Letters which treat of Virtue that they who aspire unto it may see the state wherein they are and also if they have acquired any degrees of it or if their Virtues be only imaginary I do not present this matter of true Virtue to all in general since many should find it too difficult to be observed for such as yet love themselves or the things of the earth cannot have all their mind bent to acquire this Virtue nor tend to the spiritual diligence which it requires But I speak to the free and generous souls who have abandoned the world to follow Jesus Christ and such will easily understand me for none is better disposed to understand me than he that will practise true Virtue And others who have not that desire may content themselves to know the Commands of God in general seeing they aspire not to a greater perfection So I say to them as St. John to the soldiers Use no Violence nor fraud to any person and be content with your Wages He said so to them because he found them not disposed for greater perfection And every one is free to tend to what degree of perfection he will So St. John chooses of two Evils the least in councelling the Soldiers to be content with their Pay and do no Violence but if these Soldiers had tended unto Christian-perfection doubtless St. John had counselled them to cease from being Soldiers and to forsake all that they possessed as Jesus Christ did to the young man in the Gospel after he said he had kept the Commands of God I say the very same to them to whom I present this matter of true Virtue in these twenty four Letters which is but the beginning of my designs to shew wherein it consists in every thing To these namely who will follow it and to none other seeing that were to cast Pearls before Swine or the Childrens Bread unto Dogs Those are souls yet earthly and attached to the honours pleasures and goods of this life and consequently are not in a disposition to put true Virtue in practice It seems enough to them not to transgress grossly and externally the Commands of God because they know no other Evils but what are expressed in these Commands But the souls who have abandoned the world to follow Jesus Christ and to revive in his spirit must labour with all their force to acquire this true Virtue in renouncing the corruption of their nature And they may well be assured that they can never arrive at a truely Christian Life unless they have overcome the inclinations of that corrupt nature Therefore must we labour with diligence in the mortification of our senses that we may carry the Victory over that Corruption which sin hath brought unto human nature without that our Virtue is false or only apparent and in no wise Virtue before God For if you shew me a person sober and chast and upright in his business who imparts his Goods to the Poor who fasts at appointed times with many other good Deeds and yet follows the motions of corrupt nature I esteem nothing all these Virtues if there is not a renounciation of his corrupt nature and he hath not entirely renounced his own will for all these things together come not near the Victory which is in mastering the motions of corrupt nature And St. Paul names yet greater Virtues than these I have named when he says If I had the Gift of Prophecy and Faith that could remove Mountains and gave all my Goods to nourish the Poor I am nothing if I want Charity Now Charity is nothing else but the love of God which we cannot obtain but in renouncing self-love and hating the Corruption of our nature for we can never do good except we first depart from evil and all sorts of evil are contained in the corruption of our nature since it is fallen into sin So that we can never arrive at true Virtue but by renouncing that corruption nor at the Charity of which the Apostle speaks without having overcome it So I say with him unto all that would attain to true Virtue that all other good actions shall be nothing until we have surmounted and overcome the corruption which sin hath brought unto humane nature since all sorts of evil spring thence and therein can no good be found Though the blindness of men makes them presume that they can do all well yet they do altogether evil so long as they act according to the motions of corrupt nature And it is only arrogance and presumption of spirit that they think themselves wise and willing to do all good For if man were wise he would always distrust himself nor dare undertake any thing fearing to do evil since that is in him and there cannot proceed out of a vessel other than what is in it When Man was newly created by God in the state of innocence he was full of all good and all sorts of good proceeded from him but since he is fallen into sin he is filled with all evil and there can nothing proceed out of him but all evil That is a general rule and by it ought every one to regulate his life if he would be saved for there is no exception seeing all men have been corrupted by Adam's sin and consequently are filled with evils none excepted It is true mens natures differ in manners and conditions one is Meek another Harsh one is Proud another Humble but that is from their natural temperament because man being composed of four Elements Water Fire Earth and Air his Manners naturally are disposed with proportion to the element which predomines in him For every one hath in his nature divers dispositions He that in the forming of his body hath contracted more of Fire than of the other Elements will be more cholerique and luxurious because the Fire hath more power in him than the Air Water or Earth Another who in his formation hath contracted more of Water will be more dull in his Manners slow in comprehending any thing and less couragious He that in his formation hath received more of Earth than of other Elements shall be more heavy lazy and rude in his Manners Finally he that in his Formation hath contracted more of Air than other Elements will be in his manners more light and inconstant and more active in spirit and prompter to good or evil and by these natural temperaments all men are of divers complexions and different manners according as they have contracted of their Parents the intemperature of the Elements of which their body is formed But in respect of Grace they are all of a like nature and are by sin all fallen into the same corruption one as well as the other and so they all need to combate that corruption since they are all equally corrupted by sin which they must master if they would be saved without going to perswade that one is better than another because he hath in his nature a
