Righteousness exceed not that of the Pharisees you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Nevertheless there are very few who attain to the Righteousness of the Pharisee and yet every one believes he shall be saved tho' he has neither Divine nor Humane Righteousness Must there not be many deceived at Death For to have the Goodness of God also a Man must do Good to all without respect of Persons and he must not do Evil For he who is evil in something ceases to be good and to partake of the Goodness of God who does always good and never does evil And to have the Truth of God a Man must be true in all things which Men are very far from For they lye in all things to God to themselves and to their Neighbour They lye to God in saying that they love him and are resigned to him while there is not so much as one Person in the World that is resigned to the Will of God Every one will needs depend on himself and follow his own Will or that of some other Peâ—soâ— he has chosen for these Ends and is not satisfied with the Will of God except in so far as it is conformable to his Inclinations We lye also to our selves persuading our selves that we are Christians tho' we do not in any of our Actions follow the Instructions of Jesus Christ We make our selves believe that we are just and vertuous that we would not offend God in any thing while we do it every Moment having nothing in the sight of God but an imaginary and hypocritical Righteousness and Perfection We lye also in respect of our Neighbour who looking upon our outward Works of Devotion or Habits or Words thinks that we are such before God as we appear but it is not so In fine we are as far remov'd from the Truth of God as Hell is from Heaven and also from his Righteousness and Goodness and yet we think to be saved What a great Presumption is this of Salvation without good Works which will never be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other For we will never repent because of unknown Blindness For he who shou'd know it wou'd endeavour to find out a Remedy or Cure and would say as the blind Man in the Gospel Lord that I may see But as long as we believe that we see clearly we take no care to search for Remedies to an evil that we will not know which causes the Damnation of all Men in the World because none are free of this horrible Darkness These last Words made me tremble being joyned to those she had said before that there was not so much as one Man in the World who was resigned to God I asked her how it was possible that God should create all Men to be damn'd She said Sir God hath created no body to be damn'd but all Men for Salvation For God can damn no body It must needs still be that Man damns himself of his own Free-Will otherwise God shou'd do an evil thing which he cannot do but does all good This being so Sir you must ask Men each one in particular how is it possible that they damn themselves But you must not ask God how is it possible that each one is damn'd For he wou'd answer it is because they 'll be so of their own Free-Will which shall never be taken from them Every one damn us himself for his own particular and all these particular Damnations being put together make this general Damnation which God cannot hinder For he cannot save so much as one Soul without the Consent of the Free-Will which he has once given it letting each one enjoy this Free-Will without any Constraint all Men in particular are free to damn themselves as they do because they will not resign themselves to the Will of God which Resignation wou'd assuredly save them rendring them happy both in this World and the other But since we will not continue in a Dependence on God but will follow and depend on our own Wills we render our selves miserable both in this World and to all Eternity The Sins of our first Parents ought to have made us wise For by forsaking this Dependence they brought on themselves all sorts of Miseries and we not satisfied to groan yet under these by participation do daily encrease them by our own proper Resolution that we will not be rul'd and govern'd by the same God who demands of us the same Dependence which he demanded of those our first Parents which we do constantly deny him and will needs depend on our own Will and follow it as much as we can without informing our selves of the Will of God Now every one doing this as to his own particular is it a Wonder that all in general perish since none in particular will resign himself to the Will of God without which no body shall be saved I ask'd If God could have created so beautiful a World with all that is within it only for Men who will damn themselves since all in general will needs depend on their own Wills and that no Person in the World is resigned to the Will of God She said God has not created this beautiful World Sir for these Men who shall be reprobated but for the Elect only and those who of their free Choice and Free-Will shall depend entirely on God and be ruled and governed wholly at his Pleasure renouncing altogether their own Will and Desires These shall enjoy to all Eternity this beautiful World with all that is within it in all Perfection as I have already told you Sir the World shall last always and none of the Works of God shall ever perish neither Men nor Beasts nor any other Creatures but each of them in their kind shall remain for ever for the Honour of God and the Delight of Men who shall live after the Extermination of all Evil. But if the Men who live now will not resign themselves to the Will of God but follow that of the Devil or their own These shall not possess the World but shall only sojourn in it for a little time and they shall go out of it without carrying any thing away but the Sins with which they have loaded themselves during so short a Voyage But all that is beautiful and good in the World shall remain for the Elect who shall enjoy it to all Eternity For if this were not we shou'd have indeed a mean God who had created the Sun the Moon the Stars all the Elements so many different Creatures as there are in the World and all this only for the Devil and for Men who will damn themselves as they do at present It wou'd follow that God shou'd have little Power to be thus frustrated of his Pretensions in having created so many excellent things if they shou'd serve only for the Use of the Reprobate and the Devil shou'd carry
