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 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
Nature his Righteousness his Goodness his Truth and to be transform'd into the same Image to love him with all our Hearts is to love him only for himself and all other things only in and for God and entirely to depend upon him To love our Neighbours as our selves is to love them as his Images as being capable to be transform'd into his Nature and to endeavour to bring them with our selves to the Love and Enjoyment of God This is the Essence of Religion and the indispensible Duty that God requires of Man in all Estates whether that of Innocence or of his Reparation since his Fall and as our Saviour tells us Matth. 22. 40. On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Had man continued in the Integrity in which he was created no other Duty had been requir'd of him But he turning away his Love from God and setting it on himself and on the Creatures making himself his last End and the Creatures his chief Happiness Means are propos'd to Man to bring him back to the Love of God and to remove the Hindrances of it and he having forfeited the Friendship and Love of God Hopes are given him of Recovering his Love and Favour for obtaining of which the Intercession of a Mediator was needful who by his Merits and Favour with God might obtain it and the main Hindrances of the Love of God being Self-love and the Love of the Creatures he is directed to the Use of such Means as may effectually mortifie and subdue these in him and Man being a wayward Patient unwilling to take the Physick provided for him as being bitter and unpleasant the Physician takes Man's Nature on him and takes the Remedies first himself flies the Ease the Honours the Riches the Pleasures and the Sciences of this World embraces Poverty Reproaches Troubles and Pains and denies himself and his own Will in every thing that he might do the Will of him that sent him So the essentially necessary and effectual means to recover the Love of God is Faith in God through Jesus Christ with unfeign'd Repentance a constant denial of our selves and forsaking of every thing that hinders us to love God and for this End the taking up our Cross daily and following of Christ The Holy Scriptures are the Sacred Records wherein God's Love to Mankind the Life and Doctrin of Jesus Christ and the Precepts he has given for the mortifying of our corrupt Nature and returning to the Love of God are plainly manifested to us and in this respect they are necessary to make us wise unto Salvation as the written Counsels of a Physician would be for the Recovery of his Patient's Health Sermons religious Offices Sacraments sacred Assemblies Pastors Church-Government c. are more remote means for bringing Men to Salvation and if rightly us'd may be very helpful to direct them in the Practice of the necessary and effectual means for returning to an entire Dependance upon God But if the first be wholly neglected and these be rested on and if we think we are religious because zealous about these things and in the mean time are still Lovers of our own selves self-will'd self-conceited worldly-minded envious malicious our Actions void of Righteousness Goodness Truth c. our Religion is the Leaven of the Pharisees it is but a Form of Godliness we are alienated from the Life of God it is a Righteousness of our own and we are as mad and foolish as sick Men would be who should run about among Apothecaries and Surgeons and be very greedy to hear the Receipts of Cures for their Maladies dayly read and explain'd to them should fight and quarrel and hate and destroy one another in contending which were the best Explanations of the Receipts and which Company of Apothecaries and Surgeons had the best Form of Government and in the mean time both Directors and Patients were sick unto Death yet neither would apply themselves to take those Remedies which by all were granted to be necessary and effectual for their Recovery and without which they must inevitably perish Now the Writings of the Author of this following Treatise containing such bright Illustrations of the Truths of God reveal'd in the Holy Scriptures and discovering so plainly in what manner they are perverted by the false Glosses of the Professors of Christianity in their respective Parties I hope it will be no ill service done to the Christian Religion and to this Island in particular to make them more generally known to this part of the World of which Design this is an Essay The Author was a Virgin call'd Antonia Bourignon born in the Town of Lisle in Flanders in the Year 1616. the Daughter of a rich Man there and Baptiz'd and Bred up by her Parents in the Communion of the Church of Rome Being taught to read in her Childhood and having read the Gospels and being told of the Life of Jesus Christ how poor and mean and despis'd and self-denied he was and seeing all People live very unlike to him in Ease and abundance and Pleasures and Honours she ask'd her Parents Where are the Christians Let us go to the Country where the Christians live And tho' her Parents derided her for this yet this Impression ever remain'd with her and it was her constant Theme to let the World see what a true Christian is and that none such are to be found From her very Childhood she had inward Conversation with God and gave her self to Prayer and Divine Retirement but this Retirement being look'd on by the Suggestions of her elder Sister to her Companions as the effect of Stupidity and Sottishness and she despis'd therefore to avoid this she applied her self to take part in their Recreations and Divertisements and she quickly gain'd their Esteem and Favour above her Sister but lost her Conversation with God Yet he did not cease now and then to awaken her even in the midst of her Divertisements but Company and these Amusements still got the Ascendent Then God tried her with more severe means filling her Mind with fearful Ideas of Death Judgment and Hell whereby she came to her self again and saw the Vanity of all earthly things which would end at Death and leave the Soul empty of true Good and full of real Evils This made her abhor her present Life all worldly Advantages the Body and the Caring for it And because the Sollicitations of earthly things were apt to return again she took Care to have this deeply engraven upon her Spirit she went oft to Charnel-houses to view the Bones of the Dead saying See what thou art within a little while thou shalt be like this and yet more horrible She handled them to overcome her natural Horror for them and to make the Thoughts of Death familiar to her For six Months she begg'd no other thing of God but the Remembrance of Death and obtain'd it It was about the fifteenth or sixteenth Year of her
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
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
subject to all sorts of Miseries than we are in our selves nothing more changing nothing more weak nothing more perishing Is this capable of our Love An Abridgment of all sorts of Miseries more infirm than any Animals and the things which are without us are yet of far less consideration 〈◊〉 we love Meat and Drink is there any thing more 〈◊〉 for as soon as we have swallow'd them they are corrupted and chang'd into Putrefaction If we love the Pleasures of the Sight this is a thing that passes in a Moment and cannot give Satisfaction The more we would satisfie our Senses the more they thirst for the Eye is never satisfied with seeing no more than the Ear with hearing Even so of the Lust of the Flesh These are all insatiable things of the nature of Salt-Water the more we drink of it the more we thirst And as for the Pride of Life what does it put in us but a Blast of Wind For if a Woman bow or a Man be discovered in our Presence what does that give us These are all but imaginary Goods which put nothing in him that loves them If we would search into these Truths it would be very easie to strip us of our selves and of all created Things For they are not at all lovely but to those who have lost their Wits Our Soul is created for things more great It ought not to debase its self to Objects so unworthy of its Love It is very easie to forsake our selves and all things when we enter into the Consideration of things that are everlasting All our Amusements proceed from this that we come not to the Knowledge of God and our selves For if we knew God we could not any longer love any other thing and if we knew our selves we would hate our selves and all things because we have nothing in our selves which is not hateful Thus all the Love which we bear to our selves and to other things proceeds from pure Ignorance and the want of Serious Reflection on our selves and on all created Things I ask'd her How I might make this Serious Reflection and discover the Nothingness of all created Things And said That I must acknowledge her Saying was true that there is nothing worthy of our Love But I could not discover the cause of the Blindness of my Mind in this since I had a Desire to discover the Truth and to be taken up entirely with God She said Sir the Fault of your Straying as that of all the World proceeds from this That Men amuse themselves with the speculation of visible and sensible things by which they forget the invisible and spiritual And thus they go on always in a Forgetfulness of God and of their own Salvation Men do even serve for a Hindrance to one another For being all full of these Distractions and Wandrings of Mind they speak almost of no other thing One speaks of his Health another of his Meat another of that which seems fair and good to him And thus they fill one another's Minds with earthly Idea's and they neglect the consideration of heavenly things upon which alone their Happiness depends That Application of Spirit which we give to our selves to others to our Affairs Business or other things which respect only this present Life do rob us of that Time and Attention which appertains to God For we are not created for this present Life but only to live for ever with God If we are oblig'd to remain here for some space of Time this is only to satisfie the Justice of God who being offended by us has destin'd this short Life for the time of our Penitence which being finish'd he will pardon us and restore us into our true Country which is his Presence We ought continually to aspire after it without pleasing our selves in our Exile and Prison What Folly to take Pleasure in Sufferings The Riches the Honours and the Pleasures of this World are all troublesome and painful things and we reckon them for Happiness We glory even in our Chains and Fetters Our Sin has discovered our Nakedness and its Shame has oblig'd us to cover our Body and this same Covering which ought to serve us as matter of continual Confusion serves us on the contrary for Vain-Glory which is altogether foolish since our Habits are the Marks of Sin and we wear them to glory in them If you desire Sir to discover these Truths and to be entirely taken up with God fix your Understanding on the Consideration of all the things which are not God and you will find them all Vain and Transitory even your Life it self It passes every Moment and ought rather to be call'd Death than Life for we die daily And from thence ascend to the Consideration of God and of our Soul which are things Solid and Eternal You will by this Mean be oblig'd to love the one and forsake the other But you can never make these serious Remarks if you do not quit the Commerce of Men and abstain from all that is unprofitable and what does not avail for the Glory of God By the means of these Omissions you will acquire a clear Understanding of the Truth and a continual Communion with God For the Cause of our Blindness of Mind proceeds from this that we divert our selves always with Men or the other Creatures who do distract us from the Knowledge of God and of our selves For all that is not God is nothing The Twenty Second Conference That no true Contentment can be had but in God alone How to return thither Of Gifts And of those which are made to Churches which will perish I Receiv'd a great deal of Light by such firm Reasonings to which all Men of the World must needs yield I said to her That I found only a Difficulty to withdraw my self from all things and to think of God only because our Spirit does easily wander She said Sir all the Difficulty there is in doing this is only in our Imagination for in the Practice there is great Contentment For he who entertains himself always with God is in a continual Feast more pleasant even to the Senses than the most sumptuous earthly Banquet would be For the Soul having full Satisfaction the Spirit is in Peace and the Body at rest all the Senses having a Satiety and Contentment whereas in the Commerce of Men none of them can find full Satisfaction for as long as the Soul does not repose in its God it is like a Stone in the Air which never rests until it have found its Centre or like a Fish that is out of the Water which remains without Vigour dries up and dies if it be not put into it again Even so a Soul which is out of God dries up and dies not being able to find true Contentment even as to the Body out of him There is nothing but a Life truly Christian that is free and pleasant for it
