_Theophilus._ Ask not _Academicus_, what you are to do to obtain the Spirit of God; for your measure of receiving it, is just according to your faith and desire to be led by it. For to this faith, all things are possible, to which all nature, tho’ as high as mountains, and as stiff as oaks, must yield and obey. It heals all diseases, breaks the bands of death, and calls the dead out of their graves. It is strictly true, that man’s salvation dependeth upon himself; and it is as strictly true, that _all the work_ of his salvation, is _solely_ the work of God in his soul. All his salvation dependeth upon himself, because his _will_ has its power of motion in itself. As a will, it can only receive that which it willeth; every thing else is absolutely shut out of it. For it is the unalterable nature of the will, that it cannot possibly receive any thing into it, but that which it _willeth_; its willing is its only power of receiving; and therefore there can be no possible entrance for God or heaven into the soul, till the _will_ of the soul desireth it; and thus all man’s salvation dependeth upon himself. On the other hand, nothing can create, effect, the divine life in the soul, but that _Spirit_ of God, which brings forth the divine life in heaven. And thus the _work_ of our salvation is wholly and solely the work of God, dwelling and operating in us. Thus, you see that God is all; that nothing but _his life_ and _working-power_ in us, can be our salvation; and yet that nothing but the _spirit of prayer_ can make it _possible_ for us to have it. And therefore neither you, nor any other human soul, can be _without_ the operation of the Spirit of God in it, but because its _will_ or its spirit of _prayer_ is turned towards something else; for we are always in union with _that_, with which our will is united. Again: Look at the light and air of this world, you see with what a freedom of communication they _overflow_ and _enliven_ every thing; they enter every where, if not hindered by _something_ that withstands their entrance. This may represent to you the _ever-overflowing_, free communication of the light and Spirit of God, to every human soul. They are every where; we are encompassed with them; our souls are as near to them, as our bodies are to the light and air of this world; nothing shuts them out of us, but the will and desire of our souls turned from them, and _praying_ for something else. I say, _praying_ for something else; for you are to notice this as a certain truth, that every man’s life is a _continual state_ of prayer; he is no moment free from it, nor can possibly be so. For all our natural tempers, be they what they will, ambition, covetousness, selfishness, worldly-mindedness, pride, envy, hatred, malice, or any other lust whatever, are all of them in reality only so many different _forms_ of a _spirit of prayer_, which is as inseparable from the heart, as weight is from the body. For every