the Sun the Moon the Stars and all the Heavens he must confess that the Authour of all these Things is perfect and looking on the Earth the Trees the Plants and Elements he must discover an incomprehensible Divinity who had the Skill to make all these admirable Things Which obliges all that are Reasonable to Love him And when Man considers himself and sees the Art there is in the Fabrick of his Body in the Faculties of his Soul in the Subtilty of his Spirit he must confess that there is a God the Authour of all this to whom all Things ought to be ascribed Because no Creature is able to do any such thing By all which things a Man comes more perfectly to the Knowledge of God than by Sciences and the Expositions of all the Doctors of the World who have nothing but Limited Sciences The Twentieth and Third Conference Shews That it is by Faith only that we can be Saved which coming from God works still Resignation Even among the Heathens c. I said to her That all this Knowledge of God was nothing but the Faith of a Heathen that it was not capable to work Salvation that to be saved we must have a Divine Faith She said Sir You are ignorant yet of a great many Things For that Faith which you call Heathen is Divine because it comes immediately from God who has imprinted in the Soul of all Men this Divine Light that leads them to the Knowledge of the true God This is a Grace infused without the Concurrence of any Men which is much more perfect then the Faith we give to the Things they propose to be believed by us in the Roman Church many of which are very absurd and neither respect the Glory of God nor our Salvation They give us for an Article of Faith That there are Three Persons in God Though nevertheless no Creature can comprehend what is in God but by his Operations which we see with our Eyes as that he is Almighty that he is All just all Good and True Because all that we see he operates in us and in other Creatures bear these Three Qualities But to know if there be Three Divine Persons in God this surpasses our Capacity Because God is an incomprehensible Being and was never discovered by any so as to know what there is in his Divinity They propose also to us many Things for Articles of Faith which are not of its true Essence seeing no Body can be saved without Faith and they continually propose to us new Things for Articles of this Faith which our Forefathers never believed as such And if we cannot have true Faith now without believing them it were to be feared that our Forefathers were not Saved since they did not believe those new Things which are now proposed to us as Articles of Faith They never believed that the Virgin Mary was conceived without Original Sin and now they would make this Belief to pass for an Article of Faith Though nevertheless there is no appearance of Truth in it For the Virgin came out of the Masse of Adam as all the rest of Men And she did also undergo the Penitence common to all the Children of Adam having gained her Bread by Bodily Labour and suffered the Malignity of all the Elements and her Son Jesus himself shiver'd for Cold in the Stable of Bethelem shewing that he was a real Man descended from Adam subjecting himself to the same Penitence that our First Father had received and accepted from God in the Remission of his Sin Why should they now lay it before us as an Article of Faith that the Virgin was conceived without Sin since all Humane Creatures which are born of Parents who live under the Dependance of God having accepted the Penitence that God enjoyn'd Adam are all born in the Indulgence that God gave to Adam Wherefore should there be a particular Article of Faith for the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin as also for the Infallibility of the Pope seeing all these Things have no respect to the true Faith which must work out our Salvation For if the Virgins Conception was Immaculate or if the Pope be infallible this makes nothing for our Salvation nor as to the Knowledge we ought to have of a God upon whom all Things depend This Light infused in my Soul is true Faith and the Dependance that I desire to have upon the same God is the Work of my Faith What need is there to add yet to this the believing that the Pope is infallible since I have the same Light of Faith that tells me No Man can be infallible Since Adam created in Innocence and endued with all the Grace and Holiness that can be met with in any Man did fall and by failing so grosly shew that he was not infallible may not a Man who is a Sinner fail or err All these Faiths and Beliefs are not divinely infused by God into our Soul as that Faith is which makes us know a God above all Things All good All-just All-mighty but Incomprehensible This Faith Sir which you call Heathen is the True Faith which is able to work Salvation in all those who in consequence of it do through Love resign themselves to the same God I asked her If she believed the Heathens would be saved since they are not baptized She said Yes Sir All the Heathens who knew God by his Works and resigned their Will to him shall assuredly be saved For they had operating Faith True Faith in believing that there is One Almighty God who created the Heaven the Earth and all Things and they had the Works of Faith when they were resign'd to the Will of the same God Which appeared in all those who despised the Things of this Life for that which is to come They could not have done this but by a Divine Light that God infused into their Souls Because the Brutish Senses cannot despise the Pleasures of this Life For they know no other and Nature cannot betray it self by despising what is good for it to choose what is evil for it When we see one who may have Honours Riches and Pleasures in this Life and who yet quits them to be dispised poor and afflicted we may well believe that he has the Light of Faith infused by God into his Soul Because neither the Devil nor Nature would ever induce him to do such Things For no Body hates his own Flesh and the Devil incites alwayes to satisfie Nature And if we see one whom we call a Heathen quit the Conversation of Men and retire into a Solitude we may well believe that he has the true Light of Faith which makes Nature break off conversing with its like For Society is a most Lovely Thing Man is a Sociable Creature above all the other Animals and if the Beasts are sad when they are alone how much more must Man be so when he Lives according to Nature unless it
