would not be capable of gaining our Affection For it is impossible to love them without being distracted and turned away from God For if we considered the Qualities of God and compared them with those of the Creatures we would see that those are but Dung compared with Gold Besides that all the Creatures together cannot save us nor give us so much as one Moment of Life We pass sometimes our whole Life in studying to render our selves accomplish'd among Men and they have no Power to make us happy even in this World for their Friendship is changeable and their Fortune unconstant Their Fidelity does often depend upon our Complaisance a small Word ill plac'd will render them your Enemies And tho' it were real and constant death can rob you of it in a Moment and you will never find them any more in your Need. Do you not see that all things are frail upon which there is no leaning no Ground to let our selves be charm'd or our Senses tickl'd if there were not a Disorder of Spirit and a Forgetfulness of God! And if this were remov'd it is impossible to love the Creatures in themselves and to cease to love God even tho he had never commanded us Even Natural Instinct leads us to his Love by the consideration of his wonderful Works and of his Benefits which we receive every Moment There needed no other Love to oblige us to love him with all our Heart and with all our Strength The Sixteenth Conference Of continual Prayer and constant Communion with God for which we were created And how we are distracted from it by the Business of this World and by the Enjoyment of frail Creatures I Perceiv'd most clearly that all this was true and moreover that all Men were very far from such Sentiments that every one of them spent their Life in the Affairs and Business of the World and thought not themselves obliged to keep Communion in Spirit with God fearing that this might rob them of the Time and Occasion of dispatching well their Affairs I ask'd her Whether every one was oblig'd to keep continual Communion with God If this was not the particular Business of the Monks the Religious or other Persons who make Profession of a Spiritual Life tending to Perfection She said Sir all Christians are Religious for there can be no other Religion but a Christian Life Every one who would be sav'd is obliged to entertain his Spirit continually with God therefore Jesus Christ says That we ought always to pray and never faint He speaks to Persons of all Conditions not to the Religious only for there were none in his Time who did wear disguised Habits as they do now but all Christians were religious as they are yet at present Neither the Habit nor the Cloyster do make Religion but the Observance of the Evangelical Counsels We are greatly mistaken if we think that God has a Regard to the States and Conditions of Persons He regards not whether we be Religious or Married but whether we observe his Commandments and his Doctrine Every one is free to chuse what State he will provided that in it he observe the Christian Doctrine There is not any State nor any Condition that can exempt a Person from keeping continual Communion with God For he invites us to this and we are created for no other Thing All other Affairs or Businesses are but accidental and of small importance whether they succeed or miscarry it matters little because all their Successes cannot serve us but for this short Life which stands not in need of much if we would content our selves with what is necessary only In which we would be more happy than all the Kings of the Earth for all that we possess beyond this Necessity is Affliction and Vexation of Spirit God created us to love him only and that he might take his Delight with us and we with him This is the only End of our Creation He had no need of us but he would create us to take his Pleasure with us This is that which we do least of all think of or apply our selves unto It seems we would change the Designs that God has concerning us while we will not follow his Ordinance of Praying always One thinks he is born to be a Lawyer an Advocote a Priest a Monk a Merchant or for any other State Office or Benefice to which he is advanc'd and they press hard to perfect themselves to increase and prosper in it as if they were created to do this And when they are arriv'd at the highest of their Pretensions Death comes which consumes all What a silly Business have we aim'd at What a poor Stay of all our Hopes Our Riches are perish'd Our Honours remain on the Earth All our Travels Cares and Labours have left us nothing but Ashes and Rottenness in Recompence of all our Acquests The Noble and the Ignoble the Prince and the Servant being all reduc'd to the same Estate all naked in the Grave the Poor and the Rich having an equal Portion Behold the End of all the Business and Affairs of the World for the Advancement of which we neglect Communion with God tho' this would advance them more if we were habituated to this Communion which would perfect all things I said to her That Men were very blind in not considering seriously these Truths and that she ought to pray to God that he would take from them the Vail which hindred them from