seen of Men they sought the Praise of Men more than that of God they devour'd Widows Houses but had still a Religious Pretence for it they would learn People to despise their Parents but it was on the account of Corban they would hate and persecute others even to Death but it was to do God Service they were mighty zealous to propagate their Religion and would compass Sea and Land to gain Proselytes but then our Saviour tells us They were twofold more the Child of the Devil than themselves Now it is observable That our Saviour's Reproofs are levell'd mostly against these two last sort of Persons The former he treats with such Pity and Compassion that his Enemies tax him for a Friend of Publicans and Sinners He tells them There is joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repents more than ninety and nine just Persons that need no Repentance And that he came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance But for the other two he warns his Disciples to beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees He calls them a Generation of Vipers whited Sepulchres fair and beautiful without but within full of Corruption and Rottenness he terms them the Children of the Devil and asks How they can escape the Damnation of Hell To judge according to Appearance one would think they deserv'd a milder Treatment and that the other ought to have been most Lasht and this is the Course and Practice of the World But that which seems Righteous before Men is an Abomination in the Sight of God Our Saviour's Conduct in this we may be sure was the effect of Divine Equity and Wisdom The Publicans and Sinners were not only look'd on as such by all others but also were self-condemn'd they knew they were doing what they ought not to have done their Conscience could not but often smite them and the Divine Grace exciting them and outward Afflictions chastising them might one time or other bring them to Repentance and the Sense of the greatness of their Sins might awaken in them an answerable Sense of the Divine Goodness so that where Sin had abounded Grace should so much the more abound and they who saw there was so much forgiven them would love much But the Pharisees and Sadducces were not so capable of Conviction their Sores were skin'd over with a fair Shew of Reason and Religion their Sins were mostly Spiritual they had no Remorse for them the World and they themselves did approve them in what they did they thought they were doing God Service and they had form'd to themselves such a Righteousness of their own as made it next to impossible to bring them to Repentance or to seek after the Righteousness of God by Faith There was no such Hazard that sincere and well-meaning Persons should be seduc'd by open and scandalous Sinners Their gross Sins and the ill Character they went under were as Beacons to warn others to beware of them But it was not so easie to avoid the Leaven of one of the other two they compass'd Sea and Land to gain Proselytes and the specious Reasons of the one and the seeming Piety Zeal and Devotion of the other with such a plausible Representation of Religion as might encourage them to hope for Heaven tho' they lov'd the World and follow'd their own Wills here were Snares which it was not easie to escape Publicans and Sinners were more capable of receiving the Truth they were convinced of all and even when they were not resolv'd to follow it yet the inward Conviction of their Consciences would keep them from maligning or persecuting the Publishers of it But the other two resisted it with all their Force stuck at nothing that might suppress it did calumniate and defame it persecuted its Author and Followers to the Death and thought that in all they did God Service Jesus Christ then foreseeing the Effects of the Effects of the Malice and Subtilty of the Devil how forward he would be to slip into his Church to profess himself his Disciple and pervert his Design and Doctrin under Colour of owning and promoting it and knowing well the Corruption of Men's Hearts how naturally the Love of themselves and of the World would make them take up with Shadows of Religion instead of the Life and Substance of it he takes Care not only to shew them plainly by his Life and Doctrin wherein it truly consists viz. in true CHARITY as its End and in a constant denial of our selves as to our own Wills and as to the Honours Riches and Pleasures of this World as the effectual and necessary Means of attaining to this End But he also lets them see the false Religion that Self-love takes up with and the main Branches into which it divides itself in the different Pictures of the Pharisees and Sadducees the one making an Idol of their corrupt Reason and worshipping it for their God and the other teaching for Doctrins the Commandments of Men making the Commandments of God â—f none effect either through their own Glosses or the Traditions of their Elders being more zealous for these than the plain and simple Word of God and both of them establishing a Righteousness of their own a Righteousness founded on Self-love Self-will and the Love of Temporal Things and making void the Righteousness of God being void of Charity and the Love of things Eternal And that the Disciples of Jesus Christ had need of such Warnings the fatal Experience of all following Ages has but too evidently testified and as it seems in our Saviour's Days in the last Age of the Jewish State these Corruptions among them were come to their heighth so in this last Age of the degenerate Christian State this twofold Leaven seems to have spread through all Parties and leaven'd the whole Lump The World is now full of those who set up for great Masters of Reason and measure every divine Truth by Mathematical Principles and Demonstrations and what will not bear that Test is ridicul'd by them and tho' a Truth be never so plainly reveal'd in the Holy Scriptures yet if it do not suit their way of Reasoning and if they think it lies fair to be pelted by their Witticisms they are sure to treat it in Derision and to start Questions about it as their Predecessors did to our Saviour about the Resurrection of the Woman who had been married to seven Husbands that were Brethren viz. Whose Wife she should be of the seven at the Resurrection And tho' they meet daily with as inexplicable Difficulties in the visible World in Bodies the being of which they cannot deny and if they had liv'd all their Days in an Island among People where the manner of the Propagation of Men and Beasts was never heard of when they had been told of it would have thought it as ridiculous and impossible a thing as any Truth deliver'd in the Holy Scriptures and tho' they have liv'd to see the
Principles of the greatest Philosophers who thought they establish'd all things by unerring Rules of Aequations hiss'd out of Doors yet this will not keep them from making Idols of their own Ideas and worshipping their own Reason and Christ and his Sacred Doctrin must be despis'd if he will not fall down before it and worship it And how strangely this Spirit spreads now in the World he that runs may read There is no Delusion more dangerous and which leads to more irrecoverable Blindness than this of making our wretched Reason and the Ideas it forms to it self the Measure and Standard of Truth The Eyes of our Mind are like those of our Body we may turn them to any Side we please but can discern nothing aright unless the Light shine upon them and let them see the Objects round about them So our Minds may form to themselves many Ideas and Imaginations but none of them conformable to the nature of things without a suitable Light to discover and direct them In the Material and visible World from the general Notions of Matter and Motion and the Combination of variously mov'd and figur'd Bodies Men form to themselves such and such Systems of the Universe which they strongly fancy to be the true Model of it but when we come to consider more nearly the things themselves we find them as far different as Light is from Darkness Our Minds must receive due and suitable Impressions from the Objects themselves else they can have no right Sentiment of them A blind Man can never conceive aright what Light and Colours the Sun and this visible World are unless his Eyes be open'd and he receive the Light The Light surrounds him and he comprehends it not we may by many Words and Similitudes give him general and dark Notions of the Excellency of Light and Colours and the Beauty of this visible World but one Glance of the Light it self will discover more to him than a thousand Descriptions made by us It is the same of Divine and Spiritual Things The Natural Man perceives not the Things of God but they are foolishness to him No Man knows the Things of God but by the Spirit of God A Divine Light and Illumination is necessary to make us understand and relish Divine Things And if we think to comprehend and judge of them by our Reason and Natural Ideas we do as foolishly and unreasonably as a blind Man that would judge of Light and Colours by the Ideas he has gathered from his Touch and other Senses And as the seeing and enjoying the Light and the receiving the other Impressions of this visible World are quite another thing than the Ideas we retain and form of these things to our selves in the Light 's absence for these notional Ideas can never enliven and warm and chear our Bodies and make us enjoy all this visible World as the other does no more than the Picture of the Sun can give us Light and Heat as the Sun himself does for these are but the Pictures of the Things themselves So the true Light and Impression of Divine Things upon the Mind is as far beyond the notional Ideas that we may form of them even tho' they were the true Pictures of them and as a blind Man ought to submit to the Judgment and Conduct of those who enjoy the Light and of whose Sincerity he has no reason to doubt and in the mean Time to strive if possible to enjoy himself so ought we to submit our Understanding and our Will to the Divine Revelation of the Will of God made to others and by them declar'd to us and in the mean time so to yield up our selves to God as that the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightned we may come to comprehend what the good and acceptable and perfect Will of God is But the Leaven of the Pharisees has yet more universally overspread Christendom than that of the Sadducees Upon this is founded the Difference of the several Sects and Parties that are in the Christian World and the Hatred and Animosity wherewith they prosecute one another one crying Lo here is Christ another Lo he is there The same Leaven runs through all Parties tho' it put on different outward Forms according to the different Interests and Engagements of the respective Parties Some are very zealous for particular Doctrins and Opinions which are uncertain as to their Truth and of no Necessity for Salvation Some set up for particular Forms and Rites of Worship which may be either us'd or let alone without hazard of Salvation And others are as zealously bent against them Some for such and such Forms of Discipline and Government and others for overturning them And tho' most of the Things for or against which they bend all their Zeal be of little Moment either for Promoting or Hindrance of Salvation yet they seem to lay the whole Stress of Religion upon them and having drawn them up into positive or negative Confessions of Faith Creeds Articles Canons of Councils and Acts of General Assemblies they baptize them into the Sacred Names of The Truths of God the Cause of Jesus Christ the Interest of his Church the setting the Crown upon Christ's Head they teach for Doctrins the Commandments of Men and are more zealous for their Forms and Systems of Doctrins drawn up by themselves or their Predecessors than for the Simplicity and Plainness of the Holy Scriptures and tho a Man embrace from his Herrt the Divine Writings and endeavour to square his Life by the Rules set down in them yet if he do not receive their Systems and be not zealous for or against such outward Forms and Rites as they embrace or dislike he is to them as a Heathen and a Publican And while they have a Zeal for the outside of Religion they neglect Righteousness Mercy and the Love of God while they avoid the Scandalous and Carnal Vices that would make them hateful in the World their Hearts are full of the Spiritual ones which are as hateful to God In short the Apostle gives us a plain Character of them 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3 4 5. warning us That in the last days perilous Times shall come for Men shall be Lovers of their own selves covetous proud boasters blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy without natural Affection Truce-Breakers false Accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good trayterous heady high-minded lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof It is strange to see how wilfully Men mistake the Nature of Christianity and place it in that which it does not conconsist and what it truly is they despise and trample upon Christianity may be either consider'd in its End or in the Means it directs us to for the attainment of that End Its End is CHARITY to love God with all our Heart and our Neighbour as our selves To love God is to love his
and reasons But no sooner did every one begin to have thine and mine than the brother is forgotten and instead of bringing their portion in common each one began to cheat as to his own particular from hence came an exclusion and exception of persons and instead of inviting to their table the poor as J. Christ had taught that they might have their reward in Heaven they invited their friends and those who had the conveniency to invite them again By which Charity was greatly diminisht and Avarice began to gain upon their hearts every one seeking their own interest Assoon as the Devil had this door open whereby to enter into the Church of J. Christ he began to stir up therein debates and dissentions which were contrary unto the peace which J. Christ had always taught saying I give you my peace my peace I leave you and elsewhere Love one another by this shall it be known that you are my Disciples The Devil also stifled these Doctrines from the beginning for one said I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo thus vices encreas'd and Charity was lessen'd Behold from what time began no longer true Christians to be found in process of time yet less and in the end which is now there are none This would be too long to deduce to you in particular You may Sir conceive the rest sufficiently I told her That my conception could not reach so far that she must declare to me the whole so much the rather that she had promis'd to do it That it was neither good nor honest to be wanting to her promise since I would willingly hear it and the affair did require it That the Glory of God and my own particular salvation was concern'd in it She said Seeing it is so Sir I will proceed but be not you weary if the discourse be long Many things cannot be said in a little time Be you as attentive to hear as I shall be to declare it These are excellent Truths which will open your understanding and that of all persons capable of reason When therefore those first Christians became thus remiss and the Devil had made a breach upon the hearts of the most part to oppose the Doctrine of J. Christ some of those who were not yet altogether perverted set themselves to make some reformation in the Church lest it should become more corrupt for many errors and Sects had crept into it every one desiring to believe and practice after his own mode This gave beginning to all sorts of Heresies for as long as the union of true Christians did last all were but one heart and one will in J. Christ living all under the Gospel simplicity But when once they assembled learned Men and introduc'd Schools there was nothing to be seen but disputes and controversies The Sciences have brought in so many questions little necessary to Salvation that it had been more desirable they had never been introduc'd for instead of putting an end to errors they have rather raised new ones How many Heresies have proceeded from the learned of the Church a Calvin a Luther in our time and so many others before Truly Sir in thinking to reform the Church by the learned they have rather deformed it the doctrine of Jesus requiring rather humility of heart than great Philosophy for the simplicity of the Gospel has in it more true wisdom than all the Doctors of the world can acquire in all the Schools of the Universities The Learning of Men has stifled the Wisdom of the holy Spirit and since they have chosen the learned unto the Helm of the Church they have thrust the Saints from it seeing none have since that been admitted into the Government and Authority of the Church but the great men and the learned the little ones to whom Jesus Christ says he gives his Grace have been rejected and render'd useless Hereby in process of time there have been so few true Christians the number of which has always diminisht according as the learning of men has multiplied For if those learned men had observ'd and taught the Doctrine of the Gospel simply as it is set down as the Apostles did the Church had continu'd in the flower of its youth but since they would needs polish and varnish it with humane doctrines they have quite disfigur'd it It s beautiful countenance had no need of ornament Nothing can amend the work of God but may indeed spoil it as they have done by so many various and unprofitable questions as concerning Grace Free-will the immaculate Conception of the Virgin and so many other things little necessary to our Salvation with so many new ways and devotions to be sav'd so many cases about sins so many circumstances concerning vertues which serve rather to hinder than advance them It were better to study not to sin than to know its degrees It is far better to walk suitably to the Grace of God than to study to know how he gives it to us and to have vertue and devotion than to learn so many means to attain to it There is no doubt but all these buildings made with mens hands have shaken the Edifice of the Church of Christ which the Spirit of God had built by the ministery of the same J. Christ Men who are wholly ignorant would needs correct and reform the work of God which was so perfect and accomplisht by which they have ruin'd themselves and all like unto them I entreated that she would explain her mind a little more at length concerning this question and tell me in order if it was not expedient to oppose the errors which had crept in amidst the holy doctrine of Jesus Christ If it was not needful to call the learned that they might overcome by reasons and arguments those false brethren who set themselves directly to oppose that doctrine to the end they might stifle and blast it even in its Cradle She answers Truly Sir it had been much better to have oppos'd those errors by despising them than by disputing against them because these disputes have taught many the errors which they would have been ignorant of who might have continu'd in their evangelical simplicity whereas these disputes have made many grow remiss by the same errors which being spread have captivated weak minds It had been far better to have rejected and cut off those erroneous persons than to maintain their opinion by disputes There was no need to fear that the Doctrine of Jesus Christ would have been sunk by all the errors that could be rais'd up against it seeing its Author has promisd that it shall never perish however it be oppos'd and attack'd which we see by experience For tho the Devil and his Adherents have always endeavour'd to obscure and defile this holy Doctrine yet it has continu'd in writing pure and entire in our hands to this day and will continue so even to the
This is the cause and the origine of all the corruption of the world and that its evil is remediless when a remedy is poyson'd it cannot cure the Disease but rather make it worse as we see the world is declining daily yea every moment to the worse Those who are cut off from the said Church and whom they call Hereticks can never do so great mischief to the true Church as these persons do who call themselves the Fathers and Doctors of the Church tho they are fallen away from the Doctrine of Jesus Christ since no well-meaning persons will follow Hereticks they rather have an abhorrence of them but even well-disposed persons leaning to the direction of those who are intrusted with the spiritual government of the people do insensibly commit infinite evils following the direction of these Doctors while they do not lead them according to the words of Jesus Christ for their own doctrines cannot but poyson the most pious Souls This is a Leprosy which has infected the whole Church of God which is transmitted from one to another so far as that there are no longer any sound members to be found I bewail only those who desire to follow the truth for they know not where to find it for it is not no longer where it ought to be He who believes the contrary is deceiv'd and he who says it deceives others Jesus Christ is the Truth alone The Tenth Conference Of Remission of Sins of Confession and how it is abused I Ask'd her if she did not believe in the Remission of sins since she maintained so confidently that few or none will be saved and that Paradice is shut She answer'd Yes Sir I believe in the Remission of sins In that consists my joy and my hope I have even told you before that assoon as the sinner knocks God opens to him He needs but turn to him to obtain the pardon of his sins how great and numerous soever they may have been It is not for want of mercy in God that I despair of the Salvation of men but because they will not be converted because the most part do not or will not know their sins I have more hopes of the conversion of gross sinners than of persons who make a profession of vertue because of the presumption of their Salvation grounded upon their own Righteousness they cannot be so readily converted as a sinner who knows his evil life he is more ready to repent of it than they who believe that they live well tho it be not true It is of these that Jesus Christ says that he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance So many Souls will be mistaken at death who think they are certain of their Salvation whereas they are very far from it taking false vertue for the true It is in this that Jesus Christ says that he will judge of Righteousness He cannot judge nor condemn the Righteousness which is truly such before him but he speaks of our Righteousness which is righteous in our judgment and in that of men Such Righteousness will be condemn'd of God because they were not righteous before his piercing eyes as they appear'd unto the eyes of men and to our own Behold why I said that Paradice is shut because I cannot discern at present true Righteousness in the vertuous I ask her Whether sins were pardon'd by the Sacrament of Pennance which is the Confession of sins to the Priests She said Sir there are so many abuses committed by this Sacrament that I believe more sins are committed by it than pardoned for people believe that to obtain the pardon of their sins it is enough that they declare them to the Priest and upon this perswasion they take little care to amend them neither also can they have great contrition for a thing which is so easily effac'd by the small confusion that they have in declaring their sins to the Priest No body would quit his pleasure and the contentment which he finds in sin for so small a trouble as there is in confessing it Hence it comes that we see people continue and even endreâ—se their sins all their life time Thus this Confession which is appointed for their Salvation serves to procure their Damnation because so many Confessions without amendment make profuseness of Sactileges of which they never repent because they believe they shall obtain life with these very means that occasion their death and when the soul is about to be separated from the body they only place the hope of their salvation iâ— the same Confession which has wounded the soul with so great a number of mortal wounds It was a great unhappiness did then befal the world Sir when the Church taught that to live well and to be saved a man must confess often The Catechisms which they teach the Children of Christians are stuâ—tâ—d with such doctrines and in all the Indulgences which the Church bestows she always ordains Confessions as one of the necessary means for obtaining the said Indulgences Every body teaches the doing of what is ordain'd by the Church in this case I would willingly ask if this be not to teach indirectly that a man must in frequently when they teach that he must confess often since Confession does always suppose sin He cannot confess frequently without sinning frequently for they who have not sinn'd have nothing to confess nor can they do it frequently without an express commission of sins that they may have matter of confessing frequently I believe Confessors have invented these multitudes of Confessions that thereby they may draw the people to themselves instead of leading them to Christ A true Shepherd-takes more pains to cure his Seeep and does not neglect its Scab that he may be oblig'd to take it often in his lap as these strange Shepherds do who love rather to draw to themselves souls continually laden with sins than to send them to God by the spirit of true repentance This is an error which was introduc'd into the Church by the cunning of that pernicious Antichrist that he might withdraw the souls of sinners from Christ who calls them saying Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest and to lead them to men who slatter and keep them in their sins under a false promise of their Salvation for there is none but God only who can pardon sin and men who pretend to be in Gods stead and do not observe his word are Seducers since his word only can pardon sins It is true it was transferred to men with the same vertue which it had in the body of Jesus Christ but this was only as long as they should continue to persevere faithfully in that word and no otherwise The Apostles did all their works by vertue of this word and not by their own authority These Confessors do the quite contrary remitting sins according to their fancies and will
