She replied Truly Sir you cannot cover these Evils for they are too manifest Whether this opposition to the Holy Spirit be made directly or indirectly it is always evil They may indeed perswade the People to believe that the Holy Fathers had more light for understanding the Holy Scriptures than Laick Persons taken up about the Affairs of the World But to oblige Priests to take Oaths not to receive any other Interpretations than those of the ancient Fathers is to make them Swear indirectly that they shall oppose the Holy Spirit Seeing they would believe they falsified their Oath in receiving a new Light of the Holy Spirit which the Fathers had not received If new Light must come before the end of the World and the Priests have sworn not to receive it Laicks receiving it will be yet less approved by that which you call the Church than the Priests who have the first Rank there To whom then shall the Holy Spirit address to spread his Light upon the Earth He must of necessity bestow it on the Turks Jews or Heathens since those who are called Christians will not or cannot receive it for fear of falsifying their Oath And if God reveal his Secrets to Babes as he ordinarily does who among the Christians would receive this Revelation The particular Priests could not do it because of their Oath and if they would present it to what is called the Body of the Church They would examin whether the ancient Fathers have said the same things which if they did not find they would reject it as a Heresie since their resolution is not to receive any thing but what the ancient Fathers have said If the Church were that which Jesus Christ brought from Heaven it would be always uniform and guided by the same Holy Spirit There would be no need to fear that every one would Interpret the Holy Scriptures after his own way for there could not be but one and the same Belief For all would be Saints and capable of Interpreting the Scriptures yea even of Prophecying according as God who is free should grant Light to every one tho Men would indeed Captivate and limit him by their new Laws The Twenty sixth Conference How and wherefore the Holy Scripture has not been understood in a perfect Sense as yet in any thing which is shewn by new Explications touching the Creation of Man his Fall the Coming of Jesus Christ in Disgrace and his coming in Glory upon Earth to reign there for ever Of the Glorification of the Creatures both Animate and Inanimate and what makes Paradise and Hell and that universal Plagues and Rods shall preceed all these things HAving remarked that she spake so often of the Holy Scriptures which she said had not been understood hitherto in their perfect Sense I asked her how she could speak of them since she had told me that for a long time past she had not read them nor made use of any Books and from whence could she know that they were not understood in their perfect Sense She said Sir I will tell you trusting in your Secrecy that God hath given me the understanding of all the Holy Scripture without having read it and when by chance or casually I hear Sermons or other Conferences to Explain it I perceive plainly that they do not speak of it in its perfect Sense Sometimes they explain something in part and at other times in a sense altogether contrary or ill applied for what they say is repugnant to what I know in my Intercourse and the Spirit of God cannot have contrary Senses either the one or the other must be deceived As for me I think my Sentiment is immediately given to me from God because I never studied nor learned any thing from Men and this likewise cannot come from my Imagination because I never give way to Speculation and desire not to know nor learn any thing for I stop my Ears to all that they would teach me fearing lest there should remain in my Understanding any Idea's of the Things which I had read or heard which would mingle themselves with the Light which God gives me I would be very presumptuous to believe that these so clear Interpretations come from my self I said to her That I remember she had divers times cited some Passages of Scripture and even referr'd to the Chapter of the Text as speaking of the last Times in the 24th Chapter of S. Matthew entreating me to read it asking her How she could know this She said to me Sir I have read sometimes transiently the New Testament having obtain'd Permission of a certain Bishop But as soon as I began to read I perceiv'd in what I read all my Sentiments explain'd so that if I were to write the Sentiments which I carry within me I should compose a Book like that of the New Testament so much do I find them altogether conformable And it seeming to me that it would be useless to read what I did so sensibly possess I left off to read except where there was occasion to speak of the Gospel or any other thing contain'd in the said Testament I was then well pleas'd to cite it that by this mean my Saying might be more authoriz'd by the Holy Scripture than by my simple Word tho' it be altogether conformable thereunto And that 24th Chapter of S. Matthew is so much the more in my Heart that I see it treats of the Time in which we are fallen at present I wish all the World would read it that they might apprehend the more the Danger in which we live without perceiving it I said to her I had read that Chapter divers Times and nevertheless did not comprehend that it spoke of this present Time entreating she would explain it to me She said Sir I will do it by the Grace of God But I must have Time to rest Let us still go on our Way and how soon I shall stop I will give you that Explication in Writing Give me only the Text and I believe you will receive great Light from it You may also confront it with the Explications which the Holy Fathers have made of it You will see which of all will have the most perfect Sense That will be a small Sample which will shew what the whole Piece will be For it seems to me that I will be oblig'd one Day to explain all the Holy Scripture in general but for this end I will need to keep my self without the Reach of the Roman Church because by speaking the Truth of it I will be liable to their Reproof Truth does alway shock Lying as Righteousness does Unrighteousness I know I cannot but speak the Truth and also that they who do not follow it do resist it For this cause they kill'd the Holy Prophets and Jesus Christ himself because they bear Witness to the Truth I can expect no less Recompence from Christians now for they being without the
Principles of the greatest Philosophers who thought they establish'd all things by unerring Rules of Aequations hiss'd out of Doors yet this will not keep them from making Idols of their own Ideas and worshipping their own Reason and Christ and his Sacred Doctrin must be despis'd if he will not fall down before it and worship it And how strangely this Spirit spreads now in the World he that runs may read There is no Delusion more dangerous and which leads to more irrecoverable Blindness than this of making our wretched Reason and the Ideas it forms to it self the Measure and Standard of Truth The Eyes of our Mind are like those of our Body we may turn them to any Side we please but can discern nothing aright unless the Light shine upon them and let them see the Objects round about them So our Minds may form to themselves many Ideas and Imaginations but none of them conformable to the nature of things without a suitable Light to discover and direct them In the Material and visible World from the general Notions of Matter and Motion and the Combination of variously mov'd and figur'd Bodies Men form to themselves such and such Systems of the Universe which they strongly fancy to be the true Model of it but when we come to consider more nearly the things themselves we find them as far different as Light is from Darkness Our Minds must receive due and suitable Impressions from the Objects themselves else they can have no right Sentiment of them A blind Man can never conceive aright what Light and Colours the Sun and this visible World are unless his Eyes be open'd and he receive the Light The Light surrounds him and he comprehends it not we may by many Words and Similitudes give him general and dark Notions of the Excellency of Light and Colours and the Beauty of this visible World but one Glance of the Light it self will discover more to him than a thousand Descriptions made by us It is the same of Divine and Spiritual Things The Natural Man perceives not the Things of God but they are foolishness to him No Man knows the Things of God but by the Spirit of God A Divine Light and Illumination is necessary to make us understand and relish Divine Things And if we think to comprehend and judge of them by our Reason and Natural Ideas we do as foolishly and unreasonably as a blind Man that would judge of Light and Colours by the Ideas he has gathered from his Touch and other Senses And as the seeing and enjoying the Light and the receiving the other Impressions of this visible World are quite another thing than the Ideas