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
how far he is from the State of the Blessed that Jesus Christ has marked out in the Eight Beatitudes and if he desire to recover them what need he has to take up a Life wholly new and to become as a new-born Infant who lets himself be govern'd by his Heavenly Father Neither Years nor Learning can hinder the resigning of our selves to God that he may rule us as it shall please him For the more we are advanc'd in Years the more haste we ought to make to attain to Salvation because we have no more Time but the small part of our Life that remains The Conversion of those come to Years ought not to be delay'd one Day because their Life may be gone and then there is no Recovery for after Death there is no Remission The Learned ought also to consider that all their Learning is nothing but Ignorance in the sight of God which becomes often a hindrance to his Grace and that the Time is come that he will destroy the wisdom of the wise and abolish the prudence of the prudent that all may receive the Kingdom of Heaven as little Children I said to her It was very desirable to be of the number of those true Converts and that I would be the first who would resign all to God as a little Infant She said Sir No body can be entirely converted if he do not know what is Sin and also true Vertue These Two Things are necessary For otherwise one will think he is converted while he is yet full of Sins and has not acquir'd any solid Vertues Therefore I have spoken so particularly to you that you may not abide in the darkness which surrounds all the Men of the World There may be yet many who desire to be converted But few of these know their inward Sins and yet fewer know what is true Vertue All these would make false Conversions in the sight of God For if one does not know his hidden Sins he cannot amend them and if he know not what true Vertue is he cannot put it in practice The ignorance of these Two Things hinder a Man from being converted to God or yielding himself to be governed by him This is therefore what he ought first of all to learn to know the state of his own Soul in what degree of sin it is and also in what degree of true Vertue If these things were known there be many who would embrace the Spirit of Penitence and resign themselves to God as little Children But because they know not the state of their own Conscience many do insensibly perish not knowing their Misery If you desire Sir to be resign'd to God as a Child think that all you have done hitherto is worth nothing and cast your self into the Arms of God who is your Father as a Child who cannot speak that he may teach you all things He will certainly do it For he desires our Conversion When we withdraw from him by our Sins he suffers it because he will not take back the Free-will that he has once given us For he is unchangeable in all his Works But as soon as we return to him by Penitence he receives us as the Father did his Prodigal Son owns us for his Children and the Heirs of his Glory But if you resolve to adhere to your own Wisdom you will never receive the Holy Spirit You must become simple as a Child and not use your own Will any longer resigning and committing it wholly into the Hands of God giving him the Reins of your Will that he may guide and direct it as it shall please him and that you may no longer abuse it as you have done hitherto Which you must acknowledge with Regret For if our Will had been govern'd by God we had never fallen into such Extremities of all Evils I said to her I must acknowledge my Will had not been govern'd by God because I knew not as I do now the way how to resign my self to God She said Sir No body can be saved who knows not that he must be entirely resigned to God For this is the first and last Commandment that he has given to Man And to say better It is the only thing that God requires of Man If we would absolutely depend upon God we should fulfil all the Law and the Prophets This is the one thing needful All that ever I can say Sir is comprehended in THE DEPENDANCE that we ought to have upon God for he has never demanded any other thing of Man nor will he so long as the World shall last but this Dependance that he owes to God It is a very small Matter that he asks of us 'T is a great Ingratitude also for us to deny this Dependance upon him since he is the Lord and Creatour of all Things has created us of Nothing and gives us all that we have to enjoy in full Liberty provided only we still acknowledge our Dependance upon him in all Things This Great God could he demand less of a silly Worm of the Earth than the Acknowledgment of Dependance upon its God This is so just a Thing that though God had never declared to Man that he desir'd this of him he was oblig'd always to acknowledge it since all came truly from him and he had bestow'd on him so many Favours and Prerogatives which should oblige him to a continual Gratitude even though he had never had any thing beyond Natural Reason For it is said that even Brute and Cruel Beasts have been sensible of a Benefit received from Men all the Days of their Life and Man endued with so accomplisht an Understanding will not acknowledge the Dependance he has upon God nor yield up his Will to his even though he be so good as to desire it For if God were not an Excess of Goodness he would rather disdain Men of so little Worth than permit them to unite their Will to his Nevertheless he permits and desires it yea rejects and threatens those who will not do it as Jesus Christ threatned St. Peter when he would not be washed by him If we had but a little of Judgment we would entreat God to permit not only that our Will may be united to his but rather that ours may be wholly annihilated and that he may exercise his own over us only and absolutely I asked her What she meant by saying That the Acknowledgment of our Dependance upon God was the only Commandment since God had given us so many others She said Sir There is no Essential Commandment but this All the rest are Accidental For when God created Adam and in him all Men he gave him Power over all Sublunary Things having made all the Beasts subject to him that he might rule over all as a Little God without any Reservation except that he should always acknowledge the Dependance that he had upon his Creator Which being done