Perfection than formerly Which I doubt very much for if you think to teach the People the Evangelical Life and do not observe it your self this is worse than to hold your Peace because every one will have Ground to believe that it is nothing but a Formality which must be observ'd in declaring the Gospel and that there is no need to put it in Practice seeing they who teach it do not practise it themselves I think in this Case it were better to be ignorant of it than not to practise it when we know it At least it is a less Evil never to have understood it than to have known it and not to practise it tho' both are evil because all Christians are oblig'd to know the Gospel for we cannot without Guilt be ignorant of it but to hear it so often and for all this not to desire to follow it is a double evil because of the Ingratitudes which are committed in not practising what we know by the Grace of God It is a Grace to be caught and an Ingratitude not to follow Instructions Therefore you will do nothing but spend your self in Teaching and will not replenish others Besides that in Teaching there is always the Hazard of Vain-Glory because Flattery is the Ruine of our Souls and perswades us that we have that which they say we have I said unto her That infallibly many would put in Practice the Doctrine of the Gospel if they knew it as I do at present because these Truths are so clear that of necessity one must yield to them She said Sir Do not engage your self to declare the Truths which God now makes known to you For they will not be well receiv'd by the Learn'd You ought first to have overcome all Human Regards which you have not yet done Likewise you must have the Courage to expose your Life for this Truth For otherwise you will be opprest without any Profit because they would outragiously persecute you if you should declare the naked Truth of the State of the Church at present and if you teach that to be a true Christian one must observe the Doctrine of the Gospel they will altogether oppose you and will affirm That all they who are baptiz'd are Christians however Wicked they be Thus you will have much to suffer and will profit others nothing Because all that you might build up by Teaching of the Truth the Learn'd will destroy by their Arguments and will easily dissuade People from believing you even rejecting your Doctrine as Evil and Seditious for they study nothing so much as to flatter the World and speak as they are desirous to hear They have forgotten that Jesus Christ said by his Apostle That he who would please men is not the Servant of Jesus Christ There can be no Preaching any longer without Reproof but what flatters the Ear and is agreeable to the People for the Truth which reproves is so disapproven by Men that I believe Sir if you should speak publickly the Truths which I in confidence have told you they would cut you off from the Church declaring you an Heretick yea they would even pursue you to Death because they could not approve the Truth without condemning themselves their Lives being contrary thereto and no Body hates his own Soul Therefore they condemn others I ask'd her If I ought always to continue idle without doing any thing seeing I could not Teach nor Preach any more and that I had no other Employment for that I had passed all my Life-Time in Study and in the Direction of Souls She said Sir Labour first for your own Perfection until you be entirely united to God and then you will be capable of other things If there be no Profit to be reap'd among the Catholicks you may go among the Heathens and Hereticks who will be more disposed to receive the Truth than those who are under the Roman Church Because others sin through Ignorance and these Romanists through Malice Many Heathens would follow the Truth if they knew it and likewise divers Hereticks because they seek and ask it always Therefore we hear them dispute willingly to shew that they are not at Rest but seek and ask always after the Truth But the Catholicks do opinionately presume of their Salvation because they esteem themselves the People of God as they are truly even as the Jews were who are now abandon'd but shall be converted so soon as the Roman Church shall be overthrown Those will be truly capable of receiving the Spirit of Truth acknowledging their Errors and Ignorances Labour in the mean Time Sir for your own Perfection and you will very shortly see that the Harvest will be ripe and that there will be need of Workmen We approach so near that I fear your Soul will not have so soon acquir'd its own Perfection as these things will come to pass Therefore make haste fearing to be sent away as an unprofitable Servant Occupy the Talent which God has given you for he will come very shortly to demand an account of it Apply your self to your own Perfection with the same Earnestness wherewith you formerly applyed to the Perfection of others without any Profit I ask'd her If she believ'd that the Roman Church would be Destroy'd and Ruin'd and the Christians scatter'd as the Jews are at present She replyed Yes Sir and much more for the Jews have continued constantly in the Jewish Law tho' they be bodily scatter'd through all the World they are nevertheless united in an uniform Faith and Belief holding still the Law which God had given them But the Christians have denied their Faith tho' they be yet united Bodily How would they preserve it in Time of Persecution when all this Lustre and this Magnificence of the Church shall be destroy'd so that there shall not be one Stone upon another in its outward State no more than there is at present in its inward This must needs come to pass Sir else God would not be Just for the Jews might Reproach him with Reason That they never committed such an Infidelity against their God as the Christians do It is very true they kill'd the Body of Jesus Christ but that was through Ignorance The Christians do kill it a thousand times out of pure Malice They believe that the same Body of Jesus Christ is in the Sacrament of the Altar and they give it daily unto Whores Thieves Murtherers and Sorcerers and yet they make them believe that they shall thereby receive Graces The Jews never believ'd that they obtain'd Grace in putting Jesus Christ to death as these Christians do believe in receiving him unworthily For Pilate said that he found no Fault in him and was in great Fear to condemn him And the Christians go affrontedly to receive him with a Soul full of Sins believing in the mean Time that he is oblig'd to impart unto them his Graces in
with his Resolution to publish this to the World thinking himself oblig'd in Conscience to undeceive others as by these Divine Truths he was undeceiv'd himself But when she had seen his Papers and read a little of them she told him they would be useful for himself but not for others because they often answer'd the Thoughts of his own Mind which no Body perceiv'd but himself and being sollicited by him to compose this Work anew returning him his Papers she her self wrote by way of Conference the things which God brought into her Memory in the same manner as they are now publish'd in the three parts of The Light of the World She went to Holland at the Sollicitation of M. de Cort in order to the Printing of this Book To this she had some Repugnance at first having never been formerly in any Place without the Dependance of the Church of Rome and being made believe that all the Hereticks as they call'd them were monstrous and Infectious But having recommended this Affair to God she was told That these common Differences of Religion do not bring Salvation but the Love of God only and Vertue which we ought to love in all Persons who aspire to it without regarding the outward Religion they profess that she ought to do good to all and communicate to all the Light of the Divine Truth of what Religion soever they be This wrought in her Soul so perfect an Impartiality that she never afterwards enquir'd of what Religion one was provided only he lov'd to put in practice the Doctrin of Jesus Christ and to recover the Love of God This impartiality of Spirit and her equal Concern for the good of all and the Freedom she took to manifest the Corruption of all Parties and how far they were from the Spirit of true Christianity made her to be hated and persecuted on all sides The Jesuits the Jansenists the Lutheran and Calvinist Ministers the Anabaptists the Quakers the Labadists did respectively prosecute her either with their Tongue or Pen or by exciting the Civil Power where she staid or animating the Fury of the Rabble against her They made her pass for a Visionarist a Person of a wicked Life suspected of Sorcery a Blasphemer the worst of Hereticks one who did propagate the most damnable Opinions but Wisdom is justified of her Children The Innocence and Purity of her Life and the perfect Conformity of it to the Christian Doctrin of her Writings was made appear by Evidences beyond all Exception The publick Confession which she made of her Faith and the Agreement of her Writings therewith shew the Falshood of their Calumnies as to her Doctrin and the Writings publish'd against her gave her occasion the more to clear and manifest the Truth so that what they were apt to except against in some of her Writings she more fully explain'd in others as appears for Instance in her Advertisement against the Quakers where she speaks more expressly of the Respect due to Pastors and the Sacraments She deplor'd greatly the unhappy Schisms which have divided Christendom into so many Factions disapprov'd all that savours of the Spirit of a Party of Disputes and Partialities protested a thousand times against the establishing a new one but aim'd to perswade all to observe the Doctrin of Jesus Christ without changing from one party to another so that she even disswaded some Protestants of her Acquaintance from turning over to the Church of Rome as they had been sollicited by others but to obey the Doctrin of Jesus Christ in the Communion wherein they were such Changes being but the effect of Vanity She said the Difference of Sects and Parties among Christians was founded upon their Neglect of the Essentials of Christianity and their Zeal for some of the Accessories and Externals of it and comparing the first to a Sword and the other to its Sheath the great Debate among the respective Parties was which had the best Sheath and in the mean time the Devil robb'd us of the Sword She was desirous to know the Will of God even as to the ordering of outward things and receiv'd from him the following Rules 1. Do all in good order and in season for I am a God of order And Disorder comes from the Devil and from Sin 2. Never be eager in Temporal Affairs but apply your mind to do well what you do in quietness for the wandring of the mind and disquiet spoils all 3. Take care of making a good use of every thing that nothing be spoil'd or lost for what is lost by your negligence will be required of you and what you have no need of may be useful for another 4. Keep your self still imploy'd in things useful saving or necessary For idleness is the Mother of all Evils and the Devil lodges in an idle Soul 5. Labour that you may accomplish your Penitence and not that you may please Men or gain Mony or satifie your self for all the Labours that you go about for any other end than to please me are lost Labour and you have your reward in what you sought for whether it be complaisance of Men or the Mony you have gain'd or your own satisfaction 6. Apply your mind to look well to every thing that nothing perish thro' your negligence and what you observe to be amiss help it as soon as you can by repairing as much as is possible for you all the faults that you have committed 7. Do the same as to the good of your Neighbour that you may fufill that Command of loving your Neighbour as your self They who were with her to whom she had recommended these Rules being unwilling to be so exact in the smalest matters which while they were conversant in the World seem'd to them of no moment and she having ask'd Counsel of God thereupon she had this Answer All that Men have to do in this World are but trifles and of little moment and if they will not obey me in so small and easie matters how will they do in great and difficult ones Not that I have need of them for my self nothing can profit or hurt me But you have great need to observe exactly all these things that I teach you For being made up of a Soul and Body both which have need of entertainment if you do not carefully order Temporal things your Body will fall into a thousand sorts of Miseries Anxieties Maladies Disquiets Confusion Poverty and Want which at last will become unsupportable to you And all this because of your little foresight your disorder or negligence Therefore I instruct you how you ought to carry on all things even to the least of your Actions that you may be happy even in this miserable Life Not that I have need that you be Rich or Poor in Health or Sickness in good Order or in Confusion neat or unclean outwardly all this does not touch me nor offend me so long as your Souls abide in my Love
have done 29. The Fifth Conference Of Antichrist and how he reigns over all in Spirit 31. The sixth Conference How outward Worship towards God and the outward Works of Charity towards ones Neighbour are corrupted by the Devil And from whence this power does proceed 36. The seventh Conference That God has not abandon'd Men but Men have abandon'd God and resisted his Grace in the distribution of which he is not partial 39. The eighth Conference Of the Grace of God How it is given unto us And of the difficulty of being Converted 41. The ninth Conference What the Church is and of its corruption 45. The tenth Conference Of the Remission of Sins Of Confession and how it is abused 48. The eleventh Conference Outward Devotions imposed by Men are not of true Faith Of the true Church which cannot err in what it ordains The Doctrins of Jesus Christ and those of Men. True Prayer 52. The Twelfth Conference That the Conversion of Men is now desperate as in the time of Noah and wherefore 59. The thirteenth Conference Of true Faith according to the tenour of the Creed Of the knowledge of God and of our selves by the consideration of his works 63. The fourteenth Conference How God forsakes us and how we forsake him by distraction of Mind by which the Devil does subdue Men withdrawing them from the Love and Gratitude which they owe to God who discovers himself most sensibly in all things alone Lovely 70. The fifteenth Conference That God has never given unto Man but only one essential Commandment which is that of his Love which is most easie and most agreeable and that of every other thing most vain 77. 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 82. The seventeenth Conference How to discern whether the motions which press us to leave the outward hindrances to Divine Communion be from God or not That there are also inward obstacles and that we must not be wedded even to good means 92. The eighteenth Conference How we may attain to perfection and to Communion with God resigning our selves wholly unto him quitting both humane Wisdom and the Instructions of others for a time Christians uncapable of being taught They will be more desolate than the Jews 96. The ninteenth Conference That all Christians ought to read the Holy Scripture Whether the Church can err Where it is Where not 101. The Twentieth Conference Of the reading of the Holy Scripture and of the prohibition â—fâ—t How the Church cannot fail And what she is and is not 104. The Twenty first Conference Where the true Church is Where God is How he speaks unto the Soul and how we ought to be disposed for this Divine Conversation 109. The Twenty second Conference That there can be no true contentment but in God alone How to return thither Of Gifts and of those which are made to Churches which shall perish 116. The Twenty third Conference Of the destruction of the Church and of the uprightness of God in his Judgments and in all that he does 121. The Twenty fourth Conference Of the enquiry about the most Holy Trinity and of Grace and that even the Saints themselves are therein mistaken none being infalliable 125. The Twenty fifth Conference That the Holy Spirit sends always new influences and that his Light ought not to be bounded nor the interpretation of the Scriptures unto that which the Holy Fathers have had in past times 128. The Twenty sixth Conference How and wherefore the Holy Scripture has in nothing as yet been understood in a perfect Sense which is shewn by new Explications concerning the Creation of Man his Fall the coming of Jesus Christ in Reproach and that in Glory upon Earth there to reign eternally Of the Glorification of the Creatures both Animate and Inanimate what makes Paradise and Hell and that all these things shall be preceeded by universal Rods and Scourges 131. The Twenty seventh Conference That the care of withdrawing ones self from Chastisements is yet a Self-Love and that the Communion of the Soul with God sufficeth in all places 157. The Twenty eighth Conference How we ought to pray and understand the Lords Prayer in a perfect sense which respects the Dispositions and Graces which shall be granted us in the Glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ of which there are here Marvellous things spoken 160. The Twenty ninth Conference Of the signs whereby we may know that we are fallen in the last Times and that the World is Judged viz. that Men are without Righteousness Truth and Goodness before God and that the execution of his Plagues do already appear effectually 178. The Thirtieth Conference How God permits that Men should be abandoned to to the Spirit of Error 191. The End of the Table of the Conferences of this first Part. THE LIGHT of the WORLD The First Part. The First Conference Of Gods dealing with A. B particularly how he instructed her immediately from her Infancy the opposition of men of Christian perfection and of the deplorable state of Christian AS we advanc'd in our journey still travelling towards the Sun rising being already more than half way we perceiv'd at a distance one walking before us not knowing at first who it was because of the distance we remark'd only that it was a person alone who desir'd no Company but retir'd aside assoon as any body approach'd and hid herself until we mending our pace had come nearer and when we beheld this person we perceived she was a Maid who appear'd young enough and tho she was simply apparelled she had notwithstanding a grave and majestick Mien We saw in her face the marks and the joy of a serene and contented soul Her gate was always of an equal pace neither flow nor hasty her looks gave both joy and fear she did not refuse to speak to us in our Language tho it was not natural to her and having ask'd her whither she was going she said In Pilgrimage for penitence for her own sins and those of others And having ask'd her from whence she came she said From afar for she had travell'd many years and was harrass'd by the way and discolour'd by the Sun We ask'd what she design'd by so long and troublesome voyages dangerous for a Maid alone remonstrating to her that there were many other means to do penitence in her own Country without being in danger of hunger thirst unhappy rencounters and many other inconveniencies which may fall out in travelling alone and that at least she ought to take some Company To which she answer'd That she was oblig'd to travel alone for she had found no body that would accompany her and that many had indeed gone along with her for some time but upon the first temptation hunger or incommodity they had staid behind not knowing how to endure
