things and entirely resign'd unto him It is not for those Scessers then that I have written this Abridgment but for those who desire in the Simplicity of their Hearts to be helped on in the way to Eternal Life Jesus Châ—ist is the way and we are made believe that his Life is unimitable The first Christians followed him in a Life of Poverty Reproach and Pains in which now we think he neither can nor ought to be followed Here 's an Instance of are in this last Age of the World who as she declares to all that 〈◊〉 is no Salvation without following the Example aâ—◠〈◊〉 of Jesus Christ so she made him her constant Pattern and this her great Work from the Eighteenth Year of her Age to her Death and thereby encourages and invites 〈◊〉 all to deny our selves and take up our Cross and follow him Give her then of the Fruit of her Hands and let her own Works praise her in the Gates AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOVRIGNON PART IV. CONTAINING An Abridgment of her LIFE To which are added Two Letters concerning the Preface to the Snake in the Grass and Bourignianism Detected by different Hands I. MRs. Antonia Bourignon was born in the Town of Lisle in Flanders the 13th of January 1616. baptiz'd in the Parish of St. Maurice and nam'd Antonia her Father was John Bourignon an Italian by Nation and her Mother Margaret Becquart born near to Lisle they lived in a married State Thirty One Years having Four Daughters of which Antonia was the Third and One Son all of which died in their Childhood except the eldest Daughter who lived till the Thirty Sixth Year of her Age and was twice married She died Anno 1647. Her Mother in July 1641. Her Father married again in October being more than Sixty Years Old and died April 1648. And Antonia remained the only Heiress of her Mother her Sister having died without Children II. When she came into the World her Mother thought she had borne a Monster because her whole Forehead was covered with black Hair even to her Eyes and her upper Lip was fastned to her Nose and so her Mouth stood open they conceal'd her for some Months and the Hair fell off of it self and the Lip was untied by a Surgeon and she encreast in Comliness yet her Mother could not forget the Aversion she had conceiv'd and could not love her as she did her other Children but slighted her from her Infancy and could hardly look upon her the other Children also treated her rudely without her Father's knowledge who then loved her best of all his Children But his Affairs kept him still abroad except at Meals III. This rough Treatment made her retire from childish Plays and be much alone God then drew her powerfully to himself as soon as she had any use of Reason all her Thoughts were serious and her Reasonings seem'd not to proceed from a Child and having been instructed by her Parents when about Four Years of Age of the First Principles of Christianity and of all that Jesus Christ had done and suffered for Men she was desirous to be inform'd in what Country the Christians lived and profest a great desire to go thither and when her Parents mock'd her and told hâ—â— she was in the Country of Christians she said that could not be for Jesus Christ was born in a Stable and liv'd in Poverty whereas they all love to have fine Houses and fine Furniture and much Wealth and therefore she concluded they were not Christians and that she would go into the Country where the Christians do live but no Body understood this Language but turn'd it into Raillery and so she was constrain'd to hold her Peace IV. Finding so little Satisfaction in the World she turned her self unto God by Prayer and he being always ready to be found of them that seek him with their whole Heart especially little Children she from her Infancy had daily Conversation with God he speaking inwardly to her Heart and she thought this Divine Conversation was a thing common to all Then every thing serv'd her for an Occasion to Address to God Thus for Instance remarking that her Father was surly to her Mother and oft-times transported with Anger against her after having endeavour'd to appease him by her childish Embraces she would retire apart and considering how hard a thing it was to be married to a troublesom Husband would say to God My God my God grant I may never marry and she beg'd that instead of being married he would give her the Grace to become his Spouse Her Prayer was so well-pleasing to God that he granted her the full Accomplishment of it giving her from her Infancy the Gift of Chastity and Continence in so perfect a manner that she often said she never had in all her Life even by Temptation or Surprize the least Thought unworthy of the Chastity and Purity of the Virgin State V. Her Sister was much addicted to the Vanities of the World and could not look upon her Retiredness and Aversion from them without Indignation and Displeasure and among her Companions she made all this pass for an Effect of Stupidity and Dulness This made her quit her first Simplicity to follow for some time the Vanities of the World not that her Heart was set upon them but to shew that she had enough of Spirit and was not a Fool as her Sister would make them believe Thus the Devil laid Snares for her to entrap her and the sweetness of her Humour gain'd her the Love of the Young People they converst with beyond her Sister Thus she continu'd to Dress to frequent their Company to recreate her self with them in their Plays Dances and other youthful Divertisements tho' in all Honesty if that may be call'd Honesty which turns away the Heart from God however it past for such in the World Thus she greatly pleas'd her Parents particularly her Father who deny'd her nothing whereby she might appear with Advantage in the World Her Parents were anxious to have her married being Rich and having but Two Daughters and many Young Men would have had her for their Wife but she could never resolve to marry having an Aversion to it Yet she took Pleasure in the Conversation of the Youth till they urg'd her to marry and then she withdrew from them and would discourse with them no more She began also to take Pleasure in the Praises and Esteem of Men because they said she was fair and lovely whereas her Mother had still call'd her ugly and despis'd her on all Occasions VI. But as the World took place in her Soul God withdrew from it by degrees so that she felt no longer that Devotion or Pleasure in Prayer or Solitude which formerly gave her so much Contentment This made her Melancholly and the more she endeavoured to divert it by Company the more it encreast For her Soul was never at rest
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
by the Spirit of God who cannot contradict himself for God is Yesterday and to day the same unchangeable and always equal to himself from whom no Variableness nor Contradiction can proceed But if her Adversary would examine all the Holy Scripture after the Manner he had done her Writings he would find many more such seeming Contradictions in the Bible For indeed there are many more according to the narrow Apprehension and shallow Judgment of Men who being earthly and carnal cannot understand spiritual things or those endited by the Holy Spirit and they forge in their little Brains Errours out of most solid Truths and Contradictions out of the greatest Conformities From hence have sprung so many Errours Schisms and Divisions in the Church of God because every one would understand the Scripture after their own Mode they have invented so many different Religions and each says This is founded on the Holy Scripture tho' very often they have different Sentiments and contradict one another in the same Truths while every one thinks he understands them aright Tho' they are uncapable of understanding Divine Things for the same Spirit that endited the Holy Scriptures gives the Understanding of them and when the Spirit of Man undertakes to do it he still falls from one Errour into another and loses himself in that great Ocean of Divine Wisdom which he cannot understand nor comprehend It does not trouble me that there appears to be Contradictions in my Writings to the Judgments of Men since they will hardly find two Prophets speak the same Words upon the same Matter and the four Evangelists do not relate the same Things after the same Manner Must it therefore be said that there are Contradictions in the Holy Scriptures as this Benjamin Furly says there are in my Writings God commands to honour Father and Mother and Jesus Christ says we must hate Father and Mother adding that he who does not forsake Father and Mother and all things cannot be his Disciple How will this Benjamin reconcile these two Passages For to honour Father and Mother is a thing quite contrary to the hating and forsaking them And Jesus Christ says that he is not come to bring Peace upon Earth but War between Father and Son c. And elsewhere he says my Peace I give you In one Place he says Drunkards and Gluttons shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and elsewhere he says that that which enters into the Mouth does not defile the Soul Truth is invincible and does not change for all that may be thundered against it but it is the more established when it is opposed and contradicted by ignorant Persons as this Benjamin who cannot discern Truth from Lying and from Contradictions He confounds one time with another and will needs give general Rules for all sorts of Occasions and when these Rules are not punctually observed at all times he thinks that Persons do change or contradict themselves And if he had been an Apostle of Jesus Christ when he lived upon Earth he would have often reproved him as at present he does me For when Jesus Christ was afraid of his Enemies he bids his Apostles buy Swords and if they wanted money to