Week 6: Theologia Germanica

This work is thought to have been written in the 1300s, but it was relatively unknown until Martin Luther discovered it. This quote by Luther is enough of an introducion: "Next to the Bible and St. Augustine, no book has ever come into my hands from which I have learnt more of God and Christ, and man and all things that are."

Chapter 1: "Of that which is perfect and that which is in part, and how that which is in part is done away, when that which is perfect is come"

Paul wrote, "When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." (I Cor 13:10) Now mark what is "that which is perfect," and "that which is in part."

But when does the Perfect come? I say, when it is felt and tasted by the soul who seeks after it. For the lack of being with the Perfect lies altogether in us, and not in it. In like manner the sun lights the whole world, and is as near to one person as another, yet a blind man does not see the light; but the fault lies in the blind man's blindness, and not in the sun. And as the sun may not hide its brightness but must give light unto the earth, so also God, who is the highest Good and Perfect, wills not to hide Himself from any. For in the measure that we put off distractions, in the same measure are we able to put on the Creator; neither more nor less. For if my eye is to see anything, it must be focused, or else be purified from all other things; and where heat and light of God enter in, the cold and darkness of distractions must depart; it cannot be otherwise.

But one might say, "Now since the Perfect [meaning God] cannot be known nor understood by any creature, but the soul is a creature, how can it be known by the soul?" Answer: This is why we say, "by the soul as a creature." We mean it is impossible to the creature in virtue of its creature-nature [humanity and sin nature], which focuses on "I" and "myself." For in whatever person the Perfect shall be known, the creature-nature qualities—the I, the Self and the like—must all be lost and done away with. This is the meaning of that saying of Paul: "When that which is perfect is come" (that is, when it is known), "then that which is in part" (meaning, the creature-nature, qualities, the I, the Self, the Mine) will be despised and counted for nothing. So long as we think much of these things—the I, the Self, the Mine—and hold to them with love, joy, pleasure or desire, the Perfect will be unknown to us.

Chapter 2: "Of what sin is, and how we must not take to ourselves any good thing, seeing that it belongs to the true Good alone."

The Scripture and the Faith and the Truth say, Sin is nothing else, but that the person turns away from the unchangeable Good [meaning God] and directs itself to the changeable; that is to say, that the person turns away from the Perfect toward "that which is in part" and imperfect, with the result that he or she focuses on itself. Pay attention: when the person claims for its own anything that is good, the person goes astray. This is exactly what the devil did: he claimed himself to be independently significant, and would have it that he was his own. This setting up of a claim and his "I and Me and Mine," these were his going astray, and his fall.

Chapter 3: "How man's fall and going astray must be amended as Adam's fall was"

What else did Adam do but this same thing? It is said, it was because Adam ate the apple that he was lost or fell. I say, it was because of his claiming something for his own, and because of his I, Mine, Me, and the like. And because I count myself to be my own, and say "I," "Mine," "Me" and the like, God is hindered, so that He cannot do His work in me alone and without hindrance; for this cause my fall and my going astray remain unhealed. Behold! this all comes of my claiming something for my own.

Chapter 4: "How man, when he claims any good thing for his own, falls, and touches God in His honor"

God said, "I will not give My glory to another." (Isaiah 42:8) This is as much as to say, that praise and honor and glory belong to none but to God only. But now, if I call any good thing my own, as if I were it, or of myself had power or did or knew anything, or as if anything were mine or of me, or belonged to me, or were due to me or the like, I take unto myself somewhat of honor and glory, and do two evil things: First, I fall and go astray: Secondly, I touch God in His honor and take unto myself what belongs to God only. For all that must be called good belongs to none but to the true eternal Goodness which is God only, and whoever takes it unto himself, commits unrighteousness and is against God.

Chapter 9: "How it is better and more profitable for a man that he should perceive what God will do with him, or to what end He will make use of him, than if he knew all that God had ever made, or would ever work through all the creatures; and how blessedness lies alone in God, and not in the creatures or any works"

We should note and know of the truth that all manner of virtue and goodness, and even that Eternal Good which is God Himself, can never make a man virtuous, good, or happy, so long as it is outside the soul; that is, so long as the man is holding converse with outward things through his senses and reason, and does not withdraw into himself and learn to understand his own life, who and what he is. The same is true of sin and evil. For all manner of sin and wickedness can never make us evil, so long as it is outside of us; that is, so long as we do not commit it, or do not give consent to it.

