Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	church_n	divine_a	infallible_a	4,191	5	9.7956	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42287	An apology for M. Antonia Bourignon in four parts ... : to which are added two letters from different hands, containing remarks on the preface to The snake in the grass and Bourignianism detected : as also some of her own letters, whereby her true Christian spirit and sentiments are farther justified and vindicated, particularly as to the doctrine of the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ.	Garden, George, 1649-1733.; Bourignon, Antoinette, 1616-1680.; De Heyde, Dr.	1699 (1699)	Wing G218; ESTC R18554	402,086	456

Ass but his Spirit is still to be regarded through all she is but the Organ the Instrument and the Conduit but the Spirit Life and Power the living Waters and the pure Truth come from Jesus Christ 3. Tho' there were no more but this one Expression in the Comparison it were enough to shew how far she is from making a Parallel as to what relates to her self The Child Jesus says she gathered Disciples after him the second also will draw a great number of persons to be Disciples of the first 4. There are few serious Christians who do not believe that there will be a renewing of the Church of God before the End of the World and that Jesus Christ will live in her by his Light and Spirit Now there being a great Analogy in the Works of God through the several Ages of the World a prudent serious Christian will not scoff at the making a Comparison betwixt the Renovation of his Gospel Spirit in the World and the first establishing of it 7. As to what he says in his Tenth Article her own Defences are already given in the Apology As I shall never desire to mock at and speak evil of things that I do not know so had the Doctor lived among the Pharisees at the time of the Birth of Jesus Christ he would have made it as much the subject of his Scorn and Raillery that it was said a Virgin betroth'd to a Husband had conceived a Son only by the power of the Holy Ghost as now he diverts himself and others with his light and foolish lests in relation to this Virgin To turn an innocent Raillery in Conversation which had nothing in it of any impure Idea and uttered 30 years ago by a Person of known Gravity who never staid with A. B. tho' he greatly esteem'd her and with whom her other Friends had never any Acquaintance to turn this I say into an impure Jest and fix it upon her and her Friends as their ordinary Conversation shews only how impure as well as malicious the Imaginations of some are who catch at all occasions to turn the most innocent things that way Turpe est Doctori c. 8. It is a dangerous thing it seems to come near the Narrator when he is in his Majesty for then he lays furiously about him The Author of The State of the Philadelphian Society had a modest Reflection upon the Doctor 's boasting that he would overturn the Quakers Philadelphians Quietists and Pietists as well as the Bourignianists all at one blow The Doctor treats him with a great deal of Insolence and Scorn tho' what he said stands good after all that the Doctor hath yet replied The Doctor says that the Church of England and the Presbyterians do not stand upon the same Foundation nor resolve their Faith by the same Rule yet themselves say they do it viz. by the divine Authority of the Scriptures and the Practice of the purest Ages of the Church which was all the Postscript affirmed What that Author said of the internal Light of the Spirit of God being so rationally stated in the Treatise it self in opposition to all Enthusiastical Delusion and Imposture and made appear to be ownd by all the Reformed Churches and particularly by the Church of England I am sorry that the Doctor shews himself such an Enemy to the Grace and Spirit of God as to flout at it and to scoff at Authors and Writings which he does not know There are many who look upon the Writings of A. B. as excellently representing the Essentials of Christianity yet they do not believe her other particular Sentiments but commend her Discretion in the manner of their delivery Now he who that Author hopes may undertake to give a true Character of her may be of that number and so the Doctor might have spared all his Declamations about his Vtopias and Hennepins The Doctor concludes with an uncommon strain of disdainful and boasting words If he persist to amuse Men with his Narratives as he has already given a proof with how little Ca●dour he manages them and confounds and ●●akens the Truth instead of clearing it so he may be disappointed of his Designs and miss his Aim come short of the Glory and Name he aspires after and make the Writings of M. A. B. to be more valued and esteemed in the World in which I am sorry he should think himself unhappy for the more narrowly they are enquired into by sincere and serious Persons their Worth will the more appear and they who clearly see the great and essential truths of Jesus Christ contained in these Writings