flows from God the Fountain of all Joy and Pleasures An Human Life is a Life of Constraint The Life of Sinners is a Life of Slavery There is none but the Life of a true Christian that is fill'd with Delights The Human Life must force it self for to maintain it self aright in State and Honour and constrain its Nature and its Inclinations to yield unto and please Men fearing to offend or disoblige them therefore we are often constrained to bow as a Reed under the Power of the Great or those in Authority having no more Liberty than the Good or Bad Opinion of Men gives us The Life of a Sinner is a real Slavery for he is tortur'd with his own Passions which do often serve as an Executioner both to Body and Soul destroying both the one and the other What Pain is there in doing Evil What Displeasures and Remorse when the Evil is done How is a Sinner hated by others and a Burthen to himself He has not sometimes the Freedom to speak or lift up his Head for fear his Sin be discovered Is it not therefore more easie to abandon all and to entertain our selves only with God than to undergo the Yoke of a Human or of a Sinful Life Seeing he who is resign'd to God lives as a Child without Care who is carried in the Arms of his Father He fears nothing being under the Guard of the Almighty he desires nothing more for he has found all He can seek nothing because all things are found in God Riches Beauty Honour Pleasure all are there in abundance The Soul is joyful the Heart content and the Body in Repose How can you find Difficulty Sir in a thing agreeable and full of all Good It should rather be found in the Life which you lead Tho it be honest yet it is subject to a thousand Disquiets and Cares to maintain you aright and to please every Body To quit all things is to quit very little for to find the All. And not to think but upon God is to do that which naturally we would do upon the ceasing of the eagerness of our Imagination which frames to it self some imaginary Pleasure in the Conversation of Men which is nevertheless interwoven with a great many Displeasures and Discontents All this may be overcome by retiring our Spirit with God I said to her That I wish'd nothing more than to find my self in so happy a State which would yield me Communion with God That for this cause I would willingly abandon a thousand Worlds Begging she would tell me in order what I ought to do for the first She said Sir After that you shall have wholly abandon'd the World present your self before God as the Prodigal Son acknowledging that you have wasted so many Graces which he had imparted to you that you might love him and that you have applied them to please Men. Tell him plainly that you have sinned against him and Heaven And then he will give you the first Robe of Innocence in imbracing you as his Son Resign your self wholly to him as a Child newly born again and then he will govern you in all your Ways learning you to speak to walk to eat and all the rest that hitherto you did not know how to do aright for if you walk'd it has been to seek Temporal Things and if you have eaten it was but for the Maintenance of your Body and if you spoke it was only to please or satisfie Men All which things are Vain and Unworthy of a true Child of God Quit therefore Sir all your old Habits and suffer your self now to be conducted by God who is your true Father Receive from him what shall befal you If Prosperities come upon you bless him if Adversities receive them with Joy for he had no other things whilst in this World but Tribulations Esteem your self happy to imitate him Seek no longer any other thing but what God shall permit to befal you and then you will find that the Lord is good and gracious Tho' Tribulations seem sometimes bitter yet they are made sweet by the Conformity of the Life of Jesus Christ Pains suffered with Jesus Christ are rendred agreeable This Resignation to God is the first part of Blessedness which draws along with it all the rest When you shall be resigned to his Government you will have no longer need of Masters or any other Helps For he alone is your Protector in this Valley of Miseries which will not last but for a Moment in respect of Eternity Let us suffer with him if we would reign with him I ask'd What I should do with my temporal Goods if I should distribute them to the Poor or to Churches or rather to religious Convents She said Sir Keep your Temporal Goods for your Entertainment For he who has not wherewith to maintain himself now-a-days when Charity is dead would have Vexations to seek and find it So much the more that Justice requires rather to retain what we have lawfully acquired for our own Nourishment than to give it away and to be oblig'd afterwards to ask of others This Pretext of Voluntary Poverty hath introduc'd among the Religious great Avarice for after having abandon'd their own they seek with more Greediness the Wealth of Others than ever they did their own Which obliges them to flatter People and often to give way to evil that they may have where withal to live and they are unsatiable to augment and increase it It is a kind of Robbery to take the Goods of others by way of Alms when we have the Means to live upon our own But if you have more than suffices for your Entertainment distribute it to Christian Brethren who have need of it as the first Christians did so that no Body among them had need of any thing because the Rich did impart to the Poor what was necessary for them There being then no Proposal of Building so many Churches and Monasteries as at present which are built more for the Commodity and Pleasures of Monks than for the Glory of God which does not consist in material Temples as it does in the Living Temples of the Souls of true Christians These are the true Temples of God where he will reside to all Eternity But not in these Machines of Stone or Wood which will perish very shortly with their Builder who will be oblig'd to suffer Poverty by Force since they would not suffer it voluntarily according to the Vows and Promises which they make publickly of it If at present you do not find true Christians to whom to give of your Abundance keep it for the Love of God until you shall know them His Mercy will very shortly form a great number of them For to give to the Wicked is to co-operate to their Vices Having remark'd that she spoke of the Destruction of Churches and Monasteries I ask'd her If she
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
always to aspire to that which will be eternal But on the contrary we would be content to lose it the Eternal provided we might live here always All Men almost are in this Error by which they draw down the Plague of Pestilence to put an End to Desires so impious which have made them abandon their God This Life must needs be taken away from us since it serves as a mean to withdraw us from God The Plague of Pestilence is justly sent upon us to give Death to those who love their Lives more than God As is also that of Famine because so many Men have abandon'd their God for the Pleasures of the Mouth How many are there who love Meat and Drink more than Spiritual Delights Provided the Mouth and the Belly be satisfied they care very little for God Is it not fit that they endure Hunger who think of nothing but of filling themselves This evil is so general that in the best Assemblies of Christians now-a-days they speak for the most part of Eating and Drinking to keep themselves chearful Is it not fit that this should be chastised with Justice by an universal Hunger since this Sensual Appetite has caused an universal Sin by almost all the Men of the World From whence I draw the certainty that all are judg'd and that the Sentence is irrevocable Because no Body repents of these three Sins which form the last Plagues and God cannot defer longer to send them I ask'd her how we could believe that the last Plagues were begun She said Sir Do you not perceive that we are abandon'd to the Spirit of Error That Lying prevails and that Truth is opprest That Men promise themselves Peace and Security in the midst of such evident Perils That there is no longer Righteousness nor Sincerity or Fidelity among Men That Evils are conceiv'd without Fear and brought forth without Reprehension That the Just is punish'd as guilty and the Guilty supported and defended That there is no longer neither Faith nor Law among Christians and that they live in a Neglect of God and of their Salvation Are not these the greatest Plagues that could ever befal the World They are more to be dreaded than Fire Pestilence War and bodily Famine which can but kill Bodies Whereas these Spiritual Plagues kill the Soul which is an Eternal Spirit Behold Sir with the Eyes of Truth and you will see that all Souls perish without perceiving it Which is the greatest Punishment that God can ever permit to befal Men. Many say blindly We are at the End of the World for Wickedness abounds in all places There is no Trust to be given to any They deceive one another without Faith or Honesty In saying this they speak the Truth without knowing it far less apprehending it Many Signs have appear'd in Heaven in the Sun in the Stars fearful Comets menacing great Evils which did affright some at first but so soon as the Devil had Leisure to make his Adherents study to find out Reasons shewing that these were but natural things engendred in the Air he made the Fear of those threatnings of God sent as the Forerunners of his Justice to evanish out of their Minds The Sea has yielded blood And as soon as this has ceas'd the Memory of it has been effac'd Fire has burnt many Cities and they have presently found out some Invention to cover all these Warnings which God gives us saying That these are Casual and Natural Things As also the swallowing up of several Towns and Cities caus'd by Earthquakes They attribute all these Things to future and to natural Causes saying That these Countries situate toward the Sea are subject to Earthquakes In short Sir they make all the Threatnings and Warnings of God to evanish out of Men's Minds that no Body may enter into himself to be converted unto him through Fear and Trembling Some Stroaks of Thunder us'd sometimes to shake intire Cities where the People ran to Confession to prepare themselves for Death But now when they see so many several Effects of the Justice of God by Men's being abandon'd to all sorts of Sins and also by all those outward Sings in Heaven and Earth which have appear'd in our Time and to our Eyes no body is converted unto God for this Far less do they Imbrace the Spirit of Penitence It seems they mock at God's Warnings saying These are Natural Things But I would willingly demand of these Ear-flatterers If God ought not to send his Plagues but by supernatural Things and to make Chimera's in the Air He who has created all the Elements must not he make Use of them to chastise the Offences which we commit against him Is there not need of Natural Things to make our Body suffer which are likewise Natural If the Bodies of the damn'd shall indeed be punish'd with Natural Things why should not in like manner our Bodies which are yet living upon Earth Since they are not sensible but of Natural Things they must needs have Subjects conformable to their Nature The Deluge was made by a Natural Rain And the last Plagues will be made by Pestilence War Famine and Fire all Natural Things because the Heaven the Earth and all the Elements ought to rise up against us to avenge the Offence that we do against their Creator and ours If the Fire shall kindle by some accident or the Earth quake by the Tossings of the Sea and overturn Cities would this be accidental unto God who says that to him the Hairs of our Heads are numbred Would he thus let such grievous Accidents fall out Without his Permission this cannot be true But the Devil to divert us from believing that these things are the beginnings of the last Plagues makes it be said by his Adherents that these are Natural Things that no Body may turn to Repentance The Thirtieth Conference How God permits Man to be abandon'd to the Spirit of Error I Ask'd her How God permits that we should be thus abandon'd to the Spirit of Error She said Sir God permits it by his Justice because we have left his Spirit of Truth to hearken unto and follow Lyes He compels no Body leaving every one in the Liberty wherein he created them If Man therewith will needs abandon his God and adhere unto the Devil he lets him for he will not take away again the Free-Will which he has once given him which God will never take back again for he is unchangeable in all his Doings And having once found it good that Man should be a kind of Creature altogether free he cannot afteward find it evil but will leave him this absolute Liberty unto all Eternity If he will use it to love God he will follow the End for which it has been given him and if he will use it to do evil and to withdraw himself from God he is free God will not
