never for the future so long as the world lasts but that dependance which he owes unto God It is a very small matter that he requires of us It is also great ingratitude that we deny him that Dependance upon him seeing he is the Lord and Creator of every thing that he hath created us of nothing and giveth all that we have to enjoy it in full liberty provided only we have always the acknowledgment that we depend upon him in every thing Could that great God demand less of a little Earth-worm than the acknowledgment of the Dependance of his God It is athing so just that although God had never testified that he desired that of Man he was obliged always to acknowledge it seeing all came truely-from him and he had enriched him with so many Graces and Prerogatives which obliged him unto a continual acknowledgment even although he had never had more than a natural reason for they say that brute and cruel Beasts have acknowledged some good deed of men all the days of their life and man with an understanding so compleat will not acknowledge the Dependance which he hath upon God nor submit his will un-unto that of God although he be so good as to desire it for if God were not an Excess of Goodness he would rather disdain men of so little worth than to permit them to unite their will unto his Nevertheless he permits and desires it yea threatens and rejects them who will not do it as Jesus Christ threatened St. Peter when he would not be washed by him If we had but a very little judgment we should say unto God that he should not permit only our will to be united unto his but rather that ours should be wholly annihilated and he exerce his over us only and absolutely I asked her How she understood that in saying That the acknowledgment of the Dependance of God was the only Commandment of God seeing he hath made so many divers ones She said Sir there is only that Commandment alone essential all the others are accidental For when God had created Adam and all men in him he gave him the power over all subordinate things having subjected all living Creatures unto him that he might rule over all as a little God without reserving any thing but that he should always acknowledge the dependance which he had upon his Creator beside that that he might rule over every thing as a Dependent Deity and to denote that Dependance he forbids him to eat of the fruit of one only Tree permitting him to taste all the others which signified that man might use enjoy and rule over every thing provided that he always acknowledged his dependance upon that supreme Deity of whom he held every thing and if Adam had not forgotten himself in forsaking that Dependance to depend upon himself he had never received any other Commandment from God nor all other men after him but the Justice of God was obliged to make other Commandments unto him for Penitence of his Disobedience he enjoins him to labour the Earth and gain his living with the sweat of his face which was the second Cummandment which God made unto man which yet is only accidental by Adam's fall and not essential by the Will of God who loved well to see him free without subjecting him unto any thing but himself alone And when he made the Commandments given unto Moses for the People of Israel that was also by accident for if they had not forgot themselves in so many divers sins which withdrew them from the Dependance of God he had never given them divers Commandments but fearing lest his People should perish through Ignorance he gave them always Commandments that by means of them they might know their sins and amend them otherwise God had never constrained man unto any thing else but to acknowledge him as superiour of all thing because God had created him to take his delights with him in full liberty and without constraint not willing to subject him unto any other Law than that of Love whence appears that all these other Commandments are but accidentally appointed because of the sins which men have committed in divers times who if they would yet at present reassume that Dependance upon God they should not need all the other Commandments nor Precepts because all are but means to attain unto that Dependance of God and that we might see and know all the things which hinder us to abandon our Will unto that of God and that knowing them by the Commandments we might remove and correct them that we might be able to enter again into that Dependance which was first enjoyned unto us as the only thing necessary unto our Salvation as it is yet at present even as then CONFERENCE XII Declares that there is but one only thing to be done to be saved I said unto her That it was very agreeable to hear that there was but one only thing to be done to be saved that I would gladly take that short way She said No Sir there is nothing but one only thing to be done for Salvation but there are many to be omitted which give us great Impediments and Disturbances We omit to do what serves us as means to arrive at that Dependance and we do what mars it The Penitence which God gave unto Adam to gain his living with the sweat of his face is very little observed by men at present Every one will live without labouring and they account it a happiness to have Riches to live at ease That is very far to contradict the means which God hath taught us so salutarily After Adam had sinned and all men in him he had by his free will departed from that Dependance upon God to