do it that they should sell their Garments and a little after he commands to put up the Sword and threatens that he who strikes with the Sword shall be strucken by it If this Benjamin had been in S. Peter's Place when he cut off Malchus's Ear he would certainly have been displeased at Jesus Christ and blamed him for Inconstancy and Contradiction because he could not discern the time when he ought to strike and when he ought to forbear He reproaches me that I have written somewhere that I might say something that is not true without lying or sinning He does not consider that there are material Lies which are not Sins He would have Words precisely spoken which are true according to his Caprice for it is a chief Article of the Quakers to justifie themselves before Men for they study precise Words that they may not commit a material Lie and they dare not call a Christian by that Name without adding as they call them fearing to Lie by calling him a Christian when he is not truly such For my part I am far from these Maxims for I never regard the pronunciation of Words but the Essence of the Truth of the things which I advance If I express them in this or that Term it is all one to me provided I deceive no Body and that I make the things to be understood which I would signifie But there is this difference between the Spirit that guides me and the Spirit that guides that Sect that they would be esteem'd by Men for good Men and for the People of God whereas I am not concern'd how they esteem me for I am content with the Testimony of my own Conscience and seek not the Approbation of Men far less will I say any Words to the end they may think that I am Just and guided by God It suffices me that I know it and God knows it for it is written He who would please Men is not the Servant of Jesus Christ Therefore I will freely speak a material Lie when I believe the thing is true for Example I have often said that I was Two Years younger than I find I am since I caus'd one to search the Register of my Baptism I grant I have thus made many material Lies yet without sinning thereby or lying since a Lie is a Deceit or Falseness of the Heart that kills the Soul which I could not do by saying that I was Two Years younger for I aim'd not thereby to deceive any Body nor to speak against the Truth I have uttered many such material Lies I love rather to possess the Essence of Truth in the bottom of my Soul than to speak verbally true Words through Hypocrisie For what else is it to call Men by the Name of Christians and to add to it as they call them than Hypocrisie and Contempt of the Truth such as the Jews had when they said to Pilate that he ought to write on the Cross of Jesus Christ that he was King of the Jews by adding to it as he said which Pilate would not add saying only What is written is written as I also answer to this Benjamin when he would teach me to speak Words which are true before Men For I know well that all whom I call Christians are not truly Christians before God yet I will not learn from the Quakers to add to the Name of Christian as they call them since this seems to me superfluous and I have no other Intention in calling them simply Christians but to make it be understood of whom I speak to wit that I speak not of the Jews or Heathens but of those only whom I call Christians yet without design to maintain that they are true Christians Since I declare elsewhere that I
Life by Motives and Principles of Religion but by her own Humour she resolved upon a Celibate Life only because she would not be crost c. But the Doctor sets this in a false Light as he does every thing else that concerns her The true Case is this when she was a Child it troubled her to see her Father sometimes so rough to her Mother and when he was in Wrath she would run and embrace his Knees to appease him and then would retire and pray that God would never suffer her to marry but that he would take her for his Spouse This was before her turning aside from God to divert her self with the Vanities of the World In the 18th Year of her Age she was struck with a deep Remorse for her straying from God and led a Life of most severe Penitence for Seven Years so that other Considerations did then affect her and draw her to a State of Celibacy As for the Doctor 's immodest Insinuations upon this Occasion I shall leave it to his own Conscience to check him for them but for the other Reason he gives for her Celibacy That she undervalued all she saw and could find none of Merit enough to deserve her c. it s purely his own Invention without the least Ground given for it in her Life or Writings or any manner of way and will be judged by every enquiring Reader to be a malicious and wilful Calumny 3. A Third Evidence against her Sanctity is says he her Disobedience to her Parents contrary to whose express Commands she was importunate to go into a Cloyster and when that would not do stole away from her Father's House privately He exaggerates this matter greatly but is not aware of one Reason he brings which determines the Case clearly on her side If the Case had been says he about turning Christian she ouâ—ht to have done it even without a particular Revelation whether her Father would or not The Case was the very same with her and a particular Command from God to strengthen it She saw she could not become a true Christian without abandoning the World and that while she was in her Father's House she could not sufficiently disingage her self from it and therefore resolved to obey Jesus Christ who bids us forsake Father and Mother and all that we have for his sake Our Lord called James and John the Sons of Zebedee from waiting on their Father and they forsook all and followed him 4. The Doctor triumphs greatly in his Fourth Instance her suing her Father at Law to divide his Goods with her after his Second Marriage which does not agree he says with common Measures of Grace and good Nature because it proceeded from an inordinate Love of the World and could not be managed without great disrespect to her Father The Doctor 's Passions make him so disingenuous in every thing that relates to this Virgin that it will nor be thought strange to tell that he is manifestly so in this Instance Mr. Poiret's Reply to this being so full in the fore-mentioned Letter to a Friend I need only adduce it for her Vindication and this the rather because the Doctor thinks that the Reason why he who continued her Life takes no Notice of this Passage tho' she gives an Account of it herself was because he knew not how to justifie it It is not true says he M. Poiret that I had any Interest to defend the Life and Actions of Mrs. A. B. by a Legacy which she left me as the Narrator says she did not leave me in Legacy to the Value of a Penny But there is nothing more contrary to Truth as well as to Justice and Charity than what he says of the Law-Suits of Mrs. A. B. with her Father and Step Mother I pray God he may not have acted maliciously against his Knowledge in the Judgment that he would have the English and Scots to make of her Civil Actions whose Civil Laws are different from those of her Country It may be it would be a Crime in England or Scotland for a younger Daughter after her Mother's Death to require by Law of her Father the Goods of her deceas'd Mother But in France where among Citizens in the matter of Succession there is no Distinction between Son or Daughter elder or younger it is the Law and Custom in many Places That after the Decease of the Mother her Goods are takâ—n from the Administration of the Father and put under other Curators to be after equally divided amongst the Children And in Mrs. A B's Country the Law is That the Widow-Husband cannot marry again until he first divide with the Children of the first Marriage and give them their Mother's Goods and to refuse this is to violate Law and Justice now this is what the Father of A. B. did whose Injustice our Doctor thinks fit to justifie and for this end to suppress change and falâ—ifie the Circumstances of the Affair against the Truth of what he had read of it To render Mrs. A. B. faulty and impious against her Father he speaks nothing of the Laws or Customs of the Place tho' they were expresly mentioned in her Acâ—count of the Affair according to which the Father is the Breaker of them and the Daughter would have them observed He say the Father would have maintain'd her in his House but he does not tell that his new Wife whom he had taken clandestinly tho she was but a poor Girl without Wit or Vertue studied to waste and consume the Goods of A. B. persecuting her for the Four Months she staid with her Father in so continual and cruel a manner as cannot be expressed Mrs. A. B. saw and experienced that this was inconsistent with her Recollection and contrary to the will of God He says that Mrs. A. B. was picqued because her Father refused her Money but does not tell that her Father was then in a most plentiful Condition that as for her self she had not a Penny that she ask'd only what was necessary for her That he irritated by his Wife was so cruel as not to assist her with a Penny when she was dangerously Sick that for want of Convenience she was obliged to lie under a Roof when the Snow and Cold deprived her even of the Nights rest so that Strangers were mov'd to give her Alms. He would have it to be understood that she entered into a Law Sure against her Father of her own head and therefore says that her Sister was already dead and that her Brother-in-Law perswaded her to proceed hoping afterwards to wheedle her out of it all which is false Her Married Sister was yet living and lived Five Years thereafter and about Four Years after her Husband The half of the Mother's Goods belonging to the Sister and her Husband they resolved to require their Father to deliver them to whom they did not appertain and it was only by
