may lose no Occasions of following the Designs of God and that you deceive no body in teaching them that they have done enough in going to Mass For tho' they should hear a hundred every Day this would avail them nothing if they have not Charity which is not now cherish'd amongst Christians tho' they assemble every Day to Mass because they are not taught for what it is instituted since these Romanists have turn'd all things to their greater Advantage If we would examine narrowly all the other Sacraments we would find all the same Mischiefs done to the Interest of Salvation by those new Inventions and Changes I said to her That it were better than that I did not exercise the Ecclesiastical Functions since there was so much Abuse and Hazard in them She said You would not do Ill Sir to abstain from them and to live as if you were no Priest were it not that not having as yet Light enough to discover the Evils which are hid in them you would by degrees fall into Scruples for leaving off all your pious Exercises Pray to God that he may let you see what you ought to do and he will shew you as he does me that all holy things are become prophane and that there is not any thing in this Roman Church which does not savour of its Corruption All People believe that having declared their Sins to the Priest and got Absolution from him they are pardoned tho' it is God only who can pardon Sins The Priest can indeed pray for the Penitent who humbles himself to declare his Sins as an Intercessour between God and the Penitent but he cannot pardon him by his own Authority He may indeed judge by the Word of God if the Penitent in Justice be disposed to have the Pardon of his Sins and may give him Ground to hope that he shall obtain it of God but not deceive him by making him believe that he himself will pardon them if so be he declare them to him for this Declaration will do nothing without a sincere and a firm Resolution of Amendment which God regards that he may pardon according to his straight Righteousness and not according to the Judgment of the Priest who may be mistaken as well as all other Men. How could God have so little Equity as to commit to some frail Men the Power of saving and damning others What Justice could there be that a Confessour for want of the Intention to absolve should by this means damn thousands of Persons who made their Confessions to him It must needs be an horrible Blasphemy against God for any to have such a Persuasion that a well-meaning Person truly penitent after having duly confess'd dying in this State should be damn'd because the Priest had not the Intention to absolve him If this were true it would be to render God a Tyrant because all our good Works would serve us for nothing in case our Salvation did depend upon a good or ill Absolution These Thoughts or this Belief would make us fall into Idolatry in taking Men for God who could save or damn according to their Fancies This God himself would never do because he can never depart from his Righteousness Goodness and Truth to judge us always according to them whereas Men full of Passion Injustice and Impiety could not but judge us according to these How little Wisdom should we attribute to God in believing that he would give Men Power to save and damn us He who has commanded us to worship none but one God alone he should give us Occasion of worshipping all these Confessors who would be the Saviours of all Christians Do you not palpably feel Sir what evident Perils there are in the Administration of those Sacraments after the manner they are used at present It were far better to be Idle than to do Evil. 'T is no Wonder that I doubt of the Salvation of Christians now when I see in their religious Functions so many things against the Righteousness the Goodness and the Truth of God Nevertheless I will not give you Advice in this You may with your own natural Judgment discern aright Truth from Lying and thereafter resolve to continue or leave off your Ecclesiastical Functions For God never constrains any body each one remaining free to chuse the Means which he perceives to be most expedient without believing any thing blindly no more what I say Sir than if another said it to you But enter into your self that you may judge uprightly of the pure Truth you will perceive and feel it if you be disengag'd from all the Discourses which these Romanists have forg'd to make their Authority valid Free your Spirit of all sorts of Imaginations and Arguments and come to the Center of the Truth to judge if God would in Justice put our Damnation or our Salvation into the Power of any Man unknown to us who might be a wicked Person or a Sorcerer in which Case he would damn as many Souls as he could to gratifie the Devil to whom he belong'd It must not be said in this God is Almighty or his Works are incomprehensible For he never exerts his Power without his Righteousness which is not incomprehensible but makes it self be seen and commprehended by all those who seriously consider it Because no Good is perfect if it be not communicated and known I said to her It was much to be fear'd I had committed many Faults thro' my blind Submission to this Roman Church enquiring of her the Means to repair them She said All that is past is no longer in your Power You must beg Pardon of God who is full of Mercy and does not so much reprove the Faults which are done with a good Meaning as those which are done thro' pure Wickedness Tho' Ignorance does not excuse Sin yet it lessens its Malignity because it has not the full Consent of the Will But now endeavour to search more to the Bottom the Things which concern your Salvation and Do not believe every Spirit but try if what you are to do or believe be of God or of Men or of the Devil For all that is not o God is evil and for want of discovering this Truth each one runs blindly to his own Perdition believing even that they do well in following so great a Number of great and wise Men who maintain this blind Submission which is not fit but for mean Spirits tho' so many of good Judgment have followed it for this long time by-gone which could not have been found without some Infatuation of the Understanding with which the Devil has possess'd all those who lean'd to their own Wisdom or Authority These having their Minds bewitch'd have insinuated their Errors or Ignorances into others and so the Devil by little and little gains all some by Malice and others by Ignorance So that I do not see any Remedy can be put to this but by the
