away all the Fruits of the six Days Labours which he did in creating this beautiful World if all this shou'd be for the Devil and his Adherents No no Sir this cannot go so God must have his time to reign over all his Creatures that they may adore and know him the only true God and that the Number of his Elect may be multiplied as much as he has destin'd them that these never dying may bless him to all Eternity This is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which I wait for Sir with Chearfulness Nothing can afflict me in this Hope It is a joyful Life to think on it what Joy must it be to possess it I said to her That these Words did ravish me with Pleasure but that I had also in Exchange the Grief to believe that all Men now are in a State of Damnation for fear lest I also be of the Number She replied You may indeed rejoice Sir 'T is the greatest Ground of Joy that we can ever have 'T is the Master-piece of all the Works of God and the Accomplishment of all things For this the World is created for this Man is created and for this God is become Man The Coming of Jesus Christ in Sufferings was for Sinners but his glorious Coming will be for the Righteous Therefore he says being in the World I am not come to save the Righteous but to bring Sinners to Repentance God from all Eternity design'd to become Man to the end he might not only make Man like to him but that God also might be like to Man that he might take his perfect and compleat Delight with him 'T is good to consider this Sir that God is not become Man only on design to suffer and to die For this would have been a sad Subject and the ancient Patriarchs wou'd have had little Ground to have prayed and desired so earnestly that God should become Man to see him hardly used suffering Reproaches Scourges and so cruel a Death The Love they bare to God wou'd rather have made them desire to remain in their Captivity than to be delivered from it at so dear a Price as the Sufferings and the Death of God-Man All those Wishes and Aspirations which all the Fathers and Prophets of the ancient Law made cou'd not be for this Coming in Sufferings but rather that glorious Coming wherein Jesus Christ being lifted up will draw all Men unto him which his Death on the Cross has not done because very few followed him then and no body follows him at present This is very far from drawing all to him seeing so few have been drawn from the Beginning of the World even till now Must there not a Time come wherein that he may fulfil his Word he will draw all in general to him Must he not also to make the same Accomplishment take away the Sins of the World For his Death instead of taking away the Sins of the World has rather brought on more because they have encreas'd and multiply'd since Can God fail in his Promise Must there not come a time when he will take away all the Sins of the World If this were not God shou'd not be faithful in his Promises which cannot be true For Heaven and Earth shall pass away but his Promises shall not pass away There is not a Syllable of them which shall not have its entire Accomplishment in an altogether perfect Sence They wou'd sometimes make us believe that all this shall be fulfilled in Paradise and they tell us that nothing defiled can enter there How then shall there be Sins there to be taken away And if all the Blessed are united to him there will be no more need of drawing them I said to her That I was so convinced as to believe that we must look for a new World and a new Earth and that I knew well enough that nothing of the holy Scripture shall have its Accomplishment in this World but that I was not freed from the Trouble of believing that all Men now were in a State of Damnation of which Number I was one tho' nevertheless I desired to be saved whatever it cost She said Sir to discover Truths you must always take things in their Source Consider I pray you that the Coming of Jesus Christ in Sufferings was for no other Grounds but to make known to Men their Sins in which they liv'd so blindly that the most Part knew not what they did but followed one another insensibly in the Way of Perdition as they do yet at present God of his great Mercy wou'd have become Man before his Coming in Glory that he might bring Light to Sinners whereby they might know their Sins and to teach them in particular what they ought to do and avoid to the end they may observe the Law of God which he came not to change nor abolish no more than to give a new one but only to teach the Means by which Men shou'd easily attain to the observing of this Law of God which was given from the Beginning of the World and will never be changed For God will never demand any other thing of Men but the Dependence which they ought always to acknowledge they have on their God who has created them and given them all things In the Practice of this Dependence is contain'd all the Law and the Prophets and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ They can have no other thing in Substance But Men being fallen from the observing of this first Law have need from time to time of divers Means to raise them again from their Fall For these ends Jesus Christ is come into the World timously and ere it perish before his limited time that taking Humane Flesh he might teach Men palpably according to their Senses to the end they might not be any more ignorant of any thing but might get out of Darkness to discover their Sins and see clearly the Way they ought to take to come to Salvation And that those Means which Jesus Christ came to teach them might not seem too grievous and difficult to them he wou'd needs pave the Way himself and put them in practice all the time he was on Earth to the end Men might afterwards follow his Steps and imitate his Example By this Foundation Sir you can easily discover whether all Men be in the Way of Salvation or Damnation Lay this down first that no body shall be saved but he who keeps the Law of God Secondly that Men thro' their Frailty cannot observe this Law but by such Means as Jesus Christ has taught them because they imagine that they live in a Dependence upon God when they do but depend on their own Wills To make this known Jesus Christ teaches them that to be his they must deny themselves Not that this Law of denying ones self was ordain'd in these precise Words in the Beginning of the World but it was tacitly contain'd in
divers other Cases we are guilty of the sins which others commit by not hindring them when we might have done it The Ninth and Last is That we do not tell the Evils that we know of others to those who might put a stop to them as in not telling the Faults of Children Scholars or Servants to Fathers Superiours or Masters who might prevent them Silence in this respect does as much Evil as the Faults which are committed without the knowledge of the Superiours because if they were known to them they might hinder or correct them which they not doing being ignorant of them the fault and blame falls upon those who conceal them whether to please the Evil doers or upon any other pretext whatsover because by their silence in some manner they co-operate to the sin Nevertheless there are very few who are apprehensive of these kinds of sins and much less do they repent of them for they imagine they are not guilty of them because they have not committed them effectively in their own Persons yet they will be all imputed to them as well as if they had personally committed them and they cannot be excused through ignorance because all Christians are obliged to know what they ought to do or avoid for Jesus Christ and his Apostles have set down all for him who will take the pains to search for it But the darkness is so great that they perceive not the things that are necessary and they live in such a negligence of their Salvation as if they were assur'd of it though they be very far from it because no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Those who enter there must be holy None can otherwise draw near to God the Source of all Purity and Holiness In which many are deceiv'd who believe that Holiness belongs only to the Perfect whom they imagine to be some singular Persons And yet without Holiness no Man shall ever be saved I said to her That very few Persons consider'd these things and scarce any look on themselves as guilty of those sins which they commit in another no more than of those which they commit against the Holy Ghost because they perceive not that they are guilty of them though notwithstanding I see clearly that those who are esteemed holy or perfect are tainted both with the one and the other of the said sins She said Sir I am well pleased that you begin to discover that by which the World is condemn'd that you may not need to believe it blindly for if you perceive clearly that the Holy and the Perfect now are polluted with the sins which they commit in another and with those against the Holy Ghost those whom they call Wicked are visibly