he died on May 9, 1760.

To Zinzendorf was due the renewal of the Unitas Fratrum as the Moravian Church. Part of his influence on it is seen in his deep personal devotion to Christ, in the many hymns he wrote, in his prayer books drawing on Christian liturgy both Eastern and Western, and in his Losungbücher containing a text for meditation for each day of the year. His theory of education exemplified in the school and orphanage at Herrnhut was far in advance of his time.

Encyclopedia Britannica, p.973; The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, p.1512; First Fruits, Zinzendorf and the Moravians by Vision Video.

DISCOURSE V (REPRINTED IN IT'S ENTIRETY)

What in believing properly makes us so happy.
Preached in the Brethren's Chapel at London,

September 11, 1746.

I Cor. Xiii. 2. And though I were a Prophet, and understood all Mysteries, and all Knowledge, and though I have all Faith, so that I could remove Mountains, and have not Charity; it would profit me nothing.

f Terminology, or the Science of clothing Truth with such apt Expressions, as suit the Matter, and convey it to the Mind in the closest Manner, were really employed to the End; it would have been a noble Science: But as those Men, who have toiled so much therein, have been defective in the very chief Point; therefore to present those Passages of Scripture, which were obscure to themselves, with some Degree of Plausibility to Mankind, they have made it their Endeavour to find Expressions elsewhere out of the Scripture, and have thereby rendered that, which was before obscure, so Pitch-dark, that if one did understand it a little before the hearing it explained, one has after the Explication not known any more at all what to make of it.

This is the usual Effect of all Commentaries, of all Explications, in particular of the greatest Part of Theological Terminology, in which such Persons are trained up, as are to become Teachers. From hence among others has this Confusion also arisen, that there has been no Difference made between the miraculous and the saving Faith; but even not long ago, there has been no Scruple made all over Christendom to maintain, that a Person who should perform Miracles, has attained to the highest Pitch of a Disciple of Christ.

There were Persons in this very Country formerly, who pretended to raise the Dead; and had they but done it, no Soul would have doubted of their being Servants of God, and even such as were in the perfectest Union with God, who were eminently favoured beyond all other Christian People.

This erroneous Maxim has led the Philosophers on the other hand into a prodigious Blunder, and shewed, that their fine-spun Thoughts are also not practical. For at the Time when they were Antagonists of the Christian Religion, they used to bend their Force against Miracles, taking pains to represent them as the mere Effects of Nature: And at another Time, when they wanted to help the Christian Religion, their chief Point was to demonstrate the Reality of Miracles. Now if we look upon this in the right Light, the whole Controversy was de Land caprinâ (concerning a Matter beside the Point:) for let the Decision have fallen on which Side it would, nothing would have been proved.

The doing Miracles is no essential Part at all of a Christian, it does not belong at all to the Gospel; it is a Gift, which is wont to be bestowed, wither in Condescension to this and the other People, or from the Nature of the Thing, because a Miracle is necessary at that very Juncture. Should a Servant of God be in just such Circumstances, as required him to perform a Miracle in Condescension to an Heathen, and barbarian People, our Saviour would certainly not disappoint him; or should any one have occasion for a Miracle in these or the other Circumstances in common Life, and could not attain his End without it, our Saviour would doubtless assist him, that he should be able to do one, and when it was done, and the Matter thereby set a going, yet no great to-do ought to be made of it any more, because no Consequence could be drawn from it to the Heart. Therefore when the Disciples came home again, and told our Saviour, that even the Devils were subject to them, our Saviour gave them to understand, that it was natural, this could not but be so for that Time, this was an Appendage to their Mission; but yet he would not hope, that this should be the Subject of their Satisfaction and Happiness: They had something of quite another Nature to rejoice at, they were Children of God, were Citizens of Heaven, their Names were already inrolled in the Book of Life; this was a fit Subject of rejoicing at, this was glorying in Christ.

I will go a Step farther: Had Care been taken to retain this Principle from the first preaching of the Gospel, those Inconveniences would not have arisen, that the good Rulers, and the zealous Ministers should have made a certain Error in this and another Point the Mark of a Person in a State of Damnation, and on the other hand the Confession of this and the other Truth, the Mark of a Child of God: And yet this was the Object of all the Councils without Distinction. We do not call their Truth in Question, but we call in Question the Conclusions they draw from thence: One whereof is, whosoever does not comprehend this so and so, he cannot be saved; the other, whosoever has made himself Master of such and such a Conception, he shall be saved.

