total Ruin of this Roman Church the Fall of which will open the Eyes of all those who are not in Covenant with the Devil which covenanted Persons will continue in their Darkness notwithstanding of the Light that is given But others tho' Wicked will be obliged to confess their Delusions cursing those who have thus deceived them under the Masque and Colour of Good How many Priests Monks and Religious have said and yet say Come to us who are Christ we 'll pardon you your Sins Give us and you shall be saved But Jesus Christ forbids us to go here and there while they say to us that Christ is there I ask'd her How the Righteousness of God could permit so great a Number to perish thro' Ignorance She said It is a culpable Ignorance Because we have always had the Means to search the Truth if we had had a Desire to find it For the Gospel was recoverable especially in the Roman Church where it remains as the Testament that Jesus Christ has left his Spouse What Unrighteousness was there in God in suffering these Persons to remain in the Ignorance of their Errours since they loved them more than the Truth and because these Errors were more agreeable to their Sensualities they have voluntarily followed them building on the Flatteries of those who promis'd them Salvation by these Errors It would be rather an Unrighteousness in God if he had constrain'd them to follow his Truth after having given them their Free-Will He could not take it back again without Injustice no more than we can any thing that we have given to another It is not in our Power to take it again without committing a Robbery Because the thing given away does not any longer appertain to us Thus God by an exact Righteousness may let the Ignorants err Because their Ignorance is affected For if their Ignorance were out of Simplicity God is so good that he would rather send an Angel from Heaven to enlighten them that they might not perish but when the Free Person gives ear to Flatteries and to those who study to speak recording as they desire to hear he ought not in Justice to hinder them For it is most true that if I were to Day among these erring Ignorants and if I told them the Truth I would not be heard and far less followed Because they who teach them these Errors speak more to their Liking and accommodate themselves more to their Sensualities than the Truth does which often reproves them and never flatters them Thus they with just Reason are abandoned to the Spirit of Error since according to the Saying of the Gospel They have loved Darkness more than Light Therefore they shall perish in the Darkness which they love If you knew Sir the Righteousness of God it would be impossible that you could once doubt of it For it is so just that neither Man nor the Devil can find any thing in Truth to blame in it But when we look on Things on the Outside and according to our Ignorance it seems to us that God does unjust things when they are most perfect The Eighth Conference What are the Sins against the Holy Ghost and how much they prevail I Entreated her to tell me In what Sense she understood that all Christians do now live and die in the Sin against the Holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven them neither in this World nor in the other as she had sometime declared to me She said Sir 't is most true the most Pious now-a-days are lost by these Sins For no body is aware of them and they believe that they are the Sins which are abominable before Men because they shall not be forgiven neither in this World nor in thâ— other But they are only spiritual Sins which a Man may commit without having done an ill Action Therefore they shall never be forgiven because they do not know them and far less will they repent of them For this Cause they will not be forgiven in this World For no Sin is forgiven here without true Repentance and absolute Desire of Amendment which two Conditions are nottobe met with in the Matter of those Sins against the Holy Ghost For they are contrary to Repentance and to Amendment and therefore will not be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other For no body will then receive Forgiveness but they who shall receive the Truth which those who commit one of these Sins do resist by impugning the known Truth So that the said Sins will neither be forgiven in this World nor in that to come I do not speak of an imaginary Paradise because no Sin enters there and consequently they cannot be forgiven if there be none But in the other World which shall be the Kingdom of Jesus Christ he will yet find many Sins to be forgiven at his coming Nevertheless those committed against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven there no more than here in this World because they are opposed to all the Means which can procure this Pardon It is of these that Jesus Christ says That he who has sinned against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him but he who has sinned against the Holy Ghost it shall never be forgiven him Because this Coming of the Holy Spirit on Earth is the last Mercy that God will grant the World and he who shall resist this can never any more repair his Fault He must needs die in it I entreated She would shew to me in particular the Meaning of these Sins against the Holy Ghost She said Sir I do not know them all in Order but I shall speak of those which I remember beginning with that of the Presumption of being saved without good Works This concerns all those who profess to live will For amongst them there are very few who do good Works because they esteem their Works good when they appear such to their own Judgment or that of some others tho' very often they are not such before God because all that 's good before him must partake of his Goodness which is always Righteous and True Now our good Works for the most part have neither the one nor the other of these Conditions For they are done either out of Humane Respects or out of Natural Inclination or they are not truly good in themselves and when we do any good Works out of Humane Respects they are not good before God and can never make us obtain Salvation because we have received our Reward in this World having obtain'd the end for which we have done them to wit the Satisfaction of Men and we have no right to pretend to any other Recompence And if we have done our good Works out of Natural Inclinations or for our own Satisfaction these Works likewise can give us no Pretension to Salvation because they are rewarded by the Satisfaction which we have received in them Thirdly
