The Confessions of Jacob Boehme
Now if anyone saith I see nothing divine, he should consider that flesh and blood, together with the subtlety and craft of the Devil, is oftentimes a hindrance to him, in that he willeth in his high-mindedness for his own honour to see God, and oftentimes in that he is filled and blinded with earthly malignity.
Let him look into the footsteps of Christ and enter into a new life, and give himself to be under the Cross of Christ, and desire only the entrance of Christ into himself ; what shall hinder him then from seeing the Father, his Saviour Christ, and the Holy Spirit?
Is the Holy Spirit blind when he dwells in man ? Or write I this for my own boasting ?
Not so, but that the reader may forsake his error, and that with the divine eyes he may see the wonders of God, and so God'sp. 112 will may be done. To which end this pen has written very much, and not for its own honour or for the sake of the pleasures of this life.
Dear children of God, you who seek with much sighing and tears, I say to you in earnest sincerity : Our sight and knowledge is in God ; he manifests to everyone in this world as much as he will, as much as he knows is profitable for the man.
He that sees from God, he has God's work to manage ; he should and must order, speak, and do that which he sees, else his sight will be taken from him ; for this world is not worthy of God s vision.
But for the sake of the wonders and of the revelation of God it is given to many to see ; that the Name of God may be manifested to the world. We are not our own, but his whom we serve in his light. We know nothing of God ; he, God himself, is our knowing and seeing ; we are nothing that he may be all in us. Wep. 113 should be blind, deaf and dumb, and know no life in us, that he may be our life and vision, and our work be his.
If we have done anything that is good, our tongue should not say, This have we done, but, This hath the Lord in us done ; his name be highly praised.
But what does this evil world now ? If anyone says, This has God in me done ; if it be good, then saith the world, Thou fool ! thou hast done it ; God is not in thee ; thou liest. Thus they make fool and liar of the Spirit of God.
When you see that the world fighteth against you, persecutes you, despises, slanders you because of your knowledge and the Name of God, then consider that you have the black Devil before you. Then sigh, and long that God's kingdom may come to us, and the Devil's sting may be destroyed, that the man, so influenced by the Devil, may through your longing, sighing and prayer be released. Then you
H4 CONFESSIONS OF JACOB BOEHME
labour rightly in God's vineyard and prevent the Devil of his kingdom.
In love and meekness we become newborn out of the wrath of God ; in love and meekness we must strive and fight against the Devil in this world. For love is his poison ; it is a fire of terror to him wherein he cannot stay. If he knew the least spark of love in himself he would cast it away, or would destroy himself that he might be rid of it. Therefore is love and meekness our sword, wherewith we can fight with the Devil and the world.
Love is God's fire ; the Devil and the world are an enemy to it. Love hath God's eyes and sees in God ; anger has the eyes of the fierce wrath that sees in hell, in torment and in death.
The world supposes merely that a man must see God with the earthly and the starry eyes ; it knows not that God dwells in the inward and not in the outward.
If it sees nothing admirable or wonderCONFESSIONS OF JACOB BOEHME 115 ful in God's children it says, Oh, he is a fool, he is an idiot, he is melancholy ; thus much it knows.
O hearken, I know well what melancholy is ; I know also well what is from God. I know them both, and thee also in thy blindness ; but such knowledge is not purchased by melancholy, only by a wrestling to victory.
It is given to none without striving, unless he is a vessel chosen of God ; otherwise he mu^t strive for the garland.
Now if anyone says I see nothing divine, he should consider that flesh and blood, together with the subtlety and craft of the Devil, is oftentimes a hindrance to him, in that he wills in his high-mindedness for his own honour to see God, and oftentimes in that he is filled and blinded with earthly malignity.
Let him look into the footsteps of Christ and enter into a new life, and give himself to be under the Cross of Christ, and desire only the entrance of Christ into himself ; what shall hinder him then from seeing the Father, his Saviour Christ, and the Holy Spirit?
Is the Holy Spirit blind when he dwells in man ? Or write I this for my own boasting ?
Not so, but that the reader may forsake his error, and that with the divine eyes he may see the wonders of God, and so God'sp. 112 will may be done. To which end this pen has written very much, and not for its own honour or for the sake of the pleasures of this life.
Dear children of God, you who seek with much sighing and tears, I say to you in earnest sincerity : Our sight and knowledge is in God ; he manifests to everyone in this world as much as he will, as much as he knows is profitable for the man.
He that sees from God, he has God's work to manage ; he should and must order, speak, and do that which he sees, else his sight will be taken from him ; for this world is not worthy of God s vision.
But for the sake of the wonders and of the revelation of God it is given to many to see ; that the Name of God may be manifested to the world. We are not our own, but his whom we serve in his light. We know nothing of God ; he, God himself, is our knowing and seeing ; we are nothing that he may be all in us. Wep. 113 should be blind, deaf and dumb, and know no life in us, that he may be our life and vision, and our work be his.
If we have done anything that is good, our tongue should not say, This have we done, but, This has the Lord in us done ; his name be highly praised.
But what does this evil world now ? If anyone says, This has God in me done ; if it be good, then says the world, You fool ! you have done it ; God is not in you ; you liest. Thus they make fool and liar of the Spirit of God.
When you see that the world fights against you, persecutes you, despises, slanders you because of your knowledge and the Name of God, then consider that you have the black Devil before you. Then sigh, and long that God's kingdom may come to us, and the Devil's sting may be destroyed, that the man, so influenced by the Devil, may through your longing, sighing and prayer be released. Then you
H4 CONFESSIONS OF JACOB BOEHME
labour rightly in God's vineyard and prevent the Devil of his kingdom.
In love and meekness we become newborn out of the wrath of God ; in love and meekness we must strive and fight against the Devil in this world. For love is his poison ; it is a fire of terror to him wherein he cannot stay. If he knew the least spark of love in himself he would cast it away, or would destroy himself that he might be rid of it. Therefore is love and meekness our sword, wherewith we can fight with the Devil and the world.
Love is God's fire ; the Devil and the world are an enemy to it. Love has God's eyes and sees in God ; anger has the eyes of the fierce wrath that sees in hell, in torment and in death.
The world supposes merely that a man must see God with the earthly and the starry eyes ; it knows not that God dwells in the inward and not in the outward.
If it sees nothing admirable or wonderCONFESSIONS OF JACOB BOEHME 115 ful in God's children it says, Oh, he is a fool, he is an idiot, he is melancholy ; thus much it knows.
O hearken, I know well what melancholy is ; I know also well what is from God. I know them both, and you also in your blindness ; but such knowledge is not purchased by melancholy, only by a wrestling to victory.
It is given to none without striving, unless he is a vessel chosen of God ; otherwise he mu^t strive for the garland.
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