in praising his and their God and in that state he could not be disagreeable to him But after that he would abandon his dependance on God and become wise in himself he hath overturned all that beautiful order establish't by God and hath brought into his nature all sorts of evil disorder and corruption and that is called sin which is nothing else but a disorder of the five senses which man can no more satisfie without sinning they being corrupted and disordered for if the eye please it self now in looking on beautiful and pleasant things it is only to satisfie it self and not to refer them to God their Author as he did before sin and if he hears melodious Sounds and Harmonies it is only to delight and recreate himself and that in this valley of miseries where he ought rather to mourn in embracing the chastisements of God because of sin and if he will satisfie his Smell by good odours it is to repel the putridity which sin hath brought upon nature and if he will satisfie his Feeling it is but to defile his Soul by unlawful pleasures which he takes in feeling for it is not allowable for him to take pleasure in any of his senses after by sin he hath overturned the order which God established And if he will satisfie his Taste he will fall into all sorts of evils for giving up himself to his palate that brings Intemperance Gluttony Poverty Sickness and Death as also Avarice Deceit Riot and other Sins which proceed from the pleasure in Taste which is as a Mother which engenders all sorts of evil For a glutton must needs covet Riches to satisfie his appetite and if he hath them not of his own he endeavours to get them by any means he can if it should be Falsehood or Robbery For the Taste is insatiable and is not content with a few things I have known persons addicted to the pleasure of Taste who spent upon dainties great Riches which they possessed and yet were never content but continually desired what they had not and having gotten what they desired perhaps would not taste it but send again to seek some other thing and so consumed and ended their life in poverty and without satisfaction I have known others that would come that length to take the goods of others to satisfie their delicacies and said to me That their Tongues could not be deprived of the pleasures of Taste and they must needs satisfie it I suppose there are more such though not known by me for the appetite of Taste is so bound up with the flesh that it is hardly overcome having once got entrance and being accustomed to please their taste And this pleasing the Taste begets Lust also by the affinity of the Belly with the genital parts which are stimulated according as the Belly is well pack't Moreover the Appetite breeds Gluttony for when it find's food agreeable it devours to excess and intemperance which causes several diseases and sometimes Death For we see by experience that several have become sick and even died by too much eating or drinking or gluttonously eating things contrary to their health which falls out but too frequently And notwithstanding all this we see so many follow this sense of taste which begets so many evils in prejudice of soul and body and that because they know not the truth of things and have imagined a pleasure and contentment where there is nothing but displeasure and miseries For if they knew truly what is in the five natural senses of man they would see nothing there but vanity and misery since they were corrupted by sin and consequently would never follow them but resist them in every thing seeing they are truly vain which they may see that will examin them narrowly for what is in the sense of seeing but a pleasure which is past in a moment If for example looking on a beautiful thing you shut your eyes in that instant you see it no more and in your regard it is no more and if after by opening your eyes you see it again that sight adds nothing to your soul or body which cannot be nourisht by sights if you should continue them from morning till evening all that cannot nourish nor fill us nor give any thing but an airy pleasure to our eyes which also will not be refresht by these sights for the more they see the more they would see Wherefore the Scripture says The Eye is never wearied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing for these two senses are insatiable and never satisfied for the hearing is as vain as the sight and seems even of less consideration because it hath less impression upon the mind and passes as a blast of wind which we neither see nor feel more when it is gone It is even so with Harmony and Sounds for it is but a body of wind formed in the air and dissipated in it and leaves nothing in him that hath heard it No more does also the sense of Smell yielding only a small satisfaction to the Nostrils and flys away with the wind without leaving any thing in him that felt it who is as ready to be filled again with stink as he was with perfume So that we may see by experience that the five senses are truly vain and unworthy to be followed and affected by persons of judgment and that would come to the knowledge of the truth for one must be a fool and blind to place his affections in things so unworthy of man as are the pleasures of his senses which pass like smoak and cause so great evils to them that follow them both spiritual and temporal for he that will give his senses their pleasure wounds body and soul and renders himself miserable in all his life for he cannot have satisfaction and compleat contentment by all the world and he wasts his goods to please his senses wounding his health by intemperance and killing his soul by sin which is the disorder of his natural senses For since they were corrupted they have engendred death bodily and spiritually in man who cannot love his sensualities without turning away from God and consequently deprive themselves of all good and subject themselves to all sorts of evil for there can be no good without God but all sorts of evil And it is that my Child which I entreat you to consider that you may never place your affections but in God and may renounce your senses seeing they are corrupted and contrary to the will of God and in themselves evil and vanity For what is in feeling but a sensual softness which adds nothing to man and is so mean and unworthy of a man that he would never seek pleasure therein if the devil did not perswade him that there is something in it it is so frail and contemptible that it is not worthy a man's notice or that he should account it pleasure since it is but imaginary not real The sense of taste
than any other virtue seeing it begets of it self several others and banishes several vices which cannot abide in an humble heart as Pride Presumption Avarice Pomps and Vain Glory and many other sins which proceed from Pride of Heart but when it becomes humble then are all these vices banisht And to know what that Humility of Heart is essentially you are to believe that it is a perfect knowledge of ones self For he that knows himself well can never be proud nor have an esteem of himself He will not glory in the Praises and Honours of Men He will not desire Riches to be adorned or served for an humble heart believes that it deserves nothing and the least things content and satisfie it An humble Heart is not in wrath for being abased or despised because he seeth in knowing himself that he deserves nothing but is worthy of all contempt And whereas that is not practised among men it is because they know not themselves and so esteem themselves worthy of Esteem and Honour Riches and service and that makes them Proud For if they observed well whence they are what they are and what shall become of them it were impossible that they should in the least esteem themselves on the contrary they would see that they deserve all sort of Contempt because they are as to the Spirit frail ignorant and unconstant and as to the body full of Miseries Infirmities and Diseases liable to death and corruption All these things should not Give matter of exalting himself to man's understanding or to make him esteem himself in any wise but rather ground to humble and abase himself before God and Men because