Part 4 (1/2)

_(Which more properly expressed is the gift of immediate access of the soul of G.o.d)_

There are three princ.i.p.al stages on the way of progress--three separate degrees of G.o.d-Consciousness. The first is the Consciousness of the Presence of Jesus, the Perfect Man. We take Him into the heart, accept and know Him, love and obey Him. In the second stage we receive Jesus as the Christ and recognise Him as the Messiah (of which the mind was not sure in the first stage). We rejoice in Him, giving Him a more perfect obedience. In the third the soul is given the Consciousness of the Father, and, being filled with a very great love and joy, wors.h.i.+ps Him as the Known G.o.d.

Now life immediately becomes totally changed, fear and sin are swept away, and love rules the Universe.

It is now that G.o.d makes us know His glamour; that He casts over the soul His golden net of spiritual delights, and by them seems to challenge her, saying to the soul, ”Now that I reveal Myself to thee, canst thou ever return to the joys of the world, canst thou find its pleasures sweet, canst thou be satisfied with any human love; canst thou by any means resist Me now that I show Myself?” And the soul answers Him, ”Nay Lord, in truth I cannot.”

The remembrance of these powers and these spells of G.o.d make for the soul a sure foundation of repose and certainty in the days of the testing of fidelity that still lie before her: they also further reveal to her His consummate care of her exact requirements, for she cannot pa.s.s beyond a certain stage without a direct personal a.s.surance is given her. First He demands of us that we have, and actively maintain, a clean will to turn and cleave to Him, without any a.s.surance beyond written a.s.surance (Scripture); and having given Him a thorough proof of fidelity, He then grants us the personal a.s.surance. Having been given these rapturous concessions, what would perfection demand of us--a total withdrawal from the world--a hiding away in secret with our soul's treasure of delights? Maybe for some; but a higher perfection calls us back to service in the wretched turmoil of the world, to work and to stand in the House of Rimmon and never bow the knee, to carry with us everywhere the Divine Consciousness and preserve its light undimmed in every sordid petty circ.u.mstance of daily life, to endure with perfect patience the follies and the prides of the unenlightened. Whoever can achieve those things may find himself at last a saint.

Very early in this third stage a miracle is performed in us: without knowing how it came about or what day it was done, we suddenly know that the heart and the mind _have become virgin_--and this without any variation. Every kind of l.u.s.t, whether of eye, body, heart, or mind, has been removed from us, and never again has any power over us, for the will has become superior to l.u.s.t, and there is a finish to all such contending: this moral healing is more impressive than any physical healing. Before this miracle is performed for us, we have suffered many things, as much as we can bear: subtle and astonis.h.i.+ng temptations of mind and body and spirit ”call to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions” (Heb. x. 32).

This person that writes formerly supposed that no creature was admitted to the blessedness of being in any way with G.o.d in Spirit without they were already become a saint; but this is not so, and He accepts the sinner long before he is a saint (if ever we become one in this world, which is doubtful), provided the will is always held good towards G.o.d.

This is the mighty Process of Christ which he desires to perform for all. Of the tears we shed over it the less mention the better; they are precious tears, necessary tears, cleansing tears, and if we will not lend ourselves to this Process of Christ we may have as many tears for our portion and no benefit from them in the way of advancement.

Let us weep the tears that G.o.d Himself will wipe away.

So then in the first stage the Soul tastes of the sweet companions.h.i.+p of Jesus. In the second, of the might and graciousness of Christ; in the third, of the fullness of G.o.d and His unspeakable delights. ”Thou shalt give them to drink of Thy pleasures, as out of the river” (Psalm x.x.xvi.).

In the third stage of G.o.d-Consciousness a great change takes place in our relations.h.i.+p to G.o.d. Besides the magnitude of the alterations of the inner life--the sweeping spiritual changes--the body also shares in a change, for, whilst we formerly prayed to G.o.d with a bowed head and a hidden face, we now become unable to pray or approach Him except with a raised head and an uncovered face. This change is not from any thought or intention of our own, but we are forced to it by a sweet necessity. In a company of persons praying, all those in the third stage could be immediately known by this necessity of the raised and bared face if we were not taught by the Holy Spirit never to reveal to others that we are in the third stage except in special instances. For this reason it is not possible to enter true communion with G.o.d in a public place of wors.h.i.+p unless we can conceal ourselves from others. For the face undergoes a change in communion with G.o.d, and it is not pleasing to Him that this should be seen by any eye but His own.

If anyone finds great difficulty (and the most of us do) in coming to the first stage--that of taking Jesus into the heart--he must pray every day in a few short words _from the heart_ that G.o.d will give him to Jesus, and in due time he will be heard.