become wise of himself he had rendered himself with all his Posterity miserable because all the Miseries which we endure are engendered by willing to do our own will We must not impute all our Miseries unto Adam but only unto our own faults which we our selves commit If we had only Adam's Sin we should only have the Penitence to labour for our living and endure the Intemperance of the Elements but our own sins cause unto us a thousand other sorts of sufferings If we would labour and endure heat and cold or other intemperances of the said Elements and remit the Dependance of our Will unto that of God we should quickly return into the blessed state wherein Adam was created for our Penitence should be accomplished in this short life which is much shortened by the Mercy of God and then we should enjoy an eternal beatitude which should never end but since our proper actual Will would not depend upon God but upon it self following its proper inclinations it hath caused us many other Evils which we attribute unto God or unto Adam and if we regarded them truely we should see that they take their origin and
pleasure in or consent thereto Although you should be tormented all the days of your life by evil thoughts that shall not make you lose the Grace of God so long as they displease you Yet you have cause to humble your self before God for your former sins for if you had never sinned and willingly given entry to evil thoughts the Devil would not have had the power to cause you to have them after against your will But what is past is no more in your power it remains only that you strive for the time to come never more to return to them Remain then faithful to God and persevere in your good resolution which you have taken to find true Virtue Never weary in that search it deserves well that you endure some trouble for even the worldlings endure yet much more in the service of the world For what Disquiets Cares and Travails does not a Merchant suffer to gain a little Money What pains must not a Gentleman take to preserve his Honour what Fatigue and Toil hath the Labourer and Tradesmam to gain their Food which you have in the service of God without trouble Will you not suffer a little Tentation of the Devil to arrive at true Virtue which is to buy at a very easie rate For all that the Devil can do to you is inconsiderable in respect of the joy which attends you in Heaven if you endure with perseverance he may well disturb your Spirit with divers Tentations but can never cause you to fall into sin without that your own will consent to him For when you have rendred your will to God he will keep it well and not permit that the Devil gain to make it consent unto Evil. And what more the Devil can do is but a small matter He should have no power over your will if he had not had so formerly so he could not have troubled you so often For I perceive often his contradictions against me by you against your will He knows that I belong to God and follow his will which he contradicts to his power but he cannot hinder that I know and practise it and so hinder that you should follow it and causes you to contradict it often in small things because he cannot obtain that you should oppose it in great things He gains always a little when he cannot gain much I know well that is against your will and what comes to pass against it comes assuredly from the Devil for a man cannot be contrary to his own proper will what he wills he desires and what he desires effects it so far as he can And therefore it is the Devil that does in him whatever he does against his own will If you comprehended well that my Son you would resist him more and would no more cause me so much pain by the contradictions you make to the Will of God which by his Grace I know in things great and small and it you must follow to your power But you have not yet sufficiently discovered the subtil Snares of that old Serpent nor overcome your self nor human considerations which are the Chains that yet hinder your flight to God but do not lose courage If I have overcome the world you may also overcome it and shall become master of the Devil and of your self God is not partial nor an Accepter of Persons He bestows his Grace upon all them that seek and desire it in truth I wish you these desires and remain Your Well-affected in Jesus Christ ANTONIA BOURIGNON Holste in near Gottorp Castle 27. April 1672. St. vet THE XII LETTER The Devil the Enemy of true Virtue Opposes it with all manner of Devices To the same to whom is shewn that it is necessary to know the Wiles of the Devil with which he opposes true Virtue that we may evite them which are shown in this and the following Letters as 1. That the Devil insinuates himself into what is sensual in man 2. That he suits himself to the impulses and inclinations of every one leaving the rest in quietness My Son I Spake much to you in my last of the tentation of the Devil because it is as necessary for you to know in order to your salvation as it is to know true virtue For if you know only the good you shall easily fall into the evil even without perceiving it and so shall sometimes follow evil thinking that you do well But since I have undertaken to teach you all things necessary to salvation I must speak to you of the malice of the Devil and how he tempts men to lead them to perdition as he hath already led many even such as have never discovered that is was the Devil who