defiled with divers kinds of Actual Sins Which is known to all the World Of whose Salvation then can you hope for The Wicked bring their Condemnation upon them through their obstinacy in a wicked Life and the Good draw it on by the sins which they commit in another and those against the Holy Ghost which they will not know and much less amend because they presume upon the certainty of their Salvation without all these Circumspections whereby they might discover the state of their Souls or the Sins with which they may be defiled which are Spiritual and of which through blindness they are insensible Hereby the Proof is just of the World 's being universally judged because the sins are universal which sins do judge and condemn Souls For God judges no Body He only fulfils all Righteousness and those who shall be condemned shall be so always by their own sins and never otherwise And if Sins condemn then all they who live in them do bear their Condemnation And since we see that in this Age neither the Good nor the Wicked are free from sins we cannot but see and confess that the whole World is judg'd and condemn'd and that we are arriv'd at the general Judgment seeing generally sin rules and bears sway We must not look for any other cordemnation but that of our own sins known to Gods Justice which condemns always all that 's unjust without hatred and without favour The Righteous Ballance of this Divine Justice being still kept steady by a Hand that never shakes does always condemn Unrighteousness I said to her That I was wholly convinc'd by so clear and true Arguments That I acknowledg'd without doubt the World was generally judg'd by its general Sins asking her if while this Sentence was putting in execution there were not means whereby a Man might be converted She said Yes Sir there are means of Conversion as long as we have life There is place for Repentance till Jesus Christ shall come upon the Earth and root out all Evil yea even when he shall come there will be yet hopes of Pardon Therefore he says That Sinners and Harlots shall inherit the Kingdom and the Children thereof shall be cast out because these wicked Persons may be yet converted and acknowledge their sins whereas those Children of the Kingdom who esteem themselves holy and religious continuing obstinate in the presumption of their Salvation will be cast out though they be called the Children of God and of his Kingdom There are therefore means of Conversion for those who will repent and change their manner of Life even though they were the greatest Sinners of the World yea even for those who are full of the sins against the Holy Ghost or of the sins committed in another provided they get out of their darkness and receive the Truth For these ends God puts his last Sentence in execution slowly and sends his Plagues one after another that he may give time and leisure to all those who desire to be converted to do penitence In which he still exercises the Effects of his Almighty Goodness and Mercy not willing that a sinner should perish but that he live and be converted The sins against the Holy Ghost will be forgiven as well as other sins provided they repent of them which they not doing they shall no more be pardoned when Jesus Christ shall come upon the Earth than at present For where there is no Repentance there can be no pardon for this cause the sins against the Holy Ghost will be very rarely pardoned because they are very seldom repented of and amended The Tenth Conference Shews what Souls shall be happy and explains the Eight Beatitudes I asked her By what means we might know or discover those who are truly converted to God She said Sir Take the Eight Beatitudes which Jesus Christ has declared and see if those who say they are converted do possess them For these only shall be blessed and no others Many say by word that they would be converted and be wholly for God and notwithstanding there are no appearances of it These are nothing but wouldings without effect with which we deceive the World and our selves and
oft as they pleas'd and if there needed nothing but their will to forsake their sins She said No Sir Grace is not in their power and they cannot recover it according to their pleasure It is called GRACE because it is a thing freely given it is not a debt or obligation which may be constrain'd for it comes of the sole mercy of God and not of our desires or merits Neither does it depend upon the will of a sinner to leave his sin He may indeed fall into it of himself but he cannot rise again without the grace of God But this grace will never be deny'd him if he ask it in humility of heart If we see sinners obstinate and impenitent it is because they do not pray earnestly enough to obtain grace for God is so good that assoon as the sinner is truly penitent he pardons him All the difficulty the sinner has to leave off his sin proceeds from sin itself which blinds the soul that it cannot perceive the terror of sin and the danger in which it has plunged him It has also in it so many chains and bonds with which it holds all his passions chain'd in such captivity that it seems to the soul impossible to leave off and forsake it so that we hear sometimes sinners say It is impossible for me to forsake my sin Not that God is the Author of this impossibility for he wills not the death of a sinner but that he should turn and live It is only the bondage into which sin reduces the soul that is under its dominion It must do violence to its self to break its bonds and avoid the occasions of sin by so doing it will recover the grace of God which is not drawn by force but falls of it self into the soul assoon as sin is gone out thence For God is always ready at the door to open to him that will knock The Ninth Conference What the Church is and of its Corruption I Said to her Since the mercy of God is so great how did you declare to me heretofore that you despaired of the Salvation of almost all the world She said It is true Sir I am yet of the same opinion and I cannot see how one soul can enter into Paradice after the manner they live at present I see that its gate is shut and that no body enters in any longer by it for Jesus Christ says that he is the way and I do not perceive any body that goes or walks in him or even that seeks him Since learned men have taught another way of Salvation than he every one follows them thinking they do well in believing them because they make themselves be called the Church which if it were true they could not teach otherwise than Jesus Christ has done since he and his Church are the same thing As Jesus Christ is no other but the Word of God even so the Church is no other but the same Word It was sent from Heaven covered and wrapt up in the humane body which is called Jesus Christ which God form'd for these ends that he might convey this word which is his Spouse into the bodies of all Christians and that all might be but one with Jesus Christ as he is one with his Father There is nothing but this word that can make the Church which is not tied to the City of Rome or that of Jerusalem but only to souls which possess this Doctrine These only are the Church Neither office nor habit nor dignity make the Church but the doctrine of Jesus Christ only out of which there can be no Salvation for it is the only one sent from God and will abide always without any change or mutation Let all the men of the world study to invent as many reasons means and controversies as they will they can never change or alter the Doctrine of Jesus Christ it will always be such as it was in the beginning and shall be even to the end without any change or mutation whatsoever It is an error to believe and damnation to follow any other thing how good and holy soever it doth appear I said to her That it was true there was no Salvation out of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but there were yet many souls in the world who would follow it and that those who would contradict it are call'd Hereticks and are cut off from the Church but for the Pope the Cardinals Bishops Pastors all the rest of the Clergy of the Roman Church they believed that they had the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and consequently the Keys of Paradice and the Way of Salvation She said There is yet some light in your Soul Sir since you know that there is no Salvation out of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but to say that there are yet in the world Souls who desire to follow it I have experienc'd the contrary having travell'd in diverse Countries and as it were by the permission of God I have been acquainted with different persons who were esteem'd holy and vertuous but I never observ'd any who follow'd truly the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Every one abounded in his own sense and were wedded to their particular devotions without an entire dependance on the will of God or the denial of their own will which is the foundation of a