of his infirmities and miseries and yet we see they make themselves great are arrogant esteem much of themselves and in fine believe themselves worthy of all sorts of Honours Pleasures Riches and services every one advancing himself with all his power all that proceeds from thence that men know not themselves for if they did they would be ashamed to glory in their miseries folly and ignorance For man hath nothing else in himself and all these defaults are annexed to his corrupt nature If you open but the eyes of your understanding you shall see abundantly the miseries of your spirit and how it is agitated by divers motions and intemperate passions Also as soon as you open the eyes of the body you see the bodily miseries under which all men lye and if you reflect whence the body of man proceeds and of what substance it is formed you shall find that he proceeds of an unclean and putrid matter and from those members of his parents bodys which are the most shameful And thence he hath no subject to glory or esteem himself in his origin seeing it is from so vile and base things which ought to give him occasion of confusion and humility And even beasts have more estimable qualities than men as to the body For he would presently be stifled in the filth accompanying his nativity if he were not delivered by the assistance of others and he would presently starve with hunger and other necessities if care were not taken to sustain him whereas the beasts can help themselves so soon as they come into the world And if man will look forward into his life he shall find that it is but a mass of miseries linked one to another What feebleness is in man's body He can endure neither too much heat nor too much cold a little over in exercise and he is wearied he must rest and sleep or he looses his strength and health he must be cloathed and alimented cleaned and cherished whereby his understanding is occupied in care travail and disquiet all the days of his life to relieve the infirmities of his body And how many sorts of diseases afflict the body of man They are almost innumerable and they say thaâ— the Eye alone is liable to fifty sorts what then oâ— all the other members When every one hath its particular ones beside the disordered motions of thâ— passions as of Fear Terror Sadness Melancholy Anger Jealousie and such other sorts of evils to which man is subject during this miserable life where he hath no subject of glorying and esteeming himself but great reason to abase himself in the view of so many miseries to which his sin hath reduced him which gives him good cause of submission and humility before God and Men feeling himself miserable and infirm both in soul and body for the Spirit hath its diseases as well as the body for do but take heed to yourself and you shall find your spirit agitated by various superfluous desires and useless thoughts which carry it away often against its intention as the Apostle testifies that it is not in the power of man to order his thoughts which every one may feel For when we would fix our heart on prayer or other good exercise it wavers here and there that we cannot retain it So that we may truly say that it is not in man's power to contain his thoughts So infirm is his Spirit that his Reason hath not the force to stay the course of his thoughts which often sway the reason whither it would not So that man's Spirit is captivated under the tiranny of his disordered passions which often lead him into great evils even contrary to his will whereof the Apostle says I approve not what I do because what I would not that I do and what I would that I do not To prove how many evils the spirit of man is subject as well as his body and that there is no subject of glorying in the one or th' other seeing they are equally infirm and miserable changeable and inconstant For what mutations feel we not in our spirit the variety and changing in one day of Joy Sadness Hopes Displeasures and Desires are scarce numerable how many diverse thoughts we love at one time what we hate at another what we desire one day dissatisfies us another so that we know not our selves sometimes what we would be at and are often afflicted for having what we had desired And if one should write all the thoughts and desires which pass in the spirit of a man himself would be ashamed of his inconstancy and instability and would be far from haughtiness for the qualities of his spirit no more than for those of his body but would see ground of humility for his miseries for there is nothing can elevate the heart of man in an esteem of himself but a blast of wind which the Devil inspires into his spirit to precipitate him into the sin of Pride by sottish imaginations which proceed from that air which is in effect nothing wherewith he is filled For even all the sciences of man's understanding are but figures formed of that wind as we see figures in the air by the Clouds appearing sometimes as if we saw Mountains moving or Houses and Armies all which notwithstanding are but
will not promise that you shall have in his service sensual Pleasure or worldly Riches and vain Contentment but I promise you assuredly Quiet of Conscience Tranquillity of Spirit an inward Peace and contentment in your Soul Which are things far more estimable than the vain Pleasures and impure Contentments and aboundance of the Riches of this world which can never satisfie our souls being they are spiritual and cannot consequently be satisfied with material things Therefore is it that there was never any man perfectly content and satisfied in this world unless he loved God with his whole heart There is no other but such an one who can be entirely content for only the Love of God is capable fully to satisfie our souls for they are little divinities which cannot be fully contented out of God from whom they proceeded Therefore must you my Child labour to attain to that love for when you have truely found it you shall have all things and you shall reign over all the world having in contempt all that is not God And you have no violence to use with God to obtain his love seeing he gives it liberally and freely to all that desire and ask it and even compels men by an express Command which he hath given them but you must do a little violence to your self to obtain that love because your affections are carried to other things than him so you must reclaim them and constrain them to return to their God and in that you shall have so many combats as you have habitudes to love other things than God If you be then strongly addicted to self-love or Love of other Creatures your combats shall be so much the greater But the business deserves suffering well seeing after we shall enjoy so great Good temporal and eternal we should spare nothing to gain such a Treasure the Pain shall pass swiftly and the Joy endure eternally And therefore you must suffer willingly to retire your affections from earthly things and place them in God alone I have sufficiently shown you in my last that that is good pleasant honourable and profitable It remains for you now to put it in practice Examin once what it is that you love beside God and then detest that love and withdraw from it your heart If you love objects without your self flee from them as the enemies of your good loose from them your heart and desire no more to see them And if your Affections be occupied in Self-love remove them from an object so little lovely to place them in God who only merits your affections and nothing else Protest then against that natural inclination of Self-love and yield no more any thing to that nature but things purely necessary for it is your greatest enemy to which you must not furnish Arms to fight against you the better You must know that corrupt nature wars against the Love of God as far as you yield to it So give it the least satisfaction you can even till you have overcome it withdraw then from it your Affections you must restrain it as a Horse with Bridle that it kick not nor attempt but to serve the master you love Behold the means to render you free to love God with your whole heart for as soon as your affections are retired from all Creatures they