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
the Bad had the Free-Will of their Children joyn'd to their own and might save and damn the Soul of their Children as they might save and damn their own Soul because they were inseparably joyn'd and united together for Good and for Evil So that Baptism cannot save the Soul of a Child who is without the Grace of God thro' the Free-Will of his Parents and the want of this Baptism cannot hinder the Salvation of an Infant who is in the Grace of God thro' the Free-Will of his Parents tho' he should die without being baptized For if this outward Baptism be so necessary to Salvation the Primitive Christians and they who followed them would have baptized young Infants and likewise all those immediately who came in to be Christians On the contrary they kept many in the State of Catehcumens for a long Space of Time during which they might die as 't is to be believed many did Those who had the Will to follow Jesus Christ perfectly should they have been damned for not having receiv'd the outward Sign of Baptism No no Sir It does not go so before God as Men make us believe For a real Desire only to be a Christian is capable to save us even tho' we should die without Baptism because God searches the Heart and trys the Reins having more Regard to the Baptism of Desire than to that of Water which is given only to confirm the Will of the Heart of Man and if we should be surprized with Death e're we have made this outward Confirmation we should not for this cease to enjoy Eternal Life and to reign with God in his Glory I said to her That many Fathers had written of the Necessity of being baptized and that it was taught thro' all the Roman Church that Baptism gives Salvation to all those who receive it that it even cleanses from all actual Sins if we have been defiled with them before Baptism She said I know not what the Fathers say nor what is taught by all the Romanists but I declare to you what God makes me know and understand in the Inward of my Soul I do not think that all they who are baptiz'd shall be sav'd for Jesus Christ has said that they who believe and are baptiz'd shall be saved Now Infants newly born are not capable of believing and if their Parents be wicked they likwise have not Faith to believe in the Name of their Children how therefore can Baptism work Faith since Jesus Christ places it before Baptism Faith must be the chief Piece for working Salvation which being wanting Baptism can do nothing How would you therefore have wicked Children to be saved by Baptism For Example A Sorceress being with Child gives her Soul to the Devil and also that of the Child which she bears and as soon as it comes into the World it is carried to Baptism and thereafter dies By what do you think that this Child should be saved If it be not capable of having Faith and if its Parents have denied God should the Water of Baptism alone have more Force than the Free-Will of its Parents who would give it to the Devil with the Consent of their Will Can God resist their Will after having given them the Power of enjoying this Free-Will both in regard of their own Salvation and that of their Children We see that by an exact Justice Subjects bear the Punishment of the Sins of their Kings as David's People were chastized for the Adultery and Murther which their King had committed How should not Children bear it with much more Reason for the Sins of their Parents who have much more of Union and Dependance than the King with his Subjects who has nothing over them but a voluntary Submission which they yield to him I said to her That no Christians doubted but that a Man must be baptized to be saved and that none could enter into Paradise without having received Baptism To which She replied Sir if this were true it would be a great Unhappiness to many good Men who are dead long ago because many were not baptized aright thro' the Fault of the Priest who may be did not pronounce the Words of Baptism thro' Neglect or his Mind being carried otherwise or he had not the Intent to baptize or which is worse if the Priest who baptized was a Sorcerer as it falls out but too often and instead of baptizing Children in the Name of God he should give them to the Devil all these Persons ill baptized must according to your Saying be damned even tho' they should have lived holily in case this Baptism were so necessary to Salvation God would be cruel thus to damn Persons for the Fault of some wicked Priests who had no Relation neither to their Souls nor their Bodies Nevertheless it should be in his Power to save or damn all those whom he should baptize Truly Sir these Sentiments which they have of God are insupportable to me because they contradict his Justice and Truth They must be ignorant of him to believe that he would yield up the Salvation of his People to the Disposal of some wicked Man who adhering to the Devil might give him all the Souls of those whom he should baptize If he left us the Free-Will to save or damn our selves and that he himself would not reserve this Power over us but still leave our Free-Will to act without forcing us to Salvation nor yet hindring our Damnation when such is our Will how should he give to a Man the Power of being able to damn us by an evil Baptism There can be no Appearance of Truth in this and if it be difficult for you to believe that Parents have the Free-Will of their Children in their Power how is it not much more uneasie to you to believe that a Priest should have the Power to damn so many Persons thro' his Fault of not having the Intention to baptize them aright For Parents have contributed to the Formation of the Body and the Soul of their Children whereas this Priest has never known them And what Jesus Christ said to the young Man in the Gospel that to be saved he must keep the Commandments would not be true in case Baptism were so necessary seeing he who should keep them without being baptized could not be saved since Salvation depends on Baptism I was so convinc'd by such powerful Reasonings that I knew not what to reply Nevertheless I yet said to her that Faith was necessary to Salvation with Baptism but that it is supposed the Faith of the Parents supplies that of the Children and that the Godfather and Godmother are likewise taken to confirm it in Name of the Children She said Sir it is an ill-contriv'd thing to baptize Children before the Use of Reason For they cannot have Faith and their Parents or Godfathers and Godmothers are also sometimes void of it They content themselves
great desire of Vertue and an absolute resolution of embracing an Evangelical Life having discovered sufficiently by her Discourses that without this no Body will be saved Her Words have so enlightened my Understanding that all the Learning I had acquired seems to me as Darkness and Ignorance in respect of that divine Wisdom which is so mercifully poured out upon the Earth by the Organ of a silly Maid I wish that every one had seen her and heard her as I have done and might receive thereby the same Operations which my Soul has felt for I look upon her Acquaintance as a greater favour than all the Graces and Favours which God has bestowed on me in this World yea even than my Creation it self for that would serve me in little stead without the working out of my Salvation which would have been in great danger if I had not attain'd to the knowledge of my Self and of the Designs and Marvels of God which I have learned and discovered by the means of this Creature and she has certainly been sent me as the only means of the perfection of my Soul and of all those who will profit by the recital of this Narrative which I find my self obliged to publish for the profit of many This is the true Treasure hid in the Earth He who shall find it ought to sell all that he has to buy this Ground to the end he may discover and find this Treasure and take it up with Joy as the most precious Thing of the World I cannot hinder some who wish Evil or are Enemies to the Truth from finding or pretending something that is not agreeable to them for the Light does always offend Blear-Eyes who cannot endure the Light and the Truth which reproves is never agreeable to our Senses But I would admonish them to beware of reprehending or making themselves Masters of the holy Spirit I behov'd for some time to suspend my Judgment as to the Belief of some Points of Doctrin for I had learn'd them from my Masters in another sense but since I have laid aside all these Authors who have written us their Sentiments and fix'd on the sacred Text of the holy Scriptures I have found so much Conformity in them with the Life Manners and Words of this Pilgrimess that no Doubts could come any longer into my Mind and I could not without betraying my Conscience give her so much as one Contradiction Since that gives me an infallible proof that this Soul is truly possest by the holy Spirit who has brought forth in her his Twelve Fruits his Seven Gifts and the Eight Beatitudes which Jesus Christ has taught I should believe I committed a great sin to think that any other Thing might proceed from such a Source than what is Divine so much the rather that I have always remarked that this Soul did act in nothing naturally but by supernatural Motives never being moved but by the motion of the holy Spirit In confirmation of which I would be ready to spend the last drop of my Blood to the end that none might reject this Light to love rather their Darkness as Jesus Christ has foretold that many would do but that every one may embrace it for Salvation to the end we may altogether enjoy the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is here so particularly treated of with eternal Joy and Contentment Which is earnestly wisht you by Friendly Reader Your most affectionate in JESVS CHRIST Christian de Cort Superiour of the Oratory and Pastor of St. John at Mechlin At Mechlin the 10th of August 1667. M. A. B.'s Confession of Faith which she presented at the Court of Gottorp to oppose the Calumnies which the Church-men had spread that they might raise Suspicions of the Purity of her Faith I. I Am a Christian and I believe all that a true Christian ought to believe II. I was baptized in the Catholick Church in the Name of the Father in the Name of the Son in the Name of the Holy Ghost III. I believe the Twelve Articles of the Creed or the Apostles Symbol and I do not doubt of any one Article thereof IV. I believe that Jesus Christ is true God and that he is also true Man and that he is the Saviour and Redeemer of the World V. I believe in the Gospels the holy Prophets and all the holy Scripture both of the Old and New Testament And I will live and die in all the Points of this Belief which I protest before God and Men to all those whom it shall concern In Testimony whereof I have signed this my true Confession with my Hand and seal'd it with my Seal At Sleeswick the 11th of March 1675. Anthoniette Bourignon L. S. A Catalogue of the BOOKS written by M. A. B. born at L'Isle in Flanders 1. THE Life of M. Antonia Bourignon 2. God's Call and Men's Refusal in 2 parts 3. Light arisen in Darkness in 4 parts 4. The Grave of false Theology driven out by the true coming of the holy Spirit in 4 parts 5. An Advertisement against the Quakers 6. A Treatise of solid Vertue in 2 parts 7. The Light of the World in 3 parts 8. The Academy of learn'd Divines in 3 parts 9. The Testimony of the Truth in 2 parts 10. Innocence manifested and Truth discovered 11. The Touchstone 12. The Blindness of Men now in 2 parts 13. Antichrist discovered in 3 parts 14. The new Heaven and the new Earth 15. The holy Perspective 16. The last Mercy of God 17. The renewing of the Gospel Spirit in 3 parts 18. The Stones of the New Jerusalem 19. The Persecutions of the Just 20. The Morning Star 21. The Confusion of the Builders of Babel 22. Saving Instructions and Advices The most part of these Works are Translated from the French into the Dutch and High Dutch the first part of Solid Vertue the Touchstone and the first part of the renewing of the Gospel Spirit are also in Latin A Table of the Conferences of this first Part of the Light of the World The First Dialogue or Conference OF Gods dealing with A. B. particularly how he immediately instructed her from her Infancy The opposition of Men. Of Christian perfection and of the deplorable state of Christians Pag. 1. The second Conference Of the Judgment of God Of the last times and of the Men of the last times 17. The third Conference The methods by which Christianity has begun to decay from the times of the Apostles and has continued so to do to such a degree that at present there are no more true Christians upon Earth to wit 1. The admission of false Brethren 2. Appropriation 3. Debates 4. Partialities 5. Scholars 6. Disputes 7. The Victory of the Devil 23. The fourth Conference Of the Qualities and Manner of acting which ought to have been in the Guides of the Church to uphold it in its good Estate against all Enemies and not give way to the Spirit of Antichrist as they
never repent of them as long as they presume to be sav d according to the doctrine of the learned of this age This is not against the goodness and mercy of God because he has left us his doctrine in writing in his Gospel and the other holy Scriptures which will never perish according to the promise that heaven and earth shall pass away but his words shall not pass away Every one may have recourse thither without amusing himself with the new inventions of men Leaving the fountain of living waters to draw out of broken Cisterns which can hold no water Ignorance will not excuse sin We feel indeed in our Conscience that we do not follow the doctrine of Jesus Christ that our life and our manners are in nothing conformable to the life of the first Christians that our heart is not inflam'd with the LOVE OF GOD nor Charity to our Neighbour and nevertheless we would flatter our selves with the presumption of our salvation because men do promise it to us who have no power to give it to us no more than to themselves In this point our Ignorance is too gross and affected and will not serve to excuse us before God but will rather serve for our Condemnation for we might always find the truth if we had done our endeavour to seek it But because our Guides have taught us ways of salvation more pleasing to our senses and to our taste we have follow'd them rather than those which Jesus Christ has shewn by his deeds and taught by his word It is just that he abandon us to the spirit of errour since of our own free will we have more esteem'd Error than the Truth which alone leads to Salvation I ask'd her If she did not esteem the Priests and Guides of Souls and if to attain to Salvation we ought not to follow their Instructions She said Yes Sir I honour and esteem true Priests because they ought to be the Ambassadors of God to distribute to the ignorant the points of Faith and the doctrine of Jesus Christ which is the nourishment of all Christian Souls But I may say with a sensible regret that I know no true Priests who are simple Ministers of Jesus Christ only to declare and interpret his word because every one ofthem abounding in their own sense teach that which is most sutable to their inclinations They ought to be nothing but the Organs of the Holy Spirit and it seems they are become his Masters Humane Learning and Studies have depriv'd them of the Gospel simplicity they ascribing to themselves what appertains to God conducting Souls by their own measures not by the Rules of the Gospel forasmuch as they themselves do not follow them Some indeed speak the words of the Gospel but they do so gloze and disguise it that no body thinks himself obliged to put it in practice Which is very lamentable for Jesus Christ yesterday and to day is altogether the same and will be even to the end of the world without any change or mutation This being most true how is it possible that any can be sav'd while they do not follow in any thing what he has taught us He has said that he who does not deny himself cannot be his Disciple which no body does On the contrary every one loves himself and yet they call themselves the Disciples of Jesus Christ It must needs be that the one or the other is deceiv'd This impossibility which Jesus Christ has laid down is it render'd possible by the authority of those Guides who assure all the world of their Salvation while they love themselves This cannot be true for Jesus Christ cannot lie but men indeed may err especially in things wherein they have interest for if they taught simply that a man must deny himself and the other points of the Gospel they would give severe reproofs to themselves because their lives and manners are very far from this practice therefore they study to find out glosses reasons and exceptions to the end they may find means not to be oblig d to follow and practice this holy doctrine which is repugnant to their sences Thus every one lives in a presumption of his Salvation without any ground for these men are not Saviours and cannot save us but are rather Seducers of whom Jesus Christ foretold that they should come in the last times in which we are certainly fallen at present wherein the spirit of error does fully reign where truth is stifled and lying prevails The Second Conference Of the Judgment of God Of the Last Times and of the Men of the Last Times REmarking these last words I ask'd her if she sirmly believ'd that the last times were come and whither the Judgment approached She said to me Believe me Sir there is nothing more true we actually live in the last times and the judgment is so near that before three years I believe you will see the effects of it I could not be perswaded to believe this continuing pensive and silent which she perceiving said Sir the difficulty you find to believe these things proceeds from the universal darkness that is now upon the earth by which all the world is blinded and no body sees where he goes no more than they who liv'd during the Egyptian darkness which was so great that none could stir out of the place in which they were this was nothing but the outward figure of the inward darkness in which men walk at present We do not perceive that we are fallen into the last times nevertheless we may see by the lives of men now that all the signs are fallen out which Jesus Christ has foretold viz. that iniquity shall be multiplied and Charity in many shall wax cold and so of the rest Who can doubt that this is not at present when iniquity is so great and so universal that there is no more faith nor law among men People study nothing but to deceive their Neighbour the Father cannot trust his Son nor the Son his Father the Brother rises up against the Brother friendship is only feign'd business is full of deceit and fraud We see nothing but pride and ambition reigning in the hearts of all men Judges are without equity Priests without sincerity Cloysters fill'd with avarice and the devout full of malice which has been at all times in some particular persons but is at present so multiply'd that it possesses almost all men in general and charity is not only waxt cold but is altogether frozen and become dead in the hearts of men So that these signs of the last times are all fully accomplisht Read if you please the Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy where he says that in the last times there shall come men loving their own selves c. You will see more clearly than the Sun all
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
wisdom the original of all goodness and incomprehensible power In short the Church is God himself who cannot fail or err therefore Jesus Christ says he that hears you hears me because the word of God is God as our word is us our heart must be where we speak and also our understanding even so where the word of God is which is his Church there the holy spirit is which is his understanding and the almighty power which is his heart From whence it appears that the holy Trinity composes the Church which is no other but the power of the Father the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and the good will of the Son All these things are found united in the Church for God having a design to make man after his likeness he transferr'd to him his own qualities therefore he gives to his Church the power to pardon sins goodness by the communication of his word and his wisdom by the understanding of that word Jesus Christ who took human flesh has brought us the word of God which has taught us his wisdom and shewn us his love even as by our word we express what is in our understanding and the affections of our heart which God also did to us when he sent us his word upon earth by the organ of the humanity of Jesus Christ He made this alhance with men that he might have them after his likeness Therefore he has call'd them his Spouse and his Church which is altogether divine and spiritual But men would indeed disguise it and render it material sensual and carnal in giving the name of Church to men who do not possess this word without which they cannot be the Church nor have the power the wisdom nor the love which God gave to his lawful Spouse Therefore they may greatly err and fail in appointing and approving of rules for Christians And whereas you ask Whether all these outward Devotions which are now in use in Christendom be good and saving I doubt it very much for Jesus Christ taught not such varieties of devotion as we see now adays but he taught solid and inward vertues as Faith Hope and Charity Faith to believe in an Almighty God of whom we hold all things Hope to hope in him only without putting our confidence in any other thing and Charity to love him alone without placing our affection on any created thing whether in heaven or in earth These are the instructions of Jesus Christ but those at present who are call'd Church-men teach no other thing but to resort to Churches to frequent the Sacraments and to say a great many vocal prayers by rote and number With these outward things they make men believe that they are true Christians which cannot be since Christianity consists in a spiritual and inward life for it is divine and not humane If these outward devotions had been means proper for us to become good Christians we may be perswaded that Jesus Christ would have taught us them for he had more wisdom to foresee our need and weakness than these guides of souls can have and likewise more love to take care that nothing should be wanting to us for the time to come He left only his word to serve for the nourishment of our souls saying that it is the bread come down from heaven and that whosoever shall eat it shall not die whereas these persons give us only the Eucharist for nourishment in which the promise of Jesus Christ cannot be accomplisht for the host does not descend from heaven as his word does and they who eat it do not all live for ever For we see abominable souls even Sorcerers do communicate frequently and thereafter die in their sins We see also Bigots communicate very often who never attain to true faith nor the knowledge of the truth without which they cannot live for evel How then should the word of Jesus Christ be fulfill'd that they who eat this bread shall not die since all those die eternally after having so often eaten the Eucharist Jesus Christ cannot lie for he who incorporates his word shall never die because it gives life and nourishment to the soul and makes it live eternally I said to her This being suppos'd we must needs be in a time of great darkness in which there are many errors and many more erroneous who run blindly to damnation because the most pious hold Rome and all her Council for the Church She said Sir the Devil upon a false supposition finds matter enough to raise fine edifices I have no particular knowledge of Rome nor of her Council but I tell you in truth if the Pope with all his Council would say any thing to me which was contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I should not be oblig'd to believe him nor yet are any other Christians The Bark should never be taken for the Wood because it can never beat Fruit as the Tree would do tho it had little Bark The true Church where-ever it is brings forth always holy Fruits and if the Tree be known by its fruit we will know the Church by what it brings forth The practice of those who are Members of Rome doth sufficiently evidence to me that the holy spirit cannot be the Author of those things which are contrary to the practice of Jesus Christ We see the Prelates attended with Servants Coaches and Trains like to secular Princes their Furniture and Houses do surpass them Iâ— they had faith to believe that God being man was poor and despisd they would blush for shame as all other Christians to make themselves thus to be honoured Their faith being dead they run blindly to damnation This vail which is put before their eyes to make them believe that the Church ought to be upheld by worldly honours serves for nothing but to flatter them and to render them insensible of their misery For if the Church had had need of temporal wealth and honour Jesus Christ would have provided it sufficiently for all appertains to him being King and Creator of all things He knew all the revolutions of time he would surely have foretold them that it should be permitted them at a certain time to make themselves be honour'd and serv'd but on the contrary he foretels that God will cast down the mighty from their seats that he will resist the proud and will exalt the humble and there is nothing which he says more expresly than that we ought to learn of him to be meek and lowly in heart to which Lesson the arrogance and the pride of Christians now are directly opposite and they who may be called by their proper names Antichristians because they are thus oppos'd to Christ for these only are Christians who put in practice this doctrine of Jesus Christ all others who bear this name without doing it are nothing but rotten Members of the Church and it were better they were cut off
from it that the true Christian might be known from the false and that we might no longer live amidst so many errors and in so great blindness and consequently in so great hazard of our salvation by adhering to mens Laws and despising Gods perswading our selves that we do well in following their errors inâ—tead of the true Light which has proceeded from Jesus Christ The great unhappiness of men is that they do not know these truths and that they fear they would do ill to believe them I said to her That it was very lamentable to live in so dangerous a time in which the most innocent might perish thro ignorance asking her if she knew a remedy for these evils She said The wickedness of men Sir has brought this ignorance upon the earth Since they forsook the love of the truth they are given up to the spirit of error The ignorance is very gross for every one who would enter into himself might well perceive in the bottom of his soul that he does not love God with all his heart nor his neighbour as himself which are the chief Commands of God without the keeping of which one cannot be saved But men suffer themselves to be amus'd with little Rattles even as they quiet Children which cannot at all cure the evil that presses them but only diverts their minds a little that they may not think upon nor be attentive to their pains These little outward Devotions are the Rattles which those Guides sound in our ears not to cure the wounds which the neglect of this Command of God has caus'd in our soul but rather to amuse our attention that it may not discover those eternal truths They breed up our souls with affections to their persons under a pretext that they stand in Gods stead They perswade us that we shall always receive grace by confessing frequently as if grace were given by the help of sins for confession can bring no other grace than pardon of sins and to receive this grace frequently there is need of sinning frequently What real childish amusements are they to make even those to confess frequently who they believe have nothing but imperfections to confess If they did receive grace as often as they go to confession with so much grace they would leave off their sins and would not be oblig'd to continue for so long time these confessions We may believe they do as those who take Physick out of appetite or custom which spoils and corrupts the health instead of preserving it These ordinary Penitents do wholly the same to their souls as they do to their bodies thus they suffer themselves to be amus'd by foolish perswasions as that also of going often to Church to pray to God as if it could not be done elsewhere Nevertheless Jesus Christ says that one ought always to pray and never to cease One had need therefore to abide night and day in the Church to fulfil this direction These are all errors and inventions of men for a Christian is oblig'd to pray always at all times and in all places without fainting not only when they are in the Church as these Guides perswade them who are no less mistaken in prefixing a certain number of Offices Prayers and Beads and other trifles which they call Prayers tho they do not know what Prayer is for it consists in an elevation of the spirit to God which may be done while we walk and work eat and drink and even while one is at rest for our spirit ought to be continually elevated unto God in acknowledgment of the continual favours which we receive from him yea even in sleeping our will ought to bless him always this is the continual prayer which God demands of us But we do the quite contrary for instead of having our spirit elevated to God continually we employ it in earthly cares and solicitudes about our wealth our family our business or houshold affairs So that even in the little time that we are at Church saying our Pater Nosters our Spirit runs frequently astray and is not elevated unto God for one moment in a day yea it may be has never been so for our whole life and we think we have prayed to God provided we go to Church or say Prayers by muttering over our Beads These are all new Doctrines which neither Jesus Christ nor his Apostles ever taught which do often deprive us of the attention we ought to have to true prayer I will not blame the going to Church to pray to God This is very good when we find in the Church more means and a greater facility of elevating the spirit unto God than in the House or elsewhere but I blame all those novelties which divert us from God by amusing us with things that strike upon our senses for which I can see no remedy since these evils proceed from those who ought to redress them If I spoke to these Guides of the Church and told them these truths 't is to be fear'd they would stone me for they will not be reproved in their actions far less in their authority and tho they should clearly perceive the truth they would not receive it and if I should speak to those who are directed and govern'd by them they would think that I would deprive them of their Salvation and render them Hereticks in not obeying those who call themselves the Church for they are so far perswaded that they ought to believe and follow their directions that they would choose rather not to obey God than to despise the counsel of these men the blindness is so far gone that I look upon the evil as desperate which makes me say that the world is judg'd and the sentence is irrevocable because no body sees his misery and even will not see it they would be afraid to offend God by believing the truth of these things The Twelfth Conference That the Conversion of Men now is desperate as it was in the days of Noah and wherefore I Said to her that there were yet many souls in the world capable of receiving these truths and if they heard these things they would infallibly open their eyes and leave their errors requesting her that she would yet speak to others besides me She said Truly Sir I cannot do it for I see no hopes that I can profit by it The darkness is too great and the evil too inveterate As long as God shall not destroy the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the prudent they will not receive the evangelical simplicity and If they be not converted and become as little Children they will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It would be in vain therefore to speak to them But if you know any one Sir whose understanding is bounded and his will subjected to God you may make the experiment For my part I desire to continue unknown that I may preserve my
Terrestrial and Carnal Church By this the Devil has reaped much and replenish'd his infernal Granaries to our Dammage Therefore I intreat you Sir that you would not seek for the Church in any other Place but in the Centre of your Soul For there is so much Deceit under the Mask of Piety that the most knowing are catch'd by it Many are made Saints who are of the Synagogue of Satan I said to her That I had not that Method to discern and find God in the Centre of my Soul entreating she would declare to me the way how I might find him there She said Sir you will see him by the Eyes of Faith If you believe that God is everywhere he is also truly in your Soul and even in a special and particular manner as a thing which is most like to him He is in the Elements giving them Being and Subsistence else they could not subsist He is in the Herbs Trees and other Plants in giving them Vegetation He is in the Animals giving them Life as he does our Bodies For if God were not in all these things they would resolve into the same Nothing from whence they have been taken for no created thing can keep so much as one Plant of an Herb in Life It is God that does all We see this with our Natural Eyes how much more firmly ought we to believe that he is in our Soul which is Divine and Incomprehensible This Quality comes nearer to God than any other Creature We cannot comprehend what a Soul is no more than we can comprehend what God is It has Qualities so approaching to him that it may with Reason be call'd a dependent Deity For we see indeed the Works which it operates in our Body but we cannot see what it is but by its Operations as we cannot know God or perceive what he is but by the Works which he produces to our Knowledge Our Soul gives Motion to our Body and Agility to our Understanding makes the Memory to remember and moves all the other Powers of the Soul We feel and see that this is done in us nevertheless no Body can comprehend how this is done but we must confess that our Soul is a thing incomprehensible as well as God and since there cannot be many Gods we must conclude that God is the Centre of Souls and that they spring from him as a Branch from the Root And as Trees cannot bear Branches without having a Root so the Soul cannot have a Being if God do not give and produce it By which you may abundantly perceive Sir that of necessity God is the Centre of our Soul and that it cannot move but by him no more than the Body moves it self but by the Motion of our Soul This being so we ought therefore to seek God where he is and he being no where so expressly as in the Centre of our Soul it is there that he must be sought as in the true Place of his Residence And if you ask me the Method and the Way to find him in the bottom of your Soul there is no other but to remove all the Hindrances casting out of your Soul all earthly Affections that you may have no other but for him Your Soul will no sooner be free from all these Earthly Affections than it will fall into God as the Stone falls into its Centre I know no other Method but this Disingagement from our selves and from all other things to find God and to become one with him I have sometimes sought him without me by Actions which did seem good but I have since remark'd that those serv'd for Distractions and the more I acted outwardly so much the more did I stray from my God Therefore Sir become wise by my Loss and do not lose your Time in seeking means out of your self for they serve us often for Hindrances Our Soul is his true Temple and the Place of his Rest Let us only remove all that is between him and our Soul and we shall see him Face to Face to speak after our manner That is to say we shall see him clearly by Faith and shall know him by the Operations which he will make in us and shall taste him by the Repose and Consolation of our Conscience I thought that I understood well enough this Truth and that Faith dictates to us that God is the true Centre of our Soul But to taste him and speak sensibly to him by his Operations and Notices this was above my Capacity entreating her to tell me how this was done She said to me Sir The Soul is a Spirit and God is a Spirit and communicates himself in Spirit not with verbal Words but spiritual Motives Which nevertheless are more intelligible than the finest Eloquence of the World God communicates himself to the Soul as the Sun to his Rays and the Soul to its God as the Rays to the Sun by the great Unity and Dependence there is between God and the Soul When once it is denuded of its self it has no more need of Sight or Mouth to understand God than we have need of Words to understand our own Conceptions So soon as the Soul is disingag'd from it self it is so transform'd into God that it is entirely swallow'd up in him and becomes one thing with him having no longer any Will but his nor Desires but what he wishes and it does not move it self any longer but by the Motions of God So that the Soul and God are not any more but one and the same thing And if you do not taste God and understand not his Will it is assuredly because there is yet some Hindrance Do not afflict your self for this Sir but take the Pains to disingage your Soul as much as is possible for you This is all that you can do For to be troubled that you do not feel nor understand the Motions of God would be a Presumption for if your Soul were capable of it God would abundantly give it He wants your Disingagement fearing that you would abuse his Graces in living yet to your self I was wholly ravish'd with Pleasure to hear how God communicates himself to the Soul But perceiving that I was yet far from this Happiness I ask'd her By what means I might be disingag'd from my self and from every other thing that my Soul might taste God She said to me It is very easie Sir to be disingag'd from every thing by considering what it is For if we were not distracted and wandring in our Mind it would be impossible that we could love our selves or other created Things We cannot do it but through a Diversion or straying of the Mind For if we seriously reflect and consider what we love in loving our selves or other Creatures we must confess that we are Senless For what do we in loving our selves we love a thing very Miserable Impotent Unconstant and of short continuance there being no created thing more
forgiven that People providing that Abraham had found but ten in it he would not have consum'd them And when Jesus Christ himself came upon Earth all was corrupted having made void the Law of God by the Traditions of Men as he reproach'd the Jews with it who were then his People And now Sir since we have had the Doctrin of the Gospel what a small number of Persons do you see who have remain'd constant in it And on the contrary how many wicked Christians are there besides the Turks Jews Heathens and so many other Sects who are Enemies of God Should it not be said that God had created the Earth and so many reasonable Creatures only for the glory of the Devil and his adherents if he did not renew the Earth and make it bring forth fruit for his glory This would be an evil thing which God can never do And that the Creation of Men may be good of necessity there must be a time in which they may glorifie their God And if there were no Generation in the Kingdom of God a very small number would bless him even tho you should sum up the Prophets the Apostles and other Saints this could not suffice to give glory to God for the least favour that he had bestowed upon Men. It must needs be that the Generation of the Blessed multiply eternally as the Generation of the Miserable does multiply temporally from the beginning of the World or otherwise God would not be just I said to her That some Writers had spoken of this reign of Jesus Christ upon Earth but that the Roman Church had condemn'd it as Heresie She said Sir No body can have spoke truly of this Kingdom of Jesus Christ because it is the hidden Treasure which has not yet been discovered nor revealed to any They may well have said something of it according to the Speculation of Men But they could never understand it for the time was notcome to discover it This is the Master-piece of all the Works of God and the accomplishment of all the Holy Scripture Whether the Roman Church approve it or disapprove it that makes nothing Truth continues always Truth Tho all the World should disapprove it it will never change That which is true cannot become a Lie by the approbation or reprobation of Men. There can be no Heresie in that which the Holy Spirit has spoken by the Mourh of the holy Prophets of Abraham David Solomon the Apostles and Jesus Christ himself who have all largely spoken of this Kingdom of Jesus Christ upon Earth as well by Prophecy as Parables and other ways tho the full understanding of it has been reserved for the last Times in which we live at present All the Revelation of St. John speaks of no other thing If they would have received any understanding of it this could not be but by application and not in a perfect Sense And they who said they understood nothing of it have been the most wise because till this time none has understood any thing of it In short Sir the Kingdom of Jesus Christ are the Treasures of God Which he has reserved unto Men of which S. Paul has said That Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor has entred into the Heart of Man what God hath laid up for his Servants It were also better to adore all these Mysteries than to dive into them out of Curiosity For the great and the wise of this World do understand nothing of them They will be revealed unto the little ones for such is the will of God For which Jesus Christ blesses his Father That he had hid these things from the great Men and the Wise to reveal them unto Babes I said to her That I was very desirous to know when this Kingdom shall come and how it shall begin She said Sir I do not know the day but that this indeed will be as soon as the wickedness of Men shall be so multiplied that in Justice they will draw upon them his universal Plagues which will purge away all Iniquity Then shall the Son of Man appear in his Glory and Majesty to render unto every one according to his Works In that day the remnant of all Nations shall appear before him for the most part shall be dead with distress and fears and then he will judge them And those who shall be found dead unto his Grace he will banish into eternal Fire But those who shall be found living in his Grace shall be confirm'd in it to live in Body and in Soul eternally with him of whom shall begin the eternal Generation as it began in Adam and Eve our first Parents Then all malediction shall be removod from the Earth and it shall be again blessed All malignity shall be removed from the Elements and every Creature especially the Reasonable ones who shall live without any Maladies or Infirmities either of the Body or of Spirit and Soul Too much heat or cold shall not any more incommode them no evils shall touch them They shall handle fire without being burnt and Serpents without being Stinged Our Passions shall be well regulated there being no longer Lusts there neither of the Eyes nor of the Flesh nor of the Spirit No more Sorrows Griefs or Groanings no more of Love that heats no more of Desire that makes thirsty no more Terror no more Fear no more Forgetfulness no more Sloth no more Pusilanimity no more Cares and Anxieties In short no more of any thing that can hurt shall be found upon the Earth But all things shall serve for the recreation of Men who shall love one another in a perfect unity in Christ Jesus being not only re-establish'd into the Estate of Innocence wherein Adam was before his Sin but with a thousand times more Perfections Man shall possess all things in the glorious presence of Jesus Christ who will wipe away all Tears from his Servants giving them Glories in time to come for their Sufferings by a streight Justice each what they shall have merited in this Valley of Tears for he is the Restorer of all things Ought not Sir all these things to be re-established How many Innocents are there here accused as Guilty How many of these Persecuted wrongfully How many Injustices done to the Just How many sufferings do the Good endure Does not all this cry to God for Vengeance â— Must he not render it and how could he render it in a Spiritual Paradise as they make us believe The Body has here suffered with the Soul Is it not just that it should rejoyce also with it The Body of Jesus Christ which has received so many affronts and sufferings should it not be seen glorious in this World as it has been seen suffering What reparation can be made of all material things in a spiritual Heaven I wish for this glorious Reign that all the World may soe