Christian Life from which the heads of the Roman Church are far removed since they forbid Christians to read the words of Jesus Christ which is the nourishment of Souls They cannot open Paradice by any other mean nor promise Salvation to any except in words but by observance of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Mens blindness is so great in this point that it can no longer be seen where the true Church it at present because they place faith in words hope in presumption and charity in gold and silver and they make of the Church of God which is spiritual a Church of wood of stone and of mettals which are material and nevertheless they believe that they are in the way of Salvation and that they follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is the greatest error that ever was in the world and therefore I fear there shall be so few Souls at present saved because few or none follow in deed this Doctrine of Jesus Christ and there is nothing more true than that without doing this we cannot be saved as you also acknowledge One must have very little judgment if he do not perceive that in the Roman Church the Cardinals Bishops Pastors Monks and religious persons and all the Clergy in general do not live conformably to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ nor in the primitive spirit of Christianity If the Salt have lost its savour wherewith shall the flesh be salted that is the common people cannot be preserved sound when their Heads and Governours are fallen away and corrupted
This is the cause and the origine of all the corruption of the world and that its evil is remediless when a remedy is poyson'd it cannot cure the Disease but rather make it worse as we see the world is declining daily yea every moment to the worse Those who are cut off from the said Church and whom they call Hereticks can never do so great mischief to the true Church as these persons do who call themselves the Fathers and Doctors of the Church tho they are fallen away from the Doctrine of Jesus Christ since no well-meaning persons will follow Hereticks they rather have an abhorrence of them but even well-disposed persons leaning to the direction of those who are intrusted with the spiritual government of the people do insensibly commit infinite evils following the direction of these Doctors while they do not lead them according to the words of Jesus Christ for their own doctrines cannot but poyson the most pious Souls This is a Leprosy which has infected the whole Church of God which is transmitted from one to another so far as that there are no longer any sound members to be found I bewail only those who desire to follow the truth for they know not where to find it for it is not no longer where it ought to be He who believes the contrary is deceiv'd and he who says it deceives others Jesus Christ is the Truth alone The Tenth Conference Of Remission of Sins of Confession and how it is abused I Ask'd her if she did not believe in the Remission of sins since she maintained so confidently that few or none will be saved and that Paradice is shut She answer'd Yes Sir I believe in the Remission of sins In that consists my joy and my hope I have even told you before that assoon as the sinner knocks God opens to him He needs but turn to him to obtain the pardon of his sins how great and numerous soever they may have been It is not for want of mercy in God that I despair of the Salvation of men but because they will not be converted because the most part do not or will not know their sins I have more hopes of the conversion of gross sinners than of persons who make a profession of vertue because of the presumption of their Salvation grounded upon their own Righteousness they cannot be so readily converted as a sinner who knows his evil life he is more ready to repent of it than they who believe that they live well tho it be not true It is of these that Jesus Christ says that he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance So many Souls will be mistaken at death who think they are certain of their Salvation whereas they are very far from it taking false vertue for the true It is in this that Jesus Christ says that he will judge of Righteousness He cannot judge nor condemn the Righteousness which is truly such before him but he speaks of our Righteousness which is righteous in our judgment and in that of men Such Righteousness will be condemn'd of God because they were not righteous before his piercing eyes as they appear'd unto the eyes of men and to our own Behold why I said that Paradice is shut because I cannot discern at present true Righteousness in the vertuous I ask her Whether sins were pardon'd by the Sacrament of Pennance which is the Confession of sins to the Priests She said Sir there are so many abuses committed by this Sacrament that I believe more sins are committed by it than pardoned for people believe that to obtain the pardon of their sins it is enough that they declare them to the Priest and upon this perswasion they take little care to amend them neither also can they have great contrition for a thing which is so easily effac'd by the small confusion that they have in declaring their sins to the Priest No body would quit his pleasure and the contentment which he finds in sin for so small a trouble as there is in confessing it Hence it comes that we see people continue and even endreâ—se their sins all their life time Thus this Confession which is appointed for their Salvation serves to procure their Damnation because so many Confessions without amendment make profuseness of Sactileges of which they never repent because they believe they shall obtain life with these very means that occasion their death and when the soul is about to be separated from the body they only place the hope of their salvation iâ— the same Confession which has wounded the soul with so great a number of mortal wounds It was a great unhappiness did then befal the world Sir when the Church taught that to live well and to be saved a man must confess often The Catechisms which they teach the Children of Christians are stuâ—tâ—d with such doctrines and in all the Indulgences which the Church bestows she always ordains Confessions as one of the necessary means for obtaining the said Indulgences Every body teaches the doing of what is ordain'd by the Church in this case I would willingly ask if this be not to teach indirectly that a man must in frequently when they teach that he must confess often since Confession does always suppose sin He cannot confess frequently without sinning frequently for they who have not sinn'd have nothing to confess nor can they do it frequently without an express commission of sins that they may have matter of confessing frequently I believe Confessors have invented these multitudes of Confessions that thereby they may draw the people to themselves instead of leading them to Christ A true Shepherd-takes more pains to cure his Seeep and does not neglect its Scab that he may be oblig'd to take it often in his lap as these strange Shepherds do who love rather to draw to themselves souls continually laden with sins than to send them to God by the spirit of true repentance This is an error which was introduc'd into the Church by the cunning of that pernicious Antichrist that he might withdraw the souls of sinners from Christ who calls them saying Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest and to lead them to men who slatter and keep them in their sins under a false promise of their Salvation for there is none but God only who can pardon sin and men who pretend to be in Gods stead and do not observe his word are Seducers since his word only can pardon sins It is true it was transferred to men with the same vertue which it had in the body of Jesus Christ but this was only as long as they should continue to persevere faithfully in that word and no otherwise The Apostles did all their works by vertue of this word and not by their own authority These Confessors do the quite contrary remitting sins according to their fancies and will
