CHAPTER XXI
How a friend of Christ willingly fulfilleth by his outward Works,
such Things as must be and ought to be, and doth not concern himself with the
rest.
Now, it may be asked, what is the state of a man who followeth 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. However,
I believe that such a man hath liberty 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 be so." 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, we
should have less, forsooth, to order and do than now; for we make to ourselves
much disquietude and difficulty which we might well be spared and raised above.