have also the Pencil which is the Word with which Jesus Christ and his Apostles laid on these fine Colours of Vertues in Souls but they want as that Ape the Spirit of that excellent Master which is Jesus Christ They have on Paper the same Words which the Holy Spirit dictated but they have not the same Holy Spirit to apply them in Practice to their own Souls and far less to the Souls of their Hearers XXV 10. Those Writings give us such just and clear Representations of the Truths of Christianity as tend to take us off from Self and from the Creatures and to make us turn unto and depend wholly upon God such as does not favour us in the least Sin and yet encourages the greatest Sinner to turn to God such as leads us to ascribe nothing to our selves but Evil and nothing to God but Good Such as lets us see that nothing can excuse us from obeying the Commands of the Gospel and following the Example of Jesus Christ without which by him tâ—ere is no Salvation It is true of Doctrines as well as Men By their Fruits ye shall know them Such Doctrines as tend to sooth Mens Corrupt Inclinations to teach them how to love God and the World too to gratifie their Appetites here and yet hope to enjoy God hereafter I do not mean in so many express Words but in their natural Tendency such certainly are not of God Now the Doctrines contained in those Writings have quite another Tendency as has been said There we have such true and lively Representations of God as shews us that he is altogether Lovely of his Design in creating Man only to be enjoy'd and lov'd by him without any decree or purpose of damning the greatest part of Mankind as may stir us up to comply with so tender a Love with so generous a Design of the horrid Degeneracy and Corruption of Man now both in Soul and Body as may make us abhor our selves of our Sins their being purely our own deed without any the least Predetermination or Concurrence of God but the contrary as may keep us from excusing our selves or laying the blame on God of the Merits Satisfaction and Intercession of Jesus Christ as may convince us that Pardon and Reconciliation with God and Grace and Means to return to God is to be obtain'd and that only by him of the Necessity and Nature of the preventing concurring and renewing Grace of God as may make us continually seek to him for it and yield up our selves to be guided by it of the Nature and Corruption of our Will as shews the absolute necessity of denying it and yielding it up to God of the Doctrine and Example of Jesus Christ as may convince us that our Corrupt Nature cannot be overcome and we cannot return to the Love of God without obeying his Precepts and following his Example Now Writings of such a Tendency ought not to be despis'd and ridicul'd by the Professors and Preachers of the Religion of Jesus Christ and that they have this Tendency I appeal to any who have read any of them without an Evil Eye XXVI 11. Those Writings do contain also many Divine Explications of the Holy Scripture not after the way of criticizing and reckoning up the several meanings and acceptions of a Word or the various Sences of Inpreters which a Man may be well vers'd in and yet be altogether ignorant of the true sence and meaning of the Holy Scripture where he pretends to Interpret it We see all Sciences have a certain Light by which they are discerned a certain Disposition of Faculties which makes us capable to understand them certain Principles which lead to the Knowledge of them and when these are wanting we grope in the Dark Children and Boys may understand all the Words of a Book of Philosophy of the Propositions in Euclid and yet understand nothing of the Truths contain'd there To understand the Holy Scriptures and the things of God we had need to be endued with the same Spirit and to be in the same Disposition with those who wrote them Now if any will be pleas'd to compare the Expositions given in those Writings of some places of Holy Scripture with the learned Comments of the Interpreters and Criticks of the Age I am perswaded that if they be not greatly prejudic'd they will be convinc'd that her Expositions come from a more Divine Original than than the most of the other that they give a clearer Light more worthy of God and more suitable to the great Ends of Religion that in this the Truth of our Saviour's words is manifest that God hides these things from the Wise and Prudent and reveals them unto Babes and that with great reason she blest God who preserv'd her from drinking in Humane Learning Of all these I shall instance one which deserves a particular Consideration and that is her Exposition of the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew set down in the First Part of La Lumiere nee on Tenebres It is too long to offer to transcribe it here they who are desirous to see it need not want Occasions To this I cannot but subjoin the just Cautions she gives and the excellent Rules for the Interpreting of the Holy Scriptures She makes appear how rash Men are in glossing the Holy Scriptures since the things which concern our Salvation are so plainly set down in them that they need no Glosses and the obscure things cannot be understood but by the same Spirit who endited them and not by Humane Wisdom which is directly opposite to the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit which descends only into humble Souls That they who will needs interpret the Scriptures by Humane Wisdom fall into great Mistakes and understand the Terms quite othewise than the Spirit of God intended Thus it is said that God hardened Pharaoh's Heart the meaning cannot be that he hardens Mens Hearts by making them obstinate in Evil for God can never co-operate to any Evil being the Fountain of all Good But he speaks thus to make us know that he leaves a wicked Man to go on in his Wickedness when he will not be restrain'd But on his part he uses always Goodness towards them that he may convert them both by good Inspirations Admonitions and other proper Means But when their Free-wills are willful to persist in Evil he leaves them to themselves The main Difficulty there is in understanding of the Scriptures arises from this that we do not know the Qualities of God and we are ready to attribute to him such as Men have imagining that he has a Love for some and a Hatred for others And thus every one is wedded to his own Sence and Opinions and will maintain them as the Truths of God But the best Course is still to take the Holy Scriptures in that Sence that draws us more and more to the Love of God and to the Knowledge of our own
is unchangeable always consistent with himself and no Body can be mistaken in following what is conformable to the Gospel even to tho' it were declar'd by a wicked Person yea by the Devil himself But if some one declare some particular thing respecting the Salvation or Damnation of any they must see from whence this Knowledge comes If such have it by the Light of the Holy Spirit they must believe it as the Scripture or else they be in Hazard of being forsaken by God for despising the Warnings which he often gives us by some one of his Friends whom he makes use of to declare his Will to those who would not hear it so particularly themselves As he did to David by the Prophet Nathan to declare his Sin to him of which he was become insensible and so many others whom he has withdrawn from the way to Hell by the Warnings of some Souls enlightned by him as he does sometimes yet at present A True Prophet never seeks himself desires not to please Men aims at nothing but to satisfie the Will of God tho' it cost him his Life He speaks of his Commission without fear or respect of any He has no soft Words that flatter the Ears but hard ones that pierce Hearts He declares the Truths that reprove Men more willingly than those which commend them A True Prophet rejoyces more to be hated than lov'd because he sees then he is more conformable to his Master who in doing Good was hated and persecuted by Men. There is not a more certain Mark than the Reproach and Contradictions of Men whereby to discern a True Prophet from a False for Falshood always flatters and so is loved by the People who are willingly flattered The Holy Spirit can have no regard to what pleases or displeases but to what is pure Truth without respect of Persons And if there remain any doubt if it is the Holy Spirit who speaks by a Person who says so we must try if that Person possess the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit his Seven Gifts and the Eight Beatitudes so you shall see visibly in them the Holy Spirit by his infallible Operations Thus you see what excellent and true Marks and Characters she