we retain and form of these things to our selves in the Light 's absence for these notional Ideas can never enliven and warm and chear our Bodies and make us enjoy all this visible World as the other does no more than the Picture of the Sun can give us Light and Heat as the Sun himself does for these are but the Pictures of the Things themselves So the true Light and Impression of Divine Things upon the Mind is as far beyond the notional Ideas that we may form of them even tho' they were the true Pictures of them and as a blind Man ought to submit to the Judgment and Conduct of those who enjoy the Light and of whose Sincerity he has no reason to doubt and in the mean Time to strive if possible to enjoy himself so ought we to submit our Understanding and our Will to the Divine Revelation of the Will of God made to others and by them declar'd to us and in the mean time so to yield up our selves to God as that the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightned we may come to comprehend what the good and acceptable and perfect Will of God is But the Leaven of the Pharisees has yet more universally overspread Christendom than that of the Sadducees Upon this is founded the Difference of the several Sects and Parties that are in the Christian World and the Hatred and Animosity wherewith they prosecute one another one crying Lo here is Christ another Lo he is there The same Leaven runs through all Parties tho' it put on different outward Forms according to the different Interests and Engagements of the respective Parties Some are very zealous for particular Doctrins and Opinions which are uncertain as to their Truth and of no Necessity for Salvation Some set up for particular Forms and Rites of Worship which may be either us'd or let alone without hazard of Salvation And others are as zealously bent against them Some for such and such Forms of Discipline and Government and others for overturning them And tho' most of the Things for or against which they bend all their Zeal be of little Moment either for Promoting or Hindrance of Salvation yet they seem to lay the whole Stress of Religion upon them and having drawn them up into positive or negative Confessions of Faith Creeds Articles Canons of Councils and Acts of General Assemblies they baptize them into the Sacred Names of The Truths of God the Cause of Jesus Christ the Interest of his Church the setting the Crown upon Christ's Head they teach for Doctrins the Commandments of Men and are more zealous for their Forms and Systems of Doctrins drawn up by themselves or their Predecessors than for the Simplicity and Plainness of the Holy Scriptures and tho a Man embrace from his Herrt the Divine Writings and endeavour to square his Life by the Rules set down in them yet if he do not receive their Systems and be not zealous for or against such outward Forms and Rites as they embrace or dislike he is to them as a Heathen and a Publican And while they have a Zeal for the outside of Religion they neglect Righteousness Mercy and the Love of God while they avoid the Scandalous and Carnal Vices that would make them hateful in the World their Hearts are full of the Spiritual ones which are as hateful to God In short the Apostle gives us a plain Character of them 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3 4 5. warning us That in the last days perilous Times shall come for Men shall be Lovers of their own selves covetous proud boasters blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy without natural Affection Truce-Breakers false Accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good trayterous heady high-minded lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof It is strange to see how wilfully Men mistake the Nature of Christianity and place it in that which it does not conconsist and what it truly is they despise and trample upon Christianity may be either consider'd in its End or in the Means it directs us to for the attainment of that End Its End is CHARITY to love God with all our Heart and our Neighbour as our selves To love God is to love his
have done 29. The Fifth Conference Of Antichrist and how he reigns over all in Spirit 31. The sixth Conference How outward Worship towards God and the outward Works of Charity towards ones Neighbour are corrupted by the Devil And from whence this power does proceed 36. The seventh Conference That God has not abandon'd Men but Men have abandon'd God and resisted his Grace in the distribution of which he is not partial 39. The eighth Conference Of the Grace of God How it is given unto us And of the difficulty of being Converted 41. The ninth Conference What the Church is and of its corruption 45. The tenth Conference Of the Remission of Sins Of Confession and how it is abused 48. The eleventh Conference Outward Devotions imposed by Men are not of true Faith Of the true Church which cannot err in what it ordains The Doctrins of Jesus Christ and those of Men. True Prayer 52. The Twelfth Conference That the Conversion of Men is now desperate as in the time of Noah and wherefore 59. The thirteenth Conference Of true Faith according to the tenour of the Creed Of the knowledge of God and of our selves by the consideration of his works 63. The fourteenth Conference How God forsakes us and how we forsake him by distraction of Mind by which the Devil does subdue Men withdrawing them from the Love and Gratitude which they owe to God who discovers himself most sensibly in all things alone Lovely 70. The fifteenth Conference That God has never given unto Man but only one essential Commandment which is that of his Love which is most easie and most agreeable and that of every other thing most vain 77. The sixteenth Conference Of continual Prayer and constant Communion with God for which we were created and how we are distracted from it by the business of this World and by the enjoyment of frail Creatures 82. The seventeenth Conference How to discern whether the motions which press us to leave the outward hindrances to Divine Communion be from God or not That there are also inward obstacles and that we must not be wedded even to good means 92. The eighteenth Conference How we may attain to perfection and to Communion with God resigning our selves wholly unto him quitting both humane Wisdom and the Instructions of others for a time Christians uncapable of being taught They will be more desolate than the Jews 96. The ninteenth Conference That all Christians ought to read the Holy Scripture Whether the Church can err Where it is Where not 101. The Twentieth Conference Of the reading of the Holy Scripture and of the prohibition â—fâ—t How the Church cannot fail And what she is and is not 104. The Twenty first Conference Where the true Church is Where God is How he speaks unto the Soul and how we ought to be disposed for this Divine Conversation 109. The Twenty second Conference That there can be no true contentment but in God alone How to return thither Of Gifts and of those which are made to Churches which shall perish 116. The Twenty third Conference Of the destruction of the Church and of the uprightness of God in his Judgments and in all that he does 121. The Twenty fourth Conference Of the enquiry about the most Holy Trinity and of Grace and that even the Saints themselves are therein mistaken none being infalliable 125. The Twenty fifth Conference That the Holy Spirit sends always new influences and that his Light ought not to be bounded nor the interpretation of the Scriptures unto that which the Holy Fathers have had in past times 128. The Twenty sixth Conference How and wherefore the Holy Scripture has in nothing as yet been understood in a perfect Sense which is shewn by new Explications concerning the Creation of Man his Fall the coming of Jesus Christ in Reproach and that in Glory upon Earth there to reign eternally Of the Glorification of the Creatures both Animate and Inanimate what makes Paradise and Hell and that all these things shall be preceeded by universal Rods and Scourges 131. The Twenty seventh Conference That the care of withdrawing ones self from Chastisements is yet a Self-Love and that the Communion of the Soul with God sufficeth in all places 157. The Twenty eighth Conference How we ought to pray and understand the Lords Prayer in a perfect sense which respects the Dispositions and Graces which shall be granted us in the Glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ of which there are here Marvellous things spoken 160. The Twenty ninth Conference Of the signs whereby we may know that we are fallen in the last Times and that the World is Judged viz. that Men are without Righteousness Truth and Goodness before God and that the execution of his Plagues do already appear effectually 178. The Thirtieth Conference How God permits that Men should be abandoned to to the Spirit of Error 191. The End of the Table of the Conferences of this first Part. THE LIGHT of the WORLD The First Part. The First Conference Of Gods dealing with A. B particularly how he instructed her