say he is our Pledge and by his Sufferings has paid the Penalty due to our Sins having died to redeem us while we will suffer nothing nor share in his Pains being well pleased to have our Debts paid with the Goods of another It is on the other hand a great Boldness in those who think they shall be saved by their own Merits without the Merits of Jesus Christ For if Jesus Christ had not merited for them the Grace to do well they were not capable of having so much as one good Thought or Desire of doing one good Work So that all the Grace they have of doing any Good comes from the Merits of Jesus Christ tho' by Ignorance they despise it as poor blinded ones who can discern nothing thro' the Weakness of their Sight For if Jesus Christ had not come to bring Light to the World no body would have perceived his own miserable State and if he had not interceded with his Father no body would have had the Grace to receive his Light so that without Jesus Christ all Men would have remained lost thro' their Blindness and would never have been able to comprehend by what Means they ought to return to God if Jesus Christ had not come to teach them by Word and Deed. And if he had only taught them by Word as the other Prophets no body would have followed him since they believe even yet that it is impossible to imitate Jesus Christ and to follow the Evangelical Life But he himself has put it in Practice before Mens Eyes that after his Example they must endeavour to satisfie the Justice of God by the Union of his Sufferings and of his Charity which are Sacrifices more agreeable to God his Father than our unclean Offerings and our Works defiled with Sin If one had mortally offended his Equal he durst not of himself procure Peace and the Pardon of his Offence but he would interpose some Mediator who were a Friend of the offended Person to satisfie his just Wrath. But they who would be saved by their good Works have too much Pride to take Jesus Christ as Mediator but with an up-lifted Head they address to God whom they have so often offended that they rather draw down his avenging Hand upon their Heads than the Pardon of their Sins for God resists the Proud and gives his Heart to the Humble If they join'd their good Works to the Humility of Jesus Christ they might peradventure receive the Mercy of God by his Son Jesus Christ but standing up as the Pharisee who thanked God for his good Works they shall no more be justified than he was when he went out of the Temple Because he who is not cloathed with Jesus Christ is not admitted to his Father since before his Coming into the World all Men were Enemies to God So that he who is not cloathed with Jesus Christ cannot be acknowledged for his Friend far less for his Son seeing the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the only Son in which he takes Pleasure and not in another He therefore who thinks to go to God without the Mediation of Jesus Christ will be rejected as unworthy and rash because Jesus Christ is the only Door of Salvation They are Thieves who would enter by the Windows into the Kingdom of Heaven for that only belongs to the Disciples of Jesus Christ In which those greatly deceive themselves who believe that they may enter into it while they despise him or reject his Merits which have opened the Door to all those who will follow and imitate him Yet not to those who esteem Jesus Christ and his Merits but with all this will not embrace Penitence under a Pretext that Jesus Christ has satisfi'd wholly for their Sins comprehending even those which they shall commit in time to come as well as those which they have committed in time past In which Error are the most part of those who are called Christians yea amongst others the most perfect We hear nothing more ordinary in their pious Discourses than to say God is Good he will save us and Jesus Christ died to give us Entry into Paradise And with these fine Discourses every one thinks they are sure of Paradise even tho' they live and die in their natural Motions and Sentiments which is a great Mistake for God tho' he be good will save no body but him who shall satisfie his Divine Justice The Merits of the Death and Suffering of Jesus Christ will never be applied but to Souls which are regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ For he has not suffered but for those who from a natural Life shall enter into a spiritual one For Jesus Christ says that all Righteousness must be fulfilled Now it were not just that they who have forsaken a Dependance upon God to depend upon their own Wills should enjoy the Merits of Jesus Christ without being converted and embracing his Spirit since he came not but to bring Sinners to Repentance and he who continues to persevere in his natural Life cannot repent and so cannot enjoy the Merits of Jesus Christ since it is not for those that he has suffered or merited but only for those who by Ignorance or Frailty have quitted their Dependance upon God and delight themselves in the Creatures without thinking they ought to delight themselves in God alone They lived in the Darkness of Death without knowing it Therefore Christ had Compassion on them and offered himself to his Father promising unto him that they should be converted and do Penitence provided he brought them the Light of Truth by which they might get out of their Darkness and their Errors In this Jesus Christ was our Pledge and answered for our Penitence with which we must be saved and not otherwise Therefore they form to themselves imaginary Ways in the Air who think that Jesus Christ is come to save us in speculative Way or by some incomprehensible Mysteries seeing our Redemption is accommodated to our Capacity But the Devil to divert us from taking the straight Way thro' which Jesus Christ walked blinds our Eyes with imaginary Things that we may never come to the Knowledge of the straight Truth making some believe that they cannot be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ and others that his Merits will save them even though they use no Endeavours to imitate and follow him Many other Passages might I bring out of her Writings but these may shew her Sentiments in this Matter The Sum of her Sentiments comes to this That Man turning away his Heart and his Affections from God thereby all Communion between God and Man ceas'd and so Man was plung'd into an irrecoverable State of Sin and Misery as well as the fallen Angels if there had been none to interpose for him with God for whose Sake he should shew him Mercy there being nothing now in Man that could move God to have any Regard for him That Jesus Christ true God and
and God who had so much comforted her in Prayer all the time that she was despised now withdrew from her and her Prayers were without any fervour Her Conscience often check'd her when she did or said any thing to please the World but she had not the courage to withdraw from it But God had pity on her who had abandon'd him to turn to the Creatures She oft-times felt inward Motions from God and even in the midst of her Divertisements and Dancings she had sometimes secret Reproofs from him piercing her Heart with those inward Words Will you forsake me then for another Will you find a Lover more compleat and more faithful than I am But a little after Company and Divertisements got the Ascendant and even when she was excited by those inward Motions to abandon all she would reply Then I should never have Pleasure It is fit for one to take some Pleasure in their Youth VII Then God seeing that his gentle Motions avail'd nothing took more severe means to recover her and fill'd her Spirit with fearful Apprehensions of Death Judgment and Hell the hearing of the Deaths of others and Sermons about Death and Judgment did before that touch her but very little like the Stories of Foreign Countries and she would not let her self think that she was concern'd in them But when God was pleas'd to open her Eyes and let her see she must Die and appear at the great Judgment then unexpressible Apprehensions seiz'd her and all the Day long when she was alone she would say to her self Poor Creature What will become of thee Thou must die all the things of the World cannot save thee from this fearful Death thou caâ—st not escape it And what wilâ— thou say when that Hour shall come This she often repeated both in her Mind and by Word They with whom she convers'd observing her Sadness endeavour'd to chear and divert her but all in vain For then she had a disgust of all Recreations and earthly Pleasures And when she forc'd her self to take Contentment in any thing she thought it was said to her Heart To what purpose takest thou Pleasure since thou must die For what will this serve thee before God But the sensitive part of her Soul was very displeas'd to see it self thus afflicted and said in its mute Language Thou shalt never be well if thou put not these Fancies out of thy Head but will die very shortly if thou continue in such Apprehensions This made her leave oft for some time But as soon as she came to her self the superiour part said Forget Death as much as you will it shall not forget thee It is a folly to think to free thy self of it by shutting it out of thy Memory It will find thee every where and does not wait till thou be ready but comes at its time unlook'd for and when thou shalt think least of it And if the Idea of it only does so affright yea put thy Life in hazard how will the reality of it make thee afraid when thy Soul shall be in Danger Give place to those Truths without flattering thy self with any Reasons VIII These were the Debates which toss'd her Spirit without ceasing She resolv'd then to quit all the World and prepare for Death and prevent it since it followed her so hard But she found great Difficulty to do