The Alchemy of Love - Part 2

by Larry Hodges

"If a man say, 'I love God,' and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" --I John 4:20.

    We dealt in the last issue of TSL with the alchemy of Love, that is, Love's all-prevailing power to transform. But if a thing is not of practical use or service to us, it is of no value to us. It is one thing to know what Love does or can do and quite another for those things to be working in us. Therefore, this issue is dedicated to seeing how these things can and must work for us and in us and through us.

    We have all heard, by this time, that many in this message have begun to expect something quite revolutionary to take place this year, more precisely, this fall. We are all looking for some great move or advancement forward at this time, and I believe I know what it is and that it has already begun undisclosed in some who may not even be aware of it. Unlike Pentecost, with all its outward activity and excitement, Tabernacle's coming is of another nature entirely.

    It is not about outward things or concepts; it has to do with the inward realities of spirit. It very definitely has to do with the pulling down of imaginations and the bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. What we are discussing here is the opening of the Kingdom of Love within. The Kingdom of Love is but another way of saying, "The Kingdom of God."

    Elwin Roach, Pathfinder Ministries, P. O. Box 4004, Alamogordo, NM, 88311, has for several months now written on the subject of the Cherubim; what they are, and their function and purpose. I have personally found these anointed articles to be very informative and enlightening as to our present subject here. As he clearly states, Cherubim are imaginary things and represent the imagination and thoughts of both God and man. It has been man's thoughts, the Cherubim, that have kept him from the tree of Life in the midst of the Garden of God.

    It has been man's thoughts, the Cherubim, that have prevented man from passing from the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies and into union with God. We see these Cherubim first at the gate east of Eden, and their purpose there is keeping (barring) the way of the tree of Life. Their next appearance is in the veil which separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. We find them sewn into the very fabric of that veil.

    If we admit that the veil represents the flesh-nature of fallen man, then it becomes obvious that what has become the very fabric of fallen man himself (his thought-life, imaginations) acts as a barrier to entrance into union with God! "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts."

    If our thought-life is the source of our problem of entering back into where we fell from, it would seem that all is lost, for we cannot hope to proceed to perfection from such a faulty and compromised basis. Indeed, we have not been able to do so for some 6,000 years thus far. But! God has purposed to fulfill something at the close of man's six working days, and that purpose includes a remnant entering behind the veil for union with God.

    But how to get past these very effective Cherubim? By the opening of Love's birth within us! Now, you may say within yourself, "Well, that sounds all very well and good, and many of us are indeed actively looking for some evidence of such a great change taking place, but how is this to be effected when no one seems to know what it is, much less how to have it operate in them?" Actually, it seems so simple that we are challenged to believe this could really be what we have been looking for.

    Love, God's Love, does not begin with emotions or feelings (Love is God and God is spirit). It is a deliberate act of the will. These two statements are as a golden key which will open that mystical door which allows the Lord to come in and sup with us and we with Him in a union as constant and immutable as that which exists between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father. Because Love is an act of the will and not merely an emotion attended with warm, fuzzy feelings, it is within the reach of all. For to will to Love someone is to be able to Love them.

    It must be admitted that Love's first openings may indeed be merely a trickle rather than a river. It may be so small in its beginnings that it is nearly undetectable, but it is Love's nature to increase and to rise to a vehement, burning flame which consumes all gross and elementary matter of a lower birth than Itself, bringing one eventually to the very supersensual life of ecstacies. Once begun in us, it shall continue until it flows as a mighty Niagara whose power and supplies are inexhaustible. Love truly is the White Stone whose alchemical powers shall eventually set free the entire fallen universe, beginning with a firstfruits company of mankind. Love has the intrinsic power to convert the gross, degenerate nature of fallen man into Its own golden essence -- GOD!

    Are we not called to be made partakers of His divine nature? Who ever came in contact with Love in the person of Christ Jesus and left without being changed? One simply cannot come into contact with Love without being changed in some way and eventually into the very nature of Love Himself. One is either hardened in his own self-will and death, for a later resurrection and continuance of Love's work in him, or he is broken and made pliable for the end result of becoming Love's very essence. Love never fails.