gives whereby we may try whether any be truly endued with the Spirit of God or not and the more her Doctrine Life and Spirit are enquir'd into by the Lovers of Sincerity and Truth the more they will abide this Touchstone And it will still the more clearly appear that her Doctrine is the same in Substance with the Gospel her Life and Spirit a Transcript of it that the Law of God was written in her Heart from whence her Doctrine came as from a Fountain of Living Water springing up to Everlasting Life and was not derived from the broken Cisterns of humane Learning Conversation Study and Books And that her Words are sharp and piercing searching into the Heart and Conscience and far from soothing and flattering the Corruptions of Men. XVIII M. Pascal has given it as a distinguishing Mark and Character of the Christian Religion in Contradiction to all other Religions of the World as an Argument of its Divine Authority and Original that it makes Charity or the Love of God its principal End and Man's chief Duty which no other Religion does And I think it may be given as a distinguishing Character of the Doctrine of A. B. its being a true Representation of Christianity in Contradiction to most of the Systems of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which have been advanc'd in this last Age of the World that she makes Charity or the Love of God the great End of that Religion and the Precepts and Life of Jesus Christ the necessary Means to bring us to that End and when this is so clearly discovered and represented to us by an illiterate Child without the use of any humane Helps and our false Glosses whereby we have perverted the Doctrine of Jesus Christ are laid open to us to ascribe this to Natural Judgment Heat of Fancy any Humane or Diabolical Means or to think to confound it with our Buffoonry and Criticks is a Spiritual Infatuation like that of the Scribes and Pharisees XIX Now all that has been or can be opposed to those Evidences of A. B. her being led by the Spirit of God come under these Two Heads viz. it is either affirm'd that these Marks and Characters are not sufficient Evidences even tho' she had them or that they do not all belong to her I shall give you then her own Vindication of her self in answering some Prejudices relating to these Heads First then they objected that there could be no sufficient Evidence of her being led by the Spirit of God unless she were endued with the Power of working Miracles In Answer to which she says It is a great Ignorance to desire to see Miracles that we may believe that a Soul is possest with the Holy Spirit for the Devil at this time can easily do Wonders Jesus Christ has assur'd us that in the last Times many false Prophets will arise that shall do great Signs and Wonders And we live now in the Reign of Antichrist They who ask now for Miracles deserve to be seduc'd by Satan for what need is there of them since God is not to send into the World a New Doctrine The Gospel Law is the last and most perfect of all Laws Nothing New will come to instruct Men except the fulfilling of the Gospel Law which was sufficiently confirm'd by Jesus Christ and his Apostles who needed then for the Hardness of Mens Hearts to work outward Miracles because of their Unbelief For those Persons Signs were wrought that were visible to their Senses But now Men are sufficiently confirm'd in the Gospel Law There are no Christians incredulous in this Point And therefore Miracles would serve to no purpose now since nothing is taught but what Jesus Christ and his Apostles taught and this is believed both by good and bad Christians I think you have not the true Touchstone to discern if a Person has the Spirit of God when you would try him by Miracles for the Spirit of Satan may do great Signs and Wonders in the Persons where he dwells I have seen Persons possest with that unclean Spirit who would have done admirable things Some were Blind for some Years and recovered their Sight in an Instant others were Dumb and recovered their Speech by supernatural Means others did hang and flee visibly in the Air before all the People others were without Pulse and Motion for some Nights and Days and in an Instant would arise and walk chearfully Are not here the Dead raised the Sick healed the Blind recovered to their Sight the Dumb to their Speech and Bodies suspended in the Air by the Power of the Devil How could you judge then by Miracles if a Person be led by the Spirit of God or of the Devil You
will tell me that you would try the Spirit of God by true Miracles and not by such as come by the Intervention of the Devil I ask by what means you shall discern between these so long as you have not that Holy Spirit which would learn you all Truth Then you would discern all things and would not need to ask Miracles to know if another be guided by that true Spirit For Faith alone would give you Evidence enough When the Pharisees ask'd Miracles of Christ and he had done some they said presently he had a Devil and that he cast out Devils by the Power of Beelzebub who was more Powerful than the inferiour Devils Do you not think that the same would happen now and if I also wrought Miracles would they not undoubtedly say that I were a Sorceress which were even to be feared since now there is no more need of Miracles except to bewitch Mens Spirits with Admiration our Faith being sufficiently confirm'd and the Gospel Law verified There is nothing wanting but that it is not put in practice and there is no need of Miracles to assure all Christians that they cannot be sav'd without the practice of it since Jesus Christ and his Apostles have so strongly affirm'd it One must deny the Gospel to believe that he can be saved without imitating Jesus Christ seeing he says that he is the way and that he who enters by him shall be saved that he also is the Door and that we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but by him What Miracles will you require Sir from one who does no other thing but repeat the same Words which Jesus Christ and his Apostles pronounc'd and says no other thing but that to be a Christian we must have the Spirit of Jesus Christ I have done no ill to any Body nor said any other thing in Substance but that Men are fallen from the Faith and that they have by their Sins drawn down the Judgments of God upon their Heads that of necessity we must be converted to God and take up the Spirit of the Christians of the Primitive Church or otherwise we are not True Christians All these Truths are so clear that all Men ought to become silent and confounded by them silent in that they cannot bely the Truth and confounded to see that they are so far from God and the practice of True Christians But being unwilling to yield to this Truth and to be asham'd that their Degeneracy is laid open they will not be silent but strive to reproach those who tell this Truth and tempt them with Foreign Questions and Arguments even demanding of them outward Signs and Miracles as if they were of the Essence of Vertue while they cannot give the least Ray of Vertue to him who works them for True Miracles come from God and not from the Person that does them who is only his Instrument to shew to Men that which God operates So that you cannot be assured that a Person has the Holy Spirit even tho' he should work outward Miracles since Judas did them as well as the other Apostles and yet was a Devil We need another Touchstone to know the Spirit of God for St. Paul says tho' we could remove Mountains and had the Gift of Prophecy all this would be nothing without Charity It is a great Blindness to seek for Miracles and outward Signs that we may believe that a Soul is guided by the Holy Spirit It were better to search in the Scriptures what Gifts and Fruits the Holy Spirit brings always along with him and observe if they who say they are endued with the Holy Spirit have in them those Gifts and Fruits for then it is certain they are possest with the Holy Spirit for all these things are Supernatural and Divine Not that I would exclude True Miracles from Souls that love God for they would certainly do them in this present Time as much as the Apostles did them in their Days if it were necessary for God's Glory who will always do the Will of those who love him in all Times and Places But I have said all this to make appear to you that this is the least Favour that God does in this World to a faithful Soul that it has the Gift of Prophecy or of doing Miracles and that these things ought not to be valued in respect of Faith and Charity which unite Souls to God These are True Miracles with respect to the Souls of their Neighbour they restore to them Sight Health and