from the wise nor the word from the Prophet come and let us smite him with the Tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words But God has quite other Designs the Lord has said according to the declaration of an other Prophet Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear and worship of me is nothing but formality and taught by the precept of men therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvellous work their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid This is an unavoidable judgment which they must resolve to undergoe and their resistance will only serve to make them be more entirely crusht by the powerful hand of God This will be to the little ones and to the simple matter of joy and gladness and they shall sing praises unto the Spirit of God whom Jesus Christ shall send to possess the place of that human and diabodical Spirit which he will extripate blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. If you have a sincere desire to be of the Number of these little and simple ones you will easily perceive by the Divine Light that is communicated to you that God begins to fulfill his word as well as the desire that we profess to have in that Prayer of the Church come lovely Spirit and renew the Earth You will afterwards be more fully convinc'd of this Truth by other works of this nature This is faithfully and sincerely communicated to you according to the Manuscript of the late Mr. De Cort who nourisht his Soul with these Truths by which he had been regenerated to God and incited to renounce the Vanities of this World I have neither added nor substracted any thing from it except some words at the top of the Pages and before the Conferences to serve for an Abridgment of the matter and a help to the memory of the Reader I began also to quote the passages of the Holy Scripture to shew that their is an entire conformity not only of the Doctrin Words and Sentiments but even of the Life Conduct Actions and other Accidents of this Maid with those who were heretofore unquestionably enlightn'd and govern'd by the Holy Spirit But since the prosecution of that Design would have required a great deal of time and since it may be probably supposed that most Readers will not give themselves the trouble of searching and examining so great a number of passages it was thought sufficient to illustrate the first Conference with all the particular Quotations as a sample of that absolute uniformity with the Spirit of God and his direction which might have been easily carried on throughout the whole Work And in the remaining part of the Book you will only find the most necessary passages cited or those which have most manifest relation to the Text. God grant Beloved Reaader that you may reap from this Work an Advantage which may dispose thy Soul to become a Child of his Grace and to receive his Holy Spirit This is the hearty and earnest desire of P. P. P. THE PREFACE OF Monsieur de Cort TO THE READER Friendly Reader I Here present you with an Account of what befel me in a Voyage I made to a far Country to come to which I travelled above a Year accompanied with several of my own Country-men who with me were Eye-witnesses of our meeting by the way with a Pilgrimess who spoke to us admirable and amazing Things that are capable of converting unto God all those who shall read or hear the hidden Secrets of the Righteousness and Mercy of God and the Blindness of Men and the Power which the Devil at present has over them The Thing is as profitable as astonishing for it has never been conceived or comprehended by any humane Wit It must needs proceed from a divine Understanding and it must needs be a Celestial or Terrestrial Angel for neither Philosophy nor Theology could ever teach me the Things which this Pilgrimess taught me in the small time wherein I travelled with her but in a way so simple and so unaffected that all her Words did pierce my Heart and enlighten my Understanding working in my Soul Joy and Compunction together I was at first quite transported beside my self and I thought all my Understanding was renvers'd while I heard her first Discourses being of Opinion that the Words of Jesus Christ were fulfilled in that he says I will destroy the Wisdom of the Wise and abolish the Prudence of the Prudent for of necessity all Men how knowing and learned soever they be must be struck dumb and confounded by the simple Wisdom of this Pilgrimess and I took it for a singular Mercy of God that he was pleased yet to declare his Secrets to any of his Servants wishing for the Memory of an Angel that I might be able to declare all that I heard of this Pilgrimess since nothing proceeded from her Mouth which was not profitable and most enlightning very convincing and powerful capable of converting the most hardned Hearts and obstinate Sinners But I must yield to my Weakness not being able to declare any other thing but what my Memory shall furnish me with being helped by some Remarks which I made when I had the conveniency of Writing I entreat the Reader that in this Narrative he may not seek for Ornament of Language nor Philosophical Discourses but the naked simple Truth since God makes use of weak Things to confound the strong I will not at all disguise or adorn her Language fearing to oppose the Designs which God has to manifest to all the World that he reveals his Secrets to Babes and that he resists the mighty and the proud Ones of the Earth from whom he conceals and hides his Secrets and Wonders For this Reason we have ground to say with S. Augustin The Ignorant and the Vnlearned take Heaven by force and we with all our Sciences continue drown'd in earthly Affections Are we ashamed to follow them because they have out-run us We ought rather to be ashamed not to follow them And to add here also the Words which the Pilgrims of Emaus said one to another when they remembred what Jesus Christ had spoken to them by the way while he explained to them the Holy Scriptures to wit Was not our Heart on fire and did it not burn within us when he spoke to us in the way and opened unto us the Holy Scriptures This Pilgrimess in speaking to us must certainly be animated with the same Spirit with which our Saviour was for each of us felt his Heart to burn by her powerful Words which did gently beget in our Souls a Contempt of created Things and a Love of Things eternal enlightning our Understandings by Truths so clear that they could not proceed from any other than from the Father
Recompence of the Affronts which they do him It must needs be Sir that all these Falshoods be discovered and that God shew the Villany of his People to all the World If clear-sighted and illuminated Men would discover it they would immediately be hated and slain between the Temple and the Altar therefore the Judgments of God must discover them The Nineteenth Conference That all Christians ought to Read the Holy Scripture Whether the Church can Err Where She is Where not I said unto her That the Jews and the Hereticks would be well-pleased to hear such Discourses for they have some such Sentiments She said Sir I do not speak to please any Body and I regard neither Jews nor Hereticks nor Catholics but the straight Truth according as the Spirit of God manifests it to me I have never conversed with Hereticks but I have casually heard some things said of them which are much better than what the Catholicks do Tho' it were in nothing but this That they take Pleasure to read the Holy Scriptures and carry them everywhere with them studying them almost Day and Night This is a very laudable thing because we ought always to learn what we ought to practise If we do not learn it we cannot know it In the Bible the whole Law of God is contain'd and also the Doctrine of Jesus Christ from whence may be deriv d all the Nourishment of our Souls If the Hereticks do not put it in Practice they do ill as well as the Catholicks but they have this Advantage that they know the Truth if they will practise it But the Catholicks are only stor'd with Books compos'd by Men and depriv'd of that which God hath given us for the Nourishment of our Souls It is just the same as if we would take from a Child his Nourishment and give him an Image to sustain him He may look long upon it before his Body receive Nourishment and Substance from it It seems to me a very ill thing to forbid Christians the Reading of the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue since it must teach us all that we ought to do and forsake and the Advertisements which God gives us by his Holy Prophets and by Jesus Christ himself and his holy Apostles I said unto her That the Church had forbidden to read the Bible in the Vulgar Language because of the Abuses which were thereby committed for many ignorant Persons would interpret it amiss from whence Heresies arise Secondly Because many Bibles were changed and something taken away or diminish'd from the Original She replyed Truly Sir these are very weak Reasons They forbid to read the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue lest the common People do draw Heresies from it while the most part of Heresies are introduc'd into the Church by the Learned Priests and Monks not by Simple Ones who would never be follow'd in their new Errors for they would have but small Authority and Learning to Introduce them If this Reason ought to have place it would be more expedient to forbid it to the Learned since they have invented all the Heresies and not the Vulgar Jesus Christ taught the Simple People more than the Learn'd to shew that he found them more capable and susceptible of receiving his Doctrine than the Great and the learned were And if all Christians ought to practise the Doctrine of Jesus Christ by the same Consequence they ought to Read and to Learn it And if they will needs forbid the Reading of it because of the Abuses which are committed thereby they must also forbid the going to Church and to the Communion where there are a thousand times more Abuses committed than can be committed by the Reading of the Holy Scriptures which was not made for the Learn'd but for Saints from whom Men will needs take it shewing themselves more foreseeing than Jesus Christ to hinder Abuses and Errors If there were in the Church a Prohibition only to read the Bibles which are not approv'd of there would be a Pretext to colour this Prohibition but seeing all are forbidden it is to forbid what God hath commanded I ask'd her Whether the Church might indeed err in this Prohibition or in any other thing She said No Sir the True Church can never err because God has promised that he will always maintain it But I would willingly know where the Church is at present She can be no where but in the Souls which possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Behold this is the only Place where the Church resides Who will shew me these Souls I would gladly know them I would love and follow them even to Death I have not yet found this Happiness You believe it may be that it is the City of Rome because S. Peter did reside there and for my part I believe that Rome is the Babylon of Confusion that the Holy Spirit does no more govern there than you see it in your Chapter You have Judgment enough to discern if the Holy Spirit directs all the Resolutions which are there taken He does it far less in the Roman College For there he has no more Audience and if he should appear there in Form of a Dove as he did at the Baptism of Jesus Christ all these Presidents would cast their Caps at him to chace him away for they have no more to do with his Light since they have made themselves Gods upon Earth The Church therefore cannot err but the Men who are call'd Churchmen may err and do truly err in this Prohibition by which Christians cannot any longer read the Gospel nor the Bible in which is contain'd the Law of God How then can they observe it if they may not read it in order to learn it This is an Error which no Body is oblig'd to follow because the true Church cannot thus command it for it is contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus who says Take eat this is my flesh and drink this is my Blood of the New Testament And these Men will not have us to touch it but as far as it pleases them to give it Whereas Jesus Christ says Take ye it and eat ye it He speaks to every one The Twentieth Conference Of the Word of Jesus Christ which is truely his Flesh and his Blood Of the Reading of the Holy Scripture and of the forbidding it How the Church cannot fail and what is the Church and what not I said to her That these Words were understood of the Eucharist where we drink his Blood and eat his Flesh She reply'd What perfect Sense can you find wherein to apply these Words of the Lord unto the Eucharist seeing he says That he who eats his flesh and drinks his blood shall live for ever and yet so many thousand Persons who commonly receive the Eucharist do live and die in their Sins It would follow that the Words of Jesus Christ were not true when he
forgiven that People providing that Abraham had found but ten in it he would not have consum'd them And when Jesus Christ himself came upon Earth all was corrupted having made void the Law of God by the Traditions of Men as he reproach'd the Jews with it who were then his People And now Sir since we have had the Doctrin of the Gospel what a small number of Persons do you see who have remain'd constant in it And on the contrary how many wicked Christians are there besides the Turks Jews Heathens and so many other Sects who are Enemies of God Should it not be said that God had created the Earth and so many reasonable Creatures only for the glory of the Devil and his adherents if he did not renew the Earth and make it bring forth fruit for his glory This would be an evil thing which God can never do And that the Creation of Men may be good of necessity there must be a time in which they may glorifie their God And if there were no Generation in the Kingdom of God a very small number would bless him even tho you should sum up the Prophets the Apostles and other Saints this could not suffice to give glory to God for the least favour that he had bestowed upon Men. It must needs be that the Generation of the Blessed multiply eternally as the Generation of the Miserable does multiply temporally from the beginning of the World or otherwise God would not be just I said to her That some Writers had spoken of this reign of Jesus Christ upon Earth but that the Roman Church had condemn'd it as Heresie She said Sir No body can have spoke truly of this Kingdom of Jesus Christ because it is the hidden Treasure which has not yet been discovered nor revealed to any They may well have said something of it according to the Speculation of Men But they could never understand it for the time was notcome to discover it This is the Master-piece of all the Works of God and the accomplishment of all the Holy Scripture Whether the Roman Church approve it or disapprove it that makes nothing Truth continues always Truth Tho all the World should disapprove it it will never change That which is true cannot become a Lie by the approbation or reprobation of Men. There can be no Heresie in that which the Holy Spirit has spoken by the Mourh of the holy Prophets of Abraham David Solomon the Apostles and Jesus Christ himself who have all largely spoken of this Kingdom of Jesus Christ upon Earth as well by Prophecy as Parables and other ways tho the full understanding of it has been reserved for the last Times in which we live at present All the Revelation of St. John speaks of no other thing If they would have received any understanding of it this could not be but by application and not in a perfect Sense And they who said they understood nothing of it have been the most wise because till this time none has understood any thing of it In short Sir the Kingdom of Jesus Christ are the Treasures of God Which he has reserved unto Men of which S. Paul has said That Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor has entred into the Heart of Man what God hath laid up for his Servants It were also better to adore all these Mysteries than to dive into them out of Curiosity For the great and the wise of this World do understand nothing of them They will be revealed unto the little ones for such is the will of God For which Jesus Christ blesses his Father That he had hid these things from the great Men and the Wise to reveal them unto Babes I said to her That I was very desirous to know when this Kingdom shall come and how it shall begin She said Sir I do not know the day but that this indeed will be as soon as the wickedness of Men shall be so multiplied that in Justice they will draw upon them his universal Plagues which will purge away all Iniquity Then shall the Son of Man appear in his Glory and Majesty to render unto every one according to his Works In that day the remnant of all Nations shall appear before him for the most part shall be dead with distress and fears and then he will judge them And those who shall be found dead unto his Grace he will banish into eternal Fire But those who shall be found living in his Grace shall be confirm'd in it to live in Body and in Soul eternally with him of whom shall begin the eternal Generation as it began in Adam and Eve our first Parents Then all malediction shall be removod from the Earth and it shall be again blessed All malignity shall be removed from the Elements and every Creature especially the Reasonable ones who shall live without any Maladies or Infirmities either of the Body or of Spirit and Soul Too much heat or cold shall not any more incommode them no evils shall touch them They shall handle fire without being burnt and Serpents without being Stinged Our Passions shall be well regulated there being no longer Lusts there neither of the Eyes nor of the Flesh nor of the Spirit No more Sorrows Griefs or Groanings no more of Love that heats no more of Desire that makes thirsty no more Terror no more Fear no more Forgetfulness no more Sloth no more Pusilanimity no more Cares and Anxieties In short no more of any thing that can hurt shall be found upon the Earth But all things shall serve for the recreation of Men who shall love one another in a perfect unity in Christ Jesus being not only re-establish'd into the Estate of Innocence wherein Adam was before his Sin but with a thousand times more Perfections Man shall possess all things in the glorious presence of Jesus Christ who will wipe away all Tears from his Servants giving them Glories in time to come for their Sufferings by a streight Justice each what they shall have merited in this Valley of Tears for he is the Restorer of all things Ought not Sir all these things to be re-established How many Innocents are there here accused as Guilty How many of these Persecuted wrongfully How many Injustices done to the Just How many sufferings do the Good endure Does not all this cry to God for Vengeance â— Must he not render it and how could he render it in a Spiritual Paradise as they make us believe The Body has here suffered with the Soul Is it not just that it should rejoyce also with it The Body of Jesus Christ which has received so many affronts and sufferings should it not be seen glorious in this World as it has been seen suffering What reparation can be made of all material things in a spiritual Heaven I wish for this glorious Reign that all the World may soe
body tho' they shou'd say I am Christ For Christ is not here and there but only in the Doctrine that he left us by his Word He who believes any other thing is deceived I said to her That if this were true many Souls would be deceived because all they who profess to serve God do follow the Counsel and Direction of some Man and if he be of those who belong to the Devil they may deliver many Souls to Satan She said Sir this is lamentable in our Days wherein they have introduc'd these Directions of Men by which so many are led to Damnation even tho they were not directed by some Sorcerer they are at least turned away from God to adhere to Men. This is a great Hindrance to Vertue and the Salvation of Souls For as long as we adhere to the Creatures we shall never find God The one must go out before the other enter and these Guides instead of leading Souls to God do withdraw them from him even tho' they were good Men because God is jealous and will not suffer a Rival nor our Hearts to be separated or divided If so many Souls be engag'd to the Devil by these Directions it is because they chose rather to be lov'd by Men than God This gives the Devil Power to gain them by the Means of these Directors who are much more lov'd and follow'd than God is For he is often forgotten that they may remember these Men. Wives esteem them more than their Husbands Daughters more than Father and Mother and Men take more of their Counsel than that of Jesus Christ Thus every one furnishes Matter for the Devil to be deceiv'd by him It is by this Door he enters to make himself universal Emperour of the whole World He had gain'd many before the Coming of Jesus Christ but since he slipt into the Church by these Directions he possesses all the Wicked with their own Will and the Good indirectly by the Conduct of his Adherents whom he has introduc'd into the Church For Jesus Christ did never establish such Directions in his Church nor yet his Apostles nor their Disciples If this had been an Institution of the Holy Spirit it wouâ—d have been observ'd by the Primitive Christians who had more Zeal to gain Souls to God than these new Directors have For they rather draw them to themselves than lead them to God This often makes the Guides and those who are led by them to perish and go both together to the Devil I ask'd her By what Means I might avoid the Seduction of these false Prophets since they had the chief Ranks in the Church how I might discover them from the true ones If the one be Priests and Religious Persons as well as the other She said It will be very hard for to discern them unless you read diligently the ancient Prophets There you will find how the true and how the false Prophets have spoken For both the one and the other are this Day guided by the same Spirits The holy Prophets were and still will be led by the Holy Spirit and the false ones were and still will be led and directed by the Devil as well at present as under the old Law There is only this difference of times that then there were many holy Prophets and now there are few or none because the Number of the False is so encreast that they have almost swallowed up the Good And as God is not visible by the Eyes of the Body neither is the Devil visible after that Manner both being invisible Spirits who nevertheless render themselves visible by their Operations For he who is guided by God will still speak o the Truth without regarding whether it please or displease Men On the contrary he who is led by the Devil will still speak as Men are willing to hear Remark well Sir in the holy Scripture you will find that all the false Prophets did then always tell good News and promised to every one Peace Prosperity and Assurance whereby they deceived all the World This is even practised at present For if you take notice of all these Priests and Religious Persons you shall hear them always promising Peace and Safety to every one and that even in temporal Affairs whether as to the State or as to particular Persons You hear them always telling good News and promising that all shall go well So that if you remark the Discourses of these false Prophets of the old Law and the Preachers and Confessors at present you shall hear them all speak almost the same Language For the most Pious now-a-days study to please Men and to tell them things agreeable to their Senses and hereby they destroy all the World For if they were in the Spirit of God they wou'd tell the Truth and wou'd preach to all the World that the Abomination is in the Sanctuary and that it is high time to turn to God That the Ax is laid to the Root to hew down the Tree and to break down that great Statue of the Church which Sin has rendered abominable in the sight of God and also that the Life of Christians is very far from true Christianity and that the best of them live in a Presumption of their Salvation and in other Sins against the Holy Ghost Which is most true But instead of doing this they praise and exalt the Church as if she were holy and they persuade People that they are Christians when they are baptized and tho' they do not at all live according to the Rules of true Christianity that yet nevertheless they shall be saved In which they deceive and seduce them For there are no true Christians but they who observe the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and no body can be saved but he who keeps the Commandments of God the first of which is to love God with all our Heart and our Neighbour as our selves which no body does Nevertheless all these false Prophets tell the People that they shall assuredly be saved and that all shall go well with them Is not this a sure Mark to discern false Prophets from the true because the False flatter us always for our Ruin and the True reprove us for our Salvation He that wou'd deliver himself from being deceived must diligently examine whether these Church-men speak to us according as they are willing to hear or if they truly reprove what is blame-worthy of which sort we shall find so very few that almost none will speak the Truth when it is displeasing to People especially to those who are in Places and Dignities For this cause our Times are justly called perilous Times since the Evil is so masqu'd with Vertue For if the Evil were manifest there wou'd be no danger because all good Men wou'd avoid it and so wou'd put themselves out of Hazard of being deceived whereas when it is covered over with Piety and Vertue
