Research Notes: Code:jamnayadotfw1653, James Naylor, Inherent Being

In 1653 James Naylor wrote:

“The second man [second Adam] is spiritually begotten by the spirit of the immortal seed, is the expresse Image of the Father, he knows the Father and is known of him, not by relation of the Creature, but by the in-dwelling of God in him …”

Source: James Naylor, A Discovery of the First WISDOM from Beneath, and the Second WISDOM from Above or, The difference betwixt the two SEEDS, The one after the Flesh, the other of the Spirit. pg. 10

Samuel Johnson, in his 1773 edition of his dictionary, defines express in its adjectival form as:
1. Copied; resembling; exactly like.

He also defined creature as:
1. A being not self-existent

This small passage is a testimony to a particular witness. Here Naylor testifies to the witness of human being or consciousness that is come into (begotten) by the spirit and is become the exact image of God and knows God and is known by God not through relation to those things that are not inherent (self-existent) but by the inherent (in-dwelling) of God in the consciousness and conscience. Human beings and groups of human beings, through the appearance of the Spirit or Presence of Christ, take on the exact image of God and their relationship to God is not one of the creaturely nature (which relates to things that are not inherent within them but outside of them) but of an inherent or self-existent nature.

When the immanent or in-dwelling Presence manifests or takes form within a person or group of people as direct witness, human being, consciousness, and conscience becomes established upon a different foundation. Being is become inherent itself in itself through the indwelling of the self-existent Spirit itself in itself. The self-existent Presence of God within establishes, or give birth to, inherent or immanent consciousness and conscience itself. Human being witnesses eternal life or consciousness that is no longer established in the creature which exists or is aware through relation which outward forms; but is established in a consciousness that is inherent in itself through relation to the presence of the Spirit within.