of Life which is observed now in the Cloysters They must either have been Saints before they entered there or being there they must have resigned themselves to the Will of God and followed the Holy Spirit and if so they might be holy in any Place and in any State and Condition and not in the Cloyster only but these Monks extol their Sanctity for their Honour and Profit attributing it to the Perfection of their Rules tho' these have often prov'd Hindrances to those who were guided by the Holy Spirit who is always without Constraint whereas these Rules do fetter and bind Souls with so many Chains that they are more chain'd than Slaves in the Galleys This cannot but bring great Disturbance to truly Christian Souls whom these Constraints do not render holy but the Conformity of their Will to that of God because there can be no Holiness but what is derived from him and therefore no Saints but according as they partake of his Holiness Righteousness Goodness and Truth from which Mens Practices are very remote and if Men were not sitting in greater Darkness than that of Aegypt of old was they wou'd not reverence the Monks to day because there were Saints among them formerly Since their Lives were wholly different from the Lives which the Monks lead now and if they observe narrowly the Histories which they themselves write of them they will find them a Reproof to them in every thing For they write that those Holy Monks did greatly despise the World and these at present do love and seek it that those lov'd Poverty whereas these love and seek for Riches The first were humble and despised and these are self-conceited and will be honour'd Read Sir if you please the Lives of all the Holy Monks you will find them wholly contrary to what we see at present So that what ought to raise their Esteem confounds them I said to her That Saints had instituted these Orders and Rules and therefore they must be good She said Sir if these Orders and Rules had remained in the State in which their first Founders established them they might have been helpful for Sinners who wou'd reform their Vices because when Nature is left to its own Freedom it contracts such evil Habits as that it cannot afterwards be delivered from them but by Rigour and Constraint This is the Reason that mov'd those first Founders to observe bodily Mortifications and Austerities because the World was so addicted to all sorts of Sensualities that Men almost thought of nothing else but their bodily Ease and Pleasures To remedy which these Lovers of Souls introduc'd Ways of living that might resist such inveterate Vices appointed Fastings to subdue the Body Watchings to attend upon Prayer bodily Severities to resist Lust and so of all the other Means that were proper to withdraw Men from the Vices to which they were habituated All these things cannot be evil provided they be observed in the Spirit and Intention with which they were established because they may serve as powerful Helps for Sinners who desire to be converted but every one has no need of these Means to be holy because they cannot give Holiness but serve only to correct the Vices that might make the Soul still cleave to bodily Sensualities and shou'd hinder the Resignation they shou'd make of themselves to be dispos'd of by God But to believe that these Austerities can of themselves render us holy is a great Errour For even the Devil might observe them and continue a Devil still So also wicked Men may become Religious and observe their Rules and yet not change their Affection to their Vices since the same Means which might deliver them from them may plunge them farther into them as we see by Experience that they will sometimes study more Sensuality when they eat but Fish and Pulse than they wou'd do in eating Partridges and other good things and will have more Vanity in wearing a course Habit than in Silk and Purple We may also meet with more Avarice in a poor Man than in one who abounds in Wealth Therefore we can't judge the Vertue of the Soul by outward Exercises since both a good and ill Use may be made of them I said to her That Vows and the constraint Rules were Powerful Helps to regulate ones Life and that the Cloysters cut off many Occasions of offending God being out of the Hurry of the World She said Truly Sir I cannot believe that that Constraint of Vows and Rules have been established by the Holy Spirit because it is contrary to the Free-Will that God has so bountifully given us The same Spirit cannot give and take back the same thing He shou'd be subject to the Passion of changing as we are which cannot be in God He cannot hold that to be evil which he has once approv'd as good The greatest Favour which ever he bestowed on Man is the having given him his Free-Will which renders him a depending Deity and capable of conversing with God as with his like because he is pleased to make a Creature of such a Nature that it shou'd have this Free-Will to all Eternity And how is it possible that the same God shou'd change his eternal Designs and shou'd inspire the Saints to curb Men and to deprive them of this same Liberty wherewith when he created them he wou'd endue them to oblige them afterwards by Vows to follow or love him If God had these Designs no body shou'd be damn'd because the Goodness of God is so great that it wou'd by force constrain all Men to be saved No no Sir this cannot be true God can bind no body to Vows This must be the Invention of Men who having a good Will and Desire that many shou'd be saved thought it was good to constrain them by Vows and Ties that they might be bound to continue in pious Exercises This can come only from humane Prudence and not from the Holy Spirit tho' the Founders of Orders instituted it or the Church after them found it expedient by Vows to oblige the Religious that thereby they might be preserved in their first Resolution of serving God This cannot at all proceed from the Holy Spirit who will never act contrary to himself And to know whether Vows and Constraints were powerful enough Means for the well ordering of Mens Lives that they might cease to offend God and live as true Christians we need only come to experience which is still the Mistress of all Sciences How many thousand Persons in Christendom are now under Vows in Cloysters and Religious Orders and how few of them are there who do Miracles If these Vows and Rules came from the holy Spirit they would certainly be all Saints For the observing the Commands of the Holy Spirit does still produce Holiness so that all who wou'd be subject to the Vows which the Holy Spirit shou'd dictate to them wou'd receive all the Fruits and Gifts which
of all honour which then all the world will render to him and just to render compleat Justice to every one There are so many innocent persons afflicted and Saints unknown and despised on the other hand there are so many wicked men honour'd rais'd to places and Honours and even held for Saints All these being Dead and the Truth as to them undiscover'd must not God avenge the quarrel of the Good and make appear the wickedness of the wicked that he may be Just Good and True I said to her That every one look'd for these Reparations in the day of the general Judgment which must be done in a little time or suddenly where every one shall be recompenc'd in Heaven according to his Merits or Sufferings She said Sir They will make God a God of Confusion What appearance is there that this Judgment can pass in a day or suddenly since the whole world must appear there It should be necessary that all the men in the world should after the manner of an Enchantment be Transported to the same place in an instant who could hear in that croud the Justification of the Righteous If it were to be done only by word they would not hear one by reason of another and if every one in particular must be spoke to to declare his good or evil Deeds it would need a long time before all were repair'd Years would not suffice to Judg so many men as have been upon the Earth Truly Sir all the speculations of men are nothing in respect of the Truth but Chimera's in the Air. God took six days to Create the World deliberately and in order as he has done all his works by weight and measure without any disorder or confusion He made Noah prepare an hundred years before the Deluge and when it came it began to Rain which Rain lasted forty days The Plagues are now begun and will follow in order even to their end and the Judgment will also go on in order so deliberately that there shall not be the least confusion in it for that can come only from men and not from God who does all in Order Neither is there any imaginary Heaven as people fancy it where every one shall be Rewarded or Restored for Heaven is no other but the presence of God who contains all things and can't be contain'd by any because he is greater than all things We are in Heaven when we are resign'd to him whether we live or die we are still in Heaven when we are in God Now being thus Divinely in God we do not notwithstanding receive the material and bodily reparation of the sufferings which we have materially and bodily endur'd And as God has given us both a Body and Soul he has also given us a Paradise both of Body and Soul For this cause God would have become Man even tho man had never sin'd for God makes all his works perfect and compleat The Soul can indeed have its compleat Paradise by the Presence of God because it is a Spirit like to him but the Body can have no Paradise but a Material and Bodily one like it self because it is of a Material Nature it cannot have a perfect happiness by a Spirit or Divinity Lo this is the reason why Man that he may be happy must of necessity have his Paradise in the world which was Created by God for no other end but to serve for a Paradise to Man whom he was pleas'd to Create of a Bodily and Spiritual Nature both together and he has also prepar'd for him both a Bodily and Spiritual Blessedness which are the Presence of God as to the Spiritual and for the Corporeal the Earth and the World and all that therein is By which you may see Sir the truth of the coming of Jesus Christ upon Earth to Reign with Men that their eternal Blessedness may be compleated and that every one may have a Reparation by fulfilling all Righteousness not in a speculative or imaginary way or of a short continuance but a Real Divine and Corporeal Reparation which will last for ever For God's Recompences are not Temporal and Finite but Eternal as coming from an Eternal God who can't give finite or imperfect gifts Consider Sir all these Truths and you will perceive sensibly why Christ must come to Reign upon Earth and that he has not taken an human Body to Reign in the Empyreal Heaven which is Divine but only to Reign on Earth for this Divinity has no need of any Body but this body has need of and must of necessity have some material place to contain it such as the Earth is And if to repair an injury done to any it be needful to make the reparation in the same place and before the same persons where the injury was done why should not God repair upon Earth the injuries received there On Earth they shall be repaired as on Earth they have been committed The Eighth Conference Shews that M. Anthoinette Bourignon is sent from God to declare the Truth to Men. I said to her that I was now convinc'd of all that I must confess before all the world that she possest the Holy Spirit for a humane Spirit could never give so clear an understanding of all the marvels of God She Said Sir you are not deceived in believing that I possess the Holy Spirit because he lives in me and teaches me all that I have told you for I have never learn'd any thing from any man neither would I learn of them because they are in darkness and do not know the Truth in any thing They believe they are very Learned and they are nothing but ignorants being turn'd away from the Truth by so many Novelties which they have made them believe They will needs maintain the Roman Church to be holy and own her Councils as acted by the Holy Spirit while neither the one nor the other is true For the Church is the Babylon of confusion and the Councils are the means by which the Devil has withdrawn Christians from the Law of God they having Ordain'd so many outward things that the inward may be forgotten and that thro so many Natural things People may think no more of the Spiritual Their Commands their Sacraments their Indulgences are all diversions from Salvation to obtain which there is nothing needful for all persons even those who are without God's Grace and straying from the way of Salvation but the observing the Commands of God and the Doctrine of the Gospel for God will never give any other Commands and Jesus Christ will never give any other Counsels than those he has given us by his Doctrine of the Gospel He says That he is not come for the Righteous but for sinners This being so all sinners who desire to be converted must take up this Gospel-Life by which they shall certainly attain to Salvation since Jesus Christ is