the real truth if they receive it For hitherto it has not been yet discover'd nothing of the Holy Scripture has been explain'd in its perfect sense every one has drawn conjectures from it according to his Light not according to what is in it in effect thus they might well die for holding some opinion which was not the real truth but the opinion of some Author for which they might die indeed without being for this the Martyrs of Jesus Christ For to be such a man must die for the Defence of the Law of God and the Doctrine of the Gospel or otherwise he cannot be a Martyr before God however men call many others by this name this shews that there is obscurity and darkness through all even in the most holy things Every one walks in the dark not discerning the pure Truth Even many who have the best Maxims would judge indeed that I were an Heretick in speaking against the Decrees of the Councils of Rome out of a pious belief that they have been all held by the Co-operation of the Holy Spirit Which is a false Supposition For the Holy Spirit never changes With what he inspir'd the Apostles he inspires also at present those who hear him They are always the same things I said to her That the Holy Spirit did sometimes inspire diverse Means for the attainment of the same End She said 'T is true Sir if the Means which those Councils set before us did all aim at the keeping of the Commands of God and at his Doctrine of the Gospel I should believe that they came from the Holy Spirit but when they aim at a quite contrary sense I may well judge that they come not from thence because God never contradicts himself He has commanded that we love him with all our Heart and these Councils say that to get the Pardon of our Sins and obtain Salvation it suffices that we have a sorrow for sin out of fear of Hell Can these two contrary senses come from the same God And there are so many other things which are variously oppos'd to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ as I have told you formerly as the baptizing little Infants and a Thousand other things which are directly contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I know indeed that they deny this Truth saying that they have ordain'd nothing contrary to the Law of God For with studied Words and Terms they cover all their Faults and I am neither a Philosopher nor Divine to answer their artificial Arguments or studied Words but I say in truth that they do in effect directly contrary to the Law of God and the Doctrine of the Gospel Not that they say so but they do it And Deeds are more than Words I doubt not but they would surprize me by my Words For the Devil has nothing but Subtilties wherewith to cover his Malice But they cannot surprize me in the matter of the Essential Truth which abides always true They might say indeed the Councils do not say that we ought not to love God with all our Heart but only that Attrition is sufficient for Salvation Is not that enough to teach indirectly that we are not obliged to love God And is not this indirect Doctrine much worse than the direct which no good Men would follow I asked If the Light which she received from the Holy Spirit was contrary to what the Councils had ordained She said Yes Sir the Decrees which the Councils have made so far as I know them are all directly contrary to what the Holy Spirit dictates to me And you your self may perceive it Though there were nothing but the forbidding to read the Gospels and the holy Bible in the Vulgar Tongue is not this contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who has given his Word rather to the vulgar and simple People than to the Learned And if it had not been his Will they should read it after his Death he would not have left it them in Writing This is the Nourishment of the Children of God And these Councils would make them die for hunger Is not also the forbidding Priests to labour against the Commandment of God who ordained Adam the most holy of all Men to labour in penitence for his Sin And the Oath which they cause the Priests to take not to receive any other Explications of the Holy Scriptures but those approved by the Church is it not also against the Holy Spirit who offers every Moment to give new Light which these Councils do not approve because it would reprovâ— them For all that comes from the Holy Spirit reproves Evil. There are also many other things which these Councils have ordained that are contrary to the Light that God gives me which is wholly conformable to the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I have no need to read any Books to know if they be endited by the Holy Spirit because the Sentiment of my Soul gives me still evidence enough of them When I understand only the substance of a thing I perceive certainly whether it come from the Holy Spirit or not You may easily see Sir by all that I have already told you that this Church and her Councils are not guided by the Holy Spirit but by the Spirit of Errour which deceives all the World under this false Masque of the Holy Church and Holy Councils whereby the most Innocent let themselves be ruled by the Devil at his pleasure while they believe that they follow the Truth which is God The Ninth Conference Speaks of the Sins which we commit in another and that to declare the Truth of Evil is not Sin I said to her I was more certain that she was guided by the Holy Spirit than that the Church and her Councils were so and therefore she must tell me what I ought to do She said Sir You may indeed lean to my Sayings because I speak nothing of my self It is true it seem'd somewhat hard to you that I overturn the Church and her Councils and also when I say that the Devil rules them But I know this by the Light of the Holy Spirit which obliges me to declare it perhaps for the enlightning of others that they may be converted or to give them a full Measure that no body may pretend Ignorance For if I were not prest in my Conscience I would beware to speak of such Evils as one trembles to hear them It were more pleasant and agreeable if I could say in truth that the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit and that Rome is the Church of God This Discourse would comfort my Soul and give content to all those who are under her Obedience But this not being true I should flatter them to their destruction Whereas the true knowledge of Things may save them You have been also troubled sometimes to hear me say that all men now are in a state of Damnation which notwithstanding
seen of Men they sought the Praise of Men more than that of God they devour'd Widows Houses but had still a Religious Pretence for it they would learn People to despise their Parents but it was on the account of Corban they would hate and persecute others even to Death but it was to do God Service they were mighty zealous to propagate their Religion and would compass Sea and Land to gain Proselytes but then our Saviour tells us They were twofold more the Child of the Devil than themselves Now it is observable That our Saviour's Reproofs are levell'd mostly against these two last sort of Persons The former he treats with such Pity and Compassion that his Enemies tax him for a Friend of Publicans and Sinners He tells them There is joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repents more than ninety and nine just Persons that need no Repentance And that he came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance But for the other two he warns his Disciples to beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees He calls them a Generation of Vipers whited Sepulchres fair and beautiful without but within full of Corruption and Rottenness he terms them the Children of the Devil and asks How they can escape the Damnation of Hell To judge according to Appearance one would think they deserv'd a milder Treatment and that the other ought to have been most Lasht and this is the Course and Practice of the World But that which seems Righteous before Men is an Abomination in the Sight of God Our Saviour's Conduct in this we may be sure was the effect of Divine Equity and Wisdom The Publicans and Sinners were not only look'd on as such by all others but also were self-condemn'd they knew they were doing what they ought not to have done their Conscience could not but often smite them and the Divine Grace exciting them and outward Afflictions chastising them might one time or other bring them to Repentance and the Sense of the greatness of their Sins might awaken in them an answerable Sense of the Divine Goodness so that where Sin had abounded Grace should so much the more abound and they who saw there was so much forgiven them would love much But the Pharisees and Sadducces were not so capable of Conviction their Sores were skin'd over with a fair Shew of Reason and Religion their Sins were mostly Spiritual they had no Remorse for them the World and they themselves did approve them in what they did they thought they were doing God Service and they had form'd to themselves such a Righteousness of their own as made it next to impossible to bring them to Repentance or to seek after the Righteousness of God by Faith There was no such Hazard that sincere and well-meaning Persons should be seduc'd by open and scandalous Sinners Their gross Sins and the ill Character they went under were as Beacons to warn others to beware of them But it was not so easie to avoid the Leaven of one of the other two they compass'd Sea and Land to gain Proselytes and the specious Reasons of the one and the seeming Piety Zeal and Devotion of the other with such a plausible Representation of Religion as might encourage them to hope for Heaven tho' they lov'd the World and follow'd their own Wills here were Snares which it was not easie to escape Publicans and Sinners were more capable of receiving the Truth they were convinced of all and even when they were not resolv'd to follow it yet the inward Conviction of their Consciences would keep them from maligning or persecuting the Publishers of it But the other two resisted it with all their Force stuck at nothing that might suppress it did calumniate and defame it persecuted its Author and Followers to the Death and thought that in all they did God Service Jesus Christ then foreseeing the Effects of the Effects of the Malice and Subtilty of the Devil how forward he would be to slip into his Church to profess himself his Disciple and pervert his Design and Doctrin under Colour of owning and promoting it and knowing well the Corruption of Men's Hearts how naturally the Love of themselves and of the World would make them take up with Shadows of Religion instead of the Life and Substance of it he takes Care not only to shew them plainly by his Life and Doctrin wherein it truly consists viz. in true CHARITY as its End and in a constant denial of our selves as to our own Wills and as to the Honours Riches and Pleasures of this World as the effectual and necessary Means of attaining to this End But he also lets them see the false Religion that Self-love takes up with and the main Branches into which it divides itself in the different Pictures of the Pharisees and Sadducees the one making an Idol of their corrupt Reason and worshipping it for their God and the other teaching for Doctrins the Commandments of Men making the Commandments of God â—f none effect either through their own Glosses or the Traditions of their Elders being more zealous for these than the plain and simple Word of God and both of them establishing a Righteousness of their own a Righteousness founded on Self-love Self-will and the Love of Temporal Things and making void the Righteousness of God being void of Charity and the Love of things Eternal And that the Disciples of Jesus Christ had need of such Warnings the fatal Experience of all following Ages has but too evidently testified and as it seems in our Saviour's Days in the last Age of the Jewish State these Corruptions among them were come to their heighth so in this last Age of the degenerate Christian State this twofold Leaven seems to have spread through all Parties and leaven'd the whole Lump The World is now full of those who set up for great Masters of Reason and measure every divine Truth by Mathematical Principles and Demonstrations and what will not bear that Test is ridicul'd by them and tho' a Truth be never so plainly reveal'd in the Holy Scriptures yet if it do not suit their way of Reasoning and if they think it lies fair to be pelted by their Witticisms they are sure to treat it in Derision and to start Questions about it as their Predecessors did to our Saviour about the Resurrection of the Woman who had been married to seven Husbands that were Brethren viz. Whose Wife she should be of the seven at the Resurrection And tho' they meet daily with as inexplicable Difficulties in the visible World in Bodies the being of which they cannot deny and if they had liv'd all their Days in an Island among People where the manner of the Propagation of Men and Beasts was never heard of when they had been told of it would have thought it as ridiculous and impossible a thing as any Truth deliver'd in the Holy Scriptures and tho' they have liv'd to see the
Nature his Righteousness his Goodness his Truth and to be transform'd into the same Image to love him with all our Hearts is to love him only for himself and all other things only in and for God and entirely to depend upon him To love our Neighbours as our selves is to love them as his Images as being capable to be transform'd into his Nature and to endeavour to bring them with our selves to the Love and Enjoyment of God This is the Essence of Religion and the indispensible Duty that God requires of Man in all Estates whether that of Innocence or of his Reparation since his Fall and as our Saviour tells us Matth. 22. 40. On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Had man continued in the Integrity in which he was created no other Duty had been requir'd of him But he turning away his Love from God and setting it on himself and on the Creatures making himself his last End and the Creatures his chief Happiness Means are propos'd to Man to bring him back to the Love of God and to remove the Hindrances of it and he having forfeited the Friendship and Love of God Hopes are given him of Recovering his Love and Favour for obtaining of which the Intercession of a Mediator was needful who by his Merits and Favour with God might obtain it and the main Hindrances of the Love of God being Self-love and the Love of the Creatures he is directed to the Use of such Means as may effectually mortifie and subdue these in him and Man being a wayward Patient unwilling to take the Physick provided for him as being bitter and unpleasant the Physician takes Man's Nature on him and takes the Remedies first himself flies the Ease the Honours the Riches the Pleasures and the Sciences of this World embraces Poverty Reproaches Troubles and Pains and denies himself and his own Will in every thing that he might do the Will of him that sent him So the essentially necessary and effectual means to recover the Love of God is Faith in God through Jesus Christ with unfeign'd Repentance a constant denial of our selves and forsaking of every thing that hinders us to love God and for this End the taking up our Cross daily and following of Christ The Holy Scriptures are the Sacred Records wherein God's Love to Mankind the Life and Doctrin of Jesus Christ and the Precepts he has given for the mortifying of our corrupt Nature and returning to the Love of God are plainly manifested to us and in this respect they are necessary to make us wise unto Salvation as the written Counsels of a Physician would be for the Recovery of his Patient's Health Sermons religious Offices Sacraments sacred Assemblies Pastors Church-Government c. are more remote means for bringing Men to Salvation and if rightly us'd may be very helpful to direct them in the Practice of the necessary and effectual means for returning to an entire Dependance upon God But if the first be wholly neglected and these be rested on and if we think we are religious because zealous about these things and in the mean time are still Lovers of our own selves self-will'd self-conceited worldly-minded envious malicious our Actions void of Righteousness Goodness Truth c. our Religion is the Leaven of the Pharisees it is but a Form of Godliness we are alienated from the Life of God it is a Righteousness of our own and we are as mad and foolish as sick Men would be who should run about among Apothecaries and Surgeons and be very greedy to hear the Receipts of Cures for their Maladies dayly read and explain'd to them should fight and quarrel and hate and destroy one another in contending which were the best Explanations of the Receipts and which Company of Apothecaries and Surgeons had the best Form of Government and in the mean time both Directors and Patients were sick unto Death yet neither would apply themselves to take those Remedies which by all were granted to be necessary and effectual for their Recovery and without which they must inevitably perish Now the Writings of the Author of this following Treatise containing such bright Illustrations of the Truths of God reveal'd in the Holy Scriptures and discovering so plainly in what manner they are perverted by the false Glosses of the Professors of Christianity in their respective Parties I hope it will be no ill service done to the Christian Religion and to this Island in particular to make them more generally known to this part of the World of which Design this is an Essay The Author was a Virgin call'd Antonia Bourignon born in the Town of Lisle in Flanders in the Year 1616. the Daughter of a rich Man there and Baptiz'd and Bred up by her Parents in the Communion of the Church of Rome Being taught to read in her Childhood and having read the Gospels and being told of the Life of Jesus Christ how poor and mean and despis'd and self-denied he was and seeing all People live very unlike to him in Ease and abundance and Pleasures and Honours she ask'd her Parents Where are the Christians Let us go to the Country where the Christians live And tho' her Parents derided her for this yet this Impression ever remain'd with her and it was her constant Theme to let the World see what a true Christian is and that none such are to be found From her very Childhood she had inward Conversation with God and gave her self to Prayer and Divine Retirement but this Retirement being look'd on by the Suggestions of her elder Sister to her Companions as the effect of Stupidity and Sottishness and she despis'd therefore to avoid this she applied her self to take part in their Recreations and Divertisements and she quickly gain'd their Esteem and Favour above her Sister but lost her Conversation with God Yet he did not cease now and then to awaken her even in the midst of her Divertisements but Company and these Amusements still got the Ascendent Then God tried her with more severe means filling her Mind with fearful Ideas of Death Judgment and Hell whereby she came to her self again and saw the Vanity of all earthly things which would end at Death and leave the Soul empty of true Good and full of real Evils This made her abhor her present Life all worldly Advantages the Body and the Caring for it And because the Sollicitations of earthly things were apt to return again she took Care to have this deeply engraven upon her Spirit she went oft to Charnel-houses to view the Bones of the Dead saying See what thou art within a little while thou shalt be like this and yet more horrible She handled them to overcome her natural Horror for them and to make the Thoughts of Death familiar to her For six Months she begg'd no other thing of God but the Remembrance of Death and obtain'd it It was about the fifteenth or sixteenth Year of her
the marks and signs of the last times fulfill'd and perfectly accomplisht The life of men is the open book in which these truths are written and the holy Scriptures are the equitable Judge which pronounces this sentence Read Sir with attention they will deliver you from the difficulty you find in believing this for tho indeed they do not determine precisely the day of judgment yet they will make you see sufficiently that the cheif signs which must precede it do already appear That no body will believe this is a most certain evidence of it for Jesus Christ says that it shall be as in the days of Noah they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and knew not until the flood came and took them all away Even so is it at present they take their recreations and pleasures heaping up earthly treasures building houses and temples as if they were to remain here to eternity while all must very shortly perish And no body will believe it according to the prediction of Jesus Christ when he compares these last times with those of the universal deluge He says in St. Math. 24. it will be as in the days of Noah adding when you shall see the abomination of desolation to be in the holy place flee away Do you not think Sir that this abomination is now in the holy place if Envy were lost it might be recover'd in the Cloisters if Avarice were dead it would be reviv'd by the Priests Vain-glory and Pride is no where so prevailing as among the Clergy in one word Simonies and all other sins abound in the place which ought to be holy What more sure marks would you have than those which Jesus Christ himself has declar'd to us should precede the Judgment if you desire to see the Stars fall from Heaven the Sun to be darken'd the Moon not to give her Light all these are nothing but material signs which can do no harm to Souls but serve only for outward evidences of the wrath of God and to the end that even insensible things may feel the terrors of that great day as the Rocks did when they were rent at the death of Jesus Christ This added nothing to his passion nor render'd those who put him to death more criminal for they were nothing but insensible rocks without souls or reason Even so will it be as to the Stars and the other celestial bodies if they change colour or suffer any other alteration this will not be hurtful to our souls which are spiritual and cannot receive any punishment by these visible and material Stars so much the rather that these signs and Stars cannot be understood but spiritually For how could the Stars fall from Heaven since the Mathematicians tell us that one Star alone is seven times greater than all the Earth so great a thing cannot fall into one so small for it would not be capable to contain it And if we take the mystical sense calling by the name of Stars persons luminous in Doctrine the Doctors and Guides Prelates Bishops and all those who are plac'd in Dignities to whom the name of Stars may be appropriated as being the Lights of the world this sign would also have at present its sense accomplisht for we see every day such persons fall from righteousness and truth who for some worldly interest or humane respects fall from the truth of the Gospel which is the true heaven of Souls and wallow in the earth among its riches and pleasures as secular persons do In former times how many of those were seen who had their hearts and spirits continually towards heaven their lives and manners did enlighten all the world as the Stars of the Firmament but at present they are fallen into the mire of earthly affections So that it may be truly said that the Stars are fallen from Heaven and that the Sun also is become without light For Truth which is the true Sun of Righteousness cannot any longer appear openly it is become black and hateful to all the world who desiring to be flatter'd and prais'd cannot hear the truth because it reproves the falshood which now prevails These two signs of the Sun and of the Stars appear at present in their full accomplishment in the mystical and inward sense which is much more than if they did appear in the literal and material sense for the reasons above-mentioned and if the Moon be not as yet without light it will be so very shortly in the mystical and perfect sense The Moon is all transitory things which after the manner of the Moon do encrease or diminish according to good or bad fortune These things will lose their light so soon as Wars shall have destroy'd and ruin'd temporal wealth Then all that pomp and magnificence which shines in the Sanctuary will lose its splendor and will no longer yeild any thing but blood Since for Gold and Silver they will cut the throats of those who are plac'd in the highest dignities so that what shines and glisters to day in the Church will wholly lose its lustre and light and by this means this Moon will be darken'd I entreat you to read attentively the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew it speaks of the present time All the Parables do the same I wish I had time and leisure to explain them to you you would see as well as I that the Judgment approaches for all the forerunning signs are already come People do not perceive them for want of reflecting seriously enough on the holy Scriptures or upon the inward life of men now adays they amuse themselves with regarding only their outward piety imagining that there are yet a great many good men because they appear such but before God all are corrupted They resemble the Apples of Sodom which appear beautiful without and have nothing within but rottenness This is the true symbole of the life of Christians now which God makes me perceive abundantly by his inward light This fill'd me with astonishment and desiring to understand her more clearly I ask'd her whether there were not any good men or true Christians in our days She said to me No Sir THERE ARE NO TRVE CHRISTIANS VPON EARTH There are indeed diverse persons who seem to be good men and are really so in comparison of the wicked they may indeed pass for Saints before men but before God they are not true Christians for tho they do not act wickedly but frequent the Sacraments and other exercises of Devotion yet nevertheless they have not the LOVE OF GOD nor Charity for their Neighbour in their hearts much less a hatred of themselves or a desire to embrace the Cross Sufferings and Persecutions to follow Jesus Christ On the contrary they so love themselves that all their designs aim at nothing but their own satisfaction even in the most pious things You would be astonisht Sir to see what difference there is between the sight