small or great But let the Love of pure Truth draw thee to read Do not enquire who said these things but consider well what is said III. It is no less unjust to take the Sentiments of others only upon Trust from a declar'd Enemy to the Person whose Sentiments they are such you know are sure to set them always in a false Light so as to make them hateful and ridiculous If you will take the Doctrine of Jesus Christ himself from the Scribes and Pharisees they shall make him to speak Blasphemy and to be in Compact with the Devil Now this is the unjust Measure given by many to A. B. They take her Sentiments from those only who design to render them hateful and ridiculous who after the manner that they represent them may as easily expose the most Sacred Writings It is just then to hear her self and not to judge of her Sentiments by some Expressions or Passages of her Writings which separately may seem harsh but to compare such with the whole Context and with the main Scope and Substance of all her Writings and this will lead you to interpret them aright I do not desire that you should take her Sentiments upon Trust from me more than from others I aim only to set them in a True Light in opposition to the False Representations made of them And as to my Sincerity and fair Dealing in it I appeal to the Writings themselves IV. Neither is it just to weigh Sentiments by the Doctrines of Men and to despise and reject them if they do not agree exactly with the commonly receivâ—d Systems and Opinions The Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the Rule we are to walk by Men in forming of their Systems are ready to flatter Corrupt Nature It is certain in our practice we all do so and we are well pleas'd with Doctrines that may favour us in this If then her Sentiments be the same in Substance with the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and do not at all tend to sooth and flatter our Corrupt Nature but on the contrary to lead us to mortifie and subdue it we ought not to reject them tho' they do not in all things agree with the Systems of Men. V. Before we set down her Sentiments it is to be considered that as she owns the written Word of God to be the Test whereby we are to examine all Doctrines pretended to be come from God and that none contrary thereunto ought to be receiv'd and desires that hers may be tried thereby So she declares that the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the last Doctrine that is to come into the World and contains the necessary means of Salvation and that there is no other way to Salvation but what he has chalk'd out to us by his Life Precepts and Counsels So that all her Writings and Sentiments aim at nothing but to convince Men that they do not follow the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ and to perswade them to do it as being indispensably necessary to Salvation VI. As to her Sentiments she makes appear that the Truths of Religion may be considered under two Heads 1. There are some Truths and Doctrines in which the Essence of Christianity does consist the Living Knowledge and Practice of which is necessary to Salvation 2. There are other accessory Truths without the express Knowledge and Belief of which one may be Saved VII First As to the Essential Truths of Christianity she supposes before all the Truth of the Holy Scriptures and of the Apostles Creed and that all that is contrary thereunto ought to be anathematiz'd and the Soundness of her Faith in these appears by her Profession of Faith and Religion which she presented publickly at the Court of Gottorp in Holstein which is prefix'd to all her Books and the Tenour of it is as follows VIII Her Profession of Faith 1. I Am a Christian and I believe all that a True Christian ought to believe 2. I am baptised in the Catholick Church in the Name of the Father in the Name of the Son in the Name of the Holy Ghost 3. I believe the Twelve Articles of the Apostolick Symbol or Creed and I do not doubt of one Article of it 4. I believe that Jesus Christ is True God and that he is also True Man as that he is the Saviour and the Redeemer of the World 5. I believe in the Gospel in the Holy Prophets and in all the Holy Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament And I will live and die in all the Points of this Belief which I protest before God and Men to all whom it shall concern In Testimony of which I have sign'd this my Confession with my Hand and seal'd it with my Seal At Sleeswick the 11th of March 1675. L. S. Anthoinette Bourignon IX Now this short Confession is the Abridgement and Foundation of all her Doctrine and of her Life and they who are not willing to be impos'd upon will be so just as to measure and judge of her Sentiments according to this Sincere and Publick Confession of her Faith and not according to the False and Calumnious Representations which some designedly make of them whereby they would have her to pass in the World for the Inventer of a New and Fantastical Religion and so raise in the Hearts of the People an Abhorrence of her and her Writings which aim at nothing but to perswade them to be truly Followers of Jesus Christ This being presuppos'd here follows 1. Her Accounts of the Essentials of Religion in her own Words 1. GOd created Man only to be lov'd by him and for no other End He had no need of Man nor of any other Creature being in himself alone Holy and Perfect Independent upon all things yea whom all obey in Heaven and Earth who is yet able to Create a Thousand Worlds and an Hundred Thousand kinds of Creatures according to his Good Pleasure But his Good Pleasure was to Create Man after his own Likeness that he might take his Delight with him and as there cannot be perfect Love if it be not reciprocal it was God's Will that Man should love his God with all his Power in Requital of the Love which God bear to him and that he should delight in him only since God would needs take his Delight with Man which obliged Man to place all his Affections upon God alone Seeing he was created for no other End he neither could nor ought in justice to turn his Affections towards any other thing than his God but to love him only with all his Heart and with all his Strength 2. God creating Man thus to take his Delight with him and that he might voluntarily love his God he gave him for this End Divine Qualities capable of loving him he created him altogether Free and Perfect he would not bound nor limit the Will of Man whom he would needs make
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
seems therefore now that all was not good as he had made it that Man began to abuse the Free Will that God had given him to be less ardent in his Love and Dependance upon God and to lean towards the Creatures and therefore to prevent his total Fall he makes a Help-meet for him gives him a Companion endu'd with an immortal Soul and the living Image of God as himself that in Loving this living Image of the Divinity as himself his Affection might be raised and strengthened in the Love of God 4. That Jesus Christ was come immediately from Adam and that God in him did assume the human Nature before the Fall of Man is insinuated by those Instances in the Holy Scripture that he is call'd peculiarly the Son of Man there being none other so but he the second Adam that he is said to be the First-born of every Creature none of the Creatures having produc'd any of their Kinds before Adam that the Lord conversed familiarly with Adam and spoke with him Face to Face and he heard the Lord walking in the Garden and hid himself Thus it was God in the human Nature Jesus Christ that spoke to Adam to Noah to Abraham to Jacob to Moses to the Patriarchs and the Prophets The Interpretations which by latter Writers are given of those Apparitions are an evident Straining of the Text as to say that it is a created Angel a Simple Creature who says I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham And Moses hid his Face for he was afraid to look upon God It was he who in Person did lead the Israelites by Day in a Pillar of a Cloud and by Night in a Pillar of Fire out of which he spake to Moses Face to Face as a Friend speaketh to his Friend Thus after the Idolatry of the Golden Calf he threatned not to go up any longer in the midst of them but to send an Angel before them And when Moses desired to see his Glory he was covered with the Lord's Hand while he passed by and permitted only to see his back Parts because he could not see his Face and live the Weakness of our corrupt Nature not being able to behold that Glory without being dissolv'd and yet this Divine Body tho' covered with a Cloud made such Impression by the Rays of its Glory on the Body of Moses as that after forty days Conversation his Countenance did shine And the ancient Fathers were so sensible that all this could not be said of an Angel that many of them were in the Opinion that the Son of God did assume a human Body before he was incarnate and therein appeared to Adam and the Patriarchs so Justin Martyr Tertullian Irenaeus c. A very pious and learned Divine of the Church of England has of late made appear that Jesus Christ immediately after the Fall of Man became the Mediatior and Surety of a New Covenant and so under the most high God and Father did immediately rule and govern his Church and People and that therefore 1. There was a certain extraordinary Angel who frequently appeared and spoke to the Jewish Patriarchs who is sometimes called Jehovah who ordinarily assumed to himself Divine Appellations and to whom the holy Men rendred Divine Honours Vows and Sacrifices and that he appear'd to them in the Form of a Man 2. That he was a Divine Person and no created Being 3. That he was that Divine Person that descended upon Mount Sinai and from thence removed into the Tabernacle and thence into the Temple 4. That he was not God the Father 5. That he was God the Son who appeared to the Patriarchs Joh. 8. 