cry out against me as the Jews cry'd out against Jesus Christ Away with him away with him Crucifie him And I believe if the Priests had me in their Power they would gladly cut me off and would have done it long ' ere now But God sav'd me from their Power that I might yet farther declare his Truths to good Souls who seek and desire them which in Obedience to God I 'll do even at the Peril of my Life since Jesus Christ expos'd his to teach me the Way of Salvation And I entreat the Reader to peruse with Attention this Second Part of the Light of the World waiting till the Third follows He shall therein find the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit the Truth of God and the Light of Truth which must teach all Truth The Truth of the Impartiality of Christian Charity and of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and particularly the discerning of true Vertue from that which is but apparent and the Errours crept into Holy Things more clearly than they 've ever yet been discover'd in the World Receive it therefore as a Present of great Value from her Hand who loves only the Salvation of your Soul and continues Friendly Reader Your very Affectionate in Jesus Christ Anthoinette Bourignon THE SECOND PART OF THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD The First Conference How the Opinions of the Learned are injurious to God they being ignorant of his Works Of God's Presence and of his Grace Of the Liberty Power and Weakness of Man and of the State of Infants before the Vse of their Reason I Said to her That never any Body had known so much of the Works of God and that many Disputes and Questions had been raised in the Church to discover such Secrets She said Sir I have often trembled upon the hearing so many Blasphemies as they thunder out against God by such Disputes One makes God the Author of Evil another makes him the Complice another unjust and partial some attribute to him the Cause of Mens Damnation others the Want of their Salvation every one judges of the Works of God according to his Fancy Liking and Inclinations The Learned do greatly deceive themselves while they will needs comprehend by humane Sentiments his Divine Works If any simple Woman of a humble Heart would seriously consider the Works that God does in her Interiour she might give a better Definition of all his Secrets than all the Doctors of the World wou'd ever do with their Learning They amuse themselves in contending about Words or some Terms that they lay down upon which to found their Disputes and thereon they raise great Buildings without any solid Foundation and the more they will dive into the Matter the more they trouble it because God hides his Secrets from the great and the wise of the World and reveals them to Babes and to the simple for he says Except you be converted and become as little Children you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven making appear sufficiently that it will not be by Philosophical Reasons or Disputes that we shall discover the Truth of his Works but by a dove-like Simplicity I said to her That many believed that Man has his full Liberty to do evil but that he is not so free to do well She said These are all Errours for Man has even more Advantage and Inclination to do good than evil if he did not go out of himself by diverting himself to hear the Discourses of Mens Inventions for God having created him for Salvation did consequently imprint in him the Instinct of doing good and the Will also because good is always agreeable and lovely Evil then must needs be contracted from without us for God being the Centre of our Soul cannot but lead it unto Good and if it followed its self it s Bent and Inclination it could not do Evil because Evil is without us we being led to it either by the Devil or some other Creatures without us who stir our Passions and the Powers of our Soul to pervert them to the Will of doing evil otherwise 't is far more easie for us to do good than evil And as the Ray cannot be separated from the Sun so the Soul cannot be separated from God the Fountain of all Good because it has the same Relation to him that the Ray has to the Sun If our free Will did not put a stop to the Rayes of Grace they would enlighten our Soul continually and could not cease from illuminating and warming it But Sins and vicious Affections do stifle and oppose this Light which being hindred cannot any longer shine into our Souls and then during this Darkness they fall from one Precipice into another The Fault is not that this divine Sun ceases to shine for one Moment but that our Sins put a stop to it which if they were removed this Divine Sun would as suddenly shed forth his Rays We must not labour as we think we ought to obtain the Grace of God but we must only labour to remove the Hindrances which we give to it because Grace always offers it self being inseparably fix'd in God who is the ter of our Soul He cannot leave it But our Sins hindring him keep us from enjoying the Effects of this Grace I said to her That Man indeed received Benefits from God in his Creation and his Graces did abound in him But since he fell into Sin he has lost these Graces and is become unable to do good She said Sir you wrong the Goodness of God to speak or believe so For God has not withdrawn from Man tho' he fell into Sin He contains in himself all things and cannot retire from any thing He is as much the Center of our Souls since Sin as he was before and can never go out of any Place because he comprehends all in himself This being so he does not deny his Graces to any Body For they are where-ever he is and being in the Center of our Souls his Graces consequently are there with him but it is our Fault only that they do not there perform Operations It is true if our first Parents had not sinned we had been born in the state of Innoceence and in coming into the World had not brought with us a Hindrance to Grace which we have contracted by our first Parents but by accomplishing the Penitence that God enjoyn'd them for the said Sins we enter again into the same Grace of our first Parents since God treats with us as if we had never offended him their Sins not being able to change the Grace of God but to subject us indeed to Penitence till we arrive at the Use of Reason and then being transplanted out of the free Will of our Parents we enter into our own If from that Instant our Will desires to reunite it self to that of God we shall receive the Effects of his Grace but the Mischief is we
with doing the outward Ceremonies without considering what is done Baptism is an outward Sign to shew that he who is baptized gives up and consecrates himself to the Service of God and will live in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ renouncing the Devil the World and its Pomps This is what he ought to do in the inward of his Soul who desires to be baptized and then to come publickly to the Font of Baptism to confirm the Vows and Promises that he has made to God in his Heart that they may be publickly known and own'd by the Church But in the Baptism of new born Infants nothing of this can concurr For the Infant being weak has not yet the Will to give it self to the Service of God or to follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ nor yet to renounce the Devil and the World and its Pomps For it has no Sense nor Understanding more than a silly Beast and the most Part of Parents who ought to supply the Defect of the Infant have not Faith themselves and cannot teach them to follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ since they themselves will not do it On the contrary so soon as their Children begin to have any little Judgment they teach them to follow the World and its Pomps which is very far from minding them that they have renounced it by Baptism What Effect therefore can this outward Sign have when nothing is effectuated in the Heart of him who receives it neither by himself nor by his Parents And when Godfathers and Godmothers speak in the Name of the Infant they lye For they say that he desires to be baptized and the Infant cannot have this Desire They say that he renounces the Devil the World and its Pomps and as soon as these outward Ceremonies are ended they never think more on what they have promised in the Child's Name far less do they acquaint him with it when he is grown up to the end the Child may remember the Promise which he made at Baptism For in doing this they would give a Reproof to themselves because neither Father nor Mother nor Godfather nor Godmother nor any Body at present observes the Doctrine of Jesus Christ tho' all Christians are outwardly baptiz'd They would count him a Fool or a very Precisian who should affirm that we are oblig'd to keep and observe the Evangelical Life because it is not any longer in use They would even be ashamed to renounce the World and its Pomps because the most wise and the most holy follow the World and its Pomps The Wise say that one must live civilly and maintain himself in Honour and the Saints at present say that a Man must accommodate himself to the World that we cannot make a World by our selves We see the most Reformed Monks study to please the World desiring to be lov'd and honour'd by it and would be very sorry to be hated by the World as Jesus Christ foretold his Servants should be On the contrary every one seeks to draw the World to himself and to have its Friendship to the end that having gain'd the Heart he may likewise gain the Purse Are not these fine Christians in Parade and not in Effect For they have no sooner renounc'd in Baptism the World and its Pomps than they think of nothing but to follow and to love it as if their Promise were nothing but a Formality of Words They do with God as they would do with a Fool promising him a great many things to please him without having any Desire to give him them Baptism ought not to be received but by him who resolves in himself to consecrate himself to God and to follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which he ought to know before he be baptized and resolve of his own Free-Will that he will follow it quitting the Maxims of Men which are all contrary to those of Jesus Christ The Christians of old did so No body was made Christian but they who of their deliberate Will would consecrate themselves to God and follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but at present they force every one to be baptized before they have the Use of Reason without knowing what they do or what they promise I said to her That the Custom of baptizing Children in their Infancy was Instituted on good Grounds to the end no Christians might die before they were baptized that all those who died in their Childhood might assuredly be saved She said Sir I believe rather that the Devil invented this to the end no Christian might be saved as it falls out that very few shall be saved of those who are baptized in their Infancy because when they are outwardly baptized they believe they are sufficiently assured of their Salvation which is the greatest Mistake in the World For Baptism operates nothing in our Souls no more than the other Sacraments but according to their Disposition How can a Child without Judgment have the Dispositions requisite for receiving Baptism If their Baptism were delayed till they had their full Reason we would certainly yet find true Christians for they who had no Mind to follow Jesus Christ would not be baptized unless it were out of Hypocrisie But at present every body thinks himself a good Christian if so be he have been outwardly baptized without considering that this Sign gives nothing to our Souls if we have not suitable Dispositions If they were not baptized in their Infancy all those who desire to be saved would study to know what is necessary for becoming true Christians and would have no Rest till they had obtained this Happiness but at present every one rests satisfied with this outward Baptism not considering that to be Christians they must follow the Instructions of Jesus Christ without which it had been better they had never been baptized It is just the same as if a Servant should go hire out himself to serve some Prince or Lord and as soon as he had got on his Livery should quit his Master to give himself to Robbery setting himself to steal and rob in the same Habit which would serve him the better to catch his Prey For the Merchant who should see him clothed with some Prince's or Lord's Livery would not be aware that he were a Robber till he saw the Effects of it But if this Robber were some Day seiz'd by Justice he would be more severely punish'd for having committed his Thefts and Robberies in some Prince's Livery than if it had been in his own Habit. Even so it is when a Person is baptized and immediately abandons himself to the Vanities of the World he deceives God and the World and renders himself subject to greater Chastisements than if he were not baptized because this outward Sign which should serve him to obtain Grace serves for his greater Condemnation as the Liverty serves the Robber We see the Devil has found out this Invention to baptize young Children knowing well that
as we don't apprehend these things we will think we do well to adhere to the Sciences we have learned from Men and will not empty our selves of them that we may receive the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit especially when by it we shall discover things quite contrary to our Sentiments or those which our Masters taught us You are not more than any other Sir delivered from your own Wisdom which hinders the Holy Spirit and that even under a Colour of good For you wou'd make Scruple to believe the Holy Spirit when it shou'd tell you things contrary to the Councils held in the Roman Church as I perceived when I spoke of such things to you because you have been brought up in it and foster'd with a Belief that these Councils were directed by the Holy Spirit tho' this cannot be true it being your Resolution not to depart from her This will hinder you from submitting to the Light of the Holy Spirit which will have no Opposition nor Resistance but a simple Submission I said to her That I could not disown I had Difficulty to believe things contrary to the Councils Nevertheless I would follow the Light of the Holy Spirit She said Sir you cannot follow the one without quitting the other because indeed they are as far from one another as Truth is from Lyes For the Holy Spirit teaches only the Truth which makes for the Glory of God whereas these Councils teach only that which makes for their own Glory and Authority Take off a little Sir this Veil of Preoccupation of believing blindly that Rome is the Holy Church and submit to God that he may shew you what Truth is in this You will feel evidently in the Bottom of your Soul that God cannot change as these Persons have changed the Institutions of Jesus Christ We must not be so void of Judgment as blindly to lay the Foundation of our Eternal Salvation upon false Suppositions but we must fully open our Eyes and consider if what we have learned hitherto be more clear and solid than what is now discovered You will thereby perceive which of the two is farthest from the true Light But as long as you are partial and can hardly believe this or that your Soul is not free to receive this Truth If you believe things because Councils or others have told you them you are not established in the Truth of these things but only in the Opinion you have of those who tell you them And do you not know that the Holy Spirit says that all Men are Lyars Wherefore then will you believe things because Men say them I wou'd never have you to believe my Words because I say them but I wou'd indeed have you to believe them because they are true We ought always to follow and love the Truth wherever it is but never to believe and follow a Lye even tho' it shou'd come from the Mouth of a holy Person For otherwise we shall commit great and irreparable Faults as to the Salvation of our Souls especially in this dangerous time wherein the Devil is plac'd in God's Throne and teaches us Lyes instead of the Truth That God has given us an Understanding to comprehend is not for temporal and transient things but that we may understand and discern the Things that concern our Salvation and Eternal Life In this we ought to employ all the Force of our Spirit to discover if what they tell and teach us now in this Matter be true or not without adventuring upon a blind Belief as all Christians do at present I said to her That I would not lean to a blind Belief but to the streight Truth She said Sir if it be so you will have no trouble to believe what I tell you tho' it be contrary to the Councils For I do not speak of my self and I tell only what the Spirit of God dictates to me Take good heed to my Words they proceed always from the Spirit of Truth who must teach all things He cannot deceive you as wou'd your Learning and Studies that you may have acquired by humane Means Be jealous of them For 't is so long since the Devil did insinuate himself into the Church of God to corrupt it that almost it cannot be told from what time it was corrupted Insomuch that even while Jesus Christ was yet upon Earth the Dvil listed himself as a Soldier of Jesus Christ on design to thwart his Doctrine and in the time of his Apostles he became a Captain because he had already gained many under his Power and in the time of their Disciples he had yet more and might then by just Title have born the Name of Colonel because he ruled many and after the Apostles Death he became a Governour by the Encrease of his Power But since they wou'd needs form this Body of the Roman Church the Devil is become General of it by which Government he has now conquered all the World and is universal Emperor especially over the Christians whom he holds under his particular Empire He is therefore justly called Antichrist because he has gainsaid the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which by him has been abolished and annihilated because under this Pretext of Christ he has infatuated Mens Minds to make them believe that what is contrary to Christ is Christ himself and that what is the Synagogue of Satan is the holy Church And thus by these false Persuasions he has deceived all the World and the most Religions believe they follow God when they follow the Devil because he is so masqu'd with the Veil of Piety and Devotion he cou'd have prevail'd with well-meaning Persons by teaching them Evil but under this Colour of Holiness and the Holy Church all the World do blindly follow him with such Fidelity that it wou'd be very hard to divert them from him Every one wou'd think he did ill to quit this Church which is so only in Appearance to follow the true one I only regret you and such as you Sir who sincerely intend to follow the real Truth and nevertheless fear to resist Lyes out of a frivolous Imagination that the Church will still continue in the material Place where Jesus Christ established it I said to her That when I should discover this Spirit of Errour I would never follow it That I would gladly abandon it and follow the Spirit of Truth She said Sir if you wou'd follow the Spirit of Truth quit then all these foolish Persuasions that Christians have now which are only invented by Antichrist that he may gain all the World to himself by apparent Holiness They wou'd persuade you that Rome is the Holy Church that you must obey her in all her Ordinances If you do this you shall be an Idolater ascribing to Men what belongs to God only as Honour Power and Infallibility Every one believes that this belongs to her tho' it belongs to none but God alone to be
abused us to the prejudice of the salvation of our souls We must no longer trust in any body for all have left and forsaken their God tho some remain still in the Faith nevertheless they are not in the works of Faith for the Jews with Faith have not the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is the work of Faith and the Christians have no more Faith and shall not recover it since Jesus Christ says That at his coming he shall not find Faith in Israel They are of the House of Israel and the people of God who nevertheless have denied his Faith and given it to men only I ask'd her To what place I ought to flee since the whole world was judged and the Plagues would be universal That I might put my self in greater danger in the place to which I should flee than in that which I had left She said Flee first out of the Dominions of Rome Sir for that place will be first of all destroyed God ordering all his affairs with Judgment Weight and Measure He will visit first of all those who have most offended him Justice regulates all things and because Christians have more treacheroustly offended him than any others they have drawn on themselves the first Vengeance All others will follow the order of their iniquities as they grow worse in wickedness accordingly they shall be nearer their punishment It is fit always to retire into places where the abomination is less There the Chastisements will be less tho indeed no place shall be exempted from Plagues because all parts of the world have deserv'd them Nevertheless they shall be inflicted only according as every one has merited and deserved them and no further for sins beget miseries and they proceed not from God as they would make us believe because no Evils come from God who alone is the Author of all good So that all the good that we see and feel comes always from God and all the evil that we see and feel comes always from sin and as the goodness of God continually brings forth good things so the malignity of sin continually brings forth evil things and as sins increase evils increase the more Hence it comes that the Plagues are universal because the sins are so for as long as there were places where God was yet honour'd on Earth he bore with others waiting for their Repentance and the universal Plagues shall not fall out so long as there are any who have not deserv'd them For God is too just to afflict a righteous person or to chastise one that is innocent That is but the manner of unrighteous men but God always exercises Righteousnes both as to the good and to the evil However men imagine that God sends his Plagues they are deceived for nothing but sin can bring them on and produce them According as men Offend their Evils increase I said to her that these were most excellent Truths that no evil could come from God and that nevertheless nobody did comprehend this She said Sir the reason is Men do not know the Righteousness the Goodness and the Truth of God but they judg blindly of all they see according to their Passions If they knew the righteousness of God they could never think of praying that God would keep off his last Plagucs for they would see that they will never fall out but when sin shall be universal because God is perfectly Righteous but because we do not conceive this Righteousness we believe that there are yet many good men in the world because they seem so to us In this we give a tacite Reproof to God for if our belief were true that there were yet at present so many good men in the VVorld as we are perswaded there are God would be unjust to send on us so many different miseries as we feel at present If he would have forgiven them in Abraham's time provided he could have shewn him but ten righteous Persons yea even fewer how could he chastise the VVorld now if there were so great a number in it as we believe there are Is he not the same God still And has he not the same goodness since he cannot change Truly Sir men mistake God in every thing and through this mistake they utter reproaches against him and blaspheme against his Righteousness goodness and Truth particularly Christians who with their seeming Piety lay the blame on God of all their mis-deeds Is not this horrible darkness since they choose rather to charge God with their Faults than discover them by the Truth that they might repent of them Truly Sir the power of Darkness is great that it can so obscure all the Men of the VVorld that no body knows the Truth any longer and even the most part shut their Eyes that they may not discover it and in so doing they think they do well The Egyptian Darkness was far less dangerous for it was felt and they durst not stir out of the place for fear of falling but those Christians now do not perceive their Darkness or their Errours on the contrary they think they are in the Light and condemn others who see more clearly than themselves By what means should the Children of the Kingdom be saved when they take lying for Truth which they reject as an evil thing I said to her that nevertheless truth was a very lovely thing and as for my self I would follow it as far as I could discover it She said You will discover it sufficiently if you love it for the holy Spirit who is now born into the World will discover it to all those who shall search for it but there are few among the Christians who would receive it tho' it offer it self first of all to their Eyes because they are so full of Errors and Superstitions that they will not make way for this truth which is lovely They live in a presumption of their Salvation yea they condemn all the World to Damnation because it does not follow their Laws though in the mean time they be but humane and no ways divine Laws And whereas God says that he resists the proud and gives Grace to the humble he who is Truth will resist them even as they resist the Truth which is God But if for your part Sir you do it and will follow it you shall obtain the happiness of reigning with Jesus Christ in Glory But without Faith you cannot be saved for if you do not believe that the World is Judged you are not in the light of Truth because the deportment of Men is a certain Evidence of it since we see them without Repentance and Amendment and if you do not believe that we live now in the Reign of Antichrist you will assuredly be deceived For under the covert of Holiness he will deceive the Elect if it were possible and if you do not believe that Jesus Christ shall
Universal Emperour of the whole world They Judg by the effects without searching into the cause The Devil hinders this for he well knows that if the cause were discovered many would be Converted therefore he darkens their minds that they may never come to the Knowledg of the Truth because it would confound him I said to her I perceived clearly enough that the world was Judged because sin abounds in it and no body will be Converted But that we were in the Reign of Antichrist I did not perceive so clearly for we have always been taught that he shall be a Visible and corporal man * She said Sir it is well that you see the World is Judged You shall perceive the rest sufficiently for the Reign of Antichrist is yet more manifest Antichrist that is to say against Christ He whose understanding is not dark'ned may easily see if men follow Christ or if they go in a way contrary to what he walked in while he was on Earth And you see that Christians now adays live a quite other Life than what Jesus Christ led and they not only do not follow him at a distance but are directly opposite to him for there Pride Reigns instead of Humility and Avarice instead of Poverty and instead of Charity there is nothing but Envy and so of all the other things which Christ Jesus Taught us They act wholly in opposition to him and they do not consider that all that is contrary to Christ is Assuredly Antichrist The time is come wherein men would fain have a God and Devil Visible to their Eyes that might go before them This is great and thick darkness because neither God nor the Devil are visible For they are Spirits who cannot be known but by their Operations when they are good or evil according to the Spirit that Animates them Hereby we shall know by what Spirit the World is animated at present For the Spirit of God is always Just Good and True and that of the Devil is always evil without Righteousness and without Truth By these real Signs we may certainly discern if Christ rules the World or Antichrist We need not go to consult Oracles to make this Discovery for all Men of good judgment may make a sufficient trial and see it with their Eyes and feel it with their Hands by taking the Marks which discover the solid truth For if they will needs make this discovery by the signs of apparent Vertues they will remain in their Darkness because the Devil has so disguised and coloured his wickedness with outward Devotions and Piety that he thereby deceives all the World We must come to the Essence of Vertue to see if it be God or the Devil who animates these outward Devotions for if they be of God they will always be accompanied with Righteousness Goodness and Truth But we see but too much the contrary for the most part of those Devout Persons at present are without Righteousness or Equity There was never seen so much going to Church receiving the Sacraments and so little Fidelity so many Pater nosters and so little Truth so many good Words and so little true Charity Do you not see Sir that all order of Justice is renvers'd and that there is more regard of doing Justly before Men than before God And yet these are the best now who do justly before Men for the most part deceive and deal unfaithfully as well before Men as before God For Iniquity is become so common that now almost they are not ashamed to commit it publickly If a man go to Church and frequent the Sacraments he passes for a good Man though he be no ways just If we consider well all the Qualities of the Devil we shall see them all practis'd in the behaviour of Men now he is a Liar an Hypocrite and Unconstant a Deceiver and Unfaithful abounds in all kind of Malice Proud Arrogant Envious Contentious without Faith or Honesty Obstinate in Malice and in a desperate Rage These Qualities are but too much practis'd by the most part of Christians and yet we perceive not that this is now the Reign of Antichrist Men must be extreamly blinded that they do not see this more clear than the Day because the evil is too manifest But many Minds are so infatuated that they cannot believe what they perceive so manifestly by their Understandings but they wait to believe this Antichrist till they shall see him in a Humane Form Which is a very small matter in respect of his Doctrine for that Body can never cause Damnation to our Souls as his Doctrine will do which being contrary to Christ leads us to Perdition Since Jesus Christ is the way we can never attain to Salvation but by him contrary ways lead to Damnation it matters little whether we are led into them by a Body or by a Spirit since we are undone as to Salvation I ask'd her If we ought not to believe that this Antichrist will be sometime corporeally visible in a Humane Form She said Yes Sir I believe this will be toward the end of his Reign for he has set himself to counterfeit all the Actions of Jesus Christ and to ape what he sees he has done And perceiving that Christ became a Natural Man he also will move his Sorcerers to produce Men by the operation of the Devil which is done many times for there are certainly many of these Antichrists born already in the World who make great Havock in the Church and have in their Train those who are most in Authority and as the Apostles of Jesus Christ laboured to introduce Truth into the World these incarnate Devils labour to introduce Lies into it and to sow Tares as they did good Grain I doubt not also but they have a Head of their Iniquity who will appear openly when his wickedness shall be discover'd and when he cannot deceive any longer under the Cloak of Holiness he will deceive then by pure Wickedness and will exercise cruelty towards all those who will not be his Followers That time Sir will not be so dangerous as the present is because he shall be known for the Devil and now they follow him as if he were God Therefore he keeps himself so long concealed and does not appear bodily for he could not do so much prejudice to Souls if he were known He has spread Darkness through all the World that no body may discover him exercising all his wickedness UNDER PRETEXT OF GOOD THINGS OR OF NATURAL OR CASUAL THINGS that no body may believe that all the evils which we see do come from this Antichrist and that no body may be on his guard because he does not appear yet in human Flesh This blinds all the World for tho they see all the qualities of the Devil rule in men yet they will not believe these so solid marks as they would do if they saw him bodily which bodily appearance is not
real For the Devil is pure Spirit and has not the Power of forming to himself a Body unless it be a fantastical one or else by the Seed of some Sorcerer which is abominable I said to her It was not to be doubted that we live certainly in the time when Antichrist Reigns by his Doctrine and his Operations because Men in the general have all or the greatest part of them the qualities of the Devil She said Sir there is no reckoning to be made of any other thing but what concerns the Salvation of Souls for if the Devil be followed in his Doctrine and in his Works he needs no more to make himself Master of our Souls He 'll do no more hurt to men by his Body than he does by his Spirit and if it were not to Ape God he would never take a Natural Body for he knows well enough how to make a body of Air or some other matter to deceive Sorcerers whose imagination he so blinds that they believe they see and feel some real body tho it be only Phantastical By this he prevails with them to commit all sorts of Evil pretending to dwell with them that he may still prophane the works which God has introduc'd for an Holy end So that the Natural Body of the Devil is not so much to hurt men as to bring Glory to the Devil when he shall be discovered and shall be corporally Honoured and follow'd by all his Adherents as Jesus Christ was by his Disciples And that he may leave none of the works of Jesus Christ unimitated that he may pervert them he must also take a body of Flesh that he may likewise Reign Bodily thereby to consummate his wretched Kingdom which began as soon as God became man and has still encreast even till this present time without being known or revealed And since God has the goodness to Reveal him at present he should be discovered if it were possible to all the world that he may no longer deceive any body under the mask of Vertue and that those who will needs follow him may know what they do For the Body of Jesus Christ went not thro' all the world in order to the forming of his Church but he has herein only introduc'd his Doctrine which sanctifies the Souls of those that follow it tho they have never seen his body 't is the same as to the Doctrine of the Devil which corrupts Souls tho they should never see his Body They are as Diabolical in following the works of the Devil as others are holy in imitating the actions of Jesus Christ whose Body they never saw I said to her It was a great Loss that these Truths could not be publish'd to all the world for all are ignorant of them and believe there is no Antichrist until he appear in his humane Body She said Sir 't is lamentable that these things so prejudicial to so many Souls must be conceal'd and that the Marvels of God which are so important cannot be discover'd The last Times are come Antichrist Reigns over all And Jesus Christ will come quickly to Reign here in glory The forerunning plagues of Judgment are begun and no body will believe any thing of all this because we cannot speak of them openly You are the first Sir to whom I have declared these secrets Make a good use of them I shall reckon it a gain tho none but your Soul alone should receive the Light of them The world is deceived and will be while they do not open their Eyes to the Truths I have told you They are nevertheless from God and cannot fail if all the world will needs ruin themselves Sir save your self For tho none of these things should fall out in your Life-time and you should not see the utmost extremities of the Plagues nor the Body of Antichrist nor yet the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory yet it will be most expedient for you that you believe all these things which will open your eyes to discover your particular faults and the dangers in which you live and will give you prudence to avoid the deceits in which we live at present Make use of the occasion Sir without contending out of curiosity about words and the times of every thing because the Judgment still falls out when we die and it will never be recall'd Tho even there were not a general Judgment yet there is always our particular Judgment which precisely respects us and if all the People of the world perisht by the Deluge excepting eight persons it was thro' their unbelief for if they had believed the words of Noah they would have been sav'd in his Ark Even so now those shall Perish who will not believe the Truths that I tell you from God They shall certainly Perish in the Ship-wrack because they will not save themselves in time it will be in vain for them to ascend into their Houses of Honour and Glory that they might avoid the Plagues which will follow them every where I said to her That I could not doubt any longer of the things she told me because of the Operation of her words in my Soul which could not but come from God But I wish'd earnestly that many might enjoy the same effects She said Sir Your desire will be fulfilled for many will receive this Light tho very few among the Christians because they are so obstinately wedded to a presumption of their Salvation being falsely perswaded that they shall be Saved by their frivolous Devotions These will resist the Truth and believe they are Holy and Perfect till they shall see themselves swallowed up of the Plagues and when it shall be too late they will cry for Mercy without any hope of succour no more than in the days of Noah for it is not written that he took so much as one into the Ark after the Deluge was begun Those who had not formerly gone into it did all perish even as those shall do who will not now believe that we live in the days of Antichrist They must of necessity be deceived by him and Perish What remedy can there be for their evils since they seek not to be healed because they are insensible of them as they would be of a Leprosie We must flee from them that we may not contract such a dangerous malady as this blindness because they shall be destroyed before they know it It shall be with them says Jesus Christ as it was in the days of Noah They Ate they Drank they Married without any apprehension Even so tho they see and feel the beginnings of sorrows by Wars they do not apprehend them to be the last Plagues they endeavour to escape and avoid them by Human means going from one place to another without remembring what Christ says That two shall be grinding at one Mill the one shall be taken the other left or even two in
be to cast Roses before Swine Offer them only to those who will take pleasure to smell them and not to these who will cast them into the Dunghil All good Men will feel in the Bottom of their Souls that this cannot come from the Devil For he is the Father of Lyes and never incites to Self-denial because he is too proud Nor to the Love of God because he hates him And yet less to resign our Will to that of God for he catches all Men by their Self-will All my Discourses have for their Scope all that is contrary to the Devil who is never contrary to himself The Ninteenth Conference Sheweth That the Spirit of Antichrist hinders Men from discovering the saving Truth and that the Heathens are more resigned to God than the Christians at present I said to her That I thought no Body in the World could resist so clear Truths without betraying his own Conscience That all the Things she had told me did speak forth themselves and were attended with such solid Foundations and such firm Reasons that the Learned and Vnlearned might comprehend them and that the Scope of all was the Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls and that there was nothing in them that savoured of the Earth She said If we were not fallen into the Reign of Antichrist no Body could resist so clear Truths All the World would feel them and would discover his Deceits every one would flie to the Desert to do Penitence bewailing his past Life and the Errours wherein he had lived for so long a time But the Michief is that this Antichrist has so great a number of Adherents who take up his Quarrel and resist the Truth that the good themselves have difficulty to receive it For they disfigure it and make it pass for Lyes and Heresies telling those who advance it that they would seduce the People as they said of Jesus Christ when he brought Light into the World calling him a Seducer of the People or one that had a Devil The Power of Darkness is much encreast since the Time that he was upon Earth and nothing is to be look'd for but Outrages from all the Devil's Adherents In this case a Man must count it a Happiness to suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake and believe that there is no more blessed Death than to dye a Martyr for the Truth But he must beware of Men and use the Wisdom of the Serpent and rather part with his Skin than lose his Soul You will find more Welcome Sir among the Jews and Heathens than among the Catholicks who condemn others to Authorize their own Customs despising the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who sayes Judge not and you shall not be judged condemn not and you shall not be condemned These Catholicks condemn all those who do not follow them This is the cause why they are judged and condemned first to be rooted out They condemn so many holy Heathens who will go before them in the Day of Judgment because they were faithful to God though they had not any Laws or Institutions to know Him Nevertheless many resigned their Wills to that of God and obeyed the Truth in their Lives whereas these Christians follow Lyes of which the Devil is the Father and none of them will resign themselves to God nor take notice of the Truth which discovers the shortness of this miserable Life and the certainty of one that shall be Eternal These Heathens knew a God to whom they resigned themselves and seeing the Misery of this Life they bewailed it they laughed when they considered the Stupidity of Men who took pleasure in this Life and judg'd that they ought not to be called Men because they did not use their Reason to discover the Truth of Things For he who went through the City of Athens with his Lantern seeking for a Man in the midst of so many Thousands as were in the Market-place could not be ignorant that they who were about him were all Men But seeing they were all occupied in buying and selling and Trading for the Earth he could not acknowledge them to be Reasonable Men Because he who has Reason ought to use it for his Eternal Happiness else he is nothing but a Beast For Reason only makes a Man without which he does not differ from the Brute Beasts for they are unreasonable Animals and Men are reasonable ones Laying aside which they are as much Brutes as the Beasts This made the Philosopher search for a Man among so great a Number and could not find one because all spent their Lives in Worldly Business instead of employing them in the Study of the Knowledge of God and of the Truth which is the same God And they condemn those Heathens as damned and for my part I look upon them as SAINTS and believe they will come to Reign with Jesus Christ upon Earth to condemn the Christians who besides the Light of the Heathens had Lawes and Commandments from God with the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which obliged them to a farther Knowledge of God and the Immortality of their Souls the Shortness and Misery of this Life that they might despise it and the Vanity of perishing Goods that they might abandon them Nevertheless not one of these Christians does any of these Things I asked her If it was indeed possible that not so much as one Christian should be resigned to God nor have the Vertues of the Heathens She said Yes Sir This is most true that not so much as one Christian is resigned to God nor understands true Vertue as much as the Heathens did Because none apply themselves to it Since they became Idolaters of Men they have left off to know God and abondoned themselves to the Will of their Idols instead of the Will of God They Preach and Teach through all Christendom That we must depend upon Men whom they call the Fathers of the Church That we must believe and follow them even with a blind Obedience In which they prefer themselves to God who demands only of Man that he obey him in what he shall make known to him having given him Eyes to discover this Beautiful Universe that when he sees the Heavens the Earth the Sun the Stars and all the Elements with so many different Creatures so marvellous and so well ordered he might clearly perceive that all those Things must proceed from a God since Men and Nature can make nothing like them Moreover when Man considers himself he discovers evidently by his Understanding that his Soul his Memory his Understanding cannot come but from a God for no such Thing can come from Nature no more than his Body since all the Industry of Men is not capable to make so much as one Hair of our Head This obliges us to acknowledge a God by so many different Operations without being put to know God blindly no more than to love