will never be shaken by his Narratives and let him calumniate as he will it will still more and more appear that God has chosen the weak base and foolish things of the World to confound the Wise the Learned and the Mighty and the Writings of that despised and pious Virgin M. A●t Bo●● ignon will be admired and esteemed when it will be quite forgotten that ever there were such Writings in the World as the Preface to the Snake in the Grass and Bourign Detected It may please God to open his Eyes and to let him see what Mistakes his Passions and his rash and hasty judging of things have made him run into and what mischief he does unto the true interest of Christianity how he entertains and diverts the Scoffers and the Profane and lays a stumbling-block in the way before many serious Persons to turn them away from that by which they might reap unspeakable spiritual profit to their Souls by his giving such Characters of Persons and Writings which aim at nothing but to perswade People to the Love of God and for that end to follow the Example of our Lord Jesus Christ in a Life of Penitence and Mortification of our corrupt Nature which desire none to sollow the Instrument of these Writings but Jesus Christ only nor believe any thing upon her Authority but upon his only and as it is conformable to his Gospel nor to have any regard for her particular Sentiments as not being necessary to Salvation and which do not at all tend to make a new Sect or divide Christians or separate them from their lawful Pastors but to unite us all in the Spirit of Jesus Christ If he seriously pursue this great Design himself in the true Fear of God his Prejudices will vanish as a Mist before the Sun That God may grant him this Grace and that he may instantly ask it of him with a sincere and humble heart is the earnest and daily Prayer of SIR c. POSTSCRIPT HAving seen a Letter of M Poiret's to a Friend I here send you an Extract out of it by which you will see with what a Christian Spirit he considers the Doctor 's unworthy Usage of him Nil moror quod in me ita debacchetur Narrator dicta in sensus horridos blasphemos interpretetur aversionem suam

expresly bear that were needful to be known for her own and others Conduct and therefore not of such as would tend only to gratifie Pride and vain Curiosity and carnal Interests of Men and consequently tho' we should suppose that A. B. had the Spirit of God yet it will not follow that she would be useful to the Doctor for easing the Minds of curious Girls by shewing them what was written in the Book of Fate as he very piously jests pag. 18. He falls very foul on M. P. ● Narrat p. 49. as if he and others descended to the light and wanton Railleries of the Profane for relating a much more innocent Jest tho' I think his half Page looks liker that sort of Wit The Doctor seldom narrates any thing A. B. said or did or was said of her but he pushes it to an Excess and carries it to a height that was never intended However I suppose he will not neither indeed can he deny the possibility of the thing since the Holy Scriptures furnish us with a great many Instances of God's having discovered the secret Dispositions of the Souls of Men and other matters of fact to illuminated Persons All then he can aim at must be to evince the Nullity of this Pretence as to A. B. 5. To say* that A. B. requires the same Respect to her Sayings as to the Scripture is in my opinion to do her very great Injustice for since very plainly and frequently she acknowledges and asserts that the Sacred Writings are the Standard and Rule by which all other Doctrines must be tried and examined it is evident that in so doing she owns a peculiar Respect and Deference to be due to the Holy Scriptures which neither hers nor any others Sayings ought to pretend to Look says she with a suspicious eye upon any thing I declare unto you as coming from God in case you find my Doctrine not entirely agreeing with the Holy Scripture Whence it is plain that she would have her Sayings to be tried by the Holy Scriptures and that the value of what she says is to be determined by its Conformity to them This one would think is not to put the Scriptures and her Sayings in the same ballance or to require an equal respect to be paid to both The Doctor now that he peruses A. B's Writings could not but remark this and a great many more Passages to the same purpose How comes it then to pass that he brings not in these into his Accounts of A. B. Why this would spoil the design that he hath conceived of exposing her to the World altogether in black and horrid shapes But says the Doctor what she delivered must be of the same Authority with the Holy Scriptures because God is the Author of it But tho' we should suppose A. B. to be truly inspired yet his Consequence will not follow and the Reason is because as one very pertinently expresses it Quae à Deo procedunt ejusdem sunt veritatis c. Things that proceed from God are of equal Truth but not of equal Authority for tho' some things may be of God yet