TEST OF REVELATIONS.

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Receive, Monsieur le Curé, the assurance of my

profound respect.

Your very humble servant,

MIMBASTE, 15th October, 1842.

MARIE.

LETTER IX.

Signs by which to recognise the Spirit of God in visions

MONSIEUR LE CURÉ,

and revelations.

The Saviour Jesus said to me one day: "A fear is entertained that it is not My Word that you hear. In order to undeceive or reassure those who direct you, I will show you the difference between a person who is deceived by the devil or led astray by his imagination, and those who are guided by the Spirit of God. Communicate to them My teaching on this subject, and then let them judge regarding you without fear of being deceived.

"My daughter, what are the signs by which the source of the extraordinary things which take place in a virtuous soul is ascertained? I am about to show you. If the devil or the imagination is the source of the marvels manifested in a person, he will still remain virtuous, at least exteriorly. But examine his conduct and his way of acting; you will speedily discover therein a secret pride, a certain touchiness, an attachment to his own experiences, and very little docility. He will be wanting in sweetness, gentleness, meekness, humility, and simplicity. If he obeys it will be from

pride. If pride does not find any aliment in his obedience he will not obey. He will talk freely and with pleasure to everybody of what he experiences; or he will hide it, and say nothing of it, not even to his director; he will make use of evasions and artifices, and will be deficient in straightforwardness and simplicity. These signs are unmistakable; a person who is proud, disobedient, hypocritical, and false, is not one who is led by the Spirit of God, but by the inclinations of his own corrupt nature.

Those, on the contrary, who are guided by the Spirit of God are humble, submissive, and united to God, indifferent to everything, free from self-will, and obedient in all things, without seeking or requiring a reason for the directions they receive. They do not speak to any one about what they experience; they abide in the oblivion and silence of their hearts; nevertheless, they speak of it to their directors, and this is the first movement with which I inspire their souls.

"Some speak of it with facility, but always with that humility which is the distinctive sign of My Spirit and of My Heart. Others speak of it only with difficulty; nevertheless they do speak of it, and acquire more merit by overcoming the repugnance they feel in mentioning what passes between them and Me.

"The director of such persons will naturally wish to test them. He will even subject them to very hard and difficult trials. They will endure all without complaining and with an admirable patience, because they will always have My example before their eyes. Nothing will repel them; they will submit to everything. They will do to-day whatever they are ordered

ARTIFICES OF THE DEVIL.

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to do, and will cease doing it to-morrow if they are prohibited from doing it. They will act less from themselves than in obedience to the will of their director. They will trust his word as though it were My word, and will have no confidence in themselves.

"By these signs it will be ascertained whether it be the spirit of Satan or My Spirit which is operating in these persons; whether the movements be those of corrupt nature or of My most signal graces. Sometimes it is My Spirit which is at work in a soul, as a labourer tills the family field; but the devil seeks to sow therein the cockle of his own spirit, and to stifle the good which I have wrought in that soul.

"Here is the way in which the devil proceeds; listen to Me attentively:

"The devil, My daughter, does not act in the same way with all kinds of persons. He studies the disposition, the inclinations, the strength, or the weakness of each; he takes note of the state of souls, their love for Me, or their lack of affection, and then he skilfully commences his work.

"He sees a pious person enriched with those graces which are so admirable and so much admired in saints. What does the devil do? He endeavours to lead that person to vanity, to make him fancy that he must needs be something great because he has received such signal graces. If he is repulsed he is not discouraged, he returns to the charge, and plies him so vigorously that if this soul does not promptly apply a remedy and have recourse to Me under these circumstances, the breath of the demon will be to him like leaven causing him to ferment in rebellion against his Saviour with a pride the most culpable and most criminal.

"Another person receives like favours. What will

the devil do? He will tempt him to keep them concealed, to speak of them to nobody. Thus he will trouble that person's peace and repose, and by means of this disquietude will turn him away from God and from virtue.

“What will the devil do in regard to another who is similarly favoured? He will urge him to speak freely of the graces he has received, and talk about them to his friends. These will spread abroad the news, and thus the esteem in which he is held will be increased. He will become sensible of this, and, without suspecting it, will admit the germ of pride which the devil will be quick to slip into his soul. He will believe himself to be exalted above others. Poor soul! pride will have brought him down lower than earth, and separated him from God.

“At other times the devil will transform himself into an angel of light; he will simulate My language and My manner of speaking, in order to get dominion over a soul, and then he will insinuate into it error and falsehood, which are the sources of all sin.

"In fine, My daughter, when a person is virtuous and experiences the benefits of My grace, without, however, participating in those favours which I grant only by a peculiar effect of My goodness, the devil makes use of all his natural dispositions for his destruction. If his imagination is lively and his temperament ardent, he will conjure up before him visions of some sort, persuading him that he receives revelations, and so strong will be his belief of this that there will be no means of convincing him to the contrary. The devil will avail himself of his negligence, his imprudence, his too great familiarity, in a word, of everything that may be faulty in him in order to draw him on to his destruction and ruin.

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"All these persons ought to tell their director what takes place within them; without this they will infallibly fall into the snares of their greatest enemy. The director will know if they are in the good way according to their obedience and submission to his counsels and advice. If they do not listen to the voice of their director, they are not led by My Spirit. If they conceal what is said to them, and if he who speaks to them enjoins them to say nothing to their confessor, they are not led by My Spirit, it is not My voice which they hear; for I have never prohibited any one from speaking of what I have said, at least from speaking to those who are the directors of such souls as it is My pleasure to teach.

"Write down these words, My daughter; the reading of them will be useful to many souls deluded and deceived by the spirit of lying. Write them down, and he who directs you will clearly see what is the source from which they have emanated. He will see therein a stamp of sincerity and truth which do not belong to Satan, but only to Incarnate Truth, God Himself.

"Let him judge you, and say frankly in his turn what he thinks of you and of him who speaks to you. "Go in peace, My daughter; your director well knows that it is I who speak to you. Long ago he would have put an end to the trials he imposes upon you. It is through the movement of My Spirit that he continues them, and that his director induces him to continue them."

I have told you all these things, Monsieur le Curé, with the greatest and most perfect confidence. I have also told them to you out of obedience and submission. I do not pretend to teach you anything, for