Life and with those Philosophers Stones of Living Faith and Charity they change earthly Souls into the pure Gold of Divine Charity These are the True Miracles which shall be done in this Fulness of Time to prove the force of the Holy Spirit by the Cure of Souls more worthy beyond Comparison than Mortal Bodies The Summ of what she says on this Head is this That it is not necessary that every one who is immediately taught by the Spirit of God should prove the same by outward Miracles that they are necessary only for the Confirmation of a New Doctrine That she declares no other Doctrine than the Gospel of Jesus Christ which our Lord and his Apostles have sufficiently confirm'd already That to demand Miracles now is to tempt God and to expose our selves to be deluded by the Devil who we are told will in these last Times by his false Prophets do Signs and Lying Wonders which without the Spirit of God cannot easily be distinguished from true Ones That they are not the surest Touchstones of one's being guided and taught by the Spirit of God but the Gifts and Fruits of the Spirit particularly Living Faith and Charity and that by these the Spirit of God does greater Miracles in converting and healing the Souls of others than all outward Miracles on Bodies would amount to And that in these last Times God will manifest the Power of his Spirit by working these Miracles on Souls by turning them away from things Earthly and Temporal to things Heavenly and Eternal There were many of the ancient Prophets of whom we do not read that they wrought Miracles and their Prophesies were generally for After-times and not fulfilled in their own Days yet the People were bound to receive them as sent from God and there were sufficient Evidences for it in their Doctrine and Lives Besides it was no less than a Miracle and beyond the Power of Nature that she knew the Thoughts of other Mens Hearts and their inward Dispositions not that she always did so but when God thought fit to discover them to her either for her own Safety or for the Good of others This is oft-times declared and Instances given of it not only by her self but also by M. de Cort Poiret Tiellens Francken and many others The manner also of having so clear and comprehensive a Knowledge of Divine Things without Study Conferences Meditation or Books is no less strange
the Cause and Reason that God looks to and this will not be fulfill'd after the Manner that we look for it even without knowing sometimes wherefore but God only knows For tho' he say and teach and promise things many times this is not that they are to be understood received or possessed at the same time but that they are to be afterwards understood or when it shall be fit to give Clearness in them or when the Effect shall follow as this fell out often even to the Disciples of Jesus Christ of whom S. John says These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Jesus was glorified then remembred they that these things were written of him There may pass many particular things after this Manner which cannot be understood before their Time To shew this in the Matter of the Promises of God which are not fulfilled to those to whom they were made for want of good Dispositions we read in the Book of the Kings that God being provoked against the High-Priest Eli because of the Sins of his Children whom he did not correct sent to tell him these Words by Samuel I said indeed that thy House and the House of thy Father should walk before me for ever as to the Priesthood but now the Lord saith be it far from me For this Office being founded on this that he ought to glorifie and honour God and God having promised the Continuance of it to him upon the same Ground presupposing that on his Part he would not be wanting in his Duty it came to pass that Eli coming short in his Zeal for God's Honour who as the Lord complains of him honoured his Sons more than God himself dissembling their Sins for fear of dishonouring them it fell out I say that God's Promise failed him also which would have been firm if they had remained firm in their Piety We must not therefore think that Divine Visions and Revelations tho' true in themselves ought to fall out infallibly as they â—ound particularly when by the Order of God they depend upon human things which may vary change be omitted or not Now God knows when Revelations are thus annex'd to Conditions and Dispositions which depend upon Men and he does not always discover it and oftentimes he speaks or reveals the Thing without saying any thing of the Condition as he did to the Ninevites to whom he foretold determinately that they should perish within Forty Days Sometimes also God declares this Condition as he did to Roboam If thou keep my Commandments as my Servant David I also will be with thee and will build thee a stable House as I did to David But whether he declare these Conditions or not it appears by what has been said hitherto that we cannot be assured by the natural Way of Perceiving that we are not mistaken in the Understanding of Divine Revelations They will say it may be Why then does God communicate them It is to make them be understood in their Time by the Order of him who has told them and he shall conceive them to whom it shall please God to give the Understanding of them yea even those shall see the Ratification of them who shall be in the Dispositions requisite and annex'd to those Declarations Laying aside this People expose themselves to great Dangers of Error and Confusion when they will needs judge determinately and absolutely of them by what seems and appears at first outwardly of them The Prophets knew this very well they who had God's Word in their Mouth and to whom it was heavy and grievous to carry it to the People because a great Part of the Predictions did not fall out according to the Sence of the Letter nor so soon as they look'd for them which made the Prophets so ridiculous that Jeremy said I am in Derision daily every one mocketh me for since I spake I cried out I cried Violence and Spoil but the Word of the Lord was made a Reproach unto me and a Derision daily Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his Name And the Reason why Jonah fled when God sent him to denounce the Destruction of Ninevah was that he could not comprehend assuredly the Truth of the Divine Words nor determinately understand their Sence So for fear they should mock at him if this Prophecy came not to pass he chose rather to flee than to prophesie and having prophesied he abode forty Days without the City to see if his Prophecy should be fulfilled which when it was not he was so far grieved as to say to God in his Complaint I pray thee O Lord was not this my Saying when I was yet in my Country Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish for I know that thou art a Gracious God and a Merciful And the Saint being grieved prayed to God that he would take him out of this World Must we therefore be astonish'd if the things that God reveals to his Friends do not fall out as they might have conceived them and far less as others understood them For suppose God declare unto them some Good or Evil for them or others if these things are founded on certain Dispositions of Spirit the Obedience of those Souls as to God and a certain Perseverance and that this must fall out upon these Conditions yet it is not certain for this that the Event shall fall out as the Words sound so long as the Condition and Perseverance are uncertain and do not appear Here is more than sufficient for solving all the Difficulties that may occur in the Writings of A. B. as to any Predictions And as to the Promises and Declarations of God how absolute soever they may seem in Words yet the Completion of them is not to be look'd for when there is not a Correspondence by an entire Conversion unto God in those to whom they are given God does not retract his Promises but he leaves them to whom they were given takes his Talents from them to give them to others till he find such as will profit by them A. B. has declared all that has been said on this Head in Two or Three Lines God says she is always True and cannot Lie But Men do not understand his Language or do not know the Time of his Predictions or they hinder the Effect of his Promises by their Sins or Indispositions XXV In the last Place it is given as an Instance that A. B. was not led by the Spirit of God and that she had not the Gift of Discerning if Spirits were of God or not in that she was deceived for many Years by S. Saulien and others It is to be considered that the Holy Spirit does not confer his Gifts upon those in whom Self-will does yet reign and who are guided by it but on those only who are dead to their own Wills When these are endued with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit they