the Sun the Moon the Stars and all the Heavens he must confess that the Authour of all these Things is perfect and looking on the Earth the Trees the Plants and Elements he must discover an incomprehensible Divinity who had the Skill to make all these admirable Things Which obliges all that are Reasonable to Love him And when Man considers himself and sees the Art there is in the Fabrick of his Body in the Faculties of his Soul in the Subtilty of his Spirit he must confess that there is a God the Authour of all this to whom all Things ought to be ascribed Because no Creature is able to do any such thing By all which things a Man comes more perfectly to the Knowledge of God than by Sciences and the Expositions of all the Doctors of the World who have nothing but Limited Sciences The Twentieth and Third Conference Shews That it is by Faith only that we can be Saved which coming from God works still Resignation Even among the Heathens c. I said to her That all this Knowledge of God was nothing but the Faith of a Heathen that it was not capable to work Salvation that to be saved we must have a Divine Faith She said Sir You are ignorant yet of a great many Things For that Faith which you call Heathen is Divine because it comes immediately from God who has imprinted in the Soul of all Men this Divine Light that leads them to the Knowledge of the true God This is a Grace infused without the Concurrence of any Men which is much more perfect then the Faith we give to the Things they propose to be believed by us in the Roman Church many of which are very absurd and neither respect the Glory of God nor our Salvation They give us for an Article of Faith That there are Three Persons in God Though nevertheless no Creature can comprehend what is in God but by his Operations which we see with our Eyes as that he is Almighty that he is All just all Good and True Because all that we see he operates in us and in other Creatures bear these Three Qualities But to know if there be Three Divine Persons in God this surpasses our Capacity Because God is an incomprehensible Being and was never discovered by any so as to know what there is in his Divinity They propose also to us many Things for Articles of Faith which are not of its true Essence seeing no Body can be saved without Faith and they continually propose to us new Things for Articles of this Faith which our Forefathers never believed as such And if we cannot have true Faith now without believing them it were to be feared that our Forefathers were not Saved since they did not believe those new Things which are now proposed to us as Articles of Faith They never believed that the Virgin Mary was conceived without Original Sin and now they would make this Belief to pass for an Article of Faith Though nevertheless there is no appearance of Truth in it For the Virgin came out of the Masse of Adam as all the rest of Men And she did also undergo the Penitence common to all the Children of Adam having gained her Bread by Bodily Labour and suffered the Malignity of all the Elements and her Son Jesus himself shiver'd for Cold in the Stable of Bethelem shewing that he was a real Man descended from Adam subjecting himself to the same Penitence that our First Father had received and accepted from God in the Remission of his Sin Why should they now lay it before us as an Article of Faith that the Virgin was conceived without Sin since all Humane Creatures which are born of Parents who live under the Dependance of God having accepted the Penitence that God enjoyn'd Adam are all born in the Indulgence that God gave to Adam Wherefore should there be a particular Article of Faith for the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin as also for the Infallibility of the Pope seeing all these Things have no respect to the true Faith which must work out our Salvation For if the Virgins Conception was Immaculate or if the Pope be infallible this makes nothing for our Salvation nor as to the Knowledge we ought to have of a God upon whom all Things depend This Light infused in my Soul is true Faith and the Dependance that I desire to have upon the same God is the Work of my Faith What need is there to add yet to this the believing that the Pope is infallible since I have the same Light of Faith that tells me No Man can be infallible Since Adam created in Innocence and endued with all the Grace and Holiness that can be met with in any Man did fall and by failing so grosly shew that he was not infallible may not a Man who is a Sinner fail or err All these Faiths and Beliefs are not divinely infused by God into our Soul as that Faith is which makes us know a God above all Things All good All-just All-mighty but Incomprehensible This Faith Sir which you call Heathen is the True Faith which is able to work Salvation in all those who in consequence of it do through Love resign themselves to the same God I asked her If she believed the Heathens would be saved since they are not baptized She said Yes Sir All the Heathens who knew God by his Works and resigned their Will to him shall assuredly be saved For they had operating Faith True Faith in believing that there is One Almighty God who created the Heaven the Earth and all Things and they had the Works of Faith when they were resign'd to the Will of the same God Which appeared in all those who despised the Things of this Life for that which is to come They could not have done this but by a Divine Light that God infused into their Souls Because the Brutish Senses cannot despise the Pleasures of this Life For they know no other and Nature cannot betray it self by despising what is good for it to choose what is evil for it When we see one who may have Honours Riches and Pleasures in this Life and who yet quits them to be dispised poor and afflicted we may well believe that he has the Light of Faith infused by God into his Soul Because neither the Devil nor Nature would ever induce him to do such Things For no Body hates his own Flesh and the Devil incites alwayes to satisfie Nature And if we see one whom we call a Heathen quit the Conversation of Men and retire into a Solitude we may well believe that he has the true Light of Faith which makes Nature break off conversing with its like For Society is a most Lovely Thing Man is a Sociable Creature above all the other Animals and if the Beasts are sad when they are alone how much more must Man be so when he Lives according to Nature unless it
with his Resolution to publish this to the World thinking himself oblig'd in Conscience to undeceive others as by these Divine Truths he was undeceiv'd himself But when she had seen his Papers and read a little of them she told him they would be useful for himself but not for others because they often answer'd the Thoughts of his own Mind which no Body perceiv'd but himself and being sollicited by him to compose this Work anew returning him his Papers she her self wrote by way of Conference the things which God brought into her Memory in the same manner as they are now publish'd in the three parts of The Light of the World She went to Holland at the Sollicitation of M. de Cort in order to the Printing of this Book To this she had some Repugnance at first having never been formerly in any Place without the Dependance of the Church of Rome and being made believe that all the Hereticks as they call'd them were monstrous and Infectious But having recommended this Affair to God she was told That these common Differences of Religion do not bring Salvation but the Love of God only and Vertue which we ought to love in all Persons who aspire to it without regarding the outward Religion they profess that she ought to do good to all and communicate to all the Light of the Divine Truth of what Religion soever they be This wrought in her Soul so perfect an Impartiality that she never afterwards enquir'd of what Religion one was provided only he lov'd to put in practice the Doctrin of Jesus Christ and to recover the Love of God This impartiality of Spirit and her equal Concern for the good of all and the Freedom she took to manifest the Corruption of all Parties and how far they were from the Spirit of true Christianity made her to be hated and persecuted on all sides The Jesuits the Jansenists the Lutheran and Calvinist Ministers the Anabaptists the Quakers the Labadists did respectively prosecute her either with their Tongue or Pen or by exciting the Civil Power where she staid or animating the Fury of the Rabble against her They made her pass for a Visionarist a Person of a wicked Life suspected of Sorcery a Blasphemer the worst of Hereticks one who did propagate the most damnable Opinions but Wisdom is justified of her Children The Innocence and Purity of her Life and the perfect Conformity of it to the Christian Doctrin of her Writings was made appear by Evidences beyond all Exception The publick Confession which she made of her Faith and the Agreement of her Writings therewith shew the Falshood of their Calumnies as to her Doctrin and the Writings publish'd against her gave her occasion the more to clear and manifest the Truth so that what they were apt to except against in some of her Writings she more fully explain'd in others as appears for Instance in her Advertisement against the Quakers where she speaks more expressly of the Respect due to Pastors and the Sacraments She deplor'd greatly the unhappy Schisms which have divided Christendom into so many Factions disapprov'd all that savours of the Spirit of a Party of Disputes and Partialities protested a thousand times against the establishing a new one but aim'd to perswade all to observe the Doctrin of Jesus Christ without changing from one party to another so that she even disswaded some Protestants of her Acquaintance from turning over to the Church of Rome as they had been sollicited by others but to obey the Doctrin of Jesus Christ in the Communion wherein they were such Changes being but the effect of Vanity She said the Difference of Sects and Parties among Christians was founded upon their Neglect of the Essentials of Christianity and their Zeal for some of the Accessories and Externals of it and comparing the first to a Sword and the other to its Sheath the great Debate among the respective Parties was which had the best Sheath and in the mean time the Devil robb'd us of the Sword She was desirous to know the Will of God even as to the ordering of outward things and receiv'd from him the following Rules 1. Do all in good order and in season for I am a God of order And Disorder comes from the Devil and from Sin 2. Never be eager in Temporal Affairs but apply your mind to do well what you do in quietness for the wandring of the mind and disquiet spoils all 3. Take care of making a good use of every thing that nothing be spoil'd or lost for what is lost by your negligence will be required of you and what you have no need of may be useful for another 4. Keep your self still imploy'd in things useful saving or necessary For idleness is the Mother of all Evils and the Devil lodges in an idle Soul 5. Labour that you may accomplish your Penitence and not that you may please Men or gain Mony or satifie your self for all the Labours that you go about for any other end than to please me are lost Labour and you have your reward in what you sought for whether it be complaisance of Men or the Mony you have gain'd or your own satisfaction 6. Apply your mind to look well to every thing that nothing perish thro' your negligence and what you observe to be amiss help it as soon as you can by repairing as much as is possible for you all the faults that you have committed 7. Do the same as to the good of your Neighbour that you may fufill that Command of loving your Neighbour as your self They who were with her to whom she had recommended these Rules being unwilling to be so exact in the smalest matters which while they were conversant in the World seem'd to them of no moment and she having ask'd Counsel of God thereupon she had this Answer All that Men have to do in this World are but trifles and of little moment and if they will not obey me in so small and easie matters how will they do in great and difficult ones Not that I have need of them for my self nothing can profit or hurt me But you have great need to observe exactly all these things that I teach you For being made up of a Soul and Body both which have need of entertainment if you do not carefully order Temporal things your Body will fall into a thousand sorts of Miseries Anxieties Maladies Disquiets Confusion Poverty and Want which at last will become unsupportable to you And all this because of your little foresight your disorder or negligence Therefore I instruct you how you ought to carry on all things even to the least of your Actions that you may be happy even in this miserable Life Not that I have need that you be Rich or Poor in Health or Sickness in good Order or in Confusion neat or unclean outwardly all this does not touch me nor offend me so long as your Souls abide in my Love
her Works that she speaks only against those who make use of the Sacraments while they continue and proceed in a corrupt state that it would be tedious to insert in this place See the 28 29 30 and 31. Numb of the 1st p. of Antichrist Reveal'd and the 1st Letter of the 3 p. of the Tomb of false Divinty where she is so far from condemning true Christians for Consecrating their little Children to God in Baptism that she declares expresly that Infant Baptism would be of good use if Parents would take care to educate their Children in the true faith and put them in mind after they are of Age of the promise they made in their name at Baptism namely that they should be Christs Disciples and renounce the Devil the World and all its Vanities And tho' she believ'd according to the opinion of several Learned Men that adult Persons were only Baptiz'd in the primitive Church and preferr'd that custom as being less subject to abuses yet she did not think that this rule or practice was then so generally receiv'd but that it might admit of just exceptions And therefore in an other part of her Writings after she has declar'd speaking to an Anabaptist that we must not amuse our selves with disputing about the external forms of Baptism while the Soul is not willing to die to the corruptions of the flesh that it might live again to the Spirit of Jesus Christ She adds That since the Scripture informs us that in the days of the Apostles whole Families were Baptiz'd at once it is probable that there were young Children as well as old Persons in them In short These things may be done either out of a good or bad Principle but usually and at present generally these things were done out of a bad Principle and this is what she reproves and condemns with so much reason and justice As for that Question whether we ought to condemn the Repitition of Baptism when it was not duly perform'd at first If that Repitition may serve to promote a true conversion to God and his love it 's plain it cannot be disapprov'd but by a Spirit that prefers external things before God and his love which cannot be ascrib'd to the Spirit of God Thus the Scripture furnisheth us with instances of this Repitition of Baptism when it may serve as a mean to receive the Spirit of God See Act. 19. 2 c. Some will be apt to take up a prejudice against her because in some places she speaks with some sharpness against the Protestants the Reformation made by them and the first Reformers But they who consider with what severity she treats the Church of Rome in whose communion she was looking on her as the great Whore that sits on many waters how plainly she represents the corruption of all Parties and how ready every side is to be wedded to the little interest of their rispective Parties will rather admire and love the Impartiality and Ingenuity of her Spirit than be prejudic'd against her upon that head God dwells not in Temples made with mens hands and the human and political constitutions of Churches with their respective Acts Articles Covenants and Schemes of Government have hitherto prov'd but the occasion of mutual hatred and contention and not being Cemented with CHARITY of all these buildings one stone is not like to be left upon another that shall not be thrown down When the Temple was built all the stones were hewn and squar'd in the Wilderness and there was neither Hammer nor Ax nor any Tool of Iron heard in the House while it was in Building And that God may thus rear up the living Temple of his Church will be the prayer of all serious Persons But for a full satisfaction to the exceptions that may be made against her I refer to her own Writings and to the Apologetical Preface written by the R. P. P. and prefixt to her Life In the mean time as her Writings seem design'd for the common good of all Mankind and for reviving the true Spirit of Christianity in the World so I heartily wish they may be made universally useful and that the communicating them to the World in their respective Languages may have its due effect That the Heathen may see how by Nature they are alienated from the life of God and how desirous God is that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth That the Mahomitans may admire and embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ whom they Honour for a great Prophet and against whose Religion the greatest prejudice is the ill representation made of it by the Lives and Practices of those who profess it That the Jews may be convinc'd that Jesus is the true Messiah whom they look for who is to come again in Glory upon Earth and who having kept them for so many Ages scatter'd among other Nations in a state of contempt and reproach is thereby preparing them for a more exalted state when they shall be graffed in again and made the head who are now the tail That the Professors of Christianity may learn what it is indeed and how far they are from it and that their eyes being open they may see they are greater Idolaters than the Heathens while these thro' ignorance and in the simplicity of their hearts bow their bodies before the Sun or their Idols but those in the midst of light with the bent of their hearts their Love their Affections and endeavours do Worship Gold and Silver and Meat and Drink and Cloaths and Men and Honours and their own Wills and Passions that while they profess to abhor Idols they may cease to be the greatest Idolaters themselves That the several parties of Christendom may be convinced that they have lost Christianity and are fighting for its shadow and while its Essence is Righteousness Goodness and Truth the Devil has shed among them his contrary Antichristian Qualities of Injustice Malice and Hypocrisy under an outward cover of Masses Prayers Preachings Communions Sacraments Sabbaths Holy-Days Fasts c. which when the essence of Christianity is gone are an abomination unto God That the Learned may learn not to be puff'd up with their knowledge and become so humble as to be willing to learn something from a simple Maid that perhaps may be of more use to them than all their Learning and that they may be sensible that Divine Light and Knowledge does as far transcend their Notional Learning as the enjoying and beholding the Sun the Light and all this visible World does the looking upon their Pictures That her own Sex may admire the goodness of God in chusing a Virgin for his Mother and a Virgin to be the Organ of his Light and Spirit in this last Age of the World that they may see they are capable of more excellent endowments than those in which the other Sects pretend to excel them in which God seems to give them the preference to
from the wise nor the word from the Prophet come and let us smite him with the Tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words But God has quite other Designs the Lord has said according to the declaration of an other Prophet Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear and worship of me is nothing but formality and taught by the precept of men therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvellous work their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid This is an unavoidable judgment which they must resolve to undergoe and their resistance will only serve to make them be more entirely crusht by the powerful hand of God This will be to the little ones and to the simple matter of joy and gladness and they shall sing praises unto the Spirit of God whom Jesus Christ shall send to possess the place of that human and diabodical Spirit which he will extripate blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. If you have a sincere desire to be of the Number of these little and simple ones you will easily perceive by the Divine Light that is communicated to you that God begins to fulfill his word as well as the desire that we profess to have in that Prayer of the Church come lovely Spirit and renew the Earth You will afterwards be more fully convinc'd of this Truth by other works of this nature This is faithfully and sincerely communicated to you according to the Manuscript of the late Mr. De Cort who nourisht his Soul with these Truths by which he had been regenerated to God and incited to renounce the Vanities of this World I have neither added nor substracted any thing from it except some words at the top of the Pages and before the Conferences to serve for an Abridgment of the matter and a help to the memory of the Reader I began also to quote the passages of the Holy Scripture to shew that their is an entire conformity not only of the Doctrin Words and Sentiments but even of the Life Conduct Actions and other Accidents of this Maid with those who were heretofore unquestionably enlightn'd and govern'd by the Holy Spirit But since the prosecution of that Design would have required a great deal of time and since it may be probably supposed that most Readers will not give themselves the trouble of searching and examining so great a number of passages it was thought sufficient to illustrate the first Conference with all the particular Quotations as a sample of that absolute uniformity with the Spirit of God and his direction which might have been easily carried on throughout the whole Work And in the remaining part of the Book you will only find the most necessary passages cited or those which have most manifest relation to the Text. God grant Beloved Reaader that you may reap from this Work an Advantage which may dispose thy Soul to become a Child of his Grace and to receive his Holy Spirit This is the hearty and earnest desire of P. P. P. THE PREFACE OF Monsieur de Cort TO THE READER Friendly Reader I Here present you with an Account of what befel me in a Voyage I made to a far Country to come to which I travelled above a Year accompanied with several of my own Country-men who with me were Eye-witnesses of our meeting by the way with a Pilgrimess who spoke to us admirable and amazing Things that are capable of converting unto God all those who shall read or hear the hidden Secrets of the Righteousness and Mercy of God and the Blindness of Men and the Power which the Devil at present has over them The Thing is as profitable as astonishing for it has never been conceived or comprehended by any humane Wit It must needs proceed from a divine Understanding and it must needs be a Celestial or Terrestrial Angel for neither Philosophy nor Theology could ever teach me the Things which this Pilgrimess taught me in the small time wherein I travelled with her but in a way so simple and so unaffected that all her Words did pierce my Heart and enlighten my Understanding working in my Soul Joy and Compunction together I was at first quite transported beside my self and I thought all my Understanding was renvers'd while I heard her first Discourses being of Opinion that the Words of Jesus Christ were fulfilled in that he says I will destroy the Wisdom of the Wise and abolish the Prudence of the Prudent for of necessity all Men how knowing and learned soever they be must be struck dumb and confounded by the simple Wisdom of this Pilgrimess and I took it for a singular Mercy of God that he was pleased yet to declare his Secrets to any of his Servants wishing for the Memory of an Angel that I might be able to declare all that I heard of this Pilgrimess since nothing proceeded from her Mouth which was not profitable and most enlightning very convincing and powerful capable of converting the most hardned Hearts and obstinate Sinners But I must yield to my Weakness not being able to declare any other thing but what my Memory shall furnish me with being helped by some Remarks which I made when I had the conveniency of Writing I entreat the Reader that in this Narrative he may not seek for Ornament of Language nor Philosophical Discourses but the naked simple Truth since God makes use of weak Things to confound the strong I will not at all disguise or adorn her Language fearing to oppose the Designs which God has to manifest to all the World that he reveals his Secrets to Babes and that he resists the mighty and the proud Ones of the Earth from whom he conceals and hides his Secrets and Wonders For this Reason we have ground to say with S. Augustin The Ignorant and the Vnlearned take Heaven by force and we with all our Sciences continue drown'd in earthly Affections Are we ashamed to follow them because they have out-run us We ought rather to be ashamed not to follow them And to add here also the Words which the Pilgrims of Emaus said one to another when they remembred what Jesus Christ had spoken to them by the way while he explained to them the Holy Scriptures to wit Was not our Heart on fire and did it not burn within us when he spoke to us in the way and opened unto us the Holy Scriptures This Pilgrimess in speaking to us must certainly be animated with the same Spirit with which our Saviour was for each of us felt his Heart to burn by her powerful Words which did gently beget in our Souls a Contempt of created Things and a Love of Things eternal enlightning our Understandings by Truths so clear that they could not proceed from any other than from the Father
say that her Life was altogether miraculous as if Adam had never sin'd in her This we do not speak lightly but after much proof and experience by so constant and familiar a Conversation of so long continuance travelling with her Night and Day amidst Ease and Trouble Want and Abundance and so many other Occasions which are to be met with in Traveling of observing a Person exactly in all her Manners where nothing can remain unknown or counterfeited coming under the Eye and Judgment of Persons of Learning and Judgment as this Pilgrimess has done who assuredly was sent to us from God to manifest us his Secrets and his Wonders This is an Instance of his great Mercy that in the midst of so gross universal Darkness as is at present in the World God has vouchsafed yet to send us such a Light capable of enlightning the whole World at least all those who will receive it For no Body can seriously read or hear the Discourses of this Pilgrimess without discovering the state of his own Conscience and also the poor Estate into which Christendom has now fallen the blindness of Men and the hazard of their Salvation She shews clearly that we live now in the last Times that this is the Reign of Antichrist that he has almost full Dominion over all Men that his Kingdom will very shortly be at an end She does not draw her Discourses from imaginary Things nor from fine Speculations invented by Philosophical or Poetical Reasonings but in a Reasoning so firm and constant that she seems to possess in her Nature the Abridgment of all the Sciences of Men together with Truths so convincing so clear and eloquent capable of engaging every good Understanding to an infallible Belief though her Stile is always simple and sincere She spoke Of Extasies and Ravishments which the Devout esteem Vertues as great Imperfections and Weaknesses for Souls establish'd in Vertue which consists only in Righteousness and Truth and Faith saying that all the rest were nothing but amusements on which a Soul establish'd in the Love of God will never rest She told us such high Mysteries of our Faith as never any has attain'd to so clear Understanding of them She spoke of Judgment quite after another manner than all the Authors who ever wrote upon this Subject and yet with such clearness that every Mind would be ravish'd at it with pleasure and astonishment She knew Things to come and did not foretel them but by way of supposition or related them as if she had dream'd them We found divers times that she could tell what past in her absence and how our Souls behav'd themselves towards God She made no reckoning of all these extraordinary Graces saying That they gave nothing to the Soul which possesses them that neither Miracles nor Gifts of Prophecy were necessary to our Salvation that one might have them and yet be damned that all our Happiness consists in possessing in our Souls the Love of God which is true Charity that other Gifts are accidental that the Wicked may indeed work Miracles and have the Gifts of Prophecy when it pleases God that the Devils themselves do frequently Things altogether miraculous and foretel likewise Things to come In short this illuminated Soul desired nothing but what was solid and perfect rejecting even a great many particularities which are mention'd in the Life of some Saints saying That either they had Imperfections among their Vertues or rather that they who wrote their Lives were not endowed with the holy Spirit to discern true Vertue from natural Weaknesses that God was not visible to the Eyes of the Body that our Imagination may frame many Visions of divers Figures and that the Devil mingles himself always in things sensible to our Gust and to our natural Senses that there are great Cheats among Persons who make Profession of a spiritual Life that the Devil slips in there as an Angel of Light and that he who does not force himself to overcome his natural Inclinations can never come to live Christianly that all that is of Nature is not of Grace that to live a Christian one must live supernaturally that our Soul is a Spirit that God does not communicate himself unto it but in Spirit and in Truth That there are none but Souls purified from themselves and from all earthly Objects who hear the Voice of God that the Cares of ones Health of his Honour and of his Wealth are great hindrances to the receiving of divine Notices which are formed by the sole motion of the Soul which receives and understands them according as it is stript of it self In short this divine Soul told us so many Secrets of the mystical and inward Life that all our Theology was too short and insufficient to answer her to so high Questions not only in Matters of Theology but also in all other Matters according to the various Rencounters and Occurrences which fell out in so long a Voyage so that one would have thought that tho' a Man had perused all sorts of Histories and grown old in the Study of all sorts of Sciences he could not know with such Understanding all the Things which this Pilgrimess told us Which she made very little reckoning of saying That all the Sciences which do not serve as means to love God are vain and frequently the occasion of our Damnation Her Conversation was always serious and when by chance we felt into any unprofitable or indifferent Discourse she was silent and calmly withdrew making appear sufficiently that it was not agreeable to her and sometimes she said Discourses which profit nothing do weary and oppress my Spirit I love my Solitude better in which it re-inforces it self and becomes vigorous And therefore I entreat you let me go alone as long as I profit you in nothing and you will do me a pleasure It is impossible to write in particular the admirable Things which we heard of this Pilgrimess She told us so great Marvels concerning the State of the World the just Vengeance that God would take of wicked Christians and the Mercy which he would shew unto the Good that the like were never heard of and it would be hard to believe them if this did not come from the Mouth of a Soul directly illuminated who spoke by the motion of the holy Spirit So that we may say of her Discourses what S. Paul said of his Rapture That he had seen and heard things which Eyes had not seen nor Ear heard and that is has not entred into the mind of Man what God has prepared for his Elect. What she said was to fall out in the last Time during the Judgment and after the Judgment was never before heard of nor conceived They are Things which do ravish all Men with Fear with Joy and with Astonishment For my part I can say as to my self that the meeting with this Pilgrimess has withdrawn me from all sort of Evil has given me a
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
evils He can never do evil All that comes from him is most good and perfect he created us in an altogether holy and perfect state with an immortal body and a divine soul subject to none but himself having given us a spirit enlighten'd to know him and a power to rule over all the creatures both terrestrial and infernal and if he has oblig'd us to aid and succour one another this is not that he had created us more infirm than any other living creature but only to the end he might afford us matter for entertaining mutual Charity and Union together one assisting his Brother out of love the other being led to love him by the assistance and benefits which he receives from him and thus perpetually to maintain this love by the aliment of the need that we have of one another to the end we might continue united together as Jesus Christ is united to his Father And even the manner of the Generation of men is ordain'd for no other reason but always to preserve this perfect unity of body and spirit Thus you see that God has done all things well tho it seems sometimes to our ignorance that many evil things come from God the only Author of all good and the Destroyer of all evil It is our sin which has caused all the miseries under which we continually groan the maladies and infirmities of body are engender'd in us by sin the weakness ignorance and inconstancy of our spirit do proceed from sin That all the creatures rise up against us and hurt us this is but to take just vengeance of the rebellion which we have committed against God by sin It is a blasphemy therefore to say That God has subjected us to so many evils since we our selves only are the Authors of them and he can never do evil no not to damn us if we do not damn our selves and to know how and by what means we may attain to the LOVE OF GOD which is true Charity we need only take the Gospel and there observe in particular the instructions which Jesus Christ and his Apostles have left us in writing and put them in practice Behold the sure means to attain to true Charity without which no body can be sav'd It is not necessary that we seek any other means than those which Jesus Christ has taught us by word and deed I said to her if to be sav'd one must have this perfect Charity few persons will attain to salvation for we do not observe now that the Charity of which she speaks does possess the hearts of men She answers This is to be bewail'd with tears of blood for no body shall be sav'd without it as St. Paul affirms that Tho we would bestow all our goods to feed the poor tho we could remove Mountains tho we had the Gift of Prophecy yea tho we would give our body to be burned yet all this would be nothing for our Salvation without Charity And if you will exactly run over all the holy Scriptures you shall find by the sayings of Jesus Christ of the Apostles and of all the holy Prophets that never any person shall be sav'd without this Charity which consists in the LOVE OF GOD and of our Neighbour for God In the mean time no body possesseth this Charity and almost all the world presumes to be sav'd There is now Sir so great darkness in the whole world that no body discerns truth from falshood since they have taught Christians that the means of living well and of being sav'd do consist in going to Church in praying morning and evening and in confessing and communicating often By these things they have annull'd the Law of God and stified Charity for this is no more in use among Christians it is not so much as known by them and they understand not what true CHARITY is because this name is now appropriated to the gifts which persons bestow on Monks religious persons the superfluous Ornaments and Buildings of Monasteries and Churches they have baptizd by the name of Charity all these Gifts Presents and Legacies And I in my inward conversation do find them to be sensual affections and call them Robbery and Avarice for he who receives Presents without necessity by way of Alms does certainly commit Robbery and robs the poor and necessitous who alone are capable of receiving alms So that he whosoever he be having necessaries for the support of his life being able to gain them by some trade or labour is oblig'd to restore all the gifts and presents which he receives by way of alms and that person commits the sin of avarice who covets more than what is simply necessary for the support of his life for it is a great folly for a Traveller to load himself with burthens which are not necessary to him for the accomplishing of his Voyage Thus no body can enrich himself or heap up earthly goods without the Lust of Avarice which sin as all others does blind souls rendring them insensible of their own hurt But because they have introduc'd the calling of these vices and sins by the name of Charity every one believes they have it while they co-operate to these vices by this the Devil has seiz'd on the Throne of God and reigns in the Sanctuary by falshood whereas God ought to reign there by truth Behold the deplorable state in which we live at present the danger is so much the greater that all the evils are cover'd with vertue and piety that good men may be the more deceiv'd who live and die in this horrible darkness not knowing what true Charity is far less do they possess it so that I despair of their Salvation If they do not perceive this truth of Charity they can never be sav'd since not knowing it they cannot love it nor endeavour to find it while they think it is enough to bear the name of charitable tho they neither know nor possess true Charity There are so many such errors now in Christendom that Christians are by them led insensibly into Hell while they believe that they are assuredly in the way of Paradice I ask'd her If the goodness of God would permit that so many persons should go to perdition while they believe that they do well and follow the counsel of learned men and such as are authoriz'd by the Church She said Truly Sir there will be more Christian Souls damn'd by these means than by gross visible and material sins because all those persons who think to be sav'd live and die in the sins against the Holy Ghost which will not be pardon'd neither in this world nor in the other Not that these sins are so enormous that they cannot be pardon'd but because they are inward and spiritual little known and far less feared The most devout persons are tainted with them and will
the marks and signs of the last times fulfill'd and perfectly accomplisht The life of men is the open book in which these truths are written and the holy Scriptures are the equitable Judge which pronounces this sentence Read Sir with attention they will deliver you from the difficulty you find in believing this for tho indeed they do not determine precisely the day of judgment yet they will make you see sufficiently that the cheif signs which must precede it do already appear That no body will believe this is a most certain evidence of it for Jesus Christ says that it shall be as in the days of Noah they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and knew not until the flood came and took them all away Even so is it at present they take their recreations and pleasures heaping up earthly treasures building houses and temples as if they were to remain here to eternity while all must very shortly perish And no body will believe it according to the prediction of Jesus Christ when he compares these last times with those of the universal deluge He says in St. Math. 24. it will be as in the days of Noah adding when you shall see the abomination of desolation to be in the holy place flee away Do you not think Sir that this abomination is now in the holy place if Envy were lost it might be recover'd in the Cloisters if Avarice were dead it would be reviv'd by the Priests Vain-glory and Pride is no where so prevailing as among the Clergy in one word Simonies and all other sins abound in the place which ought to be holy What more sure marks would you have than those which Jesus Christ himself has declar'd to us should precede the Judgment if you desire to see the Stars fall from Heaven the Sun to be darken'd the Moon not to give her Light all these are nothing but material signs which can do no harm to Souls but serve only for outward evidences of the wrath of God and to the end that even insensible things may feel the terrors of that great day as the Rocks did when they were rent at the death of Jesus Christ This added nothing to his passion nor render'd those who put him to death more criminal for they were nothing but insensible rocks without souls or reason Even so will it be as to the Stars and the other celestial bodies if they change colour or suffer any other alteration this will not be hurtful to our souls which are spiritual and cannot receive any punishment by these visible and material Stars so much the rather that these signs and Stars cannot be understood but spiritually For how could the Stars fall from Heaven since the Mathematicians tell us that one Star alone is seven times greater than all the Earth so great a thing cannot fall into one so small for it would not be capable to contain it And if we take the mystical sense calling by the name of Stars persons luminous in Doctrine the Doctors and Guides Prelates Bishops and all those who are plac'd in Dignities to whom the name of Stars may be appropriated as being the Lights of the world this sign would also have at present its sense accomplisht for we see every day such persons fall from righteousness and truth who for some worldly interest or humane respects fall from the truth of the Gospel which is the true heaven of Souls and wallow in the earth among its riches and pleasures as secular persons do In former times how many of those were seen who had their hearts and spirits continually towards heaven their lives and manners did enlighten all the world as the Stars of the Firmament but at present they are fallen into the mire of earthly affections So that it may be truly said that the Stars are fallen from Heaven and that the Sun also is become without light For Truth which is the true Sun of Righteousness cannot any longer appear openly it is become black and hateful to all the world who desiring to be flatter'd and prais'd cannot hear the truth because it reproves the falshood which now prevails These two signs of the Sun and of the Stars appear at present in their full accomplishment in the mystical and inward sense which is much more than if they did appear in the literal and material sense for the reasons above-mentioned and if the Moon be not as yet without light it will be so very shortly in the mystical and perfect sense The Moon is all transitory things which after the manner of the Moon do encrease or diminish according to good or bad fortune These things will lose their light so soon as Wars shall have destroy'd and ruin'd temporal wealth Then all that pomp and magnificence which shines in the Sanctuary will lose its splendor and will no longer yeild any thing but blood Since for Gold and Silver they will cut the throats of those who are plac'd in the highest dignities so that what shines and glisters to day in the Church will wholly lose its lustre and light and by this means this Moon will be darken'd I entreat you to read attentively the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew it speaks of the present time All the Parables do the same I wish I had time and leisure to explain them to you you would see as well as I that the Judgment approaches for all the forerunning signs are already come People do not perceive them for want of reflecting seriously enough on the holy Scriptures or upon the inward life of men now adays they amuse themselves with regarding only their outward piety imagining that there are yet a great many good men because they appear such but before God all are corrupted They resemble the Apples of Sodom which appear beautiful without and have nothing within but rottenness This is the true symbole of the life of Christians now which God makes me perceive abundantly by his inward light This fill'd me with astonishment and desiring to understand her more clearly I ask'd her whether there were not any good men or true Christians in our days She said to me No Sir THERE ARE NO TRVE CHRISTIANS VPON EARTH There are indeed diverse persons who seem to be good men and are really so in comparison of the wicked they may indeed pass for Saints before men but before God they are not true Christians for tho they do not act wickedly but frequent the Sacraments and other exercises of Devotion yet nevertheless they have not the LOVE OF GOD nor Charity for their Neighbour in their hearts much less a hatred of themselves or a desire to embrace the Cross Sufferings and Persecutions to follow Jesus Christ On the contrary they so love themselves that all their designs aim at nothing but their own satisfaction even in the most pious things You would be astonisht Sir to see what difference there is between the sight