it being Young and in the midst of all worldly Advantages so that she might promise to her self as much of worldly Pleasures Honour and Wealth as any of her rank Nevertheless the thoughts of Death had yet greater force when she thought on the future State She said to her self It is very true Mirth is agreeable Pleasures are sweet and Wealth delightful but this lasts but for a little time Death will come and change all and all must be parted with with a lamentable regret and it may be an eternal Punishment for a good of so short continuance So that perceiving clearly this Truth she prayed earnestly to God to give her Grace to think always upon Death and never to let it be out of her Mind for any thing that might befall her which she obtain'd after a long perseverance in this Prayer And to fix it the more upon her Spirit she went oft to the Church-yard where looking on the Bones of the dead she said See my Body what will become of thee Thy own Head and thy own Hands will be very shortly thrown into this Company and she was afraid to look upon them and forc'd her self to approach them being naturally timorous and to handle them saving O miserable Creature Wilt thou have a Horror for thy self Draw near boldly Thou shalt be a Thousand times more vile when the Worms shall eat thee and this will be the greatest Honour that can befal thee to be ranked with these Bones here IX This gave her a great disgust for the Body which she formerly cherish'd and a hatred and severity against her self and after her Sister was married she retir'd from all sort of Company staid alone in her Chamber entered upon a very austere Life Lying hard Sleeping little Fasting much mingling what she did eat with Ashes to mortifie her Taste wearing hair cloath next to her Skin and afflicting her Body and praying and weeping the most part of her time for Grief that she had left the sweet Conversation she had with God to please her self in the Divertisements of the World She visited the Poor and Sick frequented the Churches and Sacraments not knowing by what means she could recover the Favour of God which she had lost through her own Fault She durst scarce sleep in the Night fearing to fall into Hell while asleep and that the Earth would not bear her So terrible were her Apprehensions of the Judgments of God that she durst not shut her Eyes because of her Sins which seem'd to her so great that none had ever committed the like not that she was guilty of any Crime or wicked Deed but because she had forsaken the sweet Conversation that her Soul had with God to please her self with the Divertisements of the World after having received so many Favours from God which deserved the Thanksgiving of her whole Life This appear'd to her so great a Sin that Hell was not sufficient to punish it She continued in those Austerities and Mortification for Seven Years and would have done so still if God had not commanded her when she was Twenty Five Years of Age to leave this and lead an ordinary Life Her Mortifications were not the Effect of a melancholy Humour nor accompanied with it for she was of the most serene and chearful Temper even to her Death But she chastis'd her self with an inward Contentment and Tranquillity out of a Principle of Justice And her Floods of Tears flowing from the Love of God whose Friendship she had lost through her own Fault were attended with a secret and most solid Pleasure
you or would wrong your Health 6. For I YIELD IN NOTHING TO NATURE knowing well that it is corrupt and begets all sort of Sins which kill the Soul and make it lose a Blessed Eternity Of necessity we must contradict it and deny all its Desires or otherwise it will lead us to all sort of eternal Miseries which few Persons do conceive For we see every one follows his own Will without thinking that he does Evil for they do not sufficiently perceive that our SELF WILL BRINGS FORTH ETERNAL DEATH as in Truth it does which I see by the Eyes of Faith And Jesus Christ has also taught us it when he says that he who does not deny himself cannot be his Disiple I cannot find more express Terms to make Man understand that he must not follow his own Will but absolutely deny it all that it asks Nevertheless we see that the best enclin'd now adays think themselves happy that they can follow their own Will which is always enclin'd towards earthly and tempoâ—al things and never towards Eternity which is unto it invisible and incomprehensible 7. For this Cause I can never Accompany one who travels towards the World and follows his own Will I must still wâ—lk alone so long as I shall not find others being like a desolate Widow who has no Companion nor Consolation in this World which is even very grievous to Nature Because it is always sociable and is pleas'd with the Society of those like to it which I have not as yet met with in this World having being always obliged to travel alone for I have found none to joyn my self unto tho' I have still sought after them and inform'd my self where are THOSE SOULS WHICH TRAVEL TOWARDS ETERNITY without having hitherto discovered any 8. I have convers'd with the Religious and Devout Persons of our side and have found them all seeking after earthly things for if they study and preach it is to recommend themselves to Men or to get their Living And secular Persons who are engag'd in the Practice of Physick or in Merchandizing do all to gain Money or to acquire Honour and Pleasure in this World So that none of those can accompany me in the way to Eternity and therefore I must walk alone or turn backward to the way of the World Which I will never do choosing rather to die alone in the way of Salvation than to follow a croud in the way of Perdition seeing the great number of the damned would never ease my Pain but rather encrease it by the encrease of the number of damned Souls Therefore I will continue in the way to Eternity tho' I should travel ALONE in it even to Death choosing rather to be alone with Jesus Christ than in a great Company with the World and Hell I know indeed my dear Child that you do not desire to follow the World or Hell but in effect you still follow them so long as you yet seek any other thing than Eternity You think you will not seek any other thing since you have resolved to quit the World But believe me so long as you yet seek to please Men and that you are afraid to displease them you are still in the way of the World And so long as you take pleasure here in the Honour or Prosit of the World you cannot relish the Delights or the Repose of Eternity And if you have yet an Esteem for Wealth it is certain you are not come to the Knowledge of eternal good things for these make one always to despse earthly Goods finding them to be vain and unworthy of our Love 9. By which you may certainly discern if you are in the way of Eternity or in that of the Earth and Time according as your Aims and Designs tend unto the one or the other This is a general Rule for ALL Men of the World by which they may measure if they are in the way to a BLESSED ETERNITY or in that which leads unto a MISERABLE ETERNITY by examining if their Cares Desires and Affections are towards earthly things or indeed towards things Eternal 10. Not that one must live in Idleness in this World for he ought continually to labour in it to accomplish the Penitence that God has enjoyn'd us But our Labour ought to respect Eternity the Glory of God the Salvation of our Soul or that of our Neighbour and all that is without this is Evil. For if one labour for this World he receives here the Recompence of his Labour and therefore he has no more to pretend to for Eternâ—ty For otherwise God would not be just seeing he who has laboured that he may gain Money having gain'd it has received the Reward of his Labour and has no Right to pretend to any other thing for he desired no other thing If you labour that you may get an Office and you obtain it your Labour is well rewarded by the obtaining of that Office If you labour in Traffick and Business that you may gain Money and if this succeed according to your Desires you must not look for any other Recompence but the Money that you have gained If you study that you may accomplish your self before Men you are rewarded by the Praises which they give you and the Esteem they have for you You see all that a Person can pretend to who labours for the Earth and for Time God cannot in Justice give him a Blessed Eternity when his Labours have no other End but the Earth towards which he travels all the Days of his Life as we see all Men do now and they think themselves Wise and Happy when they dextrously seek after their Advantages in this World For he who does it not is despised by them and look'd upon as a Fool. 11. This is the way in which all Men do travel wherein it would be impossible for me to follow or imitate them for I look upon all these things as Follies and Amusements of Satan For what can it profit a Man if he attains to some Office or Benefice or that he has heaps up Money that he may take his Delights in this World Death puts an end to all and the Praises of Men which he has acquired by improving himself are nothing but a blast of Wind which drives away the Ashes of our Corruption by forgetfulness out of their Memories And the poor Soul finds it self deprived of eternal Glory which it can never recover after this transitory Life which is the only way to a blessed or miserable Eternity It is a Folly and Deceit to hope for it He must content himself with the Earth which he lov'd and with Men whom he desired to please 12. Behold my dear Child what Recompence the Earth and Men can give them for all the Services which they shall render them nothing but the Pain and Sorrow of being forced to abandon them and Remorse of Conscience for having sought after earthly things and travelled towards a
