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
seen of Men they sought the Praise of Men more than that of God they devour'd Widows Houses but had still a Religious Pretence for it they would learn People to despise their Parents but it was on the account of Corban they would hate and persecute others even to Death but it was to do God Service they were mighty zealous to propagate their Religion and would compass Sea and Land to gain Proselytes but then our Saviour tells us They were twofold more the Child of the Devil than themselves Now it is observable That our Saviour's Reproofs are levell'd mostly against these two last sort of Persons The former he treats with such Pity and Compassion that his Enemies tax him for a Friend of Publicans and Sinners He tells them There is joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repents more than ninety and nine just Persons that need no Repentance And that he came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance But for the other two he warns his Disciples to beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees He calls them a Generation of Vipers whited Sepulchres fair and beautiful without but within full of Corruption and Rottenness he terms them the Children of the Devil and asks How they can escape the Damnation of Hell To judge according to Appearance one would think they deserv'd a milder Treatment and that the other ought to have been most Lasht and this is the Course and Practice of the World But that which seems Righteous before Men is an Abomination in the Sight of God Our Saviour's Conduct in this we may be sure was the effect of Divine Equity and Wisdom The Publicans and Sinners were not only look'd on as such by all others but also were self-condemn'd they knew they were doing what they ought not to have done their Conscience could not but often smite them and the Divine Grace exciting them and outward Afflictions chastising them might one time or other bring them to Repentance and the Sense of the greatness of their Sins might awaken in them an answerable Sense of the Divine Goodness so that where Sin had abounded Grace should so much the more abound and they who saw there was so much forgiven them would love much But the Pharisees and Sadducces were not so capable of Conviction their Sores were skin'd over with a fair Shew of Reason and Religion their Sins were mostly Spiritual they had no Remorse for them the World and they themselves did approve them in what they did they thought they were doing God Service and they had form'd to themselves such a Righteousness of their own as made it next to impossible to bring them to Repentance or to seek after the Righteousness of God by Faith There was no such Hazard that sincere and well-meaning Persons should be seduc'd by open and scandalous Sinners Their gross Sins and the ill Character they went under were as Beacons to warn others to beware of them But it was not so easie to avoid the Leaven of one of the other two they compass'd Sea and Land to gain Proselytes and the specious Reasons of the one and the seeming Piety Zeal and Devotion of the other with such a plausible Representation of Religion as might encourage them to hope for Heaven tho' they lov'd the World and follow'd their own Wills here were Snares which it was not easie to escape Publicans and Sinners were more capable of receiving the Truth they were convinced of all and even when they were not resolv'd to follow it yet the inward Conviction of their Consciences would keep them from maligning or persecuting the Publishers of it But the other two resisted it with all their Force stuck at nothing that might suppress it did calumniate and defame it persecuted its Author and Followers to the Death and thought that in all they did God Service Jesus Christ then foreseeing the Effects of the Effects of the Malice and Subtilty of the Devil how forward he would be to slip into his Church to profess himself his Disciple and pervert his Design and Doctrin under Colour of owning and promoting it and knowing well the Corruption of Men's Hearts how naturally the Love of themselves and of the World would make them take up with Shadows of Religion instead of the Life and Substance of it he takes Care not only to shew them plainly by his Life and Doctrin wherein it truly consists viz. in true CHARITY as its End and in a constant denial of our selves as to our own Wills and as to the Honours Riches and Pleasures of this World as the effectual and necessary Means of attaining to this End But he also lets them see the false Religion that Self-love takes up with and the main Branches into which it divides itself in the different Pictures of the Pharisees and Sadducees the one making an Idol of their corrupt Reason and worshipping it for their God and the other teaching for Doctrins the Commandments of Men making the Commandments of God â—f none effect either through their own Glosses or the Traditions of their Elders being more zealous for these than the plain and simple Word of God and both of them establishing a Righteousness of their own a Righteousness founded on Self-love Self-will and the Love of Temporal Things and making void the Righteousness of God being void of Charity and the Love of things Eternal And that the Disciples of Jesus Christ had need of such Warnings the fatal Experience of all following Ages has but too evidently testified and as it seems in our Saviour's Days in the last Age of the Jewish State these Corruptions among them were come to their heighth so in this last Age of the degenerate Christian State this twofold Leaven seems to have spread through all Parties and leaven'd the whole Lump The World is now full of those who set up for great Masters of Reason and measure every divine Truth by Mathematical Principles and Demonstrations and what will not bear that Test is ridicul'd by them and tho' a Truth be never so plainly reveal'd in the Holy Scriptures yet if it do not suit their way of Reasoning and if they think it lies fair to be pelted by their Witticisms they are sure to treat it in Derision and to start Questions about it as their Predecessors did to our Saviour about the Resurrection of the Woman who had been married to seven Husbands that were Brethren viz. Whose Wife she should be of the seven at the Resurrection And tho' they meet daily with as inexplicable Difficulties in the visible World in Bodies the being of which they cannot deny and if they had liv'd all their Days in an Island among People where the manner of the Propagation of Men and Beasts was never heard of when they had been told of it would have thought it as ridiculous and impossible a thing as any Truth deliver'd in the Holy Scriptures and tho' they have liv'd to see the
Principles of the greatest Philosophers who thought they establish'd all things by unerring Rules of Aequations hiss'd out of Doors yet this will not keep them from making Idols of their own Ideas and worshipping their own Reason and Christ and his Sacred Doctrin must be despis'd if he will not fall down before it and worship it And how strangely this Spirit spreads now in the World he that runs may read There is no Delusion more dangerous and which leads to more irrecoverable Blindness than this of making our wretched Reason and the Ideas it forms to it self the Measure and Standard of Truth The Eyes of our Mind are like those of our Body we may turn them to any Side we please but can discern nothing aright unless the Light shine upon them and let them see the Objects round about them So our Minds may form to themselves many Ideas and Imaginations but none of them conformable to the nature of things without a suitable Light to discover and direct them In the Material and visible World from the general Notions of Matter and Motion and the Combination of variously mov'd and figur'd Bodies Men form to themselves such and such Systems of the Universe which they strongly fancy to be the true Model of it but when we come to consider more nearly the things themselves we find them as far different as Light is from Darkness Our Minds must receive due and suitable Impressions from the Objects themselves else they can have no right Sentiment of them A blind Man can never conceive aright what Light and Colours the Sun and this visible World are unless his Eyes be open'd and he receive the Light The Light surrounds him and he comprehends it not we may by many Words and Similitudes give him general and dark Notions of the Excellency of Light and Colours and the Beauty of this visible World but one Glance of the Light it self will discover more to him than a thousand Descriptions made by us It is the same of Divine and Spiritual Things The Natural Man perceives not the Things of God but they are foolishness to him No Man knows the Things of God but by the Spirit of God A Divine Light and Illumination is necessary to make us understand and relish Divine Things And if we think to comprehend and judge of them by our Reason and Natural Ideas we do as foolishly and unreasonably as a blind Man that would judge of Light and Colours by the Ideas he has gathered from his Touch and other Senses And as the seeing and enjoying the Light and the receiving the other Impressions of this visible World are quite another thing than the Ideas we retain and form of these things to our selves in the Light 's absence for these notional Ideas can never enliven and warm and chear our Bodies and make us enjoy all this visible World as the other does no more than the Picture of the Sun can give us Light and Heat as the Sun himself does for these are but the Pictures of the Things themselves So the true Light and Impression of Divine Things upon the Mind is as far beyond the notional Ideas that we may form of them even tho' they were the true Pictures of them and as a blind Man ought to submit to the Judgment and Conduct of those who enjoy the Light and of whose Sincerity he has no reason to doubt and in the mean Time to strive if possible to enjoy himself so ought we to submit our Understanding and our Will to the Divine Revelation of the Will of God made to others and by them declar'd to us and in the mean time so to yield up our selves to God as that the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightned we may come to comprehend what the good and acceptable and perfect Will of God is But the Leaven of the Pharisees has yet more universally overspread Christendom than that of the Sadducees Upon this is founded the Difference of the several Sects and Parties that are in the Christian World and the Hatred and Animosity wherewith they prosecute one another one crying Lo here is Christ another Lo he is there The same Leaven runs through all Parties tho' it put on different outward Forms according to the different Interests and Engagements of the respective Parties Some are very zealous for particular Doctrins and Opinions which are uncertain as to their Truth and of no Necessity for Salvation Some set up for particular Forms and Rites of Worship which may be either us'd or let alone without hazard of Salvation And others are as zealously bent against them Some for such and such Forms of Discipline and Government and others for overturning them And tho' most of the Things for or against which they bend all their Zeal be of little Moment either for Promoting or Hindrance of Salvation yet they seem to lay the whole Stress of Religion upon them and having drawn them up into positive or negative Confessions of Faith Creeds Articles Canons of Councils and Acts of General Assemblies they baptize them into the Sacred Names of The Truths of God the Cause of Jesus Christ the Interest of his Church the setting the Crown upon Christ's Head they teach for Doctrins the Commandments of Men and are more zealous for their Forms and Systems of Doctrins drawn up by themselves or their Predecessors than for the Simplicity and Plainness of the Holy Scriptures and tho a Man embrace from his Herrt the Divine Writings and endeavour to square his Life by the Rules set down in them yet if he do not receive their Systems and be not zealous for or against such outward Forms and Rites as they embrace or dislike he is to them as a Heathen and a Publican And while they have a Zeal for the outside of Religion they neglect Righteousness Mercy and the Love of God while they avoid the Scandalous and Carnal Vices that would make them hateful in the World their Hearts are full of the Spiritual ones which are as hateful to God In short the Apostle gives us a plain Character of them 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3 4 5. warning us That in the last days perilous Times shall come for Men shall be Lovers of their own selves covetous proud boasters blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy without natural Affection Truce-Breakers false Accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good trayterous heady high-minded lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof It is strange to see how wilfully Men mistake the Nature of Christianity and place it in that which it does not conconsist and what it truly is they despise and trample upon Christianity may be either consider'd in its End or in the Means it directs us to for the attainment of that End Its End is CHARITY to love God with all our Heart and our Neighbour as our selves To love God is to love his
with his Resolution to publish this to the World thinking himself oblig'd in Conscience to undeceive others as by these Divine Truths he was undeceiv'd himself But when she had seen his Papers and read a little of them she told him they would be useful for himself but not for others because they often answer'd the Thoughts of his own Mind which no Body perceiv'd but himself and being sollicited by him to compose this Work anew returning him his Papers she her self wrote by way of Conference the things which God brought into her Memory in the same manner as they are now publish'd in the three parts of The Light of the World She went to Holland at the Sollicitation of M. de Cort in order to the Printing of this Book To this she had some Repugnance at first having never been formerly in any Place without the Dependance of the Church of Rome and being made believe that all the Hereticks as they call'd them were monstrous and Infectious But having recommended this Affair to God she was told That these common Differences of Religion do not bring Salvation but the Love of God only and Vertue which we ought to love in all Persons who aspire to it without regarding the outward Religion they profess that she ought to do good to all and communicate to all the Light of the Divine Truth of what Religion soever they be This wrought in her Soul so perfect an Impartiality that she never afterwards enquir'd of what Religion one was provided only he lov'd to put in practice the Doctrin of Jesus Christ and to recover the Love of God This impartiality of Spirit and her equal Concern for the good of all and the Freedom she took to manifest the Corruption of all Parties and how far they were from the Spirit of true Christianity made her to be hated and persecuted on all sides The Jesuits the Jansenists the Lutheran and Calvinist Ministers the Anabaptists the Quakers the Labadists did respectively prosecute her either with their Tongue or Pen or by exciting the Civil Power where she staid or animating the Fury of the Rabble against her They made her pass for a Visionarist a Person of a wicked Life suspected of Sorcery a Blasphemer the worst of Hereticks one who did propagate the most damnable Opinions but Wisdom is justified of her Children The Innocence and Purity of her Life and the perfect Conformity of it to the Christian Doctrin of her Writings was made appear by Evidences beyond all Exception The publick Confession which she made of her Faith and the Agreement of her Writings therewith shew the Falshood of their Calumnies as to her Doctrin and the Writings publish'd against her gave her occasion the more to clear and manifest the Truth so that what they were apt to except against in some of her Writings she more fully explain'd in others as appears for Instance in her Advertisement against the Quakers where she speaks more expressly of the Respect due to Pastors and the Sacraments She deplor'd greatly the unhappy Schisms which have divided Christendom into so many Factions disapprov'd all that savours of the Spirit of a Party of Disputes and Partialities protested a thousand times against the establishing a new one but aim'd to perswade all to observe the Doctrin of Jesus Christ without changing from one party to another so that she even disswaded some Protestants of her Acquaintance from turning over to the Church of Rome as they had been sollicited by others but to obey the Doctrin of Jesus Christ in the Communion wherein they were such Changes being but the effect of Vanity She said the Difference of Sects and Parties among Christians was founded upon their Neglect of the Essentials of Christianity and their Zeal for some of the Accessories and Externals of it and comparing the first to a Sword and the other to its Sheath the great Debate among the respective Parties was which had the best Sheath and in the mean time the Devil robb'd us of the Sword She was desirous to know the Will of God even as to the ordering of outward things and receiv'd from him the following Rules 1. Do all in good order and in season for I am a God of order And Disorder comes from the Devil and from Sin 2. Never be eager in Temporal Affairs but apply your mind to do well what you do in quietness for the wandring of the mind and disquiet spoils all 3. Take care of making a good use of every thing that nothing be spoil'd or lost for what is lost by your negligence will be required of you and what you have no need of may be useful for another 4. Keep your self still imploy'd in things useful saving or necessary For idleness is the Mother of all Evils and the Devil lodges in an idle Soul 5. Labour that you may accomplish your Penitence and not that you may please Men or gain Mony or satifie your self for all the Labours that you go about for any other end than to please me are lost Labour and you have your reward in what you sought for whether it be complaisance of Men or the Mony you have gain'd or your own satisfaction 6. Apply your mind to look well to every thing that nothing perish thro' your negligence and what you observe to be amiss help it as soon as you can by repairing as much as is possible for you all the faults that you have committed 7. Do the same as to the good of your Neighbour that you may fufill that Command of loving your Neighbour as your self They who were with her to whom she had recommended these Rules being unwilling to be so exact in the smalest matters which while they were conversant in the World seem'd to them of no moment and she having ask'd Counsel of God thereupon she had this Answer All that Men have to do in this World are but trifles and of little moment and if they will not obey me in so small and easie matters how will they do in great and difficult ones Not that I have need of them for my self nothing can profit or hurt me But you have great need to observe exactly all these things that I teach you For being made up of a Soul and Body both which have need of entertainment if you do not carefully order Temporal things your Body will fall into a thousand sorts of Miseries Anxieties Maladies Disquiets Confusion Poverty and Want which at last will become unsupportable to you And all this because of your little foresight your disorder or negligence Therefore I instruct you how you ought to carry on all things even to the least of your Actions that you may be happy even in this miserable Life Not that I have need that you be Rich or Poor in Health or Sickness in good Order or in Confusion neat or unclean outwardly all this does not touch me nor offend me so long as your Souls abide in my Love
and in the keeping of my Commandments But the love I bear you and the care I have for you makes me give you these instructions for your own good But the full story of her Life is to be had in the Account of it written by her self and the continuation of it by the R. P. P. I know People will be possest with many prejudices against the Writings of this Person The plain representation which she gives of the Gospel Life and Spirit and the contrariety of the lives of Christians thereunto of the universal Corruption of all parties and their taking up with the shadow instead of the substance of Religion will provoke many to disparage and discredit them by all means and the Craftsmen that live by those Silver Shrines will stir up the multitude against them and from the circumstances of her Person and the singularity of some of her Sentiments they will take occasion to fill Peoples minds with prejudices so as not once to allow her a fair hearing I shall not offer to remove the particular exceptions which may be made against them I shall only take the freedom to say something as to three or four general Prejudcies which are most obvious They are ready to except against her for pretending to Divine inspiration and that the Doctrin she declareth is immediately and inwardly communicated to her by the Spirit of God That God may immediately inspire Souls with his Divine Light and Truth cannot be denied That he has tied himself never to do it after the Apostle's days and the Consignation of the Gospel in writiting cannot be made evident That there are many false pretenders to Divine inspiration and who thus highly take the name of God in vain is but too evident especially in the Age wherein we live That we ought not to believe every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God or not The Spirit of God has already warn'd us that the surest Test wherby to try them is the conformity of the Doctrin with the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is sufficiently confirmed already and its tendency is to take us off from all Earthly things and from our selves and to bring us to God and the entire correspondence of the Persons Life and Spirit therewith in all things will I think be readily granted by many Now M. A. B. desires to be put to this fair Tryal if her Doctrin be not the same with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and if the constant tract of her Life and Spirit be not answerable thereunto and the Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit which he ever brings along with him wherever he resides were not to be seen in her It is just then to give her a fair hearing And if you peruse her Writings impartially it is like you will meet with many remarkable Characters that are not ordinarily to be found in many Writings A clear and distinct account of the essential Truths of Christianity with a constant urging of them as the one thing necessary and distinguishing them from the accessory Truths which are not necessary to Salvation An unimitable simplicity of expression which a Child may understand with as singular a sublimity of thoughts a convincing power and force going along with them a plain unfolding in a few Lines the difficulties about which the Learned write many Volumes a constant harmony and uniformity of sentiments in the Writings of a course of forty Years from about the 23d to the 65th year of her Age in which she died with an evidence and clearness to the conviction of our natural Reason and all this by one who never read any Books never conversed with the Learned to be instructed by them never premeditated what she wrote never blotted out nor mended what was once written but being attentive unto the love of God in the calm and inward recollection of her Spirit wrote as fast as her hand could guide the Pen and when some writings were laid by unfinished for some years return'd to them and finish'd them after the same manner without reading any more of what had been written than some few of the immediately foregoing Lines to make a due Connexion And innumerable instances more But above all the exact and constant purity of her Life being a perfect pattern and living exemplar of the Spirit and Doctrin of the Gospel are things that deserve consideration If there were a Race and Nation of People born blind who had never seen the light but knew their Houses their Furniture their Fields c. only by the touch If some strangers should come in among them pretending to see the Light they would not readily take it on their word having no Idea of any such thing But if those strangers at their very first entry should describe their Houses where they had never formerly been their Dishes their Seats their Bulk Places and Shape and going out should tell them on a sudden the Neighbouring Hills Vallies Rivers and Villages their situation and distances which the Inhabitants themselves could not learn but by long use and by going from place to place and feeling them with their hands or staff they would certainly be convinced that these were endued with some more ready and perfect faculty and mean of knowing all these things than ever they experienc'd So for those who pretend to Divine Inspiration and to be led by the Spirit of God and give no evidence for it but their bare assertion indulging their corrupt Nature and being as much Lovers of their own selves and of Earthly things as others there is no reason to take it on their word but rather to look on them as deceivers But if any professing an inward illumination from God and a lively sense of Divine things should despise the Ease the Honours the Wealth and Pleasures of this World oppose constantly the desires of corrupt Nature deny their own Will mortify their outward senses have their minds ever turned towards God being always resign'd to his Will and withall without Study Reading Learning or Meditation should give a more clear full plain and consonant representation of Divine Truths even to the conviction of our natural reason than we are able to do after much Study Learning and Conversation we have reason to think that such are endued with a more clear effcttual and enlightning sense and knowledge of the Divine Truths than our notional knowledge can pretend to It is by this Test that M. A. B. desires to be Tryed It being objected to her that since she declared only the Truths contain'd in the Gospel of Jesus Christ there was no need of any new Revelation of them they being reveal'd already To this she replyed that as the Law of God of old was so corrupted by the glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees that they had made the Commandments of God of no effect thereby and therefore God was pleased to rescue his Law from their corruptions by the
her Works that she speaks only against those who make use of the Sacraments while they continue and proceed in a corrupt state that it would be tedious to insert in this place See the 28 29 30 and 31. Numb of the 1st p. of Antichrist Reveal'd and the 1st Letter of the 3 p. of the Tomb of false Divinty where she is so far from condemning true Christians for Consecrating their little Children to God in Baptism that she declares expresly that Infant Baptism would be of good use if Parents would take care to educate their Children in the true faith and put them in mind after they are of Age of the promise they made in their name at Baptism namely that they should be Christs Disciples and renounce the Devil the World and all its Vanities And tho' she believ'd according to the opinion of several Learned Men that adult Persons were only Baptiz'd in the primitive Church and preferr'd that custom as being less subject to abuses yet she did not think that this rule or practice was then so generally receiv'd but that it might admit of just exceptions And therefore in an other part of her Writings after she has declar'd speaking to an Anabaptist that we must not amuse our selves with disputing about the external forms of Baptism while the Soul is not willing to die to the corruptions of the flesh that it might live again to the Spirit of Jesus Christ She adds That since the Scripture informs us that in the days of the Apostles whole Families were Baptiz'd at once it is probable that there were young Children as well as old Persons in them In short These things may be done either out of a good or bad Principle but usually and at present generally these things were done out of a bad Principle and this is what she reproves and condemns with so much reason and justice As for that Question whether we ought to condemn the Repitition of Baptism when it was not duly perform'd at first If that Repitition may serve to promote a true conversion to God and his love it 's plain it cannot be disapprov'd but by a Spirit that prefers external things before God and his love which cannot be ascrib'd to the Spirit of God Thus the Scripture furnisheth us with instances of this Repitition of Baptism when it may serve as a mean to receive the Spirit of God See Act. 19. 2 c. Some will be apt to take up a prejudice against her because in some places she speaks with some sharpness against the Protestants the Reformation made by them and the first Reformers But they who consider with what severity she treats the Church of Rome in whose communion she was looking on her as the great Whore that sits on many waters how plainly she represents the corruption of all Parties and how ready every side is to be wedded to the little interest of their rispective Parties will rather admire and love the Impartiality and Ingenuity of her Spirit than be prejudic'd against her upon that head God dwells not in Temples made with mens hands and the human and political constitutions of Churches with their respective Acts Articles Covenants and Schemes of Government have hitherto prov'd but the occasion of mutual hatred and contention and not being Cemented with CHARITY of all these buildings one stone is not like to be left upon another that shall not be thrown down When the Temple was built all the stones were hewn and squar'd in the Wilderness and there was neither Hammer nor Ax nor any Tool of Iron heard in the House while it was in Building And that God may thus rear up the living Temple of his Church will be the prayer of all serious Persons But for a full satisfaction to the exceptions that may be made against her I refer to her own Writings and to the Apologetical Preface written by the R. P. P. and prefixt to her Life In the mean time as her Writings seem design'd for the common good of all Mankind and for reviving the true Spirit of Christianity in the World so I heartily wish they may be made universally useful and that the communicating them to the World in their respective Languages may have its due effect That the Heathen may see how by Nature they are alienated from the life of God and how desirous God is that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth That the Mahomitans may admire and embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ whom they Honour for a great Prophet and against whose Religion the greatest prejudice is the ill representation made of it by the Lives and Practices of those who profess it That the Jews may be convinc'd that Jesus is the true Messiah whom they look for who is to come again in Glory upon Earth and who having kept them for so many Ages scatter'd among other Nations in a state of contempt and reproach is thereby preparing them for a more exalted state when they shall be graffed in again and made the head who are now the tail That the Professors of Christianity may learn what it is indeed and how far they are from it and that their eyes being open they may see they are greater Idolaters than the Heathens while these thro' ignorance and in the simplicity of their hearts bow their bodies before the Sun or their Idols but those in the midst of light with the bent of their hearts their Love their Affections and endeavours do Worship Gold and Silver and Meat and Drink and Cloaths and Men and Honours and their own Wills and Passions that while they profess to abhor Idols they may cease to be the greatest Idolaters themselves That the several parties of Christendom may be convinced that they have lost Christianity and are fighting for its shadow and while its Essence is Righteousness Goodness and Truth the Devil has shed among them his contrary Antichristian Qualities of Injustice Malice and Hypocrisy under an outward cover of Masses Prayers Preachings Communions Sacraments Sabbaths Holy-Days Fasts c. which when the essence of Christianity is gone are an abomination unto God That the Learned may learn not to be puff'd up with their knowledge and become so humble as to be willing to learn something from a simple Maid that perhaps may be of more use to them than all their Learning and that they may be sensible that Divine Light and Knowledge does as far transcend their Notional Learning as the enjoying and beholding the Sun the Light and all this visible World does the looking upon their Pictures That her own Sex may admire the goodness of God in chusing a Virgin for his Mother and a Virgin to be the Organ of his Light and Spirit in this last Age of the World that they may see they are capable of more excellent endowments than those in which the other Sects pretend to excel them in which God seems to give them the preference to
great desire of Vertue and an absolute resolution of embracing an Evangelical Life having discovered sufficiently by her Discourses that without this no Body will be saved Her Words have so enlightened my Understanding that all the Learning I had acquired seems to me as Darkness and Ignorance in respect of that divine Wisdom which is so mercifully poured out upon the Earth by the Organ of a silly Maid I wish that every one had seen her and heard her as I have done and might receive thereby the same Operations which my Soul has felt for I look upon her Acquaintance as a greater favour than all the Graces and Favours which God has bestowed on me in this World yea even than my Creation it self for that would serve me in little stead without the working out of my Salvation which would have been in great danger if I had not attain'd to the knowledge of my Self and of the Designs and Marvels of God which I have learned and discovered by the means of this Creature and she has certainly been sent me as the only means of the perfection of my Soul and of all those who will profit by the recital of this Narrative which I find my self obliged to publish for the profit of many This is the true Treasure hid in the Earth He who shall find it ought to sell all that he has to buy this Ground to the end he may discover and find this Treasure and take it up with Joy as the most precious Thing of the World I cannot hinder some who wish Evil or are Enemies to the Truth from finding or pretending something that is not agreeable to them for the Light does always offend Blear-Eyes who cannot endure the Light and the Truth which reproves is never agreeable to our Senses But I would admonish them to beware of reprehending or making themselves Masters of the holy Spirit I behov'd for some time to suspend my Judgment as to the Belief of some Points of Doctrin for I had learn'd them from my Masters in another sense but since I have laid aside all these Authors who have written us their Sentiments and fix'd on the sacred Text of the holy Scriptures I have found so much Conformity in them with the Life Manners and Words of this Pilgrimess that no Doubts could come any longer into my Mind and I could not without betraying my Conscience give her so much as one Contradiction Since that gives me an infallible proof that this Soul is truly possest by the holy Spirit who has brought forth in her his Twelve Fruits his Seven Gifts and the Eight Beatitudes which Jesus Christ has taught I should believe I committed a great sin to think that any other Thing might proceed from such a Source than what is Divine so much the rather that I have always remarked that this Soul did act in nothing naturally but by supernatural Motives never being moved but by the motion of the holy Spirit In confirmation of which I would be ready to spend the last drop of my Blood to the end that none might reject this Light to love rather their Darkness as Jesus Christ has foretold that many would do but that every one may embrace it for Salvation to the end we may altogether enjoy the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is here so particularly treated of with eternal Joy and Contentment Which is earnestly wisht you by Friendly Reader Your most affectionate in JESVS CHRIST Christian de Cort Superiour of the Oratory and Pastor of St. John at Mechlin At Mechlin the 10th of August 1667. M. A. B.'s Confession of Faith which she presented at the Court of Gottorp to oppose the Calumnies which the Church-men had spread that they might raise Suspicions of the Purity of her Faith I. I Am a Christian and I believe all that a true Christian ought to believe II. I was baptized in the Catholick Church in the Name of the Father in the Name of the Son in the Name of the Holy Ghost III. I believe the Twelve Articles of the Creed or the Apostles Symbol and I do not doubt of any one Article thereof IV. I believe that Jesus Christ is true God and that he is also true Man and that he is the Saviour and Redeemer of the World V. I believe in the Gospels the holy Prophets and all the holy Scripture both of the Old and New Testament And I will live and die in all the Points of this Belief which I protest before God and Men to all those whom it shall concern In Testimony whereof I have signed this my true Confession with my Hand and seal'd it with my Seal At Sleeswick the 11th of March 1675. Anthoniette Bourignon L. S. A Catalogue of the BOOKS written by M. A. B. born at L'Isle in Flanders 1. THE Life of M. Antonia Bourignon 2. God's Call and Men's Refusal in 2 parts 3. Light arisen in Darkness in 4 parts 4. The Grave of false Theology driven out by the true coming of the holy Spirit in 4 parts 5. An Advertisement against the Quakers 6. A Treatise of solid Vertue in 2 parts 7. The Light of the World in 3 parts 8. The Academy of learn'd Divines in 3 parts 9. The Testimony of the Truth in 2 parts 10. Innocence manifested and Truth discovered 11. The Touchstone 12. The Blindness of Men now in 2 parts 13. Antichrist discovered in 3 parts 14. The new Heaven and the new Earth 15. The holy Perspective 16. The last Mercy of God 17. The renewing of the Gospel Spirit in 3 parts 18. The Stones of the New Jerusalem 19. The Persecutions of the Just 20. The Morning Star 21. The Confusion of the Builders of Babel 22. Saving Instructions and Advices The most part of these Works are Translated from the French into the Dutch and High Dutch the first part of Solid Vertue the Touchstone and the first part of the renewing of the Gospel Spirit are also in Latin A Table of the Conferences of this first Part of the Light of the World The First Dialogue or Conference OF Gods dealing with A. B. particularly how he immediately instructed her from her Infancy The opposition of Men. Of Christian perfection and of the deplorable state of Christians Pag. 1. The second Conference Of the Judgment of God Of the last times and of the Men of the last times 17. The third Conference The methods by which Christianity has begun to decay from the times of the Apostles and has continued so to do to such a degree that at present there are no more true Christians upon Earth to wit 1. The admission of false Brethren 2. Appropriation 3. Debates 4. Partialities 5. Scholars 6. Disputes 7. The Victory of the Devil 23. The fourth Conference Of the Qualities and Manner of acting which ought to have been in the Guides of the Church to uphold it in its good Estate against all Enemies and not give way to the Spirit of Antichrist as they