immediately from her Infancy the opposition of men of Christian perfection and of the deplorable state of Christian AS we advanc'd in our journey still travelling towards the Sun rising being already more than half way we perceiv'd at a distance one walking before us not knowing at first who it was because of the distance we remark'd only that it was a person alone who desir'd no Company but retir'd aside assoon as any body approach'd and hid herself until we mending our pace had come nearer and when we beheld this person we perceived she was a Maid who appear'd young enough and tho she was simply apparelled she had notwithstanding a grave and majestick Mien We saw in her face the marks and the joy of a serene and contented soul Her gate was always of an equal pace neither flow nor hasty her looks gave both joy and fear she did not refuse to speak to us in our Language tho it was not natural to her and having ask'd her whither she was going she said In Pilgrimage for penitence for her own sins and those of others And having ask'd her from whence she came she said From afar for she had travell'd many years and was harrass'd by the way and discolour'd by the Sun We ask'd what she design'd by so long and troublesome voyages dangerous for a Maid alone remonstrating to her that there were many other means to do penitence in her own Country without being in danger of hunger thirst unhappy rencounters and many other inconveniencies which may fall out in travelling alone and that at least she ought to take some Company To which she answer'd That she was oblig'd to travel alone for she had found no body that would accompany her and that many had indeed gone along with her for some time but upon the first temptation hunger or incommodity they had staid behind not knowing how to endure
end of the world This is the greatest miracle that God has done upon earth after men have invented so many glosses and opinions to contradict it and the life and manners even of those who are call'd the People of God are so different from this Doctrine that yet notwithstanding it subsists in its integrity in the hands and power of those who raze out and efface it by their manners and actions If it were not upheld by miracles how often would it have been stifled by the wisdom of the learned who if it were in their power would never suffer a Doctrine which so directly reproves their lives and manners In which God shews his almighty power that all men who shall be born upon the earth may have their recourse to this fountain of living water which is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and that no body may pretend ignorance under pretext that there are different or new doctrines and errors for he who has a desire to search has also the means to find the real truth written in the holy Gospel or the rest of the holy Scriptures It was not therefore necessary to maintain it by so many disputes which Jesus Christ never taught us either by word or by deed Men could not destroy that which God would build It had been more expedient to strengthen and comfort the faithful than to dispute against the erroneous who were raised up only by the Devil they would have perished of themselves for all that is nor built by God shall be destroyed A small number of faithful Believers were far better than so great a multitude of Christians in appearance who do nothing but debate and dispute without possessing true living faith The rotten members corrupt those which are yet sound The Devil is never sooner overcome than by despising him for then he knows not how to take hold of the good but disputes and debates furnish him with diverse weapons to attack and overcome them The Fourth Conference Of the qualities and ways of acting which ought to have been in the Guides of the Church to maintain it in its good estate against all Enemies and that they might not make way for the Spirit of Anti-christ as they have done I Admired all this so powerful discourse desiring always to hear more I ask'd her how she conceiv'd that the Saints were thrust from the Government of the Church when the learned undertook it since many learned and great Doctors have been canoniz'd Saints and held for such She said Sir it is very rare to find a learned Saint or at least one who becomes holy by learning for all humane wisdom is foolishness before God All the Saints are certainly wise but few learned men are Saints I do not mean that there have not been some Saints who were engag'd in the Government of the Church as St. Ambrose St. Augustin and others but I cannot believe that a body is sound when it hath the Leprosy in any of its members The whole body of the Church was sound when to be an Apostle or Minister of the Church 't was only requir'd to embrace an evangelical life for all the rotten members were cut off from it or corrected or indeed they withdrew of themselves not being able to endure so great a sanctity that reprov'd them in all their manners St. Paul forbids Christians so much as to eat with sinners behold how he cuts off the rotten members and elsewhere it is said If thy brother will not believe the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen In many places of Scripture you will find this rejection St. Peter makes Ananias and Saphira fall dead at his feet for their lying St. Paul delivers over to the Devil the Corinthian besides so many others who have been chastized for not having continu'd faithful observers of the Law of the Gospel Others have withdrawn of themselves as Judas to go and hang himself and a great many others who withdrawing themselves gave occasion to Jesus Christ to ask the other Disciples If they would go also to which they reply'd and whither shall we go Lord thou hast the words of eternal life These three means were capable of upholding the holy Church in its Integrity and Holiness as Jesus Christ had establisht it and did himself observe these rules that is that the erroneous should be rejected and despis'd or else corrected for their errors or otherwise permitted to go out and withdraw themselves but these new Doctors have found out as a more perfect mean for the upholding of the Church to admit only the wise and learned to the government of it that the erroneous might be oppos'd and overcome by disputes Is the invention and wise foresight of these men more perfect than the ordinance and doing of God Can that eternal wisdom be ignorant that Learning was necessary for the government of his Church Was it necessary that men should change reform or perfect what Jesus Christ had establisht to wit that the government of his Church should appertain to those who have given evidence of the love they bear him for this cause he puts the question to St. Peter thrice to know if he lov'd him before he made him head of his Church On the contrary men are more inquisitive to know if any Minister of the Church be great and learned than if he love God This is a renversement of spirit which has seiz'd upon men since they would needs be govern'd by the wise of the world and they have despis'd the holy simplicity of the Gospel This mischief could not be brought in by humane frailty it must needs proceed from the malice of the Devil Man indeed thro frailty might backslide and follow Jesus Christ at a little farther distance than he had taught him but could not arrive to such an excess of wickedness as directly to oppose and despise his doctrine and practice This must needs come from that spirit of error who from the beginning entred into the the Church to oppose Christ and is therefore justly called ANTICHRIST He has so cunningly masqu'd and disguis'd his errors with piety and reason that they have been follow'd notwithstanding there have been at diverse times holy persons in the government of the Church The Fifth Conference Of Antichrist and how he rules every where in Spirit I Begg'd she would tell me whom she understood to be Antichrist and how he could introduce himself into the Church in its beginning since it appears from the holy Scriptures that he is to come only towards the end of the world and is called the man of sin the son of perdition and is not to reign but three years and a half She said I perceive Sir that you take for Antichrist a humane body which is to be born by the operation of the Devil I believe that this will fall out at the end of the world yea that he is already born
