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
real For the Devil is pure Spirit and has not the Power of forming to himself a Body unless it be a fantastical one or else by the Seed of some Sorcerer which is abominable I said to her It was not to be doubted that we live certainly in the time when Antichrist Reigns by his Doctrine and his Operations because Men in the general have all or the greatest part of them the qualities of the Devil She said Sir there is no reckoning to be made of any other thing but what concerns the Salvation of Souls for if the Devil be followed in his Doctrine and in his Works he needs no more to make himself Master of our Souls He 'll do no more hurt to men by his Body than he does by his Spirit and if it were not to Ape God he would never take a Natural Body for he knows well enough how to make a body of Air or some other matter to deceive Sorcerers whose imagination he so blinds that they believe they see and feel some real body tho it be only Phantastical By this he prevails with them to commit all sorts of Evil pretending to dwell with them that he may still prophane the works which God has introduc'd for an Holy end So that the Natural Body of the Devil is not so much to hurt men as to bring Glory to the Devil when he shall be discovered and shall be corporally Honoured and follow'd by all his Adherents as Jesus Christ was by his Disciples And that he may leave none of the works of Jesus Christ unimitated that he may pervert them he must also take a body of Flesh that he may likewise Reign Bodily thereby to consummate his wretched Kingdom which began as soon as God became man and has still encreast even till this present time without being known or revealed And since God has the goodness to Reveal him at present he should be discovered if it were possible to all the world that he may no longer deceive any body under the mask of Vertue and that those who will needs follow him may know what they do For the Body of Jesus Christ went not thro' all the world in order to the forming of his Church but he has herein only introduc'd his Doctrine which sanctifies the Souls of those that follow it tho they have never seen his body 't is the same as to the Doctrine of the Devil which corrupts Souls tho they should never see his Body They are as Diabolical in following the works of the Devil as others are holy in imitating the actions of Jesus Christ whose Body they never saw I said to her It was a great Loss that these Truths could not be publish'd to all the world for all are ignorant of them and believe there is no Antichrist until he appear in his humane Body She said Sir 't is lamentable that these things so prejudicial to so many Souls must be conceal'd and that the Marvels of God which are so important cannot be discover'd The last Times are come Antichrist Reigns over all And Jesus Christ will come quickly to Reign here in glory The forerunning plagues of Judgment are begun and no body will believe any thing of all this because we cannot speak of them openly You are the first Sir to whom I have declared these secrets Make a good use of them I shall reckon it a gain tho none but your Soul alone should receive the Light of them The world is deceived and will be while they do not open their Eyes to the Truths I have told you They are nevertheless from God and cannot fail if all the world will needs ruin themselves Sir save your self For tho none of these things should fall out in your Life-time and you should not see the utmost extremities of the Plagues nor the Body of Antichrist nor yet the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory yet it will be most expedient for you that you believe all these things which will open your eyes to discover your particular faults and the dangers in which you live and will give you prudence to avoid the deceits in which we live at present Make use of the occasion Sir without contending out of curiosity about words and the times of every thing because the Judgment still falls out when we die and it will never be recall'd Tho even there were not a general Judgment yet there is always our particular Judgment which precisely respects us and if all the People of the world perisht by the Deluge excepting eight persons it was thro' their unbelief for if they had believed the words of Noah they would have been sav'd in his Ark Even so now those shall Perish who will not believe the Truths that I tell you from God They shall certainly Perish in the Ship-wrack because they will not save themselves in time it will be in vain for them to ascend into their Houses of Honour and Glory that they might avoid the Plagues which will follow them every where I said to her That I could not doubt any longer of the things she told me because of the Operation of her words in my Soul which could not but come from God But I wish'd earnestly that many might enjoy the same effects She said Sir Your desire will be fulfilled for many will receive this Light tho very few among the Christians because they are so obstinately wedded to a presumption of their Salvation being falsely perswaded that they shall be Saved by their frivolous Devotions These will resist the Truth and believe they are Holy and Perfect till they shall see themselves swallowed up of the Plagues and when it shall be too late they will cry for Mercy without any hope of succour no more than in the days of Noah for it is not written that he took so much as one into the Ark after the Deluge was begun Those who had not formerly gone into it did all perish even as those shall do who will not now believe that we live in the days of Antichrist They must of necessity be deceived by him and Perish What remedy can there be for their evils since they seek not to be healed because they are insensible of them as they would be of a Leprosie We must flee from them that we may not contract such a dangerous malady as this blindness because they shall be destroyed before they know it It shall be with them says Jesus Christ as it was in the days of Noah They Ate they Drank they Married without any apprehension Even so tho they see and feel the beginnings of sorrows by Wars they do not apprehend them to be the last Plagues they endeavour to escape and avoid them by Human means going from one place to another without remembring what Christ says That two shall be grinding at one Mill the one shall be taken the other left or even two in
the same bed To shew that it avails nothing for one to save his Body but he must endeavour to be united unto God or otherwise he shall be taken in what place soever he go to I said to her That I would follow her even to Death because she had the words of truth tho all the world should withstand it She said Sir There is no need that you follow my Person but my words keep them in your Heart and thereby you will attain to Salvation for they are saving Never turn away from them For the Devil has this invention to raise a great many distractions that he may divert us from following the Truth he sends sickness Troubles Affairs of Importance and a thousand other occasions to divert our good purposes that we may never bring them to effect If you were speaking Sir with all good men who are in publick Offices whether Civil or Ecclesiastick they would acknowledg to you that they were never so throng'd with Affairs or Business as now because the Devil being unable to gain them entirely to himself he endeavours at least to give them so much business as that they may not have leisure to think of their Salvation nor of the Dangers in which they live We must certainly discover his wiles or otherwise he will draw us along with him insensibly He has deceived so many by these means making them believe that their imployments were profitable for the Publick or their Neighbours when they serv'd for nothing but human accommodations without any advantage to the Glory of God or the Salvation of Souls And under this False Perswasion many have lost their own Salvation without procuring that of others It is not in these last times Sir that Places Offices or Imployments are saving it is much for a Man to save his own Soul for the times are too dangerous and the world too blind and obstinate If they perceived their blindness they would seek to find a remedy But while they believe they see clearly they cannot think of a remedy and they fall easily into eternal ruin But if you Sir for your own part would be saved remember the Truth and follow it for without it there can be no Salvation For it alone makes us to know God and the Devil and likewise the state of the World and that of our own Conscience Truth shews us also the certain way of Salvation and by it all the wonders of God are discovered It is the Light of the World and the sure harbour of Salvation without which nothing can be good or beautiful The seventh Conference Shews that Jesus Christ will come in Glory or else he should not be the Saviour of the World as he is and there would be no just Recompence for the Good and for the Wicked I said to her that I had sufficiently discovered the truth of this that we are in the last times that the VVorld is judged and Antichriso reigns and also that the Plagues are begun because there is no truth nor Righteousness among Men but that I did not yet see why Jesus Christ shall come to reign in Glory upon Earth She said This is the most evident truth and the greatest Goodness and Justice of God because Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World and the restorer of all things You see clearly by all the Truths that I have told you that very few will be saved of all those who live at present after the usual manner and if this miserable World should last yet longer there would still be fewer because every day it grows worse How therefore should Jesus Christ be the Saviour of the World if he did not restore all things No body could be Saved for the whole World perishes There must come a time that the whole World shall be saved that he may be fitly called the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD And this cannot be in Heaven as People imagine because all who enter there shall be Saved having received Salvation at the hour of Death and this respects only particular persons who by reason of their small number cannot well be called the WORLD because it consists in a Generality and not in some particular Persons 'T is a truth therefore that in a certain time Jesus Christ will save all the World in general This will be at his coming in Glory when he shall have judged the World and condemned the Wicked he will save the Good with all their Posterity who can never perish any more because of the continual Presence of Jesus Christ God and Man who will govern and lead them to Salvation This his coming in Glory is also necessary to restore all things because there has been no reparation yet of all the Injuries and Affronts that were done to his Humanity His low Condition has not been raised up his Poverty has not been enriched his Tears have not been wiped away his Humility has not been exalted neither have any other of his Contempts and Sufferings been repaired nor of those who have loved and followed him One has died as a Malefactor another as a Seducer a St. Andrew on the Cross a St. Lawrence on the Grid-iron and so many other holy Martyrs who have suffered Persecution and Death for Righteousness and Truth There has been no reparation of all this hitherto but by imaginary things as they say that Jesus Christ was exalted on the Cross which is an infamous reparation to dye on a Gibbet as a Malefactor If those who hold this Cross to be a reparation of Honour were hanged after this manner themselves they would not believe that their Honour were repaired by this How can they imagine that that of God was so It is not to be imagin'd that Honour should be repaired by Infamy it self But because his coming in Glory was unknown to them they have applied Infamy to Glory that they might say something of it The truth is Jesus Christ will come upon the Earth to repair all things for it would not be just that he should have suffered so innocently and after him so many other Saints and Martyrs who were free from Crimes and that they should continue dead without being repaired Spiritually and bodily for what they have suffered unjustly or for the Love of God and if People imagine that all these things must be repair'd in a Divine and imaginary Heaven they are deceived because this reparation cannot be perfectly made there for natural sufferings ought also to have suitable reparations unless God did as Charmers do who cure bodily wounds with spiritual rememedies or some artificial words No Sir this will not go after that manner because God does his works always in a perfection every way accomplish'd He will repair both bodily and spiritually all that has been done unjustly and the whole world shall thereby discover his Righteousness Goodness and Truth that every one may know that he is worthy and just worthy