have done 29. The Fifth Conference Of Antichrist and how he reigns over all in Spirit 31. The sixth Conference How outward Worship towards God and the outward Works of Charity towards ones Neighbour are corrupted by the Devil And from whence this power does proceed 36. The seventh Conference That God has not abandon'd Men but Men have abandon'd God and resisted his Grace in the distribution of which he is not partial 39. The eighth Conference Of the Grace of God How it is given unto us And of the difficulty of being Converted 41. The ninth Conference What the Church is and of its corruption 45. The tenth Conference Of the Remission of Sins Of Confession and how it is abused 48. The eleventh Conference Outward Devotions imposed by Men are not of true Faith Of the true Church which cannot err in what it ordains The Doctrins of Jesus Christ and those of Men. True Prayer 52. The Twelfth Conference That the Conversion of Men is now desperate as in the time of Noah and wherefore 59. The thirteenth Conference Of true Faith according to the tenour of the Creed Of the knowledge of God and of our selves by the consideration of his works 63. The fourteenth Conference How God forsakes us and how we forsake him by distraction of Mind by which the Devil does subdue Men withdrawing them from the Love and Gratitude which they owe to God who discovers himself most sensibly in all things alone Lovely 70. The fifteenth Conference That God has never given unto Man but only one essential Commandment which is that of his Love which is most easie and most agreeable and that of every other thing most vain 77. The sixteenth Conference Of continual Prayer and constant Communion with God for which we were created and how we are distracted from it by the business of this World and by the enjoyment of frail Creatures 82. The seventeenth Conference How to discern whether the motions which press us to leave the outward hindrances to Divine Communion be from God or not That there are also inward obstacles and that we must not be wedded even to good means 92. The eighteenth Conference How we may attain to perfection and to Communion with God resigning our selves wholly unto him quitting both humane Wisdom and the Instructions of others for a time Christians uncapable of being taught They will be more desolate than the Jews 96. The ninteenth Conference That all Christians ought to read the Holy Scripture Whether the Church can err Where it is Where not 101. The Twentieth Conference Of the reading of the Holy Scripture and of the prohibition â—fâ—t How the Church cannot fail And what she is and is not 104. The Twenty first Conference Where the true Church is Where God is How he speaks unto the Soul and how we ought to be disposed for this Divine Conversation 109. The Twenty second Conference That there can be no true contentment but in God alone How to return thither Of Gifts and of those which are made to Churches which shall perish 116. The Twenty third Conference Of the destruction of the Church and of the uprightness of God in his Judgments and in all that he does 121. The Twenty fourth Conference Of the enquiry about the most Holy Trinity and of Grace and that even the Saints themselves are therein mistaken none being infalliable 125. The Twenty fifth Conference That the Holy Spirit sends always new influences and that his Light ought not to be bounded nor the interpretation of the Scriptures unto that which the Holy Fathers have had in past times 128. The Twenty sixth Conference How and wherefore the Holy Scripture has in nothing as yet been understood in a perfect Sense which is shewn by new Explications concerning the Creation of Man his Fall the coming of Jesus Christ in Reproach and that in Glory upon Earth there to reign eternally Of the Glorification of the Creatures both Animate and Inanimate what makes Paradise and Hell and that all these things shall be preceeded by universal Rods and Scourges 131. The Twenty seventh Conference That the care of withdrawing ones self from Chastisements is yet a Self-Love and that the Communion of the Soul with God sufficeth in all places 157. The Twenty eighth Conference How we ought to pray and understand the Lords Prayer in a perfect sense which respects the Dispositions and Graces which shall be granted us in the Glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ of which there are here Marvellous things spoken 160. The Twenty ninth Conference Of the signs whereby we may know that we are fallen in the last Times and that the World is Judged viz. that Men are without Righteousness Truth and Goodness before God and that the execution of his Plagues do already appear effectually 178. The Thirtieth Conference How God permits that Men should be abandoned to to the Spirit of Error 191. The End of the Table of the Conferences of this first Part. THE LIGHT of the WORLD The First Part. The First Conference Of Gods dealing with A. B particularly how he instructed her immediately from her Infancy the opposition of men of Christian perfection and of the deplorable state of Christian AS we advanc'd in our journey still travelling towards the Sun rising being already more than half way we perceiv'd at a distance one walking before us not knowing at first who it was because of the distance we remark'd only that it was a person alone who desir'd no Company but retir'd aside assoon as any body approach'd and hid herself until we mending our pace had come nearer and when we beheld this person we perceived she was a Maid who appear'd young enough and tho she was simply apparelled she had notwithstanding a grave and majestick Mien We saw in her face the marks and the joy of a serene and contented soul Her gate was always of an equal pace neither flow nor hasty her looks gave both joy and fear she did not refuse to speak to us in our Language tho it was not natural to her and having ask'd her whither she was going she said In Pilgrimage for penitence for her own sins and those of others And having ask'd her from whence she came she said From afar for she had travell'd many years and was harrass'd by the way and discolour'd by the Sun We ask'd what she design'd by so long and troublesome voyages dangerous for a Maid alone remonstrating to her that there were many other means to do penitence in her own Country without being in danger of hunger thirst unhappy rencounters and many other inconveniencies which may fall out in travelling alone and that at least she ought to take some Company To which she answer'd That she was oblig'd to travel alone for she had found no body that would accompany her and that many had indeed gone along with her for some time but upon the first temptation hunger or incommodity they had staid behind not knowing how to endure
evils He can never do evil All that comes from him is most good and perfect he created us in an altogether holy and perfect state with an immortal body and a divine soul subject to none but himself having given us a spirit enlighten'd to know him and a power to rule over all the creatures both terrestrial and infernal and if he has oblig'd us to aid and succour one another this is not that he had created us more infirm than any other living creature but only to the end he might afford us matter for entertaining mutual Charity and Union together one assisting his Brother out of love the other being led to love him by the assistance and benefits which he receives from him and thus perpetually to maintain this love by the aliment of the need that we have of one another to the end we might continue united together as Jesus Christ is united to his Father And even the manner of the Generation of men is ordain'd for no other reason but always to preserve this perfect unity of body and spirit Thus you see that God has done all things well tho it seems sometimes to our ignorance that many evil things come from God the only Author of all good and the Destroyer of all evil It is our sin which has caused all the miseries under which we continually groan the maladies and infirmities of body are engender'd in us by sin the weakness ignorance and inconstancy of our spirit do proceed from sin That all the creatures rise up against us and hurt us this is but to take just vengeance of the rebellion which we have committed against God by sin It is a blasphemy therefore to say That God has subjected us to so many evils since we our selves only are the Authors of them and he can never do evil no not to damn us if we do not damn our selves and to know how and by what means we may attain to the LOVE OF GOD which is true Charity we need only take the Gospel and there observe in particular the instructions which Jesus Christ and his Apostles have left us in writing and put them in practice Behold the sure means to attain to true Charity without which no body can be sav'd It is not necessary that we seek any other means than those which Jesus Christ has taught us by word and deed I said to her if to be sav'd one must have this perfect Charity few persons will attain to salvation for we do not observe now that the Charity of which she speaks does possess the hearts of men She answers This is to be bewail'd with tears of blood for no body shall be sav'd without it as St. Paul affirms that Tho we would bestow all our goods to feed the poor tho we could remove Mountains tho we had the Gift of Prophecy yea tho we would give our body to be burned yet all this would be nothing for our Salvation without Charity And if you will exactly run over all the holy Scriptures you shall find by the sayings of Jesus Christ of the Apostles and of all the holy Prophets that never any person shall be sav'd without this Charity which consists in the LOVE OF GOD and of our Neighbour for God In the mean time no body possesseth this Charity and almost all the world presumes to be sav'd There is now Sir so great darkness in the whole world that no body discerns truth from falshood since they have taught Christians that the means of living well and of being sav'd do consist in going to Church in praying morning and evening and in confessing and communicating often By these things they have annull'd the Law of God and stified Charity for this is no more in use among Christians it is not so much as known by them and they understand not what true CHARITY is because this name is now appropriated to the gifts which persons bestow on Monks religious persons the superfluous Ornaments and Buildings of Monasteries and Churches they have baptizd by the name of Charity all these Gifts Presents and Legacies And I in my inward conversation do find them to be sensual affections and call them Robbery and Avarice for he who receives Presents without necessity by way of Alms does certainly commit Robbery and robs the poor and necessitous who alone are capable of receiving alms So that he whosoever he be having necessaries for the support of his life being able to gain them by some trade or labour is oblig'd to restore all the gifts and presents which he receives by way of alms and that person commits the sin of avarice who covets more than what is simply necessary for the support of his life for it is a great folly for a Traveller to load himself with burthens which are not necessary to him for the accomplishing of his Voyage Thus no body can enrich himself or heap up earthly goods without the Lust of Avarice which sin as all others does blind souls rendring them insensible of their own hurt But because they have introduc'd the calling of these vices and sins by the name of Charity every one believes they have it while they co-operate to these vices by this the Devil has seiz'd on the Throne of God and reigns in the Sanctuary by falshood whereas God ought to reign there by truth Behold the deplorable state in which we live at present the danger is so much the greater that all the evils are cover'd with vertue and piety that good men may be the more deceiv'd who live and die in this horrible darkness not knowing what true Charity is far less do they possess it so that I despair of their Salvation If they do not perceive this truth of Charity they can never be sav'd since not knowing it they cannot love it nor endeavour to find it while they think it is enough to bear the name of charitable tho they neither know nor possess true Charity There are so many such errors now in Christendom that Christians are by them led insensibly into Hell while they believe that they are assuredly in the way of Paradice I ask'd her If the goodness of God would permit that so many persons should go to perdition while they believe that they do well and follow the counsel of learned men and such as are authoriz'd by the Church She said Truly Sir there will be more Christian Souls damn'd by these means than by gross visible and material sins because all those persons who think to be sav'd live and die in the sins against the Holy Ghost which will not be pardon'd neither in this world nor in the other Not that these sins are so enormous that they cannot be pardon'd but because they are inward and spiritual little known and far less feared The most devout persons are tainted with them and will
the marks and signs of the last times fulfill'd and perfectly accomplisht The life of men is the open book in which these truths are written and the holy Scriptures are the equitable Judge which pronounces this sentence Read Sir with attention they will deliver you from the difficulty you find in believing this for tho indeed they do not determine precisely the day of judgment yet they will make you see sufficiently that the cheif signs which must precede it do already appear That no body will believe this is a most certain evidence of it for Jesus Christ says that it shall be as in the days of Noah they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and knew not until the flood came and took them all away Even so is it at present they take their recreations and pleasures heaping up earthly treasures building houses and temples as if they were to remain here to eternity while all must very shortly perish And no body will believe it according to the prediction of Jesus Christ when he compares these last times with those of the universal deluge He says in St. Math. 24. it will be as in the days of Noah adding when you shall see the abomination of desolation to be in the holy place flee away Do you not think Sir that this abomination is now in the holy place if Envy were lost it might be recover'd in the Cloisters if Avarice were dead it would be reviv'd by the Priests Vain-glory and Pride is no where so prevailing as among the Clergy in one word Simonies and all other sins abound in the place which ought to be holy What more sure marks would you have than those which Jesus Christ himself has declar'd to us should precede the Judgment if you desire to see the Stars fall from Heaven the Sun to be darken'd the Moon not to give her Light all these are nothing but material signs which can do no harm to Souls but serve only for outward evidences of the wrath of God and to the end that even insensible things may feel the terrors of that great day as the Rocks did when they were rent at the death of Jesus Christ This added nothing to his passion nor render'd those who put him to death more criminal for they were nothing but insensible rocks without souls or reason Even so will it be as to the Stars and the other celestial bodies if they change colour or suffer any other alteration this will not be hurtful to our souls which are spiritual and cannot receive any punishment by these visible and material Stars so much the rather that these signs and Stars cannot be understood but spiritually For how could the Stars fall from Heaven since the Mathematicians tell us that one Star alone is seven times greater than all the Earth so great a thing cannot fall into one so small for it would not be capable to contain it And if we take the mystical sense calling by the name of Stars persons luminous in Doctrine the Doctors and Guides Prelates Bishops and all those who are plac'd in Dignities to whom the name of Stars may be appropriated as being the Lights of the world this sign would also have at present its sense accomplisht for we see every day such persons fall from righteousness and truth who for some worldly interest or humane respects fall from the truth of the Gospel which is the true heaven of Souls and wallow in the earth among its riches and pleasures as secular persons do In former times how many of those were seen who had their hearts and spirits continually towards heaven their lives and manners did enlighten all the world as the Stars of the Firmament but at present they are fallen into the mire of earthly affections So that it may be truly said that the Stars are fallen from Heaven and that the Sun also is become without light For Truth which is the true Sun of Righteousness cannot any longer appear openly it is become black and hateful to all the world who desiring to be flatter'd and prais'd cannot hear the truth because it reproves the falshood which now prevails These two signs of the Sun and of the Stars appear at present in their full accomplishment in the mystical and inward sense which is much more than if they did appear in the literal and material sense for the reasons above-mentioned and if the Moon be not as yet without light it will be so very shortly in the mystical and perfect sense The Moon is all transitory things which after the manner of the Moon do encrease or diminish according to good or bad fortune These things will lose their light so soon as Wars shall have destroy'd and ruin'd temporal wealth Then all that pomp and magnificence which shines in the Sanctuary will lose its splendor and will no longer yeild any thing but blood Since for Gold and Silver they will cut the throats of those who are plac'd in the highest dignities so that what shines and glisters to day in the Church will wholly lose its lustre and light and by this means this Moon will be darken'd I entreat you to read attentively the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew it speaks of the present time All the Parables do the same I wish I had time and leisure to explain them to you you would see as well as I that the Judgment approaches for all the forerunning signs are already come People do not perceive them for want of reflecting seriously enough on the holy Scriptures or upon the inward life of men now adays they amuse themselves with regarding only their outward piety imagining that there are yet a great many good men because they appear such but before God all are corrupted They resemble the Apples of Sodom which appear beautiful without and have nothing within but rottenness This is the true symbole of the life of Christians now which God makes me perceive abundantly by his inward light This fill'd me with astonishment and desiring to understand her more clearly I ask'd her whether there were not any good men or true Christians in our days She said to me No Sir THERE ARE NO TRVE CHRISTIANS VPON EARTH There are indeed diverse persons who seem to be good men and are really so in comparison of the wicked they may indeed pass for Saints before men but before God they are not true Christians for tho they do not act wickedly but frequent the Sacraments and other exercises of Devotion yet nevertheless they have not the LOVE OF GOD nor Charity for their Neighbour in their hearts much less a hatred of themselves or a desire to embrace the Cross Sufferings and Persecutions to follow Jesus Christ On the contrary they so love themselves that all their designs aim at nothing but their own satisfaction even in the most pious things You would be astonisht Sir to see what difference there is between the sight
of God and that of men I have been often deceiv'd my self by these seeming vertues being perswaded that there were yet many true Christians but having seen them tried by tribulations and contempt they were consum'd as the chaff in the fire and if they had been GOLD in Charity Persecution would have render'd them more bright Many souls will be deceiv'd at death who in their life time presum'd they were true Christians while in the sight of God they will be worse than Heathens Such is the blindness wherein we live at present in which no body makes a right judgment of himself or of others every one presuming to be sav'd without good works whereas no works can be good if they do not proceed from Charity which is at present banisht from the hearts of all men for which cause there are no more perfect Christians upon earth for the Christian life is all Charity and the Love of God which is no longer in use I ask'd her How long she believ'd it is since there was no more Charity nor true Christians upon Earth She answer'd There has been no longer Charity upon earth Sir since Christians left the Gospel simplicity from that time Charity began to wax cold and when the Church would â—eeds establish herself in pomp riches and magnificence this outward splendor has utterly destroy'd the spirit of the Gospel Studies have banisht the holy spirit and the learning of men has stifled the wisdom of God so that the evil has always encreast till by the traditions of men they have annull'd the Law of God and extinguisht Charity which is no longer known and much less practiced in our dangerous and woful times the danger being so much the more to be fear'd the less it is known because no body apprehends those truths which God himself has reveal'd They content themselves with the judgment of men founding their Salvation upon the doctrine of the learned who are far estrang'd from the wisdom of the holy Spirit to which even they will not yeild themselves they lean so much upon their own Judgment These are blind who lead the blind and both together shall fall into the ditch according to the saying of Jesus Christ Who with just reason has call'd these last times dangerous because under a pretext of Piety and Religion men are led to damnation Simple People believing that they hear God when they hear those Guides who do very often teach the doctrine of Devils For if you observe what questions and disputes are now form'd in the Church you will find that they make debates of things which humane malice could not raise They must needs have come from the bottom of Hell They maintain that it is almost lawful to commit all sorts of sins without offending God that one may swear falsly without sinning and so of the rest which you may better know than I for I am struck with so much horror when I hear such things that I was never desirous to be acquainted with these black villanies they are grown to such a height that they maintain no body is oblig'd to love God which overturns the first and the greatest Commandment and is repugnant to nature itself which carries in it this obligation of loving a God of whom it holds its being and all things Do you not think Sir that this Doctrine is of Antichrist since it contradicts the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and the Commandment which God gave to man from the beginning of the world and in all times and all ages Nevertheless they preach this publickly with many other abominations and many believe that these are truths because they are advanc'd by learned persons and such as are plac'd in Ecclesiastical Authority and Dignities who ought to be the true Members of the holy Church Pardon me Sir that I digress from the answer which I should have made to your demand It is because a sensible regret transports me and makes me exceed when I think upon the reasons why there are no more true Christians The Third Conference The Means by which Christianity began to decay from the Time of the Apostles and has continu'd so to do to such a degree that at present there are no true Christians upon Earth viz. 1. The Admission of false Brethren 2. Appropriation 3. Debates 4. Partialities 5. Men of Learning 6. Disputes 7. The Victory of the Devil I Reply'd to her That she could not offend me in this On the contrary I was very curious to understand more clearly the causes and reasons why there were no longer any true Christians on Earth She said Sir let us sit down here I will give you a particular account of the original progress and end of this calamity Assoon as the first Christians began to grow remiss the Devil like a strange Shepherd slipt into the Sheep told of J. Christ where he led astray many of his Sheep who by little and little forsook their true Shepherd turning away from Righteousness and Truth to follow Iniquity and Lies The Evangelical Poverty is contemn'd by them sufferings are become insupportable to them humility is disdain'd In fine they would no longer hear the voice of their lawful Shepherd whose word serv'd for the nourishment of their souls from that time Antichrist began his Reign and has ever since augmented his Power He could not endure that Jesus Christ had brought the word unto men by following of which they might be to all Eternity in the Glory of the blessed from which he had been chac'd and banisht for all Eternity Therefore he endeavours to make war against this word that he might efface it out of the memory of men and might thereby hinder their coming to the Kingdom of Heaven He did not tempt them by evil deeds or by wicked actions but by tricks and slights covering his malice under the cloak of piety and reason First he incites the wicked his Adherents to list themselves into the Christian Life that Tares might be sown among the good grain He thrusts in many false brethren among the true that he might by them do his work covertly and under a pretext of piety for otherwise he would not have been able to gain any thing upon the hearts of those first Christians who being fill'd with the holy Spirit and burning with the fire of the Love of God he could not have catcht them with evil things or such as had an appearance of evil He multiples therefore first the number of Christians so exceedingly that every one judg'd it was impossible to live any more in common He moves by humane reason the hearts of the most perfect to yield to a separation and to consent that every one should possess his own particular wealth without forgetting in the mean time Charity which every one should preserve in his heart to supply the necessities of their brethren Thus this old Serpent has always colour'd his inventions with piety
degree that it can come to and the Devil has gain'd an inward dominion over the hearts of all men not that wickedness is manifestly at the highest degree in the judgment of men for it will appear more clearly when they shall commit all sort of sins publickly without being afraid of any the evil will seem then greater but it will be less in the sight of God for it will then be no more accompanied and disguised with Hypocrisie as it is at present The Devil having gain'd the hearts of ill men will remain no longer conceal'd He is desirous to reign publickly and openly assoon as he can for his greater Glory As long as there were here and there some good Souls he kept himself hid to the end he might gain them but at present he can so well disguise his malice that all serve him the wicked with good will as his hired Servants and the good serve him by constraint as his Slaves From hence I infer that the time of his Reign is come and that he will appear very shortly visibly in the flesh And to satisfy the second doubt proposed viz. how there shall be Martyrs of Jesus Christ and of those who shall obtain Salvation by the Perfecutions of this discover'd Antichrist this shall be an effect of the last Mercy of God who will yet once send his light into the world according to his promise That the light shall arise in darkness and that the darkness shall be as noon day That is to say that in this time of darkness in which we live at present wherein the Truth is not any longer discern'd from Lies Faithfulness from Deceit nor Righteousness from Iniquity that God will make his Light to arise in this Darkness and that these who shall receive it shall open their eyes and see the blindness of their understanding and reject the spirit of errour into which they were fallen thro the false perswasions of this invisible Antichrist and shall embrace the spirit of truth which is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and by this means dispose themselves to Martyrdom and to saving sufferings in the Quarrel of Jesus Christ for many are now detain'd the Slaves of the Devil thro ignorance and inadvertency believing even that they follow Jesus Christ when they follow this strange Shepherd thro his delusions I thought it impossible to believe that the Devil had dominion over the hearts of all men because I knew many who make profession of being good men who in effect are observ'd to addict themselves to pious and religious works exercising themselves in both publick and private Devotions employing themselves according to their Callings in succouring their Neighbour and owning the quarrel of good men in making peace and agreement between those who have quarrels and debates She said Sir it is by these works which seem good and pious that the Devil deceives the good and renders them his Slaves making them to do his will without their perceiving it It is for this reason our times may well be called dangerous because the darkness is so thick as that good is not any longer discern'd from evil Those are esteem'd good men who do often frequent the Churches and Sacraments and are present at the publick Solemnities and they who do so believe themselves to be good men and to live well but believe me Sir if this be not done in the true Spirit of Christianity these are all but amusements for the life of a Christian is an inward and spiritual Life consisting in the LOVE and Respect we owe to God and CHARITY to our Neighbour for God This Love is an inward Passion of our Soul which is known to none but God himself as also this Charity for our Neighbour These inward passions are sometimes discover'd outwardly by external operations as to suffer willingly for him whom we love to be subject in all things to his will to honour him with all our power by these solid vertues it is discover'd if we be good men not by making a profession of being so for this profession of being good proceeds often from a presumption of our Salvation which is a sin against the Holy Ghost A sinner who knows his sin is often a better man than this presumptuous person The Sixth Conference How the outward worship of God and the outward works of Charity towards our Neighbour are corrupted by the Devil And from whence this Power proceeds I Desir'd to be satisfy'd concerning all these points of good works which I had observ'd to be yet in use among those who profess to be good men to see whither the Devil would produce such operations in his Adherents I ask'd her first If it was not a good work to go often to the Church or to its Solemnities She answer'd It is very good to go to Church to hear the Word of God since Jesus Christ himself went thither to teach it for there is distributed or at least ought to be that word which gives food or nourishment to the souls of the faithful But I pray you Sir says she reflect a little seriously with me on the way of going to Church and of teaching the Word of God there which is now observ'd and see if you will not be oblig'd to confess that by what is now done in Churches the Devil receives much more honour than God therefore he incites his Adherents to go thither often and the Ministers to perform the Solemnities there frequently They go to Church out of custom and being there they behave themselves even as they do in profane places The Solemnities there are so vain that they serve rather to satisfie the senses than to move devotion Among a thousand persons who follow Processions you will scarce find one who has his heart lifted up to God! Sermons are made more out of vanity and heard more out of curiosity than to profit by them Behold the Theater of the World at present judge now whither all these things can pass for good works in the sight of God and if the Devil has not ground to excite them to these actions from whence he derives so much his advantages When once he could perswade men that a Christian Life consists in outward actions he perverted all the good so that they do rather follow him than Jesus Christ because these visible and outward things make a stronger impression on the natural senses than those spiritual things which Jesus Christ has taught and commanded us I felt in my soul that this was true but desiring to learn more I said to her that for those who apply themselves to their Neighbours as to visit the poor and the sick to own the quarrel of the good to quiet and appease strife and contentions that these works could not come from the suggestion of the Devil She reply'd All these things are good if they were done in the spirit of Charity and purely for the Love of God but that this was so
from it that the true Christian might be known from the false and that we might no longer live amidst so many errors and in so great blindness and consequently in so great hazard of our salvation by adhering to mens Laws and despising Gods perswading our selves that we do well in following their errors inâ—tead of the true Light which has proceeded from Jesus Christ The great unhappiness of men is that they do not know these truths and that they fear they would do ill to believe them I said to her That it was very lamentable to live in so dangerous a time in which the most innocent might perish thro ignorance asking her if she knew a remedy for these evils She said The wickedness of men Sir has brought this ignorance upon the earth Since they forsook the love of the truth they are given up to the spirit of error The ignorance is very gross for every one who would enter into himself might well perceive in the bottom of his soul that he does not love God with all his heart nor his neighbour as himself which are the chief Commands of God without the keeping of which one cannot be saved But men suffer themselves to be amus'd with little Rattles even as they quiet Children which cannot at all cure the evil that presses them but only diverts their minds a little that they may not think upon nor be attentive to their pains These little outward Devotions are the Rattles which those Guides sound in our ears not to cure the wounds which the neglect of this Command of God has caus'd in our soul but rather to amuse our attention that it may not discover those eternal truths They breed up our souls with affections to their persons under a pretext that they stand in Gods stead They perswade us that we shall always receive grace by confessing frequently as if grace were given by the help of sins for confession can bring no other grace than pardon of sins and to receive this grace frequently there is need of sinning frequently What real childish amusements are they to make even those to confess frequently who they believe have nothing but imperfections to confess If they did receive grace as often as they go to confession with so much grace they would leave off their sins and would not be oblig'd to continue for so long time these confessions We may believe they do as those who take Physick out of appetite or custom which spoils and corrupts the health instead of preserving it These ordinary Penitents do wholly the same to their souls as they do to their bodies thus they suffer themselves to be amus'd by foolish perswasions as that also of going often to Church to pray to God as if it could not be done elsewhere Nevertheless Jesus Christ says that one ought always to pray and never to cease One had need therefore to abide night and day in the Church to fulfil this direction These are all errors and inventions of men for a Christian is oblig'd to pray always at all times and in all places without fainting not only when they are in the Church as these Guides perswade them who are no less mistaken in prefixing a certain number of Offices Prayers and Beads and other trifles which they call Prayers tho they do not know what Prayer is for it consists in an elevation of the spirit to God which may be done while we walk and work eat and drink and even while one is at rest for our spirit ought to be continually elevated unto God in acknowledgment of the continual favours which we receive from him yea even in sleeping our will ought to bless him always this is the continual prayer which God demands of us But we do the quite contrary for instead of having our spirit elevated to God continually we employ it in earthly cares and solicitudes about our wealth our family our business or houshold affairs So that even in the little time that we are at Church saying our Pater Nosters our Spirit runs frequently astray and is not elevated unto God for one moment in a day yea it may be has never been so for our whole life and we think we have prayed to God provided we go to Church or say Prayers by muttering over our Beads These are all new Doctrines which neither Jesus Christ nor his Apostles ever taught which do often deprive us of the attention we ought to have to true prayer I will not blame the going to Church to pray to God This is very good when we find in the Church more means and a greater facility of elevating the spirit unto God than in the House or elsewhere but I blame all those novelties which divert us from God by amusing us with things that strike upon our senses for which I can see no remedy since these evils proceed from those who ought to redress them If I spoke to these Guides of the Church and told them these truths 't is to be fear'd they would stone me for they will not be reproved in their actions far less in their authority and tho they should clearly perceive the truth they would not receive it and if I should speak to those who are directed and govern'd by them they would think that I would deprive them of their Salvation and render them Hereticks in not obeying those who call themselves the Church for they are so far perswaded that they ought to believe and follow their directions that they would choose rather not to obey God than to despise the counsel of these men the blindness is so far gone that I look upon the evil as desperate which makes me say that the world is judg'd and the sentence is irrevocable because no body sees his misery and even will not see it they would be afraid to offend God by believing the truth of these things The Twelfth Conference That the Conversion of Men now is desperate as it was in the days of Noah and wherefore I Said to her that there were yet many souls in the world capable of receiving these truths and if they heard these things they would infallibly open their eyes and leave their errors requesting her that she would yet speak to others besides me She said Truly Sir I cannot do it for I see no hopes that I can profit by it The darkness is too great and the evil too inveterate As long as God shall not destroy the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the prudent they will not receive the evangelical simplicity and If they be not converted and become as little Children they will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It would be in vain therefore to speak to them But if you know any one Sir whose understanding is bounded and his will subjected to God you may make the experiment For my part I desire to continue unknown that I may preserve my