Esay accuses them that they had said Let us eat and drink for to morrow we must die we have made a Covenant with Death and with Hell we are at Agreement for we have made Lies our Refuge and under Falshood have we hid our selves Malachy It is in vain for us to serve the Lord we will call the Proud Happy c. This was not true in the Sight of Men but it was true in the Sight of God who saw that there were no living Impressions in their Hearts of the Divine Providence of a happy or miserable Eternity of the great Happiness of Vertue c. There are generally two sorts of Principles and Sentiments in Men which do widely differ from one another one by which they reason and discourse and preach and write Books and teach Doctrines and this is their speculative Principle The other is that by which a Man acts and governs both his inward Affections and his Life This last only is a Man's true Sentiments and Principle tho' for the most part this is unknown to the Man himself S. Paul before his Conversion and e'er he was enlightned by the Holy Ghost would have been highly offended with any that should have call'd him a Blasphemer a Persecuter of God and good Men and the Chief of Sinners as imputing to him Crimes and Sentiments of which he not only thought himself innocent but that those very things were Vertues in the Sight of God tho' when God opened his Eyes he found he had been truly such So strange is the Blindness of corrupt Man Therefore when God would deliver Men from Death he stops not at the outward Appearance and what Men say and at their dead Reasonings and Sentiments who may tell him We teach Vertue we preach good Works we recommend Mortification of the Old Man we detest Security and Presumption c. while in effect their Lives are regulated by quite contrary Principles and their Hearts live in another Element and therefore he warns them of that which is hid within them and which they do not yet perceive and tells them that tho' they profess to know him yet by their Works they deny him being abominable disobedient and to every good Work reprobate Now it is according to this Measure that A. B. speaks of Men and Parties and of their Sentiments When a whole Society lives according to Principles the contrary of which they affirm with their Mouths it is certain this may be imputed to that Society When the greatest part of particular Persons in that Society have certain Sentiments as to flatter themselves that they are in the State of Grace or predestinated to Salvation it is certain that the Society in the gross may be said to have these Sentiments If while they live in a worldly and carnal Manner yet they commonly believe they shall be saved by the Use of the Ceremonies and Sacraments this is to be reckoned the real Sentiment of the Society in gross tho' the Speculations of some particular Persons and Doctors do not say so It is the People that makes the Church and not a small Number of learned Heads It is the living and inward Principles Inclinations and Dispositions of the Spirits and Hearts of the People that makes the Sentiments of the Church and not some vain Theories of the Learned which are oft-times dead and barren in their own Hearts When in a Society some particular Persons teach expresly evil Doctrines as the Justifying of horrid Murthers or that we may be saved without the Love of God and direct Souls according to these Doctrines if the whole Body of such a Church knowing this do not openly and loudly extirpate such a Doctrine by their Councils or other proper Means undoubtedly such a Society and particularly they who preside in it are reckoned by God as if they themselves authoritatively taught and maintained these detestable Maxims Now if what A. B. says as to the Principles Sentiments and Evils of Parties or Persons be examined by these Rules it will appear that she imputes nothing to them falsly XXV Another Accusation brought against A. B. is that she gives wrong Explications of several Passages in the Holy Scripture as her applying that of S. Paul We know in part c. to a greater Degree of Knowledge and Illumination than God will give in this last Age of the World Her understanding the Words of our Saviour Joh. 12. 23. of his glorious Appearing in the End of the World when the Context shews it is meant of his Death and Sufferings her singular Exposition of the Lord's Prayer as containing things that we are to obtain only in Perfection when Christ comes to reign in Glory We see what Expositions the Apostles give of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and the Fathers of both the Old and New which oft-times seem very different from the Sence that naturally offers S. Augustin's Rule already mentioned has Place here That whosoever gives such a Sence of the Scripture as serves to promote the Love of God and our Neighbours which is the great End tho' it cannot be made appear that the Pen-man of the Scripture did so understand it in that particular Place he does not err damnably nor does he make a Lye But that other remarkable Rule he gives serves fully to remove this Accusation That as to all the Sences that are given of the Holy Scripture which are not repugnant to the Truth it is to be believed they were intended by the Holy Spirit That when many Sences are given of the same Words if it appear from other Places of the Scripture that they are agreeable to the Truth and to Faith there is no Danger For perhaps the Author of those Writings did perceive the same Sence of them and certainly the Spirit of God who wrought by him foresaw without doubt that this would occur to the Reader and the Hearer yea took care that it should occur For what more liberal and bountiful Provision could be made by God in the Divine Oracles than that the same Words should be understood in many Sences all which the other no less Divine Writings might confirm Agreeable to this we have a Divine Maxim of a pious Writer of the last Age That according to the State that Man is in so he understands the Holy Scripture if he be as yet in the State of Nature he explains it of Natural Things if he have ascended higher he understands it of more sublime Things and the higher State he is advanced to he still finds so much the more sublime Testimonies of things in the Scripture Inferiour things are the Image and Similitude of the superiour If a Man therefore be in the lowest Degree the Scripture proposes low things to him but if he be placed in superiour Degrees it points out to him higher things When Paul says Not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness c. Rom. 13. 19. this concerns
Pastor ask'd who she was she told the Truth and that she fled out of the Dangers of the World to follow Jesus Christ the good Man wept and his Soul was confounded to see a Child like her quit all the Wealth and Pleasures of the World to embrace Poverty and Hardships while he after so many Years of Penitence was not come to such a Disengagement Ye he was a very Holy Man who liv'd in continual Prayer and Penitence the Story of whose Life is most remarkable the summ of it is thus XVI This Pastor of Blatton George de Lisle was design'd for the Pastoral Office from his Youth and train'd up after the ordinary ways of Study and Learning He had for some Years exercis'd the Functions of the Pastoral Charge after the manner that is usually done living after the way of the World in God's Judgment though Honestly and without Scandal in the World's Sense being often in Company as others of his rank and there diverting himself Eating Drinking and making Merry till it pleas'd God to touch his Heart and draw him from the brink of Perdition after this manner He and the Mayor having been invited on Shrove-Tuesday to make good Chear with the Lord of the Mannor after having past a part of the Night in Feasting as they came home about Midnight an enraged Soldier met them who had sworn to kill the first he met with he shot the Mayor who fell down dead at the Pastor's Feet who immediately was inwardly struck by God with these Thoughts How is it that thou art not in the place of this Man And if thou wet there in what State could thy Soul be but that of eternal Damnation dying in so wretched a Disposition as the fulness of Meat Wine and good Cheer which thou hast made O my God said he turning suddenly to God What Mercy hast thou shewn to make me now escape the eternal and certain Damnation of my Soul I 'll now watch and take care to be in a better Disposition Which he resolv'd and executed from that very Moment beginning to lead a Penitent and Christian Life without ever drawing back from it to his Death First he resolv'd to live Solitary for some time to strengthen him in Good and having substituted one to wait on his Cure for Six Months he sought out a Holy Person by whom he might be directed who accordingly for Six Months treated him with great Austerity And when he return'd to his Cure he encreas'd and continu'd what he had begun He resolved to mortifie his Body because it was so ready to tempt his Soul and to punish it for having taken too much its Ease and Pleasures Because he had pleas'd himself with fine Linen and fine Cloaths he never wore Linens any more and girded himself with a great Chain of Iron which went twice about and sunk into his Flesh Because he had lov'd to Sleep at Ease in a good Bed he caus'd them to bring his Coffin and a Stone in it for his Pillow where he lay with his Chain about his Loins all the rest of his Life Because he had taken too much Rest and past sometimes a part of the Night in Mirth and Laughter he spent Three Hours every Night from Eleven to Two after Midnight in Prayers and Tears on his Knees before the high Altar of his Church to bewail his Sins and Mens Blindness and Hardness