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DUKE 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 DIVINITY SCHOOL 
 LIBRARY 
 
GTRONG Son of God, Immortal Love, 
 Whom we, that have not seen Thy face, 
 By faith, and faith alone embrace, 
 Believing where we cannot prove. 
 
 * * * * . 
 Thou seemest human and divine, 
 
 The highest, holiest manhood Thou ; 
 
 Our wills are ours, we know not how, 
 Our wills are ours to make them Thine. 
 
 * * * * * 
 O Living Will that shalt endure, 
 When all that seems shall suffer shock, 
 Rise in the spiritual Rock, 
 Flow through our deeds and make them pure. 
 
 That we may lift, from out the dust, 
 A voice as unto Him that hears, 
 A cry above the conquered years, 
 
 To one that with us works, and trust 
 
 With faith that comes of self-control 
 The truths that never can be proved, 
 Until we close with all we loved 
 
 And all we flow from,-soul in soul. 
 
 TENNYSON. 
 
Golden Treasurp Series 
 
 a 
 THEOLOGIA GERMANICA 
 
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Theologta Germantca 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 
 
 BY 
 
 SUSANNA WINKWORTH 
 
 Loudon 
 MACMILLAN AND CO.,, Limrrep 
 
 NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1907 
 
First published as a volume of the Golden Treasury Series 
 in 1874. New Edition 1893 
 Reprinted 1901, 1907 
 
Der Franck£o: Tey 
 Theologia Germanieca : 
 
 Wbich setteth forth many fair Lineaments of 
 Bibine Truth, and saith very {lofty and 
 fobely things touching a 
 perfect Life 
 
 EDITED BY DR. PFEIFFER’ FROM THE ONLY 
 COMPLETE MANUSCRIPT 
 YET KNOWN 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY 
 
 SUSANNA WINKWORTH 
 
 With a Prerace By THE Rev. CHARLES KINGSLEY 
 Rector or Everstty, AND A LETTER TO THE TRANSLATOR BY THE 
 
 Cuevaier Bunsen, D.D., D.C.L., etc. 
 
 London 
 MACMILLAN AND CoO., LiuitEp 
 
 NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1907 
 
x Theologia Germanica 
 
 wrong, or that the God of truth will 
 stoop to fictions (miscalled forensic) 
 which would be considered false and un- 
 just in any human court of law: To 
 those who cannot help trusting that 
 union with Christ must be something 
 real and substantial, and not merely a: 
 metaphor, and a flower of rhetoric: To 
 those, lastly, who cannot help seeing 
 that the doctrine of Christ in every man, 
 as the Indwelling Word of God, The 
 Light who lights every one who comes 
 into the world, is no peculiar tenet of 
 the Quakers, but one which runs through 
 the whole of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, and without which they would 
 both be unintelligible, just as the same 
 doctrine runs through the whole history 
 of the Early Church for the first two 
 centuries, and is the only explanation of 
 them ; 
 
Preface xl 
 
 To all these this noble little book 
 will recommend itself; and may God 
 bless the reading of it to them, and to 
 all others no less. 
 
 As for its orthodoxy; to “evan- 
 gelical” Christians Martin Luther’s own 
 words ought™“to be sufficient warrant. 
 For he has said that he owed more to 
 this, than to any other book, saving the 
 Bible and Saint Augustine. Those, on 
 the other hand, to whom Luther’s name 
 does not seem a sufficient guarantee, 
 must recollect, that the Author of this 
 book was a knight of the Teutonic 
 order ; one who considered himself, and 
 was considered, as far as we know, by 
 his contemporaries, an orthodox member 
 of the Latin Church; that his friends 
 and disciples were principally monks exer- 
 cising a great influence in the Catholic 
 Church of their days; that one of their 
 
 357773 
 
a 
 
 Xl Theologia Germanica 
 
 leaders was appointed by Pope John 
 XXII. Nuncio and overseer of the 
 Dominican order in Germany ; and that 
 during the hundred and seventy years 
 which elapsed between the writing of 
 this book and the Reformation, it in- 
 curred no ecclesiastical censure whatso- 
 ever, in generations which were but too 
 fond of making men offenders for a 
 word. 
 
 Not that I agree with all which is to 
 be found in this book. It is for its noble 
 views of righteousness and of sin that I 
 honour it, and rejoice at seeing it pub- 
 lished in English, now for the first time 
 from an edition based on the perfect 
 manuscript. But even in those points 
 in which I should like to see it altered, 
 I am well aware that there are strong 
 authorities against me. The very ex- 
 pression, for instance, which most 
 
Preface Xill 
 
 startles me, ‘“vergottet,” deified or 
 made divine, is used, word for word, 
 both by Saint Athanase and Saint Augus- 
 tine, the former of whom has said: “ He 
 became man, that we might be made 
 ioda;”* and the latter, “‘He called 
 men Gods, as being deified by His grace, 
 not as born of His substance.”? There 
 are many passages, moreover, in the 
 Epistles of the Apostles, which, if we 
 paraphrase them at all, we can hardly 
 paraphrase in weaker words. It seems 
 to me safer and wiser to cling to the 
 letter of Scripture : but God forbid that 
 I should wish to make such a man as the 
 Author of the Theologia Germanica an 
 offender for a word ! 
 
 1 Abrds éxqvOpdmnoer Wa huets OeomonP@uev.— A THAN. 
 Orat. de Incarn. Verbi, tom. i. page 108. 
 
 2 “Homines dixit Deos, ex gratia sua deificatos; non de 
 substantia sua natos.’—Auvc. in Psalm, xlix. (Ed. Bened. 
 
 tom. iv. page 414.) 
 
Xiv Theologia Germanica 
 
 One point more may be worthy of 
 remark. In many obscure passages of | 
 this book, words are used, both by the 
 Author and by the Translator, in their 
 strict, original, and scientific meaning, as 
 they are used in the Creeds, and not in 
 that meaning which has of late crept 
 into our very pulpits, under the influence 
 of Locke’s philosophy. When, for 
 instance, it is said that God is the Sud- 
 stance of all things; this expression, in 
 the vulgar Lockite sense of substance, 
 would mean that God is the matter 
 or stuff of which all things are made ; 
 which would be the grossest Pantheism : 
 but “‘Substance” in the true and ancient 
 meaning of the word, as it appears in 
 the Athanasian Creed, signifies the very 
 opposite; namely, that which stands 
 under the appearance and the matter ; 
 that by virtue of which a thing has its 
 
—e 
 
 Preface XV 
 
 form, its life, its real existence, as far as 
 it may have any ; and thus in asserting 
 that God is the substance of all things, 
 this book means that everything (except 
 sin, which is no thing, but the disease 
 
 and fall of a thing) is a thought of 
 
 | 
 2 
 . 
 
 God. 
 
 So again with Eternity. It will be 
 found in this book to mean not merely 
 some future endless duration, but that \ 
 ever-jrresent moral world, governed by 
 ever-living and absolutely necessary laws, 
 in which we and all spirits are now; 
 and in which we should be equally, 
 whether time and space, extension and 
 duration, and the whole material universe 
 to which they belong, became nothing 
 this moment, or lasted endlessly. 
 
 I think it necessary to give these 
 cautions, because by the light of Locke’s 
 philosophy, little or nothing will be 
 
XV1 Theologia Germanica 
 
 discerned in this book, and what little is 
 discerned will probably be utterly mis- 
 understood. If any man wishes to see 
 clearly what is herein written, let him 
 try to forget all popular modern dogmas 
 and systems, all popular philosophies 
 (falsely so called), and be true to the 
 letter of his Bible, and to the instincts 
 
 ~ which the Indwelling Word of God was 
 
 wont to awaken in his heart, while he 
 was yet a little unsophisticated child ; 
 and then let him be sure that he will 
 find in this book germs of wider and 
 deeper wisdom than its good author ever 
 
 ' dreamed of ; and that those great spirit- 
 
 ual laws, which the Author only applies, 
 and that often inconsistently, to an ascetic 
 and passively contemplative life, will 
 hold just as good in the family, in the 
 market, in the senate, in the study, ay, 
 in the battlefield itself; and teach him 
 
' Preface xvii 
 the way to lead, in whatsoever station of 
 _ life he may be placed, a truly manlike, 
 _ because a truly Christlike and Godlike, 
 life. 
 
 CuHarRves KINGSLEY. 
 
 Torquay, 
 Lent, 1854. 
 
 : 
 : 
 : 
 | 
 | 
 
froues 
 
 s, 
 
° 
 
 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY THE TRANSLATOR 
 
 <|HE Treatise before us was dis- 
 covered by Luther, who first 
 brought it into notice by an 
 Edition of it which he published in 1516. 
 
 ’ A Second Edition, which came out two 
 
 years later, he introduced with the follow- 
 ing Preface :— 
 
 “We read that St. Paul, though he 
 was of a weak and contemptible presence, 
 yet wrote weighty and powerful letters, 
 and he boasts of himself that his ‘ speech 
 is not with enticing words of man’s 
 
 device,’ but ‘full of the riches of all 
 b 
 
xX Theologia Germanica 
 
 knowledge and wisdom.’ And if we 
 \ consider the wondrous ways of God, it is 
 clear, that He hath never chosen mighty 
 and eloquent preachers to speak His 
 word, but as it is written: ‘Out of the 
 mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou 
 perfected praise,’ Ps. vill. 2. And again, 
 ‘For wisdom opened the mouth of the 
 dumb, and made the tongues of them 
 that cannot speak eloquent, Wisdom x. 
 21. Again, He blameth such as are 
 high-minded and are offended at these 
 simple ones. Consilium inopis, etc. ‘Ye 
 have made a mock at the counsel of the 
 poor, because he putteth his trust in the 
 I4ord,’ Ps: x1v..'6. 
 
 « This I say because I will have every 
 one warned who readeth this little book, 
 that he should not take offence, to his 
 own hurt, at its bad German, or its 
 crabbed and uncouth words. For this 
 
Historical Introduction XX1 
 
 noble book, though it be poor and rude 
 in words, is so much the richer and 
 more precious in knowledge and divine 
 wisdom. And I will say, though it 
 be boasting of myself and ‘I speak 
 as a fool,’ that next to the Bible and 
 St. Augustine, no book hath ever come 
 into my hands, whence I have learnt, 
 or would wish to learn more of what 
 God, and Christ, and man and all things 
 are #and now I first find the truth of 
 what certain of the learned have said 
 in scorn of us theologians of Wittem- 
 berg, that we would be thought to put 
 forward new things, as though there had 
 never been men elsewhere and before our 
 time. Yea, verily, there have been men, 
 but God’s wrath, provoked by our sins, 
 hath not judged us worthy to see and 
 hear them ; for it is well known that for 
 along time past such things have not 
 
XXil Theologia Germanica 
 
 been treated of in our universities ; nay, 
 it has gone so far, that the Holy Word 
 of God is not only laid on the shelf, but 
 is almost mouldered away with dust and 
 moths. Let as many as will, read this 
 little book, and then say whether 
 Theology is a new or an old thing 
 among us; for this book is not new. 
 But if they say as before, that we are but 
 German theologians, we will not deny it. 
 I thank God, that I have heard and 
 found my God in the German tongue, as 
 neither I nor they have yet found Him in 
 the Latin, Greek, or Hebrew tongue. 
 God grant that this book may be spread 
 abroad, then we shall find that the Ger- 
 man theologians are without doubt the 
 best theologians. 
 (Signed, without date, ) 
 “Dr. Martin LutTuHeEr, 
 AucustTInian of Wittemberg.” 
 
Historical Introduction XXiil 
 
 These words of Luther will probably 
 be considered to form a sufficient justifica- 
 tion for an attempt to present the Theo- 
 logia Germanica in an English dress. 
 When Luther sent it forth, its effort to 
 revive the consciousness of spiritual life 
 was received with enthusiasm by his 
 fellow-countrymen, in whom that life 
 was then breaking with volcanic energy 
 through the clods of formalism and 
 hypocrisy, with which the Romish 
 Church had sought to stifle its fires. No 
 fewer than seventeen editions of the work 
 appeared during the lifetime of Luther. 
 Up to the present day, it has continued 
 to be a favourite handbook of devotion 
 in Germany, where it has passed through 
 certainly as many as sixty Editions, and it 
 has also been widely circulated in France 
 and the Netherlands, by means of Latin, 
 ' French, and Flemish translations. 
 
XXIV Theologia Germanica 
 
 To the question, who was the author 
 of a book which has exerted so great an 
 influence? no answer can be given, all the 
 various endeavours to discover him 
 having proved fruitless. Till within the 
 last few years, Luther was our sole 
 authority for the text of the work, but, 
 about 1850, a manuscript of it was dis— 
 covered at Wurtzburg, by Professor 
 Reuss, the librarian of the University 
 there, which has since been published 
 verbatim by Professor Pfeiffer of Prague. 
 This Manuscript dates from 1497 3 con- 
 sequently it is somewhat older than 
 Luther’s time, and it also contains some 
 passages not found in his editions. As, 
 upon careful comparison, it seemed to 
 the translator indisputably superior to 
 the best modern editions based upon 
 Luther’s, it has been selected as the 
 groundwork of the present translation, 
 
Historical Introduction XXV 
 
 merely correcting from the former, one 
 or two passages which appeared to con- 
 tain errors of the press, or more likely of 
 the transcriber’s pen. The passages not 
 found in Luther’s edition are here en- 
 closed between brackets. 
 
 As has been stated, the author of 
 the Theologia Germanica is unknown ; 
 but it is evident from his whole cast 
 of thought, as well as from a Preface 
 attached to the Wurtzburg Manu- 
 script, that he belonged to a class of 
 men who sprang up in Southern Ger- 
 many at the beginning of the fourteenth 
 century, and who were distinguished for 
 their earnest piety and their practical 
 
 _———- 
 
 belief in the presence of the Spirit of © 
 
 God with all Christians, laity as well as 
 clergy. 
 
 These men had fallen upon evil times. 
 Their age was not indeed one of those 
 
XXV1 Theologia Germantca 
 
 periods in which the vigour of the nobler 
 powers of the soul is enfeebled by the 
 abundance of material prosperity and 
 physical enjoyment, nor yet one of those 
 in which they are utterly crushed out 
 under the hoof of oppression and misery ; 
 but it was an age in which conflicting 
 elements were wildly struggling for the 
 mastery. The highest spiritual and 
 temporal authorities were at deadly strife 
 with each other and among themselves ; 
 and in their contests, there were few pro- 
 vinces or towns that did not repeatedly 
 suffer the horrors of war. The deso- 
 lation caused by its ravages was however 
 speedily repaired during the intervals of 
 peace, by the extraordinary energy which 
 the German nation displayed in that 
 bloom of its manhood ; so that times of 
 deep misery and great prosperity rapidly 
 alternated with each other. But on the 
 
Historical Introduction xxvii 
 
 whole, during the first half of this century, 
 the sense of the calamities, which were 
 continually recurring, predominated over 
 the recollection of the calmer years, 
 which were barely sufficient to allow 
 breathing time between the successive 
 waves that threatened to overwhelm 
 social order and happiness. 
 
 The unquestioning faith and honest 
 enthusiasm which had prompted the 
 Crusades, no longer burnt with the same 
 fierce ardour, for the unhappy issue of 
 those sacred enterprises, and the scandal- 
 ous worldly ambition of the heads of the 
 Church, had moderated its fervour and 
 saddened the hearts of true believers. 
 Yet the one Catholic, Christian creed 
 still held an undivided and very real 
 sovereignty over men’s minds, and the 
 supremacy of the Church in things 
 spiritual was never questioned, though 
 
XXVill Theologia Germanica 
 
 many were beginning to feel that it was 
 needful for the State to have an inde- 
 pendent authority in things temporal, and 
 the question was warmly agitated how 
 much of the spiritual authority resided in 
 the Pope and how much in the bishops 
 and doctors of the Church. But in which- 
 ever way the dispute between these rival 
 claims might be adjusted, the reverence 
 for the office of the clergy remained unim- 
 paired. The case was very different with 
 the reverence for their persons, which had 
 fallen to a very low ebb, owing to the 
 worldliness and immorality of their lives. 
 This again was much encouraged by the 
 conduct of the Popes, who, in their zeal 
 to establish worldly dominion, made 
 ecclesiastical appointments rather with a 
 view to gain political adherents, or to 
 acquire wealth by the sale of benefices, 
 than with a regard to the fitness of the 
 
. Historical Introduction XXIX 
 
 men selected, or the welfare of the people 
 committed to their charge. 
 
 On the whole, it was an age of faith, 
 though by no means of a blind, unreason- 
 ing taking things for granted. On the 
 contrary, the evidences of extreme activity 
 of mind meet us on every hand, in the 
 monuments of its literature, architecture, 
 and invention. A few facts strikingly 
 illustrate the divergent tendencies of 
 thought and public opinion. Thus we 
 may remember, how it was currently 
 reported that the profligate Pope Boni- 
 face VIII. was privately an unbeliever, 
 even deriding the idea of the immortality 
 of the soul, at the very time when he 
 was maintaining against Philip the Fair, 
 the right of the Pope to sit, as Christ’s 
 representative, in judgment on the living 
 and the dead, and to take the sword 
 of temporal power out of the hands of 
 
XXX Theologia Germanica 5 
 
 those who misused it.1 Whether this 
 accusation was true or not, it is a remark- 
 able sign of the times that it should have 
 been widely believed. 
 
 Some years later, and when the in- 
 creased corruptness of the clergy, after 
 the removal of the Papal Court to 
 Avignon, provoked still louder com- 
 plaints, we see the religious and patriotic 
 Emperor, Louis IV., accusing John XXII. 
 of heresy, in a public assembly held in 
 the square of St. Peter’s at Rome, and 
 setting up another Pope “in order to 
 please the Roman people.” But though 
 the new Pope was every way fitted, by 
 his unblemished character and ascetic 
 manners, to gain a hold on public esteem, 
 we see that the Emperor could not main- 
 
 1 Neander’s “ Kirchengeschichte,’” Band 6, S. 15,20. This 
 work and Schmitz’s “ Fohannes Tauler von Strasburg,” are the 
 authorities for most of the facts here mentioned. 
 
Historical Introduction XXXi 
 
 tain him against the legitimately elected 
 Pope, who, from his seat at Avignon, had 
 power to harass the Emperor so greatly 
 with his interdicts, that the latter, finding 
 all efforts at conciliation fruitless, would 
 have bought peace by unconditional sub- 
 mission, had not the Estates of the 
 Empire refused to yield to such humilia- 
 tion. Yet we find this very Pope 
 obliged to yield and retract his opinions 
 on a point of dogmatic theology. He 
 had in a certain treatise propounded the 
 opinion that the souls of the pious would 
 not be admitted to the immediate vision 
 of the Deity until after the day of 
 judgment. The King of France, in 
 1333, called an assembly of Prelates and 
 theologians at his palace at Vincennes, 
 where he invited them to discuss before 
 him the two questions, whether the souls 
 of departed saints would be admitted to 
 
XXXI1 Theologia Germanica 
 
 an immediate vision of the Deity before 
 the resurrection; and whether, if so, 
 their vision would be of the same or of a 
 different kind after the Judgment Day? 
 The theological faculty having come to 
 conclusions differing in some respects 
 from those of the Pope, the King 
 threatened the latter with the stake as a 
 heretic, unless he retracted; and John 
 XXII. issued a bull, declaring that what 
 he had said or written, ought only to be 
 received in so far as it agreed with the 
 Catholic Faith, the Church\and Holy 
 
 Scripture. No circumstance, perhaps, . 
 offers a more remarkable spectacle to us 
 in its contrast with the spirit of our own 
 times. At the present moment, when 
 the Pope could not sit for a day in safety 
 on his temporal throne without the 
 defence of French or Austrian bayonets, 
 we can scarcely conceive an Emperor of 
 
Historical Introduction  xxxiii 
 
 France or Austria taking upon himself 
 to convene an assembly of Catholic 
 theologians, and the latter pronouncing a 
 censure on the dogmas propounded by 
 the Head of the Church! It would be 
 hard to say whether the Sovereigns of the 
 present day would be more amused by 
 the absurdity of devoting their time to 
 such discussions, or the consciences of 
 good Catholics more shocked at the 
 presumption of such a verdict. 
 
 Still it must not be forgotten that the 
 importance of religious affairs in that age 
 must not be ascribed too exclusively to 
 earnestness about religion itself, for the 
 ecclesiastical interest predominated over 
 the purely religious. The Pope and the 
 Emperor represented the two great 
 antagonistic powers, spiritual and tem- 
 poral, the rivalry between which absorbed 
 into itself all the political and social 
 
XXXIV Theologia Germanica 
 
 questions that could then be agitated. 
 The question of allegiance to the Pope 
 or the Emperor was like the contest 
 between royalism and republicanism ; the 
 Ghibelline called himself a patriot, and 
 was called by his adversary, the Guelf, a 
 worldly man or even an infidel, while he 
 retorted by calling the Guelf a betrayer 
 of his country, and an enemy of national 
 liberties. 
 
 We cannot help seeing, however, that 
 in those days both princes and people, 
 wicked as their lives often were, did 
 really believe in the Christian religion, 
 and that while much of the mythological 
 and much of the formalistic element 
 mingled in their zeal for outward obsery- 
 ances, there was also much thoroughly 
 sincere enthusiasm among them. But both 
 the two great powers oppressed the people, 
 which looked alternately to the one side 
 
Historical Introduction XXXV 
 
 or the other for emancipation from the 
 particular grievances felt to be most gall- 
 ing at any given moment or place. In 
 the frightful moral and physical condition 
 of society, it was no wonder that a despair 
 of Providence should have begun to 
 attack some minds, which led to material- 
 istic scepticism, while others sought for 
 help on the path of wild speculation. 
 The latter appears to have been the case 
 with the Beghards or “Brothers and 
 Sisters of the Free Spirit,” who attempted 
 to institute a reform by withdrawing: the 
 people altogether from the influence of 
 the clergy, but whose followers after a 
 time too often fell into the vices of the 
 priests from whom they had separated 
 themselves. In 1317, we find the 
 Bishop of Ochsenstein complaining that 
 Alsace was filled with these Beghards, 
 who appear to have been a kind of anti- 
 
 c 
 
XXXVI Theologia Germanica 
 
 nomian pantheists, teaching that the 
 Spirit is bound by no Jaw, and annihilat- 
 ing the distinction between the Creator 
 and the creature. Both in their excel- 
 lences and defects they remind us of the 
 modern ‘‘German Catholics,’ and of 
 some, too, of the recent Protestant 
 schools in Germany. There seems to 
 have been no party of professed un- 
 believers, but that some individuals were 
 such in word as well as deed, appears 
 from what Ruysbroch of Brussels,’ (1 300- 
 1330) says of those “ who live in mortal 
 sin, not troubling themselves about God 
 or His grace, but thinking virtue’ sheer 
 nonsense, and the spiritual life hypocrisy 
 or delusion ; and hearing with disgust all 
 mention of God or virtue, for they are : 
 persuaded that there is no such thing as 
 God, or Heaven, or Hell; for they ac- 
 
 1 As quoted by Neander. Kirchengeschichte, B. 6, S. 769 
 
Historical Introduction xxxvii 
 
 knowledge nothing but what is palpable 
 to the senses.” 
 
 The early part of the fourteenth 
 century saw Germany divided for nine 
 years between the rival claims of two 
 Emperors, Frederick of Austria, sup- 
 ported by Pope John XXII. and a 
 faction in Germany, and Louis of 
 Bavaria, whose cause was espoused by a 
 majority of the princes of the Empire, as 
 that of the defender of the dignity and 
 independence of the State, and the 
 champion of reform within the Church. 
 The death of Frederick, in 1322, left 
 Louis the undisputed Emperor, as far as 
 nearly all his subjects were concerned, 
 and he would fain have purchased peace 
 with the Pope on any reasonable terms, 
 that he might apply himself to the 
 internal improvement of his dominions ; 
 but John XXII. was implacable, and 
 
xxxvill  Theologia Germanica 
 
 continued to wage against him and his 
 adherents a deadly warfare, not closed 
 until his successor Charles IV. submitted 
 to all the papal demands, and to every 
 indignity imposed upon him. 
 
 One of the most fearful consequences 
 of the enmity between John XXII. and — 
 Louis of Bavaria, to the unfortunate © 
 subjects of the latter, was the Interdict 
 under which his dominions were laid in 
 1324, and from which some places, 
 distinguished for their loyalty to the 
 Emperor, were not relieved for six-and- 
 twenty years. Louis, indeed, desired his 
 subjects to pay no regard to the bull of 
 excommunication, and most of the laity, 
 especially of the larger towns, would 
 gladly have obeyed him in spite of the 
 Pope; but the greater part of the 
 bishops and clergy held with their 
 spiritual head, and thus the inhabitants 
 
Historical Introduction XXX1X 
 
 of Strasburg, Nuremberg, and other 
 cities, where the civil authorities sided 
 with the Emperor, and the clergy with 
 the Pope, were left year after year with- 
 out any religious privileges ; for public 
 worship ceased, and all the business of 
 life went on without the benedictions of 
 the Church, no rite being allowed but 
 baptism and extreme unction. 
 
