Truth will strongly resist it and practising Unrighteousness they will not suffer Righteousness in their presence because it would reprove them I can very well hold my Peace as I have done for so many Years by-gone But when God shall will that I speak I will cry to all the World without fearing those who can but kill the Body Death would be agreeable to me if with it I could enlighten my Christian Brethren and draw them out of Error I said to her That the Church did not put to death the Holy Fathers who had explain'd the Holy Scriptures But on the contrary had honour'd and esteem'd them That neither ought she to be afraid of being ill treated by them but rather receiv'd and approved in explaining the Scriptures She said to me Sir You would always excuse this Church because you have espous'd her as I have also done It proceeds from this that you do not yet distinguish what the true Church is tho' I have so often spoke to you of it The Church in a perfect and defin'd Sense is no other thing but the Souls which are united in Heart and Will wholly unto God These are his only Spouses He never had any others no more under the Old Testament than the New yea from the Beginning of the World and will never have even to the End yea throughout all Eternity Nothing can be the Church but that which is united wholly unto God No more than a Woman can be a Man's Spouse if she be not united to him For if she joyn herself to another she is an Adultress the same is it without Comparison in the Alliance which God makes with Souls If they withdraw from him and joyn themselves to any other thing they are Adultresses and worthy of being divorc'd If God permit a Man to forsake his Wife for Whoredom wherefore should not this Law be observ'd by himself If Rome with its College does remain united to God in the Spirit of Truth she is the Church and his Spouse But if she be separated from that Truth and Righteousness she is no more but a Civil and Political Assembly Make always this Distinction Sir or otherwise you will be deceiv'd taking Falshood for Truth If there were a thousand Popes with as many Counsellors assembled and if they did not possess the Spirit of God they are not the Church but if a simple Woman that spins on a Distaff do possess the Spirit of God she is the Church The Holy Fathers were not ill treated by Rome in expounding the Holy Scriptures because there were yet perhaps in their Time in those Assemblies some Souls which were Churches and who by confequence did defend the Truth But at present this Support is not to be expected but rather mortal Persecutions An evil thing Sir ought not to be maintain'd blindly as if it were good Therefore God has given you a good Judgment to make this Distinction for if you continue always fix'd in the Resolution to take this outward Body of the Roman Church for the Holy Church it is in vain for me to discover to you her Evil and the Infidelity she has committed toward her lawful Husband You would do as he who would permit his Wife to play the Adultress in dissembling it without being desirous to know or discover it The Sin is as great to tolerate it as to do it If God permit me to speak the Truth openly to that Church which you esteem you would see with Regret how ill she would treat me you could not deliver me from the Peril to which your pious Belief would expose me I said to her That for the Exposition of the Holy Scriptures she needed offend no Body That this was but what God had declar'd unto us That every one ought to desire to have still a more clear Vnderstanding of them yea even the Wicked themselves that this ought not to displease them I entreated her to write boldly She said When you shall read Sir the 24th Chapter which I have promised you it may be you will change your Opinion for the Word of God is like to a two-edged Sword Truth cuts all that it meets with in Opposition to it So that without respecting any Body we cut all sorts of Errors and Lies in following only the streight Truth blindly and without knowing it we do often wound those of whom we are not thinking If the Word of God were well explain'd it would offend all the Persons that live now in the World yea those who are esteem'd Holy and Perfect For as we do not see so many little Atoms flying in the Air when the Sun does not shine brightly as we do when he spreads his Beams clearly even so the Souls which are full of Sins and Imperfections do not perceive them so long as the clear Understanding of true Perfection is not given them They believe that they are very clean but so soon as this Divine Light shall give its Rays every one will see evidently that he is deceiv'd that he has no Righteousness and that he is no true Christian Therefore the Devil will hinder as much as he can this Light from being discover'd and will oppose himself thereunto even by those that have most Authority that very few may perceive their Blindness For if these Explications were maturely consider'd by every one all the World would be converted for there is nothing more charming than to consider that which God has done for Man from his Creation and continued even till now which is nothing but a continued Course of Benefits all corresponding to one another always in great Perfection The Creation the Law of Moses the Prophets the Gospels are all the same thing by an excellent Harmony I ask'd her Whether the Ancient Fathers had not discover'd these things aright and if they had not declar'd this to the World by so many Expositions and Books which they had written She said Sir It was not necessary that the Ancient Fathers should have the Understanding of all things It was enough that they understood that which Men had need of then but since we draw near to the Fulness of time it is expedient for Men now that they learn that which must fall out in their Time Therefore God now reveals the Secrets which he would then have to be kept hid When the Apostles ask'd Jesus Christ when these things which Jesus Christ had told them should come to pass He answer'd them That it was not for them to know the Times which the Father had in his own power To shew that unseasonable Light ought not to be desir'd and that to him alone appertains the knowing the Time and the Hour of all things Thus he thought fit to reserve the Understanding of the Scriptures till the necessary time which is at present The Holy Fathers could not know then what he would reserve till now and all that they declar'd of it by so many