but I make very small reckoning of this visible and bodily Antichrist because he can seduce none but those who desire to be so He shall be known for a wicked one because he will deal harshly with those who yield obedience to him which will occasion Martyrs and make many good men to be sav'd by the resistance they will make against him These evils are not terrible but to the faint-hearted who are not train'd up to sufferings but I reckon this invisible and spiritual Antichrist of whom I have spoken to you to be far more pernicious because he seduceth the well-meaning under the appearance of a false good this is much more to be fear'd The evil which is manifest is easie to be avoided by those who hate it but the evil which is cover'd with piety and holiness is insensibly follow'd by those who are good and love piety who would never follow Antichrist discover'd nor the evil which they knew to be such I told her that I had never heard of this spiritual Antichrist that I would willingly know who he is and what difference there is between him who is to come in the flesh towards the end of the world and him who crept into the Church from its beginning She answer'd Sir this Antichrist is the Devil who from the creation of the world made war against men that he might make them forsake God and their own Salvation for these ends he made Eve and Adam fall into sin he tempted Cain to kill his brother Abel and is the Author of all the other evils and sins which have since come upon the earth This Devil has always led men to do evil from this he is call'd the Old Serpent because he has shed his infernal venom upon the earth from the beginning of the world But since he knew that God so lov'd the world that he has sent his Son to instruct and save it he has redoubled his rage against men and by new subtilties has endeavour'd to hinder their Salvation that with himself he might draw them into his own miserable wretched Condemnation But perceiving that the word of God was sent to them from heaven not by voices thunders or burning bushes but by a sensible and visible body which the same God had taken for this end that he might teach them palpably by an Organ like to their humane nature the Devil perceiving that he could not any longer have such hold of men because of the vertue of that word which was able to create the universe he deviseth to appear like the Son of God and after the manner of apes endeavour to imitate his actions covering himself with Sheeps skins tho he be the true ravenous Wolf He slipt from the very beginning into the Church which Jesus Christ was going to build that he might oppose and contradict his word under pious pretexts and covered his malice with hypocrisie that he might the better contradict and oppose the doctrine of Jesus Christ and from thence he has truly born the name of Antichrist and there never will be any other Antichrist but this same Devil who was formerly call'd the Old Serpent There is no distinction between him who slipt into the Church in its beginning and him who shall be incarnated towards the end of the world for it is always the same Devil who only takes different methods that he may the better decoy men according to the various occurrences of time He began his Reign from the birth of the Holy Church and has always gradually advanc'd it by continuing still to oppose the Doctrine of Jesus Christ till he has effac'd it out of the memory almost of all men which we may perceive in this age wherein the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is no more in use than if it had never been brought into the world which makes me believe that he is now born since he has full dominion over the hearts of men who instead of persevering in the Doctrine of the Apostles have insensibly follow'd the Doctrine of this Devil and of Christians are become Antichristians for who does not see at present that Wars Discords and Dissentions reign among Christians instead of the Peace which Jesus Christ establish'd It may indeed be said that there is not any longer one stone left upon another of the true Temple that is to say that there are not any longer two Christian Souls united in the same heart and the same will in Jesus Christ and instead of that Communion of Goods which Jesus Christ brought into his Church there is nothing to be seen in it but self-interest and self-seeking without any care for our Neighbour As for the Mutual Charity of loving our Neighbour as our selves it is so despised that he who should put it in practice would be scoff'd at by all Christians much more he who should choose the last place or who should take less when he might have more To give to him who would take from us or indeed to hold up the cheek to receive a blow would be reckon'd a great folly among the Christians of this age who will scarce suffer an offensive word without resenting it or avenging themselves Who is there that takes up the Cross to follow Jesus Christ since every one avoids sufferings as much as he can and instead of the Cross takes all Contentments agreeable to his senses as far as they are lawful and permitted And so of all the rest of the Doctrines of Jesus Christ no body studies to put them in practice on the contrary every one resists them and does the quite contrary without considering that all that is against Christ is certainly Antichrist And as it is not necessary for Salvation that all Christians should see the carnal body of Jesus Christ to render them his true Disciples it is enough that they know and follow his Doctrine even so to be the followers of the Devil it is not necessary that they see this Antichrist in the flesh it is enough that they follow his doctrine which is much more hurtful to Souls than that incarnate Devil can be unto Bodies therefore the furious is not so much to be dreaded as the crafty and concealed he can but wound or kill the Body by his fury but this wounds and kills Souls by cheats and delusions I could not but acknowledge such clear and evident truths neither had I more than one doubt to propose about them viz. whether this Antichrist in the flesh was already born which being supposed how he could make any suffer Martyrdom and occasion the salvation of many of those who should resist him seeing she believed that all Christians were at present become Antichristian so that they could not be disposed for Martyrdom nor for resisting of him whom they loved and followed She said Sir I cannot doubt that this Antichrist in the flesh is born already for the wickedness of the world is risen to the highest
oft as they pleas'd and if there needed nothing but their will to forsake their sins She said No Sir Grace is not in their power and they cannot recover it according to their pleasure It is called GRACE because it is a thing freely given it is not a debt or obligation which may be constrain'd for it comes of the sole mercy of God and not of our desires or merits Neither does it depend upon the will of a sinner to leave his sin He may indeed fall into it of himself but he cannot rise again without the grace of God But this grace will never be deny'd him if he ask it in humility of heart If we see sinners obstinate and impenitent it is because they do not pray earnestly enough to obtain grace for God is so good that assoon as the sinner is truly penitent he pardons him All the difficulty the sinner has to leave off his sin proceeds from sin itself which blinds the soul that it cannot perceive the terror of sin and the danger in which it has plunged him It has also in it so many chains and bonds with which it holds all his passions chain'd in such captivity that it seems to the soul impossible to leave off and forsake it so that we hear sometimes sinners say It is impossible for me to forsake my sin Not that God is the Author of this impossibility for he wills not the death of a sinner but that he should turn and live It is only the bondage into which sin reduces the soul that is under its dominion It must do violence to its self to break its bonds and avoid the occasions of sin by so doing it will recover the grace of God which is not drawn by force but falls of it self into the soul assoon as sin is gone out thence For God is always ready at the door to open to him that will knock The Ninth Conference What the Church is and of its Corruption I Said to her Since the mercy of God is so great how did you declare to me heretofore that you despaired of the Salvation of almost all the world She said It is true Sir I am yet of the same opinion and I cannot see how one soul can enter into Paradice after the manner they live at present I see that its gate is shut and that no body enters in any longer by it for Jesus Christ says that he is the way and I do not perceive any body that goes or walks in him or even that seeks him Since learned men have taught another way of Salvation than he every one follows them thinking they do well in believing them because they make themselves be called the Church which if it were true they could not teach otherwise than Jesus Christ has done since he and his Church are the same thing As Jesus Christ is no other but the Word of God even so the Church is no other but the same Word It was sent from Heaven covered and wrapt up in the humane body which is called Jesus Christ which God form'd for these ends that he might convey this word which is his Spouse into the bodies of all Christians and that all might be but one with Jesus Christ as he is one with his Father There is nothing but this word that can make the Church which is not tied to the City of Rome or that of Jerusalem but only to souls which possess this Doctrine These only are the Church Neither office nor habit nor dignity make the Church but the doctrine of Jesus Christ only out of which there can be no Salvation for it is the only one sent from God and will abide always without any change or mutation Let all the men of the world study to invent as many reasons means and controversies as they will they can never change or alter the Doctrine of Jesus Christ it will always be such as it was in the beginning and shall be even to the end without any change or mutation whatsoever It is an error to believe and damnation to follow any other thing how good and holy soever it doth appear I said to her That it was true there was no Salvation out of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but there were yet many souls in the world who would follow it and that those who would contradict it are call'd Hereticks and are cut off from the Church but for the Pope the Cardinals Bishops Pastors all the rest of the Clergy of the Roman Church they believed that they had the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and consequently the Keys of Paradice and the Way of Salvation She said There is yet some light in your Soul Sir since you know that there is no Salvation out of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but to say that there are yet in the world Souls who desire to follow it I have experienc'd the contrary having travell'd in diverse Countries and as it were by the permission of God I have been acquainted with different persons who were esteem'd holy and vertuous but I never observ'd any who follow'd truly the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Every one abounded in his own sense and were wedded to their particular devotions without an entire dependance on the will of God or the denial of their own will which is the foundation of a Christian Life from which the heads of the Roman Church are far removed since they forbid Christians to read the words of Jesus Christ which is the nourishment of Souls They cannot open Paradice by any other mean nor promise Salvation to any except in words but by observance of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Mens blindness is so great in this point that it can no longer be seen where the true Church it at present because they place faith in words hope in presumption and charity in gold and silver and they make of the Church of God which is spiritual a Church of wood of stone and of mettals which are material and nevertheless they believe that they are in the way of Salvation and that they follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is the greatest error that ever was in the world and therefore I fear there shall be so few Souls at present saved because few or none follow in deed this Doctrine of Jesus Christ and there is nothing more true than that without doing this we cannot be saved as you also acknowledge One must have very little judgment if he do not perceive that in the Roman Church the Cardinals Bishops Pastors Monks and religious persons and all the Clergy in general do not live conformably to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ nor in the primitive spirit of Christianity If the Salt have lost its savour wherewith shall the flesh be salted that is the common people cannot be preserved sound when their Heads and Governours are fallen away and corrupted
and instead of saying to sinners go and sin no more as Jesus Christ did to the persons whose sins he pardon'd as to the Paralitick and to the Woman taken in Adultery these Confessors say come again to Confession and we will still absolve you Jesus Christ says If thou hast a quarrel with thy Brother leave thy Offering and go be reconcil'd with thy Brother and these Confessors with a word send them quickly to the Altar without Reconciliation Do they not act directly in opposition to Christ I said to her that I had never searcht so deep in this matter but that I would willingly know if it be not of Confession that Jesus Christ speaks when he says That which you bind or loose in earth I will do it also in heaven and then when St. Peter ask'd If he should seven times forgive his brother who had offended him Jesus Christ answers not only seven times but seventy seven times She reply'd Sir take heed this light is not from men I never spoke so openly to any body but I see plainly that you will profit by it To give a solution to your first question Whether Jesus Christ did not speak touching Confession all that you shall do on earth I will do in heaven this is certainly as to the remitting and retaining of sins but it is not after the manner that men understand it for God never gave this authority to men in themselves but to his Church which is nothing else but his word and therefore this authority does reside always where this word resides Moses and so many other Prophets who wrought so many Wonders in the world perform'd them by vertue of this word and not by their own authority and power They went always to God to know what they ought to do and they wrought according to his will in no ways according to their own for man has nothing of himself but an impotence instead of power but the word of God has power in all places where it resides even tho it should reside in a wicked soul Therefore sometimes even the beasts have wrought miracles By vertue of this word the heavens and the earth do subsist It has the same vertue to remit and retain sins in the bodies of Confessors that it had in the natural and humane body of Jesus Christ for it is always the same which proceeds from Almighty God The only difficulty that I find is to know whether it can still reside in the Confessors at present who do not follow the rules of this holy doctrine God has indeed promis'd to pardon sins to penitent sinners and these Confessors do pardon them to sinners persevering and continuing in their sins so that if it were true that these Confessors could pardon sins according to their own fancy a man would only need to be in favour with some of them to be assured of his Salvation It would be in vain therefore for Jesus Christ to have suffered and endured so much to â—each us humility patience penitence and all the rest if these Confessors with Absolvo can thus forgive us all our sins Every one might indeed live as he pleas'd as they do now without caring much for God since he might obtain Salvation by the means of a man who would call himself the Saviour and Forgiven of sinners I think a man must be deprived of all judgment not to discover this deceit whereas at the same time so many persons live and die in this blindness This is a grosser darkness than that of Egypt As to the second point whether it be in Confession that we must forgive seventy seven times That cannot be authoriz'd by this passage since we find no where that Jesus Christ did forgive sins more than once to those to whom he pardon'd And if a sinner were truly penitent he would be careful not to fall again so often but if he be not penitent he is not capable of obtaining pardon so much as once for Absolution does always suppose Contrition otherwise it would not be available St. Peter asks how often he shall pardon his brother who offended him but Penitents have not offended their Confessors when they go to Confession these so numerous pardons respect the indulgence that we owe to our Christian brethren that we may leave vengeance to God alone but they do not at all regard sacramental Confession The Eleventh Conference Outward Devotions imposed by men are not of true Faith Of the true Church which cannot err in what it imposeth The Doctrines of Jesus Christ and those of men True Prayer HAving heard all these reasons I felt my self in very great perplexities not knowing what â—o reply to such firm reasonings I said only that the Hereticks were not always to blame when they spoke against the Abuses of the Roman Church She said to me Sir I never convers'd with any Hereticks and I desire not to know what their sentiments are in this matter I was born and baptiz'd under the authority of the Roman Church and I never yet travell'd out of it where I might meet with any Hereticks to know what they say of Catholicks but I have learn'd all that I tell you in a profound recollection of spirit join'd to a serious experience I have made frequent Confessions and perform'd all the other particular Devotions of Christians as my Parents did with an exact observance but when it pleas'd God to enlighten me I perceiv'd clearly that Faith does not consist in the wearing of a pair of Beads a Belt or a Scapulary nor yet in hearing many Masses or confessing often and communicating as they taught me but that it consists in the belief and practice of what God has commanded and taught us That all these outward devotions did rather serve as means to withdraw and distract us from the continual attention which we ought to have upon God Therefore I have quitted them all and have fixâ—d upon the Truth of the Gospel which I knew from my tender youth tho I could not follow it because they taught me otherwise In which I fail'd greatly by the Counsel of men God drew me to himself and they drew me to them I regret nothing more than the time that I have spent in following them for all that they call Devotions is nothing but amusement which keeps us tied to the earth and to the creatures Our affections are towards our ghostly Fathers their Masses and Sermons their Churches and the means of adorning them and to all that is sensual which hinders them from being united in God I ask'd her whether all these outward devotions were not good and saving since the Church had instituted and approven them and if she could err in what concern'd the Faith and the Instruction of the faithful She answer'd No Sir the Church can never err in any thing for she is the wisdom the goodness and the power of God the fountain of all
wisdom the original of all goodness and incomprehensible power In short the Church is God himself who cannot fail or err therefore Jesus Christ says he that hears you hears me because the word of God is God as our word is us our heart must be where we speak and also our understanding even so where the word of God is which is his Church there the holy spirit is which is his understanding and the almighty power which is his heart From whence it appears that the holy Trinity composes the Church which is no other but the power of the Father the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and the good will of the Son All these things are found united in the Church for God having a design to make man after his likeness he transferr'd to him his own qualities therefore he gives to his Church the power to pardon sins goodness by the communication of his word and his wisdom by the understanding of that word Jesus Christ who took human flesh has brought us the word of God which has taught us his wisdom and shewn us his love even as by our word we express what is in our understanding and the affections of our heart which God also did to us when he sent us his word upon earth by the organ of the humanity of Jesus Christ He made this alhance with men that he might have them after his likeness Therefore he has call'd them his Spouse and his Church which is altogether divine and spiritual But men would indeed disguise it and render it material sensual and carnal in giving the name of Church to men who do not possess this word without which they cannot be the Church nor have the power the wisdom nor the love which God gave to his lawful Spouse Therefore they may greatly err and fail in appointing and approving of rules for Christians And whereas you ask Whether all these outward Devotions which are now in use in Christendom be good and saving I doubt it very much for Jesus Christ taught not such varieties of devotion as we see now adays but he taught solid and inward vertues as Faith Hope and Charity Faith to believe in an Almighty God of whom we hold all things Hope to hope in him only without putting our confidence in any other thing and Charity to love him alone without placing our affection on any created thing whether in heaven or in earth These are the instructions of Jesus Christ but those at present who are call'd Church-men teach no other thing but to resort to Churches to frequent the Sacraments and to say a great many vocal prayers by rote and number With these outward things they make men believe that they are true Christians which cannot be since Christianity consists in a spiritual and inward life for it is divine and not humane If these outward devotions had been means proper for us to become good Christians we may be perswaded that Jesus Christ would have taught us them for he had more wisdom to foresee our need and weakness than these guides of souls can have and likewise more love to take care that nothing should be wanting to us for the time to come He left only his word to serve for the nourishment of our souls saying that it is the bread come down from heaven and that whosoever shall eat it shall not die whereas these persons give us only the Eucharist for nourishment in which the promise of Jesus Christ cannot be accomplisht for the host does not descend from heaven as his word does and they who eat it do not all live for ever For we see abominable souls even Sorcerers do communicate frequently and thereafter die in their sins We see also Bigots communicate very often who never attain to true faith nor the knowledge of the truth without which they cannot live for evel How then should the word of Jesus Christ be fulfill'd that they who eat this bread shall not die since all those die eternally after having so often eaten the Eucharist Jesus Christ cannot lie for he who incorporates his word shall never die because it gives life and nourishment to the soul and makes it live eternally I said to her This being suppos'd we must needs be in a time of great darkness in which there are many errors and many more erroneous who run blindly to damnation because the most pious hold Rome and all her Council for the Church She said Sir the Devil upon a false supposition finds matter enough to raise fine edifices I have no particular knowledge of Rome nor of her Council but I tell you in truth if the Pope with all his Council would say any thing to me which was contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I should not be oblig'd to believe him nor yet are any other Christians The Bark should never be taken for the Wood because it can never beat Fruit as the Tree would do tho it had little Bark The true Church where-ever it is brings forth always holy Fruits and if the Tree be known by its fruit we will know the Church by what it brings forth The practice of those who are Members of Rome doth sufficiently evidence to me that the holy spirit cannot be the Author of those things which are contrary to the practice of Jesus Christ We see the Prelates attended with Servants Coaches and Trains like to secular Princes their Furniture and Houses do surpass them Iâ— they had faith to believe that God being man was poor and despisd they would blush for shame as all other Christians to make themselves thus to be honoured Their faith being dead they run blindly to damnation This vail which is put before their eyes to make them believe that the Church ought to be upheld by worldly honours serves for nothing but to flatter them and to render them insensible of their misery For if the Church had had need of temporal wealth and honour Jesus Christ would have provided it sufficiently for all appertains to him being King and Creator of all things He knew all the revolutions of time he would surely have foretold them that it should be permitted them at a certain time to make themselves be honour'd and serv'd but on the contrary he foretels that God will cast down the mighty from their seats that he will resist the proud and will exalt the humble and there is nothing which he says more expresly than that we ought to learn of him to be meek and lowly in heart to which Lesson the arrogance and the pride of Christians now are directly opposite and they who may be called by their proper names Antichristians because they are thus oppos'd to Christ for these only are Christians who put in practice this doctrine of Jesus Christ all others who bear this name without doing it are nothing but rotten Members of the Church and it were better they were cut off