Chapter 10: "How the perfect men have no other desire than that they may be to the eternal goodness what His hand is to a man, and how they have lost the fear of Hell and hope of Heaven"

What is better and nobler than true poorness in spirit? Yet when that is held up before us, we will have none of it, but are always seeking ourselves, and our own things. We like to have our mouths always filled with good things, that we may have in ourselves a lively taste of pleasure and sweetness. When this is so, we are well pleased, and think it is to our benefit. But we are yet a long way off from a perfect life. For when God will draw us up to something higher, that is, to an utter loss and forsaking of our own things, spiritual and natural, and withdraws His comfort and sweetness from us, we faint and are troubled, and can in no wise bring our minds to it; and we forget God and neglect holy exercises, and fancy we are lost forever. This is a great error and a bad sign. For a true lover of God, loves Him or the Eternal Goodness alike, in having and in not having, in sweetness and bitterness, in good or evil report, and the like, for he seeks alone the honor of God, and not his own, either in spiritual or natural things. And, therefore, he stands alike unshaken in all things, at all seasons. Therefore, let every man prove himself how he stands towards God, his Creator and Lord.

Chapter 12: "Touching that true inward peace, which Christ left to His disciples at the last"

Many say they have no peace nor rest, but so many crosses and trials, afflictions and sorrows, that they know not how they shall ever get through them. Now he who in truth will perceive and take note, perceives clearly, that true peace and rest lie not in outward things; for if it were so, the Evil Spirit also would have peace when things go according to his will which is nowhere the case; for the prophet declares, "There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked." And therefore we must consider and see what is that peace which Christ left to His disciples at the last, when He said: "My peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." We may perceive that in these words Christ did not mean a bodily and outward peace; for His beloved disciples, with all His friends and followers, have ever suffered, from the beginning, great affliction, persecution, even martyrdom, as Christ Himself said: "In this world you shall have tribulation." But Christ meant that true, inward peace of the heart, which begins there, and endures forever. Therefore, He said: "Not as the world gives," for the world is false and deceives in her gifts. The world promises much and performs little. Moreover, there lives no man on earth who may always have rest and peace without troubles and crosses, with whom things always go according to his will; there is always something to be suffered here, turn which way you will. And as soon as you are quit of one assault, perhaps two come in its place. Wherefore yield yourself willingly to them, and seek only that true peace of the heart, which none can take away from thee, that you may overcome all assaults.

Thus then, Christ meant that inward peace which can break through all assaults and crosses of oppression, suffering, misery, humiliation and what more there may be of the like, so that a Christian may be joyful and patient, like the beloved disciples and followers of Christ. Now he who will in love give his whole diligence and might thereto, will truly come to know that true eternal peace which is God Himself, as far as it is possible to a person; insomuch that what was bitter to him before, shall become sweet, and his heart shall remain unmoved under all changes, at all times, and after this life, he shall attain unto everlasting peace.

Chapter 15: "How all men are dead in Adam and are made alive in Christ, and of true obedience and disobedience"

What is true obedience? I answer, that a Christian should so stand free, being empty of himself, that is, of his I, and Me, and Self, and Mine, and the like, that in all things, he should no more seek or regard himself, than if he did not exist, and should take as little account of himself as if he were not, and another had done all his works. Likewise, he should count all the creatures for nothing. What is there then, which is, and which we may count for somewhat? I answer, nothing but that which we may call God. Behold! this is very obedience in the truth, and thus it will be in a blessed eternity. There nothing is sought nor thought of, nor loved, but the one thing only [God].

Man is created for true obedience and is bound of right to render it to God. This obedience fell and died in Adam, and rose again and lived in Christ. Therefore, Christ's human nature was so utterly bereft of Self, and apart from all humans, as no man's ever was, and was nothing else but "a house and habitation of God." Neither of that in Him which belonged to God, nor of that which was a living human nature and a habitation of God, did He, as man, claim anything for His own. His human nature did not even take unto itself the Godhead, whose dwelling it was, nor anything that this same Godhead willed, or did or left undone in Him, nor yet anything of all that His human nature did or suffered; but in Christ's human nature there was no claiming of anything, nor seeking nor desire, saving that what was due might be rendered to the Godhead, and He did not call this very desire His own. Of this matter no more can be said, or written here, for it is unspeakable, and was never yet and never will be fully uttered; for it can neither be spoken nor written but by Him who is and knows its ground; that is, God Himself, who call do all things well.

