her Thoughts and withal that she had written her Thoughts lately on the same Matter which he having obtain'd the Sight of after Importunity and with a Promise to restore it within three Days he read it with Feeling and Admiration and returning it said You have said more things and more forcible on this Subject in one Sheet than I have done in all my Book which has cost me so much Time Pains and Expences and therefore I condemn it never to see the Light It is the 4th Chapter of the fore-cited Book XXVIII 13. Those Writings are worthy of our Regard in that they tend to discourage and remove out of the Christian World the Disputing and Controversal Divinity and to take Men off from the Spirit of Controversie which has banished the Life and Spirit of Christianity from among Men. Some are ready to say that her Writings tend rather to multiply Controversies than to remove them in that they advance so many new Doctrines and Opinios which were never formerly heard of But these need give no Occasion of Dispute she declares they are not Matters of Faith are not necessary to Salvation they who are perswaded of the Truth of them and find them helpful to increase their Love and Admiration of God will receive them without disputing about them and they who are not perswaded of the Truth of them may let them alone and so there needs no Dispute and no Body will contend with them about them But those Writings tend to take Men off from this Spirit they make so clear a Difference between the Essentials and the Accessories of Religion so plainly describe the first that all cannot but be convinc'd of them and they shew that the last ought not to be any Subject of Debate and Contention They make appear that the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is to be learn'd by Simplicity and humble Prayer and not by Controversie and Debate and that none are more capable of understanding it than they who are led by the Spirit they shew that there is nothing more contrary to the Spirit and Great End of Christianity than the Spirit of Controversie That they who are led by it cannot endure that others should differ from them in some Sentiments about Religion even tho' they agree in the Essentials and Fundamentals of it but presently they prosecute him with all the Spite and Rancour they are capaple of as the Enemies of God and Religion and do all they can to inspire the same Spite and Aversion against them in all on whom they have Influence They assix on them hateful Names accuse them of Crimes they were never guilty of Blasphemy Idolatry c. they treat them with Contempt and Scorn make them pass for mad and distracted the Good in them or the Truth that appears in their Writings they conceal and are griev'd at it and make it pass for what they call in Scorn Flights of Devotion or the Effects of a warm Imagination and they rejoice when they meet with any thing that can expose them or make them hateful they cannot easily believe any thing that is Good in them but very readily Evil they do not consider the great Tendency of their Life and Writings but cull out some Instances and Passages of both which may separately seem hâ—rsh and they assix on them the hardest Sence they are capable of and from these draw Consequences and form odious Pictures of them from them they can endure no hard Words without Rage and Displeasure but against them they insult and triumph In a Word this Spirit is the compleat Reverse of that Charity which S. Paul describes It suffers little is unkind envious rash puffed up behaves it self unseemly seeks it self is easily provoked thinketh Evil rejoiceth in Iniquity but rejoiceth not in the Truth bears with nothing believes nothing hopes nothing endures nothing Now all things being diffusive of themselves this Evil exerting it self in the Writings and Discourses of Men spreads like a Contagion and our corrupt Nature being more susceptible of Evil than Good is soon seized with the Malignity Hence cometh that Hatred Variance Strife Evil-speaking those Revilings Calumnies Sects Schisms Wars Fightings Persecutions c. which have made the Christian World so much the Sport of the Devil and the By-word of the rest of Mankind Now one would think that by this time Men might be so generally out of Love with the Humour of Controversie so offended with the Trickâ— of laying the Stress of Christianity on things wherein it does not consist and so sensible of the Mischiefs that both have done to Religion throughout all Christendom that those Writings would be generally acceptable which tend to sweeâ—en Mens Minds towards one another to lessen a Concern for Sects and Parties to give a clear View of the Essentials of Christianity and plainly to distinguish them from the Accessories and Circumstantials and to lead Men to the Mortification of their corrupt Nature and the Recovery of the Love of God as those Writings most certainly do XXIX 14. The Manner after which those Writings were composed is something singular and extraordinary It cannot be denied but that they are writ with much Clearness Solidity and Force in all the things that may be useful for the Salvation of Man yet they are not the Effect of Study and the reading of other Books for she read none and did not derive her Knowledge either from learned Men or Books reckoning their Learning a Straying from the right Way and that as the Writing-Master would needs have a Double hire from those who had learn'd to write an ill Hand to wit one hire for unteaching them so ill a Habit and another to teach them to write well because he must be at more Pains with such than with those who had learn'd none at all so she was with the Learned who came to learn from her in Christ's School she had a double Labour one to unteach them the imaginary Wisdom which they had embraced join'd with Presumption and Rashness and the other to make them receive the true Doctrine of the Holy Spirit Humility and the Lowness and Simplicity of a Child And as her Writings were not the Result of Study and human Learning so neither were they the Effect of Meditation and human Reasoning We must think before we write and take Time to order our Thoughts and consider our Words we must blot out and mend and add to our first Draughts But when she put Pen to Paper she wrote as fast as her Hand could guide the Pen and what was once written was witten without blotting out or Change And when she returned to any Writings that she had laid by unfinish'd tho' for some Months or Years she did not apply her self to read them over but having read only five or six of the last Lines to see how the Period ended she immediately wrote on with her former Swiftness her Sentiments flowing from her as Water
Christians I 've sought from my Nativity I liv'd I wrote to shew how such to be Convinc'd the World of â—rrors sins abuses All hate me for 't each one my NAME traduces To death they persecute me every where How should I other Lot than JESUS bear AN APOLOGY FOR M. Antonia Bourignon In Four Parts I. An Abstract of her Sentiments and a Character of her Writings II. An Answer to the Prejudices raised against them III. The Evidences she brings of her being led by the Spirit of God with her Answers to the Prejudices opposed thereunto To which is added A Dissertation of Dr. De Heyde on the same Subject IV. An Abstract of her Life 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 Non multum Disputandum Nuda enim Veritas seipsam Validissime tutatur probé intellecta genuinâ suâ luce tenebras omnes Dispellit Rob. Leighton Archiep. Glasc Prelect Theol Paraenes p 199 LONDON Printed for D. Brown at the Black Swan without Temple Bar S. Manship at the Ship in Cornhil R. Parker at the Unicorn under the Piazza's of the Royal-Exchange and H Newman at the Grashopper in the Poultry 1699. THE PREFACE I. SVch and so universal are the Prejudices raised amongst all Parties against the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. that the Sight of the very Title Page of this Apology will make some perhaps throw it by which Disdain scorning to look into it others to take it up in Derision and ask What would this Babler say Others to pry into it with an evil Eye with a Design only to carp at it and to pick out here and there some Expressions or Sentiments which differ from the ordinary Systems and put them in such a Dress as may excite the Hatred and Derision of the People II. But being fully perswaded in my Conscience that those Writings do greatly tend to revive the Life and Spirit of Christianity which is acknowledg'd to be so much decay'd and lost amongst all the Parties of Christendom and knowing that there are many well-disposed Persons who are frightned from lookâ—ng into them because of the odious Representations made of them and the Prejudices given them against them who if these Prejudices were remov'd would certainly peruse them with Delight and Profit to their Souls and would sensibly â—eel that the True Doctrine of Jesus Christ and the only way to eternal Life chalk'd out in his Life and Sayings is there plainly and distinctly represâ—nted I shall therefore in all Sincerity without Respect of Parties or Persons write this Apology And I do earnestly beg of Almighty God the Father and Fountain of all Light and Love that he may be pleas'd so to illuminate my Mind with his Heavenly Light and warm my Heart with his Divine Love that I may utter nothing but what flows from or tends to both and that some Rays of both may stream through this Writing to touch the Hearts and Spirits of others III. To dispose Persons to hearken to and to make a right use of an Apology of this Nature it is fit to premise two things First That it needs not prejudice any against A. B. and her Writings so far as not to listen to an Apology for both that they know she is evil spoken of said to be an Enthusiast an Enchantress a Blasphemer a Seducer and the Devil of a Saint that her Writings are said to be full of Heresies Delusions and Errors and that by Persons of all Parties Papists Protestants Lutherans Calvinists Presbyterians Episcopal Persons Anabaptists Quakers and even by the Preachers and Writers and Learned Men of the respective Parties for there is nothing more ordinary than for the most Innocent and the most Vpright to be thus treated Woe to you when all Men shall speak well of you This was the Treatment that Innocence and Truth it self met with our Lord Jesus Christ He was made to pass for a Blasphemer a Sorcerer a Perverter of the Law of God The most Learned and the most Godly in his Age hated him They who in other things stood at the greatest Distance did agree in this Herod and Pilate the Pharisees and Sadducees the Jews and Samaritans So that this may be rather a favourable Prejudice on her behalf at least so far as to allow her a fair Hearing IV. 2. I shall entreat you may not come to read this Apology nor the Writings to which it invites you with an evil Eye They who come to consider Writings or Persons with this Disposition are not capable of understanding them aright themselves or of giving a true Representation of them to others I know no Person tho' never so innocent nor Truth tho' never so clear nor Book tho writ with never so much Plainness Sincerity and Consistency which they who consider with this Spirit may not mistake expose misrepresent and ridicule Nothing more true than our Saviour's Words nothing more confirm'd from daily Experience The Light of the Body is the Eye if therefore thine Eye be single thy whole Body shall be full of Light but if thine Eye be Evil thy whole Body shall be full of Darkness It was from those different Dispositions that our Lord himself and his Doctrine met with such different Entertainment in the World They who were full of Self-love and Esteem and desir'd to love God and the World both to please Him and their Appâ—tites too to get and keep that Rank in the Esteem of Men which they thought they merited and hugg'd the Glosses and Sences they had put upon God's Law by which they had reconcil'd it with the following of their own corrupt Inclinations such look'd on all that Jesus said aud did with an evil Eye they never came to hear him but with a Design to catch him in his Words and they found out ways to put a hard Sence upon every thing The Miracles he wrought they said were done by the Power of the Devil they accus'd him of breaking the Sabbath Day and of countenancing it in his Disciples of Blasphemy in calling himself the Son of God of Pride in speaking well of himself of a Design to destroy the Law and seduce the People by his Doctrine and they made him an Enemy to Caesar in calling himself a King But the sincere and the single-hearted who came with a pure and upright Desire and Intention to understand and to follow the Truth did readily embrace the Doctrine of Jesus Christ the entrance of his Words gave them Light and Understanding and they were so fully satisfied of the great things of God's Law that they were not apt to wrest or mistake his Sayings or Actions in things of lesser moment
or where he spoke more mysteriously as well knowing that he had the Words of Eternal Life They who come then to consider these Writings with a single Eye with a sincere Desire to understand the Truth and to do the same shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether she speaks of her self V. In writing this Apology we shall give 1st An Abstract of her Sentiments and Character of her Writings 2d Some of the most remarkable Prejudices raised against her and her Answers to them 3d. The Evidences she gives of her being led by the Spirit of God with her Answers to the Prejudices opposed thereunto most of the Prejudices of late raised against her being such as were objected to her in her own Life-time I chose to give her own Defences which upon many Accounts I judge will be more acceptable than what I might offer to say for her 4th An Abstract of her Life Vnto which shall be subjoined some of her Letters which will both serve farther to vindicate her from the Calumnies raised against her and may be of great use to these who do sincerely love the Truth and desire the Salvation of their Souls To all such I hope this will not be unacceptable there being nothing aim'd at but to make us all lay to Heart this great Truth Civitates duas fecerunt amores duo Civitatem mundi quae Babilonia dicitur amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei Civitatem Dei quae Jerusalem dicitur amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui August de Civ Dei ERRATA PAge 6. line 26. for had read has p. 7. l. 4. for do r. diâ— ibid. l. 25. and 26. into r. in p. 9. l. 42. the r. them p. 15. l. 23. love r. live p. 16. l. 20. there r. the. p. 24. l. 39. dele to p. 28. l. 20. after People r. taught ibid. l. 28 blot out be p. 29. l. 8 after not r. from p. 35 l. 37. he r. she p. 39. l. 15. him r. them p. 41 l. 29. since after r. thereafter ibid. blot out had p. 45. l. 42. after with r. an p. 46. l. 28. after them r. and that p. 51. l. 38. his by r. by his p. 56. l. 3. as r. 〈◊〉 p 64. l. 6. not r. none ibid l 28 after makes r. appear p. 68 l. 14. converted r. covered p. 69. l. 25. there r. then p. 73. l. 9. and r. of p. 74. l. 30. there r. their p. 78. l. 23. after it r. is ibid. l 27. tho' r. that p. 80. l. 39. after done r. God p. 84 l. 21. that r. but p. 101 l. â—6 〈◊〉 to it p. 1â—2 l. 33. blot out only p. 1. 3. l. 18 â— minuendam ibid. l. 35. nutri r. neutri p. 1â—8 l. 19. 2. presence r. prescience p. 113. l. 32 r. fatereris 〈◊〉 34. r. Nocendum ibid. 43. r. divinitus p. 114. l. 〈◊〉 iruendum p. 120. l. 27. after these r. says she p. 120. l. 〈◊〉 great r. so p. 13. l. 31 after and r. lay p. 134. l. 2â— after â—ccasion r. to shew p. 135. l. 18. for that O! r. O! that p. 38. l. 8. after withdraw r. from p. 144 l. 13. of r. if p. 152. l. 12. Consultations r. Conclusious l. 19. loving r. living l. 37 object r. objects p. 190. l. 1. he r. they ibid. l. 39. dele upon p. 192 l. 18. his r. this l. 40. his r. this p. 217. l. 41. Spiri r. Spirit p. 213. l. 5. inferiour r. Superiour p. 230. l. 36. blot out or Conditions p. 239. l. 6. Epaphirus r. Epaphroditus ibid. â—mar for Tit. 4. 20 r. 2. Tim. 4. 20 p. 244. l. 39 such r. how p. 247. l. 31. has r. have p. 256. l. 33. declare r. declare p. 257. l. 37. for had r. has p. 271. l. 39. ye r. yet p. 273. l. 9. plea'd r. pleas'd ibid. l. 11. Smoke r. Smoak p. 277. l. 9. blot out to p. 279. l. 42. substance r. subsistance p. 292. l. 28. alie r. ally p. 295. l. 9. Coriathe r. Coriache p. 296. l. 29. Rufus r. Refuse p. 307 l. 39. liquitale r. liquidate p. 317. l. 19 fundamentally r. fraudulently p. 325. l. 32. after to r. be p. 327. l. 25. with it r. it with p. 3â—9 l. 35. after she r. did p. 331. l. 33 Dâ—ustâ—uction r. Destraction p. 334. l. 27. in r. thro' p. 336. l. 21 after consider r. them p. 352. l. 35. blot our to p. 353. l. 4 Men all r. all Men. p. 355. l. 23. pussiman r. pijssimam p. 358 l. 14 Narrater r. Narrator p. 361 l. 11. for r. far p. 374. l. 4 of his r. of this p. 379. l. 12. and r. of p 383. l 24. so tho' l. so that p. 384 l. 23 and 24 Corinthus r. Cerinthus p. 39 l 31. insecti r infecti ibid. l. 34. initi r. miti p. 394. l. 24. Flaterings â— flatering l. 28. for being almost brought in o â— bending almost into Advertisement TWo of Mrs. A. B's Treatises done into English viz. Solid Vertue and the Light of the World maybe had at the same Places where this is AN APOLOGY FOR M. A. BOVRIGNON PART I. An Abstract of her Sentiments and Character of her Writings I. MEN are generally led to take an estimate of Sentiments and Writings from the Opinion they have conceived of the Persons who communicate them and that grounded upon Circumstances which have no necessary connexion with Truth or Error The Poor Man's Wisdom is despis'd and his Words are not heard The Words and Works of Jesus Christ if they had come from a Scribe or Pharisee his Countrymen would have receiv'd both him and them but because they knew his Extract the Meanness of his Education that he had no Learning and that the Learned had no regard for him therefore they despiss'd him Have any of the Scribes and Pharisees believ'd on him Is not this the Carpenter's Son Is not his Mother call'd Mary and his Brethren and his Sisters are they not all with us Whence then hath this Man all these things and they were offended in him II. Thus had the Sentiments of A. B. been the Product of some of the Ancient Philosophers or of the Holy Fathers or even of some learned Head in this Age they would have met with regard But because they come from a Woman void of all Humane Learning and declaring that she is taught of God they are entertain'd with Contempt and Scorn and instead of weighing the Sentiments themselves Prejudices are first heap'd together to disparage her Person and thereby to breed an Aversion against any thing she can say tho' never so true and useful This is very far from the excellent Advice given us by Tho. a Kemp. Of the Imitation of Christ Book 1. Chap. 5. Sect. 2. which I wish we may all follow Let not says he the Authority of the Writer offend thee whether his Learning be