think to deceive God which cannot be for he is too penetrating and is not amus'd with Words therefore he has told us the Marks that one must have of true Conversion and of a Right to Blessedness by which real Converts may be discern'd from Hypocrites First He calls those blessed who are poor in Spirit to shew that all they whose Heart or Will is yet bent to the desire of having Wealth and Temporal Riches are not converted nor blessed because he who yet desires Earthly Goods is not converted to Eternal Goods for these Two Affections cannot dwell together f However we say we are converted to God we lie so long as we are not poor in Desires and that we still covet Earthly Things Secondly Jesus Christ calls those blessed who are meek to shew that they who are converted to God do always partake of his Goodness and do good to all as they are able we hear People often say that they are wholly devoted to God while on occasions we see them chagrin angry froward at variance with their Neighbours quarrelling instead of bearing with them or doing them no good but by constraint Such are not converted no more than they who in this World seek their Pleasure and Contentment because Jesus Christ says Blessed are they that mourn and when we see that they will not endure or suffer any thing but seek their Ease Honour and Contentment that they may live in as much Mirth as they can these are not converted and do not willingly mourn under persecution Fourthly We know those that are converted to God when they hunger and thirst after Righteousness that is thirst earnestly to become righteous and seek the means and occasions to attain to this Righteousness These are not converted who content themselves with their own Righteousness and Vertue without aspiring to Gods Righteousness or thirsting after true Virtue but are more careful for Earthly Things than for those which are Eternal The Fifth Mark that Jesus Christ has given whereby to know those who are converted and shall be blessed is Mercy As long as we see Mens Hearts hardened without Charity for their Neighbour minding only their own Interest and not caring for the Troubles and Necessities of their Neighbour these are not converted because they have no Mercy which is a Mark of True Conversion The Sixth Mark is purity of Heart He who delights in dishonest Thoughts or Actions cannot be converted nor he who is subtil and not sincere in his dealings but deceitful and over-reaching bearing envy or ill-will to another None of these are of a pure and clean Heart and so are not converted to God nor blessed for a pure Heart is still upright simple and chast By which we may discover if it be converted to God As also if a Man be a Peace-maker and of a peaceable Disposition within himself and toward his Neighbour this is a Mark of Conversion to God For he who should say he were converted and nevertheless should live in trouble and disquiet within himself or in Debates and Quarrels with his Neighbours he would be a Liar for conversion to God brings along with it Peace and Tranquillity and Repose This the Children of God experience who alone can be called blessed and converted they having the Marks that Jesus Christ has given whereby to know them from the Children of the Devil That none may falsly perswade himself that he is converted he declares all the Conditions necessary for this Conversion that is the Eight Beatitudes the Eighth of which is to suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake Many believe they are happy when they are without sufferings nevertheless this is a sign that they are not faithful to God for he who faithfully serves him will certainly suffer because the Devil and wicked Men will persecute him for Righteousness and true Vertue which is still reprehended by them By this Touchstone true Converts may be known For he who does not willingly suffer Persecution for Well doing desires not to imitate Jesus Christ who is the true Pattern of all the Works which lead to Bliss and none can be happy or sav'd but they who follow his Steps And we falsly perswade our selves of being converted to God if we possess not the Eight Beatitudes which Christ has publickly taught us And as few as we see possess them there are as few converted unto him 'T is all amusement to believe that any will be saved without the possession of these Eight Beatitudes which Jesus Christ has given as Marks whereby to know his true Children from those who say they are and are not And that you may not be deceived Sir I have explain'd them all to you one by one that you may know what manner of Persons these ought to be who in these last Times and during the Plagues desire to be converted to God wherein many if they will may be converted And that their Conversion may be true they must still examine if they have these Eight Beatitudes and they may be perswaded that as long as they have them not they are not entirely converted for Jesus Christ has said nothing in vain and he has nam'd in particular all the Qualities the Blessed ordinarily have without which they cannot be so These are not the Speculations or Words of Men but the Warnings of Jesus Christ himself who cannot lie Men would indeed glosse and dispute to amuse the World but they can never change the Truth I said to her That the Behaviour of Men being well considered it seem'd there were none now in the Grace of God or in the Blessed Estate that Jesus Christ had marked out but rather that all did abound in sin She said Sir It seem'd strange to you formerly when I told you such things because you had not examin'd it narrowly enough and the darkness is so great that the truth is not any longer discerned The Devil has so blinded Mens Minds and distracted their Understandings that they look to nothing now but the Appearance of Things and not the reallity of them Every one believes he shall be happy though he have not so much as one of the Eight Beatitudes Either all the World must be deceived or Jesus Christ has not pointed out aright the signs of those who are in a state of Salvation For these Eight Beatitudes are not pronounced for those who are in Heaven because all those who are with God possess all the Beatitudes in perfection and also there is no more persecution nor Hunger or Thirst to be endured there for there they are in perfect peace and fully satisfied neither is there any thing to be bewailed there being in perfect joy neither can they have poverty of Spirit since they possess all things there also there is no more occasion of shewing Mercy to their Neighbour for none has need of any thing the least of the Blessed possess more than the worth of Ten Thousand Worlds By which it appears that Jesus
the Conscience and that all these outward Things are nothing but Grimaces when they are not done from an abundance of inward Sentiments and that it is said to such Persons This People worship me with their Lips and their Heart is far from me All Christendom is full of this Blindness and they believe that God is served by outward Things Nevertheless it is a certain Truth That God has no need of material Things but desires only the consent of our Will to take his pleasure in us Which he cannot do so long as we will take our pleasure with the Creatures or with any Earthly Things even though according to our Opinion they should be good Things Because he is jealous of our Heart and will not suffer a Corrival and he has reason For it appertains to him alone Because he created it without the Interposition of any other Notwithstanding Man is so unthankful that he denies him his Heart and his Will and would content him with Words and outward Gestures and will not open his Eyes to discover the Truths which would save him from Damnation My Heart is oppressed with Grief Sir to see all the World perish and I cannot help it because they will not receive the Truth I am very far from desiring to leave my Neighbour out of disdain But I am obliged to leave him because he will not be converted to the Truth and the Holy Spirit sayes We ought not to speak that which does not profit I see the Vice of all Men clear as the Sun and I do not think that one can be saved in the State in which they are at present And yet I cannot save them by my Conversation Because they make not a good use of it If I declare their Vices in particular they are ill satisfied or at least they would cover and excuse them Which is evidence enough that they will not amend them and if I point out the Vices indirectly or in general then no Body will take it to himself but will excuse himself by some Formality or Reasoning and if any one lay them to Heart for a Time Men and Business do quickly banish these good Purposes And so nothing is put in practice My Time is lost And my Words are rendered useless whereas I would be profiting something in conversing with God Behold these are the Causes and Reasons why I will remain alone not to conceal the Light For I would have it Lighted for all the World and I know not a more perfect Contentment in this Life than the Meeting and Society of many Hearts united in Jesus Christ as also I know nothing more uneasie than the Conjunction of Persons of contrary Wills For I cannot change for them and they will not change to follow me This is the Combat I said to her That at least some would change to follow her and to save their Souls She said Sir You would be greatly astonished to see the way the World would take to change Every one forsooth would resign his Will to God provided he govern it according to their own Inclinations God must accommodate himself to them and they will not accommodate themselves to God Even so many would indeed follow me it so be withal they may follow also their own Will Which cannot be done For he who follows it is the Enemy of God and if I am his Friend how could I dwell with those who are his Enemies without a continual Constraint Contradiction and Debate All their Actions proceeding from this Self-love would be blameable If I do not reprove them I am unfaithful to God and if I reprove them I become their Enemy and withal they will not amend but will become rather worse applying themselves to remark if they can find any defects in my Actions for a Revenge and if they do not find any they will endeavour at least to despise my Intentions by measuring them according to their Line and interpreting them according to their Sentiments And thus they will offend God and trouble my Repose without any profit Therefore I foreseeing this would do very ill to associate with any Body unless I had assurance before-hand that they would resign themselves truly to God For else this would be to render my self a Slave and others miserable without any Contentment And as God takes his delight and pleasure with Souls whose Wills are united to his so he thrusts behind him those who are not in the Unity of his Divine Will even so ought I to thrust away from me those who will not truly resign their Wills to that of God because it is a kind of Martyrdom to live together bodily being divided in Will As it would be a Paradise of Delights to live with Persons who have their Wills equally resigned to that of God Which makes the true Paradise and perfect Contentment For God and these Souls would be but one and the same Thing I said to her That she ought to associate her self with sincere Persons and that her Company would be of great Advantage to them for attaining to this Resignation to God She said It is true Sir in case their Will were truly good But all that I remark in these Persons who would follow me and be saved is nothing but Wouldings not absolute Wills They say they would be converted they would follow me and be resigned to God while in effect they do neither the one nor the other before God Because these Wouldings proceed only from their own Will They would be converted being afraid of Damnation they would follow me that they may be saved and resign themselves to God only in Word or as long as the Will of God goes along with theirs Lo this is the good Will that I have experienced in those who would follow me and even at present I know no other For I perceive very often that they aim yet at their own Interest Honour or Pleasures So that it they were with me I would reprove all their Actions none excepted Which would be very irksome to me and troublesom to them yea even insupportable For so long as they are not truly designed to God they live still according to their Natural Senses which will not suffer Reproofs and Nature is so Proud that it will not acknowledge its Fault nor suffer disesteem presuming to be more wise and accomplished than its equals so that all that I should do to these Persons would only be to disquiet and vex them because they are so in love with their Vices and Imperfections that they even despise those that do not follow them So that I should live in a continual Constraint among others for I could not speak according to my Sentiments For they are not capable of them and I could not shew them their Faults because they presume to be as wise as I neither could I be profitable in their Company when they will not follow the Spirit that guides me but every
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
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