of God and that of men I have been often deceiv'd my self by these seeming vertues being perswaded that there were yet many true Christians but having seen them tried by tribulations and contempt they were consum'd as the chaff in the fire and if they had been GOLD in Charity Persecution would have render'd them more bright Many souls will be deceiv'd at death who in their life time presum'd they were true Christians while in the sight of God they will be worse than Heathens Such is the blindness wherein we live at present in which no body makes a right judgment of himself or of others every one presuming to be sav'd without good works whereas no works can be good if they do not proceed from Charity which is at present banisht from the hearts of all men for which cause there are no more perfect Christians upon earth for the Christian life is all Charity and the Love of God which is no longer in use I ask'd her How long she believ'd it is since there was no more Charity nor true Christians upon Earth She answer'd There has been no longer Charity upon earth Sir since Christians left the Gospel simplicity from that time Charity began to wax cold and when the Church would â—eeds establish herself in pomp riches and magnificence this outward splendor has utterly destroy'd the spirit of the Gospel Studies have banisht the holy spirit and the learning of men has stifled the wisdom of God so that the evil has always encreast till by the traditions of men they have annull'd the Law of God and extinguisht Charity which is no longer known and much less practiced in our dangerous and woful times the danger being so much the more to be fear'd the less it is known because no body apprehends those truths which God himself has reveal'd They content themselves with the judgment of men founding their Salvation upon the doctrine of the learned who are far estrang'd from the wisdom of the holy Spirit to which even they will not yeild themselves they lean so much upon their own Judgment These are blind who lead the blind and both together shall fall into the ditch according to the saying of Jesus Christ Who with just reason has call'd these last times dangerous because under a pretext of Piety and Religion men are led to damnation Simple People believing that they hear God when they hear those Guides who do very often teach the doctrine of Devils For if you observe what questions and disputes are now form'd in the Church you will find that they make debates of things which humane malice could not raise They must needs have come from the bottom of Hell They maintain that it is almost lawful to commit all sorts of sins without offending God that one may swear falsly without sinning and so of the rest which you may better know than I for I am struck with so much horror when I hear such things that I was never desirous to be acquainted with these black villanies they are grown to such a height that they maintain no body is oblig'd to love God which overturns the first and the greatest Commandment and is repugnant to nature itself which carries in it this obligation of loving a God of whom it holds its being and all things Do you not think Sir that this Doctrine is of Antichrist since it contradicts the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and the Commandment which God gave to man from the beginning of the world and in all times and all ages Nevertheless they preach this publickly with many other abominations and many believe that these are truths because they are advanc'd by learned persons and such as are plac'd in Ecclesiastical Authority and Dignities who ought to be the true Members of the holy Church Pardon me Sir that I digress from the answer which I should have made to your demand It is because a sensible regret transports me and makes me exceed when I think upon the reasons why there are no more true Christians The Third Conference The Means by which Christianity began to decay from the Time of the Apostles and has continu'd so to do to such a degree that at present there are no true Christians upon Earth viz. 1. The Admission of false Brethren 2. Appropriation 3. Debates 4. Partialities 5. Men of Learning 6. Disputes 7. The Victory of the Devil I Reply'd to her That she could not offend me in this On the contrary I was very curious to understand more clearly the causes and reasons why there were no longer any true Christians on Earth She said Sir let us sit down here I will give you a particular account of the original progress and end of this calamity Assoon as the first Christians began to grow remiss the Devil like a strange Shepherd slipt into the Sheep told of J. Christ where he led astray many of his Sheep who by little and little forsook their true Shepherd turning away from Righteousness and Truth to follow Iniquity and Lies The Evangelical Poverty is contemn'd by them sufferings are become insupportable to them humility is disdain'd In fine they would no longer hear the voice of their lawful Shepherd whose word serv'd for the nourishment of their souls from that time Antichrist began his Reign and has ever since augmented his Power He could not endure that Jesus Christ had brought the word unto men by following of which they might be to all Eternity in the Glory of the blessed from which he had been chac'd and banisht for all Eternity Therefore he endeavours to make war against this word that he might efface it out of the memory of men and might thereby hinder their coming to the Kingdom of Heaven He did not tempt them by evil deeds or by wicked actions but by tricks and slights covering his malice under the cloak of piety and reason First he incites the wicked his Adherents to list themselves into the Christian Life that Tares might be sown among the good grain He thrusts in many false brethren among the true that he might by them do his work covertly and under a pretext of piety for otherwise he would not have been able to gain any thing upon the hearts of those first Christians who being fill'd with the holy Spirit and burning with the fire of the Love of God he could not have catcht them with evil things or such as had an appearance of evil He multiples therefore first the number of Christians so exceedingly that every one judg'd it was impossible to live any more in common He moves by humane reason the hearts of the most perfect to yield to a separation and to consent that every one should possess his own particular wealth without forgetting in the mean time Charity which every one should preserve in his heart to supply the necessities of their brethren Thus this old Serpent has always colour'd his inventions with piety
but I make very small reckoning of this visible and bodily Antichrist because he can seduce none but those who desire to be so He shall be known for a wicked one because he will deal harshly with those who yield obedience to him which will occasion Martyrs and make many good men to be sav'd by the resistance they will make against him These evils are not terrible but to the faint-hearted who are not train'd up to sufferings but I reckon this invisible and spiritual Antichrist of whom I have spoken to you to be far more pernicious because he seduceth the well-meaning under the appearance of a false good this is much more to be fear'd The evil which is manifest is easie to be avoided by those who hate it but the evil which is cover'd with piety and holiness is insensibly follow'd by those who are good and love piety who would never follow Antichrist discover'd nor the evil which they knew to be such I told her that I had never heard of this spiritual Antichrist that I would willingly know who he is and what difference there is between him who is to come in the flesh towards the end of the world and him who crept into the Church from its beginning She answer'd Sir this Antichrist is the Devil who from the creation of the world made war against men that he might make them forsake God and their own Salvation for these ends he made Eve and Adam fall into sin he tempted Cain to kill his brother Abel and is the Author of all the other evils and sins which have since come upon the earth This Devil has always led men to do evil from this he is call'd the Old Serpent because he has shed his infernal venom upon the earth from the beginning of the world But since he knew that God so lov'd the world that he has sent his Son to instruct and save it he has redoubled his rage against men and by new subtilties has endeavour'd to hinder their Salvation that with himself he might draw them into his own miserable wretched Condemnation But perceiving that the word of God was sent to them from heaven not by voices thunders or burning bushes but by a sensible and visible body which the same God had taken for this end that he might teach them palpably by an Organ like to their humane nature the Devil perceiving that he could not any longer have such hold of men because of the vertue of that word which was able to create the universe he deviseth to appear like the Son of God and after the manner of apes endeavour to imitate his actions covering himself with Sheeps skins tho he be the true ravenous Wolf He slipt from the very beginning into the Church which Jesus Christ was going to build that he might oppose and contradict his word under pious pretexts and covered his malice with hypocrisie that he might the better contradict and oppose the doctrine of Jesus Christ and from thence he has truly born the name of Antichrist and there never will be any other Antichrist but this same Devil who was formerly call'd the Old Serpent There is no distinction between him who slipt into the Church in its beginning and him who shall be incarnated towards the end of the world for it is always the same Devil who only takes different methods that he may the better decoy men according to the various occurrences of time He began his Reign from the birth of the Holy Church and has always gradually advanc'd it by continuing still to oppose the Doctrine of Jesus Christ till he has effac'd it out of the memory almost of all men which we may perceive in this age wherein the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is no more in use than if it had never been brought into the world which makes me believe that he is now born since he has full dominion over the hearts of men who instead of persevering in the Doctrine of the Apostles have insensibly follow'd the Doctrine of this Devil and of Christians are become Antichristians for who does not see at present that Wars Discords and Dissentions reign among Christians instead of the Peace which Jesus Christ establish'd It may indeed be said that there is not any longer one stone left upon another of the true Temple that is to say that there are not any longer two Christian Souls united in the same heart and the same will in Jesus Christ and instead of that Communion of Goods which Jesus Christ brought into his Church there is nothing to be seen in it but self-interest and self-seeking without any care for our Neighbour As for the Mutual Charity of loving our Neighbour as our selves it is so despised that he who should put it in practice would be scoff'd at by all Christians much more he who should choose the last place or who should take less when he might have more To give to him who would take from us or indeed to hold up the cheek to receive a blow would be reckon'd a great folly among the Christians of this age who will scarce suffer an offensive word without resenting it or avenging themselves Who is there that takes up the Cross to follow Jesus Christ since every one avoids sufferings as much as he can and instead of the Cross takes all Contentments agreeable to his senses as far as they are lawful and permitted And so of all the rest of the Doctrines of Jesus Christ no body studies to put them in practice on the contrary every one resists them and does the quite contrary without considering that all that is against Christ is certainly Antichrist And as it is not necessary for Salvation that all Christians should see the carnal body of Jesus Christ to render them his true Disciples it is enough that they know and follow his Doctrine even so to be the followers of the Devil it is not necessary that they see this Antichrist in the flesh it is enough that they follow his doctrine which is much more hurtful to Souls than that incarnate Devil can be unto Bodies therefore the furious is not so much to be dreaded as the crafty and concealed he can but wound or kill the Body by his fury but this wounds and kills Souls by cheats and delusions I could not but acknowledge such clear and evident truths neither had I more than one doubt to propose about them viz. whether this Antichrist in the flesh was already born which being supposed how he could make any suffer Martyrdom and occasion the salvation of many of those who should resist him seeing she believed that all Christians were at present become Antichristian so that they could not be disposed for Martyrdom nor for resisting of him whom they loved and followed She said Sir I cannot doubt that this Antichrist in the flesh is born already for the wickedness of the world is risen to the highest
and instead of saying to sinners go and sin no more as Jesus Christ did to the persons whose sins he pardon'd as to the Paralitick and to the Woman taken in Adultery these Confessors say come again to Confession and we will still absolve you Jesus Christ says If thou hast a quarrel with thy Brother leave thy Offering and go be reconcil'd with thy Brother and these Confessors with a word send them quickly to the Altar without Reconciliation Do they not act directly in opposition to Christ I said to her that I had never searcht so deep in this matter but that I would willingly know if it be not of Confession that Jesus Christ speaks when he says That which you bind or loose in earth I will do it also in heaven and then when St. Peter ask'd If he should seven times forgive his brother who had offended him Jesus Christ answers not only seven times but seventy seven times She reply'd Sir take heed this light is not from men I never spoke so openly to any body but I see plainly that you will profit by it To give a solution to your first question Whether Jesus Christ did not speak touching Confession all that you shall do on earth I will do in heaven this is certainly as to the remitting and retaining of sins but it is not after the manner that men understand it for God never gave this authority to men in themselves but to his Church which is nothing else but his word and therefore this authority does reside always where this word resides Moses and so many other Prophets who wrought so many Wonders in the world perform'd them by vertue of this word and not by their own authority and power They went always to God to know what they ought to do and they wrought according to his will in no ways according to their own for man has nothing of himself but an impotence instead of power but the word of God has power in all places where it resides even tho it should reside in a wicked soul Therefore sometimes even the beasts have wrought miracles By vertue of this word the heavens and the earth do subsist It has the same vertue to remit and retain sins in the bodies of Confessors that it had in the natural and humane body of Jesus Christ for it is always the same which proceeds from Almighty God The only difficulty that I find is to know whether it can still reside in the Confessors at present who do not follow the rules of this holy doctrine God has indeed promis'd to pardon sins to penitent sinners and these Confessors do pardon them to sinners persevering and continuing in their sins so that if it were true that these Confessors could pardon sins according to their own fancy a man would only need to be in favour with some of them to be assured of his Salvation It would be in vain therefore for Jesus Christ to have suffered and endured so much to â—each us humility patience penitence and all the rest if these Confessors with Absolvo can thus forgive us all our sins Every one might indeed live as he pleas'd as they do now without caring much for God since he might obtain Salvation by the means of a man who would call himself the Saviour and Forgiven of sinners I think a man must be deprived of all judgment not to discover this deceit whereas at the same time so many persons live and die in this blindness This is a grosser darkness than that of Egypt As to the second point whether it be in Confession that we must forgive seventy seven times That cannot be authoriz'd by this passage since we find no where that Jesus Christ did forgive sins more than once to those to whom he pardon'd And if a sinner were truly penitent he would be careful not to fall again so often but if he be not penitent he is not capable of obtaining pardon so much as once for Absolution does always suppose Contrition otherwise it would not be available St. Peter asks how often he shall pardon his brother who offended him but Penitents have not offended their Confessors when they go to Confession these so numerous pardons respect the indulgence that we owe to our Christian brethren that we may leave vengeance to God alone but they do not at all regard sacramental Confession The Eleventh Conference Outward Devotions imposed by men are not of true Faith Of the true Church which cannot err in what it imposeth The Doctrines of Jesus Christ and those of men True Prayer HAving heard all these reasons I felt my self in very great perplexities not knowing what â—o reply to such firm reasonings I said only that the Hereticks were not always to blame when they spoke against the Abuses of the Roman Church She said to me Sir I never convers'd with any Hereticks and I desire not to know what their sentiments are in this matter I was born and baptiz'd under the authority of the Roman Church and I never yet travell'd out of it where I might meet with any Hereticks to know what they say of Catholicks but I have learn'd all that I tell you in a profound recollection of spirit join'd to a serious experience I have made frequent Confessions and perform'd all the other particular Devotions of Christians as my Parents did with an exact observance but when it pleas'd God to enlighten me I perceiv'd clearly that Faith does not consist in the wearing of a pair of Beads a Belt or a Scapulary nor yet in hearing many Masses or confessing often and communicating as they taught me but that it consists in the belief and practice of what God has commanded and taught us That all these outward devotions did rather serve as means to withdraw and distract us from the continual attention which we ought to have upon God Therefore I have quitted them all and have fixâ—d upon the Truth of the Gospel which I knew from my tender youth tho I could not follow it because they taught me otherwise In which I fail'd greatly by the Counsel of men God drew me to himself and they drew me to them I regret nothing more than the time that I have spent in following them for all that they call Devotions is nothing but amusement which keeps us tied to the earth and to the creatures Our affections are towards our ghostly Fathers their Masses and Sermons their Churches and the means of adorning them and to all that is sensual which hinders them from being united in God I ask'd her whether all these outward devotions were not good and saving since the Church had instituted and approven them and if she could err in what concern'd the Faith and the Instruction of the faithful She answer'd No Sir the Church can never err in any thing for she is the wisdom the goodness and the power of God the fountain of all
well and secure 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 I Told her That I did not believe that I had true Faith and that she had sufficiently made appear to me that I could not be right therefore I desired to understand of her wherein true Faith does consist tho' it were but upon my own account for I desired to profit in it She said Sir let us examine a little together our Creed and see if there be so much as one Article of it observed even by the most perfect Christians now-a-days If we believ'd that God is Almighty that he created the Heaven and the Earth could we live without loving and fearing him as we do Could we also attribute to our selves the earthly good things which all the World seeks after and loves since they are all created by God and do all appertain to him in Property which we do daily usurp In the second place If we did believe in Jesus Christ the only Son of God who was conceived of the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary could we reject his Instructions since he is the Son of God the Fountain of all Wisdom Could we follow a Carnal Church seeing she is altogether Spiritual engendred in the Body of Jesus Christ by the operation of the holy Spirit Could we also live in Luxury when God chose a Virgin for his own Mother Would we not endeavour to love Virginity since God has so much esteem'd it Moreover if we believ'd that Jesus Christ the Son of God has suffer'd even so far as to be Crucified Dead and Buried could we live so softly seeking all eases to our Body not willing to suffer any thing that is painful nor affronts nor tribulations when we believ'd that the Son of God has indeed suffer'd for us even to a shameful Death yea was buried as a corruptible Man Would we not imitate or follow him at some distance in case we had the faith that we profess Moreover if we believ'd that he is risen from Death to Life that he is ascended into Heaven were it possible that we could love this present Life while we hope that we shall rise again since Jesus Christ is risen again to ascend unto Heaven Would not this withdraw our affections from the Earth through the hope of ascending unto Heaven with Jesus Christ Were it possible that we would build Houses and make so many other settlements as we do on Earth as if it were our abiding City And if we did believe that Jesus Christ will come from Heaven to judge the quick and the dead were it possible that we would live in so great a neglect of our Salvation with so little care of making ready our Accompts to render them to that great Judge who will demand of us an account of all our Thoughts Words and Deeds Would we not rather lay aside all our worldly Affairs to attend on this which is the most important to us yet on the contrary is often the least of our â—ares And did we believe likewise that there is a holy Spirit and a holy Church is it possible that we would be so little Spiritual so Natural and Earthly so wedded to our Senses in which we live sometimes more brutishly than the Beasts themselves whereas our Souls ought to be wholly Spiritual and Holy since we have a Holy Spirit and a Holy Church And did we believe the Communion of Saints is it possible that every one should be so much wedded to his own Interest and Wealth If Prayers and good Works ought to be all common amongst Christian Brethren how much more ought temporal Wealth to be for the succour of our Neighbour which is very far from Mens dispositions now who study nothing but to keep up and increase their own Wealth understanding no other thing but mine and thine both in Spirituals and Temporals And did we believe in the remission of Sins how would we be penitent and contrite to obtain the pardon of them instead of continuing in them through hardness of heart as we see the most part of men do who finish their Lives in black thoughts and despair instead of having immediate recourse to mercy according to their belief For he who has promised the remission of Sins has not promised them time to persevere in them If this belief were real they would not persevere in them for one day for they are not certain of living so long And did we believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh how could we love and esteem our flesh in a condition so miserable as that of this mortal Life We would greatly contemn it in the hope we had of its Resurrection l in which it should live most happy delivered from so many miseries calamities and maladies under which it groans during its exile in this miserable World which setting aside the hopes of its Resurrection must rather be called Death than Life the belief of this Article would give a disgust of the delights of this present Life and make us aspire towards that to come And did we believe in Life eternal what would we not do to obtain it We would voluntarily forsake Father Mother and all our Goods to obtain this eternal Life for it deserves more than a thousand Worlds which cannot last but for a small time in respect of Eternity whereas we see the most part of men so in love with this miserable Life that they would fain abide here for an Eternity though it be filled with miseries and calamities Do you not see Sir that there is no more faith in the House of God That no body lives conformably to his belief That they place faith only in Words as I have told you formerly They say over it may be every day their Creed and yet they do not observe so much as one Article of it These are nothing but words that vanish into Air and nevertheless they would take it very ill to make appear to them that they have not true faith tho' it be always operative and never idle True faith works always the vertues of which I told you in the Souls which possess it and if these operations are not seen it may indeed truly be said that these Souls have not faith for it can never be any where without operating its vertues no more than the Sun can be without giving his beams Consider it well Sir and you will find my saying true and you will condemn your self I told her I perceived clearly that People lived in a distraction of spirit and that few persons knew themselves That it was no wonder they knew not God since they did not know themselves and that truly we were deceived She replied Sir he who knows God will always know himself and he who knows himself will assuredly know God for the one is linked unto
God for he who knows that he is but a pure nothing he must confess that there is something above him from whom he has receiv'd what he is because a Nothing cannot do any thing nor give any thing to its self Every one knows well that there has been a time in which he was not and when he is made he does not know how nor from whence he is taken which obliges him to acknowledge a God the Author of all things and even tho he went not out of himself he must know God All these truths seem'd to me so clear that I knew not how they could be call'd in question tho in the mean time we see no body attains to this knowledge of God or of himself that it must needs be acknowledged that we were fallen into a total forgetfulness of God and ignorance of our selves and that we were assuredly deceiv'd and seduc'd She said to me Sir the deceit is so great that no body can comprehend it We run as it were blindfold to damnation without perceiving it and whereas those who guide us ought to set us again into the right way they are the very persons who deceive us because they themselves are deceived by Satan Wherefore there is nothing to be hop'd for but a total ruine which will be irreparable seeing that it is eternal We are careful enough to avoid the perils of the body but we are too little careful to avoid the perils of the soul which are without comparison much more considerable Man having forsaken his God from whom can he expect Salvation When we leave God assuredly he leaves us not that he withdraws himself from us in respect of himself because he abides always through all without any change But he withdraws himself from us when we withdraw our selves from him for a thing which we leave cannot abide with us it is always as far from us as we are far from it tho we only make this separation It is fit to understand how we can truly say that God leaves us or forsakes us because many understand it amiss in attributing to God the cause of this forsaking It may be said that God has forsaken us now because this is true but we ought always to understand in what manner he leaves us for otherwise we blaspheme against God not by words but intention in conceiving that God does of himself forsake us The Fourteenth Conference How God forsakes us and how we forsake him by distraction of Spirit by which the Devil has seduc'd men withdrawing them from the Love and Gratitude which they owe to God who by all things does most sensibly discover himself to be alone lovely I Ask'd her by what mean we had fallen into such an ignorance and abandoning of God and of our selves She said By the straying of our spirit which has left off to entertain it self with the consideration of the marvels of God Our soul was created to love him and to bless him continually in which consists the continual prayer which Jesus Christ has recommended to us since he became man for we have no other thing to do in this world but this continual prayer God having given us all the rest We see in the Creation of Adam that he had no need to think on any other thing but to bless and love God and if he had entertain'd himself in this praise and love we had never fallen into all the miseries under which we yet groan The Devil who is nam'd the Serpent made it his business to entertain them to the end he might distract them from the Communion which they ought to have with God How soon he got the Woman to listen to him he began to draw her affections which were due to God only towards the fruits of the earth which were given her only for use and not to place her affection upon them from hence he likewise incited her to desire knowledge of good and evil withdrawing the attention which she had to God to apply it unto curiosity and a desire to be great and wise Lo this was the cause why we did abandon God and lose the knowledge of our selves Our first Parents began to do this in the terrestrial Paradise and we have continu'd it from generation to generation until we have arrived unto a total forgetfulness of God and an entire ignorance of our selves For if you will consider it well Sir you will be oblig'd to say that all men say really in their hearts There is no God because all their actions are done as if there were none and this evil proceeds from no other thing but that our spirit has no longer communion with God I ask'd her Whether men now do the same things which our first Parents did in the earthly Paradise and if they let themselves be thus seduced by the Devil She answered Truly Sir they do much worse for they do not follow the suggestion of the Devil in one thing only but in all their actions desires and enterprizes Who does not see now adays that all men have left off to entertain their spirits with God and that they have fix'd them on the consideration of created things hearkening willingly unto things curious and pleasant to their senses as our Mother Eve did And when the Devil proposes to our thoughts any thing which seems to be either pleasant or profitable to our nature who does not presently follow it without restraint and without fear and instead of fixing upon the consideration of the wonderful works of God we are continually busied in seeking our pleasures in the creatures in self-complacency or in the desires and coveting of earthly goods which things do entirely withdraw us from the total attention that we ought to have upon God alone for whom we are created and not for these things which are subjected to us and which God created for our footstools as the earth and metals and we will needs carry them upon our shoulders yea even upon our head and in our heart The Devil represents to us that these earthly pleasures are delightful that these beauties are agreeable that with Money we may do and know every thing and we believe this deceiver and follow his counsels employing the whole time of our life in seeking our pleasures and contentments and in heaping together earthly goods which is the cause that we are diverted from God for our spirit and understanding cannot attend upon two things so distant from one another as is God and the creatures We abandon the All to seek the Nothing as did our first Parents I said to her That Adam and Eve were expresly forbidden to eat of the fruit of a tree and that we are not thus expresly forbidden by God to love the creatures She reply'd He has not only once thus forbidden us but many times in different times and ages The Prohibition which God gave unto our first Parents Sir was
deserves to be sought and Men do not deserve that God should seek them There are a great many Persons who say That they desire to love God but they desire not to quit their earthly Affections It is to no purpose to pray for such because they oppose themselves to the Grace of God not being willing to part with that which resists his Grace no more than God will give his Graces but to those who seek and desire them effectually in forsaking themselves and all other created things to find God I said to her That all her Sentiments were very far from the Sentiments of Men who believed that they might love God while they loved themselves or some other thing not vitiously She replied to me All Men now are possess'd with the Spirit of Error and of Ignorance For to believe that we may love God and our selves or other Creatures is a great Error and a false Persuasion for there is no relation between God and the Creature that they could dwell together in the same Place Our Soul was created Divine and Spiritual to the End God may rule there and if we debase it by the Love of Material and Human Things it is rendred uncapable of Divine things for that which is Carnal cannot be Spiritual and as Cold and Heat cannot abide together so Spiritual Things cannot dwell with Natural the one does always chase away the other a Contrary its Contrary Men live now as carnally as the Beasts being sensible of nothing but according to our brutish Senses And yet we would persuade our selves that we are Christians In which we are greatly deceiv'd for the Life of a Christian is a Spiritual Life not a Natural The Beasts are not created but for the Nature of Men but these are created for God who is a Divine Spirit We may sufficiently perceive this by considering the Course of our Life which is nothing but Pains Labours Vexations and Miseries Could it be possible that God should have created us for Ends so miserable as what we possess in this World This truly would be a miserable End God can never do such an Evil For no Evils can proceed from him but all sorts of Good The End of our Creation must be Divine and Spiritual or else Man would have Reason to curse the Day of his Birth which makes way for a miserable Life wherein those who are esteemed the most Happy are most to be bewailed We will esteem that Man happy who is a King a Prince or a Lord and they are all more miserable than a poor Peasant who has no other Cares but to maintain his Family and his Person whereas these others are oblig'd to maintain their Train their Subjects their Offices their Honours which they are sometimes oblig'd to defend at the Peril of their Lives Whereas a poor Fellow will accomplish the Course of his Life in Quietness notwithstanding of the Affronts which he receives A rich Man is likewise esteem'd happy for his Riches but what Labours does he not undergo to acquire them Or what Cares or Disquiets to preserve them It is altogether a Trade to have Riches A Man needs no other Work for all his Life-Time but to keep them well We will esteem a Person happy who is raised to an Estate Honour and Dignities Nevertheless there is nothing more miserable he being subject to all that concerns his Office not having sometimes the Leisure to attend upon himself How Circumspect must he be that he displease not the Great and that he may satisfie every Body which is indeed very difficult What Care must he take to provide for all that maintain him in Honour fearing lest he fall into any Disgrace or Contempt How must he bear with the Envious and with Slanderers In short Sir all these things which are call'd Happiness in this World are nothing but phantastical and imaginary Goods and real Evils They are so many Rattles which the Devil shakes that he may divert the Attention we ought to have upon God and he makes us forget the End for which we are created by all these Trifles which are nothing but real Amusements of Children and they make us perish through Ignorance rendring us uncapable of loving God I ask'd her Whether then all States Riches and Honours in which God or Nature has placed Men ought to be abandon'd And if we could not love God with any of these things She replyed They must be certainly left Sir before God can be lov'd Not that all these things are evil in themselves but because of the Infirmity of our Nature which has not found the Art of possessing them in God and while we possess them in themselves they are assuredly evil and hurtful to our Soul hindring it from Communion with God and from attaining to the End for which it was created It is just the same as if a Traveller instead of advancing on his Way to arrive at the Place which he aims at would needs stop in all the Gardens through which he must pass to gather and eat the Fruits which he found in them or to pass his Time in Smelling all the Flowers which he saw there We would reckon such a Person a Fool as in effect he would be because these Amusements and his Loss of Time would deprive him of the Happiness of arriving at the Place he design'd for and Night surprizing him by the Way would put him in hazzard of being pillag'd by the Robbers or devour'd by Wild-Beasts or at least incommoded as to his Rest which he would be oblig'd to take on the hard Earth with many Inconveniencies and Miseries All these Evils and Dangers would befal him because of the Folly he had committed in stopping among these Flowers and Fruits If he had only look'd on them at a distance smell'd them as he past along or pull'd an Apple for his Thirst this had not retarded his Journey but might have made it more Light by the Smell of the Flowers and the Refreshment of the Apple Even so is it as to Wealth Honours and Riches We being all Travellers and Pilgrims in this Life which ought to be compar'd but to a Day because of its short Continuance We travel towards Eternity but in our way we must pass through the Garden of this World wherein we perceive Fruits and Flowers which tickle our Senses On one Side we see the Riches which our Parents have left us or the Honour to which we have succeeded with some Place or Dignity These are the pleasant Fruits presented to our Eyes On the other side we perceive the Odour of Wine and of exquisite Meats rich Moveables beautiful Faces These are as so many divers Flowers and Fruits which charm our Smell but if we stop to taste and handle them we hinder our Journey to Eternity and we put our selves in Hazzard of being surpriz'd by Death and devour'd by the Devil who is always watching to
Perfection than formerly Which I doubt very much for if you think to teach the People the Evangelical Life and do not observe it your self this is worse than to hold your Peace because every one will have Ground to believe that it is nothing but a Formality which must be observ'd in declaring the Gospel and that there is no need to put it in Practice seeing they who teach it do not practise it themselves I think in this Case it were better to be ignorant of it than not to practise it when we know it At least it is a less Evil never to have understood it than to have known it and not to practise it tho' both are evil because all Christians are oblig'd to know the Gospel for we cannot without Guilt be ignorant of it but to hear it so often and for all this not to desire to follow it is a double evil because of the Ingratitudes which are committed in not practising what we know by the Grace of God It is a Grace to be caught and an Ingratitude not to follow Instructions Therefore you will do nothing but spend your self in Teaching and will not replenish others Besides that in Teaching there is always the Hazard of Vain-Glory because Flattery is the Ruine of our Souls and perswades us that we have that which they say we have I said unto her That infallibly many would put in Practice the Doctrine of the Gospel if they knew it as I do at present because these Truths are so clear that of necessity one must yield to them She said Sir Do not engage your self to declare the Truths which God now makes known to you For they will not be well receiv'd by the Learn'd You ought first to have overcome all Human Regards which you have not yet done Likewise you must have the Courage to expose your Life for this Truth For otherwise you will be opprest without any Profit because they would outragiously persecute you if you should declare the naked Truth of the State of the Church at present and if you teach that to be a true Christian one must observe the Doctrine of the Gospel they will altogether oppose you and will affirm That all they who are baptiz'd are Christians however Wicked they be Thus you will have much to suffer and will profit others nothing Because all that you might build up by Teaching of the Truth the Learn'd will destroy by their Arguments and will easily dissuade People from believing you even rejecting your Doctrine as Evil and Seditious for they study nothing so much as to flatter the World and speak as they are desirous to hear They have forgotten that Jesus Christ said by his Apostle That he who would please men is not the Servant of Jesus Christ There can be no Preaching any longer without Reproof but what flatters the Ear and is agreeable to the People for the Truth which reproves is so disapproven by Men that I believe Sir if you should speak publickly the Truths which I in confidence have told you they would cut you off from the Church declaring you an Heretick yea they would even pursue you to Death because they could not approve the Truth without condemning themselves their Lives being contrary thereto and no Body hates his own Soul Therefore they condemn others I ask'd her If I ought always to continue idle without doing any thing seeing I could not Teach nor Preach any more and that I had no other Employment for that I had passed all my Life-Time in Study and in the Direction of Souls She said Sir Labour first for your own Perfection until you be entirely united to God and then you will be capable of other things If there be no Profit to be reap'd among the Catholicks you may go among the Heathens and Hereticks who will be more disposed to receive the Truth than those who are under the Roman Church Because others sin through Ignorance and these Romanists through Malice Many Heathens would follow the Truth if they knew it and likewise divers Hereticks because they seek and ask it always Therefore we hear them dispute willingly to shew that they are not at Rest but seek and ask always after the Truth But the Catholicks do opinionately presume of their Salvation because they esteem themselves the People of God as they are truly even as the Jews were who are now abandon'd but shall be converted so soon as the Roman Church shall be overthrown Those will be truly capable of receiving the Spirit of Truth acknowledging their Errors and Ignorances Labour in the mean Time Sir for your own Perfection and you will very shortly see that the Harvest will be ripe and that there will be need of Workmen We approach so near that I fear your Soul will not have so soon acquir'd its own Perfection as these things will come to pass Therefore make haste fearing to be sent away as an unprofitable Servant Occupy the Talent which God has given you for he will come very shortly to demand an account of it Apply your self to your own Perfection with the same Earnestness wherewith you formerly applyed to the Perfection of others without any Profit I ask'd her If she believ'd that the Roman Church would be Destroy'd and Ruin'd and the Christians scatter'd as the Jews are at present She replyed Yes Sir and much more for the Jews have continued constantly in the Jewish Law tho' they be bodily scatter'd through all the World they are nevertheless united in an uniform Faith and Belief holding still the Law which God had given them But the Christians have denied their Faith tho' they be yet united Bodily How would they preserve it in Time of Persecution when all this Lustre and this Magnificence of the Church shall be destroy'd so that there shall not be one Stone upon another in its outward State no more than there is at present in its inward This must needs come to pass Sir else God would not be Just for the Jews might Reproach him with Reason That they never committed such an Infidelity against their God as the Christians do It is very true they kill'd the Body of Jesus Christ but that was through Ignorance The Christians do kill it a thousand times out of pure Malice They believe that the same Body of Jesus Christ is in the Sacrament of the Altar and they give it daily unto Whores Thieves Murtherers and Sorcerers and yet they make them believe that they shall thereby receive Graces The Jews never believ'd that they obtain'd Grace in putting Jesus Christ to death as these Christians do believe in receiving him unworthily For Pilate said that he found no Fault in him and was in great Fear to condemn him And the Christians go affrontedly to receive him with a Soul full of Sins believing in the mean Time that he is oblig'd to impart unto them his Graces in