incited them to do evil and so have suffered themselves to be seduced insensibly by him though they have been persons well enclined yet have they been lost by ignorance For ignorance does not excuse before God Every one is obliged to know what he ought to do and leave that he may please the Lord. If then I should now speak to you only of the beauty and excellency of virtue and you knew not the Wiles of Satan whereby he attempts to hinder men to arrive at it doubtless you should never enjoy it he would stop you in the way by one means or other So that I judge it more necessary that you know the Malice of the Devil and the power he hath over men when he is unknown to them than to teach you the Deepest Mysteries of Divinity For all sciences together could not make you holy but the Malice of the Devil should lead you to Damnation if you knew it not Therefore I pray you to apply diligently your spirit to comprehend that all sorts of Evil come from the Devil as all sorts of Good comes from God There is only these two things that are good and evil So that whatsoever is good in Heaven or on Earth in all the Creatures in every place proceeds immediately from God and all that is evil in every thing comes from the Devil For he being by his sin separated from God is fallen into all evils There is no good but in God alone and in the privation of good consists all evil All that is infallible Evil then is no real thing and God never gave it a being but all good things come ever from God whence it follows that the privation of all good is all evil So that the Devil being seperated from God who is all good is consequently fallen into all evil which is nothing else but a privation of all good That miserable Nothing is the Devil who by his free will would separate himself from all good and it is that separation which makes all evil There can be no other evil but the want and deprival of all good seeing God never created Evil. Now nothing can have a being but what God created and having never created evil it cannot be other thing but a cursed
entertain himself with his heavenly Father free from all distraction And nothing more pure than the intentions of our Saviour He says He came not into the world to accomplish his own Will but the Will of him that sent him Notwithstanding the Devil had the impudence to go to tempt him several times by Vain-glory in presenting to him the Kingdoms of the World as also the Stones to convert into Bread for his Hunger He tempted him also by the Scripture saying That be should throw himself down from the pinacle of the Temple because it is written that the angel shall preserve us c. Are not these full cunning wiles of the Devil while he uses the most holy things to tempt Jesus Christ He attempts to catch him by his Fasts his confidence in God and by glory in presenting him all the kingdoms of the World How then should he leave untempted frail and imperfect Creatures like us For what is man there that must not confess himself far short of the least of Jesus Christ his perfections Who is he that retires to the Desert to give himself to entertainment with God out of the Dangers and Divertisments of the world Who refuses the kingdoms and Riches of the Earth Who is he among the spirituals that does not tempt God by his Temerity and Presumption For they no sooner receive any particular Light or Grace from God but they Glory and esteem themselves beyond others And no sooner do they forsake sin to give themselves to Works of Mercy but they think God is beholding to them and that every body should esteem them Which happens to all that begin to serve God and follow true Virtue excepting none because of the corruption of our nature He that says or believes the contrary is deceived and walks not in rhe Truth and the knowledge of himself For all men in general and every particular brings these natural inclinations with him coming into the world they are all proud presumptuous covetous of honour riches and pleasures Always prefer themselves to others and esteem themselves worthy of all goods and honour Yea they think God oblieged to them for the least good action they do because the Devil hath furred into mans nature that pride of life which inflames the heart of man and hinders him to abase himself and acknowledge his faults We see that even Adam did not humble himself after his sin but endeavoured to excuse it saying The Woman which thou gavest me tempted me to eat of the Apple and she said The Serpent beguiled me All which proceeded from the pride which the Devil had already planted in the heart of our first Parents and consequently in the hearts of all men that were to proceed from them For all are stained with that sin of Pride and so they will not acknowledge their faults but defend them to their power Which also remains with them till death unless they overcome that corruption of nature by true Virtue And when they arrive at that they overcome the Devil For he hath no power but over his own works or the corruption which he hath caused in our nature That being once overcome we revive in the strength of the grace wherein Adam was created And when man finds himself united to God by the love he hath to him then he scorns at the Devil and becomes a new creature And so will no more have any fellowship with that corruption wherein he was born Yet such an one must be upon his guard for the Devil who seduced our first parents when in the state