never repent of them as long as they presume to be sav d according to the doctrine of the learned of this age This is not against the goodness and mercy of God because he has left us his doctrine in writing in his Gospel and the other holy Scriptures which will never perish according to the promise that heaven and earth shall pass away but his words shall not pass away Every one may have recourse thither without amusing himself with the new inventions of men Leaving the fountain of living waters to draw out of broken Cisterns which can hold no water Ignorance will not excuse sin We feel indeed in our Conscience that we do not follow the doctrine of Jesus Christ that our life and our manners are in nothing conformable to the life of the first Christians that our heart is not inflam'd with the LOVE OF GOD nor Charity to our Neighbour and nevertheless we would flatter our selves with the presumption of our salvation because men do promise it to us who have no power to give it to us no more than to themselves In this point our Ignorance is too gross and affected and will not serve to excuse us before God but will rather serve for our Condemnation for we might always find the truth if we had done our endeavour to seek it But because our Guides have taught us ways of salvation more pleasing to our senses and to our taste we have follow'd them rather than those which Jesus Christ has shewn by his deeds and taught by his word It is just that he abandon us to the spirit of errour since of our own free will we have more esteem'd Error than the Truth which alone leads to Salvation I ask'd her If she did not esteem the Priests and Guides of Souls and if to attain to Salvation we ought not to follow their Instructions She said Yes Sir I honour and esteem true Priests because they ought to be the Ambassadors of God to distribute to the ignorant the points of Faith and the doctrine of Jesus Christ which is the nourishment of all Christian Souls But I may say with a sensible regret that I know no true Priests who are simple Ministers of Jesus Christ only to declare and interpret his word because every one ofthem abounding in their own sense teach that which is most sutable to their inclinations They ought to be nothing but the Organs of the Holy Spirit and it seems they are become his Masters Humane Learning and Studies have depriv'd them of the Gospel simplicity they ascribing to themselves what appertains to God conducting Souls by their own measures not by the Rules of the Gospel forasmuch as they themselves do not follow them Some indeed speak the words of the Gospel but they do so gloze and disguise it that no body thinks himself obliged to put it in practice Which is very lamentable for Jesus Christ yesterday and to day is altogether the same and will be even to the end of the world without any change or mutation This being most true how is it possible that any can be sav'd while they do not follow in any thing what he has taught us He has said that he who does not deny himself cannot be his Disciple which no body does On the contrary every one loves himself and yet they call themselves the Disciples of Jesus Christ It must needs be that the one or the other is deceiv'd This impossibility which Jesus Christ has laid down is it render'd possible by the authority of those Guides who assure all the world of their Salvation while they love themselves This cannot be true for Jesus Christ cannot lie but men indeed may err especially in things wherein they have interest for if they taught simply that a man must deny himself and the other points of the Gospel they would give severe reproofs to themselves because their lives and manners are very far from this practice therefore they study to find out glosses reasons and exceptions to the end they may find means not to be oblig d to follow and practice this holy doctrine which is repugnant to their sences Thus every one lives in a presumption of his Salvation without any ground for these men are not Saviours and cannot save us but are rather Seducers of whom Jesus Christ foretold that they should come in the last times in which we are certainly fallen at present wherein the spirit of error does fully reign where truth is stifled and lying prevails The Second Conference Of the Judgment of God Of the Last Times and of the Men of the Last Times REmarking these last words I ask'd her if she sirmly believ'd that the last times were come and whither the Judgment approached She said to me Believe me Sir there is nothing more true we actually live in the last times and the judgment is so near that before three years I believe you will see the effects of it I could not be perswaded to believe this continuing pensive and silent which she perceiving said Sir the difficulty you find to believe these things proceeds from the universal darkness that is now upon the earth by which all the world is blinded and no body sees where he goes no more than they who liv'd during the Egyptian darkness which was so great that none could stir out of the place in which they were this was nothing but the outward figure of the inward darkness in which men walk at present We do not perceive that we are fallen into the last times nevertheless we may see by the lives of men now that all the signs are fallen out which Jesus Christ has foretold viz. that iniquity shall be multiplied and Charity in many shall wax cold and so of the rest Who can doubt that this is not at present when iniquity is so great and so universal that there is no more faith nor law among men People study nothing but to deceive their Neighbour the Father cannot trust his Son nor the Son his Father the Brother rises up against the Brother friendship is only feign'd business is full of deceit and fraud We see nothing but pride and ambition reigning in the hearts of all men Judges are without equity Priests without sincerity Cloysters fill'd with avarice and the devout full of malice which has been at all times in some particular persons but is at present so multiply'd that it possesses almost all men in general and charity is not only waxt cold but is altogether frozen and become dead in the hearts of men So that these signs of the last times are all fully accomplisht Read if you please the Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy where he says that in the last times there shall come men loving their own selves c. You will see more clearly than the Sun all
wisdom the original of all goodness and incomprehensible power In short the Church is God himself who cannot fail or err therefore Jesus Christ says he that hears you hears me because the word of God is God as our word is us our heart must be where we speak and also our understanding even so where the word of God is which is his Church there the holy spirit is which is his understanding and the almighty power which is his heart From whence it appears that the holy Trinity composes the Church which is no other but the power of the Father the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and the good will of the Son All these things are found united in the Church for God having a design to make man after his likeness he transferr'd to him his own qualities therefore he gives to his Church the power to pardon sins goodness by the communication of his word and his wisdom by the understanding of that word Jesus Christ who took human flesh has brought us the word of God which has taught us his wisdom and shewn us his love even as by our word we express what is in our understanding and the affections of our heart which God also did to us when he sent us his word upon earth by the organ of the humanity of Jesus Christ He made this alhance with men that he might have them after his likeness Therefore he has call'd them his Spouse and his Church which is altogether divine and spiritual But men would indeed disguise it and render it material sensual and carnal in giving the name of Church to men who do not possess this word without which they cannot be the Church nor have the power the wisdom nor the love which God gave to his lawful Spouse Therefore they may greatly err and fail in appointing and approving of rules for Christians And whereas you ask Whether all these outward Devotions which are now in use in Christendom be good and saving I doubt it very much for Jesus Christ taught not such varieties of devotion as we see now adays but he taught solid and inward vertues as Faith Hope and Charity Faith to believe in an Almighty God of whom we hold all things Hope to hope in him only without putting our confidence in any other thing and Charity to love him alone without placing our affection on any created thing whether in heaven or in earth These are the instructions of Jesus Christ but those at present who are call'd Church-men teach no other thing but to resort to Churches to frequent the Sacraments and to say a great many vocal prayers by rote and number With these outward things they make men believe that they are true Christians which cannot be since Christianity consists in a spiritual and inward life for it is divine and not humane If these outward devotions had been means proper for us to become good Christians we may be perswaded that Jesus Christ would have taught us them for he had more wisdom to foresee our need and weakness than these guides of souls can have and likewise more love to take care that nothing should be wanting to us for the time to come He left only his word to serve for the nourishment of our souls saying that it is the bread come down from heaven and that whosoever shall eat it shall not die whereas these persons give us only the Eucharist for nourishment in which the promise of Jesus Christ cannot be accomplisht for the host does not descend from heaven as his word does and they who eat it do not all live for ever For we see abominable souls even Sorcerers do communicate frequently and thereafter die in their sins We see also Bigots communicate very often who never attain to true faith nor the knowledge of the truth without which they cannot live for evel How then should the word of Jesus Christ be fulfill'd that they who eat this bread shall not die since all those die eternally after having so often eaten the Eucharist Jesus Christ cannot lie for he who incorporates his word shall never die because it gives life and nourishment to the soul and makes it live eternally I said to her This being suppos'd we must needs be in a time of great darkness in which there are many errors and many more erroneous who run blindly to damnation because the most pious hold Rome and all her Council for the Church She said Sir the Devil upon a false supposition finds matter enough to raise fine edifices I have no particular knowledge of Rome nor of her Council but I tell you in truth if the Pope with all his Council would say any thing to me which was contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ I should not be oblig'd to believe him nor yet are any other Christians The Bark should never be taken for the Wood because it can never beat Fruit as the Tree would do tho it had little Bark The true Church where-ever it is brings forth always holy Fruits and if the Tree be known by its fruit we will know the Church by what it brings forth The practice of those who are Members of Rome doth sufficiently evidence to me that the holy spirit cannot be the Author of those things which are contrary to the practice of Jesus Christ We see the Prelates attended with Servants Coaches and Trains like to secular Princes their Furniture and Houses do surpass them Iâ— they had faith to believe that God being man was poor and despisd they would blush for shame as all other Christians to make themselves thus to be honoured Their faith being dead they run blindly to damnation This vail which is put before their eyes to make them believe that the Church ought to be upheld by worldly honours serves for nothing but to flatter them and to render them insensible of their misery For if the Church had had need of temporal wealth and honour Jesus Christ would have provided it sufficiently for all appertains to him being King and Creator of all things He knew all the revolutions of time he would surely have foretold them that it should be permitted them at a certain time to make themselves be honour'd and serv'd but on the contrary he foretels that God will cast down the mighty from their seats that he will resist the proud and will exalt the humble and there is nothing which he says more expresly than that we ought to learn of him to be meek and lowly in heart to which Lesson the arrogance and the pride of Christians now are directly opposite and they who may be called by their proper names Antichristians because they are thus oppos'd to Christ for these only are Christians who put in practice this doctrine of Jesus Christ all others who bear this name without doing it are nothing but rotten Members of the Church and it were better they were cut off
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
Righteousness exceed not that of the Pharisees you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Nevertheless there are very few who attain to the Righteousness of the Pharisee and yet every one believes he shall be saved tho' he has neither Divine nor Humane Righteousness Must there not be many deceived at Death For to have the Goodness of God also a Man must do Good to all without respect of Persons and he must not do Evil For he who is evil in something ceases to be good and to partake of the Goodness of God who does always good and never does evil And to have the Truth of God a Man must be true in all things which Men are very far from For they lye in all things to God to themselves and to their Neighbour They lye to God in saying that they love him and are resigned to him while there is not so much as one Person in the World that is resigned to the Will of God Every one will needs depend on himself and follow his own Will or that of some other Peâ—soâ— he has chosen for these Ends and is not satisfied with the Will of God except in so far as it is conformable to his Inclinations We lye also to our selves persuading our selves that we are Christians tho' we do not in any of our Actions follow the Instructions of Jesus Christ We make our selves believe that we are just and vertuous that we would not offend God in any thing while we do it every Moment having nothing in the sight of God but an imaginary and hypocritical Righteousness and Perfection We lye also in respect of our Neighbour who looking upon our outward Works of Devotion or Habits or Words thinks that we are such before God as we appear but it is not so In fine we are as far remov'd from the Truth of God as Hell is from Heaven and also from his Righteousness and Goodness and yet we think to be saved What a great Presumption is this of Salvation without good Works which will never be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other For we will never repent because of unknown Blindness For he who shou'd know it wou'd endeavour to find out a Remedy or Cure and would say as the