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
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
be some half-broken spirit who through Melancholly loves rather to be alone to give the more Liberty to its Black Humours This is not to be found in those who despise Conversation the better to wait on God and to be delivered from the Troubles they have to live among those who know not God but offend him every Moment How could I believe Sir that these Souls so excelling in Vertue should not be saved even though they are not Baptized since Baptism is only an outward Sign of the INWARD RESIGNATION which they have made of their Will to that of God That God who tries the Reins would he not save them for not having observed this outward Formality which is done in the sight of Men We have not a Political God who has need of the Testimony of Men when he sees the Essence of Faith living in our Inward Parts I reckon such Heathens to be more SAINTS than many of those who are Canonized by the Roman Church and wish Sir that you had attained to their solid Vertues that you had a perfect Contempt of this Life aspiring after another which will deliver us from so many Miseries and also an entire Resignation of your Will to that of God in which alone our Salvation consists and not in so many sorts of Means which they set before us as necessary Things or a Blind Faith of Things which often respect neither God nor our Salvation For though indeed it be Faith to believe that which we do not see nevertheless that is not to say that we must blindly believe all that they would perswade us For God has given us an Understanding to comprehend what is comprehensible of the Works of our Faith For Example We must believe in God Almighty who created the Heaven and the Earth We do not so see this God in whom we believe but nevertheless we see evidently that there must be an Almighty God when we consider the Works that he has done by his Almighty Power and therefore our Faith is not blind since it gives Light to see the Works of him in whom we believe But diverse of these Things which they propose to us as Articles of Faith are without any appearance of Truth as is the Infallibility of the Pope I asked her If one might be saved without believing all the Articles of Faith in particular She said Yes Sir we may be saved by the General Belief that there is one only God the Creatour of all Things provided that this Belief beget in us the resigning of our Will to God in whom we believe Because in this all Things are comprehended since by being resigned to God we fulfil all the Articles of Faith all the Commandments of the Law and the Evangelical Counsels And whereas it is said that all Christians are obliged to Learn the chief Points of our Belief nevertheless this is not that they must Learn this by Rote or by Words For it is enough to know the substance of them that we may observe them for this observing of them is more than to be able to tell them by Rote it is the same as to all the Articles of our Faith in particular It is of little moment that we have a particular Belief of so many Points if we do not observe them all in general by the resigning of our Will to that of God We have no need of doing any other thing to work out our salvation for if we had not quitted this Dependance upon God we should never have had the other Commandments nor the other Articles of Faith Our sins alone have occasioned all these Articles and all these Commandments and other Means And sin ceasing we should have no need of other Laws So that our sins alone have engendered the Law and the Articles of Faith which were given us only to reduce our Understanding to a DEPENDANCE upon God The first thing that God did to bring back Adam to this Dependance from whence he had withdrawn himself while he would needs become wise in himself he asks him Adam where are thou Not that God could be ignorant where Adam was since he knows all things But it was to recal his Understanding to the Consideration of what he had done in disobeying God that he might consider the miserable state to which he had brought himself while he would needs depend upon himself The first Precept that God gave Man was to make him know the state of his Soul asking him Where art thou To make him re-enter into himself and recollect his Senses that he might see whither he had strayed from a Dependance upon his God in which if he had continued there would have been no need of asking where he was since he would have been still in his presence But since he had withdrawn himself it was needful that God should call him back again by asking him where he was But as soon as Adam acknowledged his fault and offered himself to God saying Here am I Lord all confused and trembling not daring to appear before him but hiding himself as a Criminal before the face of his Judge then God gives him the second Precept saying That he should