We, according to our Insight in the Congregation, know how to take it, we can help the Councils out, because we hold, that there is ordinarily no Knowledge in the Matter of Salvation, without being at the same Time saved: We only differ in that Point, we do not believe, that when any one does not know this and the other, that he is upon that Account damned; because Knowledge has its Degrees, and the Knowledge of important Truths does not come at once. Seeing however there are still some People, who have an Insight into Truths, and yet are not saved; therefore we cannot lay it down as a Proposition universally true, that Knowledge does save: But it is an Exception from the Rule, if at any Time Knowledge does not bring a Person into a State of Salvation, I mean that which may be called true Knowledge, the central Knowledge, where the whole Stress lies, the Point into which all runs together: The Cardo, the Hinge of Knowledge does save, that is certain.

Therefore the Apostle does not say simply, Tho' I had all Knowledge, it would profit me nothing; but, tho’ I were a Prophet, and so had all Knowledge, &c. The Connection implies thus much: There have ever been extraordinary Men in the World, under the Name of Prophets, which were for this End, and upon whom it has been incumbent, to set up and establish certain Oeconomies in the Church in this and the other Way. Such and such Things were communicated to these People on account of their Office, which others had not, they did also see farther than other People, and were for this Reason denominated Seers. These Seers delivered stupendous Matters, and spoke of Things with such a penetrating Way and Simplicity, that People supposed, that a Seer and a happy Person were the same Thing. Therefore Paul now found it necessary to inform the Church, that this was false, and that a Man may be a Seer, an extraordinary Servant of God, subservient to this or the other Oeconomy, whose Words we must hear, whose Words we must give Attention to, whose Discourses are solid, and yet he may not be happy in himself. If he applies his prophetical Office and Gift to Pride, making use of it as a Means to shine amongst Mankind, to be counted this and the other, to be honoured and preferred before the rest of his Fellow-Creatures, and likes this; he may go off empty in regard to the chief Matter, and although he spoke with the Tongues of Angels, be nothing more than a tinkling Bell, be actuated by a Spirit foreign and unknown to himself, but not be full of the Spirit inwardly in the Heart.

I have premised this much, because everybody, who is acquainted with my Principles, knows, that I do not believe any body can say the Explication of the second Article by Heart, with Understanding, but he must, as to say, there is no such Thing as the Faith of Devils among Mankind; but whatsoever Man believes, he is saved, whosoever among Men gets so far as to believe, he is saved: For no Man can do this, believe on a Jesus and his Wounds, without being immediately thereby saved, and a Child of God, without being that very Moment discharged from the Guilt and Punishment of his Sins. This is evident from Acts ii. Then they that gladly received his Words, they that had a liking to his Words, they were pleased with them, they had a Pleasure in them, they willingly believed them; these were immediately baptized, and were received that very Day as Members of the Church. Peter did not in this Case begin to tell them, Thou hast still so many Debts to pay, thou hast been a Murderer, thou hast committed Adultery, thou livest still at Enmity with they Neighbour, thou art still engaged in this or that Law-suit and Broil, go first and make up thy Matter with thy Neighbour, and then come again: but they who gladly received the Word, they might be in whatsoever Situation they would in other respects, they might be in intricate or clear Circumstances, they were immediately baptized and became Members of the Church, and other Things were afterwards to be brought to rights; first a Person was saved, and then he proved his Salvation, by setting his entangled Affairs to rights, by shewing new Fruits; in a word, he behaved himself so, that Grace, and the new Spirit he received from God, were honoured by it.

So that I keep to my Position, that Paul on this Account says, And though I were a Prophet, and had all Knowledge, it profiteth me nothing; because, excepting the extraordinary Case of the prophetical Office, he allows no Knowledge without Faith.