Christ speaks only of those who are upon Earth who are obliged to have these Beatitudes if they would be saved and come to the possession of the Promises made to each of the said Beatitudes which are the certain Marks whereby to discover if we live in a state of Salvation or not Nevertheless no body examines himself upon this Head to see if he have those Beatitudes no more than if they were not proclaimed for us We say them as a Litany and not as things that we are oblig'd to put in practice In which we deceive our selves for no body will attain to the state of Blessedness but he who in this World shall put these Eight Beatitudes in practice And as far as Men are estranged from them they are as far from their Salvation I asked her What Remedy there was for such general Evils in which no body could be saved She said Sir I told you long ago that Paradise was shut My meaning was that no Body now at Death attains to Bliss because in their Life-time they make no Preparation for it but they are every way estranged from God For it is not now known what is Sin nor yet what is Vertue They imagine they are Vertuous when they do something that 's good in appearance and that they are not guilty of sin when they do not commit wicked Actions This is the most crafty delusion of the Devil by which he certainly gains all the good through this blindness of Mind This is an universal Evil which makes me afraid that not one Person shall be saved because none do perceive their Evil but grosse Sinners who live in Actual sins As for others every Moment they take the Name of God in vain One will say I trust in God another God will help us another God will shew us Mercy and thus on a Thousand other occasions the Name of God is still in their Mouth calling on him to co-operate in their sins For when they say they trust in God while the Soul wallows in sin is to desire that God would do Injustice Wherefore they may wait long in this sort of confidence and shall never obtain their Desire For God cannot help those who go on in sin without being unjust which he will never be And he who says that God will help him while he lives as People do at present says that God will help him to sin which he cannot do For he cannot contribute directly or indirectly to any Sin and if he assisted us in the way we live he should contribute to many sins which we commit For if he assisted us to preserve our Temporal Goods we would continue yea encrease our Pride our Excesses and Vanities and if he delivered us from Wars Peace would give us occasions to forget God and to abandon our selves the more to bodily Pleasures and Sensualities and if he delivered us from our Miseries of whatsoever kind we would certainly be led to greater Evils For Ease and Sloth engender all sort of Sins And when we say God will have Mercy on us and nevertheless we go on in a state of sin this is to blaspheme against the Righteousness of God Because he can never have Mercy but upon penitent Sinners Which the Godly now a days are very far from for they encourage themselves in their Sins as if they were Vertues and even call them by the Name of Vertues For the Avarice of the Cloisters and of the Religious is call'd Charity done them and the Adorning of Altars building of Houses and Magnificent Churches is call'd the Honour of God though these be but Vanities and Superfluities by which God is greatly offended For if at Baptism we have renounc'd the World and its Pomps to become Christians how can we adorn Churches which we call the Temples of God with the same Pomps and Vanities which Christians are not permitted to seek after in their own Persons nor in what belongs to them How can it be allowed to use them in Places particularly dedicated to God without tacitely Insinuating that God is served with our sins and Impurities as are all sort of Pomps and Vanities which are so common in Churches as well as in other places Nevertheless all this is covered with an Appearance of Vertue and Holiness This renders all the World impenitent For every one amuses himself with the belief of being sav'd in a state of Sin and Damnation Which is truly a desperate state because he who believes he is good will never repent and much less will he do Penitence and consequently he shall never obtain Pardon For God cannot pardon without Repentance All the Remedy that I see in this is a perfect Conversion unto God and a New Birth as if till now we had never been in the World For all that we have done hitherto has been evil and blame-worthy in the sight of God though to us all seem to be good through the Blindness of our Spirits in which we have been so sunk that no Body has seen whither he was going more than we do in a very dark Night Therefore Jesus Christ has said That a man must be born again and become as a little Child else he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven He speaks to those of the present Age For if one do not re-enter into the Womb of the Rising Church he cannot be sav'd The Eleventh Conference Shews how a Man must be born again to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And that he must return to a Dependance upon God which is the only thing that he essentially requires of Man I asked her How this New Birth could be in those who are already advanc'd in Years and Learning She said Sir We must take up a Life wholly new as if to day we were newly born Because all the good that we think we have done heretofore is all evil or at least good for this Life onely For all our good Works have still been attended with Self-love or Humane Respects which can never be recompenc'd in Eternity because we have here had their Reward What we do out of Self-love is recompenc'd by our Satisfaction and what we do out of Humane respects is recompenc'd by the complacency of Men So that we can never in Justice pretend to any other thing for we are fully satisfied in this World according to the Pretensions or Ends we had in doing our good Works Though they have been covered with a pretence of the Glory of God or Charity to our Neighbours yet in effect all this has been but Vanity-Therefore he who desires to be converted must take up a Life wholly new and believe assuredly that he has never done so much as one Action purely for the Love of God Which we may abundantly perceive by considering all the Sins against the Holy Ghost and those which we commit by another with the Eight Beatitudes and the other solid Vertues Every one may see thereby
degree that it can come to and the Devil has gain'd an inward dominion over the hearts of all men not that wickedness is manifestly at the highest degree in the judgment of men for it will appear more clearly when they shall commit all sort of sins publickly without being afraid of any the evil will seem then greater but it will be less in the sight of God for it will then be no more accompanied and disguised with Hypocrisie as it is at present The Devil having gain'd the hearts of ill men will remain no longer conceal'd He is desirous to reign publickly and openly assoon as he can for his greater Glory As long as there were here and there some good Souls he kept himself hid to the end he might gain them but at present he can so well disguise his malice that all serve him the wicked with good will as his hired Servants and the good serve him by constraint as his Slaves From hence I infer that the time of his Reign is come and that he will appear very shortly visibly in the flesh And to satisfy the second doubt proposed viz. how there shall be Martyrs of Jesus Christ and of those who shall obtain Salvation by the Perfecutions of this discover'd Antichrist this shall be an effect of the last Mercy of God who will yet once send his light into the world according to his promise That the light shall arise in darkness and that the darkness shall be as noon day That is to say that in this time of darkness in which we live at present wherein the Truth is not any longer discern'd from Lies Faithfulness from Deceit nor Righteousness from Iniquity that God will make his Light to arise in this Darkness and that these who shall receive it shall open their eyes and see the blindness of their understanding and reject the spirit of errour into which they were fallen thro the false perswasions of this invisible Antichrist and shall embrace the spirit of truth which is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and by this means dispose themselves to Martyrdom and to saving sufferings in the Quarrel of Jesus Christ for many are now detain'd the Slaves of the Devil thro ignorance and inadvertency believing even that they follow Jesus Christ when they follow this strange Shepherd thro his delusions I thought it impossible to believe that the Devil had dominion over the hearts of all men because I knew many who make profession of being good men who in effect are observ'd to addict themselves to pious and religious works exercising themselves in both publick and private Devotions employing themselves according to their Callings in succouring their Neighbour and owning the quarrel of good men in making peace and agreement between those who have quarrels and debates She said Sir it is by these works which seem good and pious that the Devil deceives the good and renders them his Slaves making them to do his will without their perceiving it It is for this reason our times may well be called dangerous because the darkness is so thick as that good is not any longer discern'd from evil Those are esteem'd good men who do often frequent the Churches and Sacraments and are present at the publick Solemnities and they who do so believe themselves to be good men and to live well but believe me Sir if this be not done in the true Spirit of Christianity these are all but amusements for the life of a Christian is an inward and spiritual Life consisting in the LOVE