the Spirit; for remember thou
also art a Spirit, and thereby created in the Image of God. Therefore
see thou attract not in thy desire _Matter_ unto thee, but as much as
possible abstract thyself from all Matter whatever; and so, standing in
the Centre, present thyself as a naked Spirit before God, in simplicity
and purity; and be sure thy Spirit draw in nothing but Spirit.

Thou wilt yet be greatly enticed to draw Matter, and to gather that
which the World calls _substance_; thereby to have somewhat visible to
trust to. But by no means consent to the Tempter, nor yield to the
lustings of thy Flesh against the Spirit. For in so doing thou wilt
infallibly obscure the Divine Light in thee; thy Spirit will stick in
the dark Covetous Root, and from the fiery Source of thy soul will it
blaze out in pride and anger; thy Will shall be chained in Earthliness,
and shall sink through the Anguish into Darkness and Materiality; and
never shalt thou be able to reach the still Liberty, or to stand before
the Majesty of God. It will be all darkness to thee, as much Matter as
is drawn in by the Desire of thy Will. It will darken God's Majesty to
thee, and will close the seeing Eye, by hiding from thee the light of
his beloved countenance. This the Serpent longeth to do, but in vain,
except thou permittest thy _Imagination_, upon his suggestion, to
receive in the alluring Matter; else he can never get in. Behold then,
if thou desirest to see God's Light in thy Soul, and be divinely
illuminated and conducted, this is the short way that thou art to take;
not to let the Eye of thy Spirit enter into Matter, or fill itself with
any Thing whatever, either in Heaven or Earth, but to let it enter by a
_naked faith_ into the Light of the Majesty; and so receive by _pure
love_ the Light of God, and attract the Divine Power into itself,
putting on the Divine Body, and growing up in it to the full maturity of
the Humanity of Christ.

DISCIPLE

As I said before, so I say again, this is very hard. I conceive indeed
well enough that my Spirit ought to be free from the contagion of
Matter, and wholly empty, that it may admit into it the Spirit of God.
Also, that this Spirit will not enter, but where the Will entereth into
_Nothing_, and resigneth itself up in the _nakedness of faith_, and in
the _purity of love_, to its conduct, feeding magically upon the Word of
God, and clothing itself thereby with a _Divine Substantiality_. But,
alas, how hard i