Actions of Men and it is so pure and excellent that her greatest Enemies have been forc'd to acknowledge it to be so that they might be the less suspected when they blame her in other things XI This Account of the Essentials of Religion I have given in her own Words she having summ'd them up in several Parts of her Writings sometimes under fewer Heads and sometimes under more tho' as to their Substance they are still the same And all her Writings have no other Tendency but to awaken in Mens Hearts a Sense of those Divine Truths and to convince them how far they are from them in their Practice She aims at nothing but to perswade Men that they cannot be saved without the Love of God that their corrupt Nature now leads them only to love themselves and the Creatures which is inconsistent with the Love of God that they cannot return to it without denying and mortifying this corrupt Nature which Jesus Christ by his Merits and Intercession has obtained Grace for them to do and this can be done only by obeying his Gospel-Law and following his Example which no body truly does This is the Substance of all her Writings These Truths she inculcates a hundred and a hundred times This is the constant Burthen of her Song Some other Sentiments which she calls Accessory Truths she mentions perhaps but three or four times in all her Writings And because every Palate does not relish them shall therefore those Books be despised and thrown away which do so lively represent the Essential Truths of the Gospel Would we throw away a Box of Pearls because some conceited Friend snatch'd at something amongst them and squeezing it hard at our Nose made it smell as Dung and then cry'd out Fie all is Filth throw all away Sure if these be the Great and Essential Truths of Religion they who love the Religion of Jesus Christ more than Prejudice or Party will greatly value and esteem the Writings of which those Truths are the Marrow the Substance and the All and will no more be scandaliz'd at them because of the Snarling of some than they would despise Pearls because Swine trample on the or Holy Things because Dogs bark at them XII Now that these are the Great and Essential Truths of Christianity will I think be readily granted by all The Holy Scriptures declare unto us that God is Love that they who dwell in Love dwell in God and God in them that there is none Good but God that the Sum of his Law is to love him with all our Hearts and our Neighbour as our selves that while we love the World the Love of the Father is not in us that Jesus Christ became Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him that Jesus Christ is come to bless us in turning every one of us from our Iniquities that unless we repent we shall certainly perish that in his Life and Death he was given us an Example that we should follow his Steps that by Nature we are the Children of Wrath that we cannot be his Disciples unless we deny our selves take up our Cross and follow him that if we be risen with Christ we will set our Affections on those things that are above and not on those things that are beneath that they who are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof that Knowledge puffs up but Charity edifieth that all Knowledge and all Faith without Charity profits us nothing XIII Thus S. Augustine in his Writings and particularly in his excellent Treatise De Doctrina Christiana Lib. 1. makes a Summary of the same Nature Of the Essentials of Christianity He considered all Beings under Three distinct Ranks and Orders Some which are to be enioy'd others which are to be used and others in the middle between these and they formed to enjoy and to use those other Beings The Things to be enjoy'd are those which make us happy The Things to be used are those which help us to attain to that which makes us happy and to cleave to it We who are to enjoy and use those things being plac'd between both if we give our selves to Enjoy the things which we should only use we are stopp'd in our Course and come short of our Happiness being entangl'd with the Love of things below To enjoy is by Love to cleave to something for its self To use a thing is to employ it as a Mean to attain to that which we love as Strangers travelling to their Native Country make use of Horses by Land or Ships by Sea to bring them thither That which is to be enjoy'd is only God the Father Son and Holy Ghost the Infinite and Unchangeable Good We ought to love nothing for it self but God and all other things only in and for God Other things are to be used or avoided as they are Helps or Hinderances of the Love of God All who are capable of Enjoying God as we are that is all our Neighbours we ought to love them as our selves that is to desire or endeavour that they be brought with us to love and enjoy God All Sin and Evil consists in the Loving and Enjoying what we ought only to use the Creatures and their Perfections and the Using what we ought to Enjoy Vtendis frui Fruendis uti This has so darkned and corrupted our Minds that we are not capable of loving and enjoying this infinite Good In order to this they must be cleansed and purified which is as it were a Travelling and Voyaging to our Country This could not have been if Wisdom it self had not stoop'd to our Infirmity and cloath'd himself with our Flesh to obtain Pardon and Grace for Sinners and to give them an Example in their own infirm Nature And as to convey our Thoughts to others we must cloath them with Words tho' thereby they are not defil'd nor chang'd so the Eternal and Unchangeable Word became Flesh and dwelt among us the Truth and the Life became the Way and brought us the wholsom Physick that is necessary to cure the Maladies of our Souls Remedies for every Disease The Sum of all is that the Fulness and End of all the Holy Scriptures is the Love of God and our Neighbours the Being that is to be enjoy'd and those Beings which are capable of enjoying him with us And that we might know and be able to do this the Providence of God has order'd the whole Temporal Dispensation for our Salvation which we ought to use not with an abiding Love but a transient one as we would love a Way or a Chariot that we may love those things in which we are carried for the sake of that to which we are going This is the Substance of that Excellent Book XIV It is true A. B. mentions other Sentiments which are not of the Essence of Religion but then she declares they are not