divers other Cases we are guilty of the sins which others commit by not hindring them when we might have done it The Ninth and Last is That we do not tell the Evils that we know of others to those who might put a stop to them as in not telling the Faults of Children Scholars or Servants to Fathers Superiours or Masters who might prevent them Silence in this respect does as much Evil as the Faults which are committed without the knowledge of the Superiours because if they were known to them they might hinder or correct them which they not doing being ignorant of them the fault and blame falls upon those who conceal them whether to please the Evil doers or upon any other pretext whatsover because by their silence in some manner they co-operate to the sin Nevertheless there are very few who are apprehensive of these kinds of sins and much less do they repent of them for they imagine they are not guilty of them because they have not committed them effectively in their own Persons yet they will be all imputed to them as well as if they had personally committed them and they cannot be excused through ignorance because all Christians are obliged to know what they ought to do or avoid for Jesus Christ and his Apostles have set down all for him who will take the pains to search for it But the darkness is so great that they perceive not the things that are necessary and they live in such a negligence of their Salvation as if they were assur'd of it though they be very far from it because no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Those who enter there must be holy None can otherwise draw near to God the Source of all Purity and Holiness In which many are deceiv'd who believe that Holiness belongs only to the Perfect whom they imagine to be some singular Persons And yet without Holiness no Man shall ever be saved I said to her That very few Persons consider'd these things and scarce any look on themselves as guilty of those sins which they commit in another no more than of those which they commit against the Holy Ghost because they perceive not that they are guilty of them though notwithstanding I see clearly that those who are esteemed holy or perfect are tainted both with the one and the other of the said sins She said Sir I am well pleased that you begin to discover that by which the World is condemn'd that you may not need to believe it blindly for if you perceive clearly that the Holy and the Perfect now are polluted with the sins which they commit in another and with those against the Holy Ghost those whom they call Wicked are visibly defiled with divers kinds of Actual Sins Which is known to all the World Of whose Salvation then can you hope for The Wicked bring their Condemnation upon them through their obstinacy in a wicked Life and the Good draw it on by the sins which they commit in another and those against the Holy Ghost which they will not know and much less amend because they presume upon the certainty of their Salvation without all these Circumspections whereby they might discover the state of their Souls or the Sins with which they may be defiled which are Spiritual and of which through blindness they are insensible Hereby the Proof is just of the World 's being universally judged because the sins are universal which sins do judge and condemn Souls For God judges no Body He only fulfils all Righteousness and those who shall be condemned shall be so always by their own sins and never otherwise And if Sins condemn then all they who live in them do bear their Condemnation And since we see that in this Age neither the Good nor the Wicked are free from sins we cannot but see and confess that the whole World is judg'd and condemn'd and that we are arriv'd at the general Judgment seeing generally sin rules and bears sway We must not look for any other cordemnation but that of our own sins known to Gods Justice which condemns always all that 's unjust without hatred and without favour The Righteous Ballance of this Divine Justice being still kept steady by a Hand that never shakes does always condemn Unrighteousness I said to her That I was wholly convinc'd by so clear and true Arguments That I acknowledg'd without doubt the World was generally judg'd by its general Sins asking her if while this Sentence was putting in execution there were not means whereby a Man might be converted She said Yes Sir there are means of Conversion as long as we have life There is place for Repentance till Jesus Christ shall come upon the Earth and root out all Evil yea even when he shall come there will be yet hopes of Pardon Therefore he says That Sinners and Harlots shall inherit the Kingdom and the Children thereof shall be cast out because these wicked Persons may be yet converted and acknowledge their sins whereas those Children of the Kingdom who esteem themselves holy and religious continuing obstinate in the presumption of their Salvation will be cast out though they be called the Children of God and of his Kingdom There are therefore means of Conversion for those who will repent and change their manner of Life even though they were the greatest Sinners of the World yea even for those who are full of the sins against the Holy Ghost or of the sins committed in another provided they get out of their darkness and receive the Truth For these ends God puts his last Sentence in execution slowly and sends his Plagues one after another that he may give time and leisure to all those who desire to be converted to do penitence In which he still exercises the Effects of his Almighty Goodness and Mercy not willing that a sinner should perish but that he live and be converted The sins against the Holy Ghost will be forgiven as well as other sins provided they repent of them which they not doing they shall no more be pardoned when Jesus Christ shall come upon the Earth than at present For where there is no Repentance there can be no pardon for this cause the sins against the Holy Ghost will be very rarely pardoned because they are very seldom repented of and amended The Tenth Conference Shews what Souls shall be happy and explains the Eight Beatitudes I asked her By what means we might know or discover those who are truly converted to God She said Sir Take the Eight Beatitudes which Jesus Christ has declared and see if those who say they are converted do possess them For these only shall be blessed and no others Many say by word that they would be converted and be wholly for God and notwithstanding there are no appearances of it These are nothing but wouldings without effect with which we deceive the World and our selves and
the mischief proceeds from this that our senses are distracted from the works of God and that we apply them to know and to love earthly objects which are below us and unworthy of being lov'd by us for they can give us no other thing but divertisement of mind and amusement of our senses without any profit since all is but vanity passing away in a moment without leaving any thing in our souls but vexations and regrets at death Behold the height of all the happiness we can ever hope for in loving any creatures whatsoever A mans mind must be infatuated if he do not find in the works of God and in his operations which we experience in our selves all sorts of occasions to love and to follow him For who can consider the beauty of the Sun and of the Stars of Heaven the good and fertility of the Flowers and Fruits of the Earth without being ravish'd with admiration in considering what beauty and goodness he must have who gives them to all these things We amuse our selves sometimes in loving a stone a flower or a humane creature for its beauty and we do not raise our understandings to love the fountain and the giver of all these beauties which is God! most durably beautiful who cannot fade as do all these other beauties which are nothing but phantastical and changeable If God had not the perfection of all beauties how could he give it to so many diverse things for one can never give that which he himself has not Who can say therefore that we do not see nor feel God as we do the creatures since he shews