from it that the true Christian might be known from the false and that we might no longer live amidst so many errors and in so great blindness and consequently in so great hazard of our salvation by adhering to mens Laws and despising Gods perswading our selves that we do well in following their errors inâ—tead of the true Light which has proceeded from Jesus Christ The great unhappiness of men is that they do not know these truths and that they fear they would do ill to believe them I said to her That it was very lamentable to live in so dangerous a time in which the most innocent might perish thro ignorance asking her if she knew a remedy for these evils She said The wickedness of men Sir has brought this ignorance upon the earth Since they forsook the love of the truth they are given up to the spirit of error The ignorance is very gross for every one who would enter into himself might well perceive in the bottom of his soul that he does not love God with all his heart nor his neighbour as himself which are the chief Commands of God without the keeping of which one cannot be saved But men suffer themselves to be amus'd with little Rattles even as they quiet Children which cannot at all cure the evil that presses them but only diverts their minds a little that they may not think upon nor be attentive to their pains These little outward Devotions are the Rattles which those Guides sound in our ears not to cure the wounds which the neglect of this Command of God has caus'd in our soul but rather to amuse our attention that it may not discover those eternal truths They breed up our souls with affections to their persons under a pretext that they stand in Gods stead They perswade us that we shall always receive grace by confessing frequently as if grace were given by the help of sins for confession can bring no other grace than pardon of sins and to receive this grace frequently there is need of sinning frequently What real childish amusements are they to make even those to confess frequently who they believe have nothing but imperfections to confess If they did receive grace as often as they go to confession with so much grace they would leave off their sins and would not be oblig'd to continue for so long time these confessions We may believe they do as those who take Physick out of appetite or custom which spoils and corrupts the health instead of preserving it These ordinary Penitents do wholly the same to their souls as they do to their bodies thus they suffer themselves to be amus'd by foolish perswasions as that also of going often to Church to pray to God as if it could not be done elsewhere Nevertheless Jesus Christ says that one ought always to pray and never to cease One had need therefore to abide night and day in the Church to fulfil this direction These are all errors and inventions of men for a Christian is oblig'd to pray always at all times and in all places without fainting not only when they are in the Church as these Guides perswade them who are no less mistaken in prefixing a certain number of Offices Prayers and Beads and other trifles which they call Prayers tho they do not know what Prayer is for it consists in an elevation of the spirit to God which may be done while we walk and work eat and drink and even while one is at rest for our spirit ought to be continually elevated unto God in acknowledgment of the continual favours which we receive from him yea even in sleeping our will ought to bless him always this is the continual prayer which God demands of us But we do the quite contrary for instead of having our spirit elevated to God continually we employ it in earthly cares and solicitudes about our wealth our family our business or houshold affairs So that even in the little time that we are at Church saying our Pater Nosters our Spirit runs frequently astray and is not elevated unto God for one moment in a day yea it may be has never been so for our whole life and we think we have prayed to God provided we go to Church or say Prayers by muttering over our Beads These are all new Doctrines which neither Jesus Christ nor his Apostles ever taught which do often deprive us of the attention we ought to have to true prayer I will not blame the going to Church to pray to God This is very good when we find in the Church more means and a greater facility of elevating the spirit unto God than in the House or elsewhere but I blame all those novelties which divert us from God by amusing us with things that strike upon our senses for which I can see no remedy since these evils proceed from those who ought to redress them If I spoke to these Guides of the Church and told them these truths 't is to be fear'd they would stone me for they will not be reproved in their actions far less in their authority and tho they should clearly perceive the truth they would not receive it and if I should speak to those who are directed and govern'd by them they would think that I would deprive them of their Salvation and render them Hereticks in not obeying those who call themselves the Church for they are so far perswaded that they ought to believe and follow their directions that they would choose rather not to obey God than to despise the counsel of these men the blindness is so far gone that I look upon the evil as desperate which makes me say that the world is judg'd and the sentence is irrevocable because no body sees his misery and even will not see it they would be afraid to offend God by believing the truth of these things The Twelfth Conference That the Conversion of Men now is desperate as it was in the days of Noah and wherefore I Said to her that there were yet many souls in the world capable of receiving these truths and if they heard these things they would infallibly open their eyes and leave their errors requesting her that she would yet speak to others besides me She said Truly Sir I cannot do it for I see no hopes that I can profit by it The darkness is too great and the evil too inveterate As long as God shall not destroy the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the prudent they will not receive the evangelical simplicity and If they be not converted and become as little Children they will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It would be in vain therefore to speak to them But if you know any one Sir whose understanding is bounded and his will subjected to God you may make the experiment For my part I desire to continue unknown that I may preserve my
Recompence of the Affronts which they do him It must needs be Sir that all these Falshoods be discovered and that God shew the Villany of his People to all the World If clear-sighted and illuminated Men would discover it they would immediately be hated and slain between the Temple and the Altar therefore the Judgments of God must discover them The Nineteenth Conference That all Christians ought to Read the Holy Scripture Whether the Church can Err Where She is Where not I said unto her That the Jews and the Hereticks would be well-pleased to hear such Discourses for they have some such Sentiments She said Sir I do not speak to please any Body and I regard neither Jews nor Hereticks nor Catholics but the straight Truth according as the Spirit of God manifests it to me I have never conversed with Hereticks but I have casually heard some things said of them which are much better than what the Catholicks do Tho' it were in nothing but this That they take Pleasure to read the Holy Scriptures and carry them everywhere with them studying them almost Day and Night This is a very laudable thing because we ought always to learn what we ought to practise If we do not learn it we cannot know it In the Bible the whole Law of God is contain'd and also the Doctrine of Jesus Christ from whence may be deriv d all the Nourishment of our Souls If the Hereticks do not put it in Practice they do ill as well as the Catholicks but they have this Advantage that they know the Truth if they will practise it But the Catholicks are only stor'd with Books compos'd by Men and depriv'd of that which God hath given us for the Nourishment of our Souls It is just the same as if we would take from a Child his Nourishment and give him an Image to sustain him He may look long upon it before his Body receive Nourishment and Substance from it It seems to me a very ill thing to forbid Christians the Reading of the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue since it must teach us all that we ought to do and forsake and the Advertisements which God gives us by his Holy Prophets and by Jesus Christ himself and his holy Apostles I said unto her That the Church had forbidden to read the Bible in the Vulgar Language because of the Abuses which were thereby committed for many ignorant Persons would interpret it amiss from whence Heresies arise Secondly Because many Bibles were changed and something taken away or diminish'd from the Original She replyed Truly Sir these are very weak Reasons They forbid to read the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue lest the common People do draw Heresies from it while the most part of Heresies are introduc'd into the Church by the Learned Priests and Monks not by Simple Ones who would never be follow'd in their new Errors for they would have but small Authority and Learning to Introduce them If this Reason ought to have place it would be more expedient to forbid it to the Learned since they have invented all the Heresies and not the Vulgar Jesus Christ taught the Simple People more than the Learn'd to shew that he found them more capable and susceptible of receiving his Doctrine than the Great and the learned were And if all Christians ought to practise the Doctrine of Jesus Christ by the same Consequence they ought to Read and to Learn it And if they will needs forbid the Reading of it because of the Abuses which are committed thereby they must also forbid the going to Church and to the Communion where there are a thousand times more Abuses committed than can be committed by the Reading of the Holy Scriptures which was not made for the Learn'd but for Saints from whom Men will needs take it shewing themselves more foreseeing than Jesus Christ to hinder Abuses and Errors If there were in the Church a Prohibition only to read the Bibles which are not approv'd of there would be a Pretext to colour this Prohibition but seeing all are forbidden it is to forbid what God hath commanded I ask'd her Whether the Church might indeed err in this Prohibition or in any other thing She said No Sir the True Church can never err because God has promised that he will always maintain it But I would willingly know where the Church is at present She can be no where but in the Souls which possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Behold this is the only Place where the Church resides Who will shew me these Souls I would gladly know them I would love and follow them even to Death I have not yet found this Happiness You believe it may be that it is the City of Rome because S. Peter did reside there and for my part I believe that Rome is the Babylon of Confusion that the Holy Spirit does no more govern there than you see it in your Chapter You have Judgment enough to discern if the Holy Spirit directs all the Resolutions which are there taken He does it far less in the Roman College For there he has no more Audience and if he should appear there in Form of a Dove as he did at the Baptism of Jesus Christ all these Presidents would cast their Caps at him to chace him away for they have no more to do with his Light since they have made themselves Gods upon Earth The Church therefore cannot err but the Men who are call'd Churchmen may err and do truly err in this Prohibition by which Christians cannot any longer read the Gospel nor the Bible in which is contain'd the Law of God How then can they observe it if they may not read it in order to learn it This is an Error which no Body is oblig'd to follow because the true Church cannot thus command it for it is contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus who says Take eat this is my flesh and drink this is my Blood of the New Testament And these Men will not have us to touch it but as far as it pleases them to give it Whereas Jesus Christ says Take ye it and eat ye it He speaks to every one The Twentieth Conference Of the Word of Jesus Christ which is truely his Flesh and his Blood Of the Reading of the Holy Scripture and of the forbidding it How the Church cannot fail and what is the Church and what not I said to her That these Words were understood of the Eucharist where we drink his Blood and eat his Flesh She reply'd What perfect Sense can you find wherein to apply these Words of the Lord unto the Eucharist seeing he says That he who eats his flesh and drinks his blood shall live for ever and yet so many thousand Persons who commonly receive the Eucharist do live and die in their Sins It would follow that the Words of Jesus Christ were not true when he
says That they shall live for ever He has said elswhere That neither Whoremongers nor Drunkards shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Neverthelss we see daily such Persons receive the Eucharist Can they live for ever without entring into the Kingdom of Heaven There would be a great Contradiction in the Words of Jesus Christ He cannot save those whom he condemns nor say to those who shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven that they shall live for ever It is assuredly his Word which he calls his Flesh and his Blood For whosoever shall eat it that is to say incorporate it as the Nourishment of his Soul it must needs be that he live for ever for this Word gives Life Eternal and he who feeds upon it as on his daily Bread can never die this is the Tree of Life seeing it gave Life to all things This Word has created Heaven and Earth of nothing How should it not give Life unto the Soul which receives it And if it have the Force to translate Bread into the Body of Jesus Christ as they teach how shall it not change our Souls into the Spirit of Life Eternal if we receive and incorporate it as becomes Jesus Christ said These are my Mother my Sisters and my Brethren who hear my Word and do it To shew that he esteems more the Receiving of his Word than the having contributed to the Formation of his Human Body it being most certain that the Virgin Mary was more happy in receiving and doing his Word than in being his natural Mother I said to her That there were many Errors in the Church if the Sense that she proposed ought to be received That it was very clear and intelligible but it had never been understood after this manner She said Blessed be God Sir that he grants yet this Mercy to the World to send his Light amidst the so obscure Darkness into which it is brought at present All the highest Mysteries of our Faith are involved in this Obscurity nothing is understood in a perfect Sense and they do often apply Senses contrary to the Truth They have walk'd as groping even till Now. It is no Wonder if they fall from one Error into another insensibly It is a great Happiness that it has pleas'd God to let us live even until the Time that he comes to enlighten the World after that so great a number have perish'd through Ignorance We have no more deserv'd it than they Let us endeavour to apply it rightly unto our Salvation without letting the occasion slip which is now so freely offered us How many souls are there of such a tender Conscience that they dare not reject a Sentiment which comes from the Roman Church or any Decree of its College fearing to offend God because they look upon it and take it for the Holy Church I knew a Person of a very good Life a Doctor of Theology who said That if the Pope forbad him to read the Gospel he durst not read it any longer So much was he preoccupied with this Belief that Rome is the Holy Church Upon this Supposition all the most pious do follow that which is Evil without perceiving it because they have taught us that we owe a blind Obedience As if we were permitted to follow Evil blindfold which is a great Error For we are all oblig'd to discern whether what we follow be good or bad For Example This Doctor could not abstain from Reading of the Gospel without offending God highly tho' the Pope had forbidden him to read it because this Prohibition is contrary unto Jesus Christ who has brought his Word from Heaven to be the Rule of our Life and the Nourishment of our Souls and has said That it must abide in us for ever How could we cast it behind us because a Pope forbids it who cannot destroy what God has establish'd nor forbid what he has commanded without being Antichrist for all that is against Christ is assuredly Antichrist We may indeed believe and follow what the Pope and his Councils do ordain us when they are things conformable to the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is no other thing but the Explication of the Law Tho' this were taught us by the Devil himself we could not do ill to follow it But the things which are contrary ought never to be blindly follow'd God has made us Reasonable Creatures to the End we may discern Good and Evil. All the Blindness that a true Christian ought to have is to captivate his Spirit under the incomprehensible Works of God not to captivate it to believe that that which is Evil is Good A man must have lost Sense and Spirit to abandon himself to such a blind Obedience which nevertheless the most part of pious Christians do who do yield in all things to the Ordinances of the Pope or of his Council If this Mischief be not shortly at an End and if the Truth be not discover'd in this Point all the World will perish Because many things will be determin'd which will be against God tho' it were nothing but the Infallibility of the Pope It contradicts directly the Truth because no Man can ever be infallible how holy soever he may be S. Peter the first Pope did expresly deny his Master and did really err in dissembling because of the Jews for which S. Paul reproves him Can it ever be said without Blasphemy that a Man is Infallible secing Infallibility appertains to God alone Neither the Pope nor any other can err or fail in following the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but in following their own Judgments or those like themselves they may fail and err greatly I ask'd her How it was possible that God should have left his Church for so long a Time in Errors She said Sir God has not left his Church in Errors she can never err nor fail for she is one and the same thing with God As the Bridegroom is but one Flesh with his Spouse even so the Church is but one Spirit with God Therefore she can never be left in Errors not for one Moment But the Errors which I discover to you Sir are in Men not in the Church for the Church is no where but in the Souls which possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who have never err'd so long as they abide in it The Church is a Spiritual and Invisible Spirit which renders it self visible by the Human Bodies which this Spirit animates So long as these Bodies are animated and possest with this Spirit of Jesus Christ they are all Members which make up this Church But if this Spirit withdraw himself they are no more but Members of Flesh not Members of the Church Errors therefore are insinuated into these Members of Flesh not into the Spirit of God But whereas these Members of Flesh did possess formerly the Spirit of the Church
they have retain'd the Name after having lost the Spirit and their Souls being void of Faith God takes no longer Pleasure in them but they are abandon'd to the Spirit of Error Not that God on his part leaves the Church to err but these Men having forsaken their God have form'd a Church of Flesh which cannot be the true Church which is a pure Spirit as God who is not visible but by his Works so the Church is not visible but by the Bodies of those who possess this Spirit It appears sufficiently that what they now call the Church is not govern'd by Divine Principles but by Human and Natural I ask'd her Whether the Pope the Cardinals the Bishops Prelates Pastors Priests Monks and other Persons making Profession of the Catholick Faith were not the Church And if all these Members together do not make up a Church She said No Sir all these Persons tho' met and assembled in one and the same Place do not make the true Church so long as they do not possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ It is nothing but an Assembly of Flesh subject to Corruption Every one acts there according to his own Sense There they propose and resolve according to Human Arguments not according to the Spirit of God who is not to be found where things are manag'd only by Civil and Politick Measures which do not regard the Glory of God but human Accommodations The holy Spirit does not animate so vile Subjects Nevertheless he governs always the true Church in what Place soever it be He never abandons it But who can discover it It is so hid and unknown that no Body discerns it It is a Treasure hid under the Earth of which Jesus Christ has spoken by Parable saying That the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Treasure hid in the Earth and that he who has discover'd it must sell all that he has to buy this Ground that he may find this Treasure There is no Kingdom of Heaven but in the Church that is to say There is no Salvation out of the Church and not knowing where to find it who can look for Salvation It it no wonder Sir that I said unto you heretofore That Paradise was shut forasmuch as I cannot see where the Church is and consequently where Salvation may be had It is a Vine which is cut even by the Root and Ground We see indeed its Branches extended far enough But they are nothing but dead Wood being cut off from the Root no Fruit can be any longer expected from them The Members which at present they call the Church are cut off from the Root which is Jesus Christ which brought forth great Branches But since they have been cut off from their Root they are fit for nothing but to be cast into the Fire which you will see very shortly Sir in case God give you yet some little Time to live The Twenty First Conference Where the true Church is Where God is How he speaks to the Soul and the Soul to him and how we ought to dispose our selves for this Divine Conversation I Ask'd her If there was no fix'd Place where we might find the Church That for my part I would search for her because I would seek to be saved She said to me Sir The Church is everywhere where there are Souls possessing the Doctrine of Jesus Christ There are no other Places proper or destin'd for the true Church to reside in All those Persons who are call'd Churchmen are as so many Stones with which they have built a material Church which serves now for the Offering of Sacrifice and it may be shortly will serve for a Stable for Horses These Stones and other Materials are not the Church tho' they serve to the Structure of a Building which may be both for Holy and Prophane Uses Therefore Sir the Church is not to be sought for in any fixt Place which is material but in Spiritual Souls who also cannot be found because they are oblig'd to keep themselves hid as the Body of Jesus Christ did before his Passion For they would do them no less Evil than they did to him because the Envy of the Prelates is now far greater than was ever that of the Pharisees who put Jesus Christ to Death God gives you a holy Desire of seeking the Church for he has said Seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the rest shall be added to you This is a Sign that the Church is not tied to any material Place for then there were no need to seek it but to go to the Place where it is For Example If the Church were at Rome there were no need to seek it We would know assuredly where it wâ—re Since Jesus Christ says it must be sought this is indeed a Sign that it is hid and unknown And likewise all they who seek Rome do not for this receive all the rest in Gift since so many things are wanting to them even after they are Romanists Which would not befal a true Christian who would be content with what were purely necessary with which God would always infallibly provide him I said to her That I was not truly satisfied for the Good of my own Soul That I would willingly know where I might find the True Church that I might have Salvation She replyed Sir The Church is within you If you seek the Kingdom of Heaven only let Jesus Christ reign in your Soul by his Doctrine then the Kingdom of Heaven will be in your Soul God being there He reigns always where he is He would reign in all the Souls of Men if they did not put Hindrances thereto The Centre of our Souls is God who being Salvation and Life we ought not to seek without us the Church nor the Kingdom of Heaven For he is not an Earthly and Temporal God but Celestial and Eternal The Church being the Word of God it is in us since he cannot be without his Word as we are always in the Place where we speak He is not Earthly for Jesus Christ says That his Kingdom is not of this World It is therefore a heavenly Kingdom which is in us because God is there whose Kingdom is Celestial and Eternal Where then would you seek the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven but in the Centre of your Soul That is the certain Place of its Residence We may be deceiv'd in all other things but not in this infallible Truth If every one had sought the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven in the Centre of his Soul there would not have been so many Persons deceiv'd Since they have sought God without themselves in so many divers means they have gone astray from him by the same means by which they ought to find him and whilst they sought for the Church in so many Masters Doctors and Directors they have stray'd from that which is Holy to follow a