by many others by many of the Practical Writers of Christianity and what needs so much adoe about the Writings of this Woman We ought not to deny to others their just Praise and I wish that not only many but all the Practical Writers of Christianity did breath the same Spirit But because other Writings are good and useful we ought not therefore to despise these if they be so too In things convenient for the Body the Providence of God affords not only what is simply necessary but Plenty and Abundance and what is distasteful to one Palate will relish with another and promote their Health And why should our Eye be Evil because God is Good If he be pleas'd to afford us Plenty and Variety of Spiritual Entertainment tending to mortifie our Corrupt Nature and to bring us to the Love of God and some of it does not please our Taste why should we be so peevish and ill natur'd as not only to throw all away that comes from that hand but decry it as rank Poison and forbid any to touch it as they would escape Damnation when it may be all the Evil lies in the Malady and Distemper within us which it comes to remove and what we will not use nor relish may prove very savoury and healthful to the Souls of others It is strange to see the Disposition of Men. The Poets and Plays both Ancient and Modern tho' they flow from and greatly tend to cherish the Corruption of Humane Nature yet the Learned do Study and Esteem them but Writings of this Nature whose only Aim is to perswade Men to love the Life of Jesus Christ in their respective Communions without setting up a New Sect or Party and to tell them they do it not meets with nothing but Reproach and Contempt upon a Pretence there are in them some Sentiments different from the ordinary tho' they are most consistent with the Essentials of Christianity and are declared not to be necessary to Salvation As if we would hate and persecute our best Friend because his Cloaths differed from ours in their Fashion Some peculiar Characters of her Writings and Sentiments XVI NOW as that which I have mentioned is the great Design of those Writings and for that Reason they ought to be as readily entertain'd as we do other good Practical Books so there are some things observable in them in the Prosecution of that great Design of the Renovation of a Gospel Spirit which in my Esteem do merit a particular Consideration I shall mention some of them And First that which has been already touch'd her making so clear a Distinction between the Essentials and Accessories of Religion and her laying so little Stress upon the last tho' she declares that she had particular Discoveries in them seems to me a particular Character of her Spirit They who set up for a peculiar Knowledge in Divine things or to reform the Corruptions of the Church or to be Guides and Directors of others they presently insert all their little Opinions and Doctrines into their Confessions of Faith make them Articles of their Creed Shibboleths of their Party so that none can be of their Communion who do not profess to believe them and they are more zealous for their particular Forms and Confessions than for the Gospel and Laws of Jesus Christ and are ready to esteem or despise others according to their Zeal or Coldness for these and thus tho' a Man be proud and covetous and malicious and his Spirit quite contrary to that of Jesus Christ yet if he be zealous for their peculiar Doctrines and Forms of such a Party he shall in his own and their Esteem pass for a good Christian they imagining that God lays as great a Stress on their Doctrines and Forms as they do themselves while they call them the Cause of Christ the Jewels of his Crown c. thus most heinously taking God's Name in Vain Others again who pretend to divine Revelation are still upon Mysteries and Visions But A. B. does most clearly and distinctly represent wherein the Essence of Christianlty consists makes that the Butt of all her Writings shews what are the Accessory Truths and tho' she pretends to particular Discoveries in them yet tells they are not Articles of Faith nor necessary to Salvation that they who see no Clearness in them nor Benefit by them may let them alone and tho' we should believe them never so firmly yet without a Gospel-Life and Spirit there was no Salvation XVII 2. The Writings of A. B. do clearly shew the Relation that the several Parts and Duties of Christianity have to one another and the Place that every one holds in Relation to the Whole and this is of no small moment to direct us aright in our Endeavours after a Christian Life and Spirit We may know many of the Parts and Duties of the Christian Religion and seem much Occupied about some of them and yet never make any Advances in a Christian Life all that is directed by Wisdom is done for a fit and proper End and fit and seasonable Means are employed for attaining of that End We see the Footsteps of infinite Wisdom even in the Motions of the brute Creatures The Birds in the Spring gather proper Materials and build their Nests and lay their Eggs and hatch their Young if they should be taken up only about gathering Sticks without putting them to any further Use the Wisdom of their Maker in the Forming of them would not thereby appear Now God has given Man an Understanding whereby he may discern a proper End for his Actions and suitable Means by which to accomplish it We see in all Trades and Arts they have their proper Ends and their peculiar Means to attain to them and if the respective Masters or Apprentices should be still occupied about some of the remoter Means of their Calling without ever directing them to the Attainment of the End of it or should think to attain the End without the Use of the necessary and immediate Means we would think they had lost their Wits If they who pretend to rebuild an House busie themselves only in providing some of the Materials and contriving Models and reading Books of Architecture and hearing Discourses about it and lay some Stones of it upon an old runious Foundation without ever doing more or if they think to get the House built without ever digging deep to lay a good Foundation or using the other consequent necessary Means of Building such but build Castlâ—s in the Air. Now tho' Men are not so absurd and unreasonable in other things yet they are so in Religion They are taken up with some of the remoter Duties of Religion without ever aiming at the End of it or they think to attain the End without using the necessary Means for the Attainment of it and become thereby so darkned in their Minds as not to perceive what Relation the Parts and Duties of
No sooner did one of her Friends break it off to her than she was seiz'd with an Aversion and a Divine Warning and bid them beware to let him come into her Chamber but remove him presently out of the House Some Weeks after she got the sad News of M. de Cort's Death the only Assistance she had in the World This at first made her complain to God but upon a Warning from him she said to him who had brought her the News Since it was the Will of God so to permit it I am content and satisfied and I desire not that it should be otherwise LVII M. de Cort being dead they levell'd all their Rage against A. B. whom he had constituted his Heiress when he was formerly in Noordstrand Anno. 1668. When walking one Day solitary in the Fields as he was wont and offering up his Prayers to God and asking what he should do with that Isle it was answer'd him thrice as with an intelligible Voice Give this Isle to Anthoinette Bourignon He believ'd at first some Body near him might have spoke so but looking round about him on the Plain he was certain that no Body was near him Then going quickly into his Lodging he wrote the Testament with his own Hand laying up one Copy of it seal'd among the Registers of the Isle and sending another by Post to Amsterdam in a Letter to A. B. praying her to examine it and alter it as she pleas'd She threw it on the Table without opening it saying to her Friends I have nothing to do with a Testament for my own Goods are a Burthen to me and so it remain'd seal'd long after his Death This greatly afflicted him when he return'd to Amsterdam and when she told him there would be no want of Persons to accept his Testament he said Not such as I wish For if I leave my Goods to the Oratory they will not pay my Debts and if I leave them to my Friends they will destroy one another with Processes and every one will take what he can in Confusion She said Let us speak of other things LVIII This serv'd them for a Pretext to pursue her and they thought to get her shut up in the Place where he had been therefore they pursue the grand Officer for setting M. de Cort at Liberty that to be free of them he might put A. B. into the same Place They had many Meetings and Contrivances on this Subject It had been easie to execute all against a poor Languishing Creature that could not stir but God hindered them both by Motions of Piety and the Fear of God which he inspired in to the grand Officer and by discovering to her in her spirit their Plots when they were contriving them She told her Friends who were with her I see says she in my Spirit such and such Enemies met together who devise how to seize me They have sent for the grand Officer such propose to him that I am Heiress of M. de Cort he has a right to seize me and treat me as M. de Cort was otherwise they will pursue him He hears them he wavers somewhat but I perceive yet in his Heart Piety and the Fear of God that hinder him from yielding to the Solicitations of my Enemies this was so true that the grand Officer declared more than once all the same things to two of her Friends After the Death of M. de Cort she wrote to Brabant that if any of his Kinsfolks would be his Heir provided they would pay his Debts she would quit that Inheritance and yield them all her Rights But it was told her that neither any of them were capable of doing it neither did they desire to meddle with it so that she was obliged to do it for the Honour of his Memory and for the Payment of his Creditors which she still offered to do if they would liquitale their Claims and give her Access to his Inheritance LIX But her Enemies Malice still encreasing she found it necessary to seek to preserve her Life by flight and