himself and lets himself be felt by his operations which are sensible to our senses Who can say that he does not continually perceive God operating in him and doing him infinite good That we have a being is by the good will of God That we see or speak or hear are the gifts of God That we reason with our understanding that we enjoy our five natural Senses these are all gifts of God which no body can give unto himself and which cannot be acquired by Gold and Silver or Freinds let them be who they will The daily food of our body does it not all come from God For what man can make a grain of Corn or a Strawberry to grow All these things with a thousand others do they not afford us sensible enough subjects to know and to love God Can we say in truth that we do not see him nor feel him since he makes himself to be seen and felt every moment by so many benefits which our Soul and our Body do receive in so great abundance which cannot come from any other but from God himself It would be more true to say that we could not love the creatures than that we cannot love God for they can give us nothing and God gives us all that we see by our natural senses and that this impossibility of loving God and of fulfilling his Commandments is apply'd to a contrary sense and that it is more impossible to love the creatures with all our heart because they can never fill our soul for it is spiritual and they are material and therefore no congruity in them to be loved with all our heart which cannot be filled but with God alone The Fifteenth Conference That God has never given to Man but one only essential Command which is that of his LOVE which is most easie and most agreeable and the Love of all other things most vain I Said unto her That she confounded the Ten Commands of God into one and that they who say it is impossible to keep his Commands speak of all not only of the first She reply'd Sir the first is the only Commandment to which God would have us subjected He has never laid any other burthen upon our shoulders but this gentle Yoke of LOVE All the other Laws and Commands are occasioned by our sins and are ordain'd by God for no other end but that we may know them and beware of them He perceiv'd that men from the beginning of the world began to appropriate to themselves Beasts and other earthly goods as things depending upon themselves which led to a forgetfulness of and an ingratitude to God Therefore he appointed the Sacrifices of Beasts and the other First Fruits that by these outward signs they might always preserve in their heart the remembrance that all which they possest came from God It was his will also that they should build him a rich Temple for the same reason that all men might always acknowledge that all their treasures riches and magnificences came from God and did belong to him Therefore he requires that they build him a magnificent Temple Not that God has need of Temples of Riches or Treasures being All in himself But he requires that man retain this acknowledgment of God that by the remembrance of so many benefits he may be oblig'd to love him and to fulfil this first Commandment That he gave to Moses ten Commands written in stone was when men began to multiply their wickedness giving themselves to swear rob bear false witness commit fornication and the rest the goodness of God forbids all these things fearing lest the ignorance of these evil deeds might be the cause of their damnation By these Commands he shews them their sins forbidding them to commit them any longer because all these things were hinderances of loving God as he had commanded them The Law of Circumcision aim'd also at the same to make man acknowledge that he held his life of God and for an outward sign of this acknowledgment he requir'd that he should shed of his blood Not that he had need either of the blood of men or beasts but it is his will that all things should acknowledge that they receiv'd all their being from God that this acknowledgment might oblige them always to love their Creator Even the Evangelical Law consists in no other thing but in this first Command of loving God with all our heart The counsel of poverty chastity and the rest of the Evangelical counsels are given us only for means to attain to this LOVE because he who loves riches luxury himself or other things cannot love God with all his heart nor fulfil this first Commaadment By which you may perceive evidently Sir that all the Commands of God are comprehended in the first and that all the rest are only prohibitions to do what would hinder this love that God has never given us any other Law but that of loving him and that the pity which he has to see us perish made him give all those prohibitions contain'd in his Commandments Can this be evil or impossible to be observed as you have affirm'd to me Is it impossible to be in the world without killing robbing committing adultery and the rest It is rather impossible for him who has common sense to do
those Persons commit in the Abuse of their Privilege Because those Goods which are dedicated to the Service of God whether Tithes or other are not proper to the Priests who possess them but to poor Christian Brethren and they cannot take of them for their own Use beyond what is justly necessary even tho' they be Pastors or have Charges This cannot warrant them to distribute or heap up this Wealth of the Church except for the Entertainment of their poor Christian Brethren after the Example of the Apostles who distributed to every one according to their Necessities So that no body had need of any thing even tho' they did not oblige them to give them Goods by Force For when Ananias and Saphira brought a Part of their Wealth to St. Peter when they came to be Christians he said to them your Wealth was your own and you might have kept it Wherefore have you lyed to the Holy Ghost To shew that they constrain'd no Body to give their Goods leaving every one free to do it who would whereas they constrain Men by Force to give their Goods to the Priests and damn them if they do it not as if they by their own Authority could damn them which they cannot do For Jesus Christ has said Judge not and you shall not be judged condemn not and you shall not be condemned For my part I think if People did not give so many Tithes they would not co-operate to so many Sins and that temporal Wealth has been the Cause of the Church's Ruine and that the Holy Ghost has been entirely banish'd from her For since she would needs maintain her self by Wealth Honour and Authority the Holy Spirit has been banish'd from her and she governed by a purely Humane and Political Spirit or to speak truly a Diabolical one Because a Spirit simply Humane could not ordain things contrary to Jesus Christ For Humane Wickedness does not extend farther than the Pleasure Honour or Profit of Man but these ordain things wherein they have neither the one nor the other of these Advantages as to cause baptize and confirm Children in their Infancy and to fast on Pain of mortal Sin The Fifth Conference That all Men ought to labour to satisfie the Justice of God by this Penitence I said That it was at least needful that some Tithes or Goods should be appointed for those who were necessary for the Service of God and of Christian People because they were forbidden to trade or work to get their Breaed