blind Man in the Gospel Lord that I may see But as long as we believe that we see clearly we take no care to search for Remedies to an evil that we will not know which causes the Damnation of all Men in the World because none are free of this horrible Darkness These last Words made me tremble being joyned to those she had said before that there was not so much as one Man in the World who was resigned to God I asked her how it was possible that God should create all Men to be damn'd She said Sir God hath created no body to be damn'd but all Men for Salvation For God can damn no body It must needs still be that Man damns himself of his own Free-Will otherwise God shou'd do an evil thing which he cannot do but does all good This being so Sir you must ask Men each one in particular how is it possible that they damn themselves But you must not ask God how is it possible that each one is damn'd For he wou'd answer it is because they 'll be so of their own Free-Will which shall never be taken from them Every one damn us himself for his own particular and all these particular Damnations being put together make this general Damnation which God cannot hinder For he cannot save so much as one Soul without the Consent of the Free-Will which he has once given it letting each one enjoy this Free-Will without any Constraint all Men in particular are free to damn themselves as they do because they will not resign themselves to the Will of God which Resignation wou'd assuredly save them rendring them happy both in this World and the other But since we will not continue in a Dependence on God but will follow and depend on our own Wills we render our selves miserable both in this World and to all Eternity The Sins of our first Parents ought to have made us wise For by forsaking this Dependence they brought on themselves all sorts of Miseries and we not satisfied to groan yet under these by participation do daily encrease them by our own proper Resolution that we will not be rul'd and govern'd by the same God who demands of us the same Dependence which he demanded of those our first Parents which we do constantly deny him and will needs depend on our own Will and follow it as much as we can without informing our selves of the Will of God Now every one doing this as to his own particular is it a Wonder that all in general perish since none in particular will resign himself to the Will of God without which no body shall be saved I ask'd If God could have created so beautiful a World with all that is within it only for Men who will damn themselves since all in general will needs depend on their own Wills and that no Person in the World is resigned to the Will of God She said God has not created this beautiful World Sir for these Men who shall be reprobated but for the Elect only and those who of their free Choice and Free-Will shall depend entirely on God and be ruled and governed wholly at his Pleasure renouncing altogether their own Will and Desires These shall enjoy to all Eternity this beautiful World with all that is within it in all Perfection as I have already told you Sir the World shall last always and none of the Works of God shall ever perish neither Men nor Beasts nor any other Creatures but each of them in their kind shall remain for ever for the Honour of God and the Delight of Men who shall live after the Extermination of all Evil. But if the Men who live now will not resign themselves to the Will of God but follow that of the Devil or their own These shall not possess the World but shall only sojourn in it for a little time and they shall go out of it without carrying any thing away but the Sins with which they have loaded themselves during so short a Voyage But all that is beautiful and good in the World shall remain for the Elect who shall enjoy it to all Eternity For if this were not we shou'd have indeed a mean God who had created the Sun the Moon the Stars all the Elements so many different Creatures as there are in the World and all this only for the Devil and for Men who will damn themselves as they do at present It wou'd follow that God shou'd have little Power to be thus frustrated of his Pretensions in having created so many excellent things if they shou'd serve only for the Use of the Reprobate and the Devil shou'd carry
to this your Neighbour and also to your self in case you have need of what you have given him For Charity well order'd begins always at ones self and he who should give his Goods to another and leave his own Debts unpaid wou'd commit Robbery by taking from him to whom 't is due to give it to another out of tender Compassion Therefore I say we must always observe whether our Works be accompanied with Righteousness remarking whether this necessitous Person wou'd do any saving Good with our Gifts whether they would draw him out of spiritual and bodily Miseries whether he shall not abuse them by employing them to do evil Then the Giving him will be accompanied with the Righteousness of God provided you have what is superfluous to give him But when you have only pure Necessaries 't is not just to give them to others unless they be in some Extremity of Want Then you must succour your Neighbour as much as you are able yet without casting your self into the Extremity from whence you wou'd bring another For this wou'd neither be just nor good For a Man shou'd never ruine himself voluntarily This is to do an ill thing and against the Goodness of God To do therefore a Work of Charity that has the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God stamp'd upon it we must firstsee if it be true that the Person whom we wou'd assist is really poor This is the Truth of God For there are now so many Cheats and Lyes that the most part of the Poor are so thro' their own Fault because they will not work or they are prodigal and Cheats or they will not manage but are careless of the Goods that God has bestowed on them In all these Cases the Person is not truly poor and therefore we cannot find the Truth of God in our Alms neither can we therein find his Goodness because it would be ill for the Salvation of him to whom we give it Neither would it have his Righteousness for it would not be just to feed by Alms any in their Sloth or in other Sins of Gluttony or Carelesness You see clearly Sir that it is necessary to remark always by what Spirit we do our Actions or else we shall commit great Faults without perceiving them If you find some Difficulty in this serious Reflection yet this should not make you omit it For our Salvation and that of our Neighbour does well deserve all this Trouble If so many Men of Wit and Quality do so earnestly study to render themselves honest civil and accomplish'd in the Eyes and Judgment of Men how much more ought you to do to renderyour self such in the Sight of God This Difficulty will be well rewarded by your Salvation and that of so many others Whereas these Persons are often obliged to bow their Wills as Reeds at the Will of those whom they honour who nevertheless can give them nothing but perishing Things either some Breath of Honour or transient Pleasures or some Riches that perish by a Turn of Fortune and yet for this they force and torment themselves exceedingly Sir let other Mens Folly make you wise Study as much to gain the Favour of God as they do to have that of Men For your eternal Happiness depends upon it You can never follow God if you do not embrace his Truth Without it all your Works are vain and temporal ending with your self I told her That I would absolutely study from benceforth to become agreeable to God but that I never yet had Light enough to discern in all my Actions whether the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God was to be found in them She said Sir this comes from no other thing but Inconsideration of Mind For if it would apply it self it would certainly know all that it ought to do and omit more clearly than your Eyes perceive sensible Objects Apply only the Understanding that God has given you for the Perfection of your Soul and you shall learn all things As soon as you shall firmly resolve to seek no longer for any thing upon Earth but only to seek the Glory of God you shall obtain the Light of the Holy Spirit which will teach you all things There is nothing to be feared on this Occasion but the Bent that we have to the Earth which if we follow we should soon lose the Star which shou'd guide us to the Place where God dwells Therefore I exhort you never more to look behind you nor to aim at any thing on Earth For all that we can see or hope for here are but Chains and Bands to withdraw us from God our alone Saviour Therefore Sir forsake your self and all things For they are Enemies of your true Good The Love we bear to Men hinders us from the Love of God and the Love of our selves renders us his Enemies which Things stifle in our Soul the Light of the Holy Spirit But if we are resolved to seek and love no longer any thing but the Glory of God we shall soon perceive if what we speak think or do be for this Glory or not by the least Diligence or Care to do it Only you must be firm in your Resolution that you will do nothing but what shall be for this Glory and thrust far from you all other things as unworthy of your Pretensions Then shall we walk with a steady Pace and shall no longer do any thing but what shall have these three Qualities of the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God For all that is for his Glory brings still these Conditions along with it his Glory being inseparable from his Essence his Essence from his Righteousness Goodness and Truth nothing can be wanting there any longer The Thirteenth Conference That Persons illuminated by God may serve as powerful Means for Salvation but it 's God only who can give it and that now the Company of Men is dangerous I Said to her That all these things were true but that my Soul was not yet purified enough to discover them so precisely and that her Company was necessary for me that I might learn to practise that Righteousness Goodness and Truth She said Sir I believe indeed my Company may serve you as a Mean to preserve you on Occasions but it is not necessary for this For God alone is sufficient who'll guide you thro' all provided you continue firmly faithful to him For you know not me yet and if you knew me you wou'd see in my Practice all the things that I tell you by Word My Thoughts Words and Deeds must have the three Qualities of which I have spoken to you else I shou'd be like the Brass that sounds outwards and has nothing within it self I have remarked that you have not yet discovered these Truths and therefore my Conversation would be useless to you and a great Hindrance to me For you not perceiving God in my Words and Works would not follow them and
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
as we don't apprehend these things we will think we do well to adhere to the Sciences we have learned from Men and will not empty our selves of them that we may receive the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit especially when by it we shall discover things quite contrary to our Sentiments or those which our Masters taught us You are not more than any other Sir delivered from your own Wisdom which hinders the Holy Spirit and that even under a Colour of good For you wou'd make Scruple to believe the Holy Spirit when it shou'd tell you things contrary to the Councils held in the Roman Church as I perceived when I spoke of such things to you because you have been brought up in it and foster'd with a Belief that these Councils were directed by the Holy Spirit tho' this cannot be true it being your Resolution not to depart from her This will hinder you from submitting to the Light of the Holy Spirit which will have no Opposition nor Resistance but a simple Submission I said to her That I could not disown I had Difficulty to believe things contrary to the Councils Nevertheless I would follow the Light of the Holy Spirit She said Sir you cannot follow the one without quitting the other because indeed they are as far from one another as Truth is from Lyes For the Holy Spirit teaches only the Truth which makes for the Glory of God whereas these Councils teach only that which makes for their own Glory and Authority Take off a little Sir this Veil of Preoccupation of believing blindly that Rome is the Holy Church and submit to God that he may shew you what Truth is in this You will feel evidently in the Bottom of your Soul that God cannot change as these Persons have changed the Institutions of Jesus Christ We must not be so void of Judgment as blindly to lay the Foundation of our Eternal Salvation upon false Suppositions but we must fully open our Eyes and consider if what we have learned hitherto be more clear and solid than what is now discovered You will thereby perceive which of the two is farthest from the true Light But as long as you are partial and can hardly believe this or that your Soul is not free to receive this Truth If you believe things because Councils or others have told you them you are not established in the Truth of these things but only in the Opinion you have of those who tell you them And do you not know that the Holy Spirit says that all Men are Lyars Wherefore then will you believe things because Men say them I wou'd never have you to believe my Words because I say them but I wou'd indeed have you to believe them because they are true We ought always to follow and love the Truth wherever it is but never to believe and follow a Lye even tho' it shou'd come from the Mouth of a holy Person For otherwise we shall commit great and irreparable Faults as to the Salvation of our Souls especially in this dangerous time wherein the Devil is plac'd in God's Throne and teaches us Lyes