It is an extraordinary Case, when People can speak of heavenly and divine Things, without having experienced them in their Hearts, it is something exorbitant; in common, if a Minister preaches and has nothing in his Heart, what he says has neither Head nor Tail, the _________ is wanting, the Man does not speak like one who understands what he is about, who was bred and born in the Matter; but, if I may so say, and may make use of a Comparison taken from Nature, he describes a round Turret quadrangular, a Thing which lies westerly, easterly; he betrays himself by his Description of the Thing, that he has not been at the Place he speaks of. But if any one does speak distinctly, convincingly, solidly, and truly, of a Matter he has not experienced, in such Case he is either for this Time to be looked upon as an extraordinary Person, as a particular Servant, whom God makes use of extraordinarily in his Oeconomy to have a Veneration for him, which is not due to his inward Condition. But what is that of which the Apostle says, it must be had? That is the Ikker, as the Hebrews express it, upon which the whole Stress lies, hoc si dixeris, omnia dixeris; when that is adjusted, the rest comes to course. What is that Thing called? For the Apostle Paul speaks of some such thing incessantly in this xiiith Chapter, repeating it so often, that one sees it is very weighty to him, he would fain have every body know it within and without; that is Love, says he, Love. Now were we to expound this by the Terminology which is usual in Christendom, it would go when they speak of Love, they mean by it a Benevolence of Good-will towards one's Neighbour, gladly serving or helping him out of Distress. I have seen in the Commentaries of the most Divines, that when they come to this Text, Though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor, and though I give my Body to be burned, and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing, they expound it thus, and say, Though any one should do this, yet if he should not do it out of a hearty Love to his Neighbour, but from a Principle of Pride and Vanity of Mind, to be taken Notice of, it would not profit him at all. From whence we may clearly see, that they understand the whole Chapter of that Virtue, which is called Love in common Life; to be loving, and benevolent, to be of a good natured Disposition, not to wish one's Neighbour any Ill, but to be assistant to him, and to lend a hand to his Benefit, to have a sympathizing Heart towards him. In this manner they expound it without any more ado; and it was a great Matter in my Eye, when I observed that one single Commentator had the Thought of referring upon this I Cor. xiii. to that Place in the Song of Songs, Thou hast ravished my Heart with one of thine Eyes. Also, Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his Mouth. Thy Name is as Ointment poured forth, therefore the Souls love thee. Such little Crumbs are like a Balsam, when amongst such a Multitude of People, who err upon such a divinely dear Truth, not only so, but teach other Men erroneously; one at any time lights upon a Person, whose Eyes begin to be opened, and who, though indistinct enough, and fearful enough, that he may not upon this Account come into Uneasiness and a theological Wrangle, ventures out with alledging and citing Text, which the Reader may afterwards consult himself; this is, however, a Joy to one.

But I am nor afraid publickly and boldly to maintain, that the Apostle, in this xiiith Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, by all that he delivers, means nothing in the least different from what we call saving Faith; this he terms Love, distinguishing it, in the last Verse of this Chapter, from Faith, purely for this Reason, because immediately upon our having a faithful Heart to our Saviour, we are obliged to rely upon certain Things and Promises, which we neither now nor then see, but must await, and which upon their being accomplished, take away that Part of saving Faith, which consists in hoping and expecting, and leave nothing but that Part, which consists in Love and Faithfulness, behind.

These two Parts, says the Apostle, shall cease in time; we shall there have nothing more to believe, for we shall see it; we shall have nothing farther to hope for, because we shall actually enjoy it: and therefore all that will run together into Love, which we now distinguish from Love by the Name of Faith and Hope. But in the Time wherein we live, in the Time of Faith and Hope, all the rest is still comprehended under the Word Love; under the Word Love is Faith understood, and under the Word Love Hope is understood.

The Apostle has explained himself once in another Place to the same Effect, having made a long Deduction, how happy, how experienced and solid the Believers ought to be; he says at last. And all this in Love. Let us love Him, says John, for he hath first loved us. And of the Woman, our Saviour says in a certain Place, Her Sins, which are many, are forgiven; therefore she loves so much. And when Peter had denied him thrice, and had moreover forsworn himself, our Saviour does not say to him, Dost thou now believe on me? but he only asked him, Lovest thou me? By this he took in all at once; for else he would have been obliged to have asked three times, Believest thou on me? Lovest thou me? Hopest thou for Salvation? but our Saviour takes in all at once under the Term, Love: Lovest thou Me? Peter explained himself with a View to nothing else; he did not say, Dear Lord! I believe; but "Lord! thou knowest all Things, thou knowest that I love thee.” And our Saviour, well satisfied with this Qualification, immediately invested Peter to be a Shepherd of his People, that was enough for him: Only love, only go on to love me, “He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." Therefore Paul says, the highest Perfection of a Christian is to know Him, as we are known by him.