one abounds in their own Sense and will not submit themselves to the Truth without which Submission no Body can attain to this Resignation The necessity of this Dependance must be known or else they will not subject themselves to it For if they see not the necessity of doing this every one will believe he is in a State of Salvation in whatsoever Condition he be and thus every one will insensibly perish and my Company could not save them And since God has given me Liberty wherefore should I continue a Slave to Men when I cannot be profitable to them for the Glory of God I said to her That God was pleased to undergo the Slavery of our humane Nature for the Salvation of his Creatures and that she ought to be furnished with the same Spirit that Jesus Christ had She said Sir By his Grace I am so and I do so earnestly desire to see all Men saved that I would willingly dye for every one of them if I had as many Lives But I am well assured that my Conversation my Words and my Life cannot save them if they do not resign themselves of their own free Will to the Will of God Though all the Saints both Angels and Men pray together they will never procure the Salvation of so much as one Soul unless it resign its Will to God For this is a necessary Thing The Saints may indeed pray and the Angels solicite and all Men help any who has withdrawn from God to obtain this Dependance upon him But all this will avail him nothing if he do not of his own Free-will truly yield up his Will to God and deny his Self-will Very few comprehend this Nevertheless this is an Eternal Truth that will never change For God created Man only for this I said to her That I my self did not well comprehend this Necessity of Depending upon God entreating that she would explain it to me She said Sir Be attentive and consider my Discourse well Perhaps it will give you some Light in this Matter Consider first that God said Let us make Man after our Image and Likeness This was not said in vain but it had its full effect and Man was made after the Image and Likeness of God Consider a little Sir wherein you shall find the Likeness of God in Man It is not in his Natural Body For God is a pure Spirit and has nothing that resembles a Body Neither can this Likeness to God be found in the Animal Soul of Man because this Animal Soul has no more than the Beasts so far is it from resembling God for it extends no farther than to give Life to the Body for a certain Time whereas the Life of God is Eternal without Beginning and without End and a Temporal Thing cannot resemble an Eternal Therefore this Likeness of Man to God cannot be found in the Animal Soul of Man no more than in his Body And if one would seek for it in the Faculties of the Soul which are the Memory the Understanding the Will we shall find that these Three Faculties have no resemblance to God For they are imperfect and limited Which God cannot be Our Memory is very frail and sometimes does not remember on the Morrow what we did the preceding Day Our Understanding is in like manner subject to great defects taking False Things often for True And our Will is sometimes so insolent that if it were not bridled by Reason it would often precipitate us into irreparable Mischeifs All which Things are in nothing like to God since he is without any Imperfections or Defects perfect in all Things and without Bounds or Limits whereas the Faculties of our Soul are all limited as the Faculties of the Souls of Beasts are who have sometimes a better Memory than Men For if a Dog or a Horse be ill used in any Place he will remember it for a long time They have also a Will to do and to leave what they are naturally enclined to though it be bounded and limited as well as that of Man for neither the one nor the other can put their Will in Execution because they have not the power to do all that they can desire Which God can do in all Things By which we see that Man is not in any of these Things like to God For his Understanding is not capable of comprehending any thing but what he sees or hears as are the Beasts also So that by the Faculties of the Soul of Man we cannot perceive that he is like to God since he has an Eternal Memory an unlimited Understanding and an unchangeable Will To which the Faculties of the Souls of Men are not at all to be compared Wherein then can it be said that God has made Man like to himself Search into it with me Sir You will find that he is like to God in nothing but in his Free-will And as God has this Free Power over all Things so he gave to Man this Free Power over his own Will that he might dispose of it as it should please him in this alone he is the Image of God Because this Liberty is to him Eternal and Independent As God is Soveraign independent from all Things So Man is Soveraign of his own Free-will independent from all Things except that he acknowledge that this Liberty is given him of God that he neither has nor holds it of himself As God has and holds all Things of himself Otherwise Man is a Deity by his Free-will for by it he can do and leave any thing For God never retakes what he has once given neither will he ever retake the Free-will of Man but will let them enjoy it to all Eternity as being an Eternal Gift It will never end as long as God shall be God Man shall have his free Will both during this Life and also in the other in Paradise or Hell He shall have through all this Divine Quality of a Free-will which God gave him when he created him He shall not take it from him in Paradise because this is the only quality that Man has whereby he is capable of being united to God all the rest being only bounded and natural are not at all-capable of approaching a supream Deity The One and Twentieth Conference Speaks of the Free-will of Man in which alone he is like to God That God has given it to Man for ever That he has annexed to it all his future Graces And that never any Good nor any Evil will befal any Body in Time or in Eternity but by Free-will according as we shall yield it up or not to a Dependance upon and Resignation to God I said to her That we had been taught That Man had indeed Free-will when he was created But that by Sin it was so lost that he could not use it any longer to do good She said Sir Free-will shall never be diminished but will continue alwayes such as it was
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
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
and what I ought to do to attain to so great a Happiness She replyed Sir There are very few things to be done but there are many things to be left and parted with It is a great Point to quit Honours Offices and Dignities but these are all things without us There are also within us which hinder the Operation of God such as the coveting of all that pleases our Eyes the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life If we could part with these things we would presently find God For if our Soul had no hindrances it would fall into him even as a Stone cast from on high falls into its Centre which is below Our Soul has God for its Centre it can never repose it self but in him Therefore we can find no Rest nor Satisfaction in the things of this World which do only pull us out of our Centre which is God But if we could part with that Covetousness that Concupiscence and that Pride which we have in our Heart we would find our selves swallowed up in God without knowing how There is no need of doing much to find God because he offers himself always of himself But we must labour to remove the Hindrances which our Vicous Affections do give him In this the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence for we cannot without Violence quit our evil Habits God in the mean time does well deserve that we should force our selves to find him so much the more that by our Wickedness we have so basely forsaken him for things of so small Continuance For all that can be coveted in this World passes away like the Smoak And what can the Lust of the Flesh give us but Pains and Corruption The Pride of our Heart is nothing but a meer Blast of Wind which puts nothing within us And these so inconsiderable things do nevertheless oppose themselves to God building as it were a strong Wall between our Soul and him which hinders us from hearing his Voice and his Word There are no other means but to break it down by Force of Combat I ask'd her To what Place I should retire since she would not that I should follow her She said to me Sir You will be well enough in any Place provided you be with God There is no Part nor Place that can sanctifie you but rather a Disingagement from your self The World is great and God is every-where It is not meet to affect a particular Place It were better to roul from one Place to another since we are Pilgrims upon Earth let us walk always towards our Centre without considering in what Place we are lodg'd for the so small Time that our Life is to continue Jesus Christ had no house of his own yea not a Stone whereon to rest his Head So much the more as we are disingag'd so much the more shall we be united unto God And this is the only Reason why I do not desire your Company because I am nothing but a mere Creature as you are not a God from whom you ought to look for all things I said to her That her Company had done me great good That I had reason to desire it as the true mean of attaining to Vnion with God She said to me Sir So long as you rest upon any Means you will never arrive at the End Means are good to be made use of as we would make use of a Way to travel to some Place but they are not good to be relied upon Many Souls are deceived in this who have stopt in the midst of the Race and never found God because they rested upon the Means How Holy and Perfect soever the Means may be they are never God and we ought not to rest but upon him alone The Devil has likewise so many Holds when he finds us wedded to any thing He makes Mercury of every Wood. But when we are free of Matter and adhere to God only he cannot take Hold of us on any Side The Eighteenth Conference How we may attain to Perfection and to Communion with God resigning our selves wholly to him quitting both Human Learning and the being Taught of others for a Time Christians uncapable of being taught They will be more desolate than the Jews I Entreated That before I parted with her she would tell me in particular all that I ought to do to have Communion always with God That she ought to give me all Saving Instructions She says Sir God sufficeth you and Jesus Christ is your Master seek no other Means He is the Way the Truth and the Life He has omitted nothing in his Gospel for the Teaching us all things His Word is the Bread which is come down from Heaven for the Nourishment of our Souls Do not seek any other Pasture because there are now so many wild Herbs which are poysonous Feed only upon the Words which give Life and you shall never die If your Soul be entertaining itself with God he will make it see all that it ought to do and avoid more clearly than we perceive sensible Objects Resign your self to him and he will always guide you aright Be not careful any longer for any thing when you forsake all you shall find all I have thus experienc'd it According as I disingag'd my self from earthly things at the same Time God replenish'd my Soul with Light and with Consolation I can give you no other Instructions but those which I have experienc'd I doubt not but you know much more than I but your Wisdom is Human. When you govern'd it was but by Human and Natural Principles All that Wisdom must now be forsaken since Jesus Christ says That he will destroy it and as a Child you must embrace the Gospel-Simplicity for he says If we be not converted and become as little Children we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Leave therefore all your Studies Sir and hear what God will teach you and follow him Hereby you will be the most wise in the World For if you continue your Studies they will serve you for great Hindrances If you have resolved to quit your Benefices quit also your Sciences For they have not made you to know God nor yet your self Therefore you have no reason to love them but rather to abandon them I ask'd her If I ought not to preach any more nor to teach any Person seeing I might now do it with more Perfection than I had done it formerly for I had receiv'd by her Discourse much Light of the Truth and of Falshood She says Sir Do not teach any Body until you have found Communion with God For how can you give to another what you do not possess your self You have made so many useless Sermons and so many Teachings without Profit for your self or others There is Time enough lost you ought now to employ it well You believe that you can do it with more
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