She said Sir this forbidding the Priests to work that they may get their Bread cannot come from God because he commanded all Men in Adam to gain their Bread with the Sweat of their Body Why then should the Priests be exempted who ought to obey him more precisely than others because they make a particular Profession of it and they ought more punctually to be subject to the Commandments of God who having appointed bodily Labour for Penitence did not exempt the Priests nor his Apostles nor Joseph nor Mary nor even Jesus Christ himself who labour'd for his bodily Food How can they change so general an Ordinance confirmed by so many Saints and by Jesus Christ himself If Labour were evil God would not have appointed it for he cannot do evil things and if it were not good and saving the Saints and the Apostles would not have exercised it and Jesus Christ would not have confirm'd it by working himself with his Mother and his Father By what Spirit could they forbid the Priests to work when we hear St. Paul say Lo these Hands gain'd my Bread not being willing to be chargeable to any What greater Dignity would the Priests pretend to now-a-days than the Apostles had and Jesus Christ himself that they should be interdicted and forbid Working Do we not plainly see that these are but the Inventions and Commandments of Men for their Ease and Commodity For God never changes his Laws and can never find that to be evil which he has once found to be good If Labour be good wherefore should it be forbidden the Priests who ought to be more good and perfect than others And if Labour were not good yea necessary for Man God would never have ordain'd it as a Satisfaction for his Sins I said to her That Labour was forbidden the Priests that thereby more time might be given them for attending on their Studies and the Perfection of Souls for fear temporal Labours and Business should deprive them of the Leisure to attend upon what is for the Glory of God She said Sir these Ends have not their Effect For tho' the Priests use no bodily Labour yet notwithstanding they do not apply themselves to labour for the Glory of God but rather to offend him by their Sloth and Idleness which is the Cussion whereon the Devil rests The ceasing to labour defiles them with a double Sin For notwithstanding of this they do not give themselves to the Study of Perfection On the contrary they give way to Temptation and give the Devil Leisure to tempt them at his Pleasure For wherever he meets with Idleness there he enters as into his own House It were better to command the Priests to labour much that the Devil might get no hold on their Souls because being disoccupied from all the Business and Affairs of the World they are the better disposed to hearken to the evil Thoughts and Suggestions of the Devil Whereas a Soul that is continually employed takes no Leisure to give Ear to the Devil Do we not see so great a Number of Priests Monks and Religious pass their Time without doing any thing and live in Sloth upon the Sweat of the People They will not be ashamed to go beg their Bread at the Houses of poor Labourers and Tradesmen who have no other thing but what they can gain by the Sweat of their Face who sometimes give them what they 've need of themselves Nevertheless they dare not refuse them because they are Church-men But if they were of the true Church built by Jesus Christ they would be so filled with Charity that instead of asking or receiving Alms of these poor Workmen they would work themselves to give them the Gain of their Labour Sir I look upon what is received by Form of Alms as a Robbery when we may get our own Bread by our Trade or Labour or we may have whereupon to live of our own Goods and I believe 't is thus before God For it is an unjust thing to live on anothers Goods and to keep our own or to go beg when God has given us an healthful Body and sound Mind that we may labour But you will still excuse that Church which you have for so long a time look'd upon as holy It were better to open your Eyes to discover the Reality of its Wickedness that you let not your self be deceiv'd to your Perdition The Sixth
Creator of all things If the Glory of his Father had consisted in Churches and sumptuous Ornaments wou'd not he to whom all appertains have pitch'd upon them and built them What Dotages do Men now publish that God is honoured by great Buildings and rich Ornaments So our Dung shou'd be his Honour For all that is fair and good in the Sight of Men is nothing but Dung before God We have renounced the Pomps of the World that we might become the Children of God and by the same Pomps we wou'd honour him in his Churches It is not fit to renounce the Pomps of the World to become Christians since these give Glory to God It had been better to encrease these since they honour God that by the Encrease of them God might receive Encrease of Glory What Blindness of Mind is it Sir that makes Men believe that God is honoured by worldly Pomps when they are applied to Church-Walls If they displease God in the Souls of Christians how much more shou'd they displease him in Churches and Places that are peculiarly dedicated unto him for Prayer since this does still require Attention and these pompous and magnificent Ornaments serve for nothing but to distract and divert the Mind by regarding these Pomps and Ornaments of Churches which do certainly distract the Mind of all those who regard them and can serve for nothing but to satisfie the Avarice of those who covet them Nevertheless they call those charitable who afford them Money wherewith to provide all these Pomps and Ornaments of Churches Every one praises and esteems them as if God were a vain God who wou'd be adorn'd with fine Garments If he wou'd have a rich Temple in Solomon's time it was because People were then so gross that they cou'd comprehend nothing of God or of his Majesty but by gross and material things But now that we have the Doctrine of Jesus Christ we have received Light enough to know that God is a Spirit and Life and not bodily or material So that they who go to Cloysters or Religious Orders that they may follow Jesus are greatly deceived because there he is not at all followed but opposed For which they ought rather to be called the Cloysters of Antichist than of Christ because the things wherein they contradict him are more than those wherein they follow him I ask'd If those would not be saved who should enter into a Religious state with a good Intention and being in it should endeavour to live well according to their Language She said Sir these are all Impostors in the Sight of God For they promise Poverty and they observe it not because they yet covet worldly Goods and do all they can to please Men that they may give them of their Goods These Vows oblige them not to desire Riches and they do their best to have them If they cannot desire them much less can they posses or receive them They vow Chastity also and very often they are content only by Force and for want of Occasions God who tries the Reins sees well if their Hearts and their Thoughts are chaste since so many things contrary thereto are heard of them They vow Obedience and they are full of self-will So far are they from obeying God that they do not so much as hearken to him and are subject only to their own Wills and Desires without any other