    Most of us have heard men teach what has been termed, "The Never-Die" doctrine and they have used none other than Jesus' own words, that thread-bare scripture we have all wondered about, as their launching pad. "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" --John 11:25,26. That would seem to be pretty safe ground, would it not? But those who have taught that this verse means just what it says, have died . . . , so far. And yet, it does indeed mean just exactly what it says, but there must be a living faith that is able to reach out and take hold of the essence of this verse.

    This, I believe, is why this truth has been taught correctly but not yet apprehended by any, as far as we know. There must be a faith that can reach as high as this Word stands. That kind of faith works only by God's kind of Love, and when a people begin to live and move constantly in this Love, and think and speak in accordance with It, It will generate not only a faith which can reach as high as Love can extend Himself (for this faith is the Faith of Love, or God), It will also radically change the way in which we think of God, of ourselves and of others.

    And just as negative thoughts have had terribly negative effects on us, even unto death, so shall creative Love-thinking have positive effects on us, even to the point of living and not dying. What else but Love is as strong as Death? Who else but Love has the keys of Death and the grave? Where else, but in Love is Death completely conquered and the grave robbed? And may I tell you the best part? To walk in Love is not future! You may begin as you are reading this message. Right now! For you are but one short faith-step from it.

    We have heard brethren speak forth things which the Scriptures verily hold out as true for us, as though these Scriptures were already accomplished in them and in us. Yet, we have known that they are not. This has produced no little controversy throughout the Body. Whether such statements as, "I am already complete in Him; I am already dead; I am living behind the veil, are indeed true is not debatable. They are the inspired words of the Spirit of Truth. But there are certain qualifications which must be considered and met in order for them to become real in our experience. They are only true in our experience when we are walking in Love's perfections. Remember, Love is the concluding climactic touch with which God will adorn His Overcomer company.

    We have learned and even cultivated many negative thought-patterns which have crippled us, held us down and completely kept us from being able to walk in our high places. There has been so little discipline in this area that it has wrought havoc throughout the Body of Christ.

    There is definitely, as the Bible declares, the power of life and death in the tongue. But don't begin rebuking everyone for every negative statement that issues from their mouth; it goes beyond that. Before we ever speak a word or perform a deed, we think it. The power that is in a spoken word is first in the thought which begets it. Instead of seeking to redirect our speech patterns, we ought to allow Love to replace old thought-patterns with creative Love-thoughts. Just as Self's thoughts are destructive and negative, Love's thoughts are all creative, and they create along positive lines. And if they are thoughts originating in Love, then they are part of Love and therefore subject to the will.

    Have you ever had the experience of having someone placed in your life that you simply could not get along with? Perhaps you called it a personality clash and you just could not bear him. The more you resented him, his ways and manners, the more difficult you found it to be with him. The more we talk about someone behind his back, the more resentment we feel toward him and the more impossible it is for us to be with him or to pray for him. This is because the dark thoughts (and words) of Self bring darkness to us and fosters in us only the things originating from the Prince of darkness and encloses our minds in it. This places us in an alliance with the accuser of the brethren and in such times we have found our spiritual lives to dwindle and nearly vanish away and have wondered, "How can I love someone whose very ways I detest?" The answer lies in the will to Love them.

    I had one dear sister tell me that she had tried to forgive someone but found she was not able to do so simply by will. Since volition is a matter of choice, and since willing a thing does not necessarily involve the emotions, it is untrue to say that we cannot will to do a thing, or to say that we have not successfully willed a thing because there were no emotions attending it. When we will a thing, it is willed. Does it require God's grace? I believe it surely does. And it requires faith. The point here is, though Love for the one forgiven begins with merely a trickle, continue in it and it will, by the inworking power of the Holy Ghost, become a stream and then a river of the waters of life to swim in. The feelings, about which we seem so concerned, will come later.