of Grace may well seduce a man that is regenerated in it so long as he lives in his time of tryal which is this miserable life for God will prove mans fidelity to him He created him free that liberty then must needs be proved otherwise it should be constraint For if God had willed absolutely to constrain him to love him he had been happy as Gods slave But he would honour man much more in creating him free that he might entertain himself with him He would then choose the soul of man for his Spouse and not his Slave And therefore it must have a time of proof or advisement to resolve if it would joyn and unite with its God or not Now this time of tryal was this present life in which Adam should have given testimony of his fidelity to his God Notwithstanding he was so imprudent as to break the fidelity he owed to the Spouse of his Soul would go joyn himself to creatures unworthy of his love And so he interrupted the covenant and fellowship which God would make with his Soul even until his sin and infidelity were purged by repentance That is the reason why his time of tryal was turned into one of penitence which Adam underwent faithfully all the time of his life But the pride which his first sin hath planted in our hearts makes us often depise him and wish evil to him because of the hurt he caused us As if he were the cause of our damnation which is a great error For although Adam had never sinned yet other men might always have damned themselves by their own sins during their time of tryal For each one for himself should in this time have given testimony of his fidelity to God since all men and every one in particular were of the same nature and condition and also in the same state with Adam before his sin And there is at present no other difference betwixt the state of man now and that of Adam but that since sin came men are born with an inclination to Evil whereas Adam had inclination to Good only when he was created With that exception we are of the same condition with Adam and created for the same end that our souls should be spouses to God provided we remain faithful to him during the time of our tryal and penitence which we must attend in this life which is full short in regard of that of Adam But if we knew the truth of things and discovered the snares of the Devil to shun and evite them in our good actions we might hope to attain again to an eternal union with God For Adam's sin cannot damn us if our own sins do it not seeing God hath pardoned Adam's sin in case he fulfilled his repentance And he hath also pardoned all other men upon the same condition but the misery of men now adays is that they know not those things and will here enjoy instead of suffering Which is a false perswasion of the Devil who insinuates himself into the holiest things while we perceive it not Which is a truth she exhorts you to believe who is careful of your Soul Holstein near Gottorp Castle May. 8 1672. St. vet ANTONIA BOURIGNON THE XVII LETTER Sin proceeds from Man's Freewill To the same shewing him an Eleventh sort of Tentation whereby we lay the blame of our sins upon the Devil to free our selves where is
2d. place you must endeavour to remove all impediments which retard that peace quiet and tranquility of Spirit these impediments are in our corrupt nature for from sin men are falâ— into a continual trouble war and disquiet and our passions being disordered breed all these and they cannot be governed ordered and kept in peace except we have resisted and overcome them and also altogether renounced our natural inclinations and then is it that we find peace quiet and tranquility of Spirit and not before Behold wherefore it is that J. Ch. says we must Deny our selves if we would be his Disciples for that renouncing of our passions alone is the true means to attain to that peace quiet and tranquillity of Spirit For since sin came our passions bereave us of these which before sin were well regulated and temperate bringing joy peace and tranquility to our souls whereas now we feel the quite contrary For if we suffer our passions to rule they will lead us to intemperance sadness and disquiet of Spirit So that it is impossible for one that lives according to his natural senses to learn the Meekness and Gentleness which J. Ch. teaches us And it is for that he adds the gospel doctrine That we must Deny our selves For th' one cannot be without the other if we will be meek and lowly as J. Ch teaches we must of necessity deny our selves seeing our nature hath nothing but harshness and fretting which causes trouble of Spirit and disquiet in the will and contention with our neighbour for he that has not meekness in himself cannot have peace with his neighbour except it be a Dissembled or civil peace which yields not inward quiet nor tranquillity of Spirit As I believe My Child you feel in yourself for though you have a quiet of conscience because you have abandoned the world and the occasions of sin yet you have not that inward peace which would render your Spirit tranquile and peaceable For you act yet with Disturbance which proceeds from corrupted and distempered passions So if you knew to vanquish that and calm these unprofitable agitations it were your great advantage and you would easily obtain the meekness which Jesus Christ teaches as also lowliness and gentleness seeing these two are knit together meekness of heart engenders gentleness toward our neighbour for