God
act
for
thee
and
in
thee
as
he
pleases.
This
work
is
his,
this
Word
is
his,
this
birth
is
his
and
all
thou
art
to
boot.
For
thou
hast
abandoned
thyself
and
art
gone
out
of
thy
faculties
and
thy
personal
nature.
God
installs
himself
in
thy
nature
and
powers
when,
self-bereft
of
all
belongings,
thou
dost
take
to
the
desert,
as
it
is
written,
‘
A
voice
crying
in
the
wilderness.’
Let
this
eternal
voice
cry
on
in
thee
at
its
sweet
will
and
do
thou
be
a
desert
in
resj^ect
of
self
and
creatures.
Maybe
thou
wilt
say
:
‘
But,
Sir,
what
must
one
do
to
become
this
desert,
void
of
self
and
creatures
?
Should
one
stay
waiting
for
God
all
the
time
and
do
nothing
oneself
or
should
one
do
some-
thing
between
whiles,
such
as
praying
or
reading
or
some
good
occupation
like
going
to
church
or
studying
the
Bible
?
Not,
of
course,
taking
things
in
from
without,
but
everything
from
within,
from
one’s
God.
Besides,
is
there
not
something
we
miss
by
neglecting
these
things
?
’
My
answer
is
this
:
Outward
works
were
instituted
and
appointed
for
the
purpose
of
directing
the
outer
man
to
God
and
training
him
to
ghostly
life
and
virtues
lest
haply
he
should
stray
out
of
himself
into
ineptitudes
:
to
act
as
a
curb
upon
his
inclination
to
run
aw’'ay
from
self
to
things
abroad
;
so
that
when
God
shall
choose
to
work
in
him
he
shall
find
him
close
at
hand
and
not
first
have
to
fetch
him
back
from
things
gross
and
alien.
The
greater
is
the
]3leasurc
in
external
things
the
harder
work
it
is
to
leave
them
;
the
stronger
the
love
the
sharper
the
pain
when
it
comes
to
parting.
All
pious
practices
-
])raying,
reading,
singing,
watching,
fasting,
penance,
or
whatever
discipline
it
be
were
contrived
to
catch
and
keep
us
from
things
alien
and
ungodly.
Suppose
one
feels
God’s
s]3irit
is
not
working
in
one,
but
rather
that
one’s
inner
man
is
God-
forsaken,
that
is
the
proper
moment
for
the
outward
man
to
exer-
cise
the
practical
virtues,
and
particularly
such
as
arc
most
feasible
and
useful
to
him
;
not
for
his
o\vn
selfish
ends,
but
that,
respect
for
truth
preserving
him
from
being
led
away
by
what
is
gross,
he
may
stick
straitly
to
God
who
will
not
need
to
seek
him
far
afield,
but
will
find
liini
there
at
hand
when
he
chooses
to
return
and
carry
on
his
own
work
in
liis
soul.
But
given
that
a
man
has
genuine
experience
of
the
interior
life,
then
let
him
boldly
drop
all
outward
disciplines,
even
those
practices
which
thou
art
vowed
to
and
from
which
neither
p(3pe
nor
prelate
can
release
thee.
From
vows
made
to
God
no
man
(Nan
excuse
thee
:
such
vows
are
a
bond
between
thyself
and
God.
But
supposing
one
has
taken
solemn
vows
of
fasting,
say,
or
prayer
or
pilgrimage,
then
on
entering
some
order,
one
is
released
from
them
forthwith
:
in
the
order,
obligation
is
to
goodness
as
a
whole,
to
God
himself.
Ami
so
I
say
here.
Whatever
one’s
vows
to
manifold
things,
