Expect no life, strength, or comfort, but from the Spirit of God, dwelling and manifesting his own goodness in your soul. The best of men, and the best of books, can only do you good, so far as they turn you from themselves, and every human thing, to seek and receive every kind of good from God alone; not a distant, or an absent God, but a God living, moving, and working in your inmost soul.
They never find God, who seek for him by reasoning; for since God is the highest spirit, nothing but a like spirit can unite with him; find or feel, or know any thing of him. Hence it is, that faith and hope, turned towards God, are the only possible means of obtaining a true knowledge of him. And the reason is plain, it is because by these _holy tempers_, which are the workings of his _spirit_ within us, we seek the God of life _where he is_, we call upon him with his _own voice_, we draw near to him by _his own spirit_; for nothing can breathe forth faith and hope, but that Spirit which is of God, and which therefore through flesh and blood thus presses towards him, and readily unites with him.
There is not a more infallible truth in the world than this, _that neither reasoning nor learning can ever introduce a spark of heaven into our souls_: but if this be so, then you have nothing to seek, nor any thing to fear, from reason. _Life_ and _death_ are the things in question: they are neither of them the growth of reasoning or learning, but each of them is a state of the soul, and only thus differ, _death is the want, and life the enjoyment of its highest good_. Reason, therefore, and learning, have no power here; but only by their vain activity to keep the soul insensible of that life and death, one of which is always growing up in it, according to the desire of the heart.
Add reason to a vegetable, and you add nothing to its life or death. Its life and fruitfulness lieth in the soundness of its root, the goodness of the soil, and the riches it derives from air and light. Heaven and hell grow thus in the soul of man: his heart is his root; if that is turned from all evil, it is then like a plant in a good soil; when it hungers and thirsts after the divine life, it then infallibly draws the light and Spirit of God into it, which are infinitely more ready to live and fructify in the soul, than light and air to enter into the plant that hungers after them. For the soul hath its breath, and being, and life, for no other end, but that the _triune_ God may manifest the riches and powers of his own life in it.
Thus you see, and feel, that the _spirit of prayer_ is your certain way of returning to God.
*When, therefore, it is the one ruling desire of our hearts, that God may be the _beginning_ and _end_, the _reason_ and _motive_, the _rule_ and _measure_, of our doing, or not doing, from morning to night; then every where, whether speaking or silent, whether inwardly or outwardly employed, we are equally offered up to the eternal Spirit, have our life in him, and from him, and are united to him by _that spirit of prayer_, which is the comfort, the support, the strength and security of the soul, travelling by the help of God, through the vanity of time into the riches of eternity. For _this spirit of prayer_, let us willingly give up all that we inherit from our fallen father, to be all _hunger_ and _thirst_ after God: and to have no thought or care, but how to be wholly his devoted instruments; every where, and in every thing, his adoring, joyful, and thankful servants. Have your eyes shut, and ears stopped to every thing, that is not a step in that ladder that reaches from earth to heaven.
*Reading is good, hearing is good, conversation and meditation are good, but then they are only good at proper times and occasions. But the _spirit of prayer_ is for all times, and all occasions; it is a lamp that is to be always burning, a light to be ever shining; every thing calls for it, every thing is to be done in it, and governed by it; because it is, and means, and wills nothing else but the whole soul, incessantly given up to God, to be _where_, and _what_, and _how_ he pleases.
*This state of absolute resignation, naked faith, and pure love of God is the highest perfection, of those who are born again, and thro’ the divine power become sons of God: and it is neither more nor less, than what our blessed Redeemer has called us to in these words: _Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven_. It is to be sought for in the simplicity of a little child, without being captivated with any mysterious depths or heights of speculation; without coveting any knowledge, but so far as it brings us nearer to God, forces us to forget and renounce every thing for him; to do every thing in him, with him, and for him; and to give every breathing, moving, intention, and desire of our heart, and life to him.