Submission By what means would you have these Persons saved who falsifie their Faith to God since those cannot be sav'd who falsifie their Faith to Men Some falsifie their Faith to God out of Malice and Hypocrisie and others falsifie it out of Ignorance being directed in their Faith more according to what others do persuade them than according to their real Practice They make them believe that Poverty is observed when they possess nothing in particular and in the mean time since the Kings and the great Men of the World do ordinarily profess nothing in particular having People and Officers under them who govern their Revenues Even as these Votaries of Poverty have who wou'd not by it be depriv'd of a Glass of Wine or any the least thing They are in this more happy than secular Persons who are oblig'd to care and labour for necessary things whereas these Monks have all at their Wish without Pain or Labour and if they be depriv'd of a Wife they are free also of the Labours which Marriage brings along with it So that their Chastity is more sensual than the being joyned with some Person of a froward or contrary Humour which is more irksome than Continence So that these Monks who are called Penitents do far less of Petence in their Monasteries than they wou'd do if they were out of them For their Vows of Obedience do constrain them only to what they have a Mind to do They have no sooner pass'd their Novitiate but they are absolute Lords and taking the Will of their Superiours for that of God they make them easily to condescend to theirs else they wou'd become rebellious and chagrin or Disturbers of others And nevertheless they will think they have kept their three Vows and believe that for this Cause they shall go to Paradise tho' indeed all their Vertues be nothing but imaginary ones or Apish Tricks And tho' they shou'd live well according to their Knowledge yet they perish because Ignorance does not excuse Sin To be saved we must of Necessity have the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God these for the most part have none of these Vertues For that cannot be true Righteousness to quit their own Wealth to go afterwards and beg that of others who very often have need of it themselves and yet dare not refuse these whom they esteem to be the Servants of God neither is it just to live upon Alms when the Body and Mind is sound for Labour neither is it just to leave their own Goods to their Kinsmen to enrich them and they themselves go live at the Charge of a Common-Wealth For my part Sir I perceive in my interiour that all these things are Unrighteousnesses before God however they cover them with Perfections and Vertues Neither do I see the Goodness of God reign in these Souls because its Property is to do good to all and to do evil to none But we see these Religious Persons do good only to themselves or those who are associated with them studying to do Mischief to all those who will not follow them And as for the Truth of God it is yet less observed by them than the two other Vertues For all their Works are nothing but external far from the real Truth of God which appears always to be what it is and these Monks make a shew of the Holiness and Vertues which they do not possess but are truly Hypocrites I said to her That many of these Monks were Saints and did Miracles She said They became not Saints Sir by that manner
Works perfect in all respects He is not satisfied to have created Adam in the enjoyment of his Free-will by which he might have his VVill united to God's he gives him also all beautiful things to recreate his Sight and all â—avoury things to recreate his taste all pleasant things for his hearing all things necessary for his Entertainment and he will needs also give him a Companion suitable to his Person that both as to Body and Soul he might have perfect Contentment compleat in all respects therefore he instituted Marriage that the Souls which are united together by will in God might be also united in Body and that Man by this Figure might see how compleat and perfect the Union must be that he must have with God in all respects and without any defect The Third Conference Speaks of the Perfection and of the abuse of Marriage I said to her that Marriage was very holily instituted but that it was very ill observ'd because no body observes narrowly the works of God She said Sir this is the cause why the VVorld is condemned for God is no longer known nor lov'd in it and no body is sensible of this Fault They use their Free-will to satisfy themselves every one willing and desiring that which is pleasant to his Senses or advantageous for his Interest in this VVorld They will all that which God does not will and notwithstanding they hope to be saved and make a contrary use of all that God has given us Marriage is a Holy thing and may well be called a Sacrament for God has instituted it and all that he has done is Sacred and Holy But what do we see in rhe use of this Sacrament but the Sin of Lust and filthiness people carrying more disorderly in it than the Brute Beasts They joyn Bodies when their Desires and Wills are far divided The ends for which God instituted it are no longer regarded by married Persons It is their only desire to satisfie their Lust or Avarice For the rest they only mind it but by accident And as there is nothing more holy and perfect than the Bond of Marriage for two Persons who have dedicated their Wills to God because it unites three things which make now but one to wit the will of God and the wills of the Married Persons who by excess of their united VVills unite also Bodies in the Spirit and Design of God so on the contrary there can be nothing more wicked than two Bodies united by Carnal Concupiscence for this Alliance is the source of all sorts of Sins yea the Abyss of all Evils And as those who are united to God have by being married with a Person equally united to God a perfect Contentment both of Soul and Body so those who live after their own will have by marrying with their Like still some discontent both of Body and Soul because their Souls not being in God they cannot have Peace and their Bodies being joyn'd without Love cannot be satisfied nor contented but they are in Body and Soul as in a temporal Hell which prepares the way to Hell Eternal for these Bodies united without Souls and VVills can produce nothing but Sin through the Lust of the Flesh besides Contention and Strife with a thousand other kinds of Excess Vain-glory Luxury gluttony to which Married Persons excite one another So that their whole Life is nothing but a constant course of sinning which extends also to their children thro' the bad example of the Parents who train them up in evil customs and they increase the number of the wicked Hereby the world grew still worse and its wickedness is still increased and the perverse generation is become so numerous that the Evil is without Remedy for no body is aware of it because every one treads the same path Custom is changed into Nature And whereas they ought to marry for the Two Ends that God gave them that is to preserve a perfect Unity among his true Children and to increase the number of them by generation they usually marry to satisfie their Concupiscence and so they beget Children for the profit of the Devil Thus the works of God are perverted by evil