as we don't apprehend these things we will think we do well to adhere to the Sciences we have learned from Men and will not empty our selves of them that we may receive the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit especially when by it we shall discover things quite contrary to our Sentiments or those which our Masters taught us You are not more than any other Sir delivered from your own Wisdom which hinders the Holy Spirit and that even under a Colour of good For you wou'd make Scruple to believe the Holy Spirit when it shou'd tell you things contrary to the Councils held in the Roman Church as I perceived when I spoke of such things to you because you have been brought up in it and foster'd with a Belief that these Councils were directed by the Holy Spirit tho' this cannot be true it being your Resolution not to depart from her This will hinder you from submitting to the Light of the Holy Spirit which will have no Opposition nor Resistance but a simple Submission I said to her That I could not disown I had Difficulty to believe things contrary to the Councils Nevertheless I would follow the Light of the Holy Spirit She said Sir you cannot follow the one without quitting the other because indeed they are as far from one another as Truth is from Lyes For the Holy Spirit teaches only the Truth which makes for the Glory of God whereas these Councils teach only that which makes for their own Glory and Authority Take off a little Sir this Veil of Preoccupation of believing blindly that Rome is the Holy Church and submit to God that he may shew you what Truth is in this You will feel evidently in the Bottom of your Soul that God cannot change as these Persons have changed the Institutions of Jesus Christ We must not be so void of Judgment as blindly to lay the Foundation of our Eternal Salvation upon false Suppositions but we must fully open our Eyes and consider if what we have learned hitherto be more clear and solid than what is now discovered You will thereby perceive which of the two is farthest from the true Light But as long as you are partial and can hardly believe this or that your Soul is not free to receive this Truth If you believe things because Councils or others have told you them you are not established in the Truth of these things but only in the Opinion you have of those who tell you them And do you not know that the Holy Spirit says that all Men are Lyars Wherefore then will you believe things because Men say them I wou'd never have you to believe my Words because I say them but I wou'd indeed have you to believe them because they are true We ought always to follow and love the Truth wherever it is but never to believe and follow a Lye even tho' it shou'd come from the Mouth of a holy Person For otherwise we shall commit great and irreparable Faults as to the Salvation of our Souls especially in this dangerous time wherein the Devil is plac'd in God's Throne and teaches us Lyes instead of the Truth That God has given us an Understanding to comprehend is not for temporal and transient things but that we may understand and discern the Things that concern our Salvation and Eternal Life In this we ought to employ all the Force of our Spirit to discover if what they tell and teach us now in this Matter be true or not without adventuring upon a blind Belief as all Christians do at present I said to her That I would not lean to a blind Belief but to the streight Truth She said Sir if it be so you will have no trouble to believe what I tell you tho' it be contrary to the Councils For I do not speak of my self and I tell only what the Spirit of God dictates to me Take good heed to my Words they proceed always from the Spirit of Truth who must teach all things He cannot deceive you as wou'd your Learning and Studies that you may have acquired by humane Means Be jealous of them For 't is so long since the Devil did insinuate himself into the Church of God to corrupt it that almost it cannot be told from what time it was corrupted Insomuch that even while Jesus Christ was yet upon Earth the Dvil listed himself as a Soldier of Jesus Christ on design to thwart his Doctrine and in the time of his Apostles he became a Captain because he had already gained many under his Power and in the time of their Disciples he had yet more and might then by just Title have born the Name of Colonel because he ruled many and after the Apostles Death he became a Governour by the Encrease of his Power But since they wou'd needs form this Body of the Roman Church the Devil is become General of it by which Government he has now conquered all the World and is universal Emperor especially over the Christians whom he holds under his particular Empire He is therefore justly called Antichrist because he has gainsaid the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which by him has been abolished and annihilated because under this Pretext of Christ he has infatuated Mens Minds to make them believe that what is contrary to Christ is Christ himself and that what is the Synagogue of Satan is the holy Church And thus by these false Persuasions he has deceived all the World and the most Religions believe they follow God when they follow the Devil because he is so masqu'd with the Veil of Piety and Devotion he cou'd have prevail'd with well-meaning Persons by teaching them Evil but under this Colour of Holiness and the Holy Church all the World do blindly follow him with such Fidelity that it wou'd be very hard to divert them from him Every one wou'd think he did ill to quit this Church which is so only in Appearance to follow the true one I only regret you and such as you Sir who sincerely intend to follow the real Truth and nevertheless fear to resist Lyes out of a frivolous Imagination that the Church will still continue in the material Place where Jesus Christ established it I said to her That when I should discover this Spirit of Errour I would never follow it That I would gladly abandon it and follow the Spirit of Truth She said Sir if you wou'd follow the Spirit of Truth quit then all these foolish Persuasions that Christians have now which are only invented by Antichrist that he may gain all the World to himself by apparent Holiness They wou'd persuade you that Rome is the Holy Church that you must obey her in all her Ordinances If you do this you shall be an Idolater ascribing to Men what belongs to God only as Honour Power and Infallibility Every one believes that this belongs to her tho' it belongs to none but God alone to be
comes from Man who has distempered that excellent Star by his Sin That the Air is stormy that the Water is troubled That the Earth brings forth Thorns and Thistles This is for no other reason but to take Vengeance of the Disobedience which Man hath committed against God The Dog bites The Wolf devours the Serpent Poysons and all those other Evils which the Beasts do to Man this is for no other reason but to render him the Punishment that he has merited by his Sin If the Fire burn him if the Air infect him if the Water suffocate him this is but for a just Punishment If the Earth doth not bring forth its Fruits without Labour this is but for a Penance of Man's Sin In short all the Creatures whatsoever even to a Flea are obliged to hurt Man because of the Disobedience that he has committed against their Creator and this by Right and Justice But as soon as his Penitence shall be accomplished and he shall obtain the absolute pardon of his Sin all shall be re-established in their first Estate and shall not fall away any more for the glorious presence of Jesus Christ will confirm them in Grace maintaining them in eternal Peace all the Creatures with men and they shall do then what they should have done from the beginning of the Creation Man's Rebellion against God ceasing This will then be a continual and eternal delight for all things God will do the will of Man who shall love him and Man will do the will of God upon whom he shall depend All the Creatures will do the will of Man who shall command them In short God Man and all the Creatures will have but one and