Recompence of the Affronts which they do him It must needs be Sir that all these Falshoods be discovered and that God shew the Villany of his People to all the World If clear-sighted and illuminated Men would discover it they would immediately be hated and slain between the Temple and the Altar therefore the Judgments of God must discover them The Nineteenth Conference That all Christians ought to Read the Holy Scripture Whether the Church can Err Where She is Where not I said unto her That the Jews and the Hereticks would be well-pleased to hear such Discourses for they have some such Sentiments She said Sir I do not speak to please any Body and I regard neither Jews nor Hereticks nor Catholics but the straight Truth according as the Spirit of God manifests it to me I have never conversed with Hereticks but I have casually heard some things said of them which are much better than what the Catholicks do Tho' it were in nothing but this That they take Pleasure to read the Holy Scriptures and carry them everywhere with them studying them almost Day and Night This is a very laudable thing because we ought always to learn what we ought to practise If we do not learn it we cannot know it In the Bible the whole Law of God is contain'd and also the Doctrine of Jesus Christ from whence may be deriv d all the Nourishment of our Souls If the Hereticks do not put it in Practice they do ill as well as the Catholicks but they have this Advantage that they know the Truth if they will practise it But the Catholicks are only stor'd with Books compos'd by Men and depriv'd of that which God hath given us for the Nourishment of our Souls It is just the same as if we would take from a Child his Nourishment and give him an Image to sustain him He may look long upon it before his Body receive Nourishment and Substance from it It seems to me a very ill thing to forbid Christians the Reading of the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue since it must teach us all that we ought to do and forsake and the Advertisements which God gives us by his Holy Prophets and by Jesus Christ himself and his holy Apostles I said unto her That the Church had forbidden to read the Bible in the Vulgar Language because of the Abuses which were thereby committed for many ignorant Persons would interpret it amiss from whence Heresies arise Secondly Because many Bibles were changed and something taken away or diminish'd from the Original She replyed Truly Sir these are very weak Reasons They forbid to read the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue lest the common People do draw Heresies from it while the most part of Heresies are introduc'd into the Church by the Learned Priests and Monks not by Simple Ones who would never be follow'd in their new Errors for they would have but small Authority and Learning to Introduce them If this Reason ought to have place it would be more expedient to forbid it to the Learned since they have invented all the Heresies and not the Vulgar Jesus Christ taught the Simple People more than the Learn'd to shew that he found them more capable and susceptible of receiving his Doctrine than the Great and the learned were And if all Christians ought to practise the Doctrine of Jesus Christ by the same Consequence they ought to Read and to Learn it And if they will needs forbid the Reading of it because of the Abuses which are committed thereby they must also forbid the going to Church and to the Communion where there are a thousand times more Abuses committed than can be committed by the Reading of the Holy Scriptures which was not made for the Learn'd but for Saints from whom Men will needs take it shewing themselves more foreseeing than Jesus Christ to hinder Abuses and Errors If there were in the Church a Prohibition only to read the Bibles which are not approv'd of there would be a Pretext to colour this Prohibition but seeing all are forbidden it is to forbid what God hath commanded I ask'd her Whether the Church might indeed err in this Prohibition or in any other thing She said No Sir the True Church can never err because God has promised that he will always maintain it But I would willingly know where the Church is at present She can be no where but in the Souls which possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Behold this is the only Place where the Church resides Who will shew me these Souls I would gladly know them I would love and follow them even to Death I have not yet found this Happiness You believe it may be that it is the City of Rome because S. Peter did reside there and for my part I believe that Rome is the Babylon of Confusion that the Holy Spirit does no more govern there than you see it in your Chapter You have Judgment enough to discern if the Holy Spirit directs all the Resolutions which are there taken He does it far less in the Roman College For there he has no more Audience and if he should appear there in Form of a Dove as he did at the Baptism of Jesus Christ all these Presidents would cast their Caps at him to chace him away for they have no more to do with his Light since they have made themselves Gods upon Earth The Church therefore cannot err but the Men who are call'd Churchmen may err and do truly err in this Prohibition by which Christians cannot any longer read the Gospel nor the Bible in which is contain'd the Law of God How then can they observe it if they may not read it in order to learn it This is an Error which no Body is oblig'd to follow because the true Church cannot thus command it for it is contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus who says Take eat this is my flesh and drink this is my Blood of the New Testament And these Men will not have us to touch it but as far as it pleases them to give it Whereas Jesus Christ says Take ye it and eat ye it He speaks to every one The Twentieth Conference Of the Word of Jesus Christ which is truely his Flesh and his Blood Of the Reading of the Holy Scripture and of the forbidding it How the Church cannot fail and what is the Church and what not I said to her That these Words were understood of the Eucharist where we drink his Blood and eat his Flesh She reply'd What perfect Sense can you find wherein to apply these Words of the Lord unto the Eucharist seeing he says That he who eats his flesh and drinks his blood shall live for ever and yet so many thousand Persons who commonly receive the Eucharist do live and die in their Sins It would follow that the Words of Jesus Christ were not true when he
he is not to be compar'd to any thing We must force our selves to love him not to comprehend him The Saints themselves committed great faults while they would needs embark into these Studies I believe the Devil has raised Disputes thereupon to amuse Men in useless things rather than profitable and to seek to comprehend what ought to be adored I ask'd her if the holy Doctors could indeed have committed such faults since we held that they had the Holy Spirit She said Yes Sir they committed many others through Ignorance They err'd in many things The Holy Spirit did not always guide their Pen nor their Understandings They were always frail Men so long as they lived upon Earth They might always fail and err for Jesus Christ says that He who says he is without Sin is a Liar I believe I have also told you heretofore Sir that none is Infallible but God Men who have the Holy Spirit are not always so disengaged from themselves that the Holy Spirit has that absolute dominion over them Their own sense of things gives them frequent hindrances and as long as they act naturally they stray from the Holy Spirit and do often commit in these wandrings great faults as David did tho God says that He was a Man according to his own Heart And Solomon who had received the Spirit in fulness did notwithstanding Sin greatly against the Faith it self and against the Commandments of God You must not wonder therefore that the Holy Fathers have committed faults in the Church the Apostles themselves committed them though they had visibly received the Holy Spirit We must never build on a Foundation so weak as Men are They may all err tho they were Saints and have erred in many things in upholding the Church For as soon as they perceived that it failed in the Souls of Christians and that its Honour and Authority was fallen they would needs redress it by worldly Honours and Riches and even defend it by Disputes and by Arms all which things are Buildings made with Mens hands which shall be ruined For that which God has not built shall be Destroyed Jesus Christ knew far better the means that were proper to uphold his Church He saw the time to come as well as the present He has not ordain'd that it should be maintain'd by Silver Authority Arms or Disputes but by Holiness The Twenty fifth Conference That the Holy Spirit sends always new Influences and that we must not bound his Lights nor the Interpretation of the Scriptures to that which the Holy Fathers have formerly had I Could not resist so clear Truths perceiving well that all Men are Fallible But because every one had always received the Opinions of the Holy Fathers as things certain I said to her that I had sworn to receive no other Explications of the Holy Scriptures but those of the Holy Fathers and that the Church did oblige all Persons plac'd in Dignities to do the same So that in all Benefices received they still take this Oath before they enter in possession of them She said Sir the Church can oblige no body to resist the Holy Spirit Your Oath is not obligatory in this case If God favour you or some other Person of your Acquaintance with any new Light must you reject it to obey Men Jesus Christ did not forbid