O my dear Friends! do not fancy, that we know our Saviour we do but begin to know him, when we first have loved him very tenderly, when we first have loved him before all Things, when nothing in the World comes any longer in Competition with him, when we have forgot ourselves on account of him, our Health, our Life, our Professions, and Estates, our Satisfactions (for as to Reputation in the World, it does not deserve to be spoken of here) when we have forgot our ownselves with Body and Life for Love to him, and can at certain Junctures hate ourselves for Love to him: Then, I say, it is owing to a small Beginning of the Knowledge of him, it comes from this, because we know that he hath laid down his Life for us. And our whole Life consists in this, in growing and increasing in this Knowledge, so that To-day we know him better than we did Yesterday, and in a Year, know him a Year better, in twenty Years twenty Years better, and in Eternity, an Eternity better than we do now. This is that great Science, this is that great Point of Knowledge without Bounds and End, the inexhaustible Knowledge; in him and his Person lies a Treasure of Wisdom and Knowledge hidden, which is not to be fathomed, nor exhausted.

But what is the Matter? What is the main Point in Salvation? What is sufficient for the everlasting Kingdom? when I can say to Him, My Bone! when He can say with all Truth, This is indeed Bone of my Bones, and Flesh of my Flesh! and vice versa: Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus is come in the Flesh, is of God, says John positively; it is not possible, says he, that any body can look upon our most dear Saviour as his Fellow-Man, as his Flesh and Bone, without being born of God: Nobody, says Paul, can call Jesus Jehovah, unless it has been inspired into him by the Holy Ghost. It is not possible, says he, that any body can say, that his Creator is his Saviour, but this Idea must be produced by the Holy Ghost. Whosoever can say this, that Jehovah Elohim, who was the Creator of Mankind, who created all Things, whose Handywork we are, who is exalted above all Heavens, is my Saviour, is my Babe Jesus in the Womb, in the Cradle, and in the Temple, is the Carpenter of Nazareth, who spent his Life in Sweat and Toil at his handycraft Trade till he was thirty Years old, the Teacher come from God, whom the Devil plagued for forty Days together in the Wilderness, who began to settle his little Church with twelve, with seventy, and with five hundred, and made the two first Elders of his Church upon the Cross, out of his Mother and his dear Heart John; this is the very Creator, the Architect of the Universe, of the Sun, of the Moon, and of all the Stars, and of all the conceivable Worlds; whosoever can take this together and bring it into a round Proposition, whosoever can feelingly and understandingly pronounce this,

I believe a Point of Time is near,
When Christ my Maker shall appear,
And wed me Soul and Body:

He is an angelical, heavenly, and divine Man (it is Paul’s and John's Expression) this cannot be done without the Holy Ghost, this no one can do who is not filled with the Holy Ghost.

Now do but consider, what is more common in the World, what is more usual in the Christian World, what is more in Men’s Mouths, than this? The greatest Part of the Christians in Europe are either of the Roman Catholic or Lutheran Denomination; and although in other Denominations our Saviour be treated in another Way, and Men are drawing on to a way of thinking purely philosophical, although some Lutherans themselves, in order to look big, begin to chuse this dry Way, which will at last make our Saviour a Confucius: Yet this is undeniable, that the greatest Part of our Religion still has the Creator as Saviour in their Mouths, they still sing however,

That He, who all Things did create,
Put on a Servant's Form and State;
That he thro' Flesh the Flesh might win,
And all might not be spoil’d by Sin.