greatest Evidences that can be given to those who were not Eye-Witnesses nor have experienc'd that Efficacy of her Writings themselves XXVII And seeing by the Testimony of her greatest Enemies these Writings are valued and esteem'd by some who have the Reputation of being Men of Sense Learning and Probity and that there are others highly deserving that Character still alive who were Witnesses of her Life and Spirit and have found so much of the Divine Power accompanying those Writings as has made them abandon the Love and Care of all Temporal things to mind and prepare for Eternity And seeing they are known to be Men of no Hypochondriack nor Enthusiastick Spirit do not pretend to immediate Revelations themselves are not led by the heat of Fancy or Imagination but were addicted to all the sorts of rational Learing and to the mechanical Philosophy wherewith the World now abounds this may so far Counter-ballance the Prejudices raised by some other Men of Reputation for Learning and Parts who never read those Writings till they came to them with an evil Eye with a design to expose ridicule and confute them this I say may so far Counter-ballance that Prejudice as to encline People not to throw them away as unworthy of their notice but impartially to weigh and consider what they say XXVIII And I am the more bold and earnest to perswade this because they contain the matters of the greatest Importance in the World They encourage no New Sect nor Schism set up no New Creeds teach no Disobedience to Superiours Civil or Ecclesiastick no Contempt of the Holy Scriptures or Divine Ordinances they do not teach Men to distinguish themselves from the rest of the World by a Preciseness in Words Gestures Apparel or other outward indifferent things But they clearly manifest the horrid Corruption of our Nature the indispensable necessity of the Love of God to be saved the only means to recover it by following the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ how contrary all Men walk to this and yet flatter themselves with their false Glosses on Christ's Life and Doctrine and the great and universal Judgments that God is now to bring upon the World as he did in the Days of Noah its Wickedness being as Universal and at as great a Height With many other important Truths which I cannot now repeat And as they are of such Weight and Moment so they are so clearly and rationally represented as to convince our natural Reason XXIX It needs divert none from laying to Heart those great and necessary Truths because they may meet with other accessory things which they cannot relish they are told they may lay them aside suspend their belief of them they may be sav'd without them And whereas it is replied That they being declared to be revealed by the Spirit of God we ought to believe them It is answered That it is not necessary to Salvation to believe that those Writings are Divinely inspir'd many may believe the Divine Essential Truths contain'd in them because of their Agreement with the Holy Scripture and labour to form their Lives and Hearts accordingly and yet not be perswaded that she had immediate Revelation besides the same Spirit that declares even those accessory Truths declares also that they are not necessary to Salvation and that they who do not relish them and are not bettered by them may let them alone Even as God of his infinite Bounty has provided not only for the Necessities of Man's Life but also variety of Entertainment of which some is agreeable to some Palates and naufeous to others It is not needful that every Man should eat of all sorts of Food but it is fit he take that only which is most convenient for his Health not despising other Food because he cannot relish it for it may be very agreeable and healthful to others however he may let it alone God grant us all the Spirit of divine Charity and a sound Mind and that whereto we have already attain'd the Essential Truths we all acknowledge we may walk by the same Rule and mind the same things And then if in any thing we be otherwise minded God will reveal this unto us Advertisement IN Opposition to all the Prejudices rais'd against the Writings of A. B. this may be a favourable one for them that whereas her Enemies do all they can to frighten People from looking into them and would have them to know no further of them than what they think fit to put into their Narratives those on the other hand who give good Characters of them aim at nothing thereby but to perswade People impartially to read and consider the Writings themselves and not to trust them upon their Words no more than those who bespatter them even as we Protestants perswade the People to read the Holy Scriptures and those of the Roman Church do all they can to hinder them as being conscious that they make against them And as thus the Intention of these Witnesses is much more Candid and Just than the other so their Testimony will by all impartial Judges be esteem'd no less Weighty The one are Eye-Witnesses and the other only upon Conjecture Inferences or Hearsay and they who thrust in to be Evidences upon no better Grounds give occasion to suspect them as false Witnesses and to put them to the Oath of Calumny e'er they be admitted And as they had far the Advantage of knowing the Truth of what they declare beyond these others so their Ability to make a right Judgment and their Probity is unquestionable of these I shall instance only in two The one is the great Anatomist and Naturalist Dr. Swammerdam whose Writings are well known and esteem'd by all Enquirers into the History of Nature and it is certain that that Genius does not lead to a Brainsick Enthusiasm but after that he had seen some of the Writings of A. B. and convers'd with her he was fully perswaded in his Conscience that she was led by the Spirit of God and found the happy Effect of it upon own his Heart and Spirit The other is Dr. Ant. de Heyde known also to the World by some curious Enquiries and Observations in the History of Nature and in Physick who for many Years had no small Contempt and Aversion for A. B. and her Writings so that it was the force of Truth only and no favourable Prepossession that brought him to esteem them who has now abandon'd all earthly things to follow his Master Jesus Christ and such powerful a Mean they were for this End appears from this following Account which he permits to be communicated to the World being heartily desirous to contribute for the Good of those who labour under the same Indispositions A DISSERTATION OF Dr. Ant. de Heyde Famous Physician of Middleburg in Zealand CONCERNING The Sanctity and Divine Illumination of Antonia Bourignon Translated from the Original Latin M. S. Quest 1. If A. B. did
that by this Word the inward Thoughts of his Heart are made manifest and laid open he is forced to fall down upon his Face and to acknowledge that it is God who speaks unto him This one Mark is sufficient to prove the Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture and it is so clear that it may be understood by the most simple moreover it is most certain and infallible To this many other Marks might be added which for brevity's sake I pass over and so much the rather that they are to be had abundantly from those Writers who have designedly treated of the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures XXII Now that this may be applied to the Writings of Antonia Bourignon both I my self and many Persons of Probity have experienced and do daily experience that those Writings do as clearly lay before us our inward State as if God were immediately speaking unto us Moreover they do so clearly and so lively set before our Eyes the Vanity and Nothingness of all Earthly and Temporal things and the Glory of Heavenly and Eternal things that we are forced unless we would do Violence to our Conscience to love and seek after these last things only and absolutely to forsake and avoid the other And there is no doubt but that all they who sincerely desire to do the Will of God and to embrace and practice the Truth which they know shall experience in themselves the same Effects from the reading of those Writings and give Testimony that they are endited by the Spirit of God XXIII Moreover the Writings of Antonia Bourignon are so consonant to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament that from hence it appears more clearly than the Sun at Noon-day that the same Spirit has endited both Yea the Writings of Antonia Bourignon are as a Key whereby the Sacred Scriptures are opened and expounded