 After this had lasted sixteen years, 
 the Emperor, wishing to relieve the 
 anguished consciences of his people, 
 issued, in conjunction with the Princes 
 of the Empire, a great manifesto to all 
 Christendom, refuting the Pope’s accusa- 
 tions against him, maintaining that he 
 who had been legally chosen by the 
 Electors was, in virtue thereof, the 
 rightful Emperor, and had received his 
 dignity from God, and proclaiming that 
 all who denied this were guilty of high 
 
xl Theologia Germanica 
 
 treason ; that therefore none should be 
 allowed any longer to observe the Inter- 
 dict, and all who should continue to do 
 so, whether communities or individuals, 
 should be deprived of every civil and 
 ecclesiastical right and privilege. This 
 courageous edict found a response in the 
 heart of the nation, and public opinion 
 continually declared itself more strongly 
 on the side of the Emperor. Yet on the 
 whole it rather increased the general 
 anarchy ; for in many places the priests and 
 monks were steadfast in their allegiance to 
 the Pope, and, refusing to administer public 
 service, were altogether banished from the 
 towns, and the churches and convents 
 closed. In Strasburg, for instance, where 
 the regular clergy had long since ceased to 
 perform religious .rites, the Dominicans 
 and Franciscans had continued to preach 
 and perform mass; but now they too, 
 
Historical Introduction xii 
 
 frightened by the Edict, which placed 
 them in direct opposition to the Pope, 
 dared no longer to disregard the renewed 
 sentence of excommunication hanging 
 over them, and refusing to read mass, 
 were expelled by the Town Council. 
 Many of these banished clergy wandered 
 about in great distress, with difficulty 
 finding refuge among the scattered rural 
 population, and the sufferings they 
 endured proved the sincerity of their 
 conscientious scruples. Some few, either 
 from worldly motives, or out of pity for 
 the people, remained at their posts. 
 The former indeed throve by the 
 miseries of their fellow-creatures, driving 
 a usurious trade in the famine of spiritual 
 consolation ; for it is upon record, that 
 in time of pestilence, the price of shrift 
 has been as much as sixty florins! 
 
 The spectacle of such discord between 
 
xlii Theologia Germanica 
 
 the clergy and the laity was something 
 unspeakably shocking to the Christian — 
 world in that age, and the energetic pro- 
 ceedings of the magistracy must have 
 utterly staggered the faith of many. Of 
 all the events that were stirring up men’s 
 passions and energies, none was more 
 calculated to move their souls to the very 
 centre, than to find themselves compelled 
 to stand up in arms against those whom 
 they had been wont to bow down before, 
 and to reverence as the source of those 
 ‘spiritual blessings, for the sake of which 
 they were now driven in desperation to 
 take this awful step. 
 
 To these political and religious dissen- 
 sions were added, in process of time, other 
 miseries. After it had been preceded by 
 earthquakes, hurricanes and famine, the 
 Black Death broke out, spreading terror 
 and desolation through Southern Europe. © 
 
Historical Introduction xiii 
 
 Men saw in these frightful calamities the 
 judgments of God, but looked in vain for 
 any to show them a way of deliverance 
 and escape. Some believed that the last 
 day was approaching ; some, remember- 
 ing an old prophecy, looked with hope 
 ‘for the return of the Great Emperor 
 Frederick II. to restore justice and peace 
 in the world, to punish the wicked clergy, 
 and help the poor and oppressed flock to 
 their rights. Others traversed the country 
 in processions, scourging themselves and 
 praying with a loud voice, in order to 
 atone for their sins and appease God’s 
 anger, and inveighing against man’s un- 
 belief, which had called down God’s 
 wrath upon the earth; while some 
 thought to do God service, by wreaking 
 vengeance on the people which had slain 
 the Lord, and thousands of wretched 
 Jews perished in the flames kindled by 
 
xliv Theologia Germanica 
 
 frantic terror. ‘All things worked to- 
 gether to deepen the sense of the corrupt- 
 ness of the Church, to lead men’s thoughts 
 onwards from their physical to their 
 spiritual wants, to awaken reflection on 
 the judgments of God, and to fix their 
 eyes on the indications of the future,”? 
 so that John of Winterthur was probably 
 not alone in applying to his own times 
 what St. Paul says of the perils of the 
 latter days. 
 
 In these chaotic times, and in the 
 ’ countries where the storms raged most 
 fiercely, there were some who sought that 
 peace which could not be found on earth, 
 in intercourse with a higher world. Desti- 
 tute of help and comfort and guidance 
 from man, they took refuge in God, and 
 finding that to them He had proved “a 
 present help in time of trouble,” “as the 
 
 1 Neander, Kirchengeschichte, B. 6, S. 728. 
 
Historical Introduction xlv 
 
 shadow of a great rock in a weary land,” 
 they tried to bring their fellow-men to 
 believe and partake in a life raised above 
 the troubles of this world. They desired 
 to show them that that Eternal life and 
 enduring peace which Christ had promised 
 to His disciples, was, of a truth, to be 
 found by the Way which He had pointed 
 out,—by a living union with Him and 
 the Father who had sent Him. 
 
 With this aim, like-minded men and 
 women joined themselves together, that 
 by communion of heart and mutual coun- 
 sel they might strengthen each other in 
 their common efforts to revive the 
 spiritual life of those around them. The 
 Association they founded was kept secret, 
 lest through misconception of their prin- 
 ciples, they might fall under suspicion of 
 heresy, and the Inquisition should put a 
 stop to their labours; but they desired 
 
xlvi Theologia Germantica 
 
 to keep themselves aloof from every thing 
 that savoured of heresy or disorder. On 
 the contrary, they carefully observed all 
 the precepts of the Church, and carried 
 their obedience so far that many of their 
 number were among the priests who were 
 banished for obeying the Pope, when the 
 Emperor ordered them to disregard the 
 Interdict. They assumed the appellation 
 of “Friends of God” (Gottesfreunde), 
 and, in the course of a few years, their 
 associations extended along the Rhine 
 provinces from Basle to Cologne, and 
 eastwards through Swabia, Bavaria, and 
 Franconia. Strasburg, Constance, Nurem- 
 berg and Nordlingen were among their 
 chief seats. Their distinguishing doctrines 
 | were self-renunciation,—the complete 
 | giving-up of self-will to the will of God ; 
 —the continuous activity of the Spirit of 
 God in all believers, and the intimate 
 
Historical Introduction xl vii 
 
 union possible between God and man ;— 
 the worthlessness of all religion based 
 upon fear or the hope of reward ;—and 
 the essential equality of the laity and 
 clergy, though, for the sake of order and 
 discipline, the organisation of the Church 
 was necessary. They often appealed to 
 the declaration of Christ (John xv. 15), 
 “ Henceforth I call you not servants ; for 
 the servant knoweth not what his lord 
 doeth ; but I have called you friends ; 
 for all things that I have heard of my 
 Father 1 have made known unto you ;” 
 and from this they probably derived their _ 
 name of “‘ Friends of God.” Their mode 
 of action was simply personal, for they 
 made no attempt to gain political and 
 hierarchical power, but exerted all their 
 influence by means of preaching, writing 
 and social intercourse. The Association 
 counted among its members priests, 
 
xl vii Theologia Germanica 
 
 monks, and laity, without distinction of — 
 rank or sex. Its leaders stood likewise 
 in close connection with several convents, 
 especially those of Engenthal, and Maria- 
 Medingen near Nuremberg, presided 
 over by the sisters Christina and Margaret 
 Ebner, much of whose correspondence is 
 still extant. Agnes, the widow of King 
 Andrew of Hungary, and various knights 
 and burghers, are also named as belong- 
 ing to it. 
 
 Foremost among the leaders of this 
 party should be mentioned the celebrated 
 Tauler, a Dominican monk of Strasburg, 
 
 who spent his life in preaching and teach- 
 ing up and down the country from Stras- 
 burg to Cologne, and whose influence is 
 to this day active among his countrymen 
 by means of his admirable sermons, which 
 are still widely read. At the time of the 
 Interdict he wrote a noble appeal to the 
 
Historical Introduction xlix 
 
 clergy not to forsake their flocks, main- 
 taining that if the Emperor had sinned, 
 the blame lay with him only, not with 
 his wretched subjects, so that it was a cry- 
 ing shame to visit his guilt upon the 
 innocent people, but that their unjust 
 oppression would be recompensed to them 
 by God hereafter. He acted up to his 
 own principles, and when the Black 
 Death was raging in Strasburg, where it 
 carried off 16,000 victims, he was un- 
 wearied in his efforts to administer aid 
 and consolation to the sick and dying. 
 Much of Tauler’s religious fervour 
 and light he himself attributed to the 
 instructions of a layman, his friend. It 
 is now known from contemporary records 
 that this was Nicholas of Basle, a citizen 
 of that Free town and a secret Walden- 
 sian. Little is known of his life beyond 
 the fact that he was intimately connected 
 
l Theologia Germanica 
 
 with many of the heads of this party, 
 and was resorted to by them for guidance 
 and help ; for, being under suspicion of 
 heresy, he had to conceal all his move- 
 ments from the Inquisition. He suc- 
 ceeded, however, in carrying on_ his 
 labours and eluding his enemies, until he 
 reached an advanced age ; but at length, 
 venturing alone and unprotected into 
 France, he was taken, and burnt at 
 Vienne in 1382. Another friend of 
 Tauler’s, and like him an eloquent and 
 powerful preacher, whose sermons are 
 still read with delight, was Henry Suso, — 
 a Dominican monk, belonging to a 
 knightly family in Swabia. 
 
 One of the leaders of the “ Friends of 
 God,” Nicholas of Strasburg, was in 1326 
 appointed by John XXII. nuncio, with 
 the oversight of the Dominican order 
 throughout Germany, and dedicated to 
 
Historical Introduction li 
 
 that Pope an Essay of great learning and 
 ability, refuting the prevalent interpreta- 
 tions of Scripture, which referred the 
 coming of Antichrist and the Judgment 
 day to the immediate future. Thus we 
 see that the “ Friends of God” were not 
 confined to one political party, and this 
 likewise appears from the history of 
 another celebrated member of _ this 
 sect, Henry of Nordlingen, a priest of 
 Constance, who, like Suso, was banished 
 for his adherence to the Pope. One of 
 the most remarkable men of this sect was 
 a layman and married, Rulman Merswin, 
 belonging to a high family at Strasburg. 
 He appears to have been led to a religious 
 life by the influence of Tauler, who was 
 his confessor. He is the author of 
 several mystical works which, he says, he 
 wrote “ to do good to his fellow creatures,” 
 but he contributed perhaps still more 
 
lit Theologia Germanica 
 
 largely to their benefit by his activity in 
 charitable works, for he established one 
 hospital and seems to have had the over- 
 sight of others also. He likewise gave 
 largely to churches and convents, but is 
 best known by having founded a house 
 for the Knights of St. John in Strasburg. 
 The characteristic doctrines of the 
 
 ~ “Friends of God” have already been 
 
 indicated. That they should not have 
 fallen into some exaggerations was scarcely 
 possible, but where they have done so, it 
 may generally be traced to the influence 
 of the monastic life to which most of 
 them were dedicated, and to the per- 
 plexities of their age. 
 
 The book before us was probably 
 written somewhere about 1350, since it 
 refers to Tauler as already well known, 
 It was the practice of the “ Friends of 
 God” to conceal their names as much as 
 
 4 
 
Historical Introduction litt 
 
 possible when they wrote, lest a desire 
 for fame should mingle with their en- 
 deavours to be useful. This is probably 
 the reason why we have no indication of 
 its authorship beyond a preface, which 
 the Wurtzburg Manuscript possesses in 
 common with that which was in Luther’s 
 hands, and from which it appears that the 
 writer “was of the Teutonic order, a 
 priest and a warden in the house of the 
 Teutonic order in Frankfort.” A transla- 
 tion of this Preface is prefixed to the 
 present volume. Till the discovery of 
 the Wurtzburg Manuscript, it was sup- 
 posed that this Preface was from Luther’s 
 hand, who merely embodied in it the 
 tradition which he had received from 
 some source unknown to us ; and hence, 
 some, disregarding its authority, have 
 ascribed the Theologia Germanica to 
 Tauler, whose ‘style it resembles so much 
 
liv Theologia Germanica 
 
 that it might be taken for his work, but 
 
 for the reference to him already mentioned. 
 
 Since, however, the antiquity of the Pre-| 
 face is now proved, we must be content 
 
 with the information which it affords us, 
 
 unless any further discoveries among old | 
 manuscripts should throw fresh light | 
 upon the subject. 
 
 Should this attempt to introduce the : 
 writings of the “Friends of God” in| 
 England awaken an interest in them a | 
 their works, the Translator proposes to 
 
 follow up the present volume with an 
 account of Tauler and selections from 
 his writings ; believing that the study of 
 these German theologians, who were 
 already called old in Luther’s age, would 
 furnish the best antidote to what of mis- . 
 chief English readers may have derived — 
 
 { 
 : 
 : 
 
 from German theology, falsely so called. 
 
 Manchester, February 1854. 
 
LETTER 
 FROM CHEVALIER BUNSEN TO 
 THE TRANSLATOR 
 
 77 Marina, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, 
 11th May 1854. 
 
 My pear FRIEND, 
 
 BX7a 
 
 ‘Gi OUR Letter and the proof-sheets 
 Se }| of your Translation of the Theo- 
 a logia Germanica, with Kings- 
 ley’s Preface and your Introduction, were 
 delivered to me yesterday, as I was leaving 
 Carlton Terrace to breathe once more, for 
 a few days, the refreshing air of this 
 quiet, lovely place. You told me, at the 
 time, that you had been led to study 
 Tauler and the Theologia Germanica by 
 
lvi Theologia Germanica 
 
 some conversations which we had on their 
 subjects in 1851, and you now wish me 
 to state to your readers, in a few lines, 
 what place I conceive this school of Ger- 
 manic theology to hold in the general 
 development of Christian thought, and | 
 what appears to me to be the bearing of | 
 
 this work in particular upon the present 
 dangers and prospects of Christianity, as 
 well as upon the eternal interests of re- 
 ligion in the heart of every man and 
 woman. 
 
 In complying willingly with your re-— 
 quest, I may begin by saying that, with © 
 Luther, I rank this short treatise next to 
 the Bible, but, unlike him, should place 
 it before rather than after St. Augustine. - 
 That school of pious, learned, and pro- 
 found men of which this book is, as it 
 
 were, the popular catechism, was the 
 Germanic counterpart of Romanic scho- 
 
Letter to the Translator Ivit 
 
 lasticism, and more than the revival of 
 that Latin theology which produced so 
 many eminent thinkers, from Augustine, 
 its father, to Thomas Aquinas, its last 
 great genius, whose death did not take 
 place until after the birth of Dante, who 
 again was the contemporary of the 
 Socrates of the Rhenish school,—Meister 
 Eckart, the Dominican. 
 
 The theology of this school was the 
 first protest of the Germanic mind against 
 the Judaism and formalism of the Byzan- 
 tine and medieval Churches,—the hollow- 
 ness of science to which scholasticism had 
 led, and the rottenness of society which 
 a pompous hierarchy strove in vain to 
 conceal, but had not the power nor the 
 will to correct. Eckart and Tauler, 
 his pupil, brought religion home from 
 fruitless speculation, and reasonings upon 
 imaginary or impossible suppositions, to 
 
lvilt Theologia Germanica 
 
 man’s own heart and to the understand- 
 ing of the common people, as Socrates 
 did the Greek philosophy. There is 
 both a remarkable analogy and a striking 
 contrast between the great Athenian and 
 those Dominican friars. Socrates did 
 full justice to the deep ethical ideas em- 
 bodied in the established religion of his 
 country and its venerated mysteries, 
 which he far preferred to the shallow 
 philosophy of the sophists ; but he dis- 
 suaded his pupils from seeking an initia- 
 tion into the mysteries, or at least from 
 resting their convictions and hopes upon 
 them, exhorting them to rely, not upon 
 the oracles of Delphi, but upon the oracle 
 in their own bosom. The “Friends of 
 God,” on the other hand, believing (like 
 Dante) most profoundly in the truth of 
 the Christian religion, on which the 
 established Church of their age, notwith- 
 
Letter to the Translator lix 
 
 standing its corruptions, was essentially 
 founded, recommended submission to the 
 ordinances of the church as a wholesome 
 preparatory discipline for many minds. 
 Like the saint of Athens, however, they 
 _ spoke plain truth to the people. To 
 their disciples, and those who came to 
 them for instruction, they exhibited the 
 whole depth of that real Christian philo- 
 sophy, which opens to the mind after 
 all scholastic conventionalism has been 
 thrown away, and the soul listens to the 
 response which Christ’s Gospel and God’s 
 creation find in a sincere heart and a self- 
 sacrificing life;—a philosophy which, 
 considered merely as a speculation, is far 
 more profound than any scholastic sys- 
 tem. But, in a style that was intelligible 
 to all, they preached that no fulfilment 
 of rites and ceremonies, nor of so-called 
 religious duties,—in fact, no outward 
 
Ix Theologia Germanica 
 
 works, however meritorious, can either 
 give peace to man’s conscience, nor yet 
 give him strength to bear up against the 
 temptations of prosperity and the trials 
 of adversity. 
 
 In following this course they brought 
 the people back from hollow profession 
 and real despair, to the blessings of gos- 
 pel religion, while they opened to philo- 
 sophic minds a new career of thought. 
 By teaching that man is justified by 
 faith, and by faith alone, they prepared 
 the popular intellectual element of the 
 Reformation ; by teaching that this faith 
 has its philosophy, as fully able to carry 
 conviction to the understanding, as faith 
 is to give peace to the troubled con- 
 science, they paved the way for that 
 spiritual philosophy of the mind, of 
 which Kant laid the foundation. But 
 they were not controversialists, as the 
 
Letter to the Translator Ixi 
 
 Reformers of the sixteenth century were 
 driven to be by their position, and not 
 men of science exclusively, as the masters 
 of modern philosophy in Germdny were 
 and are. Although most of them friars, 
 or laymen connected with the religious 
 orders of the time, they were men of the 
 people and men of action. They- 
 preached the saving faith to the people 
 in churches, in hospitals, in the streets 
 and public places. In the strength of 
 this faith, Tauler, when he had been 
 already for years the universal object of 
 admiration as a theologian and preacher 
 through all the free cities on the Rhine, 
 from Basle to Cologne, humbled himself, 
 and remained silent for the space of two 
 years, after the mysterious layman had 
 shown him the insufficiency of his scho- 
 lastic learning and preaching. In the 
 strength of this faith, he braved the 
 
Ixii Theologia Germanica 
 
 Pope’s Interdict, and gave the consola- 
 tions of religion to the people of Stras- 
 burg, during the dreadful plague which 
 depopulated that flourishing city. For 
 this faith, Eckart suffered with patience 
 slander and persecution, as formerly he 
 had borne with meekness, honours and 
 praise. For this faith, Nicolaus of Basle, 
 who sat down as a humble stranger at 
 Tauler’s feet to become the instrument 
 of his real enlightenment, died a martyr 
 in the flames. In this sense, the ‘* Friends 
 of God” were, like the Apostles, men of 
 the people and practical Christians, while 
 as men of thought, their ideas contributed 
 powerfully to the great efforts of the 
 European nations in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Let me, therefore, my dear friend, lay 
 aside all philosophical and theological 
 terms, and state the principle of the 
 
Letter to the Translator Ixiit 
 
 golden book which you are just present- 
 ing to the English public, in what I con- 
 sider, with Luther, the best Theological 
 exponent, in plain Teutonic, thus :-— 
 Sin is selfishness : 
 Godliness is unselfishness : 
 A godly life is the steadfast working 
 out of inward freeness from self : 
 To become thus Godlike is the bring- 
 ing back of man’s first nature. 
 On this last point,—man’s divine 
 dignity and destiny,—Tauler speaks as 
 strongly as our author, and almost as 
 strongly as the Bible. Man is indeed to 
 him God’s own image. ‘Asa sculptor,” 
 he says somewhere, with a striking range 
 of mind for a monk of the fourteenth 
 century, “is said to have exclaimed 
 indignantly on seeing a rude block 
 of marble, ‘what a godlike beauty thou 
 hidest!’ thus God looks upon man in 
 
Ixiv Theologia Germanica 
 
 whom God’s own image is_ hidden.” 
 ‘““We may begin,” he says in a kindred 
 passage, “by loving God in hope of 
 reward, we may express ourselves con- 
 cerning Him in symbols (Bilder), but we 
 must throw them all away, and much 
 more we must scorn all idea of reward, 
 that we may love God only because He 
 is the Supreme Good, and contemplate 
 His eternal nature as the real substance 
 of our own soul.” 
 
 But let no one imagine that these 
 men, although doomed to passiveness in 
 many respects, thought a contemplative 
 or monkish life a condition of spiritual 
 Christianity, and not rather a danger to 
 it. “If a man truly loves God,” says 
 Tauler, “and has no will but to do 
 God’s will, the whole force of the river 
 Rhine may run at him and will not 
 disturb him or break his peace; if we 
 
Letter to the Translator Ixv 
 
 find outward things a danger and dis- 
 turbance, it comes from our appropriating 
 But Tauler, 
 as well as our Author, uses the strongest 
 
 » 
 
 to ourselves what is God’s. 
 
 language to express his horror of Sin, 
 man’s own creation, and their view on 
 this subject forms their great contrast to 
 the philosophers of the Spinozistic school. 
 Among the Reformers, Luther stands 
 nearest to them, with respect to the great 
 fundamental points of theological teach- 
 ing, but their intense dread of Sin as a 
 rebellion against God, is shared both by 
 Luther and Calvin. Among later 
 theologians, Julius Muller, in his pro- 
 found Essay on Sin, and Richard Rothe, 
 in his great work on Christian Ethics, 
 come nearest to them in depth of thought 
 and ethical earnestness, and the first of 
 these eminent writers carries out, as it 
 appears to me, most consistently that 
 
Ixvi Theologia Germanica 
 
 fundamental truth of the Theologia 
 Germanica that there is no sin but 
 Selfishness, and that all Selfishness is sin. 
 
 Such appear to me to be the character- 
 istics of our book and of Tauler. I may 
 be aliowed to add, that this small but 
 golden Treatise has been now for almost 
 forty years an unspeakable comfort to 
 me and to many Christian friends (most 
 of whom have already departed in peace), 
 to whom I had the happiness of introduc- 
 ing it. May it in your admirably faith- 
 ful and lucid translation become a real 
 “book for the million” in England, 
 a privilege which it already shares 
 in Germany _with Tauler’s matchless 
 Sermons, of which I rejoice to hear 
 that you are making a selection for 
 publication. May it become a blessing 
 to many a longing Christian heart in 
 that dear country of yours, which I am 
 
| Letter to the Translator Ixvii 
 
 _on the point of leaving, after many happy 
 years of residence, but on which I can 
 never look as a strange land to me, any 
 more than I shall ever consider myself as 
 a stranger in that home of old Teutonic 
 liberty and energy, which I have found 
 to be also the home of practical 
 Christianity and of warm and faithful 
 
 affection. 
 BunsEN. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Cuap. I.—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 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cuap. II.—Of what Sin is, and how Ee 
 
 must not take unto ourselves any good 
 Thing, seeing that it belongeth unto the 
 true Good alone. d 
 
 Crap. IIl.—How Man’s Fall os: going 
 astray must be amended as Adam’s Fall 
 was . 5 ‘ ‘ ; " : 
 
 Cuap. IV.—How Man, when he claimeth 
 any good Thing for his own, falleth, and 
 toucheth God in His Honour 
 
 Cuap. V.—How we are to take that Say 
 ing, that we must come to be without 
 Will, Wisdom, Love, Desire, Know- 
 ledge, and the like 3 
 
 Cuap. VI.—How that which is Bisie eal 
 noblest should also be loved above all 
 
Ixx Theologia Germanica 
 
 PAGE 
 Things by us, merely because it is the 
 
 best . : : ; : F Sala (7) 
 Cuap. VII.—Of the Eyes of the Spirit, 
 
 wherewith Man looketh into Eternity 
 
 and into Time, and how the one is hin- 
 
 dered of the other in its Working Seer) 
 Cuar. VIII.—How the Soul of Man, while 
 
 it is yet in the Body, may obtain a 
 
 Foretaste of eternal Blessedness . . eas 
 Cuap. [X.—How it is better and more pro- 
 
 fitable 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 wrought, 
 
 or would ever work through all the 
 
 Creatures ; and how Blessedness lieth 
 
 alone in God, and not in the Creatures, 
 
 or in any Works. - 27 
 Cuap. X.—How the perfect Men i 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 31 
 Cuap. XI.—How a righteous Man in this 
 
 present Time is brought into Hell, and 
 
 there cannot be comforted, and how he 
 
 is taken out of Hell and carried into 
 
 Heaven, and there cannot be troubled. 35 
 
 = 
 
Contents 
 
 Cuap. XII.—Touching that true inward 
 Peace, which Christ left to His or 
 at the last . 
 
 Cuap. XIII.—How a Man may cast seid 
 Images too soon . . 
 
 Crap. XIV.—Of three Stages i. whigh a 
 Man is led upwards till he attaineth 
 true Perfection . 
 
 Cuap. X V.—How all Men are dnd in ‘Adan 
 and are made alive again in Christ, and 
 of true Obedience and Disobedience 
 
 Cuar. XVI.—Telleth us what is the old 
 Man, and what is the new Man . 
 