    I have said several times now that the key to entrance into Love's kingdom lies in the will to Love, but please keep in mind that to will to Love is to be able to Love and therefore to walk in Love. We by no means assert that our first tentative steps in this will pass for leaps and bounds. But there must be a beginning, and it is this beginning that is so vital and so critical that Love's beginnings must be carefully guarded. This means that anything which dulls Love's sensible rising in you, which causes Love's keenness in you to diminish or lessen, must be stopped, must cease, for the preservation of this Love (this is where losing all, willingly, comes in). There are certain Herod-lusts which will seek to slay the true new-born Heir while it is yet in its infancy. All precaution must be taken to preserve this golden fountain in its first up-springings in us. This willing to Love is not a magic formula one may use as a mere ritual. It is a heart-cry in accordance with one's will.

    Love does not require that Its object be loveable. If It did, none of us would be a part of His kingdom today. The more sin-marred the vessel, the more qualified it is for Love. I agree that our flesh will not appreciate Love's requirements, but our flesh is to have no say in these matters. It has been crucified with Christ.

    Love is the distinguishing seal upon the heart of each of God's Firstfruits of perfected ones. Love is the seal by which they are privileged to reach into Wisdom's basket and store of creative power for their maintenance and for the preservation of others. None (other than Jesus) have thus far found such liberty because none have had this seal upon their hearts and been completely under Love's dominion, God having reserved it for this present generation.

    We must remember that there is no such thing as maturity without Love, for Love is maturity. There is no such thing as dominion without Love, for the Manchild is caught up to Love's throne (Revelation 12:5) before it rules. The kingdom in which we are called to rule and reign with Christ a thousand years is a kingdom under Love's dominion. Therefore, nothing which conflicts with Love, whether it be fearfulness, unbelief, the abominable etc., is able to find entrance into this great, transparent City. Those who come forth in such Love have been raised up under the apple tree where their mother, Wisdom, brought them forth.

    The apple tree has been to me the tree of grace ever since I heard the following story: We were visiting with close and dear friends of ours, Harry and Louise Bizzell (formerly of The Lamb's Chapel in Charlotte, NC), and Harry said that when he first heard that the number five was symbolic of grace, he wondered, "How do I know that? Who said so? How do I know that these numbers aren't just picked out of the air at random and ascribed some symbolic meaning?" Years later, the Lord woke him in the middle of the night and said, "Arise and get a sword." He said it frightened him, but he went into the kitchen and got the largest knife they had. The Lord said, "Get an apple." He reached and got an apple. "Cut it in half," came the next command. He cut it in half, wondering, "What is going on?" "How many seeds are in the apple?", came the query from the Lord. "Five", he said he answered out loud. "How many apples are in a seed?", the Lord then asked him. "There's no way to tell," he replied. "It's the same with grace. It cannot be measured," was God's conclusive answer to him on whether the number five was actually symbolic of grace.

    So, I view the apple tree as the tree of grace, and the Song of Solomon says that the one coming forth out of the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved, is the same one brought forth by Wisdom and raised up under the tree of grace.

The Reign of Love's Kingdom
(Excerpted from New Jerusalem II - by Jane Leade)

    "Wherever this Love comes, it makes all imperfect things flee before it, but it strengthens and confirms every plant that is sown by the Spirit, which have long lain buried and makes them appear above ground. It is the king flower of the whole paradisical spring that protects the whole, transmuting all into one entire body of Love that doth extend and give forth itself in all spiritual bounty according to its high nature and property. It is not shut up to itself upon any consideration as to what it possesseth and enjoys, for it holds nothing in proprietorship, whatever its lot is, but all is free to the disciples of the same descent and birth with Himself. This Love cannot withhold from any of their necessities, for it seeks not its own. It is God's only steward upon earth whom He dare trust with the care of His household who are in spiritual hunger and nakedness.

    "Know, whoever you be that are made to willingly venture the loss of all to arrive at this pearl of charity, that you shall most surely find it, and great rejoicing there will be at the finding of this lost groat (a British coin worth about 4 pennies today). Indeed, the house of the soul must be first thoroughly searched and the natural self-love must be swept out. For what is that which we must lose but even all rubbish, filth and dross! So that our hearts, being emptied and cleansed from all these, the king of Love may enter in with full train, wherein we may know nothing but concord, tranquility and a springing treasury of all goodness. Wherefore, let all holy and pure minds be stirred up to wait for the dropping dews which fall from one eternal element to bring this plant of Love's kingdom forward even unto its full height of perfection.