if any Person do not know or doubt if they be such they have not the same Authority nor Right to such a Persons Obedience as those things whose divine Origin is allowed by universal Consent altho' when it is evident to any person that any thing is revealed to them by God they are bound to pay the same Obedience to things thus revealed as to God himself Several Books that are now universally received into the Canon of Scripture were for some time doubted of in the Primitive Church it is certain that the questioned Books tho' really of Divine Original were not of the same Authority with these that were by unanimous Consent acknowledged to be Divine 6. If the Doctor can hit on any Period in A. B.'s Books that can give the least Colour to an invidious Consequence he is sure to make it serve his turn but without any Regard to that Candor that might be expected from him Of this we have a remarkable Instance pag. 32. n. 7. I shall give you the whole Passage to which he refers as it is If saith she I should say any thing contrary to the Gospel do not believe me for you ought not to believe any thing because I say it to you but 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 its never good to follow Persons for themselves but to follow the Righteousness Goodness and Truth which you shall discover to abide in them Now to discover the Vanity of that Improvement which the Doctor makes of this Passage let it be considered that when things which import Excellency are attributed both to Jesus Christ and to Christians his Followers it is undeniable that we must alter our Idea's of these things according as we differently apply them either to him or them Our Lord calls himself the Light of the World and he is so in a Supernatural manner because he is the Divine Source and Original of all spiritual Light he in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge This same very Title he gives all his faithful Followers But will any Body imagine that it is applied to them in that same Sence in which it is understood of him No sure for we conceive of them only as subordinate Luminaries which receive all their Light and Heat from the Son of Righteousness And when St. Paul assures Timothy that by doing what he recommended to him he would save both himself and those that heard him we must not entertain the same Idea of Saving when we apply it to Timothy that we have when we attribute it to Jesus Christ Just so tho' our Lord uses concerning himself Words to the same Purpose with these which A. B. hath in this Period yet we must not imagine that they are of the same Import or that she intended they should Indeed the very Scope of the Passage plainly enough determines that she meant no more but this if you were acquainted with me and saw my Life and Practise you would see that I imitate and transcribe in my Conversation the Divine Qualities of Truth Righteousness and Goodness for God who by his Holy Spirit works uniformly in all his Children imprints these Characters of himself on them all and as much of these as you discern in me so far do you discern God in me and your seeing me exemplifie them before you in a lively manner will be an Inducement to you to imitate them and so to know God truly for then we truly know God when we imitate his Perfections If the Doctor had not been visibly in a

that by this Word the inward Thoughts of his Heart are made manifest and laid open he is forced to fall down upon his Face and to acknowledge that it is God who speaks unto him This one Mark is sufficient to prove the Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture and it is so clear that it may be understood by the most simple moreover it is most certain and infallible To this many other Marks might be added which for brevity's sake I pass over and so much the rather that they are to be had abundantly from those Writers who have designedly treated of the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures XXII Now that this may be applied to the Writings of Antonia Bourignon both I my self and many Persons of Probity have experienced and do daily experience that those Writings do as clearly lay before us our inward State as if God were immediately speaking unto us Moreover they do so clearly and so lively set before our Eyes the Vanity and Nothingness of all Earthly and Temporal things and the Glory of Heavenly and Eternal things that we are forced unless we would do Violence to our Conscience to love and seek after these last things only and absolutely to forsake and avoid the other And there is no doubt but that all they who sincerely desire to do the Will of God and to embrace and practice the Truth which they know shall experience in themselves the same Effects from the reading of those Writings and give Testimony that they are endited by the Spirit of God XXIII Moreover the Writings of Antonia Bourignon are so consonant to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament that from hence it appears more clearly than the Sun at Noon-day that