would not be capable of gaining our Affection For it is impossible to love them without being distracted and turned away from God For if we considered the Qualities of God and compared them with those of the Creatures we would see that those are but Dung compared with Gold Besides that all the Creatures together cannot save us nor give us so much as one Moment of Life We pass sometimes our whole Life in studying to render our selves accomplish'd among Men and they have no Power to make us happy even in this World for their Friendship is changeable and their Fortune unconstant Their Fidelity does often depend upon our Complaisance a small Word ill plac'd will render them your Enemies And tho' it were real and constant death can rob you of it in a Moment and you will never find them any more in your Need. Do you not see that all things are frail upon which there is no leaning no Ground to let our selves be charm'd or our Senses tickl'd if there were not a Disorder of Spirit and a Forgetfulness of God! And if this were remov'd it is impossible to love the Creatures in themselves and to cease to love God even tho he had never commanded us Even Natural Instinct leads us to his Love by the consideration of his wonderful Works and of his Benefits which we receive every Moment There needed no other Love to oblige us to love him with all our Heart and with all our Strength The Sixteenth Conference Of continual Prayer and constant Communion with God for which we were created And how we are distracted from it by the Business of this World and by the Enjoyment of frail Creatures I Perceiv'd most clearly that all this was true and moreover that all Men were very far from such Sentiments that every one of them spent their Life in the Affairs and Business of the World and thought not themselves obliged to keep Communion in Spirit with God fearing that this might rob them of the Time and Occasion of dispatching well their Affairs I ask'd her Whether every one was oblig'd to keep continual Communion with God If this was not the particular Business of the Monks the Religious or other Persons who make Profession of a Spiritual Life tending to Perfection She said Sir all Christians are Religious for there can be no other Religion but a Christian Life Every one who would be sav'd is obliged to entertain his Spirit continually with God therefore Jesus Christ says That we ought always to pray and never faint He speaks to Persons of all Conditions not to the Religious only for there were none in his Time who did wear disguised Habits as they do now but all Christians were religious as they are yet at present Neither the Habit nor the Cloyster do make Religion but the Observance of the Evangelical Counsels We are greatly mistaken if we think that God has a Regard to the States and Conditions of Persons He regards not whether we be Religious or Married but whether we observe his Commandments and his Doctrine Every one is free to chuse what State he will provided that in it he observe the Christian Doctrine There is not any State nor any Condition that can exempt a Person from keeping continual Communion with God For he invites us to this and we are created for no other Thing All other Affairs or Businesses are but accidental and of small importance whether they succeed or miscarry it matters little because all their Successes cannot serve us but for this short Life which stands not in need of much if we would content our selves with what is necessary only In which we would be more happy than all the Kings of the Earth for all that we possess beyond this Necessity is Affliction and Vexation of Spirit God created us to love him only and that he might take his Delight with us and we with him This is the only End of our Creation He had no need of us but he would create us to take his Pleasure with us This is that which we do least of all think of or apply our selves unto It seems we would change the Designs that God has concerning us while we will not follow his Ordinance of Praying always One thinks he is born to be a Lawyer an Advocote a Priest a Monk a Merchant or for any other State Office or Benefice to which he is advanc'd and they press hard to perfect themselves to increase and prosper in it as if they were created to do this And when they are arriv'd at the highest of their Pretensions Death comes which consumes all What a silly Business have we aim'd at What a poor Stay of all our Hopes Our Riches are perish'd Our Honours remain on the Earth All our Travels Cares and Labours have left us nothing but Ashes and Rottenness in Recompence of all our Acquests The Noble and the Ignoble the Prince and the Servant being all reduc'd to the same Estate all naked in the Grave the Poor and the Rich having an equal Portion Behold the End of all the Business and Affairs of the World for the Advancement of which we neglect Communion with God tho' this would advance them more if we were habituated to this Communion which would perfect all things I said to her That Men were very blind in not considering seriously these Truths and that she ought to pray to God that he would take from them the Vail which hindred them from seeing their so great Misery and that they might comprehend the Obligation they have to pray always which they were very far from doing To which she replyed Men Sir are as far from Salvation as they are far from this Knowledge For Jesus Christ has said nothing in vain To be saved we ought assuredly to pray always for as soon as we shall cease to have our Spirit lifted up to God we shall fall into many Evils from which we can very hardly recover our selves because Sin blinds the Soul and renders it often insensible of its Evils If this were not true how could it be that one should see every Day his Brother or his Neighbour die leaving behind him all upon the Earth without carrying away any thing and that he should not thereby discover his own Folly and his Blindness in labouring with so much Care to heap up earthly Goods which at Death serve for nothing What tho' I pray Sir God will never force their Wills he sends them occasions enough to open their Eyes But as long as they shall continue to have their Affections set on earthly Goods they cannot love God one of these Affections must go out to let the other in They can never dwell both together And for my part I can never pray for an unjust thing God makes no body blind but their Sins and the little desire they have to seek God has clos'd their Eyes He well
says That they shall live for ever He has said elswhere That neither Whoremongers nor Drunkards shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Neverthelss we see daily such Persons receive the Eucharist Can they live for ever without entring into the Kingdom of Heaven There would be a great Contradiction in the Words of Jesus Christ He cannot save those whom he condemns nor say to those who shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven that they shall live for ever It is assuredly his Word which he calls his Flesh and his Blood For whosoever shall eat it that is to say incorporate it as the Nourishment of his Soul it must needs be that he live for ever for this Word gives Life Eternal and he who feeds upon it as on his daily Bread can never die this is the Tree of Life seeing it gave Life to all things This Word has created Heaven and Earth of nothing How should it not give Life unto the Soul which receives it And if it have the Force to translate Bread into the Body of Jesus Christ as they teach how shall it not change our Souls into the Spirit of Life Eternal if we receive and incorporate it as becomes Jesus Christ said These are my Mother my Sisters and my Brethren who hear my Word and do it To shew that he esteems more the Receiving of his Word than the having contributed to the Formation of his Human Body it being most certain that the Virgin Mary was more happy in receiving and doing his Word than in being his natural Mother I said to her That there were many Errors in the Church if the Sense that she proposed ought to be received That it was very clear and intelligible but it had never been understood after this manner She said Blessed be God Sir that he grants yet this Mercy to the World to send his Light amidst the so obscure Darkness into which it is brought at present All the highest Mysteries of our Faith are involved in this Obscurity nothing is understood in a perfect Sense and they do often apply Senses contrary to the Truth They have walk'd as groping even till Now. It is no Wonder if they fall from one Error into another insensibly It is a great Happiness that it has pleas'd God to let us live even until the Time that he comes to enlighten the World after that so great a number have perish'd through Ignorance We have no more deserv'd it than they Let us endeavour to apply it rightly unto our Salvation without letting the occasion slip which is now so freely offered us How many souls are there of such a tender Conscience that they dare not reject a Sentiment which comes from the Roman Church or any Decree of its College fearing to offend God because they look upon it and take it for the Holy Church I knew a Person of a very good Life a Doctor of Theology who said That if the Pope forbad him to read the Gospel he durst not read it any longer So much was he preoccupied with this Belief that Rome is the Holy Church Upon this Supposition all the most pious do follow that which is Evil without perceiving it because they have taught us that we owe a blind Obedience As if we were permitted to follow Evil blindfold which is a great Error For we are all oblig'd to discern whether what we follow be good or bad For Example This Doctor could not abstain from Reading of the Gospel without offending God highly tho' the Pope had forbidden him to read it because this Prohibition is contrary unto Jesus Christ who has brought his Word from Heaven to be the Rule of our Life and the Nourishment of our Souls and has said That it must abide in us for ever How could we cast it behind us because a Pope forbids it who cannot destroy what God has establish'd nor forbid what he has commanded without being Antichrist for all that is against Christ is assuredly Antichrist We may indeed believe and follow what the Pope and his Councils do ordain us when they are things conformable to the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is no other thing but the Explication of the Law Tho' this were taught us by the Devil himself we could not do ill to follow it But the things which are contrary ought never to be blindly follow'd God has made us Reasonable Creatures to the End we may discern Good and Evil. All the Blindness that a true Christian ought to have is to captivate his Spirit under the incomprehensible Works of God not to captivate it to believe that that which is Evil is Good A man must have lost Sense and Spirit to abandon himself to such a blind Obedience which nevertheless the most part of pious Christians do who do yield in all things to the Ordinances of the Pope or of his Council If this Mischief be not shortly at an End and if the Truth be not discover'd in this Point all the World will perish Because many things will be determin'd which will be against God tho' it were nothing but the Infallibility of the Pope It contradicts directly the Truth because no Man can ever be infallible how holy soever he may be S. Peter the first Pope did expresly deny his Master and did really err in dissembling because of the Jews for which S. Paul reproves him Can it ever be said without Blasphemy that a Man is Infallible secing Infallibility appertains to God alone Neither the Pope nor any other can err or fail in following the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but in following their own Judgments or those like themselves they may fail and err greatly I ask'd her How it was possible that God should have left his Church for so long a Time in Errors She said Sir God has not left his Church in Errors she can never err nor fail for she is one and the same thing with God As the Bridegroom is but one Flesh with his Spouse even so the Church is but one Spirit with God Therefore she can never be left in Errors not for one Moment But the Errors which I discover to you Sir are in Men not in the Church for the Church is no where but in the Souls which possess the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who have never err'd so long as they abide in it The Church is a Spiritual and Invisible Spirit which renders it self visible by the Human Bodies which this Spirit animates So long as these Bodies are animated and possest with this Spirit of Jesus Christ they are all Members which make up this Church But if this Spirit withdraw himself they are no more but Members of Flesh not Members of the Church Errors therefore are insinuated into these Members of Flesh not into the Spirit of God But whereas these Members of Flesh did possess formerly the Spirit of the Church
Evangelical Counsels for observing it aright He is despis'd and rejected by the Great Men of this World He is also Reproach'd Buffeted held for a Wicked One To shew that the Praises of Men are not to be sought for but their Reproaches rather to be endur'd for the Love of God At last he is put to Death for the Truth enduring all with Patience To teach us to suffer patiently even to Death And all that he has endur'd has been to give us an Example I ask'd her In case Men had not come to so great Extremity of Evil whether she believ'd that Jesus Christ would have come so soon to take Human Flesh She Replied No Sir he would not have come till the end of the World to judge and condemn Men in abolishing Evil He would have come in the glory of all his Majesty with all his Angels not in Contempt and Sufferings He would have come to Reign not to undergo an infamous Death If you read attentively the Prophets Sir you will find that they speak far more of this coming in Glory than of that in Reproach For the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory is as it were THE SUM OF THE DESIGNS WHICH GOD HAS OVER MEN And the coming in Reproach is as it were the Accident of the said Designs Therefore there will be much more spoken of through all the Holy Scriptures Read Sir attentively all the said Scriptures from the creation of the World you will find that they all will aim at this Kingdom of Jesus Christ on Earth with Men for this is the end of their Creation God can never reign fully in Men until the time of this coming in Glory because that they living yet in the liberty of doing evil do not yet give full possession to God to reign in their Souls for very often or at least by accident Sins do rule there Which we have seen in the greatest Saints of the World A David a Solomon all the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ yea all those who have since been esteemed Saints have all in general fallen into Trespasses and have strayed from God for some time By which he could not find in them his perfect reign as he will do after his glorious Coming For then all will be Deify'd Bodies as well as Souls And there will be an end of all Evil. God will then have his full dominion over all Flesh which has never been For the most part of Men in all times have Blasphemed and Despised him tho all were created by him to love him and to adore him They have yielded their honour and love to the Creatures instead of the Creator Is it not fit Sir that these things be one day repaired and that God be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth by his Creatures I said to her That assuredly God would after that manner be adored in Heaven but that I could not comprehend how he could be so here upon Earth She said I perceive Sir that you take for Heaven and Paradise some precise place or some particular part which ferves for a Residence to God And for my part I cannot believe that there is any thing capable of containing God for he is greater than all things and cannot be contain'd by any thing less than himself The Heaven is but his Creature which we say is on high and God has neither high nor low for he contains all Heaven and Paradise is always in him for there can be no other but his Presence and he who is in his Presence is in Heaven and Paradise For my part I know no other They tell us many imaginary things of God and of Paradise which have very little relation to what they are It seems God is like an earthly King who is lodged in some Palace of Wood or Stone These are all Speculations of Men as earthly as their Affections For God cannot have any fixt place for his Residence seeing he comprehends all things When I say that God will be upon Earth reigning with Men the Earth will then be Paradise for in all Places where he is there is always Paradise If God were in Hell Hell would then be Paradise there being no other but the presence of God That makes in all places where it is Heaven and Paradise When this presence is in our Soul our Soul is Heaven How can you not comprehend Sir that God could be truly adored in Spirit and in Truth upon Earth seeing he has so often promised to make an Alliance with Men Must not this Alliance be made upon Earth God being a pure Spirit has no need of any Station but Man having a Body has need of some Place to contain him The Earth was created for this necessity that it might contain the Bodies of Men. Why then should not God come upon Earth to dwell with them seeing they cannot go where God is in that purity of Spirit Of necessity he must either come upon Earth or indeed they could not be entirely united together I asked her When Jesus Christ shall come to reign upon Earth and to Allie himself with Men She said As sooon as the Plagues shall have rooted out all the Wicked or the greatest part of them then He will appear in the Clouds and all the World shall see him You may indeed live till then Sir if God please For my part I hope to see him and to reign with him Eternally In this all my hopes and my joy do consist For this Life is too miserable to take any contentment in it without the hope of this time to come I say it will be very shortly for I see the Measure full and Mens sins are come to the height They cannot be more numerous And if there were not some small Veil of Human respect they would Murther Rob commit Adultery and do all sorts of Abomination publickly as well as they do them before God But Pride keeps these things yet concealed that they may not be despised by Men And as for what passeth only before God or a few Persons they make no more reckoning of it It seems all is lawful provided it be not discovered What greater Evil can be expected The abomination of Desolation is in the Sanctuary Tho Christians be the People of God they have denied his Faith and have abandoned it to become Idolaters of one another Every one has his proper Idol one worships his own Body another his own Spirit another his Learning another his Riches another his Honours another his Children or other Creatures In short none adore God but with their Lips Is it a wonder that the Judgment is near when we see that all Men have abandoned their God Is it not time that he likewise abandon them which he cannot do but according as Man withdraws himself from God by the same consequence God is withdrawn from Man for two things cannot stay together when the one withdraws it self
comes from Man who has distempered that excellent Star by his Sin That the Air is stormy that the Water is troubled That the Earth brings forth Thorns and Thistles This is for no other reason but to take Vengeance of the Disobedience which Man hath committed against God The Dog bites The Wolf devours the Serpent Poysons and all those other Evils which the Beasts do to Man this is for no other reason but to render him the Punishment that he has merited by his Sin If the Fire burn him if the Air infect him if the Water suffocate him this is but for a just Punishment If the Earth doth not bring forth its Fruits without Labour this is but for a Penance of Man's Sin In short all the Creatures whatsoever even to a Flea are obliged to hurt Man because of the Disobedience that he has committed against their Creator and this by Right and Justice But as soon as his Penitence shall be accomplished and he shall obtain the absolute pardon of his Sin all shall be re-established in their first Estate and shall not fall away any more for the glorious presence of Jesus Christ will confirm them in Grace maintaining them in eternal Peace all the Creatures with men and they shall do then what they should have done from the beginning of the Creation Man's Rebellion against God ceasing This will then be a continual and eternal delight for all things God will do the will of Man who shall love him and Man will do the will of God upon whom he shall depend All the Creatures will do the will of Man who shall command them In short God Man and all the Creatures will have but one and the same will without any Rebellion Will not this then be a Paradise of all the universal World They have sometimes told us extravagant Stories of Paradise but this was but to make us understand that it should be filled with all sort of Contentments as they say to Children that there they shall eat Sugar with Spoons because Children have their delight in it But nothing of all that is told us of it can be true except what God has revealed of it at present because the time approaches and will not be long in coming I ask'd her If Men will be confirm'd in Grace without being able to sin or fall any more as they have done once in Adam She said Men Sir will not remain without Sin by constraint or necessity because God would have them in a Free State that the love he bears them might be perfect but they canuot fall nor sin any longer for they will be eternally united unto Jesus Christ beholding God in Spirit and that glorious Body in Flesh who will Govern them and take his continual Delight with them which will hinder them from thinking of sinning or falling It is true Adam did converse sometimes with God but in a manner that was not Humane and had also Intervals For if he had always continued in Conversation with God he could not have Fallen But in diverting himself from him to hearken to his Wife and the Serpent he falls into Disobedience through the wandring of his Spirit Now in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ there can be no Straying he will be always present with them he will replenish them with Graces and Joys so abundant that nothing can any more divert them No body will say any longer Know the Lord For all shall Know him and Love him The fault of Adam and the hard Penitence which it occasion'd will make them see abundantly what it is to forsake God Likewise they shall not be any longer subject to Concupicense for they shall all be satisfied in Body and Spirit by the glorious Spiritual and Bodily Presence of Jesus Christ who having removed all their Sins will replenish them with the Holy Spirit in Fulness so that they cannot have any more inclinations to any Evil so much the more that it shall be removed from the whole Earth and that all that is evil shall perish I said to her That all the Interpreters who speak of Judgment say That the last Fire must consume all the World She said Sir These Interpreters could see no farther than their Sight reach'd but hold for certain all that I tell you These are Divine Truths The World will not be utterly Destroyed but all Evil shall be Consumed One part of wicked Men will die by the Sword another part by the Pestilence and Famine and all those Beauties and Riches which have served as Fewel to sin will be all burnt and consum'd by Fire which will purge the whole Earth by its heat And as heretofore the World was once purged by the waters of an universal Deluge even so shall it be then by Fire The World did not perish by the Waters but indeed all wicked Men with all their Wickedness and the Subjects of it The same altogether will come to pass by Fire which will burn and purge all Iniquity without sparing any thing But nothing will perish of the Works of God The whole Globe of the Earth will remain The Heavens and the Elements will be shaken but will not perish no more than the Servants of God for whom he will reserve some little corner of the Earth to save them from Shipwrack as he saved Noah in the Ark. How greatly desirable is it to be of that Little Number I asked her If these things would fall out at the day of Judgment or rather at the coming of Jesus Christ in his Glory She said Sir We speak of Judgment as if it would be done in one day or as suddenly as an Enchantment This will not be done as we think The Judgment is already made I believe I have told you heretofore The irrevocable Sentence is given there needs no more but to put it in execution The Unrighteousness of Men has so opposed the Righteousness of God that it cannot be any longer without Chastisements or otherwise he would not be Just The Sword of Justice must needs cut off all that it meets in opposition to it And at this time all oppose this Righteousness Therefore all must be cut off This is the Sentence wich shall not be revoked because Men will not revoke their Unrighteousness This Sentence will be put in execution not in one day as People imagin but by little and little to give time and leisure to Men to be Converted if they will seriously think on it Wars are the beginnings of Sorrows After that will follow the Pestilence and Famine Earthquakes in several places Yea even Fire it self as the forerunner and giver of Advertisement All this will prove worse until the consummation of all Evil As the waters of the Deluge always continued yea encreased untill they had carried away all the People who then lived upon the Earth so shall it be of the last Plagues which are already
Heaven and the rest shall be given you this also will not come to pass in this Life For the Servants themselves who seek the Kingdom of Jesus have suffered many Necessities and Lazarus at the the Rich Man's Feet could not obtain a crum of Bread tho' he did not cease to ask it If the Promise which Jesus Christ has made of giving the rest to those who shall seek his Kingdom were to be understood of this present Life none if the Friends of God would stand in need of any thing tho' they should not ask of any it would be needful that God accomplish what he has promised them And if the Kingdom of Heaven were only spiritual as People do imagine there would be no need of any rest or other things after having obtain'd this Kingdom which would suffice fully Do you not see Sir that this promise of Jesus Christ is to be understood of his Kingdom upon Earth where he will give besides his Glory all material things for the delights of our Body Which he calls The Rest and makes us understand that we shall not need to seek and labour to have them but that he will give them freely as an excess of Blessedness And when Jesus Christ says He who shall leave Father Mother Brethren Sisters Lands or any other thing for his Name shall have a hundred fold in this World neither can this be understood of this present Life for the Apostles and so many other Saints who abandon'd all to follow him had not an hundred fold in Earth Mother Brethren Sisters Houses or Lands but on the contrary had need of many things after having abandon'd them Jesus Christ himself after having abandoned the delights of Heaven says That he had not in this Life a stone where to rest his Head How then should his Promises be true that he would render a hundred fold in this Life Jesus Christ can he lie and make all who have abandon'd all for his sake to be afterward in want of things necessary which would be very far from having the hundred fold of them We see the Wicked have ordinarily more Prosperity in Earthly Goods than the Just Jesus Christ would be a deceiver to falsifie his Promise which he has made unto all those who shall forsake all for his sake This cannot be thought But he promised to those who shall have left Father Mother or any other thing for his sake that they shall possess Life Eternal which shall be in that World when Jesus Christ shall come to dwell with his Creatures where he shall render the hundred-fold of all the things which they shall have forsaken for his sake for one Father they shall find an hundred because all those Blessed Ones shall have the Hearts of a Father and Mother toward their Neighbour All shall be Brethren and Sisters under the government of one and the same Father And the Earth being purg'd from all the Wicked shall suffice to give unto the Just an hundred times as much as they shall have abandoned in this miserable Life Lo thus the Promises of Jesus Christ shall be accomplish'd in a perfect sense in his Kingdom which can in no wise be accomplish'd in a perfect sense elsewhere no more in the Empireal Heaven as is imagined than in this time of Penitence There would need years of time to relate unto you Sir all the passages of Holy Scripture which verifie these Truths for when Gabriel says of Jesus Christ that he shall be great and be called the Son of the most High he cannot speak of his coming in the Stable of Bethlehem for he was but a little Infant abandoned and neglected of Men where his Grandeur did consist of Poverty and Miseries And when he began to be known and to speak in publick they call him the Son of the Carpenter and of Mary amongst the common People Which is very far from being call'd the Son of the most High and how should he lift up his Horn seeing he was wrapt up in Swadling-cloths and bound with Swathing-bands And it seems he had not strength to resist King Herod and the Pharisees who pursued him to death before whom he fled instead of resisting Do you not see Sir that nothing has in this World its perfect Sense Nevertheless all that is spoken by the Holy Spirit must be intirely fulfilled And if we hope that this accomplishment ought to come to pass in this time of Penitence we deceive our selves for the more it shall continue the more will Men mistake the greatness of God and the less will they call him the Son of the Most High and the less will he make his strength appear that he may give place to Man to use his Free-will But as soon as the time of the Reign of Jesus Christ shall come he will exalt his Horn to exercise his Power and condemn the Wicked and he shall be known of all Men for the Son of the Most High For he will come in Majesty and Power to rule over all things Whereas in the Empireal Aether there will be no need of exalting his Horn and shewing his Power seeing all submit to him by Love It is therefore of the day when he shall come to reign upon the Earth that Zacharias speaks by his Prophetical Spirit when he saw the Glory of Jesus Christ upon Earth And when he himself says If I be lifted up I will draw all unto me he does not speak but of this Kingdom to come For he has not drawn all unto him by his death upon the Cross because the most part of Men has since voluntarily yielded themselves unto the Devil The Twenty ninth Conference Of the Marks to know that we are fallen into the last Times and that the World is Judged to wit That Men are without Righteousness Truth and Goodness before God and that the execution of the Plagues makes it already effectually to appear I said to her That I understood sufficiently what she meant by this Reign of Jesus Christ upon Earth that I would apply my self to discover it more intreating her to tell me the Marks whereby to know that we were in the last times and that the Judgments were at present begun She said Sir observe well the deportment of Men and you will see clearly that it must needs be that they are Condemned for therein you do not perceive any Penitence nor desire of amendment On the contrary they grow every day worse and cannot so much as suffer that the truth of their faults should be shewn them and reckon themselves more secure in evil-doing than the Good have ever been in well-doing For the Saints themselves have feared God and dreaded Death Whereas Men at present have lost the fear of God and fear only Men and instead of dreading the passage of Death they dread only the day in which they must lose their Life which they love more than God Every one lyes
and he is as careful to have Honours and Riches as Secular Persons One says that he loves God and he loves nothing but himself One says I am retired from the World nevertheless he has as much affection for it as before and studies to satisfie himself In Short Sir there is nothing but Lies and deceit among all Men even those whom you esteem to be good Men they have nothing but apparent Vertues which are very displeasing to God and draw down his avenging hand upon our criminal Heads Because no body fears God any longer but by word and they who fear their Damnation perswade themselves that they fear God while out of pure self-love they fear the evil due to their Sins that they may continue in them and they place their Piety in outward Devotions with which they do more distract their Understanding from God than fix it upon him And yet they believe they are Just and Pious fearing God tho in the mean time they have neither the one nor the other of these Virtues Thus you are deceived with thousands of others who are in the good Opinion that there are yet many good Persons upon Earth I ask'd her How we might know the true Righteousness nd Virtues of Men She said Sir no body can know it as to others but they who possess it themselves Therefore I told you that union with God is needful for to know true Virtue This union makes us partake of the Virtues of God so that he who is in God partakes of his Righteousness of his Goodness and of his Truth The RIGHTEOUSNESS of God is always just doing justly to all as well to our Enemies as to our Friends not enduring any Injustice no more in our selves than in others neither in small matters nor in great Our Works are always accompanied with this Righteousness and also our Words our Counsels our Business and even our good Works Knowing well that without this divine Righteousness nothing can be good And even as God never does any thing without this Righteousness So we do all things righteously so much as we draw near to God we are as much Righteous and no more and he who partakes of this divine Righteousness discerns and knows very easily the Righteousness and Unrighteousness of others For if their Righteousness be of God it will always be conform to that which we partake of the same God and if it be not it will directly oppose it There are some who would believe that one had the art of Divination when he can discover false things which appear true to the eyes of Men But this does not proceed from any Divination but only from the Righteousness of God When it refides in a Soul it perceives immediately that these apparent Righteousnesses do resist and are contrary unto the Righteousness of God For Example a Judge will give good Justice to a Party because he is recommended to him by some of his Friends This is nothing but an Human Justice because it has had respect to Men For to be Divine it ought to have respect only to good Right which is not observed in the present time wherein the Proverb says He who has good Right has need of good Help It is the same as to Piety and Devotion If they go to Church to the Mass and the frequenting of the Sacraments out of natural custom or inclination or because it is good and laudable This Righteousness is not of God because it respects our selves or Men. And if you partake of the GOODNESS of God Sir you will do good to all Creatures indifferently as he does without wishing good to your Friends and hating your Enemies or not helping them in their need But when our good deeds are partial respecting our Kindred our Allies our Friends and Neighbours then our goodness is nothing but Human. This is easie to be observed by him who partakes of the goodness of God who loves nothing but that wihch is good and conformable to Righteousness and Truth Whereas Human goodness respects nothing but that which is sensible to Nature leaving sometimes Righteousness and Innocence without help to succour its Friends yea even to excuse or cover their Iniquities These are all goodnesses without Fruit having received in this World the reward of such good Works For if we do good to our Friends they will do the like to us and so we shall be payed without having right to pretend any other recompence therefore in Heaven Jesus Christ has advertis'd us of this saying When you make Feasts do not call the Rich lest they bid you also and thereby you receive no reward And if you partake of the TRUTH of God Sir you will very easily discover Lying because this strait Truth does always oppose that which is contrary thereunto There needs but to walk Strait to overturn that which is Crooked The Spirit of Truth is incompatible with that of Error There needs but to speak the Truth simply to reprove Lying Many Persons are troubled to understand the Truth who if they were not in Lies could not be troubled at it because it is always desirable and enlightens the Understanding Truth being God ought to be loved and received by every one and as much as it is now out of credit it is so much an evidence that all have abandoned God in abandoning Truth Righteousness and Goodness There is no other God but he who is the source of these three Vertues of which Men now have not retain'd any foot-steps and at present those are esteemed Saints who have but human Righteousness natural Goodness and political Truth and yet they will not believe that we are in the last Times and that the World is Judged What more certain Marks can we have Outward Signs are a very small matter in respect of seeing that all Men have Abandon'd their God Draw near to God Sir and you will discover it as well as I. I said to her That if it were needful to exercise the very same Righteousness Goodness and Truth of which she spoke to me that all the World would Perish and no body should be saved For all Men are very far from it She said It is true Sir all the Wicked will perish among whom notwithstanding there will be yet some sav'd because they are so thro' Ignorance These indeed will yet receive the Light of Truth with which they will discover the Lyes which have been taught them For many have entred into the Spirit of Error thinking they did well and if they had been taught there is no Salvation but for those who resign themselves wholly to God and unite their Wills to his they would assuredly force themselves to find this Unity of their Wills with God and would have resign'd themselves to him far more easily than they have done to follow so many different Exercises of Devotion For one has taken the Order of S. Francis and goes bare-footed without wearing Linnen