this On the contrary he has said Receive the Holy Spirit And When he shall come he will teach you all things He speaks to the Apostles and to all Christians in them This Holy Spirit is never idle He operates always new Graces in those who receive him and gives still more clear Interpretations of the Holy Scriptures according as the end of the World approaches we shall every day understand them more clearly We see the figure of this in the Sciences of Natural things There is at present more knowledge of them than ever and Men now do know much more of Natural things which those who are gone before us were ignorant of yea understood them in a sense quite contrary to the truth They taught that the Sun goes round about the Earth Now they teach that the Earth turns and that the Sun is fixt which is more to be believed And thus in many Natural things they have discovered many Secrets since Sciences were encreas'd The Figure is never so accomplish'd as the thing figured Wherefore then should the Light of the Holy Spirit or the understanding of the Holy Scriptures be bounded to what the holy Fathers understood of them Every one of them had Discoveries according to his Talent and no more I believe Sir that if you examin them narrowly you will find that they do not accord in all things yea even that they sometimes contradict one another which cannot come from God for there is never any contradiction in him Each of the Fathers saw as far as his view reached and no more God does always farther discover his Secrets Can Men cause others to swear or can they swear themselves that they shall not receive any other Discoveries but that which the holy Fathers have received without opposing the Grace and Light of God This would be to speak after our way to clip the wings of the Holy Spirit that he might not flie farther than Men had marked out to him Truly Sir there are great Errors in all things It seems Men would take from God Power and Authority to attribute it to themselves giving him Laws and forbidding Men to obey him The holy Fathers could not be so rash as to believe that no body could understand the Holy Scriptures farther than they for they affirm that there are depths of hidden Treasure which they cannot comprehend In effect I believe that nothing has been yet understood in a perfect sense of all the Holy Scripture even till now and that likewise there is nothing accomplished but the Death of Jesus Christ Nevertheless all must be understood and accomplish'd in a perfect Sense before the end of the World God has not said or done any thing in vain He will give to Men the full understanding of all that he has said by his holy Prophets from the beginning of the World and nothing is so hid but it shall be discovered before the World end Why then should they forbid to receive other Interpretations than those which the holy Fathers in past times have received It were better to command to Pray continually for greater Light that we may know the better the Mysteries of our Faith that we may the better observe and follow them for we can never have so much love for a thing unknown as for that which we know I said to her that this Oath was not ordained to oppose directly the Holy Spirit but rather to hinder every one from Interpreting the Scriptures after his own way from which many Errors might proceed if there were not an uniform Belief among all Christians
Truth will strongly resist it and practising Unrighteousness they will not suffer Righteousness in their presence because it would reprove them I can very well hold my Peace as I have done for so many Years by-gone But when God shall will that I speak I will cry to all the World without fearing those who can but kill the Body Death would be agreeable to me if with it I could enlighten my Christian Brethren and draw them out of Error I said to her That the Church did not put to death the Holy Fathers who had explain'd the Holy Scriptures But on the contrary had honour'd and esteem'd them That neither ought she to be afraid of being ill treated by them but rather receiv'd and approved in explaining the Scriptures She said to me Sir You would always excuse this Church because you have espous'd her as I have also done It proceeds from this that you do not yet distinguish what the true Church is tho' I have so often spoke to you of it The Church in a perfect and defin'd Sense is no other thing but the Souls which are united in Heart and Will wholly unto God These are his only Spouses He never had any others no more under the Old Testament than the New yea from the Beginning of the World and will never have even to the End yea throughout all Eternity Nothing can be the Church but that which is united wholly unto God No more than a Woman can be a Man's Spouse if she be not united to him For if she joyn herself to another she is an Adultress the same is it without Comparison in the Alliance which God makes with Souls If they withdraw from him and joyn themselves to any other thing they are Adultresses and worthy of being divorc'd If God permit a Man to forsake his Wife for Whoredom wherefore should not this Law be observ'd by himself If Rome with its College does remain united to God in the Spirit of Truth she is the Church and his Spouse But if she be separated from that Truth and Righteousness she is no more but a Civil and Political Assembly Make always this Distinction Sir or otherwise you will be deceiv'd taking Falshood for Truth If there were a thousand Popes with as many Counsellors assembled and if they did not possess the Spirit of God they are not the Church but if a simple Woman that spins on a Distaff do possess the Spirit of God she is the Church The Holy Fathers were not ill treated by Rome in expounding the Holy Scriptures because there were yet perhaps in their Time in those Assemblies some Souls which were Churches and who by confequence did defend the Truth But at present this Support is not to be expected but rather mortal Persecutions An evil thing Sir ought not to be maintain'd blindly as if it were good Therefore God has given you a good Judgment to make this Distinction for if you continue always fix'd in the Resolution to take this outward Body of the Roman Church for the Holy Church it is in vain for me to discover to you her Evil and the Infidelity she has committed toward her lawful Husband You would do as he who would permit his Wife to play the Adultress in dissembling it without being desirous to know or discover it The Sin is as great to tolerate it as to do it If God permit me to speak the Truth openly to that Church which you esteem you would see with Regret how ill she would treat me you could not deliver me from the Peril to which your pious Belief would expose me I said to her That for the Exposition of the Holy Scriptures she needed offend no Body That this was but what God had declar'd unto us That every one ought to desire to have still a more clear Vnderstanding of them yea even the Wicked themselves that this ought not to displease them I entreated her to write boldly She said When you shall read Sir the 24th Chapter which I have promised you it may be you will change your Opinion for the Word of God is like to a two-edged Sword Truth cuts all that it meets with in Opposition to it So that without respecting any Body we cut all sorts of Errors and Lies in following only the streight Truth blindly and without knowing it we do often wound those of whom we are not thinking If the Word of God were well explain'd it would offend all the Persons that live now in the World yea those who are esteem'd Holy and Perfect For as we do not see so many little Atoms flying in the Air when the Sun does not shine brightly as we do when he spreads his Beams clearly even so the Souls which are full of Sins and Imperfections do not perceive them so long as the clear Understanding of true Perfection is not given them They believe that they are very clean but so soon as this Divine Light shall give its Rays every one will see evidently that he is deceiv'd that he has no Righteousness and that he is no true Christian Therefore the Devil will hinder as much as he can this Light from being discover'd and will oppose himself thereunto even by those that have most Authority that very few may perceive their Blindness For if these Explications were maturely consider'd by every one all the World would be converted for there is nothing more charming than to consider that which God has done for Man from his Creation and continued even till now which is nothing but a continued Course of Benefits all corresponding to one another always in great Perfection The Creation the Law of Moses the Prophets the Gospels are all the same thing by an excellent Harmony I ask'd her Whether the Ancient Fathers had not discover'd these things aright and if they had not declar'd this to the World by so many Expositions and Books which they had written She said Sir It was not necessary that the Ancient Fathers should have the Understanding of all things It was enough that they understood that which Men had need of then but since we draw near to the Fulness of time it is expedient for Men now that they learn that which must fall out in their Time Therefore God now reveals the Secrets which he would then have to be kept hid When the Apostles ask'd Jesus Christ when these things which Jesus Christ had told them should come to pass He answer'd them That it was not for them to know the Times which the Father had in his own power To shew that unseasonable Light ought not to be desir'd and that to him alone appertains the knowing the Time and the Hour of all things Thus he thought fit to reserve the Understanding of the Scriptures till the necessary time which is at present The Holy Fathers could not know then what he would reserve till now and all that they declar'd of it by so many