Because he had plesa'd himself with commodious Lodging he staid in an Apartment which was almost always full of Smoke To punish the Excess he thought he had committed in Eating and Drinking he not only abstain'd from Flesh and Wine all his Days but also Seven whole Years from drinking Wine Water or any Liquor He would have been in the heats of Summer as in a Furnace all dry Mouth Tongue Palate Lips peel'd on Fire and like one in a burning Fever He renounc'd all Studies and all curious Learning referving only Two Books the Holy Bible and the Lives of the Saints in the one of which he read every Day a Chapter and in the other a Life saying of these Two Books Here 's the Doctrine the Bible and here 's the Practice the Lives of the Saints He had led this Life many Years when A. B. met with him first being then Sixty Years of Age and continued in it Twelve Years more This Holy Man had received Power from God over unclean Spirits and cur'd many possest with Devils a Lorain Soldier was brought to him afflicted with a Devil he staid with him for some Months and finding himself better went away the Pastor exhorting him to live in the fear of God least if he should fall again into Sin the Devil get more hold of him than formerly But he giving up himself to all sort of Licentiousness the Devil made him more wicked than before and among other things inspir'd him with such a hellish Rage against the Pastor that he resolv'd to kill him because he had remonstrated to him that his Life was Evil. He told it openly and threatned it for Three Years and when he came there to his Winter-Quarters they advertis'd the Pastor but he judg'd it was nothing but Menaces and thought himself unworthy to die the Death of a Martyr On Good-Friday having heard the Confessions of his Parishioners who prepar'd to communicate at Easter and all being gone out as he was rising from the Confessional Chair and prostrate before the High Altar to bewail their Sins and his own and beg God's Pardon this Soldier lurking among the Seats with his Carbine shot at him who fell suddenly down calling upon God The Villain perceiving that he yet breathed ran and gave him many strokes with his drawn Sword in the Head till he cleav'd it so as the Brains fell on the Pavement Some Children who had staid in the Church ran and publish'd the Murther He was carried into his House and lived till the next Morning tho' without Senses The Soldier died by the hand of Justice without shewing any Repentance A. B. sometimes ask'd him about his great Austerities how he came to continue them being so old since to be well pleasing to God there is nothing needful but to love him He replied You do not know me In the Age in which you see me I assure you my Flesh is yet so rebellious that if I did not tame it and make it suffer it would yet rise up against my Spirit it would rule over me and carry my Affections to things below to seek Pleasure and Satisfaction in them which would certainly turn me away from the Love of God I must therefore keep it in Subjection and Slavery least it become Mistress XVII But to return to A. B. the Pastor shut her up in a little Apartment of the Church where she was full of Consolation seeing her self disengag'd from all earthly things and retaining no Affection for any thing but a perfect Union with God Next Day he came
beware of her said she was guided by an evil Spirit that one such was plague enough in a Community And told her self that the Devil conâ—ducted her that he transform'd himself into an Angel of Light that there needed no other proof than her living without a Director and she would ruine her self if she did not submit to their Direction They pressâ—d her by so many Reasons that she doubted in might be true She had recourse to God but her Spirit being toâ—t with divers Passions she discern'd nothing being wholly in Darkness She went to the Archbishop who being perswaded she was guided by the Holy Spirit thought she ought not to take the Direction of Men. Pere du Bois confirm'd the same She rested upon this yet begg'd leave of the Archbishop to read the New Testament that she might discover her Errors by confronting her Sentiments with the Gospel She no sooner began to read attentively the Gospels than she perceived such a Conformity with her inward Sentiments that if she were to set them down in Writing she should write such a Book in Substance as the Gospel She left off to read more because God taught her inwardly all that she needed and that his Conduct and the Gospel were the same thing XXVI The Archbishop with the Consent of his Council judging the Undertaking to be from God gave her his Blessing and Permission to begin such a Society at Blatton where a Widow-Woman had offered a piece of Ground for which she afterwards paid her and there was a House begun but not finish'd because of the Death of the Pastor G. de Lisle and the Churchmen applied with all Vigour to stop it as they did He ask'd her Whereupon they would live She said upon their little Garden and God would provide for the rest That he never fail'd those who serv'd him truly and if they serv'd him ill far better that all be dissolved than to deceive the World by Hypocrisie He ask'd If she would make Vows She said None He said Each ones Love was not so strong as to make them persevere freely She said They who have it not will not come And if they lose the Love of God when they are there it is far better they return to the World than to disorder others or make them lukewarm XXVII She had communicated to Pere du Bois upon his importunity a Writing wherein she represented that God had made known to her that all the Evils of the Church came from the Churchmen and that they must amend if they would turn away God's Wrath. This Paper was quickly spread abroad of which she complain'd to Pere du Bois who said he was oblig'd in Conscience to do it All the Churchmen and Religious Orders were so far from amending there Faults thereby that it fill'd them with Hatred and Revenge against her uttering many Reproaches some of them declaring that if they could have her they would drown her XXVIII The Jesuits learning the Design she had of re-establishing a Christian Life in a Community set on the Archbishop with so much Earnestness and so many Calumnies against her that they entirely chang'd him and he retracted his Permission She remonstrated to him his Sin in being so easily perswaded by Men to change his Resolutions and to oppose what he knew came from God and forewarn'd him that for a Punishment he should die very shortly as he did about Six Months thereafter Pere du Bois perswaded her to go to Liege where she would obtain her desire but before she return'd the Jesuits had constrain'd the poor Maids to promise by Oath not to follow her and even not to speak to her Two of the best of them Mary Malapert and La Barre the younger died shortly after through the Anguish and Affliction of Spirit in which they put them A. B. says of Mary Malapert that she was the purest Soul that ever she knew and the only Person she ever knew in the World in a State of compleat Regeneration and Union with God which she enjoyed without knowing it well her self not but that when she enjoyed actual Conversation with God she was then most certain of it but when she return'd to her Directors they knew so well to distract her by outward things by constrain'd Rules and clouds of foreign Thoughts that she knew not where she was nor the true State of her Soul And one of the three things for which A. B. always bless'd God was that he had preserv'd her from the Direction of Men. XXIX Having after this staid for some time at Blatton and then by Pere du Bois's Advice with the Countess of Wallerwal who living in Caelibacy and designing to employ her Wealth to the Glory of God desired to see her where she met with nothing but Distraction she was call'd back to Lisle by the Sickness of her Mother who long'd to see her before she died She found her sick to Death who bless'd God that he had granted her desire and foretold her what grievous Afflictions were to befal her After her Mother's Death she resolving to retire again her Father and Friends urge her that all the Laws both of God and Man do oblige her though she had been in a Desart or a Cloyster to come and assist her aged Father in his Affairs She was perswaded so to do and so ordered her Hours of Recollection and the Times of managing his Affairs that she did all to his Contentment Yet tho' Sixty Years of Age he would needs marry without his Childrens knowledge a poor Maid for his Fancy without either Wit or Vertue A. B. staid with them four Months to acquaint her with the Affairs in which time she suffered grievously by her She resolvâ—d to retire and desired of her Father some of her Mother's Goods for her Substance which he utterly refused It is well known that the Laws and Customs of the Low-Coâ—ntries are quite different from those of England or Scotland particularly in this Matter of the Goods of Husband and Wife for the Goods of the Wife being either the Portion given her or any other Goods given her or purchas'd by her self the Husband has nothing but the Use and Profit of the Portion during the Wife's Life and she may dispose of and trade with her other Goods as she pleases and at her Death the Propriety and Profit also of her Portion and all her Goods do belong to her Children or other Heirs and none of them to the Husband A. B. related to her Sister what had past and that their Father said all their Motherâ—s Goods belong'd to him Upon which her Sister's Husband resolvâ—d to oblige him by Law and accordingly presented a Bill to the Magistrate But he being a Man of Wit and Credit drew them into a Process in which they could not get Justice for during it her Brother-in-Law fell sick and died upon which she desisted from that pursuit and retir'd to a little