Chapter 16: "Tells us what is the old man and the new man"

Again, when we read of the old man and the new man, we must mark what that means. The old man is Adam and disobedience, the Self, the Me, and so forth. But the new man is Christ and true obedience, a giving up and denying oneself of all temporal things and seeking the honor of God alone in all things. And when dying and perishing and the like are spoken of, it means that the old man should be destroyed, and not seek its own either in spiritual or in natural things. For where this is brought about in a true divine light, there the new man is born again. In like manner, it has been said that man should die unto himself, that is, to earthly pleasures, consolations, joys, appetites, the I, the Self, and all that is in man, to which he clings and on which he is yet leaning with content, and thinks much of. Whether it be the man himself, or any other creature, whatever it be, it must depart and die, if the man is to be brought aright to another mind, according to the truth.

Therefore does Paul exhort us, saying: "Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: . . . and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Now he who lives to himself after the old man, is called and is truly a child of Adam; and though he may give diligence to the ordering of his life, he is still the child and brother of the Evil Spirit. But he who lives in humble obedience and in the new man which is Christ, he is, in like manner, the brother of Christ and the child of God.

For he who is in disobedience is in sin, and sin can never be atoned for or healed but by returning to God, and this is brought to pass by humble obedience. For so long as a man continues in disobedience, his sin can never be blotted out; let him do what he will, it avails him nothing. Let us be assured of this. For disobedience is itself sin. But when a man enters into the obedience of the faith, all is healed, and blotted out and forgiven, and not else.

But be that as it may, this much is certain; that the nearer we are to perfect obedience, the less we sin, and the farther from it we are, the more we sin. In brief: whether a man be good, better, or best of all; bad, worse, or worst of all; sinful or saved before God; it all lies in this matter of obedience. Therefore it has been said: the more of Self and Me, the more of sin and wickedness. So, likewise, it has been said: the more the Self, the I, the Me, the Mine, that is, self-seeking and selfishness, is reduced in a man, the more does God's I, that is, God Himself, increase in him.

Disobedience and sin are the same thing, for there is no sin but disobedience, and what is done of disobedience is all sin. Therefore all we have to do is to keep ourselves from disobedience.

Chapter 20: "How, seeing that the life of Christ is most bitter to our nature and self, our nature will have none of it, and chooses a false careless life, as is most convenient to her"

Now, since the life of Christ is every way most bitter to nature and the Self and the Me (for in the true life of Christ, the Self and the Me and nature must be forsaken and lost, and die altogether), therefore, in each of us, nature has a horror of it, and thinks it evil and unjust and a folly, and grasps after such a life as shall be most comfortable and pleasant to herself, and says, and believes also in her blindness, that such a life is the best possible. Now, nothing is so comfortable and pleasant to nature, as a free, careless way of life, therefore she clings to that, and taketh enjoyment in herself and her own powers, and looks only to her own peace and comfort and the like.

Chapter 28: "How, after a union with the Divine Will, the inward man stands immoveable, while the outward man is moved here and there"

Now, when true communion [or communication or relationship] truly comes to pass and becomes established, the inward man stands immoveable in this union; and God suffers the outward man to be moved here and there, from this to that, of such things as are necessary and right. So that the outward man says in sincerity "I have no will to be or not to be, to live or die, to know or not to know, to do or to leave undone and the like; but I am ready for all that is to be, or ought to be, and obedient to that, whether I have to do or to suffer." And, thus, the outward man has no wherefore or purpose, but only to do his part to further the Eternal Will.

Chapter 33: "How when a person is truly Christlike, his love is pure and unmixed, and he loves all creatures, and does his best for them"

Therefore it follows, that in a truly Christlike person, his love is pure and unmixed, and full of kindness, insomuch that he cannot but love in sincerity all men and things, and wish well, and do good to them, and rejoice in their welfare. Moreover, let them do what they will to such a man, do him wrong or kindness, bear him love or hatred or the like, even more, if one could kill such a man a hundred times over, and he always came to life again, he could not but love the very man who had so often slain him, although he had been treated so unjustly, and wickedly, and cruelly by him, and could not but wish well, and do well to him, and show him the very greatest kindness in his power, if the other would but only receive and take it at his hands. The proof and witness may be seen in Christ; for He said to Judas, when he betrayed Him: "Friend, why do you come?" Just as if He had said: "You hate Me, and are My enemy, yet I love you and am your friend. You desire and rejoice in My affliction, and do the worst that you can to Me; yet I desire and wish you all good, and would give it you, and do it for you, if you would but take and receive it."