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
says That they shall live for ever He has said elswhere That neither Whoremongers nor Drunkards shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Neverthelss we see daily such Persons receive the Eucharist Can they live for ever without entring into the Kingdom of Heaven There would be a great Contradiction in the Words of Jesus Christ He cannot save those whom he condemns nor say to those who shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven that they shall live for ever It is assuredly his Word which he calls his Flesh and his Blood For whosoever shall eat it that is to say incorporate it as the Nourishment of his Soul it must needs be that he live for ever for this Word gives Life Eternal and he who feeds upon it as on his daily Bread can never die this is the Tree of Life seeing it gave Life to all things This Word has created Heaven and Earth of nothing How should it not give Life unto the Soul which receives it And if it have the Force to translate Bread into the Body of Jesus Christ as they teach how shall it not change our Souls into the Spirit of Life Eternal if we receive and incorporate it as becomes Jesus Christ said These are my Mother my Sisters and my Brethren who hear my Word and do it To shew that he esteems more the Receiving of his Word than the having contributed to the Formation of his Human Body it being most certain that the Virgin Mary was more happy in receiving and doing his Word than in being his natural Mother I said to her That there were many Errors in the Church if the Sense that she proposed ought to be received That it was very clear and intelligible but it had never been understood after this manner She said Blessed be God Sir that he grants yet this Mercy to the World to send his Light amidst the so obscure Darkness into which it is brought at present All the highest Mysteries of our Faith are involved in this Obscurity nothing is understood in a perfect Sense and they do often apply Senses contrary to the Truth They have walk'd as groping even till Now. It is no Wonder if they fall from one Error into another insensibly It is a great Happiness that it has pleas'd God to let us live even until the Time that he comes to enlighten the World after that so great a number have perish'd through Ignorance We have no more deserv'd it than they Let us endeavour to apply it rightly unto our Salvation without letting the occasion slip which is now so freely offered us How many souls are there of such a tender Conscience that they dare not reject a Sentiment which comes from the Roman Church or any Decree of its College fearing to offend God because they look upon it and take it for the Holy Church I knew a Person of a very good Life a Doctor of Theology who said That if the Pope forbad him to read the Gospel he durst not read it any longer So much was he preoccupied with this Belief that Rome is the Holy Church Upon this Supposition all the most pious do follow that which is Evil without perceiving it because they have taught us that we owe a blind Obedience As if we were permitted to follow Evil blindfold which is a great Error For we are all oblig'd to discern whether what we follow be good or bad For Example This Doctor could not abstain from Reading of the Gospel without offending God highly tho' the Pope had forbidden him to read it because this Prohibition is contrary unto Jesus Christ who has brought his Word from Heaven to be the Rule of our Life and the Nourishment of our Souls and has said That it must abide in us for ever How could we cast it behind us because a Pope forbids it who cannot destroy what God has establish'd nor forbid what he has commanded without being Antichrist for all that is against Christ is assuredly Antichrist We may indeed believe and follow what the Pope and his Councils do ordain us when they are things conformable to the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is no other thing but the Explication of the Law Tho' this were taught us by the Devil himself we could not do ill to follow it But the things which are contrary ought never to be blindly follow'd God has made us Reasonable Creatures to the End we may discern Good and Evil. All the Blindness that a true Christian ought to have is to captivate his Spirit under the incomprehensible Works of God not to captivate it to believe that that which is Evil is Good A man must have lost Sense and Spirit to abandon himself to such a blind Obedience which nevertheless the most part of pious Christians do who do yield in all things to the Ordinances of the Pope or of his Council If this Mischief be not shortly at an End and if the Truth be not discover'd in this Point all the World will perish Because many things will be determin'd which will be against God tho' it were nothing but the Infallibility of the Pope It contradicts directly the Truth because no Man can ever be infallible how holy soever he may be S. Peter the first Pope did expresly deny his Master and did really err in dissembling because of the Jews for which S. Paul reproves him Can it ever be said without Blasphemy that a Man is Infallible secing Infallibility appertains to God alone Neither the Pope nor any other can err or fail in following the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but in following their own Judgments or those like themselves they may fail and err greatly I ask'd her How it was possible that God should have left his Church for so long a Time in Errors She said Sir God has not left his Church in Errors she can never err nor fail for she is one and the same thing with God As the Bridegroom is but one Flesh with his Spouse even so the Church is but one Spirit with God Therefore she can never be left in Errors not for one Moment But the Errors which I discover to you Sir are in Men not in the Church for the Church is no where but in the Souls which possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who have never err'd so long as they abide in it The Church is a Spiritual and Invisible Spirit which renders it self visible by the Human Bodies which this Spirit animates So long as these Bodies are animated and possest with this Spirit of Jesus Christ they are all Members which make up this Church But if this Spirit withdraw himself they are no more but Members of Flesh not Members of the Church Errors therefore are insinuated into these Members of Flesh not into the Spirit of God But whereas these Members of Flesh did possess formerly the Spirit of the Church
they have retain'd the Name after having lost the Spirit and their Souls being void of Faith God takes no longer Pleasure in them but they are abandon'd to the Spirit of Error Not that God on his part leaves the Church to err but these Men having forsaken their God have form'd a Church of Flesh which cannot be the true Church which is a pure Spirit as God who is not visible but by his Works so the Church is not visible but by the Bodies of those who possess this Spirit It appears sufficiently that what they now call the Church is not govern'd by Divine Principles but by Human and Natural I ask'd her Whether the Pope the Cardinals the Bishops Prelates Pastors Priests Monks and other Persons making Profession of the Catholick Faith were not the Church And if all these Members together do not make up a Church She said No Sir all these Persons tho' met and assembled in one and the same Place do not make the true Church so long as they do not possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ It is nothing but an Assembly of Flesh subject to Corruption Every one acts there according to his own Sense There they propose and resolve according to Human Arguments not according to the Spirit of God who is not to be found where things are manag'd only by Civil and Politick Measures which do not regard the Glory of God but human Accommodations The holy Spirit does not animate so vile Subjects Nevertheless he governs always the true Church in what Place soever it be He never abandons it But who can discover it It is so hid and unknown that no Body discerns it It is a Treasure hid under the Earth of which Jesus Christ has spoken by Parable saying That the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Treasure hid in the Earth and that he who has discover'd it must sell all that he has to buy this Ground that he may find this Treasure There is no Kingdom of Heaven but in the Church that is to say There is no Salvation out of the Church and not knowing where to find it who can look for Salvation It it no wonder Sir that I said unto you heretofore That Paradise was shut forasmuch as I cannot see where the Church is and consequently where Salvation may be had It is a Vine which is cut even by the Root and Ground We see indeed its Branches extended far enough But they are nothing but dead Wood being cut off from the Root no Fruit can be any longer expected from them The Members which at present they call the Church are cut off from the Root which is Jesus Christ which brought forth great Branches But since they have been cut off from their Root they are fit for nothing but to be cast into the Fire which you will see very shortly Sir in case God give you yet some little Time to live The Twenty First Conference Where the true Church is Where God is How he speaks to the Soul and the Soul to him and how we ought to dispose our selves for this Divine Conversation I Ask'd her If there was no fix'd Place where we might find the Church That for my part I would search for her because I would seek to be saved She said to me Sir The Church is everywhere where there are Souls possessing the Doctrine of Jesus Christ There are no other Places proper or destin'd for the true Church to reside in All those Persons who are call'd Churchmen are as so many Stones with which they have built a material Church which serves now for the Offering of Sacrifice and it may be shortly will serve for a Stable for Horses These Stones and other Materials are not the Church tho' they serve to the Structure of a Building which may be both for Holy and Prophane Uses Therefore Sir the Church is not to be sought for in any fixt Place which is material but in Spiritual Souls who also cannot be found because they are oblig'd to keep themselves hid as the Body of Jesus Christ did before his Passion For they would do them no less Evil than they did to him because the Envy of the Prelates is now far greater than was ever that of the Pharisees who put Jesus Christ to Death God gives you a holy Desire of seeking the Church for he has said Seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the rest shall be added to you This is a Sign that the Church is not tied to any material Place for then there were no need to seek it but to go to the Place where it is For Example If the Church were at Rome there were no need to seek it We would know assuredly where it wâ—re Since Jesus Christ says it must be sought this is indeed a Sign that it is hid and unknown And likewise all they who seek Rome do not for this receive all the rest in Gift since so many things are wanting to them even after they are Romanists Which would not befal a true Christian who would be content with what were purely necessary with which God would always infallibly provide him I said to her That I was not truly satisfied for the Good of my own Soul That I would willingly know where I might find the True Church that I might have Salvation She replyed Sir The Church is within you If you seek the Kingdom of Heaven only let Jesus Christ reign in your Soul by his Doctrine then the Kingdom of Heaven will be in your Soul God being there He reigns always where he is He would reign in all the Souls of Men if they did not put Hindrances thereto The Centre of our Souls is God who being Salvation and Life we ought not to seek without us the Church nor the Kingdom of Heaven For he is not an Earthly and Temporal God but Celestial and Eternal The Church being the Word of God it is in us since he cannot be without his Word as we are always in the Place where we speak He is not Earthly for Jesus Christ says That his Kingdom is not of this World It is therefore a heavenly Kingdom which is in us because God is there whose Kingdom is Celestial and Eternal Where then would you seek the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven but in the Centre of your Soul That is the certain Place of its Residence We may be deceiv'd in all other things but not in this infallible Truth If every one had sought the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven in the Centre of his Soul there would not have been so many Persons deceiv'd Since they have sought God without themselves in so many divers means they have gone astray from him by the same means by which they ought to find him and whilst they sought for the Church in so many Masters Doctors and Directors they have stray'd from that which is Holy to follow a
Evangelical Counsels for observing it aright He is despis'd and rejected by the Great Men of this World He is also Reproach'd Buffeted held for a Wicked One To shew that the Praises of Men are not to be sought for but their Reproaches rather to be endur'd for the Love of God At last he is put to Death for the Truth enduring all with Patience To teach us to suffer patiently even to Death And all that he has endur'd has been to give us an Example I ask'd her In case Men had not come to so great Extremity of Evil whether she believ'd that Jesus Christ would have come so soon to take Human Flesh She Replied No Sir he would not have come till the end of the World to judge and condemn Men in abolishing Evil He would have come in the glory of all his Majesty with all his Angels not in Contempt and Sufferings He would have come to Reign not to undergo an infamous Death If you read attentively the Prophets Sir you will find that they speak far more of this coming in Glory than of that in Reproach For the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory is as it were THE SUM OF THE DESIGNS WHICH GOD HAS OVER MEN And the coming in Reproach is as it were the Accident of the said Designs Therefore there will be much more spoken of through all the Holy Scriptures Read Sir attentively all the said Scriptures from the creation of the World you will find that they all will aim at this Kingdom of Jesus Christ on Earth with Men for this is the end of their Creation God can never reign fully in Men until the time of this coming in Glory because that they living yet in the liberty of doing evil do not yet give full possession to God to reign in their Souls for very often or at least by accident Sins do rule there Which we have seen in the greatest Saints of the World A David a Solomon all the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ yea all those who have since been esteemed Saints have all in general fallen into Trespasses and have strayed from God for some time By which he could not find in them his perfect reign as he will do after his glorious Coming For then all will be Deify'd Bodies as well as Souls And there will be an end of all Evil. God will then have his full dominion over all Flesh which has never been For the most part of Men in all times have Blasphemed and Despised him tho all were created by him to love him and to adore him They have yielded their honour and love to the Creatures instead of the Creator Is it not fit Sir that these things be one day repaired and that God be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth by his Creatures I said to her That assuredly God would after that manner be adored in Heaven but that I could not comprehend how he could be so here upon Earth She said I perceive Sir that you take for Heaven and Paradise some precise place or some particular part which ferves for a Residence to God And for my part I cannot believe that there is any thing capable of containing God for he is greater than all things and cannot be contain'd by any thing less than himself The Heaven is but his Creature which we say is on high and God has neither high nor low for he contains all Heaven and Paradise is always in him for there can be no other but his Presence and he who is in his Presence is in Heaven and Paradise For my part I know no other They tell us many imaginary things of God and of Paradise which have very little relation to what they are It seems God is like an earthly King who is lodged in some Palace of Wood or Stone These are all Speculations of Men as earthly as their Affections For God cannot have any fixt place for his Residence seeing he comprehends all things When I say that God will be upon Earth reigning with Men the Earth will then be Paradise for in all Places where he is there is always Paradise If God were in Hell Hell would then be Paradise there being no other but the presence of God That makes in all places where it is Heaven and Paradise When this presence is in our Soul our Soul is Heaven How can you not comprehend Sir that God could be truly adored in Spirit and in Truth upon Earth seeing he has so often promised to make an Alliance with Men Must not this Alliance be made upon Earth God being a pure Spirit has no need of any Station but Man having a Body has need of some Place to contain him The Earth was created for this necessity that it might contain the Bodies of Men. Why then should not God come upon Earth to dwell with them seeing they cannot go where God is in that purity of Spirit Of necessity he must either come upon Earth or indeed they could not be entirely united together I asked her When Jesus Christ shall come to reign upon Earth and to Allie himself with Men She said As sooon as the Plagues shall have rooted out all the Wicked or the greatest part of them then He will appear in the Clouds and all the World shall see him You may indeed live till then Sir if God please For my part I hope to see him and to reign with him Eternally In this all my hopes and my joy do consist For this Life is too miserable to take any contentment in it without the hope of this time to come I say it will be very shortly for I see the Measure full and Mens sins are come to the height They cannot be more numerous And if there were not some small Veil of Human respect they would Murther Rob commit Adultery and do all sorts of Abomination publickly as well as they do them before God But Pride keeps these things yet concealed that they may not be despised by Men And as for what passeth only before God or a few Persons they make no more reckoning of it It seems all is lawful provided it be not discovered What greater Evil can be expected The abomination of Desolation is in the Sanctuary Tho Christians be the People of God they have denied his Faith and have abandoned it to become Idolaters of one another Every one has his proper Idol one worships his own Body another his own Spirit another his Learning another his Riches another his Honours another his Children or other Creatures In short none adore God but with their Lips Is it a wonder that the Judgment is near when we see that all Men have abandoned their God Is it not time that he likewise abandon them which he cannot do but according as Man withdraws himself from God by the same consequence God is withdrawn from Man for two things cannot stay together when the one withdraws it self
the one withdrawing makes a separation as if they both withdrew So that God is as much remov'd from Man as Man has remov'd himself from him And having thus abandoned God what can we expect but universal Plagues which our universal Evils have drawn down upon our guilty Heads Which Plagues having purg'd our Crimes and burnt the Tares the good Grain will then be gathered into the Granary of God which is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ I ask'd her Whether this Kingdom of Jesus Christ shall remain upon Earth for ever She saith yes Sir It will be Eternal and never end If you believe in Life Eternal which is an Article of our Creed you believe in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ upon Earth I have also told you that there is no other Paradise but the Presence of God And whereas Jesus Christ is God as my word is me his Body must have some Station as also all the other Bodies of the blessed God being a pure Spirit has no need of any Station nor yet our Soul which is also a Spirit A Spirit is through all and comprehends what is at a distance as well as that which is near As our Thoughts have no need of a way to go to Jerusalem They go thither in the twinkling of an eye for they do not stay in any place Even so God has no need of Heaven nor of Earth to stay in being a pure Spirit nor yet our Souls which are in Paradise when they are united unto God But our Body has need of Heaven and Earth and of all the other things which God has created for it because it is material it must also stay upon material things suitable unto its nature Therefore God has created all this World with all that is in it that Man may have his full delights as well in his Body as in his Soul For God makes nothing imperfect but all his Works shall have their compleat Perfections And resolving to create Man a kind of Creature Spiritual and Bodily both together he gives himself to him for to satisfie his Soul which is a Spirit he will give him likewise all created things to satisfie his Body So that the Soul shall take its delights with God and the Body its delights with Heaven and Earth and all the other Creatures For God has created them for those ends and for no other thing that Man might have his full perfect contentment of Body and Mind in that Life Eternal wherein Jesus Christ will reign always in Body and Soul with the Bodies and Souls of the Blessed who shall be united in Spirit unto God and in Body unto the Body of Jesus Christ Behold the alliance which God promised unto Abraham which he did not see but very far of and we see it now very near Do you not think Sir that this Kingdom of Jesus Christ must be upon Earth seeing that he has taken a Human Body like unto ours A spiritual thing cannot support but that which is spiritual But a material must have a stay agreeable to its Nature which is also material Who can or would change that Excellent Order which God has establish'd in all his Works so just and so perfect which alone are worthy of Admiration as the Author is of Adoration Can you yet doubt Sir that Jesus Christ shall reign upon Earth seeing it is a just and necessary thing Would you believe that God should create all this beautiful World only for this miserable Life of Penitence and that at the end of it he should abolish this great Work of his Hands or that he should consume by Fire the whole Universe This would not be a just thing that he had made all these things only for our Miseries This would be as much as to say that God had had little Wisdom I was ravish'd out of my self to hear things so unheard of so admirable and so charming And that I might understand a little more I ask'd her if the Earth and the World would abide for ever She said Yes Sir the Earth and all the rest that God has created will abide for ever in the State in which he established them at their Creation For the whole works of God are all Everlasting Therefore he has created all things with Seeds for to spring and to engender Eternally All which Generations must be made for the delight of Man without Pain or Labour All things would have brought forth their Kind according to their Species in a good and delightful manner x The Sun would have given his light and heat in measure without any Excess the Air without Storms the Sea without Tempests The Fire could not have burn'd us nor the Water drowned us nor the Earth brought forth Thorns nor the Beasts bitten and poyson'd us but all sort of things would have served us for Delight and Recreation So many little Beasts which are upon the Earth and in the Air which seâ—ems useless to us were created to the end that even the least of our Senses might be Recreated Even the diversity of Flies and many other sorts of Animals Herbs Trees and Flowers all these were created not only for the necessities of Men but also for their Delights Which things had nothing but Goodness and Perfection without Sharpness Prickings or Bitings How much more ought Man to be Good and Perfect seeing all these other things which were subjected to him had so much Goodness and Perfection You might ask me from whence it comes that all these Creatures are become Evil seeing they were created so good and perfect I will answer you That the sin of Man has caused all these Disorders and with Justice For all the Creatures of God ought to rise up against Man and take vengeance of his Ingratitude according to their power because he had merited that all that was given him for Joy should serve him for Grief Seeing he who ought to have serv'd for a delight z unto his God turns away from him to offend him his Justice would require that all the Creatures should do the same toward him since he had done it toward his God who had infinitely benefitted him more than any other Creatures which might well offend Man and become his Enemy when he was become the Enemy of God who tho he could not render his Creatures Evil because he is the source of all Goodness from whence nothing that is evil can ever proceed yet he might well permit that his Justice should be exercised by those inferior Creatures when Man had so justly deserved it I asked her If all those Creatures Animate and Inanimate would have an eternal Being She said Yes Sir nothing will perish of all that God hasmade But the evil that is in all these Creatures shall be taken away because it does not come from him and all that comes from Men shall Perish For Example That the Sun burns us and dazles the eyes which look upon him This
may serve them only for Delight and Pleasure without being able to do any more evil as they were in the beginning of their Creation and all the Malignities which they have contracted by the Sins of Men shall be rendred unto their Authors The Fire of Hell will not be like that which we see because it is now a mixture of the works of God with the malignity of the works of Men as all other things are God has given unto Fire a sweet and agreeable Light and Heat and Sin has given it blackness and to burn These two evils shall be removed and confin'd to Hell that it may burn and blacken the Bodies of Men who have thus spoil'd the works of God by their Rebellion There will not be in Hell Elements or Beasts or other things as God has made them but only the malignity which every one of all these Creatures has contracted by sins For Example the Venom will be removed from Serpents and other creeping things and will be reserved for Hell As also the fury from Lions and Bulls that they may converse with the Blessed with Meekness and Gentleness and that nothing may be able any longer to give them pain that Fire may give heat and light without burning that the Air may surround them without being troubled that the Water may refresh and recreate them without being moved that the Lyons Serpents and all other wild Beasts may sport with Men for their Delight and Recreation and that all things may remain on the Earth to render the Body of Man happy that with his Soul it may have a perfect eternal contentment seeing that the Body has born with the Soul the saving Penitence which God had ordain'd it Whereas on the contrary the Bodies of the Wicked have rebelled against this Penitence and desiring to take their Delights instead of Sufferings To which the miserable Soul acquiescing they have justly merited to suffer joyntly in Hell which will likewise be Material and upon Earth that it may act upon Bodies as well as Souls which was not necessary before the Judgment since that Devils and Damned Souls had no need of a material Place for their being Tormented for all the evil of Souls consists in the privation of the Presence of God The Twenty seventh Conference That a care to withdraw from the Plagues is even a self Love and than the Conversation of our Souls with God suffices us in all Places I Said to her That I saw evidently we drew near to the end of the World because God gave these Discoveries of many things which never any body had understood That her Light was not Human And I entreated her for the love of God to tell me where that little corner of the Earth might be which God would reserve for his Servants that I might save my self during the Plagues She said to me Sir be not curious to know where this material Place will be which God will reserve for his Friends I my self durst not ask him fearing to seek my self or my own repose We are yet in the time of Penitence If we would withdraw that we may not suffer this would be but self-Love We shall be every where in security when our Soul shall be united with God and even tho our Body should feel the Plagues our Soul shall be comforted in the midst of Sorrows as S. Lawrence was in the midst of burning Coals and so many other holy Martyrs Let us rather think of conversing always with God than of putting our Body in a place of Security because it will be always secure in conversing with God If there be a danger which he would not have us suffer he will warn us of it always in time as he did Noah Lot and so many others of Friends He will not permit any thing to befall us but that in which he would try or purge us Do not so much desire to know the place where you may retire as to know the place where God resides to converse with him For in this alone consists all our safety both Bodily and Spiritual You might indeed withdraw bodily into some place of Security where your Souls notwithstanding would not be sure of being Saved And if this were it would be but a poor Safety for our Life is so miserable that to lose it is more desirable than to preserve it were it not the fear of not having yet accomplish'd the Penitence due for our Sins Otherwise Death is pleasant and this Life grievous were it not that it may have God to converse with Without this there is nothing but Miseries I asked her In what place I might find this continual Conversation with God that I might be every where in Security and not fear Death She said Sir You must not go out of your self for God is the Centre of your Soul You must not seek him among the publick Places of the City as the Spouse in the Canticles did who was beaten by the Soldiers But re-enter into your self and you will find him He is no where more particularly than in the Souls of Men. These are his real living Temples where he rests at Noon that is in his most clear Light There entertain your Spirit with him and he will entertain himself with you He is more desirous to hear us than we are to speak to him neither going out nor in nor any other affairs whatsover can hinder this inward Conversation On the contrary it perfects all things So soon as our Affections are taken off from all other Objects and set upon God alone we will find him every where and he will never cease to give us his Graces to accomplish perfectly all our Enterprizes how little so ever they be for his Spirit was the true Wisdom which is not ignorant of any thing no more of Temporal things than of Spiritual This Spirit perfects all sort of things There is no place or condition be what it will that can divert us from this Conversation when our Affections are carried toward it Make a little Experience of it Sir and you will find what I say to be true You could not any longer fear Death in possessing the Author of Life for whether we live or die we will be always in the Earthly Paradise in which nevertheless we may indeed sin as Adam did because there are yet in this miserable Life so many things which may divert us from God that without great violence we cannot remain in this Spiritual Conversation but if Nature must do so great violence to it self at Death to separate from the Soul why may it not do a less to separate it self from that which hinders our union with God It is in this that Jesus Christ says if your Eye your Foot or any other Members of your Body do offend you cut them off pluck them out and cast them from you To shew that we must force our selves to part with all that
may hinder this our Conversation with God even tho it were our own Eye which we ought to pluck out if it hinder us The Twenty eighth Conference How we ought to Pray and to understand the Lord's Prayer in its perfect Sense which regards the Dispositions and Graces that shall be bestowed on us in the Glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ of which there are here Marvellous things spoken I Asked her How I ought to Pray to the end I might attain to this continual Communion She said to me Sir This Conversation is true Prayer which consists in the elevation of ones Spirit unto God And as long as we converse with God we are still in Prayer whether we adore him for his Almighty Power or bless him for his Favours or beg of him his Light and that which is necessary for us This is to Pray always as long as our Spirit is elevated unto God I know no other method of Praying If you ask of me words for Praying I will tell you what Jesus Christ told his Disciples when they intreated him that he would teach them to Pray as St. John did his Disciples Say Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name and the rest of the Lord's Prayer in which is comprehended all that we can ever ask of God for his Honour and our Salvation In these words are comprehended all the Adorations which we owe to God all the Thanksgivings which we can render him and all that we may or ought to ask of him for our selves and for all others This is the Prayer which Jesus Christ himself did compose and the only one which he taught his Disciples of which we ought to make more reckoning than of all the Prayers in the World Many Persons give themselves to divers Vocal Prayers composed by some Saints or to a number of Beads saying a great many Paters and Aves without reflection so that if we should enquire of these Petitioners what they ask'd of God by so long Prayers it may be it would be hard for them to tell because all passes in many words without much attention Others who seem more Pious and advanced in Virtue give themselves to some mental Prayers and pass many hours in silence on a design to pray to God But at the upshot of all there does not proceed any fruits from all these Prayers for we see them as imperfect at the end of twenty Years of their Prayers as the first day that they began them Yea very often they break their Head and crack their Brains by the force of multiplied Conceptions one Petition only of the Lord's Prayer well understood is of more worth than all these I said to her That I did not well understand the Petitions of the Lord's Prayer entreating her that she would explain them to me She said to me Sir you ask a thing which a long time ago I judged necessary for all People For I think no body does yet well understand that Prayer But we will need a little time to rest to declare it to you in particular Let us sit down here and I will tell it you First when we say Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name We acknowledge That God is our Father that it is he who has Created and Formed us Who art in the Heavens That is higher than all things We use the word Heaven because we know nothing by our Humane Understanding which is higher than the Heavens and when we would say that God is above all things we say he is in the Heavens to make our Sentiments in a certain manner to be understood And when we say His Name be Hallowed this is to wish that all Creatures may adore and bless him which has never yet come to pass on Earth where Men themselves do Blaspheme his Holy Name on all occasions by Word and Deed. God could not have formed this Petition for us if he were not one day to grant it to us For he could not make us ask a thing which he would not give And whereas all his Works will be perfect it cannot suffice that some particular Souls do hallow his Name It must be in a perfect sense that all Men in general with all other Creatures do hallow him which will not be untill Jesus Christ Reign in his Glory upon Earth Then all things will hallow the Name of God but never before And when we say Thy Kingdom come This is no other thing but to Pray that we may arrive at that blessed Kingdom wherein Jesus Christ shall reign over all the Souls and Bodies of the Blessed and over all Creatures For we have never had this Happiness that God should Reign entirely even in our own Souls Having always given hindrances thereunto by our corrupt Nature yea even in the Souls of the Apostles and other Saints God has never compleatly reigned having always there met with some hindrances or rebellions of their own Will against his He can never reign perfectly in us until he have rooted out all our Evils and Miseries that we may Reign with him Which we have never as yet done tho' we have desired to be wholly unto God we have never reigned over all our Passions and Affections so as that we might reign fully with God But we hope that after the Judgment this Kingdom of God will come unto us This is the hope of our Prayers Thy Kingdom come And when we say Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven We beg also the same Kingdom For in our present state we cannot obtain that the Will of God be fulfilled in us and in others as it is fulfilled in God who is always without any contradiction No body can perceive his own Will to be so united unto the Will of God as that of the Blessed who are dead in the Lord On the contrary many do directly resist his Will and the most Perfect follow it at some distance and not as the Angels and the Blessed do in Heaven For where God is all his Will is accomplished and where he is not all is there contradicted Therefore in this Life we never do the compleat Will of God as we shall do it in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ where Earth and Heaven will be the same thing Then his Will shall be fulfilled in Earth as it is in Heaven which we must always pray for untill we have obtain'd it as also That He give us daily Bread That is what we stand in need of daily for the Soul and for the Body Now likewise we cannot obtain these two things during this Life For he who would have bodily aliment ought always to labour and take pains and be sollicitous both in Body and Mind to obtain his aliment and when we receive it it is but in form of a reward because of our Cares and Labours For otherwise we must dye for want if we did not labour both in Body and
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
manner that very often instead of calling her Blessed they offend her by those Idolatries which they give to her Image and Jesus Christ himself would not suffer that they should call her Blessed for having born him in her Womb and suckled him with her Breasts By which it appears that it is not in this Life that all Generations call her Blessed that it must needs be that She saw in her Spirit that Kingdom of her Son in Glory wherein her Joy shall be accomplished and her Spirit Shall rejoyce in God her Saviour It will be then that he shall Cast down the Mighty from their Seats and Exalt the Humble Which as yet has never been done For the Mighty have greatly Exalted themselves since the coming of Jesus Christ and the Humble have been as they are yet despised and rejected The Holy Virgin could not lie in her Song called the Magnificat but she spoke of the time to come which she saw as present in her Spirit Which made her rejoyce and utter all the things which must come to pass in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in which all Generations will call her Blessed and all Souls will Magnifie this Glory where the Humble will be Exalted and the Mighty Abased and Humbled I was quite Transported beside my self to hear things so Admirable which had never been heard of and I saw them so clearly in my Vnderstanding that I could not but say within my self It is so these are clear Truths I nevertheless said to her that many of these things are understood of the Empyreal Heaven which is the Divine Place where the Souls of the Blessed will live Eternally with God where the Body and the Soul shall have four Qualities Agility Splendor Impassibility Subtility which being like Spirits will have no longer need of any thing but the presence of God She said Sir these are Speculations of Men who not having the gift of Understanding would nevertheless conceive something of what they do not understand If these Bodies of the Blessed had need of nothing wherefore should God create so many beautiful Creatures to serve only for Man's Misery For Gold Silver Precious Stones and so many other things not very necessary for the maintenance of his Life would then have been created only for his Mischief since they did not serve but for this Life where the most part of Men do Destroy and Damn themselves for Mony Wherefore then would God have created so many fine Fruits and other things for the nourishment of Man only for so short a time of Penitence as this livfe Would it have been worth the pains to have made the Sun the Moon the Stars and all the Elements that they might remain for so small a time Would God amuse himself for a little profit No Sir this will not go as People imagin for all the Works of God are eternal and will never Perish as I have told you heretofore all things will continue in their kinds eternally to serve and rejoyce the Body of Man made Blessed after he shall have finished his short Penitence Gold and the other Metals will serve to build his Houses and the precious Stones to adorn them They will not be Buildings made by Men's hands with the sweat of their Faces but wrought by the power of God who has form'd the Body and will likewise form the abode of the same Body And when the Holy Spirit speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem that its Gates shall be of precious Stones and its Walls of Gold This is not only in a mystical and spiritual Sense but also in a material Sense as all things must be perfect and accomplish'd in their time Spiritually Corporeally and Materially For God cannot do any thing Imperfectly I ask'd her If they should eat and drink in the Kingdom of Heaven She said Yes Sir Do you not see in the Gospel a that Jesus Christ says a little before his Death That he will eat no more of the fruit of the Vine until he shall drink it with his Disciples in the Kingdom of his Father This is applied to the Mystical sense because they know no other thing But it will be also in a Material sense that they shall drink delicious Wine with Jesus Christ besides the Mystical Wine of the admiration of his Glory which will inebriate Souls They shall eat also at the Table of the Lord where Jesus Christ himself says That he will come forth and serve us And when he says Woe to you that are rich that are full for you shall be hungry He adds Blesled are they that hunger and thirst for they shall be satisfied Read Sir the Holy Scripture you will find there in many places that of necessity it must be understood that we shall drink and eat Bodily in the Kingdom of Heaven with all sort of felicity Bodily as well as Spiritual For our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost in which he will dwell eternally When the Children of Israel were brought out of Aegypt they eat and drank with Delight Their Cloaths and Shoes did not wax old and they increased with their Bodies even their Nails had no need of being cut So particularly did God provide for their Necessities This nevertheless was but the Figure of eternal Life If he provided for them Cloaths Meat and all things which were even delicious without their care or labour tho they still offended him how will he not provide the delights of the Bodies of the Blessed who will bless him always I ak'd her If there would be likewise human Propagation in this Kingdom of Heaven She said Yes Sir there will be Propagation eternally but altogether Holy altogether pure and Deify'd It will be produced more leisurely than in this World because God by his Mercy has here abridged our days to abridge our Penitence But that Kingdom being of eternal duration will give time and leisure to Propagate stayedly without Pain or Sorrow or concupiscible Appetite but by pure union of Charity in God which will extend it self to the production of new Creatures to the glory of their Creator which is very reasonable For since this World was created few Men have been brought forth who have glorified their God On the contrary in all Times and Ages the Devil has derived his Glory from Men for when there were yet but two Persons upon Earth they yielded to the Devil and followed his Suggestions in abandoning their God And when the World was fully replenish'd Men gave themselves to yet greater Evils For at the time of the Deluge eight Persons only of all that great Universe were found obedient to the Word of God And in time of the Children of Israel when they were brought out of Aegypt to go into the promised Land two Persons only did enter into it In the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah Lâ—t alone with his Family did fear God And when God would have