upon his Body Another that of the Carthusians never to eat Flesh nor converse in the World Others rise in the Night to pray Others wear Sackcloth and exercise Discipline making long Prayers and singing Psalms vowing Obedience Poverty and Chastity with a great many other Things painful to the Body and to the Spirit In which all the People desire to imitate them according to their Condition Some will fast sometimes a Week will take Directors to submit their Wills to them will force themselves to say a great many Chaplets or other Prayers and to be in Churches as much as is possible for them with a great many other things which are troublesome and oft-times of little profit for the Salvation of their Souls But if they had been taught That to be saved they must resign themselves to God they would more easily have found this Resignation than all those things which are superfluous for many and would more easily have resign'd their Wills to that of God than to some Man subject to all sorts of Passions Those I say having discover'd the Truth will be converted by the Plagues and will endeavour to approach to the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God as much as they are now far from it thro' Ignorance No Body must any longer be flatter'd Sir All those who shall not have this Righteousness of which I have spoken to you will not be sav'd Neither you nor I nor any Body be who they will can be sav'd but by God therefore Jesus Christ has said That with Men it was impossible to be sav'd but that it was possible with God To shew that upon this Union with him our Salvation does depend And that all those means introduc'd by Men are a very small matter for they can serve only to some for means to attain to this Union serving for others for great Hindrances For this Union requires a Recollection of Spirit and not the Diversion of it to so many different things I said to her That no Body doubted that our Salvation depended upon God That no Body could save either himself or others That this Passage of the Gospel was so understood She said Sir you do not understand me well Our Salvation does not depend upon God as you believe it that he saves one and damns another without our contributing thereunto This is an Error which puts the Salvation of the most pious in hazard For God will damn no Body without Sin and likewise he will save no body unless they give themselves to him of their own Free-will And what Jesus Christ said to his Apostles It is impossible as to Men to be sav'd but that it is not impossible to God is to be understood as long as a Man shall live to himself it is impossible for him to be sav'd But if he come to unite himself to God returning with the Heart to him he will save him And when you say to me That all the World will perish if they must needs Exercise the very same Righteousness of which I speak because Men are very far from it it is a certain Truth that continuing in the State in which they are they will all perish For living to themselves it is impossible as to them But if they be converted and return unto God he will save them No Body can look for Salvation after the manner that they live at present for they know not God any longer all having abandon'd him I ask'd her How she perceiv'd that the World is judged and that the irrevocable Sentence is given She said Sir I perceive this by the Justice of God which cannot suffer an Universal Evil without an Universal Chastisement When there have been particular Wicked Men God has condemn'd them in particular For his upright Justice never exceeds nor diminishes any thing from the Merit or Demerit of Men doing always justly as well to the Evil as to the good Now Men having generally all of them abandon'd their God have in doing this given Sentence of the general Destruction of the World which shall not be recall'd because the Will of Man is not inclin'd to return to him but rather to be the more estrang'd from him if the Plagues should yet be delay'd Therefore I affirm with Assurance Sir that the irrevocable Sentence is given to purge the whole World by divers Plagues of War Pestilence and Famine which are fram'd of the three means which have caus'd Men to abandon God Three general Sins will have Three General Plagues The first is that Men have all abandon'd the Love of their Neighbour and instead of loving him as themselves according to the Commandment of God every one endeavours to make War against him by Contempt Envy and Jealousie By Quarrels Lyes and Cheatings All these things have made Man abandon God in his Neighbour who is his true Image They study not only not to love him as themselves but also to vex him in all things There is nothing but Wars and Divisions even among Kinsfolk yea between the Father and the Son All these Discords together do they not make an Universal War We are astonish'd to see the Wars of Provinces and of Kings without considering that every body does the same thing according to his Power A Clown will sometimes fight with his Companion for a Farthing He does as much Evil in proportion as a King who fights against his Equal for a Kingdom for God regards nothing but the Wickedness of the Heart and not the Worth of the Subject If he permit Kingdoms to be everywhere in Wars it is by an exact Justice when all private Men are so already Could he deny Kings the same Liberty that he permits to all others since they were all equally created with the Disposal of their Free Will the King as well as the Clown Would it be just that God should take from Kings the Power to make War and permit it to private Persons He would be a partial God an accepter of Persons If we did live in Peace with our Neighbour God would only punish in particular the Kings which make War But our Domestick Wars do merit that we should suffer Universal Wars and that by a just Judgment Since we will not continue in Peace with God with our selves and with our Neighbours it is not at all meet that we should be so with Kings For our Wars have made us abandon the God of Peace and draw upon our selves the Plague of War by our Sin of Dissension The Plague of Pestilence is also justly prepar'd for us Because all Men in general have abandon'd their God for the Affection which they bear to this miserable Life It is therefore just that it be taken away from us since it has serv'd us for a mean to abandon our God who gave it unto us only that we might love him and we have loved the Gift more than the Giver our Life being the Time of Penitence wherein we ought
always to aspire to that which will be eternal But on the contrary we would be content to lose it the Eternal provided we might live here always All Men almost are in this Error by which they draw down the Plague of Pestilence to put an End to Desires so impious which have made them abandon their God This Life must needs be taken away from us since it serves as a mean to withdraw us from God The Plague of Pestilence is justly sent upon us to give Death to those who love their Lives more than God As is also that of Famine because so many Men have abandon'd their God for the Pleasures of the Mouth How many are there who love Meat and Drink more than Spiritual Delights Provided the Mouth and the Belly be satisfied they care very little for God Is it not fit that they endure Hunger who think of nothing but of filling themselves This evil is so general that in the best Assemblies of Christians now-a-days they speak for the most part of Eating and Drinking to keep themselves chearful Is it not fit that this should be chastised with Justice by an universal Hunger since this Sensual Appetite has caused an universal Sin by almost all the Men of the World From whence I draw the certainty that all are judg'd and that the Sentence is irrevocable Because no Body repents of these three Sins which form the last Plagues and God cannot defer longer to send them I ask'd her how we could believe that the last Plagues were begun She said Sir Do you not perceive that we are abandon'd to the Spirit of Error That Lying prevails and that Truth is opprest That Men promise themselves Peace and Security in the midst of such evident Perils That there is no longer Righteousness nor Sincerity or Fidelity among Men That Evils are conceiv'd without Fear and brought forth without Reprehension That the Just is punish'd as guilty and the Guilty supported and defended That there is no longer neither Faith nor Law among Christians and that they live in a Neglect of God and of their Salvation Are not these the greatest Plagues that could ever befal the World They are more to be dreaded than Fire Pestilence War and bodily Famine which can but kill Bodies Whereas these Spiritual Plagues kill the Soul which is an Eternal Spirit Behold Sir with the Eyes of Truth and you will see that all Souls perish without perceiving it Which is the greatest Punishment that God can ever permit to befal Men. Many say blindly We are at the End of the World for Wickedness abounds in all places There is no Trust to be given to any They deceive one another without Faith or Honesty In saying this they speak the Truth without knowing it far less apprehending it Many Signs have appear'd in Heaven in the Sun in the Stars fearful Comets menacing great Evils which did affright some at first but so soon as the Devil had Leisure to make his Adherents study to find out Reasons shewing that these were but natural things engendred in the Air he made the Fear of those threatnings of God sent as the Forerunners of his Justice to evanish out of their Minds The Sea has yielded blood And as soon as this has ceas'd the Memory of it has been effac'd Fire has burnt many Cities and they have presently found out some Invention to cover all these Warnings which God gives us saying That these are Casual and Natural Things As also the swallowing up of several Towns and Cities caus'd by Earthquakes They attribute all these Things to future and to natural Causes saying That these Countries situate toward the Sea are subject to Earthquakes In short Sir they make all the Threatnings and Warnings of God to evanish out of Men's Minds that no Body may enter into himself to be converted unto him through Fear and Trembling Some Stroaks of Thunder us'd sometimes to shake intire Cities where the People ran to Confession to prepare themselves for Death But now when they see so many several Effects of the Justice of God by Men's being abandon'd to all sorts of Sins and also by all those outward Sings in Heaven and Earth which have appear'd in our Time and to our Eyes no body is converted unto God for this Far less do they Imbrace the Spirit of Penitence It seems they mock at God's Warnings saying These are Natural Things But I would willingly demand of these Ear-flatterers If God ought not to send his Plagues but by supernatural Things and to make Chimera's in the Air He who has created all the Elements must not he make Use of them to chastise the Offences which we commit against him Is there not need of Natural Things to make our Body suffer which are likewise Natural If the Bodies of the damn'd shall indeed be punish'd with Natural Things why should not in like manner our Bodies which are yet living upon Earth Since they are not sensible but of Natural Things they must needs have Subjects conformable to their Nature The Deluge was made by a Natural Rain And the last Plagues will be made by Pestilence War Famine and Fire all Natural Things because the Heaven the Earth and all the Elements ought to rise up against us to avenge the Offence that we do against their Creator and ours If the Fire shall kindle by some accident or the Earth quake by the Tossings of the Sea and overturn Cities would this be accidental unto God who says that to him the Hairs of our Heads are numbred Would he thus let such grievous Accidents fall out Without his Permission this cannot be true But the Devil to divert us from believing that these things are the beginnings of the last Plagues makes it be said by his Adherents that these are Natural Things that no Body may turn to Repentance The Thirtieth Conference How God permits Man to be abandon'd to the Spirit of Error I Ask'd her How God permits that we should be thus abandon'd to the Spirit of Error She said Sir God permits it by his Justice because we have left his Spirit of Truth to hearken unto and follow Lyes He compels no Body leaving every one in the Liberty wherein he created them If Man therewith will needs abandon his God and adhere unto the Devil he lets him for he will not take away again the Free-Will which he has once given him which God will never take back again for he is unchangeable in all his Doings And having once found it good that Man should be a kind of Creature altogether free he cannot afteward find it evil but will leave him this absolute Liberty unto all Eternity If he will use it to love God he will follow the End for which it has been given him and if he will use it to do evil and to withdraw himself from God he is free God will not
Roman Catholicks tho' this they hold for an Article of Faith that none can be saved out of her Communion This is very ill conceiv'd since God is universal and he 's to be found every where by those who seek and worship him For he 's not fix'd to any material Body All Souls who take their Delight in him are his Spouses call them by what Name or Religion you please For all these different Names or Opinions do not make a Christian but only the Practice of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ makes a Christian And all those who put in Practice the Doctrine of the Gospel are Christians and Disciples of Jesus Christ even tho' they were Turks or Heathens Of which Professions I believe several condemn and judge the nominal and professing Christians since God has no Respect of Persons and will judge all Men according to their Works This the Scripture confirms saying by your Works you shall be judged and by your Works you shall be condemn'd And Jesus Christ himself taught the Truth of God his Father to the Samaritan Woman and to many other Nations who were not Jews saying to his Apostles Go teach all Nations He that believes shall be saved He even ate and conversed with Sinners to see if any of them would receive the Truths of his Father and put them in Practice and tho' at first he rejected the Canaanitish Woman as a Dog yet he shew'd her Grace and Mercy by her Conversion and persevering Humility For the same Reason he says to Christians that Publicans and Sinners shall enter into the Kingdom of God and the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out which still farther confirms this Truth That Religion does not save a Man but the Love of God that sanctisies him This made me get over all Humane Respects and declare the Truth of the things which were ask'd me by so many different Conferences all about the Roman Church For at that time I knew no other Religions and with Compassion I booked upon all those who died out of the Romanâ— Church as damn'd as our Divines taught So that being ask'd by a Romish Priest I answered plainly to all his Questions Vpon which many took Occasion to say that I had chang'd my Religion and was become an Enemy of the Roman Church which is not true since being born in it I will live and die therein without changing Name or Religion but only my Manners and Life And will endeavour to be regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and to follow and imitate him even to Death letting Ignorant Men say and judge of me as they please In the mean time I offer this LIGHT OF THE WORLD to all good Souls who seek the Truth and desire to become true Christians that they may truly discern Reality from Appearance For this prevails now through all the World among all sorts of Sects and Religions where every one cleaves to the Bark and does not touch the Wood fancying that Vertue consists in having a fine Religious Name of that of the Reformed the Evangelicks the Catholicks Yea that they are persons guided by the Holy Spirit of which the Quakers boast though all these sorts of Names are false and not at all suitable to the Life and Manners of those who call themselves so For if they who are called Reformed were truly so we would see the Reformation in their Life and Manners Whereas we find they all live according to Flesh and Blood which the Scripture says shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven They are neither reformed in their Moveables nor their Apparel nor in their Eating or Drinking They seek in all the finest and the best They labour and trade diligently that they may have wherewith to maintain themselves in Pomp Excess or Plenty as much as they can without bridling their fleshly Appetites or their Sensualities in any thing still coveting more that they may give it as much Satisfaction as they can that in this World they may have Ease Honours and Pleasure Thus they are called Reformed though in Effect they will not reform themselves in the least thing for the Kingdom of Heaven By which we see that they who call themselves Reformed bear a false Name that makes them Hypocrites and Deceivers of others and of themselves As those also are deceived who call themselves the Evangelicks For in all their Works and Practices there is nothing conformable to the Gospel but all directly opposite to it For they do not observe so much as one Point of the Evangelical Councils For instead of loving voluntary Poverty they love the Abundance and Riches of this World unsatiably and they who ought to be the Guides to those Evangelical Perfections are the farthest remov'd from them abandoning their Flocks and Churches to find others that afford them more temporal Profit They are far from imitating the Apostles who said freely I have received and freely I give thee since these modern Evangelicks give at the greatest Price and to him that bids most And therefore they do not justly bear the Name of Evangelicks since they neither teach nor Practise so much as one Council of the Gospel and have nothing but false Names and Parades that they may appear to be in the Sight of Men what they are not at all in the Sight of God No more than those are Catholicks who bear the Name since to call one a Catholick is to say he is a Person joyn'd in the Communion of Saints which these are not who call themselves Catholicks since we perceive not any Holiness in their Lives but much Vice and Injustice accompanied with Hypocrisie and seeming Vertue without any Reality or Sanctification They boast that they are Abraham's Children without doing the Works of Abraham or that they are Christians without observing the Commands of Christ They content themselves to be called Catholicks without conforming their Lives to those who liv'd holily upon the Earth whose Lives and Histories they read without endeavouring to become holy as they were whose Feast s they solemnize tho' they shall never be in their Communion nor truly Catholicks till in their Lives they follow their Vertues and walk in the streight Way that leads to Life So that this Name of Catholick will condemn them rather than justifie them whereas they presume to be preferr'd by God to all other Religions because they are of the most Holy and Perfect Religion according to the Name of Catholick which they bear This would really be if their Souls were united to Jesus Christ in the Communion of Saints which only and no other thing makes a Catholick By which we see that these Persons bear a false Name since they presume of their Salvation because of the Name Catholick and be-believe they are in the true Church out of which they say there is no Salvation This would be true if the Roman Church were the only Communion of Saints But because
cry out against me as the Jews cry'd out against Jesus Christ Away with him away with him Crucifie him And I believe if the Priests had me in their Power they would gladly cut me off and would have done it long ' ere now But God sav'd me from their Power that I might yet farther declare his Truths to good Souls who seek and desire them which in Obedience to God I 'll do even at the Peril of my Life since Jesus Christ expos'd his to teach me the Way of Salvation And I entreat the Reader to peruse with Attention this Second Part of the Light of the World waiting till the Third follows He shall therein find the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit the Truth of God and the Light of Truth which must teach all Truth The Truth of the Impartiality of Christian Charity and of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and particularly the discerning of true Vertue from that which is but apparent and the Errours crept into Holy Things more clearly than they 've ever yet been discover'd in the World Receive it therefore as a Present of great Value from her Hand who loves only the Salvation of your Soul and continues Friendly Reader Your very Affectionate in Jesus Christ Anthoinette Bourignon THE SECOND PART OF THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD The First Conference How the Opinions of the Learned are injurious to God they being ignorant of his Works Of God's Presence and of his Grace Of the Liberty Power and Weakness of Man and of the State of Infants before the Vse of their Reason I Said to her That never any Body had known so much of the Works of God and that many Disputes and Questions had been raised in the Church to discover such Secrets She said Sir I have often trembled upon the hearing so many Blasphemies as they thunder out against God by such Disputes One makes God the Author of Evil another makes him the Complice another unjust and partial some attribute to him the Cause of Mens Damnation others the Want of their Salvation every one judges of the Works of God according to his Fancy Liking and Inclinations The Learned do greatly deceive themselves while they will needs comprehend by humane Sentiments his Divine Works If any simple Woman of a humble Heart would seriously consider the Works that God does in her Interiour she might give a better Definition of all his Secrets than all the Doctors of the World wou'd ever do with their Learning They amuse themselves in contending about Words or some Terms that they lay down upon which to found their Disputes and thereon they raise great Buildings without any solid Foundation and the more they will dive into the Matter the more they trouble it because God hides his Secrets from the great and the wise of the World and reveals them to Babes and to the simple for he says Except you be converted and become as little Children you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven making appear sufficiently that it will not be by Philosophical Reasons or Disputes that we shall discover the Truth of his Works but by a dove-like Simplicity I said to her That many believed that Man has his full Liberty to do evil but that he is not so free to do well She said These are all Errours for Man has even more Advantage and Inclination to do good than evil if he did not go out of himself by diverting himself to hear the Discourses of Mens Inventions for God having created him for Salvation did consequently imprint in him the Instinct of doing good and the Will also because good is always agreeable and lovely Evil then must needs be contracted from without us for God being the Centre of our Soul cannot but lead it unto Good and if it followed its self it s Bent and Inclination it could not do Evil because Evil is without us we being led to it either by the Devil or some other Creatures without us who stir our Passions and the Powers of our Soul to pervert them to the Will of doing evil otherwise 't is far more easie for us to do good than evil And as the Ray cannot be separated from the Sun so the Soul cannot be separated from God the Fountain of all Good because it has the same Relation to him that the Ray has to the Sun If our free Will did not put a stop to the Rayes of Grace they would enlighten our Soul continually and could not cease from illuminating and warming it But Sins and vicious Affections do stifle and oppose this Light which being hindred cannot any longer shine into our Souls and then during this Darkness they fall from one Precipice into another The Fault is not that this divine Sun ceases to shine for one Moment but that our Sins put a stop to it which if they were removed this Divine Sun would as suddenly shed forth his Rays We must not labour as we think we ought to obtain the Grace of God but we must only labour to remove the Hindrances which we give to it because Grace always offers it self being inseparably fix'd in God who is the ter of our Soul He cannot leave it But our Sins hindring him keep us from enjoying the Effects of this Grace I said to her That Man indeed received Benefits from God in his Creation and his Graces did abound in him But since he fell into Sin he has lost these Graces and is become unable to do good She said Sir you wrong the Goodness of God to speak or believe so For God has not withdrawn from Man tho' he fell into Sin He contains in himself all things and cannot retire from any thing He is as much the Center of our Souls since Sin as he was before and can never go out of any Place because he comprehends all in himself This being so he does not deny his Graces to any Body For they are where-ever he is and being in the Center of our Souls his Graces consequently are there with him but it is our Fault only that they do not there perform Operations It is true if our first Parents had not sinned we had been born in the state of Innoceence and in coming into the World had not brought with us a Hindrance to Grace which we have contracted by our first Parents but by accomplishing the Penitence that God enjoyn'd them for the said Sins we enter again into the same Grace of our first Parents since God treats with us as if we had never offended him their Sins not being able to change the Grace of God but to subject us indeed to Penitence till we arrive at the Use of Reason and then being transplanted out of the free Will of our Parents we enter into our own If from that Instant our Will desires to reunite it self to that of God we shall receive the Effects of his Grace but the Mischief is we
stray to see and hear the other vicious Creatures and commit the Sins that we see in others with the Consent of our own Will which withdrawing it self from God puts Obstacles and Hindrances to his Divine Grace by which it is impossible that we should feel the Effects of it not that we are ever rendered unable to do good for want of the Grace of God which always waits that we may make use of it but it is because of the small Endeavours that we use on our Part to remove that which hinders this Grace that freely offers it self to us so that we cannot say truly that we are rendred unable to do good since the Sin of Adam which cannot extend it self farther over us than till we are arriv'd at the Use of Reason Then we are restored to the liberty of doing Good and Evil tho' all Good comes from God he never denies his Graces to him who seeks and desires them For he loves us always as the Work of his own Hand even tho' we be wicked and if we feel some inability to Good this can never be but thro' the Opposition that we will needs make to the Grace of God who desires to give it us more than we desire to have it This is but to flatter our selves to say that the Sin of Adam has rendred us unable to do good For 't is nothing but our perverse Habits and our Self-will that can give us this Inability We ascribe it also sometimes to the Devil thro' the same Spirit of Flattery for the Devil cannot hurt us in any thing without our own Consent He can only represent evil things to us our Will being free to follow or reject them as also our natural Inclination cannot commit Evil without the Consent of our free Will Sir Slanders and Blasphemies ought no longer to be uttered against God for he is All-good All-just and All-true and can never do any thing that is evil or unjust or against Truth I ask'd her If Man after having sin'd of his own free Will could indeed recover again and return of himself to God She said Sir it seems you would use the School Terms which have occasion'd so many unprofitable Disputes For to say that Man could recover again of himself would be the desiring to shew that he had no need of God's Grace and that his Conversion depended only upon his own Will This would be an Atheism not to acknowledge that all Grace comes from God For there is no Good but what comes from him as being the only Source of all Good If therefore Man forsakes his Sin and returns to God this can only be thro' his Grace but this Grace is always given and never denied to those who seek and desire it and even God prevents us before we ask it Sir let us leave these Terms of Schoolmen and use our own Experience We know well enough how many Graces God has given us even while we have offended him and withdrawn from him how many times has he call'd us back by Remorse of Conscience by inward Light by Adversities by inward Reproofs and so many other Means which God has made use of to draw us to himself after that we have forsaken him by our Sins are not all these preventing Graces If the greatest Sinner in the World would tell the Truth of what he has experienc'd in himself he would tell to his Confusion that God has never been wanting to give him his Grace but he has strongly resisted it Every one may make this Trial on himself Why should we amuse our selves with scholastick Terms which are nothing but forg'd Words We must come to the Essence of the Thing that is that God gives always his Grace to Man how wicked soever he be and when this Grace is not operative it is still thro' the Hindrances which the free Will of Man gives it For God does not give his Graces imperfectly but they have less or more of Efficacy according as Man contributes thereto by his Consent or Co-operation I might answer to your Question if Man can of himself arise again from Sin by saying yes and no For he cannot recover himself without the Grace of God but he will obtain it always even to his last Gasp if he will by his free Will co-operate therewith That so many Sinners cannot get rid of their Sins the Fault is not that the Grace of God is not effectually given them but only that they cleave so closely to their Sins that their Will has not effectual Desires to forsake them S. Austin was one of this kind of Sinners for the Habit of Sin made him believe that it was impossible for him to forsake them But no sooner was his Will effectual than he abundantly experienc'd the help of God's Grace which attended him I ask'd her what she meant by saying that having the Vse of Reason we pass out of the free Will of our Parents and enter into our own She said Sir I mean that our Parents hold our Will united to theirs as long as our Understanding is not capable of making full use of its Reason in that time they may give us to God or to the Devil by their free Will because nothing can continue void neither in Grace nor in Nature it must needs still subsist in something Now free Will cannot subsist in an Infant for it is not yet capable of it neither can it 1ubsist in God since he has given it to Man in creating him He cannot retake what he has once given for a thing given is no more his who gives it Of Necessity therefore this free Will must continue united to that of our Parents till we have arriv'd at the Use of Reason and are capable of being able to use it our selves as the free Will of all Men remained in that of our first Father Adam and this by an equitable Justice because God gave to all Men free Will in the Creation of the first so that Adam was free to save or damn all Men who died before the Use of Reason but having lived till they attain to the Use of it every Man enters into the same Liberty of saving or damning himself into which Adam was created For God has created all Men in Adam and has not since taken from or added any thing to them because he maintains eternally what he has once done never changing it All his Creatures will be upheld in their kinds to all Eternity and none of the Works of God shall be altered from the State in which he has plac'd and order'd them so that we are born and abide in the Will of our Parents as we were and abode in the Will of our first Father Adam but as soon as we attain to the Use of Reason we are put in Possession of our own free Will I said to her If it be so that our free Will remains in the Power of our Parents
Conference That the Roman Church is the Spouse of Jesus Christ but that she has falsified her Faith to her lawyul Husband I Said to her That she gave a deal of Light in divers things for which I did infinitely bless God but I could not deny it troubled me a little to hear that the Roman Church was thus fallen from the Spirit of true Christianity She said Sir it is more expedient for the Salvation of your Soul that you know the Misery into which the Church has fallen than if you knew the highest Mysteries of the Trinity or the greatest Good of all Men together Because an Evil known is easie to be avoided But as long as 't is unknown and hid from us it is always dangerous and may greatly hurt us without our being aware of it Therefore you ought to give the more Attention and to apply your Understanding more to understand and comprehend the Truth which I tell you of Evil than to discover the Good For if I told you the Good of all Men this would only give you some little Contentment or sensual Satisfaction which would add nothing to your Soul But by knowing the Evil as it is you may prudently beware of it that it do not touch or harm you For all these Evils which I said were introduc'd into the Church even while it was yet Holy are all covered with Appearances of Good and Piety and Reason because the Devil could never have gained so many Souls as have followed him but under this Colour or Mantle of Good And he will yet gain many by their Ignorance of these Evils or by their Unbelief of them For as long as they take Evil for Good they will still blindly follow it and Ignorance will not excuse the Sin For God having given us an Understanding to comprehend and a Spirit to discern we ought particularly to apply them to what concerns our Salvation and when the Truth is set before our Eyes and we will not open them to consider it we resist it and may look for the Condemnation of the Holy Spirit who says that Vnbelievers shall have their Portion with Sorcerers I said to her I would not be incredulous but believe the Truth But that I felt an inward Opposition when it thus overturn'd the Church in the chief Points of Belief which we owe to it in case it were the Holy Church She said Sir I believe in the Holy Church and if I had a thousand Lives I would voluntarily expose them for its Defence and would think my self happy to spend the last Drop of my Blood for such a Cause But when God makes me see clearly that She is not Holy nor that which Jesus Christ established but that She is the Whore which is spoken of in the Revelation I cannot resist so clear Truths which do not only lie secret in my Soul but God gives me also Terms and Words whereby to explain them to you that you may likwise receive the Knowledge of them for your Salvation For which I have often bless'd God who bestows on us so many particular Favours hoping he will do it also to others But I intreat you doubt not what I tell you of the Miseries into which Men are fallen For they are yet greater than I have told you But persuade your self assuredly if they were not true I would not have engag'd my self in Discourses so melancholly and disagreeable to your Sentiments It would be more pleasant to me to tell you that the Roman Church is Holy and Perfect and that those who obey and follow her are holy This would recreate both my Heart and yours and the Hearts of all who could hear it I should be very light-headed or void of Understanding to please my self with things which displease all the World and which oblige me still to hold my Peace and to conceal my self Because I know very well if they should hear me declare those Truths all the Romanists would rise up against me and even the most Pious would think they made a Sacrifice to God in killing me For they are ignorant of these Truths and are wedded to their Church as if she were Holy knowing no better because the great Darkness that is now throughout the whole World wherein the Devil has bewitch'd all Minds with Errours they may never come to the Knowledge of the Truth which every one withstands even thinking they do well in it I ask'd her If I might not suspend my Belief of those things which were contrary to the Church and believe only what concern'd Vertue and the Love of God She said Sir you can never follow Good without departing from Evil nor adhere perfectly to God without abandoning that which is contrary to him Have you not remark'd in how many things this Roman Church is contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ How therefore can you adhere to her and follow Vertue and the Love of God so long as they are really contrary Jesus Christ says that We cannot serve two Masters without being unfaithful to the one or the other You must chuse which you love best Good can never profit you without the Knowledge of Evil because while you do not know and believe it you will insensibly fall into it yea you will often take Evil for Good For the Evil of this Church is still covered with the Sanctity of pious Reasons and Arguments And if Antichrist did not cover his Wickedness with Vertue he could gain none but the Wicked but with pious Pretexts he gains all the Good who would even make a Scruple not to follow him as you do Sir by your Demand For if you do believe and follow Vertue and the Love of God you will certainly hate all that is contrary thereunto I think I have already told you enough to let you see that the Rules the Commands and Ordinances of this Church are not conformable to those of God who when he created Man gave him full Liberty to use his Will wheras those constrain it in all Points and will not only subject it by Councils or Advices but by Force and Violence both bodily and spiritual So that as much as in them lies they destroy the Law and the Ordinances of God to establish their own Authority and to bind the Souls of Christians by so many Constraints that 't is impossible for them to satisfie them without displeasing God tho' there were no other thing but the forbidding Priests to labour and making them swear never to explain the Holy Scriptures otherwise than the ancient Fathers have done Do you not see Sir that all their Laws are nothing but political and made to maintain their State and Authority If a Prince or a King to whom you were subject did become a Tyrant would you make any Scruple to abandon him when it were in your Power to do it tho' he were the lawful Son of your King and gracious Father who had preceded him A