will be assuredly carryed to love God their Creator because the Love of God is the element of our Soul in which only it can live recreate and repose it self That Love of God is the true center of our Souls whither they fall of themselves so soon as they are disengaged of other affections which are all vain It is as with a Stone thrown into the Air which will not rest till it fall on the Earth which is its center unless it be retained with bonds or other thing It is the very same with man's Soul which is thrown into the air of the Vanities of this world It cannot find rest there if we did not retain it by Force by Baits and Allurements of Affection for earthly things doubtless it would presently fall into the Love of God which is its center and element where it can rest and recreate it self to satisfaction because the Soul hath nothing more suitable to its nature than God from whom it proceeded and it can never repose till it be returned to him and when it is compelled to remain out of its element it is as a Fish which by Nets and Lines is forced out of the water which is to it very disagreeable and causes to it Death if it be not quickly returned into the water The same happens to the Soul when it suffers it self to be entangled in the nets of earthly Affections it must quickly die because it cannot find there an element suitable to its divine nature and so it languishes withers and dies an eternal death unless it break the nets of earthly Affections to return to its element which is the Love of God You must my Son labour that you may break all the bonds of earthly Affections and so soon as you feel affection for any thing that is not God rescind it quickly for it is a chain which retains you out of your element and though it should be painful for you to loose your heart from any thing to which it enclines these Pains shall quickly change into Consolations for you shall no sooner be returned into the Love of God but you shall bathe in ease and pleasure as fish newly returned to the water which is its element It is for that Jesus Christ says that his yoak is easie and his Burthen Light He calls a Yoak our natural inclinations because we must constrain and retain them and they are troublesom and grievous to bear For if we follow them we precipitate our selves into a thousand Evils seeing nature being corrupted by sin enclines always to evil And these evils are often troublesom and weighty to bear I know well that to us it seems grievous that we may not in any thing follow our natural inclinations but if we take on that Yoak for the Love of God it will become light and easie to us as Jesus Christ hath taught No person can dispence or excuse himself from bearing it since our first Father Adam laid it on the shoulders of all his Posterity all men in general and every one in particular are charged with the miseries which sin brought upon human nature They are all subject to Heat Cold Intemperance of the Air Hunger Thirst Infirmities and Diseases of the Body to Ignorance and Inconstancy of Spirit and the disorderly motions of Passions for sin hath brought all these things upon man's nature which God created altogether perfect but since all men have pertaken of Adam's Sin they are also subject to his Penitence That is the Yoak which God hath given man to satisfie his divine Justice So that all men coming into the world must bear that Yoak will they or not
Nothing which we call evil And that evil is in its essence in the Devil as Good is in God without mixture for there can be no Evil in God and there can be no Good in the Devil But we find a mixture in the other Creatures which have partaken of Good from God and evil from the Devil and so they can be mixed of these two things and are good or evil in proportion as they partake of the one or the other God gave unto man all sorts of Goods in aboundance since he had the power to give them And the devil that impotence hath given nothing to man but so much evil as he hath obtained consent from the free will of man and no more for he is nothing but miserable impotence And to know that the Malice of the Devil and the Sin of Man are but nothings you need but consider what we see and touch in nature For we see assuredly that Hunger and Thirst is but the want of Meat and Drink Cold is but the privation of Heat and Death the privation of life and so is it with all other sorts of evils which befal man which are only the privation of the Goods which he needs for his sustenance temporal and eternal For though we say that there are in Hell pains and Torments Fire Ice Sadness Bitterness and all sorts of Pains All these are nothing in effect but the privation of the goods which man should have had to be happy viz. all sorts of Contentments in God all Pleasure all Satisfaction and Delight Refreshment Peace and Joy eternal But the privation of all these things makes the Torments and Sufferings of Hell without need that there should be material Fire Ice or Famin. It is enough that the soul of man be deprived of all good to suffer all sorts of evil We may see that yet more clearly in a new born Infant if it be left without the good of assistance it is reduced to all sorts of evil and will die without our touching it to do it any evil for we deprive it of life in depriving it of assistance It is the same with the malice of the Devil and the Sin of man They are only privations of Good which notwithstanding cause Pains and Torments incomprehensible to mans soul And all that is represented to us by fire Hunger and other Torments of Hell which is nothing in regard of the reality of the Pains and Torments which a soul suffers that is deprived of the Grace of God For that soul is not only fallen into the Cold of Ice and Heat of Fire but also into all other sorts of Torments because the privation of the Grace of God is the possession of all sorts of evil and seeing that Grace causes us all sorts of Good its privation must needs throw us into all evil Now whatsoever lives in nature generates always because there is in it a bent and inclination to produce its like Herbs and Plants yield their seeds and sprigs or branches nothing remains unfruitful that lives in nature every kind produces its like to its power Beasts produce after their kinds men produce human Creatures spirits spirits every one according to their nature The good spirits which are the Angels of God produce always good spirits the evil which are the Devils produce evil The one and th' other of these spirits attempt to produce in the souls of men their own sort And as men are the noblest of all the Creatures there is neither Angel nor Devil hath power over him but so far as man gives them The good Angels always incite men to good the evil who are the Devils to evil And that by the desire that each of these spirits hath to render men like to themselves the Devil endeavours to render the souls of men devilish and the good Angels to render them Angelical Man in the mean while remains free to yield himself to be begotten unto good or evil for none of these spirits can force man they can but incite him Every one attempts to render him of his own party but since the Devil hath corrupted man's nature he hath also more power over it than the good Angel which hath not advanced it to good as the Devil to evil All the good in man comes from God only and not from the Angel who being a pure spirit hath not power but over the spirit of man in representing to him good things but the Devil as a subtil spirit hath insinuated himself into the spirit of man by means of the human nature And as the vital spirits in man are in his blood dispersed throw his whole body so does the spirit of the Devil mix and disperse it self with the vital spirits of man and works much more upon his nature than the good Angel who cannot joyn with the corruption of that nature because he is a spirit altogether pure but the Devil is impure and accords well with the impurity of our corrupted nature And therefore he is always more united with us than the good Angel who does not delight but in the pure spirit of man For he finds nothing conform to his Angelick nature but the spirit of man because our human nature