seeing their so great Misery and that they might comprehend the Obligation they have to pray always which they were very far from doing To which she replyed Men Sir are as far from Salvation as they are far from this Knowledge For Jesus Christ has said nothing in vain To be saved we ought assuredly to pray always for as soon as we shall cease to have our Spirit lifted up to God we shall fall into many Evils from which we can very hardly recover our selves because Sin blinds the Soul and renders it often insensible of its Evils If this were not true how could it be that one should see every Day his Brother or his Neighbour die leaving behind him all upon the Earth without carrying away any thing and that he should not thereby discover his own Folly and his Blindness in labouring with so much Care to heap up earthly Goods which at Death serve for nothing What tho' I pray Sir God will never force their Wills he sends them occasions enough to open their Eyes But as long as they shall continue to have their Affections set on earthly Goods they cannot love God one of these Affections must go out to let the other in They can never dwell both together And for my part I can never pray for an unjust thing God makes no body blind but their Sins and the little desire they have to seek God has clos'd their Eyes He well
away all the Fruits of the six Days Labours which he did in creating this beautiful World if all this shou'd be for the Devil and his Adherents No no Sir this cannot go so God must have his time to reign over all his Creatures that they may adore and know him the only true God and that the Number of his Elect may be multiplied as much as he has destin'd them that these never dying may bless him to all Eternity This is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which I wait for Sir with Chearfulness Nothing can afflict me in this Hope It is a joyful Life to think on it what Joy must it be to possess it I said to her That these Words did ravish me with Pleasure but that I had also in Exchange the Grief to believe that all Men now are in a State of Damnation for fear lest I also be of the Number She replied You may indeed rejoice Sir 'T is the greatest Ground of Joy that we can ever have 'T is the Master-piece of all the Works of God and the Accomplishment of all things For this the World is created for this Man is created and for this God is become Man The Coming of Jesus Christ in Sufferings was for Sinners but his glorious Coming will be for the Righteous Therefore he says being in the World I am not come to save the Righteous but to bring Sinners to Repentance God from all Eternity design'd to become Man to the end he might not only make Man like to him but that God also might be like to Man that he might take his perfect and compleat Delight with him 'T is good to consider this Sir that God is not become Man only on design to suffer and to die For this would have been a sad Subject and the ancient Patriarchs wou'd have had little Ground to have prayed and desired so earnestly that God should become Man to see him hardly used suffering Reproaches Scourges and so cruel a Death The Love they bare to God wou'd rather have made them desire to remain in their Captivity than to be delivered from it at so dear a Price as the Sufferings and the Death of God-Man All those Wishes and Aspirations which all the Fathers and Prophets of the ancient Law made cou'd not be for this Coming in Sufferings but rather that glorious Coming wherein Jesus Christ being lifted up will draw all Men unto him which his Death on the Cross has not done because very few followed him then and no body follows him at present This is very far from drawing all to him seeing so few have been drawn from the Beginning of the World even till now Must there not a Time come wherein that he may fulfil his Word he will draw all in general to him Must he not also to make the same Accomplishment take away the Sins of the World For his Death instead of taking away the Sins of the World has rather brought on more because they have encreas'd and multiply'd since Can God fail in his Promise Must there not come a time when he will take away all the Sins of the World If this were not God shou'd not be faithful in his Promises which cannot be true For Heaven and Earth shall pass away but his Promises shall not pass away There is not a Syllable of them which shall not have its entire Accomplishment in an altogether perfect Sence They wou'd sometimes make us believe that all this shall be fulfilled in Paradise and they tell us that nothing defiled can enter there How then shall there be Sins there to be taken away And if all the Blessed are united to him there will be no more need of drawing them I said to her That I was so convinced as to believe that we must look for a new World and a new Earth and that I knew well enough that nothing of the holy Scripture shall have its Accomplishment in this World but that I was not freed from the Trouble of believing that all Men now were in a State of Damnation of which Number I was one tho' nevertheless I desired to be saved whatever it cost She said Sir to discover Truths you must always take