 Cuap. X VII.—How we are not to take unto 
 ourselves what we have done well, but 
 only what we have done amiss 
 
 Cuap. XVIII.—How that the Life of Chiiet 
 is the noblest and best Life that ever hath 
 been or can be, and how a careless Life 
 of false Freedom is the worst Life that 
 can be ‘ ; ; : 
 
 Cuap. XIX.—How we cannot come to the 
 true Light and Christ’s Life, by much 
 Questioning or Reading, or by high 
 natural Skill and Reason, but by truly 
 renouncing ourselves and all Things 
 
 Cuap. XX.—How, seeing that the Life of 
 
 Christ is most bitter to Nature and Self, 
 
 Ixxi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 an 
 wv 
 
Ixxil Theologia Germanica 
 
 F PAGE 
 Nature will have none of it, and 
 
 chooseth a false careless Life, as is most 
 convenient to her 2 67 
 Cuap. XXI.—How a Friend We Gis oni. 
 ingly fulfilleth by his outward Works, 
 such Things as must be and ought to be, 
 / and doth not concern himself with the 
 ROSE. 69 
 Cuap. XXII. Jee sometimes wiles “apicte 
 of God, and sometimes also the Evil 
 Spirit may possess a Man and have the 
 Mastery over him é 71 
 Cuap. XXIII.—He who will ie cm 
 self to God and be obedient to Him, 
 must be ready to bear with all Things ; 
 j to wit, God, himself, and all Creatures, 
 and must be obedient to them all, 
 whether he have to suffer or to do Pe 
 Cuap. XXIV.—How that four Things are 
 needful before a Man can receive divine 
 Truth and be ea with the Spirit 
 ofGodeaee 79 
 Cuar. XXV.—Of two ove Fees eS 2s 
 spring up from the Seed of the Evil 
 Spirit, and are two Sisters who love to 
 dwell together. The one is called 
 PA spiritual Pride and Highmindedness, 
 the other is false, lawless Freedom 282 
 
Contents Ixxiit 
 . PAGE 
 Cuap. XXVI.—Touching Poorness of 
 Spirit and true Humility, and whereby 
 we may discern the true and lawful 
 free Men whom the Truth hath made 
 fee. - : ; , ; sir 
 Cuap. XXVII.—How we are to take 
 Christ’s Words when He bade us forsake 
 all Things; and wherein the Union~ 
 with the Divine Will standeth 97 
 Crap. XXVIII.—How, after a Union rath 
 the Divine Will, the inward Man stand- 
 eth immoveable, the while the outward 
 Man is moved hither and thither. a +99 
 Cuap. XXIX.—How a Man may not 
 attain so high before Death as not tu 
 be moved and touched by outward 
 Things! / >. : : ae fey 
 Cuarp. XXX.—On 2 wise we May come 
 to be beyond and above all Custom, 
 Order, Law, Precepts and the like oe TOR 
 Cuap. XXXI.—How we are not to cast off 
 the Life of Christ, but practise it dili- 
 gently, and walk in it until Death . 108 
 Cuap. XXXII.—How God is a true, simple, 
 perfect Good, and how He is a Light 
 and a Reason and all Virtues, and how «~~ 
 what is highest and best, that is, God, 
 ought to be most loved by us Piel} ¢- 
 
Ixxiv Theologia Germanica 
 
 Cuap. XXXIII.—How when a Man is 
 made truly Godlike, his Love is pure 
 Va and unmixed, and he loveth all 
 Creatures, and doth his best for them . 
 Cuap. XXXIV.—How that if a Man will 
 attain to that which is best, he must for- 
 “swear his own Will ; and he who help- 
 V eth a Man to his own Will helpeth him 
 to the worst Thing he can . 
 Cuap. XXXV.—How there is deep iad 
 true Humility and Poornesgof Spirit in 
 a Man who is “made a Paffaker of the 
 Divine Nature” 
 Cuap. XXXVI. rae nasties is eae 
 to God but Sin only ; and what Sin is 
 ne in Kind and Act : 
 Cuarp. XXXVII.—How in ae as Gad 
 there can neither be Grief, Sorrow, Dis- 
 
 on pleasure, nor the like, but how it is 
 ’ > otherwise in a Man who is “made a 
 
 SS vad Partaker of the Divine Nature” 
 Y Cuarp. XXXVIII.—How we are to put on 
 
 Wi 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 , ‘ : : 
 
 CuHap, XXXIX.—How God will have 
 Order, Custom, Measure, and the like 
 
 I2I 
 
 127 
 
 130 
 
 135 
 
—— _ a 
 
 Contents 
 
 in the Creature, seeing that He cannot 
 
 have them without the Creature, and of 
 
 four sorts of Men who are concerned 
 with this Order, Law, and Custom 
 
 Cuap. XL.—A good Account of the False 
 Light and its Kind . 
 
 Cuar. XLI.—How that he is to be alla 
 and is truly, a Partaker of the Divine 
 Nature, who is illuminated with the 
 Divine Light, and inflamed with Eternal 
 Love, and hew Light and Knowledge are 
 worth nothity without Love ; 
 
 Cuap. XLII—A Question: whether we 
 can know God and not love Him ; and 
 how there are two kinds of Light and 
 Love,—a true and a false 
 
 Cuap. 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 x : 
 
 Cuap. XLIV.—How Beds is contrary to 
 God but Self-will, and how he who 
 seeketh his own Good for his own sake, 
 findeth it not ; and how a Man of him- 
 self neither knoweth nor can do any 
 
 good Thing 
 
 Ixxv 
 
 PAGE 
 
 160 
 
Ixxvi Theologia Germanica 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cuap. XLV.—How that where there is a 
 Christian Life, Christ dwelleth, and how 
 Christ’s Life is the best and most admir- 
 able Life that ever hath been or can be 181 
 
 Cuap. XLVI.—How entire Satisfaction 
 and true Rest are to be found in God 
 alone, and not in any Creature; and 
 how he who will be obedient unto God, 
 
 Vg must also be obedient to the Creatures 
 with all Quietness, and he who would 
 love God, must love all Things in One 184 
 
 Cuap. XLVII.—A Question : Whether, if 
 we ought to love all a we ought 
 to love Sin also? ; 187 
 
 Cuar. XLVIII.—How we must belted 
 certain Things of God’s Truth before- 
 hand, ere we can come toa true Know- 
 ledge and Experience thereof. 190 
 
 Cuap. XLIX.—Of Self-will, and — 
 Lucifer and Adam fell away from God 
 through Self-will : : : ee LOM 
 
 Crap. L.—How this present Time is a 
 Paradise and Outer Court of Heaven, 
 
 a and how therein there is only one Tree 
 forbidden, that is, Self-will . ; 2 gz 
 
 Cuap. LI.—Wherefore God hath created 
 Self-will, seeing that it is so contrary to 
 Him. : é : : : a HOH 
 
Contents *  Ixxvii 
 
 Cuap. LII.—How we must take those two 
 Sayings of Christ: “No Man cometh 
 unto the Father, but by me,” and “ No 
 Man cometh unto Me, except the Father 
 which hath sent Me draw him” : 
 
 Cuap. LIII.—Considereth that other Say- 
 ing of Christ, “No Man can come unto 
 Me, except the Father, which hath sent 
 Me, draw him” 
 
 Cuap. LIV. i a Man shall not ot 
 his own, either in Things spiritual or 
 natural, but the Honour of God only ; 
 and how he must enter in by the right 
 Door, to wit, by Christ, into Eternal 
 life 
 
 “CVO” 
 
 PAGE 
 
 208 
 
 212 
 
 222 
 
A \Preface 
 
 This little Wook hath the Almighty and Eternal Gov 
 spoken bp the mouth of a wige, understanding, faithful, 
 righteous man, Wis friend, tho aforetime twas of the 
 ~ GWeutonic orver, a Priest and a CHarden in the house 
 of the Weutonic order in jfrankfort: and it giveth 
 much precious ingight into Dibine truth, and espe- 
 cially teacheth bot and tohereby wwe map 
 Discern the true and upright friends 
 of God from those unrighteous 
 and false free- thinkers, 
 toho are most Hurt- 
 ful to the Woly 
 Church. 
 
 = 
 
Theologia Germanica 
 
Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER |! 
 
 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. 
 
 SS gj). PAUL saith, “ When. that 
 iS which 1s perfect is come, then 
 DEA that which is in part shall be 
 done away.”! Now mark what is “that 
 which is perfect,” and “that which is in 
 
 » 
 . 
 
 part 
 “That which is perfect” is a Being, 
 who hath comprehended and included all 
 
 1 1 Cor. xiii. 10. 
 
 § B 
 
2 Theologia Germanica 
 
 things in Himself and His own Substance, 
 and without whom, and beside whom, 
 there is no true Substance, and in whom 
 all things have their Substance. For 
 He is the Substance of all things, and is 
 in Himself unchangeable and immoveable, 
 and changeth and moveth all things else. 
 But “that which is in part,” or the Im- 
 perfect, is that which hath its source in, 
 or springeth from the Perfect; just as a 
 brightness or a visible appearance floweth 
 out from the sun or a candle, and ap- 
 peareth to be somewhat, this or that. 
 And it is called a creature; and of all - 
 these ‘“‘ things which are in part,” none 
 is the Perfect. So also the Perfect is 
 none of the things which are in part. 
 The things which are in part can be - 
 apprehended, known, and expressed; 
 but the Perfect cannot be apprehended, 
 known, or expressed by any creature as 
 
Theologia Germanica 3 
 
 creature. Therefore we do not give a 
 name to the Perfect, for it is none of 
 these. The creature as creature cannot 
 know nor apprehend .it, name nor con- 
 ceive it. 
 
 “ Now when that which is Perfect is 
 come, then that which is in part shall 
 be done away.” But when doth it 
 come? I say, when as much as may 
 be, it is known, felt and tasted of the 
 soul. [For the lack lieth altogether in 
 us, and not in it. In like manner the 
 ~ sun lighteth the whole world, and is as 
 near to one as another, yet a blind man 
 seeth it not ; but the fault thereof lieth 
 in the blind man, not in the sun. And 
 like as the sun may not hide its bright- 
 ness, but must give light unto the earth 
 (for heaven indeed draweth its light and 
 heat from another fountain), so also God, 
 who is the highest Good, willeth not to 
 
4 Theologia Germanica 
 
 hide Himself from any, wheresoever 
 He findeth a devout soul, that is 
 thoroughly purified from all creatures. 
 For in what measure we put off the 
 creature, in the same measure are we 
 able to put on the Creator; neither 
 more nor less. For if mine eye is to 
 see anything, it must be single, or else 
 be purified from all other things; and 
 where heat and light enter in, cold and 
 darkness must needs depart ; it cannot 
 be otherwise. | 
 
 But one might say, ‘ Now since the 
 Perfect cannot be known nor apprehended 
 of 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 and qualities, that by 
 which it saith “I” and “ myself.” For 
 
 — 
 
Theologia Germanica 5 
 
 in whatsoever creature the Perfect shall 
 be known, therein creature - nature, 
 qualities, the I, the Self and the like, 
 must all be lost and done away. This 
 is the meaning of that saying of St. 
 Paul : “ When that which is perfect is 
 come” (that is, when it is known), 
 “then that which is in part” (to wit, 
 creature-nature, qualities, the I, the Self, 
 the Mine) will be despised and counted 
 for nought. So long as we think much 
 of these things, cleave to them with love, 
 joy, pleasure or desire, so long remaineth 
 the Perfect unknown to us. 
 
 But it might further be said, ‘“ Thou 
 sayest, beside the Perfect there is no 
 Substance, yet sayest again that some- 
 what floweth out from it: now is not 
 that which hath flowed out from it, 
 something beside it?” Answer: This 
 is why we say, beside it, or without it, 
 
6 Theologia Germanica 
 
 there is no ¢rue Substance. That which 
 hath flowed forth from it, is no true 
 Substance, and hath no Substance except 
 in the Perfect, but is an accident, or a 
 brightness, or a visible appearance, which 
 is no Substance, and hath no Substance 
 except in the fire whence the bright- 
 ness flowed forth, such as the sun ora 
 candle. 
 
 CHAPTERS 
 
 Of what Sin is, and how we must not take unto 
 ourselves any good Thing, seeing that it belongeth 
 unto the true Good alone. 
 
 Ar HE Scripture and the Faith and 
 the Truth say, Sin is nought 
 else, but that the creature turneth 
 
 away from the unchangeable Good and 
 betaketh itself to the changeable; that 
 is to say, that it turneth away from the 
 
Theologia Germanica 7 
 
 Perfect to “that which is in part” and 
 imperfect, and most often to itself. Now 
 mark: when the creature claimeth for 
 its own anything good, such as Substance, 
 Life, Knowledge, Power, and in short 
 whatever we should call good, as if it 
 were that, or possessed that, or that were 
 itself, or that proceeded from it,—as 
 often as this cometh to pass, the creature 
 goeth astray. What did the devil do 
 else, or what was his going astray and 
 his fall else, but that he claimed for 
 himself to be also somewhat, and would ° 
 have it that somewhat was his, and some- 
 what was due to him? This setting up 
 of a claim and his I and Me and Mine, 
 these were his going astray, and his fall. 
 And thus it is to this day. 
 
8 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER Ait 
 
 How Man’s Fall and going astray must be amended 
 as Adam's Fall was. 
 
 (Fay/ HAT else did Adam do but 
 Ni ‘lege i ae 
 
 e v\ ~| this same thing? It is said, 
 f\ 
 
 225. 
 
 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. Had he eaten seven 
 apples, and yet never claimed anything 
 for his own, he would not have fallen: 
 but as soon as he called something his 
 own, he fell, and would have fallen if he 
 had never touched an apple. Behold! 
 I have fallen a hundred times more often 
 and deeply, and gone a hundred times 
 farther astray than Adam; and not all 
 
 ’ 
 
Theologia Germanica 9 
 
 mankind could amend his fall, or bring 
 him back from going astray. But how 
 shall my fall be amended? It must be 
 healed as Adam’s fall was healed, and 
 on the self-same wise. By whom, and 
 on what wise was that healing brought 
 to pass? Mark this: man could not 
 without God, and God should not with- 
 out man. Wherefore God took human 
 nature or manhood upon Himself and 
 was made man, and man was made 
 divine. Thus the healing was brought 
 to pass. So also must my fall be healed. 
 I cannot do the work without God, and 
 God may not or will not without me ; 
 for if it shall be accomplished, in me, 
 too, God must be made man; in such 
 sort that God must take to Himself all 
 that is in me, within and without, so 
 that there may be nothing in me which 
 striveth against God or hindereth His 
 
10 Theologia Germanica 
 
 work. Now if God took to Himself all 
 men that are in the world, or ever were, 
 and were made man in them, and they 
 were made divine in Him, and this work 
 were not fulfilled in me, my fall and my 
 wandering would never be amended 
 except it were fulfilled in me also. And 
 in this bringing back and healing, I can, 
 or may, or shall do nothing of myself, 
 but just simply yield to God, so that 
 He alone may do all things in me and 
 work, and I may suffer Him and all His 
 work and His divine will. And because 
 I will not do so, but 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 cometh of 
 my claiming somewhat for my own. 
 
Theologia Germanica Il 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 How Man, when he claimeth any good Thing for 
 his own, falleth, and toucheth God in His Honour. 
 
 OD saith, “I will not give My 
 & glory to another.”* This is 
 as much as to say, that praise 
 
 and honour 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 honour and glory, and do 
 two evil things: First, I fall and go 
 astray as aforesaid: Secondly, I touch 
 God in His honour and take unto my- 
 
 1 Tsaiah xlii. 8. 
 
12 Theologia Germanica 
 
 self what belongeth to God only. For 
 all that must be called good belongeth 
 to none but to the true eternal Goodness 
 which is God only, and whoso taketh it 
 unto himself, committeth unrighteous- 
 ness and is against God. 
 
 CHAPTERa 
 
 How we are to take that Saying, that we must 
 come to be without Will, Wisdom, Love, Desire, 
 Knowledge, and the like. 
 
 ERTAIN men say that we 
 ought to be without will, 
 wisdom, love, desire, know- 
 
 ledge, and the like. Hereby is not to 
 be understood that there is to be no 
 knowledge in man, and that God is not 
 to be loved by him, nor desired and 
 
Theologia Germanica ha 
 
 longed for, nor praised and honoured ; 
 for that were a great loss, and man were 
 like the beasts [and as the brutes that 
 have no reason]. But it meaneth that 
 man’s knowledge should be so clear and 
 perfect that he should acknowledge of a 
 truth [that in himself he neither hath 
 nor can do any good thing, and that 
 none of his knowledge, wisdom and art, 
 his will, love and good works do come 
 from himself, nor are of man, nor of any 
 creature, but] that all these are of the 
 eternal God, from whom they all proceed. 
 [As Christ Himself saith, “‘ Without Me, 
 ye can do nothing.”? St. Paul saith 
 also, ‘‘ What hast thou that thou hast 
 not received? ”? As much as to say— 
 nothing. ‘‘Now if thou didst receive 
 it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst 
 not received it?” Again he saith, “‘ Not 
 
 1 John xy. 5. 2 1 Cor. iv. 7. 
 
14 Theologia Germanica 
 
 that we are sufficient of ourselves to 
 think anything as of ourselves, but our 
 sufficiency is of God.”"] Now when a 
 man duly perceiveth these things in him- 
 self, he and the creature fall behind, and 
 he doth not call anything his own, and 
 the less he taketh this knowledge unto 
 himself, the more perfect doth it become. 
 So also is it with the will, and love and 
 desire, and the like. For the less we — 
 call these things our own, the more 
 perfect and noble and Godlike do they 
 become, and the more we think them 
 our own, the baser and less pure and 
 perfect do they become. 
 
 Behold on this sort must we cast all 
 things from us, and strip ourselves of 
 them; we must refrain from claiming — 
 anything for our own. When we do 
 this, we shall have the best, fullest, 
 
 1 2 Cor. iii. 5. 
 
Theologia Germanica 15 
 
 clearest and noblest knowledge that a 
 man can have, and also the noblest and 
 purest love, will and desire; for then 
 these will be all of God alone. It is 
 much better that they should be God’s 
 than the creature’s. Now that I ascribe 
 anything good to myself, as if I were, 
 or had done, or knew, or could perform 
 any good thing, or that it were mine, 
 this is all of sin and folly. For if the 
 truth were rightly known by me, I 
 should also know that I am not that 
 good thing and that it is not mine, nor 
 of me, and that I do not know it, and 
 cannot do it, and the like. If this came 
 to pass, I should needs cease to call any- 
 thing my own. 
 
 It is better that God, or His works, - 
 should be known, as far as it be possible 
 to us, and loved, praised and honoured, 
 and the like, and even that man should 
 
16 Theologia Germanica 
 
 vainly imagine he loveth or praiseth 
 God, than that God should be altogether 
 unpraised, unloved, unhonoured and un- 
 known. For when the vain imagination 
 and ignorance are turned into an under- 
 standing and knowledge of the truth, 
 the claiming anything for our own will 
 cease of itself. Then the man says: 
 “Behold! I, poor fool that I was, 
 imagined it was I, but behold! it is 
 and was, of a truth, God!” 
 
 wet oe 
 
Theologia Germanica 17 
 
 SHAPTER VI 
 
 How that which is best and noblest should also be 
 loved above all Things by us, merely because it 
 is the best. 
 
 MASTER called Boetius saith, 
 “Tt is of sin that we do not 
 love that which is Best.” He 
 hath spoken the truth. That which is 
 best should be the dearest of all things 
 to us; and in our love of it, neither 
 helpfulness nor unhelpfulness, advantage 
 
 nor injury, gain nor loss, honour nor 
 dishonour, praise nor blame, nor any- 
 thing of the kind should be regarded; 
 but what is in truth the noblest and best 
 of all things, should be also the dearest of 
 all things, and that for no other cause 
 than that it is the noblest and best. 
 c 
 
18 Theologia Germanica 
 
 Hereby may a man order his life - 
 within and without. His outward life : 
 for among the creatures one is better 
 than another, according as the Eternal 
 Good manifesteth itself and worketh 
 more in one than in another. Now that 
 creature in which the Eternal Good most 
 manifesteth itself, shineth forth, worketh, 
 is most known and loved, is the best, 
 and that wherein the Eternal Good is 
 least manifested is the least good of all 
 creatures. Therefore when we have to 
 do with the creatures and hold converse 
 with them, and take note of their diverse 
 qualities, the best creatures must always — 
 be the dearest to us, and we must cleave 
 to them, and unite ourselves to them, 
 above all to those which we attribute to 
 God as belonging to Him or divine, such 
 as wisdom, truth, kindness, peace, love, 
 justice, and the like. Hereby shall we 
 
Theologia Germanica 19 
 
 order our outward man, and all that is 
 contrary to these virtues we must eschew 
 and flee from. 
 
 But if our inward man were to make 
 a leap and spring into the Perfect, we 
 should find and taste how that the Perfect 
 is without measure, number or end, better 
 and nobler than all which is imperfect 
 and in part, and the Eternal above the 
 temporal or perishable, and the fountain 
 and source above all that floweth or can 
 ever flow from it. Thus that which is 
 imperfect and in part would become 
 tasteless and be as nothing to us. Be 
 assured of this: All that we have said 
 must come to pass if we are to love that 
 which is noblest, highest and best. 
 
20 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Of the Eyes of the Spirit wherewith Man /ooketh 
 into Eternity and into Time, and how the one is 
 hindered of the other in its Working. 
 
 sJET us remember how it is 
 written and said that the soul 
 
 : of Christ had two eyes, a right 
 and a left eye. In the beginning, when 
 the soul of Christ was created, she fixed 
 her right eye upon eternity and the God- 
 head, and remained in the full intuition 
 and enjoyment of the Divine Essence 
 and Eternal Perfection; and continued 
 thus unmoved and undisturbed by all 
 the accidents and travail, suffering, tor- 
 ment and pain that ever befell the out- 
 ward man. But with the left eye she 
 beheld the creature and perceived all 
 
Theologia Germanica 21 
 
 things therein, and took note of the 
 difference between the creatures, which 
 were better or worse, nobler or meaner ; 
 and thereafter was the outward man of 
 Christ ordered. 
 
 Thus the inner man of Christ, accord- 
 ing to the right eye of His soul, stood in 
 the full exercise of His divine nature, in 
 perfect blessedness, joy and eternal peace. 
 But the outward man and the left eye of 
 Christ’s soul, stood with Him in perfect 
 suffering, in all tribulation, affliction and 
 travail ; and this in such sort that the 
 inward and right eye remained unmoved, 
 unhindered and untouched by all the 
 travail, suffering, grief and anguish that 
 ever befell the outward man. It hath 
 been said that when Christ. was bound 
 to the pillar and scourged, and when He 
 hung upon the cross, according to the 
 outward man, yet His inner man, or soul 
 
22 Theologia Germanica 
 
 according to the right eye, stood in as 
 full possession of divine joy and blessed- 
 ness as it did after His ascension, or as it 
 doth now. In like manner His outward 
 man, or soul with the left eye, was never 
 hindered, disturbed or troubled by the 
 inward eye in its contemplation of the 
 outward things that belonged to it. 
 
 Now the created soul of man hath 
 also two eyes. The one is the power of - 
 seeing into eternity, the other of seeing 
 into time and the creatures, of perceiving 
 how they differ from each other as afore- 
 said, of giving life and needful things to 
 the body, and ordering and governing it 
 for the best. But these two eyes of the 
 soul of man cannot both perform their 
 work at once; but if the soul shall see 
 with the right eye into eternity, then the 
 left eye must close itself and refrain from 
 working, and be as though it were dead. 
 
Theologia Germanica 23 
 
 For if the left eye be fulfilling its office 
 toward outward things; that is, holding 
 converse with time and the creatures; 
 then must the right eye be hindered in 
 its working ; that is, in its contempla- 
 tion. Therefore whosoever will have the 
 one must let the other go; for “no man 
 can serve two masters.” 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 How the Soul of Man, while it is yet in the Body, 
 may obtain a Foretaste of eternal Blessedness. 
 
 <G|T hath been asked whether it be 
 D possible for the soul, while it is 
 yet in the body, to reach so 
 
 high as to cast a glance into eternity, and 
 receive a foretaste of eternal life and 
 eternal blessedness. This is commonly 
 
24 Theologia Germanica 
 
 denied ; and truly so in a sense. For it 
 indeed cannot be so long as the soul is 
 taking heed to the body, and the things 
 which minister and appertain thereto, and 
 to time and the creature, and is disturbed 
 and troubled and distracted thereby. 
 For if the soul shall rise to such a state, — 
 she must be quite pure, wholly stripped 
 and bare of all images, and be entirely 
 separate from all creatures, and above all 
 from herself. Now many think this is — 
 not to be done and is impossible in this 
 present time. But St. Dionysius main- 
 tains that it is possible, as we find from 
 his words in his Epistle to Timothy, 
 where he saith: “‘For the beholding of — 
 the hidden things of God, shalt thou for- 
 sake sense and the things of the flesh, 
 and all that the senses can apprehend, 
 and that reason of her own powers can 
 bring forth, and all things created and 
 
Theologia Germanica Zs 
 
 uncreated that reason is able to compre- 
 hend and know, and shalt take thy stand 
 upon an utter abandonment of thyself, 
 and as knowing none of the aforesaid 
 things, and enter into union with Him 
 who is, and who is above all existence 
 and all knowledge.” Now if he did not 
 hold this to be possible in this present 
 time, why should he teach it and enjoin 
 it on us in this present time? But it be- 
 hoveth you to know that a master hath 
 said on this passage of St. Dionysius, that 
 it is possible, and may happen to a man 
 often, till he become so accustomed to it, 
 as to be able to look into eternity when- 
 ever he will. [For when a thing is at 
 first very hard to a man and strange, and 
 seemingly quite impossible, if he put all 
 his strength and energy into it, and per- 
 severe therein, that will afterward grow 
 quite light and easy, which he at first 
 
26 Theologia Germanica 
 
 thought quite out of reach, seeing that it 
 is of no use to begin any work, unless it 
 may be brought to a good end. ] 
 
 And a single one of these excellent 
 glances is better, worthier, higher and 
 more pleasing to God, than all that the 
 creature can perform as a creature. 
 [And as soon as a man turneth himself - 
 in spirit, and with his whole heart and 
 mind entereth into the mind of God 
 which is above time, all that ever he hath 
 lost is restored in a moment. And if a 
 man were to do thus a thousand times in 
 a day, each time a fresh and real union 
 would take place; and in this sweet and 
 divine work standeth the truest and full- 
 est union that may be in this present 
 time. For he who hath attained thereto, — 
 asketh nothing further, for he hath found 
 the Kingdom of Heaven and Eternal 
 Life on earth. ] 
 
Theologia Germanica 27 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 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 wrought, or would 
 ever work through all the Creatures; and how 
 Blessedness lieth alone in God, and not in the 
 Creatures, or in any Works. 
 
 E should mark and know of a~ — 
 very truth that all manner of 
 
 ek 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 doth 
 not withdraw into himself and learn to 
 understand his own life, who and what he 
 
28 Theologia Germanica 
 
 is]. The like 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. | 
 
 Therefore although it be good and 
 profitable that we should ask, and learn 
 and know, what good and holy men 
 have wrought and suffered, and how God 
 hath dealt with them, and what He hath 
 wrought in and through them, yet it ~ 
 were a thousand times better that we 
 should in ourselves learn and perceive 
 and understand, who we are, how and 
 what our own life is, what God is and is 
 doing in us, what He will have from us, 
 and to what ends He will or will not 
 make use of us. [For, of a truth, 
 thoroughly to know oneself, is above all 
 art, for it is the highest art. If thou 
 
Theologia Germanica 29 
 
 knowest thyself well, thou art better and 
 more praiseworthy before God, than if 
 thou didst not know thyself, but didst 
 understand the course of the heavens and 
 of all the planets and stars, also the 
 virtue of all herbs, and the structure and 
 dispositions of all mankind, alsothe nature 
 of all beasts, and, in such matters, hadst 
 all the skill of all who are in heaven and 
 on earth. For it is said, there came a 
 voice from heaven, saying, ‘“‘ Man, know 
 thyself.”] Thus that proverb is still true, 
 “Going out were never so good, but 
 staying at home were much better.” 
 Further, ye should learn that eternal 
 blessedness lieth in one thing alone, and 
 in nought else. And if ever man or the 
 soul is to be made blessed, that one thing 
 alone must be in the soul. Now some 
 might ask, ‘‘ But what is that one thing?” 
 I answer, it is Goodness, or that which 
 
30 Theologia Germanica 
 
 hath been made good; and yet neither 
 this good nor that, which we can name, 
 or perceive or show; but it is all and 
 above all good things. 
 