is too gross and earthly to be united with the Angelick Nature But the Devil as an impure Beast wallows freely in the flesh and blood that he may gain the soul of man He so mixes himself with the blood of man that he easily moves all the parts of his body to do evil but man knows not that it is the Devil For he is so united to corrupt nature that though we feel his motions we think that they proceed but from our own nature Which is because man cannot comprehend that the Devil should so mix with flesh and blood since he is only a Spirit without Body as he is truely but the Devil hath that subtilty to joyn himself to the vital spirits of man to move the flesh to Luxury Wrath and other vicious Passions You may see that my Son by your proper experience For if you mark well the disposition of your sentiments you shall find that you have been often carryed away with vicious passions even against your will and that you have perceived them with regret which cannot proceed from your self for your will cannot contradict it self If you had naturally a will to the pleasure of the flesh it would not displease you but contrariwise you would take pleasure in it and be glad that you might effectuate it But when that carnal thought or desire displeases you and you regret it that is a token that it comes from a spirit which is without you and yet is in you without that you know how he is there Yet you see well by the operations which he does there that that proceeds not from your own will which cannot desire what displeases it but it complains with St. Paul where he says the Good that I would I do not
before we ask it And if we think to gain time for Prayer by watching the Devil will disturb our spirit for want of sufficient sleep that he may weaken us and in short time destroy us I have experienced all these things and sometimes fallen into so great extremities that if God had not marvelously maintained me I should have been dead long ago by excess in fasting watching and lying hard which God hath since shewen me to be but a disorderly fervour which cannot be long continued and that the Devil finds his advantages in it and easily insinuates therein thoughts of vain-glory because they think themselves better than others while they use these mortifications of the body though they be no more but means to mortifie our Intemperances and Luxury For if we were well disposed we should not need Watchings Fastings and other Macerations of the body It is not our Flesh that can sin but the will only which we must compel more to do well than our flesh seeing this is but as a Horse which ought not to be whipt when he rides willingly which he does as well covered with a Sadle of Leather as with one of Velvet and contrariwise Even so our Heart may be as virtuous when our Body is covered with velvet as when with Leather seeing the outward habit brings nothing to the Soul Beside a simple habit covers often Hypocrisie and causes pride in the Heart And therefore we must never be tyed to these outward things for the Devil thereby finds opportunity But we must be tyed to God alone on whom the Devil hath no power as he hath on all our outward actions even the best For the Devil furrs himself into works of spiritual Mercy and Charity he perswades us that it is well done to instruct the Ignorant and admonish the faulty which in effect profits no more in this miserable time when men perish not by Ignorance but by pure malice For every one would profess to teach virtue and very few will practice it I exercised my self about nine years in teaching of the ignorant without profiting any thing in the salvation of their Souls On the contrary I had the dissatisfaction to hear some of them say to whom I had shewn the Christian Doctrine and Virtue That they could now do greater Evils than they could do before because now they could cover their wickednesses with feigned Virtues which they could not do before they learn't to talk of Virtue So it is not advisable that we distract our selves to go and teach others unless we see that our teaching will be profitable to their Salvation whom we would teach and we must use in this great discretion otherwise the Devil vould amuse us all our life in teaching the Ignorant thinking we did a work of spiritual Mercy which yet should be no profit to others and much hurt to our selves We must indeeâ—â—ave Charity to teach our Neighbour but not exceed therein nor have an indiscreet Zeal toward such as search not after the Salvation or Perfection of their Souls themselves For the Devil himself would feign ignorance and desire of us instruction to distract us from our own perfection I have known persons possessed of the Devil who went continually searching pious Souls to be instructed in Christian Perfection These are such as the scripture calls silly Women ever learning and never come to the knowledge of the Truth For they care not to put it in practice although they knew it but seek only to amuse us and cause good persons to lose their time who cannot advance in Virtue while they are attempting in vain to procure it to others There is the profit the Devil draws from works of spiritual Mercy both in instructing Ignorants and admonishing the Faulty for so evil is our time become that we can no more resist the evil it is enough to endure and suffer it with regret If you should speak to admonish men for their Oaths Whoredoms Robberies Lies and Infidelities and other gross Sins they would leap in your face curse you despise you calumniate and hate you So that instead of doing them any work of Mercy you should excite them to greater sins and put your self in danger of being abused and persecuted without any profit As I have known persons zealous for the Glory of God who could not suffer the wicked in their presence and reproved their Vices and admonished them upon occasions And these have often run the hazard of being killed by them they admonisht the Devil attempting so to extirpate them Which also happened to one of my Friends who was Poisoned for being over-zeaâ—â—â—â— for the Glory of God and over-fervent in opposing Evil And therefore we must in all things use discretion if we would evite the snares which the Devil spreads every where to catch souls Yet we must not therefore neglect to instruct the Ignorant and admonish the Faulty when we find persons disposed to profit thereby Yea we must have in our heart the Charity of St. Paul who wished to be accursed for his brethrens Salvation Which appears to be an excessive Zeal but it proceeded from the Charity of his Heart toward his Neighbour and forgetting of himself For he regarded more the Glory of God than his own Salvation or Advantage seeing he was but one person to glorify God and his brethren a great number So that excess could not come of the Devil seeing he had no interest or profit by it He knows that God does the will of them that he loves and so he might foresee that St. Paul would obtain the Prayer which he made for his Brethren He knew also that God would not damn St. Paul for his great Charity which he carryed to his Brethren offering his own Salvation that they might be saved He could have no extrance there seeing Charity is God himself on whom the Devil hath no power but he hath much over all our external actions when they are done without discretion Therefore was it St. Anthony said Discretion is the greatest of all Virtues seeing they are disorderly when not regulated with Discretion For Fastings Watchings Prayers and Works of Mercy and other Virtues are not good when Discretion is wanting It is good to admonish and instruct our Neighbour in a fit season and when he desires it but when he does not seek it or will not suffer it we must withdraw testifying that their imperfections and sins displease us without going to correct or restrain them authoritatively For God hath not given us our Brother in charge he is left free as well as we so we ought not to help him but by Charity as far as he hath need and desires it not farther God does equally the same with all men he pleased to have them free and so constrains them in nothing Now we must not presume to be more just or charitable than God in willing to obliege our Neighbour to do well by force and forsake his Sins and