instead of the Truth That God has given us an Understanding to comprehend is not for temporal and transient things but that we may understand and discern the Things that concern our Salvation and Eternal Life In this we ought to employ all the Force of our Spirit to discover if what they tell and teach us now in this Matter be true or not without adventuring upon a blind Belief as all Christians do at present I said to her That I would not lean to a blind Belief but to the streight Truth She said Sir if it be so you will have no trouble to believe what I tell you tho' it be contrary to the Councils For I do not speak of my self and I tell only what the Spirit of God dictates to me Take good heed to my Words they proceed always from the Spirit of Truth who must teach all things He cannot deceive you as wou'd your Learning and Studies that you may have acquired by humane Means Be jealous of them For 't is so long since the Devil did insinuate himself into the Church of God to corrupt it that almost it cannot be told from what time it was corrupted Insomuch that even while Jesus Christ was yet upon Earth the Dvil listed himself as a Soldier of Jesus Christ on design to thwart his Doctrine and in the time of his Apostles he became a Captain because he had already gained many under his Power and in the time of their Disciples he had yet more and might then by just Title have born the Name of Colonel because he ruled many and after the Apostles Death he became a Governour by the Encrease of his Power But since they wou'd needs form this Body of the Roman Church the Devil is become General of it by which Government he has now conquered all the World and is universal Emperor especially over the Christians whom he holds under his particular Empire He is therefore justly called Antichrist because he has gainsaid the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which by him has been abolished and annihilated because under this Pretext of Christ he has infatuated Mens Minds to make them believe that what is contrary to Christ is Christ himself and that what is the Synagogue of Satan is the holy Church And thus by these false Persuasions he has deceived all the World and the most Religions believe they follow God when they follow the Devil because he is so masqu'd with the Veil of Piety and Devotion he cou'd have prevail'd with well-meaning Persons by teaching them Evil but under this Colour of Holiness and the Holy Church all the World do blindly follow him with such Fidelity that it wou'd be very hard to divert them from him Every one wou'd think he did ill to quit this Church which is so only in Appearance to follow the true one I only regret you and such as you Sir who sincerely intend to follow the real Truth and nevertheless fear to resist Lyes out of a frivolous Imagination that the Church will still continue in the material Place where Jesus Christ established it I said to her That when I should discover this Spirit of Errour I would never follow it That I would gladly abandon it and follow the Spirit of Truth She said Sir if you wou'd follow the Spirit of Truth quit then all these foolish Persuasions that Christians have now which are only invented by Antichrist that he may gain all the World to himself by apparent Holiness They wou'd persuade you that Rome is the Holy Church that you must obey her in all her Ordinances If you do this you shall be an Idolater ascribing to Men what belongs to God only as Honour Power and Infallibility Every one believes that this belongs to her tho' it belongs to none but God alone to be
they think sometimes they wou'd do evil if they shou'd look on it as evil Therefore Jesus Christ has great Reason to say to us so often Beware of false Prophets that come in my Name and be not deceived by them and also to tell us that we must get out of Judaea that is out of the Church when we shall see the Abomination of Desolation For this Cause I think Sir it is now time to flee I ask'd her If it would not be better to abide in the Church and endeavour to make others like my self see the Deceit and Dangers in which they live than by flying out of her to abandon them to these Perils She said If you could illuminate them and make them see the Truth without destroying your self it would be better to remain in her tho' it shou'd cost your Life but there is no Appearance of prevailing with any because they are so obstinate in their Sins which they will not know For if you shou'd tell any benefic'd Person in the Church that he is not a true Christian and that the Church has fallen away and become more Pharisaical than ever the true Pharisees were they wou'd not believe you but persecute you and your best Friends the most Pious of them wou'd believe you were become an Heretick and that you wou'd also pervert them Because the Darkness is so great that they take Lies for Truth without perceiving it and they shou'd esteem that to be evil which were most good Therefore you wou'd do others no good and you wou'd do evil to your self and draw upon your self many Persecutions and bring your self in hazard of falling from the streight Truth thro' an Infatuation of Spirit with which the Devil directs every one and hinders them from knowing or discovering the Truth Therefore Jesus Christ said very well that we ought not to give Roses to Swine nor Childrens Bread to Dogs The Swine are Persons who wou'd make a Dunghil of the most fragrant Vertues and Dogs are they who wou'd tear the Truth by Reproaches and Calumnies It wou'd not therefore be adviseable at this time to remain in the Church when Jesus Christ advised to depart and flee out of her For there you shall not find Children who will receive the Word of God which is the Bread of our Soul but Masters and Mistresses who believe they are more wise and more just than the Holy Spirit I said to her That it seemed to me we were wanting in Charity when we minded only our own Salvation and that it was grievous also to follow God without any other Company She said Sir you will not act against Charity by withdrawing from Christians now because they are obstinate in their Courses to which they are habituated and in which they will die without Repentance and therefore it will avail nothing to preach to them And the Holy Spirit tells us somewhere that we must leave off to point out and speak that which does not profit and that the God of Peace will very shortly bruise Satan under our Feet I understand hereby that it is no longer seasonable to represent the Truth to Christians now because they will resist and quarrel the Truth even when we wou'd make it known to them It is to them we ought not to point out the Finger nor to speak because no Words how true soever will profit them any thing Yet for all this you shall not remain all alone in following God but a great many will follow him with you but you must go among the Jews where many will be converted and receive the Truth and will flee from the Spirit of Errour in which they have been detained for so long a time For of God's People they became his Enemies For this cause they were scattered and divided But by this Coming of the Holy Spirit they shall recover the Light and shall re-enter into the Sheep-fold of Jesus Christ and shall be his People and the Members of his true Church And because these are only guilty of the Sin against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven them whereas those Christians will sin now against the Holy Ghost Therefore they shall not be forgiven in this World nor in the other You need not then amuse your self any more about this Matter I have made Trials enough having accosted the Persons most renowned for Vertue among the Christians and I found not so much as one of them capable of receiving the Truth they are so pre-occupied with their Roman Church their Maxims and seeming Vertues that it may be said of them that as Jannes and Jambres resisted the Truth even so Christians do resist it in the same manner You are the first who has heard me tell the Truth For till now I cou'd not explain it to any body This did often trouble me and made me also resolve to quit the Conversation of all Men and travel so long till I shou'd find some one to whom I might declare the Truth Because FOR THIS I AM BORN I said to her That therefore she was obliged to declare the Truth to many since she was born for this end and she knew those who were capable to receive it She said Sir it is not my Business to enquire for Men because my Life consists in my Recollection from whence the Conversation of Men would withdraw me For I know by Experience that all Creatures are a Hindrance to me and loss of time I love rather to remain alone But if you will transmit to others the Truth which I have communicated to you you are free to do it or rather obliged to it Because God having permitted you to rencounter me and given me time and Place to tell you so many diverse things I shall believe he will require of you that you impart them to others But you must consider well to whom because every one is not capable of so great things and if you address to some that are in Covenant with the Devil of which there are so many at present they will use you hardly and consult with all these Followers of Satan to oppose and to stifle these Truths in their Cradle Therefore in this you must use the Wisdom of the Serpent and beware of Men For they will deliver you up to Governours and will persecute you or kill you because of the Truth which is God This bad Usage foretold by Jesus Christ will in this Age have its full Accomplishment This in the Beginning of the Church of Jesus Christ was but fulfilled in part because the Apostles only and some few others suffered for the Truth but at present many shall be put to death for this Truth The Father shall rise up against the Son and he against the Father and they shall deliver up one another to the Rulers to be put to Death because the Hour is come and the Power of Darkness which has so seiz'd
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'
the Holy Spirit speaks so succinctly that one Word makes me comprehend many things He gives Subtilty to the Understanding to conceive great Things by one of his small Motions It is just as if one were in a fine Room well adorned with divers Furnitures and Rarities But there were no Light in it whereby to see all these things In such a Case it wou'd require a great many Words to make him who had never seen them understand in particular all the fine things and Furniture that were in the Room telling him here are such and such Pictures such Tables such Seats and such like Things and yet we could not make him comprehend well the Beauty of this Furniture and Rarities But if a Light were brought into the Room tho it were but that of a Candle in a Moment it would give more Knowledge of all the Things that are in the Room than all the Discourses that were uttered to make them known So it is with the Light of the Holy Spirit when it enters into a Soul it makes it know and comprehend all things very clearly Nevertheless these things cannot be seen by Souls who are yet in the Darkness and Obscurity of their own Passions Many Words and Discourses must be used to make them understand the Rarities that are in the Works of God It is thus Sir that I tell you all my Words do not come immediately from the Holy Spirit But indeed all the Substance of what I say Because I never had any other Master nor any other Study but that of purging my Soul from Earthly Affections By this I received the Light of all the things of which I have spoken to you with many more which nevertheless I could not make you understand but by Words and Discourses accommodated to your Capacity which are not all precisely endited by the Holy Spirit Word for Word except that in general they are produced by the Gift of Wisdom which the Holy Spirit always brings along with him into the Soul where he resides giving it the Skill to express it self and to make Divine Things be understood by those who are in Darkness Therefore Sir you are not deceived in believing that my Words come from the Holy Spirit For it is true if you take them in Substance But if you would maintain a precise enditing of Words the Enemies of the Truth might surprize you in some Terms not well express'd or some Word of a contrary Signification or other Faults of my Language which come from my Weakness or Ignorance For the Holy Spirit can commit no Faults He always gives his Light perfect and compleat to the Soul that is purified from it self But he does not always give precise Words and Terms to make it be understood by others because it does not remain always precisely hearkning to the Enditing of the Holy Spirit being often distracted by Earthly Objects which divert it sometimes without its being aware and in this Diversion it may commit many Faults even tho' it had received the Holy Spirit For this Cause our Life is always dangerous and we ought still to watch that we be not surprized by our Enemies I asked her How she could see by the Light of the Holy Spirit things which consist in Matter of Fact as the Deportment of the Jews and Christians and others She said Sir this is manifested to my Understanding even as Divine Things are without any Distinction except that the Soul receives more Contentment in conceiving and understanding the Things of God than those which respect Men tho' all come from the same Source nevertheless they have different Effects For when God shews to the Soul his straight Righteousness his universal Goodness his pure Truth it is filled with Wisdom and solid Vertue by those which it remarks in God and when he makes it see his Glory Majesty and his Almighty Power the Soul is filled with Joy Honour and Strength in Consideration of the Qualities of its God But