being so sick and weak that she could not stand she was carried in the Night to the other end of the City to a Merchant's House where she was hid Eleven Months with no less Hazards than those she had escaped being left without Help and without Necessaries when she could not rise of her self Yet God was pleas'd to give her Health by degrees and returning to her first Lodging she publish'd some of her Books and then went from Amsterdam to Harlem after she had petition'd to be allowed to stay under the Security of a Habcas Corpus and it being made known to her That it was the Will of God she should go to possess Noordstrand she took Shipping for Holstein at Enchuysen a Town in North-Holland Four of her Friends going with her they landed at Tonningue in Holstein the 13th of June 1671. and in July went to Sleswick where she liv'd peaceably for some time under the Duke's Protection Many Nobles and Officers both of the Court of Holstein and Denmark came to see her and discourse with her of spiritual things and did highly esteem both her and her Writings LX. About this time the Quakers publish'd a Book against her in low Dutch to defame her and within Three Months the Answer was compos'd translated into Dutch and printed at Amsterdam under the Title of An Advertisement against the Sect of Quakers Where she makes appear how far they are from being led by the Spirit of Jesus Christ and does so plainly point out their Spirit that as to the general Temper of their Sect and Party they may therein see themselves as in a Mirrour It contains also the Foundations of all sorts of States Order Justice Manners and Commerce amongst Men and gives a perfect Idea of a True Christian or a Regenerate Person LXI When the War broke out at that time between France and Holland several Persons of Friesland to the number of Twenty who were convinc'd of the Truth of her Writings but were not disengag'd enough from the World came to Holstein to live with A. B. and to embrace as they said an Evangelical Life their Design might be justly suspected since the Incommodity of War had made them abandon the World But since in the Parable of the Gospel the King received to his Feast those who came there by Constraint so she would not refuse these tho' it appeared there was Constraint mingled in their Procedure This is properly the Compel them to come in of the Gospel and not that Men ought to constrain one another by force to embrace some Religion which they judge best Which is intirely Diabolical and cannot please God who requires a free and willing Service for the most Essential Part of Religion is an Offer of our Liberty our Will and our Heart unto God and not a forced Act of a Person who might say to God Lord I
upon some extraordinary Accident or some great Fault committed by others yet it was soon â—ver and she no sooner entred into her Chamber or her Solitude but she returned again with great Tranquility She usually said That she hated nothing but Honour and Sin 15. Her Patience and Resignation was singular in the Sicknesses Pains and other Adversities which beâ—el her and her bearing with the Faults and Infirmities of those who were with her tho' upon Occasions her Zeal and Fervour made her rebuke them earnestly especially when they sinned wilfully and maliciously For they who were of good Inclinations and sinned through Infirmity or Ignorance she bear with them or corrected them with great Mildness and Lenity but if any who had been often admonished did sin wilfully and maliciously she did rebuke them vehemently and being moved with a lively Zeal set her self against their Iniquity and we see it was usual for the most Holy to do so Moses Paul and others yea and Jesus Christ himself 16. Her Faith in God did uphold her on all Occasions never doubting of the Truth of his Word waiting his Time for the fulfilling of it and looking still to the things which are not seen and which are eternal 17. Her admirable Knowledge in Divine Things appears by all her Writings and the manner of acquiring it was no less Admirable not by the means of Books Schools or Men as was evident to all who convers'd with her and appears from all her Writings But all my Books says she and Library consist in the Conversation of my Spirit with God and my School is to learn to purge my Soul from Sin and to withdraw its Affections from all earthly things that it may love only those which are Eternal The manner also of composing her Writings as has been already mentioned was no less singular and extraordinary Her Knowledge was singular also in other things as there was occasion for it particularly in the Law in the Matters of Right and Justice so that the greatest Lawyer could not have more distinctly deduced an Affair nor urged it with stronger Reasons as appears in the Affairs of M. de Cort and of Noordstrand 18. Her Humility and Lowliness did shine forth in her Actions so that they who conversed with her do declare they could not observe in her any thing of Pride or Self-esteem Yet this was not express'd by artificial humble Words and Gestures which affect the Reputation of being thought so and cover the greatest Pride but by an unaffected Poverty of Spirit and giving the Glory of all Good to God And the very things which her Enemies adduce as Instances of Pride were great Evidences of the contrary 19. Simplicity and Sincerity of Heart were her nature there was no Guile in her Spirit she not only would not deceive Men but also would not deceive her self and because of this single Eye her whole Body was full of Light for God makes wise the Simple 20. She often bless'd God for three Things 1. That he never let her drink in the Doctrine of Men for this she said would have made her uncapable of receiving that of the Holy Spirit 2. That he had not engaged her in a married State for then she would have lost the Liberty of cleaving to God only 3. That he gave her Peace and Tranquility of Mind in all Rencounters for otherwise she would have oft times stumbled or fallen in the so many different Accidents and Miseries to which she was exposed 21. Her Life was a continual Prayer her Spirit being always turned towards God whether she was writing or working or eating or walking or in her Chamber or travelling every thing gave her Occasion of begging his Help or to bless him for his Favours or to adore and celebrate his Perfections 22. As she heartily regrated the Divisions of Christendom so she advised those of her Friends who had withdrawn themselves from the World to lead a Christian Life not to make new spiritual Assemblies and Meetings She said Christians ought always to entertain one another with spiritual Things and that all their Words and Works should be Sermons for edifying and animating one another to Vertue and to the Perfection of their Souls She bid them purge their Souls from Sin and labour to acquire true Vertue and to preach to themselves and others by their Life Not but that she thought publick Assemblies were necessary for those who were still taken up about Worldly Affairs and who would apply the whole time of their Life in temporal Affairs if there were not some Times appointed for Prayer or some Places for hearing Instruction Nor did she think publick Assemblies unlawful when they sincerely sought the Glory of God Nor that they who were truly regenerated themselves and endu'd with Divine Light to instruct others ought not to teach them But she gave this Counsel to her Friends both that they might avoid the Scandal of Forming a new Sect and the drawing upon themselves unnecessary Persecutions and Hatred in Places where such Assemblies were not tolerated and that they might not be tempted to Vain-glory Curiosity and Destruction by offering to teach others before they were well taught themselves for their own Perfection or by desiring to learn from others that which they did not practice 23. Being ask'd concerning the Eucharist if she held Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation or a figurative Representation only She said These were all unprofitable Speculations about which Men dispute to no purpose and yet none of them can tell how this Mystery is Neither is it necessary for Salvation nor for the Fruit of true Communicating As for me says she I never apply my self to these Formalities but in Simplicity I lift up my Heart and Spirit unto God and place my self always as in his Presence and I communicate uniting my Design and my Intention with that of Jesus Christ and in his Spirit without troubling my self with other Particularities provided my Spirit be united to his and in a true Disposition of conforming my self to him and of following him 24. Tho' she had the Liberty to Converse with many Yet she said she saw it not fit since Men now are so accustomed to see affected Gestures and counterfeit Vertues that they cannot receive True Vertue says she unless it be accompanied with that Surliness and those Hypocritical Gestures which I abhor for God will not lead me by these Ways He gives me a Tranquility of Mind and a Joy in my Soul that even appears outwardly I have no insolent Laughters but a continual Joy that oftentimes chears those who converse with me when they know that my Joy does not proceed from any human Satisfaction but from my Conversation with God But they who do not understand these things do imagine that one who has received the Holy Spirit should be still melancholy sad and serious to the utmost Degree thinking that he ought not to do or speak the least thing