get him there this Expedient was thought upon Monsieur Gorin who was truly Monsieur de Saint Amour who was sent to Rome in the Affair between the Jansenists and Jesuits and on that Occasion wrote the famous Journal of St. Amour having bought from Monsieur de Cort some Lands in Noordstrand who had assured him that he would have Eight per Cent. of yearly Revenue and if it did not yield that promised to restore him his Principal and to take back the said Lands and by a Trick he got him to sign a Paper for this in which Paper the principal Summ was set at 12000 Florins French Money and when M. de Cort said the Price of the Lands was only 8000 Florins Gorin said it 's true but 8000 of Dutch Money make 12000 of French and so the good Man replying he did not know the Value of the Exchange hastily signed the Writing when he was taking Horse at Paris whither he had gone to see his good Friends the Jansenists who were then persecuted and to whom he would have given all his Lands if they had ask'd them So Gorin being Procurator for the other French Jansenists who had bought Interests in Noordstrand resolves to demand his Principal and more as having got only 4 or 5 per Cent. of yearly Revenue and he knew M. de Cort had not Money to re-imburse him The other Partners consent and especially the Fathers of the Oratory at Mechlin who had not yet deprived themselves of the Possession of M. de Cort's Goods and thought this would be a Mean to perpetuate it The Matter stood thus M. de Cort had purchased a considerable Interest in Noordstrand besides the Tythes and the being the Director of it he being perswaded that God would make that Island a Place of Refuge for his Persecuted Servants and looking then on the Jansenists as such he drew them out of France Flanders and Holland into this Isle of which he sold them Parcels And he himself having contracted Debts in making of this Purchase the Fathers of the Oratory at Mechlin urg'd him to leave all his own Possessions and Rights there to their Congregation He consented provided they would pay his Debts which he had contracted in the Acquisition This they promised to do but to authorize their Right they would have it by Way of Contract as if they had had given him such Summs for his Possessions tho' he never received any and made him leave out the Condition of Paying his Debts for that they would have him trust their World alledging that otherwise his Creditors might fall upon them all at once to their Ruin Thus they entred in Possession and when they would pay none of his Creditors he makes a Revocation of this Contract of Sale as fraudulent to which the Grand Council at Mechlin consents provided he satisfie the Fathers within a Year and a half and the same is ratified by the Duke of Holstein the Prince of the Island Thus he was ready to free his Possessions of all their Pretensions against them and to retire thither with'those who loved the Truth But their Avarice and Hatred of him as a Deserter made them conspire his Ruin The 7th of March 1669. M. Gorin or St. Amour came with two others to make a friendly Visit to M. de Cort in his Lodging Within two Days he came again and M. de Cort being absent he spoke with A. B. who offered to give him his principal Summ for the Lands he had of M. de Cort at which he seem'd well satisfied The same Day he obtained an Order for seizing his Person upon the Pretences already said Within two Days he invites him friendly to come to the House of John de Swaan to treat with the Partners about the new Dike he designed to make in Noordstrand and having the Sergeants ready he was immediately seized and made Prisoner at the Instance of M. Gorin LIV. Tho' the Fathers of the Oratory possest all his Revenues they sent him not one Penny in his Misery A. B. offered sufficient Bail solicited to have him Prisoner in the Town-House obtain'd Orders from the Duke of Holstein to his opposite Party to set him at Liberty that both might answer at his Courts their proper Judge spar'd neither Procurators nor Advocates wrote for his Justification to all concern'd pleading with a force of Reason and Equity worthy of the greatest Civilian but all in vain They sought to seize her as the only Person that supplied him with Food and other things and she was forc'd to leave her Lodgings and conceal her self She wrote him many Letters for his Conduct and Consolation and being spent with Labours and Afflictions and praying earnestly to God to assist him whom no Creature would help it was told her That he would be his Advocate and deliver him upon which she left off to solicite any When Bail was offered they got still some new Pretensions to arrest him God made use of the same means for his Liberation One of his Creditors Mugenhove took a Remorse for this Arrest and calling together his Brethren and â—isters Coheirs brought them to sign a Paper for his Deliverance which was presented to the grand Officer at Amsterdam M. Hasclaer who finding it sing'd with so many Hands thought it was a general Warrant and gave Order to set him at Liberty which was done after a miserable State of Six Months by which God purg'd his Soul and gave him so absolute a Patience Tranquility and Resignation to his Will that he seem'd quite another Man He immediately past over to Holstein his Enemies being enrag'd at his unexpected Deliverance LV. But their Malice ceast not there About Six Weeks after he came to Holstein there came to him a Stranger pretending to be sent from one of his Friends at Hamburg to see Noordstrand and to be a Lover of the Truth And after having entertain'd him kindly for some Days speaking of some bodily Indisposition he had contracted in the Prison and of the Gravel the Stranger said he had a most singular Powder for it He was prevail'd with to take it and at the second time was struck next Morning with an universal Palsie making Signs that he was poyson'd by the Stranger who had got away early in the Morning and past over in the first Boat he died some Days after November 1669. LVI About this time A. B. was seiz'd with a long and grievous Sickness which brought her often to the Gates of Death She could not move her self nor often express her Needs Her Friends who were but one or two durst not go see her in the Day-time least she should be discovered There was none to assist her but a sloathful Maid who let her suffer a Thousand Necessities About this time the Murtherer came to ask for her and bad tell her he was come from her Friend from Noordstrand with Letters from him and something to tell her by word of Mouth
Life by Motives and Principles of Religion but by her own Humour she resolved upon a Celibate Life only because she would not be crost c. But the Doctor sets this in a false Light as he does every thing else that concerns her The true Case is this when she was a Child it troubled her to see her Father sometimes so rough to her Mother and when he was in Wrath she would run and embrace his Knees to appease him and then would retire and pray that God would never suffer her to marry but that he would take her for his Spouse This was before her turning aside from God to divert her self with the Vanities of the World In the 18th Year of her Age she was struck with a deep Remorse for her straying from God and led a Life of most severe Penitence for Seven Years so that other Considerations did then affect her and draw her to a State of Celibacy As for the Doctor 's immodest Insinuations upon this Occasion I shall leave it to his own Conscience to check him for them but for the other Reason he gives for her Celibacy That she undervalued all she saw and could find none of Merit enough to deserve her c. it s purely his own Invention without the least Ground given for it in her Life or Writings or any manner of way and will be judged by every enquiring Reader to be a malicious and wilful Calumny 3. A Third Evidence against her Sanctity is says he her Disobedience to her Parents contrary to whose express Commands she was importunate to go into a Cloyster and when that would not do stole away from her Father's House privately He exaggerates this matter greatly but is not aware of one Reason he brings which determines the Case clearly on her side If the Case had been says he about turning Christian she ouâ—ht to have done it even without a particular Revelation whether her Father would or not The Case was the very same with her and a particular Command from God to strengthen it She saw she could not become a true Christian without abandoning the World and that while she was in her Father's House she could not sufficiently disingage her self from it and therefore resolved to obey Jesus Christ who bids us forsake Father and Mother and all that we have for his sake Our Lord called James and John the Sons of Zebedee from waiting on their Father and they forsook all and followed him 4. The Doctor triumphs greatly in his Fourth Instance her suing her Father at Law to divide his Goods with her after his Second Marriage which does not agree he says with common Measures of Grace and good Nature because it proceeded from an inordinate Love of the World and could not be managed without great disrespect to her Father The Doctor 's Passions make him so disingenuous in every thing that relates to this Virgin that it will nor be thought strange to tell that he is manifestly so in this Instance Mr. Poiret's Reply to this being so full in the fore-mentioned Letter to a Friend I need only adduce it for her Vindication and this the rather because the Doctor thinks that the Reason why he who continued her Life takes no Notice of this Passage tho' she gives an Account of it herself was because he knew not how to justifie