Till the Ground and gain his Bread in the sweat of his Face This was the Penitence enjoyned to satisfie for his sin which being through Grace remitted to him he ought nevertheless to suffer some temporal Punishments and this in Justice For God had not only bestowed on Man a Divine and Reasonable Soul and a Free-will to love him but also many Natural and material Graces Therefore it was not enough for Man that God had granted him the Remission of his Trespasses against him in restoring him by a second Grace his Reason and his Free-will but he ought also to satisfie for the Natural and material Graces which things have not essentially the goodness of God to pardon this Injury received from Man God who is good pardons him the Offence he had committed against his Majesty and even makes him a garment to cover his Nakedness that he might lessen his Confusion he takes care also to thrust him out of Paradise for fear he should come to eat of the Tree of Life and by this means live alwayes miserable All these Favours come from the Divine Goodness But the Elements the Earth and the other Creatures not having in them this goodness set themselves against Man and make him suffer that by Penitence he might pay for the Rebellion he had committed against their Creator This the Justice of God own'd by ordaining Adam to undergo the Pains that all these Earthly Creatures should give him Because they are justly irritated against Man who was constituted their Lord to whom they ought to be subject and to obey But since he was a Rebel against his God they ought in like manner to rebel against him and being Creatures uncapable of Mercy of necessity Man must satisfie them by a corporeal and
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
quiet and find leisure to entertain my self with God I think the plagues are so near that shortly there will be no need of Preachers to proclaim the judgments for the plagues will make themselves be felt sufficiently by unbelievers who in my opinion will be converted too late for the pains will be so great that they will not know whither to turn them for fear Never any such thing has been seen since the world was made I 'm afraid only for those who will not believe because they will not be converted and will not prepare for sufferings and being surpriz'd at unawares will be in danger of perishing with the wicked for thus it fell out in the time of the universal Deluge tho it is to be believ'd there were yet some here and there who feared God nevertheless all perished because of their unbelief Eight persons only did escape the shipwrack because they believed the word of Noah And now when we speak of the last times and of Judgment they think we tell them fables yea they reject them as untrue and impertinent discourses One says this will not fall out in my time and thus they thrust it out of their minds This has often troubled me for one must be without Charity who is not grieved to see his Neighbour perish while he will not believe his danger nor will he have help I said to her that the evil could not be wholly desperate so long as there was yet Life in man that he might still be converted that he has always God for his Father who abounds in mercy entreating her to discover these truths to men among whom there were yet some without doubt who would follow them and that Ignorance was the cause of their damnation She said Sir if there were not an infatuation of mind spread thro the whole world I would yet have some hope of the Conversion of some Souls in particular But this Antichrist by his Devilish arts has corrupted the minds of men especially of Christians that he might â—ender them stupid and without reason in the matter of their salvation and of the knowledge of God This stupidity cannot be humane for there are yet too many fine wits in the world to suffer themselves to be deluded by false perswasions that we are Christians and that the Roman Church is guided by the holy Spirit that all the Devotions which are used at present in the Church are things that perfect us or render us holy for there needs no more than a simple human reasoning to perceive that there is no Holiness nor Righteousness nor Charity among men now notwithstanding there were never so many Churches in the world so many Masses so many receivings of the Sacraments so many Priests Monks Religious and devout persons as there are at present Can we conclude that all these things which seem to be holy are withal good since they have produced so many bad effects Could holy things work wickedness in men as we see and feel it If this were only among the Heathens Jews Turks or Hereticks we might have some ground to believe that the Christians had receiv'd the grace of God by means of their Christian exercises and the common receiving of the Sacraments to live better than all those other Sects who are not the people of God or at least to be less wicked than they but we see the quite contrary that the Christians now adays have less of righteousness and charity than the Turks themselves and in the mean time they suffer themselves to be blinded with this amusement that they are Christians and will be sav'd with these seeming devotions and the receiving of the Sacraments Iâ— the Devil had not infatuated all their spirits it would be impossible that there should be so much as one how simple soever who would let himself be perswaded to believe a thing contrary to what he saw with his eyes felt with his hands and comprehended with his mind This is notwithstanding what all people do while they believe they are Christians and will be sav'd after the manner that they live now It is most true that the mercy of God is very