end of the world This is the greatest miracle that God has done upon earth after men have invented so many glosses and opinions to contradict it and the life and manners even of those who are call'd the People of God are so different from this Doctrine that yet notwithstanding it subsists in its integrity in the hands and power of those who raze out and efface it by their manners and actions If it were not upheld by miracles how often would it have been stifled by the wisdom of the learned who if it were in their power would never suffer a Doctrine which so directly reproves their lives and manners In which God shews his almighty power that all men who shall be born upon the earth may have their recourse to this fountain of living water which is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and that no body may pretend ignorance under pretext that there are different or new doctrines and errors for he who has a desire to search has also the means to find the real truth written in the holy Gospel or the rest of the holy Scriptures It was not therefore necessary to maintain it by so many disputes which Jesus Christ never taught us either by word or by deed Men could not destroy that which God would build It had been more expedient to strengthen and comfort the faithful than to dispute against the erroneous who were raised up only by the Devil they would have perished of themselves for all that is nor built by God shall be destroyed A small number of faithful Believers were far better than so great a multitude of Christians in appearance who do nothing but debate and dispute without possessing true living faith The rotten members corrupt those which are yet sound The Devil is never sooner overcome than by despising him for then he knows not how to take hold of the good but disputes and debates furnish him with diverse weapons to attack and overcome them The Fourth Conference Of the qualities and ways of acting which ought to have been in the Guides of the Church to maintain it in its good estate against all Enemies and that they might not make way for the Spirit of Anti-christ as they have done I Admired all this so powerful discourse desiring always to hear more I ask'd her how she conceiv'd that the Saints were thrust from the Government of the Church when the learned undertook it since many learned and great Doctors have been canoniz'd Saints and held for such She said Sir it is very rare to find a learned Saint or at least one who becomes holy by learning for all humane wisdom is foolishness before God All the Saints are certainly wise but few learned men are Saints I do not mean that there have not been some Saints who were engag'd in the Government of the Church as St. Ambrose St. Augustin and others but I cannot believe that a body is sound when it hath the Leprosy in any of its members The whole body of the Church was sound when to be an Apostle or Minister of the Church 't was only requir'd to embrace an evangelical life for all the rotten members were cut off from it or corrected or indeed they withdrew of themselves not being able to endure so great a sanctity that reprov'd them in all their manners St. Paul forbids Christians so much as to eat with sinners behold how he cuts off the rotten members and elsewhere it is said If thy brother will not believe the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen In many places of Scripture you will find this rejection St. Peter makes Ananias and Saphira fall dead at his feet for their lying St. Paul delivers over to the Devil the Corinthian besides so many others who have been chastized for not having continu'd faithful observers of the Law of the Gospel Others have withdrawn of themselves as Judas to go and hang himself and a great many others who withdrawing themselves gave occasion to Jesus Christ to ask the other Disciples If they would go also to which they reply'd and whither shall we go Lord thou hast the words of eternal life These three means were capable of upholding the holy Church in its Integrity and Holiness as Jesus Christ had establisht it and did himself observe these rules that is that the erroneous should be rejected and despis'd or else corrected for their errors or otherwise permitted to go out and withdraw themselves but these new Doctors have found out as a more perfect mean for the upholding of the Church to admit only the wise and learned to the government of it that the erroneous might be oppos'd and overcome by disputes Is the invention and wise foresight of these men more perfect than the ordinance and doing of God Can that eternal wisdom be ignorant that Learning was necessary for the government of his Church Was it necessary that men should change reform or perfect what Jesus Christ had establisht to wit that the government of his Church should appertain to those who have given evidence of the love they bear him for this cause he puts the question to St. Peter thrice to know if he lov'd him before he made him head of his Church On the contrary men are more inquisitive to know if any Minister of the Church be great and learned than if he love God This is a renversement of spirit which has seiz'd upon men since they would needs be govern'd by the wise of the world and they have despis'd the holy simplicity of the Gospel This mischief could not be brought in by humane frailty it must needs proceed from the malice of the Devil Man indeed thro frailty might backslide and follow Jesus Christ at a little farther distance than he had taught him but could not arrive to such an excess of wickedness as directly to oppose and despise his doctrine and practice This must needs come from that spirit of error who from the beginning entred into the the Church to oppose Christ and is therefore justly called ANTICHRIST He has so cunningly masqu'd and disguis'd his errors with piety and reason that they have been follow'd notwithstanding there have been at diverse times holy persons in the government of the Church The Fifth Conference Of Antichrist and how he rules every where in Spirit I Begg'd she would tell me whom she understood to be Antichrist and how he could introduce himself into the Church in its beginning since it appears from the holy Scriptures that he is to come only towards the end of the world and is called the man of sin the son of perdition and is not to reign but three years and a half She said I perceive Sir that you take for Antichrist a humane body which is to be born by the operation of the Devil I believe that this will fall out at the end of the world yea that he is already born
he is not to be compar'd to any thing We must force our selves to love him not to comprehend him The Saints themselves committed great faults while they would needs embark into these Studies I believe the Devil has raised Disputes thereupon to amuse Men in useless things rather than profitable and to seek to comprehend what ought to be adored I ask'd her if the holy Doctors could indeed have committed such faults since we held that they had the Holy Spirit She said Yes Sir they committed many others through Ignorance They err'd in many things The Holy Spirit did not always guide their Pen nor their Understandings They were always frail Men so long as they lived upon Earth They might always fail and err for Jesus Christ says that He who says he is without Sin is a Liar I believe I have also told you heretofore Sir that none is Infallible but God Men who have the Holy Spirit are not always so disengaged from themselves that the Holy Spirit has that absolute dominion over them Their own sense of things gives them frequent hindrances and as long as they act naturally they stray from the Holy Spirit and do often commit in these wandrings great faults as David did tho God says that He was a Man according to his own Heart And Solomon who had received the Spirit in fulness did notwithstanding Sin greatly against the Faith it self and against the Commandments of God You must not wonder therefore that the Holy Fathers have committed faults in the Church the Apostles themselves committed them though they had visibly received the Holy Spirit We must never build on a Foundation so weak as Men are They may all err tho they were Saints and have erred in many things in upholding the Church For as soon as they perceived that it failed in the Souls of Christians and that its Honour and Authority was fallen they would needs redress it by worldly Honours and Riches and even defend it by Disputes and by Arms all which things are Buildings made with Mens hands which shall be ruined For that which God has not built shall be Destroyed Jesus Christ knew far better the means that were proper to uphold his Church He saw the time to come as well as the present He has not ordain'd that it should be maintain'd by Silver Authority Arms or Disputes but by Holiness The Twenty fifth Conference That the Holy Spirit sends always new Influences and that we must not bound his Lights nor the Interpretation of the Scriptures to that which the Holy Fathers have formerly had I Could not resist so clear Truths perceiving well that all Men are Fallible But because every one had always received the Opinions of the Holy Fathers as things certain I said to her that I had sworn to receive no other Explications of the Holy Scriptures but those of the Holy Fathers and that the Church did oblige all Persons plac'd in Dignities to do the same So that in all Benefices received they still take this Oath before they enter in possession of them She said Sir the Church can oblige no body to resist the Holy Spirit Your Oath is not obligatory in this case If God favour you or some other Person of your Acquaintance with any new Light must you reject it to obey Men Jesus Christ did not forbid this On the contrary he has said Receive the Holy Spirit And When he shall come he will teach you all things He speaks to the Apostles and to all Christians in them This Holy Spirit is never idle He operates always new Graces in those who receive him and gives still more clear Interpretations of the Holy Scriptures according as the end of the World approaches we shall every day understand them more clearly We see the figure of this in the Sciences of Natural things There is at present more knowledge of them than ever and Men now do know much more of Natural things which those who are gone before us were ignorant of yea understood them in a sense quite contrary to the truth They taught that the Sun goes round about the Earth Now they teach that the Earth turns and that the Sun is fixt which is more to be believed And thus in many Natural things they have discovered many Secrets since Sciences were encreas'd The Figure is never so accomplish'd as the thing figured Wherefore then should the Light of the Holy Spirit or the understanding of the Holy Scriptures be bounded to what the holy Fathers understood of them Every one of them had Discoveries according to his Talent and no more I believe Sir that if you examin them narrowly you will find that they do not accord in all things yea even that they sometimes contradict one another which cannot come from God for there is never any contradiction in him Each of the Fathers saw as far as his view reached and no more God does always farther discover his Secrets Can Men cause others to swear or can they swear themselves that they shall not receive any other Discoveries but that which the holy Fathers have received without opposing the Grace and Light of God This would be to speak after our way to clip the wings of the Holy Spirit that he might not flie farther than Men had marked out to him Truly Sir there are great Errors in all things It seems Men would take from God Power and Authority to attribute it to themselves giving him Laws and forbidding Men to obey him The holy Fathers could not be so rash as to believe that no body could understand the Holy Scriptures farther than they for they affirm that there are depths of hidden Treasure which they cannot comprehend In effect I believe that nothing has been yet understood in a perfect sense of all the Holy Scripture even till now and that likewise there is nothing accomplished but the Death of Jesus Christ Nevertheless all must be understood and accomplish'd in a perfect Sense before the end of the World God has not said or done any thing in vain He will give to Men the full understanding of all that he has said by his holy Prophets from the beginning of the World and nothing is so hid but it shall be discovered before the World end Why then should they forbid to receive other Interpretations than those which the holy Fathers in past times have received It were better to command to Pray continually for greater Light that we may know the better the Mysteries of our Faith that we may the better observe and follow them for we can never have so much love for a thing unknown as for that which we know I said to her that this Oath was not ordained to oppose directly the Holy Spirit but rather to hinder every one from Interpreting the Scriptures after his own way from which many Errors might proceed if there were not an uniform Belief among all Christians
Truth will strongly resist it and practising Unrighteousness they will not suffer Righteousness in their presence because it would reprove them I can very well hold my Peace as I have done for so many Years by-gone But when God shall will that I speak I will cry to all the World without fearing those who can but kill the Body Death would be agreeable to me if with it I could enlighten my Christian Brethren and draw them out of Error I said to her That the Church did not put to death the Holy Fathers who had explain'd the Holy Scriptures But on the contrary had honour'd and esteem'd them That neither ought she to be afraid of being ill treated by them but rather receiv'd and approved in explaining the Scriptures She said to me Sir You would always excuse this Church because you have espous'd her as I have also done It proceeds from this that you do not yet distinguish what the true Church is tho' I have so often spoke to you of it The Church in a perfect and defin'd Sense is no other thing but the Souls which are united in Heart and Will wholly unto God These are his only Spouses He never had any others no more under the Old Testament than the New yea from the Beginning of the World and will never have even to the End yea throughout all Eternity Nothing can be the Church but that which is united wholly unto God No more than a Woman can be a Man's Spouse if she be not united to him For if she joyn herself to another she is an Adultress the same is it without Comparison in the Alliance which God makes with Souls If they withdraw from him and joyn themselves to any other thing they are Adultresses and worthy of being divorc'd If God permit a Man to forsake his Wife for Whoredom wherefore should not this Law be observ'd by himself If Rome with its College does remain united to God in the Spirit of Truth she is the Church and his Spouse But if she be separated from that Truth and Righteousness she is no more but a Civil and Political Assembly Make always this Distinction Sir or otherwise you will be deceiv'd taking Falshood for Truth If there were a thousand Popes with as many Counsellors assembled and if they did not possess the Spirit of God they are not the Church but if a simple Woman that spins on a Distaff do possess the Spirit of God she is the Church The Holy Fathers were not ill treated by Rome in expounding the Holy Scriptures because there were yet perhaps in their Time in those Assemblies some Souls which were Churches and who by confequence did defend the Truth But at present this Support is not to be expected but rather mortal Persecutions An evil thing Sir ought not to be maintain'd blindly as if it were good Therefore God has given you a good Judgment to make this Distinction for if you continue always fix'd in the Resolution to take this outward Body of the Roman Church for the Holy Church it is in vain for me to discover to you her Evil and the Infidelity she has committed toward her lawful Husband You would do as he who would permit his Wife to play the Adultress in dissembling it without being desirous to know or discover it The Sin is as great to tolerate it as to do it If God permit me to speak the Truth openly to that Church which you esteem you would see with Regret how ill she would treat me you could not deliver me from the Peril to which your pious Belief would expose me I said to her That for the Exposition of the Holy Scriptures she needed offend no Body That this was but what God had declar'd unto us That every one ought to desire to have still a more clear Vnderstanding of them yea even the Wicked themselves that this ought not to displease them I entreated her to write boldly She said When you shall read Sir the 24th Chapter which I have promised you it may be you will change your Opinion for the Word of God is like to a two-edged Sword Truth cuts all that it meets with in Opposition to it So that without respecting any Body we cut all sorts of Errors and Lies in following only the streight Truth blindly and without knowing it we do often wound those of whom we are not thinking If the Word of God were well explain'd it would offend all the Persons that live now in the World yea those who are esteem'd Holy and Perfect For as we do not see so many little Atoms flying in the Air when the Sun does not shine brightly as we do when he spreads his Beams clearly even so the Souls which are full of Sins and Imperfections do not perceive them so long as the clear Understanding of true Perfection is not given them They believe that they are very clean but so soon as this Divine Light shall give its Rays every one will see evidently that he is deceiv'd that he has no Righteousness and that he is no true Christian Therefore the Devil will hinder as much as he can this Light from being discover'd and will oppose himself thereunto even by those that have most Authority that very few may perceive their Blindness For if these Explications were maturely consider'd by every one all the World would be converted for there is nothing more charming than to consider that which God has done for Man from his Creation and continued even till now which is nothing but a continued Course of Benefits all corresponding to one another always in great Perfection The Creation the Law of Moses the Prophets the Gospels are all the same thing by an excellent Harmony I ask'd her Whether the Ancient Fathers had not discover'd these things aright and if they had not declar'd this to the World by so many Expositions and Books which they had written She said Sir It was not necessary that the Ancient Fathers should have the Understanding of all things It was enough that they understood that which Men had need of then but since we draw near to the Fulness of time it is expedient for Men now that they learn that which must fall out in their Time Therefore God now reveals the Secrets which he would then have to be kept hid When the Apostles ask'd Jesus Christ when these things which Jesus Christ had told them should come to pass He answer'd them That it was not for them to know the Times which the Father had in his own power To shew that unseasonable Light ought not to be desir'd and that to him alone appertains the knowing the Time and the Hour of all things Thus he thought fit to reserve the Understanding of the Scriptures till the necessary time which is at present The Holy Fathers could not know then what he would reserve till now and all that they declar'd of it by so many
and acknowledge the Justice of God which will leave nothing of all our good deeds without a recompence no more than our evil deeds without a punishment which every one shall receive by the just ballance of his Righteousness To accomplish which we must in this World have reparation of all the wrongs which have been done us and the falshood must be discovered the Mask must be taken off from all Men that their deceits and their hypocrisies may be known How they have dealt fraudulently with the Innocent All must be discovered at the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory and all things even material which have served for our reproach must serve for our glory As to S. Lawrence's his Grid-Iron and to S. Andrew his Cross And so of all the other Martyrs and chiefly the Instruments of the Passion of Jesus Christ which will shine in his glory like precious Stones and that materially for otherwise there could not be had a perfect and compleat reparation if we looked but for a spirtual Paradise because we suffer here in Body and Spirit both together This Kingdom approaches Sir for the Plagues are already begun I said unto her That no body believ'd that the last Plagues were begun nor the Kingdom of Jesus Christ upon Earth She said Sir The incredulous will go with Sorcerers For he who has no belief of this Kingdom can never well suffer the Plagues which go before it There is nothing but k this hope alone that can give force to sustain those so great Persecutions that there never were any like unto them It is therefore to be feared that these incredulous will perish with the Wicked For if we do not believe that we are fallen into the last times and that the Plagues are begun we will assuredly be deceived by that pernicious one Antichrist who reigns in Persons in Authority whom we take sometimes for Holy and Vertuous and believe that we do well to let our selves be guided and govern'd by them if we lay aside the doubt or belief that we are fallen into that dangerous time foretold by Jesus Christ wherein Evil is covered with Piety And if we do not believe that the Plagues which are begun are the beginnings of Sorrows with which God will purge the Earth we shall easily be brought to Murmour against him Yea we shall fall it may be into Despair in seeing the best Christians Persecuted by Persons who seem worse than our selves yea Churches ruined the Religious banished and all that they call a Church overturn'd and opprest in its source All this will give occasion to Blaspheme against God in case we do not know the wickedness of Men which had drawn down these Plagues upon our Heads We will commit a thousand sins of Murmurs against our Enemies and also against the disorders of those who ought to govern us Setting our selves to seek Human Succours which will sometimes do us more harm than our Enemies and thus we should suffer miserably as do Thieves and Murtherers Whereas did we believe that we are fallen into the last times and that the Plagues are begun we would return to God by Penitence taking all from his Hand as well the Rod as the Bread For all these things must come to pass and by Sufferings we must enter into his Glory as Jesus Christ has pav'd the way I said unto her That I my self could hardly believe that the last plagues were begun and also that Jesus Christ would come to reign upon the Earth were it not that she gave me the view and understanding of these things She said Sir this proceeds partly from want of Application of Spirit and partly because the Devil has bewitched the Spirits of all Men that they may not discover the truth of their Happiness nor of their Misery For if this were known many Persons would get out of Darkness and would follow the Light of Truth Whereas by that infatuation of Spirit the Good perish with the Wicked And thus he gains all to himself To give you a firm belief that Jesus Christ will come to reign upon Earth Sir apply your mind seriously to the reading of the Holy Scriptures You shall find through all that they declare this glorious coming and all that Man shall receive thereby This has been figured from the beginning of the World and by all that has past in it since all has been nothing but the Figures of this glorious Reign of Jesus Christ You have now a little prospect of this by what I have declar'd unto you Search into the matter you will find the thing more true than all the other mysteries of our Faith There is no more obscurity in it for the time is come for the understanding of it What the Fathers in past times have explain'd with so much pains and so imperfectly will be easie to you and in a perfect sense No body will be able to doubt or be ignorant of it who will submit his Spirit unto God with Humility of Heart All that Jesus Christ and the Apostles have said has been fulfilled but in part But you will find the accomplishment and the perfect sense in this glorious Reign of Jesus Christ By discovering assuredly that all which they thought fit to declare cannot be understood of any other thing but of this Reign Remark all the Petitions of the Lord's Prayer which I have elsewhere explained to you No body can imagine that all that we ask in that Prayer can be obtained during this miserable Life and it must needs be granted that we pray for another Life which we do not yet know and that this Life also must be material as well as spiritual For if it were only divine we would not ask for daily Bread nor that the will of God should be done there or that his Name should be Hallowed For all these things are done always in the Empyreal Heaven where no body has need of material Bread Spirits being filled with the presence of God There is nothing there likewise to be forgiven for no body there offends his Brother Temptations are banish'd from thence and Evils cannot enter there The blessed Life that we look for must needs be material as well as spiritual in which we shall have need of all the things which we ask in the Lord's Prayer since they cannot be obtain'd in this present Life and Jesus Christ could not have made us ask for unprofitable things or for those which he would not give This could not be done by a God who can do and know all things For it would be altogether unprofitable to ask what we cannot obtain here and it would be a superfluous thing to ask that of which we would have no need in the Empyreal Heaven as they imagine Paradise to be all the other Doctrins of Jesus Christ are also like to the petitions of that Prayer For when he says seek the Kingdom of