it It is not true says he M. Poiret that I had any Interest to defend the Life and Actions of Mrs. A. B. by a Legacy which she left me as the Narrator says she did not leave me in Legacy to the Value of a Penny But there is nothing more contrary to Truth as well as to Justice and Charity than what he says of the Law-Suits of Mrs. A. B. with her Father and Step Mother I pray God he may not have acted maliciously against his Knowledge in the Judgment that he would have the English and Scots to make of her Civil Actions whose Civil Laws are different from those of her Country It may be it would be a Crime in England or Scotland for a younger Daughter after her Mother's Death to require by Law of her Father the Goods of her deceas'd Mother But in France where among Citizens in the matter of Succession there is no Distinction between Son or Daughter elder or younger it is the Law and Custom in many Places That after the Decease of the Mother her Goods are takâ—n from the Administration of the Father and put under other Curators to be after equally divided amongst the Children And in Mrs. A B's Country the Law is That the Widow-Husband cannot marry again until he first divide with the Children of the first Marriage and give them their Mother's Goods and to refuse this is to violate Law and Justice now this is what the Father of A. B. did whose Injustice our Doctor thinks fit to justifie and for this end to suppress change and falâ—ifie the Circumstances of the Affair against the Truth of what he had read of it To render Mrs. A. B. faulty and impious against her Father he speaks nothing of the Laws or Customs of the Place tho' they were expresly mentioned in her Acâ—count of the Affair according to which the Father is the Breaker of them and the Daughter would have them observed He say the Father would have maintain'd her in his House but he does not tell that his new Wife whom he had taken clandestinly tho she was but a poor Girl without Wit or Vertue studied to waste and consume the Goods of A. B. persecuting her for the Four Months she staid with her Father in so continual and cruel a manner as cannot be expressed Mrs. A. B. saw and experienced that this was inconsistent with her Recollection and contrary to the will of God He says that Mrs. A. B. was picqued because her Father refused her Money but does not tell that her Father was then in a most plentiful Condition that as for her self she had not a Penny that she ask'd only what was necessary for her That he irritated by his Wife was so cruel as not to assist her with a Penny when she was dangerously Sick that for want of Convenience she was obliged to lie under a Roof when the Snow and Cold deprived her even of the Nights rest so that Strangers were mov'd to give her Alms. He would have it to be understood that she entered into a Law Sure against her Father of her own head and therefore says that her Sister was already dead and that her Brother-in-Law perswaded her to proceed hoping afterwards to wheedle her out of it all which is false Her Married Sister was yet living and lived Five Years thereafter and about Four Years after her Husband The half of the Mother's Goods belonging to the Sister and her Husband they resolved to require their Father to deliver them to whom they did not appertain and it was only by
Sin since which time it can produce nothing but all sort of Evil it being impossible for it to do any Good or to have one good Thought For this Cause Job had good Reason to curse the Day of his Birth for none of the Beasts would be so miserable in their Nature as is Man if he had not in him a Divine Nature 4. All must grant this and say with your Friends that it is impossible to imitate Jesus Christ seeing he lived supernaturally having subjected his Humane Part to his Divine and made his Flesh die that he might live to his Spirit and despised Temporal things that he might embrace Eternal But I would gladly ask all those Natural Persons if they desire to do the same things And if they have put to Death the old Adam in them that is the Inclinations of corrupt Flesh And if they have labour'd with all their Power to revive in them the Spirit of the new Adam which contradicts the Sensualities of the Flesh Which appears by the Person of Jesus Christ who overcame all Natural Sensualities 5. It may be they will say that it would be impossible for them to attain to such a Perfection as Jesus Christ had while they will not part with so much as one of the Affections which they have for their Pleasures or Sensualities that they might follow him at a distance For they do not so much as desire to imitate him far les to tend to his Perfection They believe indeed by an imaginary Speculation that Jesus Christ has satisfied all for them and they will not believe by a Divine Truth that he has merited for them by his Sufferings the Grace and the Power to imitate him because they do not desire to do it for they love rather to remain in the Corruption of the old Adam than to be quickened into the new which is Jesus Christ 6. Thus it is that those poor Souls flatter themselves to their Ruine while they say that they cannot imitate Jesus Christ nor live without Sin because of their great Frailty This is as much as to say that they resolve not to be saved and they resolve to die in their Sins for there are only two ways the one of Salvation the other of Damnation and Jesus Christ is that which leads to Salvation He who will not walk in the same Way in which he walked cannot find Life but without all doubt shall die for ever Therefore my dear Child do not give way to the Discourses of those poor blinded ones who have fill'd their Understanding with Errors but walk according to the Light that God has given you and labour to be born again in the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Saviour Withdraw from the World since he says that he prays not for the World but for those whom his Father has given him out of the World Those who are of the World are they who love the transitory things of the World and will not part with them to imitate Jesus Christ They are rich in Will and proud in Heart loving their fleshly Sensualities while they flatter themselves by saying that it would be impossible for them to imitate Jesus Christ and to live without Sin because of their great Frailty which if they understood aright they would use means to overcome it and he who felt his Heart cleave to Riches would not possess them but would put them far away from him as some of the Heathens did who threw all their Money into the Sea fearing least it should deprive them of the Liberty of their Mind And if a Man found himself so frail as to fall into the Sin of Pride he would shun Offices Greatness and Honours that he might follow the Poverty and Lowliness of Jesus Christ and if hâ— found himself so frail as that he could not eat and drink delicate things without falling into the Sin of Gluttony he would take the coarsest Meats and Drink proportionably to support the Weakness and Frailty of Nature weaning it from all Sensuality or fleshly Apperite But Men do not feel themselves too frail to iudulge their Body in all its Appetites and Pleasures and they will needs make themselves believe that they are too frail to abstain from Sin or to imitate Jesus Christ 7. This Sentiment is so Erroneous that I would be ashun'd to refute it were it not that I see so many Souls possess'd with it especially among those of Calvin's Reformatiâ—on who live and die in this Belief that Jesus Christ has satisfied all for them that it is impossible for them to do good or to imitate Jesus Christ This it seems is inculcated unto them from the Cradle since in effect we see that all their practice is founded upon it while they live according to the Motions of corrupt Nature and with this believe that they shall be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ without striving to imitate him since they are taught that it is impossible to do this And tho' this is a false Theology yet every one follows after it leaning upon a broken Reed 8. For that Man of whom I spoke to you formerly said that it was impossible for him to do any good Work yea to say the Lord's Prayer with Attention no more than they with whom he convers'd whom he had often ask'd if they could say it with Attention and they all answered they could not It is to be remarked that they were Merchants of great Trade and Spirit who found out all sort of Inventions for gaining of Money with great Dexterity and Care and their Spirit was not disingag'd for saying the Lord's Prayer with Attention For where their Treasure was there was their Heart and the Attention cannot be perfect in two so contrary things at the same time but if they had purg'd their Souls from coveting earthly Goods and as carefully applied their Understanding to speak unto God and to hear him without doubt they might not only have said the Lord's Prayer with Attention but might also have attention seriously upon continual Prayer which Jesus Christ has so much recommended to us saying that we ought always to pray and never to cease 9. But those poor Ignorants think to please God with fair Words as they please Men by saying that they are too frail to do any Good far less can they imitate Jesus Christ for these Excuses will condemn them For if they were truly sensible of their Frailty they would avoid the Occasions of Sin and use the Means of Poverty Humility and Patience that they might imitate Jesus Christ for he did nothing when he was upon Earth but that which another would do that were animated with the same Spirit that he was For the same God has through all the same Power and can do by the Body and Spirit of other Men that which he did by that of Jesus Christ 10. For in as much as he is God his Power is not limited provided that Man give no â—indrance