notwithstanding be somewhere in the World though she were but in one only Soul Because the Works of God can never perish He has made this Alliance with the Soul of Man and he will never retract it There have been in all Times some who have been his True Spouses and resigned to him but at present they are very rare Strive Sir so to do as that yours may be so and then you shall not need to seek the Church without you For as soon as your Will is resigned to God he unites it to himself and makes your Soul his Spouse Whether others whom you know be so or not concerns you little And though all the Souls of Men were God's Spouse if yours be not you lose all I asked her Whether God had not had a True Spouse still since the Creation of Adam and if the People of Israel the Jews or the Christians were not his Spouse She said Sir There have been in all Times some Souls among these People who were resigned to the Will of God These in particular were the True Church but not all that People Though indeed they all called themselves the People of God yet nevertheless they were not so For it is said somewhere If you were the Children of Abraham you would do the Works of Abraham To shew that all God's Children are not his Church or his Spouse but those only who do the Works of the Spouse That is to say who are joyned by a Resignation of their Will to that of God Those are the only Spouses of the same God This Alliance of God with Man was first of all made when Man was created The Soul of Adam made an Alliance with God and became his Spouse But being afterwards in the Earthly Paradise the Soul of Adam though Divine falsified its Faith to its Husband and instead of taking its delight only with its God for whom it was created it joyned it self in affection to the Creatures and did eat of a Fruit of which God had forbidden him to eat But as a good Husband does not still put away his Wife for One Fault that she has committed so also God the Fountain of all Goodness does not cast off the Soul of his Alliance though she had but too much merited it On the contrary he seeks Her and calls upon Her to make her return to his Friendship He cries Adam where art thou As if he had said Wherefore hast thou forsaken me He shews him also that he lov'd him by covering him with a Garment to lessen his Confusionâ— and seeing he was ashamed and repented God forgives him his Fault and enjoynes him only a short Penance to wit That he should be deprived of his Presence during this Life during which he must labour for his Bread But he does not at all break the Alliance he had made with him His Soul remains still the Spouse of God except that it is deprived for a certain time of its wonted sight of Him being restored as to other things into his Grace and Friendship For God will never destroy the Works that he has made And the Alliance he made with the Soul of Man was not broken off by his Sin Because the Mercy of God surpasses all his other Qualities His Justice might have condemn'd Man and his Goodness ordains him only Penitence for his Sin In which he shews the Excesse of his Mercie and the Love he bears to Souls leaving them all in Adam free to be his Spouses none excepted For he could not forgive Adam without forgiving all his Posterity Because he held the Wills of all Men in his And being yet but one Man only and one Will only he could not pardon one without another For neither the Body nor Will of Adam were divided that one part might be pardoned and another reprobated I spoke to you of this already Sir but it seems you did not sufficiently conceive it Therefore I cursorily repeat it that I may the better shew you how God has always had a Spouse or Church For if he had not forgiven Adam none could have been the Spouse of God Because all were become his Enemies by his sin Which if they had continued to be he would not have been so unjust as to thrust Man out of the Earthly Paradise and oblige him to so hard a Penitence only to damn him at last as Men now affirm That God Reprobated some after the Sin of Adam If this were true he would certainly have confined them to Hell from the Moment of their Reprobation instead of sending them yet into this World to produce a perverse and reprobate Generation God could not be good nor just in doing this But really cruel and partial towards those Reprobates who might justly murmure against him with more reason than the Labourers who received no more for the Work of a whole Day than they who had wrought but for One Two or Three Hours For they had no reason because they received what was due to them and what they had agreed for but these Reprobated have Laboured as much as those Elect since they have all equally performed the Penitence enjoyned to Adam And if the Father of the Family gives as much to the Last Comers as to the First it is not that he is partial or that he savours one more than another but that he exercises his Goodness towards the Last because they had been no sooner called to Work of which they themselves complain saying Lord No body has employed us So that God exercises towards them both Goodness and Justice But if out of the Masse of Adam he had fore-ordained some Elect and others Reprobate he should have done against both the one and the other of these Qualities Which he cannot do And the Goodness and Mercy of God spreading themselves alwayes over all his Works he did assuredly Elect and Pardon all Men in general in Adam So that after him all they who will resign their Free-will to his are all his Spouses and his Church Therefore in all Times and in all Ages he has still had a Church upon Earth and will have till all Evil be at an end Since Adam many Souls have been resigned to the Will of God as he himself was after his Sin having never more re-taken their own Free-will but left it still to be governed by God subjecting themselves voluntarily to the Penitence that was enjoyn'd him These have been the Church and the Spouses of God Adam Eve and their Children until they had the use of their Reason were the First Church and afterwards Abel Enoch Noah and others who in like manner resigned their Will to God were at that Time the Second Church and thus going on from Time to Time this Church has always continued either of many Souls united to the Will of God or of few This makes nothing to the first Design that God had to Ally himself with the Soul of Man It is