 Moreover, it needeth not to enter into 
 the soul, for it is there already, only it is 
 unperceived. When we say we should 
 come unto it, we mean that we should 
 seek it, feel it, and taste it. And now 
 since it is One, unity and singleness is 
 better than manifoldness. For blessed- 
 ness lieth not in much and many, but in 
 One and oneness. In one word, blessed- 
 ness lieth not, in any creature, or work 
 of the creatures, but it lieth alone in God 
 and in His works. ‘Therefore I must 
 wait only on God and His work, and 
 leave on one side all creatures with their 
 works, and first of all myself. In like 
 manner all the great works and wonders 
 that God has ever wrought or shall ever 
 
Theologia Germanica 31 
 
 work in or through the creatures, or even 
 God Himself with all His goodness, so far 
 as these things exist or are done outside 
 of me, can never make me blessed, but 
 only in so far as they exist and are done 
 and loved, known, tasted and felt within 
 me. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 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. 
 
 are Baia wick the true 
 light, they perceive that all 
 
 which they might desire or choose, is 
 
 nothing to that which all creatures, as 
 creatures, ever desired or chose or knew, 
 
32 Theologia Germanica 
 
 Therefore they renounce all desire and 
 choice, and commit and commend them- 
 selves and all things to the Eternal Good- 
 ness. Nevertheless, there remaineth in 
 them a desire to go forward and get 
 nearer to the Eternal Goodness ; that is, 
 to come to a clearer knowledge, and 
 warmer love, and more comfortable 
 assurance, and perfect obedience and 
 subjection; so that every enlightened 
 man could say: ‘I would fain be to 
 the Eternal Goodness, what His own 
 hand is to a man.” And he feareth 
 always that he is not enough so, and 
 longeth for the salvation of all men. 
 And such men do not call this longing 
 their own, nor take it unto themselves, 
 for they know well that this desire is not 
 of man, but of the Eternal Goodness ; 
 for whatsoever is good shall no one take 
 unto himself as his own, seeing that it 
 
 ~~ 
 
Theologia Germanica 33 
 
 belongeth to the Eternal Goodness 
 only. 
 
 Moreover, these men are in a state of 
 freedom, because they have lost the fear 
 of pain or hell, and the hope of reward 
 or heaven, but are living in pure sub- 
 mission to the Eternal Goodness, in the 
 perfect freedom of fervent love. This 
 mind was in Christ in perfection, and is 
 also in His followers, in some more, and 
 in some less. But it is a sorrow and 
 shame to think that the Eternal Good- 
 ness is ever most graciously guiding and 
 drawing us, and we will not yield to it. 
 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 
 
 D 
 
34 Theologia Germanica 
 
 taste of pleasure and sweetness. When 
 this is so, we are well pleased, and think 
 it standeth not amiss with us. [But we 
 are yet along way off from a perfect life. 
 For when God will draw us up to some- 
 thing higher, that is, to an utter loss and 
 forsaking of our own things, spiritual and 
 natural, and withdraweth 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 for ever.] This is a great error and 
 a bad sign. For a true lover of God, 
 loveth 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 seeketh 
 alone the honour of God, and not his 
 own, either in spiritual or natural things. 
 And therefore he standeth alike unshaken - 
 
Theologia Germanica 35 
 
 in all things, at all seasons. [Hereby let 
 every man prove himself, how he stand- 
 eth towards God, his Creator and 
 Lord. ] 
 
 laf CHAPTER XI 
 
 How a righteous Man in this present Time is 
 brought into Hell, and there cannot be comforted, 
 and how he is taken out of Hell and carried into 
 Heaven, and there cannot be troubled. 
 
 HRIST’S soul must _ needs 
 descend into hell, before it 
 ascended into heaven. So 
 
 must also the soul of man. But mark 
 ye in what manner this cometh to pass. 
 When a man truly perceiveth and con- 
 sidereth himself, who and what he is, 
 and findeth himself utterly vile and 
 wicked, and unworthy of all the comfort 
 and kindness that he hath ever received 
 
36 Theologia Germanica 
 
 from God, or from the creatures, he 
 falleth into such a deep abasement and 
 despising of himself, that he thinketh 
 himself unworthy that the earth should 
 bear him, and it seemeth to him reason- 
 able that all creatures in heaven and 
 earth should rise up against him and 
 avenge their Creator on him, and should 
 punish and torment him; and that he 
 were unworthy even of that. And it 
 seemeth to him that he shall be eternally 
 lost and damned, and a footstool to all 
 the devils in hell, and that this is right 
 and just [and all too little compared to 
 his sins which he so often and in so many 
 ways hath committed against God his 
 Creator]. And therefore also he will not 
 and dare not desire any consolation or 
 release, either from God or from any 
 creature that is in heaven or on earth; 
 but he is willing to be unconsoled and 
 
Theologia Germanica 37 
 
 unreleased, and he doth not grieve over 
 his condemnation and sufferings ; for they 
 are right and just, and not contrary to 
 God, but according to the will of God. 
 Therefore they are right in his eyes, and 
 he hath nothing to say against them. 
 Nothing grieveth him but his own guilt 
 and wickedness ; for that is not right and 
 is contrary to God, and for that cause he 
 is grieved and troubled in spirit. 
 
 This is what is meant by true repent- 
 ance for sin. And he who in this 
 present time entereth into this hell, 
 entereth afterward into the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, and obtaineth a foretaste there- 
 of which excelleth all the delight and joy 
 which he ever hath had or could have in 
 this present time from temporal things. 
 But whilst a man is thus in hell, none 
 may console him, neither God nor the 
 creature, as it is written, “In hell there 
 
38 Theologia Germanica 
 
 is no redemption.” * Of this state hath 
 one said, ‘Let me > pershylep amc 
 die! I live without hope; from within 
 and from without I am condemned, let 
 no one pray that I may be released.” 
 Now God hath not forsaken a man in 
 this hell, but He is laying His hand upon 
 him, that the man may not desire nor 
 regard anything but the Eternal Good 
 only, and may come to know that that is 
 so noble and passing good, that none can 
 search out or express its bliss, consolation 
 and joy, peace, rest and satisfaction. 
 And then, when the man neither careth — 
 for, nor seeketh, nor desireth, anything 
 but the Eternal Good alone, and seeketh 
 not himself, nor his own things, but the 
 honour of God only, he is made a 
 partaker of all manner of joy, bliss, 
 peace, rest and consolation, and so the 
 
 1 The writer is probably alluding to Ps. xlix. 8. 
 
Theologia Germanica 39 
 
 man is henceforth in the Kingdom of 
 Heaven. 
 
 This hell and this heaven are two 
 good, safe ways for a man in this present 
 time, and happy is he who truly findeth 
 
 them. 
 For this hell shall pass away, 
 
 But Heaven shall endure for aye. 
 
 Also let a man mark, when he is in 
 this hell, nothing may console him ; and 
 he cannot believe that he shall ever be 
 released or comforted. But when he is 
 in heaven, nothing can trouble him ; he 
 believeth also that none will ever be able 
 to offend or trouble him, albeit it is 
 indeed true, that after this hell he may 
 be comforted and released, and after this 
 heaven he may be troubled and left with- 
 out consolation. 
 
 Again: this hell and this heaven come 
 about a man in such sort, that he knows 
 
40 Theologia Germanica 
 
 eth not whence they come; and whether 
 they come to him, or depart from him, 
 he can of himself do nothing towards it. 
 Of these things he can neither give nor 
 take away from himself, bring them nor 
 banish them, but as it is written, ‘“‘ The 
 wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
 hearest the sound thereof,” that is to say, 
 at this time present, ‘‘ but thou knowest 
 not whence it cometh, nor whither it 
 goeth.”* And when a man is in one of 
 these two states, all is right with him, 
 and he is as safe in hell as in heaven, and 
 so long as a man is on earth, it is possible 
 for him to pass ofttimes from the one 
 into the other; nay even within the 
 space of a day and night, and all without 
 his own doing. But when the man is in 
 neither of these two states he holdeth 
 converse with the creature, and wavereth 
 - 1 John iii. 8. 
 
Theologia Germanica 41 
 
 hither and thither, and knoweth not what 
 manner of man he is. ‘Therefore he 
 shall never forget either of them, but lay 
 up the remembrance of them in his heart. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Touching that true inward Peace, which Christ left 
 to His Disciples at the last. 
 
 ANA hy ANY say they have no peace 
 Nal nor rest, but so many crosses 
 
 sorrows, that they know not how they 
 shall ever get through them. Now he 
 who in truth will perceive and take note, 
 
 and trials, afflictions and 
 
 perceiveth 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 
 
42 Theologia Germanica 
 
 will [which is nowise the case; for the 
 prophet declareth, “There is no peace, 
 saith 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 
 2 [We may perceive that in 
 these words Christ did not mean a bodily 
 
 unto you. 
 
 and outward peace; for His beloved 
 disciples, with all His friends and 
 followers, have ever suffered, from the 
 beginning, great affliction, persecution, 
 nay, often martyrdom, as Christ Himself 
 said: “In this world ye shall have 
 tribulation.”* But Christ meant that 
 true, inward peace of the heart, which 
 beginneth here, and endureth for ever 
 hereafter. Therefore He said] : “ Notas 
 the world giveth,” for the world is false, 
 
 1 Tsaiah lvii. 21. 2 John xiv.27. 8 John xvi. 33. 
 
Theologia Germanica 43 
 
 and deceiveth in her gifts [she promis- 
 eth much, and performeth little. More- 
 over there liveth no man on earth who 
 may always have rest and peace with- 
 out 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, per- 
 
 haps two come in its place. Wherefore - 
 
 yield thyself willingly to them, and seek 
 only that true peace of the heart, which 
 none can take away from thee, that thou 
 mayest overcome all assaults]. 
 
 Thus then, Christ meant that inward 
 peace which can break through ll 
 assaults and crosses of oppression, suffer- 
 ing, misery, humiliation and what more 
 there may beof the like, so that a man 
 may be joyful and patient therein, like 
 the beloved disciples and followers of 
 
 1 
 
44 Theologia Germanica 
 
 Christ. Now he who will in love give 
 his whole diligence and might thereto, 
 will verily come to know that true 
 eternal peace which is God Himself, as 
 far as it is possible to a creature ; [inso- 
 much 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 Xam 
 How a Man may cast aside Images too soon. 
 
 AULER saith: ‘ There be some 
 men at the present time, who 
 take leave of types and symbols 
 
 too soon, before they have drawn out all 
 the truth and instruction contained there- 
 
 > 
 
 in.” Hence they are scarcely or perhaps 
 
Theologia Germanica 45 
 
 never able to understand the truth aright.! 
 [For such men will follow no one, and 
 lean unto their own understandings, 
 and desire to fly before they are fledged. 
 They would fain mount up to heaven in 
 one flight ; albeit Christ did not so, for 
 after His resurrection, He remained full 
 forty days with His beloved disciples. 
 No one can be made perfect in a day. 
 A man must begin by denying himself, 
 and willingly forsaking all things for 
 God’s sake, and must give up his own 
 will, and all his natural inclinations, and 
 separate and cleanse himself thoroughly 
 from all sins and evil ways. After this, 
 let him humbly take up the cross and 
 follow Christ. Also let him take and 
 
 1 Here Luther’s Edition has the following passage instead 
 of the remainder of this chapter ; “‘ Therefore we should at all 
 times give diligent heed to the works of God and His command- 
 ments, movings and admonitions, and not to the works or 
 
 commandments or admonitions of men,” 
 
Ye 
 
 46 Theologia Germanica 
 
 receive example and instruction, reproof, 
 counsel and teaching from devout and 
 perfect servants of God, and not follow 
 his own guidance. ‘Thus the work shall 
 be established and come to a good end. 
 And when a man hath thus broken loose 
 from and outleaped all temporal things 
 and creatures, he may afterwards become 
 perfect in a life of contemplation. For 
 he who will have the one must let the 
 other go. There is no other way. ] 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Of three Stages by which a Man is led upwards till 
 he attaineth true Perfection. 
 
 pIOW be assured that no one can 
 be enlightened unless he be 
 
 first cleansed or purified and 
 stripped. So also, no one can be united 
 
Theologia Germanica 47 
 
 with God unless he be first enlightened. 
 Thus there are three stages: first, the ~ 
 purification ; secondly, the enlightening ; 
 thirdly, the union. [The purification 
 concerneth those who are beginning or 
 repenting, and is brought to pass in a 
 threefold wise; by contrition and sorrow 
 for sin, by full confession, by hearty 
 amendment. Theenlightening belongeth 
 to such as are growing, and also taketh 
 place in three ways: to wit, by the 
 eschewal of sin, by the practice of virtue 
 and good works, and by the willing en- 
 durance of all manner of temptation and 
 trials. The union belongeth to such as 
 are perfect, and also is brought to pass 
 in three ways: to wit, by pureness and 
 singleness of heart, by love, and by the 
 contemplation of God, the Creator of all 
 things. | 
 
48 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 How all Men are dead in Adam and are made alive 
 again in Christ, and of true Obedience and 
 
 Disobedience. 
 
 CAN) 
 
 LL that in Adam fell and died, 
 
 was raised again and made alive 
 — ay 
 
 in Christ, and all that rose up 
 and was made alive in Adam, fell and 
 
 died in Christ. But what was that? I _ 
 answer, true obedience and disobedience. 
 But what is true obedience? I answer, 
 that a man should so stand free, being 
 quit 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 him- 
 self as if he were not, and another had 
 
Theologia Germanica 49 
 
 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. 
 
 Hereby we may mark what dis- 
 * obedience is: to wit, that a man maketh 
 some account of himself, and thinketh 
 that he is, and knoweth, and can do 
 somewhat, ahd seeketh himself and his 
 own ends in the things around him, and 
 hath regard to and loveth himself, and 
 the like. Man is created for true obe- — 
 dience, and is bound of right to render 
 it to God. And this obedience fell and 
 died in Adam, and rose again and lived 
 
 E 
 
50 Theologia Germanica 
 
 in Christ. Yea, Christ’s human nature 
 was so utterly bereft of Self, and apart 
 from all creatures, 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 any- 
 thing that this same Godhead willed, or 
 did or left undone in Him, nor yet any- 
 thing 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, 
 
Theologia Germanica 51 
 
 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 
 can do all things well. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Telleth us what is the old Man, and what 
 is the new Man. 
 
 iG iG GAIN, when we read of the old 
 uN man and the new man we must 
 ES) mark what that meaneth. 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 honour 
 
 of God alone in all things]. And when 
 
52 Theologia Germanica 
 
 dying and perishing and the like are 
 spoken of, it meaneth 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 hath been said — 
 that man should die unto himself [that 
 is, to earthly pleasures, consolations, joys, 
 appetites, the I, the Self, and all that is 
 thereof in man, to which he clingeth 
 and on which he is yet leaning with 
 content, and thinketh 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]. 
 Thereunto doth St. Paul exhort us, _ 
 
 saying : ‘“‘ Put off concerning the former 
 conversation the old man, which is 
 
Theologia Germanica 53 
 
 corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: 
 
 . and that ye put on the new man, 
 which after God is created in righteous- 
 ”1 Now he who 
 liveth 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 liveth in humble obedience and in 
 
 ness and true holiness. 
 
 the new man which is Christ, he is, in 
 like manner, the brother of Christ and 
 the child of God. 
 
 Behold !’ where the old man dieth and 
 the new man is born, there is that second 
 birth of which Christ saith, “Except a 
 man be born again, he cannot enter into 
 the kingdom of God.”? Likewise St. 
 Paul saith, ‘‘ As in Adam all die, even so 
 in Christ shall all be made alive.”* That 
 
 1 Ephesians iv. 22,24. 7 Johniii.3. *% 1 Cor. xv. 22. 
 
54 Theologia Germanica 
 
 is to say, all who follow Adam in pride, 
 in lust of the flesh, and in disobedience, 
 are dead in soul, and never will or can 
 be made alive but in Christ. And for 
 this cause, so long as a man is an Adam 
 or his child, he is without God. Christ 
 saith, ‘“ He who is not with Me is against 
 Me.”? Now he who is against God, is 
 dead before God. Whence it followeth 
 that all Adam’s children are dead before 
 God. But he who standeth with Christ 
 in perfect obedience, he is with God and 
 liveth. As it hath been said already, sin 
 lieth in the turning away of the creature 
 from the Creator, which agreeth with 
 what we have now said. 
 
 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. 
 
 1 Matt. xii, 30. 
 
Theologia Germanica 55 
 
 For so long as a man continueth in dis- 
 obedience, his sin can never be blotted 
 out ; let him do what he will, it availeth 
 him nothing. Let us be assured of this. 
 For disobedience is itself sin. But when 
 a man entereth into the obedience of 
 the faith, all is healed, and blotted out 
 and forgiven, and not else. Insomuch 
 that if the Evil Spirit himself could come 
 into true obedience, he would become an 
 angel again, and all his sin and wicked- 
 ness would be healed and blotted out 
 and forgiven at once. And could an 
 angel fall into disobedience, he would 
 straightway become an evil spirit al- 
 though he did nothing afresh. 
 
 If then it were possible for a man to 
 renounce himself and all things, and to 
 live as wholly and purely in true obedi- 
 ence, as Christ did in His human nature, 
 such a man were quite without sin, and 
 
56 Theologia Germanica 
 
 were one thing with Christ, and the 
 same by grace which Christ was by 
 nature. But it is said this cannot be. 
 So also it is said: ‘‘ There is none with- 
 out sin.” 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 lieth in this matter of obedi- 
 ence. Therefore it hath been said: the 
 more of Self and Me, the more of sin and 
 wickedness. So likewise it hath been 
 said: the more the Self, the I, the Me, 
 the Mine, that 1s, self-seeking and selfish- 
 ness, abate in a man, the more doth God’s 
 I, that is, God Himself, increase in him. 
 
 Now, if all mankind abode in true 
 obedience, there would be no grief nor 
 
Theologia Germanica 57 
 
 sorrow. For if it were so, all men would 
 be at one, and none would vex or harm 
 another ; so also, none would lead a life 
 or do any deed contrary to God’s will. 
 Whence then should grief or sorrow 
 arise? But now alas! all men, nay the 
 whole world lieth in disobedience! 
 Now were a man simply and wholly 
 obedient as Christ was, all disobedience 
 were to him a sharp and bitter pain. 
 But though all men were against him, 
 they could neither shake nor trouble him, 
 for while in this obedience a man were 
 one with God, and God Himself were 
 [one with] the man. 
 
 _ Behold now all disobedience is con- 
 trary to God, and nothing else. In 
 truth, no Thing is contrary to God; no 
 creature nor creature’s work, nor any- 
 thing that we can name or think of is 
 contrary to God or displeasing to Him, 
 
58 Theologia Germanica 
 
 but only disobedience and the disobedient 
 man. In short, all that is, is well- 
 pleasing and good in God’s eyes, saving 
 only the disobedient man. But he is 
 so displeasing and hateful to God and 
 grieveth Him so sore, that if it were 
 possible for human nature to die a 
 _ hundred deaths, God would willingly 
 . suffer them all for one disobedient man, 
 that He might slay disobedience in him, 
 and that obedience might be born again. 
 
 Behold! albeit no man may be so —— 
 
 single and perfect in this obedience as 
 Christ was, yet it is possible to every man 
 to approach so near thereunto as to be 
 
 rightly called Godlike, and “a partaker 
 
 of the divine nature.”! And the nearer a 
 mancometh thereunto, and the more God- 
 like and divine he becometh, the more 
 he hateth all disobedience, sin, evil and 
 
 1 2 Peter i. 4. 
 
Theologia Germanica 59 
 
 unrighteousness, and the worse they 
 grieve him. Disobedience and sin are 
 the same thing, for there is no sin but 
 disobedience, and what is done of dis- 
 obedience is all sin. Therefore all we 
 have to do is to keep ourselves from 
 disobedience. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 How we are not to take unto ourselves what we 
 have done well, but only what we have done 
 
 amiss. 
 
 EHOLD! now it is reported 
 
 there be some who vainly think 
 
 and say that they are so wholly 
 dead to self and quit of it, as to have 
 reached and abide in a state where they 
 suffer nothing and are moved by nothing, 
 just as if all men were living in obedience, 
 
60 Theologia Germanica 
 
 or as if there were no creatures. And 
 thus they profess to continue always in 
 an even temper of mind, so that nothing 
 cometh amiss to them, howsoever things 
 fall out, well or ill. Nay verily! the 
 matter standeth not so, but as we have 
 said. It might be thus, if all men were 
 brought into obedience ; but until then, 
 it cannot be. 
 
 But it may be asked: Are not we to 
 be separate from all things, and neither to 
 take unto ourselves evil nor good? I 
 
 »dw, answer, no one shall take goodness unto 
 himself, for that belongeth to God and 
 His goodness only; but thanks be 
 
 Fim 6 
 
 unto the man, and everlasting reward 
 and blessings, who is fit and ready to be 
 a dwelling and tabernacle of the Eternal 
 Goodness and Godhead, wherein God 
 may exert His power, and will and work - 
 without hindrance. But if any now will — 
 
Theologia Germanica 61 
 
 excuse himself for sin, by refusing to take 
 what is evil unto himself, and laying the 
 guilt thereof upon the Evil Spirit, and 
 thus make himself out to be quite pure 
 and innocent (as our first parents Adam 
 and Eve did while they were yet in 
 paradise ; when each laid the guilt upon 
 the other), he hath no right at all to 
 do this; for it is written, ‘‘ There is 
 none without sin.” Therefore I say; 
 reproach, shame, loss, woe, and eternal 
 damnation be to the man who is fit and 
 ready and willing that the Evil Spirit 
 and falsehood, lies and all untruthfulness, 
 wickedness and other evil things should 
 have their will and pleasure, word and 
 work in him, and make him their house 
 | and habitation. 
 
62 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 How that the Life of Christ is the noblest and 
 best Life that ever hath been or can be, and 
 how a careless Life of false Freedom is the 
 worst Life that can be. 
 
 F a truth we ought to know 
 and believe that there is no life 
 so noble and good and well 
 
 pleasing to God, as the life of Christ, and 
 
 yet it is to nature and selfishness the 
 bitterest life. A life of carelessness and - 
 freedom is to nature and the Self and the 
 
 Me, the sweetest and pleasantest life, but 
 
 it is not the best ; and in some men may 
 
 become the worst. But though Christ’s - 
 life be the most bitter of all, yet it is to 
 be preferred above all. Hereby shall ye 
 mark this: There is an inward sight 
 
 ‘i 
 
Theologia Germanica 63 
 
 which hath power to perceive the One 
 true Good, and that it is neither this nor 
 that, but that of which St. Paul saith; 
 “When that which is perfect is come, 
 then that which is in part shall be done 
 away.” By this he meaneth, that the 
 Whole and Perfect excelleth all the 
 fragments, and that all which is in part 
 and imperfect, is as nought compared to 
 the Perfect. Thus likewise all know- 
 ledge of the parts is swallowed up when 
 the Whole is known; and where that 
 Good is known, it cannot but be longed 
 for and loved so greatly, that all other 
 love wherewith the man _ hath loved 
 himself and other things, fadeth away. 
 And that inward sight likewise perceiveth 
 what is best and noblest in all things, 
 and loveth it in the one true Good, and 
 only for the sake of that true Good. 
 
 1 y Cor, xiii. 10. 
 
64 Theologia Germanica 
 
 Behold! where there is this inward 
 sight, the man perceiveth of a truth, that 
 Christ’s life is the best and noblest life, 
 and therefore the most to be preferred, 
 and he willingly accepteth and endureth 
 it, without a question or a complaint, 
 whether it please or offend nature or 
 other men, whether he like or dislike it, 
 find it sweet or bitter and the like. 
 And therefore wherever this perfect and 
 true Good is known, there also the life of 
 Christ must be led, until the death of 
 the body. And he who vainly thinketh 
 otherwise is deceived, and he who saith 
 otherwise, lieth, and in what man the 
 life of Christ is not, of him the true Good 
 and eternal Truth will nevermore be 
 known. 
 
Theologia Germanica 65 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 How we cannot come to the true Light and Christ's 
 Life, by much Questioning or Reading, or by high 
 natural Skill and Reason, but by truly renouncing 
 ourselves and all Things. 
 
 attain to this true light and 
 perfect knowledge, or life of 
 
 Christ, by much questioning, or by hear- 
 say, or by reading and study, nor yet 
 by high skill and great learning. Yea, 
 so long as a man taketh account of 
 anything which is this or that, whether 
 it be himself, or any other creature; or 
 doeth anything, or frameth a purpose, for 
 the sake of his own likings or desires, or 
 opinions, or ends, he cometh not unto 
 the life of Christ. This hath Christ 
 F 
 
66 Theologia Germanica 
 
 Himself declared, for He saith: “If any 
 man will come after Me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross, and follow 
 Me.”! ‘He that taketh not his cross, 
 and followeth after Me, is not worthy of 
 Me.”2 And if he ‘hate not his father 
 and mother, and wife, and children, and 
 brethren and sisters, yea, and his own 
 life also, he cannot be My disciple.” * He 
 meaneth it thus: ‘‘ He who doth not 
 forsake and part with everything, can 
 never know My eternal truth, nor attain 
 unto My life.” And though this had 
 never been declared unto us, yet the 
 truth herself sayeth it, for it is so of a 
 truth. But so long as a man clingeth | 
 unto the elements and fragments of this 
 world (and above all to himself), and 
 holdeth converse with them, and maketh 
 great account of them, he is deceived 
 
 1 Matt. xvi. 24. 2 Matt. x. 38. 3 Luke xiv. 26. 
 
Theologia Germanica 67 
 
 and blinded, and perceiveth what is good 
 no further than as it is most convenient 
 and pleasant to himself and profitable to 
 his own ends. These he holdeth to be 
 the highest good and loveth above all. 
 [Thus he never cometh to the truth. ] 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 How, seeing that the Life of Christ is most bitter 
 to Nature and Self, Nature will have none of 
 it, and chooseth a false careless Life, as is most con- 
 venient to her. 
 
