and how far it hath departed from God. This
must be done not with bare words, but with all its strength, which
indeed amounteth only to a strong purpose and resolution; for the Soul
of itself hath no strength or power to effect any good work.

Now when thou art thus ready, and thy heavenly Father shall see thee
coming and returning to him in such repentance and humility, he will
inwardly speak to thee, and say in thee; _Behold, this is my son which I
had lost, he was dead and is alive again._ And he will come to meet thee
in thy mind with the Grace and Love of Jesus Christ, and embrace thee
with the beams of his Love, and kiss thee with his Spirit and Strength,
and then thou shalt receive Grace to pour out thy confession before him
and to pray powerfully. This indeed is the right place where thou must
wrestle in the Light of his Countenance. And if thou standest resolutely
here and shrinkest not back, thou shalt see or feel great wonders. For
thou shalt find Christ in thee assaulting Hell, and crushing thy Beasts
in pieces, and that a great tumult and misery will arise in thee; also
thy secret undiscovered sins will then first awake and labour to
separate thee from God, and to keep thee back. Thus shalt thou truly
find and feel how Death and Life fight one against the other, and shalt
understand by what passeth within thyself what Heaven and Hell are. At
all which be not moved, but stand firm and shrink not; for at length all
thy Creatures will grow faint, weak, and ready to die; and then thy Will
shall wax stronger, and be able to subdue and keep down the evil
inclinations. So shall thy Will and Mind ascend into Heaven every day,
and thy Creatures gradually die away. Thou wilt get a Mind wholly new,
and begin to be a new Creature, and, getting rid of the Bestial
Deformity, recover the Divine Image. Thus shalt thou be delivered from
thy present Anguish, and return to thy original Rest.

THE POOR SOUL'S PRACTICE

Then the poor Soul began to practise this course with so much
earnestness that it conceived it should get the victory presently, but
it found that the Gates of Heaven were shut against it in its own
strength and power, and it was, as it were, rejected and forsaken by
God, and received not so much as one look or glimpse of Grace from him.
Upon which it said to itself; _Surely thou hast not sincerely submitted
thyself to God. Desire nothing at all of him, but only submit thyself to
his judgment and condemnation,