and he is as careful to have Honours and Riches as Secular Persons One says that he loves God and he loves nothing but himself One says I am retired from the World nevertheless he has as much affection for it as before and studies to satisfie himself In Short Sir there is nothing but Lies and deceit among all Men even those whom you esteem to be good Men they have nothing but apparent Vertues which are very displeasing to God and draw down his avenging hand upon our criminal Heads Because no body fears God any longer but by word and they who fear their Damnation perswade themselves that they fear God while out of pure self-love they fear the evil due to their Sins that they may continue in them and they place their Piety in outward Devotions with which they do more distract their Understanding from God than fix it upon him And yet they believe they are Just and Pious fearing God tho in the mean time they have neither the one nor the other of these Virtues Thus you are deceived with thousands of others who are in the good Opinion that there are yet many good Persons upon Earth I ask'd her How we might know the true Righteousness nd Virtues of Men She said Sir no body can know it as to others but they who possess it themselves Therefore I told you that union with God is needful for to know true Virtue This union makes us partake of the Virtues of God so that he who is in God partakes of his Righteousness of his Goodness and of his Truth The RIGHTEOUSNESS of God is always just doing justly to all as well to our Enemies as to our Friends not enduring any Injustice no more in our selves than in others neither in small matters nor in great Our Works are always accompanied with this Righteousness and also our Words our Counsels our Business and even our good Works Knowing well that without this divine Righteousness nothing can be good And even as God never does any thing without this Righteousness So we do all things righteously so much as we draw near to God we are as much Righteous and no more and he who partakes of this divine Righteousness discerns and knows very easily the Righteousness and Unrighteousness of others For if their Righteousness be of God it will always be conform to that which we partake of the same God and if it be not it will directly oppose it There are some who would believe that one had the art of Divination when he can discover false things which appear true to the eyes of Men But this does not proceed from any Divination but only from the Righteousness of God When it refides in a Soul it perceives immediately that these apparent Righteousnesses do resist and are contrary unto the Righteousness of God For Example a Judge will give good Justice to a Party because he is recommended to him by some of his Friends This is nothing but an Human Justice because it has had respect to Men For to be Divine it ought to have respect only to good Right which is not observed in the present time wherein the Proverb says He who has good Right has need of good Help It is the same as to Piety and Devotion If they go to Church to the Mass and the frequenting of the Sacraments out of natural custom or inclination or because it is good and laudable This Righteousness is not of God because it respects our selves or Men. And if you partake of the GOODNESS of God Sir you will do good to all Creatures indifferently as he does without wishing good to your Friends and hating your Enemies or not helping them in their need But when our good deeds are partial respecting our Kindred our Allies our Friends and Neighbours then our goodness is nothing but Human. This is easie to be observed by him who partakes of the goodness of God who loves nothing but that wihch is good and conformable to Righteousness and Truth Whereas Human goodness respects nothing but that which is sensible to Nature leaving sometimes Righteousness and Innocence without help to succour its Friends yea even to excuse or cover their Iniquities These are all goodnesses without Fruit having received in this World the reward of such good Works For if we do good to our Friends they will do the like to us and so we shall be payed without having right to pretend any other recompence therefore in Heaven Jesus Christ has advertis'd us of this saying When you make Feasts do not call the Rich lest they bid you also and thereby you receive no reward And if you partake of the TRUTH of God Sir you will very easily discover Lying because this strait Truth does always oppose that which is contrary thereunto There needs but to walk Strait to overturn that which is Crooked The Spirit of Truth is incompatible with that of Error There needs but to speak the Truth simply to reprove Lying Many Persons are troubled to understand the Truth who if they were not in Lies could not be troubled at it because it is always desirable and enlightens the Understanding Truth being God ought to be loved and received by every one and as much as it is now out of credit it is so much an evidence that all have abandoned God in abandoning Truth Righteousness and Goodness There is no other God but he who is the source of these three Vertues of which Men now have not retain'd any foot-steps and at present those are esteemed Saints who have but human Righteousness natural Goodness and political Truth and yet they will not believe that we are in the last Times and that the World is Judged What more certain Marks can we have Outward Signs are a very small matter in respect of seeing that all Men have Abandon'd their God Draw near to God Sir and you will discover it as well as I. I said to her That if it were needful to exercise the very same Righteousness Goodness and Truth of which she spoke to me that all the World would Perish and no body should be saved For all Men are very far from it She said It is true Sir all the Wicked will perish among whom notwithstanding there will be yet some sav'd because they are so thro' Ignorance These indeed will yet receive the Light of Truth with which they will discover the Lyes which have been taught them For many have entred into the Spirit of Error thinking they did well and if they had been taught there is no Salvation but for those who resign themselves wholly to God and unite their Wills to his they would assuredly force themselves to find this Unity of their Wills with God and would have resign'd themselves to him far more easily than they have done to follow so many different Exercises of Devotion For one has taken the Order of S. Francis and goes bare-footed without wearing Linnen
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
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
of his Church which is united to him she has no fix'd Place Therefore she is call'd Catholick or common and universal For she is to be found in all Places indifferently For otherwise none should have the Liberty to be of the Church but they who remain'd in this fix'd Place No Sir this cannot be so because God has given Liberty to all Men in the World without having limited them to any particular Nation or Country but to all in general The Church consequently may be as well among the Jews Turks and Heathens as among the Church of Rome For she does not consist but of Souls who possess the Law of God or the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is all the same thing because this Doctrine is no other thing but the Explication of the proper Means for observing aright this Law So that he who among the Heathens should live in an entire Dependance upon God having his Will conformable to him in all things Such a Person would be the Church even tho' he knew no other Precept or Doctrine Because all that is written in the Law of Moses and even in the Gospel are no other thing but Means to attain to this Dependance upon and Conformity to the Will of God So that he who is in this needs no other Command or Precept to be assured of Eternal Bliss because all is comprehended and contain'd in this Dependance upon God All other things are but for enlarging and explaining wherein this Dependance on God consists Therefore the Gospel says deny your selves to make us understand that as long as we live to our selves we are not resigned to God For if we rejoyce in Prosperity and are grieved in Adversity it is a Sign that we are not yet resigned to God but that we live to our own Desires and Wills not to those of God who will never permit any thing to befall us but what is good and wholesome But when we live to our selves we will have this and that according to our own Judgments which are blind as to Eternal Things For this Cause Jesus Christ has taken the Pains to teach us so many divers things that he may make us know what hinders us from coming to this Dependance on God and also what makes it easie to us But if we find this Dependance without these Means we have fulfilled the whole Law and are the Church I said to her That we hold in the Roman Church that out of it there is no Salvation She replied And I doubt Sir if one can be saved in it since she is not governed by the Spirit of God how can she guide any to Salvation If the Devil sit in her Throne is it to be believed that he will saye us His Malice encreases as his Authority augments I cannot believe that one truly Christian wholly resigned to the Will of God can remain in the College of Rome For they would not suffer a Spirit so contrary to that which rules them These Reproofs would be insupportable to them God himself could not preserve his Church among them tho' it were but in one Person only They would certainly destroy it and that without Delay If they teach that none can be saved out of their Dependance it is because they would fain rule over the World and be as great as God as the Devil had this Ambition since his Creation and retained it hitherto with a great deal of Success because he holds at present almost all Men under his Authority For to say that there is no Salvation out of the Dominion of Rome is to contradict the Gospel For the Apostle having told Jesus Christ that some taught the Gospel who notwithstanding did not follow Jesus Christ nor his Disciples he says to them Let them alone for they who are not against us are with us Should the Pope be a greater Judge to condemn those who observ'd the Law of God because they did not depend on him This could not be true even tho' the Roman Church were as yet guided by the Holy Spirit She could not notwithstanding make void the Salvation of those who did not follow her since Jesus Christ has not done it in his Gospel which is their Rule and that which they ought to follow The Apostles never condemned John's Disciples who followed not them and did otherwise than theirs There was a Complaint indeed that they fasted not as St. John's Disciples did and Jesus Christ excuses them Each Apostle had his Disciples apart and all the Churches were also separate That of Peter was not the Church of Paul or of the other Apostles Every one had his Church and his Disciple separately and none of them said that those who did not follow them were damned It sufficed that all had the Gospel for their Rule without making any Difference whether one was of James or of Philip S. Paul even severely reproves those who said I am of Paul or of Apollos asking them If they were not all of Christ who died for them But at present they will have none to be saved but those who are under one Man only whereas then all were saved who were under Jesus Christ Have we gotten another God or rather another Law since the Doctrine of Jesus Christ that these Men will needs damn all those who will not follow this Pope For my Part I would rather upon Pain of my own Damnation assure all those of Salvation who shall observe the Commandments of God in whatsoever Place and Condition they may be For Jesus Christ said to the young Man in the Gospel who ask'd him What he should do to be saved Keep the Commandments without any other thing because all is comprehended in this A Man must not go by four Ways when he knows one that is streight and sure What ever Men would make us to believe the Truth that is of God is always the most certain I begg'd She would explain to me how God could not preserve his Church in the College of Rome even tho' it were but one Person only seeing he is Almighty She said Sir the Almighty Power of God will never extend it self beyond his Righteousness and his Goodness He has given to Man a Free-Will to use it at his Pleasure by which he has made him partake in the Deity which is the greatest good he could ever do to Man For by this Free-Will he renders him capable of taking his Delights with him or otherwise there would not have been any Correspondence of God with Man since Likeness begets Love and Love is always bent to love its like If Man had not had Liberty of using his Will he would not have been like to God in any thing For a Creature bounded and constrain'd has no relation to an Almighty God It was necessary that the Power of using his Free-Will should be given him that God might take his Delight with that which in some manner was like unto
Creator of all things If the Glory of his Father had consisted in Churches and sumptuous Ornaments wou'd not he to whom all appertains have pitch'd upon them and built them What Dotages do Men now publish that God is honoured by great Buildings and rich Ornaments So our Dung shou'd be his Honour For all that is fair and good in the Sight of Men is nothing but Dung before God We have renounced the Pomps of the World that we might become the Children of God and by the same Pomps we wou'd honour him in his Churches It is not fit to renounce the Pomps of the World to become Christians since these give Glory to God It had been better to encrease these since they honour God that by the Encrease of them God might receive Encrease of Glory What Blindness of Mind is it Sir that makes Men believe that God is honoured by worldly Pomps when they are applied to Church-Walls If they displease God in the Souls of Christians how much more shou'd they displease him in Churches and Places that are peculiarly dedicated unto him for Prayer since this does still require Attention and these pompous and magnificent Ornaments serve for nothing but to distract and divert the Mind by regarding these Pomps and Ornaments of Churches which do certainly distract the Mind of all those who regard them and can serve for nothing but to satisfie the Avarice of those who covet them Nevertheless they call those charitable who afford them Money wherewith to provide all these Pomps and Ornaments of Churches Every one praises and esteems them as if God were a vain God who wou'd be adorn'd with fine Garments If he wou'd have a rich Temple in Solomon's time it was because People were then so gross that they cou'd comprehend nothing of God or of his Majesty but by gross and material things But now that we have the Doctrine of Jesus Christ we have received Light enough to know that God is a Spirit and Life and not bodily or material So that they who go to Cloysters or Religious Orders that they may follow Jesus are greatly deceived because there he is not at all followed but opposed For which they ought rather to be called the Cloysters of Antichist than of Christ because the things wherein they contradict him are more than those wherein they follow him I ask'd If those would not be saved who should enter into a Religious state with a good Intention and being in it should endeavour to live well according to their Language She said Sir these are all Impostors in the Sight of God For they promise Poverty and they observe it not because they yet covet worldly Goods and do all they can to please Men that they may give them of their Goods These Vows oblige them not to desire Riches and they do their best to have them If they cannot desire them much less can they posses or receive them They vow Chastity also and very often they are content only by Force and for want of Occasions God who tries the Reins sees well if their Hearts and their Thoughts are chaste since so many things contrary thereto are heard of them They vow Obedience and they are full of self-will So far are they from obeying God that they do not so much as hearken to him and are subject only to their own Wills and Desires without any other Submission By what means would you have these Persons saved who falsifie their Faith to God since those cannot be sav'd who falsifie their Faith to Men Some falsifie their Faith to God out of Malice and Hypocrisie and others falsifie it out of Ignorance being directed in their Faith more according to what others do persuade them than according to their real Practice They make them believe that Poverty is observed when they possess nothing in particular and in the mean time since the Kings and the great Men of the World do ordinarily profess nothing in particular having People and Officers under them who govern their Revenues Even as these Votaries of Poverty have who wou'd not by it be depriv'd of a Glass of Wine or any the least thing They are in this more happy than secular Persons who are oblig'd to care and labour for necessary things whereas these Monks have all at their Wish without Pain or Labour and if they be depriv'd of a Wife they are free also of the Labours which Marriage brings along with it So that their Chastity is more sensual than the being joyned with some Person of a froward or contrary Humour which is more irksome than Continence So that these Monks who are called Penitents do far less of Petence in their Monasteries than they wou'd do if they were out of them For their Vows of Obedience do constrain them only to what they have a Mind to do They have no sooner pass'd their Novitiate but they are absolute Lords and taking the Will of their Superiours for that of God they make them easily to condescend to theirs else they wou'd become rebellious and chagrin or Disturbers of others And nevertheless they will think they have kept their three Vows and believe that for this Cause they shall go to Paradise tho' indeed all their Vertues be nothing but imaginary ones or Apish Tricks And tho' they shou'd live well according to their Knowledge yet they perish because Ignorance does not excuse Sin To be saved we must of Necessity have the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God these for the most part have none of these Vertues For that cannot be true Righteousness to quit their own Wealth to go afterwards and beg that of others who very often have need of it themselves and yet dare not refuse these whom they esteem to be the Servants of God neither is it just to live upon Alms when the Body and Mind is sound for Labour neither is it just to leave their own Goods to their Kinsmen to enrich them and they themselves go live at the Charge of a Common-Wealth For my part Sir I perceive in my interiour that all these things are Unrighteousnesses before God however they cover them with Perfections and Vertues Neither do I see the Goodness of God reign in these Souls because its Property is to do good to all and to do evil to none But we see these Religious Persons do good only to themselves or those who are associated with them studying to do Mischief to all those who will not follow them And as for the Truth of God it is yet less observed by them than the two other Vertues For all their Works are nothing but external far from the real Truth of God which appears always to be what it is and these Monks make a shew of the Holiness and Vertues which they do not possess but are truly Hypocrites I said to her That many of these Monks were Saints and did Miracles She said They became not Saints Sir by that manner
have such Authority that all the World dreads them and thus the Evil being unknown does Mischief to many and encreases daily and there can be no Remedy applied to it And he who should attempt to do it wou'd be crush'd under their powerful Arm For they govern now all the Kings and great Men upon the Earth as it is declared in the Revelation that The Whore commits Adultery with the Kings of the Earth I ask'd her If this Whore of the Revelation was the Roman Church She said Yes Sir doubt not of it It is of her only that S. John speaks in his Revelations Her Whoredoms will suddenly come to a Height You will very quickly see her overturn'd and render'd infamous before all the World All those who follow her shall be desolate For she shall be so miserably treated that all the World will bewail her and according as she lifted up her self in Glory and Magnificence she shall be as much debased and contemned All her Courtiers who at present extol and defend her shall perish with her and shall swallow down as much of her Curse as they now drink of her delicious Wine Yet a little while and she shall have no longer Force to persecute the Friends of God Then we may preach the Truth thro' all the World and every one shall receive it What is now hid and cover'd with Silk and Purple will then be discover'd to their Mischief and Confusion Read Sir the Particularities of this Whore in the Revelation you will find more than I tell you of them for I see its Mischiefs only in general and they are so horrible to me that I tremble to think of them and cannot notwithstanding o pray that they may not come to pass because this is what she has merited by the streight Righteousness of God which will never be truly known or followed but by the Ruine of her who has quitted her lawful Husband to joyn her self with Fornicators Such are all false Christians with whom she commits daily new Adulteries to the wronging of her faithful Husband who has lov'd her so much and enrich'd her with all sort of Graces and Vertues which she abuses to give up her self to her own Voluptuousness and Pleasures These if considered will be found the Abyss of Evils For she has no longer Fidelity nor Loyalty for her lawful Husband She despises his Commandments and Laws In short she will depend only on her own Authority and Power without reserving it to him from whom she received it with all that she has and possesses which she perâ—erts so miserably to the Prejudice of so many Souls whom she leads with her self to Damnation I ask'd her How it was possible that a thing so holy establish'd by Jesus Christ could become so abominable She said Sir the most perfect things become the most vile when they abuse their Perfections We see Examples of this both in divine and humane things The Angels who were such excellent Heavenly Creatures are they not become most infamous Devils Men who were created by God with all sort of Perfection surpassing all other Creatures are they not become more miserable in Nature than any other Animals for having abused the Graces of God Consider a beautiful Woman that gives up her self to Lewdness Does she not commit more Sins and Impieties than an ugly one wou'd do tho' she shou'd prostitute her self as well as the fair one The more wealthy a Man is the more he loses when ruined and one that stands very high when he falls hurts himself worse than if the Fall had been only from his own Height because the greater Height we fall from the Fall is the more grievous Jesus Christ had raised the Roman Church above all the People of God that ever were in the World For neither the Children of Israel nor the People of the Jews nor any others did ever receive such Graces and Prerogatives as the Church did that Jesus Christ himself came to establish upon Earth He bestowed on her and adorned her with all sorts of Gifts and Graces promising her a perpetual Assistance and infinite Happiness sending her the Holy Spirit to rule and govern her But she abusing all his Favours falsifies her Faith promised to her God makes no reckoning of his Laws and Ordinances but will follow her own Institution She abandons her self to that which most pleases her Sensualities and makes Alliance with the Kings of the Earth and Creatures like her self having wasted with them all the spiritual Treasures which she had received from her only Husband So that in her there is no Footstep any longer to be seen of the Path in which she trod nor any of the Ways by which he walked nor any Observance of the Precepts that he gave her Instead of Poor she is become Rich instead of Contempt she is honour'd and instead of renouncing the World she seeks it follows and carelles it Are not these Heights of Infidelity great enough to make her be rejected and abandoned unto the Miseries in which she is plunged I said to her That this Change of the Church from Poverty to Riches and from Contempt to Honour was introduc'd for a good End and that the Councils had so ordain'd it for to support her She said Sir these are all vain Amusements to believe that what Jesus Christ found to be evil the holy Spirit wou'd now find it to be good We have not a mutable God who changes his Resolutions as Men do He never chang'd and never will change The Doctrine that Jesus Christ brought upon Earth is the last Instruction that God will send Men for working out their Salvation We must not look for any other thing Whatsoever is contrary to his Words does certainly come from the Devil who presided in these Councils who thus chang'd the Rules that Jesus Christ gave his Church for maintaining her aright in his Spirit But they would not persevere therein but devised to find out Ways to maintain themselves in the Name and Authority of the Church by worldly Riches and Honours It had been much better for the Salvation of Souls that the Church had perish'd outwardly when inwardly she did so than to invent new Ways contrary to Jesus Christ to maintain her in Reputation Even as it wou'd be much better not to have a Body than to have one that is rotten For that wou'd only infect others I cannot express to you Sir the Stench that I feel of the Corruption of the Body of this Church How much more Stinking must it be in the Nostrils of God Wou'd it not be a great Sin to praise and commend a Whore that outwardly were beautiful but Pocky within and design that many might go into her to be infected with her Filthiness Such a one wou'd commit as many Murthers as there were Persons killed by Familiarity with her Are not you afraid Sir to do the same when you will so much commend
and excuse this Roman Church which you may easily perceive to be corrupted And the more she is drest up with Vertues and Sanctity she is the more capable of corrupting the Innocent who approach her thinking to find the Spouse of Jesus Christ without Blemish while in the mean time they contract nothing but the Corruption of an infamous Strumpet Thus the most Sound become diseased and will perish if their Maladies be not quickly laid open and dress'd as is meet by that divine Physician who comes upon the Earth to teach us all things according to the Promise that Jesus Christ gave us speaking to his Diciples saying that he wou'd send the holy Spirit who shou'd teach us all things He is now come Sir hear him The Fifteenth Conference That the Time is come when the Holy Spirit will teach us all Truth How Christians do reject his Light and what Progress the Devil has made among them For what end how and to whom God communicates his Spirit I Ask'd her Who this Physician might be who could cure such Sores and such Corruption She said It is the Holy Spirit Sir which Jesus Christ did promise us a little before his Death who will teach us all things This is that LIGHT which shall arise in the Darkness which the World will not receive but Love their Darkness rather than the Light Therefore is it known by so few because they will not receive it giving more Faith to their Darkness than to this Light which breaks forth as a new Day upon the Earth and comes to discover the Truth of all things But Men are become now so much Lovers of themselves that they will not learn the Truth except in things which are agreeable to them resisting the Truth that reproves them or is not conformable to their Liking and Inclinations In this they will give Laws to the Holy Spirit and make him speak what they encline to hear In these Times the Sins against the Holy Ghost are fully accomplished Therefore Jesus Christ calls them dangerous times because the Sins which are committed then will not be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other When Jesus Christ came into the World they committed many Sins against him Nevertheless all those shall be forgiven because the Jews never understood that he was the Son of God Neververtheless they have perceived and confessed that they did ill in putting him to Death and all the Sins of which we repent shall certainly be forgiven But this Sin which is now committed against this Holy Spirit will never be repented of and therefore will never be pardoned neither in this miserable World nor in that blessed one which is to come because they will never ask forgiveness for them since they will not acknowledge them and if they will not suffer the Physician to lay open and search into the Sores of a Patient how can they hope for a Remedy by his Cure Even so the Holy Spirit cannot heal the Wounds of our Souls if we will not let him discover them I said to her It was very desirable that these Wounds of our Souls were laid open that they might be healed She said Sir it is indeed a desirable thing but it is very little desired For all the World resists this Discovery and they think they do a very pious Action when they will hear nothing spoken of the Evils which have crept into the Church nor yet of the Monks and others who prosess to serve God The Holy Spirit it seems must accommodate himself to the Times if he would be heard and must praise the Vices and Sins that are at present committed against him For that String must not be touch'd to speak evil of those who desire to continue in Reputation or Authority in the Church even tho' they should commit all sort of Abominations and tho' they were Sorcerers and Devils They teach it as a Principle of Vertue that we ought to excuse their Sins and take our Garments to cover them that no body may perceive them This is very far from desiring that these Wounds may be laid open that they may be healed 'T is no wonder Sir that I have so often told you that I cannot see by what way there should be so much as one Person at present saved in Christendom because the greatest Part live as Atheists without acknowledging God any longer or thinking on him and the rest having the Reputation of good Men are so full of the Sins against the Holy Ghost that I know not what way they can be gained If it should be told a Priest Sir you are deceived in the Administration of the Sacraments They do not operate of themselves as you think he would think this Advertisement came from the Devil and would resist it as a very ill thing Or if it should be said to a Monk or any other devout Person that they were not true Christians they would presently take the Alarum and withstand the Person who should tell them this Truth as if he were an Enemy of God and a Liar because he who has no desire to amend will not be pleased to have his Faults discovered to him Thus every one continues in his Sins and desires not to leave them off or so much as discover them In this Men love Darkness rather than the Light which arises so graciously upon which depends the Salvation or Damnation of all the Men in the World For the Darkness is universal and there is no Sect or Nation whatsoever that is in the real Truth I said to her That she was obliged to discover these Truths that they would be of great use tho' it were but to my Soul She said Sir you are no more disposed than any other to receive the Light of the Holy Spirit unless your Heart be humble and your Spirit simplified This is what Jesus Christ told Nicodemus that he must become a Child and enter again into his Mother's Womb affirming elsewhere that l If we are not converted and become as little Children we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven These very Words must now have their compleat and perfect Sense For he who shall not submit his Spirit in Simplicity as a little Child cannot receive the real Truth which the Holy Spirit brings into the World because the Doctrines of Men and their evil Customs have so blinded and darkned their Understandings that 't is impossible for them to receive the Light of Truth unless they be first stript of all their Sciences acquired by humane Means which prove Vails and Bandages to the Eyes of the Soul For these humane Maxims are all lying and deceitful teaching to honour Men and give Deference to them when they are in Place and Dignities not considering that Honour is due to God alone by his Commandment and that Deference ought to be given to the Truth only to which it is due and as long
body tho' they shou'd say I am Christ For Christ is not here and there but only in the Doctrine that he left us by his Word He who believes any other thing is deceived I said to her That if this were true many Souls would be deceived because all they who profess to serve God do follow the Counsel and Direction of some Man and if he be of those who belong to the Devil they may deliver many Souls to Satan She said Sir this is lamentable in our Days wherein they have introduc'd these Directions of Men by which so many are led to Damnation even tho they were not directed by some Sorcerer they are at least turned away from God to adhere to Men. This is a great Hindrance to Vertue and the Salvation of Souls For as long as we adhere to the Creatures we shall never find God The one must go out before the other enter and these Guides instead of leading Souls to God do withdraw them from him even tho' they were good Men because God is jealous and will not suffer a Rival nor our Hearts to be separated or divided If so many Souls be engag'd to the Devil by these Directions it is because they chose rather to be lov'd by Men than God This gives the Devil Power to gain them by the Means of these Directors who are much more lov'd and follow'd than God is For he is often forgotten that they may remember these Men. Wives esteem them more than their Husbands Daughters more than Father and Mother and Men take more of their Counsel than that of Jesus Christ Thus every one furnishes Matter for the Devil to be deceiv'd by him It is by this Door he enters to make himself universal Emperour of the whole World He had gain'd many before the Coming of Jesus Christ but since he slipt into the Church by these Directions he possesses all the Wicked with their own Will and the Good indirectly by the Conduct of his Adherents whom he has introduc'd into the Church For Jesus Christ did never establish such Directions in his Church nor yet his Apostles nor their Disciples If this had been an Institution of the Holy Spirit it wouâ—d have been observ'd by the Primitive Christians who had more Zeal to gain Souls to God than these new Directors have For they rather draw them to themselves than lead them to God This often makes the Guides and those who are led by them to perish and go both together to the Devil I ask'd her By what Means I might avoid the Seduction of these false Prophets since they had the chief Ranks in the Church how I might discover them from the true ones If the one be Priests and Religious Persons as well as the other She said It will be very hard for to discern them unless you read diligently the ancient Prophets There you will find how the true and how the false Prophets have spoken For both the one and the other are this Day guided by the same Spirits The holy Prophets were and still will be led by the Holy Spirit and the false ones were and still will be led and directed by the Devil as well at present as under the old Law There is only this difference of times that then there were many holy Prophets and now there are few or none because the Number of the False is so encreast that they have almost swallowed up the Good And as God is not visible by the Eyes of the Body neither is the Devil visible after that Manner both being invisible Spirits who nevertheless render themselves visible by their Operations For he who is guided by God will still speak o the Truth without regarding whether it please or displease Men On the contrary he who is led by the Devil will still speak as Men are willing to hear Remark well Sir in the holy Scripture you will find that all the false Prophets did then always tell good News and promised to every one Peace Prosperity and Assurance whereby they deceived all the World This is even practised at present For if you take notice of all these Priests and Religious Persons you shall hear them always promising Peace and Safety to every one and that even in temporal Affairs whether as to the State or as to particular Persons You hear them always telling good News and promising that all shall go well So that if you remark the Discourses of these false Prophets of the old Law and the Preachers and Confessors at present you shall hear them all speak almost the same Language For the most Pious now-a-days study to please Men and to tell them things agreeable to their Senses and hereby they destroy all the World For if they were in the Spirit of God they wou'd tell the Truth and wou'd preach to all the World that the Abomination is in the Sanctuary and that it is high time to turn to God That the Ax is laid to the Root to hew down the Tree and to break down that great Statue of the Church which Sin has rendered abominable in the sight of God and also that the Life of Christians is very far from true Christianity and that the best of them live in a Presumption of their Salvation and in other Sins against the Holy Ghost Which is most true But instead of doing this they praise and exalt the Church as if she were holy and they persuade People that they are Christians when they are baptized and tho' they do not at all live according to the Rules of true Christianity that yet nevertheless they shall be saved In which they deceive and seduce them For there are no true Christians but they who observe the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and no body can be saved but he who keeps the Commandments of God the first of which is to love God with all our Heart and our Neighbour as our selves which no body does Nevertheless all these false Prophets tell the People that they shall assuredly be saved and that all shall go well with them Is not this a sure Mark to discern false Prophets from the true because the False flatter us always for our Ruin and the True reprove us for our Salvation He that wou'd deliver himself from being deceived must diligently examine whether these Church-men speak to us according as they are willing to hear or if they truly reprove what is blame-worthy of which sort we shall find so very few that almost none will speak the Truth when it is displeasing to People especially to those who are in Places and Dignities For this cause our Times are justly called perilous Times since the Evil is so masqu'd with Vertue For if the Evil were manifest there wou'd be no danger because all good Men wou'd avoid it and so wou'd put themselves out of Hazard of being deceived whereas when it is covered over with Piety and Vertue
Time is come to put this Sentence in Execution It will begin with the Plague of War and then that of Pestilence and after of Famine that there may be time given to all Men of good Will to repent and to take these Plagues in Penitence for their Sins and by these Sufferings to find a Way to return to God with all their Heart and to rise from Death to Life that is to say from Sin to Grace as the Jews shall do by being converted first of all that the Lord may find them watching at his Coming and may say to them Well done good and faithful Servant because thou hast been faithful in a few things I will set thee over great things Enter into the Joy of thy Lord Which Joy shall be recovered at the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory who will overthrow all Evil by the Brightness of his Coming which shall be seen and understood by all the Men who shall then be remaining on the Earth Thus it is that God orders these last things with Weight and Measure that he may still exercise his Righteousness Goodness and Truth even to the End of the World waiting still for Sinners to Repentance being desirous that they shou'd be converted and live Whatever Men say God will never depart from his eternal Qualities and will not confound his last Works no more than he did his first For he continues still firm and constant in all his works If Men will not know this 't is their own Fault and the Effect of the straying of their Minds Nevertheless it is time to open their Eyes For the Plagues are begun I said to her That the Jews were wilfully obstinate not to believe that Jesus Christ was God which the Christians did believe assuredly and consequently they were nearer to be converted than the Jews She said Sir the Jews are less obstinate than the Christians because there is more Ground for their Unbelief than for that of the Christians who reject the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory tho' it be verified by all the Holy Prophets the Apostles and Jesus Christ himself who in so many divers Places declare his glorious Coming and very few speak of his Coming in Reproach This makes the Jews doubtful knowing that God never surprises any but often foretells the things that must come to pass and they finding so frequently in the Holy Scripture the Prophesie of his Coming in Glory and so seldom his Coming in Reproach they have some fundamental Reasons for which they cannot believe his Coming in Reproach But so soon as the Truth shall come to enlighten them they will yield to it because they love it Whereas the Christians do formally resist it and wilfully impugn it and will not believe what they read so often nor hearken to the Light that is offered them thereupon being desirous to continue obstinately in the Persuasions in which they have been trained and blindly to believe the Sentiments of Mens preferring them to the Truth of God So that the Jews will sooner believe that Jesus Christ is God than the Christians will believe that the same Jesus Christ shall come to reign in Glory upon Earth tho this Coming be much more to be desired and valued than that Coming in Sufferings and Reproaches For he who highly esteems God will be troubled to believe or see he shou'd be abased or despised and become the Reproach of Men he who deserves all Honours in Heaven and Earth Hereby the Jew's have more humane Ground not to believe the Coming of Jesus Christ in Sufferings than the Christians have not to believe his Coming in Glory which is more honourable pleasant and desirable tho' the Jews as well as the Christians do very ill not to believe both the Comings of Jesus Christ which are equally true both the one and the other I said to her That she seem'd to hold the Jews Part more than the Christians She said Pardon me Sir I am not partial and if I were I wou'd rather take the Christians Part among whom I am born than that of the Jews whom I never saw I hold only the Part of Truth without leaning to any Side because I have no Pretensions upon Earth Neither Jews nor Christians will give me any thing But God will judge me in Truth and Righteousness Therefore I will always observe it without Respect to any body If I knew not that the Jews are more disposed to receive the Truth than the Christians I wou'd not speak to their Advantage But I cannot conceal the Truth when it is asked me If you address these Jews you will find my Saying true For I know nothing of my self All comes from a Source from whence no Lye can be drawn I am not enclined for the Jews nor for any other Sect in the World For I know none of them that are well pleasing to God But I love those best that are most disposed to receive the Truth and to be converted unto God and I remark this People of the Jews to be more disposed for this than any other Which in Trust I declare to you Not that I may be lov'd or despised but that I may simply declare the Truth as I know it Make a Trial of it Sir and of all the other Things which I have told you you will find them in their Time all true For I am not for telling things that are extravagant or without Necessity You will have Need after this to know all that I have declared unto you They will be very profitable for you and for those whom you shall judge capable of receiving them Doubt nothing of them Conceive and digest them all You shall receive from them great Light in your Understanding and Strength and Nourishment to your Soul and you shall still enter farther into the Knowledge of God and of your self which shall be an Everlasting Happiness for you Beware of being tempted to believe the Contrary Because the Devil will surprize you with false Appearances under a Pretext of scrupulous Piety and Justice The Eighteenth Conference How the Holy Spirit gives his Light to the Soul I Said to her That I would not doubt of her Words because I believed that they all came from the Holy Spirit She said Softly Sir all my Words come not from the Holy Spirit For he does not dictate to me all the Words that I must pronounce but the Substance of all that I say because I would never speak otherwise than by his Motion and no other Discourses are necessary for me For I have no Desire to please any and all that makes not for the Glory of God seems to me a superfluous and useless Thing Therefore I do not willingly utter any Discourse but these to which the Holy Spirit moves me But he does not dictate to me all my Words I have Need to express my self by Humane Reasons or Comparisons because otherwise they could not understand me For
