And thus the will would be one with the Eternal Will, and flow out into it, though the man would still keep his sense of liking and disliking, pleasure and pain, and the like. For wherever the will is exerted, there must be a sense of liking and disliking; for if things go according to his will, the man liketh it, and if they do not, he disliketh it, and this liking and disliking are not of the man’s producing, but of God’s. For whatever is the source of the will, is the source of these also.50 Now the will cometh not of man but of God, therefore liking and disliking come from Him also. But nothing is complained of, save only what is contrary to God. So also there is no joy but of God alone, and that which is His and belongeth unto Him. And as it is with the will, so is it also with perception, reason, gifts, love, and all the powers of man; they are all of God, and not of man. And wherever the will should be altogether surrendered to God, the rest would of a certainty be surrendered likewise, and God would have His right, and the man’s will would not be his own. Behold, therefore hath God created the will, but not that it should be self-will. Now cometh the Devil or Adam, that is to say, false nature, and taketh this will unto itself and maketh the same its own, and useth it for itself and its own ends. And this is the mischief and wrong, and the bite that Adam made in the apple, which is forbidden, because it is contrary to God. And therefore, so long as there is any self-will, there will never be true love, true peace, true rest. This we see both in man and in the Devil. And there will never be true blessedness either in time or eternity, where this self-will is working, that is to say, where man taketh the will unto himself and maketh it his own. And if it be not surrendered in this present time, but carried over into eternity, it may be foreseen that it will never be surrendered, and then of a truth there will never be content, nor rest, nor blessedness; as we may see by the Devil. If there were no reason or will in the creatures, God were, and must remain for ever, unknown, unloved, unpraised, and unhonoured, and all the creatures would be worth nothing, and were of no avail to God. Behold thus the question which was put to us is answered.51 And if there were any who, by my much writing (which yet is brief and This sentence is found in Luther’s edition, but not in that based on the Wurtzburg Manuscript. Namely, why God hath created the will. profitable in God), might be led to amend their ways, this were indeed well-pleasing unto God. That which is free, none may call his own, and he who maketh it his own, committeth a wrong. Now, in the whole realm of freedom, nothing is so free as the will, and he who maketh it his own, and suffereth it not to remain in its excellent freedom, and free nobility, and in its free exercise, doeth a grievous wrong. This is what is done by the Devil and Adam and all their followers. But he who leaveth the will in its noble freedom doeth right, and this doth Christ with all His followers. And whoso robbeth the will of its noble freedom and maketh it his own, must of necessity as his reward, be laden with cares and troubles, with discontent, disquiet, unrest, and all manner of wretchedness, and this will remain and endure in time and in eternity. But he who leaveth the will in its freedom, hath content, peace, rest, and blessedness in time and in eternity. Wherever there is a man in whom the will is not enslaved, but continueth noble and free, there is a true freeman not in bondage to any, one of those to whom Christ said: “The truth shall make you free”; and immediately after, he saith: “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”52 Furthermore, mark ye that where the will enjoyeth its freedom, it hath its proper work, that is, willing.

Will is a power through the which we choose good, after that it be determined with Reason; and through the which we love good, we desire good, and...

The first Will, out of which they were created, that was God's, and that made them good; and the second Will, which they as obedient [Children]...

The eternal Will is incorruptible [or intransitory,] and unchangeable [or unalterable;] for the Heart of God is generated out of it, which is the End...

If now the first eternal Will does thus conceive another Will, then it breaks the Source of Darkness, and dwells (in itself) in the joyful...

Such a good will is the substance of all perfection. All sweetness and comforts, bodily or ghostly, be to this but as it were accidents, be they...

Indeed, when his Wrath was sprung up in Man, then he would manifest his Wonders, but that was not the Purpose of God when he created Adam; but it was...

Now the Question is, May not the Mind stand in one only Will (viz. in mere Love) like God himself? Here sticks the Mark, the Ground, and the...

God withdraws himself from none. Man has a free Will, he may lay hold on what he will; but he is held by two, by Heaven and by Hell, to which he yield...

And be not feared, for the devil may not come so near. He may never come to stir a man’s will, but occasionally and by means from afar, be he never so...

Take heed, that it does not kindle thy body and soul, and so thou wilt burn therein eternally, as befell Lucifer.

Now God has no malicious Soul [to be] in the Love, but in the Anger; and he is the Searcher of the Hearts, and knows well what is in Man, and what he...

But a man may think, in case such a fierce fire, source or quality should rise in his body, what an untowardness and contrary will he would have in hi...

Not that He willeth aught desiring it; for that He is the Fullness of all things, and wills what things He has. He thus wills all good things, and has...

God) out of the Darkness, in his own re-conceived Will, enters into himself, and in himself generates the Meekness in his own reconceived Will.

Seeing then it is fashioned out of the eternal Will, therefore it is eternal, not in Substance, but in the Will, and after the Breaking of the...

Now the Similitude also has received such a Will out of the Fiat, as the eternal Will is; and it has generated the Virtue [or Power;] and the Virtue...

From these, accordingly, all willing or not-willing is altogether foreign, according to God’s Will. They are not moved by wrath nor swayed by favour, ...

Accordingly, in that He was so mighty and so fair, He willed that some one else should have the power to contemplate the One He had made from...

We will now explain, in detail, to the best of our ability, certain works of God, of which we spoke. For I am not competent to sing all, much less to...

Now we cannot say, that the Spirit of this World alone consents to, and does that which is evil and wrathful; for the whole Man oftentimes runs with...