great and men may be converted so long as they are yet in life but by what means do you judge Sir that they can be converted As long as they cannot be convinc'd that this outward Church is not the holy Church and that all those means of Salvation which she has appointed are not the true means no body will ever be converted For tho indeed their hearts were moved with compunction and repentance thro the fear of Gods judgments yet they would not return to true faith but would go seek for the cure of their souls in the Sacraments and the pious exercises to which they have been so long accustom'd and thus they would remain in the same state in which they were formerly without ever attaining to true repentance For if I should tell them the truth and teach them the true means of recovering the grace of God they would believe that I design'd to seduce and deceive them So much are they pre-occupy'd with lies and delusions I said to her That this proceeded from ignorance that she ought to declare in particular wherein true faith does consist that without doubt many would yet open their eyes and would embrace it there being many who desire not to be damn'd of whom I was one She answered There is no longer Faith Sir among the People of God It has been banish'd from them since men placed their faith and confidence upon one another from that time God has been forgotten Men have made it be believ'd that they would save one another tho' these Saviours cannot save themselves nor make one hair of their heads Nevertheless by their Perswasions they have made almost all the World to become Idolatrous Every one has forsaken the TRVE FAITH to follow and adhere to these men plac'd in Ecclesiastical Dignities whom they have follow'd and honour'd as Gods believing they had got enough when they knew how to please and content them Nature took its content thus the Mind its satisfaction In one word the true invisible and incomprehensible God has been raz'd out of the memory by these false ones visible and sensible to our Nature they have begun to make the way of Salvation broad whereas Jesus Christ made it narrow and the Divine and Spiritual Church they have rendred humane and carnal and thus they have become still worse till now that we are arrived at the height of all Evil. The greatest of all is that men do not perceive it for they are become insensible through so long a custom I believe indeed there are yet many persons who would not be Damn'd but what means is there to save them when they will not believe that they have abandon'd their true Faith And how can they be made to change so long as they believe that they are
well and secure 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 I Told her That I did not believe that I had true Faith and that she had sufficiently made appear to me that I could not be right therefore I desired to understand of her wherein true Faith does consist tho' it were but upon my own account for I desired to profit in it She said Sir let us examine a little together our Creed and see if there be so much as one Article of it observed even by the most perfect Christians now-a-days If we believ'd that God is Almighty that he created the Heaven and the Earth could we live without loving and fearing him as we do Could we also attribute to our selves the earthly good things which all the World seeks after and loves since they are all created by God and do all appertain to him in Property which we do daily usurp In the second place If we did believe in Jesus Christ the only Son of God who was conceived of the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary could we reject his Instructions since he is the Son of God the Fountain of all Wisdom Could we follow a Carnal Church seeing she is altogether Spiritual engendred in the Body of Jesus Christ by the operation of the holy Spirit Could we also live in Luxury when God chose a Virgin for his own Mother Would we not endeavour to love Virginity since God has so much esteem'd it Moreover if we believ'd that Jesus Christ the Son of God has suffer'd even so far as to be Crucified Dead and Buried could we live so softly seeking all eases to our Body not willing to suffer any thing that is painful nor affronts nor tribulations when we believ'd that the Son of God has indeed suffer'd for us even to a shameful Death yea was buried as a corruptible Man Would we not imitate or follow him at some distance in case we had the faith that we profess Moreover if we believ'd that he is risen from Death to Life that he is ascended into Heaven were it possible that we could love this present Life while we hope that we shall rise again since Jesus Christ is risen again to ascend unto Heaven Would not this withdraw our affections from the Earth through the hope of ascending unto Heaven with Jesus Christ Were it possible that we would build Houses and make so many other settlements as we do on Earth as if it were our abiding City And if we did believe that Jesus Christ will come from Heaven to judge the quick and the dead were it possible that we would live in so great a neglect of our Salvation with so little care of making ready our Accompts to render them to that great Judge who will demand of us an account of all our Thoughts Words and Deeds Would we not rather lay aside all our worldly Affairs to attend on this which is the most important to us yet on the contrary is often the least of our â—ares And did we believe likewise that there is a holy Spirit and a holy Church is it possible that we would be so little Spiritual so Natural and Earthly so wedded to our Senses in which we live sometimes more brutishly than the Beasts themselves whereas our Souls