total Ruin of this Roman Church the Fall of which will open the Eyes of all those who are not in Covenant with the Devil which covenanted Persons will continue in their Darkness notwithstanding of the Light that is given But others tho' Wicked will be obliged to confess their Delusions cursing those who have thus deceived them under the Masque and Colour of Good How many Priests Monks and Religious have said and yet say Come to us who are Christ we 'll pardon you your Sins Give us and you shall be saved But Jesus Christ forbids us to go here and there while they say to us that Christ is there I ask'd her How the Righteousness of God could permit so great a Number to perish thro' Ignorance She said It is a culpable Ignorance Because we have always had the Means to search the Truth if we had had a Desire to find it For the Gospel was recoverable especially in the Roman Church where it remains as the Testament that Jesus Christ has left his Spouse What Unrighteousness was there in God in suffering these Persons to remain in the Ignorance of their Errours since they loved them more than the Truth and because these Errors were more agreeable to their Sensualities they have voluntarily followed them building on the Flatteries of those who promis'd them Salvation by these Errors It would be rather an Unrighteousness in God if he had constrain'd them to follow his Truth after having given them their Free-Will He could not take it back again without Injustice no more than we can any thing that we have given to another It is not in our Power to take it again without committing a Robbery Because the thing given away does not any longer appertain to us Thus God by an exact Righteousness may let the Ignorants err Because their Ignorance is affected For if their Ignorance were out of Simplicity God is so good that he would rather send an Angel from Heaven to enlighten them that they might not perish but when the Free Person gives ear to Flatteries and to those who study to speak recording as they desire to hear he ought not in Justice to hinder them For it is most true that if I were to Day among these erring Ignorants and if I told them the Truth I would not be heard and far less followed Because they who teach them these Errors speak more to their Liking and accommodate themselves more to their Sensualities than the Truth does which often reproves them and never flatters them Thus they with just Reason are abandoned to the Spirit of Error since according to the Saying of the Gospel They have loved Darkness more than Light Therefore they shall perish in the Darkness which they love If you knew Sir the Righteousness of God it would be impossible that you could once doubt of it For it is so just that neither Man nor the Devil can find any thing in Truth to blame in it But when we look on Things on the Outside and according to our Ignorance it seems to us that God does unjust things when they are most perfect The Eighth Conference What are the Sins against the Holy Ghost and how much they prevail I Entreated her to tell me In what Sense she understood that all Christians do now live and die in the Sin against the Holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven them neither in this World nor in the other as she had sometime declared to me She said Sir 't is most true the most Pious now-a-days are lost by these Sins For no body is aware of them and they believe that they are the Sins which are abominable before Men because they shall not be forgiven neither in this World nor in thâ— other But they are only spiritual Sins which a Man may commit without having done an ill Action Therefore they shall never be forgiven because they do not know them and far less will they repent of them For this Cause they will not be forgiven in this World For no Sin is forgiven here without true Repentance and absolute Desire of Amendment which two Conditions are nottobe met with in the Matter of those Sins against the Holy Ghost For they are contrary to Repentance and to Amendment and therefore will not be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other For no body will then receive Forgiveness but they who shall receive the Truth which those who commit one of these Sins do resist by impugning the known Truth So that the said Sins will neither be forgiven in this World nor in that to come I do not speak of an imaginary Paradise because no Sin enters there and consequently they cannot be forgiven if there be none But in the other World which shall be the Kingdom of Jesus Christ he will yet find many Sins to be forgiven at his coming Nevertheless those committed against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven there no more than here in this World because they are opposed to all the Means which can procure this Pardon It is of these that Jesus Christ says That he who has sinned against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him but he who has sinned against the Holy Ghost it shall never be forgiven him Because this Coming of the Holy Spirit on Earth is the last Mercy that God will grant the World and he who shall resist this can never any more repair his Fault He must needs die in it I entreated She would shew to me in particular the Meaning of these Sins against the Holy Ghost She said Sir I do not know them all in Order but I shall speak of those which I remember beginning with that of the Presumption of being saved without good Works This concerns all those who profess to live will For amongst them there are very few who do good Works because they esteem their Works good when they appear such to their own Judgment or that of some others tho' very often they are not such before God because all that 's good before him must partake of his Goodness which is always Righteous and True Now our good Works for the most part have neither the one nor the other of these Conditions For they are done either out of Humane Respects or out of Natural Inclination or they are not truly good in themselves and when we do any good Works out of Humane Respects they are not good before God and can never make us obtain Salvation because we have received our Reward in this World having obtain'd the end for which we have done them to wit the Satisfaction of Men and we have no right to pretend to any other Recompence And if we have done our good Works out of Natural Inclinations or for our own Satisfaction these Works likewise can give us no Pretension to Salvation because they are rewarded by the Satisfaction which we have received in them Thirdly
we do Works as good which are but indifferent or indeed sometimes evil For to go to Church only out of Custom is an indifferent Work and if being there we behave as in a prophane Place it is an evil Work It is the same as to the frequenting of the Sacraments And if we give Alms thro' some Natural Tenderness or Inclination this Work has not that Righteousness nor Goodness to make it pass for Good in God's Sight So that to do no good Works before God and notwithstanding to presume of Salvation is a Sin against the Holy Ghost So that we believe we have merited Salvation by good Works which do not derive their Goodness from God Nevertheless we think he is obliged to give us Paradise as the most part of Pious and Religious Persons do presuming to have that by Right of Justice which is not due to them because there are none but true Righteousness and Charity that can be call'd good Works by which we may hope for Salvation And tho' none be adorned with these Vertues each one notwithstanding believes he shall obtain it as if God could save without Righteousness There is also another Sin against the Holy Ghost which is to impugn the known Truth This is now commonly Practis'd by those who are called Spiritual For if we should tell any of them that they are not true Christians or that we live in the Reign of Antichrist or that the World is judged and that its Wickedness is come to the Heighth they would believe nothing of this loving rather to stick to their old Customs than to learn how they may become true Christians and they would likewise scruple to believe that we are fallen into the Reign of Antichrist tho' we see by Mens Lives and Manners that of Necessity they must be engag'd to the Devil and tho' they see no Hope or Appearance that the World will grow better yet they do not believe that 't is judged Thus they impugn the Truth of all these things the Belief of which might bring them to Conversion and to a Life leading to Salvation but they impugn all these Truths that they may continue in their so dangerous Darkness tho' they be sufficiently known to all those who will open their Eyes But they who will impugn the Truth commit this Sin against the Holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other For they will never be converted because of the Resistance which they make to the Truth which is that that gives Salvation They know well enough that their Life is not that of a true Christian Nevertheless they impugn this Truth because they have no Desire to become one They see the Devil rules thro' all in Lyes and Deceits and that all oppose the Doctrine of JesusChrist and they will not believe that this is the time of Antichrist that they might resist and beware of him and by impugning this Truth they desire not to avoid his Snares They see that Wickedness is universally at a Heighth and they will not believe that the World is judged that they may not be afraid of this Judgment Another Sin against the Holy Ghost is the Envy of the spiritual Good of others which is so generally committed that almost they make no Reflection on it and among the most Pious this Envy is the most ordinary We may only remark the several Orders of Religious Persons They are almost insupportable to one another each one valuing his own Order and Community and they cannot hear the Perfections and Praises of others mentioned without having a spiritual Envy against them secretly in their Hearts and even if a particular Person among them excel the rest in spiritual Good he would be envied yea hardly used by all the rest or imprisoned if he should live in greater Perfection among them than generally they do or should declare the truth of their Faults So that if a votary of any of their Religious Orders should observe literally the Gospel which Jesus Christ has left us I believe he would be martyr'd or so hardly us'd by the rest that it would be impossible for him to live among them without suffering a thousand Deaths of Persecutions and for any secular Person who would observe the Gospel in the World he would be envied likewise by all those who profess to be vertuous and are not who would reject with Contempt this manner of Practice which would not be conformable to their own For there is such a secret Pride in their Hearts that they cannot suffer that another should lead a better Life than themselves nor even that he should have the Name of it but they would endeavour to vilifie and despise him or make him to be suspected of Levity or other Evils in which is now fulfilled the Prediction of Jesus Christ when he says You shall be hated of all for my Name 's sake For the Apostles were never hated of all because many still lov'd and follow'd them But at present this Warning is fully accomplished because he who walks in the Truth is hated of all For this Sin against the Holy Ghost of the spiritual envying of another possesses the Hearts of all those who make a Profession of Vertue Because having no true Vertue they envy that which is true and continue therein all their Days without desiring to change because they do not esteem this a Sin but rather Wisdom that they will not own what they do not practise covering this Sin with a Fidelity and Constancy in what has been first taught them And thus they die in Envy Another Sin against the Holy Ghost which is Obstinacy in Sin is also in use amongst those who make a Profession of Vertue For not being willing to own the forementioned things to be Sins they continue obstinate in them and therefore will not be forgiven because they will not ask Pardon nor repent of them For as much as they are persuaded that they are not Sins because they are inward and spiritual Therefore they die in Obstinacy in Sin And even tho' they should live till the other World they would not be converted from the Presumption of their Salvation because they are possess'd with a good Opinion of their good Works neither will they submit to the Truth which would shew them the contrary Thus they commit this Sin with the other following ones which are against the Holy Ghost Wilful Munder is also committed by the same spiritual Persons and they will not acknowledge it For very often they occasion Death to themselves or others by their sensual or indiscreet Inclinations How many of those do we see wedded to their Appetites of Eating Drinking and other bodily Exercises tho' they be prejudicial to their Health They will not change nor leave them even tho' they be advertis'd of it How many die before their time by too much Eating or Drinking or taking something prejudicial to their Health or
thro' too much Labour And on the contrary how many are there who kill themselves by indiscreet Fastings or other Penances or the Neglect of necessary things All those are wilful Murtherers because they kill themselves to satisfie their own Sensualities or Inclinations and they are also often Murtherers of others because they occasion sometimes their Neighbours Death by indirect Ways as in forcing some to work beyond their Strength or in crossing and vexing them so much in their Goods and in their Spirit that they die of Grief or by not taking away Debates and Quarells when they can do it and these encrease till they come to kill one another or when by some Act or Omission they occasion the Rise of such Debates or when one comes to die thro' the Neglect of our necessary Succour or Assistance By all these things wilful Murther is committed tho' the Will be indirect it ceases not to be before God as great a Sin as a direct Murther For the Life is taken away indirectly as well as directly And sometimes it would be less evil to kill a Person at one Stroke than to kill him by degrees and the Sin also would sometimes be less by a Stroke given in a sudden Passion than when it lasts for so long a time and these Sins are often repeated Nevertheless none do perceive these kinds of Sins to be such as they are but the most spiritual fall into them thro' Negligence and very often without desiring to know them And thus while they do not repent of them they cannot obtain Pardon no more than of the other Sins against the Holy Ghost because they are committed secretly and without Repentance which draws on a Despair of Salvation which is also one of those Sins This Despair of Salvation is ordinarily excited by the Devil at the End of their Life When he he has train'd up Souls in the other Sins against the Holy Ghost he discovers them to them at Death to make them fall into Despair of their Salvation For then their Eyes being open'd to consider the great Number of Sins which they have committed against the Holy Ghost all the Days of their Life of which they have never repented and how often they have receiv'd the Sacraments in this evil State This makes them fall into a Despair of being saved because the Soul is disordered and cannot perceive the Means of its Salvation Yea tho' they should not distinctly perceive all those Sins they are notwithstanding in such Confusion and Perplexity that they durst not hope for Salvation and they would be ashamed to declare their Misery to Men who still held them for good Men. Hence it is that these Souls die without Repentance which is the Consummation of all their Evils For by the straight Righteousness of God no Sins will ever be pardoned without Repentance and they not embracing this die miserably tho' they have lived in a seeming Holiness they go notwithstanding to receive their Portion with Devils even tho' they had but one of these Sins against the Holy Ghost they shall never be saved I said to her That I began to doubt of the Salvation of all Men since they who are called Saints do so commonly perish That these Sins against the Holy Ghost were so much to be dreaded and nevertheless so few are afraid of them that God's Judgment of things is quite different from that of Men. She said Yes truly Sir God's Judgment is quite another thing than Man's For most frequently what they esteem Good is in God's fight very bad This is since they left his Righteousness and lean'd to their own They are now uncapable of making a right Judgment because their own Righteousness is blind and founded only on their own Imaginations and not at all on the Truth which could never deceive them For it is unchangeable and without Dissimulation but the Truth and Righteousness of Men is lying and deceitful and he who trusts in it must of Necessity perish because it flatters us to our Perdition If we had continued in the Righteousness of God our Judgment would have been conformable to his But since we are fallen into Unrighteousness we judge unrighteously both in respect of God and of our selves For we judge falsely of God on all Occasions attributing very often to him the Blame of our Damnation and of all the other Evils which befall us Tho' notwithstanding no Evil can come from God he being the Fountain of all Good to which all Evils are opposite We may also judge amiss as to our selves believing often our Salvation to be sure when it is in great Hazard as you may see by the Deduction of the Sins against the Holy Ghost of which I have so particularly spoken to you to let you see Sir how the most Pious are deceived since they strayed from the Righteousness and the Truth of God they are full of frivolous Devotions which blind their Understanding that they know not real Truth nor solid Vertue but amusing themselves with the Discourses of Men and seeming Vertues they live and die in a Presumption of their Salvation without good Works and thus they perish for ever The Ninth Conference That no body can be saved but he who professes the Goodness Righteousness and Truth of God The World is at present without them but it shall be renewed The Danger that Men are in Secret Evil ought to be discovered I Said to her That many would be deceived at Death because no body is endued with that Goodness Righteousness and Truth of God and if there can be no Salvation without these no body will be saved or very few She said No Sir no body can be saved if he do not possess the RIGHTEOVSNESS the GOODNESS and the TRVTH of God Therefore Jesus Christ says Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect He does not mean that we should be perfect as God in his Power or his Essence but in proportion to our being in his Righteousness his Goodness and Truth The Righteousness of God makes us do all things justly as well in Regard of our Enemies as of our Friends and our selves so that we must always at all times and on all Occasions be righteous both in Word and Deed. In this consists the Righteosness of God For if we are righteous only according to our own Inclinations we have nothing but a Humane Righteousness which ends with us and cannot save us Consider Sir the Righteousness of the Pharisee you 'll see that he fasted twice a Week paid Tithes of all that he possess'd and did other good things in the Judgment of Men and notwithstanding he is rejected by God and not justified which makes it appear to us sufficiently that to be saved we must have another Righteousness than our own that it must be conformable to the Righteousness of God or else it will not avail us for Eternity because it is said elsewhere If your
away all the Fruits of the six Days Labours which he did in creating this beautiful World if all this shou'd be for the Devil and his Adherents No no Sir this cannot go so God must have his time to reign over all his Creatures that they may adore and know him the only true God and that the Number of his Elect may be multiplied as much as he has destin'd them that these never dying may bless him to all Eternity This is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which I wait for Sir with Chearfulness Nothing can afflict me in this Hope It is a joyful Life to think on it what Joy must it be to possess it I said to her That these Words did ravish me with Pleasure but that I had also in Exchange the Grief to believe that all Men now are in a State of Damnation for fear lest I also be of the Number She replied You may indeed rejoice Sir 'T is the greatest Ground of Joy that we can ever have 'T is the Master-piece of all the Works of God and the Accomplishment of all things For this the World is created for this Man is created and for this God is become Man The Coming of Jesus Christ in Sufferings was for Sinners but his glorious Coming will be for the Righteous Therefore he says being in the World I am not come to save the Righteous but to bring Sinners to Repentance God from all Eternity design'd to become Man to the end he might not only make Man like to him but that God also might be like to Man that he might take his perfect and compleat Delight with him 'T is good to consider this Sir that God is not become Man only on design to suffer and to die For this would have been a sad Subject and the ancient Patriarchs wou'd have had little Ground to have prayed and desired so earnestly that God should become Man to see him hardly used suffering Reproaches Scourges and so cruel a Death The Love they bare to God wou'd rather have made them desire to remain in their Captivity than to be delivered from it at so dear a Price as the Sufferings and the Death of God-Man All those Wishes and Aspirations which all the Fathers and Prophets of the ancient Law made cou'd not be for this Coming in Sufferings but rather that glorious Coming wherein Jesus Christ being lifted up will draw all Men unto him which his Death on the Cross has not done because very few followed him then and no body follows him at present This is very far from drawing all to him seeing so few have been drawn from the Beginning of the World even till now Must there not a Time come wherein that he may fulfil his Word he will draw all in general to him Must he not also to make the same Accomplishment take away the Sins of the World For his Death instead of taking away the Sins of the World has rather brought on more because they have encreas'd and multiply'd since Can God fail in his Promise Must there not come a time when he will take away all the Sins of the World If this were not God shou'd not be faithful in his Promises which cannot be true For Heaven and Earth shall pass away but his Promises shall not pass away There is not a Syllable of them which shall not have its entire Accomplishment in an altogether perfect Sence They wou'd sometimes make us believe that all this shall be fulfilled in Paradise and they tell us that nothing defiled can enter there How then shall there be Sins there to be taken away And if all the Blessed are united to him there will be no more need of drawing them I said to her That I was so convinced as to believe that we must look for a new World and a new Earth and that I knew well enough that nothing of the holy Scripture shall have its Accomplishment in this World but that I was not freed from the Trouble of believing that all Men now were in a State of Damnation of which Number I was one tho' nevertheless I desired to be saved whatever it cost She said Sir to discover Truths you must always take things in their Source Consider I pray you that the Coming of Jesus Christ in Sufferings was for no other Grounds but to make known to Men their Sins in which they liv'd so blindly that the most Part knew not what they did but followed one another insensibly in the Way of Perdition as they do yet at present God of his great Mercy wou'd have become Man before his Coming in Glory that he might bring Light to Sinners whereby they might know their Sins and to teach them in particular what they ought to do and avoid to the end they may observe the Law of God which he came not to change nor abolish no more than to give a new one but only to teach the Means by which Men shou'd easily attain to the observing of this Law of God which was given from the Beginning of the World and will never be changed For God will never demand any other thing of Men but the Dependence which they ought always to acknowledge they have on their God who has created them and given them all things In the Practice of this Dependence is contain'd all the Law and the Prophets and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ They can have no other thing in Substance But Men being fallen from the observing of this first Law have need from time to time of divers Means to raise them again from their Fall For these ends Jesus Christ is come into the World timously and ere it perish before his limited time that taking Humane Flesh he might teach Men palpably according to their Senses to the end they might not be any more ignorant of any thing but might get out of Darkness to discover their Sins and see clearly the Way they ought to take to come to Salvation And that those Means which Jesus Christ came to teach them might not seem too grievous and difficult to them he wou'd needs pave the Way himself and put them in practice all the time he was on Earth to the end Men might afterwards follow his Steps and imitate his Example By this Foundation Sir you can easily discover whether all Men be in the Way of Salvation or Damnation Lay this down first that no body shall be saved but he who keeps the Law of God Secondly that Men thro' their Frailty cannot observe this Law but by such Means as Jesus Christ has taught them because they imagine that they live in a Dependence upon God when they do but depend on their own Wills To make this known Jesus Christ teaches them that to be his they must deny themselves Not that this Law of denying ones self was ordain'd in these precise Words in the Beginning of the World but it was tacitly contain'd in
the Law of LOVING ONE GOD ONLY because we cannot love him only when we love our selves and whereas Men did not understand well the Contents of this Law Jesus Christ is come to explain it to us so particularly by all the Precepts of his Gospel that no body can be ignorant any longer how he ought to keep the Law of God and consequently work out his Salvation because this Gospel Law does precisely mark out to us all that we ought to do and to avoid So that we must not look any longer from any neither from God nor Men for other Instructions in order to our Salvation because Jesus Christ has omitted nothing nor said any thing that is superfluous but shewn us all things necessary for obtaining eternal Life Now consider Sir if you know any living this Day in the World who have entirely resign'd their Wills to that of God and who love no other thing but him If you do not know any be firmly persuaded that none within your Knowledge is in a State of Salvation And fearing lest you be deceived by this general Persuasion as many are who persuade themselves that they are resign'd to God and love none but him remark particularly if they observe the Gospel Law For we cannot observe the one without practising the other For he who has entirely resign'd his Will to that of God lives no longer to himself but God lives in him and works there all that Jesus Christ has taught seeing the same Spirit lives in one resign'd to God which lived in the Body of Jesus Christ There can never be any difference here being in both the same unchangeable God I said to her That this being supposed I had good Ground to fear that all the World was in a State of Damnation and I likewise but that I would get out of this Darkness and receive the Light that God should give me that I might follow him She said Sir you 'll be happy in doing it For otherwise it is to be feared you may perish with others because all the World goes on blindly to Perdition but the Light is now arisen in Darkness Do not reject it to love your Darkness rather than the Light but rather walk according to it while the Day doth last that is to say our short Life which is nothing but a Day in Comparison with Eternity The Night of this Day is our Death after which there is nothing more to do In whatsoever State we die we shall abide in it Therefore we ought not to let the Occasion slip that is now offered us Let not your felf be gained by Flatteries nor by false Persuasions Seek always the Truth For they who flatter us ruine us Look on all those as Flatterers who speak to you according to their sensual Inclinations and hold those for Deceivers who persuade you that you are a good Christian and that you will be saved after the Way that you live at present For there are no true Christians but those who follow and imitate the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ and there is no Salvation to be hop'd for but in keeping the Law of God You must take up with these two Things Sir if you wou'd attain to Salvation the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus The Holy Spirit which is now come into the World brings no new Law nor new Explications of it because Jesus Christ has sufficiently explained it He comes only to make the Law appear and the Sins that are opposite to it to the end that we may embrace the one and reject the other You have wondred sometimes that I told you so many evil Things of the Church and of spiritual Persons Believe me this was not but by the Light of the Holy Spirit that you might avoid the Evil in order to the doing well since you cannot love the one without hating the other Truth must always discern the one from the other or otherwise you will be easily deceived as all the World at present is who take Vice for Vertue and apparent for true good Therefore receive the true Light that you may judge uprightly and not according to the Appearance of Things For the Devil is so covered with Virtue and cloathed with Hypocrisie that he deceives even those of the best Dispositions There are frequently so many false Goods in the World that we do not distinguish them from the true And that we may not come to discover them he puts some Scruples in the Minds of good Men that they may not believe the Truth of the Evil and makes his Adherents teach that 't is a Sin of Detraction to discover the Faults of Priests and of those who make a Profession of Vertue that their Sins remaining secret they may deceive the more and may commit them more honourably and they say that a Man should take his own Garments to cover the sins of the Priests That you may see that this Doctrine comes from the Devil you need but mark what Jesus Christ did in such Encounters whether he covered with his Garments the Sins of the Popes Bishops and Priests who were in his time We will find that he declared them openly before all the World calling them Hypocrites Generation of Vipers wicked Sepulchres and so many other Names to the end he might declare to People their Wickedness that they might beware of them For he says beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and of those who come to you in Sheeps Cloathing and inwardly are ravening Wolves All this with many other Evils Jesus Christ spoke of the Priests of his time and now they teach that we must honour them and speak well of them tho' they live ill Does not this Doctrine oppose that of Jesus Christ and therefore it is Antichristian Nevertheless you Sir with so many others think you commit a Sin to hear the Truth of Evil. 'T is by this false Piety that the Devil takes his Advantage For their Evils being conceal'd they commit them more than if they were discovered because Shame and Humane Respect wou'd with-hold them from Sin and also the Good and Pious wou'd not be so easily deceived as they are by the good Opinion of Evil which often draws in the Good by Ignorance who are persuaded that they who have the Reputation of being good wou'd not do Evil. How many thousand have been deceived after this manner Take heed that you never be one of these but stay yourself on the living Rock which is Jesus Christ He cannot deceive nor fail Take up with his Instructions Sir and follow them You 'll be sure of your Salvation which otherwise I cannot promise you Whatever Men say they are not our Saviours For it is written Wo to the Man that put his Confidence in Man He is truly miserable who grounds his Salvation on the Words and Sentiments of Men who can give us nothing but vain Hopes founded on
and Submission so that we need not seek for them It is only necessary that we practise this Resignation of our Will to God for accomplishing the saving Penitence which he has enjoyn'd us and for the Exercise of all sort of Vertues For as soon as God shall be Master of our Will he 'll lead it to all good so that we shall do no longer Evil even in temporal things For God will govern all with his Spirit of Righteousness Goodness and Truth which can never fail in any thing Righteousness doing good to all and evil to none Truth giving Light to discern all things and so to bring all to a good End If you resolve Sir truly to resign your self to God you shall enjoy all this Happiness but as long as you act by your own Will you 'll spoil all and shall not be saved I said to her That this Way was so streight that one would be afraid to pass through it and that it would make one afraid that he could not be saved She said This Way is only a little streight at the Beginning but as soon as one has forc'd himself to depart from his own Will 't is then so large free and pleasant that there can he nothing more agreeable For the Soul which has resign'd its Will to God lives like a Child without Care and tho' Heaven and Earth shou'd be overturned she is still in Repose and without Fear knowing well that God who governs her is able to preserve her through all She seeks no longer after any thing knowing well that her God will still provide for her She has no more Desire after any thing for she finds in God a Satiety and perfect Satisfaction She places her Hope no longer in any thing but the Promises of God In short Sir this is a Life wholly delightful and pleasant full of solid Contentment which is not founded upon the Levity of Chances or Changes of Men but upon a permanent Stability Whereas on the contrary the Life of one who is governed after his own Will is very miserable and he walks continually upon the Briars and Thorns with which it is sown So that a Soul subject to to its own Passions furnish him with a kind of Martyrdom How many Vexations and Cares are there to satisfie this Self-will which often is unsatiable The more 't is satisfied the less 't is contented How often does our Self-will throw us into irreparable Mischiefs It 's ignorant inconstant insolent hasty and enclin'd to all sort of Evil so that he who follows it is oblig'd to lead a miserable Life and to end it in an unhappy Death It seems Sir you are afraid yet of resigning your self to God as if this Resignatination were a streight Way and troublesome Life when you see by so many Truths that 't is so sweet and agreeable and on the contrary that which seems so pleasant to you is so painful and dangerous All the Difficulty that you 'll find to make this Resignation is no other thing but a Shadow which appears something and in Effect is nothing As soon as you shall turn away your Eyes from your self to look towards God this Shadow of Apprehension will vanish and you shall see it no more I said to her That I was not so much afraid of resigning my self to God For I wou'd willingly do it but that in several Recounters she had given me Occasion to doubt of my Salvation She said Sir do you love flattering Discourses more than the Truth If it be so you may retire from me For I am settled in the Truth and I have no desire to depart from it I can make no Reflection whether it pleases or displeases my Hearers but I am resolved still to observe it tho' it wou'd cost me my Life For he who forsakes the Truth forsakes God which I will never do I love rather to lose the Favour of all the Men of the World than to omit the Truth when I am oblig'd to speak it But setting aside this Obligation I can very well hold my Peace because Jesus Christ has said that Pearls should not be cast before Swine If the Truths that I have told you beget Scruple in you 't is a sign that you are not resolved to be sav'd For otherwise you wou'd greatly rejoyce to understand the Truth Those who are called Swine in the Gospel are Men who make a Dunghil of the Roses of true Vertue or of the Pearls of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Those hidden Secrets are precious Stones and he makes a Dunghil of them who says that they are imaginary or contriv'd things or Heresies All these Sentiments make a Dunghil of the Pearls which are presented to them and according to the Counsel of Jesus Christ they ought not to be told to such but to those who value them as they merit And when yor tell me that I give you occasion to doubt of your Salvation by speaking of true and solid Vertue it seems you wou'd also make a Dunghil of its Roses I have told you the Truth That no body shall be saved but he who of his free Resolution resigns his Will to God's and denys his own You need not therefore doubt of your Salvation if so be you will do this Sir but if you will not doubt confidently of your Salvation For you shall never obtain it This Doubting is good if thereby you take a Resolution to search for the means of your Conversion For the Fear of God is the Beginning of true Wisdom If you be not in Fear as to your Salvation you will presume of it and therefore will be sure of your Damnation Because he who presumes to have it uses no Endeavours to obtain it but dies in a Sin against the Holy Ghost Therefore it is a great Advantage that I have made you doubt of your Salvation since this Doubt will certainly lead you to Salvation I said to her That I desired indeed to have the Fear of God and of my Salvation but that I saw my self so far from this perfect Resignation that it seem'd to me I could never attain to it She said Sir that is nothing but a panick Fear because there is no Ground to fear what we wou'd willingly do If you have been resolved in it for so long a time past suffer not the Devil to tempt you now For there is no more Difficulty at present than the first Day you had the Will to do it Be not carried away by imaginary things which are nothing but Amusements Fix on the Reality of the thing You perceive clearly that you have a Free Will and Choice and that by this you act in all things It is by it you go from one Place to another It is it that desires to see and hear It makes you covet or pretend to Wealth Places or Honours It is it also that desires Pleasures and Prosperities It is it likewise that wou'd rule over others
you would hinder me from hearing God perfectly It is true you do me no hurt when you look upon my Actions as Humane but you cannot profit by them It were much better that you sought God purely and leave me alone to enjoy him more particularly Because the least Unprofitableness does always darken the Soul I have spoken to you of many different Things which may give you Light into the Secrets of God and your own Salvation and particular Perfection There remains only to put them in Practice Read the Holy Scriptures they will confirm you in all that I have told you and give Credit to nothing but the Truth of the Gospel be he who he will that speaks to you For all Men are Lyars And if I shou'd say things contrary to the Gospel do not believe me For you ought not to believe any thing because I say it to you but only because it is really true And if you knew me you should also know God because he is one and the same Spirit in all things So far as you shall discern Righteousness Goodness and Truth in any Person so far shall you discern God living in them and no farther So that it 's never good to follow Persons for themselves but to follow the Righteousness Goodness and Truth which you shall discover to abide in them Therefore it 's not needful to have their bodily Presence it 's enough to accompany them with Spirit and Will in their Righteousness I said to her That she ought not to deprive me of her Company since it gave me so much Light and good Purposes and that I heard her Discourses as proceeding from the Holy Spirit but that I had not as yet strength enough to put them in Practice that I would be constrained to accompany some other Person because I could not stay alone She said Sir if you do this you are undone For now you 'll meet with no body in the World that possesses these three Qualities of Righteousness Goodness and Truth and consequently you seek in vain among Men what you will certainly find with God from whom Men will divert you and fill your Mind with their own Idea's and Imaginations enticing you to follow them Tho' they are not in the Truth yet they think they are and willingly draw over every one to their Errours while they even believe they are doing well Be on your Guard Sir for we are fallen into the dangerous Times foretold by Jesus Christ wherein Many false Prophets shall arise and shall deceive many Obey these Warnings and let not your self be deceived For many come in the Name of Jesus Christ who are in League with Satan and do deceive many Remember still that we live now in the Reign of Antichrist and that God at his Coming finds no more Faith in Israel that is among his People For all have denied him Faith consists in the Belief of the Promises and Word of God Who is there now a-days that hears his Word and acts according to it The Christians are the People of God nevertheless none of them has Faith For if they did believe in one only God they wou'd not make so many Idols that each one has his particular Idol One makes an Idol of his Wealth another of his Honour another of his Wisdom and so of all other things which they adore and esteem So that none has any longer Faith to believe that there is but one only true God whom we ought to worship nor yet the other things which God taught us by his holy Prophets his Apostles and Jesus Christ himself The Church has no longer Faith to believe that all these things must be practised in order to Salvation These seem to be but Stories of the ancient Times and that it 's not necessary now to put them in Practice So that the word is now fulfilled which says that when the Lord shall come he shall not find Faith in Israel He is come and he finds no Faith in his People Therefore take good heed Sir of applying to any body because there is no Faith now among Christians but many Deceivers and Seducers Continue rather alone or follow me yet a little The Fourteenth Conference That the Habit does not make the Monk and that Religions of themselves make none holy Of the Corruption of them and of the Church I Asked her How it was possible that there should be no longer Faith in Israel and yet so great a Number profess the true Faith and in particular so many devote themselves to God in Cloysters and Monasteries that they may the better observe the Word of God and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ She said It 's true Sir a great many profess to be Christians but notwithstanding they are not so While you conversed in the World did you observe any that followed the Doctrine of Jesus Christ that denied himself that chose the last Place or the least when he might have a better and so many other things taught and observed by Jesus Christ I know indeed you will answer me No And I ask you if there can be other Christians than those which follow his Doctrine They call none a Calvinist but he who follows the Doctrine of Calvin nor a Lutheran but he who follows the Doctrine of Luther And why wou'd they reckon those to be Christians who don 't follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ They bear the Title falsly and they lye to the Holy Ghost For they are not Christians before God if they do not observe the Doctrine of the Gospel They but flatter themselves to believe it and deceive themselves to doubt it Do you need any other Evidence Sir than your own Understanding which sees and comprehends clearly enough that these who are now called Christians do not follow Jesus Christ neither in his Doctrine nor in his Works and that they are not Christians but in Word and in Picture having nothing of true Christianity neither following Christ at a distance nor near at hand On the contrary their Lives and Manners are directly opposite to the Life and Manners which Jesus Christ laid before us for an Example when he lived upon Earth Nevertheless you ask me if it be possible to believe that there is no longer Faith in Israel And I ask How is it possible to believe that there are yet Christians upon Earth I said to her That they who retire from the World to become Religious or enter into Cloysters ought precisely to follow Jesus Christ since they make solemn and particular Vows She said Sir do you not see that these Vows are not well observ'd They vow Chastity Poverty and Obedience Remark if this be observed in the Cloysters or among the Monks These are only outward things which seem as little obligatory as Baptism seems For neither the one nor the other is observed and after the outward Ceremonies are performed they do not think any longer on the Promises they 've