the Fattest Prebendaries thirsting still insatiably for more Honour Pleasures and Riches that they may Rule in this World instead of Enduring and Suffering in it in Imitation of their Master and Captain Jesus Christ who says so clearly to them I have done all to give you an Example and Be ye Followers of me But those Persons at present do directly the contrary despising Lowliness and Humility abhorring Poverty and avoiding Sufferings as much as they can Are not these Adulterers who falsifie their Faith promised to Jesus Christ in Baptism to renounce the Devil the World and its Pomps And after their Oaths they go and take up what they have renounced conforming themselves to the World and its Pomps and Vanities as much as they can And in the mean time they will still bear the Name of Christians which signifies the Spouse of Jesus Christ As in effect those Persons really were if they had continued in his Spirit and the Imitation of Him From which they being fallen they are nothing now but unfaithful Whoremongers and Adulterers worthy to be cast off by their Lawful Husband as they infallibly shall be for He cannot acknowledge them for Christians when He sees them in their Manners wholly Antichristian It must not be imagined that this Evil is only in the Roman Church as all the Reformed would perswade themselves calling the Roman Church commonly The great Whore in the Revelation since all and every one of these Reformed are more Whores than their Mother the Roman Church from which they have separated not to Reform her but to Deform her the more by rendring her a greater Beast than she was in her self For we see these Reformed live much more licentiously than those who continue in the Roman Church who being under Discipline are regulated and restrained in their Manners whereas the Reformed being subject to none live as Beasts every one following his own Will and the Inclination of their corrupt Natures This is that which made all these Reformers to depart from the Roman Church that they might make New Institutions accommodated to their Looseness For since they were resolved to give the Reins to their Brutish Senses they could not abide any longer under the Obedience of a Superiour and being inclined to follow Carnal Pleasures they must depart out of the Roman Obedience where they had taken Vows and Oaths of Chastity for else they had been cast into Prison as perjured and impious And that they might have Money enough to satisfie the Pleasures of their Taste they must be followed by Rich Persons who might furnish them with Money in abundance For this Cause they made Schisms in the Roman Church and they Established New Churches every one after his own Fashion who contradicted one another and understood one another no more than the Builders of the Tower of Babel and in this they were followed by many Honourable Persons who thought there was some Good Thing in the Reformed and so much the rather that they were agreeable to Corrupt Nature which they flattered and nourished in its Vices For these Reformers did not bid the People separate from the Roman Communion that they might live in Gluttony and Whoredom This would have been too infamous and reproachful among Good Men but they told them the Abuses of the Roman Church proposing to reform them Though in Truth it was but that they might lead a Licentious Life shake off Piety and Truth and give Loose Reins to the Motions of their Corrupt Nature and let it follow its Desires and Inclinations without constraint For if they had designed a Pious Reformation they would not have despised the Good Things that were in the Roman Church and would only have resisted the Evil which they judged to be there and Reformed that Evil first in themselves that by their good Example they might have led others to Reform themselves too since Example is an Effectual Preaching But these Reformers proceeded after quite another manner and rejected the Good with the Bad without distinction Because if they had maintained what was Good in the Roman Church they would have been obliged to observe it them themselves This they had no mind to do being resolved to lead a Licentious Life and to give Loose Reins to all their Brutish Senses They could not subject the People to the Obedience of a Superiour since they themselves would not at all depend upon one Therefore first of all they perswaded the People to shake off a Dependance on the Pope and other Superiours that they might live every one after their own Way as the Beasts who have neither Fears nor Cares but eat and drink well This is against all Decency since no Country no Common wealth no Family can be well ordered and governed without a Head a Superiour or a Father of the Family to whom the rest are subject And I pray you FRIENDLY READER what would a City or a Province be if it had no Magistrate no Superiour No other thing but a Den of Thieves Robbers and other Malefactours who would hinder all Good Men from dwelling there And though Superiority be so good useful and necessary even in the Civil State yet these Reformers reject it as an Evil Thing and will depend on none but themselves and live independently that they may the more follow the Swinge of their Brutish Senses whose Motions they let loose without Restraint These Reformers did not only cast off Obedience by their Reformation but also the Confession of Sins in particular For they would not declare to another the Luxury and the Excess which they had a mind to perpetrate and they could not enjoyn others what they would not do themselves Therefore they rejected and even despised this Confession though the Scripture sayes expresly Confess your Faults to one another And Confession in its self is Good and Holy humbling the Heart and serving for a Bridle and Restraint to Sin in Time coming All this sort of Good these Reformers rejected together with the pretended Errours they said they had discovered forgetting that the Scripture says Try all things and hold that which is good I will not excuse the Errours and Abuses which have crept in among these Auricular Confessions since I blame them more than these Reformers themselves did as may be seen in this LIGHT OF THE WORLD But they ought not to pluck up the good Grain with the Tares That belongs to the Lord to separate them in the Day of Harvest and not to these Reformers to come before the Time and pluck out of the Holy Church the good Things which Christ had planted there Such as Fasting and Abstinence are which these Reformers have so absolutely rejected and despised though in the Scripture Fasting is recommended for the Apostle sayes Be ye sober and watch And elsewhere it is said Sanctifie your Fast And Jesus Christ speaking to his Apostles of one possest sayes to them This kind goeth not out but by Fasting and
Souls who are not sanctified are not truly Catholick neither will they be saved for their Religion since no Religion saves unless the Heart be truly Religious or truly Catholick In which also those who are called Quakers do greatly deceive themselves who through a foolish Imagination fancy that they are guided by the Holy Spirit as soon as they have begun to conform themselves to this Sect as if it had more Force to sanctifie Men than all the other Religions together even the most perfect none of which can save so much as one Soul For there is nothing that saves but the LOVE OF GOD and not a Religion Every one ought to hold the Religion that serves him as a Mean to attain to this LOVE without taking his Religion for the End of his Salvation if they would not be greatly deceived at Death thinking to plead their Religion which they imagine to be the best as the Quakers believe they have the Holy Spirit and so take the Name of Quakers tho they have him only by Imagination and false Persuasions and the Devil makes them believe they are better than all the rest of Men because they have quitted outwardly the gross Sins of Drunkenness Theft Lying and the like tho' in their Manners they be as vicious as others presuming that they have the Holy Spirit which they have not living in an Esteem of themselves and a Contempt of others calling themselves spiritual while they remain carnal despising all the Means of Piety and Devotion to adhere to their own