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
his VVorks It must needs be that all things be very shortly overturned for no body knows God any more nor his VVorks I acknowledged my Fault in having so often spoke evil of the VVorks of God saying to her that it was only thro Ignorance and not thro' Malice She said Sir Ignorance excuses not Sin You are always obliged to know that God is a perfect Good from whom no Evil can ever proceed and that all his Works are accompanied with Truth and all sorts of Perfections And that he can never do any imperfect thing and therefore you ought not to wish that any thing were otherwise than he has appointed it for all the Wise Men who are were or shall be upon the Earth cannot have all together the least Wisdom of God and all that they have they have from him Is not this general Rule sufficient to make your Spirit submit to these Ordinances especially as to this Free-will of Men which he has ' given them as a Pledge of assurance that they are his real Children in acknowledgment of which they ought to bless and praise him day and night because he could never testifie more Love to them than by this liberty he has given them to love him For my part I can say in truth that I would chuse rather that God should annihilate me than take from me the Liberty to love him Therefore I resent it so much when I hear it said That it would be better not to have Free-will for I feel by Experience that it is the only thing that unites Men to God and that also which can make them enjoy Eternal Happiness no body can comprehend but he who experiences it what Consolation the Soul receives when it can unite this Free-Will to God This is so perfect an Alliance that nothing can be found in Grace more accomplish'd no more than there can be any thing found in Nature more perfect than that two Persons united in their Wills in God join also in Body this compleats their Contentment but if there were force limitation or constraint on either side the Pleasure could not be compleat This is the Figure of the perfectly free Union that the Soul ought to have with God and if the Soul were constrain'd or forc'd to this union God could not take perfect delight in it because to have a compleat Contentment in the Union of two things they must needs equally concur to it I said to her That I must confess I had been in great Darkness and that I had never conceiv'd that so great a Good did proceed from Free-will no more than the happiness which is found in Marriage when two Persons are united in Body and in Mind She said This is because People consider things only superficially and on the outside without piercing into their Sources for it is the Free-will of Man only that gives him a perfect Union with God without which he could never come to love him perfectly therefore among all the Spiritual Graces that God has imparted to him this Free-Will is the greatest good as also Marriage among natural Goods is the most perfect though Men do very frequently abuse both making use of their Free-Will to damn themselves and of Marriage to sin This is not God's Fault who has ordained both the one and the other holy and perfect but only Man's who abuses the most perfect Gifts of God as well in Grace as in Nature Ought we for this to desire that he had not bestowed these Graces on Man This would be to own that Man's Wickedness should make the Goodness of God to cease which cannot be for God will never cease to be good because Man is evil He remains still the Fountain of all Goodness and the giver of all Good though the men of the World be wicked God will never change for the Goodness or Wickedness of Men nor for any other thing because he continues always that which he is Let Man do what he will with all the other Creatures they shall never be able to make God desist from the least Righteousness Goodness and Truth which he possesseth in himself and will always exercise without regard to the goodness or wickedness of Men. Their abuse of his Graces will never hinder him from extending his Goodness towards them If they use them well they shall receive the promised reward and if they they use them ill they shall meet with the just Punishment without any mutability in God It pleased God to Create Man after his Likeness and so he was made for God's Power is equal to his Will and he would have this Man also joined to his Like as God was to him that is to say entirely spiritually and bodily Now Man could not be like to God by his humanity for God was not corporeal or natural neither could he be like to God by a bounded and limited Will and Spirit because God has a free Power to do or not to do any thing God then must needs have given to Man the same free Power of his Will or otherwise he could not be like to him in any thing And since he would create Man after his own Likeness he was obliged to give him the free disposal of his own will there being nothing else in which he could resemble God By which we see that Free-Will is the greatest spiritual Gift that Man has receiv'd from God since without it he could not any way resemble Him And afterwards to render this resemblance most compleat God took a natural Body and a reasonable Soul like to Man that he might in all respects resemble him that is divinely by the free Power of his VVill and after the manner of Man by the Body and Soul which Jesus Christ assumed in due time that not only Man might be like God but that also God might be like to Man that there might be a perfect and compleat Contentment between God and Man which will appear after the end of all Evil when God shall reign with Men on Earth Divinity and Humanity together joining themselves inseparably by an indissolvable and eternal alliance of Will Body and Spirit by a perfect Bond and Union This is the final Cause for which God became Man that they might dwell together in an Eternal holy Union the figure of which he shew'd in the Earthly Paradise when he created the Woman to give Adam his compleat and perfect contentment for though indeed he had been created with his Free-will to be able to love God and take delight in him and also in all the Creatures which were made subject to him yet his Contentment was not fully perfect for God was to be the delight of his Soul and all the other Creatures of his Senses But his Body did not see its like therefore God says It is not good for Man to be alone let us make a help like to him Because God will make all his
Ordinances of the Church than to those of God I ask'd her Whether she was a Catholick and whether one could be sav'd out of the holy Church She said Yes Sir I am a Catholick and ready to die for the Faith and Doctrine of Jesus Christ because 't is necessary for me If I had remain'd in innocence without having contracted so many evil habits by the conversation of men I should not have needed the Law of God nor the Precepts of Jesus Christ but having departed from that innocence in which I ought to have resign'd my self wholly to God yielding up to him the free will that he gave me I have need now of this Law and those Evangelical Counsels as means to recover that innocence and that I may with singleness of heart resign my will to that of God as all other men also have need of them for every one has departed from that innocence and contracted many evil habits which hinder this resignation to God I embrace indeed the Apostolical Faith and Belief but I do not believe many things which those who call themselves the Christian Church lay before us because they are not true for he who should believe to be sav'd by going to Church and frequenting the Sacraments or such like things would at death find himself deceiv'd because no Prayers or Sacraments operate without an inward disposition And whereas we see people frequent the Churches and Sacraments without piety or devotion we may well judg that the world is deceived by such like things while they place the hopes of their salvation on outward things which are but the signification of the inward disposition of the mind You will say It may be Sir that the Church supposes this inward disposition which is a false supposition because we see evidently by experience that the inward disposition is very far from what appears outwardly and upon this supposition the Church could not appoint the baptising of new born Infants who are not at all capable of inward dispositions I doubt not but these Romanists would bring many Reasons and Arguments but I hold to the Truth of God and know no other Church but the souls which possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Lo this is the only true Church out of which there can be no salvation for every one has need of taking up these means that by them he may attain to a RESIGNATION to God I said to her That truly there must be some infatuation of Spirit that tied us to this Church for tho we see she does not at all possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ yet we are afraid to leave her as if she were the holy Church tho the truth makes it evidently appear that she is not She said Sir I bless God that he opens your Eyes to discover the truth in what concerns your salvation for as long as you do not discover evil you cannot avoid it but will still be in danger of being deceived by it If the Devil were not in this Church it is impossible that so many good spirits should thus blindly follow her 'T is certainly by an infatuation of the understanding for they see enough in the outside to judg assuredly that she is not guided by the holy spirit and that she follows not in any respect the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and nevertheless they continue so wedded to her thro' som panick or pusillanimous Fear that they dare not shake off her dependance fearing they should do evil in following the truth And if any person of a sound Judgment discovers her deceits and uncharms his Understanding so as to perceive her Errors yet out of respect to the Glory of the World he dare not forsake her because this Church is advanc'd to so great Honour and Authority that no body dares leave her for fear of being disgrac'd or persecuted by her as she would certainly do so long as it is in her power For this cause Jesus Christ speaking of the last Times in which we are fallen says That a man must get out of Judea and flee even without returning to his house to take his Cloaths Judea is the Church and the Sanctuary where the abomination of desolation is now so increas'd that it is at its heighth A man needs not glory in being a Son of the Church for the Children shall be cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Jews and Heathens shall be admitted into it for God can make of these stones Children of Abraham Lay aside therefore Sir all these Fears and Pusillanimities they proceed from a softness of spirit Keep close to the Truth and follow her without Fear for she will guide you to salvation If Glory or Interest do not hold you in a dependance on the Church leave her boldly for her Reign will be very shortly at an end and she will perish with all her Glory and Possessions 'T is better lose our Garments than our Life or even our Wealth and Honour than our souls The Fifth Conference Of the Destruction of Christendom I Said to her That I was not so afraid as she thought and that I had ask'd many things of her of which I made no doubt but I desir'd always to be further cleared and therefore propos'd many questions Yet on the contrary I had long suspected that the Church was the VVhore in the Revelations in which her behaviour had confirm'd me therefore would flee out of her Dependance She said 'T will be your best course for her time draws near in which she shall be raz'd and rooted out and her Children scatter'd and divided All the World shall bewail her and call her miserable fot her misery shall be great and all her Villanies shall be discover'd It would be then too late to forsake her for all those who shall be found drinking out of her Cup shall perish with her Therefore Jesus Christ has said That we must not wait till the winter or the Sabbath-day That is till the time of persecution and the Day of the coming of Jesus Christ in his glory for in her persecution there will be so great evils that the like were never seen Men shall pine away for Terror and Fear and be very uncapable of studying how to find the Truth Therefore you must not wait till the time of extremity but flee and get out of her before Neither must you wait till the Day when our Saviour shall come in his Glory because he will render to every one acecrding to his works the time of penitence shall be past it must be done presently or else we shall all perish For the Lord will overthrow all evil by the brightness of his coming which is to be looked for only in order to receive our last Judgment for which it is more than time to prepare our selves and to flee to the Mountains taking heed of men who have for so long deceived and
the same bed To shew that it avails nothing for one to save his Body but he must endeavour to be united unto God or otherwise he shall be taken in what place soever he go to I said to her That I would follow her even to Death because she had the words of truth tho all the world should withstand it She said Sir There is no need that you follow my Person but my words keep them in your Heart and thereby you will attain to Salvation for they are saving Never turn away from them For the Devil has this invention to raise a great many distractions that he may divert us from following the Truth he sends sickness Troubles Affairs of Importance and a thousand other occasions to divert our good purposes that we may never bring them to effect If you were speaking Sir with all good men who are in publick Offices whether Civil or Ecclesiastick they would acknowledg to you that they were never so throng'd with Affairs or Business as now because the Devil being unable to gain them entirely to himself he endeavours at least to give them so much business as that they may not have leisure to think of their Salvation nor of the Dangers in which they live We must certainly discover his wiles or otherwise he will draw us along with him insensibly He has deceived so many by these means making them believe that their imployments were profitable for the Publick or their Neighbours when they serv'd for nothing but human accommodations without any advantage to the Glory of God or the Salvation of Souls And under this False Perswasion many have lost their own Salvation without procuring that of others It is not in these last times Sir that Places Offices or Imployments are saving it is much for a Man to save his own Soul for the times are too dangerous and the world too blind and obstinate If they perceived their blindness they would seek to find a remedy But while they believe they see clearly they cannot think of a remedy and they fall easily into eternal ruin But if you Sir for your own part would be saved remember the Truth and follow it for without it there can be no Salvation For it alone makes us to know God and the Devil and likewise the state of the World and that of our own Conscience Truth shews us also the certain way of Salvation and by it all the wonders of God are discovered It is the Light of the World and the sure harbour of Salvation without which nothing can be good or beautiful The seventh Conference Shews that Jesus Christ will come in Glory or else he should not be the Saviour of the World as he is and there would be no just Recompence for the Good and for the Wicked I said to her that I had sufficiently discovered the truth of this that we are in the last times that the VVorld is judged and Antichriso reigns and also that the Plagues are begun because there is no truth nor Righteousness among Men but that I did not yet see why Jesus Christ shall come to reign in Glory upon Earth She said This is the most evident truth and the greatest Goodness and Justice of God because Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World and the restorer of all things You see clearly by all the Truths that I have told you that very few will be saved of all those who live at present after the usual manner and if this miserable World should last yet longer there would still be fewer because every day it grows worse How therefore should Jesus Christ be the Saviour of the World if he did not restore all things No body could be Saved for the whole World perishes There must come a time that the whole World shall be saved that he may be fitly called the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD And this cannot be in Heaven as People imagine because all who enter there shall be Saved having received Salvation at the hour of Death and this respects only particular persons who by reason of their small number cannot well be called the WORLD because it consists in a Generality and not in some particular Persons 'T is a truth therefore that in a certain time Jesus Christ will save all the World in general This will be at his coming in Glory when he shall have judged the World and condemned the Wicked he will save the Good with all their Posterity who can never perish any more because of the continual Presence of Jesus Christ God and Man who will govern and lead them to Salvation This his coming in Glory is also necessary to restore all things because there has been no reparation yet of all the Injuries and Affronts that were done to his Humanity His low Condition has not been raised up his Poverty has not been enriched his Tears have not been wiped away his Humility has not been exalted neither have any other of his Contempts and Sufferings been repaired nor of those who have loved and followed him One has died as a Malefactor another as a Seducer a St. Andrew on the Cross a St. Lawrence on the Grid-iron and so many other holy Martyrs who have suffered Persecution and Death for Righteousness and Truth There has been no reparation of all this hitherto but by imaginary things as they say that Jesus Christ was exalted on the Cross which is an infamous reparation to dye on a Gibbet as a Malefactor If those who hold this Cross to be a reparation of Honour were hanged after this manner themselves they would not believe that their Honour were repaired by this How can they imagine that that of God was so It is not to be imagin'd that Honour should be repaired by Infamy it self But because his coming in Glory was unknown to them they have applied Infamy to Glory that they might say something of it The truth is Jesus Christ will come upon the Earth to repair all things for it would not be just that he should have suffered so innocently and after him so many other Saints and Martyrs who were free from Crimes and that they should continue dead without being repaired Spiritually and bodily for what they have suffered unjustly or for the Love of God and if People imagine that all these things must be repair'd in a Divine and imaginary Heaven they are deceived because this reparation cannot be perfectly made there for natural sufferings ought also to have suitable reparations unless God did as Charmers do who cure bodily wounds with spiritual rememedies or some artificial words No Sir this will not go after that manner because God does his works always in a perfection every way accomplish'd He will repair both bodily and spiritually all that has been done unjustly and the whole world shall thereby discover his Righteousness Goodness and Truth that every one may know that he is worthy and just worthy
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
from whom he holds all that he has If he dye in this Ingratitude he must by straight Justice go to Hell since he denies God a Thing which is so lawfully due to him as the Dependance of a Creature upon its Creatour Nothing can ever be demanded that is more equitable and nothing can be more damnable than to use our Free-will in prejudice of the Designs that God had in creating Man Ruler over all provided he acknowledged his Dependance upon the Will of God And as Adam lost himself by quitting this Dependance so all Men ruine themselves who do not submit their Will to that of God Because their Salvation depends on doing this and not on many other things which they teach us as necessary to Salvrtion All which cannot save us without this Dependance For his Law cannot save us nor all our Devotions and Means unless they bring us to this Dependance of our Wills on the Will of God All other Things put together cannot save us I said to her That Men were very blind in this Matter and very far out of the True Way For they do not suppose That we must have our Will resigned to God thus independently from our own but that to be saved it is enough to acknowledge That God is Soveraign over all and that also we keep his Commandments She said Sir I greatly pity the Blindness of Men Because they go astray under false Suppositions of their Salvation This is Faith to believe that God is the Soveraign of all Things But this Faith is not sufficient for Salvation It must be accompanied with the Works of Faith that according to our Belief we may give to God the soveraign and absolute Dominion of our Will and that he may thereby operate his Will in us This Resignation is the Work of our Faith Without this Work we have only a dead Faith which cannot save us but would serve for our greater Condemnation For He who knew his Masters Will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes To know that God is the Soveraign of all Things and not to yield up our Will to be governed by him is worse than not to know his Soveraignty Because this Faith and Belief obliges us to resign our selves wholly to him whereas the Ignorance of this Faith might in some manner excuse us for a time because we are obliged to search and find out all things necessary for our Salvation If we be ignorant of them at one time we must study to learn them at another For Ignorance does not excuse Sin God has given us an Understanding for no other End but to Know and Love him and to know what is necessary for Salvation If we apply it to other Things we are deceived and amused by the Enemy who is well pleased to divert our Understandings to Earthly Things that we may perish through Ignorance or by the Straying of our Minds He who thinks to be saved because he has not Killed Stolen nor committed the other Sins contained in the Decalogue is greatly deceived For these things are not spoken but for Malefactors who quitted a Dependance upon God to follow their own Wills in doing which they fell into all the Sins contained in the Ten Commandments Which moved the Goodness of God to give them this Decalogue that they might discover their Sins and abstain from them in Time coming For before these Sins God never gave any other Law to Man but this of resigning his Will to the Will of God So that he who should abstain from committing the Sins contained in the Decalogue should not be saved if withal he did not resign his own Will to that of God because it is not enough to depart from Evil we must also do Good and having no Good but what comes from God of necessity that we may do Good we must be resigned to him because our own Will leads us always to Evil. By which it appears clearly that the Resignation of our Will to that of God is the only Mean of our Salvation and that no Body shall ever obtain it by any other way than by this Resignation of Will to God I said to her That this being so it had been desirable that never any thing else had been Taught Men And that so many other Precepts and Means had made them hope for Salvation without Ground She said It is true Sir It had been better never to have been instructed in any thing else but in the Obligation we have to resign our Will to that of God This was purely true and Man could not fall into any Errour by this Doctrine but it was also very good that after we had quitted our Dependance God gave us the Ten Commandments that by their Means we might know our Faults without the knowledge of which we might have perished through Ignorance as every one does now by being ignorant That to be saved our Will must depend upon God For every one uses his own Will at his pleasure without considering that in doing this he cannot be saved Even so they went on in all the sorts of sins contained in the Ten Commandments and in the mean time believed they were resigned to God as we now believe we are while we follow our own Will These Commandments were necessary Means to make us return to a Dependance upon God For all those Sins do hinder this Dependance and do oppose the Works which God works in us They must be removed before God have the Dominion of our Souls and ere he can govern them according to his Will Even so we must deny our own Will if we would obtain Salvation For it is still opposed to the Will of God doing its Works either at the Will of the Devil or else according to our natural Inclinations Which cannot be but evil If they had only taught the Commands of God as necessary Means to be resigned to him this had been a desirable Thing For by showing that whosoever is resigned to God does not Kill nor Steal nor do any thing contrary to the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God they would discover to all those who did commit such Things that they forsook their Dependance upon God and followed their own Wills that the knowledge of this might make them return to God whom they had forsaken But many other Means which they have taught as necessary for Salvation prove rather Means to hinder it Because many outward Devotions the Ornaments of Churches Images Beads a great many Books and Prayers with a Thousand other Practices which neither God nor Jesus Christ taught prove great Hindrances of the Resignation of our Will to that of God For instead of having our Spirit free to Jet God Act in it what he shall find meet we fill it with our own Affections and keep our Will fixt to some Image Prayer or Devotion which pleases our Humour And thus our Soul not being empty God cannot fill it Thus we
times to follow the Will of God He sasts alwayes when he never takes but what is simply necessary for him in which God directs him He is alwayes in the Church when he is continually in the presence of God He frequents also the Sacraments as long as his Spirit converses with God who comprehends in himself all that is Holy or Sacred He has the Remission and Indulgence of all his Sins by the Resignation that he makes of his Will to that of his God because he can never attain to this Resignation without forsaking all sort of Evil and this is true Repentance which obtains the Remission of all Sins He has no need of Images when his Eye and his Heart is fixt upon the Will of God which makes him remember whatsoever is good and just and he has no longer need of Intercessours for his Salvation since he is united to the Will of Him who only can give it I said to her That I saw clearly enough that all our Salvation and Happiness did depend upon this Resignation of our Will to that of God But that it was a Loss that this was not taught to all the World who believed they were sure of their Salvation by the Means of Devotions She said Sir It is a Lamentable thing that all the World should perish for want of knowing the Truth Secular Persons think they are good when they Trade and do their Business without Fraud though they never consider that they are sent into this World to lead a Life of Penitence and are created to be alwayes united in Will to God Churchmen or Religions Persons believe they shall be saved provided they go to Church and perform their customary Devotions without thinking that to be saved they must be resigned to the Will of God And thus both the one and the other perish through Ignorance because all in general are creared to be resigned in Will to the Will of God depending immediately upon him and not on other Things And though we are obliged to Labour in this Life yet this is but accidentally and to satisfie the Penitence due for our Sins not that God has created us for Labour but only ordain'd it for Penitence And instead of fulfilling it by our Labour we encrease our Sins by the same Means by which we ought to purge them glorying in our Chains and rejoycing in our Vallie of Tears And we will Act where we ought only to Suffer and Rule where we ought to be Subject This falls out through our Ignorance for we do not know the True way of Salvation and we imagine we shall find it by Means which divert us from it instead of bringing us to it They go sometimes to a Cloyster to find the sure Means of Salvation and in the mean time all the Exercises that must be performed are often Diversions from God For so many outward Rules and Gestures prove great Hindrances to the Conversation the Soul ought to have with its God and these Studied Devotions are often Hypocrisies If we bow the Knee to shew that we adore and pray to God while our Thoughts are far from him this is pure Hypocrisie If we give Honour or do Reverence to some Image without raising our Thoughts to that which it represents to us this is pure Idolatry If we pray to God with the Lips and the Heart is far from him it is a Contempt of God If we use Mortifications of the Body without the Spirit of Penitence it is the Pride of Life for we desire to be esteemed more than others because of our particular Pennances when God has appointed us all in general common Ones which would be much more for our Salvation For he who willingly suffers Heat Cold and other Incommodities of the Elements or of our Body does merit much more than he who chuses Fastings Watchings and other things according to his own desires Because these things are done by our own Will and will be recompenced only in this VVorld But the Pennances that are common to all Men are Ordained and Chosen of God for saving Penitences In which these Penitents do greatly deceive themselves in following their own VVill and often will not bear patiently with a VVord that contradicts their Behaviour The Blindness of Men now may truly be bewailed for in all Things they take Falshood for Truth and the way of Damnation for that of Salvation Which would be easie to make appear to all the World in case they would give Ear to it For there is but one only thing needful which is for Men to resign their Will to that of God But they are so preoccupied with so many different sorts of Means which they perswade them are good Things that they should think they did Evil in resigning their Will to that of God choosing rather to submit it to a Man subject to his Passions having forgotten that the Holy Spirit said Wo to the Man that puts his confidence in Man Take Sir this Lesson to your self and put not your Confidence in any but God For all Men are Lyars and cannot give Salvation to those to whom they promise it We have but one only Saviour who is Jesus Christ and one only Essential Commandment which is to DEPEND UPON GOD IN ALL THINGS If Men have taught so many different Things and filled the World with Books to shew that we must depend upon them do not believe them for one thing only is needful I asked her Why she had shewn me so many different things since we began our Conferences seeing there is one thing only needful as I am certainly perswaded She said Sir I never taught you any other Means of Salvation but the Doctrine of the Gospel which is sufficient to bring back the greatest Sinners in the World to a Dependance upon God Because that Doctrine teaches how to remove all that might hinder this Resignation to God And when it says that we must deny our selves it tells us that we must be resigned to God and in saying that we must take up our Cross it shews the Penitence that we are obliged to perform in this World and when we consider the whole Life of Jesus Christ we are thereby sufficiently taught that we must not rule in this World nor seek after Dignities Offices or Traffick nor build Cloisters or other Edifices nor lay up Riches here For his whole Life and Conversation was quite another thing and he has not at all taught us the Customs that are observed at present but Goodness Humility and Poverty These Things are the true Means to attain to this Dependance upon God because they remove the Hindrances of our Soul that thereafter it may resign it self the more easily and freely unto him Jesus Christ has taught that we are to forsake many Things which prove Hindrances of this Resignation to God For he who loves the Riches Honours Pleasures and Delights of this World cannot be
Holy I have told you of the Reign of Antichrist that you may not let your self be deceived by false Appearances of Piety declaring to you that more than Three Fourths of the World are in confederacy with him that you may work out your Salvation with Fear and may trust your self to No body for the most Wicked are the greatest Hypocrites that they may deceive the better I have told you That we are in the Judgment and that the last Plagues are begun that you may not put off your Conversion to another time for that which remains to us is short I have told you that Jesus Christ will come upon Earth to judge the Good and the Wicked and that he will root out all Evil that you may aspire after that Happiness and may decline the Misery of those who shall be sent into Hell I have told you that Jesus Christ will abide upon Earth to Reign there with all the Just for ever that the Expectation of this Glorious Coming may give you Strength to bear with patience the Rods and Tribulations which must shortly fall out such as the like hath not yet been seen I have told you that the World will last for ever and that none of the Creatures shall perish in their Kinds that the Hope of your Blessedness may not be founded upon imaginary Goods and that you may in some manner comprehend what Contentment the Souls and Bodies of the Blessed shall have when all Malignity shall be removed from every thing and all the Elements and other Creatures shall serve for the Delight of Man who shall rule over all being united to Jesus Christ in Body and Soul And this that you may willingly despise the Delights of this present Life in the Hope of those of which are to come I have told you that the Jews shall be converted to God and shall be his People and that the Catholicks shall be cast off and rejected that you may never despise any Body since the Jews the most despised of all Nations shall be the most exalted and of Stones shall be made Children of Abraham and that you may willingly quit the Maximes of the Roman Church which for her evil Deeds shall very shortly be rooted out I have told you that Man is created for no other end but to take his delight with God that you may no longer seek for any thing upon Earth and that you may despise all Things to enjoy this Conversation with God having told you also that this present Life is only a time of Penitence that all your Labours may be done in this Spirit of Penitence to which God has subjected all Men for their Sins In fine I have told you Sir That all the Laws the Prophets and all Vertues do consist in the Resignation of our Will to that of God that you may not be distracted by so many other different things but may pass your Life joyfully under this Dependance upon God which is the least thing we can give to God for so many good Things we have received from him which he permits us to enjoy provided we will depend upon him in all Things I have also shewn you That so many divers Means which the Priests Monks and the Religious have taught us for working out our Salvation are things that withdraw us from it by which we are seduced and deceived For they make us depend upon Men more than upon God Which is an Idolatry that has infected all Christendom in which no Body studies any longer to resign his Will to that of God but every one enjoys and disposes of Things at his own Will as if he were his own Soveraign One will be Great and another Rich one will Rule over others and will be Obey'd and Serv'd one goes in a Coach another upon Horse In short Every one will follow his Delights and Pleasures according to his own Inclination believing notwithstanding that they work out their Salvation because the Priests and Monks promise it to them These are new Gods and new Saviours who have changed the Order established by God our Father and Creatour and the Duties which his Son Jesus came to reach us They lead us in the Way to Hell perswading us that 't is that to Paradise With these Perswasions every one suffers himself to be deceived and seduced there being none now in Christendom who believe that they cannot be saved without resigning their Will to that of God This nevertheless is an Eternal Truth that will never change let Man do what he will If he do not acknowledge the Dependance he has upon God in all Things he shall never be saved and if he do not take up the Counsels of the Gospel as the true Means taught by God for returning to this Dependance he shall never be saved For God teaches nothing that is useless but only Things precisely necessary to which all the World ought to submit This no Body does for they believe Men more than God Though the most part are Rul'd by the Devil who gains the most part of Men to himself by the Means of these wild Shepherds who abandon the Flock to the Power of the Infernal Wolf to destroy them with themselves for ever taking them off from God to draw them to themselves I have told you also That there are no longer any true Christians upon Earth that you may become one and may not blindly suppose your self to be so For there can be no Christians but they who obey the Doctrine of Jesus Christ All others are deceived in believing they are For God does not change upon the Changes of Men We are now as much obliged to depend upon God as Adam the First Man was and as much obliged to Labour the Ground as he though we had committed no other Sin but what he did in us We must also now follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ as the Primitive Christians did because this Doctrine is immutable and will never change Therefore he who does not follow it is no true Christian and cannot be saved without becoming so No Body should flatter himself in this Matter We must imitate Jesus Christ or perish for ever Because both by the Will of Adam and by our own we are all fallen into this Sin of Ingratitude that we will not depend upon God And therefore we have need to take up the Law of the Gospel that we may return to a Dependance upon God which is so just and reasonable Though God had never demanded it of Man he is bound both by Divine and Humane Right to render to God this Submission of his Will and he would certainly do it if he were not diverted from it by Men like himself Because even Natural reason obliges him to depend upon him from whom he receives all Things This Humane Wisdom has diverted having found out so many Reasons and Arguments to favour our Self-will that all People believe they may lawfully follow it without
no more Power than God gives him nor yet wicked Men. She said No body in the World has hitherto understood the Works of God but every one judges of his Works according to their short Sight But now that we are arrived at the Fulness of Time he will give the Knowledge of his Procedure as to Men. You shall be perswaded of this if you take good heed to my Discourse and peruse a little the Holy Fathers who spoke of the Grace of God and of all his Works You must confess that the Discourses of a Child are much more clear and intelligible than all the Doctrines of these great Men Because the Hour is now come that all these Things shall be fully manifested and nothing shall be any longer hid from Men of the Designs that God has concerning them You tell me that many Saints have been abused by the Devil and the Wicked without having contributed to it by their Free-will Which is true For God holding the Will of these Saints in his Power because they had yielded up their Free-will to God he enclines their Will to good or necessary Sufferings Not that God gives the Devil or the Wicked this Power to abuse his Servants by his independent Permission out of his absolute Power but he permits the Devil and the Wicked to tempt the Saints with their Consent For they having yielded up their Free-will into Gods Hand he leads it alwayes to good And seeing that Temptations and Persecution were good for some of the said Saints he enclined their Will to desire them and willingly to suffer them Though in the sensual part they felt some Repugnance the Divine Soul and Free-will were joyful and contented with them seeing these Evils befel them by the Will of God to which theirs was united and conformable And thus they suffered with their Free-will Not that God permits the Devil to do evil to follow his Malice For he can never consent to any evil but he permits him for the purging or honouring of his Servants who desire with all their Heart to be purged or honoured that they may be made so much the more agreeable to God when he permits these Sufferings as the true Means of their Perfection For when there is no need of them for their Perfection the Evils which Devils and wicked Men would do them cannot touch them as it has often fallen out that Poyson or other Mischiefs done to Saints has done them no hurt To shew that the Devil and the Wicked are still free on their part to do evil without any other Permission from God but the Free-will that he had once given them but that the Free-will of the good may alwayes resist them and hinder any from coming near them except it be expedient for the Glory of God or their own Perfection Then though the Soul abandoned to God should not see the evils that the Wicked would do it and should not formally oppose it self to them God who still watches for the good of his true Children will never permit any evil to befal them but what is expedient for them Not that he will bound the Will of those Malignant ones that they may not be able to do evil to the good but he will move the Wills of the good to withdraw from them or to shun the Places and Occasions where the evil may befal them or he will give so lively a Faith that Poison or other Evils shall not take hold to hurt his Servants whom he keeps as the Apple of his Eyes Thus it is that God carries as to us doing alwayes good and never consenting to evil nor yet limiting the Free-will that he gave to Angels and Devils and Men both good and bad every one shall enjoy it to all Eternity without hindrance either in the good or in the wicked Therefore on all occasions we judge amiss of the Works of God when we believe that he permits evil in any whosoever This proceeds from our ignorance of the Excellency of the free choice and the Dignity of the Free-will that God has given to Men imagining that he governs them as Slaves by force or by his absolute Authority Which is not at all so For if he gave to all Creatures that are subjected to Man when he created them an amiable Inclination to acquiesce in and follow alwayes the Will of Man without constraint that he might serve him with agreeable Delight wherefore should he not incline Man to follow the Will of God freely and without constraint The Twentieth and Second Conference Speaks of the Disputes that are about Free-will and Predestination I said to her That this Point of the Free-will of Man was debated That all acknowledged he was created in full Liberty but that since his Sin he could no longer do good without a particular Grace from God She said Sir I believe I have told you many times that God never changes Whether Men sin or not he is not therefore moved Free-will has remained with Men since his Sin as well as before it If he deprived not the Devils nor damned Souls of it why should he take it from Man since his Sin especially since he would pardon him and yet take his Delight with him Must he not after his Sin have had the same Divine Soul and Free-will as before For else he could never more have been led to good nor be united to God if this Divine Quality were taken from him or diminished What more particular Grace could be given him than to let him enjoy his Free-will after his Sin A greater Grace could not be given him than this Divine Liberty with which he might accomplish his Penitence and do all other kind of good For if his Penitence had not been accompanied with this Free-will it could never have satisfied an offended God This Divine Quality was needful to satisfie for the Offence done to his Divinity And without having the Liberty to do good by what means could he recover the Grace of God If God had not left Man to his Liberty to do good never any Person would have been saved neither Adam nor any others For without this Liberty of doing good Adam could never have repented nor all Men who have fallen in him For none who are born since would have been free to do good or to beg the Grace of God for fulfilling their Penitence but every one would have been bent to Evil since they had no other Liberty but to do evil Of necessity they must have given themselves to evil since they would not have had the Liberty to do good I am an Enemy to all these Disputes and would wish that all Men would submit their Judgment to the Works of God I said to her That these Disputes were not ended but many held that God had decreed one Masse of Elect and another of Reprobates and that it will fall out so do Men what they please
