Note: I received the following as an email from a friend. It is a dialogue between individuals which very clearly brings out the truth of how we can delude ourselves into thinking we have mastered some discipline or virtue when we are really just intellectually fascinated or impressed by it. The truth often hasn’t taken any real hold in our lives.

The best I can tell is this summary below is derived from much longer writing by William Law entitled The Spirit of Love. Other works by William Law can be found here.

Excerpt from William Law's, "Freedom from a Self-Centered Life"

INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL APPREHENSION

1.)  The Difference between Admiring and Possessing

Eusebius:  You have shown great goodwill towards us, Theophilus, in desiring another meeting before we leave you.  But yet I seem to myself to have no need of that which you have proposed by this day's conversation.  For this doctrine of the Spirit of Love cannot have more power over me, or be more deeply rooted in me, than it is already.  It has so gained and gotten possession of my whole heart that everything else must be under its dominion.  I can do nothing else but love; it is my whole nature; I have no taste for anything else.  Can this matter be carried higher in practice?

Theophilus:  No higher, Eusebius.  And were this the true state of your heart, you would bid fair to leave the world as Elijah did; or, like Enoch, to have it said of you, that you lived wholly to love, and were not.  For were there nothing but this Divine Love alive in you, your befallen flesh and blood would be in danger of being quite burnt up by it.  What you have said of yourself, you have spoken in great sincerity, but in total ignorance of yourself, and the true nature of the Spirit of Divine Love.  You are as yet only charmed with the sight, or rather the sound, its real birth is as yet unfelt and unfound in you.  Your natural complexion has a great deal of the animal meekness and softness of the lamb and the dove, your blood and spirit are of this turn; and therefore a God all love and a religion all love, quite transport you.  You are so delighted with it that you fancy you have nothing in you but this God and religion of love.  But, my friend, bear with me, if I tell you that all this is only the good part of the spirit of this bestial world in you, and may be in any unregenerate man that is of your complexion.  It is so far from being a genuine fruit of Divine Love, that, if it be not well looked to, it may well prove a real hindrance of it, as it oftentimes does, by its appearing to be that which it is not.

You have quite forgotten all that was said in the letter to you on the Spirit of Love, that it is a birth in the soul that can only come forth in its proper time and place for its proper causes.  Now nothing that is a birth can be taken in or brought into the soul by any notional conception or delightful apprehension of it.  You may love it as much as you please, think it the most charming thing in the world, fancy everything but dross and dung in comparison to it, and yet have no more of its birth in you than the blind man has of that light of which he has a most charming notion.  His blindness still continues the same; he is at the same distance from the light, because light can only be had by a birth of itself in seeing eyes.  It is thus with the Spirit of Love; it is nowhere but where it rises up as a birth.

2.)  The Spirit of Love and the Price to be Paid for Its Possession

Eusebius:  But if I have come no farther than this, what good have I from giving in so heartily to all that you have said of this doctrine?  And to what end have you taken so much pains to assert and establish it?

Theophilus:  Your error lies in this: you confound two things that are entirely distinct from each other.  You make no difference between the doctrine that only sets forth the nature, excellency, and necessity of the Spirit of Love, and the Spirit of Love itself; which yet are two things so different, that you may be quite full of the former, and at the same time quite empty of the latter.  I have said everything I could to show you the truth, excellency and necessity of the Spirit of Love: it is of infinite importance to you to be well-established in the belief of this doctrine.  But all that I have said of it is only to induce and encourage you to buy it at its own price, and to give all that for it which alone can purchase it.  But if you think (as you plainly do) that you have it because you are so highly pleased with that which you have heard of it, you only embrace the shadow, instead of the substance, of that which you ought to have.

Eusebius:  What us the price that I must give for it?

Theophilus:  You must give up all that you are and all that you have from fallen Adam; for all that you are and have from him is that life of flesh and blood which cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Adam, after his fall, had nothing that was good in him, nothing that could inherit an Eternal Life in Heaven, but the Bruiser of the Serpent of the Seed of the Son of God, that was spoken into him.  Everything else in him was devoted to death and this Incorruptible Seed of the Word might grow up into a new name in Christ Jesus.

Eusebius:  Now, proceed as you please to lay open all my defects, in the Spirit of Love; for I earnestly desire of being set right in so important a matter.

Theogenes:  Let me first observe to Theophilus that I am afraid the matter is much worse with me than it is with you.  For though this doctrine seems to have all my heart, it is a doctrine; yet I am continually thrown out of it in practice, and find myself daily under the power of my old tempers and passions as I was before I was so full of this doctrine.