of Life which is observed now in the Cloysters They must either have been Saints before they entered there or being there they must have resigned themselves to the Will of God and followed the Holy Spirit and if so they might be holy in any Place and in any State and Condition and not in the Cloyster only but these Monks extol their Sanctity for their Honour and Profit attributing it to the Perfection of their Rules tho' these have often prov'd Hindrances to those who were guided by the Holy Spirit who is always without Constraint whereas these Rules do fetter and bind Souls with so many Chains that they are more chain'd than Slaves in the Galleys This cannot but bring great Disturbance to truly Christian Souls whom these Constraints do not render holy but the Conformity of their Will to that of God because there can be no Holiness but what is derived from him and therefore no Saints but according as they partake of his Holiness Righteousness Goodness and Truth from which Mens Practices are very remote and if Men were not sitting in greater Darkness than that of Aegypt of old was they wou'd not reverence the Monks to day because there were Saints among them formerly Since their Lives were wholly different from the Lives which the Monks lead now and if they observe narrowly the Histories which they themselves write of them they will find them a Reproof to them in every thing For they write that those Holy Monks did greatly despise the World and these at present do love and seek it that those lov'd Poverty whereas these love and seek for Riches The first were humble and despised and these are self-conceited and will be honour'd Read Sir if you please the Lives of all the Holy Monks you will find them wholly contrary to what we see at present So that what ought to raise their Esteem confounds them I said to her That Saints had instituted these Orders and Rules and therefore they must be good She said Sir if these Orders and Rules had remained in the State in which their first Founders established them they might have been helpful for Sinners who wou'd reform their Vices because when Nature is left to its own Freedom it contracts such evil Habits as that it cannot afterwards be delivered from them but by Rigour and Constraint This is the Reason that mov'd those first Founders to observe bodily Mortifications and Austerities because the World was so addicted to all sorts of Sensualities that Men almost thought of nothing else but their bodily Ease and Pleasures To remedy which these Lovers of Souls introduc'd Ways of living that might resist such inveterate Vices appointed Fastings to subdue the Body Watchings to attend upon Prayer bodily Severities to resist Lust and so of all the other Means that were proper to withdraw Men from the Vices to which they were habituated All these things cannot be evil provided they be observed in the Spirit and Intention with which they were established because they may serve as powerful Helps for Sinners who desire to be converted but every one has no need of these Means to be holy because they cannot give Holiness but serve only to correct the Vices that might make the Soul still cleave to bodily Sensualities and shou'd hinder the Resignation they shou'd make of themselves to be dispos'd of by God But to believe that these Austerities can of themselves render us holy is a great Errour For even the Devil might observe them and continue a Devil still So also wicked Men may become Religious and observe their Rules and yet not change their Affection to their Vices since the same Means which might deliver them from them may plunge them farther into them as we see by Experience that they will sometimes study more Sensuality when they eat but Fish and Pulse than they wou'd do in eating Partridges and other good things and will have more Vanity in wearing a course Habit than in Silk and Purple We may also meet with more Avarice in a poor Man than in one who abounds in Wealth Therefore we can't judge the Vertue of the Soul by outward Exercises since both a good and ill Use may be made of them I said to her That Vows and the constraint Rules were Powerful Helps to regulate ones Life and that the Cloysters cut off many Occasions of offending God being out of the Hurry of the World She said Truly Sir I cannot believe that that Constraint of Vows and Rules have been established by the Holy Spirit because it is contrary to the Free-Will that God has so bountifully given us The same Spirit cannot give and take back the same thing He shou'd be subject to the Passion of changing as we are which cannot be in God He cannot hold that to be evil which he has once approv'd as good The greatest Favour which ever he bestowed on Man is the having given him his Free-Will which renders him a depending Deity and capable of conversing with God as with his like because he is pleased to make a Creature of such a Nature that it shou'd have this Free-Will to all Eternity And how is it possible that the same God shou'd change his eternal Designs and shou'd inspire the Saints to curb Men and to deprive them of this same Liberty wherewith when he created them he wou'd endue them to oblige them afterwards by Vows to follow or love him If God had these Designs no body shou'd be damn'd because the Goodness of God is so great that it wou'd by force constrain all Men to be saved No no Sir this cannot be true God can bind no body to Vows This must be the Invention of Men who having a good Will and Desire that many shou'd be saved thought it was good to constrain them by Vows and Ties that they might be bound to continue in pious Exercises This can come only from humane Prudence and not from the Holy Spirit tho' the Founders of Orders instituted it or the Church after them found it expedient by Vows to oblige the Religious that thereby they might be preserved in their first Resolution of serving God This cannot at all proceed from the Holy Spirit who will never act contrary to himself And to know whether Vows and Constraints were powerful enough Means for the well ordering of Mens Lives that they might cease to offend God and live as true Christians we need only come to experience which is still the Mistress of all Sciences How many thousand Persons in Christendom are now under Vows in Cloysters and Religious Orders and how few of them are there who do Miracles If these Vows and Rules came from the holy Spirit they would certainly be all Saints For the observing the Commands of the Holy Spirit does still produce Holiness so that all who wou'd be subject to the Vows which the Holy Spirit shou'd dictate to them wou'd receive all the Fruits and Gifts which
and excuse this Roman Church which you may easily perceive to be corrupted And the more she is drest up with Vertues and Sanctity she is the more capable of corrupting the Innocent who approach her thinking to find the Spouse of Jesus Christ without Blemish while in the mean time they contract nothing but the Corruption of an infamous Strumpet Thus the most Sound become diseased and will perish if their Maladies be not quickly laid open and dress'd as is meet by that divine Physician who comes upon the Earth to teach us all things according to the Promise that Jesus Christ gave us speaking to his Diciples saying that he wou'd send the holy Spirit who shou'd teach us all things He is now come Sir hear him The Fifteenth Conference That the Time is come when the Holy Spirit will teach us all Truth How Christians do reject his Light and what Progress the Devil has made among them For what end how and to whom God communicates his Spirit I Ask'd her Who this Physician might be who could cure such Sores and such Corruption She said It is the Holy Spirit Sir which Jesus Christ did promise us a little before his Death who will teach us all things This is that LIGHT which shall arise in the Darkness which the World will not receive but Love their Darkness rather than the Light Therefore is it known by so few because they will not receive it giving more Faith to their Darkness than to this Light which breaks forth as a new Day upon the Earth and comes to discover the Truth of all things But Men are become now so much Lovers of themselves that they will not learn the Truth except in things which are agreeable to them resisting the Truth that reproves them or is not conformable to their Liking and Inclinations In this they will give Laws to the Holy Spirit and make him speak what they encline to hear In these Times the Sins against the Holy Ghost are fully accomplished Therefore Jesus Christ calls them dangerous times because the Sins which are committed then will not be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other When Jesus Christ came into the World they committed many Sins against him Nevertheless all those shall be forgiven because the Jews never understood that he was the Son of God Neververtheless they have perceived and confessed that they did ill in putting him to Death and all the Sins of which we repent shall certainly be forgiven But this Sin which is now committed against this Holy Spirit will never be repented of and therefore will never be pardoned neither in this miserable World nor in that blessed one which is to come because they will never ask forgiveness for them since they will not acknowledge them and if they will not suffer the Physician to lay open and search into the Sores of a Patient how can they hope for a Remedy by his Cure Even so the Holy Spirit cannot heal the Wounds of our Souls if we will not let him discover them I said to her It was very desirable that these Wounds of our Souls were laid open that they might be healed She said Sir it is indeed a desirable thing but it is very little desired For all the World resists this Discovery and they think they do a very pious Action when they will hear nothing spoken of the Evils which have crept into the Church nor yet of the Monks and others who prosess to serve God The Holy Spirit it seems must accommodate himself to the Times if he would be heard and must praise the Vices and Sins that are at present committed against him For that String must not be touch'd to speak evil of those who desire to continue in Reputation or Authority in the Church even tho' they should commit all sort of Abominations and tho' they were Sorcerers and Devils They teach it as a Principle of Vertue that we ought to excuse their Sins and take our Garments to cover them that no body may perceive them This is very far from desiring that these Wounds may be laid open that they may be healed 'T is no wonder Sir that I have so often told you that I cannot see by what way there should be so much as one Person at present saved in Christendom because the greatest Part live as Atheists without acknowledging God any longer or thinking on him and the rest having the Reputation of good Men are so full of the Sins against the Holy Ghost that I know not what way they can be gained If it should be told a Priest Sir you are deceived in the Administration of the Sacraments They do not operate of themselves as you think he would think this Advertisement came from the Devil and would resist it as a very ill thing Or if it should be said to a Monk or any other devout Person that they were not true Christians they would presently take the Alarum and withstand the Person who should tell them this Truth as if he were an Enemy of God and a Liar because he who has no desire to amend will not be pleased to have his Faults discovered to him Thus every one continues in his Sins and desires not to leave them off or so much as discover them In this Men love Darkness rather than the Light which arises so graciously upon which depends the Salvation or Damnation of all the Men in the World For the Darkness is universal and there is no Sect or Nation whatsoever that is in the real Truth I said to her That she was obliged to discover these Truths that they would be of great use tho' it were but to my Soul She said Sir you are no more disposed than any other to receive the Light of the Holy Spirit unless your Heart be humble and your Spirit simplified This is what Jesus Christ told Nicodemus that he must become a Child and enter again into his Mother's Womb affirming elsewhere that l If we are not converted and become as little Children we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven These very Words must now have their compleat and perfect Sense For he who shall not submit his Spirit in Simplicity as a little Child cannot receive the real Truth which the Holy Spirit brings into the World because the Doctrines of Men and their evil Customs have so blinded and darkned their Understandings that 't is impossible for them to receive the Light of Truth unless they be first stript of all their Sciences acquired by humane Means which prove Vails and Bandages to the Eyes of the Soul For these humane Maxims are all lying and deceitful teaching to honour Men and give Deference to them when they are in Place and Dignities not considering that Honour is due to God alone by his Commandment and that Deference ought to be given to the Truth only to which it is due and as long
and his Heart is hardned because he has cast himself into the devouring Fire of this Justice The Twentieth and Fifth Conference Shews That all the Wisdom of Men is nothing but Ignorance in respect of the Divine Light and that God will destroy this Humane Wisdom to give place to that of his Holy Spirit I said to her That she overturned all the Wisdom of the Learned and that there was no more place for Study She said I told you long ago Sir that the Time is come wherein God will abolish the Wisdom of the Wise 'T is not only the worldly Wise or Humane Wisdom that he speaks of for that will perish of its self but it is of the Wisdom of those who believe they are wise in the Works of God or in Theologie This Wisdom will be destroyed through the Goodness and Mercy of God Because many of these are Men of good Inclinations but they perish through Ignorance For they maintain the Sentiments of Men which have been given them for infallible Truths And you may easily perceive Sir that they are not such nor founded upon the Wisdom of God which is alwayes the same If you consider those who have spoken of the Grace and Works of God you will find them different in Sentiments though divers of them were Saints This may be an Evidence to you that their Wisdom was not Divine and that their Learning has darkned the Light of Truth which can never change nor contradict it self in any thing And because this Learning is a Hindrance to the Holy Spirit who comes now to illuminate the Souls of Men of good Will of necessity this Learning must be destroyed in them This the Goodness of God will do perfecting Praise by the Mouth of Sucklings and Infants The Wisdom of God is our Mother from which we ought to draw all our Substance which Wise Men cannot do before their Wisdom be destroyed This the Goodness of God will do in our Time destroying the Wisdom of the Wise and abolishing the Prudence of the Prudent and they will be asked very shortly where is the Wise the Scribe and the Disputer of this World For they shall not be found any longer since God will abolish all their Prudence and Wisdom by the Mouth of Infants I wish Sir you were the first and that I might say to you with the Spouse Who will give me my Brother sucking the Breasts of my Mother that I might find him without and might kisse him The Wisdom of God is the Common Mother of all those who are resigned to him Suck its Breasts boldly they will fill you with Delights And as soon as I shall find you void of all your Sciences I will salute you in the Unity of Divine Wisdom Quit Sir all other Wisdom and depart from your own Wisdom and Prudence It is an Instance of God's Goodness that he comes to deprive you of them Do not believe as the Wise of the World do that your Happiness consists in your Wisdom Since it must be destroyed before you receive the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit and you confess to me that I overthrow the Wisdom of the Wise and judge that it is not fit to Study any longer walk while this Light lasts fearing lest you be surprized with Darkness which is now spread through all the World Get out of it for all is corrupted there Keep your self solitary for the World at present is a Temporal Hell wherein nothing is to be seen but Objects which incite to evil God is not any longer known nor loved there Nothing is to be heard there but Blasphemies The most Holy will say that they have not the Grace to do well and that God has predestinated whom he pleased that all these Decrees will come to pass do what they will with many other Calumnies which they utter against God And as his Name is blasphemed in the Eternal Hell so is it in this World which is a Temporal Hell where St. John has well said in his Revelation That the Whore was full of Names of Blasphemies And if the best do thus blaspheme the Name of God how much more must the Wicked do so who deny him by Word or Deed by denying him their own Wills saying they are their own Masters and that they may dispose of all that belongs to them or sometimes what belongs to others when it is entrusted to them So that he who would take Sanctuary from the Perils of his Salvation must retire from the World where Salvation is no longer to be had For all have forsaken God and no Body knows him any longer Every one having made an Idol of his own Imagination or to say better Every one makes a God after his own fashion One sayes that he damns another that he forsakes another that he permits evil and that he rejects many though God can never reject any seeing he is greater than all Things and comprehends all in himself and can never do evil and never ceases to do good All the Qualities of God are unknown to Men For none possesses true Wisdom because none will resign their Will to his Every one follows his own I said to her That I was altogether convinced and that I perceived very clearly that all the Wise were greatly ignorant of the Wisdom of God that all Studies and Disputes were founded only upon Terms and Words or upon the Sentiments of Men. She said I bless God Sir that he gives you these Lights Do not look back any longer For Men are deceived and do deceive one another They have long agoe quitted the Light of Truth and the more they thought to find it by Humane Reasons or Arguments the farther they have been removed from it Because the same Wisdom is needful for understanding the Holy Scriptures that did at first dictate them and the Men who are wise in this World are very seldome humble and God resists the Proud and gives his Wisdom to the Humble and the Little Ones Therefore the Wise continue ignorant of the Wisdom of God and are only Wise in themselves and such Wisdom is Foolishness before God for it is of no use for the knowledge of Eternal Things and the World pass will away with all its Sciences so that all the Wisdom of Men is nothing but Vanity upon which we ought never to build our Salvation since it is written Wo to the Man that puts his confidence in Man Which nevertheless all Men almost do now For it seems for a Man to be sure of his Salvation it is enough to follow the Sentiment of some Author or some Saint though all Men may err and fail even though they were canonized for Saints This is not a solid Bottom whereupon to found our Belielf and Salvation because there is but one only Truth which is God and he who is not united to this Truth is in Errour and Lies and still walking in
Principles of the greatest Philosophers who thought they establish'd all things by unerring Rules of Aequations hiss'd out of Doors yet this will not keep them from making Idols of their own Ideas and worshipping their own Reason and Christ and his Sacred Doctrin must be despis'd if he will not fall down before it and worship it And how strangely this Spirit spreads now in the World he that runs may read There is no Delusion more dangerous and which leads to more irrecoverable Blindness than this of making our wretched Reason and the Ideas it forms to it self the Measure and Standard of Truth The Eyes of our Mind are like those of our Body we may turn them to any Side we please but can discern nothing aright unless the Light shine upon them and let them see the Objects round about them So our Minds may form to themselves many Ideas and Imaginations but none of them conformable to the nature of things without a suitable Light to discover and direct them In the Material and visible World from the general Notions of Matter and Motion and the Combination of variously mov'd and figur'd Bodies Men form to themselves such and such Systems of the Universe which they strongly fancy to be the true Model of it but when we come to consider more nearly the things themselves we find them as far different as Light is from Darkness Our Minds must receive due and suitable Impressions from the Objects themselves else they can have no right Sentiment of them A blind Man can never conceive aright what Light and Colours the Sun and this visible World are unless his Eyes be open'd and he receive the Light The Light surrounds him and he comprehends it not we may by many Words and Similitudes give him general and dark Notions of the Excellency of Light and Colours and the Beauty of this visible World but one Glance of the Light it self will discover more to him than a thousand Descriptions made by us It is the same of Divine and Spiritual Things The Natural Man perceives not the Things of God but they are foolishness to him No Man knows the Things of God but by the Spirit of God A Divine Light and Illumination is necessary to make us understand and relish Divine Things And if we think to comprehend and judge of them by our Reason and Natural Ideas we do as foolishly and unreasonably as a blind Man that would judge of Light and Colours by the Ideas he has gathered from his Touch and other Senses And as the seeing and enjoying the Light and the receiving the other Impressions of this visible World are quite another thing than the Ideas we retain and form of these things to our selves in the Light 's absence for these notional Ideas can never enliven and warm and chear our Bodies and make us enjoy all this visible World as the other does no more than the Picture of the Sun can give us Light and Heat as the Sun himself does for these are but the Pictures of the Things themselves So the true Light and Impression of Divine Things upon the Mind is as far beyond the notional Ideas that we may form of them even tho' they were the true Pictures of them and as a blind Man ought to submit to the Judgment and Conduct of those who enjoy the Light and of whose Sincerity he has no reason to doubt and in the mean Time to strive if possible to enjoy himself so ought we to submit our Understanding and our Will to the Divine Revelation of the Will of God made to others and by them declar'd to us and in the mean time so to yield up our selves to God as that the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightned we may come to comprehend what the good and acceptable and perfect Will of God is But the Leaven of the Pharisees has yet more universally overspread Christendom than that of the Sadducees Upon this is founded the Difference of the several Sects and Parties that are in the Christian World and the Hatred and Animosity wherewith they prosecute one another one crying Lo here is Christ another Lo he is there The same Leaven runs through all Parties tho' it put on different outward Forms according to the different Interests and Engagements of the respective Parties Some are very zealous for particular Doctrins and Opinions which are uncertain as to their Truth and of no Necessity for Salvation Some set up for particular Forms and Rites of Worship which may be either us'd or let alone without hazard of Salvation And others are as zealously bent against them Some for such and such Forms of Discipline and Government and others for overturning them And tho' most of the Things for or against which they bend all their Zeal be of little Moment either for Promoting or Hindrance of Salvation yet they seem to lay the whole Stress of Religion upon them and having drawn them up into positive or negative Confessions of Faith Creeds Articles Canons of Councils and Acts of General Assemblies they baptize them into the Sacred Names of The Truths of God the Cause of Jesus Christ the Interest of his Church the setting the Crown upon Christ's Head they teach for Doctrins the Commandments of Men and are more zealous for their Forms and Systems of Doctrins drawn up by themselves or their Predecessors than for the Simplicity and Plainness of the Holy Scriptures and tho a Man embrace from his Herrt the Divine Writings and endeavour to square his Life by the Rules set down in them yet if he do not receive their Systems and be not zealous for or against such outward Forms and Rites as they embrace or dislike he is to them as a Heathen and a Publican And while they have a Zeal for the outside of Religion they neglect Righteousness Mercy and the Love of God while they avoid the Scandalous and Carnal Vices that would make them hateful in the World their Hearts are full of the Spiritual ones which are as hateful to God In short the Apostle gives us a plain Character of them 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3 4 5. warning us That in the last days perilous Times shall come for Men shall be Lovers of their own selves covetous proud boasters blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy without natural Affection Truce-Breakers false Accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good trayterous heady high-minded lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof It is strange to see how wilfully Men mistake the Nature of Christianity and place it in that which it does not conconsist and what it truly is they despise and trample upon Christianity may be either consider'd in its End or in the Means it directs us to for the attainment of that End Its End is CHARITY to love God with all our Heart and our Neighbour as our selves To love God is to love his