And this is a Roman Catholic and Lutheran Verse at the same Time, this these two Religions have in common. Are therefore all these People Men of God? Are all these Men saved? Do all these People therefore go to Heaven with their last Gasp? One Part of our Religion has this Conceit, they are upon the Point of thinking so, nor would I oppose them in it, if they but read right. The Texts are clear, but the Thing only turns upon a Phrase or two, upon a Point, which we are to take again, and that is the Word confess; Every Spirit that confesseth, that Jesus is come in the Flesh. But what shall that import, what Alteration shall that make in the Idea? I answer, a prodigious one. Consider only, Who in the World can confess any Thing, but he that has experienced it? If any one is called upon to be a Witness, he is to confess, to declare something, if he hath neither heard nor seen the Thing, he is incapable of it; for what I am to confess, I must have seen and heard, otherwise I may indeed say, I believe it, I may take the Juramentum Credulitatis, an Oath, that one has really such and such an Opinion of a Matter, that one's Heart can equate with the Testimony or Deposition of others, that one believes these People may speak the Truth, being honest People: But this cannot be called any Confession, but an Attestation, a Harmony with, a Conformity to the Thoughts and Ideas of other Men, a believing on the Word of another; but this is no Confession au pied do la Lettre, strictly or literally. But a Confession always comes out of my own Heart, from my own Knowledge of the Affair, it presupposes, that I myself have been an Agent, that I have been myself somewhere, that I myself have seen or heard something, which other People would fain know of me. So that whosoever will be a Confessor, (but a Confessor is a happy Person, it is an important Thing, Paul says, he that confesseth, is saved,) he must himself have had, seen, felt, experienced, and enjoyed the Thing; then he may say, Good People, believe me, believe one experienced, I was present at it; herein the Matter consists, that the Mouth, the Tongue utter nothing, but what lies in the Heart, that that which is uttered proceed from a Feeling of the Heart, I believe, therefore I speak; that one is impelled from within, and if he did not speak, he must wilfully suppress a Matter, must wilfully refuse to own it, tho’ he had experienced it in Deed and in Truth. If any body comes, and says, How can that be? How is that possible? We can answer him with Reason, I know it, I was present at it, I saw it with my Eyes, I heard it with my Ears. Dost thou belong to Jesus? Yes. Is he thy Creator? Yes. Believest thou that thou art, and shalt abide his to Eternity? Yes. How so? Has any one told thee so? No, nobody has told it to me, but I believe it; I do not believe on account of any thing, I have been told or read, but because I have it, because I find myself so, because that which no Eye hath seen, nor Ear hath heard, and which hat not entered into any Man' Heart, has been revealed to me, according to the spiritual, invisible Oeconomy.

But here is still something between, which it is also necessary to take notice of, yea it is of the highest Importance, viz. that we are never converted by a Preacher, never go from a Sermon in a State of Grace, if we did not come to Church already awakened, and tho’ the awakening be effected that very Moment, yet it is never to be imputed to the Preacher, that we are awakened, but the Holy Ghost has been at Work at least a Minute, a twinkling of an Eye, before a Word touches me, before a Sentence drops into my Heart, before a Position, a Paragraph, a Conclusion, a Proposition becomes my Text, my Position, which I can hold to; here the Holy Ghost has previously wrought every Thing, every Thing invisible, every Thing unspeakable, every Thing that is done in the Spirit of the Mind, every Thing which goes on in the Soul, out of which Faith may arise, all this the Holy Ghost has inspired, the Word falls into a prepared Soil, into a tilled Field, and is nothing more than an Exposition of the Truth already lying in the Heart. It is neither the Conception, nor the Birth, but it is the first Food of a living Heart: The Word of God is the Food, the everlasting Word is Christ, the essential, the self-existing Word, the Cause of all Things, the Creator of all Things, he has gained a true essential, bloody Form in the Heart: and then his Word is our Food, our Refreshment, or Nourishment, a Part of our Sustenance, once of our Cordials; for the chief Eating and Drinking is He himself,

Whene'er him I can eat,
It is for me most wholsome,
And when my Husband sweet
Pours into me his Balsam;

That is the Ikker, that is also promised us: His Flesh is Meat indeed, and his Blood is Drink indeed, his holy Corpse, and its real Mixture with our Spirit, Body, and Soul, must constitute the Matter; but his Word is our Cordial, to hear him, his Covenant-Blood, his everlasting Atonement, his finding out our Redemption discoursed of, this is afterwards to an awakened Soul, as if a Bilsam was poured all over it, as if an Ointment poured forth should presume a whole Church, Hall, and House, filling every thing with its delightful Smell, as if one went into a Garden in the Evening, where all the Flowers are in Bloom, to chear and refresh himself. Thus it is afterwards, if the Lamb, whom the Holy Ghost has engraved in the Heart, be named to a Person, if one then hears our Saviour mentioned;

The Heart is in Joy,
If he is but nam'd,
And th' almighty Manhood by any proclaim'd.