So that the great Mysteries hitherto understood by none are expounded by these Writings and the Difficulties which hitherto have been most intricate are resolved It is also most worthy of Observation that a Virgin so simple as Antonia Bourignon should without Study or Meditation commit to Writing the most solid clear and saving Truths Being moved to write against her natural Inclination only for promoting the Glory of God and the Good of her Neighbour without the prospect of any temporal Advantage but on the contrary foreseeing that she must suffer much because of these Writings as the Event did confirm for because she did so clearly and efficaciously declare the saving Truth the Churchmen and the Learned of all Sects and Parties did prosecute her with Hatred Calumnies and Persecution even to her Death XXIV We judge therefore that we have abundance of Reasons and Arguments to conclude that A. B. was moved by the Spirit of God to write for the enlightning of others The End of the Third Part. An Advertisement to the Reader THEY who esteem the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. will no doubt be desirous to know the History of her Life and they who make it their Business to traduce and defame her to the World do make it necessary to be known thereby to prevent or remove the Prejudices which they may breed in the Minds of well-disposed Persons against Writings which would be so helpful to them in the way to Eternal Life The inward Sentiments of others cannot be known but from themselves or by the Spirit of God and their Sincerity may appear from the constant Tenour of their Actions in the whole course of their Lives and the Story of their Life and Actions may be had both from themselves and from those who have been Eye-Witnesses of their Conversation both Friends and indifferent Persons The Testimony of Enemies in bespattering and defaming them is no more to be regarded than that of false Witnesses when there are unquestionable Evidences to the contrary It is easie also for those who consider things with an evil Eye to give such a turn to the Actions of the Best as may make them hateful and ridiculous witness the Author of Dictionaire Historique Critique in his Character of the King and Prophet David The inward Life of A. B. and the outward likewise for a Course of many Years is written by her self and the Continuation of it to her Death by a Person of known Integrity who was with her for some of the last Years of her Life and was helped in it by her own Memorials and those of her Friends and often led her to relate unto him her whole Life Besides there are some sixty Testimonies some private others publick before Judges Magistrates upon Oath of Persons to whom she was well known which do refer to a good part of the most remarkable Events of her Life From these Originals then I have drawn the following Summary of her Life the fuller Account being to be had from those Writings themselves I know there are many who sit in the Seat of the Scornful and will turn all this into Ridicule at which we need not wonder when even the Penmen of the Sacred Scriptures dâ—es not escape their Lash God's ways are so different froâ— Man's that the natural Man perceiveth not the things that are of God but they seem Foolishness to him We have strong Attachments to Parents Friends Wife Children to our Guides the Learned the Eloquent the Great to Study and Learning and worldly Accommodations and therein gratifie and cherish the corrupt Inclinations of our Hearts God will have Iâ—struments form'd upon different Molds Our Lord would not let them go take leave of their Friends or go bury their Father He engages them to forsake their Wives and Children or if they be free not to be bound God makes Men forsake their Country and their Friends and go they know not where upon his Word only He chooses Children Persons without Learning forbidding them to study or to follow the Conduct and Wisdom of Men. He chooses them Wâ—â—k and Simple without Authority or Power without a Following or Applause keeps them for the most part in Solitude either that they may converse with God or to preserve them from the Persecutions of Men of those especially who call themselves the Church and People of God and when he draws them out of it he lets them be chas'd from one Place to another and at last die in Assliction and Misery How impertinent does this Conduct seem to the Wisdom of humane Reason and yet by these Rules God has form'd Men for his Service in all Ages Abraham Jacob Moses David Elisha Jeremiah Ames â—ohn Baptist â—esus Christ himself all the Apostles and the true Saints who have followed him When Men then are so wise in their own Eyes as to condemn this in the Person of A. B. they must know that they condemn the Conduct of God himself in his Saints who will thereby have their Hearts and Wills wholly disengag'd from self and all worldly
after his own Likeness to be his Spouse and not to be his Slave or constrain'd to do his Will for all the other Creatures were subjected under his Will but Man alone was created altogether Free like a little God Sovereign and Ruler over all the other Creatures which God had subjected to Man leaving him Free to use them well or ill according to his Will 3. So soon as Man turn'd away his Affections from God to love himself or the other Creatures he became the Enemy of his God and would not acquiesce in the Designs that God had for Man to take his Delight with him And by this means Man has damn'd himself and by ceasing to love God the Fountain of all Good he is fallen into all sort of Evil which consists in the Privation of all Good 4. Sin coming upon this Master-piece of the Works of God has rendred Man so miserable so infirm ignorant weak that all things over which he ought to rule do master and mischief him 5. Men are now born Children of Wrath and Perdition and are therefore assuredly damn'd by Nature and nothing but the Grace of God can save or deliver them from this Damnation into which they have voluntarily precipitated themselves 6. After that miserable Man had thus destroy'd himself â—esus Christ true Eternal God and true Man comes to intercede for him with his Eternal Father and by his Merits and Intercession has obtain'd for this ingrate Creature the Remission of his Sin and the Grace to do Penitence for it and a time and state of Trial for that End that by a perfect Repentance he may obtain the Favour of God to the End he may return to his Love which he had lost thro' his own Fault since Man was created free to continue eternally in the Love of God without ever falling from it 7. Whereas Man ought to recover this Love of God by his own Choice and his own free Will he must therefore testifie by his Contrition and Penitence the Regret he had to have lost this Love and effectually make use of the Grace obtain'd for him by Jesus Christ employing all the time of his Trial which is this Mortal Life to bewail his Sins and do Penitence for them since by the great Mercy of God he has obtain'd the Grace to do it and has the Means in his hand to fulfil this Penitence in the Curse that the Earth had receiv'd by his Sin so that it must be cultivated and Man must gain his Bread in the Sweat of his Face 8. Man was so corrupted by Sin that he can do no good of himself more than the Devils But Man by the Mediation of Jesus Christ has received this Mercy from God that he may be converted But as long as he follows the Corruption of his Nature he remains in his Devilish State and cannot be saved 9. Man has fallen by withdrawing his Affections from God to place them on the Creatures And no body will be saved but he who returns to the Love of God for which he was created and they who do without this Love do perish eternally 10. Jesus Christ having interceeded with his Eternal Father for Mercy and Pardon to Man became his Pledge and Surety that if his Father would yet allow Man a Time of Trial and Grace he should do Penitence for his Sins renounce his corrupt Nature and return to the Love of God And as Man's Pledge and Surety he took on him our Mortality and voluntarily cloathed himself with our Miseries he bore our Griefs and taking the Form of a Sinner underwent all the Pains due to our Sins as if he himself had been the greatest Sinner and bound to do Penitence tho he was never guilty of the least Sin that by his Merits and Sufferings he might merit for us with his Father the Spirit of Penitence and Conversion which being united to his Sufferings and his Charity which are Sacrifices more agreeable to God than our unclean Offerings and our Works defiled with Sin might be accepted of him 11. Jesus Christ took our Mortality out of the pure