Age that these Combats began with her and towards the eighteenth that she came to a full Resolution of yielding up her Will wholly to God and of abandoning the World For seven Years after the Tears and Sorrows of her Penitence did continue which she accompanied with great Austerity and Mortification wearing a Shirt of Horse-hair next her Body Night and Day sleeping only on a Deal-board and that no longer than three Hours each Night passing the rest on her Knees in Prayers giving the Sheets of her Bed and her other Linnen to the Poor and still bringing them back to be wash'd with those of the Family without the Knowledge of the Servants She eat no more than what might preserve her Life and would mingle Earth and Ashes with what she did eat to avoid the Pleasure that might tempt her Her Penitence and Mortifications were not the effects of a Melancholy Humor nor did they produce it she being of a most chearful Disposition even till Death But she punish'd herself with an inward Contentment out of a Principle of Justice being convinc'd there was nothing more just than to regrate the Sin of having ceas'd to love so lovely a God God has no need of our Mortifications but our Flesh and Corruption have great need of them Timothy was so sensible of this that he stood in need of a Caution from the Apostle Paul to look also to his Health No doubt there may sometimes be Excess in these Mortifications of which M. Bourignon was so sensible that she could never advise any Body in this to follow her Example but to resign themselves to God and to take up chearfully the daily Crosses and Mortifications which his Providence shall appoint for them This so few are unwilling to do that undoubtedly God loves more the readiness of those who mortifie themselves too much than the Sloth of those who do it too little or not at all She would have continued this Austerity still if at the Age of twenty five Years God had not commanded her to leave off all this and to lead an ordinary Life When she remembred how she had lost God whom formerly she enjoy'd she would pass whole Nights in crying out My God! my God! where art thou my God! what shall I do what must I do to find thee again what would'st thou have me to do to be well-pleasing in thy Sight what shall I do to fulfil thy Will After much Time many Prayers Watchings and Tears God was pleas'd inwardly to manifest himself to her anew And the first Answer she receiv'd to the Petition she had so often made was this Divine Doctrin which contains the whole substance of the Gospel Forsake all Earthly Things Free thy self from the Love of the Creatures Deny thy self This was about the twentieth Year of her Age. These were the Words which stuck ever with her and upon these she laid the Foundations of a Christian Life She forsook all earthly things for the Love of God and to give her self wholly to him and yielded up her self entirely to his Conduct doing nothing without his Direction She thought to have met with true Christians in the Monasteries and was resolv'd to have shut up her self into one of them But there she found them as full of the Love of the World and of Self-love as elswhere God made known to her That the Society of Christians which she had been seeking for in vain was to be re-establish'd in the World by her means This seem'd impossible to her because of her Sex her Weakness her Ignorance her Meanness and having never read nor been taught by any what the Gospel-Life was And having laid this before God she had this Answer Behold these Trees in the Church-yard they seem dry Wood without Leaves or Fruit or any Appearance nevertheless when the Season comes they shall bring forth Leaves Flowers and in abundance without any Body's touching them So shall it be of my Work The manner how she was train'd up by God for this is remarkable That she might acquire Divine Light she was not sent to Study nor Reading nor Speculations nor to fill her Head with the Knowledge of Spiritual Things But she resign'd her self in Simplicity to God avoiding Sin needless Distractions and the Activity of her own Reason without desiring to know more than what was needful for her to know in the moment in which she was referring all the rest to God who gave her Knowledge and Light according to the Occasions wherein she needed them whether for her own Conduct or that of others for the Discovery of Truth or the Refutation of Error When she had learn'd from God his Designs in general she did not immediately with haste and precipitation set about the Execution of them as many rash Persons would have done with much Zeal She had still this Rule That it was not enough that God inspir'd good Designs but we must also wait upon him till he open the Way and direct all our Steps in the Execution of them that the Spirit of God acts leisurely yea slowly but steadily and what he produces in so leisurely and imperceptible a manner has afterwards a lasting and solid Subsistence Whereas the Spirit of the Devil moves all at first makes a great Noise and a great deal ado but in process of time all slackens and vanishes into Smoak and Nothing She mov'd always by this Rule She made several Attempts to bring others to lead a truly Christian Life Some Nuns were enclin'd to follow her Directions some Bishops and Priests were convinc'd of the total Degeneracy of Christendom and that the Spring of all the Corruption was in the Clergy but Human Respects and Worldly Considerations kept them from prosecuting what their Inward Convictions prompted them to She was prevail'd with to take the Charge of an Hospital of young Maids and to educate them in the Fear of God and the Spirit of the Gospel But after nine Years Labour tho' to outward Appearance they seem'd most modest and vertuous yet to her great Grief she found them in Heart to be led captive by the Devil at his Will She was afterwards mov'd by God to set down in Writing the Divine Truths communicated to her and having ask'd of God If she should keep these Writings secret or publish them He said to her Yes puhlish them for by them the Gospel shall be preach'd thro' all the World The writing of this Treatise The Light of the World was occasion'd by M. Christian de Cort Superior of the Fathers of the Oratory at Mechlin in Flanders a Man full of Zeal for God and Charity for his Neighbour and void of self-seeking He no sooner discover'd that God had hid in her the Treasures of his Divine Wisdom than he took all occasions to be instructed by her in the Truth and when alone set down in Writing the Sum of what had past in their Conversation but this briefly and without Order He acquainted her
of all Lights She told us Things unheard of so marvellous and sublime that we often remained quite lost with admiration for we had never heard such Things She explained likewise the Holy Scriptures so perfectly that none of the holy Fathers have ever so done nor any Body since the Creation of the World That which did most astonish us was That she told us she had never read nor learn'd them of any Body She knew also the secret Thoughts of the Hearts of many For a proof of which she told us Things so particular about our own inward State that neither Men nor Devils could ever know them Which befel us many times for she warned us of divers Mischiefs hid under a Mask of Piety saying That we were fallen into the dangerous Times foretold by Jesus Christ wherein many call themselves Christians and his Disciples who nevertheless are of the Synagogue of Satan who call themselves the Priests of God the Confessors and Guides of Souls while they adhere unto the Devil by express Covenant That these do seduce many by false appearances and that even those who have resolved to follow God are deceived by these false Prophets who deceive even the Elect under a colour of Holiness and Devotion that all the World was now full of such Guids Which at first did a little stumble us for we could not be enclined to believe that so many People in Christendom even Priests and religious Persons were bound unto the Devil by express Covenant We ask'd her for what reason we ought to believe a thing so abominable For it was always best to have a good Opinion of our Neighbour until the contrary were manifest She says Gentlemen it is meet in the general that you entertain in your Minds a pious Belief that every one is better than your selves but if you piously believe in particular that all the Persons with whom you converse are good you are undone It is more needful for you to discover the Evil which they have hid within them than their Good which will advantage you nothing but their Evil may greatly hurt you when it is unknown to you for you cannot beware of it while you do not know it or at least are in doubt of it It is with this pious Belief that the Good are entrapp'd by Satan who would never follow the Ill which is manifest But that which is hid under Good is much more dangerous You are free Gentlemen to believe of this what you please For my part I declare only what I learn in my inward Conversation with God I have many other Secrets to declare but methinks you are too scrupulous to hear them I will speak no more than you please I know very well how to hold my peace if my Words offend you or do not at all profit you Nevertheless I tell you in Truth that if these Evils be not made manifest to the World all Men are in danger of perishing For very shortly the Plagues of God will fall upon Christians and if Men will not believe that they have thus forsaken God to join themselves unto the Devil the most perfect will blaspheme against the same God who shall afflict them with divers Chastisements such as the like have never yet fallen out She said as in a Spirit of Fury God would be very unjust to exercise so much Rigour against the Christians if they were as good as you believe them or would think them to be It were better for us to separate for your Thoughts are altogether different from mine Go Gentlemen pursue your way For my part I love rather to walk alone and not to speak to you any more keeping my Secrets for my self I never spoke so openly of these Things This so rough and confident Answer did inflame our desire to speak to her the more that we might discover some other Thing knowing well that it is against the timerousness of the Feminine Sex to do and speak so positively to Persons of Learning and Authority as all of us were nevertheless like a strong Woman who would place her Confidence in God alone she answers us without fear making appear sufficiently that she neither desired our Friendship nor our Company no more than our Approbation but with a generous Contempt she walked without any humane Respect testifying abundantly that she sought for nothing upon Earth and that she feared no other Thing but God Which we remarked sufficiently during the whole time of our Voyage having never perceived her to baulk a word to please any Body keeping always to the strait Truth as well in small Things as in great Her Spirit was firm and constant always present to it self we never saw her wandring nor distracted She had a Judgment so just and equitable that she could not suffer the least Injustice tho' it had been in her own favour This streight Judgment was always blind without respecting either her Friends or Enemies her Honour or Reproach her Ease or Trouble her Hurt or Profit In fine we always discovered in her a perfect streightness on all sorts of Rencounters and a Truth so firm that never one Word did contradict another in so long a space of time and amidst so many different Discourses and Subjects She spoke very little unask'd and answer'd our Demands so effectually that often we remained mute and without Reply in very sublime Things being oblig'd to acknowledge that the Wisdom infused by God does far surpass all the Wisdom of Men. But it is no wonder that God did communicate himself to this Soul for she desired no other Communication nor Contentment but only what she found with her God For if we were about to tell her some News even of pious Matters she begg'd we would not speak of them to her saying that they were nothing but Distractions And when we entred into any strange Towns where she had never been she took no notice of any thing in them For having one Day entred into a Town and abode there for three Days after we came out of it I would needs speak of the fine Church that was there She said Is there a Church there Truly I did not see it Thus in whatsoever place she was she continued always in her Recollection We saw her often in Rencounters where she met with Affronts and Contempt and on other Occasions where she received Praises she never changed her Countenance receiving Contempt without Trouble and Praises without pleasure She shewed some Discontent when any Gift was offered her or when we would have rendered her any Service which she would never accept of except in case of Necessity or Sickness We perceived her always of a joyful Countenance but never to delight her self in any earthly Thing that might give her Joy In short we may all truly affirm that we never observed in her any Vice Sin or any weakness of Spirit but a perfect and solid Vertue surpassing natural and humane Strength which made us
degree that it can come to and the Devil has gain'd an inward dominion over the hearts of all men not that wickedness is manifestly at the highest degree in the judgment of men for it will appear more clearly when they shall commit all sort of sins publickly without being afraid of any the evil will seem then greater but it will be less in the sight of God for it will then be no more accompanied and disguised with Hypocrisie as it is at present The Devil having gain'd the hearts of ill men will remain no longer conceal'd He is desirous to reign publickly and openly assoon as he can for his greater Glory As long as there were here and there some good Souls he kept himself hid to the end he might gain them but at present he can so well disguise his malice that all serve him the wicked with good will as his hired Servants and the good serve him by constraint as his Slaves From hence I infer that the time of his Reign is come and that he will appear very shortly visibly in the flesh And to satisfy the second doubt proposed viz. how there shall be Martyrs of Jesus Christ and of those who shall obtain Salvation by the Perfecutions of this discover'd Antichrist this shall be an effect of the last Mercy of God who will yet once send his light into the world according to his promise That the light shall arise in darkness and that the darkness shall be as noon day That is to say that in this time of darkness in which we live at present wherein the Truth is not any longer discern'd from Lies Faithfulness from Deceit nor Righteousness from Iniquity that God will make his Light to arise in this Darkness and that these who shall receive it shall open their eyes and see the blindness of their understanding and reject the spirit of errour into which they were fallen thro the false perswasions of this invisible Antichrist and shall embrace the spirit of truth which is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and by this means dispose themselves to Martyrdom and to saving sufferings in the Quarrel of Jesus Christ for many are now detain'd the Slaves of the Devil thro ignorance and inadvertency believing even that they follow Jesus Christ when they follow this strange Shepherd thro his delusions I thought it impossible to believe that the Devil had dominion over the hearts of all men because I knew many who make profession of being good men who in effect are observ'd to addict themselves to pious and religious works exercising themselves in both publick and private Devotions employing themselves according to their Callings in succouring their Neighbour and owning the quarrel of good men in making peace and agreement between those who have quarrels and debates She said Sir it is by these works which seem good and pious that the Devil deceives the good and renders them his Slaves making them to do his will without their perceiving it It is for this reason our times may well be called dangerous because the darkness is so thick as that good is not any longer discern'd from evil Those are esteem'd good men who do often frequent the Churches and Sacraments and are present at the publick Solemnities and they who do so believe themselves to be good men and to live well but believe me Sir if this be not done in the true Spirit of Christianity these are all but amusements for the life of a Christian is an inward and spiritual Life consisting in the LOVE and Respect we owe to God and CHARITY to our Neighbour for God This Love is an inward Passion of our Soul which is known to none but God himself as also this Charity for our Neighbour These inward passions are sometimes discover'd outwardly by external operations as to suffer willingly for him whom we love to be subject in all things to his will to honour him with all our power by these solid vertues it is discover'd if we be good men not by making a profession of being so for this profession of being good proceeds often from a presumption of our Salvation which is a sin against the Holy Ghost A sinner who knows his sin is often a better man than this presumptuous person The Sixth Conference How the outward worship of God and the outward works of Charity towards our Neighbour are corrupted by the Devil And from whence this Power proceeds I Desir'd to be satisfy'd concerning all these points of good works which I had observ'd to be yet in use among those who profess to be good men to see whither the Devil would produce such operations in his Adherents I ask'd her first If it was not a good work to go often to the Church or to its Solemnities She answer'd It is very good to go to Church to hear the Word of God since Jesus Christ himself went thither to teach it for there is distributed or at least ought to be that word which gives food or nourishment to the souls of the faithful But I pray you Sir says she reflect a little seriously with me on the way of going to Church and of teaching the Word of God there which is now observ'd and see if you will not be oblig'd to confess that by what is now done in Churches the Devil receives much more honour than God therefore he incites his Adherents to go thither often and the Ministers to perform the Solemnities there frequently They go to Church out of custom and being there they behave themselves even as they do in profane places The Solemnities there are so vain that they serve rather to satisfie the senses than to move devotion Among a thousand persons who follow Processions you will scarce find one who has his heart lifted up to God! Sermons are made more out of vanity and heard more out of curiosity than to profit by them Behold the Theater of the World at present judge now whither all these things can pass for good works in the sight of God and if the Devil has not ground to excite them to these actions from whence he derives so much his advantages When once he could perswade men that a Christian Life consists in outward actions he perverted all the good so that they do rather follow him than Jesus Christ because these visible and outward things make a stronger impression on the natural senses than those spiritual things which Jesus Christ has taught and commanded us I felt in my soul that this was true but desiring to learn more I said to her that for those who apply themselves to their Neighbours as to visit the poor and the sick to own the quarrel of the good to quiet and appease strife and contentions that these works could not come from the suggestion of the Devil She reply'd All these things are good if they were done in the spirit of Charity and purely for the Love of God but that this was so
Roman Catholicks tho' this they hold for an Article of Faith that none can be saved out of her Communion This is very ill conceiv'd since God is universal and he 's to be found every where by those who seek and worship him For he 's not fix'd to any material Body All Souls who take their Delight in him are his Spouses call them by what Name or Religion you please For all these different Names or Opinions do not make a Christian but only the Practice of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ makes a Christian And all those who put in Practice the Doctrine of the Gospel are Christians and Disciples of Jesus Christ even tho' they were Turks or Heathens Of which Professions I believe several condemn and judge the nominal and professing Christians since God has no Respect of Persons and will judge all Men according to their Works This the Scripture confirms saying by your Works you shall be judged and by your Works you shall be condemn'd And Jesus Christ himself taught the Truth of God his Father to the Samaritan Woman and to many other Nations who were not Jews saying to his Apostles Go teach all Nations He that believes shall be saved He even ate and conversed with Sinners to see if any of them would receive the Truths of his Father and put them in Practice and tho' at first he rejected the Canaanitish Woman as a Dog yet he shew'd her Grace and Mercy by her Conversion and persevering Humility For the same Reason he says to Christians that Publicans and Sinners shall enter into the Kingdom of God and the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out which still farther confirms this Truth That Religion does not save a Man but the Love of God that sanctisies him This made me get over all Humane Respects and declare the Truth of the things which were ask'd me by so many different Conferences all about the Roman Church For at that time I knew no other Religions and with Compassion I booked upon all those who died out of the Romanâ— Church as damn'd as our Divines taught So that being ask'd by a Romish Priest I answered plainly to all his Questions Vpon which many took Occasion to say that I had chang'd my Religion and was become an Enemy of the Roman Church which is not true since being born in it I will live and die therein without changing Name or Religion but only my Manners and Life And will endeavour to be regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and to follow and imitate him even to Death letting Ignorant Men say and judge of me as they please In the mean time I offer this LIGHT OF THE WORLD to all good Souls who seek the Truth and desire to become true Christians that they may truly discern Reality from Appearance For this prevails now through all the World among all sorts of Sects and Religions where every one cleaves to the Bark and does not touch the Wood fancying that Vertue consists in having a fine Religious Name of that of the Reformed the Evangelicks the Catholicks Yea that they are persons guided by the Holy Spirit of which the Quakers boast though all these sorts of Names are false and not at all suitable to the Life and Manners of those who call themselves so For if they who are called Reformed were truly so we would see the Reformation in their Life and Manners Whereas we find they all live according to Flesh and Blood which the Scripture says shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven They are neither reformed in their Moveables nor their Apparel nor in their Eating or Drinking They seek in all the finest and the best They labour and trade diligently that they may have wherewith to maintain themselves in Pomp Excess or Plenty as much as they can without bridling their fleshly Appetites or their Sensualities in any thing still coveting more that they may give it as much Satisfaction as they can that in this World they may have Ease Honours and Pleasure Thus they are called Reformed though in Effect they will not reform themselves in the least thing for the Kingdom of Heaven By which we see that they who call themselves Reformed bear a false Name that makes them Hypocrites and Deceivers of others and of themselves As those also are deceived who call themselves the Evangelicks For in all their Works and Practices there is nothing conformable to the Gospel but all directly opposite to it For they do not observe so much as one Point of the Evangelical Councils For instead of loving voluntary Poverty they love the Abundance and Riches of this World unsatiably and they who ought to be the Guides to those Evangelical Perfections are the farthest remov'd from them abandoning their Flocks and Churches to find others that afford them more temporal Profit They are far from imitating the Apostles who said freely I have received and freely I give thee since these modern Evangelicks give at the greatest Price and to him that bids most And therefore they do not justly bear the Name of Evangelicks since they neither teach nor Practise so much as one Council of the Gospel and have nothing but false Names and Parades that they may appear to be in the Sight of Men what they are not at all in the Sight of God No more than those are Catholicks who bear the Name since to call one a Catholick is to say he is a Person joyn'd in the Communion of Saints which these are not who call themselves Catholicks since we perceive not any Holiness in their Lives but much Vice and Injustice accompanied with Hypocrisie and seeming Vertue without any Reality or Sanctification They boast that they are Abraham's Children without doing the Works of Abraham or that they are Christians without observing the Commands of Christ They content themselves to be called Catholicks without conforming their Lives to those who liv'd holily upon the Earth whose Lives and Histories they read without endeavouring to become holy as they were whose Feast s they solemnize tho' they shall never be in their Communion nor truly Catholicks till in their Lives they follow their Vertues and walk in the streight Way that leads to Life So that this Name of Catholick will condemn them rather than justifie them whereas they presume to be preferr'd by God to all other Religions because they are of the most Holy and Perfect Religion according to the Name of Catholick which they bear This would really be if their Souls were united to Jesus Christ in the Communion of Saints which only and no other thing makes a Catholick By which we see that these Persons bear a false Name since they presume of their Salvation because of the Name Catholick and be-believe they are in the true Church out of which they say there is no Salvation This would be true if the Roman Church were the only Communion of Saints But because
himself and nothing could resemble him but this free Power of his Will Tho' he had created Man's Soul divine this had been but a limited Spirit without this Free-Will which must certainly concurr to compleat the Delight which God would take with Men For as a King can take no Contentment in recreating himself with a Slave as he would do with a Queen who is nearer his Quality so God would make Man in his full Liberty and capable of using his Free-Will fully that in this Liberty he might be some way like to him This being done he cannot repent of any thing but lets Man enjoy his Gifts However he abuse them his Righteousness and Constancy will not let him withdraw or take from him what he has once given him but he leaves it him and will leave it to all Eternity Whether Man save or damn himself Free-Will shall never be taken from him for God is not changeable in his Gifts no more than in all his Works This being so he cannot hinder the Romanists from killing any body amongst them who would be the true Church without bounding or limiting the Free-Will that they have to do this But his Goodness preventing their Malice will move his Church to withdraw out of their Power or to hide her self as Jesus Christ hid himself to avoid the Jews Tyranny and by this means he exercises his Goodness towards his Church and leaves those Men of ill Will in the Liberty that he has given them who do only the Mischiefs that are in their Power and cannot reach the doing those which the Good by their Light and Foresight can avoid 'T is thus Sir that I said God could not preserve his Church among these Romanists because he will never use his Power against the Justice of the Right that he has given them to use their Free-Will Sir we ought always to take things in their Source or else we would utter Calumnies against God either in saying that he is not Powerful to hinder Evil nor Almighty to preserve his own or not just in not letting Causes work according to the Order in which he has established them which would be so many Blasphemies Because God can never do any Evil for he is the Source of all Good He cannot permit Injustice for he is perfect Righteousness And likewise he cannot against Promise take from him the Free-Will that he has once given him But he does all his Works in such Perfection that Goodness Righteousness Faith and Truth concurr in all in an excellent Harmony which ravishes the Understanding of him who considers them I said to her That the Impression of Dependance on this Roman Church was as it were naturalized in my Soul and that it would be very ill in me to leave her altogether tho' I absolutely desired to resign my self entirely unto God She said Sir be not any ways troubled Continue confidently under the Roman Church provided you do not follow in her but that which is good in it self abundance cannot hurt After you shall be entirely resigned unto God he will uphold you and will govern you thro' all The more you shall be united to him the more you will partake of his Vertues and his Light shall be given you more clearly to discover the Truth of every thing You are now yet a Courtier of this Roman Church Therefore you love her and would feign excuse her Faults that you may not be obliged to forsake her which likewise you ought not to do by the Inducement of any but if you approach to God you will partake of this Light as the Ray partakes of the Sun according as it is near it When you shall partake of the Righteousness of God you will see with an upright Eye the Injustice of this Roman Church and when you shall partake of the Truth of God you will discover their Lyes and having partaken of the Goodness of God you will discover that Malice which now you can scarce believe For all the Perfections of God do assuredly discover the Imperfections which are opposite to him Labour therefore Sir to find this Union with God and be not troubled under whose Dependance you are Rome cannot hurt you when you hearken to none but God We need not be at the Trouble to learn where the true Church is For she will be in us as long as we possess the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which only makes up the holy Church It remains only that in the Roman Church you beware of the Seductions which are crept in there This is what Jesus Christ has so often warn'd us of in his Gospel sayng Beware of false Prophets who will come deceitfully and shall seduce many False Christs and false Prophets shall arise who shall if it were possible deceive the very Elect. He neither speaks of Turks nor of Heathens but of false Christs The Seventh Conference Of the Mass and of the Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Functions I ask'd her How I should behave in the Administration of the Sacraments in the Mass and other Functions of my Charge She said Sir Do all this in the Spirit that God requires you to do it in because there are great Abuses in this For all these things are not what they made us believe of them Many Superstitions have crept into them against God's Honour and our Salvation Therefore you must always join your Intention with what God may have in these things or otherwise you will commit many Faults and will likewise deceive others For my part I believe the Mass represents the Communion that Jesus Christ had with his Apostles who eat and drank with them every Day blessing the Bread and breaking it to distribute them which the Apostles continued to do with their Disciples and afterwards all the Primitive Christians who assembled every Day to eat together and blessing God imparted to every one as he had need which maintain'd and nourish'd among them the true CHARITY which Jesus Christ had left them by Testament Do this in Remembrance of me and you shall live for ever because without this Charity no body can be saved as St. Paul assures us Tho' one could even remove Mountains tho' he gave all his Goods to the Poor yea his Body to be burn'd c. all this would be nothing without Charity which Jesus Christ had recommended to all his Disciples a little before his Death This is now out of use and instead of nourishing and maintaining it by these daily Meetings of Christians those who did assemble to eat and drink blessing God for what he bestowed on them they have chang'd it into the Mass which we observe to this Day with little Profit and Salvation except that the Intentions of some may be to do it in the Spirit and Desire which Jesus Christ had when he appointed it and left it in his Testament It is to this I exhort you Sir that you