blinded ones so often repeat that Jesus Christ has satisfied all for us and say that I reject his Merits by teaching that of necessity we must imitate him if we would be saved This might well surprize some weak Spirits who would think that they did Honour to Jesus Christ in saying that he had merited all for them and that they are too weak to endure any thing But this cannot surprize one of sound Judgment who will very clearly perceive that I esteem the Merits of Jesus Christ since to them I ascribe my eternal Happiness 11. For if Jesus Christ had not interposed with God his Father for our Reconciliation never any Man had been saved since every one of them would have turn'd away from God to cleave to their natural Sentiments of which they were become Idolaters to love them with all their heart as they were obliged to love God having chang'd the Love of God into that of our fleshly Sensualities Of necessity there behov'd to be a MEDIATOR between God and Man to make this RECONCILIATION and to obtain the PARDON of so great a Fault 12. We were all guilty of High Treason against God and justly condemn'd to eternal Punishment unable to deliver our selves from it having lost the Grace of God and become his Enemies There was nothing to be hop'd for on our part for obtaining Mercy for we even knew not our Miseries so far were we from having Strength to help them or Assurance to beg of God his Grace whose Enemies we had made our selves by our Sins There was no ground of hoping for Mercy by our selves therefore JESUS CHRIST as our Advocate undertook our Cause and procur'd this Pardon not as the Ddvocates at the Tribunals of this World who plead that they may gain Money but as a divine Advocate who aims at nothing but his Father's Glory He offers to pay himself the Penalties due to our Sins that his Father might in justice pardon the Guilt of them and take us again into his Favour which he has assuredly obtain'd for Light and Grace have been given us by Jesus Christ otherwise no body would see from whence he had strayed by Sin nor whether he had gone by the forgetting of God 13. It is the Light only which Jesus Christ brought upon Earth that has made us see both the one and the other for after that he had obtain'd the PARDON of our Sins as to the Guilt by his Merits only who was innocent and subjected himself to Sufferings and to Death that he might reconcile us with God and deliver us from the Power of the Devil to which we had voluntarily subjected our selves this bowed the heart of God to speak after our way and forc'd his Will unto Mercy towards us This Grace was grace was granted unto us by God only for the Merits of Jesus Christ of his Death and his Sufferings without our Intervention So that Jesus Christ may for this be truly call'd our Saviour for he alone has saved us from the death of Sin and recover'd us from eternal Damnation into which we had miserably fallen through our own Fault and our Sins for it was impossible for Man to recover himself from so grievous a Fall 14. He would have remain'd to all Eternity in his Damnation without remedy since he saw not the means by which he might be re-united to his God But Jesus Christ brought Light unto them when he came into the World and has made them see by his Deeds and Words the things which had withdrawn them from God and what things they must do that they may return unto him for he was not satisfied to have obtained Grace for them but he would also procure their Salvation which cannot be obtain'd without the co-operation of our own Will because we are created by God free Creatures He cannot take back that which he his once given So that tho' God was able to create us of nothing without our own Will before we had a Being yet we cannot be saved without the co-operation of this Free will which he has given us for Adam could not be saved after his Sin without his accepting of the Penitence due unto it even so Jesus Christ cannot save Men by the Merit of his Sufferings and of his Death if they will not take the Remedies for their Evils 15. He is indeed the Physician who prepares Physick for our Souls and takes it himself in our presence but if we will not swallow it our selves it will have no operation upon us This we ought well to consider if we would know how Jesus Christ has suffered for us and how his Merits will be applied unto us for to believe foolishly that the Merits of Jesus Christ will save us without our co-operation is a very dangerous Mistake seeing God could not pardon the Sin of Adam who had committed but one Disobedience without obliging him to so long a Penitence how could he save us who have committed so great a number of Sins unless we will embrace for them the Sufferings which Jesus Christ has taught us since the Scripture assures us by Jesus Christ that unless we do Penitence we shall all perish 16. How can we refute this Truth by saying That we are too frail to imitate Jesus Christ This is directly to reject his Merits since they have merited for us Pardon and Grace to amend our Sins and to do Penitence for them They who after so many Favours say that they are uncapable to imitate him despise his Merits and will not have them applied unto them rejecting them as insufficient to give them strength to do well which is false for there is nothing wanting to us on God's part He says Be faithful in few things and I will set you over many things We have received by Jesus Christ the Light of Truth which is not a small Grace since by it we can discern Good and Evil and in what state our Soul in 17. If we were faithful in this Grace of Knowledge we would obtain that of amending our Faults and resisting Vice and after being faithful to this Resistance we would obtain Grace to renounce all together the Inclinations of our Nature and to die unto the Old Adam that we might live unto the New which is Jesus Christ This is to have no Faith nor Belief in Jesus Christ for if we did believe that he has merited for us the Grace of God by his Death and Sufferings it would be impossible to say or believe that we are too frail to be able to imitate him 17. Your Friends reject my Sentiments as if I rejected the Merits of Jesus Christ and they do not see that it is they themselves who do indeed reject them while they say that they esteem them This cannot proceed but from a great blindness of Spirit that they do not sufficiently-discover it and in this they are much to be lamented since they cannot be saved in this Belief because Faith without
Religion have to one another This then is certainly a remarkable Property of the Writings of A. B. that they give so distinct a view of the Relation of the several Parts and Duties of Christianity to one another and to the whole How some hold the Place of the end and others of the means some of which are so absolutely necessary in Man's present State that without them he cannot attain the End They make appear that the great end of Christianity is to bring us back to the Love of God and that we can never recover this without the mortifying of our Corrupt Nature and that this cannot be effected but by obeying the Doctrine and following the Example of Jesus Christ so that his Commands are all the necessary Helps of our Frailty teaching us what way to overcome our Corrupt Nature and to return to the Love of God For the End of the Commandment is Charity The Gospel-Law teaches Man Poverty of Spirit to shew Man that Covetousness has withdrawn him from the Love of God and that he cannot recover it without ceasing to covet earthly Goods and it teaches Men to be humble in Heart and to choose the lowest Place because they have lost the Love of God by loving themselves and thinking themselves worthy of Honour and Glory while they merit nothing but Contempt and Confusion Jesus Christ chose a poor and mean State in the World lived in Hardships and Unease in Reproach and Contempt and never did his own Will but the Will of him that sent him to show us what are the things that withdraw us from the Love of God and what are the means we must use to overcome them XVIII 3. The Writings of A. B. do give us most lovely Representations of the Divine Nature such as may serve to enflame our Souls with Love and Wonder when we think on the depth and height and breadth and length of the Love of God in Christ Jesus which passeth all Knowledge They shew us that God's very Nature is Love that there is none Good but God that no kind of Evil comes from him but all Good that it was nothing but Love and Goodness that made him create Man so wonderful a Creature that he might communicate himself to him and dwell in him by his Light and Love and that he might oblige him by the greatness of his Magnificence made a world of beautiful Creatures to attend him and to compleat his Happiness and Contentment would needs become like to him as he had at first form'd Man after his own Image And so far was he from designing that Man should destroy himself that he us'd all means to prevent it and to keep him from abusing the greatest Natural Gift he could bestow upon him Liberty of Will and which he could not in justice take back again for the Gifts of God are without Repentance That Man's Baseness and Fall did not alter God's Love but he resolves to recover him again and continues unalterably his first Design of taking his Delight with him that he accepts of the Intercession and Mediation of Jesus Christ for that End and allows Man Grace and a Time and Means of Penitence that the very Evils that came upon Man and upon the Creatures by his Sin he order'd them all so as that they might tend to his Good and his Recovery thrust him out of a delightful Paradise into an Earth cursed for his sake and bringing forth Throns and