ought to be wholly Spiritual and Holy since we have a Holy Spirit and a Holy Church And did we believe the Communion of Saints is it possible that every one should be so much wedded to his own Interest and Wealth If Prayers and good Works ought to be all common amongst Christian Brethren how much more ought temporal Wealth to be for the succour of our Neighbour which is very far from Mens dispositions now who study nothing but to keep up and increase their own Wealth understanding no other thing but mine and thine both in Spirituals and Temporals And did we believe in the remission of Sins how would we be penitent and contrite to obtain the pardon of them instead of continuing in them through hardness of heart as we see the most part of men do who finish their Lives in black thoughts and despair instead of having immediate recourse to mercy according to their belief For he who has promised the remission of Sins has not promised them time to persevere in them If this belief were real they would not persevere in them for one day for they are not certain of living so long And did we believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh how could we love and esteem our flesh in a condition so miserable as that of this mortal Life We would greatly contemn it in the hope we had of its Resurrection l in which it should live most happy delivered from so many miseries calamities and maladies under which it groans during its exile in this miserable World which setting aside the hopes of its Resurrection must rather be called Death than Life the belief of this Article would give a disgust of the delights of this present Life and make us aspire towards that to come And did we believe in Life eternal what would we not do to obtain it We would voluntarily forsake Father Mother and all our Goods to obtain this eternal Life for it deserves more than a thousand Worlds which cannot last but for a small time in respect of Eternity whereas we see the most part of men so in love with this miserable Life that they would fain abide here for an Eternity though it be filled with miseries and calamities Do you not see Sir that there is no more faith in the House of God That no body lives conformably to his belief That they place faith only in Words as I have told you formerly They say over it may be every day their Creed and yet they do not observe so much as one Article of it These are nothing but words that vanish into Air and nevertheless they would take it very ill to make appear to them that they have not true faith tho' it be always operative and never idle True faith works always the vertues of which I told you in the Souls which possess it and if these operations are not seen it may indeed truly be said that these Souls have not faith for it can never be any where without operating its vertues no more than the Sun can be without giving his beams Consider it well Sir and you will find my saying true and you will condemn your self I told her I perceived clearly that People lived in a distraction of spirit and that few persons knew themselves That it was no wonder they knew not God since they did not know themselves and that truly we were deceived She replied Sir he who knows God will always know himself and he who knows himself will assuredly know God for the one is linked unto
the Bad had the Free-Will of their Children joyn'd to their own and might save and damn the Soul of their Children as they might save and damn their own Soul because they were inseparably joyn'd and united together for Good and for Evil So that Baptism cannot save the Soul of a Child who is without the Grace of God thro' the Free-Will of his Parents and the want of this Baptism cannot hinder the Salvation of an Infant who is in the Grace of God thro' the Free-Will of his Parents tho' he should die without being baptized For if this outward Baptism be so necessary to Salvation the Primitive Christians and they who followed them would have baptized young Infants and likewise all those immediately who came in to be Christians On the contrary they kept many in the State of Catehcumens for a long Space of Time during which they might die as 't is to be believed many did Those who had the Will to follow Jesus Christ perfectly should they have been damned for not having receiv'd the outward Sign of Baptism No no Sir It does not go so before God as Men make us believe For a real Desire only to be a Christian is capable to save us even tho' we should die without Baptism because God searches the Heart and trys the Reins having more Regard to the Baptism of Desire than to that of Water which is given only to confirm the Will of the Heart of Man and if we should be surprized with Death e're we have made this outward Confirmation we should not for this cease to enjoy Eternal Life and to reign with God in his Glory I said to her That many Fathers had written of the Necessity of being baptized and that it was taught thro' all the Roman Church that Baptism gives Salvation to all those who receive it that it even cleanses from all actual Sins if we have been defiled with them before Baptism She said I know not what the Fathers say nor what is taught by all the Romanists but I declare to you what God makes me know and understand in the Inward of my Soul I do not think that all they who are baptiz'd shall be sav'd for Jesus Christ has said that they who believe and are baptiz'd shall be saved Now Infants newly born are not capable of believing and if their Parents be wicked they likwise have not Faith to believe in the Name of their Children how therefore can Baptism work Faith since Jesus Christ places it before Baptism Faith must be the chief