Now there are many thousand People in the World, who when they hear our Saviour preached, regard it no otherwise, than if they were reading a News-Paper, where the People who are spoken of are three or six thousand Miles distant from them, and do not concern them, amongst whom they have not a single Acquaintance, and in a Day or two they have forgot what it was; Why? It is of no Importance to them, it is an Affair foreign to them. But he with whom the Holy Ghost has had to do, he to whose Heart the Holy Ghost has approached, he whose Heart the Holy Ghost has unlocked, he from whose Heart He has rolled away the Stone, and has brought the bloody Grace and the Feeling of the Atonement into his Heart; when such a Heart hears of our Saviour, of the Reconciler, when it hears, that its Creator is its Saviour, when it hears a Brother say,

I believe a Point of Time is near,
When Christ my Maker shall appear,
And wed me Soul and Body;

Then indeed it is to such a Soul, as if any body got News of his Son, of his Father, of his Brother, or as if a Wife got Tidings from her Husband, and they have Reason to believe it is true. Just as any one in Nature feels in such Circumstances, as this occasions them Joy or Grief, according to the Nature of the News, and as the Confirmation of the News doubles the Joy or Grief: It is just so too afterwards with all we hear concerning our Saviour, concerning the Lamb, concerning our Creator, it may respect his Actions, or his Words, or his Merits; then it is all lively to us. And this does not proceed from the Dignity of the Person speaking, nor from the Words spoken, nor from his affecting Delivery, nor from the Arguments he produces, nor from his engaging Person; but it proceeds from that Love to the Matter, which is in the Heart.

But how does it come in, this Love? It is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. When the Holy Ghost comes into the Heart, he melts the Heart, then are the Eyes bathed in Tears, then Body and Soul rejoice; as occasion requires, it is grieved at its Misery, and rejoices at the Grace, at the Peace, at the Salvation it feels, not knowing how it came to it. This befel Cornelius, this befel Queen Candace's Treasurer, they felt this Joy, they tasted this Happiness; but they did not know what Name to call it by. Then it was said to Cornelius, Now send for Simon, he will explain it to thee, he will tell thee, what has been done in thy Heart, he will let thee know that Man’s Name, whom thou art to ascribe all that to: And to Queen Candace's Treasurer our Saviour himself sent Philip, as soon as he was desirous to know it, he must get up to him into his Chariot, and only call that Lamb, which had ravished his Soul, which had already laid hold upon his Bones, by his Name, and say, This is his Name, He it is. And then there was no farther Question about Baptism, it was immediately ready, there was no occasion for some Weeks Preparation first, there was no occasion to get a Book by Heart, there was no occasion for answering four and twenty or thirty Questions; but, Can any Man forbid, that those shouldst be baptized? Believest thou? Is that Man weighty to thee? Art thou attached to him? Dost thou believe all the good Things spoken of him, and with Joy? O yes, with all my Heart. Then it was well, then the Blood of the Covenant was poured upon him, which so many thousand Souls have in common with him, who also gladly receive the Word, are baptized, and received into the Church at the Hour of awakening.

I would fain have this Love to become the only agreeable, and blessed Thing, that Pearl which all Souls aspire after with their Desires, that they might win that, and forget all other Things besides; that each Soul might with Integrity and Uprightness put the Question to itself, Hast thou this Love? Dost thou feel it; canst thou believe that thou lovest something? Is thy Heart so disposed, dost thou feel thyself in a Condition that hast never been in before, or hath somewhat puffed in thee, which wants an Explanation, if thou thyself art not able to explain it? Hast thou a small Text in the Bible, a Verse out of an Hymn, something, which makes thee want a Friend, who can tell thee, It has been so with me too, I am acquainted with it.