most on the contrary we regard often what does most delight our senses or rather what is most for our advantage and thus we render our love vain or please the vanity of those who love us For this cause I have found it more sure to avoid all persons who would love me Nature does often flatter us in this point perswading us that we love the soul of the person when we love only the body and its endowments or our own delectation and advantage And having ask'd her why she would not stay in one fixt place since she was out of her own Country and why she would not be known She answered Tho I am a Stranger yet I may be taken notice of by staying long in one place which I do not desire for men are full of vain curiosity they would hinder my inward repose and quiet without any profit therefore I love rather to travel and continue unknown for men cannot give me any thing nor I them And having replied unto her that men might instruct her in the matter of perfection or that she her self might also instruct some others She answer'd I never learn'd any thing from any man and as to the teaching of them they have too much presumption of their own knowledge to hearken to a Child as I am I choose rather to leave them in their Ignorance than to speak to them to be pursued and persecuted by them I ask'd her if she was not afraid of being wanting in Charity to her Neighbours while she would not teach them or believ'd that they would persecute her in well-doing She said Sir if I had not made the experiment I durst not say so but believe me I have search'd in diverse places for persons who were esteem'd good men to declare my sentiments to them and to manifest the blindness that is now in Christendom and I have not found any body who has followed my sayings on the contrary some have reproach'd and persecuted me so that I have been constrain'd to withdraw out of their reach for they would have treated me hardly and even imprison'd me because I told them the truth which they will not learn because it reproves 'em They oppose themselves and are alarm'd against this truth more than against the Devil himself at this time it is put out of credit those who possess it are oblig'd to hold their peace and to conceal themselves I have experienc'd this in divers Countries where I have every where met with this opposition by which I sufficiently perceive that the darkness is universal thro all the world I cannot be wanting in charity in this point for I have often expos'd my Life for the salvation of my Neighbour and I would do it yet if I found matter dispos'd which failing I am resolv'd to continue alone tho with regret seeing all the world perish while they will have no help and will not know their blindness I do not believe that God will reckon with me as being wanting on my part to my Neighbour in what was in my power I ask'd her from whence she deriv'd her sentiments and what Books she made use of for her spiritual reading She said She had never taken any thing out of Books that she made no use of them nor carried any with her on the way but a small one in which were written the WORDS OF JESVS CHRIST which she carried instead of a Box of Reliques not to read it but out of devotion esteeming those words more than all the Reliques of the world and as for her sentiments that they came to her without her knowing how that in her Childhood she had been instructed in the principles of the Catholick Faith and that coming after wards to the use of reason she found her self replenish'd with the Doctrines of Jesus Christ and entertain'd her spirit with the consideration of the life of the first Christians These thoughts inflam'd her with a desire of imitating and following them therefore she said to her parents and friends Let us go into the Conntry where the Christiaus live whom Jesus Christ has taught And when they answer'd her Here is the Land of the Christians Jesus Christ has taught us She thought within her self that this could not be true that the life which she and all other persons led was not conformable to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ nor to that of the first Christians She always ask'd again Where was the Land of the Christians till every one derided her as if she had been a Fool assuring her that she liv'd in the Land of Christians and that they had the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which she could not comprehend saying I see here Coffers full of Silver costly Furniture and sine Houses whereas Jesus Christ was poor and born in a Stable How can we be Christians I cannot believe this At last she resolv'd not to speak any more of it thinking in the mean time how she might find the way and the opportunity of coming one day into the Land of Christians While she consider'd all the actions and deportment of men she found them always more contrary to her sentiments which made her often weep when she was alone and she made her complaint to Jesus Christ and ask'd him how she might live as a Christian and be his Spouse It seems says she Sir that God had pity on my tender tears for a little after I receiv'd a secret advertisement as if some one had spoken within me and answered my demands This gave me so much consolation that childish plays and pleasures were no more agreeable to me I could find no other contentment but in entertaining my self with these secret thoughts that taught me all the sentiments I still retain not but tho thro my wickedness I lost this conversation for a time when inclining to follow the pleasures of the world and to give my self to the vanities of youth earthly sentiments began to possess my spirit But the great mercy of God has since recall'd me and restor'd the same inward delights with more solidity and light I never acquir'd sciences any other way than by recollection I have no need either of Books or Masters to teach me on the contrary they would be a great hindrance to me if I should make use of them even an Angel from Heaven if visible would hinder me This I could hardly understand saying to her if an Angel from Heaven would be a hindrance to you how dare we speak to you any more to hinder you She said Do not mistake me Sir I mean that an Angel from Heaven can teach me no more than I learn by my inward conversation therefore he would be unprofitable to me but you cannot hinder me so long as you profit by my words my Charity
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