    "And be tender of its first buddings, for it hath many subtle enemies both at home and abroad. It is the heir and therefore is conspired against, for can but the envious spirit find out where its birth doth spring, they will attempt to kill it whilst it is but an infant, for which cause it must be hid in the clefts of the Eternal Rock. There it is to be fed and nourished with its own nature-milk and honey of Love until it become strong and able to encounter and overcome all its opposites that it may reign alone as monarch of the soul.

    "My friends, whoever you be that shall read this experimental writing, know assuredly that if you can but find this burning star of Love risen -- nay, if you can but feel the glowings and enkindlings of heat in the center of your hearts, it is more to be valued than all other spiritual gifts, powers and divine ornaments which pertain to the new creation. Then we may boldly despise and contemn all worldly dominions and all the joys and delights of sensual love. For you must know it is such a sacred and celestial seed, coming immediately from the heart of the Deity, as cannot admit anything of defilement or pollution to abide with it. It soon leaves the soul if anything be taken in which cannot abide the burning touch of this altar coal.

    "But here it may be asked, "What is this Love which is so highly exalted above all heavenly and earthly things? Sure there must be some rare transcending quality in it not commonly known that makes you press it so vehemently?"

    "Truly, well I may, yet not I, but the essential Love Itself doth move me to open the mystery of It, which happily hath not been understood as now by breaking up the fountain of it so that it may plentifully run forth. For giving the light of the knowledge of it doth but make way for the very substance itself to rise sensibly in its flaming quality. Take this further account of it, that it is known to be the most holy and pure generation of the immaculate Virgin of God for which is prepared the virgin-womb that this birth might be the choice and undefiled one of her that brings it forth.

    "It shall not be now at Christ's second birth as it was at His first. Then His visage was marred more than any man's. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and there was no form nor comeliness in Him, which made Him to be set at naught and greatly despised, though without sin or guile. But being found a sufferer under it, He therefore could not be exalted until He had His first birth in us which must precede His second. But there is a vast difference between Christ's first and second coming.

    "Many ages are passed wherein saints have known only the birth of Christ in them after this weak, suffering, dying and reproachful state. The apostles, upon whom the Holy Ghost was poured forth after a most signal manner, by which Christ gave witness in them of His victory and exaltation, enabling them to work miraculously; yet notwithstanding, they were not gotten beyond the suffering birth of Christ in themselves, for they only had the revelation and foresight of His appearing in power and great glory. But they departed this life and did not see the sign of the Son of man (the birth and establishment of Love) to take up in them for a visible reign and kingdom that might redeem out of all tribulation, and so it hath continued until this day.

    "But yet there is not to be found a generation so prepared and made ready for the second coming of Christ as was in that day, which might make us doubt whether the coming of Christ is so near. Because this birth of Love is so hardly found in any, risen up to an absolute dominion, which is a sure introduction to the omnipotent reign of Christ in this visible earth in the inward properties of the Love flock. But you will say, "The apostles and those that were converted by their ministry were all in the dispensation of Love and were in expectation of having the Kingdom restored to Israel in their day. What was the reason then that Christ's second birth did not rise in them?"

    "To which I answer that it was thought meet by the Father of Wisdom that all of that generation should drink of their Lord's suffering and dying cup, as He often hinted unto them when personally with them, though they had a general spirit of prophecy concerning His glorious reign in which He would appear in His saints. And then again, it may be disputed as to whether those elders themselves had completed their own regeneration and so were perfectly arrived to the throne-dominion of Love as fixed Overcomers. Paul, Peter and John, who were the most eminent amongst them, seemed to have somewhat more in sight than what they had attained to and so were still pressing after it.

    "However, it may be concluded that they had got the start before any that are known at this day, yet it seems that hitherto Love's womb hath been shut up from bringing forth children of the resurrection-- at least to anything that is manifestly known.