with doing the outward Ceremonies without considering what is done Baptism is an outward Sign to shew that he who is baptized gives up and consecrates himself to the Service of God and will live in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ renouncing the Devil the World and its Pomps This is what he ought to do in the inward of his Soul who desires to be baptized and then to come publickly to the Font of Baptism to confirm the Vows and Promises that he has made to God in his Heart that they may be publickly known and own'd by the Church But in the Baptism of new born Infants nothing of this can concurr For the Infant being weak has not yet the Will to give it self to the Service of God or to follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ nor yet to renounce the Devil and the World and its Pomps For it has no Sense nor Understanding more than a silly Beast and the most Part of Parents who ought to supply the Defect of the Infant have not Faith themselves and cannot teach them to follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ since they themselves will not do it On the contrary so soon as their Children begin to have any little Judgment they teach them to follow the World and its Pomps which is very far from minding them that they have renounced it by Baptism What Effect therefore can this outward Sign have when nothing is effectuated in the Heart of him who receives it neither by himself nor by his Parents And when Godfathers and Godmothers speak in the Name of the Infant they lye For they say that he desires to be baptized and the Infant cannot have this Desire They say that he renounces the Devil the World and its Pomps and as soon as these outward Ceremonies are ended they never think more on what they have promised in the Child's Name far less do they acquaint him with it when he is grown up to the end the Child may remember the Promise which he made at Baptism For in doing this they would give a Reproof to themselves because neither Father nor Mother nor Godfather nor Godmother nor any Body at present observes the Doctrine of Jesus Christ tho' all Christians are outwardly baptiz'd They would count him a Fool or a very Precisian who should affirm that we are oblig'd to keep and observe the Evangelical Life because it is not any longer in use They would even be ashamed to renounce the World and its Pomps because the most wise and the most holy follow the World and its Pomps The Wise say that one must live civilly and maintain himself in Honour and the Saints at present say that a Man must accommodate himself to the World that we cannot make a World by our selves We see the most Reformed Monks study to please the World desiring to be lov'd and honour'd by it and would be very sorry to be hated by the World as Jesus Christ foretold his Servants should be On the contrary every one seeks to draw the World to himself and to have its Friendship to the end that having gain'd the Heart he may likewise gain the Purse Are not these fine Christians in Parade and not in Effect For they have no sooner renounc'd in Baptism the World and its Pomps than they think of nothing but to follow and to love it as if their Promise were nothing but a Formality of Words They do with God as they would do with a Fool promising him a great many things to please him without having any Desire to give him them Baptism ought not to be received but by him who resolves in himself to consecrate himself to God and to follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which he ought to know before he be baptized and resolve of his own Free-Will that he will follow it quitting the Maxims of Men which are all contrary to those of Jesus Christ The Christians of old did so No body was made Christian but they who of their deliberate Will would consecrate themselves to God and follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but at present they force every one to be baptized before they have the Use of Reason without knowing what they do or what they promise I said to her That the Custom of baptizing Children in their Infancy was Instituted on good Grounds to the end no Christians might die before they were baptized that all those who died in their Childhood might assuredly be saved She said Sir I believe rather that the Devil invented this to the end no Christian might be saved as it falls out that very few shall be saved of those who are baptized in their Infancy because when they are outwardly baptized they believe they are sufficiently assured of their Salvation which is the greatest Mistake in the World For Baptism operates nothing in our Souls no more than the other Sacraments but according to their Disposition How can a Child without Judgment have the Dispositions requisite for receiving Baptism If their Baptism were delayed till they had their full Reason we would certainly yet find true Christians for they who had no Mind to follow Jesus Christ would not be baptized unless it were out of Hypocrisie But at present every body thinks himself a good Christian if so be he have been outwardly baptized without considering that this Sign gives nothing to our Souls if we have not suitable Dispositions If they were not baptized in their Infancy all those who desire to be saved would study to know what is necessary for becoming true Christians and would have no Rest till they had obtained this Happiness but at present every one rests satisfied with this outward Baptism not considering that to be Christians they must follow the Instructions of Jesus Christ without which it had been better they had never been baptized It is just the same as if a Servant should go hire out himself to serve some Prince or Lord and as soon as he had got on his Livery should quit his Master to give himself to Robbery setting himself to steal and rob in the same Habit which would serve him the better to catch his Prey For the Merchant who should see him clothed with some Prince's or Lord's Livery would not be aware that he were a Robber till he saw the Effects of it But if this Robber were some Day seiz'd by Justice he would be more severely punish'd for having committed his Thefts and Robberies in some Prince's Livery than if it had been in his own Habit. Even so it is when a Person is baptized and immediately abandons himself to the Vanities of the World he deceives God and the World and renders himself subject to greater Chastisements than if he were not baptized because this outward Sign which should serve him to obtain Grace serves for his greater Condemnation as the Liverty serves the Robber We see the Devil has found out this Invention to baptize young Children knowing well that
no body when he came to Age would remember what he had done so soon as he was born and that he would easily banish out of Mens Minds the Promises which they made in Baptism He has also invented the not reiterating of Baptism fearing least peradventure some coming to be converted should come afterwards to receive Baptism in a due manner and with requisite Dispositions All these Devices have been covered with a pious Pretext That no Christian should die without having received Baptism This every one has asserted under this Appearance of Piety which nevertheless is founded but upon a false Supposition of this express Necessity of Baptism for Salvation which cannot be true seeing so many true Christians died in the Days of Jesus Christ and the Apostles in their Non-age or while they were yet but Catechumens or at the Instant of their Conversion Should not all these Persons be saved after they have been in Heart and Affection consecrated unto God as also those who should yet at present live according to his Law in a Country where Baptism is not used I would fain know Sir if you read any where that the Apostles themselves were baptized and if you could doubt of their Salvation tho' they had not been The Third Conference How the Devil has crept into the Church as Antichrist and is there maintain'd and authoriz'd I Ask'd her How the Devil could start these things which are decreed by Councils She said Sir do you not remember that I have already told you that the Devil slip'd into the Church from the time that Jesus Christ would establish it He had then almost all the World at his Devotion and he needed not great Labour to maintain the World in its Wickedness for it was as it were become natural to it But how soon he saw that Jesus Christ came to enlighten the World and to make known their Sins to them that he might bring them back to Repentance The Devil then unites all his Force and Power to oppose himself to this Light and every way to countermine the Doctrine of Jesus Christ From that time he got the Name of Antichrist because he sets himself against Christ he has ever since continu'd in the Church that he might destroy and ruine it if he could and from time to time he has gain'd some who have followed his Suggestions and his Malice whose Number has always encreas'd and he has maintain'd them in Honour and Dignity making them by his Artifices to arise to the highest Degrees of Honour because then his Adherents did render him the more Service I doubt not but he has made many come to the Office of a Bishop or other Prelacies who being consulted or conven'd together about the Determining of Points relating to our Christianity may have given Sentiments in favour of the Devil and prejudicial to the Salvation of Christians If this were not Sir it were impossible that the Roman Church should have made Decrees so contrary to those of Jesus Christ who never required any thing of any body but in Love For he says if YOU WOULD be perfect or whosoever WILL follow me let him deny himself c. requiring always our WILL in all the Vertues that he teaches us and God himself from the Beginning of the World unto this present time gives us no Command but to love him For all things are nothing but Means to attain to this Love even leaving Men free to observe his Commands according to their Free-Will without Constraint but those of the Councils do oblige Persons by force to observe their Decrees So that they who transgress them are imprisoned and punished This is very far from imitating Jesus Christ in his Meekness which he says we ought to learn of him who is meek and gentle whereas these use Force and Rigour to make their Commands be observed For if a true Christian should not go to Mass on the Days which they have appointed they would commit him to Justice or the Inquisition or if another should not communicate at Easter he would be in the same Condemnation Is not this contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who demands nothing of any body but what they WILL do requiring always a free Consent drawing no body by Force but still saying he that WILL be my Disciple This rigorous Spirit which is now observ'd in the Church is not conformable to that of Jesus Christ whose Yoke is easie and his Burthen light whereas those impose troublesome and grievous Commands yea even impossible to be observed for he who would live as a true Christian would have no need of confessing once a Year Nevertheless these make a Command of it I must confess Sir that by the Grace of God I do not observe it for since I yielded my self wholly unto God and left the Conversation of Men I have had no Ground to confess once a Year Should I be therefore obliged to go and offend God that I might have Matter to confess at the End of the Year that I may observe the Ordinances of these Councils These are things so far from the Spirit of Jesus Christ that I know not how some Saints could co-operate to such Resolutions except by Force when the greatest Part carries it because the most of those Decrees and Commands are more political than divine and Jesus Christ did not follow these Ways They ought to come from above The Fourth Conference Of the Reformation of the Church of its Councils Commands and Ordinances I Said to her That the Councils were held that they might redress the great Abuses which had crept into the Church that it was expedient that the Church gave Commands or otherwise every one would live after his own Will She said Sir we have the Commandments of God Had it not been a more perfect way to reform these Abuses by taking up again only what Jesus Christ had taught us than to make new Commandments What could be wanting in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ that other things must be added to it They who would make a good Reformation ought always to take up again the first Institution and make it only be observ'd For the Holy Spirit can never be mistaken There is nothing to be mended in nor added to any of his Works and since we can never change a perfect Form and give it another without spoiling the first so we cannot form new Commandments without deforming those of God which were compleat and perfect The great Abuses which had crept into the Church would have been redress'd better by the Doctrine of Jesus Christ taking it in the plain Letter than by so many other new Precepts and Ordinances No body could have lived any longer after his own Mode when once the Doctrine of Jesus Christ had been set again in its Light for it regulates all our Actions and Manners There needed nothing to be added to it in order
to revive the true Spirit of Christianity with more Ease than all that they would joyn to it since which things have been the Cause that many have withdrawn themselves from the Church to forge Heresies according to their Fansies For they judg'd they were as learn'd as those who would oblige them to their Laws I said to her I could not comprehend how the Commands of the Church had deformed the Doctrine of Jesus Christ since they were only added as more express Means to make it be well observ'd She said Sir you do not reach to the Bottom of this Affair For if you remark it more nearly you shall find direct Contradictions because these Councils would have by force what Jesus Christ would not have but by Love He never press'd any body to follow his Doctrine On the contrary when any of his Disciples left him he ask'd his Apostles if they would leave him also leaving always every one to his own Free-Will whereas these damn the Souls and oppress the Bodies of those who will not obey them They condemn as guilty of mortal Sin all those who will not observe their Commandments and even imprison their Bodies banish them from their Country yea for this they sometimes put them to death This Spirit of Rigour does it not destroy the Form of that sweet Gospel-Law which was so perfectly formed by the greatest Artist that ever was or shall be that is by Jesus Christ who was God and Man Could there be any thing to be added to the excellent Work of such a Master For there can nothing be added more than taken away without altering the first Form If one take from a Picture the sweet Draughts of some Figure by adding to it some rude ones the Figure ceases to be what it was before For it is impossible that two contrary things should abide together in the same Subject Cou'd Rigour be introduc'd into the Church to make Meekness be observed there These Arguments which you lay down Sir are without Foundation but you do it to excuse what you have once espoused as I have done also Notwithstanding I cannot cover its Deformities so well known to the Eyes of my Saviour who will very shortly make them known to all the World tho' they strive so earnestly to cover them I said to her I should be very sorry if I should aim to cover what displeased God but that it was the common Sentiment of all Christians to own and follow as a good thing what the Church assembled in a Body had ordain'd and determin'd For we say in our Creed That we believe in the Holy Catholick Church She said Sir you would have reason if you did not take the Bark for the Wood and a Humane Church for the Divine The Holy Church cannot err as I have told you divers times because it is the same thing with God If it be Holy it is Apostolick Now the Apostles never commanded the going once a Year to Confession upon Pain of Sin nor even taught it to any as a Vertue On the contrary Jesus Christ said to all those whose Sins he remitted Go and sin no more This was far from commanding them to go once a Year to Confession For this would be tacitly or indirectly to command them to sin once a Year because Confession always supposes Sin yea they even teach us that he who receives Absolution without Matter of Sin commits a Sacrilege as he does also who gives it Therefore of Necessity a Man must sin every Year that he may confess every Year if he would not commit a Sacrilege Do you not see Sir that the Holy Spirit cannot have instituted such things This must come from elsewhere as many other things ordain'd and resolv'd upon by this Church collegiately assembled tho' it be in use amongst Christians to referr to it and believe it This can be nothing but a blind Submission For if we had good Eyes we would still look whether what they command or ordain us be truly good and conformable to the Gospel before we follow it They tell us indeed that Faith ought to be blind because it consists in believing what we do not see But this Faith does not extend so far as to believe what Men say to us but only what God himself has told us by the Holy Prophets and Apostles or by Jesus Christ himself who has foretold us a great many things which we do not see because they are not yet come to pass In this we must use Faith because God cannot lye nor fail in making good his Promises But our Faith does not stand in that which Men say to us or command us For they themselves are often fallen from the true Faith while they ordain us things contrary thereunto I ask'd her If she judg'd the Commandments of the Church to be evil things She said No Sir there are divers things which of themselves are good as fasting in Lent in imitation of Jesus Christ who fasted forty Days in the Desart and also the communicating at Easter in Memory of the Supper which Jesus Christ made with his Apostles at that time and also the Sanctifying the Days dedicated unto God because he himself has commanded it All these things are good in themselves But this Constraint under Pain of Damnation or civil or bodily Punishment is most evil because good Works done with regret cannot please God who has no need of our Fasts or Sacrifices but he regards our Heart and our Will If this do not concurr to our good Works he will throw them as Dung into our Faces For nothing can please him but what is offered him by Love Therefore he says in so many Places He that WILL come after me or he that WILL follow me In all things he requires our affectionate Will and nothing by Force or Violence This belongs but to cruel Men who are not of God seeing he is ALL LOVE and has given us no other Laws but that of Love whereas these Persons come with a great many Commandments under Pain of Damnation and other Temporal Punishments Have you ever read Sir that Jesus Christ his Apostles or Disciples did at any time imprison any or impose Fines on any for not obeying their Ordinances as these Councils do who deforming this beautiful Law of Meekness and Love do forge troublesome and constraining ones Does not God deserve that we sanctifie the Days which are dedicated to him out of Love Is not the Desire that we have to follow and imitate Jesus Christ powerful enough to make us fast the Lent and communicate once a Year without the being oblig'd to it by force He who does it not out of Love must do it with regret or in Hypocrisie Were it not better not to be constrain'd to it than to do things so troublesome without meriting any thing and to die the Devil's Martyr which this violent and forcing Command does occasion For a true
Conference That the Roman Church is the Spouse of Jesus Christ but that she has falsified her Faith to her lawyul Husband I Said to her That she gave a deal of Light in divers things for which I did infinitely bless God but I could not deny it troubled me a little to hear that the Roman Church was thus fallen from the Spirit of true Christianity She said Sir it is more expedient for the Salvation of your Soul that you know the Misery into which the Church has fallen than if you knew the highest Mysteries of the Trinity or the greatest Good of all Men together Because an Evil known is easie to be avoided But as long as 't is unknown and hid from us it is always dangerous and may greatly hurt us without our being aware of it Therefore you ought to give the more Attention and to apply your Understanding more to understand and comprehend the Truth which I tell you of Evil than to discover the Good For if I told you the Good of all Men this would only give you some little Contentment or sensual Satisfaction which would add nothing to your Soul But by knowing the Evil as it is you may prudently beware of it that it do not touch or harm you For all these Evils which I said were introduc'd into the Church even while it was yet Holy are all covered with Appearances of Good and Piety and Reason because the Devil could never have gained so many Souls as have followed him but under this Colour or Mantle of Good And he will yet gain many by their Ignorance of these Evils or by their Unbelief of them For as long as they take Evil for Good they will still blindly follow it and Ignorance will not excuse the Sin For God having given us an Understanding to comprehend and a Spirit to discern we ought particularly to apply them to what concerns our Salvation and when the Truth is set before our Eyes and we will not open them to consider it we resist it and may look for the Condemnation of the Holy Spirit who says that Vnbelievers shall have their Portion with Sorcerers I said to her I would not be incredulous but believe the Truth But that I felt an inward Opposition when it thus overturn'd the Church in the chief Points of Belief which we owe to it in case it were the Holy Church She said Sir I believe in the Holy Church and if I had a thousand Lives I would voluntarily expose them for its Defence and would think my self happy to spend the last Drop of my Blood for such a Cause But when God makes me see clearly that She is not Holy nor that which Jesus Christ established but that She is the Whore which is spoken of in the Revelation I cannot resist so clear Truths which do not only lie secret in my Soul but God gives me also Terms and Words whereby to explain them to you that you may likwise receive the Knowledge of them for your Salvation For which I have often bless'd God who bestows on us so many particular Favours hoping he will do it also to others But I intreat you doubt not what I tell you of the Miseries into which Men are fallen For they are yet greater than I have told you But persuade your self assuredly if they were not true I would not have engag'd my self in Discourses so melancholly and disagreeable to your Sentiments It would be more pleasant to me to tell you that the Roman Church is Holy and Perfect and that those who obey and follow her are holy This would recreate both my Heart and yours and the Hearts of all who could hear it I should be very light-headed or void of Understanding to please my self with things which displease all the World and which oblige me still to hold my Peace and to conceal my self Because I know very well if they should hear me declare those Truths all the Romanists would rise up against me and even the most Pious would think they made a Sacrifice to God in killing me For they are ignorant of these Truths and are wedded to their Church as if she were Holy knowing no better because the great Darkness that is now throughout the whole World wherein the Devil has bewitch'd all Minds with Errours they may never come to the Knowledge of the Truth which every one withstands even thinking they do well in it I ask'd her If I might not suspend my Belief of those things which were contrary to the Church and believe only what concern'd Vertue and the Love of God She said Sir you can never follow Good without departing from Evil nor adhere perfectly to God without abandoning that which is contrary to him Have you not remark'd in how many things this Roman Church is contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ How therefore can you adhere to her and follow Vertue and the Love of God so long as they are really contrary Jesus Christ says that We cannot serve two Masters without being unfaithful to the one or the other You must chuse which you love best Good can never profit you without the Knowledge of Evil because while you do not know and believe it you will insensibly fall into it yea you will often take Evil for Good For the Evil of this Church is still covered with the Sanctity of pious Reasons and Arguments And if Antichrist did not cover his Wickedness with Vertue he could gain none but the Wicked but with pious Pretexts he gains all the Good who would even make a Scruple not to follow him as you do Sir by your Demand For if you do believe and follow Vertue and the Love of God you will certainly hate all that is contrary thereunto I think I have already told you enough to let you see that the Rules the Commands and Ordinances of this Church are not conformable to those of God who when he created Man gave him full Liberty to use his Will wheras those constrain it in all Points and will not only subject it by Councils or Advices but by Force and Violence both bodily and spiritual So that as much as in them lies they destroy the Law and the Ordinances of God to establish their own Authority and to bind the Souls of Christians by so many Constraints that 't is impossible for them to satisfie them without displeasing God tho' there were no other thing but the forbidding Priests to labour and making them swear never to explain the Holy Scriptures otherwise than the ancient Fathers have done Do you not see Sir that all their Laws are nothing but political and made to maintain their State and Authority If a Prince or a King to whom you were subject did become a Tyrant would you make any Scruple to abandon him when it were in your Power to do it tho' he were the lawful Son of your King and gracious Father who had preceded him A
