CHAPTER XXV.
Of the contempt of all creatures, in order to find out the Creator.
*Christian.LORD, I stand in need of greater grace, to attain that state wherein no man or creature may be a hindrance to me.
For as long as any thing detains me, I cannot freely take my flight unto thee.
What is more quiet than a single eye? And what more free than he that desireth nothing upon earth?
And unless a man be free from the affections of all creatures, he cannot freely attend unto divine things.
Long shall he be little, and lie groveling below, that esteemeth any thing great, but the one infinite and eternal good.
For whatsoever is not God, is nothing, and ought to be accounted as nothing.
Christ. Son, thou canst not possess perfect liberty, unless thou wholly renounce thyself.
All who are lovers of themselves are in bondage, full of desires, curious wanderers, seeking self-indulgence, and not the things of Jesus Christ, but often devising and framing that which shall not stand.