things in their Source Consider I pray you that the Coming of Jesus Christ in Sufferings was for no other Grounds but to make known to Men their Sins in which they liv'd so blindly that the most Part knew not what they did but followed one another insensibly in the Way of Perdition as they do yet at present God of his great Mercy wou'd have become Man before his Coming in Glory that he might bring Light to Sinners whereby they might know their Sins and to teach them in particular what they ought to do and avoid to the end they may observe the Law of God which he came not to change nor abolish no more than to give a new one but only to teach the Means by which Men shou'd easily attain to the observing of this Law of God which was given from the Beginning of the World and will never be changed For God will never demand any other thing of Men but the Dependence which they ought always to acknowledge they have on their God who has created them and given them all things In the Practice of this Dependence is contain'd all the Law and the Prophets and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ They can have no other thing in Substance But Men being fallen from the observing of this first Law have need from time to time of divers Means to raise them again from their Fall For these ends Jesus Christ is come into the World timously and ere it perish before his limited time that taking Humane Flesh he might teach Men palpably according to their Senses to the end they might not be any more ignorant of any thing but might get out of Darkness to discover their Sins and see clearly the Way they ought to take to come to Salvation And that those Means which Jesus Christ came to teach them might not seem too grievous and difficult to them he wou'd needs pave the Way himself and put them in practice all the time he was on Earth to the end Men might afterwards follow his Steps and imitate his Example By this Foundation Sir you can easily discover whether all Men be in the Way of Salvation or Damnation Lay this down first that no body shall be saved but he who keeps the Law of God Secondly that Men thro' their Frailty cannot observe this Law but by such Means as Jesus Christ has taught them because they imagine that they live in a Dependence upon God when they do but depend on their own Wills To make this known Jesus Christ teaches them that to be his they must deny themselves Not that this Law of denying ones self was ordain'd in these precise Words in the Beginning of the World but it was tacitly contain'd in
the real truth if they receive it For hitherto it has not been yet discover'd nothing of the Holy Scripture has been explain'd in its perfect sense every one has drawn conjectures from it according to his Light not according to what is in it in effect thus they might well die for holding some opinion which was not the real truth but the opinion of some Author for which they might die indeed without being for this the Martyrs of Jesus Christ For to be such a man must die for the Defence of the Law of God and the Doctrine of the Gospel or otherwise he cannot be a Martyr before God however men call many others by this name this shews that there is obscurity and darkness through all even in the most holy things Every one walks in the dark not discerning the pure Truth Even many who have the best Maxims would judge indeed that I were an Heretick in speaking against the Decrees of the Councils of Rome out of a pious belief that they have been all held by the Co-operation of the Holy Spirit Which is a false Supposition For the Holy Spirit never changes With what he inspir'd the Apostles he inspires also at present those who hear him They are always the same things I said to her That the Holy Spirit did sometimes inspire diverse Means for the attainment of the same End She said 'T is true Sir if the Means which those Councils set before us did all aim at the keeping of the Commands of God and at his Doctrine of the Gospel I should believe that they came from the Holy Spirit but when they aim at a quite contrary sense I may well judge that they come not from thence because God never contradicts himself He has commanded that we love him with all our Heart and these Councils say that to get the Pardon of our Sins and obtain Salvation it suffices that we have a sorrow for sin out of fear of Hell Can these two contrary senses come from the same God And there are so many other things which are variously oppos'd to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ as I have told you formerly as the baptizing little Infants and a Thousand other things which are directly contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I know indeed that they deny this Truth saying that they have ordain'd nothing contrary to the Law of God For with studied Words and Terms they cover all their Faults and I am neither a Philosopher nor Divine to answer their artificial Arguments or studied Words but I say in truth that they do in effect directly contrary to the Law of God and the Doctrine of the Gospel Not that they say so but they do it And Deeds are more than Words I doubt not but they would surprize me by my