defect Fire is good in that it warms and enlightens but evil in that it burns and smoaks Water is good in that it refreshes and quenches thirst but evil in that it is crude and cold the Air is good for respiration and to purge bad vapours but evil in that it hath tempests the Earth is good for producing fruits but evil in that it is miery and that it produces pricking Thorns and Thistles Gold Silver and other Metals are good in that they serve mens commodities but evil for their heaviness and obscurity all the Plants and Fruits of the Earth have something of good and something of evil and also all beasts of the Earth the Air and the Water and man especially is composed of Good and Evil So that there is nothing amiable but God alone since there can never be evil in him and out of him nothing good to be loved all being accompanied or mixt with evil Evil is not an object of Love nor worthy of our affection Man then is created to love and there 's nothing more natural to him than love He must needs love something For he may be as soon without life as without love for there 's nothing but death puts an end to the love of earthly things but the love which is in his nature can never end It is created of God who is eternal it shall also endure eternally but that love can have divers objects one loves good things another evil a-third things mixed of good and evil Now he that loves good things loves God since there is nothing good beside him and all the good that is in the Creatures comes from him He that loves evil things loves the Devil seeing there is nothing evil but what comes from him For God hath not created evil nor any thing evil it is the Devil alone who hath produced all evils in separating himself from all good and is by consequence fallen into all evil which is nothing else but the privation of all good And he that loves the creatures loves an object composed of good and evil for God created them all good but the Devil by his subtil malice hath insinuated the evil into the good when he gained man's will who consented to that mixture of good and evil For God had created man free so he would not hinder him to use that liberty which he had once given him And therefore man is free during this life which is his time of tryal where he may choose one of these three Objects viz if he will love God or the Devil or earthly Creatures Now there is no doubt but God is the most lovely Object who hath nothing of evil Wherefore then should it be impossible to love God with all our heart as he hath commanded there is nothing so lovely as him and beside that love brings us all sorts of good for God is as powerful as lovely and can render man happy in time and in eternity O what Quiet Joy and contentment even in this world hath a person that loveth God and how much shall these Goods be augmented in Eternity What disquiet Grief and Trouble inwardly hath a man that loves the Devil for let him do all the evil he can he is never pleased nor content his Conscience can never be in quiet and his joy can be only false and apparent because of the sadness which sin infallibly brings For evil blinds the Soul fills the Heart with dark and melancholy thoughts dulls the Spirit and tortures the Conscience as soon as the pleasure of the evil is over And after these temporal evils he must look for greater and eternal ones because he hath loved the devil who can give nothing but torments having nothing else in his power So that evil Object is as little profitable as lovely It is the same with the Creatures while we cannot love them without the evils which they carry mixed with the good which God had put in them And all the creatures of whatever nature have no power to render us happy neither in this life nor in that to come For if we love Riches which are so much loved now adays we are their Slaves because of the travail we must use to get them and the care and disquiet to preserve them nor can they afford us more than a little nourishment for our bodies and Cloaths to cover us which the poor can have also and with less trouble and if they think themselves happy because they can satisfie their taste in eating and drinking deliciously that is only a greater misery causing infirmities and diseases from which they that live soberly are free And if we love some human Creature we are yet more miserable seeing we so sell our liberty and become subject to the passions and inclinations of another So that there is no happiness for the man that loves the creatures seeing they have no power to make us happy in this world and far less in eternity And therefore there is nothing but the Love of God which is profitable and amiable for man and no other Object we must then conclude from thence that it is very possible to love him and beside that it is profitable and necessary both for our temporal and eternal happiness which I pray you to believe Your Well-affectioned in Jesus Christ ANTONIA BOURIGNON In Holstein near Gottorp Castle April 20. 1672. St. Vel. THE IX LETTER That it is easier to Love God than any thing else To the same to whom is shown that it is most Easie Profitable Honourable Sweet and Pleasant to Love God and keep his Commands for him that will deny himself It is Blasphemy to say that it is impossible to love God with all our heart My Dear Child NEver suffer your self to be perswaded that it is impossible to Love God with all our heart as these Ignorants falsly say for there is nothing more easie sweet pleasant honourable and profitable than to love God with all our heart First it is most easie seeing man is created to love Love is the strongest passion he hath in his nature so that he can no more be without love than without life consequently it is very easie to follow that natural inclination where there in no need to do any violence seeing the bent and inclination of man tends thither of it self and that its easie to follow a Love which is engraven in all both soul and body No person then need doubt that it is most easie for him to love But some doubt if it is easie to love God being he is an object invisible to nature and we cannot love what we Know not but with great difficulty That sentiment is altogether brutish and cannot be in the mind of a reasonable man who by his reason can see that there is a God Author of all things and that there is no creature that hath not its origine from a supreme cause who is its Author and Creator or else they could