cleared that the Devil cannot draw man to sin nor do him any hurt except man give his own Consent My Son IN my former I set before your eyes how the Devil tempts men many ways and insinuates himself into Virtue it self that he may direct our good works to his own honour and glory which very often comes to pass But I fear lest by yet another sort of tentation he catch you which you could not discover if you were not forewarned of it To wit when you have well considered the power and wiles of the Devil and find in your experience that it is he who incites you to do evil It is to be feared that you will lay the blame upon the Devil because sometimes you do evil against your will For mans heart is so proud that he will not confess his fault and so seeks for the cause of his sins without himself Which you may the rather do because I have deduced to you at length that all evils come from the Devil and all good from God but though that be most true we must not therefore imagin that the Devil of himself can ever force us to do evil For he is a miserable impotency who hath no power over our souls hearts and wills but so much as we give him The Devil may well represent evil to our spirit and incite our wills to follow it and incite our corrupt nature but he can never force us so long as our will remains firmly resolved not to consent to evil The Devil is as a chained Dog who can go no further than his Chain permits him and God will give him no more power than the will of man desires For though he permitted him to tempt Job by the loss of his Goods Children Friends and Health he did not permit him to cause him to fall into sin And although Job cursed the day of his Nativity he did not herein offend God nor fall into any sin For he cursed only the malediction which sin brought into human nature which all men have reason to do in feeling the pains and sufferings which sin hath caused to us For before sin man was not subject to any Evil and he enjoyed all Good without mixture of evil He was not annoyed with hunger or thirst heat or cold he had no labour to weary him he needed no sleep nor had any alteration in soul or body was not subject to diseases nor death So that man had enjoyed all sorts of delights in this world and the time of tryal being over confirmed in Grace he had lived eternally happy and blessed But sin hath deprived him of all that happiness and hath reduced him to all sorts of suffering and misery Which Job considering in the midst of his miseries he had reason to curse the day of his birth when he saw himself in inevitable miseries You must consider that Job did not curse the day that God created him in on the contrary he blessed him for all because he was his faithful Servant and so he desired to satisfie divine Justice for all his sins which he had committed Now because he so desired God permitted the Devil to tempt him in divers manners that Job's faithfulness might be manifest before all men and the Devil himself But they that understand not the way of God judge that Job was impatient which is false For his soul rejoyced in that God pleased to use him as a mirrour of patience to confound the Devil who could never make him fall into sin though he essayed it so many several ways God knew that Job's heart was submitted to his holy will and that he offered himself continually to him to be proved in what manner it pleased him And because of these wishes God permitted that the Devil might tempt him Now if the Devil had had power over man he had not needed to ask God's permission to tempt Job for he would have done it of himself without any permission But he hath no power over man save what he by his own free will gives him Besides God can never do any evil to man nor permit that it befall him without the consent of his free will So if we commit sin it is of our own free will as also when we damn our selves for God can never damn any person without doing the greatest evil that ever was which cannot proceed from God who can never do any evil But it is our sins that damn us and not God for if there were no sin there should be no damnation and sin depending on man's free will we must not attribute our damnation either to God or to the Devil seeing God gives us always Grace in aboundance to save us and the Devil hath no power to damn us So that man alone is truly blameable for the sins which he commits and ought never to attribute the fault to the Devil because he cannot wrong us if we will not He may well bark as the chained Dogs but he cannot bite us unless we approach him And therefore my Son you ought never to believe that the Devil is the cause of your evil doing though all evils come from him he cannot effect them in us without our consent He may well afflict our Body or Spirit when we desire to purge our Souls by suffering Then God suffers him to tempt us by the most salutary things As he may permit the Devil to bring to poverty a Good Man when he sees that he would forget himself by Worldly Goods God loving his Soul so takes away his Riches as the occasion of the Damnation of his Soul Sometimes also he takes away his Honour or his Health lest these should hinder the perfection of his Soul And it is not always directly mans will that these things should be taken away from him for he complains sometimes of it but when God takes them away it is always with the indirect will and consent of man For example the person does not desire to be poor afflicted or sick but desires that God send him every thing that is necessary for his salvation And God regarding that good will removes from him whatever might hinder the advancement of the desired Salvation And that is a fatherly Love which God bears to Man and not a Punishment as the natural sense takes it and complains of it But it is truely what the person desired in the bottom of his soul viz salutary things And the Prophet even prays God That he would constrain his rebellious will By which we may see that God never afflicts a person without his will and consent direct or indirect Because he created him altogether free he cannot be touched to good or evil no more by God than by the Devil who can never cause man to sin against his will direct or indirect But man does not always know the indirect will he hath to sin and for that says or believes that it is the Devil that makes him sin against his will
much power over his spirit Otherwise man hath in him a good judgment beyond any other creature and by that judgment he can assuredly know and discern good from evil And it is free for him to choose the good and hate the evil by an absolute act of his will which the Devil cannot hinder And moreover he hath power to resist the Devil by faith and hope in God who never fails to come to the relief of a man who asks and desires it And therefore my Son you must never say that the Devil made you do any evil which were to make you his slave and testifie your subjection to him as are the Sorcerers who have given him their souls and promised to obey him For such have truely oblieged themselves to do all the evil he pleases and when they do it not he beats and abuses them But you being a Child of God and voluntarily subject to him you must nor fear that the Devil can constrain you to sin against your will and so never attribute to him the fault you commit your self It is true the Devil first incites good persons to sin but they should despise him and not follow him yea and mock at his tentations But we must always watch over his surprisals and never sleep in the way of true virtue Believe then the Apostle's counsel where he says My Brethren be sober and watch for that very reason because the Devil goes about us like a roaring Lion seeking to Devour us We must resist him couragiously and not say I was not thinking of the Devil when I fell into evil For he desires willingly that we do evil without thinking on it That is his best recreation For it does not fall out that good persons do evil but while they sleep and think not of evil Then is it that the Devil acts most in us and causes that we think not of it till after the evil is committed But our negligence or Sleepiness will not find excuse before God seeing we are oblieged to watch always if we would arrive at true Virtue To which she exhorts you who careth for your soul Holstein near Gottorp Castle May 13. 