he no sooner makes appear to it the deplorable State to which Men are reduced now than the Soul is afflicted and thirsts with a Desire to see them converted unto God who also shews unto it all the necessary Means for this Conversion And as a Physician cannot rightly cure a sick Person or Patient without seeing first the Cause of the Disease or laying open the Sores of his Evil even so does God towards a charitable Soul that is touched with a sensible Regret to see its Neighbour perish and with a Desire to succour him with all its Power Then God makes it see the Sores that is the Faults and Sins of his People more distinctly than if it conversed daily with them even though it has never seen them by the Eyes of the Body Nevertheless it knows them better than they who converse daily with them Because the Light of God pierces to the Bottom of Souls and the Sight of Men perceives only outward things Therefore many are often deceived and take what is false for true But God judges always with an upright Judgment And when the Soul has Bowels of Charity to help its Neighbour God shews it the State in which he lives and also the Means by which he may rise again from his Fall This is the Reason why God makes Matters of Fact which respect our Neigbour to be as well perceived as divine Things and that by the Light of the Holy Spirit which is so much the brighter the farther it is removed from Humane Light and Natural Knowledge For this Cause Sir I retire so much from Men and will learn nothing from them because their Wisdom hinders and obscures the Light of the Holy Spirit and according as I am removed from them accordingly I approach to true Knowledge For sometimes I wou'd tell you better what passes among the Turks or other remote Places than what is done in my Presence For my Eyes may deceive me But the Holy Spirit cannot deceive me I asked her How this Light had its Original If the Holy Spirit did immediately declare things to the Soul or if the Soul did propose them first She said Sir this is done differently For sometimes the Holy Spirit gives Notices of the Things which the Soul never saw nor thought of At other times he makes it understand something which it saw or understood imperfectly But for the most Part the Light is demanded by the Soul when it prays for it or for somewhat else Then if it be well recollected it receives the Understanding of what it asked either God grants it or makes it see wherefore he denies it or else what it ought to do or forsake to co-operate with the Designs of God and to obtain its Request Behold how the Lights of the Holy Spirit have their Rise All that is needful in this is to disengage our Soul from Earthly Affections and to resign it to the Will of God Then he governs and illuminates it in such sort
their innocence but if they did the same things when grown up it would be infamous because of the malignity of their thoughts A thing that is in it self the same is render'd good or evil by the wickedness of the Heart The sins that are committed in Marriage do not proceed from its being evil in its self for it is good but they are introduc'd there thro' the perverse will of men Even as the Church is holy in it self but man's perverse will has render'd it abominable in the sight of God for they have chang'd the Order into which God had established it And if men commit the greatest sins by the inclination they have to this natural conjunction this proceeds from nothing but the wickedness of the Heart since the thing in it self is good and holy If man is become so negligent as to abuse all the works of God is it not thro' his own wickedness that he perishes tho he lays the blame always on God For if he sin through Carnal Lust he will say wherefore has God given me this Natural Inclination by which I am led to sin And if men be chastised by any Rods they will say that God afflicts them or that he has forsaken them and so of all other things How great soever mens wickedness be they lay the blame always on God tho they do not say it by word yet they do it in deed while they neglect to discover that all his works are still accompanied with Righteousness Goodness and Truth and that nothing that is evil can ever come from God who is the Source and Original of all Good still doing good to all without excepting any By which we see evidently that he is no longer known at present for they abuse all his Favours and blaspheme him in every thing and yet are not willing to confess it for every one of these Christians have it in their mouths that they love God and honour him while truly and in effect they disown and blaspheme him by their works The Fourth Conference Of the blindness of men who amuse themselves with the outward things which are delivered to them without searching into the depth of the Truth it self they are so infatuated and withheld thro' the fear of displeasing those who are in Reputation I Said to her That men were in horrible darkness and that the Truth was no longer known but every one had for saken it and taken a quite contrary way while in the mean time they think they are in the right way She said Sir This is what I bewail continually to see men so far from their salvation and yet they think they are in the right way to it This causes the Damnation of those who are esteem'd the best men for while they think they are good they will not endeavour after a Change but will live and die in a presumption of being sav'd without good works which shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the other and no body thinks on 't for the darkness is so thick that they cannot see whither they go Truth is always bright and discovers every thing but it is no longer known No body knows the Truth any more since the Devil spread this horrible Darkness on the Earth but every one walks in darkness and believes he is in the right way and while they are perishing they think to be saved Have you not observ'd Sir all that I have said to you that man knows not God any longer nor his works and that they understand them in a quite contrary sense and that in truth they observe nothing of what God has commanded and Jesus Christ taught and yet every one says that he desires to come to God Must there not be a lie in the one or the other of these two contrary things For what I say and what Men do are as distant from one another as heat is from cold Nevertheless truth cannot change it remains always true Let Men say what they please let them stray from it or approach it it abides still firm in its Integrity Who that understands me aright can doubt that I speak the Truth And if you are oblig'd to confess it will you not consequently be oblig'd to acknowledge that all the World is deceived and fallen from the Truth and in forsaking it they have forsaken God And if they have forsaken God who can uphold them any longer The World must certainly perish for its disease is at the height and the worst of all is that they do not know it for if they knew it there would yet be some among them who would open their Eyes and perceive the reality of Truth I ask'd her from whence this great blindness of Spirit and this so obscure darkness could proceed She said Sir this comes from the Devil since he crept into the Church and began to countermine the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and took the title of Antichrist he has labour'd so strongly in this that he has spread among them an universal Darkness and so confounded the Spirits of those Christians with so many different things that they are no longer capable of knowing the Truth Instead of it he has inspir'd them with a great many false Opinions that he might divert them from the pure Truth So that I do not believe there is any Sect or Nation in the World farther from it than the Christians of this Age because they discover it no longer in any thing whereas the Hereticks Jews or Heathens know the Truth in some things tho in others they are mistaken but these Christians are mistaken in all thro' the ill use they make of all things as I have formerly told you Sir that they know neither God nor any of his works judging of all in a quite contrary sense And because they could not have quiet without doing good things the Devil has furnish'd them with so many seemingly good works that they have no longer any leisure to think of the Truth and to examine whether these New Devotions be true or not but they blindly follow them without making any other Reflection but that they are the Ordinances of the Church without examining also whether this Church be holy or not they lay aside the Truth to receive that which is proposed to them supposing it to be a good thing Hence there is such blindness of spirit and such obscure darkness that there is scarce any way to make them see the Truth their understanding being so preoccupied and darkned with diverse things that they can no longer consider the Unity of Truth on the contrary they would think they did evil to follow this Truth and quit the New Practices introduc'd by men So that if we should advise a Christian now a-days to do nothing else in order to his salvation but to resign his will to that of God he would think we design'd to make him an Heretick and would cleave more firmly to the
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
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
times to follow the Will of God He sasts alwayes when he never takes but what is simply necessary for him in which God directs him He is alwayes in the Church when he is continually in the presence of God He frequents also the Sacraments as long as his Spirit converses with God who comprehends in himself all that is Holy or Sacred He has the Remission and Indulgence of all his Sins by the Resignation that he makes of his Will to that of his God because he can never attain to this Resignation without forsaking all sort of Evil and this is true Repentance which obtains the Remission of all Sins He has no need of Images when his Eye and his Heart is fixt upon the Will of God which makes him remember whatsoever is good and just and he has no longer need of Intercessours for his Salvation since he is united to the Will of Him who only can give it I said to her That I saw clearly enough that all our Salvation and Happiness did depend upon this Resignation of our Will to that of God But that it was a Loss that this was not taught to all the World who believed they were sure of their Salvation by the Means of Devotions She said Sir It is a Lamentable thing that all the World should perish for want of knowing the Truth Secular Persons think they are good when they Trade and do their Business without Fraud though they never consider that they are sent into this World to lead a Life of Penitence and are created to be alwayes united in Will to God Churchmen or Religions Persons believe they shall be saved provided they go to Church and perform their customary Devotions without thinking that to be saved they must be resigned to the Will of God And thus both the one and the other perish through Ignorance because all in general are creared to be resigned in Will to the Will of God depending immediately upon him and not on other Things And though we are obliged to Labour in this Life yet this is but accidentally and to satisfie the Penitence due for our Sins not that God has created us for Labour but only ordain'd it for Penitence And instead of fulfilling it by our Labour we encrease our Sins by the same Means by which we ought to purge them glorying in our Chains and rejoycing in our Vallie of Tears And we will Act where we ought only to Suffer and Rule where we ought to be Subject This falls out through our Ignorance for we do not know the True way of Salvation and we imagine we shall find it by Means which divert us from it instead of bringing us to it They go sometimes to a Cloyster to find the sure Means of Salvation and in the mean time all the Exercises that must be performed are often Diversions from God For so many outward Rules and Gestures prove great Hindrances to the Conversation the Soul ought to have with its God and these Studied Devotions are often Hypocrisies If we bow the Knee to shew that we adore and pray to God while our Thoughts are far from him this is pure Hypocrisie If we give Honour or do Reverence to some Image without raising our Thoughts to that which it represents to us this is pure Idolatry If we pray to God with the Lips and the Heart is far from him it is a Contempt of God If we use Mortifications of the Body without the Spirit of Penitence it is the Pride of Life for we desire to be esteemed more than others because of our particular Pennances when God has appointed us all in general common Ones which would be much more for our Salvation For he who willingly suffers Heat Cold and other Incommodities of the Elements or of our Body does merit much more than he who chuses Fastings Watchings and other things according to his own desires Because these things are done by our own Will and will be recompenced only in this VVorld But the Pennances that are common to all Men are Ordained and Chosen of God for saving Penitences In which these Penitents do greatly deceive themselves in following their own VVill and often will not bear patiently with a VVord that contradicts their Behaviour The Blindness of Men now may truly be bewailed for in all Things they take Falshood for Truth and the way of Damnation for that of Salvation Which would be easie to make appear to all the World in case they would give Ear to it For there is but one only thing needful which is for Men to resign their Will to that of God But they are so preoccupied with so many different sorts of Means which they perswade them are good Things that they should think they did Evil in resigning their Will to that of God choosing rather to submit it to a Man subject to his Passions having forgotten that the Holy Spirit said Wo to the Man that puts his confidence in Man Take Sir this Lesson to your self and put not your Confidence in any but God For all Men are Lyars and cannot give Salvation to those to whom they promise it We have but one only Saviour who is Jesus Christ and one only Essential Commandment which is to DEPEND UPON GOD IN ALL THINGS If Men have taught so many different Things and filled the World with Books to shew that we must depend upon them do not believe them for one thing only is needful I asked her Why she had shewn me so many different things since we began our Conferences seeing there is one thing only needful as I am certainly perswaded She said Sir I never taught you any other Means of Salvation but the Doctrine of the Gospel which is sufficient to bring back the greatest Sinners in the World to a Dependance upon God Because that Doctrine teaches how to remove all that might hinder this Resignation to God And when it says that we must deny our selves it tells us that we must be resigned to God and in saying that we must take up our Cross it shews the Penitence that we are obliged to perform in this World and when we consider the whole Life of Jesus Christ we are thereby sufficiently taught that we must not rule in this World nor seek after Dignities Offices or Traffick nor build Cloisters or other Edifices nor lay up Riches here For his whole Life and Conversation was quite another thing and he has not at all taught us the Customs that are observed at present but Goodness Humility and Poverty These Things are the true Means to attain to this Dependance upon God because they remove the Hindrances of our Soul that thereafter it may resign it self the more easily and freely unto him Jesus Christ has taught that we are to forsake many Things which prove Hindrances of this Resignation to God For he who loves the Riches Honours Pleasures and Delights of this World cannot be