Expositions and Books was but what they could know by Divine Light joyn'd to their own Conceptions which were not always guided by the Holy Spirit For their Studies and proper Sentiments often hindred this Knowledge and serv'd for Clouds to that Divine Sun who could not dilate his Beams fully upon their Souls because they were not entirely free and disingag'd from their own Idea's and Preoccupations It is true they said many things useful for that Time but not sufficient enough to enlighten those of the present Time All now must be known as it is The Prophets have indeed declar'd all that must come to pass even to the End of the World but neither they themselves nor any others understood their Sayings Jesus Christ himself declar'd what they had said by Parables not being willing to give the Understanding of them but only tell them That they might adore the Marvels of God when they should see the Things come to pass which had been for so long a Time foretold I ask'd her If she had received from God those Discoveries which have been for so long time hid from all the World She said Yes Sir I may say it with Confusion That it hath pleased God to communicate his Secrets to me which he had hid from the Wise and Great of the Earth If such has been his Will who can reprove it or find Fault with that which he finds good Is not he the absolute Lord of all things That which he wills he can do without Men's being able to contradict it for no Body is capable of giving Law to him He is as Powerful as Just and Good Let us only adore his Designs Tho' I were even the most wicked Creature of the World he might serve himself of me in what pleases him and damn me in the End if I have merited it All things being subject to him all things must obey him the Infernal Powers as well as the Celestial and Terrestrial Nothing can resist his almighty Arms. I must submit Sir if God will declare his Marvels by me I cannot hinder him If he will speak by a Stone or Wood he ought to be heard with Respect I have not sought nor ask'd these things they have been pour'd into me insensibly When once I desired no more to know any thing I have learn'd all things even to the greatest Mysteries of our Faith and all that shall befal Men even to the End of the World Nothing has been conceal'd from me I know the Master-pieces of the Works of God and the Accomplishment of the Holy Scriptures The Re-establishment of the Holy Church and the Reign of Jesus Christ upon Earth The Alliance which he promised unto Abraham and all the Things which are foretold by the Holy Prophets Nothing shall pass without having its accomplish'd Sense and its present Accomplishment in the Mystical Literal Divine and Material Sense It it an Abyss of Joy to think of it What Joy to see it brought to pass If you saw it as I do Sir you could no longer love any other thing no more than all other Men For no Delights can be imagin'd greater than those which Jesus Christ has promised to Men to Live to Converse and to reign among them Visibly and Bodily upon Earth This is a thing which ravishes my Soul with Joy and Contentment You need not be astonish'd that I take no more Pleasure in earthly things since these heavenly ones do take me up entirely I heard all these things with Admiration not knowing what to answer but to entreat her that she would explain herself a little more upon this Subject She said Consider Sir God created Man to take his Delight with him For this End he made him after his own Image and Likeness because there can be nothing more delightful than to rejoyce with ones like Therefore he made Man with a Divine and Immortal Soul like to himself He made him Good Righteous and Powerful in nothing different from himself but in this that he must depend upon God as his Creator whereas God has a Sovereign Independency without Origine or Beginning and Man receiv'd Being at a certain Time produc'd by the Goodness and Power of God whom he ought always to acknowledge and obey But instead of doing this he slighted this Dependence desiring to stand by himself and as God to know all things Which destroyed and ruin'd him for no sooner did he conceive the Desire of knowing Good and Evil and of equalling himself unto God eating the Apple which God had forbidden him for an outward Mark of his Ambition but he presently perceived the Misery into which he had reduc'd himself finding himself stript of all the Graces and Prerogatives into which God had so freely plac'd him and fell into Derision with God because of his Arrogance Notwithstanding of this God does not change and will never change his Designs He desires to take his Delight with Men For he created them for no other End Therefore he will not destroy or annihilate them as they merited but makes them only know the Fault which they had committed in desiring to shake off their Dependence upon him and he gives them a certain time to do Penitence for this Fault to the end that this Penitence being finish'd he may receive them again into his Favour and give them the first Robe of Innocence with the same Goodness and Power wherein he created them that throughout all Eternity he might accomplish his first Designs which are to take his Delight with Men. This Time of Penitence is this short Life wherein we breath at present which is the Exile into which we were banish'd from Paradice which was the Presence of God that Adam enjoy'd before his Sin for he then communicated himself to him as a Friend unto his Friend This makes Paradise there being no other Place that can make it but this Presence of God this alone is the Paradise of Delights For tho' indeed Adam had remain'd in the earthly Paradise in which he was he had continued as miserable as on the Earth which we possess at present after having quit the Conversation of God through his own Fault because nothing can be Paradise but this Divine Canversation And if Adam had remain'd in this Earthly Paradise after his Sin he had been even much more miserable than we are in this strange Land Because he might have eaten of the Tree of Life that he should not die and consequently have continued always miserable without ever finishing his Penance which the goodness of God foreseeing he banish'd him out of it that his Penance might be only temporal and passing In this he has shewn us great Mercy For as soon as we shall have finish'd this short Penance which he has enjoyn'd us we shall return into the same Conversation with God that Adam had before his Sin and even more familiar since God is
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
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
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
Conference That the Roman Church is the Spouse of Jesus Christ but that she has falsified her Faith to her lawyul Husband I Said to her That she gave a deal of Light in divers things for which I did infinitely bless God but I could not deny it troubled me a little to hear that the Roman Church was thus fallen from the Spirit of true Christianity She said Sir it is more expedient for the Salvation of your Soul that you know the Misery into which the Church has fallen than if you knew the highest Mysteries of the Trinity or the greatest Good of all Men together Because an Evil known is easie to be avoided But as long as 't is unknown and hid from us it is always dangerous and may greatly hurt us without our being aware of it Therefore you ought to give the more Attention and to apply your Understanding more to understand and comprehend the Truth which I tell you of Evil than to discover the Good For if I told you the Good of all Men this would only give you some little Contentment or sensual Satisfaction which would add nothing to your Soul But by knowing the Evil as it is you may prudently beware of it that it do not touch or harm you For all these Evils which I said were introduc'd into the Church even while it was yet Holy are all covered with Appearances of Good and Piety and Reason because the Devil could never have gained so many Souls as have followed him but under this Colour or Mantle of Good And he will yet gain many by their Ignorance of these Evils or by their Unbelief of them For as long as they take Evil for Good they will still blindly follow it and Ignorance will not excuse the Sin For God having given us an Understanding to comprehend and a Spirit to discern we ought particularly to apply them to what concerns our Salvation and when the Truth is set before our Eyes and we will not open them to consider it we resist it and may look for the Condemnation of the Holy Spirit who says that Vnbelievers shall have their Portion with Sorcerers I said to her I would not be incredulous but believe the Truth But that I felt an inward Opposition when it thus overturn'd the Church in the chief Points of Belief which we owe to it in case it were the Holy Church She said Sir I believe in the Holy Church and if I had a thousand Lives I would voluntarily expose them for its Defence and would think my self happy to spend the last Drop of my Blood for such a Cause But when God makes me see clearly that She is not Holy nor that which Jesus Christ established but that She is the Whore which is spoken of in the Revelation I cannot resist so clear Truths which do not only lie secret in my Soul but God gives me also Terms and Words whereby to explain them to you that you may likwise receive the Knowledge of them for your Salvation For which I have often bless'd God who bestows on us so many particular Favours hoping he will do it also to others But I intreat you doubt not what I tell you of the Miseries into which Men are fallen For they are yet greater than I have told you But persuade your self assuredly if they were not true I would not have engag'd my self in Discourses so melancholly and disagreeable to your Sentiments It would be more pleasant to me to tell you that the Roman Church is Holy and Perfect and that those who obey and follow her are holy This would recreate both my Heart and yours and the Hearts of all who could hear it I should be very light-headed or void of Understanding to please my self with things which displease all the World and which oblige me still to hold my Peace and to conceal my self Because I know very well if they should hear me declare those Truths all the Romanists would rise up against me and even the most Pious would think they made a Sacrifice to God in killing me For they are ignorant of these Truths and are wedded to their Church as if she were Holy knowing no better because the great Darkness that is now throughout the whole World wherein the Devil has bewitch'd all Minds with Errours they may never come to the Knowledge of the Truth which every one withstands even thinking they do well in it I ask'd her If I might not suspend my Belief of those things which were contrary to the Church and believe only what concern'd Vertue and the Love of God She said Sir you can never follow Good without departing from Evil nor adhere perfectly to God without abandoning that which is contrary to him Have you not remark'd in how many things this Roman Church is contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ How therefore can you adhere to her and follow Vertue and the Love of God so long as they are really contrary Jesus Christ says that We cannot serve two Masters without being unfaithful to the one or the other You must chuse which you love best Good can never profit you without the Knowledge of Evil because while you do not know and believe it you will insensibly fall into it yea you will often take Evil for Good For the Evil of this Church is still covered with the Sanctity of pious Reasons and Arguments And if Antichrist did not cover his Wickedness with Vertue he could gain none but the Wicked but with pious Pretexts he gains all the Good who would even make a Scruple not to follow him as you do Sir by your Demand For if you do believe and follow Vertue and the Love of God you will certainly hate all that is contrary thereunto I think I have already told you enough to let you see that the Rules the Commands and Ordinances of this Church are not conformable to those of God who when he created Man gave him full Liberty to use his Will wheras those constrain it in all Points and will not only subject it by Councils or Advices but by Force and Violence both bodily and spiritual So that as much as in them lies they destroy the Law and the Ordinances of God to establish their own Authority and to bind the Souls of Christians by so many Constraints that 't is impossible for them to satisfie them without displeasing God tho' there were no other thing but the forbidding Priests to labour and making them swear never to explain the Holy Scriptures otherwise than the ancient Fathers have done Do you not see Sir that all their Laws are nothing but political and made to maintain their State and Authority If a Prince or a King to whom you were subject did become a Tyrant would you make any Scruple to abandon him when it were in your Power to do it tho' he were the lawful Son of your King and gracious Father who had preceded him A