Really, beloved! such a one is an happy Hearer, he actually goes from the Sermon, or from Conversation more learned than he went, he comes from his Bible, as often as he looks into it, wiser than he went, or he may only read an Hymn, it will be all Life and Spirit to him, it solves all his Difficulties, it casts a Light upon every thing that was obscure before. And with this Shekinah, with this Urim and Thumunim, with this divine Forehead-Plate, the poorest Peasant and Beggar, the most ordinary Person, the most illiterate and stupid by Nature, is on a Level with the most noble, wise and learned, here is the greatest Equality, the purest Parity: What I am, my Brother, that art thou also become. Hence Jude says, our common Salvation, our common Happiness; in the same manner as a Republic says, Our Plantations, our Commerce, &c. so a Believer says, Our Heaven, our Saviour, our Jesus, our Father, our Grace, our Absolution, our Happiness. Herein can no one take upon him more than the rest, all is equal, all have equal Shares, one has that the other has. Then each goes into his Corner, and the one advances in his Knowledge, the other remains behindhand, the one has the Office of speaking much, the other of thinking much, of entertaining many Ideas. This then makes a Difference in respect to Gifts; but this signifies nothing, for Love, as the Point which all depends upon, is equal in all, they all love unspeakably, they are all inly enamoured with Him, his Soul has insinuated itself in all their Minds full of sweet Love, all their Bones are united with God through Him. So that a Christian, a Child of God, the very least Beginner, cannot be had in sufficient Veneration; and if natural Men did but know, in what a Brightness of Faith, in what a priestly Holiness a Child of God stands and goes, sits and lies, acts and converses, they would have a deep Respect towards such a one. Thus it is sometimes, and particularly Congregations, where they make their Appearance, they have the Pre-eminence to awaken such a Kind of Respect many times against the Wills of Men. Single Persons do sometimes shew in themselves so many Improprieties, so many human Infirmities, which to natural Eyes obscure the Brightness of that Light, that bloody Light in the Heart, and make them blush at their ownselves on account of their Unmeetness and Unworthiness. This is a wise Providence, this is an Accident of the present Time wherein we live, this goes on thus till to the Grave, till the Tabernacle is laid together, and put into its melting Pot; so long Imperfection, the Tempus Vicissitudinum, the Succession of Light and Darkness, goes on, so that the Honour and the Glory and the Majesty are not just at all Times acknowledged, that must be deferred till our Life, which is with Christ, shall appear. But that is certain, there is enough of it for the present Necessity, for Salvation there is enough, Satan feels it more than he likes, it is to him more dreadful and terrible than he chuses, he does not draw too near to any Child of God: John says, He dares not come nigh, he dares not touch you.

A poor sick Woman, a Woman, who was debarred the Congregation on account of her Issue of Blood, durst come near our Saviour, durst touch him, durst violate the Law, this she did as one in wretched Circumstances. The same Right all poor Sinners enjoy to this Day: But the Devil, the Prince of the World, hath not so much Power as to come near a Child of God, a Soul that loves, an espoused one of the Lamb. Herein lies our Safety, our Rest, and Blessedness,

Thy little Chicken hide;
Would Satan seize it as his Prey,
Then let the Angels sing and say,
This Child shall undisturb’d abide.
Our Fore-fathers have had many such fine Thoughts,
Ye hellish Spirits all, be gone!
Here is for you no Station;
This House of Jesu’s Kingdom’s one,
Give it no Molestation:

and more of such like Sayings, which were given them as they wanted them. They are Prophecies concerning the Congregation of Jesus, concerning the Souls of our Saviour, and they are true, they have their Foundation in eternal Election. The Devil dare approach no Child of God. I am verily persuaded, when People say they are tempted of God, they are very much in the wrong, they injure God; this James has set in a pretty Light: but neither are we to accuse the Devil too much, we are ourselves poor Creatures, we are such a Compound of Contrarieties, as long as we are in the Body, that it is no difficult Matter for us to get a Spot, Man hath all Kinds of Unruliness in himself, and one may so bring himself into all Sorts of strange Circumstances, without the Devil's contributing any thing to it. Therefore we may without Scruple lay all the Fault at our own Doors; for from the Moment of a Soul's passing over into our Saviour’s pierced Hand, and its being owned as his, the Devil is turned back and banished, there is no more mention of him, he is heard no more: I pray not, that thou shouldst take them out of the World; but this I say, they are no longer to concur with the Devil, he must not so much as dare to come nigh them, he must let them alone, this I require; for they have no Business with him, the Prince of this World hath nothing in them.