or follow him blindly as these Christians say we must obey and follow Men blindly For when we consider all the Works of God and observe what he has done for us it is impossible we should cease to love and follow such a Benefactour If we had but the Light of a Heathen we would not readily yield this blind Submission to Men Because they are not our Creatours nor our Saviours and our Dependance ought to be upon the Lord who created all Things But not on frail Man like our selves who can give us nothing but Promises without Effects for they deceive us when they promise us Salvation since they cannot give it to themselves And yet all the World believes they shall save all Christians of whom I know not so much as one that is in the way of Salvation because they neither know God nor true Vertue but have their Understandings blinded by the Discourses of Men who desire to love and be loved by their like and instead of leading them to the knowledge of the true God to love and follow him they draw them to love themselves And by this blind conduct every one runs to Perdition while many believe that they are in the way of Salvation So that I might well travel through all Christendom with a Lantern to find out so much as one Man as the Philosophers did through the City of Athens Because no Body any longer uses his Reason to see the Obligation that we have to depend upon the Will of God nor yet to consider the Misery and Shortness of this Life nor the Vanity of transitory Things but are in all this as if they were void of Understanding and follow one another blindly without considering any other Thing For if Man did only use his Reason he would see clearly that he is obliged to depend upon his God since he has received all from him and can pretend to nothing but from him His Natural Instinct does sufficiently encline him to this Dependance Though they call this a Heathen Light this is not that it is simply Natural but it is an Impression that God makes on our Understanding which leads us to know God and to submit our selves to him Which if we do we are happy in whatsoever Nation we be For God never demanded any other thing of Men but this Resignation to his Will and if he has since appointed Laws this was but by reason of Mens Frailty having never formerly subjected them to any Laws but that of depending upon him As he would not yet provided we would submit to him This our Christians do not though they hope to be saved I said to her That it troubled me much to hear that not so much as one Christian was resigned to God She said Sir That you may not believe this blindly recal to mind a little the Persons whom you have held for good Men and consider narrowly all their Behaviour that you may see whether they are not guided by their own Wills even in their pious Works whether they are not done from their own Inclinations You will find that this has always been at the Helm to govern all and that if it were not to please our selves many good Works would be left undone For my part I have remarked this in all the Persons whom I have known and I never knew but one Maid who was resigned to God Nevertheless I have met with those who had the greatest Reputation for Vertue and I alwayes perceived that their Actions though good were mingled with Self-love Which hinders a Resignation to God For as long as our Self-will will bear Rule God cannot have our Submission These are all dead Works which shall be recompenced only in this World and not at all in the other I have seen Persons given to Fasting Watching and Prayer diligent in going to Church and in relieving the Poor and yet notwithstanding of this they subjected not their Wills to that of God But followed their own as much as they could imagining that they did all for God while there was no such thing For if God had govern'd their Wills they would have done all their Actions both small and great in the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God From which they were very far estranged and if they had been capable of it I would have made appear to them that their best Actions were very blameable and accompanied with Presumption and Self-satisfaction In this many deceive themselves and believe they are in a State of Salvation though they be very far from it You must not be troubled Sir to hear it said That there is not so much as one Christian in the way of Salvation Since it is true and none are resigned to God But we ought to bewail their Blindness and desire and pray that they may be converted for the Time to come since there is Time for Repentance and Leisure to return to God even to the last Moment of our Life If I should say that all Christians are in a State of Salvation as all these false Prophets do their Salvation would certainly be desperate Because every one would rest on such a dangerous Estate It were far better to tell the Truth by declaring that they are not in the way of Salvation that they may strive to recover it than to flatter them with false Words And it should be more acceptable to them to hear that they are not resigned to God if it be most true than to hear that dreadful Sentence Go ye cursed into Everlasting Fire when they should have thought to hear Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom For it will be too late at Death to return to a Dependance upon God And it is not so now By which you may see Sir that there is more reason to be troubled when we hear them say that Christians are in the way of Salvation than when they say they are in that of Damnation when it is true as it is because of their Blindness For if I did not most evidently perceive this I would not affirm such unpleasant Things But I should be without Charity if I should not declare so important Truths while we are yet living in the Time of Penitence For I perceive inwardly in my Soul that the Thoughts Words and Actions of Men are not at all directed by God For they partake not of his Righteousness Goodness and Truth but on the contrary they are all full of Self-interest Self-honour or Pleasures And notwithstanding no Body will willingly be reproved Every one desires to continue as he is without knowing his Fault and much less amending it covering and palliating his Miseries and excusing them as much as he can So that I see no good that can be done for the Conversion of Christians for they trust too much to the false Perswasion of their Salvation Therefore I will retire and bid you Adieu Not that I am displeased to be among Men to
whom I am like but it is because I perceive them to be Enemies of God and they do not desire to know it With which my Heart is very much opprest The Twentieth Conference Shews That there are very few among the Christians who desire to be converted unto God and to return to a Dependance upon him And treats of the necessity of this Dependance I asked her If she did not fear that she should Act against Charity to her Neighbour by retiring thus from their Conversation since she might do them great good She said No Sir I Act not against Charity to my Neighbour Because I cannot help him if he will not have Help I have had but too much Experience of this that Men will not change their Life at least the Christians For I was never acquainted with others to know if they are as much hardned as those who are called Christians For those I say I have done all that could be done to shew them the dangerous State in which they live but I profited very little by it They love rather to see and hear fine Things But for resigning themselves to God no Body will do it but by Word which is as far from the Truth as is Heaven from Hell Every one says that he will be resigned to God while in the mean time no Body will deny his own Will in the least thing we hear them often say I will what God wills And the least Contradiction they meet with does alarum them and those who promise them Salvation comfort them and flatter them saying That this is to be patient when they murmur not against the Appointments of God and that they must only resign themselves and thereby they shall merit much As if God were obliged to Recompence their Impatience For to suffer Contradictions is common and necessary both to the Wicked and to the Good Because no Body can be free of them in this miserable World where every one must suffer will he nill he But to say that we are resigned to God when we are only resigned by force is a Lie because this resignation is a necessary thing when we cannot hinder things to fall out against our Will For to be resigned to God we must have no more Self-will to will this and not to will that For a Thing that we have resigned we do not hold nor possess it any longer to desire to use it Resignation to God is a total dependance upon his Disposal as well for our Soul as for our Body and for all that concerns us bridling our own Will in every Thing without willing or desiring any thing any longer knowing well that Gods Conduct is always more perfect than all that we could wish for If it rain if it be fair if it be hot or cold if we are in Peace or War in Adversity or Prosperity it matters little provided we be resigned to God It is he who governs all these Things and can never do evil If our Friends live or dye what the matter when God ordains it Our Life our Death must not be wisht for nor desired by us because we are not capable enough to judge what is good or evil for us And to offer to give Laws to God is to mock him since he understands and knows all Things He sees far better than we what is good and perfect because he is the Wisdom that cannot be ignorant of any thing and the Goodness that can do no evil and who orders all Things to a good End so that if we were not void of Understanding we would not entertain a Thought of contradicting any Thing that befals us For all turns to good to him who is resigned to God and though we esteem it a Happiness to have good Desires yet it is a Thing infinitely more perfect to have no Desires with a Dependance upon God Because a never so little mixture with this Dependance alwayes hinders the Effect of the Ordinances of God as if we would be Tutors to him or give out our Law for doing well In the mean time we are so short sighted that we do not discern Good from Evil So that if God should permit that to befal us which we often ask and desire of him as Good great Mischiefs would have come upon us so blind are we in the matter of our Salvation And yet we will not resign our Will to that of God but in Word only So that if I should tell Christians now adays that they will never be saved without resigning their Wills to that of God they would say that I damn all the World For they look on the Salvation and Damnation of Men as if they could Damn and Save them whereas it is God only that can Save and Sin only that can Damn Therefore by conversing with Men I will not profit them for their Salvation I said to her That God having imparted to her such Light it ought not to remain under a Bushel But should be set in a Candlestick She said Sir What will it avail to set the Light upon a Candlestick when those who are present will shut their Eyes that they may not see it These Christians are so pre-occupied with their own way of Devotions and with seeming Vertues that they esteem nothing else and as soon as they shall see the Brightness of this Light their Eyes will be dazled with it and they will even complain of the Light of it How is it possible to shew to any that which he will not see I have conversed among others with the most pious of the Religious who could not imagine that there was another way of Salvation but a good observance of their Rules and they thought they did a thing well-pleasing to God to maintain the Honour and Profit of their Order and for my part I judge this to be so far from a Dependance upon God that I think it is the real Mean to take them off from it For as long as we are tied to Rules and Studies to observe them well it is alwayes the Person that Acts and the Care of preserving the Honour and Profit of the Order is indirectly the seeking their own Honour and Profit Which is not only a Vice but also a false Vertue that deceives them to their Ruine and though I assure these Persons that there is no other way of Salvation but that of resigning their Will to God yet they will not hear this Note insisting alwayes on the first Tune they learned and they think they are resigned to God since they have quit the World to enter into a Religious Order and they apply themselves to the observing of their Rules they say their Offices and obey their Superiours choosing rather to resign themselves to Men their Equals than to their God imagining that he is served with Reverences Bowings of the Knee and a great many common Prayers Without remembring that 't is he who searches the Reins and examines