thro' too much Labour And on the contrary how many are there who kill themselves by indiscreet Fastings or other Penances or the Neglect of necessary things All those are wilful Murtherers because they kill themselves to satisfie their own Sensualities or Inclinations and they are also often Murtherers of others because they occasion sometimes their Neighbours Death by indirect Ways as in forcing some to work beyond their Strength or in crossing and vexing them so much in their Goods and in their Spirit that they die of Grief or by not taking away Debates and Quarells when they can do it and these encrease till they come to kill one another or when by some Act or Omission they occasion the Rise of such Debates or when one comes to die thro' the Neglect of our necessary Succour or Assistance By all these things wilful Murther is committed tho' the Will be indirect it ceases not to be before God as great a Sin as a direct Murther For the Life is taken away indirectly as well as directly And sometimes it would be less evil to kill a Person at one Stroke than to kill him by degrees and the Sin also would sometimes be less by a Stroke given in a sudden Passion than when it lasts for so long a time and these Sins are often repeated Nevertheless none do perceive these kinds of Sins to be such as they are but the most spiritual fall into them thro' Negligence and very often without desiring to know them And thus while they do not repent of them they cannot obtain Pardon no more than of the other Sins against the Holy Ghost because they are committed secretly and without Repentance which draws on a Despair of Salvation which is also one of those Sins This Despair of Salvation is ordinarily excited by the Devil at the End of their Life When he he has train'd up Souls in the other Sins against the Holy Ghost he discovers them to them at Death to make them fall into Despair of their Salvation For then their Eyes being open'd to consider the great Number of Sins which they have committed against the Holy Ghost all the Days of their Life of which they have never repented and how often they have receiv'd the Sacraments in this evil State This makes them fall into a Despair of being saved because the Soul is disordered and cannot perceive the Means of its Salvation Yea tho' they should not distinctly perceive all those Sins they are notwithstanding in such Confusion and Perplexity that they durst not hope for Salvation and they would be ashamed to declare their Misery to Men who still held them for good Men. Hence it is that these Souls die without Repentance which is the Consummation of all their Evils For by the straight Righteousness of God no Sins will ever be pardoned without Repentance and they not embracing this die miserably tho' they have lived in a seeming Holiness they go notwithstanding to receive their Portion with Devils even tho' they had but one of these Sins against the Holy Ghost they shall never be saved I said to her That I began to doubt of the Salvation of all Men since they who are called Saints do so commonly perish That these Sins against the Holy Ghost were so much to be dreaded and nevertheless so few are afraid of them that God's Judgment of things is quite different from that of Men. She said Yes truly Sir God's Judgment is quite another thing than Man's For most frequently what they esteem Good is in God's fight very bad This is since they left his Righteousness and lean'd to their own They are now uncapable of making a right Judgment because their own Righteousness is blind and founded only on their own Imaginations and not at all on the Truth which could never deceive them For it is unchangeable and without Dissimulation but the Truth and Righteousness of Men is lying and deceitful and he who trusts in it must of Necessity perish because it flatters us to our Perdition If we had continued in the Righteousness of God our Judgment would have been conformable to his But since we are fallen into Unrighteousness we judge unrighteously both in respect of God and of our selves For we judge falsely of God on all Occasions attributing very often to him the Blame of our Damnation and of all the other Evils which befall us Tho' notwithstanding no Evil can come from God he being the Fountain of all Good to which all Evils are opposite We may also judge amiss as to our selves believing often our Salvation to be sure when it is in great Hazard as you may see by the Deduction of the Sins against the Holy Ghost of which I have so particularly spoken to you to let you see Sir how the most Pious are deceived since they strayed from the Righteousness and the Truth of God they are full of frivolous Devotions which blind their Understanding that they know not real Truth nor solid Vertue but amusing themselves with the Discourses of Men and seeming Vertues they live and die in a Presumption of their Salvation without good Works and thus they perish for ever The Ninth Conference That no body can be saved but he who professes the Goodness Righteousness and Truth of God The World is at present without them but it shall be renewed The Danger that Men are in Secret Evil ought to be discovered I Said to her That many would be deceived at Death because no body is endued with that Goodness Righteousness and Truth of God and if there can be no Salvation without these no body will be saved or very few She said No Sir no body can be saved if he do not possess the RIGHTEOVSNESS the GOODNESS and the TRVTH of God Therefore Jesus Christ says Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect He does not mean that we should be perfect as God in his Power or his Essence but in proportion to our being in his Righteousness his Goodness and Truth The Righteousness of God makes us do all things justly as well in Regard of our Enemies as of our Friends and our selves so that we must always at all times and on all Occasions be righteous both in Word and Deed. In this consists the Righteosness of God For if we are righteous only according to our own Inclinations we have nothing but a Humane Righteousness which ends with us and cannot save us Consider Sir the Righteousness of the Pharisee you 'll see that he fasted twice a Week paid Tithes of all that he possess'd and did other good things in the Judgment of Men and notwithstanding he is rejected by God and not justified which makes it appear to us sufficiently that to be saved we must have another Righteousness than our own that it must be conformable to the Righteousness of God or else it will not avail us for Eternity because it is said elsewhere If your
Works perfect in all respects He is not satisfied to have created Adam in the enjoyment of his Free-will by which he might have his VVill united to God's he gives him also all beautiful things to recreate his Sight and all â—avoury things to recreate his taste all pleasant things for his hearing all things necessary for his Entertainment and he will needs also give him a Companion suitable to his Person that both as to Body and Soul he might have perfect Contentment compleat in all respects therefore he instituted Marriage that the Souls which are united together by will in God might be also united in Body and that Man by this Figure might see how compleat and perfect the Union must be that he must have with God in all respects and without any defect The Third Conference Speaks of the Perfection and of the abuse of Marriage I said to her that Marriage was very holily instituted but that it was very ill observ'd because no body observes narrowly the works of God She said Sir this is the cause why the VVorld is condemned for God is no longer known nor lov'd in it and no body is sensible of this Fault They use their Free-will to satisfy themselves every one willing and desiring that which is pleasant to his Senses or advantageous for his Interest in this VVorld They will all that which God does not will and notwithstanding they hope to be saved and make a contrary use of all that God has given us Marriage is a Holy thing and may well be called a Sacrament for God has instituted it and all that he has done is Sacred and Holy But what do we see in rhe use of this Sacrament but the Sin of Lust and filthiness people carrying more disorderly in it than the Brute Beasts They joyn Bodies when their Desires and Wills are far divided The ends for which God instituted it are no longer regarded by married Persons It is their only desire to satisfie their Lust or Avarice For the rest they only mind it but by accident And as there is nothing more holy and perfect than the Bond of Marriage for two Persons who have dedicated their Wills to God because it unites three things which make now but one to wit the will of God and the wills of the Married Persons who by excess of their united VVills unite also Bodies in the Spirit and Design of God so on the contrary there can be nothing more wicked than two Bodies united by Carnal Concupiscence for this Alliance is the source of all sorts of Sins yea the Abyss of all Evils And as those who are united to God have by being married with a Person equally united to God a perfect Contentment both of Soul and Body so those who live after their own will have by marrying with their Like still some discontent both of Body and Soul because their Souls not being in God they cannot have Peace and their Bodies being joyn'd without Love cannot be satisfied nor contented but they are in Body and Soul as in a temporal Hell which prepares the way to Hell Eternal for these Bodies united without Souls and VVills can produce nothing but Sin through the Lust of the Flesh besides Contention and Strife with a thousand other kinds of Excess Vain-glory Luxury gluttony to which Married Persons excite one another So that their whole Life is nothing but a constant course of sinning which extends also to their children thro' the bad example of the Parents who train them up in evil customs and they increase the number of the wicked Hereby the world grew still worse and its wickedness is still increased and the perverse generation is become so numerous that the Evil is without Remedy for no body is aware of it because every one treads the same path Custom is changed into Nature And whereas they ought to marry for the Two Ends that God gave them that is to preserve a perfect Unity among his true Children and to increase the number of them by generation they usually marry to satisfie their Concupiscence and so they beget Children for the profit of the Devil Thus the works of God are perverted by evil practices for of all that God has done in Nature there is nothing more holy than the Matrimonial Conjunction which by a perfect Union binds persons in Love for otherwise God might have made men engender as the Fishes or in any other separate manner which his Almighty Power and Wisdom could have provided for But resolving to have in Nature a figure of the Union of his Three Powers and of the entire and perfect Alliance which he would make with man he ordain'd that their generation should be by the conjunction of two persons that he might keep them always inseparably united to his will in body and will by a Bond of Charity and gave them a natural bent and inclination to this conjunction which is the most perfect thing in the world if it were observed in the spirit of charity I said to her That it must be acknowledg'd no body understood the works of God and that they made an ill use of all especially of this Matrimonial Conjunction from whence so many sins did proceed and instead of regarding it as an holy thing it was matter of shame and blushing amongst the most sober persons She said Sir 'T is sin that renders it shameful even as that of Adam made him see his Nakedness and gave him ground thro' confusion to hide and cover himself If he had remain'd in innocency he would never have been ashamed of being Naked but it was his sin only that caused this shame He had no need of covering himself before he sinn'd for his body was more beautiful and more artificially contriv'd than ever the most costly Stuffs with which he could cover himself but the imagination being disorder'd by sin made him see beautiful things as if they had been filthy This has remain'd even till now in the imagination of all men who esteem that to be good and beautiful which they imagine to be so and reckon that also to be filthy and evil which seems so to their imagination Hence it comes that they look on natural things as shameful but if they regarded them in Truth and Innocence all would seem good and beautiful to them for God could never make any thing evil but man perverts all good into evil and by his sin corrupts all things the most innocent become the most wicked by sin It must be acknowledged Sir that the way in which men now joyn for generation is very filthy and makes chast souls blush because they observe nothing there but the sin which is in it which is infamous For this cause they are asham'd of it But if this sin were remov'd they would see nothing in it but what is pleasant as if two little children should play together quite naked there would be nothing but pleasure in this because of
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
