CHAPTER LI
Wherefore God hath created Self-will, seeing that it is so contrary
to Him.
Now some may ask: "Since this tree, to wit, Self-will, is so contrary to God
and the Eternal Will, wherefore hath God created it, and set it in Paradise?"
Answer: whatever man or creature desireth to
dive into and understand the secret counsel and will of God, so that he would
fain know wherefore God doeth this, or doeth not that, and the like, desireth
the same as Adam and the Devil. For this desire is seldom from aught else than
that the man taketh delight in knowing, and glorieth therein, and this is sheer
pride. And so long as this desire lasteth, the truth will never be known, and
the man is even as Adam or the Devil. A truly humble and enlightened man doth
not desire of God that He should reveal His secrets unto him, and ask wherefore
God doeth this or that, or hindereth or alloweth such a thing, and so forth;
but he desireth only to know how he may please God, and become as nought in
himself, having no will, and that the Eternal Will may live in him, and have
full possession of him, undisturbed by any other will, and how its due may be
rendered to the Eternal Will, by him and through him.
However, there is yet another answer to this
question, for we may say: the most noble and delightful gift that is bestowed
on any creature is that of perceiving, or Reason, and Will. And these two are
so bound together, that where the one is, there the other is also. And if it
were not for these two gifts, there would be no reasonable creatures, but only
brutes and brutishness; and that were a great loss, for God would never have
His due, and behold Himself and His attributes manifested in deeds and works;
the which ought to be, and is, necessary to perfection. Now, behold, Perception
and Reason are created and bestowed along with Will, to the intent that they
may instruct the will and also themselves, that neither perception nor will is
of itself, nor is nor ought to be unto itself, nor ought to seek or obey
itself. Neither shall they turn themselves to their own advantage, nor make use
of themselves to their own ends and purposes; for His they are from Whom they
do proceed, and unto Him shall they submit, and flow back into Him, and become
nought in themselves, that is, in their selfishness.
But here ye must consider more particularly,
somewhat touching the Will. There is an Eternal Will, which is in God a first
Principle and substance, apart from all works and effects,[49] and the same will is in Man, or the creature, willing
certain things, and bringing them to pass. For it belongeth unto the Will, and
is its property, that it shall will something. What else is it for? For it were
in vain, unless it had some work to do, and this it cannot have without the
creature. Therefore there must be creatures, and God will have them, to the end
that the Will may be put in exercise by their means, and work, which in God is
and must be without work. Therefore the will in the creature, which we call a
created will, is as truly God's as the Eternal Will, and is not of the
creature.
And now, since God cannot bring His will into
exercise, working and causing changes, without the creature, therefore it
pleaseth Him to do so in and with the creature. Therefore the will is not given
to be exerted by the creature, but only by God, who hath a right to work out
His own will by means of the will which is in man, and yet is God's. And in
whatever man or creature it should be purely and wholly thus, the will would be
exerted not by the man but by God, and thus it would not be self-will, and the
man would not will otherwise than as God willeth; for God Himself would move
the will and not man. And thus the will would be one with the Eternal Will, and
flow out into it, though the man would still keep his sense of liking and
disliking, pleasure and pain, and the like. For wherever the will is exerted,
there must be a sense of liking and disliking; for if things go according to
his will, the man liketh it, and if they do not, he disliketh it, and this
liking and disliking are not of the man's producing, but of God's. For whatever
is the source of the will, is the source of these also.[50] Now the will cometh not of man but of God, therefore
liking and disliking come from Him also. But nothing is complained of, save
only what is contrary to God. So also there is no joy but of God alone, and
that which is His and belongeth unto Him. And as it is with the will, so is it
also with perception, reason, gifts, love, and all the powers of man; they are
all of God, and not of man. And wherever the will should be altogether
surrendered to God, the rest would of a certainty be surrendered likewise, and
God would have His right, and the man's will would not be his own. Behold,
therefore hath God created the will, but not that it should be self-will.
Now cometh the Devil or Adam, that is to say,
false nature, and taketh this will unto itself and maketh the same its own, and
useth it for itself and its own ends. And this is the mischief and wrong, and
the bite that Adam made in the apple, which is forbidden, because it is
contrary to God. And therefore, so long as there is any self-will, there will
never be true love, true peace, true rest. This we see both in man and in the
Devil. And there will never be true blessedness either in time or eternity,
where this self-will is working, that is to say, where man taketh the will unto
himself and maketh it his own. And if it be not surrendered in this present
time, but carried over into eternity, it may be foreseen that it will never be
surrendered, and then of a truth there will never be content, nor rest, nor
blessedness; as we may see by the Devil. If there were no reason or will in the
creatures, God were, and must remain for ever, unknown, unloved, unpraised, and
unhonoured, and all the creatures would be worth nothing, and were of no avail
to God. Behold thus the question which was put to us is answered.[51] And if there were any who, by my much
writing (which yet is brief and profitable in God), might be led to amend their
ways, this were indeed well-pleasing unto God.