3.)  Two Ways of Seeking Goodness

Theophilus:  You are to know, my friends, that every kind of virtue and goodness may be brought into us by two different ways.  They may be taught us outwardly by men, by rules and precepts; and they may be inwardly born in us, as the genuine birth in our renewed spirit.  In the former way, as we learn them only from men, by rules and documents of instruction, they at best only change the outward behavior, and leave our heart in its natural state, only putting our passions under a forced restraint, which will occasionally break forth in spite of the dead letter of precept and doctrine.  Now this way of learning and attaining goodness, though thus imperfect, is yet absolutely necessary in the nature of the thing, and must first have its time, and place, and work in us; yet it is only for a time, as the law was a schoolmaster to the Gospel.  We must first be babes in doctrine, as well as in strength, before we can be men.  But of all this outward instruction, whether from good men of from letter of the Scripture, it must be said, as the Apostle said of the Law, that "it makes nothing Perfect"; and yet it is highly necessary in order to Perfection.

The True Perfection and profitableness of the Holy written Word of God is fully set forth by Paul to Timothy: "From a child you have known the Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto Salvation, which is by Faith in Christ Jesus."  Now, these Scriptures were the Law and the Prophets, for Timothy had known no other from his youth.  And as they, so all other scripture since, have no other good or benefit in them but as they lead and direct us to a salvation which is not to be had in themselves but from Faith in Christ Jesus.  Their teaching is only to teach us where to seek and where to find the fountain and source of all light and knowledge.

Of the Law, says the Apostle, "It was a schoolmaster to Christ"; of the Prophets, he said the same; "You have a More Sure Word of Prophesy; to which ye do well to take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Daystar arise in your hearts."  The same thing is to be affirmed in the letter of the New Testament...  No instruction that comes under the form of words can do no more for us than sounds and words do.  They can only direct us to something that is better than themselves, that can be the True Light, Life, Spirit, and Power of Holiness in us.

Eusebius:  I cannot deny what you say, and yet it seems to me to derogate from scripture.

Theophilus:  Would you then have me to say that the written Word if God is that Word of God which lives and abides forever; that Word of God which is the Wisdom and Power of God, which was God, by whom all things were made; that Word of God which was made flesh for the redemption of the world; that Word of God, of which we must be born again; that Word which "Lights every man which comes into the world"; that Word which was in Christ Jesus "is become Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification in us"; would you have me to say that all this is to be understood of the written Word of God?  But if this cannot possibly be, then all that I have said is granted, namely, that Jesus alone is that Word of God that can be the Light, Life, and Salvation of man?

Suppose you had been a true disciple of John the Baptist, whose only office was to prepare the Way to Christ, how could you have more magnified his office or declared your fidelity to him than by going from his teaching to be taught by that Christ to whom he directed you?  The baptist was, indeed, "a burning and shining light." and so are the Holy Scriptures; but "he was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the True Light, which Lights every man which comes into the world."

What a folly would it be to say that you had undervalued the office and character of John the Baptist because he was not allowed to be the Light Itself, but only a true witness of it, and a guide to it. 

4.)  The Inward Birth of Goodness in the Soul

Theophilus:   Now if you can show that the written Word in the Bible can have any other higher office or power than such a ministerial one as the Baptist had, I am ready to hear you.

Eusebius:  There is no possibility of doing that.

Theophilus:  But if that is not possible to be done, then you are come to the full proof of this point, viz., that there are two ways of attaining knowledge, goodness, virtue, etc., the one by the ministry of outward, verbal instruction, either by men of by books, and the other by an inward birth of Divine Light, goodness, virtue in our renewed spirit; and that the former is only in order to the latter, and of no benefit to us, but as it carries us farther than itself, to be united in heart and spirit to the Light, and Word, and Spirit of God.  Just as the Baptist had no benefit to his disciples unless he had been their guide from himself to Christ.

But to come now closer to our subject at hand.

From the twofold light or teaching there arises a twofold state of virtue and goodness.  For such as the teacher and the teaching is, such is the state and manner of the goodness that can be had from it.  Every effect must be according to the cause that produces it.  If you learn virtue and goodness only from outward means, from men or books, you may be virtuous and good according to time, place, and outward forms; you may do works of humility, works of love and benevolence, use times and forms of prayer.  All this virtue and goodness is suitable to this kind of teaching and very well be had from it.  But the spirit of prayer, the spirit of love, the spirit of humility, or of any other virtue, are only to be attained by the Operation of the Light and Spirit of God, not outwardly teaching, but inwardly bringing forth a new-born spirit within us.

And now, let me tell you both that it is much to be feared that you both stand only under this outward teaching; your good works are only done under obedience to such rules, precepts, and doctrines as your reason assents to, but are not the fruits of the newborn spirit within you.  But till you are thus renewed in the spirit of your minds, your virtues are only taught practices, grafted upon a corrupt bottom.  Everything you do will be a mixture of good and bad; your humility will help you to pride, your charity to others will give nourishment to your own self-love, and as your prayers increase, so will the opinion of your own sanctity.  Because till the heart is purified to the bottom, and has felt the axe at the root of its evil (which cannot be done by outward instruction), everything that proceeds from it partakes of its impurity and corruption.

Now that Theophilus is only under the law or outward instruction, is too plain from the complaint that he made of himself.  For notwithstanding his progress in the doctrine of love, he finds all the passions of his corrupt nature still alive in him, and himself only altered in doctrine and opinion.