may lose no Occasions of following the Designs of God and that you deceive no body in teaching them that they have done enough in going to Mass For tho' they should hear a hundred every Day this would avail them nothing if they have not Charity which is not now cherish'd amongst Christians tho' they assemble every Day to Mass because they are not taught for what it is instituted since these Romanists have turn'd all things to their greater Advantage If we would examine narrowly all the other Sacraments we would find all the same Mischiefs done to the Interest of Salvation by those new Inventions and Changes I said to her That it were better than that I did not exercise the Ecclesiastical Functions since there was so much Abuse and Hazard in them She said You would not do Ill Sir to abstain from them and to live as if you were no Priest were it not that not having as yet Light enough to discover the Evils which are hid in them you would by degrees fall into Scruples for leaving off all your pious Exercises Pray to God that he may let you see what you ought to do and he will shew you as he does me that all holy things are become prophane and that there is not any thing in this Roman Church which does not savour of its Corruption All People believe that having declared their Sins to the Priest and got Absolution from him they are pardoned tho' it is God only who can pardon Sins The Priest can indeed pray for the Penitent who humbles himself to declare his Sins as an Intercessour between God and the Penitent but he cannot pardon him by his own Authority He may indeed judge by the Word of God if the Penitent in Justice be disposed to have the Pardon of his Sins and may give him Ground to hope that he shall obtain it of God but not deceive him by making him believe that he himself will pardon them if so be he declare them to him for this Declaration will do nothing without a sincere and a firm Resolution of Amendment which God regards that he may pardon according to his straight Righteousness and not according to the Judgment of the Priest who may be mistaken as well as all other Men. How could God have so little Equity as to commit to some frail Men the Power of saving and damning others What Justice could there be that a Confessour for want of the Intention to absolve should by this means damn thousands of Persons who made their Confessions to him It must needs be an horrible Blasphemy against God for any to have such a Persuasion that a well-meaning Person truly penitent after having duly confess'd dying in this State should be damn'd because the Priest had not the Intention to absolve him If this were true it would be to render God a Tyrant because all our good Works would serve us for nothing in case our Salvation did depend upon a good or ill Absolution These Thoughts or this Belief would make us fall into Idolatry in taking Men for God who could save or damn according to their Fancies This God himself would never do because he can never depart from his Righteousness Goodness and Truth to judge us always according to them whereas Men full of Passion Injustice and Impiety could not but judge us according to these How little Wisdom should we attribute to God in believing that he would give Men Power to save and damn us He who has commanded us to worship none but one God alone he should give us Occasion of worshipping all these Confessors who would be the Saviours of all Christians Do you not palpably feel Sir what evident Perils there are in the Administration of those Sacraments after the manner they are used at present It were far better to be Idle than to do Evil. 'T is no Wonder that I doubt of the Salvation of Christians now when I see in their religious Functions so many things against the Righteousness the Goodness and the Truth of God Nevertheless I will not give you Advice in this You may with your own natural Judgment discern aright Truth from Lying and thereafter resolve to continue or leave off your Ecclesiastical Functions For God never constrains any body each one remaining free to chuse the Means which he perceives to be most expedient without believing any thing blindly no more what I say Sir than if another said it to you But enter into your self that you may judge uprightly of the pure Truth you will perceive and feel it if you be disengag'd from all the Discourses which these Romanists have forg'd to make their Authority valid Free your Spirit of all sorts of Imaginations and Arguments and come to the Center of the Truth to judge if God would in Justice put our Damnation or our Salvation into the Power of any Man unknown to us who might be a wicked Person or a Sorcerer in which Case he would damn as many Souls as he could to gratifie the Devil to whom he belong'd It must not be said in this God is Almighty or his Works are incomprehensible For he never exerts his Power without his Righteousness which is not incomprehensible but makes it self be seen and commprehended by all those who seriously consider it Because no Good is perfect if it be not communicated and known I said to her It was much to be fear'd I had committed many Faults thro' my blind Submission to this Roman Church enquiring of her the Means to repair them She said All that is past is no longer in your Power You must beg Pardon of God who is full of Mercy and does not so much reprove the Faults which are done with a good Meaning as those which are done thro' pure Wickedness Tho' Ignorance does not excuse Sin yet it lessens its Malignity because it has not the full Consent of the Will But now endeavour to search more to the Bottom the Things which concern your Salvation and Do not believe every Spirit but try if what you are to do or believe be of God or of Men or of the Devil For all that is not o God is evil and for want of discovering this Truth each one runs blindly to his own Perdition believing even that they do well in following so great a Number of great and wise Men who maintain this blind Submission which is not fit but for mean Spirits tho' so many of good Judgment have followed it for this long time by-gone which could not have been found without some Infatuation of the Understanding with which the Devil has possess'd all those who lean'd to their own Wisdom or Authority These having their Minds bewitch'd have insinuated their Errors or Ignorances into others and so the Devil by little and little gains all some by Malice and others by Ignorance So that I do not see any Remedy can be put to this but by the
by God So that the Motions of the Soul and those of God become the same thing and they can no longer be distinguished because the Soul cannot now do any thing but what is just good and true unless it should depart from its Union with God and during this Straying should follow its own Will In this case it may do amiss and not otherwise But for you Sir you are not yet habituated to this Union examine still whether what you think speak or do be just good and true With this you cannot be mistaken even tho' yourown Inclination shou'd incite you to do things which have those three Qualities of God They are always of him tho' the Devil himself shou'd move them because there is nothing just good and true which is not of God because he only is just only good and only true And by these Marks you will certainly discern your own Motions from those of God and even tho' they were but mingled with them there wou'd still be something evil or unjust or untrue and then you must purge your Works from this Malignity or else omit them altogether I told her That I had yet one Doubt that is whether I ought to do or omit the Works in which I perceived not precisely these three Qualities of Righteousness Goodness and Truth whether the Works were indifferent or necessary or out of Complaisance She said Sir you ought to do all necessary Works when they cannot be easily done by others And for those which are indifferent to do them is but to lose time They must either be unprofitable or have some end If this end does not respect the Glory of God take good heed of mis-spending time which is so precious Never be persuaded of this Indifference because under that Name we often do evil things without being aware of it We can never do indifferent things except very subtilly before we reflect upon what we are doing For otherwise all our Actions how small soever they be have some Scope at which they aim And as for Works of Complaisance they are forbidden by Jesus Christ when he says that he who seeks to please Men is not the Servant of Jesus Christ unless your Complaisance aim at some good or necessary End Otherwise every Deed of Complaisance is vain and evil Resolve Sir to do those things only which have the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God For all others are to be suspected and bring no Glory to God nor saving Good to our Neighbour and seeing you wou'd follow Jesus Christ seek those things which are above and not those which are upon the Earth which must very quickly perish It is better to lay up Treasures for Heaven where the Rust does not corrupt For tho' you shou'd gain herethe Friendship of all the Men of the World by your Works of Complaisance they cannot give you any thing One Degree of the Glory of God is of more worth than ten thousand Worlds Endeavour Sir to labour for this or be still Make no more fruitless Labour For all that is not of God is nothing and God alone is all permanent Good I said to her That I had not made this serious Reflection to remark if all my Actions were accompanied with Righteousness Goodness and Truth but that I did them often without thinking on any thing if I did not remark in them any of my own Wickedness She said Sir you do therefore commit many Faults both in respect of this present World and that to come For by proceeding inconsiderately it is certain you act only according to the Motions of Nature which being corrupted can do nothing that 's good After this manner your good Actions are but humane and will end with you this is a very prejudicial Ignorance not to know that all the Works which we do naturally shall not be rewarded before God and that all their Reward is received in this World Many Persons have done many such good Works who notwithstanding shall never be sav'd And even tho' they shou'd suffer Martyrdom by natural Motions this wou'd profit them nothing because to partake of Eternal Life all must have the Righteousness of God For finite things cannot come to be infinite Now all our Works which do not partake of God are finite and cannot reach Eternity because they have not these Eternal Ends but Natural or Temporal ones In this many do greatly deceivethemselves looking for Salvation by Works simply Humane or Natural believing that all Works are good when they are not accompanied with our designed Malice It 's thus before Men who judge only according to the Reach of their short Sight But the clear-seeing Eyes of God do judge according to Eternal Truth and Righteousness Therefore we must endeavour to do our Actions according to these else we shall remain empty-handed at Death It 's not enough that we cease to do evil we must also do well or otherwise we shall fall into the Sin against the Holy Ghost which is a Presumption of being saved without good Works and none can be called good if they bear not the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God His Righteousness does every just thing both as to our selves and our Neighbour His Goodness does good to all and evil to none His Truth is always streight and single and when our Actions are not accompanied with these three Conditions they don't proceed from God but from our Nature or the Suggestions of the Devil who willingly covers his most subtil Temptations with seeming Good that he may make every one believe they shall be saved without good Works by making them esteem their Natural and Temporary Works to be good I said to her I should have great Difficulty to apply my self so as to remark always whether my Actions had these three Qualities and if they were only divine Motions She said Sir if you do not this you 'll lose all your Reward and will also occasion the Damnation of many others while you think you are doing good Works For Example you see some one in Want Your Nature is mov'd with Compassion towards him Without more Reflection you give him of your Goods either what is superfluous or even what you need your self and you believe you do a Work of Charity Nevertheless it may be ill done For if you don't consider from whence the Poverty of that Man proceeds you 'll often occasion his Condemnation For your Gifts may serve him for means to offend God as if he be enclined to drink your Alms will lead him to new Acts of Drunkenness or if he have a proud and haughty Heart by your Gift he 'll be the more puffed up employing it upon sumptuous Apparel or other Vanities to nourish his Pride and his Boasting or to commit other Excesses to which he 's addicted of Luxury Arrogance or Contempt of his Equals In short this Good that you think you have done him will often occasion divers sort of Evils
Creator of all things If the Glory of his Father had consisted in Churches and sumptuous Ornaments wou'd not he to whom all appertains have pitch'd upon them and built them What Dotages do Men now publish that God is honoured by great Buildings and rich Ornaments So our Dung shou'd be his Honour For all that is fair and good in the Sight of Men is nothing but Dung before God We have renounced the Pomps of the World that we might become the Children of God and by the same Pomps we wou'd honour him in his Churches It is not fit to renounce the Pomps of the World to become Christians since these give Glory to God It had been better to encrease these since they honour God that by the Encrease of them God might receive Encrease of Glory What Blindness of Mind is it Sir that makes Men believe that God is honoured by worldly Pomps when they are applied to Church-Walls If they displease God in the Souls of Christians how much more shou'd they displease him in Churches and Places that are peculiarly dedicated unto him for Prayer since this does still require Attention and these pompous and magnificent Ornaments serve for nothing but to distract and divert the Mind by regarding these Pomps and Ornaments of Churches which do certainly distract the Mind of all those who regard them and can serve for nothing but to satisfie the Avarice of those who covet them Nevertheless they call those charitable who afford them Money wherewith to provide all these Pomps and Ornaments of Churches Every one praises and esteems them as if God were a vain God who wou'd be adorn'd with fine Garments If he wou'd have a rich Temple in Solomon's time it was because People were then so gross that they cou'd comprehend nothing of God or of his Majesty but by gross and material things But now that we have the Doctrine of Jesus Christ we have received Light enough to know that God is a Spirit and Life and not bodily or material So that they who go to Cloysters or Religious Orders that they may follow Jesus are greatly deceived because there he is not at all followed but opposed For which they ought rather to be called the Cloysters of Antichist than of Christ because the things wherein they contradict him are more than those wherein they follow him I ask'd If those would not be saved who should enter into a Religious state with a good Intention and being in it should endeavour to live well according to their Language She said Sir these are all Impostors in the Sight of God For they promise Poverty and they observe it not because they yet covet worldly Goods and do all they can to please Men that they may give them of their Goods These Vows oblige them not to desire Riches and they do their best to have them If they cannot desire them much less can they posses or receive them They vow Chastity also and very often they are content only by Force and for want of Occasions God who tries the Reins sees well if their Hearts and their Thoughts are chaste since so many things contrary thereto are heard of them They vow Obedience and they are full of self-will So far are they from obeying God that they do not so much as hearken to him and are subject only to their own Wills and Desires without any other Submission By what means would you have these Persons saved who falsifie their Faith to God since those cannot be sav'd who falsifie their Faith to Men Some falsifie their Faith to God out of Malice and Hypocrisie and others falsifie it out of Ignorance being directed in their Faith more according to what others do persuade them than according to their real Practice They make them believe that Poverty is observed when they possess nothing in particular and in the mean time since the Kings and the great Men of the World do ordinarily profess nothing in particular having People and Officers under them who govern their Revenues Even as these Votaries of Poverty have who wou'd not by it be depriv'd of a Glass of Wine or any the least thing They are in this more happy than secular Persons who are oblig'd to care and labour for necessary things whereas these Monks have all at their Wish without Pain or Labour and if they be depriv'd of a Wife they are free also of the Labours which Marriage brings along with it So that their Chastity is more sensual than the being joyned with some Person of a froward or contrary Humour which is more irksome than Continence So that these Monks who are called Penitents do far less of Petence in their Monasteries than they wou'd do if they were out of them For their Vows of Obedience do constrain them only to what they have a Mind to do They have no sooner pass'd their Novitiate but they are absolute Lords and taking the Will of their Superiours for that of God they make them easily to condescend to theirs else they wou'd become rebellious and chagrin or Disturbers of others And nevertheless they will think they have kept their three Vows and believe that for this Cause they shall go to Paradise tho' indeed all their Vertues be nothing but imaginary ones or Apish Tricks And tho' they shou'd live well according to their Knowledge yet they perish because Ignorance does not excuse Sin To be saved we must of Necessity have the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God these for the most part have none of these Vertues For that cannot be true Righteousness to quit their own Wealth to go afterwards and beg that of others who very often have need of it themselves and yet dare not refuse these whom they esteem to be the Servants of God neither is it just to live upon Alms when the Body and Mind is sound for Labour neither is it just to leave their own Goods to their Kinsmen to enrich them and they themselves go live at the Charge of a Common-Wealth For my part Sir I perceive in my interiour that all these things are Unrighteousnesses before God however they cover them with Perfections and Vertues Neither do I see the Goodness of God reign in these Souls because its Property is to do good to all and to do evil to none But we see these Religious Persons do good only to themselves or those who are associated with them studying to do Mischief to all those who will not follow them And as for the Truth of God it is yet less observed by them than the two other Vertues For all their Works are nothing but external far from the real Truth of God which appears always to be what it is and these Monks make a shew of the Holiness and Vertues which they do not possess but are truly Hypocrites I said to her That many of these Monks were Saints and did Miracles She said They became not Saints Sir by that manner
upon all the Earth that they who shall kill you for the Truth shall think they do God Service For Satan's Power is so great and universal that it has almost blinded all Men and their Spirits being infatuated they take that which is false to be real and esteem Lyes more than the Truth And all this is so well masqu'd with Vertue and Sanctity that even the best Men will think they do offer Sacrifice to God when they kill you Therefore take heed always Sir that you give not the Children's Bread to Dogs nor cast Pearl before Swine but try well before you speak to any if he hunger and thirst after Righteousness or some other of the eight Beatitudes which are the Marks that Jesus Christ gave whereby to discover those who shall be bless'd and shall receive the Spirit of Truth But as soon as you shall meet with Opposition to the Truth leave off to tell it and never move in that which will avail nothing For God has promised that he will shortly bruise Satan under your Feet Yet a little while the Devil has his Empire which encreases greatly and so soon as it shall be at an end God will bruise him under the Feet of his faithful Servants who shall triumph over all the Powers of Hell But they must yet suffer a little and continue faithful unto death The Seventeenth Conference That the Jews and Heathens are better disposed to be converted unto God than the Christians and that the Jews shall be restored and the Christians rejected I Ask'd her If I would run the Risque of these Dangers by going among the Jews since according to her saying they were more disposed to receive the Truth She said Yes Sir there is Hazard there as well as elsewhere because the Devil has those who are in Covenant with him in every Place in every State in every Sect and under every Law For he has run to and fro thro' all the Earth and hath devoured many as well among the Jews as among others But I except the Good among the Jews and I know certainly that these are more disposed to receive the Truth than any others because they sin thro' Ignorance For they never knew that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and do not yet know it For they look for this Son of God in Glory and know not that he shall be the same who came already among them in Dishonour As soon as they shall discover this Truth they shall return from their Exile and re-enter into the Promise made to Abraham and shall return to be God's People in Exclusion of the Christians who having abused so many Privileges shall be cut off and the Jews settled again on their Ruins I ask'd her Wherefore the Christians could not be reformed that they might become the People of God as well as the Jews Converted to take away their Crown She said Sir the Jews are much more disposed to receive the Truth than the Christians are For these sin out of pure Malicé and have forsaken God and his Laws This the Jews have not done They do yet fear and know God and the Christians do neither For they preach publickly that to obtain the Pardon of our Sins we are not obliged to love God that to save us from going to Hell it is enough to have self-love that this Fear of their Damnation is capable of procuring them the Pardon of their Sins and Salvation and they utter a thousand other Blasphemies against God in every thing This they can't do thro' Ignorance because besides the Law of God which they have received as well as the Jews They have moreover the Law of the Gospel and the Doctrine of the Apostles which was left them in Writing for an everlasting Memorial which all Christians ought still to follow The Christians have received Faith to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he came into the World where he suffered Pains Labours Poverty and Contempt was persecuted imprisoned scourged buffetted and at last put to Death on a Cross as a Malefactor and all this to give an Example to Christians that by following his Steps they might enter into his Glory They do believe all these things and also that the same Son of God is really in the Sacrament of the Altar with a great many other things contain'd in the Creed Nevertheless against their Belief they live directly contrary to what Jesus Christ taught them and what they believe by the Command of God If the Jews believed this that Jesus Christ is the Son of God they would mourn for the Sins which they committed against him and would follow his Example which shall very shortly come to pass whereas the Christians shall die obstinate in their Sins without Repentance By which you may judge Sir that the Jews are much more disposed to receive the Spirit of Truth so soon as it should be communicated to them than the Christians who oppose the known Truth They know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he is in the Sacrament of the Altar and they shew him less Respect than a Servant would do to the meanest Master and eat and swallow him as a Piece of Bread How would you have these Persons to be reformed since they would reform all the World looking on themselves as Gods of the Earth and Children of the true God while they are led by the Devil This they will not acknowledge chusing rather to perish in their Darkness than to give ear to the Truth whereas those Jews would gladly hear what will enlighten them and would be bettered by knowing the Truth For many good Spirits among them aspire after it hungring and thirsting after Righteousness which when they see and know they will immediately embrace it because nothing but Ignorance hinders them from resigning themselves wholly to God Whereas the Christians thro' pure Obstinacy in their Sins will not do it So that if I should go to the College of Cardinals at Rome and tell them that I come from God to advertise them that they are not true Christians and that Jesus Christ taught another way of living than what they observe and that to be saved we must of Necessity follow Jesus they would presently seize on me as a Criminal and put me to death if I would not retract my Words tho' they knew well enough they were true even tho' they should evidently perceive that I had the holy Spirit they would oppose this Truth that they might maintain their Errours How then Sir would you have such Persons to be converted God will never force any body having given to all Men their Free-Will to use it according as they please If these Christians will acknowledge no other God but their own Authority they would deal hardly with God himself if he shou'd come to speak against it How cou'd God in Justice reform these Christians who