1672. St. Vet. ANTONIA BOURIGNON THE XVIII LETTER The Good and Evil Spirit are known by their Fruit. To the same giving him the signs to know whether it is the Good or Evil Spirit that moves us shewing also a twelfth Artifice of the Devil by which he causes us to impute our Vices to our natural propensions without suspecting him to lurk therein that he may remain unknown My Son I see yet one difficulty which occurs to your Spirit to wit How you should discover when the Devil insinuates himself into your good Actions and how you shall know that it is he that moves you to do good that he may catch you or to cause that what you do with a good intention turn to his Honour For you protest that you will not obey him nor follow his tentation in any thing when you discover and know that he tempts you Believe me my Son that is most easie to discern provided you have an absolute will to resist the Devil It is very good and most easie to discover if it is the good or evil spirit who moves us in all our actions and words to do or say any thing small or great because these two spirits have their qualities and conditions quite different and work in us quite contrary operations and dispositions So that you may as it were feel with your finger if it is a good or an evil spirit which moves you to say or do any thing by the dispositions you shall feel in your Soul For the good spirit produces in our souls Charity Joy Peace Patience Long-suffering Goodness Bounty Meekness Chastity Faith Continence and Modesty And the evil spirit on the contrary produces therein Self-love Sadness Trouble Impatience Rashness Wickedness Fretting Pride Despair Intemperance Inequality Unconstancy and Impurity which are all things contrary to the fruits of the good Spirit And as the tree is known by its fruit so may we know the evil spirit by the fruit he produces in our souls And therefore we must always examin if our enterprises or the will or intentions we have to do or leave undone any thing produce in our souls Charity Peace Faith Joy and the rest And then we may be assured that our enterprises and wills are from God seeing they bring unto us the fruits of his spirit But if on the contrary we feel in our souls Self-love Sadness Impatience and the rest we may well be assured that our desires and enterprises are excited by the Devil Which is a firm and sure rule We need not then amuse our selves at fine speculations to discover if we be moved by the Devil to do or leave undone any thing while we feel in our selves the effects of a good or an evil spirit For the Devil will never incite to Charity seeing it is a divine Quality which the Devil hath not in his power and which unites souls to God But he draws from self-love all manner of advantage and declines the soul from the love of God For he that loves himself covets Pleasures honour and Riches and all that is not God and so he is sad and is not in the capacity to acquire true Virtue for he hath not courage to resist the tentation of the Devil but suffers himself rather to be overcome by dark melancholy Thoughts But the good Spirit banishes these thoughts by the joy which it brings to the Soul And although there were all sorts of occasions of Sadness externally even for our sins that good Spirit comforts and rejoyces the bottom of the soul amidst the most sensible Troubles and Pains When we have then inward joy in the midst of sufferings it is an assured testimony that the holy Spirit dwells in us Which hath often rejoyced me in the midst of Suffering and Persecutions I felt therein a great joy in the bottom of my Soul in lamenting my sins and I thanked God that he gave me these Tears of Repentance But the Devil gives only counterfeit and external joys which afflict and grieve the heart when they are over that is the cause why we see worldly persons always search after new Recreations and Divertisements For th' one is no sooner gone but Melancholy and Sadness seises the heart who would so divert himself and for that he hunts insatiably after new divertisments without finding withal true Contentment which we cannot have but by the joy of the Holy Spirit and that joy is not to be found among the Divertisments of the World I was astonisht to hear one day of a person who would re-establish Israel that he searcht for a great House with a Garden to divert himself and walk therein as also that he must sometimes go to walk in the field or go in a Barque of Pleasure or Boat to divert himself which gave me enough to
encline to and you shall follow assuredly the Spirit of God So shall you carry the victory over that evil spirit who troubles you now Ply and submit your understanding under the Holy Spirit and never believe your self wiser than him in any thing For men are now abandoned to the spirit of error and their best Sciences are but Ignorance their Wisdom Folly And although you think sometimes to have reason to contradict me do it not And after you shall see that your reason cannot be better than mine which you may experiment while I remain Your well-affected in Jesus Christ ANTONIA BOURIGNON Holstein near Gottorp Castle May. 19. 1672 St. vet THE XX. LETTER Spiritual Diligence is necessary to Salvation To the same to whom is shewn a Fourteenth snare of the Devil more pernicious than the rest viz. Spiritual Negligence He is moved to Spiritual Diligence by consideration of the diligence usually bestowed on temporal things which the Children of this World administer with more Care and Prudence than the Children of Light do Spiritual Things My Son I Perceive it appears some what difficult to you to watch continually so narrowly over all your Words and Actions But believe me if you do it not the Devil will assuredly surprise you in every thing And you shall obey him without knowing it For he is a most cunning spirit who watches always without rest And therefore it is necessary despising all difficulties to resolve absolutely for the combat if you will obtain salvation and tend to true Virtue For without fighting there is no Victory and except you apply your spirit to watch diligently over all your actions and words you shall fall into all sorts of evil And therefore is it that they call Negligence a mortal or capital sin Now Negligence is not understood to be a mortal sin as signifying the want of bodily travail and labour for many persons are not oblieged to bodily labour having other occupations of Body and Spirit more profitable and necessary sometimes than bodily Labour And when they apply themselves to those good and useful things they fall not into that sin of Negligence which is called mortal for every one ought to occupy himself in different things according to his condition or disposition A sick person cannot labour bodily and sometimes also not in Spirit neither because of his Infirmity and so he falls not into the mortal sin of Negligence for he may by acting resignation to the will of God be more diligent than one that labours both in Spirit and Body A good Master of a Family labours often more in eying and watching over his Servants than he that delves the Ground An Artist labours more by ordering well the Building of a House than the Workman that builds it And so with other persons who perform their duty every one in his state and vocation So that we must not believe that that sin of Negligence is committed by them that labour not corporally but by all them that neglect to watch over their souls and to discover the tentation of the Devil Seeing such neglect their eternal Happiness and consent tacitly to the tentation of the Devil which is certainly a mortal sin and causes Eternal Damnation that is it wherefore this Negligence is accounted among capital sins and ought to be called Mortal since it causes Death to the Soul For he that through Negligence does not resist the Devil he leaves his soul a prey to him And he that searches not all means to find true Virtue shall never obtain it but dying without it