and Respect we owe to God and CHARITY to our Neighbour for God This Love is an inward Passion of our Soul which is known to none but God himself as also this Charity for our Neighbour These inward passions are sometimes discover'd outwardly by external operations as to suffer willingly for him whom we love to be subject in all things to his will to honour him with all our power by these solid vertues it is discover'd if we be good men not by making a profession of being so for this profession of being good proceeds often from a presumption of our Salvation which is a sin against the Holy Ghost A sinner who knows his sin is often a better man than this presumptuous person The Sixth Conference How the outward worship of God and the outward works of Charity towards our Neighbour are corrupted by the Devil And from whence this Power proceeds I Desir'd to be satisfy'd concerning all these points of good works which I had observ'd to be yet in use among those who profess to be good men to see whither the Devil would produce such operations in his Adherents I ask'd her first If it was not a good work to go often to the Church or to its Solemnities She answer'd It is very good to go to Church to hear the Word of God since Jesus Christ himself went thither to teach it for there is distributed or at least ought to be that word which gives food or nourishment to the souls of the faithful But I pray you Sir says she reflect a little seriously with me on the way of going to Church and of teaching the Word of God there which is now observ'd and see if you will not be oblig'd to confess that by what is now done in Churches the Devil receives much more honour than God therefore he incites his Adherents to go thither often and the Ministers to perform the Solemnities there frequently They go to Church out of custom and being there they behave themselves even as they do in profane places The Solemnities there are so vain that they serve rather to satisfie the senses than to move devotion Among a thousand persons who follow Processions you will scarce find one who has his heart lifted up to God! Sermons are made more out of vanity and heard more out of curiosity than to profit by them Behold the Theater of the World at present judge now whither all these things can pass for good works in the sight of God and if the Devil has not ground to excite them to these actions from whence he derives so much his advantages When once he could perswade men that a Christian Life consists in outward actions he perverted all the good so that they do rather follow him than Jesus Christ because these visible and outward things make a stronger impression on the natural senses than those spiritual things which Jesus Christ has taught and commanded us I felt in my soul that this was true but desiring to learn more I said to her that for those who apply themselves to their Neighbours as to visit the poor and the sick to own the quarrel of the good to quiet and appease strife and contentions that these works could not come from the suggestion of the Devil She reply'd All these things are good if they were done in the spirit of Charity and purely for the Love of God but that this was so
Mind So that this daily Bread is not given us but acquired by Cares and Labours No more than the Food of our Soul which is the Word of God which ought daily to maintain it This is not given us daily for we must be at great care to search for it yea we know not where to find it So many Glosses so many Explications of this word that they would indeed make us swallow Poyson for Bread We must indeed watch and be at pains to find this true Food of our Souls But in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ the Word of God will be given us by the mouth of Jesus Christ himself which will nourish and fully satisfie our Soul As likewise all things necessary for the Entertainment of our Body shall be given us without pains care or labours The Fruits will grow so agreeable and substantial that it will require no other pains to be sustain'd by them but the delight of eating them Our Bodies will have no longer need to be covered or warmed for all the Elements will of themselves serve them with delight All this will be daily real gifts for they will be all freely given us of God without our Care or Labour Whereas in this World we have nothing but are as Workmen who receive the Wages of their Labours So that God cannot have made us ask the things which are impossible for us to obtain in this World Of necessity he must give us another in which we may obtain in Perfection the effect of our Perfections For as much as he never gives any thing imperfectly neither will he have us to put up unprofitable Requests as the seven of the Lords Prayer would be For there is not one of them which can be perfectly given in this World For if God did not forgive us our Offences but in the same manner that we forgive those who have offended us there would befal us no great Happiness in Paradise because those whose Offences we forgive are not always in our presence on the contrary we withdraw from them Sometimes out of Aversion sometimes that we may have no more occasion of being offended by them If God pardon us after this manner we would be of the Damned Souls For the Hell of our Soul is no other but the privation of the presence of God And as we do not give our Goods nor our Favours to those who have offended us and we think we do them enough of favour when we do not wish them Evil nor rejoyce in their Misery If God after he has pardon'd us our Sins should give us no more of his Goods and Graces than we give unto those who have offended us what Felicity could we hope for after the Pardon of our Sins but to fall again yet into greater Faults For his Graces and Benefits are necessary for us every moment to preserve us from Evil. And if he did not give us his Kingdom and his Treasures from whom could we expect for Happiness For no other but he can give it By which it appears clearly that we cannot ask for this World here That he forgive us our Offences as we forgive those who have Offended us because we would ask an Evil thing for our selves It must needs be that we ask these things for the time that we shall live with Jesus Christ in his Kingdom where being united unto his great Mercy we shall pardon our Enemies so perfectly that we shall desire the same Happiness for them which we shall receive from God who will not only pardon us our Sins but will deal with us as if we had never offended him giving us his Treasures and his Glory which will oblige us to do the same with those who shall have offended us For it would be unjust for us not to shew to our Neighbour the same Mercy which we receive from God This we cannot do nor comprehend during this miserable Life where being remov'd from his perfect Mercy we are as far from the Commiseration of our Neighbour and we can no ways beg of God that he deal with us as we deal with our Brethren without begging our ruin seeing if he should grant us this Request he would confine us to Hell which is the privation of the Vision of God From whence it appears That we look for another Heaven and another Earth where God will grant us all the Requests that he has made us to ask by this Prayer seeing that not one of them can be granted in this present World For if we examine also the Sixth Lead us not into Temptation We will find that the more we Pray the more we are Tempted For the Holy Spirit says If you would serve God prepare your Heart for Temptation Could Jesus Christ have made us to pray not to be led into it while in the mean time he lets us fall into it the more strongly This would be unjust He has taught us to ask nothing but what he will give us in a compleat and perfect sense But this will be after that we shall have accomplished this short penitence and shall go to reign with him Then there will no longer be any thing in us that will lead us into Temptation for we shall be fully satisfied with the presence of God not being able to love nor desire any other thing nor to move but by the motion of the Holy Spirit who will deifie even our Bodies which can no longer be led into Temptation as they will be always during this Life For the Devil will never cease to make War against us and more against the Good than the Wicked who are his own without trouble But for the Good he must win them by the strength of Temptations Therefore we must not hope to obtain in this Life the Sixth Petition of this Prayer Which is not to be led into Temptation no more than the seventh and last wherein we pray that God May deliver us from Evil For we shall never be delivered from Evil Seeing we are still more and more opprest with it and the Just themselves are never without suffering of Evils which the Wicked do them in abundance Despising Persecuting and pursuing them even to Death If these are never delivered from Evil how much less can others be who are likewise charged with the Evils of the Soul besides those of the Body which are common to all Could we always pray to be delivered from Evil without ever obtaining it What vain Prayer would this be to groan under the burthen of all sorts of Evils in Body by so many kinds of Diseases and in Spirit by so many Infirmities Weaknesses and Inconstances and in Soul by so many Sins and Imperfections and with this to pray to be delivered from the Evils which are unseparable from this Life It must needs be that God would have us to ask at present what we ought to obtain afterward And if this Kingdom of Heaven were nothing but