their Purity notwithstanding their Contradiction to Mens Lives in whose hands they are to be a standing Miracle and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ to be the last and most perfect Doctrine that is to come into the World and the Standard by which all others are to be examin'd and tried and desires no body may receive her Sentiments but in so far as they are agreeable thereunto and condemns the Practice of the Roman Church in with-holding the Use of the Scriptures from the People as a heinous Injustice and Impiety Tho' she does not think that God has bound up himself only to this way of communicating his Light but may when he pleases immediately communicate the same to any Person without the Use of the Holy Scriptures and such Persons may forbear the reading of them as she did without despising them as one needs not be taken up with reading his Friend's Letter when he is immediately conversing with him And for an Evidence of it she appeals to the Truths which she declares are communicated to her by God if they are not the same in Substance with those contained in the Holy Scriptures XI The Author comes next to some of her Opinions which she her self has often declared are not necessary to be believed and which if Men please they may count them Dreams and Fancies He calls them wild and barbarous and indeed as he conceives and represents them he would make some of them appear Extravagant enough tho' a candid Interpretation of them will render them both amiable and useful Thus what Wildness or Barbarity is there in Asserting that Jesus Christ and his Church are one that it is his Spirit internally animating influencing and informing the Souls of Men that makes them Members of his Mystical Body which is the Church or in Asserting that the last Judgment by which she means the Universal Plagues by which God will in a Course of many Years destroy the Wicked from off the Earth is at hand Few who seriously consider the State of the World will think this a wild and barbarous Notion but the Scoffers who walk after their own Lusts and say Where is the Promise of his coming She maintains no Mahumeâ—an Paradise but such a one as Man would have enjoy'd in the State of Innocence when as yet he had no Lust or Concupiscence Vnto the Pure all things are Pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing Pure but even their Mind and Conscience is defiled She says with our Saviour That the Saints after the Resurrection neither marry nor are given in Marriage but are as the Angels in Heaven She condemns human Learning no farther than it fosters Pride Amusement Self-conceit and the Lust of the Eye or Curiosity and destroys Charity and the Love of God There is no greater Absurdity in saying that Jesus Christ thought fit to appear in our human Nature void of human Learning no Mathematician no Philosopher nor Critick than to say that he appear'd poor and despised of all not having where to lay his Head since he thought fit to deny himself of all that we make the Object of our Vanity and Concupiscence XII What the Author is pleas'd to say of M. Poiret that he was craz'd and is still so reputed being utterly false can do him no Hurt with such as are either acquainted with himself or his Writings but it shews that Mens Passions will make them rashly utter false and extravagant Things which they themselves do not believe For the Author himself in the next Page reckons him among the Men of Sence and Learning who have written in Defence of A. B. abroad It is no wonder then that some in Britain admire his Books for he is no superficial rambling Writer as they discover more than an ordinary Degree of Sence and Learning so they direct to the solid Knowledge and Practice of true Christianity Freed from the false Glosses of Parties and the Disguises of Self-Love and corrupt Nature the Charge of his denying the Divine Prescience is clear'd in the Apology * They do also endeavour to make him odious by publishing an Expression which they say he used in a private Conversation with two Gentlemen of their Acquaintance M. Poiret himself says it is not easie for him to remember the Conversations he hath with all who come to see him nor if he had such an Expression to any but that if he had those Gentlemen may think he had Reason for what he spoke and he is well pleased that all the World know it that as he is fully perswaded that God is so he is perswaded that A. B. was illuminated and inspired by his Holy Spirit Both these are Truths but it does not follow that he looks upon both as of equal Moment or that he believes them upon equal Grounds XIII After the Author has formed so grievous and unjust a Charge laying aside a Christian Temper he proceeds in his 8. Sect. to sound the Trumpet and excite others to Fury and Indignation and in his late Book of the History of Sin and Heresie p. 33. he repeats over the same Charge with all the hard Words that Spite and Fury could invent and insinuates his Fears of a Growing Sect and Party It is strange to see Men more alarm'd and enrag'd against Enemies created by their own Fancy than they are against real ones If the Author of the Preface were once out of the Heat that his Imagination has put him in it were easie I should think to convince him that these he calls Bourignianists are no such Enemies as he has fansied to himself I can assure him they do heartily own that our Reconciliation with God is obtain'd only by the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ That the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures is the Standard by which we are to try and examine all Doctrines That no Inspiration can come from God that does not fill the Soul with Humility and Charity or That instills under the Sheeps Clothing of Devotion and Piety any Heresie or any thing that tends to Schism or to withdraw Obedience from their lawful Bishop or to set up new Sects and that Corruptions in the Church are better amended by living in the Communion of it and there by good Example to reclaim than by open Desertion to set up opposite Factions which heightens Animosities embitters Spirits renders them deaf to one anothers Advices and often proceeds to Blood and Slaughter as the Author of the Preface does so rationally conclude it in the Marks he gives to distinguish between Inspirations from God and Diabolical Enthusiasm And if there be any thing in the Writings of A. B. contrary to these or to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ they do openly disown and disclaim the same and stand up for them no farther than they tend to promote the great Interests of Christianity Truth Holiness and Peace XIV I come now to
speak with the Author of Bourignianism detected who might have allowed one of the Writings of A. B. to be put in English and recommended as useful to advance the Interest of true Christianity without making such a Noise about it yet it no sooner comes to his Hands but he presently raises the Hue and-Cry Delusions and Errours and magnifies it into a new and growing Sect that he might get himself a Name and have the Glory to encounter and as he hop'd to defeat it But the Doctor is not so dreadful an Enemy as he would seem at first On-set they who bluster most are not always the most dangerous They who have read the Writings of A. B. and find that the Marrow and Substance of them are the Essential Truths of Christianity and that her singular Sentiments which she says are not necessary to be believed do not contradict those Essential Truths do justly wonder what has moved the Doctor to raise all this Dust and Clamour I know he once profess'd a great Veneration for Thomas à Kempis his Book de Imitatione Christi but he being a Mystick and one who seems to own his being immediately enlightned by the Spirit of God it may be the Doctor despises him now as in his late Letter he declares he has long since turn'd off such Conversation and a deceas'd Friend of his had not only a great Esteem for that Book but also for others of the same Nature such as the Life of M. de Renti c. The Person I mean was the most pious and learn'd H. Scougall of whom the Reverend Dr. Burnet now Bishop of Sarum gave so deserv'd a Character in his Preface to Bishop Bedal's Life and with whom he prevail'd to let him publish his Devout Treatise of the Life of God in the Soul of Man to which he was pleas'd to prefix a Preface and to subjoin a Discourse of his own of a