56 58. brought Israel out of Egypt and descended on Mount Sinai Heb. 12. 16. Eph. 4. 8. Psal 68. led them thro' the Wilderness into Canaan 1 Cor. 10. 9. dwelt in the Jewish Tabernacle and Temple Joh. 12. 41. compared with Is 6. 1. and was that Jehovah and Divine Lord and King who under the most high Father presided over the Jewish Church Eph. 5 14. with Is 60. 1. Is 41. 4. and 48. 12. with Rev. 1. 2 17. and 2. 8. and after his coming into the World he still retain'd his Right and Title of King of Israel Matth. 2. 2. Joh. 1. 49. and 12. 13. Zech. 9. 9 14 15. Joh. 18. 33 34 35 36 37. Now it being evident that immediately after the Fall of Man Jesus Christ became a Mediatour and Surety for him that he took the immediate Care of his People and often appeared to them in the Form of a Man is it not as agreeable with the Analogy of Faith and the Holy Scriptures to say he was truly so than to affirm that he took only the Appearance of a Man till he cloathed himself with our Frailty and Mortality Besides this is a wonderful Instance of the infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God that so many of the Angels having fallen from their first State and so all Intercourse between God and them broken off to prevent the Fall of Man or if he should fall that there might be a way for his Recovery and that there might be one for whose Sake and Mediation he might pardon Man and conferr new Graces on him that therefore the Eternal Son of God should unite himself to Man's Nature and become Man while Man was yet in his Integrity and Innocency since afterwards the Divinity would not have united it self to sinful Man and so all Intercourse between God and Man should have been broken off as it is between him and the Fallen Angels 5. That Sin did strangely deform the Body of Man and that it became quite another thing than it was before appears by this that Man after his Sin was ashamâ—d of himself saw his Nakedness and was ashamd of it and sought something wherewith to cover it whereas there was no such Shame before no more than the Sun can be ashamed that his Light and Glory is not covered with Clouds and Darkness 6. That Sin has also deform'd the Creation which is to be restored to its primitive State is expresly pointed out in the Holy Scriptures we being told that the Creature was made subject to Vanity and that the whole Creation groaneth and travelleth in Pain together until now and that it shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God 7. That all Men are the Natural Off-spring of Adam as to their Souls as well as to their Bodies seems to be a most just and true Sentiment We see in this visible World God has endued all living Creatures with a Power to produce their like from the meanest Plant to the most perfect Animal All kinds of Birds Beasts and Fishes produce their Off-spring of the same kind of Body Life and Spirit with themselves endued with the same Power of producing their like which Life and Spirit
retained only the outside and the Letter and varnished it over with their Learning and Human Doctrines and so the Blind led the Blind Then instead of the Gospel Simplicity Schools and Universities were multiplied and there was nothing to be seen but Disputes and Controversies Then the Pastors being void of true Charity and of the Spirit of Jesus Christ their preaching could have no Divine Force more than the Motions of Puppets or the Words of Parrots Then they learned to preach the Gospel by Study and Human Learning committing the Idea's of it to their Brain as Men learn other Trades and varnish over their Sermons with the same Words and Expressions that Jesus Christ and his Apostles used without comprehending or conveying to others the Divine Sence of them and what came from the Brain could go no farther than the Brain nothing can rise higher than its Original Then the great Business of Religion is turned upon the Pastor's side into an Art of Preaching where on a Theatre he displays his Learning and Eloquence and on the Peoples side into the work of Hearing and when they have continued daily in those pious Exercises for 20 30 40 or 50 Years they are for the most part no more truly Vertuous than when they began whereas where the Word of the Lord is there is Power Then the Pastors being proud and ambitious and envious and worldly and sensual and selfish they seek their own things under a Cover of seeking the things of Jesus Christ their Actions belie their Words and for their own Credit they so gloss and explain the Doctrine of Jesus Christ as to perswade People they may be good Christians and good Ministers of Jesus Christ and yet gratifie their Appetites and Inclinations Then being void of true Faith and true Charity they place Religion in a System of Opinions and Rites and tho' they agree in the common Principles yet differing in other things of lesser moment they thereupon divide dispute and quarrel form Parties draw all they can to their Side out of a Pretence to the Glory of God inspire them with Hatred and Fury against those that differ from them sooth and flatter the corrupt Inclinations of those of their own Party or the Great and those on whom they depend and stir up Magistrates and Princes to War and Bloodshed to persecute those who differ from them And as they make War against one another by their Disputes so they make Princes and secular Persons to do it by their Swords Thus instead of the Charity Peace and Concord which Jesus Christ left his Disciples they beget Hatred Strife and Envy among them and such is their Influence upon the People that they head their Passions and what they hate and call Heresie so do they Instead of the Self-denial and Mortification to the World which Jesus Christ and the first Pastors practised and taught they teach by their Example how to gratifie Self and love the World and yet seem greatly to honour Jesus Christ and to be Champions for his Religion And if the Salt have lost its savour wherewith shall the Flesh be salted And if they who should be the Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth are thus become Darkness and without Savour how great is that Corruption And how great is that Darkness Those of every Party do plainly discern this Evil in the Guides and Leaders of the opposite Parties but our Self-love blinds and hinders us from considering it in our selves This is not to be understood but that there are Pastors of good Inclinations and right Intentions amongst the several Perswasions and therefore what is said ought not to be applied to them but that this corrupt Spirit of Pride Vain-glory 〈…〉 Avarice the Love of Money 〈…〉 Politicks the pleasing of the 〈…〉 Aversion to the Humility Simplicity 〈…〉 and Cross of Christ prevails 〈…〉 in all Parties under a Cover of 〈…〉 Opinions and so serves still to 〈…〉 the more is a sad Truth that cannot be 〈◊〉 13. That we are in the last Times that the Wickedness of Men is as great and universal as in the Days of Noah that the Abomination of Desolation is in the Holy Place that we are now in the time of the last Judgments of God by which he will sweep the Wicked off the Earth and which shall be more dreadful and terrible than any that ever were A. B. does so sensibly make appear in her Writings particularly in the Light of the World That they are real Enemies to Mens Souls who scoâ—â— at them and divert People from laying them to Heart She makes appear that Iniquity is so great and universal that there is no 〈◊〉 Faith nor Law among Men. People study nothing but to deceive their Neighbours the Father cannot trust his Son nor the Son his Father the Brother 〈◊〉 up against his Brother Friendship is only feigned 〈◊〉 is full of Deceit and Fraud nothing but Pride and Ambition reigning in the Hearts of all Men. Judges are without Equity Priests without Sincerity Cloisters filled with Avarice and the Devout full of Malice which has been at all times in some particular Persons but is at present so multiplied that it possesses almost all 〈◊〉 And Charity is not only wakâ—d cold but altogather frozen and dead in the Hearts of Men. That the Signs of the last Times are all fully accomplish'd particularly those in 2 Tim. 3. 1. c. and Matt. 24. That Mens Lives are the open Book in which these Truths are written and the Holy Scriptures are the equitable Judge which pronounces the Sentence That People scoff at this and no Body will believe it is a most certain Evidence of it For Jesus Christ says that it shall be as in the Days of Noah they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in Marriage and knew not until the Flood came and took them all away c. She makes appear how the Abomination and Desolation is in the Holy Place if Envy were lost it might be recovered in Cloisters if Avarice were dead it would be revived by the Priests Vain-glory and Pride is no where so prevailing as among the Clergy In a word Simonies and all other Sins abound in that Place which ought to be Holy That these are the Stars which fall every Day from Righteousness and Truth for some worldly Interest or humane Respects She makes appear that Men do not now embrace Penitence nor desire Amendment that they rather grow every Day worse and cannot suffer that their Faults should be truly shewn them That at all times there have been wicked Persons but when all in general do forget him it is to be believed that assuredly we are in the last Times and that the Judgment is given out because the Measure is full That God cannot suffer an universal Evil without an universal Chastisement and now Men having generally all of them abandoned their God have in doing this given Sentence of the