Chapter 34: "How that if a person will attain to that which is best, he must forsake his own will; and he who helps someone to his own will helps him to the worst thing he can"

Be assured, he who helps a man to his own will [apart from God's will], helps him to the worst that he can. For the more a man follows after his own self-will, and self-will grows in him, the farther off is he from God, the true Good, for nothing burns in hell but self-will. Therefore, it has been said, "Put off your own will, and there will be no hell." Now, God is very willing to help a man and bring him to that which is best in itself and is of all things the best for man. But to this end, all self-will must depart, as we have said. And God would rather give man His help and counsel, for so long as a man is seeking his own good, he does not seek what is best for him, and will never find it. For a man's highest good would be and truly is, that he should not seek himself nor his own things, nor be his own end in any respect, either in things spiritual or things natural, but should seek only the praise and glory of God and His holy will. This does God teach and admonish us. Let him, therefore, who wishes that God should help him to what is best, and best for him, give diligent heed to God's counsels and teachings, and obey His commandments; thus, and not else, will he have, and has already, God's help. Now God teaches and admonishes man to forsake himself and all things, and to follow Him only. "For he who loves his soul," that is himself, and will guard it and keep it, "he shall lose it"; that is, he who seeks himself and his own advantage in all things, in so doing loses his soul. "But he who hates his soul for My sake shall keep it unto life eternal"; that is, he who empties himself and his own things, and gives up his own will, and fulfills God's will, his soul will be kept and preserved unto Life Eternal.

Chapter 35: "How there is deep and true humility and poorness of spirit in a person who is ‘made a partaker of the divine nature'"

Moreover, in a man who is "made a partaker of the divine nature," there is a thorough and deep humility, and where this is not, the man has not been "made a partaker of the divine nature." So, Christ taught in words and fulfilled in works. And this humility springs up in the man, because in the true Light he sees (as it also really is) that Substance, Life, Perceiving, Knowledge, Power, and what is thereof, do all belong to the True Good, and not to the person; but that the person of itself is nothing and has nothing, and that when it turns itself aside from the True Good in will or in works, nothing is left to it but pure evil. And, therefore, it is true to the very letter, that the person has no worthiness in itself, and no right to anything, and no claim over anyone, either over God or over the creature, and that it ought to give itself up to God and submit to Him because this is just. And this is the chief and most weighty matter.

Chapter 36: "How nothing is contrary to God but sin only; and what Sin is in kind and act"

But what is Sin? Mark this: Sin is nothing else than that the creature wills otherwise than God wills and contrary to Him. Each of us may see this in himself; for he who wills otherwise than I, or whose will is contrary to mine, is my foe; but he who wills the same as I, is my friend, and I love him. It is even so with God: and that is sin, and is contrary to God, and hateful and grievous to Him.

And he who wills, speaks, or is silent, does or leaves undone, otherwise than as I will, is contrary to me, and an offense unto me. So it is also with God: when a man wills otherwise than God, or contrary to God, whatever he does or leaves undone, in short all that proceeds from him, is contrary to God and is sin. And whosoever wills otherwise than God, is against God's will. As Christ said: "He who is not with Me is against me." Hereby may each man see plainly whether or not he be without sin, and whether or not he be committing sin, and what sin is, and how sin ought to be atoned for, and wherewith it may be healed. And this contradiction to God's will is what we call, and is, disobedience. And therefore Adam, the I, the Self, Self-will, Sin, or the Old Man, the turning aside or departing from God, do all mean one and the same thing.

Chapter 37: "How in God, as God, there can be neither grief, sorry, displeasure, nor the like, but how it is otherwise in a person who is ‘made a partaker of the divine nature'"

In God, as God, neither sorrow nor grief nor displeasure can have place, and yet God is grieved on account of men's sins. Now since grief cannot befall God without the person, this comes to pass where He is made man, or when He dwells in a Christlike person. And there, behold, sin is so hateful to God, and grieves Him so sore, that He would willingly suffer agony and death, if one man's sins might be thereby washed out. And if He were asked whether He would rather live and that sin should remain, or die and destroy sin by His death, He would answer that He would a thousand times rather die. For to God one man's sin is more hateful, and grieves Him worse than His own agony and death. Now if one man's sin grieves God so much, what must the sins of all men do? Hereby you may consider, how greatly man grieves God with his sins.

And, therefore, where God is made man, or when He dwells in a truly Christlike person, nothing is complained of but sin, and nothing else is hateful; for all that is, and is done, without sin, is as God will have it, and is His. But the mourning and sorrow of a truly Christlike person on account of sin, must and ought to last until death, should he live till the Day of Judgment, or forever. From this cause arose that hidden anguish of Christ, of which none can tell or knows except Himself alone, and therefore is it called a mystery.

Moreover, this is an attribute of God, which He will have, and is well pleased to see in a man; and it is indeed God's own, for it belongs not unto the man, he cannot make sin to be so hateful to himself. And where God finds this grief for sin, He loves and esteems it more than anything else; because it is, of all things, the bitterest and saddest that man can endure.

Chapter 38: "How we are to put on the life of Christ from love, and not for the sake of reward, and how we must never grow careless concerning it or cast it off"

Now, wherever a man has been made a partaker of the divine nature, in him is fulfilled the best and noblest life, and the worthiest in God's eyes, that has been or can be. And of that eternal love which loves Goodness as Goodness and for the sake of Goodness, a true, noble, Christ-like life is so greatly beloved, that it will never be forsaken or cast off. Where a man has tasted this life, it isimpossible for him ever to part with it, were he to live until the Judgment Day. And though he must die a thousand deaths, and though all the sufferings that ever befell all creatures could be heaped upon him, he would rather undergo them all, than fall away from this excellent life; and if he could exchange it for an angel's life, he would not.

This is our answer to the question, "If a man, by putting on Christ's life, can get nothing more than he has already, and serve no end, what good will it do him?" This life is not chosen in order to serve any end, or to get anything by it, but for love of its nobleness, and because God loves and esteems it so greatly. And whoever says that he has had enough of it, and may now lay it aside, has never tasted nor known it; for he who has truly felt or tasted it, can never give it up again. And he who has put on the life of Christ with the intent to win or deserve anything, has taken it up as an hireling and not for love, and is altogether without it. For he who does not take it up for love, has none of it at all; he may dream indeed that he has put it on, but he is deceived. Christ did not lead such a life as His for the sake of reward, but out of love; and love makes such a life light and takes away all its hardships, so that it becomes sweet and is gladly endured. But to him who has not put it on from love, but has done so, as he dreams, for the sake of reward, it is utterly bitter and a weariness, and he would be done with it. And it is a sure token of a hireling that he wishes his work were at an end. But he who truly loves it, is not offended at its toil or suffering, nor the length of time it lasts. Therefore, it is written, "To serve God and live to Him, is easy to him who does it." Truly is so to him who does it for love, but it is hard and wearisome to him who does it for hire. It is the same with all virtue and good works, and likewise with order, laws, obedience to precepts, and the like. But God rejoices more over one man who truly loves, than over a thousand hirelings.

Chapter 39: "How God will have order, custom, measure, and the like in the creature, seeing that He cannot have them without the creature, and of four sorts of people who are concerned with this order, law, and custom"

There are four sorts of men who are concerned with order, laws, and customs. Some keep them neither for God's sake, nor to serve their own ends, but because they have to: these have as little to do with them as may be and find them a burden and heavy yoke. The second sort obey for the sake of reward: these are men who know nothing besides, or better than, laws and precepts, and imagine that by keeping them they may obtain the kingdom of Heaven and Eternal Life; and him who practices many rules, they think to be holy, and him who omits any piece of them they think to be lost. Such men are very much in earnest and give great diligence to the work, and yet they find it a weariness. The third sort are wicked, false-hearted men, who dream and declare that they are perfect and need no rules, and make a mock of them.

The fourth are those who are enlightened with the True Light, who do not practice these things for reward, for they neither look nor desire to get anything thereby, but all that they do is from love alone.