Spiritual Life which little Book also contains an excellent Idea of the Divine Life in the Soul and particularly a Notion of Faith far above the Common and approaching as near as any I know to that of A. B. viz. that it is a kind of Sense and feeling Perswasion of Spiritual Things and has the same Place in the Divine Life that Sense hath in the Natural Now the Doctor professing a great Esteem for these Writings and acknowledging that they contain the Marrow and Substance of Christianity and the Writings of A. B. being the same in Substance and she requiring no Regard to be had to her accessory Sentiments but in so far as any should find them useful for increasing in them the Love of God some think it unaccountable why the Doctor should fall so foul upon her for her accessory Opinions and does not rather honour her for the sake of the main Truths and more favourably and candidly construct the others XV. There are Variety of Dishes in spiritual as well as in bodily Food and that may be very agreeable and healthful to one Palate which another cannot relish why should the Doctor then set up to be a Taster to all the World and because his nice and learned Palate cannot relish some course and homely tho' very substantial Fare should he therefore cry out There is Death in the Pot and frighten all others from tasting of it as far as his Testimony can have Influence We do not use to drive our Flocks from a good Pasture even tho' all the Herbs in it be not equall◠nourishing They who have a true Sense and Relish of Divine Things if they were reading the Writings of A. B. would be so affected with the Divine Truths contained therein as they would quite pass over the accessory Opinions they would run to the Pearls and gather the wholsom Food and apply themselves only to Things which direct them to the Love of God and the mortifying of their corrupt Natures The Doctor should have considered the Woe pronounced against all them by whom Offences do come and not rashly have laid a Stumbling-block before his Brethren and by his abusive and unlovely Characters endeavoured to raise Prejudices against and frighten many from A. B's Writings where they might have reaped so much Good and Profit and been brought to a true and lively Sense of Divine Things XVI The Doctor is unjust in his Title Page where he calls his Narratives The Delusions and Errours of A. B. and her Growing Sect. I know no such Sect in the World A. B. was grieved there were so many Sects already so far was she from designing to make a new one I know none who esteem her Writings that are form'd into any Sect. I know of no separate Meeting nor new Rites nor other Symbols that distinguish this Sect. There be Romanists Calvinists Lutherans there be of the Episcopal and Presbyterian Perswasions who esteem those Writings as they do other good Books yet they form no new Sect or Party there are none farther from the Spirit of a Sect than they unless this be called a new Sect to endeavour after the Spirit of the Primitive Church viz. an entire and brotherly Union in Divine Charity XVII He is neither kind nor just to his Country men in telling the World the Infection has seized many in Scotland and some of the better Sort who have been reputed Men of Sence Learning and Probity They might have read those Writings as they do other good Books without being branded for Hereticks and Sectarians he might have discovered what he thought to be Delusions or Errours without defaming his Country-men or bringing up an evil Report upon them his Books might have instructed and confuted them without pointing them out I am perswaded the Doctor would think it a crying Sin to proclaim those Persons to be Thieves Robbers and Murtherers tho' I think his saying so would do them no great Hurt and if he would consider things calmly he would find it no less and perhaps a greater injustice to tell the World they are become Hereticks Blasphemers Idolaters and new Sectarians and so thereby as far as in him lies to murther their Reputation make some to despise and abhor them and excite others to persecute them as Men unworthy to live But as a Conquerour he was resolv'd upon to a Triumph and to add to the Glory they must be led at his Chariot XVIII The Doctor has taken up two long Narratives in fighting with his own Shadow the first in proving that we ought not to believe the high Characters which M. de Cort M. Poiret and others give of the Person and Sentiments of A. B. upon their bare Word and the second that we are not to believe the Characters she gives of herself and her own Sentiments upon her own Testimony without sufficient Enquiry and Evidence And in both these I know none will contend with him In the First he would make Men believe that the great Business of her Friends is to recommend her
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ she would have Men take up the Spirit of the first Christians and let the good Seed of the Doctrine of the Gospel spring up in their Souls and not her Doctrine For she has no particular nor new Doctrine as to the Conduct of Mens Souls* and that when she adds any thing in her Writings that does not concern the Doctrine of the Gospel they ought to lay it aside till God give them a more clear Understanding of it And as to her Friend's Testimonies they were designed in some measure to ballance the bold and impudent Censures and Calumnies of her Enemies and to excite Men to examine and weigh her Writings impartially and not to suffer their Minds to be forestall'd by Prejudices or to judge rashly and inconsiâ—erately of things before they know them So the Doctor might have spared this Narrative and it may be all that is to follow for his only Business ought to have been to let the World see that what she calls the Doctrine of the Gospel and necessary to Salvation really iâ— not so or that her other Sentiments do destroy it for provided that Men be perswaded of the Truth of this that none can be saved without the Love of God and will follow the only way to come at this the mortifying corrupt Nature and following the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ she is content to undergo all reproach her self and that all her other Sentiments and Doctrines pass for Dreams and Romances If the Doctor say as he does in his Letter Artticle XV. that he finds nothing good in her Writings but what is common and handled in every Practical Treatise and the Subject of daily Sermons Well might not the Doctor have suffered her Books to pass among Practical Treatises and even to be preferred to most of them by such who see the Doctrine of Christ more clearly and purely represented in them than in others without the Glosses of corrupt Nature and feel a Divine Force Power and Spirit accompanying them who see in them the horrid Corruption of our Nature and of our Wills clearly laid before them the Christian Vertues most lively represented and most excellent Directions how to copy them out according to the great Original Jesus Christ XXII The other Part of the Doctor 's Narrative is spent in disproving the Reasons why A. B. is so much admired and said to be divinely inspired c. and I am sorry that his Passions or Prejudices do as much darken his Reason and with-hold him from candour and fair dealing here as in the former The Reasons which they bring are to be had more truly from her and their Writings and are set down in the Thrid Part of the Apology and some of those mentioned by the Doctor were never brought by them as Reasons why they thought her divinely inspir'd but upon other Grounds of which afterwards The first he considers is her Sanctity which he says is nor always attended with extraordinary Illuminations and then inferrs that suppose her to be truly and extraordinarily Holy she is not therefore to be reckon'd to know the Mind of God in all things by immediate Revelation all which is readily granted But make once the Doctor 's Supposition and then add that the Person so truly Holy declares that God is pleas'd to communicate his Light immediately unto her and that without all humane Helps and that upon trial it be found that what she declares is the same with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what God has already revealed by his Spirit this I think may be reckoned a weighty Evidence of Divine Inspiraration for a Person so truly Holy would not lye nor would God suffer such a one to be so deluded The Doctor singles out every Reason by it self and would prove that suppose it were true the Consequence is not just and so rejects the Consequence drawn from them altogether which is just as if one should reason that 2 and 4 and 6 do not make 12 because 2 makes not 12 and 4 makes it not nor yet 6 Ergo c. In the rest of this Article he has a long Discourse to shew How far Saints should keep their Distance and be cloathed with Humility and how others should beware of running into excess when they honour them not to exalt them to an equality with