the same will without any Rebellion Will not this then be a Paradise of all the universal World They have sometimes told us extravagant Stories of Paradise but this was but to make us understand that it should be filled with all sort of Contentments as they say to Children that there they shall eat Sugar with Spoons because Children have their delight in it But nothing of all that is told us of it can be true except what God has revealed of it at present because the time approaches and will not be long in coming I ask'd her If Men will be confirm'd in Grace without being able to sin or fall any more as they have done once in Adam She said Men Sir will not remain without Sin by constraint or necessity because God would have them in a Free State that the love he bears them might be perfect but they canuot fall nor sin any longer for they will be eternally united unto Jesus Christ beholding God in Spirit and that glorious Body in Flesh who will Govern them and take his continual Delight with them which will hinder them from thinking of sinning or falling It is true Adam did converse sometimes with God but in a manner that was not Humane and had also Intervals For if he had always continued in Conversation with God he could not have Fallen But in diverting himself from him to hearken to his Wife and the Serpent he falls into Disobedience through the wandring of his Spirit Now in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ there can be no Straying he will be always present with them he will replenish them with Graces and Joys so abundant that nothing can any more divert them No body will say any longer Know the Lord For all shall Know him and Love him The fault of Adam and the hard Penitence which it occasion'd will make them see abundantly what it is to forsake God Likewise they shall not be any longer subject to Concupicense for they shall all be satisfied in Body and Spirit by the glorious Spiritual and Bodily Presence of Jesus Christ who having removed all their Sins will replenish them with the Holy Spirit in Fulness so that they cannot have any more inclinations to any Evil so much the more that it shall be removed from the whole Earth and that all that is evil shall perish I said to her That all the Interpreters who speak of Judgment say That the last Fire must consume all the World She said Sir These Interpreters could see no farther than their Sight reach'd but hold for certain all that I tell you These are Divine Truths The World will not be utterly Destroyed but all Evil shall be Consumed One part of wicked Men will die by the Sword another part by the Pestilence and Famine and all those Beauties and Riches which have served as Fewel to sin will be all burnt and consum'd by Fire which will purge the whole Earth by its heat And as heretofore the World was once purged by the waters of an universal Deluge even so shall it be then by Fire The World did not perish by the Waters but indeed all wicked Men with all their Wickedness and the Subjects of it The same altogether will come to pass by Fire which will burn and purge all Iniquity without sparing any thing But nothing will perish of the Works of God The whole Globe of the Earth will remain The Heavens and the Elements will be shaken but will not perish no more than the Servants of God for whom he will reserve some little corner of the Earth to save them from Shipwrack as he saved Noah in the Ark. How greatly desirable is it to be of that Little Number I asked her If these things would fall out at the day of Judgment or rather at the coming of Jesus Christ in his Glory She said Sir We speak of Judgment as if it would be done in one day or as suddenly as an Enchantment This will not be done as we think The Judgment is already made I believe I have told you heretofore The irrevocable Sentence is given there needs no more but to put it in execution The Unrighteousness of Men has so opposed the Righteousness of God that it cannot be any longer without Chastisements or otherwise he would not be Just The Sword of Justice must needs cut off all that it meets in opposition to it And at this time all oppose this Righteousness Therefore all must be cut off This is the Sentence wich shall not be revoked because Men will not revoke their Unrighteousness This Sentence will be put in execution not in one day as People imagin but by little and little to give time and leisure to Men to be Converted if they will seriously think on it Wars are the beginnings of Sorrows After that will follow the Pestilence and Famine Earthquakes in several places Yea even Fire it self as the forerunner and giver of Advertisement All this will prove worse until the consummation of all Evil As the waters of the Deluge always continued yea encreased untill they had carried away all the People who then lived upon the Earth so shall it be of the last Plagues which are already
be mov'd for this remaining always Just Good and True Whatever Man does God remains always what he is in himself without being mov'd and without hindring Man to withdraw himself from him when he will needs do it by his own Free Will God can lose nothing even tho' all the Men of the World would follow the Devil They only wrong themselves God will never take away again the Free Will that he has given them for their evil Deeds but permits them still to use it as well to their Damnation as to their Salvation All the other Creatures do the Will of God of Necessity as a Servant does the Will of his Master by force for it is necessary to the other Creatures as well animate as inanimate to do the Will of God without their being able to resist it being bounded limitted and constrain'd not to pass over the Bounds and the Limits wherein God has plac'd them But Man alone who participates of the Deity has the Liberty to resist the Will of God which he will not oppose for he cannot repent of the Liberty that he has given unto Man Thus God permits Man to abandon himself unto the Spirit of Error and to forsake that of Truth For he would act against his Goodness to take back again that great Advantage which he has given unto Man of his Free Will with which he ought to rule over the Earth as a little God independent from every other thing which is not God And if he did not permit Man to follow the Spirit of Error when he will needs follow it he would render him a limited and forc'd Creature as all the rest which serve the Will of God by Force as Servants and Slaves Which would be contrary to the Designs of God who has chosen our Souls for his Spouses in making them partake of his Power to do that which shall be most agreeable unto them The End of the First Part. THE SECOND PART OF THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD Being a Continuation of the Conferences which Antonia Bourignon had with the deceast Mr. Christian de Cort which deserves to be read understood and considered by all who desire to be saved Written originally in French S. Paul to the Romans XI 19 c. Be not high minded but fear For if God spared not the natural Branches the Jews take heed lest he also spare not thee Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God on them which fell Severity but towards thee Goodness if thou continue in the State wherein his Goodness has plac'd you otherwise thou also shalt be cut off and