Furthermore, you must mark, that to receive God's commands and His counsel and all His teaching, is the privilege of the inward man, after that he is united with God. And where there is such a union, the outward man is surely taught and ordered by the inward man, so that no outward commandment or teaching is needed. But the commandments and laws of men belong to the outer man and are needful for those men who know nothing better, for else they would not know what to do and what to refrain from and would become like unto the dogs or other beasts.

Chapter 44: "How nothing is contrary to God but self-will and how he who seeks his own good for his own sake, does not find it; and how a person of himself or herself neither knows nor can do any good thing"

Therefore, all "will" apart from God's will (that is, all self-will) is sin, and so is all that is done from self-will. So long as a man seeks his own will and his own highest good, because it is his and for his own sake, he will never find it; for so long as he does this, he is not seeking his own highest good, and how then should he find it? For so long as he does this, he seeks himself, and dreams that he is himself the highest good; and seeing that he is not the highest Good, he seeks not the highest Good, so long as he seeks himself. But whosoever seeks, loveth, and pursues Goodness as Goodness and for the sake of Goodness, and makes that his end, for nothing but the love of Goodness, not for love of the I, Me, Mine, Self, and the like, he will find the highest Good, for he seeks it aright, and they who seek it otherwise are in error. And truly it is on this purpose that the true and Perfect Goodness seeks and loves and pursues itself, and therefore it finds itself.

Chapter 45: "How that where there is Christian life, Christ dwells, and how Christ's life is the best and more admirable life that ever has been or can be"

In so far as a man's life is according to Christ, Christ Himself dwells in him, and if he has not the one neither has he the other. For where there is the life of Christ, there is Christ Himself, and where His life is not, Christ is not, and where a man has His life, he may say with Paul, "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." And this is the noblest and best life; for in him who has it, God Himself dwells, with all goodness. So how could there be a better life? When we speak of obedience, of the new man, of the True Light, the True Love, or the life of Christ, it is all the same thing, and where one of these is, there are they all, and where one is wanting, there is none of them, for they are all one in truth and substance. And whatever may bring about that new birth which makes alive in Christ, to that let us hold to with all our might and to nothing else; and let us avoid and flee all that may hinder it. And he who has received this life, has truly and indeed received Christ, and the more of that life he has received, the more he has received of Christ, and the less, the less of Christ.

Chapter 49: "Of self-will, and how Lucifer and Adam fell away from God through self-will"

It has been said, that there is of nothing so much in hell as of self-will. This is true, for there is nothing else there than self-will, and if there were no self-will, there would be no Devil and no hell. When it is said that Lucifer fell from Heaven, and turned away from God and the like, it means nothing else than that he would have his own will, and would not be at one with the Eternal Will.

Chapter 54: "How a person shall not seek his own, either in things spiritual or natural, but the honor of God only; and how he must enter in by the right door, meaning, by Christ, into eternal life."

If a man may attain to be obedient and useful to God as a man's hand is to himself; let him be content, and not seek farther. This is my faithful counsel, and here I take my stand. That is to say, let him strive and wrestle with all his might to obey God and His commandments so thoroughly at all times and in all things, that in him there be nothing, spiritual or natural, which opposes God; and that his whole soul and body with all their members may stand ready and willing for that to which God has created them; as ready and willing as a man's hand is to a man, which is so wholly in his power, that in the twinkling of an eye, he moves and turns it where ever he wills. And when we find it otherwise with us, we must give our whole diligence to amend our state; and this from love and not from fear, and in all things whatsoever, seek and intend the glory and praise of God alone. We must not seek our own, either in things spiritual or in things natural. It must needs be thus, if it is to stand well with us. And every creature owes this of right and truth unto God, and especially man, to whom, by the ordinance of God, all creatures are made subject, and are servants, that he may be subject to and serve God only.

There is nothing more precious to God, or more profitable to man, than humble obedience. In His eyes, one good work, drawn from true obedience, is of more value than a hundred thousand, drawn from self-will, contrary to obedience. Therefore, he who has this obedience need not dread Him, for such a man is in the right way and following after Christ. That we may thus deny ourselves, and forsake and renounce all things for God's sake, and give up our own wills, and die unto ourselves, and live unto God alone and to His will, may He help us, who gave up His will to His Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be blessing forever and ever. Amen.

THE END

© 2022 Mark Nickens