God nor near it we ought to honour those whom God hath honoured yet only so as to make them the subject Matter of honouring God A. B. and her Friends do perfectly join with the Dostor what goes beyond this they abhor it Where there is no Humility there is no Sanctity for that is the Foundation of this but we may be greatly mistaken to call that Humility which is the greatest Pride to speak meanly of our selves when it appears by all our Actions that we are not so in our Hearts the Saints may declare the Grace of God to themselves with the greatest Humility ascribing all to God and seeing the more their own Nothingness As David Paul c. and what A. B. says of her self may proceed from the same Spirit notwithstanding of all the Doctor 's Reasons That her Friends publish blasphemous Encomiums of her and are guilty of Idolatry as to her is a bold unjust and malicious Calumny which they utterly deny In the XV. Article he justifies his Zeal against her and them for exalting her above the present State and Capacity of humane Nature only that all her metaphysical Whimsies which M. Poiret is passionately fond of might be received for Divine Truths I have already replied to this that neither A. B. nor M. Poiret do bid any believe what he calls Whimsies to be Divine Truths but only entreat Men to be True Christians and if they please they may look upon all her other Thoughts that have no immediate relation to this to be really metaphysical Whimsies It is a wrong Imagination of his that that make her impeccable or at least never to have actually sinned She asserts the contrary her self and they believed no such thing as I have already shewn M. de Cort's Expression As if Adam had never sinned in her implies no such thing as the Doctor inferrs from it but that during the time he conversed with her he observed in her such a compleat and solid Vertue that he thinks she could not have been in a purer State tho' she had not been born of the corrupt mass of Adam as indeed she was So this is the Subject of another Consideration whether by the Grace of God a Person may be advanced to such a State of Vertue as not actually to commit any Sin neither in Heart nor Life tho' they be born of the corrupt mass of Adam are not impeccable and have been guilty of many Sins In the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Article he proceeds to shew That the things they instance in her are not certain Proofs of Sanctity and first
Age of Eighteen she voluntarily abandoned all that she might have possessed with rich Parents and when afterward she had an express Command from God to assume her Goods she took them only as a great Charge and Burthen to her not knowing how to employ them according to the Will of God that she was herself satisfied with simple Necessaries and employâ—d all in the Glory of God and in Charity to her Neighbour that she spent herself and Goods and Cares in training up young Girls sometimes Fifty at a Time providing both for their Souls and for their Bodies c. She afterwards adds That he Benjamin Furly wrongfully accuses me that I seek worldly Goods and that I possess my own Goods in Coâ—etousness and also those of others viz. thâ—se of the deceas'd M de Cort. I know not what this Covetousness would serve for since I have resolved to live soberly without all Attendance or Service which I have no more desired since I possessed my own Goods than I did before and would not do even tho' I should possess Noordstrand yea tho' I should possess a whole Kingdom Because the Resolution I have to imitate the Lowness of Jesus Christ is more valuable in mâ— judgment than all the Wealth Pleasures and Commoâ—â—â—â—es in the World Which Resolution I will never alter and therefore I have no need to covet this World's Goods to make my self Great or to take my Delights here for I look for them after Death and when it shall be lawful to enjoy all sorts of Contentments but it is not lawful in this Valley of Tears which is the time of Penitence XXIV The Doctor 's 5th Instance to disprove her Sanctity is considered already And now since the Doctor is an intimate Acquaintance of Mr. 〈◊〉 and well versâ— in his Dictionaire Histor Critique he being one of his great Vouchers whom it seems he approves in his 〈◊〉 of treating Divine Things and Persons he still 〈…〉 honourably of him tho' Men of another Character 〈◊〉 as Dr. Tillotson and Dr. 〈◊〉 how far soever they seem to be out of his Road cannot escape his laâ—h I would entreat him to compare his own Character of A. B. with Mr. Bayle's of the Royal Prophet and Psalmist 〈◊〉 and he will find that tho' he has been very solicitous in drawing of her Picture not to render her very Lovely yet if he compare it with his Friend's Picture of 〈◊〉 it will be found that what appeared to him as he says 〈◊〉 ugly Scabs and Ulcers are really Marks of Beauty 〈◊〉 taken in his own Sense in Respect of the Lineaments his Friend gives the other There is hardly any Crime or Vice wherein he does not make him exceed the worst King of his Age and that throughout all his Life and yet he says it cannot be deny'd that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit because he wrote the Psalms If the Doctor approve of his Critique he confounds his own if not how can he pretend Zeal for God and the Authority of his Holy Word and yet make him one of his most familiar and most intimate Friends cite the Authority of his Book on all Occasions to justifie his Narratives which good Men are ashamed to say they have look'd into as well because of the Impudicity of it as of his impious Undermining of the Sacred Scriptures by studying with the most malicious Art utterly to discredit the Writers of them as Men void of All True Vertue XXV In the XXI Article the Doctor very weakly disproves her Knowledge of secret Thoughts by denying the thing as being asserted only by M. de Cort Whereas there be several Instances given of it by Mr. Franken Mr. Van de Velde Tiellens and others in Temoignage de la Verite It is true God is the only Searcher of Hearts but it is neither against Reason nor Scripture that one should know the Thoughts and Heart of another when God is pleas'd to reveal it to him and that the Thoughts and Dispositions of the Hearts of some were made known by God to Mrs. A. B. and declared by her is more than once testified both in her Life and in the Temoign de la Verite XXVI As to the XXII Article as the foretelling of things to come is no infallible Sign of Divine Inspiration unless it be joined with the real Holiness of the Person and the Purity of the Doctrine So that things do not immediately come to pass in the time and after the manner that we think they have been foretold is no sufficient Proof that they who foretold them are false Prophets as appears in the Third Part of the Apology Jonah foretold that Ninevah should be destroyed within Forty Days and yet it was not destroyed And tho' he says she told things very positively which are not yet come to pass yet that does not infer that she was not inspired by God her Meaning as to the last Judgments is touched upon already and is mistaken by the Doctor Besides we are to consider that those inspired by God have their Minds so filled with the Representations of Divine and Future Things that they appear to them near even at the Door So St. Paul speaks of the last Judgments and of Christ's Coming in the Clouds and of their being to be changed who were then upon the Earth at his Coming as if all were to be accomplished in his own Days It is much that has obliged the Doctor to say one good Word of her sure the Matter must be very notorious that he had not the Confidence to pass it by and conceal it He says Article XXIII It must be acknowledged that she speaks and writes more plainly and intelligibly than any of the Mystick Sect and is somewhat more on the Moral than others of that Gang. But as if it were against the grain to say any thing that might seem in the least to commend her he dashes all again by telling That her high Flights were effects of Fancy rather than Judgment as not having much Reason and Meditation That her Notions are Sublime but so are a Bedlamites Well A. B. will not quarrel with any who distinguishing the Accessories from the Essentials of Christianity in her Writings do firmly adhere to and practice the first tho' they look upon the last as Dreams or metaphysical Whimsies For she requires no Body to believe them if they see no Clearness in them she lays no Stress upon them He undertakes to prove that her Notions do neither hang well together nor are consonant to the Scriptures and pawns his Reputation for the Performance But he did not well to hazard what he so highly values where the Probability of losing was so great XXVII In the XXIV Article He is at a stand what Reply to give to the Account of the Supernatural Means by which she came to her Knowledge without Reading without consulting Men and Books and even without Meditation He says It