shall never come to eternal Happiness And therefore you must of necessity have spiritual Diligence if you would be saved For it were but flattering of your self to think that God will receive your Excuses when you shall say I did not know that the Devil had so much Subtilty and Power over us to tempt us or if you should think to excuse your self before God by your Frailty and Weakness you could not abstain from sin and could not attain to true Virtue because you could not find the way For all these Excuses and false Reasons God will not accept because he searches the Reins and tryes the Consciences and sees the least motions of our wills And he knows without needing witnesses what Diligence we have given to watch over our Souls and what Diligence to evite sin and follow true Virtue For God is not as men who amuse one another by the false Philosophy which they 've learnt in the Schools which serves only to maintain wickedness and excuse the malice of their likes They invent smooth words to make wickedness appear Truth and please themselves with these fine words and suffer themselves to be perswaded that Falshood is Truth when adorned with the fine terms and words of their false Philosophy But God regards the Essence and Reality of the thing and sees even to the bottom of our Souls and so he knows if we have done all Diligence in earnest to discover the deceits of the Devil and find the means to arrive at true Virtue and finding that we have done neither the one nor th' other we are condemned without place for Excuses And so my Child you must not be deceived Think not to find Excuses before God when you have lived in spiritual Negligence for he will not accept them He hath given you a Body and Spirit and that to apply them both diligently to eschew evil and follow good But the misery is that men now adays are fallen into so profound an ignorance that they employ body and soul in Care and Diligence to acquire the things of the earth and render themselves by that means incapable of having spiritual Diligence for when a Vessel is filled with dung there can be nothing that is good put in it Alas what are all the Cares of the business and affairs of the world other than Dung which hath filled your Spirit You were a diligent Merchant and your care and diligence hath heaped up money to you but now what will you do with that money you cannot expend it for Meat and Drink and Cloathing nor can you carry it with you at Death and if you leave it to your Relations they shall thereby become more vicious and proud So that every way you must acknowledge that your spirit hath been always filled with the dung of cares and diligence for earthly things And it is no wonder that so you could not discover the wiles of the Devil nor the means which advance unto true Virtue because your Diligence was employed about other things But now when the Goodness of God hath discovered to you the truth of these things you must endeavour to use that Diligence to discover the tentations of the Devil and the means to arrive at Virtue which formerly you used in your temporal affairs I believe you would not then let slip any occasion wherein you saw any profit without accepting it and that you suffered
commits it upon all occasions But he that would evite these Perils should have spiritual Diligence to watch over all his words and actions to resist the corruption which sin hath brought unto human nature which is so corrupted by sin that it can produce no more any good temporal or spiritual since retired from the Love of God wherein is all good it is fallen into Self-love wherein is all evil which produces always its like So that whatever we do by our natural motion it is altogether evil and sin And if you could well comprehend that Truth as it is you should always distrust your self and never dare to do or undertake any thing if you would not do evil and fall into sin But man's rashness and ignorance renders him bold to undertake things spiritual and temporal As if he were wise and free of corruption which often precipitates him into great faults and sins which they do not perceive until after they are committed and so cannot be helpt I believe my Son that you have often experienced that in your self without knowing whence these faults proceeded seeing your will was to do all well believe me they proceed all from spiritual negligence and because you know not yet sufficiently the corruption of your nature which you have followed while in the world you thought your self full wise when you could order your temporal affairs to your profit You have not perceived that the Devil could well help you in that that by procuring you prosperity he might detain you always in the affection of earthly things and that you should neglect eternal ones as other Merchants of your profession do yet Who instead of labouring for the Gospel-pearl labour to follow the will of the Devil the Enemy of their souls without perceiving it Yea they think it a Blessing of God that they prosper in temporal Affairs but it is often a Curse seeing God gives his Friends temporal Adversities and reserves for them eternal Joys But to men that have done some temporal good in this world but have not overcome the corruption of their corrupt natures God recompences the temporal good they have done in this world with temporal prosperities because God leaves no Good without Recompence nor Evil without Punishment Wherefore I pray you my Son to watch over your soul with spiritual Diligence that you let not one word or action escape that proceeds from your corrupted nature seeing it produces all sorts of sins which would finally lead you to eternal damnation But labour to resist manfully the corruption of your nature by a Spiritual Diligence So you must always watch over your words and actions that the Devil gain you not by spiritual Negligence which she wishes you who loves your soul Husum Febr. 1. 1674. S. vet ANTONIA BOURIGNON THE XXIII LETTER Spiritual Diligence is necessary to Salvation To the same To whom is shewn the Necessity of Spiritual Diligence to watch over all the actions of our corrupt nature and proper will and to acquire the Knowledge of our selves Moreover that Spiritual Negligence is a Fountain of all Evils and is alone sufficient to damn us because it renders our soul rude and like to a cursed ground which bears only Thorns and Thistles and so is far from Meekness Lowliness and Humility of Heart My Son I Have entertained you largely of the Necessity of Spiritual Diligence which we must have in this perilouslife I have shewn you how necessary it is unto Salvation and that without it none can be saved because of the many enemies we have to war against I must now shew you all the Evils which Spiritual Negligence causes It is a Pest in the good Air of Virtue for although you had acquired a great number of Virtues they could not subsist in your soul without Spiritual Diligence seeing in this world we cannot be free of enemies who attacque us continually We might well be for some time in repose in Virtue but that repose should be the most dangerous combat of our souls which thinking to take rest as did the rich man in the Gospel who had his Granderies filled but it was said unto him thou Fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee and whose shall then these things be The same shall be said to them who think they have acquired so many Virtues and yet have not Spiritual Diligence For they shall find themselves deceived at Death because they have not watched over their Virtues having suffered the corruption of their nature to reign For if you be not Diligent in Virtue to watch and be aware that Vain-glory insinuate not it self it will take away all the force and merit of your Virtue Seeing God says Sacrificespb So he hath no need of our virtue when it is accompanied with esteem of our selves or with Vain-glory as when we artribute any good unto our selves seeing we are truely filled with all evils where is no good For man's nature is so corrupted by sin that there remains to him no good spiritual or temporal So that we may with truth say that there remained nothing in man after sin but ignorance malice and power