will not be reformed loving rather to perish in their Blindness than to receive the Light and this of their deliberate Will Whereas those Jews are still looking for and aspiring after the Coming of their Saviour in Glory Tho' in many things they err Nevertheless they persevere in this Hope which will infallibly come to pass to them provided they acknowledge the Fault they committed in putting Jesus Christ to Death I ask'd her Whether there was any Sect or Nation more capable of receiving the Truth than the Jews who were a People rejected by all Nations and despised by every body as unworthy of the Conversation of all good Men She said Sir I know not precisely what the Jews are but as a Friend I can tell you that they are yet the People who love God more than any other Their being rejected and despised by every body shall perhaps serve for a Satisfaction to God for the Sins which they committed in putting him to death Because this is God's Way to chuse always the Things that are most vile and most contemned by the World I do not at all doubt but the Jews will be the first in the Kingdom of Heaven because they have been so humbled and despised in this World in which they have imitated Jesus Christ more than the Christians who honour themselves more than God and every one esteems them as the People of God and Jesus Christ has told us by the Mouth of his Mother that he will put down the Mighty from their Seats and will exalt the Humble This makes me believe that this People of the Jews so humbled through all the World shall be exalted above all others and that the Roman Church which is placed in the highest Chair on Earth shall be cast down from all her Power Because God has said that he who exalts himself shall be abased and he who humbles himself shall be exalted It must needs be Sir that all the Words of God be fulfilled in all Respects The Jews having been the most humbled People among Men ought to be according to the Justice and Truth of God the most Exalted as it shall come to pass For as soon as they shall receive the Truth which I commit to you they shall be converted and receive the Holy Spirit by whom they shall discover all things see their Errors and the Truth and embracing it shall arrive at the Time so often desired by them in which they will see the true Messiah and Saviour of the World come in Glory who will receive them into his Kingdom from whence the Children of it shall be shut out These are the Christians who shall never taste of his Feast tho' they were invited and called unto it But the Jews and Heathens shall sit down there and the Christians shall be thrust out because they would not obey God's Call who having called them to Christianity they would not conform themselves unto it Therefore they shall never taste of his Dainties because this is the last Mercy of God who will bring to his Table the Sick rather than the Whole who resist his Will as the Christians do now I ask'd her If I might declare to the Jews all the things she had told me as coming from God by a Prophetical Spirit She said Sir I am not Prophetical as the Ancient Prophets were who spoke of very obscure things So that many times neither the People nor they themselves understood well what they signified because the Time was not yet come to give the full Understanding of them But at present in this Fulness of Time God declares his Secrets very manifestly that every one may understand them So that you must not say Sir that you are sent in the Name of some Prophet because the Things that I have told you are such plain and lively Truths that no body of a good Judgment can doubt but the Holy Spirit must have inspired them For if they believe that God is Truth my Words are so sensibly inseparable from it that all Nations both great and small must confess that in all my Discourses the Truth is in its Source And this Truth being God it is therefore God assuredly who declares these Truths For the Devil is the Father of Lyes and Nature finds out still Excuses either in its own Sins or in those it loves By which you may see evidently that Truth comes immediately from God tho' it shou'd come out of an Ass as once it did Therefore you need not so much stay to judge whether I have the Spirit of Prophesie as you ought to examine very narrowly whether I speak the Truth For that is always God The Prophesies of the Ancient Prophets will all of them very shortly be fulfilled There is no Need of any longer having obscure Prophesies because we are fallen into the last Times wherein all the Prophesies shall cease and we shall see them all entirely accomplished and we shall not receive any more new ones Because the King of all the Prophets will himself govern his People and will give an entire Accomplishment to all that has been prophesied of him So that Sir you shall not need to say that you hold these Truths from a Prophet because the Work does always bear Witness who its Workman has been Even so when the Truth is lively declared it gives sufficient Evidence by what Master it is formed I cannot conceal that I derive all my Wisdom from God because I never learned any thing from Men But there is no Need to say that I have a Prophetick Spirit when God gives Reasons and Comparisons to explain it after the Manner of Men. I said to her That in many of her Discourses she spoke of the Future and of the Time to come and that as to those we could not know yet whether they were true or not She said Sir what is to come is as true as what I have already experienced Receive all with Humility of Heart and you shall see in its Time as clear as the Sun that all shall be accomplished For God cannot lye The holy Scriptures must say the same things that I say Because all proceeds from one and the same Spirit and the Jews will understand me yet better than you do because they are more vers'd in the holy Scriptures I think if I spoke to them their Hearts would be over-joy'd and ravish'd with Pleasure to know that so great a Happiness is to befal them as to become the People of God and to suffer for his Love till they shall see him come in Glory with his Angels to render to every one according to his Works The Christians have this in their Creed which contains the twelve Articles of Faith that Jesus Christ who is ascended into Heaven shall come again to judge the Quick and the Dead And notwithstanding they will not believe it tho'
abused us to the prejudice of the salvation of our souls We must no longer trust in any body for all have left and forsaken their God tho some remain still in the Faith nevertheless they are not in the works of Faith for the Jews with Faith have not the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is the work of Faith and the Christians have no more Faith and shall not recover it since Jesus Christ says That at his coming he shall not find Faith in Israel They are of the House of Israel and the people of God who nevertheless have denied his Faith and given it to men only I ask'd her To what place I ought to flee since the whole world was judged and the Plagues would be universal That I might put my self in greater danger in the place to which I should flee than in that which I had left She said Flee first out of the Dominions of Rome Sir for that place will be first of all destroyed God ordering all his affairs with Judgment Weight and Measure He will visit first of all those who have most offended him Justice regulates all things and because Christians have more treacheroustly offended him than any others they have drawn on themselves the first Vengeance All others will follow the order of their iniquities as they grow worse in wickedness accordingly they shall be nearer their punishment It is fit always to retire into places where the abomination is less There the Chastisements will be less tho indeed no place shall be exempted from Plagues because all parts of the world have deserv'd them Nevertheless they shall be inflicted only according as every one has merited and deserved them and no further for sins beget miseries and they proceed not from God as they would make us believe because no Evils come from God who alone is the Author of all good So that all the good that we see and feel comes always from God and all the evil that we see and feel comes always from sin and as the goodness of God continually brings forth good things so the malignity of sin continually brings forth evil things and as sins increase evils increase the more Hence it comes that the Plagues are universal because the sins are so for as long as there were places where God was yet honour'd on Earth he bore with others waiting for their Repentance and the universal Plagues shall not fall out so long as there are any who have not deserv'd them For God is too just to afflict a righteous person or to chastise one that is innocent That is but the manner of unrighteous men but God always exercises Righteousnes both as to the good and to the evil However men imagine that God sends his Plagues they are deceived for nothing but sin can bring them on and produce them According as men Offend their Evils increase I said to her that these were most excellent Truths that no evil could come from God and that nevertheless nobody did comprehend this She said Sir the reason is Men do not know the Righteousness the Goodness and the Truth of God but they judg blindly of all they see according to their Passions If they knew the righteousness of God they could never think of praying that God would keep off his last Plagucs for they would see that they will never fall out but when sin shall be universal because God is perfectly Righteous but because we do not conceive this Righteousness we believe that there are yet many good men in the world because they seem so to us In this we give a tacite Reproof to God for if our belief were true that there were yet at present so many good men in the VVorld as we are perswaded there are God would be unjust to send on us so many different miseries as we feel at present If he would have forgiven them in Abraham's time provided he could have shewn him but ten righteous Persons yea even fewer how could he chastise the VVorld now if there were so great a number in it as we believe there are Is he not the same God still And has he not the same goodness since he cannot change Truly Sir men mistake God in every thing and through this mistake they utter reproaches against him and blaspheme against his Righteousness goodness and Truth particularly Christians who with their seeming Piety lay the blame on God of all their mis-deeds Is not this horrible darkness since they choose rather to charge God with their Faults than discover them by the Truth that they might repent of them Truly Sir the power of Darkness is great that it can so obscure all the Men of the VVorld that no body knows the Truth any longer and even the most part shut their Eyes that they may not discover it and in so doing they think they do well The Egyptian Darkness was far less dangerous for it was felt and they durst not stir out of the place for fear of falling but those Christians now do not perceive their Darkness or their Errours on the contrary they think they are in the Light and condemn others who see more clearly than themselves By what means should the Children of the Kingdom be saved when they take lying for Truth which they reject as an evil thing I said to her that nevertheless truth was a very lovely thing and as for my self I would follow it as far as I could discover it She said You will discover it sufficiently if you love it for the holy Spirit who is now born into the World will discover it to all those who shall search for it but there are few among the Christians who would receive it tho' it offer it self first of all to their Eyes because they are so full of Errors and Superstitions that they will not make way for this truth which is lovely They live in a presumption of their Salvation yea they condemn all the World to Damnation because it does not follow their Laws though in the mean time they be but humane and no ways divine Laws And whereas God says that he resists the proud and gives Grace to the humble he who is Truth will resist them even as they resist the Truth which is God But if for your part Sir you do it and will follow it you shall obtain the happiness of reigning with Jesus Christ in Glory But without Faith you cannot be saved for if you do not believe that the World is Judged you are not in the light of Truth because the deportment of Men is a certain Evidence of it since we see them without Repentance and Amendment and if you do not believe that we live now in the Reign of Antichrist you will assuredly be deceived For under the covert of Holiness he will deceive the Elect if it were possible and if you do not believe that Jesus Christ shall
Universal Emperour of the whole world They Judg by the effects without searching into the cause The Devil hinders this for he well knows that if the cause were discovered many would be Converted therefore he darkens their minds that they may never come to the Knowledg of the Truth because it would confound him I said to her I perceived clearly enough that the world was Judged because sin abounds in it and no body will be Converted But that we were in the Reign of Antichrist I did not perceive so clearly for we have always been taught that he shall be a Visible and corporal man * She said Sir it is well that you see the World is Judged You shall perceive the rest sufficiently for the Reign of Antichrist is yet more manifest Antichrist that is to say against Christ He whose understanding is not dark'ned may easily see if men follow Christ or if they go in a way contrary to what he walked in while he was on Earth And you see that Christians now adays live a quite other Life than what Jesus Christ led and they not only do not follow him at a distance but are directly opposite to him for there Pride Reigns instead of Humility and Avarice instead of Poverty and instead of Charity there is nothing but Envy and so of all the other things which Christ Jesus Taught us They act wholly in opposition to him and they do not consider that all that is contrary to Christ is Assuredly Antichrist The time is come wherein men would fain have a God and Devil Visible to their Eyes that might go before them This is great and thick darkness because neither God nor the Devil are visible For they are Spirits who cannot be known but by their Operations when they are good or evil according to the Spirit that Animates them Hereby we shall know by what Spirit the World is animated at present For the Spirit of God is always Just Good and True and that of the Devil is always evil without Righteousness and without Truth By these real Signs we may certainly discern if Christ rules the World or Antichrist We need not go to consult Oracles to make this Discovery for all Men of good judgment may make a sufficient trial and see it with their Eyes and feel it with their Hands by taking the Marks which discover the solid truth For if they will needs make this discovery by the signs of apparent Vertues they will remain in their Darkness because the Devil has so disguised and coloured his wickedness with outward Devotions and Piety that he thereby deceives all the World We must come to the Essence of Vertue to see if it be God or the Devil who animates these outward Devotions for if they be of God they will always be accompanied with Righteousness Goodness and Truth But we see but too much the contrary for the most part of those Devout Persons at present are without Righteousness or Equity There was never seen so much going to Church receiving the Sacraments and so little Fidelity so many Pater nosters and so little Truth so many good Words and so little true Charity Do you not see Sir that all order of Justice is renvers'd and that there is more regard of doing Justly before Men than before God And yet these are the best now who do justly before Men for the most part deceive and deal unfaithfully as well before Men as before God For Iniquity is become so common that now almost they are not ashamed to commit it publickly If a man go to Church and frequent the Sacraments he passes for a good Man though he be no ways just If we consider well all the Qualities of the Devil we shall see them all practis'd in the behaviour of Men now he is a Liar an Hypocrite and Unconstant a Deceiver and Unfaithful abounds in all kind of Malice Proud Arrogant Envious Contentious without Faith or Honesty Obstinate in Malice and in a desperate Rage These Qualities are but too much practis'd by the most part of Christians and yet we perceive not that this is now the Reign of Antichrist Men must be extreamly blinded that they do not see this more clear than the Day because the evil is too manifest But many Minds are so infatuated that they cannot believe what they perceive so manifestly by their Understandings but they wait to believe this Antichrist till they shall see him in a Humane Form Which is a very small matter in respect of his Doctrine for that Body can never cause Damnation to our Souls as his Doctrine will do which being contrary to Christ leads us to Perdition Since Jesus Christ is the way we can never attain to Salvation but by him contrary ways lead to Damnation it matters little whether we are led into them by a Body or by a Spirit since we are undone as to Salvation I ask'd her If we ought not to believe that this Antichrist will be sometime corporeally visible in a Humane Form She said Yes Sir I believe this will be toward the end of his Reign for he has set himself to counterfeit all the Actions of Jesus Christ and to ape what he sees he has done And perceiving that Christ became a Natural Man he also will move his Sorcerers to produce Men by the operation of the Devil which is done many times for there are certainly many of these Antichrists born already in the World who make great Havock in the Church and have in their Train those who are most in Authority and as the Apostles of Jesus Christ laboured to introduce Truth into the World these incarnate Devils labour to introduce Lies into it and to sow Tares as they did good Grain I doubt not also but they have a Head of their Iniquity who will appear openly when his wickedness shall be discover'd and when he cannot deceive any longer under the Cloak of Holiness he will deceive then by pure Wickedness and will exercise cruelty towards all those who will not be his Followers That time Sir will not be so dangerous as the present is because he shall be known for the Devil and now they follow him as if he were God Therefore he keeps himself so long concealed and does not appear bodily for he could not do so much prejudice to Souls if he were known He has spread Darkness through all the World that no body may discover him exercising all his wickedness UNDER PRETEXT OF GOOD THINGS OR OF NATURAL OR CASUAL THINGS that no body may believe that all the evils which we see do come from this Antichrist and that no body may be on his guard because he does not appear yet in human Flesh This blinds all the World for tho they see all the qualities of the Devil rule in men yet they will not believe these so solid marks as they would do if they saw him bodily which bodily appearance is not
is most true and if I could say in truth the contrary I would be lov'd and follow'd by all those who believe they are in a state of Grace But because I can't speak a Lie every one leaves me that they may flatter themselves with fine Hopes Truth seeming to them more hard than Damnation though the one be much more lovely than the other Because Truth enlightens alwayes the Understanding though it be sometimes hard to Sense yet it can lead us to Salvation and make us happy to all Eternity whereas Damnation renders us for ever miserable 'T is a trouble to us to be told that we are out of the way of Salvation and we ought rather to be grieved for being ignorant of the truth in those Things which concern our Eternal Happiness The ignorance of this occasions our Damnation Therefore Sir never be troubled any more to hear me tell the Truth in evil Things for it is much more useful than to have it declared in good Things For if I should say to you that you are in a state of Salvation your Soul should receive no advantage thereby On the contrary it might be tainted thereby with Vain-glory or contract a sloth in that which is good And iâ— I should say to you that the Roman Church is Holy and guided by the Holy Spirit it would be of no advantage to you since you obey her as much already as if she were really Holy You could not gain any thing by my saying so So that to know the Truth of Good is much less profitable than to know the Truth of Evil from which one cannot preserve himself without knowing it This the Devil knowing he has found the way to introduce into the Church a Maxim That we ought never to speak evil of any though it were true They call this the Sin of Detraction that her Evil may be still concealed and none may dare to discover it for fear of committing a sin It were good we knew in what place the Holy Spirit has declared That to tell the Truth of Evil is a sin For if this were true Jesus Christ would have committed many sins when he publickly called the Priests and Pharisees Hypocrites Generation of Vipers and so many other Names discovering their Wickedness and Falsehood saying That they were whited Sepulchers fair without but within full of dead mens bones and that they made clean the out side leaving the in-side full of uncleanness Could all these Truths discovered by Jesus Christ be sins of Detraction as they have perswaded all those which declare such Truths since all that Jesus Christ did while he was upon Earth was to give us an Example Is it not evident enough Sir that the calling that sin to declare the Truth of another mans Evil has been invented by the Devil to cover his filthiness and that all sort of sins and Evils might be cherished by the privacy of them For the most part of good men endeavour to excuse and cover them believing they do well in it though notwithstanding it be a very ill thing because it is hurtful Three several ways First to him that does evil who will not amend so easily while his evil is conceal'd as if it were discovered Secondly It is very prejudicial to him to whom the evil is done because it is very hard to avoid or guard against an unknown Evil And Thirdly To the Person who conceals anothers Evil who co-operates to the Evil of him that does it and of him that receives it and nevertheless they call that great Good of declaring the Truth of Evil the Sin of Detraction This unhappy Silence makes all sort of Abominations daily to encrease in the sight of God because they having lost his Fear they lose also that of Men since their sins cannot be discovered without offending God This is also a Doctrine which the Devil hath invented with so many others to the end that every one may follow Antichrist while they think they are doing well For if it were a sin to declare the Truth of Evil Jesus Christ would not have done it of his Apostles themselves calling St. Peter publickly Satan and reproving him in all his Faults as the Apostles afterwards did their Disciples But these new Masters teach That it is a sin to declare the Truth of Evil without any other ground but that of covering their Wickedness that their Evils may not be discovered and they may commit them the more by continuing in the Reputation of being good Men though they be wicked If they had considered well the Nine ways by which we may sin in another they would find that 't is a sin to conceal the Truth of Evil whereas they teach that 't is one to discover it I entreated she would explain to me the meaning of these sins which we commit in another and if we are guilty of them that I might guard against them She said Sir We are as guilty of the sins we commit in another as of those which we our selves commit for God regards not so much the Action as the Intention Sins being Spiritual Things have no need of Material Acts. God searches the Heart and the Reins and not so much the Feet or the Hands These inward Sins are so much the more dangerous than the outward because we take less heed of them for they are not so manifest and known though notwithstanding they be mortal and damnable sins Every one excuses himself of them before Men Which he cannot do before God for Ignorance never excuses sin If we are very careful and diligent to know and discover what is necessary and profitable for our Body we are obliged to be much more so as to our Soul 'T is not enough that one says he knows not these sins because every one is obliged to know them and our Salvation or Damnation depends upon them For he who sins ignorantly goes ignorantly to Hell We are created for no other end but for Salvation This is the only Affair of Importance that concerns us most nearly for setting aside Salvation all is perishing For this cause we must study to discover what Sin is Therefore to satisfie your Demand I will explain the Nine Ways by which we offend God in another First We commit sin in counselling to do evil How many are there who are guilty of this sin without perceiving it If you have a Friend affronted you will say to him I would not suffer this Affront without revenging my self Or you will tell him You would not have the Heart to suffer it and such like things Or if we give any Counsel that is not according to the Righteousness Goodness or Truth of God or if we counsel any to do evil for our pleasure or profit or otherwise These Counsels are as many Sins as the wicked Actions which those commit whom we have counsel'd to do them whether they be in Word or Deed because our