Doctrine written by his own Disciples and dress him up in such a mock-Robe as might make him and his Doctrine the Object of the Scorn and Hatred of the People I know People flatter themselves with the Opinion that it were impossible for them to have treated Jesus Christ at this rate as the Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviour's Days imagin'd that had they liv'd in the Days of their Fathers they would not have persecuted and kill'd the Prophets as their Fathers did and yet our Lord shews them they have the same Spirit tho' they seem'd to honour the Prophets * by building their Tombs and garnishing their Sepulchres and saying If we had been in the Days of our Fathers we would not have been Partakers with them in the Blood of the Prophets Yet they persecuted those who were then sent amongst them and that the same Temper and Spirit reigns now in the world A. B. makes appear in her Writings and her Enemies did discover it in their Practices V. But it will be said they had good Reason to treat her as they did We come therefore to consider the Prejudices raised against her Doctrine and they have not been wanting to represent her as the Grossest of Hereticks but Wisdom is justified of her Children And 1. They accused her of denying the Holy Trinity and ground their Accusation upon this that she did not approve of the Word Person to express the Distinction of the Trinity and us'd to explain it by Comparisons and Similitudes Whereas she declares That she believes in one Divine Essence the most Holy Trinity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost that the Essence of God is incomprehensible and so is the Mystery of the Trinity that it is a great Presumption in Men who cannot comprehend that which is in themselves what their Memory Understanding and Will is yet to imagine they will easily comprehend what is in God That our Soul which is nothing but a silly Creature is yet invisible and incomprehensible to us tho' it be in us and tho' we perceive and feel it to act and operate that no Body can comprehend what a Soul is and yet Men are so presumptous as that they will needs know what is in God and what the Three Persons of the Trinity are which are in him and that not for to honour or love him the more but that they may be able to talk and dispute well of them and to draw evil Consequences from them That God made St. Augustin know that this was incomprehensible by any Creature when once walking by the Sea-side and labouring to understand it he saw a Child running to fetch the Water of the Sea in his Hands into a little Hole which he observing and asking the Child what he did he replied he would have all the Water of the Ocean brought into that little Pit at which St. Augustin smil'd saying You can never do this my Child give over this Vndertaking The Child replied I shall sooner do this than you shall understand what you would comprehend with your Vnderstanding and then evanish'd It is true she makes use of Similitudes to express it by as That there is in God the eternal Understanding the eternal Word the eternal Love or Heart as there is in Man the Understanding the Speech and the Heart That there is in Man the Understanding the Memory and the Will which is a Figure of the Holy Trinity that God One in Essence has in himself Three essential Qualities which are diverse Righteousness Goodness and Truth and that nothing can be done by God but with Righteousness Goodness and Truth altogether and if one of these Qualities be wanting it cannot come from Gâ—d who is indivisible in these Three qualities which may be call'd Persons That she does not pretend thereby to give adiquate Notions of the Mystery of the Trinity which she declares is incomprehensible but that instead of the dark dry and barren Speculations of the Schools thereabout we may consider those Three Divine Qualities without which God never does any Work And to find if we are the Children of God we must see if we partake from him of those Three Qualities of the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God and if we do not find them all Three together in our Souls we ought not to perswade our selves that we are the Children of God for as we approach unto him by Love accordingly those Three Qualities encrease in the Soul and as we find our Souls to be estranged from Righteousness Goodness and Truth accordingly we are estranged from God In using Similitudes thus to express the Holy Trinity she does nothing but what St. Augustin and other of the Ancient Fathers have done and she is far from saying that nothing else is comprehended in the Holy Trinity but that we ought to be taken up with such useful Considerations of what is in God rather than feed our Minds with fruitless Speculations which tend only to nourish Debate and Curiosity And when once some of her Friends told her that the Churchmen accus'd her of making the whole Mystery of the Holy Trinity to consist in the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God she answered expresly They lye in so saying They said to her that she had said in the mean time more than once that Righteousness Truth and Goodness were the Trinity that was in God she replied I had no design to search into the Depth of this Mystery and to say that all did consist in this but that this was the most profitable and the most saving Consideration that we could have in the matter of the Holy Trinity of which the ordinary Speculations are often rash and unprofitable and for the most part injurious to God She did not desire to use often the Word Person because she look'd on that as a Word proper to created Beings that Jesus Christ is indeed a Person in God being truly Man as we are Yet she sometimes expresses the Mystery by the Word Persons In Temoign de Verite Part 2. p. 199. she says I do not believe that there is any Body living upon Earth who does more honour the most Holy Trinity than I do And I believe firmly One only God in Three Persons as I have done from my Childhood And how could I deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ since it is seen by all my Books that I hold Jesus Christ for True God and True Man both together even from the Beginning of the World which is to honour him more than to believe that he is God and Man only since he was born in Bethlehem and chargâ—d with our Miseries and Sorrows VI. They accus'd her also of denying the Divinity of Jesus Christ tho' there be nothing more False as appears through all her Writings She declares expresly in the Profession of her Faith that she believes that â—esus Christ is True Eternal God and True Man And in
say he is our Pledge and by his Sufferings has paid the Penalty due to our Sins having died to redeem us while we will suffer nothing nor share in his Pains being well pleased to have our Debts paid with the Goods of another It is on the other hand a great Boldness in those who think they shall be saved by their own Merits without the Merits of Jesus Christ For if Jesus Christ had not merited for them the Grace to do well they were not capable of having so much as one good Thought or Desire of doing one good Work So that all the Grace they have of doing any Good comes from the Merits of Jesus Christ tho' by Ignorance they despise it as poor blinded ones who can discern nothing thro' the Weakness of their Sight For if Jesus Christ had not come to bring Light to the World no body would have perceived his own miserable State and if he had not interceded with his Father no body would have had the Grace to receive his Light so that without Jesus Christ all Men would have remained lost thro' their Blindness and would never have been able to comprehend by what Means they ought to return to God if Jesus Christ had not come to teach them by Word and Deed. And if he had only taught them by Word as the other Prophets no body would have followed him since they believe even yet that it is impossible to imitate Jesus Christ and to follow the Evangelical Life But he himself has put it in Practice before Mens Eyes that after his Example they must endeavour to satisfie the Justice of God by the Union of his Sufferings and of his Charity which are Sacrifices more agreeable to God his Father than our unclean Offerings and our Works defiled with Sin If one had mortally offended his Equal he durst not of himself procure Peace and the Pardon of his Offence but he would interpose some Mediator who were a Friend of the offended Person to satisfie his just Wrath. But they who would be saved by their good Works have too much Pride to take Jesus Christ as Mediator but with an up-lifted Head they address to God whom they have so often offended that they rather draw down his avenging Hand upon their Heads than the Pardon of their Sins for God resists the Proud and gives his Heart to the Humble If they join'd their good Works to the Humility of Jesus Christ they might peradventure receive the Mercy of God by his Son Jesus Christ but standing up as the Pharisee who thanked God for his good Works they shall no more be justified than he was when he went out of the Temple Because he who is not cloathed with Jesus Christ is not admitted to his Father since before his Coming into the World all Men were Enemies to God So that he who is not cloathed with Jesus Christ cannot be acknowledged for his Friend far less for his Son seeing the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the only Son in which he takes Pleasure and not in another He therefore who thinks to go to God without the Mediation of Jesus Christ will be rejected as unworthy and rash because Jesus Christ is the only Door of Salvation They are Thieves who would enter by the Windows into the Kingdom of Heaven for that only belongs to the Disciples of Jesus Christ In which those greatly deceive themselves who believe that they may enter into it while they despise him or reject his Merits which have opened the Door to all those who will follow and imitate him Yet not to those who esteem Jesus Christ and his Merits but with all this will not embrace Penitence under a Pretext that Jesus Christ has satisfi'd wholly for their Sins comprehending even those which they shall commit in time to come as well as those which they have committed in time past In which Error are the most part of those who are called Christians yea amongst others the most perfect We hear nothing more ordinary in their pious Discourses than to say God is Good he will save us and Jesus Christ died to give us Entry into Paradise And with these fine Discourses every one thinks they are sure of Paradise even tho' they live and die in their natural Motions and Sentiments which is a great Mistake for God tho' he be good will save no body but him who shall satisfie his Divine Justice The Merits of the Death and Suffering of Jesus Christ will never be applied but to Souls which are regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ For he has not suffered but for those who from a natural Life shall enter into a spiritual one For Jesus Christ says that all Righteousness must be fulfilled Now it were not just that they who have forsaken a Dependance upon God to depend upon their own Wills should enjoy the Merits of Jesus Christ without being converted and embracing his Spirit since he came not but to bring Sinners to Repentance and he who continues to persevere in his natural Life cannot repent and so cannot enjoy the Merits of Jesus Christ since it is not for those that he has suffered or merited but only for those who by Ignorance or Frailty have quitted their Dependance upon God and delight themselves in the Creatures without thinking they ought to delight themselves in God alone They lived in the Darkness of Death without knowing it Therefore Christ had Compassion on them and offered himself to his Father promising unto him that they should be converted and do Penitence provided he brought them the Light of Truth by which they might get out of their Darkness and their Errors In this Jesus Christ was our Pledge and answered for our Penitence with which we must be saved and not otherwise Therefore they form to themselves imaginary Ways in the Air who think that Jesus Christ is come to save us in speculative Way or by some incomprehensible Mysteries seeing our Redemption is accommodated to our Capacity But the Devil to divert us from taking the straight Way thro' which Jesus Christ walked blinds our Eyes with imaginary Things that we may never come to the Knowledge of the straight Truth making some believe that they cannot be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ and others that his Merits will save them even though they use no Endeavours to imitate and follow him Many other Passages might I bring out of her Writings but these may shew her Sentiments in this Matter The Sum of her Sentiments comes to this That Man turning away his Heart and his Affections from God thereby all Communion between God and Man ceas'd and so Man was plung'd into an irrecoverable State of Sin and Misery as well as the fallen Angels if there had been none to interpose for him with God for whose Sake he should shew him Mercy there being nothing now in Man that could move God to have any Regard for him That Jesus Christ true God and
the Apostle says Of our selves we cannot think one good Thought but through Christ that strengthens us we are able to do all things It is true says she if we consider only the Miseries and Weakness of Man corrupted by Sin the Gospel-Law is impossible but not if we have regard to the Power of God's Grace This Jesus Christ intimated to his Apostles when he told as to a rich Man's entring into the Kingdom of Heaven that it was impossible with Men but not with God when a Man shall entirely yield up himself to him to be wholly governed by him God will easily operate in him a Gospel-Life and Jesus Christ has said if you who are evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more will your heavenly Father give his holy Spirit to them that ask him It is false therefore to say that the Gospel-Law cannot be kept since it was given for no other End and Jesus Christ brought it from Heaven as the only Remedy of all our Evils and the only Means of our Salvation and has said I have done these things to give you an Example And God will never enjoyn Man to do any thing but what he will give him Grace to accomplish But such is Man's Wickedness that he would impute to God his own Faults and the Blame of his Damnation on him as if he were severe and cruel by laying on him Burthens of Commands that are insupportable that Man may thus be justified and God condemned tho' truly Man only is worthy of Condemnation For God still imparts his Graces to him and all those Laws are special Instances of his Love to Man that by them he might bring him back to the Love of his God for his eternal Salvation And in many Places of her Writings she shews the Possibility of Obeying God's Commands and the Blasphemy of the contrary Doctrine from the Design of them and the End for which God gave them Open your Eyes says she to see this Light of Truth That never any Body will be saved who dies without the Love of God and that no Body can love God if he do not hate himself These are the Sentences which God has often confirmed to me and given me Assurance that they are true and that all the Laws and Commands which God has given to Men are only so many Means to make them return to his Love Now the whole Doctrine of the Gospel is nothing else but so many Means to withdraw Man from Sin that he may recover the Love of God And when this Law teaches him Poverty of Spirit it is to shew him that Covetousness has withdrawn him from the Love of his God and that he cannot return to it without leaving off to covet earthly Goods And when it teaches him to be humble of Heart and to chuse the last Place it is because he had lost the Love of God by loving himself esteeming himself worthy of Honour and Glory tho' he be worthy of nothing but Shame and Confusion And he not knowing this stands in need of a Doctrine contrary to his Errours and Ignorance to make him return to the Love of God which he had lost by his Pride And when Jesus Christ declares that he came not to do his own Will but the Will of him that sent him it is to teach Men that to fulfil their own corrupt and perverse Wills they have left off to do the Will of God and to love him and that if they do not renounce their own Wills to follow the Will of God and thereby to return to his Love they cannot be saved Behold how Jesus Christ has brought Physick for our Diseases being desirous to cure them by Remedies contrary to our Infirmities and yet these Ignorants would gloss away the Gospel-Law as if it were impossible to observe it as they say it is impossible to keep the Commandments of God tho' both these Laws be nothing else but Remedies for our Diseases Christians she says are guilty of Ingratitude when they say they cannot keep the Commandments of God nor the Laws of the Gospel since all these are only true Means to recover the Love of God For all the Commandments are no other thing but Means to loose Mens Hearts from Self-Love and the evil Inclinations that Sin has brought into their Nature All the Commands import no other thing in Substance but that Man must always resist his Self-Love refusing its Desires because being corrupted by Sin it can desire nothing but what is Evil or tends to an evil End which because Men did not well know God would shew them in particular what they ought to do and forbear that they might recover his Love Now tho' he has given his Commands because of our Frailty yet Man is so ungrate as to say it is impossible for him to keep those Commands because of that very Frailty for the Help of which God has given his Commands as Supports to his Frailty He is Evil in that wherein God is Good and takes for Burthens the Helps that God has given him because of his Frailty For if he had not had any frailty God would never have given him any Laws since the Love he bare to God was a Law to it self and had no need of any other Guide or Directour The Summ of her Sentiments in this Matter is that all the Laws of God are given to Man as Helps of his Frailty as Warnings to shew him what Way he has stray'd from God and as indispensable and necessary Means to recover and bring him back again to the Love of God even as if a Father should give his Son who was become an habitual Drunkard or lewd Person strict Commands absolutely to forbear such Conversation and such Houses which would infallibly intangle and keep him still in his Sins that Jesus Christ has in his own Example as a Man shewn us both the Necessity of this and how possible and easie it is to observe them That no Man can observe them by his own Strength but only by the Grace of God that we are first Children before we are Men and our Falls and Stumbles ought not to discourage us but we must get up and go forward and depend upon God and he will be with us as the Child that is learning to walk must not be discouraged by its Falls but must get up and go forward and hold more closely by its Mother That they who are truly regenerated may live in Obedience to God without Sin but are not impeccable may fall from that State and yet recover it again by the Grace of God that to say the Commandments of God are impossible is to deny the Merits of Jesus Christ the Efficacy of his Intercession the Power of his Grace the Usefulness of his Example to assert the Force of the Devil and corrupt Nature beyond that of God to accuse God of the greatest Cruelty in giving us Laws which it