The same may be well suspected of you, Eusebius, who are so mistaken in the Spirit of Love that you fancy yourself to be wholly in possession of it, from no other ground but because you embrace it, as it were, with open arms and think of nothing but living under the power of it.  Whereas, if the Spirit of Love were really born in you from its own seed, you would account for its birth and power in you in quite another manner as you have here done.  You would have known the price that you paid for it, and how many deaths you had suffered, before the Spirit of Love came to life in you.

Eusebius:  But surely, sir, imperfect as our virtues are, we may yet, as I hope, be said to be in a state of grace; and if so, we are under something more than mere outward instruction.  Besides, you may very well know that it is a principle with both if us to expect all our goodness from the Spirit of God dwelling and working in us.  We live in faith and hope of the Divine Operation; therefore I must needs say that your censure upon us seems to be more severely than just.

Theophilus:  Dear Eusebius, I censure neither of you, nor have I said one word by way of accusation.  So far be it, that I love and approve the state that you are both in.  It is good and happy for Theogenes that feels and confesses that his natural tempers are not yet subdued by doctrine and precept.  It is good and happy for you, also, that you are so highly delighted with the doctrine of love, for by this means each of you has his true preparation for further advancement.  And though your state has this difference, yet the same error was common to both of you.  Both of you thought you had as much of the Spirit of Love as you could or ought to have; and therefore Theogenes wondered he had no more benefit from it; and you wondered why I should desire to lead you farther into it.   Therefore, to deliver you from this error, I have desired this conference upon the practical ground of the Spirit of Love that neither of you lose the benefit of that good state in which you stand.

5.)  The Full Birth of the Spirit of Love

Eusebius:  Pray, therefore, proceed as you please.  For we have nothing so much at heart as to have the Truth and Purity of this Divine Love brought forth in us.  For as it is the Highest Perfection that I adore in God, so that I neither wish nor desire anything for myself but to be totally governed by it.  I could as willingly consent to lose all my being as to find the Power of Love lost in my soul.  Neither doctrine, nor mystery, nor precept has any delight for me, but as it calls forth the birth, and growth, and exercise of that Spirit, which does all that it does towards God and man under the one Law of Love.  Whatever, therefore, you can say to me, either to increase the power, manifest the defects, or remove the impediments of Divine Love in my soul, will be heartily welcome to me.

Theophilus:  I apprehend that you do not yet know what Divine Love is in itself, nor what is its nature and power in the soul of man.  For Divine Love is Perfect Peace and Joy; it is Freedom from all disquiet; it is All Content and Mere Happiness, and makes everything to rejoice in Itself.  Love is the Christ of God; wherever it comes, it comes as the blessing and happiness of every natural life, as the restorer from all evil, a fulfiller of all Righteousness, and a Peace of God which passes all understanding.  Through the universe of things, nothing is uneasy, unsatisfied, or restless, but because it is not governed by Love, or because its nature has not reached or attained the full birth of the Spirit of Love.  For when that is done, every hunger is satisfied and all complaining, murmuring, accusings, resentings, revenging, and striving are as totally suppressed and overcome as the coldness, thickness, and horror of darkness are suppressed and overcome by the breaking forth of the light.  If you ask why the Spirit of Love cannot be displeased, cannot be disappointed, cannot complain, accuse, resent, or murmur, it is because Divine Love desires nothing but Itself; as Its own Good, It has all when It has Itself, because nothing is Good but Itself and Its own Working; for Love is God, "and he that dwells in God, dwells in Love." 

6.)  Are You Thus Blessed?

Theophilus:  Tell me now, Eusebius, are you thus blessed in the Spirit of Love?

Eusebius:  Would you have me to tell you that I am an angel, and with out the infirmities of flesh and blood?

Theophilus:  No, but I would have you judge your state of Love by these angelic tempers, and not by any fervor or heat that you find in yourself.  For just so much and so far as you are freed from the folly of all earthly affections, from all disquiet, trouble, and complaint about this or that, just so much and so far is the Spirit of Love come to Life in you.  For Divine Love is a new Life and a new Nature, and introduces you into a New World; it puts an end to all your former opinions, notions, and tempers; it open new senses in you see high to be low, and low to be high, wisdom to be foolishness, and foolishness wisdom; it makes prosperity and adversity, praise and dispraise, to be equally nothing.  "When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spoke as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."  While man is under the power of nature, governed only by worldly wisdom his life (however old he may be) is quite childish.  Everything about him only awakens childish thoughts and pursuits in him; all that he sees and hears, all that he desires and fears, likes, or dislikes; that which he gets, and that which he loses; that which he has, and that which he doesn't have, serve only to carry him from this fiction of evil to that fiction of good, from one vanity of peace to another vanity of trouble.  But when Divine Love is born in the soul, all childish images of good and evil are done away, and all sensibility of them is lost, as the stars lose their visibility when the sun rises.