live and dye in amusing our selves with the Hopes of Salvation without any ground Because it ought to be founded only upon the Resignation of our Will to that of God That which we least think of is the most necessary I said to her Since this Resignation of our Will was the only thing needful we ought to fix upon it and that neither Books nor Study nor any other Means were any longer fit for attaining to Salvation and that Man was very void of Judgment in burthening himself with so many other things She said Sir Man is truly void of Judgment while he amuses himself with so many different Things since there is but one thing necessary All the rest is superfluous and useless There is no need of Studies nor Benefices that we may resign our selves to God nor of Honours nor Riches nor Places and Dignities For all this respects the Earth only and Humane Accommodations A little Aliment will serve for this short Life Alas why should we vex and amuse our selves to make up a Fortune here which must remain on the Earth and all Humane Delights must dye with us Is it not a great Folly to embroil our selves in Places Offices and Benefices for so short a Time as this Life lasts during which we have no need of any thing but a little Meat and Drink with some Cloaths to cover our Body No Body has need of any thing else neither King nor Pope more than others with all their Wealth and Grandeurs but this little Aliment and whether we leave behind us at death Land or Money 't is all the same thing The Body rots in the Ground and we carry nothing away the Rich no more than the Poor the Noble than the Beggar Death levels all without any Preference Must not a Man be very void of Judgment to desire Goods which are a Burthen to us painful to get troublesome to preserve and grievous to be parted with What a folly does he commit who from his Youth gives himself to the Study of Letters or other Sciences on design to attain to some Office and Dignity and when he has attain'd it reckons himself happy As if any Happiness could be found in Miseries And does not discover that truly the Wealthiest and the Greatest are the most miserable and subject to more Cares and Vexations to more Fatigues and greater Accounts to be charged on their Souls and Consciences For he who has but a small Labour sufficient for the maintenance of his Life without pretending to more is a thousand times happier than a Rich and Great Man in this World and has also a far less Account to render to God For Offices and Riches lay great Obligations on him that possesses them So that what we imagine to be a Happiness brings upon us great Mischief robbing us of our Time which ought to be employed only in fulfilling our Penitence and also exposing our Souls to many Hazards of their Salvation and it wholly hinders the Resignation of our Will to that of God For he who covets the Offices Honours Riches and Grandeurs of this World cannot be resigned to God because all these things proceed from our own Will seeing that of God aims at no other thing but Eternity whereas all that is Temporal and passes away is opposite to it We would laugh to see a Pilgrim heap on his Head or Shoulders the Earth which he should only tread upon that he may advance in his Journey and we think we are very wise in Loading our selves with Gold and Silver which should only serve us for a Foot-stool and we oppress our Understanding with Cares Studies and so many different Distractions whereas we have but one thing only to care for which is to resign our VVill to that of God and to live without Care in this Resignation of our Will to his This is all that God will always demand of Man without obliging him to any other Thing And when we amuse our selves with so many different Things we Act against the Command of God and we follow our own Will For one will covet to become an Attorney Advocate or Counsellour another to be a Merchant Shop-keeper or Tradesman one becomes a Priest another enters into a Religious Order another desires to be a Prebend Bishop Cardinal or Pope And when they have attain'd to all these Pretensions they are only filled with Wind Because all this passes away as the Vapour that vanishes in the Air And very often when we think to take our ease under the Favour of some great Fortune we immediately go down into the Grave where Death puts an End to all our Employs and renders all our Pretensions vain For by following our own Will we can never have acquired any thing for Heaven and God would not be just if he should reward eternally the Works that we do for the Earth or with respect to the Creatures We are deceived if we believe it because all that respects the Earth is recompensed on the Earth The Sixteenth Conference Shews How the Resignation of our Will to that of God is a Continual Prayer that it supplies all particular Doctrines and Practices and that the Gospel directs us only to the removal of the Obstacles which hinder it the discovery of which is necessary I asked her If it was needful to use any longer the Means of Devotion when one is resigned to God If it was any longer needful to Pray to Watch to Fast to go to Church to frequent the Sacraments to procure Indulgences to Honour Images especially that of the Virgin Mary which Devotion they tell us is necessary for Salvation with many other things which seem to be good She said Sir The Resignation of our Will to that of God supplies all Things and when we are arrived at this Resignation we have no longer need of any Means Because God works then in us what pleases him and we have no longer need to Act but to be still and passive Our Devotions are then without ceasing and we pray always when we are always resigned to God For Prayer is nothing else but an Elevation of the Spirit unto him and it is elevated unto him as long as we receive all from his Hands and are pleased every Moment with what he ordains This is the continual Prayer which he demands of Man saying That we must alwayes pray and not faint He who lifts up his Heart to God only when he is in the Church or sayes his Pater Noster's does not pray alwayes Because he cannot be alwayes in the Church nor mutter his Prayers from Morning till Night But he who resigns his Will to that of God prayes continually whether he eat drink walk or take his rest He is alwayes by his Will united to God and has no need of other Means because he is arrived at the End where Means would be a Hindrance to him He still watches when he is ready at all
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
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 Conscience and that all these outward Things are nothing but Grimaces when they are not done from an abundance of inward Sentiments and that it is said to such Persons This People worship me with their Lips and their Heart is far from me All Christendom is full of this Blindness and they believe that God is served by outward Things Nevertheless it is a certain Truth That God has no need of material Things but desires only the consent of our Will to take his pleasure in us Which he cannot do so long as we will take our pleasure with the Creatures or with any Earthly Things even though according to our Opinion they should be good Things Because he is jealous of our Heart and will not suffer a Corrival and he has reason For it appertains to him alone Because he created it without the Interposition of any other Notwithstanding Man is so unthankful that he denies him his Heart and his Will and would content him with Words and outward Gestures and will not open his Eyes to discover the Truths which would save him from Damnation My Heart is oppressed with Grief Sir to see all the World perish and I cannot help it because they will not receive the Truth I am very far from desiring to leave my Neighbour out of disdain But I am obliged to leave him because he will not be converted to the Truth and the Holy Spirit sayes We ought not to speak that which does not profit I see the Vice of all Men clear as the Sun and I do not think that one can be saved in the State in which they are at present And yet I cannot save them by my Conversation Because they make not a good use of it If I declare their Vices in particular they are ill satisfied or at least they would cover and excuse them Which is evidence enough that they will not amend them and if I point out the Vices indirectly or in general then no Body will take it to himself but will excuse himself by some Formality or Reasoning and if any one lay them to Heart for a Time Men and Business do quickly banish these good Purposes And so nothing is put in practice My Time is lost And my Words are rendered useless whereas I would be profiting something in conversing with God Behold these are the Causes and Reasons why I will remain alone not to conceal the Light For I would have it Lighted for all the World and I know not a more perfect Contentment in this Life than the Meeting and Society of many Hearts united in Jesus Christ as also I know nothing more uneasie than the Conjunction of Persons of contrary Wills For I cannot change for them and they will not change to follow me This is the Combat I said to her That at least some would change to follow her and to save their Souls She said Sir You would be greatly astonished to see the way the World would take to change Every one forsooth would resign his Will to God provided he govern it according to their own Inclinations God must accommodate himself to them and they will not accommodate themselves to God Even so many would indeed follow me it so be withal they may follow also their own Will Which cannot be done For he who follows it is the Enemy of God and if I am his Friend how could I dwell with those who are his Enemies without a continual Constraint Contradiction and Debate All their Actions proceeding from this Self-love would be blameable If I do not reprove them I am unfaithful to God and if I reprove them I become their Enemy and withal they will not amend but will become rather worse applying themselves to remark if they can find any defects in my Actions for a Revenge and if they do not find any they will endeavour at least to despise my Intentions by measuring them according to their Line and interpreting them according to their Sentiments And thus they will offend God and trouble my Repose without any profit Therefore I foreseeing this would do very ill to associate with any Body unless I had assurance before-hand that they would resign themselves truly to God For else this would be to render my self a Slave and others miserable without any Contentment And as God takes his delight and pleasure with Souls whose Wills are united to his so he thrusts behind him those who are not in the Unity of his Divine Will even so ought I to thrust away from me those who will not truly resign their Wills to that of God because it is a kind of Martyrdom to live together bodily being divided in Will As it would be a Paradise of Delights to live with Persons who have their Wills equally resigned to that of God Which makes the true Paradise and perfect Contentment For God and these Souls would be but one and the same Thing I said to her That she ought to associate her self with sincere Persons and that her Company would be of great Advantage to them for attaining to this Resignation to God She said It is true Sir in case their Will were truly good But all that I remark in these Persons who would follow me and be saved is nothing but Wouldings not absolute Wills They say they would be converted they would follow me and be resigned to God while in effect they do neither the one nor the other before God Because these Wouldings proceed only from their own Will They would be converted being afraid of Damnation they would follow me that they may be saved and resign themselves to God only in Word or as long as the Will of God goes along with theirs Lo this is the good Will that I have experienced in those who would follow me and even at present I know no other For I perceive very often that they aim yet at their own Interest Honour or Pleasures So that it they were with me I would reprove all their Actions none excepted Which would be very irksome to me and troublesom to them yea even insupportable For so long as they are not truly designed to God they live still according to their Natural Senses which will not suffer Reproofs and Nature is so Proud that it will not acknowledge its Fault nor suffer disesteem presuming to be more wise and accomplished than its equals so that all that I should do to these Persons would only be to disquiet and vex them because they are so in love with their Vices and Imperfections that they even despise those that do not follow them So that I should live in a continual Constraint among others for I could not speak according to my Sentiments For they are not capable of them and I could not shew them their Faults because they presume to be as wise as I neither could I be profitable in their Company when they will not follow the Spirit that guides me but every
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