they also if they bide not still in Vnbelief shall be grafted in For God is able to graft them in again LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCVI TO THE READER Dear Reader IT is more than twelve Years since I had the following Conferences in this second Part of the Light of the World and those also which shall follow in the third Part which you may afterwards see when it shall please God that they be publish'd and I had no Inclinations to make them publick For all these Questions were propos'd to me by the deceast Mr. Christian de Cort when he was a Priest in the Roman Church Pastor of the Church of S. John in the City of Mechlin in Brabant and Superiour of the Congregation of the Fathers of the Oratory in that City who being desirous to understand the Matters relating to his Religion propos'd to me divers Theological Questions touching the Faith and Manners of Christians who aspire to the Perfection of their Souls To which I answered according to the Wisdom and Experience that God gave me This the deceast de Cort having exactly noted and set down in Writing he design'd to have printed it in the Year 1667. But it was afterwards delayed by the Advice of many of his Friends who knowing the Partiality and Jealousie of many Divines of the Roman Church were afraid that the said de Cort and I might be put into the Inquisition for having declar'd too openly the Faults and Corruptions which are crept into the Roman Church telling us that this would be insupportable to many Zealots of that Religion But the deceast de Cort being very earnest to make the plain Truth known to the People resolved to go to Holland and to print all these Conferences there judging it very necessary that they should be communicated to sincere Persons who he thought were perishing thro' Ignorance saying often I was deceived as to Matters of Faith and Manners And thro' this Blindness I have also deceived others by teaching them Shadows for Substances and I 'll never be at rest till I have communicated to them the Truths of God that you have declared to me And so by his Persuasions and many importunate Requests I resolved to go with him to Holland to cause him to print all these Conferences that we had had together for a long time I was much averse to this because I had not yet printed any of my Writings and also the Matters contain'd in these Conferences would greatly shock many who are in the Roman Church whom I lov'd tenderly and desired not to offend them esteeming them my Brethren and I had never yet convers'd with any nor had I been in any Place or Country without the Obedience of the Roman Church And I knew not what sort of People I might meet with elsewhere For I imagined I should find there People that were monstrous or of a different Shape from those of my own Country where they represent to Children those who are not Romanists a Wolves covered with Sheeps Skins that they may imprint on the tender Hearts of the Children a mortal Enmity against those who in all things have not the same Opinions that are profess'd in the Roman Church This made me afraid to go to Holland to cause these Conferences to be printed But after I had seriously recommended it to God I resolved to go on that Errand For God made me understand That 't is not Religion that saves the Soul but the Love of God that begets true Vertue And that I ought to love all and to do good to those of every Religion and to declare the Truth of God impartially And this inward Voice planted in my Soul an Impartiality towards all sorts of Religions indifferently without caring to inform my self of what Religion Persons were or the Places and Countries to which I was to go nor with whom I was to speak This has been my Practice ever since regarding only the Disposition of the Souls with whom I was to treat without considering what Religion they profess'd or what Party they were of as to outward Worship since in Effect in all Kinds of States Professions and Religions I 've met with Persons disposed to receive the Truth that comes from God Yea some of those that are without the Roman Church are more ready to receive it than they who call themselves
no body when he came to Age would remember what he had done so soon as he was born and that he would easily banish out of Mens Minds the Promises which they made in Baptism He has also invented the not reiterating of Baptism fearing least peradventure some coming to be converted should come afterwards to receive Baptism in a due manner and with requisite Dispositions All these Devices have been covered with a pious Pretext That no Christian should die without having received Baptism This every one has asserted under this Appearance of Piety which nevertheless is founded but upon a false Supposition of this express Necessity of Baptism for Salvation which cannot be true seeing so many true Christians died in the Days of Jesus Christ and the Apostles in their Non-age or while they were yet but Catechumens or at the Instant of their Conversion Should not all these Persons be saved after they have been in Heart and Affection consecrated unto God as also those who should yet at present live according to his Law in a Country where Baptism is not used I would fain know Sir if you read any where that the Apostles themselves were baptized and if you could doubt of their Salvation tho' they had not been The Third Conference How the Devil has crept into the Church as Antichrist and is there maintain'd and authoriz'd I Ask'd her How the Devil could start these things which are decreed by Councils She said Sir do you not remember that I have already told you that the Devil slip'd into the Church from the time that Jesus Christ would establish it He had then almost all the World at his Devotion and he needed not great Labour to maintain the World in its Wickedness for it was as it were become natural to it But how soon he saw that Jesus Christ came to enlighten the World and to make known their Sins to them that he might bring them back to Repentance The Devil then unites all his Force and Power to oppose himself to this Light and every way to countermine the Doctrine of Jesus Christ From that time he got the Name of Antichrist because he sets himself against Christ he has ever since continu'd in the Church that he might destroy and ruine it if he could and from time to time he has gain'd some who have followed his Suggestions and his Malice whose Number has always encreas'd and he has maintain'd them in Honour and Dignity making them by his Artifices to arise to the highest Degrees of Honour because then his Adherents did render him the more Service I doubt not but he has made many come to the Office of a Bishop or other Prelacies who being consulted or conven'd together about the Determining of Points relating to our Christianity may have given Sentiments in favour of the Devil and prejudicial to the Salvation of Christians If this were not Sir it were impossible that the Roman Church should have made Decrees so contrary to those of Jesus Christ who never required any thing of any body but in Love For he says if YOU WOULD be perfect or whosoever WILL follow me let him deny himself c. requiring always our WILL in all the Vertues that he teaches us and God himself from the Beginning of the World unto this present time