 OW, since the life of Christ is 
 5 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 hath a horror of it, and 
 
68 Theologia Germanica 
 
 thinketh it evil and unjust and a folly, 
 and graspeth after such a life as shall be 
 most comfortable and pleasant to herself, 
 and saith, and believeth also in her 
 blindness, that such a life is the best 
 possible. Now, nothing is so com- 
 fortable and pleasant to nature, as a free, 
 careless way of life, therefore she clingeth 
 to that, and taketh enjoyment in herself 
 and her own powers, and looketh only 
 to her own peace and comfort and the 
 like. And this happeneth most of all, - 
 where there are high natural gifts of 
 reason, for that soareth upwards in its 
 own light and by its own power, till at 
 last it cometh to think itself the true 
 Eternal Light, and giveth itself out as 
 such, and is thus deceived in itself, and 
 deceiveth other people along with it, who 
 know no better, and also are thereunto 
 inclined. . 
 
Theologia Germanica 69 
 
 CHAPTER xx! 
 
 How a Friend of Christ willingly fulfilleth by bis 
 outward Works, such Things as must be and ought 
 to be, and doth not concern himself with the rest. 
 
 B|OW, it may be asked, what is 
 the state of a man who follow- 
 eth the true Light to the 
 utmost of his power? I answer truly, 
 it will never be declared aright, for he 
 who is not such a man, can neither 
 
 understand nor know it, and he who is, 
 knoweth it indeed; but he cannot utter 
 it, for it is unspeakable. Therefore let — 
 him who would know it, give his whole 
 diligence that he may enter therein ; 
 then will he see and find what hath 
 never been uttered by man’s lips. How- 
 ever, I believe that such a man hath liberty 
 
70 Theologia Germanica 
 
 as to his outward walk and conversation, 
 so long as they consist with what must 
 be or ought to be; but they may not 
 consist with what he merely willeth to 
 be. But oftentimes a man maketh to 
 himself many must-be’s and ought-to- 
 be’s which are false. The which ye may 
 see hereby, that when a man is moved 
 by his pride or covetousness or other 
 evil dispositions, to do or leave undone 
 anything, he ofttimes saith, “It must 
 needs be so, and ought to beso.” Or 
 if he is driven to, or held back from 
 anything by the desire to find favour 
 in men’s eyes, or by love, friendship, 
 enmity, or the lusts and appetites of his 
 body, he saith, “It must needs be so, 
 and ought to be so.” Yet behold, that 
 is utterly false. Had we no must-be’s, - 
 nor ought-to-be’s, but such as God and 
 the Truth show us, and constrain us to, 
 
Theologia Germanica 71 
 
 we should have less, forsooth, to order 
 and do than now ; [for we make to our- 
 selves much disquietude and difficulty 
 which we might well be spared and 
 raised above]. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 How sometimes the Spirit of God, and sometimes also 
 the Evil Spirit may possess a Man and have the 
 mastery over him. 
 
 G|T is written that sometimes the 
 Devil and his spirit do so enter 
 
 into and possess a man, that he 
 knoweth not what he doeth and leaveth 
 undone, and hath no power over himself, 
 but the Evil Spirit hath the mastery 
 over him, and doeth and leaveth undone 
 in, and with, and through, and by the 
 man what he will. It is true in a sense 
 
72 Theologia Germanica 
 
 that all the world is subject to and pos- 
 sessed with the Evil Spirit, that is, with 
 lies, falsehood, and other vices and evil 
 ways; this also cometh of the Evil 
 Spirit, but in a different sense. 
 Now, a man who should be in like 
 manner possessed by the Spirit of God, 
 so that he should not know what he 
 doeth or leaveth undone, and have no 
 power over himself, but the will and 
 Spirit of God should have the mastery 
 over him, and work, and do, and leave 
 undone with him and by him, what and 
 as God would; such a man were one of 
 those of whom St. Paul saith: ‘ For as 
 many as are led by the Spirit of God, 
 they are the sons of God,’? and they 
 “are not under the law, but under 
 grace,’” and to whom Christ saith: 
 “For it is not ye that speak, but the 
 
 1 Rom. viii. 14. 2 Rom. vi. 14. 
 
- Theologia Germanica 73 
 
 Spirit of your Father which speaketh in 
 you.” ? 
 
 But I fear that for one who is truly 
 possessed with the Spirit of God, there 
 are a hundred thousand or an innumer- 
 able multitude possessed with the Evil | 
 Spirit. This is because men have more. 
 likeness to the Evil Spirit than to God. 
 For the Self, the I, the Me and the like, 
 all belong to the Evil Spirit, and there- 
 fore it is, that he is an Evil Spirit. 
 Behold one or two words can utter all 
 that hath been said by these many 
 words: ‘Be simply and wholly bereft 
 of Self.” But by these many words, 
 the matter hath been more fully sifted, 
 proved, and set forth. 
 
 Now men say, “I am in no wise 
 prepared for ‘this work, and therefore it 
 cannot be wrought in me,” and thus 
 
 1 Matt. x. 20. 
 
74 Theologia Germanica 
 
 they find an excuse, so that they neither 
 are ready nor in the way to be so. And 
 truly there is no one to blame for this 
 but themselves. For if a man were 
 looking and striving after nothing but 
 to find a preparation in all things, and 
 diligently gave his whole mind to see 
 how he might become prepared ; verily 
 God would well prepare him, for God 
 giveth as much care and earnestness and 
 love to the preparing of a man, as to the 
 pouring in of His Spirit when the man 
 is prepared. 
 
 Yet there be certain means thereunto, 
 as the saying is, ‘To learn an art which 
 thou knowest not, four things are need- 
 ful.” The first and most needful of 
 all is, a great desire and diligence and 
 constant endeavour to learn the art. 
 And where this is wanting, the art will 
 
 1 See note, p. 79. 
 
 } 
 
Theologia Germanica 75 
 
 never be learned. The second is, a copy 
 or ensample by which thou mayest learn. 
 The third is to give earnest heed to the 
 master, and watch how he worketh, and 
 to be obedient to him in all things, and 
 to trust him and/ follow him. The 
 fourth is to put thy own hand to the 
 work, and practise it with all industry. 
 But where one of these four is wanting, 
 the art will never be learned and 
 mastered. So likewise is it with this 
 preparation. For he who hath the first, 
 that is, thorough diligence and constant, 
 persevering desire towards his end, will 
 also seek and find all that appertaineth 
 thereunto, or is serviceable and profitable 
 to it. But he who hath not that earnest- 
 ness and diligence, love and desire, seeketh 
 not, and therefore findeth not, and there- 
 fore remaineth ever unprepared. And 
 therefore he never attaineth unto that end. 
 
76 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTERMaw 
 
 He who will submit himself to God and be obedient 
 to Him, must be ready to bear with all Things ; 
 
 to wit, God, himself, and all Creatures, and must 
 be obedient to them all, whether he have to suffer 
 or to do. 
 
 HERE be some who talk of 
 
 other ways and preparations to 
 
 this end, and say we must lie 
 still under God’s hand, and be obedient 
 and resigned and submit to Him. This 
 is true; for all this would be perfected 
 in a man who should attain to the utter- 
 most that can be reached in this present 
 time. But if a man ought and is willing 
 to lie still under God’s hand, he must 
 and ought also to be still under all 
 things, whether they come from God, 
 
Theologia Germanica 77 
 
 himself, or the creatures, nothing ex- 
 cepted. And he who would be obedient, - 
 resigned and submissive to God, must 
 and ought to be also resigned, obedient 
 and submissive to all things, in a spirit 
 of yielding, and not of resistance, and 
 take them in silence, resting on the 
 hidden foundations of his soul, and 
 having a secret inward patience, that 
 enableth him to take all chances or 
 crosses willingly, and whatever befalleth, 
 neither to call for nor desire any redress, 
 or deliverance, or resistance, or revenge, 
 but always in a loving, sincere humility 
 to cry, “Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do!” 
 
 Behold! this were a good path to that 
 which is Best, and a noble and blessed 
 preparation for the farthest goal which a 
 man may reach in this present time. 
 
 This is the lovely life of Christ, for He 
 
78 Theologia Germanica 
 
 walked in the aforesaid paths perfectly 
 and wholly unto the end of His bodily 
 life on earth. Therefore there is no - 
 other and better way or preparation’ to 
 the joyful life of Jesus Christ, than this 
 same course, and to exercise oneself 
 therein, as much as may be. And of 
 what belongeth thereunto we have 
 already said somewhat ; nay, all that we 
 have here or elsewhere said and written, 
 is but a way or means to that end. But 
 what the end is, knoweth no man to 
 declare. But let him who would know 
 it, follow my counsel and take the right 
 path thereunto, which is the humble life 
 of Jesus Christ; [let him strive after 
 that with unwearied perseverance, and so, 
 without doubt, he shall come to that end 
 which endureth for ever. ‘‘ For he that - 
 endureth to the end shall be saved ”].? 
 
 1 Matt. x. 22: 
 
Theologia Germanica 79 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 How that four Things are needful before a Man can 
 receive divine Truth and be possessed with the 
 Spirit of God. 
 
 OREOVER there are yet other 
 ways to the lovely life of Christ, 
 
 besides those we have spoken 
 
 of: to wit, that God and man should _ 
 
 be wholly united, so that it can be said 
 of a truth, that God and man are one. 
 This cometh to pass on this wise. 
 Where the Truth always reigneth, so 
 that true perfect God and true perfect 
 
 1 The heading of this Chapter appears to have no relation 
 to its contents, while it perfectly suits the latter half of Chapter 
 xxii. (p. 74), which has nothing corresponding to it in the 
 heading of that chapter. As however the heading of Chapter 
 xxiy. is common both to the Wurtzburg MS. and Luther’s 
 editions, the translator has no option but to retain it in its 
 present position, 
 
80 Theologia Germanica 
 
 man are at one, and man so giveth place 
 to God, that God Himself is there and 
 yet the man too, and this same unity 
 worketh continually, and doeth and 
 leaveth undone without any I, and Me, 
 and Mine, and the like; behold, there 
 is Christ, and nowhere else. Now, 
 seeing that here there is true perfect 
 manhood, so there is a perfect perceiving 
 and feeling of pleasure and pain, liking 
 and disliking, sweetness and bitterness, 
 joy and sorrow, and all that can be 
 perceived and felt within and without. 
 And seeing that God is here made man, 
 He is also able to perceive and feel love 
 and hatred, evil and good and the like. 
 Asa man who is not God, feeleth and 
 taketh note of all that giveth him 
 pleasure and pain, and it pierceth him 
 to the heart, especially what offendeth 
 him; so is it also when God and man 
 
Theologia Germanica 81 
 
 are one, and yet God is the man; there 
 everything is perceived and felt that is 
 contrary to God and man. And since 
 there man becometh nought, and God 
 alone is everything, so is it with that 
 which is contrary to man, and a sorrow 
 to him. And this must hold true of 
 God so long as a bodily and substantial 
 life endureth. 
 
 Furthermore, mark ye, that the one 
 Being in whom God and man are united, 
 standeth free of himself and of all things, 
 and whatever is in him is there for God’s 
 sake and not for man’s, or the creature’s. 
 For it is ‘the property of God to be 
 without this and that, and without Self 
 and Me, and without equal or fellow ; 
 but it is the nature and property of the 
 creature to seek itself and its own things, 
 and this and that, here and there; and 
 in all that it doeth and leaveth undone 
 
 G 
 
82 Theologia Germanica 
 
 its desire is to its own advantage and 
 profit. Now where a creature or a man ~ 
 forsaketh and cometh out of himself and 
 his own things, there God entereth in 
 with His own, that is, with Himself. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Of two evil Fruits that do spring up from the Seed 
 of the Evil Spirit, and are two Sisters who love 
 to dwell together. The one is called spiritual 
 Pride and Highmindedness, the other is false, 
 lawless Freedom. 
 
 THIOW, after that a man hath 
 S| walked in all the ways that 
 lead him unto the truth, and 
 exercised himself therein, not sparing his 
 
 labour ; now, as often and as long as- 
 he dreameth that his work is altogether 
 finished, and he is by this time quite 
 
Theologia Germanica 83 
 
 dead to the world, and come out from 
 Self and given up to God alone, behold ! 
 the Devil cometh and soweth his seed 
 in the man’s heart. From this seed 
 spring two fruits; the one is spiritual 
 fulness or pride, the other is false, law- 
 less freedom. These are two sisters who 
 love to be together. Now, it beginneth 
 on this wise: the Devil puffeth up the 
 man, till he thinketh himself to have 
 climbed the topmost pinnacle, and to 
 have come so near to heaven, that he no 
 longer needeth Scripture, nor teaching, 
 nor this nor that, but is altogether raised 
 above any need. Whereupon there 
 ariseth a false peace and satisfaction with 
 himself, and then it followeth that he 
 saith or thinketh: ‘‘ Yea, now I am 
 above all other men, and know and 
 understand more than any one in the 
 world; therefore it is certainly just and 
 
84. Theologia Germanica 
 
 reasonable that I should be the lord and 
 commander of all creatures, and that all 
 creatures, and especially all men, should 
 serve me and be subject unto me.” 
 And then he seeketh and desireth the 
 same, and taketh it gladly from all 
 creatures, especially men, and thinketh 
 himself well worthy of all this, and that 
 it is his due, and looketh on men as if 
 they were the beasts of the field, and 
 thinketh himself worthy of all that 
 ministereth to his body and life and 
 nature, in profit, or joy, or pleasure, or 
 even pastime and amusement, and he 
 seeketh and taketh it wherever he 
 findeth opportunity. And whatever is 
 done or can be done for him, seemeth 
 him all too little and too poor, for he 
 thinketh himself worthy of still more 
 and greater honour than can be rendered 
 to him. And of all the men who serve 
 
Theologia Germanica 85 
 
 him and are subject to him, even if they 
 be downright thieves and murderers, he 
 saith nevertheless, that they have faith- 
 ful, noble hearts, and have great love 
 and faithfulness to the truth and to 
 poor men. And such men are praised 
 by him, and he seeketh them and 
 followeth after them wherever they be. 
 But he who doth not order himself 
 according to the will of these high- 
 minded men, nor is subject unto them, 
 is not sought after by them, nay, more 
 likely blamed and spoken ill of, even 
 though he were as holy as St. Peter 
 himself. And seeing that this proud 
 and puffed-up spirit thinketh that she 
 needeth neither Scripture, nor instruction, 
 nor anything of the kind, therefore she 
 giveth no heed to the admonitions, 
 order, laws and precepts of the holy 
 Christian Church, nor to the Sacraments, 
 
86 Theologia Rin 
 
 but mocketh at them and at all men 
 who walk according to these ordinances 
 and hold them in reverence. Hereby 
 we may plainly see that those two sisters 
 dwell together. 
 
 Moreover since this sheer pride - 
 thinketh to know and understand more 
 than all men besides, therefore she chooseth 
 to prate more than all other men, and 
 would fain have her opinions and speeches 
 to be alone regarded and listened to, and 
 counteth all that others think and say to 
 be wrong, and holdeth it in derision as a 
 folly. 
 
 KOSS? 
 
Theologia Germanica 87 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 Touching Poorness of Spirit and true Humility and 
 whereby we may discern the true and lawful free 
 Men whom the Truth hath made free. 
 
 B|UT it is quite otherwise where 
 ¢| there is poorness of spirit, and 
 
 Zl true humility ; and it is so 
 because it is found and known of a 
 truth that a man, of himself and his 
 own power, is nothing, hath nothing, 
 can do and is capable of nothing but 
 only infirmity and evil. Hence followeth 
 that the man findeth himself altogether 
 unworthy of all that hath been or ever 
 will be done for him, by God or the 
 creatures, and that he is a debtor to 
 God and also to all the creatures in 
 God’s stead, both to bear with, and to 
 
88 Theologia Germanica 
 
 labour for, and to serve them. And ~— 
 therefore he doth not in any wise stand 
 up for his own rights, but from the 
 humility of his heart~he saith, “It is 
 just and reasonable that God and all 
 creatures should be against me, and have 
 a right over me, and to me, and that I 
 should not be against any one, nor have 
 aright to anything.” Hence it followeth 
 that the man doth not and will not crave 
 or beg for anything, either from God or 
 the creatures, beyond mere needful things, 
 and for those only with shamefacedness, 
 as a favour and not asaright. And he 
 will not minister unto or gratify his body 
 or any of his natural desires, beyond what 
 is needful, nor allow that any should help 
 or serve him except in case of necessity, 
 and then always in trembling ; for he 
 hath no right to anything and therefore 
 he thinketh himself unworthy of any- 
 
Theologia Germanica 89 
 
 thing. So likewise all his own discourse, 
 ways, words and works seem to this man 
 a thing of nought anda folly. Therefore 
 he speaketh little, and doth not take upon 
 himself to admonish or rebuke any, unless 
 he be constrained thereto by love or faith- 
 fulness) towards God, and even then he 
 doth it in fear, and so little as may be. 
 Moreover, when a man hath this poor 
 and humble spirit, he cometh to see and 
 understand aright, how that all men are 
 bent upon themselves, and inclined to 
 evil and sin, and that on this account it 
 is needful and profitable that there be 
 order, customs, law and precepts, to the 
 end that the blindness and foolishness of 
 men may be corrected, and that vice and 
 wickedness may be kept under, and con- 
 strained to seemliness. For without 
 ordinances, men would be much more 
 -mischievous and ungovernable than dogs 
 
go Theologia Germanica 
 
 and cattle. And few have come to the 
 knowledge of the truth but what have 
 begun with holy practices and ordinances, 
 and exercised themselves therein so long 
 as they knew nothing more nor better. 
 Therefore one who is poor in spirit 
 and of a humble mind doth not despise 
 or make light of law, order, precepts and 
 holy customs, nor yet of those who 
 observe and cleave wholly to them, but 
 with loving pity and gentle sorrow, 
 crieth: “Almighty Father, Thou Eternal 
 Truth, I make my lament unto Thee, 
 and it grieveth Thy Spirit too, that 
 through man’s blindness, infirmity, and 
 sin, that is made needful and must be, 
 which in deed and truth were neither 
 needful nor right.” [For those who are 
 perfect are under no law. . 
 So order, laws, precepts and the like 
 
 \ 
 
 are merely an admonition to men who ~ 
 
Theologia Germanica g1 
 
 understand nothing better and know and 
 perceive not wherefore all law and order 
 is ordained.] And the perfect accept 
 the law along with such ignorant men 
 as understand and know nothing better, 
 and practise it with them, to the intent 
 that they may be restrained thereby, and 
 kept from evil ways, or if it be possible, 
 brought to something higher. 
 
 Behold! all that we have said of poverty 
 and humility is so of a truth, and we have 
 the proof and witness thereof in the pure 
 life of Christ, and in His words. For 
 He both practised and fulfilled every 
 work of true humility and all other 
 virtues, as shineth forth in His holy 
 life, and He saith also expressly : ‘‘ Learn 
 of Me; for I am meek and lowly of 
 heart: and ye shall find rest unto your 
 souls.” Moreover He did not despise 
 
 1 Matt. xi. 29. 
 
92 Theologia Germanica 
 
 and set at nought the law and the com- 
 mandments, nor yet the men who are 
 under the law. [He saith: “I am not 
 come to destroy the law or the prophets, 
 but to fulfil.”] But He saith further, 
 that to keep them is not enough, we 
 must press forward to what is higher 
 and better, as is indeed true. [He 
 saith : ‘‘ Except your righteousness shall 
 exceed the righteousness of the Scribes 
 and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter 
 into the kingdom of Heaven.”? For 
 the law forbiddeth evil works, but Christ 
 condemneth also evil thoughts ; the law 
 alloweth us to take vengeance on our 
 enemies, but Christ commandeth us to 
 love them. The law forbiddeth not 
 the good things of this world, but He 
 counselleth us to despise them. And 
 He hath set His seal upon all He said, 
 
 1 Matt. v. 20. 
 
Theologia Germanica 93 
 
 with His own holy life; for He taught 
 nothing that He did not fulfil in work, 
 and He kept the law and was subject 
 unto it to the end of His mortal life.] 
 Likewise St. Paul saith: ‘Christ was 
 made under the law, to redeem them 
 that were under the law.”' That is, 
 that He might bring them to something 
 higher and nearer to Himself. He said 
 again, “The Son of man came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister.” ? 
 
 In a word : in Christ’s life and words 
 and works, we find nothing but true, 
 pure humility and poverty such as we 
 
 have set forth. And therefore where ~ 
 
 God dwelleth in a man, and the man 
 is a true follower of Christ, it will 
 be, and must be, and ought to be the 
 same. But where there is pride, and a 
 haughty spirit, and a light careless mind, 
 
 1 Galat. iv. 4. 2 Matt. xx. 28. 
 
94. Theologia Germanica 
 
 Christ is not, nor any true follower of 
 His. 
 
 Christ said: “My soul is troubled, 
 even unto death.” He meaneth His 
 bodily death. [That is to \say: from - 
 the time that He was born of Mary, 
 until His death on the cross, He had 
 not one joyful day, but only trouble, 
 sorrow and contradiction.] Therefore 
 it is just and reasonable that His ser- 
 vants should be even as their Master. 
 Christ saith also: ‘Blessed are the poor 
 in spirit” (that is, those who are truly 
 humble), ‘for theirs is the kingdom of 
 Heaven.” And thus we find it of a 
 truth, where God is made man. For in 
 Christ and in all His true followers, 
 there must needs be thorough humility 
 and poorness of spirit, a lowly retiring 
 disposition, and a heart laden with a 
 secret sorrow and mourning, so long as 
 
Theologia Germanica 95 
 
 this mortal life lasteth. And he who 
 dreameth otherwise is deceived, and 
 deceiveth others with him as aforesaid. 
 Therefore nature and Self always avoid 
 this life, and cling to a life of false 
 freedom and ease, as we have said. 
 Behold! now cometh an Adam or an 
 Evil Spirit, wishing to justify himself 
 and make excuse, and saith: ‘ Thou 
 wilt almost have it that Christ was bereft 
 of self and the like, yet He spake often 
 of Himself, and glorified Himself in this 
 and that.” Answer: when a man in 
 whom the truth worketh, hath and ought 
 to have a will towards anything, his will 
 and endeavour and works are for no end, 
 but that the truth may be seen and 
 manifested ; and this will was in Christ, 
 and to this end, words and works were 
 needful. And what Christ did because 
 it was the most profitable and best means 
 
96 Theologia Germanica 
 
 thereunto, He no more took unto Him- 
 self than anything else that happened. 
 Dost thou say now: ‘‘ Then there was 
 a Wherefore in Christ”? I answer, if 
 thou wert to ask the sun, ‘“‘ Why shinest 
 thou?” he would say: ‘I must shine, 
 and cannot do otherwise; for it is my 
 nature and property; but this my 
 property, and the light I give, is not 
 of myself, and I do not call it mine.” 
 So likewise is it with God and Christ 
 and all who are godly and belong unto 
 God. In them is no willing, nor work- 
 ing nor desiring but has for its end, 
 goodness as goodness, for the sake of 
 goodness, and they have no other Where- 
 fore than this. 
 
Theologia Germanica 97 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 How we are to take Christs Words when He bade 
 us forsake all Things; and wherein the Union 
 with the Divine Will standeth. 
 
 “at Nie OW, according to what hath 
 been said, ye must observe that 
 
 when we say, as Christ also 
 saith, that we ought to resign and for- 
 sake all things, this is not to be taken in 
 the sense that a man is neither to do nor 
 to purpose anything ; for a man must 
 always have something to do and to 
 order so long as he liveth. But we 
 are to understand by it that the union 
 with God standeth not in any man’s 
 powers, in his working or abstaining, 
 perceiving or knowing, nor in that of 
 all the creatures taken together. 
 
 H 
 
98 Theologia Germania 
 
 Now what is this union? It is that 
 we should be of a truth purely, simply, 
 and wholly at one with the One Eternal 
 Will of God, or altogether without will, 
 so that the created will should flow out 
 into the Eternal Will, and be swallowed 
 up and lost therein, so that the Eternal 
 Will alone should do and leave undone 
 in us. Now mark what may help or 
 further us towards this end. Behold, 
 neither exercises, nor words, nor works, 
 nor any creature nor creature’s work can 
 do this. In this wise therefore must we 
 renounce and forsake all things, that we 
 must not imagine or suppose that any 
 words, works, or exercises, any skill or 
 cunning or any created thing can help 
 or serve us thereto. Therefore we must 
 suffer these things to be what they are, 
 and enter into the union with God. 
 Yet outward things must be, and we 
 
Theologia Germanica 99 
 
 must do and refrain so far as is necessary, 
 especially we must sleep and wake, walk 
 and stand still, speak and be silent and 
 much more of the like. These must go 
 on so long as we live. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 How, after a Union with the Divine Will, the in- 
 ward Man standeth immoveable, the while the 
 outward Man is moved hither and thither. 
 
 cometh to pass and becometh 
 J established, the inward man 
 standeth henceforward immoveable in 
 this union; and God suffereth the out- 
 ward man to be moved hither and thither, 
 from this to that, of such things as are 
 necessary and right. So that the out- 
 ward man saith in sincerity ‘I have no 
 
 yoIOW, when this union truly — 
 
100 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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 thereunto, whether I have to 
 do or to suffer.” And thus the outward - 
 man hath no Wherefore or purpose, but 
 only to do his part to further the Eternal 
 Will. For it is perceived of a truth, 
 that the inward man shall stand immove- 
 able, and that it is needful for the out- 
 ward man to be moved. And if the 
 inward man have any Wherefore in the 
 actions of the outward man, he saith 
 only that such things must be and ought 
 to be, as are ordained by the Eternal 
 Will. And where God Himself dwelleth 
 in the man, it is thus; as we plainly see 
 in Christ. Moreover, where there is 
 this union, which is the offspring of a 
 Divine light and dwelleth in its beams, 
 
Theologia Germanica 101 
 
 there is no spiritual pride or irreverent 
 spirit, but boundless humility, and a 
 lowly broken heart; also an honest 
 blameless walk, justice, peace, content, 
 and all that is of virtue must needs be 
 there. Where they are not, there is 
 no right union, as we have said. For 
 just as neither this thing nor that can 
 bring about or further this union, so 
 there is nothing which hath power to 
 frustrate or hinder it, save the man 
 himself with his self-will, that doeth 
 him this great wrong. Of this be well 
 assured, 
 
102 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER: 
 
 How a Man may not attain so high before Death 
 as not to be moved or touched by outward Things. 
 
