Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	authority_n	new_a	testament_n	2,897	5	7.9529	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33542	Bourignianism detected, or, The delusions and errors of Antonia Bourignon, and her growing sect which may also serve for a discovery of all other enthusiastical impostures / by John Cockburn.	Cockburn, John, 1652-1729.	1698 (1698)	Wing C4804; ESTC R17688	48,522	82

Bourignianism Detected OR THE Delusions and Errors OF ANTONIA BOURIGNON AND HER Growing Sect. Which may also Serve for a Discovery of all other ENTHUSIASTICAL IMPOSTURES By IOHN COCKBVRN D. D. Narrative I. LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun at the West-End of St. Paul's W. Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-Yard and H. Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball over-gainst the Royal Exchange Cornhill 1698. PREFACE AS before the coming of Iesus Christ it is cortain that God did at sundry times and in diverse manners speak by his Prophets to prepare the way of this his only and well-beloved Son and to dispose Mankind to receive this Soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth with all suitable Respect Honour and Submission so since his return to Heaven many have pretended Divine and particular Revelations from thence authorizing them to alter or add to the Rules and Doctrine which he taught and established for securing and promoting our Salvation which is no small Argument for the Divine Authority of the Books of the New Testament where this is very often and in express terms foretold Almost in every Age and in every Country some or other have set up for Prophets and have spoken confidently in the Name of the Lord. But there is one in this Age viz. Antonia Bourignon whose Pretences are greater and far beyond all were before more cannot nor yet so much can be said for the Apostles themselves for they were but Servants and Ministers to Iesus Christ who if she may be believed only laid the Foundation for her Work and did no more than prepare the way for her Design The last and greatest Manifestation of the Divine Wisdom Power Love and Goodness was reserved to her and therefore she is and must be a greater Person than Iesus Christ himself It is not rare and unusual to see Persons exalt themselves above measure and to think of themselves above what they ought to think But it is somewhat astonishing that others should be affected with their Pride and Vanity and taken with their Delusion or Imposture and that they should become Zealous to support them Yet so it is that the strongest Delusions and the greatest Imposture have had Admirers and Followers and so hath Madamoiselle Bourignon She had only two or three Disciples who adhered closely to her in her Life-time for some who admired her upon the first Acquaintance deserted her afterwards But since her Death a good many have been proselited both to her Doctrine and the Opinion of her Person there be several on the other side the Sea but which concerns us most the Infection has spread hither to this Isle and has seized many especially in Scotland which certainly obligeth every one to contribute all he can to put a stop to it and to prevent as much as possible the dangerous Consequence They are not mean and ignorant Persons who follow this Woman they are some of the better sort who have been reputed Men of Sense Learning and Probity which should lay the Pride of Man and teach him who standeth to take heed lest he ●all Errour like Sicknss seizeth upon strong Constitutions as well as the weak And as sometimes the Air is more infectious and the Bodies of Men more susceptible of Diseases than at other times so there are times which favour Errour very much and in which it doth exceedingly spread At present there is all the World over a wonderful Disposition in all serious Persons to Enthusiasm and the Delusions which follow it as in others a tendency to Atheism and Scepticism both which are Presages of some impendent Iudgment I am one of the weakest who may enter into the field against these Enemies to Truth and True Religion But God sometimes doth work by the meanest Instruments and seeing at this time I have no Charge which requires my attendance I resolve to employ my Time and Thoughts this way that I may at least shew my Zeal to the Cause of God to whose Service I was devoted I have already publish'd Two Parts of the Enquiry into the Nature Evidence and Necessity of Christian Faith and I intend a Third as soon as the present Task is over if not before it by which as well as by many other more accurate Treatises Atheists and Scepticks may see that the Christian Religion is no cunning Fable but a certain Truth and worthy to be received I have turned a while from the Atheist only that I may at the desire of some encounter the Enthusiast who truly does as much disservice to Religion and is the best Tool which the Atheist doth work by At first I design'd only to give some pat Instances to prove that Antonia Bourignon was not Inspired nor her Doctrine agreeable to the Scripture which is sufficient to preserve any from following this Way But seeing this is the first time that Bourignianism was undertaken I was persuaded to do it fully and not to make an imperfect Work of it and especially seeing the Examination of this discovers all other Enthusiastical Impostures and Delusions Our Quakers and Philadelphians as well as the Quietists and Pietists abroad are of the same kidney and do all stand upon the same foundation so that what overturns one overturns all To have publish'd at once a full Examination of Enthusiasm Inspiration Visions and the particular Tenets of Antonia Bourignon would have required a longer time than the impatient curiosity of some would alallow For this cause therefore and for some other reasons I have been prevailed with to set it forth by Parts which are independent upon one another This is the First Narrative which shews the high Opinion that the Disciples of Antonia Bourignon have of her and the Reasons for it The next shall go instantly to the Press So that one may be expected and had always within three or four Weeks at most after another I pray God grant that they may be a means to recover some and to preserve others from those Delusions that disturb the Peace and Vnity of the Church and which lead private Persons unawares both into Temporal and Eternal Ruine Bourignianism DETECTED Narrative I. THE CHARACTER OF Madamoiselle ANTONIA BOURIGNON By her Disciples Consider'd and Examin'd ANtonia Bourignon the Daughter of one Iohn Bourignon and Italian Merchant who lived at Lisle in Flanders was born the 13th of Ianuary 1616 and she died at Franeker in the Province of Friseland the 30th of Octob. 1680 so that she lived Threescore and four Years Nine Months and Fourteen Days None of her Friends had the comfort of attending her when she died but a Considerable Person who some days before was allowed to visit her came very opportunely to kiss her Feet as she was laid in the Coffin and to get her buried after the manner she her self desired And he who gives this Account of her adds That she was the most Divine and the most Pure Soul that ever lived upon the Earth since Jesus