    "But for this we may have good hope that if indeed it be born in anyone and made strong to maintain its right and superiority over the whole inward creation, ruling as God, by whom it is certainly avouched that a virgin spirit shall be given to such for eternal generation, who shall be able to raise and quicken the holy grain of Love that lieth as dead, so that Love may see her offspring to multiply exceedingly unto all perfect purity. Such an holy congregation and society, being once raised to reign upon Love's throne together will be as so many raised banners which will be terrible to the nations which stand without the circle of Love.

    "Now, by all this we see what hath hitherto put a stop and caused the Lord to delay His coming and will continue to delay until perfect Love is come to burn up every image in the mind that is not engraved by God's own finger. It is certainly to be concluded that charity is the golden wash and baptizing pool out of which souls do come all ruddy and white, clear and bright, to whom the Lord may say, "My dove, my fair one, my undefiled, come away; the Love-scarlet dye hath washed thy blackness away so that now thou art all fair in My eye."

    "This is a prophecy which hath been fulfilled in part and will have more abundant fulfillment as this spirit of burning Love takes possession of hearts. Then the very face of God will be the covering by which we shall see and know what before we were ignorant of as to our own pure Love's nativity, which was foreknown in Christ before the world of wrath and bitterness did show itself. And thus, by the first and second birth of Christ in us, all will come to be restored to a glorious new creation where Love shall die no more, nor sin live which brought in curse and sorrow and estranged God from us.

    "Now, is not all this a most persuasive motive to the Love-flock, wherever scattered, that God intends to bring them to this Love-band of perfection that we may know one another as God's enkindled sparks, increasing to flames, which are to consume all envy and wrath as stubble and dross. The trumpet sounds from Mount Zion and waxeth louder and louder. We daily hear it, from which we have declared the most excellent things concerning the eternal Love-fellowship in God's own clearness, in which no spot of darkness is to be found. You will say -- "Where are such to be found according to this degree which you have here described? All visible churches and societies are far too light when weighed with this golden grain and shekel of the eternal sanctuary!"

    "We know it to be so from the all-piercing eye which doth try all degrees of Love, and it may be universally bewailed that so much superficial, formal and dead love is found, both to God and one another. Hence we do not wonder that the Bridegroom makes no more haste, His bride wanting as yet her full vesture or robe of pure Charity, without which she can never be said to be ready, for this is to be all her glory both within and without and to adorn her for Love and delight. Therefore, all pre-eminence and honor give to Love, taking all care to nourish it up in God and there abound in it towards one another.

    "This high, pure and mystical unity of Love hath been yet very little understood and even less practiced. That heaven-born society is much scattered. Where is Love's paved habitation to be found in which fervent charity doth wholly act and move, loving and admiring as God appears and looks forth through the lattice of humanity in each one? Oh! How should it draw out and open the springs of Love as God Himself who is the spirit and life of Love which moveth and riseth in holy souls!

    "Therefore, it becomes us to be tender of it; not to grieve it nor quench it in one another for that may cause it to sink and die away in ourselves, and then the very ark of our strength departs from us, and the heat and vigor of all spiritual life declines with it.

    "Upon which consideration, O ye heaven-born out of the womb of eternal Love, wherever dispersed-- let your gatherings be to this lifted up standard where Love's kingdom is known and possessed in all peace, joy and tranquility. The trumpet from Mount Zion doth sound to call you away from all worldly, drossy perishing loves which are not supersensual and celestial. Nay further, it doth call you away from all lukewarm superficial loves, for Love's workings must be fervent, strong and immutable for the making meet for the rising and abiding power of the Holy Ghost to work from. All which will be brought out of the fiery furnace of Love for the great and mighty things that give testimony of Christ's kingdom in His saints being come, for it will surely open from this center.

    "Now, whoever ye are that feel the touch of this celestial fire-stone, send forth your warming sparks to set one another in an holy flame. Know your own mother's children. Hide not yourselves from them. Be no longer strangers towards them. Find them out from north to south, and revive yet once again the apostolic knot and band of unfeigned Love that may forerun the Bridegroom's return to dwell among us, so that we may no longer fast and mourn but be ever feasted with Love's multiplyings from the fountain deity. Even so confirm it accordingly, O Lord Jesus!" End Quote.