Piece for working Salvation which being wanting Baptism can do nothing How would you therefore have wicked Children to be saved by Baptism For Example A Sorceress being with Child gives her Soul to the Devil and also that of the Child which she bears and as soon as it comes into the World it is carried to Baptism and thereafter dies By what do you think that this Child should be saved If it be not capable of having Faith and if its Parents have denied God should the Water of Baptism alone have more Force than the Free-Will of its Parents who would give it to the Devil with the Consent of their Will Can God resist their Will after having given them the Power of enjoying this Free-Will both in regard of their own Salvation and that of their Children We see that by an exact Justice Subjects bear the Punishment of the Sins of their Kings as David's People were chastized for the Adultery and Murther which their King had committed How should not Children bear it with much more Reason for the Sins of their Parents who have much more of Union and Dependance than the King with his Subjects who has nothing over them but a voluntary Submission which they yield to him I said to her That no Christians doubted but that a Man must be baptized to be saved and that none could enter into Paradise without having received Baptism To which She replied Sir if this were true it would be a great Unhappiness to many good Men who are dead long ago because many were not baptized aright thro' the Fault of the Priest who may be did not pronounce the Words of Baptism thro' Neglect or his Mind being carried otherwise or he had not the Intent to baptize or which is worse if the Priest who baptized was a Sorcerer as it falls out but too often and instead of baptizing Children in the Name of God he should give them to the Devil all these Persons ill baptized must according to your Saying be damned even tho' they should have lived holily in case this Baptism were so necessary to Salvation God would be cruel thus to damn Persons for the Fault of some wicked Priests who had no Relation neither to their Souls nor their Bodies Nevertheless it should be in his Power to save or damn all those whom he should baptize Truly Sir these Sentiments which they have of God are insupportable to me because they contradict his Justice and Truth They must be ignorant of him to believe that he would yield up the Salvation of his People to the Disposal of some wicked Man who adhering to the Devil might give him all the Souls of those whom he should baptize If he left us the Free-Will to save or damn our selves and that he himself would not reserve this Power over us but still leave our Free-Will to act without forcing us to Salvation nor yet hindring our Damnation when such is our Will how should he give to a Man the Power of being able to damn us by an evil Baptism There can be no Appearance of Truth in this and if it be difficult for you to believe that Parents have the Free-Will of their Children in their Power how is it not much more uneasie to you to believe that a Priest should have the Power to damn so many Persons thro' his Fault of not having the Intention to baptize them aright For Parents have contributed to the Formation of the Body and the Soul of their Children whereas this Priest has never known them And what Jesus Christ said to the young Man in the Gospel that to be saved he must keep the Commandments would not be true in case Baptism were so necessary seeing he who should keep them without being baptized could not be saved since Salvation depends on Baptism I was so convinc'd by such powerful Reasonings that I knew not what to reply Nevertheless I yet said to her that Faith was necessary to Salvation with Baptism but that it is supposed the Faith of the Parents supplies that of the Children and that the Godfather and Godmother are likewise taken to confirm it in Name of the Children She said Sir it is an ill-contriv'd thing to baptize Children before the Use of Reason For they cannot have Faith and their Parents or Godfathers and Godmothers are also sometimes void of it They content themselves
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
nor any Created Thing because he contains all in himself But he has chosen our Will for himself that it being united to his own he might take his delight and pleasure in it Consider a little Sir how far we stray from the Designs of God while we thus use our own Will in all Things without discovering the Wiles of Satan who under good and pious pretences leads us at his pleasure from a Dependance upon God and yet we do not perceive it I said to her That it was an Infatuation of Spirit that no Body saw precisely the necessity of this Dependance but they imagin'd it was enough to believe in the general that God is our Creatour and that we have receiv'd all from him She said Sir Faith without Works is dead It is not enough that we believe by way of Speculation That we have received all from God but on the contrary this belief will render us more guilty For to believe that God is our Creatour and that all Things appertain to him and notwithstanding of this Belief to desire to rule upon Earth as Soveraigns of our own Will and not to submit it but by constraint to all that God permits to befal us against our own Inclinations this is directly opposite to our Belief and so is it to believe also that we received all that we have from God and nevertheless to use all these things according to our Appetites and Inclinations as all the World does For he who has received a good Judgment applies it to acquire Sciences Offices or Dignities in this World forgetting that this Judgment pertains not