to do evil I know my Son You have to oppose that man by his nature can do some good as we see the wicked do in regard of their temporal affairs They gain Money and assist their Neighbour One can Write well another make Accompts one can Paint well another is a good Carpenter or other Mechanique which is good and necessary for the present life How then can we say with truth that man can do no good even in temporals It appears necessary that I should explain my self that I be not argued of falshood I know that all men in general and every one in particular believe that they have something good in themselves and that they can do well according to their knowledge Which is also true in regard of some even imperfect before God such are they that have the skill to exercise some Art or Trade which they have learnt I experienced that in the Girles of my Hospital at Lisle for they did very well what I had taught them Though otherways I knew that they had given their souls to the Devil and were joyned to him by explicite compact That did not hinder that they should learn well to sew cleanse spinn read and write and manage Housholdrey and several other things which they did very well So that it would appear not to be true which I averred viz. That man hath nothing good in him and can do no good For we see they do several goods things even to the view of men But you must know that all the good they do proceeds not from them but from God who hath bestowed it on them by particular Grace and Mercy or else they have learnt it of other men For it is a certain truth that man hath not of himself any thing but sin and that he can do no good
spiritual or temporal since all good comes from God and all evil from man and the Devil But when one hath learnt any good from God he can teach it to his Neigbour But he cannot have that good of himself because sin hath filled him with all evil and deprived him of all good And we cannot bring out of a thing what is not in it For if the Fire were not latent in the Flink it would not come out by striking on the Iron and if Virtue were not in a soul it would not appear upon occasion So as it appeared in Job in the midst of so many tentations For he blessed God saying when he was informed of the Death of his Children God gave them and God hath taken them blessed he his holy Name Which was a Grace which he had received of God It was planted in his Soul and so produced fruit in its reason But he that lives yet in the corruption of his nature can produce nothing but sins and evil since he hath nothing but that in him and no good can proceed out of his soul because there is none in it Therefore man is sottish to believe that he can do good temporal or spiritual seeing in effect he ruins whatever he touches and can do no good but by the particular Grace of God But because man does not sufficiently study spiritual Diligence that he may come to know himself he easily perswades himself that he is wise to do things spiritual and temporal without noticing that his nature is altogether corrupted by sin He speaks works and acts of himself as if he knew to do any good though all that proceeds from the corruption of our nature is evil Man then ought always to have that distrust of himself that he never follow his own proper will for whatever proceeds from it is evil and he that believes not that Truth shall fall into many excesses and sins Therefore is it that Jesus Christ hath taught Christians to deny themselves and more he gives himself an example of that denial Saying I am not come to do my own Will but the Will of him that sent me Now if there could in all the human nature be a good will it was assuredly that of Jesus Christ and we learn in the Gospel that he renounced altogether his own will Saying to his Father Not my Will but thine be done And he said so because he knew that the wills of all men were corrupted by Adam's Sin and consequently cannot be followed without doing evil And therefore Jesus Christ himself would not follow his own Will knowing well that as to his mortal nature his own proper will was evil as are those of all other men unto whom he would make himself like when he put on our Mortality Now if Jesus Christ prays his Father that his proper will be not done how much more ought man corrupted by his own sins beside the corruption of Adam's sin which all men have contracted from him It is thence that their wills are become evil and so produce all sorts of sins which we cannot evite but by a spiritual Diligence watching continually over the motions of our proper will that we may resist sin For if we fall into spiritual Negligence our own will shall always have the upperhand and govern all our words and actions which shall be always evil and so we shall commit continual sins without perceiving it and it is by that spiritual negligence alone that souls perish insensibly and from which all sorts of evil proceed We may see that Truth in temporal and corporal things for when they are neglected they catch always hurt If we neglect a new born Infant it must of necessity die for lack of vigilance If we take not care after to teach it in speaking walking and labouring it shall grow up like a Beast and when it is come to the use of reason it must labour trade or study if it would subsist and have necessary aliment So that all sorts of evils should befal it by that negligence in things corporal and it would even rot and be eaten of Vermin if neglected to be cleansed What evils does not negligence bring in civil matters Countreys and Citties are ruined by want of fore-seeing for if a Lord or Governour of a Countrey be not diligent to watch over what he hath in charge his Enemies will surprise him and he will lose his Honout and Goods while asleep And if the magistrate of a City be not diligent to watch over his Citizens they shall forget their duty and introduce into the Republique evils which after they cannot remedy and that because they have by their Negligence suffered them too long The same is it with the Master of a House or Society If he neglect to watch over his Subjects he shall find himself oppressed with confusion which he cannot redress afterward Negligence in business empoverishes many and loses their Honour by infamous Banquerupts Also by Negligence are lost the Grain and Fruit of the Earth when we do not sow and reap them in due season It destroys the Houshold Provision brings Rust on the Iron Moths in Cloaths and Rotting in Linnens and in fine negligence brings many Rich Men to Poverty Disgraces those that were in Honour and Reputation it brings damage and evil unto every thing even to the smallest things For if but one stitch in your Stockings slip and you neglect to mend it that stitch will quiekly become a great hole and in the end rent the whole stocking which your Diligence might have preserved for some years It is even so with many other things which diligence preserves in good order whereas by negligence they are destroyed and brought to confusion yea it often causes death For if a Disease were well attended at the beginning it were often easily cured but negligence renders it difficult and sometimes incurable as if a Pleuritique be let blood too late he must die and if the nature of the sick be not known to apply timely suitable remedies for his indisposition he must die That is the reason that men now adays live so short a while in regard of Adam and his successors who lived to several hunderds of years because they knew the disposition of nature better each knew what was good and needful for himself on every occasion but now while men are ignorant of Nature they take often Remedies contrary to their evils and neglect such as might cure them But this corporal or civil Negligence though it causes so many evils is nothing in regard of spirituall Negligence Seeing the first causes only temporal and transitory evils and the other eternal ones It deprives man of all sorts of good and subjects him to all sorts of evil which is eternal damnation For he that hath not Spiritual Diligence to watch against the Enemies of his Soul and for the means he should embrace to his Salvation he must perish by that only Negligence