Love he bore to Men his natural Brethren that he might withdraw them from Sin and the Way of Predition into which they all walked He became a mortal Man to give us an Example and to teach us by what Means we may recover the Love and Grace of God he did take an infirm Body subject to all sort of Miseries and Death like to ours that he might teach and encourage us to do the Works that he had done in his mortal Body and that we imitating him might enjoy the Pardon and Recovery which his Merits have purchased for us 12. Jesus Christ by his Merits and Intercession has obtain'd Pardon for Man and the Grace of God for all who shall voluntarily embrace his Gospel Law and for no other and therefore none can ever be saved but by the Merits and Intercession of Jesus Christ which will never be applied to any but to his Disciples and Followers 13. Man stands in need of keeping the Commandments of Jesus Christ and the Gospel-Law because of his Frail y and because these are all Remedies of his Evils and by embracing these Remedies he shall recover the Love of God which he had lost thro' his own Fault 14. God is the only Fountain of all Good from whom never any Evil can proceed and Man is the only Fountain of all Evil from whom never any Good can come 15. The only Essential Command is a constant Dependence upon God and the Resignation of our Wills to him and all the other Commands teach us only the Means to attain to this Resignation and how to remove the Hinderances of it 16. The Essence of true Vertue consists in the Love of God and the Essence of Sin in the Love of our selves and of the Creatures 17 All the Actions of God do partake of his three Divine Qualities Righteousness Goodness and Truth and nothing we do can be well pleasing in the Sight of God if it do not partake of the same if it be not just and good and true 18. It is not necessary to Salvation to comprehend in particular the Theory of the Divine Mysteries far less to be wedded to one certain Party rather than another but that denying our selves and turning away our Liberty from the Love of the Creatures and from earthly Things we resign it and all our Faculties into the Hands of God that he may enlighten renew and govern them by his Spirit after which he will produce in the Soul the Light and Graces that he sees necessary for its Salvation This is a Summary of the Essentials of Christianity as they are represented by her and her Morality is a particular Deduction and Application of these Principles to the Hearts and
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
runs thro' all that Divine Book of Thomas à Kempis of the Imitation of Christ Lo here an Extract of one Chapter where Jesus Christ thus speaks to the Soul Son let not the fine and subtile Sayings of Men move thee for the Kingdom of God is not in Word but in Power Take heed to my Words which do enflame the Heart and enlighten the Mind which bring Compunction and procure various consolations Never read my Word for this End That thou may be esteem'd the more learned or the more wise but study the Mortification of thy Vices for that will profit thee more than many hard Questions When thou hast read and known much thou must still return to one Principle I am he who teaches Man Knowledge and gives to Little Ones a more clear Understanding than what he can be taught by Man He to whom I speak will soon be Wise and will profit much in Spirit Wo to them that enquire many curious things from Men and care little how to serve me I am he who elevates the humble Mind in a Moment that it may conceive more Reasons of the Eternal Truth than if one studied for Ten Years in the Schools I teach without the Noise of Words without the Confusion of Opinions without the Vanity of Honour without the Debate of Arguments I am he who teaches to despise earthly things to loath present things to seek and relish eternal things to flee Honours to suffer Reproaches to place all their Hope in me to desire nothing besides me and to love me ardently above all things For a certain Person by loving me dearly did learn Divine Things and spoke wonderful Things he profited more by forsaking all than by studying difficult things But to some I utter common things to some special ones to some I appear sweetly in Signs and Figures but to others I reveal Mysteries in much Light There is one Voice of Books but it does not equally instruct all for I am the Teacher of the Truth inwardly the Searcher of the Heart the Understander of the Thoughts the Furtherer of Actions distributing to every one as I shall judge worthy Now Writings whose chief Tendency is to lead us to so excellent a Master to learn in Christ's School and teach us how to labour for the Dispositions which he himself requires of us deserve to meet with some Regard by those who pretend to be his Disciples XXIII 8. Another remarkable Quality of those Writings is that they are so clear and plain and simple The Thoughts of the Studious and of the Learned are out of the common Road of the People and so are their Words and Language too and when they write they can hardly avoid the Terms of the Schools and all affect a certain Eloquence that darkens the Thoughts which we would express both because we have not clear Perceptions of those Truths and we still seek our selves and many who have pretended to Divine Inspiration have written so Mysteriously and under such dark Figures that they cannot be easily comprehended But those Writings are so clear that we may easily and distinctly perceive the Intent of them so plain that Children and the most illiterate People may easily understand them and so simple that there is nothing of humane Art or Varnish to be seen in them XXIV 9. It is no less remarkable that there is a convincing Force and Efficacy in those Writings which does sensibly touch the Hearts of those that read them their Consciences bears them witness of the Truth of things as to themselves and they are convinced of all not that all are so who read any of them no more than all who heard Jesus Christ himself were affected with his Words tho' he spoke as one that had Authority and not as the Scribes tho' never Man spoke like him yet the Pharisees said he had a Devil but others who heard him felt that he had the Words of Eternal Life So some call this Virgin a Devil and Enchantress a mad whimsical Woman Others are so convinced of the Truths of the Gospel contained in her Writings that they are ready to answer she is not mad but speaks the Words of Truth and Soberness Many I know can bear me Witness that upon the reading of her Writings they have felt a deeper Sense of Divine things and their Hearts and Consciences have been more touched than by most of other Writings which they have seen And this can be testified by Persons of different Parties and Perswasions by Learned and Unlearned and it deserves the more Consideration that they are not written in a Way to move the Passions in Flights of Devotion as some would have them pass for but in a simple naked Declaration of Divine Truths All Writings carry along with them certain Impressions of the Spirit with which they are written which we are apt to discern and accordingly to be affected by them If Self be the chief Mover it will be seen thro all the Disguises of the Writer There 's a certain Driness and Deadness in most of Writings and Sermons now adays about Divine Things that they do not at all touch the Heart and even the best of them savour more of the Head of than the Heart of the Spirit of Man than of the Spirit of God and so they cannot rise higher than their Original they may strike and please our Fancy but they cannot move the Divine Faculties of the Soul I cannot give a better Account of this than A. B. does when she complains that tho' there was never more Preaching than in this Age yet never a greater spiritual Famine that they do not give Nourishment to Souls which every Day wax leaner and leaner in Vertue and colder in Charity She says The Word of the Preachers cannot be God's Word for then certainly it would produce its Effects in well-disposed Souls for the Word of God is powerful It would possess the inseparable Qualities of God Righteousness and Goodness and Truth If one of these be wanting it is not the Word of God they may use the Terms and Expressions which Jesus Christ and his Apostles used yet that is not the Word of God They are not called by God but carried to the Ministry by Ambition or some worldly and human Interest Their Sermons are nothing else but Apish Mummeries If an Ape saw an excellent Painter drawing a curious Picture and if in his Absence it should take the Pencils and Colours and so scratch upon the same Table it would entirely Daub all tho' it made Use of the same Pencils and Colours because it wanted the Painter's Spirit this Defect marrs all even what was beautiful there before the Ape touch'd it This is the true Emblem of most of the Preachers and Writers now adays in Religion They have the Scripture as the Pallet wherein are distinguish'd the fine Colours of Vertues with which Jesus Christ began the excellent Portraiture of the Holy Church They