had created the Earth and so many reasonable Creatures only for the Glory of the Devil and his Adherents if he did not renew the Earth and make it bring forth Fruit for his Glory And as to Man's Propagation of his like to all Eternity if Man had continued Pure and Holy I am sure this would not have been thought a sensual State A Power to produce a Creature that is capable of loving and enjoying God is an astonishing Perfection only Concupiscence has now so polluted our Hearts that we cannot think of this but our Imagination presently defiles it and we joyn it to the sensual Idea's that Sin and Lust have brought into the World and cannot conceive how the one can be without the other judging of things according to our Corrupt Nature and we presently cry out A Mahumetan Paradise Which truly discovers only the Filthiness and Corruption of our Hearts and not the Impurity of the Sentiment but only that to the Impure nothing is pure If there were a Creature perfectly Pure and Holy and if God endued it with a Power of producing its like this Production would be no Act of Concupiscence but an Act of the most ardent Love of God This is the State she says the Saints shall be in to all Eternity which whatever be of the Truth of it is no Mahumetan Paradise and as there are remarkable Places of Scripture cited for the Proof of it so the Reason she assigns is very weighty to wit That all the Works of God are Eternal and his Gifts without out Repentance and if there were no such Production to all Eternity a very small number of Men would bless him for rever whereas so many reasonable Creatures are become Adherents to the Devil It must needs be then that the Generation of the Blessed multiply eternally as the Generation of the Miserable has multiplied temporally from the Beginning of the World And why should we think it absurd to say that Angels do thus produce their like to all Eternity We see here in this visible World that all Creatures who have any Degree of Life from the highest to the lowest are endued with this Power of producing their like all the Plants and Trees all the Beasts Birds Fishes and Insects and the reasonable Creature Man both as to his Soul and Body as has been made appear and you know the Rule of Analogy is of great weight as to all the Works of Nature And therefore unless we should suppose God to act unlike himself as to a higher Degree of living Beings we have all the Reason that the Nature and Analogy of things does suggest to conclude that Angels also do produce their like to all Eternity XXVIII It is not possible to foresee all the Prejudices that People may conceive or that may be suggested to them against the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. far less to Answer them all particularly in this Apology I have considered only the most Remarkable of those which do usually occur and have for the most part set down her own Answers in this the former and the following Parts which tho' it has made it the longer yet I hope it will make it the more useful I am not asham'd to Copy for I write only Narratives and not Originals If others write Originals when they pretend to write Narratives I shall not envy them I am only sorry that some are at such pains to deter Men from perusing those Writings which may be most useful to help them in the way to Eternal Happiness If they will not make that good use of them themselves they need not hinder others from profiting by them Thousands perhaps would be awakened to a deeper sense of the necessity of mortifying and dying to their Corrupt Nature who would never be stumbled at the things which they carp at but pass them over Whatever are her singular Sentiments such as this last mentioned you may look upon them all if you please as Dreams and Romances but since the necessary Duties of Christianity and the plain Way to Eternal Life are so clearly so forcibly and so divinely inculcated and prest in all those Writings and no stress laid on those other things O! that the Love of God and of Men's Souls and our own Salvation may constrain us to the serious practice of them our selves and make us carefully to avoid the being an Offence and Stumbling-Block to others O si tantam ad hiberent diligentiam ad extirpanda vitia Virtutes inserendas sicuti ad movendas quaestiones tunc non fierent tanta mala scandala in populo Tho. Ã Kemp. de Imitat Christ l. 1. c. 3. n. 5. The End of the Second Part. AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOVRIGNON PART III. Containing the Evidences which she brings that she was led by the Spirit of God With her Answers to the Prejudices against the same To which is added A Dissertation of Dr. De Heyde on the same Subject I. IN the Age wherein we live there needs no greater Prejudice against a Person his Sentiments and Writings than for him to declare that he is immediatly led by the Spirit of God This is enough to make us reject all he can say without any farther Enquiry We presently conclude he is Brainsick Hypochondriack Melancholly and Craz'd at least as to that Point however Rational he may be in other things or otherwise that he is a Knave who designs to put a Trick upon Mankind and that all who esteem him are as much Fools or Knaves as he II. The Wise and the Learned of the World and from them the generality of Men are enclin'd to think so upon different Grounds and Principles 1. Some disbelieve all Revelation from God and conclude that as all other Creatures have natural Powers given them to guide them to the End and Perfection of their Being so has Man and that there is nothing necessary for him to lead him to the End and Perfection of his Being but only the right Use and Improvement of his Reason 2. Others are convinc'd of the shortness and insufficiency of Humane Reason to lead Man to Happiness and of the Truth and Necessity of Divine Revelation But then God having spoken at sundry times and in diverse manners unto the Fathers by the Prophets and in these last Days by his only Begotten Son and all this being consign'd in Writing to be a standing Rule to all Generations and confirm'd by most satisfying Evidences to be from God they conclude that we must not look for any to be thus immediately inspir'd and enlightned by God now by whom he should speak to us and that any who pretend to it are Impostours or Brainsick Persons who will needs ape what they read or hear of in the Holy Scriptures and fancy they are such Persons immediately enlightned by God as they read of in those Holy Writings and to own any now as inspir'd by God is to
to it by his Free-will So that if one at present did submit his Will to that of God as Jesus Christ did he would certainly feel the same Operations of Divine Vertues that he felt in his Soul and would likewise do the outward Miracles that he did if there were need for them for the Spirit of God is not lessened and his Power was not limited to the Person of Jesus Christ only seeing he says that his Delight is to be with the Children of Men. He does not speak of one singular Man but of all Men who submit their Wills to his and renounce the Corruption of the old Adam to be cloathed with the new which is Jesus Christ 11. Those will find sufficiently by Experience that it is very possible to imitate Jesus Christ yea that it is easie and agreeable when they are denuded of that old Adam For Jesus Christ himself says that his Yoke is easie and his Burthen light This Truth it self cannot lye that it should be true that it is impossible to bear this Yoke But carnal Persons do certainly lye while they say that it is impossible to imitate him since he did nothing as Man but that which another Man may do being posses'd with the Holy Spirit for Gâ—d is impassible and cannot have endur'd the Sufferings of 〈◊〉 Christ It was his Humanity only that suffered assiâ—â— by the Grace of God which will not be denied to thoâ—â— that ask it seeing God is the common Father of all Men and promises to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask it His Promises are infallible the Scripture assures us of this saying Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away bringing the Comparison of an evil Father who would not give his Son a Stone instead of Bread nor a Serpent for a high Fish asking them How then shall not your heaâ—â—â— Father give his Holy Spirit to him who asks him 12. Truly my dear Child I can scarce reason more to make appear those Truths which are so clear I have spoken of them several times and they still bring me new Arguments to maintain the Corruption of our miserable Times wherein Men have invented so much silly Stuff whereby to flatter such as themselves and to make them live and die in the Sentiments of corrupt Nature falsly perswading them that they cannot attain to the Perfection of Jesus Christ that they may not use any Endeavours to attain to it for it would be in vain to endeavour that which is impossible Therefore we see Men to the Eâ—â—y of one another give up themselves to Pastimes take their Pleasures and heap up Riches as if they were created for this looking for Salvation as it were in Recompence for their Sins Which is very sad and will make many to be deceiv'd at Death who in this Life think that they are good Christians because they have not committed the gross Sins of Theft Whoredom or Drunkenness and have frequented Churches and Sacraments prayer much and given much Alms All this will avail nothing before God if we are not animated with the Spirit of Jesus Christ 13. For God will know no Men but those who at Death shall be cloathed with the Spirit of Jesus Christ which is Charitable Humble poor in Spirit in short adorned with all his Vertues and to be a Christian one must imitate him as he himself has said For his Doctrine is not a History to be read