Caprices and they imagine they are illuminated by the Holy Spirit when they are mov'd only by their own disorderly Passions which do often precipitate them into fruitless Sufferings and Persecutions with the Scandal of their Neighbour So that no body has Ground to believe that he shall be saved for being of the Quakers Opinion no more than the being of any other Sect or Religion since all these Names do nothing to the Salvation of Souls But to be sav'd of Necessity we must be renewed in the Life of God And the Scripture says Obedience is better than Sacrifice This shews that it 's better to be resigned entirely to the Will of God to be ruled thereby than to profess any Religion how good and holy soever we think it to be These material Bodies do not save the Soul but the Love that it bears to its God will save it and nothing else In which Men deceive themselves when they lay the Stress of their Salvation upon some means which they make use of to be saved How good soever these outward things be they give nothing to the Essence of the Soul which is wholly divine and spiritual and cannot attain to Salvation if it be not united to its God who created it for this End tho' the Blindness that Sin has brought upon Man's Spirit does not often persuade him that he shall be saved by other Means as by going oft to Church frequenting the Sacraments hearing many Preachings or spiritual Books or in being able to discourse of these things in giving to the Poor out of his Abundance in making long Prayers and so many other Actions which they call pious as if God to save us had need of these things Which is a great Delusion For it is only our Infirmity and Weakness that has need of these outward Things For it is written that the true Worshippers shall worship God in Spirit and in Truth and not in the Temple nor on the Mountain That is to say not in material Temples nor in Mountains of high Speculations but the Spirit and the Heart must be truly possest with the Love of God without which no body will be saved Not that I would reject or despise all these pious Means or good outward Works as these Reformed do blindly reject all sorts of good Works as evil since these good Works may serve as effectual Means to attain to this Love of God seeing the covetous Man mortifies his Avarice by giving his Goods to the Poor and he who cannot pray to God in his House for the Distraction of his Affairs does well to go to Church that he may be the more recollected Or he who feels more Compunction and Piety in his Soul in frequenting the Sacraments or has more inward and saving Light by going to Sermons or reading the Scripture or some other spiritual Book he is oblig'd to use all the Means which lead him to the Love of God without despising the least Mean that may help his Weakness in raising him to the Love of God since every one is oblig'd to seek the Means of his Perfections I blame only the Abuse that is made of these things in taking them for the End of Salvation whereas they are only Means to assist Humane Weakness which forgets easily Eternal and invisible things if she be not often put in Remembrance of them by outward things But I blame those who are so ignorant as to believe that they shall be saved for being of some Religion or for using the Sacraments and doing some good Work since these things do not sanctifie us being of themselves dead Works which cannot give Life to our divine Souls and the Devil himself might do all these outward things tho' he shall never be sav'd I believe indeed some captious Spirits will take Occasion to say that I am not truly Catholick in speaking against the Vse of the Sacraments and other Ceremonies of the Roman Church but I cannot preserve my self from the Calumny of partial Persons who love their Darkness rather than the Light that I offer them from God who has given me his Holy Spirit promis'd by Jesus Christ which teaches me all Truth since Jesus Christ himself could not avoid the being calumniated imprison'd persecuted and at last put to Death by means of the Jewish Priests who said they were in God's stead and sate in Moses's Chair as the Priests of all Religions say now While in the mean time they outragiously persecute the Truths which I learn immediately from God without Study without Meditation Discourse Reading or any other Means which would rather prove a Hindrance to me than an Illustration of the Light of the Holy Spirit who endites to me all things necessary for the Salvation of Souls and gives me also his Gift of Strength to bear joyfully those Persecutions and Outrages which these more than Pharisaical Priests exercise against me For they will not suffer that the Truth of God should come to light by any but themselves tho' they 've rendred themselves most unworthy of it because they will not apply themselves to the Imitation of Jesus Christ nor to the Sanctification of their Souls and if these be wanting they shall never understand the inward Voice of God 'T would be a great Vertue in them if at least they would suffer another to understand it But they can't attain to this Christian Vertue of rejoycing in the Good of another They
Prayer He himself fasted Fourty Dayes in the Desert and was an hungred But these Reformers speak of nothing but filling their Belly well the better to excite their Lust Are not these who would Reform the Roman Church fine Zealots for the Glory of God We see also that all their Reformation has brought nothing but Schisms and Divisions among the Reformed themselves There is nothing there but Debates and Dissensions They wrote to me some while agoe that Two Preachers of the same Reformed Communion had fallen by the Ears together even in the Temple and the one had rent the others Garment from Head to Foot These are the Effects of their Reformation and of the Remedy they say they have provided for the Abuses of the Roman Church The Scripture sayes That the Tree is known by its Fruit. From whence we may infer how pernicious these Reformations must be which have caused such Mischiefs in Christendom having brought in nothing but Hatred among Christians though Jesus Christ did so much recommend to them To love one another By these Reformations they have despised hated and persecuted one another beat rob'd kill'd and murthered one another without compassion to maintain the Opinion that they have undertaken to believe though all their Opinions be equally bad the one erring one way and the other another So that to maintain the Errours of these Reformers these Christians kill'd and murther'd one another instead of loving one another according to the Counsel of Jesus Christ And these Enmities continue to this Day and they hate and despise one another upon the Account of their Religion though all of them signifie nothing and no Religions can save any Nothing but the Love of God brings Salvation and all these Persons love themselves only and live all according to the Motions of Corrupt Nature Their Religions consisting in nothing but Theory and vain Speculations not at all in Practice But to flatter them with some Piety and Devotion their Reformers have put the Bible in their Hands and some Songs to sing in the Temple since the Priests and Religious Romanists used to sing in the Temple and corrupt Nature has no Repugnance to Songs it rather delights in them as all these Reformers do at this Day who lift up their Voice as well as they can to make their good Voice be heard in the Temple where they sit at their own Ease with the Bible in their Hand on which they profess to read that they may learn to discourse of it though I have not known one Person who puts in practice so much as one Point of the Gospel Lo this is all the Service that these Reformers have learned their Disciples together with the Lords Supper that is performed without Devotion or Piety And notwithstanding of this they call themselves good Christians Evangelical Persons Predestinated or Regenerated Ones and other good Names Though they be as far from Salvation as Heaven is from Earth But these Reformers have known so well how to perswade them of an Imaginary Salvation by their Scholastick Reasons and Glosses that they have thereby so confounded their Spirit as that they receive Lyes for the Gospel That which is most to be admired is that among so many Persons of Vnderstanding who have followed these Reformers none have perceived the Cheat of these Sensual Reformers who teach a Life quite contrary to the Evangelical Life which speaks of nothing but denying a Mans Self bearing down his Flesh and doing Penitence with a Threatning that without this Mean we shall all perish It must indeed be said That from that time Men have been abandoned to the Spirit of Errour and Lying and that Mens Spirit has been quite blinded by Sin and is since still more blinded since yet in our Time we see Persons of a like Temper liâ—t up themselves above others and call themselves the Reformers and Restorers of Israel and separate from the rest of the Reformed that they may live separate from the World in greater Holiness than others