end retain them to himself be therefore upon your guard my Son and before all embrace spiritual Diligence as that which is most necessary for the perseverance of your Virtue For though there were no other Devil to tempt us but the Corruption of our Nature it is sufficient to give continual exercise to combat it For it is so corrupted by sin that it produces continually evil effects in our soul to cause it to perish eternally We need but follow that nature to be damned as I have else where told you The reason is because it neither wills nor desires but what is evil and tends to self-love It is true man was created by God perfect and in that state of perfection he did all good blessing and honouring God and so enjoyed every thing without sinning but since man abandoned that state of perfection by his sin he is become so corrupted that whatever he does or says tends only to his own glory or satisfaction which is to sin Seeing all Glory belongs to God alone and man ought to seek nothing but to please him and as often as he does otherways he offends him And therefore must you have that spiritual Diligence to watch over all your words and actions except you would live in continual sins For if we eat and drink it is ordinarily to please our taste and sensuality instead of taking these necessary things with praising the Lord who made them If we cloath our selves it is also for our own satisfaction ease and glory instead of cloathing our selves in humility and with confusion because our sin made us ashamed and necessitated us to cover our body to preserve us from the injuries of the air which the same sin rendered intemperate in Heat Cold and tempests For before Sin man was altogether naked without shame and had no necessity to cloath himself being cloathed only with Glory and Light He was Lord and Governour over all the Elements which were submissive and obedient to him encompassing him only for his contentment and pleasure But now that is since sin hath corrupted human nature man cannot take pleasure in walking on the Earth in the refreshing of the Wind or Water without sinning because he does all these things only for his own satisfaction instead of doing them to satisfie God alone If man study labour or undertake any thing it is always for his own glory and proper satisfaction or profit instead of undertaking all these things for the Glory of God only and to apply all the forces of his body and powers of his spirit to glorify God who gave us them He also does often glory vainly in the gifts and talents which he hath received of his God and attributes them to himself as if he were the proprietary of them and independent of the Author of all Good And so forgets what is written viz. That every good Gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights They come not then from man's power who inclines to nothing but to do evil And consequently if man can labour study or do any other good and necessary thing these are graces and favours which God hath given him and can take from him in a moment And therefore man hath not reason of glorying or to attribute to himself the least good thing Which he does notwithstanding either through ignorance or malice So he hath need to watch continually if he would abstain from sin otherwise he shall fall every moment without perceiving it For since he is corrupted by sin he cannot have a good thought nor speak one word that is not defiled and mixed with self-love or self-esteem which I could shew you my Son in your own experience if you were capable but all your thoughts and words are mixed with impurity I know well you are resolved in the bottom of your soul in general to please God and no more to sin yet you do it as often as you seek your own satisfaction You do it through ignorance because you have not sufficiently discovered how much human nature is corrupted by sin and you have not esteemed it evil to follow it On the contrary you and all other men who live according to their corruption have held it for a good thing to follow their own wills as far as they did not induce them to do any thing evil and reprehensible before men For every one walks in his darkness and have no light to know their miseries and the state into which sin hath brought them And that ignorance makes them live at ease in their self-love without holding it for sin though in effect that self-love is the essence of all sorts of sins For if man kill steal commit adultery or do any other thing forbidden in the commands of God it is only to satisfie his self-love If he seeks his profit pleasure or ease if he esteem or boast of himself it is all to satisfie that love the same if he seek the honours and pleasures of this world In fine Self-love is the womb in which are engendred all sorts of sin and it entriely robs our heart of the Love of God Which being pure cannot remain with the impure love of our selves Therefore is it that it need not appear strange to any that they cannot obtain the Love of God though they desire it For they can never obtain it while they continue in the love of themselves And they should rather account themselves unworthy of the Love of God than rashly to desire that God should come to reside in a heart filled with self-love and polluted with sins They that would have the Love of God and will not forsake that of themselves are very imprudent seeing they would make so unsuitable a match as is that of the Love of God in which consists all sorts of good with self-love in which consists all sorts of evil which is intolerable and unworthy of good Reason for it is the same as if they would joyn Heat and Cold in the same place which is contrary to nature which will never suffer that but these two contraries shall so wrestle together that the stronger shall hold the place alone For if we put Fire in the Water it is extinguished when it cannot overcome the Water but if the Fire is so great that it can consume the Water it becomes victorious and destroys the Water It is even so with the Soul that desires the Love of God It is the place where is the Cold of Self-love and the Heat of the Love of God And when that Self-love is the stronger it extinguishes entirely the Fire of the Love of God But if the Love of God kindle more in the Soul it banishes quite Self-love Which arrives unto the purified souls which scarce feel any more their Self-love when that of God hath gotten the upper-hand in the soul They live and die in that love and despise Self-love But he that lives in Self-love is a Slave of sin and