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
Infallible and to use his Almighty Power As also to receive Honour appertains to God only and he who seeks and desires it is a Robber and receives what does not belong to him Moreover if you refer yourself in all things to the Church she will oblige you to things against God and your Conscience and make you to acknowledge that some Saints are Hereticks as if the knew of me she wou'd condemn me for such tho' I act only by the Holy Spirit and all the Books that handle the pure Truth are condemned and forbidden by this Church There is no longer any thing but Lying that triumphs in her For she even teaches that we may have the Pardon of our Sins without a precise Love of God which overturns all the Law and the Prophets For they are established and have spoken for no other End but to teach this Love which Man owes to God And now there are Glosses and Arguments found out to disguise this Love and to give it the Mantle of self-love with which they promise us Salvation that they may make us perish insensibly without knowing it For all they who do not precisely love God go to the Devil Say the Church what it please it cannot change the Ordinance that God made from the Beginning of the World I see nothing there but Tricks and Distractions For instead of saying to us what Jesus Christ said to the Young Man in the Gospel If thou wouldest enter into the Kingdom of Heaven keep my Commandments For the obtaining of this Kingdom she teaches us a thousand Fopperies which Jesus Christ never taught us by Indulgencies Confraternities Cords Girdles or Scapularies and Devotions to Images All this to me seems so far from the Spirit of Christianity that I am pain'd at the Heart when I think on 't I believe all these things serve only to dazle Mens Spirits that they may never come to the Knowledge of the Truth and to amuse us as they do the Children with Rattles to charm our Miseries I said to her I would fain discover where the Holy Spirit was that I might follow him She said Sir he is now come in the World You shall know him by Truth Righteousness and Goodness For he is the same with God There are not in God three Persons as People imagine because all that we can say of God is only that he is perfect Love all-just all-good and all-true Behold Sir all that we can know of God in this present Life and when we are told that there are three Persons in God it is to be understood that there are three Powers that Love is his Essence that his Word communicates this Love and that his Understanding makes Man to comprehend it This Love being the Essence of God never beginning and also will never end which Love was communicated to Man from the Creation But seeing he understood it not sufficiently God made his Word to become Flesh that it might be the better understood by an Organ sutable to our Senses Jesus Christ therefore is no other thing but the Word which communicates to Man this Love that is in God and the Holy Spirit is the Wisdom ' that gives the Understanding to comprehend this Love Behold the three Persons that must be known in God these are the LOVE the WORD that declares this Love and the VNDERSTANDING that comprehends it Now the Essence of Love was from all Eterniry But Men cou'd not know it but since the Creation and even then imperfectly Therefore the Goodness of God found out the Means to make it known by this humane Body which he took for this end when he came to treat familiarly with Men he becoming Man to make them see manifestly how much he lov'd them And not being yet satisfied with this to communicate this Love so sensibly he moreover sends his Holy Spirit to teach them all things You shall know him Sir by the principal Qualities of God which are Righteousness Goodness and Truth which are always inseparable from the Spirit of God Remark well if what is told you be still accompanied with these three Qualities I ask'd her If the Holy Spirit comes into the World in Flesh as Jesus Christ did at his Birth She said No Sir there is no need of his coming in the Flesh to communicate himself to Men as Jesus Christ did because he comes not to shew them any new thing for working out their Salvation Jesus Christ having sufficiently taught them all things tho' Men have not comprehended it and now the Holy Spirit comes to give unto the Mind the Understanding of the same things which Jesus Christ taught while he was on Earth Even as Jesus Christ came not to destroy the Law of God but to perfect it so the Holy Spirit comes not now to destroy the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but to perfect it and to give the perfect Understanding of it to all those who will receive it 'T is not Needful that for this end he take a Humane Body because he brings no new Words but new Notices that may be conceived by Mens Spirits These Notices being spiritual have no need of a natural Body that they may be communicated to the Spirits of Men. If you wou'd receive him Sir you must become a Child and submit your self wholly to God and then you will find the Effects But never let your self be deceived by false Appearances For there are now many false Prophets that come in God's Name and are of the Synagogue of Satan as I told you formerly Try always if they who speak to you do possess these three Qualities of God Thereby you shall assuredly discover them For if you let your self be amused with good Words or even by the Gifts of Prophesies or Miracles the Devil can counterfeit enough to deceive you Reject also all those who praise or flatter you Because the Devil does ordinarily use these Means to deceive those whom he desires to gain to himself The Spirit of God is always firm and true full of Righteousness and Goodness There is no need that he make himself visible to the Eyes of the Flesh he shall be sufficiently felt by the Sentiments of the Soul and the Eyes of the Spirit He shall illuminate all Flesh and enlighten the Spirits of all those who will hear and follow him But there must be an humble Heart and a Spirit entirely yielded up to God The Sixteenth Conference How we must beware of false Christs and false Prophets which seduce all the World and are so much followed at present How to discern true Prophets from the false and that it would be to no purpose at present to aim at the Conversion of Christians by preaching the Truth to them I Ask'd her How it was possible to beware of these false Prophets since there were so many of them and that they were disguised with Vertue and Holiness She said
Be upon your Guard Sir For it is in this Age that we ought to be sober and watch continually because the Devil goes about us on design to devour and destroy us If we have not Faith to believe all that Jesus Christ has foretold us we could not resist him because he is so disguised with Sanctity and cover'd with Hypocrisie that the most Pious will blindly believe and follow him Resist him strongly Sir because of the warning that Jesus Christ so often gave us to beware of false Christs and false Prophets that they will seduce and deceive many It is not as to Turks Heathens or Hereticks that Jesus Christ bids us be so much upon our Guard but false Christians who sit in the Throne of God He who has not Faith to believe that this is the time now wherein the Abomination of Desolation is in the Sanctuary cannot resist the Devil because he resists the known Truth and so commits a Sin against the Holy Ghost For this Abomination is so true and manifest that no body can be ignorant of it but they who are obstinate in Sin and will die without Penitence blindly presuming of their Salvation without desiring to discover the Truth which is now set before their Eyes The Holy Spirit who is now come to bring into the World the Light of Truth clearly discovers all things and shall make manifest the Lyes and Defects of those who are believed to be the Church if the People will only give ear to the Truth and not continue obstinately in the Persuasions which they blindly received For such shall be destroyed with Sorcerers not that they shall commit the same Sins with those Sorcerers which poison others but because of their Unbelief they shall persist to believe and follow these false Prophets who shall lead them into the Depth of their own Miseries and this by the just Judgment of God because they loved the Darkness more than the Truth which God sends so liberally for enlightning the World and those who will not receive it resist the Holy Spirit and therefore cannot be forgiven neither in this World nor in the other and consequently they shall be obliged to continue with the Sorcerers whom they wou'd not leave in this Life reckoning themselves to be more holy than the Holy Spirit For they wou'd not believe the Truth of the Evil hid under a Colour of Vertue and Sanctity and resisted the Truth as an evil thing I ask'd her How I might avoid these false Bretheren with whom I must daily converse and if I ought to have an ill Opinion of all She said Sir trust no body unless you see clearly that the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God lives in them or at least that in the whole Course of their Actions they strive to attain to these three Vertues For otherwise you will be easily deceived because you are of easie Belief You shall think you treat with a Servant of God when you shall be treating with a Sorcerer There are so many of them thro' all the World that they make up more than three parts of it and the most Wicked have the Appearance of Vertue and Holiness and by this Hypocrisie they deceive good Men who wou'd scruple to have an ill Opinion of their Neighbour You must not be of the Opinion that all your Friends are Sorcerers thereby to hate and condemn them but you must distrust every one that you may not be deceiv'd by them not to shock them thro' Malice but to beware of them thro' Prudence till you know assuredly that they strive for these three Vertues of God because the Devil can never possess them but in Appearance and 't is easie to discover when they are false For the Qualities of the Devil are Lying Inconstancy Hypocrisie and those who are of the Devil deal usually in Lyes and are inconstant and changeable disguised and dissembled hating the Light fearing lest their Works shou'd be known and made manifest He who is of the Devil is always haughty and proud and affects Honour and will not willingly yield to any body On the contrary he who is of God or seeks him has ordinarily these Qualities he is true sincere and single in Heart and endeavours to conform him self to the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ and neither seeks nor fears nor hopes for any thing without him All these Marks Sir will make you easily discern with what Spirit those are led with whom you must converse that you may not let your self be advised by any erroneous Spirits who are now so numerous and in the highest Places and Dignities Because the Devil being so powerful he still prefers his own to Honours and Offices that by these Means he may gain the more Followers Therefore I advised you heretofore to abandon all that you may not continue in so great Perils as there are now in conversing with Men. I said to her That I had a long time agoe quitted the Conversation of worldly and evil Men but as for those who seem'd to me to be good Men I had never a hard Thought of them and I could hardly believe that they belonged to the Devil She said If none but Worldlings and wicked Men cou'd deceive us Jesus Christ wou'd not have so often said Beware of those who come to you in my Name and deceive many yeae even if it were possible the very Elect. These Words make appear sufficiently that it is not Worldlings and wicked Men of whom Jesus Christ says so often Be not deceived because all good Men do abhor these Worldlings and wicked Men They are therefore out of Hazard of being deceived by them But these devout Persons or who wear Religious Habits being nevertheless in the Devil's Service may deceive many under these false Appearances It is with just Reason that Jesus Christ calls our Times dangerous wherein the Dangers are so cover'd and disguis'd with great Advantages that the one can scarcely be discerned from the other We will esteem it a great Happiness to have some Friend a Priest or a Religious Person or plac'd in some Dignity who being a Man of Honour and Learning will give us his Advice and Counsel both as to our spiritual and temporal Good Nevertheless this Person shall sometimes be engaged to the Devil to do all the Mischief he can Is not this a very dangerous thing For we take their Counsel as if it came from God himself and it comes directly from the Devil who makes us follow his Will under the Pretence of its being the Will of God Was it not needful Sir that Jesus Christ shou'd so often and so precisely warn us to take heed of these Dangers to which no Perils neither from the Wicked nor from visible Devils are to be compar'd because all good Men will always resist them But these false Bretheren who come in Christ's Name wou'd deceive the very Elect Therefore Sir trust no
body tho' they shou'd say I am Christ For Christ is not here and there but only in the Doctrine that he left us by his Word He who believes any other thing is deceived I said to her That if this were true many Souls would be deceived because all they who profess to serve God do follow the Counsel and Direction of some Man and if he be of those who belong to the Devil they may deliver many Souls to Satan She said Sir this is lamentable in our Days wherein they have introduc'd these Directions of Men by which so many are led to Damnation even tho they were not directed by some Sorcerer they are at least turned away from God to adhere to Men. This is a great Hindrance to Vertue and the Salvation of Souls For as long as we adhere to the Creatures we shall never find God The one must go out before the other enter and these Guides instead of leading Souls to God do withdraw them from him even tho' they were good Men because God is jealous and will not suffer a Rival nor our Hearts to be separated or divided If so many Souls be engag'd to the Devil by these Directions it is because they chose rather to be lov'd by Men than God This gives the Devil Power to gain them by the Means of these Directors who are much more lov'd and follow'd than God is For he is often forgotten that they may remember these Men. Wives esteem them more than their Husbands Daughters more than Father and Mother and Men take more of their Counsel than that of Jesus Christ Thus every one furnishes Matter for the Devil to be deceiv'd by him It is by this Door he enters to make himself universal Emperour of the whole World He had gain'd many before the Coming of Jesus Christ but since he slipt into the Church by these Directions he possesses all the Wicked with their own Will and the Good indirectly by the Conduct of his Adherents whom he has introduc'd into the Church For Jesus Christ did never establish such Directions in his Church nor yet his Apostles nor their Disciples If this had been an Institution of the Holy Spirit it wouâ—d have been observ'd by the Primitive Christians who had more Zeal to gain Souls to God than these new Directors have For they rather draw them to themselves than lead them to God This often makes the Guides and those who are led by them to perish and go both together to the Devil I ask'd her By what Means I might avoid the Seduction of these false Prophets since they had the chief Ranks in the Church how I might discover them from the true ones If the one be Priests and Religious Persons as well as the other She said It will be very hard for to discern them unless you read diligently the ancient Prophets There you will find how the true and how the false Prophets have spoken For both the one and the other are this Day guided by the same Spirits The holy Prophets were and still will be led by the Holy Spirit and the false ones were and still will be led and directed by the Devil as well at present as under the old Law There is only this difference of times that then there were many holy Prophets and now there are few or none because the Number of the False is so encreast that they have almost swallowed up the Good And as God is not visible by the Eyes of the Body neither is the Devil visible after that Manner both being invisible Spirits who nevertheless render themselves visible by their Operations For he who is guided by God will still speak o the Truth without regarding whether it please or displease Men On the contrary he who is led by the Devil will still speak as Men are willing to hear Remark well Sir in the holy Scripture you will find that all the false Prophets did then always tell good News and promised to every one Peace Prosperity and Assurance whereby they deceived all the World This is even practised at present For if you take notice of all these Priests and Religious Persons you shall hear them always promising Peace and Safety to every one and that even in temporal Affairs whether as to the State or as to particular Persons You hear them always telling good News and promising that all shall go well So that if you remark the Discourses of these false Prophets of the old Law and the Preachers and Confessors at present you shall hear them all speak almost the same Language For the most Pious now-a-days study to please Men and to tell them things agreeable to their Senses and hereby they destroy all the World For if they were in the Spirit of God they wou'd tell the Truth and wou'd preach to all the World that the Abomination is in the Sanctuary and that it is high time to turn to God That the Ax is laid to the Root to hew down the Tree and to break down that great Statue of the Church which Sin has rendered abominable in the sight of God and also that the Life of Christians is very far from true Christianity and that the best of them live in a Presumption of their Salvation and in other Sins against the Holy Ghost Which is most true But instead of doing this they praise and exalt the Church as if she were holy and they persuade People that they are Christians when they are baptized and tho' they do not at all live according to the Rules of true Christianity that yet nevertheless they shall be saved In which they deceive and seduce them For there are no true Christians but they who observe the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and no body can be saved but he who keeps the Commandments of God the first of which is to love God with all our Heart and our Neighbour as our selves which no body does Nevertheless all these false Prophets tell the People that they shall assuredly be saved and that all shall go well with them Is not this a sure Mark to discern false Prophets from the true because the False flatter us always for our Ruin and the True reprove us for our Salvation He that wou'd deliver himself from being deceived must diligently examine whether these Church-men speak to us according as they are willing to hear or if they truly reprove what is blame-worthy of which sort we shall find so very few that almost none will speak the Truth when it is displeasing to People especially to those who are in Places and Dignities For this cause our Times are justly called perilous Times since the Evil is so masqu'd with Vertue For if the Evil were manifest there wou'd be no danger because all good Men wou'd avoid it and so wou'd put themselves out of Hazard of being deceived whereas when it is covered over with Piety and Vertue
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
they say it daily Or they imagine that this Coming shall be so suddenly as if the Judgment were to be by Way of Enchantment and that it were to paâ—s in an Instant or in one Day These are foolish Speculations For the Judgment is already begun and I know not how many Years it shall last only at the End Jesus Christ shall appear upon the Earth in Glory and Majesty and so shall converse with Men who shall be all made happy with his glorious Presence which shall fill them with Glory and shall wipe away all their Tears and Griefs to bring them into Joy that shall never end They who will not believe this are Enemies of their own Good because there is nothing in the World that can give them more Constancy to suffer than the Hopes they have that in the End they shall see the glorious Coming of Jesus Christ upon Earth All sorts of Consolations are comprehended in this I said to her That the Jews look for the Coming of their Messias in Glory that he would come to reign and abide with them but that the Christians look'd for him only to come and judge the World and to go away again carrying along with him all the Blessed She said Sir the Jews shall not be disappointed of their Expectation They shall see their Messiah in Glory who will govern them upon Earth conversing eating and drinking with them For he himself says that he will make his Friends sit down at his Table and that he will rise up and serve them now in this Paradise which the Christians imagine there shall be no need of sitting at a Table nor eating nor being served And also when Jesus Christ said to his Disciples that he would drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine till he drank it new in the Kingdom of his Father he means certainly of the Earth which shall be the Kingdom that God will give to the Body of Jesus Christ Because in the Divine Kingdom there can be no Planting of Vines nor making of Presses to drink Wine there Truly Sir the Christians are superstitious in many things and they judge rashly of all that they do not comprehend They may clearly see by the holy Scriptures that Jesus Christ shall have a glorious Reign and that he will be the Restorer of all things and also the Saviour of Men Because all the Prophets with the Apostles and other Saints have sufficiently spoken of these things which shall certainly come to pass For the Scripture cannot err or fail But because they have not received the compleat Knowledge of them to explain all the Christians Fancy in their Speculations that this shall come to pass in a divine and incomprehensible Paradise without reflecting that the divine Kingdom cou'd not be promised to Jesus Christ because as God he always possess'd it and has no need of being promised what he possesses For Possession is always greater than Promise for that is wholly accomplished by Possession Therefore the Promise of Jesus Christ must be on Earth where he shall reign over all Men shall save them and re-establish all things because in the divine Heaven there is nothing to be re-established For nothing was ever spoiled there Nor any to be saved because all that are there have Salvation and whither can they imagine that God shou'd carry the Blessed with him since he comprehends all things and cannot be contain'd by any thing They speak of God as if he had a Closet somewhere for his Retirement I said to her That the Jews had look'd a long time for the Messias but that the Christians did not expect him till the Day of Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead She said Sir the Jews have done well always to wait for their Messiah For a Thing is then more loved when it is long desired It is a constant Faith that makes them persevere in this Expectation which shall be recompensed with a great Joy when they shall receive the Fruit of their Hope For it is not vain but very well founded on all the Holy Scriptures which is the most solid Foundation in the whole World since it is the Word of an all-wise all-good and all-mighty God But when the Christians look for their Saviour only on a certain Day they are not so diligent to prepare for his Coming which they imagine to be yet far from them They confound divers things together which have no Relation to one another and they make but one Day of the Plagues the Judgment the Resurrection of the Dead and the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory as if all these things were to be done together But they are greatly deceived we have not a God of Confusion who surprises Persons at unawares confounding them by precipitating things On the contrary all his Ways are so well regulated and ordered that there is not a Devil in Hell that cou'd say in truth that God gave him the least Surprize or that he could find in all his Works the least Injustice or Want of Goodness and Truth This being so how cou'd it be that God shou'd send all his Plagues in one Day that no body might have Leisure to be converted being surprised so suddenly with so many different Evils as to be chastised judged raised again saved or damned all in one Day If God has been just good and true from all Eternity wou'd he become impious at the last Day This cannot be But Men mistake him and every one judges of him according to their Fancy For if they wou'd judge uprightly they wou'd not dare to say that God cou'd surprise Men to judge and chastize them so suddenly I wou'd gladly ask Christians where they find it Written how long the Judgment shall last I said to her That no body had distinguished these Times and that all Christians believed that the Judgment the Chastisement the Resurrection of the Dead and the Coming of Jesus in Glory were but one and the same thing and that they should come to pass all together She said Sir They are very much deceived For these are all divers things which must come to pass at different Times For first of all the Judgment is when God saw the universal Iniquity of all the Men of the World and that not so much as one knew and lov'd him he by streight Justice judged and condemned the World And that he might not surprise any he delays the Execution of his Sentence that Men might discover by Experience that the World is judged seeing the Evils to encrease and Peoples Amendment desperate This is the greatest Evidence to verifie that the Sentence is irrevocable God does this that Men remarking these Truths may quake for Fear and be converted unto him that they may obtain his Mercy at least every one for their own particular I believe Sir that these thirty Years the World is judged and condemned and that now the
Time is come to put this Sentence in Execution It will begin with the Plague of War and then that of Pestilence and after of Famine that there may be time given to all Men of good Will to repent and to take these Plagues in Penitence for their Sins and by these Sufferings to find a Way to return to God with all their Heart and to rise from Death to Life that is to say from Sin to Grace as the Jews shall do by being converted first of all that the Lord may find them watching at his Coming and may say to them Well done good and faithful Servant because thou hast been faithful in a few things I will set thee over great things Enter into the Joy of thy Lord Which Joy shall be recovered at the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory who will overthrow all Evil by the Brightness of his Coming which shall be seen and understood by all the Men who shall then be remaining on the Earth Thus it is that God orders these last things with Weight and Measure that he may still exercise his Righteousness Goodness and Truth even to the End of the World waiting still for Sinners to Repentance being desirous that they shou'd be converted and live Whatever Men say God will never depart from his eternal Qualities and will not confound his last Works no more than he did his first For he continues still firm and constant in all his works If Men will not know this 't is their own Fault and the Effect of the straying of their Minds Nevertheless it is time to open their Eyes For the Plagues are begun I said to her That the Jews were wilfully obstinate not to believe that Jesus Christ was God which the Christians did believe assuredly and consequently they were nearer to be converted than the Jews She said Sir the Jews are less obstinate than the Christians because there is more Ground for their Unbelief than for that of the Christians who reject the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory tho' it be verified by all the Holy Prophets the Apostles and Jesus Christ himself who in so many divers Places declare his glorious Coming and very few speak of his Coming in Reproach This makes the Jews doubtful knowing that God never surprises any but often foretells the things that must come to pass and they finding so frequently in the Holy Scripture the Prophesie of his Coming in Glory and so seldom his Coming in Reproach they have some fundamental Reasons for which they cannot believe his Coming in Reproach But so soon as the Truth shall come to enlighten them they will yield to it because they love it Whereas the Christians do formally resist it and wilfully impugn it and will not believe what they read so often nor hearken to the Light that is offered them thereupon being desirous to continue obstinately in the Persuasions in which they have been trained and blindly to believe the Sentiments of Mens preferring them to the Truth of God So that the Jews will sooner believe that Jesus Christ is God than the Christians will believe that the same Jesus Christ shall come to reign in Glory upon Earth tho this Coming be much more to be desired and valued than that Coming in Sufferings and Reproaches For he who highly esteems God will be troubled to believe or see he shou'd be abased or despised and become the Reproach of Men he who deserves all Honours in Heaven and Earth Hereby the Jew's have more humane Ground not to believe the Coming of Jesus Christ in Sufferings than the Christians have not to believe his Coming in Glory which is more honourable pleasant and desirable tho' the Jews as well as the Christians do very ill not to believe both the Comings of Jesus Christ which are equally true both the one and the other I said to her That she seem'd to hold the Jews Part more than the Christians She said Pardon me Sir I am not partial and if I were I wou'd rather take the Christians Part among whom I am born than that of the Jews whom I never saw I hold only the Part of Truth without leaning to any Side because I have no Pretensions upon Earth Neither Jews nor Christians will give me any thing But God will judge me in Truth and Righteousness Therefore I will always observe it without Respect to any body If I knew not that the Jews are more disposed to receive the Truth than the Christians I wou'd not speak to their Advantage But I cannot conceal the Truth when it is asked me If you address these Jews you will find my Saying true For I know nothing of my self All comes from a Source from whence no Lye can be drawn I am not enclined for the Jews nor for any other Sect in the World For I know none of them that are well pleasing to God But I love those best that are most disposed to receive the Truth and to be converted unto God and I remark this People of the Jews to be more disposed for this than any other Which in Trust I declare to you Not that I may be lov'd or despised but that I may simply declare the Truth as I know it Make a Trial of it Sir and of all the other Things which I have told you you will find them in their Time all true For I am not for telling things that are extravagant or without Necessity You will have Need after this to know all that I have declared unto you They will be very profitable for you and for those whom you shall judge capable of receiving them Doubt nothing of them Conceive and digest them all You shall receive from them great Light in your Understanding and Strength and Nourishment to your Soul and you shall still enter farther into the Knowledge of God and of your self which shall be an Everlasting Happiness for you Beware of being tempted to believe the Contrary Because the Devil will surprize you with false Appearances under a Pretext of scrupulous Piety and Justice The Eighteenth Conference How the Holy Spirit gives his Light to the Soul I Said to her That I would not doubt of her Words because I believed that they all came from the Holy Spirit She said Softly Sir all my Words come not from the Holy Spirit For he does not dictate to me all the Words that I must pronounce but the Substance of all that I say because I would never speak otherwise than by his Motion and no other Discourses are necessary for me For I have no Desire to please any and all that makes not for the Glory of God seems to me a superfluous and useless Thing Therefore I do not willingly utter any Discourse but these to which the Holy Spirit moves me But he does not dictate to me all my Words I have Need to express my self by Humane Reasons or Comparisons because otherwise they could not understand me For
as that it cannot be ignorant of any thing that it ought to know For as for simple Curiosities we ought never to ask or desire them but only that which is well pleasing unto God or profitable to our Neighbour The Knowledge of which Things God does not deny to Souls who are faithfully dedicated to him I wish Sir you may be one of them that you may learn in a Moment more things in these Matters than I cou'd tell you in a whole Day For one Word from God contains more than Ten Thousand Discourses of Men which are still accompanied with many Defects and Imperfections Whereas the Holy Spirit has a perfect Accomplishment in every Thing and enlarges himself according as the Soul is emptied of it self We have nothing else to do but to empty our selves because God being always in the Center of our Soul he wou'd enlighten it abundantly in case the Hindrances were removed For take them away and we receive Light The End of the Second Part. THE CONTENTS Conference I. How the Opinions of the Learned are injurious to God they being ignorant of his Works Of God's Presence and of his Grace Of the Liberty Power and Weakness of Man and of the State of Infants before the Vse of their Reason p. 1. Conf. II. Of the State of little Infants which come from good or evil Parents And of Baptism p. 11. Conf. III. How the Devil has crept into the Church as Antichrist and is there maintain'd and authoriz'd p. 19. Conf. IV. Of the Reformation of the Church of its Councils Commands and Ordinances p. 21. Conf. V. That all Men ought to labour to satisfie the Justice of God by this Penitence p. 31. Conf. VI. That the Roman Church is the Spouse of Jesus Christ but that she has falsified her Faith to her lawful Husband p. 33. Conf. VII Of the Mass and of the Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Functions p. 44. Conf VIII What are the Sins against the Holy Ghost and how much they prevail p. 50. Conf IX That no body can be saved but he who professes the Goodness Righteousness and Truth of God The World is at present without them but it shall be renewed The Danger that Men are in Secret Evil ought to be discovered p. 57. Conf. X. That the Time is come that Men shall receive the Holy Spirit in Fulness and what hinders them to receive him p. 66. Conf. XI How Man must resign himself to God p. 69. Conf. XII Of discerning the Motions of God from those of Nature which must be done by Righteousness Goodness and Truth which are three divine Qualities according to which all our Motions and all our Actions ought to be regulated with great Care p. 76. Conf. XIII 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 p. 84. Conf. XIV That the Habit does not make the Monk and that Religions of themselves make none holy Of the Corruption of them and of the Church p. 86. Conf. XV. 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 p 105. Conf. XVI How we must beware of false Christs and false Prophets which seduce all the World and are so much followed at present How to discern true Prophets from the false and that it would be to no purpose at present to aim at the Conversion of Christians by preaching the Truth to them p. 114. Conf. XVII 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 p. 124. Conf. XVIII How the Holy Spirit gives his Light to the Soul p. 136. The End of the Contents THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD The Third and Last Part. CONTAINING The Last Conferences WHICH M. ANTONIA BOURIGNON HAD WITH The Deceast Mr. CHRISTIAN de CORT Priest Pastour of St. John's at Mechlin Superiour of the Fathers of the Oratory there and Directour of the Isle of Noorestrandt Which deserves to be Read Understood and Considered by all who desire to be Saved Written Originally in French LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCVI Isaiah 58. 10. Thy Light shall arise in the midst of Darkness and thy Obscurity shall become as Noon-day To the READER HERE is FRIENDLY READER the Third Part of the LIGHT OF THE WORLD which is also the Last Conferences that I could have with this Zealous CHRISTIAN DE CORT Superiour of the Oratory and Pastour of the Church St. John at Mechâ—in in Brabant since to hinder him from having any more Conferences with me they poyson'd him and so murther'd him to hinder the Prosecution of the Pious Designes which he had to make known to the World the Truth of the Decay of CHRISTIANITY This Third Part shews yet more clearly than the Two foregoing how much the Church of God is fallen from her first Institution and how far she is remov'd from the Principles of the Apostles and the Life of the First Christians how many Errours and Corruptions have by little and little crept and slipt into Christianity what Appendages and Circumstances they have added to it How many New Laws and Ordinances for the Ornament of it which in effect have deform'd and disfigur'd it So that whereas Christendom was in its Beginning The True Spouse of Jesus Christ she is now become The great Whore which commits whoredom with the Kings of the Earth drinking in their Cups and eating of their Dainties which are the Ambition the Pleasures and covetous Desires of the Things of this World Which Things are now as common among the Churchmen as among the Kings of the Earth to say no more This is very far from the Lowliness of Jesus Christ and of his Disciples who lived in Humility of Heart in a Contempt of the Honours and Glory of the World and would take no other Delights but Labours Fatigues and Sufferings and dispised Gold and Silver as appears by the Offer that Simon the Sorcerer made to St. Peter of giving him Money to buy the Grace of God He curses him and his Money And when they asked Alms of him he says to the poor Man Silver and Gold have we none but the Power of God which will heal thee And elsewhere they say Freely we have received it and freely we give it And to shew the Poverty there was in the Colledge of the Apostles we need but remark that they had not wherewith to pay the Tribute since Jesus Christ sent them to catch a Fish in which they should find a Piece of Money to pay this Tax Consider now FRIENDLY READER if there be any Resemblance between the Church-men of our Time and the Colledge of the Apostles and if every one does not strive to come by