Though in their Manners they be as sensual yea more than those whom they have forsaken For having no Accommodation of Worldly Goods and being unwilling to Work but desirous to be well Treated and Served they undertake Reformations drawing over to them Wealthy Persons that they may obtain their Aims and they make all their Goods common In which the Poor cannot but have Advantage and the Reformers Services and a good Time of it according to their Aim since in effect many follow them and give them all their Wealth with which they Eat and Drink and Marry as those did in the Dayes of Noah On which Terms they make them Preachings of Fine Studied Words and fitted for the Gust of the Hearers who are well pleased to have found out a way of Salvation so well accommodated to their Corrupt Natures since they make them believe that they are all ruled by King Jesus They are perswaded by their frivolous Discourses that this is true and thus Men are yet amused by Men as they were in former Times And I can see no other Remedy but that God overturn all these Churches made with Mens Hands that he may establish one made of Spirit and of Life where we shall worship God in Spirit and in Truth Which he makes me hope shall come to pass very shortly since he makes me declare so many Truths with the hazard of my Life to overturn Babel and revive True Christianity Blessed shall he be who shall receive them from God's Hand and shall not resist the Truth as Jannes and Jambres did since these are undone for ever But receive the saving Truth that God has communicated to me in this LIGHT OF THE WORLD which will Illuminate youâ— Soul In the mean time I remain Friendly Reader Your very Affectionate in Jesus Christ ANTHOINETTE BOURIGNON THE LIGHT of the WORLD The third Part. The first Conference Declares that God has never demanded any other thing of man but the dependance of his Will on Gods and that all other Laws are given him by Accident and to discover his Sins HAving been absent for some time from this illuminated Soul I went to find her again to entreat her to pray for me and to tell her I was resolved more than ever to resign my self wholly to God that I might receive his Divine Light She said Sir as soon as you shall make this Resignation of your self and shall deliver up into God's Hand the Freewill that he has given you you shall receive the Holy Spirit which will teach you all things But never turn back again to resume your own will otherwise the last Fault will be worse than the first Since you have now received more Light than formerly walk according to it and do not any more regard the World nor the Creatures for they cannot save you You must fall into the Hands of God whether you will or no No body can escape this whether he live well or
to know if really she has the Quality of our true Mother and if she be allied with our true Father who is unchangeable in all his Qualities to whom this Spouse ought to be alwayes conformable We must see if what they call our Mother has the Spirit and the Works of our Father and if we find no Likeness in her we must renounce her and hold her as a Deceiver and a Liar unworthy of our Affection The Twentieth and Seventh Conference Shews The true Marks whereby to discover where the True Church is and that it concerns every one to examine it I asked her How I might discover where my true Mother the true Church is What Marks there are whereby to know her that I may not be deceived She said Sir You shall discover her by this that she will follow the Footsteps of Jesus Christ and be wholly conformable to his Doctrine There is but one Church only as there is but one onely God and there is so strait a Bond and Alliance between God and the Church that they are but one and the same Thing as it is said that in Marriage Two are but one Flesh so in the Alliance of God with the Church two are but one Spirit God is the Bridegroom and the Soul is the Bride As it is said concerning Adam Let us make a Companion meet for him for it is not good that Man should be alone This is the Figure of what he had said before Let us make Man after our own Likeness because it was found meet that God should delight himself with something that was like to him For this cause he created the Divine and Eternal Soul and plac'd it in the Body and Understanding of Man that it might multiply and communicate it self For it is the Property of Good to be communicative This Divine Soul being form'd in Time must live for ever else it should not have been Divine nor capable of being united and ally'd to God who created it for these ends And as Adam and Eve ought to have been united in Heart Body and Will so the Soul ought to be united in Love Understanding and Will with God Not that Natural Love nor that Humane Understanding no more than our bounded Will Because all this has no Sympathy with God and they are but the Case wherein God has shut up this Divine Soul which is Free and Eternal as God This Divine Reason and Free-will make the Church by the Alliance that God makes with it which is much more strait than the Alliance that this Divine Soul makes with the Animal Soul of Man which do so nearly approach one another that no Humane Spirit is able to distinguish them no more than any can distinguish the Free and Rational VVill from God himself Because he has so straitly united them that the Soul is God and God is the Soul as the VVill of Eve was that of Adam so the VVill of the Soul is that of God By which you may still discover Sir where the Spouse of God or the True Church is Because where she is to be found she carries still along with her the same Qualities of her VVell beloved and when you do not find them in those who call themselves the Church believe firmly that they are all Cheats For the Spouse of God will be alwayes comely and there can be no Blemish in her Because she shall never be parted from the Qualities of her Husband alwayes Just Good True and All-powerful And when you shall see Sion Jerusalem Judea or Rome such as you call the Church to be fallen away from these Qualities never believe that she is your Mother the Holy Church Upon these Accounts Jesus Christ has so often warned you to beware of false Christs and false Prophets For they come to delude and deceive many Do not let your self be deluded Sir For there shall never be but one True Church which shall be united to God VVhosoever has not this Unity is not the Church but they are Seducers of the People who under this Cloak of God's Spouse do seduce many You must lift up your Head and look on high to see whence the Church took her Original and you will perceive that the Church is no other but the Alliance that God made with the Divine Soul of Man which he made his Spouse though she was unworthy of it He so ennobled her that he would joyn himself to her and ally with her by an indissoluble Alliance which can never end for the Two Parties are Immortal to wit God and the Divine Soul But to take for the Spouse of God Persons who are no wayes in the Spirit of God nor in Union with him and to reverence them as the Church is to wrong the Honour that we owe to God To see a Church seek the Honours Pleasures and Riches of this VVorld and to believe that she is the Spouse of God is to derogate from her Divine Quality and to ascribe the Honour to Vice that is due only to True Vertue VVe should not thus let them cover our Eyes as they do to those who are going to be hanged that they may not see their doleful End VVe must take off this Bandage that we may look about us and learn where the True Church is which can save us and not suffer our selves to be led on blind-fold to Eternal Death by VVords or false Appearances since Truth only is capable to save us I said to her That I had never yet discovered Souls united to God and that nevertheless I believed I was in the Church She said Sir You are deceived For the Church is no where but in the Souls that are united to God no more than a Woman can be the Spouse of a Man who has never approached her We must not believe that the Church consists in wearing a Garment of Purple or Red or Fine Linnen These are rather the Marks of the Reprobation of the falsely Rich Man who was buried in Hell and the Scripture brings no other cause of his Damnation than these Fashions of Apparel and that he was Rich and a Feaster If all these Things were Marks of his Damnation why should they be now a dayes the Marks of the Holy Church God is not changeable He cannot now unite to himself what he then Reprobated and Condemned No no Sir the Spouse of God will never be vain nor proud nor polluted with any sin For she is all pure Do not think that you are in the Church when you are under Persons who seek Riches of this World for such Souls are Adulteresses and have abandoned their lawful Husband and live in Adultery with the Kings of the Earth Which ought to make you abhor her instead of cleaving to her If you have never met with Souls resigned to God you have never found the True Church Because there never was any other and never will be hereafter She must