practices for of all that God has done in Nature there is nothing more holy than the Matrimonial Conjunction which by a perfect Union binds persons in Love for otherwise God might have made men engender as the Fishes or in any other separate manner which his Almighty Power and Wisdom could have provided for But resolving to have in Nature a figure of the Union of his Three Powers and of the entire and perfect Alliance which he would make with man he ordain'd that their generation should be by the conjunction of two persons that he might keep them always inseparably united to his will in body and will by a Bond of Charity and gave them a natural bent and inclination to this conjunction which is the most perfect thing in the world if it were observed in the spirit of charity I said to her That it must be acknowledg'd no body understood the works of God and that they made an ill use of all especially of this Matrimonial Conjunction from whence so many sins did proceed and instead of regarding it as an holy thing it was matter of shame and blushing amongst the most sober persons She said Sir 'T is sin that renders it shameful even as that of Adam made him see his Nakedness and gave him ground thro' confusion to hide and cover himself If he had remain'd in innocency he would never have been ashamed of being Naked but it was his sin only that caused this shame He had no need of covering himself before he sinn'd for his body was more beautiful and more artificially contriv'd than ever the most costly Stuffs with which he could cover himself but the imagination being disorder'd by sin made him see beautiful things as if they had been filthy This has remain'd even till now in the imagination of all men who esteem that to be good and beautiful which they imagine to be so and reckon that also to be filthy and evil which seems so to their imagination Hence it comes that they look on natural things as shameful but if they regarded them in Truth and Innocence all would seem good and beautiful to them for God could never make any thing evil but man perverts all good into evil and by his sin corrupts all things the most innocent become the most wicked by sin It must be acknowledged Sir that the way in which men now joyn for generation is very filthy and makes chast souls blush because they observe nothing there but the sin which is in it which is infamous For this cause they are asham'd of it But if this sin were remov'd they would see nothing in it but what is pleasant as if two little children should play together quite naked there would be nothing but pleasure in this because of
Universal Emperour of the whole world They Judg by the effects without searching into the cause The Devil hinders this for he well knows that if the cause were discovered many would be Converted therefore he darkens their minds that they may never come to the Knowledg of the Truth because it would confound him I said to her I perceived clearly enough that the world was Judged because sin abounds in it and no body will be Converted But that we were in the Reign of Antichrist I did not perceive so clearly for we have always been taught that he shall be a Visible and corporal man * She said Sir it is well that you see the World is Judged You shall perceive the rest sufficiently for the Reign of Antichrist is yet more manifest Antichrist that is to say against Christ He whose understanding is not dark'ned may easily see if men follow Christ or if they go in a way contrary to what he walked in while he was on Earth And you see that Christians now adays live a quite other Life than what Jesus Christ led and they not only do not follow him at a distance but are directly opposite to him for there Pride Reigns instead of Humility and Avarice instead of Poverty and instead of Charity there is nothing but Envy and so of all the other things which Christ Jesus Taught us They act wholly in opposition to him and they do not consider that all that is contrary to Christ is Assuredly Antichrist The time is come wherein men would fain have a God and Devil Visible to their Eyes that might go before them This is great and thick darkness because neither God nor the Devil are visible For they are Spirits who cannot be known but by their Operations when they are good or evil according to the Spirit that Animates them Hereby we shall know by what Spirit the World is animated at present For the Spirit of God is always Just Good and True and that of the Devil is always evil without Righteousness and without Truth By these real Signs we may certainly discern if Christ rules the World or Antichrist We need not go to consult Oracles to make this Discovery for all Men of good judgment may make a sufficient trial and see it with their Eyes and feel it with their Hands by taking the Marks which discover the solid truth For if they will needs make this discovery by the signs of apparent Vertues they will remain in their Darkness because the Devil has so disguised and coloured his wickedness with outward Devotions and Piety that he thereby deceives all the World We must come to the Essence of Vertue to see if it be God or the Devil who animates these outward Devotions for if they be of God they will always be accompanied with Righteousness Goodness and Truth But we see but too much the contrary for the most part of those Devout Persons at present are without Righteousness or Equity There was never seen so much going to Church receiving the Sacraments and so little Fidelity so many Pater nosters and so little Truth so many good Words and so little true Charity Do you not see Sir that all order of Justice is renvers'd and that there is more regard of doing Justly before Men than before God And yet these are the best now who do justly before Men for the most part deceive and deal unfaithfully as well before Men as before God For Iniquity is become so common that now almost they are not ashamed to commit it publickly If a man go to Church and frequent the Sacraments he passes for a good Man though he be no ways just If we consider well all the Qualities of the Devil we shall see them all practis'd in the behaviour of Men now he is a Liar an Hypocrite and Unconstant a Deceiver and Unfaithful abounds in all kind of Malice Proud Arrogant Envious Contentious without Faith or Honesty Obstinate in Malice and in a desperate Rage These Qualities are but too much practis'd by the most part of Christians and yet we perceive not that this is now the Reign of Antichrist Men must be extreamly blinded that they do not see this more clear than the Day because the evil is too manifest But many Minds are so infatuated that they cannot believe what they perceive so manifestly by their Understandings but they wait to believe this Antichrist till they shall see him in a Humane Form Which is a very small matter in respect of his Doctrine for that Body can never cause Damnation to our Souls as his Doctrine will do which being contrary to Christ leads us to Perdition Since Jesus Christ is the way we can never attain to Salvation but by him contrary ways lead to Damnation it matters little whether we are led into them by a Body or by a Spirit since we are undone as to Salvation I ask'd her If we ought not to believe that this Antichrist will be sometime corporeally visible in a Humane Form She said Yes Sir I believe