Roman Catholicks tho' this they hold for an Article of Faith that none can be saved out of her Communion This is very ill conceiv'd since God is universal and he 's to be found every where by those who seek and worship him For he 's not fix'd to any material Body All Souls who take their Delight in him are his Spouses call them by what Name or Religion you please For all these different Names or Opinions do not make a Christian but only the Practice of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ makes a Christian And all those who put in Practice the Doctrine of the Gospel are Christians and Disciples of Jesus Christ even tho' they were Turks or Heathens Of which Professions I believe several condemn and judge the nominal and professing Christians since God has no Respect of Persons and will judge all Men according to their Works This the Scripture confirms saying by your Works you shall be judged and by your Works you shall be condemn'd And Jesus Christ himself taught the Truth of God his Father to the Samaritan Woman and to many other Nations who were not Jews saying to his Apostles Go teach all Nations He that believes shall be saved He even ate and conversed with Sinners to see if any of them would receive the Truths of his Father and put them in Practice and tho' at first he rejected the Canaanitish Woman as a Dog yet he shew'd her Grace and Mercy by her Conversion and persevering Humility For the same Reason he says to Christians that Publicans and Sinners shall enter into the Kingdom of God and the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out which still farther confirms this Truth That Religion does not save a Man but the Love of God that sanctisies him This made me get over all Humane Respects and declare the Truth of the things which were ask'd me by so many different Conferences all about the Roman Church For at that time I knew no other Religions and with Compassion I booked upon all those who died out of the Romanâ— Church as damn'd as our Divines taught So that being ask'd by a Romish Priest I answered plainly to all his Questions Vpon which many took Occasion to say that I had chang'd my Religion and was become an Enemy of the Roman Church which is not true since being born in it I will live and die therein without changing Name or Religion but only my Manners and Life And will endeavour to be regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and to follow and imitate him even to Death letting Ignorant Men say and judge of me as they please In the mean time I offer this LIGHT OF THE WORLD to all good Souls who seek the Truth and desire to become true Christians that they may truly discern Reality from Appearance For this prevails now through all the World among all sorts of Sects and Religions where every one cleaves to the Bark and does not touch the Wood fancying that Vertue consists in having a fine Religious Name of that of the Reformed the Evangelicks the Catholicks Yea that they are persons guided by the Holy Spirit of which the Quakers boast though all these sorts of Names are false and not at all suitable to the Life and Manners of those who call themselves so For if they who are called Reformed were truly so we would see the Reformation in their Life and Manners Whereas we find they all live according to Flesh and Blood which the Scripture says shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven They are neither reformed in their Moveables nor their Apparel nor in their Eating or Drinking They seek in all the finest and the best They labour and trade diligently that they may have wherewith to maintain themselves in Pomp Excess or Plenty as much as they can without bridling their fleshly Appetites or their Sensualities in any thing still coveting more that they may give it as much Satisfaction as they can that in this World they may have Ease Honours and Pleasure Thus they are called Reformed though in Effect they will not reform themselves in the least thing for the Kingdom of Heaven By which we see that they who call themselves Reformed bear a false Name that makes them Hypocrites and Deceivers of others and of themselves As those also are deceived who call themselves the Evangelicks For in all their Works and Practices there is nothing conformable to the Gospel but all directly opposite to it For they do not observe so much as one Point of the Evangelical Councils For instead of loving voluntary Poverty they love the Abundance and Riches of this World unsatiably and they who ought to be the Guides to those Evangelical Perfections are the farthest remov'd from them abandoning their Flocks and Churches to find others that afford them more temporal Profit They are far from imitating the Apostles who said freely I have received and freely I give thee since these modern Evangelicks give at the greatest Price and to him that bids most And therefore they do not justly bear the Name of Evangelicks since they neither teach nor Practise so much as one Council of the Gospel and have nothing but false Names and Parades that they may appear to be in the Sight of Men what they are not at all in the Sight of God No more than those are Catholicks who bear the Name since to call one a Catholick is to say he is a Person joyn'd in the Communion of Saints which these are not who call themselves Catholicks since we perceive not any Holiness in their Lives but much Vice and Injustice accompanied with Hypocrisie and seeming Vertue without any Reality or Sanctification They boast that they are Abraham's Children without doing the Works of Abraham or that they are Christians without observing the Commands of Christ They content themselves to be called Catholicks without conforming their Lives to those who liv'd holily upon the Earth whose Lives and Histories they read without endeavouring to become holy as they were whose Feast s they solemnize tho' they shall never be in their Communion nor truly Catholicks till in their Lives they follow their Vertues and walk in the streight Way that leads to Life So that this Name of Catholick will condemn them rather than justifie them whereas they presume to be preferr'd by God to all other Religions because they are of the most Holy and Perfect Religion according to the Name of Catholick which they bear This would really be if their Souls were united to Jesus Christ in the Communion of Saints which only and no other thing makes a Catholick By which we see that these Persons bear a false Name since they presume of their Salvation because of the Name Catholick and be-believe they are in the true Church out of which they say there is no Salvation This would be true if the Roman Church were the only Communion of Saints But because
total Ruin of this Roman Church the Fall of which will open the Eyes of all those who are not in Covenant with the Devil which covenanted Persons will continue in their Darkness notwithstanding of the Light that is given But others tho' Wicked will be obliged to confess their Delusions cursing those who have thus deceived them under the Masque and Colour of Good How many Priests Monks and Religious have said and yet say Come to us who are Christ we 'll pardon you your Sins Give us and you shall be saved But Jesus Christ forbids us to go here and there while they say to us that Christ is there I ask'd her How the Righteousness of God could permit so great a Number to perish thro' Ignorance She said It is a culpable Ignorance Because we have always had the Means to search the Truth if we had had a Desire to find it For the Gospel was recoverable especially in the Roman Church where it remains as the Testament that Jesus Christ has left his Spouse What Unrighteousness was there in God in suffering these Persons to remain in the Ignorance of their Errours since they loved them more than the Truth and because these Errors were more agreeable to their Sensualities they have voluntarily followed them building on the Flatteries of those who promis'd them Salvation by these Errors It would be rather an Unrighteousness in God if he had constrain'd them to follow his Truth after having given them their Free-Will He could not take it back again without Injustice no more than we can any thing that we have given to another It is not in our Power to take it again without committing a Robbery Because the thing given away does not any longer appertain to us Thus God