he that is tranquile and peaceable in himself will not trouble his neighbour nor give any occasion of fretting seeing the meekness of the good quenches the wrath of the wicked And though one that has learnt the meekness and gentleness of Jesus Christ were surrounded with troubles of all sorts he will yet keep a tranquile Spirit Because he does no more follow the motions of his corrupt nature and so retains peace quiet and tranquility of Spirit where it is obtained by the meekness and gentleness of J. Chr. My Child if you would also learn that Lesson endeavour to Deny your self and not follow your own will in any thing For Since it was corrupted by sin it always enclines to evil suspect whatever proceeds from your own will and follow it in nothing it is it which bereaves you of the meekness and gentleness which Jesus Christ teaches and we have no greater enemy in the world than our proper will If you could well comprehend that truth doubtless you would not follow it in any thing and you would Distrust even your Good Wills and intentions and suspect them but because you know not yet well that your proper will is so evil you do not distrust it Notwithstanding is betrays you often and it leads you to do evil often when you would do good your bottom and inward intention is good but your proper will opposes your good desires and makes you often do the contrary of what you have well resolved If I were in your place I would not follow my own will in any thing and hold all my own best wills for evil seeing there can never come good out of what is altogether corrupt as our will is become through sin so that no good can proceed from it Whatever is good must proceed from God And whatever is evil from the Devil and the corrupted will of man It is as a fire which kindles in our nature luxury anger and all sorts of intemperance it is insatiable never satisfied ever desiring what it hath not restless in its desires turbulent in its searches ever panting and never refreshed nor content in the end our proper will creates us more evil than the Devil himself who could in no wise hurt us if our proper will did not consent thereto So that when we have overcome our own will we have overcome the devil also For he can never make us sin but in moving our will to submit to him It is for that that I said man can never have a greater enemy than his proper will and consequently every one in particular and all men in general ought to make war with their proper wills yet how few esteem it their enemy and a great many idolize it esteeming themselves happy that they can follow it in every thing without considering that it brings death to the soul and hinders the will of God to be fulfilled in us For he that follows his own will is not subject to the will of God seeing these two are always contrary So that he who will accomplish the will of God must of necessity renounce his own will and who will learn of J. Christ meekness and lowliness must refuse every thing to his proper will and so be shall possess in his soul peace quiet and tranquility of Spirit which I pray God grant you by renouncing your proper will which is the only means to make you happy in this world and to all eternity as wishes she that desires your Salvation Holstein near Gottorp Castle 5 Feb. 1672. ANTONIA BOURIGNON THE III. LETTER Men can sufficiently know the will of God if they would perform it To the same shewing him while he perswaded himself that the will of God is not sufficiently manifest in every thing that we might accomplish it denying our own that the will of God may be known and is sufficiently manifested in the commands of God which Jesus Christ proposeth so Clearly Saying Learn of me for I am meek and Lowly and humble of heart My Child I Believe you understand sufficiently by my former what that meekness and lowliness is which we must learn of J. Ch. how it is pleasant to obey how mans proper will is corrupted by sin and how we must now fight with and overcome it if we will find peace in our souls quiet of conscience and tranquility in our Spirit But you cannot comprehend how you may so know the will of God in every thing to follow it in quitting your proper will Believe me that scruple proceeds from your corrupt nature which would willingly be dispensed or excused from being obliged to renounce your proper will
their Affairs and Houshold disquiets them Fortune is against them and in the end their Pleasures terminate in divers Griefs the Pleasures of the Flesh in Pains those of the Pallate into Diseases Honour into Contempt and Slights even as Haman's Pleasure when invited to the Queens Banquet changed into Grief when he saw that Mordecai would not render him the honour he desired so do all earthly pleasures terminate in Displeasure and sadness So that we can find no other true pleasure in the world but to love God only which is full pleasant and also honourable for what Honour is man capable of approaching unto that of loving a God so mighty who created Heaven and Earth and all other things and sustains them by his almighty power and who can give unto men eternal Salvation If we count it Honour that we love a King a Prince or other Person in Authority how much ought we to think us honoured that we may love a God who is incomprehensibly good and wise and what Honour is it for a small Worm of the Earth such as man is that he may love God who desires to be loved of him and even commands him to