disposed to resign her self to God notwithstanding her Sins For she no sooner heard the Truth from her Saviours Mouth but she quitted her Sins and bewailed them bitterly detested her Vanities and followed Jesus Christ through all How many other Persons heard the same Truth without resolving to follow him A Thousand Persons followed Jesus Christ bodily and heard the same Words but produced not the same Effects This cannot come from God who has still the same Efficacy But it proceeds from the Indisposition of Souls who do not receive it effectually And Men not being able to dive into the Interiour imagine that this is done by God independently In this they are greatly deceived Which they shall see at the Last Day of Judgment wherein many shall be Saints who were despised and condemned in this World and many others shall be Reprobated who here were held for Saints Because Men regard only the outside But God tries the Reins and examines the Conscience which is known to him alone Therefore Men ought never to judge nor dispute of the Works of God Because they are blind and ignorant in his Matters and when they say that he Saved and Reprobated some in this World they calumniate him and blaspheme against his Qualities of Righteousness and Goodness That Judas was damned was by his own Free-will and not by the Decree of God who spoke more to him to convert him than ever he did to St. Paul or Magdalen and that the wicked Thief is damned was by his obstinacy in Sin For if he had acknowledged his Fault he would have been saved as well as the other I said to her That no Body thought it a Blasphemy against God to say That none can be saved without the particular Grace of God and that some have it and some have it not and that he gives it to whom he pleases She said These Terms of speaking Sir make nothing as to the reality of the Thing It may indeed be said truly that none can be saved without the particular Grace of God But to say that God gives it only to whom he pleases and to understand thereby that he gives it to some and denies it to others with respect of Persons is Blasphemy Because he bestows it alwayes according to his Righteousness not according to his own Choice For this is only the way of passionate Men to favour those for whom they have an Inclination God gives indeed more Grace to some than to others but alwayes in proportion as each one does more resign himself to his Will For he sayes Be ye faithful in little things and I will place you over great things To shew that he encreases his Grace alwayes according to our Fidelity That particular Grace which we stand in need of to be saved was given to us all in the Creation of Adam For he could not create us to Salvation without enduing with suitable Grace for it and the Grace of raising us up again after Sin was also given us in Adam which we might enjoy yet provided we use the same Means of his Penitence And if we have sinned after him by our own Will it shall be forgiven us provided we take up the same Penitence which consists in the Shame and Confusion that Adam had in the Fear he had of God not daring to appear before him and in the Accepting of the Pennance of Labouring the Ground and gaining his Bread with the Sweat of his Face Many Men now say they have not Grace that they might get rid of their Sins And if they would examine their Consciences well they would find it is because they have no Repentance nor Confusion for having committed them nor yet the fear of God nor a desire to do Pennance for them And that they may not acknowledge so great Faults they say they have not the Grace of God that they might amend This is to blame God for their own Wickedness For very often they love their Sins and are only afraid of the Chastisements which these have deserved So that if God had not a Hell to chastise them they would never forsake them so far would they be from desiring to do Penitence for them And yet notwithstanding of all this they are bold to say that they have not the sufficient or effectual Grace of God according to their conn'd Terms upon which they build great Disputes which being well examined we shall find them to be founded only upon Words and that the Truth is alwayes true and that God gave Graces to Man in Adam but too sufficient for Salvation and even generally to all Men for obtaining the Pardon of their Sins This being so why should we attribute the Loss of our Salvation or the not amending of our Lives to the want of Gods Grace Is it not a particular Grace when every one as to his own particular has received sufficient to forsake his Sin if he will and to work out his Salvation Whether God gave these Graces at the Beginning or if he gives them only at present they are still from the same God the Giver of all good as well in one Season as in another What needs disputing whether these Graces are given now or if they have continued with us since Adam It is enough that we have them and may encrease them by our Fidelity For it pleases God alwayes that we be perfect and he is more desirous to encrease his Graces than we are willing to ask them And if we have them not in abundance it is certainly because we have not sought them or done our endeavour to obtain them For God on his part is alwayes ready to open so soon as we knock at the Gate of his Mercy which is abundant to all those who seek it without engaging into that foolish Perswasion That God will not give it but to whom he pleases since he is not partial but alwayes does good to all even to his Enemies themselves I said to her That there was much Ignorance in these Disputes That every one maintained his own Opinion as good and that the best believed Predestination because others attribute too much to the Creature She said Sir I believe that no Body has hitherto discovered the Truth as to the Grace of God For it cannot be true that God has predestinated any to Damnation for the Reasons I have told you nor yet that Man has the Power to save himself when he pleases Because the Habit of Sin is as another Nature from whence we cannot deliver our selves Even as the Souls which are in Hell though they have their Free-will cannot use it in good because they have given loose Reins to Evil they cannot any more have the Will to quit it and being tied and united to all sort of evil Objects they cannot find the means to do well even though they should have the Will Even so in proportion those who are yet in
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
and in the keeping of my Commandments But the love I bear you and the care I have for you makes me give you these instructions for your own good But the full story of her Life is to be had in the Account of it written by her self and the continuation of it by the R. P. P. I know People will be possest with many prejudices against the Writings of this Person The plain representation which she gives of the Gospel Life and Spirit and the contrariety of the lives of Christians thereunto of the universal Corruption of all parties and their taking up with the shadow instead of the substance of Religion will provoke many to disparage and discredit them by all means and the Craftsmen that live by those Silver Shrines will stir up the multitude against them and from the circumstances of her Person and the singularity of some of her Sentiments they will take occasion to fill Peoples minds with prejudices so as not once to allow her a fair hearing I shall not offer to remove the particular exceptions which may be made against them I shall only take the freedom to say something as to three or four general Prejudcies which are most obvious They are ready to except against her for pretending to Divine inspiration and that the Doctrin she declareth is immediately and inwardly communicated to her by the Spirit of God That God may immediately inspire Souls with his Divine Light and Truth cannot be denied That he has tied himself never to do it after the Apostle's days and the Consignation of the Gospel in writiting cannot be made evident That there are many false pretenders to Divine inspiration and who thus highly take the name of God in vain is but too evident especially in the Age wherein we live That we ought not to believe every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God or not The Spirit of God has already warn'd us that the surest Test wherby to try them is the conformity of the Doctrin with the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is sufficiently confirmed already and its tendency is to take us off from all Earthly things and from our selves and to bring us to God and the entire correspondence of the Persons Life and Spirit therewith in all things will I think be readily granted by many Now M. A. B. desires to be put to this fair Tryal if her Doctrin be not the same with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and if the constant tract of her Life and Spirit be not answerable thereunto and the Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit which he ever brings along with him wherever he resides were not to be seen in her It is just then to give her a fair hearing And if you peruse her Writings impartially it is like you will meet with many remarkable Characters that are not ordinarily to be found in many Writings A clear and distinct account of the essential Truths of Christianity with a constant urging of them as the one thing necessary and distinguishing them from the accessory Truths which are not necessary to Salvation An unimitable simplicity of expression which a Child may understand with as singular a sublimity of thoughts a convincing power and force going along with them a plain unfolding in a few Lines the difficulties about which the Learned write many Volumes a constant harmony and uniformity of sentiments in the Writings of a course of forty Years from about the 23d to the 65th year of her Age in which she died with an evidence and clearness to the conviction of our natural Reason and all this by one who never read any Books never conversed with the Learned to be instructed by them never premeditated what she wrote never blotted out nor mended what was once written but being attentive unto the love of God in the calm and inward recollection of her Spirit wrote as fast as her hand could guide the Pen and when some writings were laid by unfinished for some years return'd to them and finish'd them after the same manner without reading any more of what had been written than some few of the immediately foregoing Lines to make a due Connexion And innumerable instances more But above all the exact and constant purity of her Life being a perfect pattern and living exemplar of the Spirit and Doctrin of the Gospel are things that deserve consideration If there were a Race and Nation of People born blind who had never seen the light but knew their Houses their Furniture their Fields c. only by the touch If some strangers should come in among them pretending to see the Light they would not readily take it on their word having no Idea of any such thing But if those strangers at their very first entry should describe their Houses where they had never formerly been their Dishes their Seats their Bulk Places and Shape and going out should tell them on a sudden the Neighbouring Hills Vallies Rivers and Villages their situation and distances which the Inhabitants themselves could not learn but by long use and by going from place to place and feeling them with their hands or staff they would certainly be convinced that these were endued with some more ready and perfect faculty and mean of knowing all these things than ever they experienc'd So for those who pretend to Divine Inspiration and to be led by the Spirit of God and give no evidence for it but their bare assertion indulging their corrupt Nature and being as much Lovers of their own selves and of Earthly things as others there is no reason to take it on their word but rather to look on them as deceivers But if any professing an inward illumination from God and a lively sense of Divine things should despise the Ease the Honours the Wealth and Pleasures of this World oppose constantly the desires of corrupt Nature deny their own Will mortify their outward senses have their minds ever turned towards God being always resign'd to his Will and withall without Study Reading Learning or Meditation should give a more clear full plain and consonant representation of Divine Truths even to the conviction of our natural reason than we are able to do after much Study Learning and Conversation we have reason to think that such are endued with a more clear effcttual and enlightning sense and knowledge of the Divine Truths than our notional knowledge can pretend to It is by this Test that M. A. B. desires to be Tryed It being objected to her that since she declared only the Truths contain'd in the Gospel of Jesus Christ there was no need of any new Revelation of them they being reveal'd already To this she replyed that as the Law of God of old was so corrupted by the glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees that they had made the Commandments of God of no effect thereby and therefore God was pleased to rescue his Law from their corruptions by the