 7ZIHERE be some who affirm, 
 that a man, while in this 
 
 present time, may and ought 
 to be above being touched by outward 
 things, and in all respects as Christ was 
 after His resurrection. This they try 
 to prove and establish by Christ’s words : 
 “TI go before you into Galilee there ; 
 shall ye see Me.”* And again, “A 
 spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye 
 see Me have.” ? 
 interpret thus: “As ye have seen Me, 
 and been followers of Me, in My mortal 
 
 These sayings they 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 32, and xxviii. 7-10. 
 2 Luke xxiv. 39. 
 
Theologia Germanica 103 
 
 body and life, so also it behoveth you 
 to see Me and follow Me, as I go 
 before you into Galilee; that is to say, 
 into a state in which nothing hath power 
 to move or grieve the soul; on which 
 state ye shall enter, and live and continue 
 therein, before that ye have suffered and 
 gone through your bodily death. And 
 as ye see Me having flesh and bones, 
 and not liable to suffer, so shall ye 
 likewise, while yet in the body and 
 having your mortal nature, cease to feel 
 outward things, were it even the death 
 
 of the body.” 
 
 Now, I answer, in the first place, to — 
 
 this affirmation, that Christ did not 
 mean that a man should or could attain 
 unto this state, unless he have first gone 
 through and suffered all that Christ did. 
 Now, Christ did not attain thereunto, 
 before He had passed through and suffered 
 
104 Theologia Germanica 
 
 His natural death, and what things 
 appertain thereto. Therefore no man — 
 can or ought to come to it so long as he 
 is mortal and liable to suffer. For if 
 such a state were the noblest and best, 
 and if it were possible and right to attain 
 to it, as aforesaid, in this present time, 
 then it would have been attained by 
 Christ ; for the life of Christ is the best 
 and noblest, the worthiest and loveliest 
 in God’s sight that ever was or will be. 
 Therefore if it was not and could not be 
 so with Christ, it will never be so with 
 any man. Therefore though some may 
 imagine and say that such a life is the 
 best and nobiest life, yet it is not so. 
 
Theologia Germanica 105 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 On what wise we may come to be beyond and above 
 all Custom, Order, Law, Precepts and the like. 
 
 OME say further, that we can 
 and ought to get beyond all 
 
 virtue, all custom and order, all 
 law, precepts and seemliness, so that all 
 these should be laid aside, thrown off and 
 set at nought. Herein there is some 
 truth, and some falsehood. Behold and 
 mark: Christ was greater than His own 
 life, and above all virtue, custom, ordi- 
 nances and the like, and so also is the Evil 
 Spirit above them, but with a difference. 
 For Christ was and is above them on this 
 wise, that His words, and works, and ways, 
 His doings and refrainings, His speech 
 and silence, His sufferings, and whatso- 
 
106 Theologia Germanica 
 
 ever happened to Him, were not forced 
 upon Him, neither did He need them, 
 neither were they of any profit to Himself. 
 It was and is the same with all manner of 
 virtue, order, laws, decency, and the like ; 
 for all that may be reached by them is 
 already in Christ to perfection. In this 
 sense, that saying of St. Paul is true and 
 
 receiveth its fulfilment, “ As many as are. 
 
 led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
 sons of God,” “and are not under the 
 
 law, but under grace.” * That meaneth, - 
 
 man need not teach them what they are 
 to do or abstain from; for their Master, 
 that is, the Spirit of God, shall verily 
 teach them what is needful for them to 
 know. Likewise they do not need that 
 men should give them precepts, or com- 
 mand them to do right and not to do 
 wrong, and the like; for the same 
 
 1 Rom. viii. 14, and vi. 14. 
 
 y 
 
Theologia Germanica 107 
 
 admirable Master who teacheth them 
 what is good or not good, what is higher 
 and lower, and in short leadeth them into 
 all truth, He reigneth also within them, 
 and biddeth them to hold fast that which 
 is good, and to let the rest go, and to 
 Him they give ear. Behold! in this sense 
 they need not to wait upon any law, 
 either to teach or to command them. In 
 another sense also they need no law; 
 namely, in order to seek or win some- 
 thing thereby or get any advantage for 
 themselves. For whatever help toward 
 eternal life, or furtherance in the way 
 everlasting, they might obtain from the 
 aid, or counsel, or words, or works of 
 any creature, they possess already before- 
 hand. Behold! in this sense also it is 
 true, that we may rise above all law and 
 virtue, and also above the works and 
 Knowledge and powers of any creature. 
 
108 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER XXxXI 
 
 How we are not to cast off the Life of Christ, but 
 practise it diligently, and walk in it until Death. 
 
 aS y UT that other thing which they 
 affirm, how that we ought to 
 throw off and cast aside the life 
 
 7 BY, 
 me 
 
 of Christ, and all laws and command- 
 
 ments, customs and order and the like, 
 and pay no heed to them, but despise 
 and make light of them, is altogether 
 false anda lie. Now some may say ;— 
 “‘Since neither Christ nor others can 
 ever gain anything, either by a Christian 
 life, or by all these exercises and ordi- 
 nances, and the like, nor turn them to 
 any account, seeing that they possess 
 already all that can be had through them, 
 what cause is there why they should not 
 
Theologia Germanica 109 
 
 henceforth eschew them altogether? 
 Must they still retain and practise them?” 
 
 Behold, ye must look narrowly into 
 this matter. There are two kinds of 
 Light ; the one is true and the other 1s 
 false. The true light is that Eternal 
 Light which is God; or else it is a 
 created light, but yet divine, which is 
 called grace. And these are both the true 
 Light. So is the false light Nature or of 
 Nature. But why is the first true, and 
 the second false? This we can better 
 perceive than say or write. To God, as 
 Godhead, appertain neither will, nor 
 knowledge, nor manifestation, nor any- 
 thing that we can name, or say, or 
 conceive. But to God as God,} it 
 belongeth to express Himself, and know 
 and love Himself, and to reveal Himself 
 
 1 That is, as a Person—‘ God” being used here as a proper 
 name.—TRr. 
 
IIO Theologia Germanica 
 
 to Himself; and all this without any 
 creature. And all this resteth in God 
 as a substance but not as a working, so 
 long as there is no creature. And out 
 of this expressing and revealing of Him- 
 self unto Himself, ariseth the distinction 
 of Persons. But when God as God is 
 made man, or where God dwelleth ina 
 godly man, or one who is “made a 
 partaker of the divine nature,” in such 
 a man somewhat appertaineth unto God 
 which is His own, and belongeth to Him 
 only and not to the creature. And 
 without the creature, this would lie in 
 His own Self as a Substance or well- 
 spring, but would not be manifested or 
 wrought out into deeds. Now God will 
 have it to be exercised and clothed in a 
 form, for it is there only to be wrought 
 out and executed. What else is it for? 
 Shall it lie idle? What then would it 
 
Theologia Germantica 111 
 
 profit? As good were it that it had 
 never been; nay better, for what is of 
 no use existeth in vain, and that is 
 abhorred by God and Nature. However 
 God will have it wrought out, and this 
 cannot come to pass (which it ought 
 to do) without the creature. Nay, if 
 there ought not to be, and were not this 
 and that—works, and a world full of 
 real things, and the like,—what were 
 God Himself, and what had He to do, 
 and whose God would He be? Here we 
 must turn and stop, or we might follow 
 this matter and grope along until we 
 knew not where we were, nor how we 
 should find our way out again. 
 
 “CVS” 
 
12 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER Soa 
 
 How God is a true, simple, perfect Good, and how 
 He is a Light and a Reason and all Virtues, and 
 how what is highest and best, that Hy Cod, ought to 
 be most loved by us. 
 
 “ 
 A) Jif 
 
 ie G|N short, I would have you to 
 
 understand, that God (in so far | 
 = as He is good) is goodness as 
 goodness, and not this or that good. 
 
 But here mark one thing. Behold! 
 ‘ what is sometimes here and sometimes 
 
 there is not everywhere, and above all 
 things and places ; so also, what is to-day, 
 or to-morrow, is not always, at all times, 
 and above all time; and what is some 
 thing, this or that, is not all things and 
 above all things. Now behold, if God 
 were some thing, this or that, He would 
 
Theologia Germanica 113 
 
 not be all in all, and above all, as He is; 
 and so also, He would not be true 
 Perfection. Therefore God is, and yet 
 He is neither this nor that which the 
 creature, as creature, can perceive, name, 
 conceive or express. ‘Therefore if God 
 (in so far as He is good) were this or 
 that good, He would not be all good, 
 and therefore He would not be the One 
 Perfect Good, which He is. Now God 
 is also a Light and a Reason,’ the 
 property of which is to give light and 
 shine, and take knowledge ; and inasmuch 
 as God is Light and Reason, He must 
 give light and perceive. And all this 
 giving and perceiving of light existeth 
 in God without the creature; not as a 
 work fulfilled, but as a substance or well- 
 
 1 Cognition is the word which comes nearest to the original 
 Erkenntniss, but would not harmonise with the style of the 
 translation, 
 
 I 
 
114 Theologia Germanica 
 
 spring. But for it to flow out into a - 
 work, something really done and accom- 
 plished,’ there must be creatures through 
 whom this can come to pass. Look ye: 
 where this Reason and Light is at work 
 in a creature, it perceiveth and knoweth 
 and teacheth what itself is; how that it 
 is good in itself and neither this thing 
 nor that thing. This Light and Reason 
 knoweth and teacheth men, that it is 
 a true, simple, perfect Good, which is 
 neither this nor that special good, but 
 comprehendeth every kind of good. 
 
 Now, having declared that this Light 
 teacheth the One Good, what doth it 
 teach concerning it? Give heed to this. 
 Behold! even as God is the one Good — 
 and Light and Reason, so is He alse 
 Will and Love and Justice and Truth, 
 and in short all virtues. But all these . 
 
 1 Or, be realised. 
 
Theologia Germanica IIS 
 
 are in God one Substance, and none of 
 them can be put in exercise and wrought 
 out into deeds without the creature, for in 
 God, without the creature, they are only 
 as a Substance or well-spring, not as a 
 work. But where the One, who is yet 
 all these, layeth hold of a creature, and 
 taketh possession of it, and directeth and 
 maketh use of it, so that He may 
 perceive in it somewhat of His own, 
 behold, in so far as He is Will and Love, 
 He is taught of Himself, seeing that He 
 is also Light and Reason, and He wiilleth 
 nothing but that One thing which He is. 
 
 Behold! in such a creature, there is 
 no longer anything willed or loved but 
 that which is good, because it is good, 
 and for no other reason than that it is 
 good, not because it is this or that, or 
 pleaseth or displeaseth such a one, is plea- 
 sant or painful, bitter or sweet, or what 
 
116 Theologia Germanica 
 
 not. All this is not asked about nor 
 looked at. And such a creature doth 
 nothing for its own sake, or in its own 
 name, for it hath quitted all Self, and 
 Me, and Mine, and We and Ours, and 
 the like, and these are departed. It no 
 longer saith, ‘I love myself, or this or 
 that, or what not.” And if you were 
 to ask Love, ‘“‘ What lovest thou?” she 
 would answer, “I love Goodness.” 
 ‘““Wherefore?” ‘Because it is good, 
 and for the sake of Goodness.” So it is 
 good and just and right to deem that if 
 there were ought better than God, that 
 must be loved better than God. And 
 thus God loveth not Himself as Himself, 
 but as Goodness. And if there were, and 
 He knew, ought better than God, He 
 would love that and not Himself. Thus 
 the Self and the Me are wholly sundered 
 from God, and belong to Him only in 
 
Theologia Germanica 117 
 
 so far as they are necessary for Him to 
 be a Person. 
 
 Behold! all that we have said must 
 indeed come to pass in a Godlike man, 
 or one who is truly ‘‘ made a partaker of 
 the divine nature”; for else. he would 
 not be truly such. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 How when a Man is made truly Godlike, his Love is 
 pure and unmixed, and he loveth all Creatures, 
 and doth his best for them. 
 
 ENCE it followeth, that in a 
 truly Godlike man, 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. Yea, let them 
 
118 Theologia Germanica 
 
 do what they will to such a man, do him 
 wrong or kindness, bear him love or 
 hatred or the like, yea, if one could kill 
 such a mana hundred times over, and 
 he always came to life again, he could 
 not but lave 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 whereof may be seen in Christ ; 
 for He said to Judas, when he betrayed 
 Him: ‘“‘Friend,wherefore art thoucome?” 
 Just as if He had said: “Thou hatest 
 Me, and art Mine enemy, yet I love thee 
 and am thy friend. Thou desirest and 
 rejoicest in My affliction, and dost the 
 worst thou canst unto Me; yet I desire 
 
Theologia Germanica 119 
 
 and wish thee all good, and would fain 
 give it thee, and do it for thee, if thou 
 wouldst but take and receive it.” As 
 though God in human nature were 
 saying : “I am pure, simple Goodness, 
 and therefore I cannot will, or desire, or 
 rejoice in, or do or give anything but 
 goodness. If I am to reward thee for 
 thy evil and wickedness, I must do it 
 with goodness, for I am and have nothing 
 else.” Hence therefore God, in a man 
 who is “ made partaker of His nature,” . 
 desireth and taketh no revenge for all 
 the wrong that is or can be done unto 
 Him. This we see in Christ, when He 
 said: “Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do.” 
 
 Likewise it is God’s property that He 
 doth not constrain any by force to do or 
 not to do anything, but He alloweth 
 every man to do and leave undone 
 
120 Theologia Germanica 
 
 according to his will, whether it be good 
 or bad, and resisteth none. This too 
 we see in Christ, who would not resist 
 or defend Himself when His enemies laid 
 hands on Him. And when Peter would 
 have defended Him, He said unto Peter : 
 ‘Put up thy sword into the sheath : 
 the cup which My Father hath given Me, 
 shall I not drink it?” Neither may a 
 man who is made a partaker of the 
 divine nature, oppress or grieve any one. 
 That is, it never entereth into his 
 thoughts, or intents, or wishes, to cause 
 pain or distress to any, either by deed 
 or neglect, by speech or silence. 
 
Theologia Germanica 121 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 How that if a Man will attain to that which is best, 
 he must forswear his own Will; and he who 
 helpeth a Man to his own Will helpeth him to the 
 worst Thing he can. 
 
 JIOME may say: “ Now since 
 ‘| God willeth and desireth and 
 doeth the best that may be to 
 every one, He ought so to help each 
 
 man and order things for him, that they 
 should fall out according to his will and 
 fulfil his desires, so that one might be a 
 Pope, another a Bishop, and so forth.” 
 Be assured, he who helpeth a man to his - 
 own will, helpeth him to the worst that 
 he can. For the more a man followeth 
 after his own self-will, and self-will 
 groweth in him, the farther off is he 
 
122 Theologia Germanica 
 
 from God, the true Good [for nothing 
 burneth in hell but self-will. Therefore 
 it hath been said, “ Put off thine 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 fain - 
 give man His help and counsel thereunto, 
 for so long as a man is seeking his own 
 good, he doth 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 doth God teach and admonish us. 
 ~ Let him therefore who wisheth that — 
 
Theologia Germanica 123 
 
 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 hath already, God’s help. 
 Now God teacheth and admonisheth 
 man to forsake himself and all things, 
 and to follow Him only. ‘‘ For he who 
 loveth his soul,’! that is himself, and 
 will guard it and keep it, “he shall lose 
 it”; that is, he who seeketh himself and 
 his own advantage in all things, in so 
 doing loseth his soul. ‘But he who 
 hateth his soul for My sake shall keep it 
 
 1 Mark viii. 35. Our authorised version uses the word 
 “life” in this verse, but as that would not quite bring out 
 the force of the original, I have ventured to use the same word 
 for Yuxh here, by which it is translated in the two succeeding 
 verses, 
 
 Except in this and another passage, where, in quoting John 
 iii, 8, rvedua is translated, as in Luther’s version, Spirit in- 
 
 stead of Wind, our authorised version has been always adhered 
 to.—Tr. 
 
124 Theologia Germanica 
 
 unto life eternal” ; that is, he who for- 
 saketh himself and his own things, and 
 giveth up his own will, and fulfilleth 
 God’s will, his soul will be kept and 
 preserved unto Life Eternal. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 How there is deep and true Humility and Poorness 
 of Spirit in a Man who is ‘‘ made a Partaker of 
 the Divine Nature.” 
 
 IN OREOVER, in a man who is 
 | “made a partaker of the divine 
 
 “=J nature,” there is a thorough 
 and deep humility, and where this is not, 
 the man hath not been “ made a partaker 
 of the divine nature.” So Christ taught 
 in words and fulfilled in works. And 
 this humility springeth up in the man, 
 
 — 
 
Theologia Germanica 125 
 
 because in the true Light he seeth (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 creature ; but that 
 the creature of itse!f is nothing and hath 
 nothing, and that when it turneth 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 creature, as creature, hath no 
 worthiness in itself, and no right to any- 
 thing, and no claim over any one, 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 chiefest and most weighty 
 matter. 
 
 Now, if we ought to be, and desire to 
 be, obedient and submit unto God, we 
 must also submit to what we receive at 
 
126 Theologia Germanica 
 
 the hands of any of His creatures, or our 
 submission is all false. From this latter 
 article floweth true humility, as indeed 
 it doth also from the former.’ -And 
 unless this verily ought to be, and were 
 wholly agreeable to God’s justice, Christ 
 would not have taught it in words, and 
 fulfilled it in His life. And herein there 
 is a veritable manifestation of God ; and 
 it is so of a truth, that of God’s truth 
 and justice this creature shall be subject 
 to God and all creatures, and no thing 
 or person shall be subject or obedient to 
 her. God and all the creatures have a 
 right over her and to her, but she hath 
 a right to nothing: she is a debtor to 
 all, and nothing is owing to her, so that 
 she shall be ready to bear all things from 
 others, and also if needs be to do all 
 things for others. And out of this 
 
 1 Namely, God’s having a right to our obedience. 
 
Theologia Germanica 127 
 
 groweth that poorness of spirit of which 
 Christ said: ‘Blessed are the poor in 
 spirit ” (that is to say, the truly humble), 
 “for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” 
 All this hath Christ taught in words and 
 fulfilled with His life. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 How nothing is contrary to God but Sin only ; 
 and what Sin is in Kina and Act. 
 
 DER SURTHER ye shall mark: 
 ite when it is said that such a 
 - thing or such a deed is con- 
 trary to God, or that such a thing is 
 hateful to God and grieveth His Spirit, 
 ye must know that no creature is con- 
 trary to God, or hateful or grievous unto 
 Him, in so far as it is, liveth, knoweth, 
 
 hath power to do, or produce ought, and 
 
| 
 } 
 
 128 Theologia Germanica 
 
 so forth, for all this is not contrary to 
 God. That an evil spirit, or a man is, 
 liveth, and the like, is altogether good 
 and of God ; for God is the Being of all 
 that are, and the Life of all that live, 
 and the Wisdom of all the wise ; for all 
 things have their being more truly in 
 God than in themselves, and also all 
 their powers, knowledge, life, and the 
 rest ; for if it were not so, God would 
 not be all good. And thus all creatures 
 are good. Now what is good is agree- 
 able to God, and He will have it. 
 Therefore it cannot be contrary to Him. 
 
 But what then is there which is 
 
 _ contrary to God and hateful to Him? 
 
 Nothing but Sin. But what is Sin? 
 Mark this: Sin is nothing else than that 
 the creature willeth otherwise than God 
 willeth, and contrary to Him. Each of — 
 us may see this in himself ; for he who 
 
Theologia Germanica 129 
 
 willeth otherwise than I, or whose will 
 is contrary to mine, is my foe ; but he 
 who willeth 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 willeth, speaketh, or is silent, 
 doeth or leaveth undone, otherwise than 
 as I will, is contrary to me, and an 
 offence unto me. So itis also with God : 
 when a man willeth otherwise than God, 
 or contrary to God, whatever he doeth 
 or leaveth undone, in short all that 
 proceedeth from him, is contrary to God 
 and issin. And whatsoever Will willeth 
 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 
 K 
 
130 Theologia Germanica 
 
 to be atoned for, and wherewith it may 
 be healed. And this contradiction to 
 God’s will is what we call, and is, dis- 
 obedience. 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 XXXVII 
 
 How in God, as God, there can neither be Grief, 
 Sorrow, Displeasure, nor the like, but how it is 
 otherwise ina Man who is “ made a Partaker of 
 the Divine Nature.” 
 
 lap N God, as God, neither sorrow 
 Nel |p) nor grief nor displeasure can 
 CUED have place, and yet God is 
 grieved on account of men’s sins. Now 
 since grief cannot befall God without the 
 
 creature, this cometh to pass where He is 
 
Theologia Germanica 131 
 
 made man, or when He dwelleth in a 
 Godlike man. And there, behold, sin is 
 so hateful to God, and grieveth 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 grieveth Him worse 
 than His own agony and death. Now — 
 if one man’s sin grieveth God so sore, 
 what must the sins of all men do? 
 Hereby ye may consider, how greatly 
 man grieveth God with his sins. 
 
 And therefore where God is made 
 man, or when He dwelleth in a truly 
 Godlike man, nothing is complained of 
 but sin, and nothing else is hateful ; for 
 
REZ Theologia Germanica 
 
 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 Godlike 
 man on account of sin, must and ought 
 to last until death, should he live till the 
 Day of Judgment, or for ever. From 
 this cause arose that hidden anguish of 
 Christ, of which none can tell or knoweth 
 ought save 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 belongeth not unto the man, 
 he cannot make sin to be so hateful to 
 himself. And where God findeth this 
 grief for sin, He loveth and esteemeth it 
 more than ought else; because it is, of 
 all things, the bitterest and saddest that 
 man can endure. 
 
 All that is here written touching this 
 
Theologia Germanica 133 
 
 divine attribute, which God will have 
 man to possess, that it may be brought 
 into exercise in a living soul, is taught 
 us by that true Light, which also teacheth 
 the man in whom this Godlike sorrow 
 worketh, not to take it unto himself, 
 any more than if he were not there. 
 For such a man feeleth in himself that 
 he hath not made it to spring up in his 
 heart, and that it is none of his, but 
 belongeth to God alone. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 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. 
 
 wr 
 
 OW, wherever a man hath been 
 
 Aye, 
 Sf} made a partaker of the divine 
 nature, in him is fulfilled the 
 
 best and noblest life, and the worthiest 
 
134 Theologia Germanica 
 
 in God’s eyes, that hath been or can be. - 
 And of that eternal love which loveth 
 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 hath tasted this life, it is impossible 
 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 hath 
 already, and serve no end, what good 
 will itdohim?” This life is not chosen 
 
Theologia Germanica 135 
 
 in order to serve any end, or to get any- 
 thing by it, but for love of its nobleness, 
 and because God loveth and esteemeth 
 
 it so greatly. And whoever saith that _ 
 
 he hath had enough of it, and may now 
 lay it aside, hath never tasted nor known 
 it; for he who hath truly felt or tasted 
 
 it, Can never give it up again. And he - 
 
 who hath put on the life of Christ with 
 the intent to win or deserve ought there- 
 by, hath taken it up as an hireling and 
 not for love, and is altogether without it. 
 For he who doth not take it up for love, 
 hath none of it at all; he may dream 
 indeed that he hath 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 maketh such a life 
 light and taketh away all its hardships, 
 so that it becometh sweet and is gladly 
 endured. But to him who hath not put 
 
 i 
 
136 Theologia Germanica 
 
 it on from love, but hath done so, as he 
 dreameth, for the sake of reward, it is 
 utterly bitter and a weariness, and he 
 would fain be quit of it. And it isa 
 sure token of an hireling that he wisheth 
 his work were at an end. But he who 
 truly loveth it, is not offended at its toil 
 nor suffering, nor the length of time it 
 lasteth. Therefore it is written, “To 
 serve God and live to Him, is easy to 
 him who doeth it.” Truly it is so to 
 him who doth it for love, but it is hard 
 and wearisome to him who doth 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 rejoiceth more over one man who 
 truly loveth, than over a thousand 
 hirelings. 
 
Theologia Germanica 137 
 
 CHAPTER XXxXIxX 
 
 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 
 Men who are concerned with this Order, Law, 
 and Custom. 
 
