with
horror; since, as far as worship is ascribed to any man, so far it is
withheld from the Lord; for thus, he alone is not worshipped; and, if the
Lord alone is not worshipped, a discrimination is made, which destroys
communion, and the happiness of life flowing from it. That I might know
what the Roman Catholic saints are, in order that I might make it known,
as many as a hundred were brought forth from the earth below, who knew of
their canonization. They ascended behind my back, and only a few before my
face; and I spoke with one of them, who, they said, was Xavier. He, while
he talked with me, was like a fool; yet he could tell, that, in his place,
where he was shut up with others, he was not a fool, but that he becomes a
fool as often as he thinks that he is a saint, and wishes to be invoked. A
like murmur I heard from those who were behind my back. It is otherwise
with the saints, so called, in heaven: these know nothing at all of what
is done on earth; nor is it given them to speak with any of the Roman
Catholic persuasion, who are in that superstition, lest any idea of that
thing should enter into them.

"From this their state, every one may conclude that invocations of them
are only mockeries; and, moreover, I can assert, that they do not hear
their invocations on earth, any more than their images do at the sides of
the streets, nor any more than the walls of the temple, nor any more than
the birds that build their nests in towers. It is said by their servants
on earth, that the saints reign in heaven, together with the Lord Jesus
Christ; but this is a figment and a falsehood; for they no more reign with
the Lord, than a hostler with a king, a porter with a grandee, or a
footman with a primate; for John the Baptist said, concerning the Lord,
_that he was not worthy to unloose the latchet of his shoe_, (Mark 1:7.
John 1:27.) What, then, are those who are such?

"There appears, sometimes, to the people of Paris, who are in the
spiritual world, in a society, a certain woman of a common stature, in
shining raiment, and of a face, as it were, holy; and she says that she is
GENEVIEVE; but, when any begin to adore her, then her face is immediately
changed, and also her raiment, and she becomes like an ordinary woman, and
reproves them for wishing to adore a woman, who, among her companions, is
in no higher estimation than as a maid-servant, wondering that the men of
the world should be captivated by such trifles.