Thistles least the Pleasures of the first should now still bewitch his Heart the more and that the Miseries and Vexations of the last might give him Occasions for Penitence and make him return to his God that God has not forsaken Man but Man has forsaken his God that God by all his Works and by his Operations in Man gives him all sort of Occasions to love him That he is not content to send us his Servants and Prophets to enlighten us but he came himself and became in all things like to us yet without Sin that he might redeem and save us That God tempts no Man but every Man is drawn away of his own Lust That he damns no Man for he is the Fountain of all Good and can do no Evil and the Damnation of a Soul is the greatest Evil in the World That he does not permit Sin but permits Man to make use of his Free-will which being the greatest Treasure he could receive it was not just for God to take it back again and if Man abuse it it is for himself so he may do with his Hands and Tongue which are given him for excellent uses That as God is not the Author of any Sin any Moral Evil neither by Influence nor by Decree nor by Permission but it proceeds wholly from Men and Devils by the ill use of the Liberty and Free-will that God gave them so neither is he the Author of any Natural Evil or Malignity that is in the Creatures he having created all Good and Perfect but Sin and the Self will of Man has brought a Malignity into all things and therefore it belongs to Man as being the Works of his Hands That God lets this Malignity continue now in this Time of Trial to withdraw Man from the Love of the Creatures that at the Times of the Restitution of all things he will deliver all his Creatures from the Malignity contracted by the Sin of Man and since it is just to render to each one what belongs to him it is necessary that they who will not return to a Dependance upon their God have for their Portion this Malignity of all the Creatures to all Eternity as being the Work of their own Hands That in the Love of God consists all Good and all Happiness and in the turning away from that Love all Evil and all Misery which Men are not now so sensible of because of the superficial and transient Delights with which the Creatures do amuse and tickle them but upon the removal of that they shall feel it to all Eternity God is not the Author of Death but by one Man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and Death has pass'd over all because all have sinn'd It is saith St. Augustine God alone the only Truth the only Salvation of all and the First and Supream Essence from whom every thing is what it is in so far as it is for in so far as it is what it is it is good and therefore Death is not from God For God did not make Death neither does he take Pleasure in the Destruction of the Living for the supream Essence makes every thing to be what it is and therefore it is called the Essence But Death constrains that which dies not to be in so far as it dies for if these things which die should die altogether undoubtedly they would come to nothing But by how much less they partake of Essence by so much they die Now a Body is less
than any Degree of Life for whatsoever retains any Form has some Degree of Life The Body therefore is subject to Death and so approaches nearer to nothing wherefore that Life which delighting it self in the Pleasures of the Body neglects God inclines to nothing and this is Wickedness For it loves that which is less than Life because it is Body and because of this very Sin that which is lov'd becomes Corruptible that it by passing away may forsake its Lover because he by loving it had forsaken his God But that the Body of Man which before Sin was the most excellent in its kind is after Sin become so frail and subject to Death tho' it be a just Punishment of Sin yet it discovers more of the Clemency than the Severity of God For thereby we are perswaded that we ought to take off our Love from the Pleasures of the Body and to turn it to the Eternal Essence of Truth And herein the Beauty of Righteousness and the Favour of Good meet together that because we are deceived by the Sweetness of inferiour Goods we might be instructed by the Bitterness of the Punishments c. Thus it is evident that nothing comes positively from God as an efficient Cause but that which is positively from Good and all Evil and Malignity proceeds from Devils and Men which God does yet so moderate and restrain in this time of Man's Trial as many make Man by his Grace come to himself and return to his God and if there be no further hopes of Man he leaves him to himself and so punishes him no otherwise than a Physician does a Sick Man by leaving him to his own Folly and Intemperance when he will neither be ruled by him nor take the Physick he has prepared for him Man does properly damn himself and he receives only the Works of his own Hands O Israel thy Destruction is of thy self but in me is thy help When the Holy Scripture represents God as denouncing a Curse on the Earth the Pains of a Woman in Travail the Labour and Death of Man these are charitable Warnings of some of the natural Consequences of his Sin to dispose him for them and that he might make a right use of them And when the Scripture speaks of the Wrath of God and of the Punishments flowing from it all this is to be understood in a Sense agreeable to the Nature of God as we do those Passages which ascribe to him the bodily Parts and Passions of Men and as by thus interpreting those last Passages there is no wresting of the Scriptures but rather their true Sense exprest which either the clear Idea that we have of God or one or two plain Places of Scripture concerning him that he is a Spirit and unchangeable do sufficiently manifest so neither are the former wrested by giving them a Sense conformable to the Idea of the Divine Goodness and Perfections from whence no Evil Disorder nor Anxiety can proceed and to those Places of Scripture which affirm that God is Love and that Fury is not in him What unsutable and unlovely Representations some have given us of the Divine Nature and Operations and how unfit they are for inflaming Men with True Charity is but too evident from Men Writings and from Mens Lives XIX 4. Her Writings and Sentiments have a great Tendency to a Christian Vnion and Concord amongst the several Parties of Christendom We all seem to be sensible of the Evil and Mischiefs of Schisms and the Hatred Lying Evil-speakings Strifes Wars Fightings Persecutions Deaths which have followed upon them are but too fatal Proofs of it and therefore every Party strives to wipe off the Blame from themselves and to lay it on another But the most useful Thought is to consider how to heal them The Course followed by the respective Parties will never do it Those of every Party judge that Orthodoxy is only on their Side and therefore strive to reduce all to an Union by bringing them to be of their Party and thus their mutual Animosities and Divisions are still heightned But the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. do more naturally and more effectually tend to a Christian Union they teach Men to labour after the Spirit of true Christianity in the Use of the outward Forms and Rites which are consistent therewith of the respective Parties wherein they are without setting up a New Party or judging and condemning another because differing from them in those outward Rites and Forms She shews that the Differences of outward Religions of their Ceremonies and Opinions will neither save nor damn that they are not inseparable from the Essence of Christianity which consists in the denying of our selves the mortifying of our corrupt Nature and the following of Jesus Christ without which we cannot be saved that those other things are like the Cloaths and Garments which do not give Life but an outward Decency and Conveniency That the one is the Sword and these other things are the Sheath and that the Madness and Folly of the Christian World lies in Contending which of us has the best Sheath while the Devil robs us of the Sword the true Love of God and our Neighbour and laughs at us when we think to overcome him with the Sheath of our outward Religions as we would laugh at a Soldier who would needs fight his Enemy with the Sheath of his Sword And so little Regard had she to the Interest of a Party that when Lutherans and Calvinists came to be directed by her in the labouring after a Christian Life and Spirit she never enquired about their Opinions nor bid them abandon the Communion wherein they were On the contrary when the famous Dr. Swammerdam who was solicited by his Friend Steno to go over with him to the Church of Rome and to Italy did ask her Advice in it she did expresly forbid him telling him there was nothing but Vanity in the Change of Communions and that he might labour to be a true Christian in the Communion in which he was Did this Spirit prevail amongst the respective Parties how strangely would it sweeten our Minds towards one another our Animosities would quickly cease our Difference would fall of themselves we would be as far from imposing our Forms and Modes of Worship and Confessions of Faith on others or persecuting them who did not conform to them or hating and maligning such as differed from us in their Opinions and Parties as we would be from treating after this manner those who differed from us in the Fashion of their Garments or the Sheaths of their Swords We would find the Apostle's excellent Counsel most applicable in all theses Cases One believes that be may eat all things another who is weak 〈…〉 let not him that eateth despise him that eaâ—◠〈…〉 which eateth not judge him that 〈…〉 One Man esteemeth 〈…〉 Man esteemeth every Day 〈…〉 perswaded in his own Mind 〈…〉 regardeth