She said How cruel is it to hear Sir That God should destinate a Masse of Reprobates This is as if they would say that God is wicked from the Creation of Men for if he were not he would not have created a Masse of Reprobates to be miserable to all Eternity do what they will This necessity of being damned reflects upon God For if he had not created them to Damnation they could not be miserable to all Eternity And God could not create them for Damnation but out of pure Malice setting aside this he would rather have left them in nothing than to create them for Reprobation Truly Sir a greater Blasphemy cannot be uttered against God than this for it shocks all his Qualities of Righteousness Goodness and Truth which are his Eternal Qualities without which he can never do any thing If he had created one part of Men for Damnation he should not have done a just thing since these Reprobates did not merit Damnation before they had a Being and could not in Justice be Reprobated without having deserved it Neither could God exercise his Goodness in determining the Damnation of any Since this Damnation is the greatest Evil in the World How should he be good in doing so great evil to Men And how should he be true in reprobating those of whom he sayes that his delight is to be with them since they are the Children of Men He must want Judgment and Reason who believes that God created a Masse of damned The Superstition of Christians must have invented this blaspheming against God to authorise their Authority and to shew that God also uses Authority over Men as they will use it over their like This is against Truth For God is not partial nor will he ever use Passion towards any All these Words and Disputes are so many Names of Blasphemies of which the Whore in the Revelation is full For I do not believe that any other Sect or Nation sayes that Reprobation is determined of God I asked her What I ought to believe in this Matter that I might not blaspheme against God She said Sir We ought to go to the Original of Man and see in his Beginning how he was created God took not two Masses of Earth to create the one of them for Salvation and the other for Damnation But only one Masse of Earth with which he created one Man only for Salvation creating in him all the Men that ever were or shall be He created them all in general in the State of Innocence and Salvation and for this end gave abundance of Graces both Spiritual and Bodily and that equally to all without exception of any giving to all a Divine Soul and a Free-will that they might be capable to do all manner of good And seeing God created all Men in Adam he could not have created any for Reprobation but all for Salvation none excepted This being so as it truly is no Body could be created for Damnation as they would very unreasonably make it be believed For if some must be necessarily Damned or Saved they should not have Free-will Which none can deny For all Men received a Divine Soul and Free-will in Adam who was the first of the Elect and after him all his Posterity For God never will'd that any should perish but that they Live And seeing he wills that they Live how could he create them for Reprobation since there can never be any Contradiction in God Never believe Sir that any was created for Damnation But if any damn themselves it is contrary to the Designs of God and because they will needs use their Free-will to apply it to evil For if they followed the Will of God and the good Impression that he has given them they could never damn or destroy themselves even though they had sinned Because God desires not the Death of a Sinner but that he should be Converted and Live By which we see that God does not Reprobate the Sinner more than the Just but desires that all should be Saved and none Reprobated as they Maintain But Men now being full of Vices and Passions of Love and Hatred without any thing of Righteousness Goodness and Truth they would fain give Authority to their Malice by making a God to go before them in the Matter of their Passions And as they in taking Dominon over Men do according to their Inclinations disgrace or favour them they would make God as partial as they know they are themselves saying that he damns some and saves others according to his Pleasure Which will never be For God is no more subject to Passions than to change We ought alwayes to come to the Truth and retake the Original and the Essence of Things without amusing our selves with the Discourses of Men who say and do according to their Advantages and if they are not enclined to use their Free-will aright they would fain lay the blame on God saying They have not his Grace or They are not of the Number of those who are predestinated to his Salvation Which makes a great many perish through Sloth or Negligence saying If they are Elected they shall certainly be saved and if they are Reprobated they shall certainly be damned do what they will This is contrary to the Truth For God did not create Man a kind of limited Creature And though it seems sometimes as if God determined good or evil Fortunes yet nevertheless it is not true For he will not determine against the Free-will of Man who shall still be capable of using it well or ill But because our Understanding is bounded it can comprehend only the Accidents it sees without discovering their Sources or Originals For Example We see a Man become poor though he Labour and is no Prodigal We say immediately it is God that afflicts him by evil Fortune while it is for want of Foresight or Management in his Affairs I said to her That it was not believed that God created Man for Damnation but that God Reprobated Man after his Sin which had undone them all She said Sir You will find this absurd For if all Men were created in Adam they are all also fallen in Adam and consequently there could not be a Masse of Predestinated after Sin Because all in general were Reprobated and Damned by the same Sin of Adam He having sinned with his Free-will there was no longer any thing sound in it For if he had not given a full Consent of his Will to Sin none would have been Damned because of the Imperfection of his full Consent as we do not commit a Mortal Sin when our Will does not give full Consent to Evil and no Body doubts but Adam gave the full consent of his Will in disobeying God and consequently he is damned and all Men with him none excepted For he could not have a divided Will nor one part sound and another damn'd Because there was
this Life who would not resign themselves to God but have followed their own Wills are so habituated to evil that they cannot have the Will to do well but with great endeavours and much force and violence to pull themselves out of the occasions of their Evils With this difference nevertheless that Sinners may yet in this World obtain Gods Grace and the Remission of their Sins Which damned Souls can never do Because their Sins have brought on the Sentence of their Eternal Reprobation Men are ignorant of many Things through the Presumption of their Wisdom If they would become Children and be converted to God they would be far more wise For God reveals his Secrets to Little ones and hides them from the Great and the Wise I wish all the Books about these Disputes were burnt and that every one would return into the primitive Dependance upon God which comprehends all Divine Sciences For he who is resigned to God is more Learned than all the Doctours of the World What can be ascribed to the Creature since it has nothing that it has not received of God There was a Time when it was not and when it came to be it 's God who gave it being and all the Powers of Soul and Body The Instinct to do well and the Liberty to love God come also of his Free Gift if the Creature has a good Thought it comes from him What can be ascribed to the Creature since it is come of nothing and can do no good thing without God If he gave it that Inclination to good or that good Thought when he created it or if he gives them as yet is it not still the same Giver or the same God who works Salvation in his Creature Where is their place for disputing to know whether Man can save himself since he is nothing and has nothing that he has not received And this is an Eternal Truth that Salvation and all other good comes from God and that all Evil and Damnation comes from Man and he who is saved cleaves to the Grace of God and he who is damned resists it What Argument will they bring yet in the Dispute about Grace after so clear and convincing Reasons If Man may save himself when he will it is alwayes by the Grace of God who created him for Salvation and imprinted in him this Inclination to good and this desire to be saved How can they attribute any thing to the Creature even though it should be said that he may save himself when he will since this Will was given him by God He cannot ascribe it to himself Whether it was given him in his Creation or at the Hour that he is Converted this should not cause so many Disputes so little profitable either to the one or the other Party Because he who holds that his Salvation depends upon the Predestination of God does certainly conceive a Sloth to Good being perswaded that his Salvation is decreed do what he will and on the contrary he who believes he may save himself when he pleases would not be at much trouble to advance in Vertue since he believes his Salvation depends on his own Will he will imagine that he shall come still in time to be saved though it should be at the end of his Llife And hereby these Disputes instead of bringing any good to Souls do cause them great Mischiefs of Sloth and Negligence as to Salvation and Mistakes of God For the more we will needs know him by Arguments the more we sink into Darkness I said to her That all the Schools then ought to be overturned since the Disputes which they reckon the most saving make us to mistake God and to neglect our Salvation She said Truly Sir this is very desirable that Men would abandon all their Studies that they might resign themselves to the Will of God since this is the one thing necessary upon which our Salvation depends To what purpose is it to make so many Books so many Studies so many Disputes since all Perfection the Law and Salvation consist in the RESIGNING of our Will to that of God! All other Things are vain or useless For we are created for no other thing but for ever to take our Delight with God For what end should we amuse our selves with so many different Things and fill our Minds with Studies Sciences and Disputes which are only for this transient Life and in the mean time give great Hindrances to the RESIGNATION that we ought to make of our Will to that of God For as long as Man is busied in Studies Sciences and Disputes he acts alwayes by his own Motion Because those who are resigned to God do nothing but receive from him and while they do not affect any Sciences they possess more of them than all they can Learn in the Schools which are alwayes full of many Defects because every one is alwayes concern'd in his own Opinion which can be only Humane Limited and Ignorant And all these so imperfect Things hinder the Light of the Holy Spirit which only enlightens Souls according as they are emptied of all Earthly Objects of which Studies and Disputes are the most Lively to fill the Faculties of the Soul This has occasioned the Holy Doctours to continne in many Errours touching God's Dealings Because the Pre-occupation of their Studies has hindred the Light of the Holy Spirit by which they might discover all Things if the disturbance of their Humane Learning had been removed For this hindered them from seeing the simple Purity of Divine Things and the one thing needful for our Salvation which is the RESIGNATION of our selves to GOD. I said to her That at least Divines would be needful to expound the Scriptures to the People and to teach them saving Truths Since we are born in ignorance we cannot know but what is taught us She said These Doctours of the Law put to death Jesus Christ and those who have followed them have taught many Errours to the People So that I believe if many of them had been Heathens or brought up in unhabited Deserts without being instructed by any they would have attained to a greater Knowledge of God than what they have acquired by the Instruction of all these Doctors who have often taught the Doctrines of Men instead of that of God And if these Persons were not full of these Doctrines they would certainly be at more Liberty to resign themselves to God So many Laws and Means which they have taught them are so many Ropes and Chains which withdraw them from it For it is certain that one who has been taught nothing will still have a natural Bent and Inclination to Good Because all that is Good is Lovely and if he shall apply himself never so little to consider the Works of God he must of necessity be brought to Love him For he would see that all that he made is Good By seeing
be some half-broken spirit who through Melancholly loves rather to be alone to give the more Liberty to its Black Humours This is not to be found in those who despise Conversation the better to wait on God and to be delivered from the Troubles they have to live among those who know not God but offend him every Moment How could I believe Sir that these Souls so excelling in Vertue should not be saved even though they are not Baptized since Baptism is only an outward Sign of the INWARD RESIGNATION which they have made of their Will to that of God That God who tries the Reins would he not save them for not having observed this outward Formality which is done in the sight of Men We have not a Political God who has need of the Testimony of Men when he sees the Essence of Faith living in our Inward Parts I reckon such Heathens to be more SAINTS than many of those who are Canonized by the Roman Church and wish Sir that you had attained to their solid Vertues that you had a perfect Contempt of this Life aspiring after another which will deliver us from so many Miseries and also an entire Resignation of your Will to that of God in which alone our Salvation consists and not in so many sorts of Means which they set before us as necessary Things or a Blind Faith of Things which often respect neither God nor our Salvation For though indeed it be Faith to believe that which we do not see nevertheless that is not to say that we must blindly believe all that they would perswade us For God has given us an Understanding to comprehend what is comprehensible of the Works of our Faith For Example We must believe in God Almighty who created the Heaven and the Earth We do not so see this God in whom we believe but nevertheless we see evidently that there must be an Almighty God when we consider the Works that he has done by his Almighty Power and therefore our Faith is not blind since it gives Light to see the Works of him in whom we believe But diverse of these Things which they propose to us as Articles of Faith are without any appearance of Truth as is the Infallibility of the Pope I asked her If one might be saved without believing all the Articles of Faith in particular She said Yes Sir we may be saved by the General Belief that there is one only God the Creatour of all Things provided that this Belief beget in us the resigning of our Will to God in whom we believe Because in this all Things are comprehended since by being resigned to God we fulfil all the Articles of Faith all the Commandments of the Law and the Evangelical Counsels And whereas it is said that all Christians are obliged to Learn the chief Points of our Belief nevertheless this is not that they must Learn this by Rote or by Words For it is enough to know the substance of them that we may observe them for this observing of them is more than to be able to tell them by Rote it is the same as to all the Articles of our Faith in particular It is of little moment that we have a particular Belief of so many Points if we do not observe them all in general by the resigning of our Will to that of God We have no need of doing any other thing to work out our salvation for if we had not quitted this Dependance upon God we should never have had the other Commandments nor the other Articles of Faith Our sins alone have occasioned all these Articles and all these Commandments and other Means And sin ceasing we should have no need of other Laws So that our sins alone have engendered the Law and the Articles of Faith which were given us only to reduce our Understanding to a DEPENDANCE upon God The first thing that God did to bring back Adam to this Dependance from whence he had withdrawn himself while he would needs become wise in himself he asks him Adam where are thou Not that God could be ignorant where Adam was since he knows all things But it was to recal his Understanding to the Consideration of what he had done in disobeying God that he might consider the miserable state to which he had brought himself while he would needs depend upon himself The first Precept that God gave Man was to make him know the state of his Soul asking him Where art thou To make him re-enter into himself and recollect his Senses that he might see whither he had strayed from a Dependance upon his God in which if he had continued there would have been no need of asking where he was since he would have been still in his presence But since he had withdrawn himself it was needful that God should call him back again by asking him where he was But as soon as Adam acknowledged his fault and offered himself to God saying Here am I Lord all confused and trembling not daring to appear before him but hiding himself as a Criminal before the face of his Judge then God gives him the second Precept saying That he should Till the Ground and gain his Bread in the sweat of his Face This was the Penitence enjoyned to satisfie for his sin which being through Grace remitted to him he ought nevertheless to suffer some temporal Punishments and this in Justice For God had not only bestowed on Man a Divine and Reasonable Soul and a Free-will to love him but also many Natural and material Graces Therefore it was not enough for Man that God had granted him the Remission of his Trespasses against him in restoring him by a second Grace his Reason and his Free-will but he ought also to satisfie for the Natural and material Graces which things have not essentially the goodness of God to pardon this Injury received from Man God who is good pardons him the Offence he had committed against his Majesty and even makes him a garment to cover his Nakedness that he might lessen his Confusion he takes care also to thrust him out of Paradise for fear he should come to eat of the Tree of Life and by this means live alwayes miserable All these Favours come from the Divine Goodness But the Elements the Earth and the other Creatures not having in them this goodness set themselves against Man and make him suffer that by Penitence he might pay for the Rebellion he had committed against their Creator This the Justice of God own'd by ordaining Adam to undergo the Pains that all these Earthly Creatures should give him Because they are justly irritated against Man who was constituted their Lord to whom they ought to be subject and to obey But since he was a Rebel against his God they ought in like manner to rebel against him and being Creatures uncapable of Mercy of necessity Man must satisfie them by a corporeal and
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
still his Spouse though there were but one Soul only as there was but one when Adam was created alone This Number of many only makes those Blessed who are of the Number For God on his part takes as much delight with one Soul only that is resigned to Him as He would do with a Hundred Millions For there is nothing to do with Quantity when the Business is about Quality If an Hundred Millions of Souls are resigned to God they make altogether but one only Church which could consist as well in one Soul only as in this great Number Because the Spouse of God is One And as in Nature a Man may have as much Contentment in Marrying a Wife who is Little and Tender as one that is Big and Lumpish Without comparison God is as much Honoured though there were but one Soul only in the World that were resigned to him as if all Men in general were so who only can receive themselves the Honour of their Happiness every one for his own particular For nothing can be taken away nor added as to God who is and comprehends all Things His Alliance that he has made with the Soul of Man is not encreas'd or diminished by the great or small Body of his Church He will still have his Spouse with whom he will take his delight in the kind that he created which was but one Man alone She shall still be preserved as the Rose among Thorns How wicked soever the World may become his Church will still remain there in her kind The Church will always have her Beauty and her Qualities as much in one Soul alone as in an Hundred Millions which altogether would make but one no more than if there were but one alone After this manner God in all Ages has had his Church upon Earth But in how many Souls it consisted is known only to God The People of Israel were called the People of God among whom there were assuredly Souls resigned unto him These made up the Church in their Time and no others Even so among the Jewish People and also the Catholicks The Church of God has alwayes been among them since Gods Alliance with Man could never fail But to believe that all that Masse of People who call'd themselves the People of God were the Church is to deceive our selves Because there never will be any other but the Souls which of their Free-will do resign themselves to the Will of God All others are only Carnal and Material Churches I said to her That we strayed much and greatly erred in believing that all who are called the People of God do make up the Church and that at present she consisted of Christendom which Jesus Christ authorised and said that what she did on Earth should be done in Heaven She said Sir Men are blind and walk where they see nothing I believe that the Spouse of God resides among Christian People though it were no more but in one Soul alone But to believe that this Church consists of that great Number of Persons who are called Christians is greatly to deceive our selves Because of them God may say truly My People have forsaken me Which appears by the whole Behaviour of these Christians now who live wholly as if there were no God every one being so wedded to his own Will as if it had only been given him to satisfie himself and using the Authority that God gave his Church as if they were Soveraigns and independent upon him All which things are inconsistent with the Spouse of God which moves not but by the Motion of her Husband of whom she knows she holds all things and she never ascribes any thing to her self How should this Masse of Christians compose the Church since among them we do not observe almost any who will resign their Wills to the Will of God And those who make their Profit of the Authority that Jesus Christ gave his Church are Robbers and take what belongs to another For when Jesus Christ said Whatsoever you shall do here on Earth I will do in Heaven He spoke to his Spouse and not to his Enemies as those Persons are who cleave to their own Wills who do very impertinently usurp the Title of the Church or Spouse of God For his True Spouse is in nothing contrary to her Husband Being united by a Holy and Divine Will So that they cannot disclaim one another and therefore what she shall do on Earth shall be done also in Heaven by their Unity of Wills which are still conformable Though this Will be wrapt up in the Spirit and Body of the Spouse which is yet on Earth it is nevertheless united to that of her Husband which is in Heaven And therefore what the one does the other approves Because one and the same thing cannot be against it self I said to her That this Quality of Vnion of Will to that of God was a Divine Thing and invisible to Bodily Eyes asking her how I might discover and know the True Church and Spouse of God She said Sir You will perceive it sufficiently even by the Eyes of the Body if you seriously apply your Spirit to discover her Qualities For St. John in his Revelation paints out all her Qualities under the Figure of a Woman who sits in the Sun and has the Moon under her Feet and upon her Head Twelve Stars This Woman is the True Church and the only Spouse of God She is first seated in the Sun that is that the Spouse of God reposes alwayes in the Light of Truth and never turns aside from it that she does not walk therein as a Passenger but sits in it as in her Place of Repose Secondly that she has the Moon under her Feet That is that all Things that are mutable and changeable as the Moon such are the Goods the Riches the Honours and Pleasures of this World are all trod under feet by the Church or Spouse of God Thirdly That she bears on her Head Twelve Stars These are the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit with which the Spouse of God is still inseparably adorned because the Spirit of God where he resides is never barren There he always brings forth his Fruits and there also he still bestows his Gifts By which Sir you may sufficiently discover in what Soul the Church resides If you do not find all this Furniture never believe blindly that the Church is in those who do not possess these Qualities or Conditions which are the True Marks of the Church without which you can never own that she is the True Spouse of God For these Marks are inseparable from Her and where you shall not find them you must immediately desist from believing that you have found the Church Because there can be nothing but Delusion where they say she is without these Qualities For she never goes without them And therefore be not amused though they say to you This is the Church
here or there Do not believe it no more than if they said to you Lo here is Christ or there go not out For where ever He is He operates all these Vertues with which you see the Woman in the Revelation is adorned I said to her That if all these Qualities were required in the Spouse of God I must ingenuously declare that I do not know the Church Because I know no Body who has these Qualities of the Woman in the Revelation and that the Roman Church was directly opposite thereto She said Sir So far as you see the Roman Church opposite to them so far you see her removed from being the Spouse of God which never goes without these Ornaments She is always true and these Romanists are in many Lyes They often condemn Saints for Hereticks And if they knew me I should be in the same condemnation For they cannot endure the Truth that reproves them but they would continue to Rule as the Spouse of God though they have quitted the Truth saying VVhat they bind and loose shall be so done in Heaven Even as if they had continued the Spouse of God and united to his Will From which they are far removed For they have nothing before their Eyes but their own Glory They are also very far from having the Moon under their Feet For Honour pleases them and they wear it rather on their Head than tread it under Feet and they delight in Pleasures of which they will not deprive themselves as far as they can possess them they will not put them under their Feet no more than Riches which they carry rather in their Hearts than make them their Footstool By which you may assuredly judge that the Church of God cannot reside there but the Whore who has falsified her Faith to her Lawful Husband For while she bears the Name of the Church she lives in continual Adulteries which she knows how to cover so well with Things lawful and permitted that it seems to all who have no good Judgment that these Whoredoms are Vertues Must not one have lost his Judgment if he have a Repugnance to quit this Infamous Strumpet who has for so long time by-gone wallowed in all sort of Filthiness under the colour of Holiness and of the Spouse of God without having discovered her Infamies which would be so manifest to all the VVorld if they had removed that Bandage of blind Obedience which has so closely shut their Eyes If you know none Sir who has the Qualities of the VVoman in the Revelation you may say in truth that you do not know the Church and pray to God that he may let you know Her The Twenty Eight and Last Conference Teaches that all the Lawes as well that of Nature as that of Moses and of the Gospel are only true Means to attain to a Dependance of our Will upon that of God That this is the old Leaven which the Woman took and put into three Measures of Meal which are these Three Laws given by God in divers Times which Jesus Christ compares in his Parable to Three Measures of Meal and that a Woman now takes this Old Leaven of Dependance upon God to put it into these Three Laws that it may leaven the whole Lump and make Bread of it for the Nourishment of Gods Children I asked her How I should behave my self since I knew not the Church which I ought to follow and love She said Sir The Gospel is your Mother because it proceeded from the Wisdom of God this is what you ought to follow without seeking for an imaginary Church among Men The Word of God is the Nourishment of our Soul The Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the Rule that we must follow to become the Spouse of God This is the Seed that begets that Spouse Do not search through the Streets or Corners of the City for your Well-beloved for you will be beaten by the Souldiers that stand there Enter into this Closet and Doctrine of the Gospel and there you will find the Nourishment of your Soul and the Means of abandoning your self to God to be his True Spouse and his Holy Church which is the same thing The Spouse of God is the Church and the Church is the Spouse of God and nothing can be it but they who have abandoned their Free-will to the Will of God Therefore I conjure you never to tye your self to any other Thing For God still forms his Spouses by his Word When Adam offended he re-called him by his Word which being by him heard and followed he thereby returned into a Dependance upon God And all the World having shaken off their Dependance upon God he preserved Noah and his Family therein by his Word which being heard and followed they were saved from the Waters of the Deluge And the Children of Israel who heard this Word and followed it escaped the being drowned in the Red-Sea And those among the Jews who heard the Words of Jesus Christ became his Spouses Whom we also may imitate Because the same Word is left us in Writing and we may become the Church or Spouse of God if we will hear and follow it We need not turn here or there but rather take the Thing in its Source and see the Obligation we have of being resigned to God and having through our Perverseness quitted this SELF-RESIGNATION the Means of recovering it are marked out in the Gospel which Jesus Christ has brought us upon Earth It is this Sir that you must follow I said to her That Jesus Christ in his Gospel had not directly taught this Dependance of our Will upon that of God as she deduc'd it She said That Jesus Christ had no other Scope in all his Doctrines but to bring back the Soul of Man into that Dependance upon God from whence he had turned away and that if he taught any other Thing it was only to discover to Men the Things they had done or might do in Time coming which hindred this Dependance For otherwise He would never have taught any other Thing but that we ought directly to subject our Will to that of God But seeing He found Men so far from this Dependance and that they were distracted from it by so many different Means it was necessary that He should let them see in particular the Things that withdrew them from this Dependance upon God For they had Lorded it with their own Wills therefore he tells them that they who do not deny themselves cannot be his Disciples that no Body might flatter himself in believing he might be saved though he should follow his own Will And seeing that every one set their Affections upon the perishing Goods of this World he sayes to them Sell all that you have and follow me Because he knew no Body could be resigned to God while their Affections were set on Earthly Things Because the Love of God is incompatible with the Love of Riches
are so degenerate in this Age that they are enclined more to dispute than to discover the Essence of that which is necessary for their Salvation If this were not the Unhappiness of Men now no Body would call in question whether Man ought to resign his Will to that of God if he desire to be saved Because there is nothing more reasonable nor better nor more just than that a Creature resign himself to the Will of its Creatour and depend upon him from whom it has received All. I said to her That there was no debate to be made about so certain Truths That every one ought to submit their Judgment to this Dependance upon God which assuredly was necessary in all Ages and under all Laws She said Sir Man has nothing in him that is worthy of God but his Divine Soul which consists in Reason and Free-will And if we do not yield it up to the Will of God what is it that we can offer or give Him He has no need of Gold or Silver or Land or Flesh or any Thing that is Natural Because his Being is wholly Divine He could not therefore demand any other thing of Man but this Reason and Free-will As in effect he has not demanded and will not demand any other thing When he said in his Commandments that we must not Kill nor Steal and so forth this was only to draw Man from his Self-love which led him to all these Things And when He taught so particularly by the Gospel what we ought to do and avoid it was because Man followed his own Will in so many divers things It was needful to point out to him every particular wherein he went astray and that for this End only that he might return to this Dependance upon the Will of God For otherwise many Things that Man had were not evil in themselves as Father Mother Brother Sisters Lands Houses Riches all which Things might be very well possest if there were a Dependance of his Will upon that of God For God did not forbid them by the Ten Commandments because Men were not then so absolutely Masters of their own Wills as they became since for they are not satisfied now to use and follow their own Wills during some Passion of Anger or Swearing or the like but they follow them in all Things loving Father Mother and the rest out of pure Self-love For if this were not Self-love Jesus Christ would draw no Body from it since he sayes That we ought to love our Neighbour as our selves And several other times he exhorts that we love one another By which it appears evidently that he would only hinder us from following our Self-will in all these Things because all sorts of Sins consist in the following our own Wills as all Vertue consists in resigning our Will to that of God These are the Two Things which can Save and Damn us Though they be explained all at length by the Doctrine of the Gospel yet they are all abridged by the resigning of our own Will to God or by the following our own Will In this all Good and Evil does consist Of which we are free to make a Choice and to follow the one or the other For there is no Salvation without resigning our Will to God and no Damnation without following our own Will Let them grow old in Study and turn over all the Books of the World and let them treasure up all the Sciences they can never find a Truth more clear than That all Vertues and Salvation consist in the Resignation of our Will to that of God and that All Sins and Damnation consist in following our own Will This is an Eternal Truth which will never change Every one should lay it to Heart because it concerns him For it is a general Rule that respects every one Rich Poor Learned Ignorant Let us Work and Fast and Pray and do all that we can if withal we follow our own Will assuredly we shall be damned And on the other hand Let us take rest and Eat and Drink and do every other thing in a Dependance upon the Will of God we shall certainly be saved For God has nothing to do with the Offerings of Metals but that of our Free-will which he has reserved for himself Of which he gave a Figure by the forbidding Adam to eat of One Tree only Jesus Christ gave us this Conclusion also when after so many Instructions he said I came not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me If Jesus Christ himself who was the Word of God lays down his own Will and sayes that he came not into this World to follow it but that of his Father what then ought to be done and said by the Reasonable Creature who desires to save its Soul since it is the Will of God that it should be saved Nevertheless it will not be saved without this Self-RESIGNATION I said to her That I wish'd from the Bottom of my Soul that never any Body had taught any other thing but the Dependance that we owe to God since in truth all is comprehended in it She said Sir I hope your Wish shall very shortly be accomplished because Jesus Christ promised it by a Parable where it is said That the Kingdom of Heaven is like to Leaven which a Woman took and put into Three Measures of Meal till the whole was leavened And because now we are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven God makes us to understand all that he said in former Times by Parables for then the Time was not come to make these Things be manifestly understood because the World who then liv'd did not see the Things signified by all these Parables But at present we are arrived at the end of the Last Times and shall see the Things fulfilled which are uttered by Similitudes He sayes first That the Kingdom of Heaven is like to Leaven which a Woman took as if he had said The Kingdom of Heaven will be proclaimed by a Woman who taking the Old the First and only Essential Commandment OF RESIGNING OUR WILL to that of God she will put it in the Law of Nature and in the Written Law and in the Evangelical Law which are the Three Measures of Meal and that God sent his Word these Three several Times to serve for Bread and Nourishment to our Souls And it seems this Word though sent after different wayes has not been converted into Bread because so few have nourished their Souls by it and this Food has remained in the Meal even till now Very few resigned themselves to God during the Law of Nature since at the Time of the Deluge Noah only with his Family were saved and only Eight Persons of all the World escaped the Flood And in the Written Law how few also were abandoned to God Since Moses so suddenly broke the Stone because he saw that few would observe the
Commandments which were written in it And in the Gospel-Law how few have followed the Word of God Twelve Apostles Among whom one forsook it to go hang himself and some Disciples among whom divers also abandoned Jesus Christ So that this Divine Word has served for Nourishment for few Persons But in the Fulness of Time in which we enter at present this Divine Word shall have its full effect and the Holy Spirit shall be poured out upon all Flesh Young and Old Great and Small so that all shall Prophesie and speak Languages and do more Wonders than Moses did with all the Antient Prophets who altogether were but Figures of the Things figured which we shall see very shortly come to pass which will be more perfect than all that the Apostles and their Disciples did yea even Jesus Christ himself because we are arrived at the Fulness of Time of which the Apostles says That they shall understand and prophesie in full perfection What they only did in part shall be in Fulness and Accomplishment because then all Men in general who shall remain on the Earth shall subject their Wills to that of God who will govern them according to his pleasure and without the contradiction of their own Wills Then there will be no longer need of Laws no more Constraint no more Commands no more Churches of Stone no more Sacraments no more Prayers no more Desires and Aspirations because the Souls of all Men shall be filled with the Will of God and shall have nothing more to ask Him by Prayer nor have any more need of the Sacraments to obtain his Graces which are all contained in the Accomplishment of his Will which will operate in them without having need to go to Church their Soul being the True Temple where the Will of God resides which has no need of Law or Commandment the Will of God being a Law to it self by Pure Love without any constraint Lo this is the Estate of Blessed Souls who shall enter into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ This is that Hidden Treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven and he that discovers it ought to sell all that he has to obtain it It is to be bought very easily There is no need of being Rich or of Noble Blood No need of Learning many Languages nor of passing the Degrees of the Schools and Universities No need to enter into Cloysters of strict Observance nor to crush the Body with hard Discipline Watchings Fastings and other Bodily Mortifications No need to learn to Read Write or any other Curious Art Nor yet is there need of perusing so many Spiritual Books with which the World is now full which Teach so many Methods of Perfection so many Steps to ascend to Vertue so many Means to find God No Sir all these Things are not necessary because there is but ONE THING ONLY so which is TO RESIGN OUR WILL TO THE WILL OF GOD. Lo this is the Leaven that leavens the whole Lump of the Law of Nature that of the Jews and that of the Gospel Because this Subjection of our Will to God comprehends all in it and gives us an Entry into the Kingdom of Heaven Lo this is all I have to say to you and bid you Adieu for ever Remaining your very Affectionate in a Dependance on the Will of God At Macklin Sept. 15. 1667. ANTHOINETTE BOVRIGNON Luke xxj 5. I will give you a Mouth and Wisdom which they who shall rise up against you shall not be able to gainsay nor resist Chap. x. 18. I beheld Satan falling from Heaven as Lightning THE END Of the Third and Last Part of The LIGHT of the World The TABLE of the Conferences of the Third Part of the LIGHT OF THE WORLD I. Conf. SHEWS That God never demanded any other thing of Man but the Dependance of his Will upon that of God and that all the other Laws are given him by accident and to discover to him his Sins pag. 1 II. Of Free-will That it is the only thing that represents in Man the Infinity and Liberty of God and that this is the greatest Gift that God gave to Man that he might love him freely and infinitely Which is the greatest Perfection in Grace and is Typified by that of Marriage in Nature p. 8 III. Speaks of the Perfection and Abuse of Marriage p. 15 IV. Of the Blindness of Men who amuse themselves with the outward Things which are delivered them without informing themselves of the Truth it self in its depth being charm'd and detained with the fear of displeasing those who are in Vogue p. 19 V. Of the Destruction of Christendom p. 24 VI. Shews the Marks by which it appears the World is judged and that Antichrist Reigns at present p. 29 VII Shews that Jesus Christ will come in Glory else he would not be the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD as he is and there would be no just Recompence of the Good and of the Wicked p. 39 VIII Shews That M. ANTHOINETTE BOURIGNON is sent from God to declare the Truth to Men. p. 44 IX Speaks of the Sins that we commit in another And that to declare the Truth of Evil is no sin p. 51 X. Shews what Souls shall be blessed and explains the Eight Beatitudes p. 61 XI Shews How we must be born again to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and that we must return to a Dependance upon God which is the only thing that He does essentially require of Man p. 67 XII Shews that to be Saved there is One only thing to be done p. 72 XIII Shews That the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the Last that God will send into the World and that the Holy Spirit comes now to give the perfect understanding of it p. 79 XIV Speaks of the Alliance that God will make with Men and of the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory and that to have a share in it we must necessarily Resign our Will to God and re-enter into a Dependance upon him p. 83 XV. Shews how we must make use of all things to keep us in a Dependance upon God p. 88 XVI Shews how the Resignation of our Will to that of God is a continual Prayer that it supplies all particular Doctrines and Exercises and that the Gospel directs us only how to remove the Obstacles that hinder it the discovery of which is necessary p. 102 XVII Is a Recapitulation of all the foregoing Matters their Scope and Vse p. 108 XVIII Speaks of Hell and of the Damned which will be they who shall have followed their own VVill which is the cause of all Evil and that few were disposed to quit it that they may Resign themselves to God and receive the Divine Truth p. 116 XIX Shews that the Spirit of ANTICHRIST hinders Men from discovering the saving Truth and that Heathens are more Resigned to God than Christians at present p. 122 XX. Shews that very few among