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
abused us to the prejudice of the salvation of our souls We must no longer trust in any body for all have left and forsaken their God tho some remain still in the Faith nevertheless they are not in the works of Faith for the Jews with Faith have not the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is the work of Faith and the Christians have no more Faith and shall not recover it since Jesus Christ says That at his coming he shall not find Faith in Israel They are of the House of Israel and the people of God who nevertheless have denied his Faith and given it to men only I ask'd her To what place I ought to flee since the whole world was judged and the Plagues would be universal That I might put my self in greater danger in the place to which I should flee than in that which I had left She said Flee first out of the Dominions of Rome Sir for that place will be first of all destroyed God ordering all his affairs with Judgment Weight and Measure He will visit first of all those who have most offended him Justice regulates all things and because Christians have more treacheroustly offended him than any others they have drawn on themselves the first Vengeance All others will follow the order of their iniquities as they grow worse in wickedness accordingly they shall be nearer their punishment It is fit always to retire into places where the abomination is less There the Chastisements will be less tho indeed no place shall be exempted from Plagues because all parts of the world have deserv'd them Nevertheless they shall be inflicted only according as every one has merited and deserved them and no further for sins beget miseries and they proceed not from God as they would make us believe because no Evils come from God who alone is the Author of all good So that all the good that we see and feel comes always from God and all the evil that we see and feel comes always from sin and as the goodness of God continually brings forth good things so the malignity of sin continually brings forth evil things and as sins increase evils increase the more Hence it comes that the Plagues are universal because the sins are so for as long as there were places where God was yet honour'd on Earth he bore with others waiting for their Repentance and the universal Plagues shall not fall out so long as there are any who have not deserv'd them For God is too just to afflict a righteous person or to chastise one that is innocent That is but the manner of unrighteous men but God always exercises Righteousnes both as to the good and to the evil However men imagine that God sends his Plagues they are deceived for nothing but sin can bring them on and produce them According as men Offend their Evils increase I said to her that these were most excellent Truths that no evil could come from God and that nevertheless nobody did comprehend this She said Sir the reason is Men do not know the Righteousness the Goodness and the Truth of God but they judg blindly of all they see according to their Passions If they knew the righteousness of God they could never think of praying that God would keep off his last Plagucs for they would see that they will never fall out but when sin shall be universal because God is perfectly Righteous but because we do not conceive this Righteousness we believe that there are yet many good men in the world because they seem so to us In this we give a tacite Reproof to God for if our belief were true that there were yet at present so many good men in the VVorld as we are perswaded there are God would be unjust to send on us so many different miseries as we feel at present If he would have forgiven them in Abraham's time provided he could have shewn him but ten righteous Persons yea even fewer how could he chastise the VVorld now if there were so great a number in it as we believe there are Is he not the same God still And has he not the same goodness since he cannot change Truly Sir men mistake God in every thing and through this mistake they utter reproaches against him and blaspheme against his Righteousness goodness and Truth particularly Christians who with their seeming Piety lay the blame on God of all their mis-deeds Is not this horrible darkness since they choose rather to charge God with their Faults than discover them by the Truth that they might repent of them Truly Sir the power of Darkness is great that it can so obscure all the Men of the VVorld that no body knows the Truth any longer and even the most part shut their Eyes that they may not discover it and in so doing they think they do well The Egyptian Darkness was far less dangerous for it was felt and they durst not stir out of the place for fear of falling but those Christians now do not perceive their Darkness or their Errours on the contrary they think they are in the Light and condemn others who see more clearly than themselves By what means should the Children of the Kingdom be saved when they take lying for Truth which they reject as an evil thing I said to her that nevertheless truth was a very lovely thing and as for my self I would follow it as far as I could discover it She said You will discover it sufficiently if you love it for the holy Spirit who is now born into the World will discover it to all those who shall search for it but there are few among the Christians who would receive it tho' it offer it self first of all to their Eyes because they are so full of Errors and Superstitions that they will not make way for this truth which is lovely They live in a presumption of their Salvation yea they condemn all the World to Damnation because it does not follow their Laws though in the mean time they be but humane and no ways divine Laws And whereas God says that he resists the proud and gives Grace to the humble he who is Truth will resist them even as they resist the Truth which is God But if for your part Sir you do it and will follow it you shall obtain the happiness of reigning with Jesus Christ in Glory But without Faith you cannot be saved for if you do not believe that the World is Judged you are not in the light of Truth because the deportment of Men is a certain Evidence of it since we see them without Repentance and Amendment and if you do not believe that we live now in the Reign of Antichrist you will assuredly be deceived For under the covert of Holiness he will deceive the Elect if it were possible and if you do not believe that Jesus Christ shall
come to reign on the Earth with Men to render Justice to every one and to root out all Evil and recompence the sufferings of the Righteous without this perswasion you can never support the Evils which hang over our Head for without knowing these Truths it will be impossible not to fall into despair or murmuring against God if we know not his Righteousness Goodness and Truth with which he does all things Thus we cannot besaved without Faith which discovers the Truth All these things are true of Judgment of Antichrist and of the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory but if you will not believe them you resist the known Truth which is a Sin against the Holy-Ghost that shall never be forgiven The Sixth Conference Discovers the Signs that the World is Judged and that ANTICHRIST Reigns now I said to her I would be very careful not to commit any Sin against the Holy Ghost though I knâ—w not yet the Truth in every thing entreating she would afford the means to discover the Truth of all the things she told me to wit the Judgment the Reign of Antichrist and the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory She said You would infallibly believe them if you would seriously remark what you may see with your Eyes and conceive with your Humane Understanding for these things are so far advanced that one may feel them provided his Mind be not infatuated For first as to the Judgment as I have already told you it is easy to see that the world is Judged because sins are universal and no body will Repent There is every where the Lust of the Eyes the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life of which no body Repents and Amends and there can be no forgiveness where there is no amendment and therefore of necessity the World is Judged because these evils are not among some particular persons as they have been in all times but they are generally among all men both small and great If you observe them narrowly you will find Sir that these three sins reign infallibly in the Hearts of all men of whatsoever condition those in whom you cannot discover them are very often the greatest Hypocrites who know better to dissemble and cover their sins And for the second The believing that we are now in the Reign of Antichrist you need only Remark narrowly by what Spirit Men are led because they who are led by God follow his Righteousness his Goodness and his Truth On the contrary they who are led by the Devil oppose themselves to this and if you Reflect upon the Actions of Men now you will find nothing in them but Injustice Malice and Lying which are three qualities of the Devil opposed to the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God This is so common at present that there is nothing to be seen but Injustice Malice and affected Lies I said to her in my opinion there were some men who seemed to follow Righteousness and Truth tho it must be acknowledged the greatest part live in Injustice and Deceit She said Sir Judg righteously and examin everything to the bottom You grant already that the greatest part of men now live in Injustice and lies All the World finds this by experience And when the greatest part is for the Devil we may well fear that he will shortly have the whole for as rotten Apples spoil the sound ones so Men corrupted by the Devil are still corrupting and drawing in those who are yet sound If all men in general or almostall were on the Devils side the Reign of Antichrist would be at an end for he could gain no more he would be pleased to have all his Adherents with him to Hell for the reason why he keeps them in Life here and raises them to places and preferments is that they may serve him in corrupting others and in doing all the mischief to the good that may be Now there would be no need of this if all in general were dedicated to his service he could go no farther and God would not continue the World in being to wait for men's Conversion for those who are Dedicated to the Devil will not be converted as some other sinners would be who have not yet renounc'd God nor given their Souls to the Devil as his sworn Votaries or Sorcerers do who are precisely dedicated to the Devil of their own free will as the greatest part of men have done This may appear sufficiently by their Malice which is not only human but Devilish also for human Malice extends it self no farther than to that which is pleasant or profitable to the Malicious Person but at present we see men's Malice so black that he who acts it has neither pleasure nor profit by it and nevertheless they afflict the good and ruin sometimes the wealth and honour of their Neighbour without any profit to themselves And lies are so common tho frequently without any advantage that the truth is seldom or never spoken from whence it appears that it certainly comes from the Devil for men could not arrive at such a malice as that is which we see now reign in the World If I told you Sir that I had these truths by any particular Revelation from God you would entertain it may be some scrupulous doubts about it but I refer you to your own experience that you may know by human Reasons that we are fallen into the last times that the Judgment is past on the whole World And that this is now the Reign of Antichrist For as to the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory I cannot make it appear to you so precisely as the things that are already come to pass but if you read attentively the Holy Scriptvres they will plainly enough declare it to you for of all contain'd in them there is nothing more spoken of than of the coming of Jesus Christ on Earth in Glory From the beginning of the World we are told that Jesus Christ was to become man to Reign with men on Earth and tho he had not been man to suffer he had become man to Reign Because he would take and give to men a perfect contentment of Conversing together with them in Body and Soul Divinity and Humanity I cannot make you see this Sir by the Eyes of the Body because the time is not yet come Therefore I send you to the Holy Scriptures But as for the Judgment and the Reign of Antichrist you may see it with your Eyes and comprehend it with your Natural understanding For it is visible and comprehensible by him whose Spirit is not infatuated and who seeks to discover the Truth The thing is so manifest that it speaks out it self Many say blindly We are in the end of the VVorld and they perceive not that they speak truth Others say The Devil reigns over all and they see not that this is the Reign of Antichrist who Rules as
Universal Emperour of the whole world They Judg by the effects without searching into the cause The Devil hinders this for he well knows that if the cause were discovered many would be Converted therefore he darkens their minds that they may never come to the Knowledg of the Truth because it would confound him I said to her I perceived clearly enough that the world was Judged because sin abounds in it and no body will be Converted But that we were in the Reign of Antichrist I did not perceive so clearly for we have always been taught that he shall be a Visible and corporal man * She said Sir it is well that you see the World is Judged You shall perceive the rest sufficiently for the Reign of Antichrist is yet more manifest Antichrist that is to say against Christ He whose understanding is not dark'ned may easily see if men follow Christ or if they go in a way contrary to what he walked in while he was on Earth And you see that Christians now adays live a quite other Life than what Jesus Christ led and they not only do not follow him at a distance but are directly opposite to him for there Pride Reigns instead of Humility and Avarice instead of Poverty and instead of Charity there is nothing but Envy and so of all the other things which Christ Jesus Taught us They act wholly in opposition to him and they do not consider that all that is contrary to Christ is Assuredly Antichrist The time is come wherein men would fain have a God and Devil Visible to their Eyes that might go before them This is great and thick darkness because neither God nor the Devil are visible For they are Spirits who cannot be known but by their Operations when they are good or evil according to the Spirit that Animates them Hereby we shall know by what Spirit the World is animated at present For the Spirit of God is always Just Good and True and that of the Devil is always evil without Righteousness and without Truth By these real Signs we may certainly discern if Christ rules the World or Antichrist We need not go to consult Oracles to make this Discovery for all Men of good judgment may make a sufficient trial and see it with their Eyes and feel it with their Hands by taking the Marks which discover the solid truth For if they will needs make this discovery by the signs of apparent Vertues they will remain in their Darkness because the Devil has so disguised and coloured his wickedness with outward Devotions and Piety that he thereby deceives all the World We must come to the Essence of Vertue to see if it be God or the Devil who animates these outward Devotions for if they be of God they will always be accompanied with Righteousness Goodness and Truth But we see but too much the contrary for the most part of those Devout Persons at present are without Righteousness or Equity There was never seen so much going to Church receiving the Sacraments and so little Fidelity so many Pater nosters and so little Truth so many good Words and so little true Charity Do you not see Sir that all order of Justice is renvers'd and that there is more regard of doing Justly before Men than before God And yet these are the best now who do justly before Men for the most part deceive and deal unfaithfully as well before Men as before God For Iniquity is become so common that now almost they are not ashamed to commit it publickly If a man go to Church and frequent the Sacraments he passes for a good Man though he be no ways just If we consider well all the Qualities of the Devil we shall see them all practis'd in the behaviour of Men now he is a Liar an Hypocrite and Unconstant a Deceiver and Unfaithful abounds in all kind of Malice Proud Arrogant Envious Contentious without Faith or Honesty Obstinate in Malice and in a desperate Rage These Qualities are but too much practis'd by the most part of Christians and yet we perceive not that this is now the Reign of Antichrist Men must be extreamly blinded that they do not see this more clear than the Day because the evil is too manifest But many Minds are so infatuated that they cannot believe what they perceive so manifestly by their Understandings but they wait to believe this Antichrist till they shall see him in a Humane Form Which is a very small matter in respect of his Doctrine for that Body can never cause Damnation to our Souls as his Doctrine will do which being contrary to Christ leads us to Perdition Since Jesus Christ is the way we can never attain to Salvation but by him contrary ways lead to Damnation it matters little whether we are led into them by a Body or by a Spirit since we are undone as to Salvation I ask'd her If we ought not to believe that this Antichrist will be sometime corporeally visible in a Humane Form She said Yes Sir I believe this will be toward the end of his Reign for he has set himself to counterfeit all the Actions of Jesus Christ and to ape what he sees he has done And perceiving that Christ became a Natural Man he also will move his Sorcerers to produce Men by the operation of the Devil which is done many times for there are certainly many of these Antichrists born already in the World who make great Havock in the Church and have in their Train those who are most in Authority and as the Apostles of Jesus Christ laboured to introduce Truth into the World these incarnate Devils labour to introduce Lies into it and to sow Tares as they did good Grain I doubt not also but they have a Head of their Iniquity who will appear openly when his wickedness shall be discover'd and when he cannot deceive any longer under the Cloak of Holiness he will deceive then by pure Wickedness and will exercise cruelty towards all those who will not be his Followers That time Sir will not be so dangerous as the present is because he shall be known for the Devil and now they follow him as if he were God Therefore he keeps himself so long concealed and does not appear bodily for he could not do so much prejudice to Souls if he were known He has spread Darkness through all the World that no body may discover him exercising all his wickedness UNDER PRETEXT OF GOOD THINGS OR OF NATURAL OR CASUAL THINGS that no body may believe that all the evils which we see do come from this Antichrist and that no body may be on his guard because he does not appear yet in human Flesh This blinds all the World for tho they see all the qualities of the Devil rule in men yet they will not believe these so solid marks as they would do if they saw him bodily which bodily appearance is not
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
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
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
divers other Cases we are guilty of the sins which others commit by not hindring them when we might have done it The Ninth and Last is That we do not tell the Evils that we know of others to those who might put a stop to them as in not telling the Faults of Children Scholars or Servants to Fathers Superiours or Masters who might prevent them Silence in this respect does as much Evil as the Faults which are committed without the knowledge of the Superiours because if they were known to them they might hinder or correct them which they not doing being ignorant of them the fault and blame falls upon those who conceal them whether to please the Evil doers or upon any other pretext whatsover because by their silence in some manner they co-operate to the sin Nevertheless there are very few who are apprehensive of these kinds of sins and much less do they repent of them for they imagine they are not guilty of them because they have not committed them effectively in their own Persons yet they will be all imputed to them as well as if they had personally committed them and they cannot be excused through ignorance because all Christians are obliged to know what they ought to do or avoid for Jesus Christ and his Apostles have set down all for him who will take the pains to search for it But the darkness is so great that they perceive not the things that are necessary and they live in such a negligence of their Salvation as if they were assur'd of it though they be very far from it because no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Those who enter there must be holy None can otherwise draw near to God the Source of all Purity and Holiness In which many are deceiv'd who believe that Holiness belongs only to the Perfect whom they imagine to be some singular Persons And yet without Holiness no Man shall ever be saved I said to her That very few Persons consider'd these things and scarce any look on themselves as guilty of those sins which they commit in another no more than of those which they commit against the Holy Ghost because they perceive not that they are guilty of them though notwithstanding I see clearly that those who are esteemed holy or perfect are tainted both with the one and the other of the said sins She said Sir I am well pleased that you begin to discover that by which the World is condemn'd that you may not need to believe it blindly for if you perceive clearly that the Holy and the Perfect now are polluted with the sins which they commit in another and with those against the Holy Ghost those whom they call Wicked are visibly defiled with divers kinds of Actual Sins Which is known to all the World Of whose Salvation then can you hope for The Wicked bring their Condemnation upon them through their obstinacy in a wicked Life and the Good draw it on by the sins which they commit in another and those against the Holy Ghost which they will not know and much less amend because they presume upon the certainty of their Salvation without all these Circumspections whereby they might discover the state of their Souls or the Sins with which they may be defiled which are Spiritual and of which through blindness they are insensible Hereby the Proof is just of the World 's being universally judged because the sins are universal which sins do judge and condemn Souls For God judges no Body He only fulfils all Righteousness and those who shall be condemned shall be so always by their own sins and never otherwise And if Sins condemn then all they who live in them do bear their Condemnation And since we see that in this Age neither the Good nor the Wicked are free from sins we cannot but see and confess that the whole World is judg'd and condemn'd and that we are arriv'd at the general Judgment seeing generally sin rules and bears sway We must not look for any other cordemnation but that of our own sins known to Gods Justice which condemns always all that 's unjust without hatred and without favour The Righteous Ballance of this Divine Justice being still kept steady by a Hand that never shakes does always condemn Unrighteousness I said to her That I was wholly convinc'd by so clear and true Arguments That I acknowledg'd without doubt the World was generally judg'd by its general Sins asking her if while this Sentence was putting in execution there were not means whereby a Man might be converted She said Yes Sir there are means of Conversion as long as we have life There is place for Repentance till Jesus Christ shall come upon the Earth and root out all Evil yea even when he shall come there will be yet hopes of Pardon Therefore he says That Sinners and Harlots shall inherit the Kingdom and the Children thereof shall be cast out because these wicked Persons may be yet converted and acknowledge their sins whereas those Children of the Kingdom who esteem themselves holy and religious continuing obstinate in the presumption of their Salvation will be cast out though they be called the Children of God and of his Kingdom There are therefore means of Conversion for those who will repent and change their manner of Life even though they were the greatest Sinners of the World yea even for those who are full of the sins against the Holy Ghost or of the sins committed in another provided they get out of their darkness and receive the Truth For these ends God puts his last Sentence in execution slowly and sends his Plagues one after another that he may give time and leisure to all those who desire to be converted to do penitence In which he still exercises the Effects of his Almighty Goodness and Mercy not willing that a sinner should perish but that he live and be converted The sins against the Holy Ghost will be forgiven as well as other sins provided they repent of them which they not doing they shall no more be pardoned when Jesus Christ shall come upon the Earth than at present For where there is no Repentance there can be no pardon for this cause the sins against the Holy Ghost will be very rarely pardoned because they are very seldom repented of and amended The Tenth Conference Shews what Souls shall be happy and explains the Eight Beatitudes I asked her By what means we might know or discover those who are truly converted to God She said Sir Take the Eight Beatitudes which Jesus Christ has declared and see if those who say they are converted do possess them For these only shall be blessed and no others Many say by word that they would be converted and be wholly for God and notwithstanding there are no appearances of it These are nothing but wouldings without effect with which we deceive the World and our selves and
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
and also that the World is Judg'd that you may not flatter your self with false Hopes believing that it will last yet and so continue in sloth I have also shewn you true Vertue that you be not deceived by that which is so but in appearance having also declared to you the Sins against the Holy Ghost and those which we commit in another that you may not be ignorant of any thing that can hinder this Resignation to God For the Ignorance of Good and Evil would insensibly ruine us and whereas we are fallen into the Times of Universal Darkness the Common Enemy might very easily deceive you as he does all the World perswading you that you are resign'd to God when you live yet intirely to your self Therefore I have explained to you so many Things one by one that you might discern aright Truth from Lies and that you might certainly resign your self to God according to your desire And because you can never do good without departing from Evil nor depart from that without knowing it I have therefore endeavoured to discover to you the Good and Evil that Reigns at present in the World that I might give you the certain Marks whereby to know if you are truly resign'd to God or not and since the Commandments of God and also the Law of the Gospel are given us to discover what hinders us to be resign'd to him That by this means we may remove all the Hindrances of our Resignation to God Voluntary Poverty serving as a Mean to free our Self will from the desire of perishing Goods Chastity to free this Will from desiring Carnal Pleasures and Obedience to deliver us from the desire of fulfilling our own Will and so of all the other Evangelical Counsels which teach us to depart from that which hinders our Resignation to God Therefore I judg'd it necessary to declare to you all the Things that hinder this Resignation to God and those also which may serve as Means to facilitate this Resignation which is the only Essential Thing that God demands of all those who would be saved I asked her If it will be enough for me absolutely to resolve that henceforth I will depend upon God and no longer use my own Will in any thing She said This Resolution Sir is a great Beginning but 't is to be feared that we shall not put it effectually in Execution because of our inveterate Evil Habits Our Self-will having always born sway how can we entirely subdue it except by the Means that Jesus Christ has pointed out to us in his Gospel which are as so many Steps to ascend to this Resignation For otherwise we might make false Suppositions as we have done hitherto But when we shall put in practise the Doctrine of the Gospel we shall thereby discover how far we have advanced in this Resignation to God For if our Frailty had not needed these Means God would not have taken Humane Flesh to come and teach us them For he can do nothing that is useless We must therefore fix here Sir and receive this Doctrine of the Gospel in its plain Literal Sense which will teach us all things plainly to our Senses by following of which we shall certainly attain to this Resignation For this is the true the shortest and the most certain way Though indeed God sent at divers times Prophets and holy Persons to tell Men by what Means they might recover this Resignation to God yet none of them has done it so perfectly as Jesus Christ did when he was upon Earth For he has omitted nothing but has taught all so precisely that Men will never stand in need of any other Instructions For this is the last Mercy that God will shew to Men who must not look for any thing after the Doctrine of Jesus Christ And what was taught before or since is not at all comparable to this Doctrine of the Gospel If we would be sav'd we must embrace and follow it for it teaches us all the necessary Means for fulfilling the Law of God The Thirteenth Conference Shews That the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the last that God will send into the World And that the Holy Spirit comes to give now the perfect Vnderstanding of it I asked her How this Doctrine of the Gospel could be the last Means that God would give to Men to bring them to Salvation since we look yet for the Holy Spirit who in these last Times must teach us all Things She said Sir The Last Times began when God became Man He brought along with him upon Earth his Last Mercy teaching Men by Word and Deed all that they ought to do and avoid without omitting any thing of all that shall be necessary for them even to the End of the World So that none have need of any thing else to be taught them It is true we shall have the Holy Spirit in the End of these Last Times into which we are now fallen and he is already born upon Earth But he comes not to bring us new Means of Salvation but only to lay before us those which Jesus Christ taught us when he was in the World that we may clearly see how far we are now estranged from them and to give us the Light of Truth that we may see the Way to return and re-take the same Gospel-means that we may recover the Dependance of our Will upon that of God which is his First and Onely Essential Command without which no Body can be saved For this is the least Thing that we owe him and if we do not fulfil it our Ingratitude is so great that we cannot in Justice be saved I asked her If the Holy Spirit was born in Flesh as Jesus Christ was in his Time And what things he would teach us more than Jesus Christ has done She said Sir The Holy Spirit is the same God with Jesus Christ who was the Word of God as the Holy Spirit is his Understanding There is but One God only but there are divers Powers And as our Understanding knows more than our Mouth speaks so the Holy Spirit will give more Light than did the Words of Jesus Christ though all comes from one and the same God and one and the same Source What Jesus Christ said was understood by Men only in part and the same Things shall be understood in a perfect and compleat Sense by this Wisdom of the Holy Spirit He needs not take a Body of Flesh to speak to Men For Jesus Christ did that sufficiently so that he needs speak no more But there is need of more Understanding For the Last Times are near their End And before the World end God will give the full Understanding of all that has been delivered in God's Name from the Beginning of the World both by the Holy Prophets and by Jesus Christ and his Apostles or other Saints his Disciples Nothing has been fully
understood of all the Holy Scripture for even they who pronounc'd it understood it not in its perfect Sense but in part only But now that the Holy Spirit is come upon Earth to give the full Knowledge of them he needs not for this End a Body of Flesh but only to give Men Spiritual Understanding that they may know the Powers of God the Love he bears to Man the End for which he created him and may have the knowledge of True Vertue and of that which is False All these Things shall be known by the Understanding of those Men who will receive the Light of Truth which the Holy Spirit brings now into the World HE IS BORN in the midst of its Universal Darkness in which no Body knows the Truth of any Thing all being falsified or not known The Holy Spirit comes to clear this by Spiritual Notices I blest my good Fortune and the Day in which I met with this Pilgrimess for my Vnderstanding received such Light by her Discourses that I must confess my Soul had perish'd without this Rencounter I asked her How her Words could have such strong Operations on me She said Sir This proceeds from the Holy Spirit who begins to visit your Soul by his Light Receive it with Humility of Heart and he will enlighten you more For he is come to fill the Souls of all those who shall receive the Truth It is by the Operations that you feel that he is born in Souls He is a Spirit and he works in the Spirit of all who seek and desire him We must not any longer seek for visible and material Means For all these things are Hindrances to him Let us only open our Heart and Spirit to receive the Truth and it will teach us all Things For nothing but Lies has undone the whole World The Darkness that Men are in and their forgetfulness of God have come by Lying which has seiz'd on all the World For none are now in the Truth The false Perswasions which they have imprinted on Mens Hearts have made them mistake God and the State of their own Souls There is therefore great reason to bless the Goodness of God who in so miserable a Time sends us his Holy Spirit to enlighten all those who will receive him I believe Sir you are the first but a great Number will follow you For as soon as the delusion shall be discovered the Eyes of many will be opened and their Heads lifted up to return to God abhorring their Errours and the Deceit of their blind Guides They will see that all that they have taught them as Means of bringing them to God have estrang'd them from him and the Sacraments and other Ceremonies of the Church instead of procuring them the Grace of God to love him and to acquire true Vertue have given them rather a Contempt of God and a false hypocritical Vertue This being discovered many will seek the Truth abhorring Lying which has put their Salvation in so great hazard I asked her If the Holy Spirit would not become visible She said No Sir He will not be visible but by the Operations which he will make in Souls whom you shall see disingaged from the Earth and cleaving to God alone We shall see them possess Joy Peace and Patience with the other Fruits and Gifts which will be sure Evidences that the Holy Spirit will dwell in their Souls who notwithstanding shall not be seen by the Eyes of the Body in any Material Form or Figure For the Time is come that God will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and no longer in Figures which shall all cease because of the Accomplishment of all Things And all that was figured in the Old Law shall be accomplished in full perfection by the Holy Spirit For the Time is come that all the Promises which God made to Men from the Beginning of the World shall be fulfilled the Alliance that God has promis'd to make with Men shall have its perfect Accomplishment For they shall be his People and he will be their God This has not come to pass as yet Though Men were created to be God's People nevertheless they did not continue so on the contrary they committed so many Infidelities that he was oblig'd to destroy them by a General Deluge and though the Children of Israel were God's peculiar People they forsook him notwithstanding and gave themselves to Idolatry The Jews who were as precisely God's People denied him also and would not acknowledge him when he became Man but revil'd him and hang'd him on a Cross And now the Christians who ought more perfectly to be Gods People despise him in his Sufferings and in his Doctrine So that the Alliance that God promis'd to make with Man could not hitherto be accomplish'd Of necessity the Holy Spirit must come upon Earth to enlighten Men that they may have the Faithfulness requisite for this Alliance of God with Men For a Marriage cannot be compleat if the Spouse be not faithful as the Husband is The Fourteenth Conference Speaks of the Alliance that God will make with Men and of the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory and that to have a Share in it we must of necessity resign our Will to God and return to a Dependance upon him I entreated her to tell me How and when and wherein this Alliance of God with Men shall be made She said This Will be made by the Holy Spirit who will illuminate Souls make them know their Errours and also the End for which they were created which is nothing less than to be joyn'd and united to God who will take his Delight with Men And they perceiving this shall separate themselves from all Earthly Pretensions and resign themselves to the Will of God desiring no longer to use their own Wills because they have entirely renounc'd them Then shall they have such Dispositions as will invite God down to the Earth to Ally himself visibly and bodily with Men by an inseparable and indissoluble Tye. This is the End for which God cloath'd himself with a Humane Body to make himself like to Man that the Alliance he designed to make with him might be wholly perfect and compleat both in Body and Spirit What God promis'd of Old to Abraham could never be accomplish'd because Men were never resign'd to God as they ought having still us'd their own Free-will without depending upon God This did separate and divorce them from the Alliance which he promis'd them But in this Fulness of Time wherein we live the Holy Spirit is come down to teach us all Things and whosoever shall hear him shall enjoy the promis'd Alliance For Jesus Christ will come very shortly upon the Earth in Glory to Joyn and Allie himself with all those who shall resign themselves to him I cannot precisely tell the Day Sir but that it will be towards the End of the Plagues which are now