by an exact Righteousness may let the Ignorants err Because their Ignorance is affected For if their Ignorance were out of Simplicity God is so good that he would rather send an Angel from Heaven to enlighten them that they might not perish but when the Free Person gives ear to Flatteries and to those who study to speak recording as they desire to hear he ought not in Justice to hinder them For it is most true that if I were to Day among these erring Ignorants and if I told them the Truth I would not be heard and far less followed Because they who teach them these Errors speak more to their Liking and accommodate themselves more to their Sensualities than the Truth does which often reproves them and never flatters them Thus they with just Reason are abandoned to the Spirit of Error since according to the Saying of the Gospel They have loved Darkness more than Light Therefore they shall perish in the Darkness which they love If you knew Sir the Righteousness of God it would be impossible that you could once doubt of it For it is so just that neither Man nor the Devil can find any thing in Truth to blame in it But when we look on Things on the Outside and according to our Ignorance it seems to us that God does unjust things when they are most perfect The Eighth Conference What are the Sins against the Holy Ghost and how much they prevail I Entreated her to tell me In what Sense she understood that all Christians do now live and die in the Sin against the Holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven them neither in this World nor in the other as she had sometime declared to me She said Sir 't is most true the most Pious now-a-days are lost by these Sins For no body is aware of them and they believe that they are the Sins which are abominable before Men because they shall not be forgiven neither in this World nor in thâ— other But they are only spiritual Sins which a Man may commit without having done an ill Action Therefore they shall never be forgiven because they do not know them and far less will they repent of them For this Cause they will not be forgiven in this World For no Sin is forgiven here without true Repentance and absolute Desire of Amendment which two Conditions are nottobe met with in the Matter of those Sins against the Holy Ghost For they are contrary to Repentance and to Amendment and therefore will not be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other For no body will then receive Forgiveness but they who shall receive the Truth which those who commit one of these Sins do resist by impugning the known Truth So that the said Sins will neither be forgiven in this World nor in that to come I do not speak of an imaginary Paradise because no Sin enters there and consequently they cannot be forgiven if there be none But in the other World which shall be the Kingdom of Jesus Christ he will yet find many Sins to be forgiven at his coming Nevertheless those committed against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven there no more than here in this World because they are opposed to all the Means which can procure this Pardon It is of these that Jesus Christ says That he who has sinned against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him but he who has sinned against the Holy Ghost it shall never be forgiven him Because this Coming of the Holy Spirit on Earth is the last Mercy that God will grant the World and he who shall resist this can never any more repair his Fault He must needs die in it I entreated She would shew to me in particular the Meaning of these Sins against the Holy Ghost She said Sir I do not know them all in Order but I shall speak of those which I remember beginning with that of the Presumption of being saved without good Works This concerns all those who profess to live will For amongst them there are very few who do good Works because they esteem their Works good when they appear such to their own Judgment or that of some others tho' very often they are not such before God because all that 's good before him must partake of his Goodness which is always Righteous and True Now our good Works for the most part have neither the one nor the other of these Conditions For they are done either out of Humane Respects or out of Natural Inclination or they are not truly good in themselves and when we do any good Works out of Humane Respects they are not good before God and can never make us obtain Salvation because we have received our Reward in this World having obtain'd the end for which we have done them to wit the Satisfaction of Men and we have no right to pretend to any other Recompence And if we have done our good Works out of Natural Inclinations or for our own Satisfaction these Works likewise can give us no Pretension to Salvation because they are rewarded by the Satisfaction which we have received in them Thirdly
think to deceive God which cannot be for he is too penetrating and is not amus'd with Words therefore he has told us the Marks that one must have of true Conversion and of a Right to Blessedness by which real Converts may be discern'd from Hypocrites First He calls those blessed who are poor in Spirit to shew that all they whose Heart or Will is yet bent to the desire of having Wealth and Temporal Riches are not converted nor blessed because he who yet desires Earthly Goods is not converted to Eternal Goods for these Two Affections cannot dwell together f However we say we are converted to God we lie so long as we are not poor in Desires and that we still covet Earthly Things Secondly Jesus Christ calls those blessed who are meek to shew that they who are converted to God do always partake of his Goodness and do good to all as they are able we hear People often say that they are wholly devoted to God while on occasions we see them chagrin angry froward at variance with their Neighbours quarrelling instead of bearing with them or doing them no good but by constraint Such are not converted no more than they who in this World seek their Pleasure and Contentment because Jesus Christ says Blessed are they that mourn and when we see that they will not endure or suffer any thing but seek their Ease Honour and Contentment that they may live in as much Mirth as they can these are not converted and do not willingly mourn under persecution Fourthly We know those that are converted to God when they hunger and thirst after Righteousness that is thirst earnestly to become righteous and seek the means and occasions to attain to this Righteousness These are not converted who content themselves with their own Righteousness and Vertue without aspiring to Gods Righteousness or thirsting after true Virtue but are more careful for Earthly Things than for those which are Eternal The Fifth Mark that Jesus Christ has given whereby to know those who are converted and shall be blessed is Mercy As long as we see Mens Hearts hardened without Charity for their Neighbour minding only their own Interest and not caring for the Troubles and Necessities of their Neighbour these are not converted because they have no Mercy which is a Mark of True Conversion The Sixth Mark is purity of Heart He who delights in dishonest Thoughts or Actions cannot be converted nor he who is subtil and not sincere in his dealings but deceitful and over-reaching bearing envy or ill-will to another None of these are of a pure and clean Heart and so are not converted to God nor blessed for a pure Heart is still upright simple and chast By which we may discover if it be converted to God As also if a Man be a Peace-maker and of a peaceable Disposition within himself and toward his Neighbour this is a Mark of Conversion to God For he who should say he were converted and nevertheless should live in trouble and disquiet within himself or in Debates and Quarrels with his Neighbours he would be a Liar for conversion to God brings along with it Peace and Tranquillity and Repose This the Children of God experience who alone can be called blessed and converted they having the Marks that Jesus Christ has given whereby to know them from the Children of the Devil That none may falsly perswade himself that he is converted he declares all the Conditions necessary for this Conversion that is the Eight Beatitudes the Eighth of which is to suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake Many believe they are happy when they are without sufferings nevertheless this is a sign that they are not faithful to God for he who faithfully serves him will certainly suffer because the Devil and wicked Men will persecute him for Righteousness and true Vertue which is still reprehended by them By this Touchstone true Converts may be known For he who does not willingly suffer Persecution for Well doing desires not to imitate Jesus Christ who is the true Pattern of all the Works which lead to Bliss and none can be happy or sav'd but they who follow his Steps And we falsly perswade our selves of being converted to God