the same Spirit has endited both Yea the Writings of Antonia Bourignon are as a Key whereby the Sacred Scriptures are opened and expounded So that the great Mysteries hitherto understood by none are expounded by these Writings and the Difficulties which hitherto have been most intricate are resolved It is also most worthy of Observation that a Virgin so simple as Antonia Bourignon should without Study or Meditation commit to Writing the most solid clear and saving Truths Being moved to write against her natural Inclination only for promoting the Glory of God and the Good of her Neighbour without the prospect of any temporal Advantage but on the contrary foreseeing that she must suffer much because of these Writings as the Event did confirm for because she did so clearly and efficaciously declare the saving Truth the Churchmen and the Learned of all Sects and Parties did prosecute her with Hatred Calumnies and Persecution even to her Death XXIV We judge therefore that we have abundance of Reasons and Arguments to conclude that A. B. was moved by the Spirit of God to write for the enlightning of others The End of the Third Part. An Advertisement to the Reader THEY who esteem the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. will no doubt be desirous to know the History of her Life and they who make it their Business to traduce and defame her to the World do make it necessary to be known thereby to prevent or remove the Prejudices which they may breed in the Minds of well-disposed Persons against Writings which would be so helpful to them in the way to Eternal Life The inward Sentiments of others cannot be known but from themselves or by the Spirit of God and their Sincerity may appear from the constant Tenour of their Actions in the whole course of their Lives and the Story of their Life and Actions may be had both from themselves and from those who have been Eye-Witnesses of their Conversation both Friends and indifferent Persons The Testimony of Enemies in bespattering and defaming them is no more to be regarded than that of false Witnesses when there are unquestionable Evidences to the contrary It is easie also for those who consider things with an evil Eye to give such a turn to the Actions of the Best as may make them hateful and ridiculous witness the Author of Dictionaire Historique Critique in his Character of the King and Prophet David The inward Life of A. B. and the outward likewise for a Course of many Years is written by her self and the Continuation of it to her Death by a Person of known Integrity who was with her for some of the last Years of her Life and was helped in it by her own Memorials and those of her Friends and often led her to relate unto him her whole Life Besides there are some sixty Testimonies some private others publick before Judges Magistrates upon Oath of Persons to whom she was well known which do refer to a good part of the most remarkable Events of her Life From these Originals then I have drawn the following Summary of her Life the fuller Account being to be had from those Writings themselves I know there are many who sit in the Seat of the Scornful and will turn all this into Ridicule at which we need not wonder when even the Penmen of the Sacred Scriptures d●es not escape their Lash God's ways are so different fro● Man's that the natural Man perceiveth not the things that are of God but they seem Foolishness to him We have strong Attachments to Parents Friends Wife Children to our Guides the Learned the Eloquent the Great to Study and Learning and worldly Accommodations and therein gratifie and cherish the corrupt Inclinations of our Hearts God will have I●struments form'd upon different Molds Our Lord would not let them go take leave of their Friends or go bury their Father He engages them to forsake their Wives and Children or if they be free not to be bound God makes Men forsake their Country and their Friends and go they know not where upon his Word only He chooses Children Persons without Learning forbidding them to study or to follow the Conduct and Wisdom of Men. He chooses them W●●k and Simple without Authority or Power without a Following or Applause keeps them for the most part in Solitude either that they may converse with God or to preserve them from the Persecutions of Men of those especially who call themselves the Church and People of God and when he draws them out of it he lets them be chas'd from one Place to another and at last die in Assliction and Misery How impertinent does this Conduct seem to the Wisdom of humane Reason and yet by these Rules God has form'd Men for his Service in all Ages Abraham Jacob Moses David Elisha Jeremiah Ames ●ohn Baptist ●esus Christ himself all the Apostles and the true Saints who have followed him When Men then are so wise in their own Eyes as to condemn this in the Person of A. B. they must know that they condemn the Conduct of God himself in his Saints who will thereby have their Hearts and Wills wholly disengag'd from self and all worldly