to him but God only gave it him that it might be applied to know and love him and if he apply it to any thing else he must render a strict account of it Nevertheless no Body considers this Every one thinks he is Master and Lord of his own Understanding and may dispose of it independently according to his own Will It is the same also with him who has Wealth he makes himself Lord and Master of it even as if it belong'd to him in property He employes it in Glory Pomp and Vanity or other Pleasures of his Body or Mind or in the Things to which he finds himself most inclin'd as if he had created these Riches himself and held them of none and while he says by Word that he has received all from God yet notwithstanding he will not use them but according to his own Will And thus by his Deeds he belies what he say by Word Thinking to deceive God he deceives himself and is his own Ruine For while we will use our own Will in all things we withdraw from a Dependance upon God which is so necessary for our Salvation The Fifteenth Conference Shews how every thing must be used to keep us in a Dependance upon God I asked her How every thing ought to be used that we may have this entire Dependance upon God She said Sir We must first consider for what End we were Created And seeing that it was to Love and Serve God we must apply our selves to nothing else except by the by in necessary Things reserving all our Affections for him who Created us for these Ends And whether we have Wit or other Talents of Body or Mind or Riches Honours and Prosperity we must never use these Things but for the Glory of God Because all pertains to him and we are but the Stewards of them liable to give an Account And we ought to manage them so well that nothing may be used but by the Appointment and Will of God which we ought always to inquire into and follow and never our own Will for it ought still to depend upon him who gave it Could God demand less of us than the Dependance of our Will on his after he had given us our Body with all its Properties and our Soul with all its Faculties and this Beautiful World with all that is in it to enjoy them fully at our Wish with Joy and Ease demanding nothing else for so many Gifts Graces and Prerogatives but the Resigning of our Wills to his notwithstanding of which Man is so ungrateful unthankful and unreasonable as to deny it to his God his Creatour This Dependance of our Will so small a Gift that God asks of us should it be refus'd him when we know that all comes from him and that his Goodness has so advantagiously bestowed Favours on us Truly Sir this Ingratitude deserves that all the Creatures rise up against Man to take Vengeance of the Injury he has done his Creatour in denying him the Dependance of his Free will and that he will dispose of it himself Even insensible Things are obliged by strict Justice to avenge such an Ingratitude Which will be very speedily done Because the Measure is full All Men harden their Hearts and stop their Ears against Gods Demand Of resigning their Wills to his Will None will hearken to it any longer Therefore the Sentence of Universal Rods is given out and shall not be revoked Because none will revoke the Resolution that every one has taken of following their own Will in every thing and will not depend upon God as if we were our own Soveraigns I said to her There were yet some Persons in the World whose Wills were resign'd to that of God She said Sir I know none of them But I do not know all the World If there be some yet scattered up and down the World God will take them into his particular Care But the General Judgment shall not be delayed for this The Plagues shall encrease still even till the Consummation of all Evil and if they go on leisurely it is to give Time and Leisure to Men of Good Will that they may be converted and repent of their Ingratitude yeilding up to God the Free-will that he so freely gave them to use it according to his Will This is now done by few or none We hear nothing else said but I will be resign'd to God while in effect all the World follow their own Will Some give themselves eagerly to Study some to Trade some to the Law to Offices Benefices and that uncessantly till every one has obtained their Pretensions And we settle our selves upon Earth as an abiding City or as if we were created for this Miserable Life here we build Tabernacles as if we were to remain in them always while we see our Friends and Neighbours dye in a little time and we know that none stays here but every one dyes in his turn some sooner and some later without knowing at what Hour our turn will come We are born in Miseries in which we live and dye without seeing any other End for our selves but Death which may make us sufficiently comprehend that we are not created for this Life but we must look for another For God could never have had so low an End in creating us as the the