gives us no Command but to love him For all things are nothing but Means to attain to this Love even leaving Men free to observe his Commands according to their Free-Will without Constraint but those of the Councils do oblige Persons by force to observe their Decrees So that they who transgress them are imprisoned and punished This is very far from imitating Jesus Christ in his Meekness which he says we ought to learn of him who is meek and gentle whereas these use Force and Rigour to make their Commands be observed For if a true Christian should not go to Mass on the Days which they have appointed they would commit him to Justice or the Inquisition or if another should not communicate at Easter he would be in the same Condemnation Is not this contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who demands nothing of any body but what they WILL do requiring always a free Consent drawing no body by Force but still saying he that WILL be my Disciple This rigorous Spirit which is now observ'd in the Church is not conformable to that of Jesus Christ whose Yoke is easie and his Burthen light whereas those impose troublesome and grievous Commands yea even impossible to be observed for he who would live as a true Christian would have no need of confessing once a Year Nevertheless these make a Command of it I must confess Sir that by the Grace of God I do not observe it for since I yielded my self wholly unto God and left the Conversation of Men I have had no Ground to confess once a Year Should I be therefore obliged to go and offend God that I might have Matter to confess at the End of the Year that I may observe the Ordinances of these Councils These are things so far from the Spirit of Jesus Christ that I know not how some Saints could co-operate to such Resolutions except by Force when the greatest Part carries it because the most of those Decrees and Commands are more political than divine and Jesus Christ did not follow these Ways They ought to come from above The Fourth Conference Of the Reformation of the Church of its Councils Commands and Ordinances I Said to her That the Councils were held that they might redress the great Abuses which had crept into the Church that it was expedient that the Church gave Commands or otherwise every one would live after his own Will She said Sir we have the Commandments of God Had it not been a more perfect way to reform these Abuses by taking up again only what Jesus Christ had taught us than to make new Commandments What could be wanting in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ that other things must be added to it They who would make a good Reformation ought always to take up again the first Institution and make it only be observ'd For the Holy Spirit can never be mistaken There is nothing to be mended in nor added to any of his Works and since we can never change a perfect Form and give it another without spoiling the first so we cannot form new Commandments without deforming those of God which were compleat and perfect The great Abuses which had crept into the Church would have been redress'd better by the Doctrine of Jesus Christ taking it in the plain Letter than by so many other new Precepts and Ordinances No body could have lived any longer after his own Mode when once the Doctrine of Jesus Christ had been set again in its Light for it regulates all our Actions and Manners There needed nothing to be added to it in order
himself and nothing could resemble him but this free Power of his Will Tho' he had created Man's Soul divine this had been but a limited Spirit without this Free-Will which must certainly concurr to compleat the Delight which God would take with Men For as a King can take no Contentment in recreating himself with a Slave as he would do with a Queen who is nearer his Quality so God would make Man in his full Liberty and capable of using his Free-Will fully that in this Liberty he might be some way like to him This being done he cannot repent of any thing but lets Man enjoy his Gifts However he abuse them his Righteousness and Constancy will not let him withdraw or take from him what he has once given him but he leaves it him and will leave it to all Eternity Whether Man save or damn himself Free-Will shall never be taken from him for God is not changeable in his Gifts no more than in all his Works This being so he cannot hinder the Romanists from killing any body amongst them who would be the true Church without bounding or limiting the Free-Will that they have to do this But his Goodness preventing their Malice will move his Church to withdraw out of their Power or to hide her self as Jesus Christ hid himself to avoid the Jews Tyranny and by this means he exercises his Goodness towards his Church and leaves those Men of ill Will in the Liberty that he has given them who do only the Mischiefs that are in their Power and cannot reach the doing those which the Good by their Light and Foresight can avoid 'T is thus Sir that I said God could not preserve his Church among these Romanists because he will never use his Power against the Justice of the Right that he has given them to use their Free-Will Sir we ought always to take things in their Source or else we would utter Calumnies against God either in saying that he is not Powerful to hinder Evil nor Almighty to preserve his own or not just in not letting Causes work according to the Order in which he has established them which would be so many Blasphemies Because God can never do any Evil for he is the Source of all Good He cannot permit Injustice for he is perfect Righteousness And likewise he cannot against Promise take from him the Free-Will that he has once given him But he does all his Works in such Perfection that Goodness Righteousness Faith and Truth concurr in all in an excellent Harmony which ravishes the Understanding of him who considers them I said to her That the Impression of Dependance on this Roman Church was as it were naturalized in my Soul and that it would be very ill in me to leave her altogether tho' I absolutely desired to resign my self entirely unto God She said Sir be not any ways troubled Continue confidently under the Roman Church provided you do not follow in her but that which is good in it self abundance cannot hurt After you shall be entirely resigned unto God he will uphold you and will govern you thro' all The more you shall be united to him the more you will partake of his Vertues and his Light shall be given you more clearly to discover the Truth of every thing You are now yet a Courtier of this Roman Church Therefore you love her and would feign excuse her Faults that you may not be obliged to forsake her which likewise you ought not to do by the Inducement of any but if you approach to God you will partake of this Light as the Ray partakes of the Sun according as it is near it When you shall partake of the Righteousness of God you will see with an upright Eye the Injustice of this Roman Church and when you shall partake of the Truth of God you will discover their Lyes and having partaken of the Goodness of God you will discover that Malice which now you can scarce believe For all the Perfections of God do assuredly discover the Imperfections which are opposite to him Labour therefore Sir to find this Union with God and