This then is a great Happiness, and Paul's Armament shews it evidently, that the Devil shoots Darts at us; what does that imply? I answer, If he could collar us, and trample us under his Feet, as David expresses it, "The Enemy persecuteth my Soul, and casteth down my Life to the Ground, and lays me in Darkness, as those that have been 'long dead;' " could he do this, he need not shoot at us: But seeing he dare nor come nigh us, he shoots fiery Darts at us, and even these do not hit us, and fall too short; and if they should chance to reach us, we have the Shield to ward them off, that is Faith, which overcometh the World and its Prince, that a Person can say, I know on whom I believe, I know my Creator is my Saviour, I believe there is a Point of Time, when God my Creator Jesus Christ shall marry in Body and Soul, and fetch home me, that poor Creature, his poor human Creature, his little Worm, his poor dear Soul. Faith's Courage is the Shield, which keeps all Darts off from us, which are shot at us from a Distance, thro' the Malice of Satan, because he dares not come nigh us, because we are in the Fortress, and if we do not suffer ourselves to be decoyed out of our Fortress (as the Apostle warns, that no one go out of his Fortress) he really cannot touch us.

We wish all Mankind this great Salvation, “O that the whole human Race would be themselves “to Jesus giving &c.” then a Blessedness would overspread all Souls, provided they would but willingly embrace it, if they did but like it, if they did but think from their Hearts, O who will convey me thither! who will convey me into my Shepherd’s Arms, who will deliver me there, would he but accept me, did he but fetch me! I am still at such a Distance from him, I am so entangled in Sin, in Passions, and outward Things, I am such and ignorant Person, and spoiled with so many philosophical Whimsies, I am so stuffed with false Principles, that I cannot find my Way into Order and Simplicity, I am prepossessed against the Saviour; O would he but take me! Don't his People sing,

If thou hadst not fought us
And follow’d ever,
We had not fought for thee, nor known thee never;

would he but do so with me too, taking me, and plucking me at once out of all my Wretchedness, out of all my contradictory Circumstances, out of all that which sets itself against him, from my own Mind, my own Stiffneckedness,

O that the Pow'r of his dear Blood
May be my hard Heart wrenching,
throughout drenching!

he that can think in this Manner, he that can be thus, the Holy Ghost is actually standing before his Heart; for no natural Man can think thus, unless our Saviour has really been at work upon him before, and the Holy Ghost has already begun to turn the Key about in him, he has already begun to see what he can do with the Heart to unlock it, there is already a Work, there is already Grace, there is the Spirit’s Office, as soon as any Man can have such Thoughts: But those People who cannot yet think thus, such may nevertheless do something else, they may be in a Consternation and Perplexity, and here they ought to show so much Faithfulness to their ownselves, as not to drive away their Consternation, their Perplexity, their Restlessness, with any thing else, get themselves out by no strange Means, but stand still to the Holy Ghost, who has a continual Eye over them,, till he can find his Time, when he can come to their Hearts, and find a Way to their Hearts through all Difficulties and Impossibilities. Till then the Consternation, the Perplexity, and Restlessness must remain; and he that gets rid of it himself, it may be through a spiritual or temporal, or any other Circumstance whatsoever, by means of a spiritual Hymn or Book, though it were the Bible itself, it is for this Man at this Time Poison, if it brings him out of the Consternation and Restlessness into Liberty, into Satisfaction, and our Saviour does not at the same Time come into the Heart, the crucified one does not at the same Time take up his Abode in the Mind, he does not stand with the opened Side before a Heart, this Peace and Easement does not arise from a View of the Wounds, from the feeling into the Nail-Prints, from the pierced Side, but from some other, though the best Quarter; it is Ruination and a Misfortune for the poor human Creature.

These are Things, which we are to wish, and hope, and implore for each other, and to be always testifying what we have experienced of them, and do believe; sometimes distincter, sometimes happier, sometimes more strikingly; sometimes drier and weaker, than at other Times: But at all Times heartily, at all TImes from the same true Plan, I believe, therefore speak I.