begun But I can assure you that it shall be here upon Earth where God with Men shall enjoy a perfect Contentment which shall be Eternal For the Presence of God made Man will unite them with such a perfect Love that they can never again depart from him though they shall still preserve their Free-will I felt in my Soul great Consolation in hearing her sperk of the Alliance that Gold would make with Man and ask'd What I should do to attain to such a Happiness She said Sir You have nothing else to do for attaining to an Alliance with God but to resign your own Will to him that he may dispose of it This is the One Thing needful So soon as you shall depend upon him in all things you shall be betroath'd in order to the promis'd Alliance and therein you shall find such Consolations as I cannot express to you You shall then be as sure of this promis'd Alliance as at least a Maid is to marry her Betroth'd or a Man her whom he has Betroth'd and much more For the Promises of Men may be diverted by divers Accidents but those of God are immutable and will never change So soon as Man resigns himself to him he receives him and treats with him as if he had never offended him how great a Sinner soever he may have been A Man must be void of Judgment and very unthankful for such a Goodness of God when he will not depend upon his Creatour from whom he has received all Things and who in requital of so many Benefits demands nothing else but to acknowledge that all he has comes from him If he did this he might lawfully enjoy all Things according to his Wish Could God do more to Man than to let him rule over all Things provided only that he would always acknowledge the Dependance that he had upon his God And on the contrary Could Man commit a greater Ingratitude than not to depend upon God who created him who preserves him and from whom alone he can expect Salvation We must have lost our Wits and become cruel to our selves if we deprive our selves of so great a Happiness only that we may enjoy our Free-will which often precipitates us into diverse kinds of Evils that are sometimes irreparable Because he who follows his own Will can never be saved and the Mischief we sustain by Damnation can never be repair'd I said to her Never any had taken notice of so precise a Necessity of depending in every thing upon God for Salvation but they thought that whosoever died not in a mortal Sin was sav'd She said Sir This Ignorance not to know that we ought to depend upon God in all Things is the Cause of the Ruine of all Men Every one imagining that nothing else is necessary for Salvation but to abstain outwardly from evil Actions This God did not declare to Adam when he created him for Salvation but he expresly testified to him that he ought always to depend upon him and acquiesce in his Will What God did to Adam he did in him to all Mankind Therefore it is much better to hold to the First Commandment of God than to amuse our selves with the Opinions of Men who with their Studies and Notions give assurance of Salvation without any Ground For all that they call Mortal or Venial Sins are nothing else but the Hindrances which we make to this Resignation to God Except this there can be no Sin For if this Resignation be not hindred we are certainly saved For Resignation in its self is Salvation This we cannot observe because so many other different Things are set before us to hinder the Knowledge of this Eternal Truth to wit That God has never demanded and never will demand in Time coming any thing else of Man but the Resignation of his Will to the Will of God And when it is said Thou shalt not kill steal nor commit fornication or other Evils it is as much as to say in one Word Thou shalt not follow thy own Will but that of God For the abstaining from all these Evils is nothing else but the leaving off to follow our own Will which incites us to do these Evils For as soon as we shall resign it to the Will of God he will lead us to all sort of Good And these Evils are particularly forbidden us that we may thereby perceive when we are not resign'd to God For this Resignation delivers us from all sorts of Evil and by following our own Will we do certainly commit them I wish all the World did comprehend this Truth That no Body can ever sin but in following his own Will and no Body can ever be saved but by resigning his Will to the Will of God I said to her It was most true That to be sav'd we must resign our Will to that of God and that it was a loss that this was not taught to all Christians She said Sir The Devil has now such Power over the Minds of Men that he leads them wholly at his Will and has razed out of their Memories the one thing needful which is to resign their own Will to that of God And that they may be insensible of this Forgetfulness he has invented so many Means of Salvation that no Body thinks of it nor believes it necessary to resign his Will to that of God imagining that it is enough for Salvation to go to Church to frequent the Sacraments and to get Indulgencies This Blindness ruines all good Men For none can any longer perceive that this Resignation is necessary and not perceiving it they do not believe it For this cause No body sets about it For we see now the best Men are addicted to follow their own Wills in every thing even in Eating and Drinking and Walking And generally all they do is regulated by their own Wills even their Vertues and Devotions are manag'd by their Self-will And in the mean time they think they are in the way of Salvation As if God had need of our Sacrifices or our Prayers while he will have nothing else but the Resignation of our Wills to his Will This no Body strives to do On the contrary every one both Small and Great of whatsoever Condition follow their own Will Christians do even train up their Children in the Habit of following their own Wills In which they bring them up to their Damnation Because being habituated from their Childhood to follow their own Wills when they are grown up they can very hardly part with them and thus every one perishes without perceiving it And he who declares these Truths is opposed by all those who are infected with this Vice who have no mind to part with it perswading themselves without ground that this Resignation is not necessary Thought it be most true that God demands nothing else of us For he has no need at all of our Works nor of our Words nor Riches nor Honour
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
the Command of some Servants of God This is a certain Proof that it is Sin only that gives all the Malignity to every Thing and that nothing but the Rebellion that Man has raised against his God renders all the Elements and other Creatures Rebels against him If we would from this time yield up our Will into God's Hands and submit our selves entirely to him we should immediately find that all Things would subject themselves to us without any constraint How greatly does Man wrong himself when he will needs dispose of his own Will He makes himself miserable in this World and far more in that to come Whereas by being willing to depend upon God he has all under his Power together with Eternal Bliss What Infatuation of Spirit is it that we will not do a Thing so good so just and so reasonable as to resign our Will to that of God! If Men were taught this as they are other frivolous Devotions it would be impossible that any would deny God so profitable a Submission But they let themselves be amused by the Discourses of Men who propose a Salvation without being able to give it These are those false Christs and false Prophets of whom Jesus Christ has so often told that we must take heed of them who have deceived all the World so that none think any longer of resigning themselves to God or of doing saving Penitence I said to her There were yet divers Persons who desired to be resigned to God and also to do Pennance which cannot be avoided in this World She said Sir You take the Bark often for the Wood For those who say they will be resigned to God have nothing but outward Words For if they were truly so they would be governed by God and would no longer labour for the Earth but only for Heaven Even the Labour that is necessary for the support of Life would be done only to fulfil their Penitence appointed by God But when we see them aim at Places Honours and Dignities or Deal and Traffick to acquire Riches or Pleasures that one would be a Priest another a Religious one build Cloysters another Houses as if he were to abide in them for ever All these Things with a Thousand others are infallible Evidences that God does not govern our Will For he could not move us to make Tabernacles here since he has sent us hither only to undergo a short Penitence He could not incite us to build what must be so quickly destroyed Neither Jesus Christ nor his Apostles and Disciples built Temples or Houses being contented with what was simply necessary In which the Heathens will rise up against us in the Day of Judgment who did so despise the shortness of this Life that they would not build Houses contenting themselves with a Tub to cover them from the Injuries of the Season Others threw their Mony into the Sea not judging it necessary for so short a Life though since that Time ours is much shortned Neither can it be true that we are willing to do Pennance because every one avoids Sufferings as much as he can and to do saving Pennance it must be voluntary and suffered for fulfilling the Will of God For else we may suffer much without Meriting as Robbers and Thieves do I said to her That this ought to be preached through all the World that they who would perish through Ignorance might hear the Truth and be converted She said Sir You may do as you please As for me I retire For I am not sent to preach but simply to declare the Truth as I have done to you You may have sufficiently remarked in all my Discourses and my Life if there were any Affectations or Passions which should move me to tell you these Things I am perswaded in the sight of God that I have no Self-Interest in it nor any desire to please or displease Men nor to affect the speaking new or marvellous Things No Sir I am not led by that Spirit but by that of Jesus Christ who had such Compassion for Men that for them he endured a bitter Passion and the Death of the Cross If you preach these Things to Men of good Judgment and who thirst after the Truth they will gladly hear you and yield themselves and return to God For they will easily see that here is no Flattery for any Body nor yet Contempt or sensual Animosity but pure solid Truths which none can resist but they who are in League with Satan and love Lyes and resist the Truth Those will very hardly receive Truths that are so opposite to them they will induce effeminate Spirits to reject these Things as evil perceiving that the knowledge of these will take from their Master the Devil the Power to deceive by Falshood and Hypocrisie and that he will be forced very quickly to discover his Mischievous Reign Because he shall not be able to catch Souls any longer under the colour of Piety and Holiness as he has done hitherto And his furious Reign shall be far less dangerous For so soon as he shall be known for the Devil no Body will follow him any longer except they who wilfully yield up themselves to him Whereas at present every one follows him blindly But so soon as his Malice shall be discovered he shall have no longer Power over Innocent Souls Tell the Truth boldly Sir to all good Men in Confidence But beware of the Adherents of the Enemy and of those who let themselves be governed by his Spirit though they be not precisely in Covenant with the Devil Because these will do you much Mischief when they think they are doing well For they who have their Minds infatuated do serve the Devil as well as Sorcerers themselves The one directly and the other indirectly You will still discover them by the resistance which they will make to the Truth for they will not so much as hear it Because they know very well they cannot change the Truth They endeavour at least to reject and despise it that no Body may receve it This will be the Devils last Effort For as soon as the Truth shall be known it will strongly resist him and at last will break his Head Observe still Sir the Disposition of those to whom you would declare these Truths And when you find opposition from them leave off speaking to them For those who shall be disposed to profit by the Truth will give Ear to it willingly and with Hungry Desires will search even to the Bottom that they may discover the Essence of it For no good Men can resist the Truth nor the Things which are proposed to them without having examined whether they be Good or Evil But the Wicked will resist it before they know it And if they can catch a Word different from their School Terms they will take it in a quite contrary Sence Therefore Sir do not amuse your self with Questions and Disputes For this would
be to cast Roses before Swine Offer them only to those who will take pleasure to smell them and not to these who will cast them into the Dunghil All good Men will feel in the Bottom of their Souls that this cannot come from the Devil For he is the Father of Lyes and never incites to Self-denial because he is too proud Nor to the Love of God because he hates him And yet less to resign our Will to that of God for he catches all Men by their Self-will All my Discourses have for their Scope all that is contrary to the Devil who is never contrary to himself The Ninteenth Conference Sheweth That the Spirit of Antichrist hinders Men from discovering the saving Truth and that the Heathens are more resigned to God than the Christians at present I said to her That I thought no Body in the World could resist so clear Truths without betraying his own Conscience That all the Things she had told me did speak forth themselves and were attended with such solid Foundations and such firm Reasons that the Learned and Vnlearned might comprehend them and that the Scope of all was the Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls and that there was nothing in them that savoured of the Earth She said If we were not fallen into the Reign of Antichrist no Body could resist so clear Truths All the World would feel them and would discover his Deceits every one would flie to the Desert to do Penitence bewailing his past Life and the Errours wherein he had lived for so long a time But the Michief is that this Antichrist has so great a number of Adherents who take up his Quarrel and resist the Truth that the good themselves have difficulty to receive it For they disfigure it and make it pass for Lyes and Heresies telling those who advance it that they would seduce the People as they said of Jesus Christ when he brought Light into the World calling him a Seducer of the People or one that had a Devil The Power of Darkness is much encreast since the Time that he was upon Earth and nothing is to be look'd for but Outrages from all the Devil's Adherents In this case a Man must count it a Happiness to suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake and believe that there is no more blessed Death than to dye a Martyr for the Truth But he must beware of Men and use the Wisdom of the Serpent and rather part with his Skin than lose his Soul You will find more Welcome Sir among the Jews and Heathens than among the Catholicks who condemn others to Authorize their own Customs despising the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who sayes Judge not and you shall not be judged condemn not and you shall not be condemned These Catholicks condemn all those who do not follow them This is the cause why they are judged and condemned first to be rooted out They condemn so many holy Heathens who will go before them in the Day of Judgment because they were faithful to God though they had not any Laws or Institutions to know Him Nevertheless many resigned their Wills to that of God and obeyed the Truth in their Lives whereas these Christians follow Lyes of which the Devil is the Father and none of them will resign themselves to God nor take notice of the Truth which discovers the shortness of this miserable Life and the certainty of one that shall be Eternal These Heathens knew a God to whom they resigned themselves and seeing the Misery of this Life they bewailed it they laughed when they considered the Stupidity of Men who took pleasure in this Life and judg'd that they ought not to be called Men because they did not use their Reason to discover the Truth of Things For he who went through the City of Athens with his Lantern seeking for a Man in the midst of so many Thousands as were in the Market-place could not be ignorant that they who were about him were all Men But seeing they were all occupied in buying and selling and Trading for the Earth he could not acknowledge them to be Reasonable Men Because he who has Reason ought to use it for his Eternal Happiness else he is nothing but a Beast For Reason only makes a Man without which he does not differ from the Brute Beasts for they are unreasonable Animals and Men are reasonable ones Laying aside which they are as much Brutes as the Beasts This made the Philosopher search for a Man among so great a Number and could not find one because all spent their Lives in Worldly Business instead of employing them in the Study of the Knowledge of God and of the Truth which is the same God And they condemn those Heathens as damned and for my part I look upon them as SAINTS and believe they will come to Reign with Jesus Christ upon Earth to condemn the Christians who besides the Light of the Heathens had Lawes and Commandments from God with the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which obliged them to a farther Knowledge of God and the Immortality of their Souls the Shortness and Misery of this Life that they might despise it and the Vanity of perishing Goods that they might abandon them Nevertheless not one of these Christians does any of these Things I asked her If it was indeed possible that not so much as one Christian should be resigned to God nor have the Vertues of the Heathens She said Yes Sir This is most true that not so much as one Christian is resigned to God nor understands true Vertue as much as the Heathens did Because none apply themselves to it Since they became Idolaters of Men they have left off to know God and abondoned themselves to the Will of their Idols instead of the Will of God They Preach and Teach through all Christendom That we must depend upon Men whom they call the Fathers of the Church That we must believe and follow them even with a blind Obedience In which they prefer themselves to God who demands only of Man that he obey him in what he shall make known to him having given him Eyes to discover this Beautiful Universe that when he sees the Heavens the Earth the Sun the Stars and all the Elements with so many different Creatures so marvellous and so well ordered he might clearly perceive that all those Things must proceed from a God since Men and Nature can make nothing like them Moreover when Man considers himself he discovers evidently by his Understanding that his Soul his Memory his Understanding cannot come but from a God for no such Thing can come from Nature no more than his Body since all the Industry of Men is not capable to make so much as one Hair of our Head This obliges us to acknowledge a God by so many different Operations without being put to know God blindly no more than to love
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
here or there Do not believe it no more than if they said to you Lo here is Christ or there go not out For where ever He is He operates all these Vertues with which you see the Woman in the Revelation is adorned I said to her That if all these Qualities were required in the Spouse of God I must ingenuously declare that I do not know the Church Because I know no Body who has these Qualities of the Woman in the Revelation and that the Roman Church was directly opposite thereto She said Sir So far as you see the Roman Church opposite to them so far you see her removed from being the Spouse of God which never goes without these Ornaments She is always true and these Romanists are in many Lyes They often condemn Saints for Hereticks And if they knew me I should be in the same condemnation For they cannot endure the Truth that reproves them but they would continue to Rule as the Spouse of God though they have quitted the Truth saying VVhat they bind and loose shall be so done in Heaven Even as if they had continued the Spouse of God and united to his Will From which they are far removed For they have nothing before their Eyes but their own Glory They are also very far from having the Moon under their Feet For Honour pleases them and they wear it rather on their Head than tread it under Feet and they delight in Pleasures of which they will not deprive themselves as far as they can possess them they will not put them under their Feet no more than Riches which they carry rather in their Hearts than make them their Footstool By which you may assuredly judge that the Church of God cannot reside there but the Whore who has falsified her Faith to her Lawful Husband For while she bears the Name of the Church she lives in continual Adulteries which she knows how to cover so well with Things lawful and permitted that it seems to all who have no good Judgment that these Whoredoms are Vertues Must not one have lost his Judgment if he have a Repugnance to quit this Infamous Strumpet who has for so long time by-gone wallowed in all sort of Filthiness under the colour of Holiness and of the Spouse of God without having discovered her Infamies which would be so manifest to all the VVorld if they had removed that Bandage of blind Obedience which has so closely shut their Eyes If you know none Sir who has the Qualities of the VVoman in the Revelation you may say in truth that you do not know the Church and pray to God that he may let you know Her The Twenty Eight and Last Conference Teaches that all the Lawes as well that of Nature as that of Moses and of the Gospel are only true Means to attain to a Dependance of our Will upon that of God That this is the old Leaven which the Woman took and put into three Measures of Meal which are these Three Laws given by God in divers Times which Jesus Christ compares in his Parable to Three Measures of Meal and that a Woman now takes this Old Leaven of Dependance upon God to put it into these Three Laws that it may leaven the whole Lump and make Bread of it for the Nourishment of Gods Children I asked her How I should behave my self since I knew not the Church which I ought to follow and love She said Sir The Gospel is your Mother because it proceeded from the Wisdom of God this is what you ought to follow without seeking for an imaginary Church among Men The Word of God is the Nourishment of our Soul The Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the Rule that we must follow to become the Spouse of God This is the Seed that begets that Spouse Do not search through the Streets or Corners of the City for your Well-beloved for you will be beaten by the Souldiers that stand there Enter into this Closet and Doctrine of the Gospel and there you will find the Nourishment of your Soul and the Means of abandoning your self to God to be his True Spouse and his Holy Church which is the same thing The Spouse of God is the Church and the Church is the Spouse of God and nothing can be it but they who have abandoned their Free-will to the Will of God Therefore I conjure you never to tye your self to any other Thing For God still forms his Spouses by his Word When Adam offended he re-called him by his Word which being by him heard and followed he thereby returned into a Dependance upon God And all the World having shaken off their Dependance upon God he preserved Noah and his Family therein by his Word which being heard and followed they were saved from the Waters of the Deluge And the Children of Israel who heard this Word and followed it escaped the being drowned in the Red-Sea And those among the Jews who heard the Words of Jesus Christ became his Spouses Whom we also may imitate Because the same Word is left us in Writing and we may become the Church or Spouse of God if we will hear and follow it We need not turn here or there but rather take the Thing in its Source and see the Obligation we have of being resigned to God and having through our Perverseness quitted this SELF-RESIGNATION the Means of recovering it are marked out in the Gospel which Jesus Christ has brought us upon Earth It is this Sir that you must follow I said to her That Jesus Christ in his Gospel had not directly taught this Dependance of our Will upon that of God as she deduc'd it She said That Jesus Christ had no other Scope in all his Doctrines but to bring back the Soul of Man into that Dependance upon God from whence he had turned away and that if he taught any other Thing it was only to discover to Men the Things they had done or might do in Time coming which hindred this Dependance For otherwise He would never have taught any other Thing but that we ought directly to subject our Will to that of God But seeing He found Men so far from this Dependance and that they were distracted from it by so many different Means it was necessary that He should let them see in particular the Things that withdrew them from this Dependance upon God For they had Lorded it with their own Wills therefore he tells them that they who do not deny themselves cannot be his Disciples that no Body might flatter himself in believing he might be saved though he should follow his own Will And seeing that every one set their Affections upon the perishing Goods of this World he sayes to them Sell all that you have and follow me Because he knew no Body could be resigned to God while their Affections were set on Earthly Things Because the Love of God is incompatible with the Love of Riches
are so degenerate in this Age that they are enclined more to dispute than to discover the Essence of that which is necessary for their Salvation If this were not the Unhappiness of Men now no Body would call in question whether Man ought to resign his Will to that of God if he desire to be saved Because there is nothing more reasonable nor better nor more just than that a Creature resign himself to the Will of its Creatour and depend upon him from whom it has received All. I said to her That there was no debate to be made about so certain Truths That every one ought to submit their Judgment to this Dependance upon God which assuredly was necessary in all Ages and under all Laws She said Sir Man has nothing in him that is worthy of God but his Divine Soul which consists in Reason and Free-will And if we do not yield it up to the Will of God what is it that we can offer or give Him He has no need of Gold or Silver or Land or Flesh or any Thing that is Natural Because his Being is wholly Divine He could not therefore demand any other thing of Man but this Reason and Free-will As in effect he has not demanded and will not demand any other thing When he said in his Commandments that we must not Kill nor Steal and so forth this was only to draw Man from his Self-love which led him to all these Things And when He taught so particularly by the Gospel what we ought to do and avoid it was because Man followed his own Will in so many divers things It was needful to point out to him every particular wherein he went astray and that for this End only that he might return to this Dependance upon the Will of God For otherwise many Things that Man had were not evil in themselves as Father Mother Brother Sisters Lands Houses Riches all which Things might be very well possest if there were a Dependance of his Will upon that of God For God did not forbid them by the Ten Commandments because Men were not then so absolutely Masters of their own Wills as they became since for they are not satisfied now to use and follow their own Wills during some Passion of Anger or Swearing or the like but they follow them in all Things loving Father Mother and the rest out of pure Self-love For if this were not Self-love Jesus Christ would draw no Body from it since he sayes That we ought to love our Neighbour as our selves And several other times he exhorts that we love one another By which it appears evidently that he would only hinder us from following our Self-will in all these Things because all sorts of Sins consist in the following our own Wills as all Vertue consists in resigning our Will to that of God These are the Two Things which can Save and Damn us Though they be explained all at length by the Doctrine of the Gospel yet they are all abridged by the resigning of our own Will to God or by the following our own Will In this all Good and Evil does consist Of which we are free to make a Choice and to follow the one or the other For there is no Salvation without resigning our Will to God and no Damnation without following our own Will Let them grow old in Study and turn over all the Books of the World and let them treasure up all the Sciences they can never find a Truth more clear than That all Vertues and Salvation consist in the Resignation of our Will to that of God and that All Sins and Damnation consist in following our own Will This is an Eternal Truth which will never change Every one should lay it to Heart because it concerns him For it is a general Rule that respects every one Rich Poor Learned Ignorant Let us Work and Fast and Pray and do all that we can if withal we follow our own Will assuredly we shall be damned And on the other hand Let us take rest and Eat and Drink and do every other thing in a Dependance upon the Will of God we shall certainly be saved For God has nothing to do with the Offerings of Metals but that of our Free-will which he has reserved for himself Of which he gave a Figure by the forbidding Adam to eat of One Tree only Jesus Christ gave us this Conclusion also when after so many Instructions he said I came not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me If Jesus Christ himself who was the Word of God lays down his own Will and sayes that he came not into this World to follow it but that of his Father what then ought to be done and said by the Reasonable Creature who desires to save its Soul since it is the Will of God that it should be saved Nevertheless it will not be saved without this Self-RESIGNATION I said to her That I wish'd from the Bottom of my Soul that never any Body had taught any other thing but the Dependance that we owe to God since in truth all is comprehended in it She said Sir I hope your Wish shall very shortly be accomplished because Jesus Christ promised it by a Parable where it is said That the Kingdom of Heaven is like to Leaven which a Woman took and put into Three Measures of Meal till the whole was leavened And because now we are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven God makes us to understand all that he said in former Times by Parables for then the Time was not come to make these Things be manifestly understood because the World who then liv'd did not see the Things signified by all these Parables But at present we are arrived at the end of the Last Times and shall see the Things fulfilled which are uttered by Similitudes He sayes first That the Kingdom of Heaven is like to Leaven which a Woman took as if he had said The Kingdom of Heaven will be proclaimed by a Woman who taking the Old the First and only Essential Commandment OF RESIGNING OUR WILL to that of God she will put it in the Law of Nature and in the Written Law and in the Evangelical Law which are the Three Measures of Meal and that God sent his Word these Three several Times to serve for Bread and Nourishment to our Souls And it seems this Word though sent after different wayes has not been converted into Bread because so few have nourished their Souls by it and this Food has remained in the Meal even till now Very few resigned themselves to God during the Law of Nature since at the Time of the Deluge Noah only with his Family were saved and only Eight Persons of all the World escaped the Flood And in the Written Law how few also were abandoned to God Since Moses so suddenly broke the Stone because he saw that few would observe the
Commandments which were written in it And in the Gospel-Law how few have followed the Word of God Twelve Apostles Among whom one forsook it to go hang himself and some Disciples among whom divers also abandoned Jesus Christ So that this Divine Word has served for Nourishment for few Persons But in the Fulness of Time in which we enter at present this Divine Word shall have its full effect and the Holy Spirit shall be poured out upon all Flesh Young and Old Great and Small so that all shall Prophesie and speak Languages and do more Wonders than Moses did with all the Antient Prophets who altogether were but Figures of the Things figured which we shall see very shortly come to pass which will be more perfect than all that the Apostles and their Disciples did yea even Jesus Christ himself because we are arrived at the Fulness of Time of which the Apostles says That they shall understand and prophesie in full perfection What they only did in part shall be in Fulness and Accomplishment because then all Men in general who shall remain on the Earth shall subject their Wills to that of God who will govern them according to his pleasure and without the contradiction of their own Wills Then there will be no longer need of Laws no more Constraint no more Commands no more Churches of Stone no more Sacraments no more Prayers no more Desires and Aspirations because the Souls of all Men shall be filled with the Will of God and shall have nothing more to ask Him by Prayer nor have any more need of the Sacraments to obtain his Graces which are all contained in the Accomplishment of his Will which will operate in them without having need to go to Church their Soul being the True Temple where the Will of God resides which has no need of Law or Commandment the Will of God being a Law to it self by Pure Love without any constraint Lo this is the Estate of Blessed Souls who shall enter into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ This is that Hidden Treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven and he that discovers it ought to sell all that he has to obtain it It is to be bought very easily There is no need of being Rich or of Noble Blood No need of Learning many Languages nor of passing the Degrees of the Schools and Universities No need to enter into Cloysters of strict Observance nor to crush the Body with hard Discipline Watchings Fastings and other Bodily Mortifications No need to learn to Read Write or any other Curious Art Nor yet is there need of perusing so many Spiritual Books with which the World is now full which Teach so many Methods of Perfection so many Steps to ascend to Vertue so many Means to find God No Sir all these Things are not necessary because there is but ONE THING ONLY so which is TO RESIGN OUR WILL TO THE WILL OF GOD. Lo this is the Leaven that leavens the whole Lump of the Law of Nature that of the Jews and that of the Gospel Because this Subjection of our Will to God comprehends all in it and gives us an Entry into the Kingdom of Heaven Lo this is all I have to say to you and bid you Adieu for ever Remaining your very Affectionate in a Dependance on the Will of God At Macklin Sept. 15. 1667. ANTHOINETTE BOVRIGNON Luke xxj 5. I will give you a Mouth and Wisdom which they who shall rise up against you shall not be able to gainsay nor resist Chap. x. 18. I beheld Satan falling from Heaven as Lightning THE END Of the Third and Last Part of The LIGHT of the World The TABLE of the Conferences of the Third Part of the LIGHT OF THE WORLD I. Conf. SHEWS That God never demanded any other thing of Man but the Dependance of his Will upon that of God and that all the other Laws are given him by accident and to discover to him his Sins pag. 1 II. Of Free-will That it is the only thing that represents in Man the Infinity and Liberty of God and that this is the greatest Gift that God gave to Man that he might love him freely and infinitely Which is the greatest Perfection in Grace and is Typified by that of Marriage in Nature p. 8 III. Speaks of the Perfection and Abuse of Marriage p. 15 IV. Of the Blindness of Men who amuse themselves with the outward Things which are delivered them without informing themselves of the Truth it self in its depth being charm'd and detained with the fear of displeasing those who are in Vogue p. 19 V. Of the Destruction of Christendom p. 24 VI. Shews the Marks by which it appears the World is judged and that Antichrist Reigns at present p. 29 VII Shews that Jesus Christ will come in Glory else he would not be the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD as he is and there would be no just Recompence of the Good and of the Wicked p. 39 VIII Shews That M. ANTHOINETTE BOURIGNON is sent from God to declare the Truth to Men. p. 44 IX Speaks of the Sins that we commit in another And that to declare the Truth of Evil is no sin p. 51 X. Shews what Souls shall be blessed and explains the Eight Beatitudes p. 61 XI Shews How we must be born again to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and that we must return to a Dependance upon God which is the only thing that He does essentially require of Man p. 67 XII Shews that to be Saved there is One only thing to be done p. 72 XIII Shews That the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the Last that God will send into the World and that the Holy Spirit comes now to give the perfect understanding of it p. 79 XIV Speaks of the Alliance that God will make with Men and of the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory and that to have a share in it we must necessarily Resign our Will to God and re-enter into a Dependance upon him p. 83 XV. Shews how we must make use of all things to keep us in a Dependance upon God p. 88 XVI Shews how the Resignation of our Will to that of God is a continual Prayer that it supplies all particular Doctrines and Exercises and that the Gospel directs us only how to remove the Obstacles that hinder it the discovery of which is necessary p. 102 XVII Is a Recapitulation of all the foregoing Matters their Scope and Vse p. 108 XVIII Speaks of Hell and of the Damned which will be they who shall have followed their own VVill which is the cause of all Evil and that few were disposed to quit it that they may Resign themselves to God and receive the Divine Truth p. 116 XIX Shews that the Spirit of ANTICHRIST hinders Men from discovering the saving Truth and that Heathens are more Resigned to God than Christians at present p. 122 XX. Shews that very few among