Advice is often the cause why the Sin is done By a just Title then we ought to bear the punishment of it as we shall certainly do before God who looks more to the Wickedness of the Heart than to the evil Actions And he who counsels another to do evil is sometimes more wicked than he who does it out of complaisance to his Counsellour or out of the esteem he has for him Those in Offices or Attorneys and Advocates who give Counsel and not according to straight Justice and Truth do often fall into these Sins and therefore they ought to be condemn'd of the same guilt with him who commits the evil Deeds to which they have advised him for they have both equally contributed thereunto and the Counsellour often with more Wickedness than the Doer because to counsel Evil is worse than to do it Secondly He who supports Evil commits also the same sin with him who does it because if Evil were not supported it would not be so often committed Therefore the Supporter of Evil causes the evil Deed and gives the Man boldness to commit it the more and therefore he who supports it ought justly to bear the punishment of him who does it yea even more for it would be in his power to hinder it by not supporting it Those are doubly guilty that is of the support that they themselves give and of the Evil done by the other which he would not do if he were not supported in it The Third Way by which we commit sin in another is In commanding to do Evil. In which Fathers and Mothers Masters and Mistresses and other Superiours do very often fall who command those under them to do something that is not just or good These are guilty of as many sins as they command their Subjects or Inferiours who very often if they were left to themselves would not or durst not commit the Evils which are commanded them Though Inferiours are not obliged and never ought to obey the Commands which are given them to do evil yet the Commanders cease not to offend mortally only by commanding it as an Inferiour commits a mortal sin in doing the Evil which has been commanded him because the sins of the one cannot lessen the sins of the other but both are guilty of the same commanded sins In which many are deceived who believe that 't is lawful for them to do the Evils which have been enjoyned them by Father Mother Masters or Mistresses or any other Superiours whosoever they be as also such Superiours deceive themselves who are perswaded that they have not commited sins when they act not in the evil Deeds for truly and in the sight of God they commit as many as they have commanded to be done for if their Wills were not evil they would never advise to do evil much less command it The Fourth way by which we offend God by another is When we commend or approve Evil This is very common in this Age wherein evil Doers are commended When we see any one avenge himself of an Affront we will say He shews that he has Courage we are ready even to praise Children that are malicious in defending themselves as well as others who give blow for blow or those who signalize themselves by Pompand Vanity or we praise those who exceed in Feasting or other Evils whatever they be Now the Praise of Evil incites Men to do it the more and encourages them to commit it the more boldly And therefore he who praises it is guilty of as many sins as he who does the Evil. The Fifth Way by which we offend God in another is In partaking of the Evil as when one has some Advantage by the Evil done by another or if any one profit by the Theft which another commits whether by buying what is stolen ot eating and drinking it or by enjoying some ill-gotten Goods So also he who makes gain by the Gluttony or Drunkenness or other sins which other Men commit By all these Things Men are partakers of other Mens sins and thereby do the same Evil with him who directly commits it yea even more because he who commits Theft or any other actual Wickedness runs the hazard of his Life or of other corporal Punishments but he who partakes in it only lives without fear though he be equally guilty with him who commits it nevertheless he does not undergo the same Pennance in this World neither does he acknowledge his Faults that he may give satisfaction for it in the other Therefore his sin is so much the more dangerous because he does not weigh it as it is weigh'd before God The Sixth Way that we offend God in another is When we take pleasure in another Mans sins as he who takes pleasure to see Men fight a Duel or otherwise or is pleased that another cheats cunningly or steals handsomely or provides for his Accommodations with Luxury and Vanity Thus whatever the Evil be the pleasure that we take in seeing another do Evil is sin For he who loves God ought to be grieved for all kind of Evil that he sees committed by others as well as for what he commits himself The Seventh Way is When we do not correct Evil as much as is in our power as Fathers Mothers Masters Mistresses who tolerate the Evil of their Children or Inferiours because they desire not to offend them or for some other humane Respect or even out of softness of Temper or natural Goodness suffering Evil rather than they will correct it when they are oblig'd to do it All these are guilty of the same Evils with their Children or Inferiours for their tolerating them is the cause that they are habituated and continue in Evil who might have amended if they had been rebuked and chastised for it Thus many will be damn'd who are not apprehensive of it For all the Evils which Subjects or Inferiours commit for want of reproof will be laid to the charge of Superiours as if they themselves had committed them by their own Deed because of the Obligation that lyes on them to correct Evil and their neglecting to do it upon whatsoever pretext The Eighth Way that we offend God in another is When we do not hinder Evil when we may do it as if Two Persons quarrel or fight and we might pacifie or divert them nevertheless we will not give our selves the trouble either through sloth or humane respect or some other cause or when we see one ready to do evil and we might hinder it by admonishing him or discovering his Evil by crying out or otherwise which we omitting we commit the same Evil with him who does it when it is in our power to hinder it by what way soever this might be as by giving too much liberty to those under our Charge or leaving them in dangerous occasions or giving them Money or other things with which they take occasion to offend God In all these and
She said How cruel is it to hear Sir That God should destinate a Masse of Reprobates This is as if they would say that God is wicked from the Creation of Men for if he were not he would not have created a Masse of Reprobates to be miserable to all Eternity do what they will This necessity of being damned reflects upon God For if he had not created them to Damnation they could not be miserable to all Eternity And God could not create them for Damnation but out of pure Malice setting aside this he would rather have left them in nothing than to create them for Reprobation Truly Sir a greater Blasphemy cannot be uttered against God than this for it shocks all his Qualities of Righteousness Goodness and Truth which are his Eternal Qualities without which he can never do any thing If he had created one part of Men for Damnation he should not have done a just thing since these Reprobates did not merit Damnation before they had a Being and could not in Justice be Reprobated without having deserved it Neither could God exercise his Goodness in determining the Damnation of any Since this Damnation is the greatest Evil in the World How should he be good in doing so great evil to Men And how should he be true in reprobating those of whom he sayes that his delight is to be with them since they are the Children of Men He must want Judgment and Reason who believes that God created a Masse of damned The Superstition of Christians must have invented this blaspheming against God to authorise their Authority and to shew that God also uses Authority over Men as they will use it over their like This is against Truth For God is not partial nor will he ever use Passion towards any All these Words and Disputes are so many Names of Blasphemies of which the Whore in the Revelation is full For I do not believe that any other Sect or Nation sayes that Reprobation is determined of God I asked her What I ought to believe in this Matter that I might not blaspheme against God She said Sir We ought to go to the Original of Man and see in his Beginning how he was created God took not two Masses of Earth to create the one of them for Salvation and the other for Damnation But only one Masse of Earth with which he created one Man only for Salvation creating in him all the Men that ever were or shall be He created them all in general in the State of Innocence and Salvation and for this end gave abundance of Graces both Spiritual and Bodily and that equally to all without exception of any giving to all a Divine Soul and a Free-will that they might be capable to do all manner of good And seeing God created all Men in Adam he could not have created any for Reprobation but all for Salvation none excepted This being so as it truly is no Body could be created for Damnation as they would very unreasonably make it be believed For if some must be necessarily Damned or Saved they should not have Free-will Which none can deny For all Men received a Divine Soul and Free-will in Adam who was the first of the Elect and after him all his Posterity For God never will'd that any should perish but that they Live And seeing he wills that they Live how could he create them for Reprobation since there can never be any Contradiction in God Never believe Sir that any was created for Damnation But if any damn themselves it is contrary to the Designs of God and because they will needs use their Free-will to apply it to evil For if they followed the Will of God and the good Impression that he has given them they could never damn or destroy themselves even though they had sinned Because God desires not the Death of a Sinner but that he should be Converted and Live By which we see that God does not Reprobate the Sinner more than the Just but desires that all should be Saved and none Reprobated as they Maintain But Men now being full of Vices and Passions of Love and Hatred without any thing of Righteousness Goodness and Truth they would fain give Authority to their Malice by making a God to go before them in the Matter of their Passions And as they in taking Dominon over Men do according to their Inclinations disgrace or favour them they would make God as partial as they know they are themselves saying that he damns some and saves others according to his Pleasure Which will never be For God is no more subject to Passions than to change We ought alwayes to come to the Truth and retake the Original and the Essence of Things without amusing our selves with the Discourses of Men who say and do according to their Advantages and if they are not enclined to use their Free-will aright they would fain lay the blame on God saying They have not his Grace or They are not of the Number of those who are predestinated to his Salvation Which makes a great many perish through Sloth or Negligence saying If they are Elected they shall certainly be saved and if they are Reprobated they shall certainly be damned do what they will This is contrary to the Truth For God did not create Man a kind of limited Creature And though it seems sometimes as if God determined good or evil Fortunes yet nevertheless it is not true For he will not determine against the Free-will of Man who shall still be capable of using it well or ill But because our Understanding is bounded it can comprehend only the Accidents it sees without discovering their Sources or Originals For Example We see a Man become poor though he Labour and is no Prodigal We say immediately it is God that afflicts him by evil Fortune while it is for want of Foresight or Management in his Affairs I said to her That it was not believed that God created Man for Damnation but that God Reprobated Man after his Sin which had undone them all She said Sir You will find this absurd For if all Men were created in Adam they are all also fallen in Adam and consequently there could not be a Masse of Predestinated after Sin Because all in general were Reprobated and Damned by the same Sin of Adam He having sinned with his Free-will there was no longer any thing sound in it For if he had not given a full Consent of his Will to Sin none would have been Damned because of the Imperfection of his full Consent as we do not commit a Mortal Sin when our Will does not give full Consent to Evil and no Body doubts but Adam gave the full consent of his Will in disobeying God and consequently he is damned and all Men with him none excepted For he could not have a divided Will nor one part sound and another damn'd Because there was
disposed to resign her self to God notwithstanding her Sins For she no sooner heard the Truth from her Saviours Mouth but she quitted her Sins and bewailed them bitterly detested her Vanities and followed Jesus Christ through all How many other Persons heard the same Truth without resolving to follow him A Thousand Persons followed Jesus Christ bodily and heard the same Words but produced not the same Effects This cannot come from God who has still the same Efficacy But it proceeds from the Indisposition of Souls who do not receive it effectually And Men not being able to dive into the Interiour imagine that this is done by God independently In this they are greatly deceived Which they shall see at the Last Day of Judgment wherein many shall be Saints who were despised and condemned in this World and many others shall be Reprobated who here were held for Saints Because Men regard only the outside But God tries the Reins and examines the Conscience which is known to him alone Therefore Men ought never to judge nor dispute of the Works of God Because they are blind and ignorant in his Matters and when they say that he Saved and Reprobated some in this World they calumniate him and blaspheme against his Qualities of Righteousness and Goodness That Judas was damned was by his own Free-will and not by the Decree of God who spoke more to him to convert him than ever he did to St. Paul or Magdalen and that the wicked Thief is damned was by his obstinacy in Sin For if he had acknowledged his Fault he would have been saved as well as the other I said to her That no Body thought it a Blasphemy against God to say That none can be saved without the particular Grace of God and that some have it and some have it not and that he gives it to whom he pleases She said These Terms of speaking Sir make nothing as to the reality of the Thing It may indeed be said truly that none can be saved without the particular Grace of God But to say that God gives it only to whom he pleases and to understand thereby that he gives it to some and denies it to others with respect of Persons is Blasphemy Because he bestows it alwayes according to his Righteousness not according to his own Choice For this is only the way of passionate Men to favour those for whom they have an Inclination God gives indeed more Grace to some than to others but alwayes in proportion as each one does more resign himself to his Will For he sayes Be ye faithful in little things and I will place you over great things To shew that he encreases his Grace alwayes according to our Fidelity That particular Grace which we stand in need of to be saved was given to us all in the Creation of Adam For he could not create us to Salvation without enduing with suitable Grace for it and the Grace of raising us up again after Sin was also given us in Adam which we might enjoy yet provided we use the same Means of his Penitence And if we have sinned after him by our own Will it shall be forgiven us provided we take up the same Penitence which consists in the Shame and Confusion that Adam had in the Fear he had of God not daring to appear before him and in the Accepting of the Pennance of Labouring the Ground and gaining his Bread with the Sweat of his Face Many Men now say they have not Grace that they might get rid of their Sins And if they would examine their Consciences well they would find it is because they have no Repentance nor Confusion for having committed them nor yet the fear of God nor a desire to do Pennance for them And that they may not acknowledge so great Faults they say they have not the Grace of God that they might amend This is to blame God for their own Wickedness For very often they love their Sins and are only afraid of the Chastisements which these have deserved So that if God had not a Hell to chastise them they would never forsake them so far would they be from desiring to do Penitence for them And yet notwithstanding of all this they are bold to say that they have not the sufficient or effectual Grace of God according to their conn'd Terms upon which they build great Disputes which being well examined we shall find them to be founded only upon Words and that the Truth is alwayes true and that God gave Graces to Man in Adam but too sufficient for Salvation and even generally to all Men for obtaining the Pardon of their Sins This being so why should we attribute the Loss of our Salvation or the not amending of our Lives to the want of Gods Grace Is it not a particular Grace when every one as to his own particular has received sufficient to forsake his Sin if he will and to work out his Salvation Whether God gave these Graces at the Beginning or if he gives them only at present they are still from the same God the Giver of all good as well in one Season as in another What needs disputing whether these Graces are given now or if they have continued with us since Adam It is enough that we have them and may encrease them by our Fidelity For it pleases God alwayes that we be perfect and he is more desirous to encrease his Graces than we are willing to ask them And if we have them not in abundance it is certainly because we have not sought them or done our endeavour to obtain them For God on his part is alwayes ready to open so soon as we knock at the Gate of his Mercy which is abundant to all those who seek it without engaging into that foolish Perswasion That God will not give it but to whom he pleases since he is not partial but alwayes does good to all even to his Enemies themselves I said to her That there was much Ignorance in these Disputes That every one maintained his own Opinion as good and that the best believed Predestination because others attribute too much to the Creature She said Sir I believe that no Body has hitherto discovered the Truth as to the Grace of God For it cannot be true that God has predestinated any to Damnation for the Reasons I have told you nor yet that Man has the Power to save himself when he pleases Because the Habit of Sin is as another Nature from whence we cannot deliver our selves Even as the Souls which are in Hell though they have their Free-will cannot use it in good because they have given loose Reins to Evil they cannot any more have the Will to quit it and being tied and united to all sort of evil Objects they cannot find the means to do well even though they should have the Will Even so in proportion those who are yet in
the way to it But the Devil to divert men has introduc'd by these Councils so many diverse things that this Doctrine is destroyed To discover this Truth Sir you need but observe mens Behaviour This will give you certain Evidences of it for you will see that all trust on the Councils the Sacraments and the Ordinances of the Church and no body observes the Counsels of the Gospel which are so banish'd out of the minds of men now that they reckon them foolishness I intreated her to tell me if she was sent from God to delare the Truth to men She said Yes Sir I AM SENT FROM GOD TO BRING LIGHT TO THE WORLD AND TO BEAR WITNESS OF THE TRUTH as he does all his works in Righteousness Goodness and Truth and never surprizes any Body He has SENT me to tell That the Last Times are come That the World is Judged and the sentence is irrevocable That the Plagues are begun and will not cease till all evil be rooted out and that Jesus Christ will come shortly on the Earth to finish this and then he will continue to Reign with men of good will who shall enjoy Eternal Peace I AM SENT with a Commission to declare all these things to men to the end that peradventure some of them may be Converted and Repent that they may Reign with Jesus Christ in his Glory But wickedness is come to so great an height that the Truth can't be declar'd to Men at least they will not any more receive it They love nothing but Flattery and lies and reject the Truth because it agrees not with their way of Living for he who will continue in his Sins and Errors will say that we trouble him by Declaring the Truth to him and he who will not amend will say that we raise scruples to him by telling him the Truth that reproves him Thus all the World perishes without being desirous to be helped I AM CERTAINLY SENT FROM GOD to declare the Truth of every thing But no body will hear it but in so far as it is agreeable to them and does not reprove them Should I study Sir to please Men or God A Messenger ought not to receive either Good or Ill when he is but the Minister of good or ill News without having caus'd them I have lov'd the Roman Church for I was born and baptized under her and have punctually follow'd her Ordinances and the decisions of her Councils when I knew them But since God has made me see that she is unfaithful to him and has forsaken him to join herself to the Devil ought I not to declare these truths to my Christian Brethren who are ignorant of them that they may not perish in their ignorance They would be much to blame to render me evil for good and to persecute me for procuring their Salvation for I have no advantage by declaring these truths to them except the obedience I owe to God and the charity I have for their Souls for otherwise I should beware of speaking things that are so disagreeable to them I ask'd her What person on Earth could be so wicked as to persecute her for declaring simply the truth that comes from God without any passion She said Sir all good men will perceive abundantly by my words that I am not mov'd by any vicious passions but by a pure desire of declaring the truth because I neither seek nor pretend to any thing from any body The friendship and hatred of men is all one to me there is nothing but the pleasing or displeasing of God that touches me Notwithstanding the Devil having so great a number of his adherents who are in authority he will excite them to rise up against me because of the truth which discovers his wickedness He has for a long time ruled in the Church under a colour of Holiness by which means he has gain'd the most Pious to be his Followers without their perceiving it But as soon as the Truth shall be shewn them they will easily discover his deceits and will abhor them This will enrage him against me and he will pursue me with all his force But I do not fear that he shall be able to touch me for God is my defence I will not fear all those Enemies how Powerful soever they may be The Lord whom I serve is above all things I have never done Evil to any Body but all sort of good to all according to my Power Nevertheless I shall not fail to be pursu'd and Persecuted by all those who are the Devil's adherents because by my means his head will be bruised and he will gain none any longer but by force for his falshoods and deceits will be discovered and brought to Light for those who desire to see and know them God indeed never forces any Body but he sends his Light into the World that every one that pleases may receive it I AM CREATED FOR THIS and cannot be silent when it shall be time to speak I will speak both in publick and private when it shall please God but still the truth without straying from it I doubt not but at first they will suspect me to be a Heretick because the Roman Church condemns as such all those who do not yield to her sentiments and for my part I look on all those as Hereticks who are contrary to the doctrine of the Gospel among which those Romanists are the first But this is a maxim which the Devil ordinarily observes to lay the blame on others of all the evils which he does himself By this means they will find the way to declare me a Heretick because they have denied the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I said to her That the Roman Church would be a strong adversary for she has great power and authority and will yield to nothing that is not agreeable to her Doctrine * She said Sir the power of that Romish Church shall be very shortly taken away by the Lord of Hosts who will destroy her in such a manner that of all those magnificences there shall not be one stone left upon another All her members shall be disjoynted and dislocated and without power She must bear rule yet for a little time and exercise her villanies outwardly as she has done for this long time inwardly her murders and imprisonments are at the door to the end her evil may have its full accomplishment both inward and outward Till then God will let her go on because his justice never inflicts a perfect punishment till the evil be perfect and compleat in all respects for evil always begets punishment according to the greatness of the evil the punishment is measured out I have no apprehension of her power because he who has given it will take it from her She will not do so much evil in killing bodies as she does now in killing Souls for it will be the happiness of those who shall die for