That which is free, none may call his own, and he
who maketh it his own, committeth a wrong. Now, in the whole realm of freedom,
nothing is so free as the will, and he who maketh it his own, and suffereth it
not to remain in its excellent freedom, and free nobility, and in its free
exercise, doeth a grievous wrong. This is what is done by the Devil and Adam
and all their followers. But he who leaveth the will in its noble freedom doeth
right, and this doth Christ with all His followers. And whoso robbeth the will
of its noble freedom and maketh it his own, must of necessity as his reward, be
laden with cares and troubles, with discontent, disquiet, unrest, and all
manner of wretchedness, and this will remain and endure in time and in
eternity. But he who leaveth the will in its freedom, hath content, peace,
rest, and blessedness in time and in eternity. Wherever there is a man in whom
the will is not enslaved, but continueth noble and free, there is a true
freeman not in bondage to any, one of those to whom Christ said: "The truth
shall make you free"; and immediately after, he saith: "If the Son shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed."[52]
Furthermore, mark ye that where the will enjoyeth
its freedom, it hath its proper work, that is, willing. And where it chooseth
whatever it will unhindered, it always chooseth in all things what is noblest
and best, and all that is not noble and good it hateth, and findeth to be a
grief and offence unto it. And the more free and unhindered the will is, the
more is it pained by evil, injustice, iniquity, and in short all manner of
wickedness and sin, and the more do they grieve and afflict it. This we see in
Christ, whose will was the purest and the least fettered or brought into
bondage of any man's that ever lived. So likewise was Christ's human nature the
most free and single of all creatures, and yet felt the deepest grief, pain,
and indignation at sin that any creature ever felt. But when men claim freedom
for their own, so as to feel no sorrow or indignation at sin and what is
contrary to God, but say that we must heed nothing and care for nothing, but
be, in this present time, as Christ was after His resurrection, and the like;
-- this is no true and divine freedom springing from the true divine Light, but
a natural, unrighteous, false, and deceitful freedom, springing from a natural,
false, and deluded light.
Were there no self-will, there would be also no
ownership. In heaven there is no ownership; hence there are found content, true
peace, and all blessedness. If any one there took upon him to call anything his
own, he would straightway be thrust out into hell, and would become an evil
spirit. But in hell everyone will have self-will, therefore there is all manner
of misery and wretchedness. So is it also here on earth. But if there were one
in hell who should get quit of his self-will and call nothing his own, he would
come out of hell into heaven. Now, in this present time, man is set between
heaven and hell, and may turn himself towards which he will. For the more he
hath of ownership, the more he hath of hell and misery; and the less of
self-will, the less of hell, and the nearer he is to the Kingdom of Heaven. And
could a man, while on earth, be wholly quit of self-will and ownership, and
stand up free and at large in God's true light, and continue therein, he would
be sure of the Kingdom of Heaven. He who hath something, or seeketh or longeth
to have something of his own, is himself a slave; and he who hath nothing of
his own, nor seeketh nor longeth thereafter, is free and at large, and in
bondage to none.
All that hath here been said, Christ taught in
words and fulfilled in works for three-and-thirty years, and He teacheth it to
us very briefly when He saith: "Follow Me." But he who will follow Him must
forsake all things, for He renounced all things so utterly as no man else hath
ever done. Moreover, he who will come after Him, must take up the cross, and
the cross is nothing else than Christ's life, for that is a bitter cross to
nature. Therefore He saith: "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth
after Me, is not worthy of Me, and cannot be My disciple."[53] But nature, in her false freedom, weeneth she hath
forsaken all things, yet she will have none of the cross, and saith she hath
had enough of it already, and needeth it no longer, and thus she is deceived.
For had she ever tasted the cross she would never part with it again. He that
believeth on Christ must believe all that is here written.
[49] Or realisation, wirklichkeit.
[50] This sentence is found in Luther's
edition, but not in that based on the Wurtzburg Manuscript.
[51] Namely, why God hath created the will.
[52] John 8:32-36.
[53] Matt. 10:38, and Luke 14:27.