from whom he holds all that he has If he dye in this Ingratitude he must by straight Justice go to Hell since he denies God a Thing which is so lawfully due to him as the Dependance of a Creature upon its Creatour Nothing can ever be demanded that is more equitable and nothing can be more damnable than to use our Free-will in prejudice of the Designs that God had in creating Man Ruler over all provided he acknowledged his Dependance upon the Will of God And as Adam lost himself by quitting this Dependance so all Men ruine themselves who do not submit their Will to that of God Because their Salvation depends on doing this and not on many other things which they teach us as necessary to Salvrtion All which cannot save us without this Dependance For his Law cannot save us nor all our Devotions and Means unless they bring us to this Dependance of our Wills on the Will of God All other Things put together cannot save us I said to her That Men were very blind in this Matter and very far out of the True Way For they do not suppose That we must have our Will resigned to God thus independently from our own but that to be saved it is enough to acknowledge That God is Soveraign over all and that also we keep his Commandments She said Sir I greatly pity the Blindness of Men Because they go astray under false Suppositions of their Salvation This is Faith to believe that God is the Soveraign of all Things But this Faith is not sufficient for Salvation It must be accompanied with the Works of Faith that according to our Belief we may give to God the soveraign and absolute Dominion of our Will and that he may thereby operate his Will in us This Resignation is the Work of our Faith Without this Work we have only a dead Faith which cannot save us but would serve for our greater Condemnation For He who knew his Masters Will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes To know that God is the Soveraign of all Things and not to yield up our Will to be governed by him is worse than not to know his Soveraignty Because this Faith and Belief obliges us to resign our selves wholly to him whereas the Ignorance of this Faith might in some manner excuse us for a time because we are obliged to search and find out all things necessary for our Salvation If we be ignorant of them at one time we must study to learn them at another For Ignorance does not excuse Sin God has given us an Understanding for no other End but to Know and Love him and to know what is necessary for Salvation If we apply it to other Things we are deceived and amused by the Enemy who is well pleased to divert our Understandings to Earthly Things that we may perish through Ignorance or by the Straying of our Minds He who thinks to be saved because he has not Killed Stolen nor committed the other Sins contained in the Decalogue is greatly deceived For these things are not spoken but for Malefactors who quitted a Dependance upon God to follow their own Wills in doing which they fell into all the Sins contained in the Ten Commandments Which moved the Goodness of God to give them this Decalogue that they might discover their Sins and abstain from them in Time coming For before these Sins God never gave any other Law to Man but this of resigning his Will to the Will of God So that he who should abstain from committing the Sins contained in the Decalogue should not be saved if withal he did not resign his own Will to that of God because it is not enough to depart from Evil we must also do Good and having no Good but what comes from God of necessity that we may do Good we must be resigned to him because our own Will leads us always to Evil. By which it appears clearly that the Resignation of our Will to that of God is the only Mean of our Salvation and that no Body shall ever obtain it by any other way than by this Resignation of Will to God I said to her That this being so it had been desirable that never any thing else had been Taught Men And that so many other Precepts and Means had made them hope for Salvation without Ground She said It is true Sir It had been better never to have been instructed in any thing else but in the Obligation we have to resign our Will to that of God This was purely true and Man could not fall into any Errour by this Doctrine but it was also very good that after we had quitted our Dependance God gave us the Ten Commandments that by their Means we might know our Faults without the knowledge of which we might have perished through Ignorance as every one does now by being ignorant That to be saved our Will must depend upon God For every one uses his own Will at his pleasure without considering that in doing this he cannot be saved Even so they went on in all the sorts of sins contained in the Ten Commandments and in the mean time believed they were resigned to God as we now believe we are while we follow our own Will These Commandments were necessary Means to make us return to a Dependance upon God For all those Sins do hinder this Dependance and do oppose the Works which God works in us They must be removed before God have the Dominion of our Souls and ere he can govern them according to his Will Even so we must deny our own Will if we would obtain Salvation For it is still opposed to the Will of God doing its Works either at the Will of the Devil or else according to our natural Inclinations Which cannot be but evil If they had only taught the Commands of God as necessary Means to be resigned to him this had been a desirable Thing For by showing that whosoever is resigned to God does not Kill nor Steal nor do any thing contrary to the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God they would discover to all those who did commit such Things that they forsook their Dependance upon God and followed their own Wills that the knowledge of this might make them return to God whom they had forsaken But many other Means which they have taught as necessary for Salvation prove rather Means to hinder it Because many outward Devotions the Ornaments of Churches Images Beads a great many Books and Prayers with a Thousand other Practices which neither God nor Jesus Christ taught prove great Hindrances of the Resignation of our Will to that of God For instead of having our Spirit free to Jet God Act in it what he shall find meet we fill it with our own Affections and keep our Will fixt to some Image Prayer or Devotion which pleases our Humour And thus our Soul not being empty God cannot fill it Thus we
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