or heard out of Curiosity but is all Lessons which we must retain to put them in practice else we shall falsly bear the Name of Christian which signifies no other thing but a Person dead to the Flesh to live unto the Spirit or one who has renounced the Corruption of the old Adam to live renewed into the Spirit of Jesus Christ 14. It is far more safe to believe that Jesus Christ by his Death and Sufferings has merited for us the Grace of dying to our selves that we may live unto him than to believe that he has satisfied all for us while we rest upon this false Pillow abiding in the Sentiments of our Nature eating drinking and doing all other things according to our Sensualities This is the broad Way that leads to Peâ—dition and many there are who walk in it but you my dear Child take the narrow Way that leads to Life even tho' there be few that walk in it Every one will bear his own Burthen If your Friends will not walk in it leave them rather than follow them seeing Jesus Christ says that we must can off the Member or pluck out the Eye that offends us and that he who leaves not Father and Mother Wife and Children for his Names sake is not worthy of him I do not require of you the Perfection that Jesus Christ had but that you tend to it and aspire after it as much as is possible for you In doing of which you will oblige her to love you who subscribes her self Yours wholly in God Antho. Bourignon Amsterdam July 1â—th 1670. LETTER IV. That God does not pardon Sin without Penitence To the same Wherein is declared that Men fall every Day of new into Adam's Sin turning away from God to love the Creature and that they can never be saved without being revived into the Spirit of Jesus Christ who has merited for us the Grace to imitate him This Letter is the Eighth of La lum nèe en tenebr Part iii. My dear Child 1. I Wonder how it is possible that your Friends should say that I reject the Merits of Jesus Christ and that I do not look upon them as the Means of our Salvation seeing that I do not look for Salvation for my self but by the Merits of Jesus Christ who came into the World to redeem us after that we had been all lost by Sin and by it sold and delivered up into the Power of the Devil 2. For Sin is no other thing but a turning away from God to turn towards the Creature The Angels did first thus turn away when they saw themselves so Beautiful and so Perfect they were pleased in themselves desiring to be like unto God And thus they became Devils Enemies of God and of all his Works looking on them with Envy and Jealousie labouring as much as was possible to destroy and corrupt them Therefore the Devil tempted Man as soon as he perceived his Creation that he might hinder the Designs which God had of taking his Delight with him and Man by the Instinct of the Devil turn'd away from his God to regard the Creatures in regarding of which he coveted and lov'd them against the Prohibition of his God thus withdrawing himself by his Will to cleave to the Satisfaction of his humane Nature which we do yet daily 3. And this turning away from God is call'd Sin which brought forth Death to the Soul of Adam and to all Men in him seeing Adam had in his Loins all the Men that are
deceitful and transitory World For my part I see all these things as clear as the Sun I will therefore despise and forget them that I may think only upon durable Goods whcih will never end If you will accompany me you may do it for God has created you free placing you between Fire and Water that you may choose which you please best The Fire will warm you with a Desire of having Riches Pleasures and Honours in this World And the Water will make you to embrace Penitence that you may resist the Devil the World and the Flesh which are the Three Enemies of your eternal Bliss You have already taken up a Resolution to travel towards Eternity and to quit the way of the World which in effect you do not as yet perfectly do Therefore you cannot accompany me until you shall be altogether free from earthly Goods and shall have quitted the Desire of pleasing Men For these things would always make you stumble in our Journey 13. For sometimes a Man must lose or spend earthly Goods upon Occasions respecting Eternity which would be troublesome to you so long as you have yet any Affection for these Goods And in the way to Eternity we must often displease Men. Therefore Jesus Christ says that he who would please Men is not his Disciple And elsewhere he says that he came not to bring Peace upon Earth but War between Father and Son Brother against Brother Husband against Wife c. to shew that he who would travel towards Eternity must fight against all those who travel towards the World even tho' it were against his nearest Kinsfolk and Friends For if one would shâ—ken that he may please them he will never arrive at Eternity for they will still hold us in the way without coming to the End For our nearest Relations are the most powerful Enemies that we meet with in travelling towards Eternity when they will not accompany us we must therefore quit the Desire of pleasing them for this Cause Jesus Christ said that he who forsakes not Father Mother Sisters Brethren and all things for his Name is not worthy of him Whereby he shews what Foundation of Vertue those ought to have who would travel towards Eternity 14. They ought first of all to offer unto God all the Goods which they possess to be employed only for his Glory and no longer according to our Desires or that we may follow our Sensualities Secondly A Man must leave off the Desire of pleasing Men since in pleasing them of necessity he must displease God because their Desires are altogether different from those of God and respect only their own Interests and therefore they cannot approve that we should abandon the World and its Riches and Pleasures of which they partake so long as we possess them to satisfie them You see why it is that we must lose their Friendship if we would have God's and undertake this War into which Jesus Christ is come to engage us against the Flesh and our nearest Relations 15. People think that it is well done to preserve Peace among them which I grant so long as they will travel with us in the way to Eternity There is nothing more desirable in this World than Peace and Concord between Friends and Neighbours But when they detain or hinder us from travelling towards Eternity we must break that Peace which ominates nothing but the Wrath of God For it is one of the Signs of his last Plagues when Men shall promise to themselves Peace and Security then says the Holy Spirit is the Time of their utter Ruine Thus it befalls a Person who undertakes to travel towards Eternity and will maintain Peace with those who yet travel towards the World We must declare WAR against them if they retard or hinder us from advancing towards Eternity for their Friendship is not so considerable as our Eternal Salvation which they cannot give us but they may serve as a mean of our Damnation For these two Points the Love of Riches and the Desire to please Men have been the Occasion of the Eternal Ruine of a great many even well-meaning Persons 16. For so long as we have yet an Affection for earthly things we cannot travel towards Eternity We must be altogether free and aspire only after our blessed Country taking for our Necessity the least that is possible for us of earthly things that we finish our Voyage the least of Honour of Offices of Money of Apparel of Meat and Drink that we can And with this we shall indeed travel together towards Eternity adn chearfully perform the Voyage For tho' we should find in our way Labours Cares Sufferings Persecutions Contempt Reproaches Prisons or Death all this will seem Light to us in the Hope of that Eternal Blessedness For if he who travels after the World thinks himself happy in gaining Money by his Pains Cares or Labours how much more ought he who looks for the Eternal Reward in travelling towards Eternity He will be loth to stop to gather up the Sand of Gold and Silver which would be very heavy to him in travelling towards Eternity I advise you therefore to cast it far from you and then I will take you by the Hand that we may the better accomplish our Journey In expectation of which I remain Your faithful Friend in God A. B. Amsterdam Octob. 23. 1670. FINIS I. The ill Entertainment such an Apology will meet with II. The Apologistâ— pâ—â—posâ—to write it notwith staâ—ding and why III. Writings not to be despised because they and their Author are evil spoken of by all IV. Not to read them with an evil Eye V. The Method and Manner of this Apology I. Men ought to consider what is said and not who says it Matt. 13. 55. II She treated otherwise III. None ought to take Mens Sentiments on Trust from others especially Enemies IV. Nor to weigh them by the Systems and Opinion of Men. V. She owns the Scriptures for the Test of all Doctrines and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ for the last and compleat Doctrine of Salvation and this the Butt of all her Writings Renouv. de l' Espr Eva. Pref. pag. 110. VI. The Truths of Religion of two sorts Essential and Accessory VII The Ground of all the Holy Scriptures and the Apostleâ— Creed VIII Her Profession of Faith prefix'd to all her Writings IX Her Sentiments to be measur'd by her Confession X The Essentials Man created only to love God a. Renouv de L. Espr Evang. Pref. p. 102. b ibid. p. 6. c Light of the World Part 1. p. 138. Renouv. Pr. p. 12. Endued for that End with perfect Liberty and other Divine Qualities d Man has damn'd himself by turning his 〈◊〉 from God iâ—id pref p. 10â— e ib. p. 128. His Misery now f ibid. Jesus Christ has obtained Mercy and Grace for them All Men so by Nature and cannot recover themselves g ibid. p. 102. h ibid. p 103. To recover the