 1Ry 
 
 a 
 
 measure, and order, and yet 
 giveth to all things their custom, order, 
 measure, fitness, and the like. The 
 which is to be thus understood. God 
 will have all these to be, and they 
 cannot have a being in Himself without 
 
 ih is said, and truly, God is 
 
 above and without custom, 
 
 the creature, for in God, apart from the 
 creature, there is neither order nor dis- 
 order, custom nor chance, and so forth; 
 therefore He will have things so that 
 
138 Theologia Germanica 
 
 these shall be, and shall be put in 
 exercise. For wherever there is word, 
 work, or change, these must be either 
 according to order, custom, measure and 
 fitness, or according to unfitness and 
 disorder. Now fitness and order are 
 better and nobler than their contraries. 
 But ye must mark: 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 from constraint : 
 these have as little to do with them as 
 may be, and find them a burden and 
 heavy yoke.\7/The second sort obey for 
 the sake of reward: these are men who 
 know nothing beside, or better than, 
 laws and precepts, and imagine that by 
 keeping them they may obtain the king- 
 dom of Heaven and Eternal Life, and 
 not otherwise ; and him who practiseth 
 
Theologia Germanica 139 
 
 many ordinances they think to be holy, 
 and him who omitteth any tittle of them 
 they think to be lost. Such men are 
 very much in earnest and give great dili- 
 gence to the work, and yet they find it a 
 weariness.\>) The third sort are wicked, - 
 false-hearted men, who dream and de- 
 clare that they are perfect and need no 
 ordinances, and make a mock of them. 
 ~The fourth are those who are en- — 
 lightened with the True Light, who do 
 not practise these things for reward, for 
 they neither look nor desire to get any- 
 thing thereby, but all that they do is 
 from love alone. And these are not so - 
 anxious and eager to accomplish much 
 and with all speed as the second sort, but 
 rather seek to do things in peace and 
 good leisure; and if some not weighty 
 matter be neglected, they do not there- 
 fore think themselves lost, for they know 
 
140 Theologia Germanica 
 
 very well that order and fitness are 
 better than disorder, and therefore they 
 choose to walk orderly, yet know at the 
 same time that their salvation hangeth 
 not thereon. Therefore they are not in 
 so great anxiety as the others. These 
 men are judged and blamed by both the 
 other parties, for the hirelings say that 
 they neglect their duties and accuse them 
 of being unrighteous, and the like; and 
 the others (that is, the Free Spirits?) 
 hold them in derision, and say that they 
 cleave unto weak and beggarly elements, 
 and the like. But these enlightened 
 men keep the middle path, which is also 
 the best ; for a lover of God is better 
 and dearer to Him than a hundred 
 thousand hirelings. It is the same with 
 all their doings. 
 
 1 This is evidently an allusion to the “Brethren of the 
 
 Free Spirit,” mentioned in the Historical Introduction. 
 
Theologia Germanica 141 
 
 Furthermore, ye 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 sucha 
 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. 
 
142 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER. 
 A good Account of the False Light and its Kind. 
 
 ‘a DIOW I have said that there is a 
 4) False Light; but I must tell 
 
 : you more particularly what it 
 is, and what belongeth thereunto. Be- 
 hold, all that is contrary to the True 
 Light belongeth unto the False. To 
 the True Light it belongeth of necessity, 
 that it seeketh not to deceive, nor con- 
 senteth that any should be wronged or 
 deceived, neither can it be deceived. 
 But the false is deceived and a delusion, 
 and deceiveth others along with itself. 
 For God deceiveth no man, nor willeth 
 that any should be deceived, and so it is 
 with His True Light. Now mark, the 
 True Light is God or divine, but the 
 
Theologia Germanica 143 
 
 False Light is Nature or natural. Now 
 it belongeth to God, that He is neither 
 _ this nor that, neither willeth nor desireth, 
 nor seeketh anything in the man whom 
 He hath made a partaker of the divine 
 nature, save Goodness as Goodness, and 
 for the sake of Goodness. This is the 
 token of the True Light. But to the 
 Creature and Nature it belongeth to be 
 somewhat, this or that, and to intend 
 and seek something, this or that, and not 
 simply what is good without any Where- 
 fore. And as God and the True Light 
 are without all self-will, selfishness, and 
 self-seeking, so do the I, the Me, the 
 Mine, and the like, belong unto the 
 natural and false Light ; for in all things 
 it seeketh itself and its own ends, rather 
 than Goodness for the sake of Goodness. 
 This is its property, and the property of 
 
 nature or the carnal man in each of us. 
 
144 Theologia Germanica 
 
 Now mark how it first cometh to be 
 deceived. It doth not desire nor choose 
 Goodness as Goodness, and for the sake 
 of Goodness, but desireth and chooseth 
 itself and its own ends, rather than the 
 Highest Good ; and this is an error, and 
 is the first deception. 
 
 Secondly, it dreameth itself to be that 
 which it is not, for it dreameth itself to 
 be God, and is truly nothing but nature. 
 And because it imagineth itself to be 
 God, it taketh to itself what belongeth 
 to God; and not that which is God’s, 
 when He is made man, or dwelleth in a 
 Godlike man, but that which is God’s, 
 and belongeth unto Him, as He is in 
 eternity, without the creature. For, as 
 it is said, God needeth nothing, is free, 
 not bound to work, apart by Himself, 
 above all things, and so forth (which is 
 all true) ; and God is unchangeable, not 
 
 { 
 
Theologia Germanica 145 
 
 to be moved by anything, and is with- 
 out conscience, and what He doeth that 
 is well done; ‘So will I be,” saith the 
 False Light, ‘“‘for the more like God 
 one is, the better one is, and therefore I 
 will be like God and will be God, and 
 will sit and go and stand at His right 
 hand”: as Lucifer the Evil Spirit also 
 said. Now God in Eternity is without 
 contradiction, suffering and grief, and 
 nothing can hurt or vex Him of all that 
 is or befalleth. But with God, when 
 He is made Man, it is otherwise. 
 
 In a word: all that can be deceived 
 is deceived by this False Light. Now 
 since all is deceived by this False Light 
 that can be deceived, and all that is 
 
 creature and nature, and all that is not - 
 
 God nor of God, may be deceived, and 
 since this False Light itself is nature, it 
 
 1 Isaiah xiv. 13, 14. 
 
 L 
 
146 Theologia Germanica 
 
 is possible for it to be deceived. And 
 therefore it becometh and is deceived by 
 itself, in that it riseth and climbeth to 
 such a height that it dreameth itself to 
 be above nature, and fancieth it to be 
 impossible for nature or any creature to 
 get so high, and therefore it cometh to 
 imagine itself God. And hence it taketh 
 unto itself all that belongeth unto God, 
 and specially what is His as He is in 
 Eternity, and not as He is made Man. 
 Therefore it thinketh and declareth itself - 
 to be above all works, words, customs, 
 laws and order, and above that life which 
 Christ led in the body which He pos- 
 sessed in His holy human nature. So 
 likewise it professeth to remain unmoved 
 by any of the creature’s works ; whether 
 they be good or evil, against God or not, 
 is all alike to it; and it keepeth itself 
 apart from all things, like God in 
 
Theologia Germanica 147 
 
 Eternity, and all that belongeth to God 
 and to no creature it taketh unto itself, 
 and vainly dreameth that this belongeth 
 unto it ; and deemeth itself well worthy 
 of all this, and that it is just and right 
 that all creatures should serve it, and do 
 it homage. And thus no contradiction, 
 suffering or grief is left unto it ; indeed 
 nothing but a mere bodily and carnal 
 perceiving : this must remain until the 
 death of the body, and what suffering 
 may accrue therefrom. Furthermore, ~ 
 this False Light imagineth, and saith, 
 that it has got beyond Christ’s life in the 
 flesh, and that outward things have lost 
 all power to touch it or give it pain, as 
 it was with Christ after His resurrection, 
 together with many other strange and 
 false conceits which arise and grow up 
 from these. 
 And now since this False Light is ~ 
 
148 Theologia Germanica 
 
 nature, it possesseth the property of 
 nature, which is to intend and seek itself 
 and its own in all things, and what may 
 be most expedient, easy and pleasant to 
 nature and itself. And because it is 
 deceived, it imagineth and proclaimeth 
 it to be best that each should seek and 
 do what is best for himself. It refuseth 
 also to take knowledge of any Good but 
 its own, that which it vainly fancieth to 
 be Good. And if one speak to it of the 
 One, true, everlasting Good, which is 
 neither this nor that, it knoweth nothing 
 thereof, and thinketh scorn of it. And 
 this is not unreasonable, for nature as 
 nature cannot attain thereunto. Now 
 this False Light is merely nature, and 
 therefore it cannot attain thereunto. 
 Further, this False Light saith that it 
 hath got above conscience and the sense 
 of sin, and that whatever it doeth is 
 
Theologia Germanica 149 
 
 right. Yea, it was said by such a false 
 Free Spirit, who was in this error, that 
 if he had killed ten men he should have 
 as little sense of guilt as if he had killed 
 adog. Briefly: this false and deceived 
 Light fleeth all that is harsh and contrary 
 to nature, for this belongeth to it, seeing 
 that it is nature. And seeing also that 
 it is so utterly deceived as to dream that 
 it is God, it were ready to swear by all 
 that is holy, that it knoweth truly what - 
 is best, and that both in belief and prac- 
 tice it hath reached the very summit. 
 For this cause it cannot be converted or 
 guided into the right path, even as it is 
 with the Evil Spirit. 
 
 Mark further : in so far as this Light 
 imagineth itself to be God and taketh 
 His attributes unto itself, it is Lucifer, 
 the Evil Spirit ; but in so far as it setteth 
 at nought the life of Christ, and other 
 
150 Theologia Germanica . 
 
 things belonging to the True Light, 
 which have been taught and fulfilled by 
 Christ, it is Antichrist, for it teacheth 
 contrary to Christ. And as this Light 
 is deceived by its own cunning and dis- 
 cernment, so all that is not God, or of 
 God, is deceived by it, that is, all men 
 who are not enlightened by the True 
 Light and its love. For all who are 
 enlightened by the True Light can never 
 more be deceived, but whoso hath it not 
 and chooseth to walk by the False Light, 
 he is deceived. 
 
 This cometh herefrom, that all men— 
 in whom the True Light is not, are bent 
 upon themselves, and think much of 
 themselves, and seek and propose their 
 own ends in all things, and whatever is 
 most pleasant and convenient to them- 
 selves they hold to be best. And whoso - 
 declareth the same to be best, and helpeth 
 
Theologia Germanica 151 
 
 and teacheth them to attain it, him they 
 follow after, and maintain to be the best 
 and wisest of teachers. Now the False 
 Light teacheth them this very doctrine, 
 and showeth them all the means to 
 come by their desire; therefore all those 
 follow after it, who know not the True 
 Light. And thus they are together 
 deceived. 
 
 It is said of Antichrist, that when he 
 cometh, he who hath not the seal of God 
 in his forehead, followeth after him, but 
 as many as have the seal follow not after 
 him. This agreeth with what hath been 
 said. It is indeed true, that it is good 
 for a man that he should desire, or come 
 by his own good. But this cannot come 
 to pass so long as a man is seeking, or 
 purposing his own good; for if he is to 
 find and come by his own highest good, 
 he must lose it that he may find it. [As 
 
ro Theologia Germanica 
 
 Christ said: “He who loveth his life 
 shall lose it.” That is; he shall forsake ~ 
 and die to the desires of the flesh, and 
 shall not obey his own will nor the lusts 
 of the body, but obey the commands of 
 God and those who are in authority over 
 him, and not seek his own, either in 
 spiritual or natural things, but only the 
 praise and glory of God in all things. 
 For he who thus loseth his life shall find _ 
 it again in Eternal Life. That is: all - 
 the goodness, help, comfort, and joy 
 which are in the creature, in heaven or 
 on earth, a true lover of God findeth 
 comprehended in God Himself; yea, 
 unspeakably more, and as much nobler 
 and more perfect as God the Creator is 
 better, nobler, and more perfect than His 
 creature. But by these excellences in 
 the creature the False Light is deceived, 
 and seeketh nothing but itself and its 
 
Theologia Germanica 153 
 
 own in all things. Therefore it cometh 
 never to the right way. | 
 
 Further, this False Light saith, that — 
 we should be without conscience or sense 
 of sin, and that it is a weakness and 
 folly to have anything to do with them : 
 and this it will prove by saying that 
 Christ was without conscience or sense 
 of sin. We may answer and say: Satan — 
 is also without them, and is none the 
 better for that. Mark what a sense of — 
 sin is. It is that we perceive how man ~ 
 has turned away from God in his will 
 (this is what we call sin), and that this 
 is man’s fault, not God’s, for God is 
 guiltless of sin. Now, who is there that 
 knoweth himself to be free from sin save 
 Christ alone? Scarcely will any other 
 affirm this. Now he who is without 
 sense of sin is either Christ or the Evil 
 Spirit. 
 
154 Theologia Germanica 
 
 Briefly: where this True Light is, 
 there is a true, just life such as God 
 loveth and esteemeth. And if the man’s 
 life is not perfect as Christ’s was, yet it 
 is framed and builded after His, and his 
 life is loved, together with all that 
 agreeth with decency, order, and all other 
 virtues, and all Self-will, I, Mine, Me, 
 and the like, is lost ; nothing is purposed 
 or sought but Goodness, forthe sake of 
 Goodness, and as Goodness. But where 
 that False Light is, there men become 
 heedless of Christ’s life and all virtue, and 
 seek and intend whatever is convenient 
 and pleasant to nature. From this ariseth 
 a false, licentious freedom, so that men 
 grow regardless and careless of every- 
 thing. For the True Light is God’s 
 seed, and therefore it bringeth forth the 
 fruits of God. And so likewise the False 
 Light is the seed of the Devil; and 
 
Theologia Germanica 155 
 
 where that is sown, the fruits of the 
 Devil spring up—nay, the very Devil 
 himself. This ye may understand by 
 giving heed to what hath been said. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI 
 
 How that he is to be called, and is truly, a Partaker 
 of the Divine Nature, who is illuminated with the 
 Divine Light, and inflamed with Eternal Love, 
 and how Light and Knowledge are worth nothing 
 without Love. 
 
 f} OME may ask, “ What is it to — 
 be ‘a partaker of the divine 
 nature,’ or a Godlike man?” 
 Answer: he who is imbued with or — 
 illuminated by the Eternal or divine 
 Light, and inflamed or consumed with 
 Eternal or divine love, he is a Godlike 
 man and a partaker of the divine nature ; 
 
156 Theologia Germanica 
 
 and of the nature of this True Light we 
 have said somewhat already. 
 
 But ye must know that this Light 
 or knowledge is worth nothing without 
 Love. This ye may see if ye call to 
 mind, that though a man may know very 
 well what is virtue or wickedness, yet if 
 he doth not love virtue, he is not virtuous, 
 for he obeyeth vice. But if he loveth— 
 virtue he followeth after it, and his love 
 maketh him an enemy to wickedness, so 
 that he will not do or practise it, and 
 hateth it also in other men; and he. 
 loveth virtue so that he would not leave 
 a virtue unpractised even if he might, 
 and this for no reward, but simply for 
 the love of virtue. And to him virtue 
 is its own reward, and he is content 
 therewith, and would take no treasure 
 or riches in exchange for it. Such an 
 one is already a virtuous man, or he is 
 
Theologia Germanica 157 
 
 in the way tobe so. And he who isa 
 truly 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 knoweth full well what is just or 
 unjust, and yet neither is nor ever will 
 become a just man. For he loveth 
 not justice, and therefore he worketh 
 wickedness and injustice. If he loved - 
 justice, he would not do an unjust thing ; 
 for he would feel such hatred and indig- 
 nation towards injustice wherever he saw 
 it, that he would do or suffer anything 
 that injustice might be put an end to, 
 and men might become just. And he 
 would rather die than do an injustice, 
 and all this for nothing but the love of 
 justice. And to him, justice is her own 
 reward, and rewardeth him with herself ; 
 and so there liveth a just man, and he 
 
158 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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 loveth 
 not the truth he is not a true man; but 
 if he loveth, it is with truth even as with 
 justice. Of justice speaketh Isaiah in 
 the fifth chapter: ‘Woe unto them 
 that call evil good, and good evil; that 
 put darkness for light, and light for 
 darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and 
 sweet for bitter!” 
 
 Thus may we perceive that knowledge 
 and light profit nothing without Love. 
 We see this in the Evil Spirit; he 
 perceiveth and knoweth good and evil, 
 right and wrong, and the like; but 
 since he hath no love for the good that 
 he seeth, he becometh not good, as he 
 would if he had any love for the truth 
 and other virtues which he seeth. It is 
 
Theologia Germanica 159 
 
 indeed true that Love must be guided — 
 and taught of Knowledge, but if Know- 
 ledge be not followed by 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 seeth and understandeth 
 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 true Love — 
 along with his knowledge, he cannot but 
 cleave to God, and forsake all that is 
 not God or of Him, and hate it and 
 fight against it, and find it a cross and 
 a sorrow. 
 
 And this Love so maketh a man one — 
 with God, that he can nevermore be 
 separated from Him. 
 
160 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER XLII 
 
 A Question: whether we can know God and not love 
 Him, and how there are two kinds of Light and 
 Love—a true and a false. 
 
 ERE is an honest question ; 
 namely, it hath been said that 
 he who knoweth God and 
 
 loveth Him not, will never be saved by 
 
 his knowledge ; the which sounds as if 
 we might know God and not love Him. 
 
 Yet we have said elsewhere, that where 
 
 God is known, He is also loved, and 
 
 whosoever knoweth God must love Him. 
 
 How may these things agree? Here 
 ye must mark one thing. We have 
 spoken of two Lights—a True and a 
 False. So also there are two kinds of — 
 Love, a True and a False. And each 
 
Theologia Germanica 161 
 
 kind of Love is taught or guided by 
 its own kind of Light or Reason. 
 Now, the True Light maketh True - 
 Love, and the False Light maketh 
 False Love ; for whatever Light deemeth 
 to be best, she delivereth unto Love as 
 the best, and biddeth her love it, and 
 Love obeyeth, and fulfilleth her com- 
 mands. 
 
 Now, as we have said, the False Light 
 is natural, and is Nature herself. There- 
 fore every property belongeth unto it 
 which belongeth unto nature, such as 
 the Me, the Mine, the Self, and the like ; 
 and therefore it must needs be deceived 
 in itself and be false; for no I, Me, or — 
 Mine, ever came to the True Light or 
 Knowledge undeceived, save once only ; 
 to wit, in God made Man. And if we - 
 are to come to the knowledge of the 
 simple Truth, all these must depart and 
 
 M 
 
162 Theologia Germantica 
 
 perish. And in particular it belongeth — 
 to the natural Light that it would fain 
 know or learn much, if it were possible, 
 and hath great pleasure, delight and 
 glorying in its discernment and know- 
 ledge; and therefore it 1s always longing 
 to know more and more, and never 
 cometh to rest and satisfaction, and the 
 more it Jearneth and knoweth, the more 
 doth it delight and glory therein. And. 
 when it hath come so high, that it 
 thinketh to know all things and to be 
 above all things, it standeth on its 
 highest pinnacle of delight and glory, 
 and then it holdeth Knowledge to be 
 the best and noblest of all things, and 
 therefore it teacheth Love to love know- 
 ledge and discernment as the best and 
 most excellent of all things. Behold, 
 then knowledge and discernment come 
 to be more loved than that which is 
 
Theologia Germanica 163 
 
 discerned, for the false natural Light 
 loveth its knowledge and powers, which 
 are itself, more than that which is 
 known. And were it possible that this 
 false natural Light should understand 
 the simple Truth, as it is in God and in 
 truth, it still would not lose its own 
 property, that. is, it would not depart 
 from itself and its own things. Behold, 
 in this sense there is knowledge, without 
 the love of that which is or may be 
 known. 
 
 Also this Light riseth and climbeth 
 so high that it vainly thinketh that it 
 knoweth God and the pure, simple 
 Truth, and thus it loveth itself in Him. 
 And it is true that God can be known 
 only by God. Wherefore as this Light 
 vainly thinketh to understand God, it 
 imagineth itself to be God, and giveth 
 itself out to be God, and wisheth to be 
 
164 Theologia Germanica 
 
 accounted so, and thinketh itself to be 
 above all things, and well worthy of all 
 things, and that it hath a right to all 
 things, and hath got beyond all things, 
 such as commandments, laws, and virtue, 
 and even beyond Christ and a Christian 
 life, and setteth all these at nought, for 
 it doth not set up to be Christ, but the 
 Eternal God. And this is because 
 Christ’s life is distasteful and burdensome 
 to nature, therefore she will have nothing 
 to do with it ; but to be God in eternity 
 and not man, or to be Christ as He was 
 after His resurrection, is all easy, and 
 pleasant, and comfortable to nature, and 
 so she holdeth it to be best. Behold, 
 with this false and deluded Love, some- 
 thing may be known without being 
 loved, for the seeing and knowing is 
 more loved than that which is known. 
 Further, there is a kind of learning 
 
Theologia Germantica 165 
 
 which is called knowledge; to wit, 
 | when, through hearsay, or reading, or 
 great acquaintance with Scripture, some 
 | fancy themselves to know much, and 
 | call it knowledge, and say, “I know 
 this or that.” And if you ask, ‘‘ How 
 | dost thou know it?” they answer, “I 
 have read it in the Scriptures,” and the 
 like. Behold, this they call under- 
 standing, and knowing. Yet this is 
 not knowledge, but belief, and many 
 
 things are known and loved and seen 
 only with this sort of perceiving and 
 knowing. 
 
 There is also yet another kind of Love, - 
 which is especially false, to wit, when 
 something is loved for the sake of a 
 reward, as when justice is loved not for 
 the sake of justice, but to obtain some- 
 thing thereby, and so on. And where a 
 creature loveth other creatures for the 
 
166 Theologia Germantca 
 
 sake of something that they have, or 
 
 loveth God, for the sake of something of 
 her own, it is all false Love; and this 
 Love belongeth properly to nature, for 
 nature as nature can feel and know no 
 other love than this; for if ye look 
 narrowly into it, nature as nature loveth 
 nothing beside herself. On this wise 
 something may be seen to be good and 
 not loved. 
 
 — 
 
 / 
 
 But true Love is taught and guided 
 
 by the true Light and Reason, and this 
 true, eternal and divine Light teacheth 
 Love to love nothing but the One true 
 and Perfect Good, and that simply for 
 its own sake, and not for the sake of 
 a reward, or in the hope of obtaining 
 anything, but simply for the Love of 
 Goodness, because it is good and hath a 
 right to be loved. And all that is thus 
 seen by the help of the True Light must 
 
Theologia Germanica 167 
 
 also be loved of the True Love. Now 
 that Perfect Good, which, we call God, 
 | cannot be perceived but by the True 
 Light; therefore He must be loved 
 wherever He is seen or made known. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII 
 
 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. 
 
 URTHER 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 
 
168 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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 4nd aim is not this or 
 
Theologia Germanica 169 
 
 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 
 
170 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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 other- 
 wise 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 com- 
 mitted. Therefore we may well say - 
 that all self-will is sin, and there is no 
 
Theologia Germanica i 
 
 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 par- 
 taker 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 in the true Good and is His own, 
 is loved and praised; and all that is 
 without this Good, and contrary to it, 
 
172 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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 en- 
 dureth willingly and worthily, however 
 hard it may be to nature. Therefore 
 saith Christ: ‘‘My yoke is easy, and ~ 
 My burden is light.”* This cometh — 
 of the love which loveth this admirable 
 life. This we may see in the beloved 
 
 1 Matt. xi. 30. 
 
Theologia Germanica 173 
 
 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 stead- 
 fast and endure to the end. Of atruth — 
 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 
 
174 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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 
 
Theologia Germanica 175 
 
 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 mis- 
 chievous 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 
 
176 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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. 
 
Theologia Germanica 177 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV 
 
 How nothing is contrary to God but Self-will, and 
 how he who seeketh his own Good for his own sake, 
 findeth it not; and how a Man of himself neither 
 knoweth nor can do any good Thing. 
 
 aught which is contrary to 
 God and the true Good? I 
 say, No. Likewise, there is nothing 
 without God, except to will otherwise 
 than is willed by the Eternal Will; 
 that is, contrary to the Eternal Will. 
 Now the Eternal Will willeth that 
 nothing be willed or loved but the 
 Eternal Goodness. And where it is 
 otherwise, there is something contrary 
 to Him, and in this sense it is true 
 
 } that he who is without God is contrary 
 
 N 
 
 OW, it may be asked; is there — 
 
178 Theologia Germanica 
 
 to God ; but in truth there is no Being 
 contrary to God or the true Good. 
 
 We must understand it as though 
 God said: ‘‘He who willeth without 
 Me, or willeth not what I will, or 
 otherwise than as I will, he willeth con- 
 trary to Me, for My will is that no one 
 should will otherwise than I, and that 
 there should be no will without Me, 
 and without My will; even as without 
 Me, there is neither Substance, nor Life, 
 nor this, nor that, so also there should 
 be no Will apart from Me, and without 
 My will.” And even as in truth all 
 beings are one in substance in the Perfect 
 Being, and all good is one in the One 
 Being, and so forth, and cannot exist 
 without that One, so shall all wills be 
 one in the One Perfect Will, and there 
 shall be no will apart from that One. 
 And whatever is otherwise is wrong, 
 
Theologia Germantica 179 
 
 -and contrary to God and His will, and 
 
 therefore it is sin. 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 seeketh 
 his own will and his own highest Good, 
 because it is Ais, and for his own sake, 
 he will never find it; for so long as he 
 doeth this, he is not seeking his own 
 highest Good, and how then should he 
 find it? For so long as he doeth this, 
 he seeketh himself, and dreameth that he 
 is himself the highest Good ; and seeing 
 that he is not the highest Good, he 
 seeketh not the highest Good, so long 
 as he seeketh himself. But whosoever 
 
 _seeketh, loveth, and pursueth Goodness 
 
 as Goodness and for the sake of Good- 
 ness, and maketh that his end, for 
 
 nothing but the love of Goodness, not 
 
 : 
 
 : 
 
 for love of the I, Me, Mine, Self, and 
 
180 Theologia Germanica 
 
 the like, he will find the highest Good, 
 for he seeketh it aright, and they who 
 seek it otherwise do err. And truly it 
 is on this wise that the true and Perfect 
 Goodness seeketh and loveth and pur- 
 sueth itself, and therefore it findeth itself. 
 
 It is a great folly when a man, or any 
 creature, dreameth that he knoweth or 
 can accomplish aught of himself, and 
 above all when he dreameth that he 
 knoweth or can fulfil any good thing, 
 whereby he may deserve much at God’s 
 hands, and prevail with Him. If he 
 understood rightly, he would see that 
 this is to put a great affront upon God. 
 But the True and Perfect Goodness 
 hath compassion on the foolish simple 
 man who knoweth no better, and 
 ordereth things for the best for him, 
 and giveth him as much of the good 
 things of God as he is able to receive. 
 