of his Church which is united to him she has no fix'd Place Therefore she is call'd Catholick or common and universal For she is to be found in all Places indifferently For otherwise none should have the Liberty to be of the Church but they who remain'd in this fix'd Place No Sir this cannot be so because God has given Liberty to all Men in the World without having limited them to any particular Nation or Country but to all in general The Church consequently may be as well among the Jews Turks and Heathens as among the Church of Rome For she does not consist but of Souls who possess the Law of God or the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is all the same thing because this Doctrine is no other thing but the Explication of the proper Means for observing aright this Law So that he who among the Heathens should live in an entire Dependance upon God having his Will conformable to him in all things Such a Person would be the Church even tho' he knew no other Precept or Doctrine Because all that is written in the Law of Moses and even in the Gospel are no other thing but Means to attain to this Dependance upon and Conformity to the Will of God So that he who is in this needs no other Command or Precept to be assured of Eternal Bliss because all is comprehended and contain'd in this Dependance upon God All other things are but for enlarging and explaining wherein this Dependance on God consists Therefore the Gospel says deny your selves to make us understand that as long as we live to our selves we are not resigned to God For if we rejoyce in Prosperity and are grieved in Adversity it is a Sign that we are not yet resigned to God but that we live to our own Desires and Wills not to those of God who will never permit any thing to befall us but what is good and wholesome But when we live to our selves we will have this and that according to our own Judgments which are blind as to Eternal Things For this Cause Jesus Christ has taken the Pains to teach us so many divers things that he may make us know what hinders us from coming to this Dependance on God and also what makes it easie to us But if we find this Dependance without these Means we have fulfilled the whole Law and are the Church I said to her That we hold in the Roman Church that out of it there is no Salvation She replied And I doubt Sir if one can be saved in it since she is not governed by the Spirit of God how can she guide any to Salvation If the Devil sit in her Throne is it to be believed that he will saye us His Malice encreases as his Authority augments I cannot believe that one truly Christian wholly resigned to the Will of God can remain in the College of Rome For they would not suffer a Spirit so contrary to that which rules them These Reproofs would be insupportable to them God himself could not preserve his Church among them tho' it were but in one Person only They would certainly destroy it and that without Delay If they teach that none can be saved out of their Dependance it is because they would fain rule over the World and be as great as God as the Devil had this Ambition since his Creation and retained it hitherto with a great deal of Success because he holds at present almost all Men under his Authority For to say that there is no Salvation out of the Dominion of Rome is to contradict the Gospel For the Apostle having told Jesus Christ that some taught the Gospel who notwithstanding did not follow Jesus Christ nor his Disciples he says to them Let them alone for they who are not against us are with us Should the Pope be a greater Judge to condemn those who observ'd the Law of God because they did not depend on him This could not be true even tho' the Roman Church were as yet guided by the Holy Spirit She could not notwithstanding make void the Salvation of those who did not follow her since Jesus Christ has not done it in his Gospel which is their Rule and that which they ought to follow The Apostles never condemned John's Disciples who followed not them and did otherwise than theirs There was a Complaint indeed that they fasted not as St. John's Disciples did and Jesus Christ excuses them Each Apostle had his Disciples apart and all the Churches were also separate That of Peter was not the Church of Paul or of the other Apostles Every one had his Church and his Disciple separately and none of them said that those who did not follow them were damned It sufficed that all had the Gospel for their Rule without making any Difference whether one was of James or of Philip S. Paul even severely reproves those who said I am of Paul or of Apollos asking them If they were not all of Christ who died for them But at present they will have none to be saved but those who are under one Man only whereas then all were saved who were under Jesus Christ Have we gotten another God or rather another Law since the Doctrine of Jesus Christ that these Men will needs damn all those who will not follow this Pope For my Part I would rather upon Pain of my own Damnation assure all those of Salvation who shall observe the Commandments of God in whatsoever Place and Condition they may be For Jesus Christ said to the young Man in the Gospel who ask'd him What he should do to be saved Keep the Commandments without any other thing because all is comprehended in this A Man must not go by four Ways when he knows one that is streight and sure What ever Men would make us to believe the Truth that is of God is always the most certain I begg'd She would explain to me how God could not preserve his Church in the College of Rome even tho' it were but one Person only seeing he is Almighty She said Sir the Almighty Power of God will never extend it self beyond his Righteousness and his Goodness He has given to Man a Free-Will to use it at his Pleasure by which he has made him partake in the Deity which is the greatest good he could ever do to Man For by this Free-Will he renders him capable of taking his Delights with him or otherwise there would not have been any Correspondence of God with Man since Likeness begets Love and Love is always bent to love its like If Man had not had Liberty of using his Will he would not have been like to God in any thing For a Creature bounded and constrain'd has no relation to an Almighty God It was necessary that the Power of using his Free-Will should be given him that God might take his Delight with that which in some manner was like unto
himself and nothing could resemble him but this free Power of his Will Tho' he had created Man's Soul divine this had been but a limited Spirit without this Free-Will which must certainly concurr to compleat the Delight which God would take with Men For as a King can take no Contentment in recreating himself with a Slave as he would do with a Queen who is nearer his Quality so God would make Man in his full Liberty and capable of using his Free-Will fully that in this Liberty he might be some way like to him This being done he cannot repent of any thing but lets Man enjoy his Gifts However he abuse them his Righteousness and Constancy will not let him withdraw or take from him what he has once given him but he leaves it him and will leave it to all Eternity Whether Man save or damn himself Free-Will shall never be taken from him for God is not changeable in his Gifts no more than in all his Works This being so he cannot hinder the Romanists from killing any body amongst them who would be the true Church without bounding or limiting the Free-Will that they have to do this But his Goodness preventing their Malice will move his Church to withdraw out of their Power or to hide her self as Jesus Christ hid himself to avoid the Jews Tyranny and by this means he exercises his Goodness towards his Church and leaves those Men of ill Will in the Liberty that he has given them who do only the Mischiefs that are in their Power and cannot reach the doing those which the Good by their Light and Foresight can avoid 'T is thus Sir that I said God could not preserve his Church among these Romanists because he will never use his Power against the Justice of the Right that he has given them to use their Free-Will Sir we ought always to take things in their Source or else we would utter Calumnies against God either in saying that he is not Powerful to hinder Evil nor Almighty to preserve his own or not just in not letting Causes work according to the Order in which he has established them which would be so many Blasphemies Because God can never do any Evil for he is the Source of all Good He cannot permit Injustice for he is perfect Righteousness And likewise he cannot against Promise take from him the Free-Will that he has once given him But he does all his Works in such Perfection that Goodness Righteousness Faith and Truth concurr in all in an excellent Harmony which ravishes the Understanding of him who considers them I said to her That the Impression of Dependance on this Roman Church was as it were naturalized in my Soul and that it would be very ill in me to leave her altogether tho' I absolutely desired to resign my self entirely unto God She said Sir be not any ways troubled Continue confidently under the Roman Church provided you do not follow in her but that which is good in it self abundance cannot hurt After you shall be entirely resigned unto God he will uphold you and will govern you thro' all The more you shall be united to him the more you will partake of his Vertues and his Light shall be given you more clearly to discover the Truth of every thing You are now yet a Courtier of this Roman Church Therefore you love her and would feign excuse her Faults that you may not be obliged to forsake her which likewise you ought not to do by the Inducement of any but if you approach to God you will partake of this Light as the Ray partakes of the Sun according as it is near it When you shall partake of the Righteousness of God you will see with an upright Eye the Injustice of this Roman Church and when you shall partake of the Truth of God you will discover their Lyes and having partaken of the Goodness of God you will discover that Malice which now you can scarce believe For all the Perfections of God do assuredly discover the Imperfections which are opposite to him Labour therefore Sir to find this Union with God and be not troubled under whose Dependance you are Rome cannot hurt you when you hearken to none but God We need not be at the Trouble to learn where the true Church is For she will be in us as long as we possess the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which only makes up the holy Church It remains only that in the Roman Church you beware of the Seductions which are crept in there This is what Jesus Christ has so often warn'd us of in his Gospel sayng Beware of false Prophets who will come deceitfully and shall seduce many False Christs and false Prophets shall arise who shall if it were possible deceive the very Elect. He neither speaks of Turks nor of Heathens but of false Christs The Seventh Conference Of the Mass and of the Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Functions I ask'd her How I should behave in the Administration of the Sacraments in the Mass and other Functions of my Charge She said Sir Do all this in the Spirit that God requires you to do it in because there are great Abuses in this For all these things are not what they made us believe of them Many Superstitions have crept into them against God's Honour and our Salvation Therefore you must always join your Intention with what God may have in these things or otherwise you will commit many Faults and will likewise deceive others For my part I believe the Mass represents the Communion that Jesus Christ had with his Apostles who eat and drank with them every Day blessing the Bread and breaking it to distribute them which the Apostles continued to do with their Disciples and afterwards all the Primitive Christians who assembled every Day to eat together and blessing God imparted to every one as he had need which maintain'd and nourish'd among them the true CHARITY which Jesus Christ had left them by Testament Do this in Remembrance of me and you shall live for ever because without this Charity no body can be saved as St. Paul assures us Tho' one could even remove Mountains tho' he gave all his Goods to the Poor yea his Body to be burn'd c. all this would be nothing without Charity which Jesus Christ had recommended to all his Disciples a little before his Death This is now out of use and instead of nourishing and maintaining it by these daily Meetings of Christians those who did assemble to eat and drink blessing God for what he bestowed on them they have chang'd it into the Mass which we observe to this Day with little Profit and Salvation except that the Intentions of some may be to do it in the Spirit and Desire which Jesus Christ had when he appointed it and left it in his Testament It is to this I exhort you Sir that you
you would hinder me from hearing God perfectly It is true you do me no hurt when you look upon my Actions as Humane but you cannot profit by them It were much better that you sought God purely and leave me alone to enjoy him more particularly Because the least Unprofitableness does always darken the Soul I have spoken to you of many different Things which may give you Light into the Secrets of God and your own Salvation and particular Perfection There remains only to put them in Practice Read the Holy Scriptures they will confirm you in all that I have told you and give Credit to nothing but the Truth of the Gospel be he who he will that speaks to you For all Men are Lyars And if I shou'd say things contrary to the Gospel do not believe me For you ought not to believe any thing because I say it to you but only because it is really true And if you knew me you should also know God because he is one and the same Spirit in all things So far as you shall discern Righteousness Goodness and Truth in any Person so far shall you discern God living in them and no farther So that it 's never good to follow Persons for themselves but to follow the Righteousness Goodness and Truth which you shall discover to abide in them Therefore it 's not needful to have their bodily Presence it 's enough to accompany them with Spirit and Will in their Righteousness I said to her That she ought not to deprive me of her Company since it gave me so much Light and good Purposes and that I heard her Discourses as proceeding from the Holy Spirit but that I had not as yet strength enough to put them in Practice that I would be constrained to accompany some other Person because I could not stay alone She said Sir if you do this you are undone For now you 'll meet with no body in the World that possesses these three Qualities of Righteousness Goodness and Truth and consequently you seek in vain among Men what you will certainly find with God from whom Men will divert you and fill your Mind with their own Idea's and Imaginations enticing you to follow them Tho' they are not in the Truth yet they think they are and willingly draw over every one to their Errours while they even believe they are doing well Be on your Guard Sir for we are fallen into the dangerous Times foretold by Jesus Christ wherein Many false Prophets shall arise and shall deceive many Obey these Warnings and let not your self be deceived For many come in the Name of Jesus Christ who are in League with Satan and do deceive many Remember still that we live now in the Reign of Antichrist and that God at his Coming finds no more Faith in Israel that is among his People For all have denied him Faith consists in the Belief of the Promises and Word of God Who is there now a-days that hears his Word and acts according to it The Christians are the People of God nevertheless none of them has Faith For if they did believe in one only God they wou'd not make so many Idols that each one has his particular Idol One makes an Idol of his Wealth another of his Honour another of his Wisdom and so of all other things which they adore and esteem So that none has any longer Faith to believe that there is but one only true God whom we ought to worship nor yet the other things which God taught us by his holy Prophets his Apostles and Jesus Christ himself The Church has no longer Faith to believe that all these things must be practised in order to Salvation These seem to be but Stories of the ancient Times and that it 's not necessary now to put them in Practice So that the word is now fulfilled which says that when the Lord shall come he shall not find Faith in Israel He is come and he finds no Faith in his People Therefore take good heed Sir of applying to any body because there is no Faith now among Christians but many Deceivers and Seducers Continue rather alone or follow me yet a little The Fourteenth Conference That the Habit does not make the Monk and that Religions of themselves make none holy Of the Corruption of them and of the Church I Asked her How it was possible that there should be no longer Faith in Israel and yet so great a Number profess the true Faith and in particular so many devote themselves to God in Cloysters and Monasteries that they may the better observe the Word of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ She said It 's true Sir a great many profess to be Christians but notwithstanding they are not so While you conversed in the World did you observe any that followed the Doctrine of Jesus Christ that denied himself that chose the last Place or the least when he might have a better and so many other things taught and observed by Jesus Christ I know indeed you will answer me No And I ask you if there can be other Christians than those which follow his Doctrine They call none a Calvinist but he who follows the Doctrine of Calvin nor a Lutheran but he who follows the Doctrine of Luther And why wou'd they reckon those to be Christians who don 't follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ They bear the Title falsly and they lye to the Holy Ghost For they are not Christians before God if they do not observe the Doctrine of the Gospel They but flatter themselves to believe it and deceive themselves to doubt it Do you need any other Evidence Sir than your own Understanding which sees and comprehends clearly enough that these who are now called Christians do not follow Jesus Christ neither in his Doctrine nor in his Works and that they are not Christians but in Word and in Picture having nothing of true Christianity neither following Christ at a distance nor near at hand On the contrary their Lives and Manners are directly opposite to the Life and Manners which Jesus Christ laid before us for an Example when he lived upon Earth Nevertheless you ask me if it be possible to believe that there is no longer Faith in Israel And I ask How is it possible to believe that there are yet Christians upon Earth I said to her That they who retire from the World to become Religious or enter into Cloysters ought precisely to follow Jesus Christ since they make solemn and particular Vows She said Sir do you not see that these Vows are not well observ'd They vow Chastity Poverty and Obedience Remark if this be observed in the Cloysters or among the Monks These are only outward things which seem as little obligatory as Baptism seems For neither the one nor the other is observed and after the outward Ceremonies are performed they do not think any longer on the Promises they 've