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
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
to know if really she has the Quality of our true Mother and if she be allied with our true Father who is unchangeable in all his Qualities to whom this Spouse ought to be alwayes conformable We must see if what they call our Mother has the Spirit and the Works of our Father and if we find no Likeness in her we must renounce her and hold her as a Deceiver and a Liar unworthy of our Affection The Twentieth and Seventh Conference Shews The true Marks whereby to discover where the True Church is and that it concerns every one to examine it I asked her How I might discover where my true Mother the true Church is What Marks there are whereby to know her that I may not be deceived She said Sir You shall discover her by this that she will follow the Footsteps of Jesus Christ and be wholly conformable to his Doctrine There is but one Church only as there is but one onely God and there is so strait a Bond and Alliance between God and the Church that they are but one and the same Thing as it is said that in Marriage Two are but one Flesh so in the Alliance of God with the Church two are but one Spirit God is the Bridegroom and the Soul is the Bride As it is said concerning Adam Let us make a Companion meet for him for it is not good that Man should be alone This is the Figure of what he had said before Let us make Man after our own Likeness because it was found meet that God should delight himself with something that was like to him For this cause he created the Divine and Eternal Soul and plac'd it in the Body and Understanding of Man that it might multiply and communicate it self For it is the Property of Good to be communicative This Divine Soul being form'd in Time must live for ever else it should not have been Divine nor capable of being united and ally'd to God who created it for these ends And as Adam and Eve ought to have been united in Heart Body and Will so the Soul ought to be united in Love Understanding and Will with God Not that Natural Love nor that Humane Understanding no more than our bounded Will Because all this has no Sympathy with God and they are but the Case wherein God has shut up this Divine Soul which is Free and Eternal as God This Divine Reason and Free-will make the Church by the Alliance that God makes with it which is much more strait than the Alliance that this Divine Soul makes with the Animal Soul of Man which do so nearly approach one another that no Humane Spirit is able to distinguish them no more than any can distinguish the Free and Rational VVill from God himself Because he has so straitly united them that the Soul is God and God is the Soul as the VVill of Eve was that of Adam so the VVill of the Soul is that of God By which you may still discover Sir where the Spouse of God or the True Church is Because where she is to be found she carries still along with her the same Qualities of her VVell beloved and when you do not find them in those who call themselves the Church believe firmly that they are all Cheats For the Spouse of God will be alwayes comely and there can be no Blemish in her Because she shall never be parted from the Qualities of her Husband alwayes Just Good True and All-powerful And when you shall see Sion Jerusalem Judea or Rome such as you call the Church to be fallen away from these Qualities never believe that she is your Mother the Holy Church Upon these Accounts Jesus Christ has so often warned you to beware of false Christs and false Prophets For they come to delude and deceive many Do not let your self be deluded Sir For there shall never be but one True Church which shall be united to God VVhosoever has not this Unity is not the Church but they are Seducers of the People who under this Cloak of God's Spouse do seduce many You must lift up your Head and look on high to see whence the Church took her Original and you will perceive that the Church is no other but the Alliance that God made with the Divine Soul of Man which he made his Spouse though she was unworthy of it He so ennobled her that he would joyn himself to her and ally with her by an indissoluble Alliance which can never end for the Two Parties are Immortal to wit God and the Divine Soul But to take for the Spouse of God Persons who are no wayes in the Spirit of God nor in Union with him and to reverence them as the Church is to wrong the Honour that we owe to God To see a Church seek the Honours Pleasures and Riches of this VVorld and to believe that she is the Spouse of God is to derogate from her Divine Quality and to ascribe the Honour to Vice that is due only to True Vertue VVe should not thus let them cover our Eyes as they do to those who are going to be hanged that they may not see their doleful End VVe must take off this Bandage that we may look about us and learn where the True Church is which can save us and not suffer our selves to be led on blind-fold to Eternal Death by VVords or false Appearances since Truth only is capable to save us I said to her That I had never yet discovered Souls united to God and that nevertheless I believed I was in the Church She said Sir You are deceived For the Church is no where but in the Souls that are united to God no more than a Woman can be the Spouse of a Man who has never approached her We must not believe that the Church consists in wearing a Garment of Purple or Red or Fine Linnen These are rather the Marks of the Reprobation of the falsely Rich Man who was buried in Hell and the Scripture brings no other cause of his Damnation than these Fashions of Apparel and that he was Rich and a Feaster If all these Things were Marks of his Damnation why should they be now a dayes the Marks of the Holy Church God is not changeable He cannot now unite to himself what he then Reprobated and Condemned No no Sir the Spouse of God will never be vain nor proud nor polluted with any sin For she is all pure Do not think that you are in the Church when you are under Persons who seek Riches of this World for such Souls are Adulteresses and have abandoned their lawful Husband and live in Adultery with the Kings of the Earth Which ought to make you abhor her instead of cleaving to her If you have never met with Souls resigned to God you have never found the True Church Because there never was any other and never will be hereafter She must
of all honour which then all the world will render to him and just to render compleat Justice to every one There are so many innocent persons afflicted and Saints unknown and despised on the other hand there are so many wicked men honour'd rais'd to places and Honours and even held for Saints All these being Dead and the Truth as to them undiscover'd must not God avenge the quarrel of the Good and make appear the wickedness of the wicked that he may be Just Good and True I said to her That every one look'd for these Reparations in the day of the general Judgment which must be done in a little time or suddenly where every one shall be recompenc'd in Heaven according to his Merits or Sufferings She said Sir They will make God a God of Confusion What appearance is there that this Judgment can pass in a day or suddenly since the whole world must appear there It should be necessary that all the men in the world should after the manner of an Enchantment be Transported to the same place in an instant who could hear in that croud the Justification of the Righteous If it were to be done only by word they would not hear one by reason of another and if every one in particular must be spoke to to declare his good or evil Deeds it would need a long time before all were repair'd Years would not suffice to Judg so many men as have been upon the Earth Truly Sir all the speculations of men are nothing in respect of the Truth but Chimera's in the Air. God took six days to Create the World deliberately and in order as he has done all his works by weight and measure without any disorder or confusion He made Noah prepare an hundred years before the Deluge and when it came it began to Rain which Rain lasted forty days The Plagues are now begun and will follow in order even to their end and the Judgment will also go on in order so deliberately that there shall not be the least confusion in it for that can come only from men and not from God who does all in Order Neither is there any imaginary Heaven as people fancy it where every one shall be Rewarded or Restored for Heaven is no other but the presence of God who contains all things and can't be contain'd by any because he is greater than all things We are in Heaven when we are resign'd to him whether we live or die we are still in Heaven when we are in God Now being thus Divinely in God we do not notwithstanding receive the material and bodily reparation of the sufferings which we have materially and bodily endur'd And as God has given us both a Body and Soul he has also given us a Paradise both of Body and Soul For this cause God would have become Man even tho man had never sin'd for God makes all his works perfect and compleat The Soul can indeed have its compleat Paradise by the Presence of God because it is a Spirit like to him but the Body can have no Paradise but a Material and Bodily one like it self because it is of a Material Nature it cannot have a perfect happiness by a Spirit or Divinity Lo this is the reason why Man that he may be happy must of necessity have his Paradise in the world which was Created by God for no other end but to serve for a Paradise to Man whom he was pleas'd to Create of a Bodily and Spiritual Nature both together and he has also prepar'd for him both a Bodily and Spiritual Blessedness which are the Presence of God as to the Spiritual and for the Corporeal the Earth and the World and all that therein is By which you may see Sir the truth of the coming of Jesus Christ upon Earth to Reign with Men that their eternal Blessedness may be compleated and that every one may have a Reparation by fulfilling all Righteousness not in a speculative or imaginary way or of a short continuance but a Real Divine and Corporeal Reparation which will last for ever For God's Recompences are not Temporal and Finite but Eternal as coming from an Eternal God who can't give finite or imperfect gifts Consider Sir all these Truths and you will perceive sensibly why Christ must come to Reign upon Earth and that he has not taken an human Body to Reign in the Empyreal Heaven which is Divine but only to Reign on Earth for this Divinity has no need of any Body but this body has need of and must of necessity have some material place to contain it such as the Earth is And if to repair an injury done to any it be needful to make the reparation in the same place and before the same persons where the injury was done why should not God repair upon Earth the injuries received there On Earth they shall be repaired as on Earth they have been committed The Eighth Conference Shews that M. Anthoinette Bourignon is sent from God to declare the Truth to Men. I said to her that I was now convinc'd of all that I must confess before all the world that she possest the Holy Spirit for a humane Spirit could never give so clear an understanding of all the marvels of God She Said Sir you are not deceived in believing that I possess the Holy Spirit because he lives in me and teaches me all that I have told you for I have never learn'd any thing from any man neither would I learn of them because they are in darkness and do not know the Truth in any thing They believe they are very Learned and they are nothing but ignorants being turn'd away from the Truth by so many Novelties which they have made them believe They will needs maintain the Roman Church to be holy and own her Councils as acted by the Holy Spirit while neither the one nor the other is true For the Church is the Babylon of confusion and the Councils are the means by which the Devil has withdrawn Christians from the Law of God they having Ordain'd so many outward things that the inward may be forgotten and that thro so many Natural things People may think no more of the Spiritual Their Commands their Sacraments their Indulgences are all diversions from Salvation to obtain which there is nothing needful for all persons even those who are without God's Grace and straying from the way of Salvation but the observing the Commands of God and the Doctrine of the Gospel for God will never give any other Commands and Jesus Christ will never give any other Counsels than those he has given us by his Doctrine of the Gospel He says That he is not come for the Righteous but for sinners This being so all sinners who desire to be converted must take up this Gospel-Life by which they shall certainly attain to Salvation since Jesus Christ is