Theologia Germanica 181 
 
 But as we have said afore, he findeth - 
 and receiveth not the True Good so 
 long as he remaineth unchanged ; for 
 | unless Self and Me depart, he will never 
 | find or receive it. 
 
 EHYAPTER XLV 
 
 How that where there is a Christian Life, Christ 
 dwelleth, and how Christ's Life is the best and 
 most admirable Life that ever hath been or can be. 
 
 DI e E who knoweth and _ under- 
 de standeth Christ’s life, knoweth 
 and understandeth Christ Him- 
 self; and in like manner, he who 
 understandeth not His life, doth not 
 understand Christ Himself. And he 
 who believeth on Christ, believeth that 
 His life is the best and noblest life that 
 
 can be, and if a man believe not this, 
 
: 
 
 182 Theologia Germanica 
 
 neither doth he believe on Christ Him- — 
 self. And in so far as a man’s life is - 
 according to Christ, Christ Himself 
 dwelleth in him, and if he hath not the 
 one neither hath 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 hath His 
 life, he may say with St. Paul, “I live, 
 yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”? 
 And this is the noblest and best life; 
 for in him who hath it, God Himself 
 dwelleth, 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 
 
 1 Galatians ii. zo. 
 
Theologia Germanica 183 
 
 truth and substance. And whatever 
 may bring about that new birth which 
 maketh alive in Christ, to that let us 
 cleave with all our might and to nought 
 else; and let us forswear and flee all 
 that may hinder it. And he who hath 
 received this life in the Holy Sacrament, 
 hath verily and indeed received Christ, 
 and the more of that life he hath 
 received, the more he hath received of 
 Christ, and the less, the less of Christ. 
 
184 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI 
 
 How entire Satisfaction and true Rest are to be 
 
 found in God alone, and not in any Creature; and — 
 
 how he who will be obedient unto God, must also 
 be obedient to the Creatures, with all Quietness, 
 and be who would love God, must love all Things 
 
 in One. 
 
 to find all his satisfaction in 
 God, hath enough ; and this is 
 true. And he who findeth satisfaction 
 in aught which is this and that, findeth 
 it not in God; and he who findeth it in 
 God, findeth it in nothing else, but in 
 that which is neither this nor that, but 
 is All. For God is One and must be 
 One, and God is All and must be All. 
 And now what is, and is not One, is not 
 God ; and what is, and is not All and 
 
 T is said, that he who is content _ 
 
Theologia Germanica 185 
 
 above All, is also not God, for God is 
 One and above One, and All and above 
 All. Now he who findeth full satis- 
 faction in God, receiveth all his satisfac- 
 tion from One source, and from One 
 only, as One. And a man cannot find — 
 all satisfaction in God, unless all things 
 are One to him, and One is All, and 
 something and nothing are alike.’ But 
 where it should be thus, there would be 
 true satisfaction, and not else. 
 
 Therefore also, he who will wholly 
 commit himself unto God and be obedient 
 to Him, must also resign himself to all 
 things, and be willing to suffer them, 
 without resisting or defending himself 
 or calling for succour. And he who 
 doth not thus resign or submit himself 
 
 1 Literally augAt and nought, icht und nicht ; but aught means 
 any thing, the idea of the original is emphatically some thing, 
 a part, not the whole.—Tr. 
 
186 Theologia Germanica | 
 to all things in One as One, doth not — 
 resign or submit himself to God. Let 
 us look at Christ. And he who shall 
 and will lie still under God’s hand, must 
 lie still under all things in One as One, 
 and in no wise withstand any suffering. 
 Such an one were a Christ. And he who — 
 fighteth against affliction, and refuseth to 
 endure it, is truly fighting against God. 
 That is to say, we may not withstand— 
 any creature or thing by force of war, 
 either in will or works. But we may 
 indeed, without sin, prevent affliction, or — 
 avoid it, or flee from it. 
 
 Now he who shall or will love God, - 
 loveth all things in One as All, One and 
 All, and One in All as All in One ; and 
 he who loveth somewhat, this or that, 
 otherwise than in the One, and for the 
 sake of the One, loveth not God, for he 
 loveth somewhat which is not God. 
 
Theologia Germanica 187 
 
 Therefore he loveth it more than God. 
 Now he who loveth somewhat more than 
 God or along with God, loveth not God, 
 for He must be and will be alone loved, 
 and verily nothing ought to be loved but 
 God alone. And when the true divine 
 Light and Love dwell in a man, he loveth ~ 
 nothing else but God alone, for he loveth 
 God as Goodness and for the sake of 
 Goodness, and all Goodness as One, and 
 one as All; for, in truth, All is One and 
 One is All in God. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII 
 
 A Question: Whether, if we ought to love all Things, 
 we ought to love Sin also? 
 
 fIOME may put a question here 
 } and say: “ If we are to love all 
 things, must we then love sin 
 too?” Janswer: No. When I say “all 
 
188 Theologia Germanica 
 
 things,” I mean all Good; and all that. 
 is, is good, in so far as it hath Being. 
 The Devil is good in so far as he hath 
 Being. In this sense nothing is evil, or 
 not good. But sin is to will, desire, or 
 love otherwise than as God doth. And 
 Willing is not Being, therefore it is not 
 good. Nothing is good except in so far 
 as it isin God and with God. Now all 
 things have their Being in God, and more 
 truly in God than in themselves, and 
 therefore all things are good in so far as 
 they have a Being, and if there were 
 aught that had not its Being in God, it 
 would not be good. Now behold, the 
 willing or desiring which is contrary to 
 God is not in God; for God cannot will 
 or desire anything contrary to Himself, 
 or otherwise than Himself. Therefore 
 it is evil or not good, and is merely 
 nought. 
 
: Theologia Germanica 189 
 
 God loveth also works, but not all 
 
 works. Which then? Such as are 
 done from the teaching and guidance 
 of the True Light and the True Love; 
 and what is done from these and in 
 these, is done in spirit and in truth, and 
 what is thereof, is God’s, and pleaseth 
 Him well. But what is done of the 
 false Light and false Love, is all of 
 the Wicked One; and especially what 
 happeneth, is done or left undone, 
 wrought or suffered from any other will, 
 or desire, or love, than God’s will, or 
 desire, or love. This is, and cometh 
 to pass, without God and contrary to 
 God, and is utterly contrary to good 
 works, and is altogether sin. 
 
190 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTER XAEVil 
 
 How we must believe certain Things of God’s Truth 
 beforehand, ere we can come to a true Knowledge 
 and Experience thereof. 
 
 HRIST said, “‘ He that believeth 
 
 not,” or will not or cannot 
 
 believe, ‘shall be damned.” 
 It is so of a truth; for a man, while he— 
 is in this present time, hath not know- 
 ledge; and he cannot attain unto it, 
 unless he first believe. And he who — 
 would know before he believeth, cometh 
 never to true knowledge. We speak 
 not here of the articles of the Christian 
 faith, for every one believeth them, and 
 they are common to every Christian 
 man, whether he be sinful or saved, 
 good or wicked; and they must be 
 
Theologia Germanica 1g! 
 
 believed in the first place, for without 
 that, one cannot come to know them. 
 
 _ But we are speaking of a certain Truth — 
 which it is possible to know by experience, 
 
 but which ye must believe in, before that 
 
 ye know it by experience, else ye will 
 
 never come to know it truly. This is 
 
 the faith of which Christ speaketh in—— 
 that saying of His. 
 
 CreAPT ER SLI 
 
 Of Self-will, and how Lucifer and Adam fell away 
 Srom God through Self-will. 
 
 ©)T hath been said, that there is - 
 2 of nothing so much in hell as 
 of self-will. The which 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 
 
192 Theologia Germanica 
 
 it is said that Lucifer fell from Heaven, 
 and turned away from God and the like, © 
 it meaneth nothing else than that he ~ 
 would have his own will, and would 
 not be at one with the Eternal Will. 
 So was it likewise with Adam in Para- 
 dise. And when we say Self-will, we 
 mean, to will otherwise than as the One . 
 and Eternal Will of God willeth. 
 
 CHAPTERS 
 
 How this present Time is a Paradise and outer 
 Court of Heaven, and how therein there is only 
 one Tree forbidden, that is, Self-will. 
 
 » 
 
 Gray HAT is Paradise? All things 
 iN NAG), that are; for all are goodly 
 
 AM 
 may fitly be called a Paradise. It is - 
 
 and pleasant, and therefore 
 
 said also, that Paradise is an outer court 
 
Theologia Germanica 193 
 
 of Heaven. Even so this world is verily — 
 an outer court of the Eternal, or of 
 Eternity, and specially whatever in Time, 
 or any temporal things or creatures, 
 manifesteth or remindeth us of God 
 or Eternity; for the creatures are a 
 guide and a path unto God and Eternity. 
 Thus this world is an outer court of 
 Eternity, and therefore it may well be 
 called a Paradise, for it is such in truth. 
 'And in this Paradise, all things are 
 lawful, save one tree and the fruits 
 ‘thereof. That is to say: of all things - 
 that are, nothing is forbidden and nothing 
 ‘is contrary to God but one thing only : 
 that is, Self-will, or to will otherwise 
 than as the Eternal Will would have 
 it. Remember this. For God saith to 
 Adam, that is, to every man, ‘“‘ What- 
 ever thou art, or doest, or leavest un- 
 
 done, or whatever cometh to pass, is all 
 O 
 
194 Theologia Germanica 
 
 lawful and not forbidden if it be not 
 done from or according to thy will, but 
 for the sake of and according to My 
 will. But all that is done from thine own 
 Will is contrary to the Eternal Will.” — 
 _ It is not that every work which is 
 thus wrought is in itself contrary to the 
 Eternal Will, but in so far as it is 
 wrought from a different will, or other- 
 wise than from the Eternal and Divine 
 Will. : 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Wherefore God hath created Self-will, seeing that it 
 
 is so contrary to Him. 
 
 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?” 
 
Theologia Germanica 195 
 
 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 en- _ 
 
 lightened 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, 
 
196 Theologia Germanica 
 
 and have full possession of him, un- 
 disturbed 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, be- 
 hold, Perception and Reason are created 
 and bestowed along with Will, to the 
 
Theologia Germanica 197 
 
 intent that they may instruct the will 
 }and also themselves, that neither per- 
 
 }ception 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 selfish- 
 ness. 
 
 But here ye must consider more par- 
 ticularly, somewhat touching the Will. 
 There is an Eternal Will, which is in 
 God a first principle and substance, apart 
 from all works and effects,! and the same 
 will is in Man, or the creature, willing 
 certain things, and bringing them to 
 
 1 Or realisation, wirklichkeit. 
 
198 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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 
 
Theologia Germanica 199 
 
 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 
 
200 Theologia Germanica 
 
 source of these also.]* 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 - 
 
 1 This sentence is found in Luther’s edition, but not in 
 that based on the Wurtzburg Manuscript. 
 
Theologia Germanica 201 
 
 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. 
 
202 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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.’ 
 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 
 
 1 Namely, why God hath created the will. 
 
Theologia Germanica 203 
 
 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, un- 
 rest, 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 
 
204 Theologia Germanica 
 
 shall make you free, ye shall be free 
 indeed.” * 
 
 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 like-_- 
 wise was Christ’s human nature the most 
 free and single of all creatures, and yet 
 
 1 John viii. 32-36. 
 
Theologia Germanica 205 
 
 felt the deepest grief, pain, and indig- 
 nation 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 ;—tthis 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 every one will 
 
206 Theologia Germanica 
 
 have self-will, therefore there is all —- 
 manner of misery and wretcheduess. 
 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 ; 
 
Theologia Germanica 207 
 
 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.”? But 
 nature, in her false freedom, weeneth she 
 hath forsaken all things, yet she will 
 
 1 Matt. x. 38, and Luke xiv. 27. 
 
208 Theologia Germanica 
 
 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. 
 
 CHAPTER Zi 
 
 How we must take those two Sayings of Christ: 
 “No Man cometh unto the Father, but by Me,” and 
 “ No Man cometh unto Me, except the Father 
 which hath sent Me draw him.” 
 
 HRIST saith: ‘* No man cometh 
 unto the Father, but by Me.”? 
 
 Now mark how we must come— 
 
 unto the Father through Christ. The ~ 
 man shall set a watch over himself and 
 
 1John xiv. 6. 
 
ri 
 
 Theologia Germanica 209 
 all that belongeth to him within and 
 without, and shall so direct, govern, and 
 guard his heart, as far as in him lieth; 
 that neither will nor desire, love nor 
 longing, opinion nor thought, shall 
 spring up in his heart, or have any 
 abiding-place in him, save such as are 
 meet for God and would beseem him 
 well, if God Himself were made Man. 
 And whenever he becometh aware of 
 any thought or intent rising up within 
 him that doth not belong to God and 
 were not meet for Him, he must resist 
 it and root it out as thoroughly and as 
 speedily as he may. 
 
 By this rule he must order his outward 
 behaviour, whether he work or refrain, 
 speak or keep silence, wake or sleep, 
 go or stand still. In short: in all his 
 ways and walks, whether as touching his 
 own business, or his dealings with other 
 
 P 
 
210 Theologia Germanica 
 
 men, he must keep his heart with all 
 diligence, lest he do aught, or turn aside 
 to aught, or suffer aught to spring up or 
 dwell within him or about him, or lest 
 anything be done in him or through 
 him, otherwise than were meet for God, 
 and would be possible and seemly if God 
 Himself were verily made Man. 
 
 Behold ! he, in whom it should be thus, 
 whatever he had within, or did without, 
 would be all of God, and the man would 
 be in his life a follower of Christ more 
 truly than we can understand or set 
 forth. And he who led such a life 
 would go in and out through Christ ; 
 for he would be a follower of Christ : 
 therefore also he would come with Christ 
 and through Christ unto the Father. 
 And he would be also a servant of 
 Christ, for he who cometh after Him is 
 His servant, as He Himself also saith: 
 
Theologia Germanica 211 
 
 “If any man serve Me, let him follow 
 Me; and where I am, there shall also 
 my servant be.”* And he who is thus 
 a servant and follower of Christ, cometh 
 to that place where Christ Himself is ; 
 that is, unto the Father. As Christ 
 Himself saith: “Father, I will that 
 they also, whom Thou hast given Me, 
 be with Me where I am.”? Behold, 
 he who walketh in this path, “entereth 
 in by the door into the sheepfold,” 
 that is, into eternal life; ‘“‘and to him 
 
 the porter openeth”;* but he who. 
 
 entereth in by some other way, or 
 vainly thinketh that he would or can 
 come to the Father or to eternal blessed- 
 ness otherwise than through Christ, is 
 deceived ; for he is not in the right 
 Way, nor entereth in by the right Door. 
 Therefore to him the porter openeth 
 
 1 John xii, 26. 2 John xvii. 24. 8 John x. 1, 3. 
 
 ; 
 
212 Theologia Germanica 
 
 not, for he is a thief and a murderer, as 
 Christ saith. | 
 
 Now, behold and mark, whether one 
 can be in the right Way, and enter tal 
 by the right Door, if one be living in 
 lawless freedom or license, or disregard 
 of ordinances, virtue or vice, order or 
 disorder, and the like. Such liberty we 
 do not find in Christ, neither is it in 
 
 any of His true followers. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Considereth that other saying of Christ, “ No Man 
 can come unto Me, except the Father, which hath 
 sent Me, draw him.” 
 
 HRIST hath also said: ‘No 
 man cometh unto Me, except 
 the Father, which hath sent 
 Me, draw him.” ’ Now mark: by the 
 
 1 John vi. 44. 
 
Theologia Germanica 213 
 
 Father, I understand the Perfect, Simple 
 Good, which is All and above All, and 
 without which and besides which there 
 : is no true Substance, nor true Good, and 
 without which no good work ever was 
 or will be done. And in that it is All, 
 it must be in All and above All. And 
 ‘it cannot be any one of those things 
 which the creatures, as creatures, can 
 comprehend or understand. For what- 
 ever the creature, as creature (that is, in 
 her creature kind), can conceive of and 
 understand, is something, this or that, 
 and therefore is some sort of creature. 
 And now if the Simple Perfect Good 
 were somewhat, this or that, which the 
 creature understandeth, it would not be 
 the All, nor the Only One, and therefore 
 not Perfect. Therefore also it cannot 
 be named, seeing that it is none of all 
 “the things which the creature as creature 
 
214 Theologia Germanica 
 
 can comprehend, know, conceive, or 
 name. Now behold, when this Perfect - 
 Good, which is unnameable, floweth into 
 a Person able to bring forth, and bringeth 
 forth the Only-begotten Son in that 
 Person, and itself in Him, we call it the 
 Father. 
 
 Now mark how the Father draweth - 
 men unto Christ. When somewhat of - 
 this Perfect Good is discovered and 
 revealed within the soul of man, as it 
 were in a glance or flash, the soul con- 
 ceiveth a longing to approach unto the 
 Perfect Goodness, and unite herself with 
 the Father. And the stronger this 
 yearning groweth, the more is revealed 
 unto her; and the more is revealed unto 
 her, the more is she drawn toward the 
 Father, and her desire quickened. Thus - 
 is the soul drawn and quickened into a 
 union with the Eternal Goodness. And 
 
Theologia Germanica 215 
 
 this is the drawing of the Father, and — 
 thus the soul is taught of Him who 
 draweth her unto Himself, that she can- 
 not enter into a union with Him except 
 she come unto Him by the life of Christ. 
 Behold, now she putteth on that life of 
 which I have spoken afore. 
 
 Now see the meaning of these two 
 sayings of Christ’s. The one, “ No man 
 cometh unto the Father, but by Me” ; 
 that is, through My life, as hath been set 
 forth. The other saying, ““No man 
 cometh unto Me, except the Father draw 
 him” ; that is, he doth not take My life 
 upon him and come after Me, except he 
 be moved and drawn of My Father ; that 
 is, of the Simple and Perfect Good, of 
 which St. Paul saith; ‘when that which 
 is Perfect is come, then that which is in 
 part shall be done away.” That is to 
 say ; in whatever soul this Perfect Good 
 
216 Theologia Germanica 
 
 is known, felt and tasted, so far as may 
 be in this present time, to that soul all 
 created things are as nought compared 
 with this Perfect One, as in truth they 
 are; for beside or without the Perfect 
 One, is neither true Good nor true 
 Substance. Whosoever then hath, or 
 knoweth, or loveth, the Perfect One, 
 hath and knoweth all goodness. What 
 more then doth he want, or what is all 
 that ‘is in part” to him, seeing that all 
 the parts are united in the Perfect, in 
 One Substance ? 
 
 What hath here been said, concerneth 
 the outward life, and is a good way or 
 
 access unto the true inward life; but 
 the inward life beginneth after this. 
 When a man hath tasted that which 
 is perfect as far as is possible in 
 this present time, all created things and 
 even himself become as nought to him. 
 
Theologia Germanica 217 
 
 And when he perceiveth of a truth that - 
 the Perfect One is All and above All, 
 he needs must follow after Him, and 
 ascribe all that is good, such as Substance, 
 Life, Knowledge, Reason, Power, and 
 the like, unto Him alone and to no 
 creature. And hence followeth that the 
 man claimeth for his own neither 
 Substance, Life, Knowledge, nor Power, 
 Doing nor Refraining, nor anything that 
 we can call good. And thus the man ~— 
 becometh so poor, that he is nought in 
 : himself, and so are also all things unto 
 him which are somewhat, that is, all 
 created things. And then there begin- — 
 neth in him a true inward life, wherein 
 from henceforward, God Himself dwell- 
 ~ eth in the man, so that nothing is left in 
 him but what is God’s or of God, and 
 nothing is left which taketh anything 
 unto itself. And thus God Himself, — 
 
218 Theologia Germanica 
 
 that is, the One Eternal Perfectness, alone 
 is, liveth, knoweth, worketh, loveth, 
 willeth, doeth and refraineth in the man. 
 And thus, of a truth, it should be, and ~ 
 where it is not so, the man hath yet far 
 to travel, and things are not altogether 
 right with him. 
 
 Furthermore, it is a good way and ~ 
 access unto this life, to feel always that 
 what is best is dearest, and always to 
 prefer the best, and cleave to it, and 
 unite oneself to it. First: in the crea- 
 tures. But what is best in the creatures? 
 Be assured : that, in which the Eternal 
 Perfect Goodness and what is thereof, 
 that is, all which belongeth thereunto, 
 most brightly shineth and worketh, and 
 is best known and loved. But what is 
 that which is of God, and belongeth unto 
 Him? I answer : whatever with justice — 
 and truth we do, or might call good. 
 
Theologia Germanica 219 
 
 When therefore among the creatures 
 the man cleaveth to that which is the 
 best that he can perceive, and keepeth 
 steadfastly to that, in singleness of heart, 
 he cometh afterward to what is better 
 and better, until, at last, he findeth and 
 tasteth that the Eternal Good is a Per- 
 fect Good, without measure and number 
 above all created good. Now if what is 
 best is to be dearest to us, and we are to 
 follow after it, the One Eternal Good 
 must be loved above all and alone, and 
 we must cleave to Him alone, and unite 
 ourselves with Him as closely as we 
 may. And now if we are to ascribe- 
 all goodness to the One Eternal Good, 
 as of right and truth we ought, so 
 must we also of right and truth ascribe 
 unto Him the beginning, middle, and 
 end of our course, so that nothing re- 
 main to man or the creature. So it 
 
220 Theologia Germanica 
 
 should be of a truth, let men say what 
 they will. 
 Now on this wise we should attain 
 
 unto a true inward life. And what then _ 
 
 further would happen to the soul, or 
 would be revealed unto her, and what 
 her life would be henceforward, none 
 can declare or guess. For it is that 
 which hath never been uttered by man’s 
 lips, nor hath it entered into the heart 
 of man to conceive. 
 
 In this our long discourse, are briefly 
 comprehended those things which ought 
 of right and truth to be fulfilled : to wit, 
 that man should claim nothing for his 
 own, nor crave, will, love, or intend any- 
 thing but God alone, and what is like 
 unto Him, that is to say, the One, Eter- 
 nal, Perfect Goodness. 
 
 But if it be not thus with a man, and 
 he take, will, purpose, or crave, some- 
 
Theologia Germanica 221 
 
 what for himself, this or that, whatever 
 it may be, beside or other than the 
 Eternal and Perfect Goodness which is 
 God Himself, this is all too much and a 
 great injury, [and hindereth the man 
 from a perfect life; wherefore he can 
 never reach the Perfect Good, unless he 
 first forsake all things and himself first 
 of all. For no man can serve two— 
 masters, who are contrary the one to the 
 other ; he who will have the one, must 
 let the other go. Therefore if the 
 Creator shall enter in, the creature must 
 
 depart. Of this be assured]. 
 
222 Theologia Germanica 
 
 CHAPTERVEY 
 
 How a Man shall not seek his own, either in Things 
 spiritual or natural, but the Honour of God only ; 
 and how he must enter in by the right Door, to 
 wit, by Christ, into Eternal Life. 
 
 F a man may attain thereunto, 
 to be unto God as his hand is 
 to a man, let him be therewith 
 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 opposeth God; and that 
 his whole soul and body with all their 
 members may stand ready and willing 
 
Theologia Germanica 223 
 
 for that to which God hath created 
 them; as ready and willing as his hand 
 is to a man, which is so wholly in his 
 power, that in the twinkling of an eye, 
 he moveth and turneth it whither he 
 will. 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 oweth 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]. 
 
 Further, when a man hath come so — 
 
224 Theologia Germanica 
 
 far, and climbed so high, that he thinketh 
 and weeneth he standeth sure, let him 
 beware lest the Devil strew ashes and his — 
 own bad seed on his heart, and nature 
 seek and take her own comfort, rest, 
 peace, and delight in the prosperity of 
 his soul, and he fall into a foolish, law- 
 less freedom and licentiousness, which is | 
 altogether alien to, and at war with, a 
 true life in God. And this will happen — 
 to that man who hath not entered, or 
 refuseth to enter in by the right Way 
 and the right Door (which is Christ, as 
 we have said), and imagineth that he 
 would or could come by any other way 
 to the highest truth. He may perhaps _ 
 dream that he hath attained thereunto, 
 but verily he is in error. 
 
 And our witness is Christ, who de-_ 
 clareth : ‘‘ Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 He that entereth not by the door into 
 
Theologia Germanica 225 
 
 the sheepfold, but climbeth up some 
 other way, the same is a thief and a 
 robber.”* [A thief, for he robbeth God 
 of His honour and glory, which belong 
 to God alone; he taketh them unto 
 himself, and seeketh and purposeth him- 
 self. A murderer, for he slayeth his - 
 own soul, and taketh away her life, 
 which is God. For as the body liveth 
 by the soul, even so the soul liveth by 
 God. Moreover, he murdereth all those 
 who follow him, by his doctrine and 
 example. For Christ saith: “1 came 
 down from heaven, not to do Mine own 
 will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” ? 
 And again: “ Why call ye Me Lord, 
 Lord?”* as if he would say, it will 
 avail you nothing to Eternal Life. And 
 again: “Not every one that saith unto 
 Me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
 1 Johnx.1. ? John vi. 38. ? Luke vi. 46. 
 Q 
 
226 Theologia Germanica 
 
 Kingdom of Heaven ; but he that doeth 
 the will of My Father which is in 
 Heaven.”? But Hlevsaith@alcoce ae 
 thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
 commandments.”* And what are the 
 commandments? “To love the Lord ~ 
 thy God with all thy heart, with all thy 
 soul, and with all thy strength, and with 
 all thy mind; and to love thy neigh- 
 bour as thyself.”* And in these two | 
 commandments all others are briefly 
 comprehended. 
 
 There is nothing more precious to - 
 God, or more profitable to man, than 
 humble obedience. In His eyes, one~ 
 good work, wrought from true obedience, 
 is of more value than a hundred thousand, 
 wrought from self-will, contrary to 
 obedience. Therefore he who hath this - 
 obedience need not dread Him, for such 
 
 1 Matt. vii. 21. 2 Matt. xix. 17 3 Luke x. 27. 
 
Vheologia Germanica 227 
 
 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 for ever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Crark, Luwrrep, Edindurgh. 
 
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