CHAPTER XLIII
Whereby we may know a Man who is made a partaker of the divine
Nature, and what belongeth unto him; and further, what is the token of a False
Light, and a False Free-Thinker.
Further mark ye; that when the True Love and True Light are in a man, the
Perfect Good is known and loved for itself and as itself; and yet not so that
it loveth itself of itself and as itself, but the one True and Perfect Good can
and will love nothing else, in so far as it is in itself, save the one, true
Goodness. Now if this is itself, it must love itself, yet not as itself nor as
of itself, but in this wise: that the One true Good loveth the One Perfect
Goodness, and the One Perfect Goodness is loved of the One, true and Perfect
Good. And in this sense that saying is true, that "God loveth not Himself as
Himself." For if there were ought better than God, God would love that, and not
Himself. For in this True Light and True Love there neither is nor can remain
any I, Me, Mine, Thou, Thine, and the like, but that Light perceiveth and
knoweth that there is a Good which is all Good and above all Good, and that all
good things are of one substance in the One Good, and that without that One,
there is no good thing. And therefore, where this Light is, the man's end and
aim is not this or that, Me or Thee, or the like, but only the One, who is
neither I nor Thou, this nor that, but is above all I and Thou, this and that;
and in Him all Goodness is loved as One Good, according to that saying: "All in
One as One, and One in All as All, and One and all Good, is loved through the
One in One, and for the sake of the One, for the love that man hath to the
One."
Behold, in such a man must all thought of
Self, all self-seeking, self-will, and what cometh thereof, be utterly lost and
surrendered and given over to God, except in so far as they are necessary to
make up a person. And whatever cometh to pass in a man who is truly Godlike,
whether he do or suffer, all is done in this Light and this Love, and from the
same, through the same, unto the same again. And in his heart there is a
content and a quietness, so that he doth not desire to know more or less, to
have, to live, to die, to be, or not to be, or anything of the kind; these
become all one and alike to him, and he complaineth of nothing but of sin only.
And what sin is, we have said already, namely, to desire or will anything
otherwise than the One Perfect Good and the One Eternal Will, and apart from
and contrary to them, or to wish to have a will of one's own. And what is done
of sin, such as lies, fraud, injustice, treachery, and all iniquity, in short,
all that we call sin, cometh hence, that man hath another will than God and the
True Good; for were there no will but the One Will, no sin could ever be
committed. Therefore we may well say that all self-will is sin, and there is no
sin but what springeth therefrom. And this is the only thing which a truly
Godlike man complaineth of; but to him, this is such a sore pain and grief,
that he would die a hundred deaths in agony and shame, rather than endure it;
and this his grief must last until death, and where it is not, there be sure
that the man is not truly Godlike, or a partaker of the divine nature.
Now, seeing that in this Light and Love, all Good
is loved in One and as One, and the One in all things, and in all things as One
and as All, therefore all those things must be loved that rightly are of good
report; such as virtue, order, seemliness, justice, truth, and the like; and
all that belongeth to God is the true Good and is His own, is loved and
praised; and all that is without this Good, and contrary to it, is a sorrow and
a pain, and is hated as sin, for it is of a truth sin. And he who liveth in the
true Light and true Love, hath the best, noblest, and worthiest life that ever
was or will be, and therefore it cannot but be loved and praised above any
other life. This life was and is in Christ to perfection, else He were not the
Christ.
And the love wherewith the man loveth this noble
life and all goodness, maketh, that all which he is called upon to do, or
suffer, or pass through, and which must needs be, he doeth or endureth
willingly and worthily, however hard it may be to nature. Therefore saith
Christ: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."[46] This cometh of the love which loveth this admirable life.
This we may see in the beloved Apostles and Martyrs; they suffered willingly
and gladly all that was done unto them, and never asked of God that their
suffering and tortures might be made shorter, or lighter or fewer, but only
that they might remain steadfast and endure to the end. Of a truth all that is
the fruit of divine Love in a truly Godlike man is so simple, plain, and
straightforward, that he can never properly give an account of it by writing or
by speech, but only say that so it is. And he who hath it not doth not even
believe in it; how then can he come to know it?
On the other hand, the life of the natural man,
where he hath a lively, subtle, cunning nature, is so manifold and complex, and
seeketh and inventeth so many turnings and windings and falsehoods for its own
ends, and that so continually, that this also is neither to be uttered nor set
forth.
Now, since all falsehood is deceived, and all
deception beginneth in self-deception, so is it also with this false Light and
Life, for he who deceiveth is also deceived, as we have said before. And in
this false Light and Life is found everything that belongeth to the Evil Spirit
and is his, insomuch that they cannot be discerned apart; for the false Light
is the Evil Spirit, and the Evil Spirit is this false Light. Hereby we may know
this. For even as the Evil Spirit thinketh himself to be God, or would fain be
God, or be thought to be God, and in all this is so utterly deceived that he
doth not think himself to be deceived, so is it also with this false Light, and
the Love and Life that is thereof. And as the Devil would fain deceive all men,
and draw them to himself and his works, and make them like himself, and useth
much art and cunning to this end, so is it also with this false Light; and as
no one may turn the Evil Spirit from his own way, so no one can turn this
deceived and deceitful Light from its errors. And the cause thereof is, that
both these two, the Devil and Nature, vainly think that they are not deceived,
and that it standeth quite well with them. And this is the very worst and most
mischievous delusion. Thus the Devil and Nature are one, and where nature is
conquered the Devil is also conquered, and, in like manner, where nature is not
conquered the Devil is not conquered. Whether as touching the outward life in
the world, or the inward life of the spirit, this false Light continueth in its
state of blindness and falsehood, so that it is both deceived itself and
deceiveth others with it, wheresoever it may.
From what hath here been said, ye may understand
and perceive more than hath been expressly set forth. For whenever we speak of
the Adam, and disobedience, and of the old man, of self-seeking, self-will, and
self-serving, of the I, the Me, and the Mine, nature, falsehood, the Devil,
sin; it is all one and the same thing. These are all contrary to God, and
remain without God.
[46] Matt. 11:30.