from whom he holds all that he has If he dye in this Ingratitude he must by straight Justice go to Hell since he denies God a Thing which is so lawfully due to him as the Dependance of a Creature upon its Creatour Nothing can ever be demanded that is more equitable and nothing can be more damnable than to use our Free-will in prejudice of the Designs that God had in creating Man Ruler over all provided he acknowledged his Dependance upon the Will of God And as Adam lost himself by quitting this Dependance so all Men ruine themselves who do not submit their Will to that of God Because their Salvation depends on doing this and not on many other things which they teach us as necessary to Salvrtion All which cannot save us without this Dependance For his Law cannot save us nor all our Devotions and Means unless they bring us to this Dependance of our Wills on the Will of God All other Things put together cannot save us I said to her That Men were very blind in this Matter and very far out of the True Way For they do not suppose That we must have our Will resigned to God thus independently from our own but that to be saved it is enough to acknowledge That God is Soveraign over all and that also we keep his Commandments She said Sir I greatly pity the Blindness of Men Because they go astray under false Suppositions of their Salvation This is Faith to believe that God is the Soveraign of all Things But this Faith is not sufficient for Salvation It must be accompanied with the Works of Faith that according to our Belief we may give to God the soveraign and absolute Dominion of our Will and that he may thereby operate his Will in us This Resignation is the Work of our Faith Without this Work we have only a dead Faith which cannot save us but would serve for our greater Condemnation For He who knew his Masters Will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes To know that God is the Soveraign of all Things and not to yield up our Will to be governed by him is worse than not to know his Soveraignty Because this Faith and Belief obliges us to resign our selves wholly to him whereas the Ignorance of this Faith might in some manner excuse us for a time because we are obliged to search and find out all things necessary for our Salvation If we be ignorant of them at one time we must study to learn them at another For Ignorance does not excuse Sin God has given us an Understanding for no other End but to Know and Love him and to know what is necessary for Salvation If we apply it to other Things we are deceived and amused by the Enemy who is well pleased to divert our Understandings to Earthly Things that we may perish through Ignorance or by the Straying of our Minds He who thinks to be saved because he has not Killed Stolen nor committed the other Sins contained in the Decalogue is greatly deceived For these things are not spoken but for Malefactors who quitted a Dependance upon God to follow their own Wills in doing which they fell into all the Sins contained in the Ten Commandments Which moved the Goodness of God to give them this Decalogue that they might discover their Sins and abstain from them in Time coming For before these Sins God never gave any other Law to Man but this of resigning his Will to the Will of God So that he who should abstain from committing the Sins contained in the Decalogue should not be saved if withal he did not resign his own Will to that of God because it is not enough to depart from Evil we must also do Good and having no Good but what comes from God of necessity that we may do Good we must be resigned to him because our own Will leads us always to Evil. By which it appears clearly that the Resignation of our Will to that of God is the only Mean of our Salvation and that no Body shall ever obtain it by any other way than by this Resignation of Will to God I said to her That this being so it had been desirable that never any thing else had been Taught Men And that so many other Precepts and Means had made them hope for Salvation without Ground She said It is true Sir It had been better never to have been instructed in any thing else but in the Obligation we have to resign our Will to that of God This was purely true and Man could not fall into any Errour by this Doctrine but it was also very good that after we had quitted our Dependance God gave us the Ten Commandments that by their Means we might know our Faults without the knowledge of which we might have perished through Ignorance as every one does now by being ignorant That to be saved our Will must depend upon God For every one uses his own Will at his pleasure without considering that in doing this he cannot be saved Even so they went on in all the sorts of sins contained in the Ten Commandments and in the mean time believed they were resigned to God as we now believe we are while we follow our own Will These Commandments were necessary Means to make us return to a Dependance upon God For all those Sins do hinder this Dependance and do oppose the Works which God works in us They must be removed before God have the Dominion of our Souls and ere he can govern them according to his Will Even so we must deny our own Will if we would obtain Salvation For it is still opposed to the Will of God doing its Works either at the Will of the Devil or else according to our natural Inclinations Which cannot be but evil If they had only taught the Commands of God as necessary Means to be resigned to him this had been a desirable Thing For by showing that whosoever is resigned to God does not Kill nor Steal nor do any thing contrary to the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God they would discover to all those who did commit such Things that they forsook their Dependance upon God and followed their own Wills that the knowledge of this might make them return to God whom they had forsaken But many other Means which they have taught as necessary for Salvation prove rather Means to hinder it Because many outward Devotions the Ornaments of Churches Images Beads a great many Books and Prayers with a Thousand other Practices which neither God nor Jesus Christ taught prove great Hindrances of the Resignation of our Will to that of God For instead of having our Spirit free to Jet God Act in it what he shall find meet we fill it with our own Affections and keep our Will fixt to some Image Prayer or Devotion which pleases our Humour And thus our Soul not being empty God cannot fill it Thus we