    This message of Love is about the Key of David, which must rest upon the shoulders of Christ's corporate Body and is that which shall open the door which no man can shut and which, if a man open, Christ shall come in and sup with him in a most singularly intimate manner, and he with Him. It is a message meant to cause its hearers to aspire to be a part of the Philadelphian Church: the church of brotherly Love. It was to this church the Lord said so many promising things. "Behold, I set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength (Pentecost?), and hast not denied my name" --Revelation 3:8.

    Shall there be a people who will rule and reign with Christ a thousand years who are not under the absolute dominion of Love? Shall there be a people who shall open and no man shut, and shut and no man open who are not in perfect accord with Love? Shall there be a people claiming to be Love's true representatives who have not this Love in all its perfections and power?

    Shall the rod of iron be given into the hand of any other than Love's own children, the children of the resurrection? What people shall do and speak only what they see and hear their Father doing and speaking but that people who are under the absolute dominion of Love's rule? We may speak well and write much on "Sonship," "Kingdom" and whatever else we may wish to call this kingdom, but unless we Love Love, carefully guarding its beginning flame, we are become as tinkling brass or a sounding cymbal.

    You and I must ever remember that a mere knowledge of these or any other things does not insure that they are ours, regardless how much we herald them to each other. A wise man has said, "A man may know all about virtue but if he doesn't Love virtue, he is not a virtuous man, for he obeys vice. But if he Loves virtue he follows after it, and his Love makes him an enemy to wickedness so that he will not practice it, and hates it also in other men. Such a one is already a virtuous man, or he is in the way to be so. And he who is a virtuous man would not cease to be so to gain the whole world, yea, he would rather die a miserable death.

    "It is the same with justice. Many a man knows full well what is just or unjust, and yet neither is nor ever will become a just man. For he Loves not justice, and therefore he works wickedness and injustice. And to him justice is her own reward, and rewards him with herself; and so there lives a just man, and he would rather die a thousand times over than live as an unjust man. It is the same with truth: a man may know full well what is true or a lie, but if he Loves not the truth he is not a true man; but if he Loves truth, it is with truth even as with justice.

    "Thus may we perceive that knowledge and light profit nothing without Love. We see this in the Evil Spirit; he perceives and knows good and evil, right and wrong, and the like; but since he has no Love for the good that he sees, he becomes not good, as he would if he had any Love for the truth and other virtues which he sees. It is indeed true that Love must be guided and taught of knowledge, but if knowledge be not taught of Love, it will avail nothing. It is the same with God and divine things. Let a man know much about God and divine things, nay, dream that he sees and understands what God Himself is, if he have not Love, he will never become like unto God, or a 'partaker of the divine nature.' But if there be a true Love along with his knowledge, he cannot but cleave to God and forsake all that is not God or of Him, hate it and fight against it, and find it a cross and a sorrow." End of Quote

    Whether we Love Love enough to "sell all we have in order to purchase this Pearl of great price" is seen by whether or not we are willing to forsake all that would impede or hinder our walking in Love, for the sake of having Love. This, even to the remodeling and losing of our own thought-life as we "cast down imaginations and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Then, when our starry thoughts have fallen to the earth like untimely fruit, and our sun (reason) and moon (senses) have ceased to shine, shall we see the Son of Man coming in our new heavens with glory and great power (Matthew 24:29). This Love, this Pearl all priceless is such that it will so make a man one with God that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" --Romans 8:39.

    Have you known a life of fearfulness and anxiety? Love is the unfailing antidote for it. Have you known only ups and downs with little peace? Love is the answer. Have you been nagged by fears and doubtings and an almost constant need of further assurance? Love is the end of all that and they that Love It shall have it. It has not been placed where only the giraffes could reach it, but where the smallest of God's lambs can easily have it. Be bold in God's willingness to give His best to you. Desire it with all your being. Call upon Him daily for the first springing up of this golden oil that shall never cease pouring out from you until it has changed the wrinkled face of the entire fallen creation.

END OF MESSAGE