as we don't apprehend these things we will think we do well to adhere to the Sciences we have learned from Men and will not empty our selves of them that we may receive the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit especially when by it we shall discover things quite contrary to our Sentiments or those which our Masters taught us You are not more than any other Sir delivered from your own Wisdom which hinders the Holy Spirit and that even under a Colour of good For you wou'd make Scruple to believe the Holy Spirit when it shou'd tell you things contrary to the Councils held in the Roman Church as I perceived when I spoke of such things to you because you have been brought up in it and foster'd with a Belief that these Councils were directed by the Holy Spirit tho' this cannot be true it being your Resolution not to depart from her This will hinder you from submitting to the Light of the Holy Spirit which will have no Opposition nor Resistance but a simple Submission I said to her That I could not disown I had Difficulty to believe things contrary to the Councils Nevertheless I would follow the Light of the Holy Spirit She said Sir you cannot follow the one without quitting the other because indeed they are as far from one another as Truth is from Lyes For the Holy Spirit teaches only the Truth which makes for the Glory of God whereas these Councils teach only that which makes for their own Glory and Authority Take off a little Sir this Veil of Preoccupation of believing blindly that Rome is the Holy Church and submit to God that he may shew you what Truth is in this You will feel evidently in the Bottom of your Soul that God cannot change as these Persons have changed the Institutions of Jesus Christ We must not be so void of Judgment as blindly to lay the Foundation of our Eternal Salvation upon false Suppositions but we must fully open our Eyes and consider if what we have learned hitherto be more clear and solid than what is now discovered You will thereby perceive which of the two is farthest from the true Light But as long as you are partial and can hardly believe this or that your Soul is not free to receive this Truth If you believe things because Councils or others have told you them you are not established in the Truth of these things but only in the Opinion you have of those who tell you them And do you not know that the Holy Spirit says that all Men are Lyars Wherefore then will you believe things because Men say them I wou'd never have you to believe my Words because I say them but I wou'd indeed have you to believe them because they are true We ought always to follow and love the Truth wherever it is but never to believe and follow a Lye even tho' it shou'd come from the Mouth of a holy Person For otherwise we shall commit great and irreparable Faults as to the Salvation of our Souls especially in this dangerous time wherein the Devil is plac'd in God's Throne and teaches us Lyes instead of the Truth That God has given us an Understanding to comprehend is not for temporal and transient things but that we may understand and discern the Things that concern our Salvation and Eternal Life In this we ought to employ all the Force of our Spirit to discover if what they tell and teach us now in this Matter be true or not without adventuring upon a blind Belief as all Christians do at present I said to her That I would not lean to a blind Belief but to the streight Truth She said Sir if it be so you will have no trouble to believe what I tell you tho' it be contrary to the Councils For I do not speak of my self and I tell only what the Spirit of God dictates to me Take good heed to my Words they proceed always from the Spirit of Truth who must teach all things He cannot deceive you as wou'd your Learning and Studies that you may have acquired by humane Means Be jealous of them For 't is so long since the Devil did insinuate himself into the Church of God to corrupt it that almost it cannot be told from what time it was corrupted Insomuch that even while Jesus Christ was yet upon Earth the Dvil listed himself as a Soldier of Jesus Christ on design to thwart his Doctrine and in the time of his Apostles he became a Captain because he had already gained many under his Power and in the time of their Disciples he had yet more and might then by just Title have born the Name of Colonel because he ruled many and after the Apostles Death he became a Governour by the Encrease of his Power But since they wou'd needs form this Body of the Roman Church the Devil is become General of it by which Government he has now conquered all the World and is universal Emperor especially over the Christians whom he holds under his particular Empire He is therefore justly called Antichrist because he has gainsaid the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which by him has been abolished and annihilated because under this Pretext of Christ he has infatuated Mens Minds to make them believe that what is contrary to Christ is Christ himself and that what is the Synagogue of Satan is the holy Church And thus by these false Persuasions he has deceived all the World and the most Religions believe they follow God when they follow the Devil because he is so masqu'd with the Veil of Piety and Devotion he cou'd have prevail'd with well-meaning Persons by teaching them Evil but under this Colour of Holiness and the Holy Church all the World do blindly follow him with such Fidelity that it wou'd be very hard to divert them from him Every one wou'd think he did ill to quit this Church which is so only in Appearance to follow the true one I only regret you and such as you Sir who sincerely intend to follow the real Truth and nevertheless fear to resist Lyes out of a frivolous Imagination that the Church will still continue in the material Place where Jesus Christ established it I said to her That when I should discover this Spirit of Errour I would never follow it That I would gladly abandon it and follow the Spirit of Truth She said Sir if you wou'd follow the Spirit of Truth quit then all these foolish Persuasions that Christians have now which are only invented by Antichrist that he may gain all the World to himself by apparent Holiness They wou'd persuade you that Rome is the Holy Church that you must obey her in all her Ordinances If you do this you shall be an Idolater ascribing to Men what belongs to God only as Honour Power and Infallibility Every one believes that this belongs to her tho' it belongs to none but God alone to be
their innocence but if they did the same things when grown up it would be infamous because of the malignity of their thoughts A thing that is in it self the same is render'd good or evil by the wickedness of the Heart The sins that are committed in Marriage do not proceed from its being evil in its self for it is good but they are introduc'd there thro' the perverse will of men Even as the Church is holy in it self but man's perverse will has render'd it abominable in the sight of God for they have chang'd the Order into which God had established it And if men commit the greatest sins by the inclination they have to this natural conjunction this proceeds from nothing but the wickedness of the Heart since the thing in it self is good and holy If man is become so negligent as to abuse all the works of God is it not thro' his own wickedness that he perishes tho he lays the blame always on God For if he sin through Carnal Lust he will say wherefore has God given me this Natural Inclination by which I am led to sin And if men be chastised by any Rods they will say that God afflicts them or that he has forsaken them and so of all other things How great soever mens wickedness be they lay the blame always on God tho they do not say it by word yet they do it in deed while they neglect to discover that all his works are still accompanied with Righteousness Goodness and Truth and that nothing that is evil can ever come from God who is the Source and Original of all Good still doing good to all without excepting any By which we see evidently that he is no longer known at present for they abuse all his Favours and blaspheme him in every thing and yet are not willing to confess it for every one of these Christians have it in their mouths that they love God and honour him while truly and in effect they disown and blaspheme him by their works The Fourth Conference Of the blindness of men who amuse themselves with the outward things which are delivered to them without searching into the depth of the Truth it self they are so infatuated and withheld thro' the fear of displeasing those who are in Reputation I Said to her That men were in horrible darkness and that the Truth was no longer known but every one had for saken it and taken a quite contrary way while in the mean time they think they are in the right way She said Sir This is what I bewail continually to see men so far from their salvation and yet they think they are in the right way to it This causes the Damnation of those who are esteem'd the best men for while they think they are good they will not endeavour after a Change but will live and die in a presumption of being sav'd without good works which shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the other and no body thinks on 't for the darkness is so thick that they cannot see whither they go Truth is always bright and discovers every thing but it is no longer known No body knows the Truth any more since the Devil spread this horrible Darkness on the Earth but every one walks in darkness and believes he is in the right way and while they are perishing they think to be saved Have you not observ'd Sir all that I have said to you that man knows not God any longer nor his works and that they understand them in a quite contrary sense and that in truth they observe nothing of what God has commanded and Jesus Christ taught and yet every one says that he desires to come to God Must there not be a lie in the one or the other of these two contrary things For what I say and what Men do are as distant from one another as heat is from cold Nevertheless truth cannot change it remains always true Let Men say what they please let them stray from it or approach it it abides still firm in its Integrity Who that understands me aright can doubt that I speak the Truth And if you are oblig'd to confess it will you not consequently be oblig'd to acknowledge that all the World is deceived and fallen from the Truth and in forsaking it they have forsaken God And if they have forsaken God who can uphold them any longer The World must certainly perish for its disease is at the height and the worst of all is that they do not know it for if they knew it there would yet be some among them who would open their Eyes and perceive the reality of Truth I ask'd her from whence this great blindness of Spirit and this so obscure darkness could proceed She said Sir this comes from the Devil since he crept into the Church and began to countermine the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and took the title of Antichrist he has labour'd so strongly in this that he has spread among them an universal Darkness and so confounded the Spirits of those Christians with so many different things that they are no longer capable of knowing the Truth Instead of it he has inspir'd them with a great many false Opinions that he might divert them from the pure Truth So that I do not believe there is any Sect or Nation in the World farther from it than the Christians of this Age because they discover it no longer in any thing whereas the Hereticks Jews or Heathens know the Truth in some things tho in others they are mistaken but these Christians are mistaken in all thro' the ill use they make of all things as I have formerly told you Sir that they know neither God nor any of his works judging of all in a quite contrary sense And because they could not have quiet without doing good things the Devil has furnish'd them with so many seemingly good works that they have no longer any leisure to think of the Truth and to examine whether these New Devotions be true or not but they blindly follow them without making any other Reflection but that they are the Ordinances of the Church without examining also whether this Church be holy or not they lay aside the Truth to receive that which is proposed to them supposing it to be a good thing Hence there is such blindness of spirit and such obscure darkness that there is scarce any way to make them see the Truth their understanding being so preoccupied and darkned with diverse things that they can no longer consider the Unity of Truth on the contrary they would think they did evil to follow this Truth and quit the New Practices introduc'd by men So that if we should advise a Christian now a-days to do nothing else in order to his salvation but to resign his will to that of God he would think we design'd to make him an Heretick and would cleave more firmly to the
Ordinances of the Church than to those of God I ask'd her Whether she was a Catholick and whether one could be sav'd out of the holy Church She said Yes Sir I am a Catholick and ready to die for the Faith and Doctrine of Jesus Christ because 't is necessary for me If I had remain'd in innocence without having contracted so many evil habits by the conversation of men I should not have needed the Law of God nor the Precepts of Jesus Christ but having departed from that innocence in which I ought to have resign'd my self wholly to God yielding up to him the free will that he gave me I have need now of this Law and those Evangelical Counsels as means to recover that innocence and that I may with singleness of heart resign my will to that of God as all other men also have need of them for every one has departed from that innocence and contracted many evil habits which hinder this resignation to God I embrace indeed the Apostolical Faith and Belief but I do not believe many things which those who call themselves the Christian Church lay before us because they are not true for he who should believe to be sav'd by going to Church and frequenting the Sacraments or such like things would at death find himself deceiv'd because no Prayers or Sacraments operate without an inward disposition And whereas we see people frequent the Churches and Sacraments without piety or devotion we may well judg that the world is deceived by such like things while they place the hopes of their salvation on outward things which are but the signification of the inward disposition of the mind You will say It may be Sir that the Church supposes this inward disposition which is a false supposition because we see evidently by experience that the inward disposition is very far from what appears outwardly and upon this supposition the Church could not appoint the baptising of new born Infants who are not at all capable of inward dispositions I doubt not but these Romanists would bring many Reasons and Arguments but I hold to the Truth of God and know no other Church but the souls which possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Lo this is the only true Church out of which there can be no salvation for every one has need of taking up these means that by them he may attain to a RESIGNATION to God I said to her That truly there must be some infatuation of Spirit that tied us to this Church for tho we see she does not at all possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ yet we are afraid to leave her as if she were the holy Church tho the truth makes it evidently appear that she is not She said Sir I bless God that he opens your Eyes to discover the truth in what concerns your salvation for as long as you do not discover evil you cannot avoid it but will still be in danger of being deceived by it If the Devil were not in this Church it is impossible that so many good spirits should thus blindly follow her 'T is certainly by an infatuation of the understanding for they see enough in the outside to judg assuredly that she is not guided by the holy spirit and that she follows not in any respect the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and nevertheless they continue so wedded to her thro' som panick or pusillanimous Fear that they dare not shake off her dependance fearing they should do evil in following the truth And if any person of a sound Judgment discovers her deceits and uncharms his Understanding so as to perceive her Errors yet out of respect to the Glory of the World he dare not forsake her because this Church is advanc'd to so great Honour and Authority that no body dares leave her for fear of being disgrac'd or persecuted by her as she would certainly do so long as it is in her power For this cause Jesus Christ speaking of the last Times in which we are fallen says That a man must get out of Judea and flee even without returning to his house to take his Cloaths Judea is the Church and the Sanctuary where the abomination of desolation is now so increas'd that it is at its heighth A man needs not glory in being a Son of the Church for the Children shall be cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Jews and Heathens shall be admitted into it for God can make of these stones Children of Abraham Lay aside therefore Sir all these Fears and Pusillanimities they proceed from a softness of spirit Keep close to the Truth and follow her without Fear for she will guide you to salvation If Glory or Interest do not hold you in a dependance on the Church leave her boldly for her Reign will be very shortly at an end and she will perish with all her Glory and Possessions 'T is better lose our Garments than our Life or even our Wealth and Honour than our souls The Fifth Conference Of the Destruction of Christendom I Said to her That I was not so afraid as she thought and that I had ask'd many things of her of which I made no doubt but I desir'd always to be further cleared and therefore propos'd many questions Yet on the contrary I had long suspected that the Church was the VVhore in the Revelations in which her behaviour had confirm'd me therefore would flee out of her Dependance She said 'T will be your best course for her time draws near in which she shall be raz'd and rooted out and her Children scatter'd and divided All the World shall bewail her and call her miserable fot her misery shall be great and all her Villanies shall be discover'd It would be then too late to forsake her for all those who shall be found drinking out of her Cup shall perish with her Therefore Jesus Christ has said That we must not wait till the winter or the Sabbath-day That is till the time of persecution and the Day of the coming of Jesus Christ in his glory for in her persecution there will be so great evils that the like were never seen Men shall pine away for Terror and Fear and be very uncapable of studying how to find the Truth Therefore you must not wait till the time of extremity but flee and get out of her before Neither must you wait till the Day when our Saviour shall come in his Glory because he will render to every one acecrding to his works the time of penitence shall be past it must be done presently or else we shall all perish For the Lord will overthrow all evil by the brightness of his coming which is to be looked for only in order to receive our last Judgment for which it is more than time to prepare our selves and to flee to the Mountains taking heed of men who have for so long deceived and
real For the Devil is pure Spirit and has not the Power of forming to himself a Body unless it be a fantastical one or else by the Seed of some Sorcerer which is abominable I said to her It was not to be doubted that we live certainly in the time when Antichrist Reigns by his Doctrine and his Operations because Men in the general have all or the greatest part of them the qualities of the Devil She said Sir there is no reckoning to be made of any other thing but what concerns the Salvation of Souls for if the Devil be followed in his Doctrine and in his Works he needs no more to make himself Master of our Souls He 'll do no more hurt to men by his Body than he does by his Spirit and if it were not to Ape God he would never take a Natural Body for he knows well enough how to make a body of Air or some other matter to deceive Sorcerers whose imagination he so blinds that they believe they see and feel some real body tho it be only Phantastical By this he prevails with them to commit all sorts of Evil pretending to dwell with them that he may still prophane the works which God has introduc'd for an Holy end So that the Natural Body of the Devil is not so much to hurt men as to bring Glory to the Devil when he shall be discovered and shall be corporally Honoured and follow'd by all his Adherents as Jesus Christ was by his Disciples And that he may leave none of the works of Jesus Christ unimitated that he may pervert them he must also take a body of Flesh that he may likewise Reign Bodily thereby to consummate his wretched Kingdom which began as soon as God became man and has still encreast even till this present time without being known or revealed And since God has the goodness to Reveal him at present he should be discovered if it were possible to all the world that he may no longer deceive any body under the mask of Vertue and that those who will needs follow him may know what they do For the Body of Jesus Christ went not thro' all the world in order to the forming of his Church but he has herein only introduc'd his Doctrine which sanctifies the Souls of those that follow it tho they have never seen his body 't is the same as to the Doctrine of the Devil which corrupts Souls tho they should never see his Body They are as Diabolical in following the works of the Devil as others are holy in imitating the actions of Jesus Christ whose Body they never saw I said to her It was a great Loss that these Truths could not be publish'd to all the world for all are ignorant of them and believe there is no Antichrist until he appear in his humane Body She said Sir 't is lamentable that these things so prejudicial to so many Souls must be conceal'd and that the Marvels of God which are so important cannot be discover'd The last Times are come Antichrist Reigns over all And Jesus Christ will come quickly to Reign here in glory The forerunning plagues of Judgment are begun and no body will believe any thing of all this because we cannot speak of them openly You are the first Sir to whom I have declared these secrets Make a good use of them I shall reckon it a gain tho none but your Soul alone should receive the Light of them The world is deceived and will be while they do not open their Eyes to the Truths I have told you They are nevertheless from God and cannot fail if all the world will needs ruin themselves Sir save your self For tho none of these things should fall out in your Life-time and you should not see the utmost extremities of the Plagues nor the Body of Antichrist nor yet the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory yet it will be most expedient for you that you believe all these things which will open your eyes to discover your particular faults and the dangers in which you live and will give you prudence to avoid the deceits in which we live at present Make use of the occasion Sir without contending out of curiosity about words and the times of every thing because the Judgment still falls out when we die and it will never be recall'd Tho even there were not a general Judgment yet there is always our particular Judgment which precisely respects us and if all the People of the world perisht by the Deluge excepting eight persons it was thro' their unbelief for if they had believed the words of Noah they would have been sav'd in his Ark Even so now those shall Perish who will not believe the Truths that I tell you from God They shall certainly Perish in the Ship-wrack because they will not save themselves in time it will be in vain for them to ascend into their Houses of Honour and Glory that they might avoid the Plagues which will follow them every where I said to her That I could not doubt any longer of the things she told me because of the Operation of her words in my Soul which could not but come from God But I wish'd earnestly that many might enjoy the same effects She said Sir Your desire will be fulfilled for many will receive this Light tho very few among the Christians because they are so obstinately wedded to a presumption of their Salvation being falsely perswaded that they shall be Saved by their frivolous Devotions These will resist the Truth and believe they are Holy and Perfect till they shall see themselves swallowed up of the Plagues and when it shall be too late they will cry for Mercy without any hope of succour no more than in the days of Noah for it is not written that he took so much as one into the Ark after the Deluge was begun Those who had not formerly gone into it did all perish even as those shall do who will not now believe that we live in the days of Antichrist They must of necessity be deceived by him and Perish What remedy can there be for their evils since they seek not to be healed because they are insensible of them as they would be of a Leprosie We must flee from them that we may not contract such a dangerous malady as this blindness because they shall be destroyed before they know it It shall be with them says Jesus Christ as it was in the days of Noah They Ate they Drank they Married without any apprehension Even so tho they see and feel the beginnings of sorrows by Wars they do not apprehend them to be the last Plagues they endeavour to escape and avoid them by Human means going from one place to another without remembring what Christ says That two shall be grinding at one Mill the one shall be taken the other left or even two in