this will be toward the end of his Reign for he has set himself to counterfeit all the Actions of Jesus Christ and to ape what he sees he has done And perceiving that Christ became a Natural Man he also will move his Sorcerers to produce Men by the operation of the Devil which is done many times for there are certainly many of these Antichrists born already in the World who make great Havock in the Church and have in their Train those who are most in Authority and as the Apostles of Jesus Christ laboured to introduce Truth into the World these incarnate Devils labour to introduce Lies into it and to sow Tares as they did good Grain I doubt not also but they have a Head of their Iniquity who will appear openly when his wickedness shall be discover'd and when he cannot deceive any longer under the Cloak of Holiness he will deceive then by pure Wickedness and will exercise cruelty towards all those who will not be his Followers That time Sir will not be so dangerous as the present is because he shall be known for the Devil and now they follow him as if he were God Therefore he keeps himself so long concealed and does not appear bodily for he could not do so much prejudice to Souls if he were known He has spread Darkness through all the World that no body may discover him exercising all his wickedness UNDER PRETEXT OF GOOD THINGS OR OF NATURAL OR CASUAL THINGS that no body may believe that all the evils which we see do come from this Antichrist and that no body may be on his guard because he does not appear yet in human Flesh This blinds all the World for tho they see all the qualities of the Devil rule in men yet they will not believe these so solid marks as they would do if they saw him bodily which bodily appearance is not
is most true and if I could say in truth the contrary I would be lov'd and follow'd by all those who believe they are in a state of Grace But because I can't speak a Lie every one leaves me that they may flatter themselves with fine Hopes Truth seeming to them more hard than Damnation though the one be much more lovely than the other Because Truth enlightens alwayes the Understanding though it be sometimes hard to Sense yet it can lead us to Salvation and make us happy to all Eternity whereas Damnation renders us for ever miserable 'T is a trouble to us to be told that we are out of the way of Salvation and we ought rather to be grieved for being ignorant of the truth in those Things which concern our Eternal Happiness The ignorance of this occasions our Damnation Therefore Sir never be troubled any more to hear me tell the Truth in evil Things for it is much more useful than to have it declared in good Things For if I should say to you that you are in a state of Salvation your Soul should receive no advantage thereby On the contrary it might be tainted thereby with Vain-glory or contract a sloth in that which is good And iâ— I should say to you that the Roman Church is Holy and guided by the Holy Spirit it would be of no advantage to you since you obey her as much already as if she were really Holy You could not gain any thing by my saying so So that to know the Truth of Good is much less profitable than to know the Truth of Evil from which one cannot preserve himself without knowing it This the Devil knowing he has found the way to introduce into the Church a Maxim That we ought never to speak evil of any though it were true They call this the Sin of Detraction that her Evil may be still concealed and none may dare to discover it for fear of committing a sin It were good we knew in what place the Holy Spirit has declared That to tell the Truth of Evil is a sin For if this were true Jesus Christ would have committed many sins when he publickly called the Priests and Pharisees Hypocrites Generation of Vipers and so many other Names discovering their Wickedness and Falsehood saying That they were whited Sepulchers fair without but within full of dead mens bones and that they made clean the out side leaving the in-side full of uncleanness Could all these Truths discovered by Jesus Christ be sins of Detraction as they have perswaded all those which declare such Truths since all that Jesus Christ did while he was upon Earth was to give us an Example Is it not evident enough Sir that the calling that sin to declare the Truth of another mans Evil has been invented by the Devil to cover his filthiness and that all sort of sins and Evils might be cherished by the privacy of them For the most part of good men endeavour to excuse and cover them believing they do well in it though notwithstanding it be a very ill thing because it is hurtful Three several ways First to him that does evil who will not amend so easily while his evil is conceal'd as if it were discovered Secondly It is very prejudicial to him to whom the evil is done because it is very hard to avoid or guard against an unknown Evil And Thirdly To the Person who conceals anothers Evil who co-operates to the Evil of him that does it and of him that receives it and nevertheless they call that great Good of declaring the Truth of Evil the Sin of Detraction This unhappy Silence makes all sort of Abominations daily to encrease in the sight of God because they having lost his Fear they lose also that of Men since their sins cannot be discovered without offending God This is also a Doctrine which the Devil hath invented with so many others to the end that every one may follow Antichrist while they think they are doing well For if it were a sin to declare the Truth of Evil Jesus Christ would not have done it of his Apostles themselves calling St. Peter publickly Satan and reproving him in all his Faults as the Apostles afterwards did their Disciples But these new Masters teach That it is a sin to declare the Truth of Evil without any other ground but that of covering their Wickedness that their Evils may not be discovered and they may commit them the more by continuing in the Reputation of being good Men though they be wicked If they had considered well the Nine ways by which we may sin in another they would find that 't is a sin to conceal the Truth of Evil whereas they teach that 't is one to discover it I entreated she would explain to me the meaning of these sins which we commit in another and if we are guilty of them that I might guard against them She said Sir We are as guilty of the sins we commit in another as of those which we our selves commit for God regards not so much the Action as the Intention Sins being Spiritual Things have no need of Material Acts. God searches the Heart and the Reins and not so much the Feet or the Hands These inward Sins are so much the more dangerous than the outward because we take less heed of them for they are not so manifest and known though notwithstanding they be mortal and damnable sins Every one excuses himself of them before Men Which he cannot do before God for Ignorance never excuses sin If we are very careful and diligent to know and discover what is necessary and profitable for our Body we are obliged to be much more so as to our Soul 'T is not enough that one says he knows not these sins because every one is obliged to know them and our Salvation or Damnation depends upon them For he who sins ignorantly goes ignorantly to Hell We are created for no other end but for Salvation This is the only Affair of Importance that concerns us most nearly for setting aside Salvation all is perishing For this cause we must study to discover what Sin is Therefore to satisfie your Demand I will explain the Nine Ways by which we offend God in another First We commit sin in counselling to do evil How many are there who are guilty of this sin without perceiving it If you have a Friend affronted you will say to him I would not suffer this Affront without revenging my self Or you will tell him You would not have the Heart to suffer it and such like things Or if we give any Counsel that is not according to the Righteousness Goodness or Truth of God or if we counsel any to do evil for our pleasure or profit or otherwise These Counsels are as many Sins as the wicked Actions which those commit whom we have counsel'd to do them whether they be in Word or Deed because our