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
of the World and of all the Creation worthy of God They let us see the Wisdom and Goodness of God in bringing about his great Designs tho' thwarted by the Perversness and Rebellion of Man They give us some glimpse of the unspeakable Glory to which Man is designed to partake of the Joys of God being united to him in Body and Spirit and to receive the Delights of all his Works They shew us that Almighty God design'd this World and all the Creation for some great End more worthy of him than to serve Devils and Wicked Men as a Theatre and Fewel of their Lusts and Instrument of their dishonouring him It is usual for the Learned to form Theories and Systems of Divinity whereby to give a clear Account of the Doctrines of Faith If Men will be pleased to consider these Sentiments in this View only and compare them with the Systems given us by the Divines of all Parties they may come to be convinc'd that they have a greater Tendency to promote True Christianity XL. And as they are very sutable to the known Articles of Faith so they do not contradict the Holy Scriptures but seem to be insinuated and pointed out in them and to serve to clear Thousands of Passages there which otherwise cannot be conceived as A. B. her self makes appear in several Instances 1. That all things were created Good and Beautiful at first without any Deformity appears both from the Nature of God and from his Word He is Perfect and therefore cannot make any thing Imperfect He is all Good and can make nothing Evil All things therefore have been made by him perfectly Good and Beautiful for the Workman is known by his Works A rare Painter or Writer is known by his Pictures or Writings tho' we do not know his Person much more is God known by his Works for he can never fail or commit a Fault in them which the most accomplish'd Spirits amongst Men may do This is then an Eternal Truth that God created all things Beautiful and Good which the Scripture also verifies when it is said that God saw all that he had made and behold it was very Good Which could not be if there were any Evil in it as a thing cannot be Beautiful if it have any Deformity But we see all his Works now are not Good and Beautiful in the Air are Tempests Whirlwinds c. destroying Men by Sea or Land In it is obscure Darkness nothing to be seen through it if it be not favoured with the Rays of the Sun or Stars The Earth has a filthy colour that sullies all that touches it and is of such gross Obscurity that we can see nothing in it and to make it bring forth Fruit Men must employ the sweat of their Body and after all it brings forth often nothing but corrupt Fruit and if it be not cultivated only Thorns and Thistles The Water often swallows and suffocates Men its greatest Masses are salt or filthy The Fire has in it a black Smoak ready to stifle Men if they were not succoured by the Air it spoils the Eyes of those who steadily look on it and consumes Men Beasts and all other things These things cannot be created by God as we see and feel them because they are neither Good nor Beautiful By a clear Consequence then we must believe that the Air has been created clear sweet and agreeable without these Tempests and so of the rest 2. It is as evident that our Bodies have not been created in the State they are now in in which there is nothing good and beautiful no more than in our Minds and that they have been form'd at first in a glorious State appears by this that it being generally acknowledged that Jesus Christ is to restore Man to that primitive Perfection both of Body and Mind in which he was created and the Scriptures telling us That we look from Heaven for our Lord Jesus Christ to change our vile Bodies and to make them like to his Glorious Body and we being told that when at his first Transfiguration on the Mount he was pleased to give his three Disciples some Prospect of that Glory and to let some Rays of his Glorious Body stream forth thro' his Mortality it is said his Countenance did shine as Lightning and his Raiment was white as Snow We may think how glorious the Body of Man was before his Fall and shall be when this Mortal shall put on Immortality and this Corruption Incorruption and Death shall be swallowed up in Victory 3. That Man in his first Creation was endued with a Power of producing his Kind appears in that at the Creation of Man it is expresly said that God created Man Male and Female and bid him be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and tho' it be in the Original he created them in the Plural and not in the Singular he created him Male and Female yet that does not change the true Sence since God created in Adam all Men who were to proceed from him they were all originally in him And Eve was not as yet formed and he had rested from all his Works before he proceeded to the Formation of her how long after it is not known This seems most evident from the Story of the Creation for the Account of the six Days Works is contained in the first Chapter of Genesis and that God saw that all he made was very good but before the Formation of Eve out of Adam we are told of God's resting on the seventh Day from all his Works which he had made of his planting a Garden and there making to grow out of the Ground every Tree that is pleasant to the Sight and good for Food his placing Man there to dress and keep it his bringing all the Beasts of the Field and Fowls of the Air before Man and Adam's giving each of them a Name his finding it now not good that Man should be alone tho' before he saw all that he had made and behold it was very good his Resolution therefore to make a Help meet for him and therefore he caused a deep Sleep to fall upon Adam and took one Principle out of him called in the Scripture-stile one of his Ribs and so formed the Woman As from all this it seems evident that the Formation of the Woman cannot be supposed to have been upon the sixth Day without a great Straining of the History so it appears that Adam was at first created in such a State of Perfection as to need no Help for the Production of his Kind and that the Formation of the Woman from him was upon his beginning to decline from his God and to delight himself in the Creatures without referring all to God It is therefore said It is not good for Man to be alone tho' before God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good It
these Stones with the same Spite against the Fellow Workmen and Fellow Stones which possest themselves and with great Fury should throw them at them and dash them to pieces against each other and so render them unfit for ever entring into the Building This would certainly be such a Babel as that nothing could exceed it The Parable is so plain it needs no Explication 10. To make appear that we have glossed away the Laws and Doctrines of Jesus Christ by our Explications of them as much as the Scribes and Pharisees did Mâ—ses's Law by their Traditions we need but consider that as the Pharisees tho' they retained still the Letter of the Law and were very zealous for it yet their Lives were contrary to it but they could so gloss and interpret it as to reconcile it to their Practice Even so tho' the Lives of Christians be in a far greater Contradiction to the Laws of Jesus Christ and they retain and honour the Letter of them still yet they have learned so to gloss and interpret them as to reconcile their Life with the Hopes of Heaven and the Favour of God and their Belief of their being Good Christians For if they had not put false Glosses on the Doctrine of Jesus Christ there is no Christian who desires to be saved that would live as they do at present for every one would see that he could not be sav'd after this manner and that the Lives of Christians now are quite contrary to those of the Primitive Church and the Institution of Jesus Christ His Words are plain and simple they need no Glosses He tells his Disciples they must not lay up Treasures upon Earth they must renounce all they Possess they must be poor in Spirit take the last Place and deny themselves Now if they employ all their Life in getting and keeping of worldly Goods if they seek after Places and Honours take their Delights and Ease follow their