Words For the Devil has nothing but Subtilties wherewith to cover his Malice But they cannot surprize me in the matter of the Essential Truth which abides always true They might say indeed the Councils do not say that we ought not to love God with all our Heart but only that Attrition is sufficient for Salvation Is not that enough to teach indirectly that we are not obliged to love God And is not this indirect Doctrine much worse than the direct which no good Men would follow I asked If the Light which she received from the Holy Spirit was contrary to what the Councils had ordained She said Yes Sir the Decrees which the Councils have made so far as I know them are all directly contrary to what the Holy Spirit dictates to me And you your self may perceive it Though there were nothing but the forbidding to read the Gospels and the holy Bible in the Vulgar Tongue is not this contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who has given his Word rather to the vulgar and simple People than to the Learned And if it had not been his Will they should read it after his Death he would not have left it them in Writing This is the Nourishment of the Children of God And these Councils would make them die for hunger Is not also the forbidding Priests to labour against the Commandment of God who ordained Adam the most holy of all Men to labour in penitence for his Sin And the Oath which they cause the Priests to take not to receive any other Explications of the Holy Scriptures but those approved by the Church is it not also against the Holy Spirit who offers every Moment to give new Light which these Councils do not approve because it would reprovâ— them For all that comes from the Holy Spirit reproves Evil. There are also many other things which these Councils have ordained that are contrary to the Light that God gives me which is wholly conformable to the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I have no need to read any Books to know if they be endited by the Holy Spirit because the Sentiment of my Soul gives me still evidence enough of them When I understand only the substance of a thing I perceive certainly whether it come from the Holy Spirit or not You may easily see Sir by all that I have already told you that this Church and her Councils are not guided by the Holy Spirit but by the Spirit of Errour which deceives all the World under this false Masque of the Holy Church and Holy Councils whereby the most Innocent let themselves be ruled by the Devil at his pleasure while they believe that they follow the Truth which is God The Ninth Conference Speaks of the Sins which we commit in another and that to declare the Truth of Evil is not Sin I said to her I was more certain that she was guided by the Holy Spirit than that the Church and her Councils were so and therefore she must tell me what I ought to do She said Sir You may indeed lean to my Sayings because I speak nothing of my self It is true it seem'd somewhat hard to you that I overturn the Church and her Councils and also when I say that the Devil rules them But I know this by the Light of the Holy Spirit which obliges me to declare it perhaps for the enlightning of others that they may be converted or to give them a full Measure that no body may pretend Ignorance For if I were not prest in my Conscience I would beware to speak of such Evils as one trembles to hear them It were more pleasant and agreeable if I could say in truth that the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit and that Rome is the Church of God This Discourse would comfort my Soul and give content to all those who are under her Obedience But this not being true I should flatter them to their destruction Whereas the true knowledge of Things may save them You have been also troubled sometimes to hear me say that all men now are in a state of Damnation which notwithstanding
live and dye in amusing our selves with the Hopes of Salvation without any ground Because it ought to be founded only upon the Resignation of our Will to that of God That which we least think of is the most necessary I said to her Since this Resignation of our Will was the only thing needful we ought to fix upon it and that neither Books nor Study nor any other Means were any longer fit for attaining to Salvation and that Man was very void of Judgment in burthening himself with so many other things She said Sir Man is truly void of Judgment while he amuses himself with so many different Things since there is but one thing necessary All the rest is superfluous and useless There is no need of Studies nor Benefices that we may resign our selves to God nor of Honours nor Riches nor Places and Dignities For all this respects the Earth only and Humane Accommodations A little Aliment will serve for this short Life Alas why should we vex and amuse our selves to make up a Fortune here which must remain on the Earth and all Humane Delights must dye with us Is it not a great Folly to embroil our selves in Places Offices and Benefices for so short a Time as this Life lasts during which we have no need of any thing but a little Meat and Drink with some Cloaths to cover our Body No Body