if we possess not the Eight Beatitudes which Christ has publickly taught us And as few as we see possess them there are as few converted unto him 'T is all amusement to believe that any will be saved without the possession of these Eight Beatitudes which Jesus Christ has given as Marks whereby to know his true Children from those who say they are and are not And that you may not be deceived Sir I have explain'd them all to you one by one that you may know what manner of Persons these ought to be who in these last Times and during the Plagues desire to be converted to God wherein many if they will may be converted And that their Conversion may be true they must still examine if they have these Eight Beatitudes and they may be perswaded that as long as they have them not they are not entirely converted for Jesus Christ has said nothing in vain and he has nam'd in particular all the Qualities the Blessed ordinarily have without which they cannot be so These are not the Speculations or Words of Men but the Warnings of Jesus Christ himself who cannot lie Men would indeed glosse and dispute to amuse the World but they can never change the Truth I said to her That the Behaviour of Men being well considered it seem'd there were none now in the Grace of God or in the Blessed Estate that Jesus Christ had marked out but rather that all did abound in sin She said Sir It seem'd strange to you formerly when I told you such things because you had not examin'd it narrowly enough and the darkness is so great that the truth is not any longer discerned The Devil has so blinded Mens Minds and distracted their Understandings that they look to nothing now but the Appearance of Things and not the reallity of them Every one believes he shall be happy though he have not so much as one of the Eight Beatitudes Either all the World must be deceived or Jesus Christ has not pointed out aright the signs of those who are in a state of Salvation For these Eight Beatitudes are not pronounced for those who are in Heaven because all those who are with God possess all the Beatitudes in perfection and also there is no more persecution nor Hunger or Thirst to be endured there for there they are in perfect peace and fully satisfied neither is there any thing to be bewailed there being in perfect joy neither can they have poverty of Spirit since they possess all things there also there is no more occasion of shewing Mercy to their Neighbour for none has need of any thing the least of the Blessed possess more than the worth of Ten Thousand Worlds By which it appears that Jesus
and also that the World is Judg'd that you may not flatter your self with false Hopes believing that it will last yet and so continue in sloth I have also shewn you true Vertue that you be not deceived by that which is so but in appearance having also declared to you the Sins against the Holy Ghost and those which we commit in another that you may not be ignorant of any thing that can hinder this Resignation to God For the Ignorance of Good and Evil would insensibly ruine us and whereas we are fallen into the Times of Universal Darkness the Common Enemy might very easily deceive you as he does all the World perswading you that you are resign'd to God when you live yet intirely to your self Therefore I have explained to you so many Things one by one that you might discern aright Truth from Lies and that you might certainly resign your self to God according to your desire And because you can never do good without departing from Evil nor depart from that without knowing it I have therefore endeavoured to discover to you the Good and Evil that Reigns at present in the World that I might give you the certain Marks whereby to know if you are truly resign'd to God or not and since the Commandments of God and also the Law of the Gospel are given us to discover what hinders us to be resign'd to him That by this means we may remove all the Hindrances of our Resignation to God Voluntary Poverty serving as a Mean to free our Self will from the desire of perishing Goods Chastity to free this Will from desiring Carnal Pleasures and Obedience to deliver us from the desire of fulfilling our own Will and so of all the other Evangelical Counsels which teach us to depart from that which hinders our Resignation to God Therefore I judg'd it necessary to declare to you all the Things that hinder this Resignation to God and those also which may serve as Means to facilitate this Resignation which is the only Essential Thing that God demands of all those who would be saved I asked her If it will be enough for me absolutely to resolve that henceforth I will depend upon God and no longer use my own Will in any thing She said This Resolution Sir is a great Beginning but 't is to be feared that we shall not put it effectually in Execution because of our inveterate Evil Habits Our Self-will having always born sway how can we entirely subdue it except by the Means that Jesus Christ has pointed out to us in his Gospel which are as so many Steps to ascend to this Resignation For otherwise we might make false Suppositions as we have done hitherto But when we shall put in practise the Doctrine of the Gospel we shall thereby discover how far we have advanced in this Resignation to God For if our Frailty had not needed these Means God would not have taken Humane Flesh to come and teach us them For he can do nothing that is useless We must therefore fix here Sir and receive this Doctrine of the Gospel in its plain Literal Sense which will teach us all things plainly to our Senses by following of which we shall certainly attain to this Resignation For this is the true the shortest and the most certain way Though indeed God sent at divers times Prophets and holy Persons to tell Men by what Means they might recover this Resignation to God yet none of them has done it so perfectly as Jesus Christ did when he was upon Earth For he has omitted nothing but has taught all so precisely that Men will never stand in need of any other Instructions For this is the last Mercy that God will shew to Men who must not look for any thing after the Doctrine of Jesus Christ And what was taught before or since is not at all comparable to this Doctrine of the Gospel If we would be sav'd we must embrace and follow it for it teaches us all the necessary Means for fulfilling the Law of God The Thirteenth Conference Shews That the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the last that God will send into the World And that the Holy Spirit comes to give now the perfect Vnderstanding of it I asked her How this Doctrine of the Gospel could be the last Means that God would give to Men to bring them to Salvation since we look yet for the Holy Spirit who in these last Times must teach us all Things She said Sir The Last Times began when God became Man He brought along with him upon Earth his Last Mercy teaching Men by Word and Deed all that they ought to do and avoid without omitting any thing of all that shall be necessary for them even to the End of the World So that none have need of any thing else to be taught them It is true we shall have the Holy Spirit in the End of these Last Times into which we are now fallen and he is already born upon Earth But he comes not to bring us new Means of Salvation but only to lay before us those which Jesus Christ taught us when he was in the World that we may clearly see how far we are now estranged from them and to give us the Light of Truth that we may see the Way to return and re-take the same Gospel-means that we may recover the Dependance of our Will upon that of God which is his First and Onely Essential Command without which no Body can be saved For this is the least Thing that we owe him and if we do not fulfil it our Ingratitude is so great that we cannot in Justice be saved I asked her If the Holy Spirit was born in Flesh as Jesus Christ was in his Time And what things he would teach us more than Jesus Christ has done She said Sir The Holy Spirit is the same God with Jesus Christ who was the Word of God as the Holy Spirit is his Understanding There is but One God only but there are divers Powers And as our Understanding knows more than our Mouth speaks so the Holy Spirit will give more Light than did the Words of Jesus Christ though all comes from one and the same God and one and the same Source What Jesus Christ said was understood by Men only in part and the same Things shall be understood in a perfect and compleat Sense by this Wisdom of the Holy Spirit He needs not take a Body of Flesh to speak to Men For Jesus Christ did that sufficiently so that he needs speak no more But there is need of more Understanding For the Last Times are near their End And before the World end God will give the full Understanding of all that has been delivered in God's Name from the Beginning of the World both by the Holy Prophets and by Jesus Christ and his Apostles or other Saints his Disciples Nothing has been fully