be not troubled under whose Dependance you are Rome cannot hurt you when you hearken to none but God We need not be at the Trouble to learn where the true Church is For she will be in us as long as we possess the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which only makes up the holy Church It remains only that in the Roman Church you beware of the Seductions which are crept in there This is what Jesus Christ has so often warn'd us of in his Gospel sayng Beware of false Prophets who will come deceitfully and shall seduce many False Christs and false Prophets shall arise who shall if it were possible deceive the very Elect. He neither speaks of Turks nor of Heathens but of false Christs The Seventh Conference Of the Mass and of the Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Functions I ask'd her How I should behave in the Administration of the Sacraments in the Mass and other Functions of my Charge She said Sir Do all this in the Spirit that God requires you to do it in because there are great Abuses in this For all these things are not what they made us believe of them Many Superstitions have crept into them against God's Honour and our Salvation Therefore you must always join your Intention with what God may have in these things or otherwise you will commit many Faults and will likewise deceive others For my part I believe the Mass represents the Communion that Jesus Christ had with his Apostles who eat and drank with them every Day blessing the Bread and breaking it to distribute them which the Apostles continued to do with their Disciples and afterwards all the Primitive Christians who assembled every Day to eat together and blessing God imparted to every one as he had need which maintain'd and nourish'd among them the true CHARITY which Jesus Christ had left them by Testament Do this in Remembrance of me and you shall live for ever because without this Charity no body can be saved as St. Paul assures us Tho' one could even remove Mountains tho' he gave all his Goods to the Poor yea his Body to be burn'd c. all this would be nothing without Charity which Jesus Christ had recommended to all his Disciples a little before his Death This is now out of use and instead of nourishing and maintaining it by these daily Meetings of Christians those who did assemble to eat and drink blessing God for what he bestowed on them they have chang'd it into the Mass which we observe to this Day with little Profit and Salvation except that the Intentions of some may be to do it in the Spirit and Desire which Jesus Christ had when he appointed it and left it in his Testament It is to this I exhort you Sir that you
to know if really she has the Quality of our true Mother and if she be allied with our true Father who is unchangeable in all his Qualities to whom this Spouse ought to be alwayes conformable We must see if what they call our Mother has the Spirit and the Works of our Father and if we find no Likeness in her we must renounce her and hold her as a Deceiver and a Liar unworthy of our Affection The Twentieth and Seventh Conference Shews The true Marks whereby to discover where the True Church is and that it concerns every one to examine it I asked her How I might discover where my true Mother the true Church is What Marks there are whereby to know her that I may not be deceived She said Sir You shall discover her by this that she will follow the Footsteps of Jesus Christ and be wholly conformable to his Doctrine There is but one Church only as there is but one onely God and there is so strait a Bond and Alliance between God and the Church that they are but one and the same Thing as it is said that in Marriage Two are but one Flesh so in the Alliance of God with the Church two are but one Spirit God is the Bridegroom and the Soul is the Bride As it is said concerning Adam Let us make a Companion meet for him for it is not good that Man should be alone This is the Figure of what he had said before Let us make Man after our own Likeness because it was found meet that God should delight himself with something that was like to him For this cause he created the Divine and Eternal Soul and plac'd it in the Body and Understanding of Man that it might multiply and communicate it self For it is the Property of Good to be communicative This Divine Soul being form'd in Time must live for ever else it should not have been Divine nor capable of being united and ally'd to God who created it for these ends And as Adam and Eve ought to have been united in Heart Body and Will so the Soul ought to be united in Love Understanding and Will with God Not that Natural Love nor that Humane Understanding no more than our bounded Will Because all this has no Sympathy with God and they are but the Case wherein God has shut up this Divine Soul which is Free and Eternal as God This Divine Reason and Free-will make the Church by the Alliance that God makes with it which is much more strait than the Alliance that this Divine Soul makes with the Animal Soul of Man which do so nearly approach one another that no Humane Spirit is able to distinguish them no more than any can distinguish the Free and Rational VVill from God himself Because he has so straitly united them that the Soul is God and God is the Soul as the VVill of Eve was that of Adam so the VVill of the Soul is that of God By which you may still discover Sir where the Spouse of God or the True Church is Because where she is to be found she carries still along with her the same Qualities of her VVell beloved and when you do not find them in those who call themselves the Church believe firmly that they are all Cheats For the Spouse of God will be alwayes comely and there can be no Blemish in her Because she shall never be parted from the Qualities of her Husband alwayes Just Good True and All-powerful And when you shall see Sion Jerusalem Judea or Rome such as you call the Church to be fallen away from these Qualities never believe that she is your Mother the Holy Church Upon these Accounts Jesus Christ has so often warned you to beware of false Christs and false Prophets For they come to delude and deceive many Do not let your self be deluded Sir For there shall never be but one True Church which shall be united to God VVhosoever has not this Unity is not the Church but they are Seducers of the People who under this Cloak of God's Spouse do seduce many You must lift up your Head and look on high to see whence the Church took her Original and you will perceive that the Church is no other but the Alliance that God made with the Divine Soul of Man which he made his Spouse though she was unworthy of it He so ennobled her that he would joyn himself to her and ally with her by an indissoluble Alliance which can never end for the Two Parties are Immortal to wit God and the Divine Soul But to take for the Spouse of God Persons who are no wayes in the Spirit of God nor in Union with him and to reverence them as the Church is to wrong the Honour that we owe to God To see a Church seek the Honours Pleasures and Riches of this VVorld and to believe that she is the Spouse of God is to derogate from her Divine Quality and to ascribe the Honour to Vice that is due only to True Vertue VVe should not thus let them cover our Eyes as they do to those who are going to be