the way to it But the Devil to divert men has introduc'd by these Councils so many diverse things that this Doctrine is destroyed To discover this Truth Sir you need but observe mens Behaviour This will give you certain Evidences of it for you will see that all trust on the Councils the Sacraments and the Ordinances of the Church and no body observes the Counsels of the Gospel which are so banish'd out of the minds of men now that they reckon them foolishness I intreated her to tell me if she was sent from God to delare the Truth to men She said Yes Sir I AM SENT FROM GOD TO BRING LIGHT TO THE WORLD AND TO BEAR WITNESS OF THE TRUTH as he does all his works in Righteousness Goodness and Truth and never surprizes any Body He has SENT me to tell That the Last Times are come That the World is Judged and the sentence is irrevocable That the Plagues are begun and will not cease till all evil be rooted out and that Jesus Christ will come shortly on the Earth to finish this and then he will continue to Reign with men of good will who shall enjoy Eternal Peace I AM SENT with a Commission to declare all these things to men to the end that peradventure some of them may be Converted and Repent that they may Reign with Jesus Christ in his Glory But wickedness is come to so great an height that the Truth can't be declar'd to Men at least they will not any more receive it They love nothing but Flattery and lies and reject the Truth because it agrees not with their way of Living for he who will continue in his Sins and Errors will say that we trouble him by Declaring the Truth to him and he who will not amend will say that we raise scruples to him by telling him the Truth that reproves him Thus all the World perishes without being desirous to be helped I AM CERTAINLY SENT FROM GOD to declare the Truth of every thing But no body will hear it but in so far as it is agreeable to them and does not reprove them Should I study Sir to please Men or God A Messenger ought not to receive either Good or Ill when he is but the Minister of good or ill News without having caus'd them I have lov'd the Roman Church for I was born and baptized under her and have punctually follow'd her Ordinances and the decisions of her Councils when I knew them But since God has made me see that she is unfaithful to him and has forsaken him to join herself to the Devil ought I not to declare these truths to my Christian Brethren who are ignorant of them that they may not perish in their ignorance They would be much to blame to render me evil for good and to persecute me for procuring their Salvation for I have no advantage by declaring these truths to them except the obedience I owe to God and the charity I have for their Souls for otherwise I should beware of speaking things that are so disagreeable to them I ask'd her What person on Earth could be so wicked as to persecute her for declaring simply the truth that comes from God without any passion She said Sir all good men will perceive abundantly by my words that I am not mov'd by any vicious passions but by a pure desire of declaring the truth because I neither seek nor pretend to any thing from any body The friendship and hatred of men is all one to me there is nothing but the pleasing or displeasing of God that touches me Notwithstanding the Devil having so great a number of his adherents who are in authority he will excite them to rise up against me because of the truth which discovers his wickedness He has for a long time ruled in the Church under a colour of Holiness by which means he has gain'd the most Pious to be his Followers without their perceiving it But as soon as the Truth shall be shewn them they will easily discover his deceits and will abhor them This will enrage him against me and he will pursue me with all his force But I do not fear that he shall be able to touch me for God is my defence I will not fear all those Enemies how Powerful soever they may be The Lord whom I serve is above all things I have never done Evil to any Body but all sort of good to all according to my Power Nevertheless I shall not fail to be pursu'd and Persecuted by all those who are the Devil's adherents because by my means his head will be bruised and he will gain none any longer but by force for his falshoods and deceits will be discovered and brought to Light for those who desire to see and know them God indeed never forces any Body but he sends his Light into the World that every one that pleases may receive it I AM CREATED FOR THIS and cannot be silent when it shall be time to speak I will speak both in publick and private when it shall please God but still the truth without straying from it I doubt not but at first they will suspect me to be a Heretick because the Roman Church condemns as such all those who do not yield to her sentiments and for my part I look on all those as Hereticks who are contrary to the doctrine of the Gospel among which those Romanists are the first But this is a maxim which the Devil ordinarily observes to lay the blame on others of all the evils which he does himself By this means they will find the way to declare me a Heretick because they have denied the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I said to her That the Roman Church would be a strong adversary for she has great power and authority and will yield to nothing that is not agreeable to her Doctrine * She said Sir the power of that Romish Church shall be very shortly taken away by the Lord of Hosts who will destroy her in such a manner that of all those magnificences there shall not be one stone left upon another All her members shall be disjoynted and dislocated and without power She must bear rule yet for a little time and exercise her villanies outwardly as she has done for this long time inwardly her murders and imprisonments are at the door to the end her evil may have its full accomplishment both inward and outward Till then God will let her go on because his justice never inflicts a perfect punishment till the evil be perfect and compleat in all respects for evil always begets punishment according to the greatness of the evil the punishment is measured out I have no apprehension of her power because he who has given it will take it from her She will not do so much evil in killing bodies as she does now in killing Souls for it will be the happiness of those who shall die for
Sir that there is no Salvation without this Dependance let about it quickly without considering whether you have Sciences or any other thing Because God can make all work together for good A Man must not regard himself but the Will of God who desires that all Men of what condition soever keep themselves in a Dependance upon him yielding up their Free-wills under his Power without desiring to use them themselves I said to her That absolutely and irrevocably I resigned my self to God to be a true Child but that I found yet some difficulty to forsake the Church She said Soft soft Sir You must never renounce the Holy Church Rather die than do so You must only renounce the Abomination which is crept into the Roman Church now Do you not see that she has falsified her Faith to her Lawful Husband Jesus Christ and that she has not continued faithful to Him I would be well pleased if you could shew me so much as one Point that she observes of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ or so much as one thing that she practises which is not directly contrary to the Life and Doctrine of her Lawful Husband who came down from Heaven to Earth to teach her them both by Word and Deed All which Things are despised by her who ought to be his Spouse I have often spoke to you of her Excesses and her Adulteries Would you yet hold her for the Holy Church since the Devil has plac'd his Throne in her What Weakness of Spirit is it to feel a Repugnance to renounce a Thing so wicked under frivolous Perswasions that she is Holy When God gave us Understanding and Reason this was for no other end but to make us discern good from evil that we might not perish blindfold And now you would change the Designs of God by stifling your Reason and Understanding that you may follow evil blindly And when you see it so plainly evil you form some foolish Imagination that nevertheless it is good This must needs come from a pure Infatuation of Spirit For even Natural Reason discovers to us manifestly enough that the Roman Church now is not the Spouse of Jesus Christ because she does not follow her Husband in any thing and two so distant Things cannot make an Alliance How can you have a Repugnance to quit her who has abandoned her God If the Beasts and insensible Creatures and all the Elements did rise up against Man when he quitted his Dependance upon his God How should not Man who is so reasonable rise up against that Church who has quitted the Dependance upon her God because she will not depend any longer but upon her self One should rather have a Repugnancy to remain under her than to quit her Or else we have less Resentment of the Offence that is done our Creatour than the Elements and the Beasts or inanimate Things who have still resented the Wrong that was done their Creatour even at the Death of Jesus Christ the Rocks rent and the Sun was darkened Have you less affection Sir for your God than these Stones that you do not resent the continual Injuries which the Church does to God It a beautiful Angel became a Devil for having desired in his Heart to be equal to God what shall she become who prefers her self to the same God without desiring to give deference to him in any thing I do even bewail Sir your Blindness in this Point and I cannot believe that your Repugnancy proceeds from your Reasoning but from some Habitual Concern that you have for the Church For if you applied your Understanding to consider the Original of this Repugnancy you would see clearly that it proceeds from the pious affection that you have for the Church but that you do not take her where she is For we amuse our selves in this as in other Things with Terms and Expressions of Men And when we hear them call the Roman Church the Holy Church this Word begets in us an affection for her without discovering if it be she of whom they speak When they would beguile a Child and make him afraid of his Father they put his Cloak and Hat upon a Stick in some obscure Place which the Infant perceiving believes it is truly he and fears and respects him But if he draw nearer and take by the Cloak he perceives easily that he is beguiled and that what he took for his Father was but a Piece of Wood. Truly Sir in the Darkness in which we live at present they make us see just the like by covering Rome with the Cloak of the Holy Church and muffling her with the Head of Jesus Christ we Fear and Reverence her as if she were our True Mother the Holy Church Authorised by Jesus Christ and his Lawful Bride But when we approach nearer and lift up this Cloak we shall see clearly that 't is nothing but Wood instead of Holiness which can be of no use to us except to warm us in the Winter Season Truly Sir we ought not to be so much Children in what regards our Eternal Salvation We ought not to walk blindly in so important an Affair If Men apply their Minds wholly to make a Stocking or a Shoe why should not we apply them more to save our Souls It is good to have the Simplicity of the Dove with respect to God For he who is resigned to him ought to do nothing but let himself be guided by him as a Little Child But we must have the Prudence of the Serpent to take heed of Men who may deceive or be deceived And when they say Lo the Holy Church we must remark narrowly if she be truly so or if it be a Fagot covered with her Garment It is for this only that God gave us Understanding that we might still discern true Good from what is false precisely in the matter of our Salvation Because all other Things are vain and perishing unworthy of a serious Application of Spirit since it ought to apply it self only to Eternal Things for which we were created And our Misery arises from this that we make more serious Enquiries to discover the Turnings and Windings of the Affairs of the World than those of our Salvation In which the Scripture has reason to say that the Children of this World are wiser than the Children of the Kingdom Because before we engage in any Place Office or Traffick we still search narrowly if it is profitable and advantagious for us And we would take heed not to trust to Mens Words or to believe blindly that a Thing is good without having first made the Experiment of it If we have so much Foresight in what respects the Earth how much more ought we to have it for that which respects Heaven We trust our Salvation blindly to what they tell us that the Roman Church is our Mother the Holy Church and we do not dive into this Affair which concerns us so much
to know if really she has the Quality of our true Mother and if she be allied with our true Father who is unchangeable in all his Qualities to whom this Spouse ought to be alwayes conformable We must see if what they call our Mother has the Spirit and the Works of our Father and if we find no Likeness in her we must renounce her and hold her as a Deceiver and a Liar unworthy of our Affection The Twentieth and Seventh Conference Shews The true Marks whereby to discover where the True Church is and that it concerns every one to examine it I asked her How I might discover where my true Mother the true Church is What Marks there are whereby to know her that I may not be deceived She said Sir You shall discover her by this that she will follow the Footsteps of Jesus Christ and be wholly conformable to his Doctrine There is but one Church only as there is but one onely God and there is so strait a Bond and Alliance between God and the Church that they are but one and the same Thing as it is said that in Marriage Two are but one Flesh so in the Alliance of God with the Church two are but one Spirit God is the Bridegroom and the Soul is the Bride As it is said concerning Adam Let us make a Companion meet for him for it is not good that Man should be alone This is the Figure of what he had said before Let us make Man after our own Likeness because it was found meet that God should delight himself with something that was like to him For this cause he created the Divine and Eternal Soul and plac'd it in the Body and Understanding of Man that it might multiply and communicate it self For it is the Property of Good to be communicative This Divine Soul being form'd in Time must live for ever else it should not have been Divine nor capable of being united and ally'd to God who created it for these ends And as Adam and Eve ought to have been united in Heart Body and Will so the Soul ought to be united in Love Understanding and Will with God Not that Natural Love nor that Humane Understanding no more than our bounded Will Because all this has no Sympathy with God and they are but the Case wherein God has shut up this Divine Soul which is Free and Eternal as God This Divine Reason and Free-will make the Church by the Alliance that God makes with it which is much more strait than the Alliance that this Divine Soul makes with the Animal Soul of Man which do so nearly approach one another that no Humane Spirit is able to distinguish them no more than any can distinguish the Free and Rational VVill from God himself Because he has so straitly united them that the Soul is God and God is the Soul as the VVill of Eve was that of Adam so the VVill of the Soul is that of God By which you may still discover Sir where the Spouse of God or the True Church is Because where she is to be found she carries still along with her the same Qualities of her VVell beloved and when you do not find them in those who call themselves the Church believe firmly that they are all Cheats For the Spouse of God will be alwayes comely and there can be no Blemish in her Because she shall never be parted from the Qualities of her Husband alwayes Just Good True and All-powerful And when you shall see Sion Jerusalem Judea or Rome such as you call the Church to be fallen away from these Qualities never believe that she is your Mother the Holy Church Upon these Accounts Jesus Christ has so often warned you to beware of false Christs and false Prophets For they come to delude and deceive many Do not let your self be deluded Sir For there shall never be but one True Church which shall be united to God VVhosoever has not this Unity is not the Church but they are Seducers of the People who under this Cloak of God's Spouse do seduce many You must lift up your Head and look on high to see whence the Church took her Original and you will perceive that the Church is no other but the Alliance that God made with the Divine Soul of Man which he made his Spouse though she was unworthy of it He so ennobled her that he would joyn himself to her and ally with her by an indissoluble Alliance which can never end for the Two Parties are Immortal to wit God and the Divine Soul But to take for the Spouse of God Persons who are no wayes in the Spirit of God nor in Union with him and to reverence them as the Church is to wrong the Honour that we owe to God To see a Church seek the Honours Pleasures and Riches of this VVorld and to believe that she is the Spouse of God is to derogate from her Divine Quality and to ascribe the Honour to Vice that is due only to True Vertue VVe should not thus let them cover our Eyes as they do to those who are going to be hanged that they may not see their doleful End VVe must take off this Bandage that we may look about us and learn where the True Church is which can save us and not suffer our selves to be led on blind-fold to Eternal Death by VVords or false Appearances since Truth only is capable to save us I said to her That I had never yet discovered Souls united to God and that nevertheless I believed I was in the Church She said Sir You are deceived For the Church is no where but in the Souls that are united to God no more than a Woman can be the Spouse of a Man who has never approached her We must not believe that the Church consists in wearing a Garment of Purple or Red or Fine Linnen These are rather the Marks of the Reprobation of the falsely Rich Man who was buried in Hell and the Scripture brings no other cause of his Damnation than these Fashions of Apparel and that he was Rich and a Feaster If all these Things were Marks of his Damnation why should they be now a dayes the Marks of the Holy Church God is not changeable He cannot now unite to himself what he then Reprobated and Condemned No no Sir the Spouse of God will never be vain nor proud nor polluted with any sin For she is all pure Do not think that you are in the Church when you are under Persons who seek Riches of this World for such Souls are Adulteresses and have abandoned their lawful Husband and live in Adultery with the Kings of the Earth Which ought to make you abhor her instead of cleaving to her If you have never met with Souls resigned to God you have never found the True Church Because there never was any other and never will be hereafter She must
here or there Do not believe it no more than if they said to you Lo here is Christ or there go not out For where ever He is He operates all these Vertues with which you see the Woman in the Revelation is adorned I said to her That if all these Qualities were required in the Spouse of God I must ingenuously declare that I do not know the Church Because I know no Body who has these Qualities of the Woman in the Revelation and that the Roman Church was directly opposite thereto She said Sir So far as you see the Roman Church opposite to them so far you see her removed from being the Spouse of God which never goes without these Ornaments She is always true and these Romanists are in many Lyes They often condemn Saints for Hereticks And if they knew me I should be in the same condemnation For they cannot endure the Truth that reproves them but they would continue to Rule as the Spouse of God though they have quitted the Truth saying VVhat they bind and loose shall be so done in Heaven Even as if they had continued the Spouse of God and united to his Will From which they are far removed For they have nothing before their Eyes but their own Glory They are also very far from having the Moon under their Feet For Honour pleases them and they wear it rather on their Head than tread it under Feet and they delight in Pleasures of which they will not deprive themselves as far as they can possess them they will not put them under their Feet no more than Riches which they carry rather in their Hearts than make them their Footstool By which you may assuredly judge that the Church of God cannot reside there but the Whore who has falsified her Faith to her Lawful Husband For while she bears the Name of the Church she lives in continual Adulteries which she knows how to cover so well with Things lawful and permitted that it seems to all who have no good Judgment that these Whoredoms are Vertues Must not one have lost his Judgment if he have a Repugnance to quit this Infamous Strumpet who has for so long time by-gone wallowed in all sort of Filthiness under the colour of Holiness and of the Spouse of God without having discovered her Infamies which would be so manifest to all the VVorld if they had removed that Bandage of blind Obedience which has so closely shut their Eyes If you know none Sir who has the Qualities of the VVoman in the Revelation you may say in truth that you do not know the Church and pray to God that he may let you know Her The Twenty Eight and Last Conference Teaches that all the Lawes as well that of Nature as that of Moses and of the Gospel are only true Means to attain to a Dependance of our Will upon that of God That this is the old Leaven which the Woman took and put into three Measures of Meal which are these Three Laws given by God in divers Times which Jesus Christ compares in his Parable to Three Measures of Meal and that a Woman now takes this Old Leaven of Dependance upon God to put it into these Three Laws that it may leaven the whole Lump and make Bread of it for the Nourishment of Gods Children I asked her How I should behave my self since I knew not the Church which I ought to follow and love She said Sir The Gospel is your Mother because it proceeded from the Wisdom of God this is what you ought to follow without seeking for an imaginary Church among Men The Word of God is the Nourishment of our Soul The Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the Rule that we must follow to become the Spouse of God This is the Seed that begets that Spouse Do not search through the Streets or Corners of the City for your Well-beloved for you will be beaten by the Souldiers that stand there Enter into this Closet and Doctrine of the Gospel and there you will find the Nourishment of your Soul and the Means of abandoning your self to God to be his True Spouse and his Holy Church which is the same thing The Spouse of God is the Church and the Church is the Spouse of God and nothing can be it but they who have abandoned their Free-will to the Will of God Therefore I conjure you never to tye your self to any other Thing For God still forms his Spouses by his Word When Adam offended he re-called him by his Word which being by him heard and followed he thereby returned into a Dependance upon God And all the World having shaken off their Dependance upon God he preserved Noah and his Family therein by his Word which being heard and followed they were saved from the Waters of the Deluge And the Children of Israel who heard this Word and followed it escaped the being drowned in the Red-Sea And those among the Jews who heard the Words of Jesus Christ became his Spouses Whom we also may imitate Because the same Word is left us in Writing and we may become the Church or Spouse of God if we will hear and follow it We need not turn here or there but rather take the Thing in its Source and see the Obligation we have of being resigned to God and having through our Perverseness quitted this SELF-RESIGNATION the Means of recovering it are marked out in the Gospel which Jesus Christ has brought us upon Earth It is this Sir that you must follow I said to her That Jesus Christ in his Gospel had not directly taught this Dependance of our Will upon that of God as she deduc'd it She said That Jesus Christ had no other Scope in all his Doctrines but to bring back the Soul of Man into that Dependance upon God from whence he had turned away and that if he taught any other Thing it was only to discover to Men the Things they had done or might do in Time coming which hindred this Dependance For otherwise He would never have taught any other Thing but that we ought directly to subject our Will to that of God But seeing He found Men so far from this Dependance and that they were distracted from it by so many different Means it was necessary that He should let them see in particular the Things that withdrew them from this Dependance upon God For they had Lorded it with their own Wills therefore he tells them that they who do not deny themselves cannot be his Disciples that no Body might flatter himself in believing he might be saved though he should follow his own Will And seeing that every one set their Affections upon the perishing Goods of this World he sayes to them Sell all that you have and follow me Because he knew no Body could be resigned to God while their Affections were set on Earthly Things Because the Love of God is incompatible with the Love of Riches