love him with all his heart As if God delighted to honour man by requiring to be loved of him And the honour of loving God is so considerable that it passes all that man is capable of in heaven or on earth Moreover it is also Profitable for him seeing that love can render him happy in this world and to all eternity Whereas all the Creatures together cannot procure us the one nor the other What profit can we draw from the Creatures who are unable to give us a Day yea an hour or even a moments life What could they then to give us Eternal Life All the advantage men can Draw one from another is a little Money Honour or Pleasure which vanish and most part ends in pain and grief as I have before shown And therefore we cannot truely call Pleasures the Advantages and Profits that men cause one to another No more ought we to esteem Honours which are but a blast of wind which vanishes in the air of a small Disgrace and so leaves nothing in the person honoured but a piercing grief that he is no more honoured What profit is it for a man to get of his fellow a little more money It is only a more weighty charge to bear in this world where the richest are the most miserable for they can never have more of their Riches but a little necessary nourishment and cloathing to cover them all the rest is superfluous to them and should serve others seeing he must not take for himself but for pure necessity What 's over gives only the Disquiet Care and Trouble of Dispensing or bestowing it So that a Lacquey is happier than his Master he hath no care but for himself but the Master must care for himself and all under him and see that nothing be wanting to them or else his servants will upbraid or despise him Is not that a poor advantage a little money that men can afford and yet he that receives it is obliged to a thousand thanks and beside to take a more honourable state which brings him more Care and Disquiet than he had before he was so rich That testifies that nothing in this world can advantage man or give him true Honour Pleasure or Content And so there is nothing but God can render man happy in this life and that to come seeing all the advantages men reap one from another serve but for their damnation Their Pleasures retire the Soul from God their Honours cause them to fall into Pride and their Riches into Avarice which leads them to the broad way of damnation and notwithstanding they fancy themselves happy for having the good will of men which is cause of their eternal misery But so great is their blindness that they cannot see these miseries however evident They perswade themselves that they are Happinesses that their Disquiets are Peace and their Displeasures Contentments For how many persons are there in the world who study all the Days of their life to perfect themselves in some Science to be esteemed of men how many that labour travail and put themselves in several hazards to gain a little money and how many that expose riches and life too to preserve their honour Although all these things be vain yet they love and esteem them often more than they do God for we see them not do for him what they do for the Creatures they render to them painful and hard services and imagin to themselves that there is more difficulty to love God than to love the World Notwithstanding the Love of God is easie sweet pleasant honourable and profitable as I have shown but the love of the world is disquieting sad without repose honour or profit for time and for eternity Which you may remark my Child by the reasons I have above deduced to you which should open your eyes to discern Falshood from Truth that you may never give place to the false perswasions which the blinded Christians would establish They say it is impossible to love God with all our heart and so blaspheme against him For God could not command an impossibility but all that he commands is good easie and pleasant And if you consider narrowly his ten commands you shall find but two of action viz. That of loving God and the other to honour Father and Mother The other eight are but prohibitions to do evil as not to kill steal bear false witness and the rest Is it then impossible to abstain from committing these evils that these blinded minds say it is impossible to keep the Commands of God Believe not these falshoods but constrain your self to get out of that valley of Snow which is the Riches and Pleasures of this life and ascend to the Mount of Consideration of things eternal and you shall find it pleasant to love God to which you shall have the helping hand of her who is Your Well-affectioned in Jesus Christ ANTONIA BOURIGNON Holstein near Gottorp Castle 25. April 1672. st vet THE X. LETTER The Love of God is easie and renders all things easie To the same to whom is shown that the Love of God is in its self most easie to attain whence proceed the difficulties that occur in it and how to be removed that this love wonderfully lightens the incommodities of this life and renders the observing the commands of God and the Gospel-advices easie My Dear Child BElieve firmly that the words of Jesus Christ are true viz. That his Yoak is easie and his Burthen is Light and take his counsel in taking his yoak which you shall feel to be such if you will take it on I experience it daily more and more believe that you shall experience it as I do if you continue in the resolution to follow Jesus Christ and become his true disciple I