hanged that they may not see their doleful End VVe must take off this Bandage that we may look about us and learn where the True Church is which can save us and not suffer our selves to be led on blind-fold to Eternal Death by VVords or false Appearances since Truth only is capable to save us I said to her That I had never yet discovered Souls united to God and that nevertheless I believed I was in the Church She said Sir You are deceived For the Church is no where but in the Souls that are united to God no more than a Woman can be the Spouse of a Man who has never approached her We must not believe that the Church consists in wearing a Garment of Purple or Red or Fine Linnen These are rather the Marks of the Reprobation of the falsely Rich Man who was buried in Hell and the Scripture brings no other cause of his Damnation than these Fashions of Apparel and that he was Rich and a Feaster If all these Things were Marks of his Damnation why should they be now a dayes the Marks of the Holy Church God is not changeable He cannot now unite to himself what he then Reprobated and Condemned No no Sir the Spouse of God will never be vain nor proud nor polluted with any sin For she is all pure Do not think that you are in the Church when you are under Persons who seek Riches of this World for such Souls are Adulteresses and have abandoned their lawful Husband and live in Adultery with the Kings of the Earth Which ought to make you abhor her instead of cleaving to her If you have never met with Souls resigned to God you have never found the True Church Because there never was any other and never will be hereafter She must
degree that it can come to and the Devil has gain'd an inward dominion over the hearts of all men not that wickedness is manifestly at the highest degree in the judgment of men for it will appear more clearly when they shall commit all sort of sins publickly without being afraid of any the evil will seem then greater but it will be less in the sight of God for it will then be no more accompanied and disguised with Hypocrisie as it is at present The Devil having gain'd the hearts of ill men will remain no longer conceal'd He is desirous to reign publickly and openly assoon as he can for his greater Glory As long as there were here and there some good Souls he kept himself hid to the end he might gain them but at present he can so well disguise his malice that all serve him the wicked with good will as his hired Servants and the good serve him by constraint as his Slaves From hence I infer that the time of his Reign is come and that he will appear very shortly visibly in the flesh And to satisfy the second doubt proposed viz. how there shall be Martyrs of Jesus Christ and of those who shall obtain Salvation by the Perfecutions of this discover'd Antichrist this shall be an effect of the last Mercy of God who will yet once send his light into the world according to his promise That the light shall arise in darkness and that the darkness shall be as noon day That is to say that in this time of darkness in which we live at present wherein the Truth is not any longer discern'd from Lies Faithfulness from Deceit nor Righteousness from Iniquity that God will make his Light to arise in this Darkness and that these who shall receive it shall open their eyes and see the blindness of their understanding and reject the spirit of errour into which they were fallen thro the false perswasions of this invisible Antichrist and shall embrace the spirit of truth which is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and by this means dispose themselves to Martyrdom and to saving sufferings in the Quarrel of Jesus Christ for many are now detain'd the Slaves of the Devil thro ignorance and inadvertency believing even that they follow Jesus Christ when they follow this strange Shepherd thro his delusions I thought it impossible to believe that the Devil had dominion over the hearts of all men because I knew many who make profession of being good men who in effect are observ'd to addict themselves to pious and religious works exercising themselves in both publick and private Devotions employing themselves according to their Callings in succouring their Neighbour and owning the quarrel of good men in making peace and agreement between those who have quarrels and debates She said Sir it is by these works which seem good and pious that the Devil deceives the good and renders them his Slaves making them to do his will without their perceiving it It is for this reason our times may well be called dangerous because the darkness is so thick as that good is not any longer discern'd from evil Those are esteem'd good men who do often frequent the Churches and Sacraments and are present at the publick Solemnities and they who do so believe themselves to be good men and to live well but believe me Sir if this be not done in the true Spirit of Christianity these are all but amusements for the life of a Christian is an inward and spiritual Life consisting in the LOVE and Respect we owe to God and CHARITY to our Neighbour for God This Love is an inward Passion of our Soul which is known to none but God himself as also this Charity for our Neighbour These inward passions are sometimes discover'd outwardly by external operations as to suffer willingly for him whom we love to be subject in all things to his will to honour him with all our power by these solid vertues it is discover'd if we be good men not by making a profession of being so for this profession of being good proceeds often from a presumption of our Salvation which is a sin against the Holy Ghost A sinner who knows his sin is often a better man than this presumptuous person The Sixth Conference How the outward worship of God and the outward works of Charity towards our Neighbour are corrupted by the Devil And from whence this Power proceeds I Desir'd to be satisfy'd concerning all these points of good works which I had observ'd to be yet in use among those who profess to be good men to see whither the Devil would produce such operations in his Adherents I ask'd her first If it was not a good work to go often to the Church or to its Solemnities She answer'd It is very good to go to Church to hear the Word of God since Jesus Christ himself went thither to teach it for there is distributed or at least ought to be that word which gives food or nourishment to the souls of the faithful But I pray you Sir says she reflect a little seriously with me on the way of going to Church and of teaching the Word of God there which is now observ'd and see if you will not be oblig'd to confess that by what is now done in Churches the Devil receives much more honour than God therefore he incites his Adherents to go thither often and the Ministers to perform the Solemnities there frequently They go to Church out of custom and being there they behave themselves even as they do in profane places The Solemnities there are so vain that they serve rather to satisfie the senses than to move devotion Among a thousand persons who follow Processions you will scarce find one who has his heart lifted up to God! Sermons are made more out of vanity and heard more out of curiosity than to profit by them Behold the Theater of the World at present judge now whither all these things can pass for good works in the sight of God and if the Devil has not ground to excite them to these actions from whence he derives so much his advantages When once he could perswade men that a Christian Life consists in outward actions he perverted all the good so that they do rather follow him than Jesus Christ because these visible and outward things make a stronger impression on the natural senses than those spiritual things which Jesus Christ has taught and commanded us I felt in my soul that this was true but desiring to learn more I said to her that for those who apply themselves to their Neighbours as to visit the poor and the sick to own the quarrel of the good to quiet and appease strife and contentions that these works could not come from the suggestion of the Devil She reply'd All these things are good if they were done in the spirit of Charity and purely for the Love of God but that this was so
