Het tweede boeck des auteurs, handelende van de drie principien

senses, that he can know God his Creator: what, how, and who he may be, as well as where he may be; also from what he (understand: man) was created and has come. And how he may be an image, being, property, and child of the eternal uncreated and infinite God. And how he was created out of the being of God, in whom God has his being and property, in whom he (with his spirit) lives and reigns, through whom God performs his work, and also loves him heartily, as his own heart and being. For whose sake he has created this world, together with all creatures, the greatest part of which (without the wit and the governance of man)
a That is, actual property inherent quality.

could not live in such qualifying interaction of qualities or forces.

b Or understands and comprehends.

c Or heir.

d Or understands.

4. In such high contemplation stands even the Divine Wisdom, and has neither number nor end. And therein is known the love of God toward men, so that man knows what God (his Creator) may be: and what he desires of him to have done or left undone. And that same is the most useful thing for man that he may fathom and seek in this world. For he learns herein to know himself, what kind of materia matter and being he may be, as well as from where his understanding and sensuality moves, and how he is created out of the being of God, just as a mother (out of her own being) bears and nurtures a child, and leaves that same all her goods as property and makes [the child] the possessor. So God also does with men his children; he has created him, and maintains him, and has made him the heir of all his eternal goods. In such contemplation, the Divine knowledge grows (in Man), and the love toward God, just as between children and Parents, so that man loves God his Father, because he knows that he is his Father (in whom he lives and is) who nurtures and maintains him; for thus speaks Christ our Brother (who is born to us as a Savior from the Father, and is sent into this World):

that they may know you, that you alone are the true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.

5. If we then now know ourselves, how we are created after God’s image, being, and property, out of God’s own being, then it is truly right that we live in his obedience and follow him, since he leads us like a father [leads] his children. And we also have the promise (if we follow him) that we shall have the light of eternal life. Without which contemplation, we are all together blind and have no knowledge of God; but we run there like the dumb cattle, and we look at ourselves (as well as the creation

e Or a new gate at the stable from which the beasts are frightened and run back.

of God) just as cows [look at] a new beautiful door. We set ourselves against God and his will, and live thus in opposition to the destruction of body and soul, and the noble creature of God. Into which gruesome, terrible darkness we fall, if we do not want to learn to know ourselves, what we are, of what being, what we shall become, whether we are eternal, or whether we (with the body) are perishable: or whether we shall also have to give an account of our deeds and being, since we are made Lords over all beings and creatures, and have all such in our power and drive them.

f Or creatures.

g Or carry upon us.

6. While we then indisputably see, know, and find, that God desires to have an account of all our deeds, how we have kept house with his works: and if we fall from him and his commandments, [that] he [thereupon] sends terrible punishment, just as we have terrible examples of that from the beginning of the world among the Jews, Heathens, and Christians: primarily the example of the Deluge the Great Flood, as well as at Sodom and Gomorrah, also with Pharaoh, and the hosts of Israel in the Wilderness, and thereafter continuously further and further until today. So it is indeed most necessary that we learn wisdom and learn to know ourselves, what kind of great vices we have upon us, what kind of gruesome Wolves are among us, who there fight against God and his will.

h Sluggish or lazy.

7. For there is no one who (on account of his ignorance) can excuse himself, since the will of God is written in our mind, so that we well know what we must do. All Creatures also convict us, and to that end we have the Law and the Commandments of God; so that therefore there is no excuse, but only our sleepy, lazy negligence, and we are thus found to be sluggish, useless servants in the Lord’s Vineyard.

8. Finally, it is indeed highest necessary for us that we learn to know ourselves, because the Devil dwells with us in this World, who is God’s and our enemy, and daily misleads and deceives us [in order] to make us fall away from our God and Father, just as he has done [from the beginning of the World], wherewith he increases his Kingdom, and robs us of our eternal salvation, just as it stands written:

He goes about as a roaring Lion, and seeks whom he may devour.

9. Since we are then indeed in such very terrible danger in this World, that we are surrounded on all sides with enemies, and in our pilgrimage have to walk very uncertainly...