Renunciation of the World or of the Self?

It  may sometimes be practically important  to make a distinction between a renunciation of the world and a renunciation of ourselves. A man may, in a certain sense and to a certain extent, renounce the world, and. yet may find himself greatly disappointed in his anticipations of spiritual improvement and benefit. He has indeed renounced the world as it presents itself to us in its externalities; he has renounced its outward attractions; its perverted and idle shows. He may have carried his renouncement so far as to seclude himself entirely from society, and to spend his days in some solitary desert. But it avails nothing or almost nothing, because there is not at the same time an internal renunciation; a crucifixion and renunciation of self. A mere crucifixion of the outward world may still leave a vitality and luxuriance of the selfish principle; but a crucifixion of self necessarily involves the crucifixion, in the Scripture sense, of everything else.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXII.

God's Life in Humanity

From God all things come. To God, as the universal originator and governor, all things are in subjection. In ascertaining what God is, we necessarily ascertain the position and responsibilities of those beings that come from God, and are dependent on him. The life of his moral creatures, so far as it is a right and true life, is a reproduction, in a finite form, of the elements of his own life. "God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him." Gen. 1:27. The Saviour, in speaking of himself, in his incarnate state, says, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me." John 13:11. God, in carrying out and perfecting the great idea of a moral creation, subjects the infinity of his being to the limitations of humanity, and reproduces himself in the human soul. So that man's life may truly be described, as God's life in humanity.

Nor, in the strict sense of the terms, can any­ thing but the DIVINE LIFE, or the life of God in the soul, be called life. Those who have gone astray from God, just so far as they have lost the divine life, and have sunk into the natural life, are dead. Hence, the expressions of the apostle: — "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." Ephes. 2:1. The eternal vitality, the breath from the Infinite, the life of God in the soul, ceases to be in them. And being dead, by the absence of God as an indwelling principle, they must be recreated, or born again, by his restoration. It is not enough, that provision has been made, in the death of Christ, for man's forgiveness. Forgiveness, it is true, has its appropriate work. It cancels the iniquity of the past; but this is not all that is necessary. It is not without reason, that the learned Schlegel commences his profound work on the philosophy of history by saying, that "the most important subject, and the first problem of philosophy, is the restoration in man of the lost image of God." The immortal nature must be made anew, must be re-constituted, if we may so express it, on the principle of life linked with life, of the created sustained in the uncreated, in the bonds of divine union.

— A Treatise on Divine Union Part 1, Chapter 1.

Death to Self

Look not for a, true living strength,
In the life of the ME and the I,
With nothing to love but its self-hood,
And fearing to suffer and die.
As thou seekest the fruit
From the seed-planted grain,
Seek life that is living,
From life that is slain.

Then hasten to give it its death-blow,
By nailing the I to the Cross;
And thou shalt find infinite treasure,
In what seemeth nothing but loss;
For where, if the seed
Is not laid in the ground,
Shall the germ of the new
Resurrection be found.

The soul is the Lord's little garden,
The I is the seed that is there;
And He watches it, While it is dying,
And hath joy in the fruits it doth bear.
In the seed that is buried,
Is hidden the power
Of the life-birth immortal,
Of fruit and of flower.

'Tis hidden, and yet it is true;
'Tis  mystic, and yet it is plain;
A lesson, which none ever knew,
But souls that are inwardly slain;
That God, from thy death,
By His Spirit shall call
The life ever-living,
The life, ALL IN ALL.

— Christ in the Soul (1872)

Consecration is Necessary to Faith

It is a great complaint in the Christian church at the present day, that there is a want of faith. If we may take the statements of Christians themselves, they do not believe; certainly not as they should do. And why is it? It is because they have not fully consecrated themselves to God; in other words, they continue to indulge in some known sins. Such are the laws of the mind, that they cannot have full faith in God as a friend and father to them, so long as they are conscious of voluntarily sinning against him.

The Saviour himself has distinctly recognized the principle, that faith under such circumstances is an impossibility. “How can ye believe, who receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?” If we seek the honor that cometh from God, in other words, if in the fixed purpose of our minds we consecrate ourselves to him, to do, as far as in us lies, his whole will, then, and not otherwise, we can believe that he will be to us, and do for us, all that he has promised in his Holy Word.

It is precisely here as it is in common life. It is impossible for us, in our intercourse of man with man, to believe that a man whom we deliberately sin against and injure, has confidence in us and loves us, provided we are certain that he has knowledge of the fact. The principle will be found to hold good in regard to God as well as man. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they had faith in God as their father and friend. But their faith failed as soon as they had sinned; and they immediately hid themselves from his presence.

If we would have faith, therefore, we must endeavor by consecration to cease from all known voluntary sin. In entire accordance with these views are the remarkable expressions in the first epistle of John. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”

— edited from The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition, 1844) Part 1, Chapter 3.

Consecration to God

Consecration is simply putting forth the volition, (a foundation for which is now laid in the belief of the duty and the attainableness of holiness,) the fixed unalterable determination, with divine assistance, to be wholly the Lord’s.

In other words, it is a fixed purpose, not to be altered during the whole period of our existence, to break off from every known sin; and to walk, to the full extent of our ability, in the way of the divine requirements. God recognizes the moral agency of man, fallen as he is; and very properly calls upon him and requires him to make this consecration, however unavailable it may ultimately be without his own accessory aid. Now it does not necessarily follow, because we put forth a determination to do a thing, that the thing is done; although it is certain that the thing will never be done without the previous determination.

Such a consecration, therefore, extending to all that we are and all that we have, is necessary. And let it not be said, that we have no power to make it. We are not speaking now of persons, who are in the deadness of original un-conversion. We are speaking of Christians, of persons in a justified state, whose dead wills have been partially quickened by the Holy Ghost, and who certainly can do something in this way. Such a consecration, therefore, made with the whole soul and for all coming time, is necessary.

—edited from The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition, 1844) Part 1, Chapter 3.

The Need for Patience

One of the most important requisites of a holy life is PATIENCE. And by this, we do not mean merely a meek and quiet temper, when one is personally assaulted and injured; but a like meekness and quietness of temper in relation to the moral and religious progress of the world. We may be deeply afflicted in view of the desolations of Zion; but let us ever remember and rejoice, that the cause of truth and holiness is lodged safely in the hands of God. With Him a thousand years are as one day. And in the darkest moments when Satan seems to be let loose with ten-fold fury, let us thank God and take courage, because the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXI.

The Bucket of the Soul

Prayer without faith is vain. A pious English writer, one who lived as far back as the days of the Puritans, and who uses various homely but instructive illustrations after the manner of those times, calls prayer "the BUCKET of the soul by which it draws water out of the wells of salvation. But without Faith, you may let down this bucket again and again and never bring up one drop of solid comfort." [Symond's Sight and Faith, printed in 1651.] It is faith which fills the bucket. And accordingly, if our faith be weak, we shall find but poor and famishing returns. A full bucket depends on the condition of a strong faith.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XX.