rare that she had not as yet found so much as one person in the world who perform'd these works purely for God That there was thro all a mixture either of vain-glory or of self-satisfaction or of respect to the creatures whereby the Devil could lay hold on them and draw his advantages from them tho the things were good in themselves That he might indeed incite them to visit the poor and the sick out of some natural satisfaction and also to assist the good and to pacify quarrels and contentions all this may be by the inducement of the Devil who seeing a person desirous to please God he will endeavour to divert him by good external actions which he will cause him to multiply in such sort as that they shall leave him neither leisure nor rest and recollection to think on the inward life which a true Christian ought to put in practice The Devil will have profit enough by diverting thus a soul from its own Salvation in permitting them to do good to others as to the body or temporal things which usually bring no glory to God but serve for humane conveniencies and thus he gains all the good who not being aware of all his artifices suffer themselves to be led by this Enemy at his pleasure without knowing him under the colour of a seeming good for otherwise he could not deceive them nor gain them to himself as he has done all the world I trembled to hear such severe discourse which nevertheless seem'd to me to be true for my understanding was open'd by her words I took the boldness to ask her how it was possible that God should give so much power to the Devil and how his Goodness could permit the good to be thus seduc'd and deceiv'd by this Enemy She resolutely said Sir it is not God who gives this power to the Devil but our sins themselves make him so powerful The Devil is as a chain'd Dog who can go no farther than we lengthen the chain to him and cannot bite us if we do not approach him God has given us power over the Devil and has not given the Devil power over us for he can never do an evil thing and it would be a great evil if he had given the Devil power to hurt men He will permit him indeed that we may be tried and purg'd to tempt and wound our body but he can never take hold of our soul without our consent 'T is very ill done to utter this Calumny of God that he permits the Devil to hinder our Salvation This is for want of light for the Devil cannot seduce us if we continue faithful to God We are his Children and the Devil is his Enemy if he has seduc'd all Christians as I was saying it is thro their fault They are not ignorant that these changes and innovations cannot come from God who never changes and tho these deceits of the Devil are done under a pretext of good yet they may abundantly see that they are not conformable to what Jesus Christ has taught us It is therefore our own fault when the Devil deceives us since we do not persevere in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is always to be found if we had a sincere desire to search after it Does God act against his goodness when he permits us to fall into the error which we will needs follow it would be rather against his Justice if he should hinder us from it after that he has given us a free will and a free choice The Seventh Conference That God has not forsaken men but men have forsaken God and resisted his grace which he distributes impartially I Said to her Since our Darkness is so great it is plain that God has forsaken us She reply'd Hold Sir God never forsakes any but he suffers us to forsake him when such is our will If we are fallen into so great darkness it is our own fault only because we have left Jesus Christ who is the true Light of the World The farther we are estrang'd from him our darkness is still the greater We have loved darkness more than light by this means we have forsaken God to follow the Devil under whose slavery we groan at present of our own choice and will For could God have done more than he has done to save us could he have instructed us more plainly there must have been something above God to do more for us seeing that he is not content to send us his Servants and holy Prophets to enlighten us but he is come himself to teach us in particular what we ought to do and avoid how we ought to speak walk sit and perform all the rest of our actions so familiarly that no Christian can be ignorant how to work out their Salvation and if they have abandon'd all these benefits of their Lord to follow the spirit of error it is no wonder that they are fallen into darkness and the power of their Enemy for which they ought to blame themselves and smite the breast with regret and penitence if peradventure they may obtain pardon for so great an ingratitude instead of making God the Author of our misery and saying blasphemously that God has abandon'd them of which you also doubt I told her that I should be sorry to blaspheme against God or suspect that he might do evil but that it is usual when we see any fall into the Extremity of sin to say that he is forsaken of God To which she reply'd This is very ill said Sir It is an ill explain'd phrase for God never forsakes the work of his own hands we appertain to him in all respects because he created us he maintains us and we have no good thing but what we have receiv'd from him and if he forsook us we should fall into the Nothing from whence he has taken us A Father or a Mother who have debauch'd Children cannot forsake them nor hinder them from being theirs but they may let them wander after their own wills when they will not follow the instructions of their Father nor yield obedience to him They cease not notwithstanding to be their Children which would appear evidently if they should repent of their debauchery and return to a submission to their Father They would then see how much their true Father loves them which appears in the Parable of the Prodigal Son God is infinitely more good than those evil natural Fathers How then could he forsake his Children whom he has so much lov'd People deceive themselves in many things Sir concerning the works of God I know not how he suffers so long the reproaches and blasphemies which men utter against him every moment They say sometimes God chastiseth me and if we examine it narrowly they are our sins which are the tormenters of our soul and of our body A wicked man will say I have not receiv'd grace from God to do well