has need of any thing else neither King nor Pope more than others with all their Wealth and Grandeurs but this little Aliment and whether we leave behind us at death Land or Money 't is all the same thing The Body rots in the Ground and we carry nothing away the Rich no more than the Poor the Noble than the Beggar Death levels all without any Preference Must not a Man be very void of Judgment to desire Goods which are a Burthen to us painful to get troublesome to preserve and grievous to be parted with What a folly does he commit who from his Youth gives himself to the Study of Letters or other Sciences on design to attain to some Office and Dignity and when he has attain'd it reckons himself happy As if any Happiness could be found in Miseries And does not discover that truly the Wealthiest and the Greatest are the most miserable and subject to more Cares and Vexations to more Fatigues and greater Accounts to be charged on their Souls and Consciences For he who has but a small Labour sufficient for the maintenance of his Life without pretending to more is a thousand times happier than a Rich and Great Man in this World and has also a far less Account to render to God For Offices and Riches lay great Obligations on him that possesses them So that what we imagine to be a Happiness brings upon us great Mischief robbing us of our Time which ought to be employed only in fulfilling our Penitence and also exposing our Souls to many Hazards of their Salvation and it wholly hinders the Resignation of our Will to that of God For he who covets the Offices Honours Riches and Grandeurs of this World cannot be resigned to God because all these things proceed from our own Will seeing that of God aims at no other thing but Eternity whereas all that is Temporal and passes away is opposite to it We would laugh to see a Pilgrim heap on his Head or Shoulders the Earth which he should only tread upon that he may advance in his Journey and we think we are very wise in Loading our selves with Gold and Silver which should only serve us for a Foot-stool and we oppress our Understanding with Cares Studies and so many different Distractions whereas we have but one thing only to care for which is to resign our VVill to that of God and to live without Care in this Resignation of our Will to his This is all that God will always demand of Man without obliging him to any other Thing And when we amuse our selves with so many different Things we Act against the Command of God and we follow our own Will For one will covet to become an Attorney Advocate or Counsellour another to be a Merchant Shop-keeper or Tradesman one becomes a Priest another enters into a Religious Order another desires to be a Prebend Bishop Cardinal or Pope And when they have attain'd to all these Pretensions they are only filled with Wind Because all this passes away as the Vapour that vanishes in the Air And very often when we think to take our ease under the Favour of some great Fortune we immediately go down into the Grave where Death puts an End to all our Employs and renders all our Pretensions vain For by following our own Will we can never have acquired any thing for Heaven and God would not be just if he should reward eternally the Works that we do for the Earth or with respect to the Creatures We are deceived if we believe it because all that respects the Earth is recompensed on the Earth The Sixteenth Conference Shews How the Resignation of our Will to that of God is a Continual Prayer that it supplies all particular Doctrines and Practices and that the Gospel directs us only to the removal of the Obstacles which hinder it the discovery of which is necessary I asked her If it was needful to use any longer the Means of Devotion when one is resigned to God If it was any longer needful to Pray to Watch to Fast to go to Church to frequent the Sacraments to procure Indulgences to Honour Images especially that of the Virgin Mary which Devotion they tell us is necessary for Salvation with many other things which seem to be good She said Sir The Resignation of our Will to that of God supplies all Things and when we are arrived at this Resignation we have no longer need of any Means Because God works then in us what pleases him and we have no longer need to Act but to be still and passive Our Devotions are then without ceasing and we pray always when we are always resigned to God For Prayer is nothing else but an Elevation of the Spirit unto him and it is elevated unto him as long as we receive all from his Hands and are pleased every Moment with what he ordains This is the continual Prayer which he demands of Man saying That we must alwayes pray and not faint He who lifts up his Heart to God only when he is in the Church or sayes his Pater Noster's does not pray alwayes Because he cannot be alwayes in the Church nor mutter his Prayers from Morning till Night But he who resigns his Will to that of God prayes continually whether he eat drink walk or take his rest He is alwayes by his Will united to God and has no need of other Means because he is arrived at the End where Means would be a Hindrance to him He still watches when he is ready at all