Advice is often the cause why the Sin is done By a just Title then we ought to bear the punishment of it as we shall certainly do before God who looks more to the Wickedness of the Heart than to the evil Actions And he who counsels another to do evil is sometimes more wicked than he who does it out of complaisance to his Counsellour or out of the esteem he has for him Those in Offices or Attorneys and Advocates who give Counsel and not according to straight Justice and Truth do often fall into these Sins and therefore they ought to be condemn'd of the same guilt with him who commits the evil Deeds to which they have advised him for they have both equally contributed thereunto and the Counsellour often with more Wickedness than the Doer because to counsel Evil is worse than to do it Secondly He who supports Evil commits also the same sin with him who does it because if Evil were not supported it would not be so often committed Therefore the Supporter of Evil causes the evil Deed and gives the Man boldness to commit it the more and therefore he who supports it ought justly to bear the punishment of him who does it yea even more for it would be in his power to hinder it by not supporting it Those are doubly guilty that is of the support that they themselves give and of the Evil done by the other which he would not do if he were not supported in it The Third Way by which we commit sin in another is In commanding to do Evil. In which Fathers and Mothers Masters and Mistresses and other Superiours do very often fall who command those under them to do something that is not just or good These are guilty of as many sins as they command their Subjects or Inferiours who very often if they were left to themselves would not or durst not commit the Evils which are commanded them Though Inferiours are not obliged and never ought to obey the Commands which are given them to do evil yet the Commanders cease not to offend mortally only by commanding it as an Inferiour commits a mortal sin in doing the Evil which has been commanded him because the sins of the one cannot lessen the sins of the other but both are guilty of the same commanded sins In which many are deceived who believe that 't is lawful for them to do the Evils which have been enjoyned them by Father Mother Masters or Mistresses or any other Superiours whosoever they be as also such Superiours deceive themselves who are perswaded that they have not commited sins when they act not in the evil Deeds for truly and in the sight of God they commit as many as they have commanded to be done for if their Wills were not evil they would never advise to do evil much less command it The Fourth way by which we offend God by another is When we commend or approve Evil This is very common in this Age wherein evil Doers are commended When we see any one avenge himself of an Affront we will say He shews that he has Courage we are ready even to praise Children that are malicious in defending themselves as well as others who give blow for blow or those who signalize themselves by Pompand Vanity or we praise those who exceed in Feasting or other Evils whatever they be Now the Praise of Evil incites Men to do it the more and encourages them to commit it the more boldly And therefore he who praises it is guilty of as many sins as he who does the Evil. The Fifth Way by which we offend God in another is In partaking of the Evil as when one has some Advantage by the Evil done by another or if any one profit by the Theft which another commits whether by buying what is stolen ot eating and drinking it or by enjoying some ill-gotten Goods So also he who makes gain by the Gluttony or Drunkenness or other sins which other Men commit By all these Things Men are partakers of other Mens sins and thereby do the same Evil with him who directly commits it yea even more because he who commits Theft or any other actual Wickedness runs the hazard of his Life or of other corporal Punishments but he who partakes in it only lives without fear though he be equally guilty with him who commits it nevertheless he does not undergo the same Pennance in this World neither does he acknowledge his Faults that he may give satisfaction for it in the other Therefore his sin is so much the more dangerous because he does not weigh it as it is weigh'd before God The Sixth Way that we offend God in another is When we take pleasure in another Mans sins as he who takes pleasure to see Men fight a Duel or otherwise or is pleased that another cheats cunningly or steals handsomely or provides for his Accommodations with Luxury and Vanity Thus whatever the Evil be the pleasure that we take in seeing another do Evil is sin For he who loves God ought to be grieved for all kind of Evil that he sees committed by others as well as for what he commits himself The Seventh Way is When we do not correct Evil as much as is in our power as Fathers Mothers Masters Mistresses who tolerate the Evil of their Children or Inferiours because they desire not to offend them or for some other humane Respect or even out of softness of Temper or natural Goodness suffering Evil rather than they will correct it when they are oblig'd to do it All these are guilty of the same Evils with their Children or Inferiours for their tolerating them is the cause that they are habituated and continue in Evil who might have amended if they had been rebuked and chastised for it Thus many will be damn'd who are not apprehensive of it For all the Evils which Subjects or Inferiours commit for want of reproof will be laid to the charge of Superiours as if they themselves had committed them by their own Deed because of the Obligation that lyes on them to correct Evil and their neglecting to do it upon whatsoever pretext The Eighth Way that we offend God in another is When we do not hinder Evil when we may do it as if Two Persons quarrel or fight and we might pacifie or divert them nevertheless we will not give our selves the trouble either through sloth or humane respect or some other cause or when we see one ready to do evil and we might hinder it by admonishing him or discovering his Evil by crying out or otherwise which we omitting we commit the same Evil with him who does it when it is in our power to hinder it by what way soever this might be as by giving too much liberty to those under our Charge or leaving them in dangerous occasions or giving them Money or other things with which they take occasion to offend God In all these and