honest Inclinations and please themselves their Life would seem a plain Contradiction to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ but we have learned to Gloss so as to reconcile them It is but the Love of all these that Jesus Christ forbids and we are ready to make our selves believe that our Hearts are not set upon them as if the Bent of a Man's Desires and Pursuit could be towards a thing all his Life-time and his Heart not set upon it Jesus Christ knows well our Weakness and Frailty that we cannot be immers'd in worldly things without loving them more than the Body can lie in Snow without being chill'd by it and that we know not how much our Heart is glew'd to a thing till we be separated from it which is the mean also to wean our Hearts and therefore that we might not put false Glosses on his Doctrine he has explained it by his own Life he himself lived in perfect Poverty Contempt and Affliction was Poor as to Wealth Friends Honour Reputation Learning Greatness denied himself in every thing that we Love and Value and embraced the things that we abhor and dread But this we say was as our Redeemer to suffer and satisfie the Justice of God for our Sins and to merit for us Mercy and Pardon It was so but withal it was to give us an Example that we should follow his Steps His whole Life and Death was a continual Sacrifice to God renouncing all things that sensible Nature takes Pleasure in that we might learn from him how to make thus a continual Sacrifice of our Will and Desires and Satisfaction to God Oh! but we think he knows our Frailty and that we cannot do this and we rejoice that he has suffered thus for us and we hope in his Merits for Mercy and Salvation There is no Salvation indeed but by his Merits but they are apply'd only to those who follow his Example for he tells us none can come after him but they who deny themselves and take up their Cross and follow him and he lived after this manner that he might merit Grace for us to follow his Example so that we have no True Faith in his Merits when we think this impracticable But we have another Gloss yet whereby to indulge and gratifie corrupt Nature Jesus Christ lived after this manner not that we should live a Life actually strip'd of all worldly things that gratifie Nature and Self as his was but to teach us to be as poor of them in Spirit If we have them outwardly in Possession not to have our Hearts set on them and if we be deprived of them to be contented and resigned to the Will of God Indeed Poverty of Spirit is that in which Jesus Christ would have us mainly to follow him and if we be poor in Spirit in the midst of the greatest Abundance we are truly his Disciples But he that is poor in Heart seeks not for Wealth nor Pleasures nor Honours and if he have them they are a charge and burden to him and he takes no more of them for himself than simply serves the Necessities of Nature and that of the least and meanest rather than the best and choicest But the reason why Jesus Christ has given us such an Example and counselled us to follow it is because of our Weakness and Frailty If we can be poor in Spirit in the midst of the greatest Abundance there is no hazard of Wealth no need to abandon it but our Lord knew how hard it was for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven He himself could have remained poor in Spirit in the greatest Affluence of worldly things but he knew it was impossible for us to do so too and therefore in Consideration of our Frailty and to give us an Example he came into the World strip'd of all that pleases and gratifies corrupt Nature that he might teach us the safest and surest way to mortifie our Love to the World and to our selves and to become poor in Spirit And that all our Glosses and Explications on this Doctrine and Life of Jesus Christ are false appears by the Fruits of them in our Hearts and Lives 11. That the Reign of Antichrist prevails in the World at present few Protestants do deny that his Empire is more Universal than is generally believed appears from this that the Devil being properly the Antichrist by counter-acting the Designs of Jesus Christ under a Cover of his Religion and being for him and by infusing his Nature and Qualities into Men he has accordingly instead of the Divine Qualities of Righteousness Goodness and Truth with which Jesus Christ came to inspire all his Disciples he has I say shed among the Professors of Christianity his contrary Evil Qualities of Injustice Malice and Hypocrisie under a Cover of Masses Communions Prayers Preachings and the other outward Forms of Christianity This is too evident a Truth to be denied And under this Cover keeps Men in a vain Amusement and makes
them believe they are good Christians tho' really in their Hearts they have not one of the Qualities of the Spirit of Jesus Christ For instead of loving Poverty they love the Wealth of this World instead of loving Sufferings they love their Pleasures their Ease and their Contentments and instead of being willing to be despised they desire to be honoured and so of all the rest And in L'Antichrist Decouvert A. B. has made appear beyond all Exception that the Spirit of Antichrist prevails among all the Parties of Christendom and that thereby the Devil has with more Cunning and more irreclaimably possest Men with his Spirit and especially the Well-meaning so that the Harlots and openly Wicked will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven sooner than they because their Wickedness being manifest they are by the Grace of God more readily converted whereas in these the Spirit of the Devil being converted with the Mask of Jesus Christ he still makes them believe that they are guided by the Spirit of God when they are really acted by the Spirit of Antichrist 12. That the Degeneracy of Christendom proceeds from the Degeneracy of its Guides and Pastors is but too evident to be denied and the Evil is more sad and irremedible that they cannot endure to have it told them The Corruption of the other States of Christendom may be spoken of without exciting so much of Mens Indignation but if the Corruption of the Pastors be touch'd a Man must look for nothing but Rage and Resentment This cannot be spoken of but presently it is a Combination against the Priesthood as our Lord was accused as designing to destroy the Law because he exposed the Corruption of the Scribes and Pharisees All Protestants do generally grant that the Degeneracy of Christendom before the Reformation was chiefly owing to the Degeneracy of its Clergy and we being as far from True Christianity now as formerly there is Ground to think the Matter is not much mended We see what a strange Change the Holy Lives and Doctrine of a few simple Men wrought in the Conversion of many Thousands to the Faith and Spirit of Jesus Christ in the Primitive Church and how little is to be seen of this now The reason of this Difference is not because of their working Miracles for these serve only to confirm the Truth of a Doctrine which being once confirmed there is no more need of them but they are as effectual in all After-ages to those who are firmly perswaded of them so that to such as think they would be bettered if they saw such Miracles is applicable that of Jesus Christ If they believe not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one should rise from the Dead Neither can this Difference be imputed to the greater Prevalence of Wickedness now the World being highly corrupted also at that time and that to no small Degree It is to be attributed then to the Difference of the Spirit by which they were animated from that by which the Pastors of the Church are now generally led The things of God are not known but by the Spirit of God and where God finds pure and self-denied Souls he delights to communicate himself to them and to make them the Organs of conveying his Light and Spirit unto others who are not capable of receiving it immediately themselves Mens Minds are generally so extraverted and turned towards sensible things that they cannot be affected with the things of the Spirit of God unless they be conveyed to them by means that may affect their Senses and this is the reason of the great Necessity and Usefulness of the Pastoral Office For this Cause the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among Men full of Grace and Truth And when he ascended into Heaven he sent the Comforter who led his Apostles into all Truth and by their means conveyed the same Light and the same Spirit into others and they were filled with the Holy Ghost so that it was not so much they who spoke and acted as the Spirit of God by them and there their Doctrine and Lives had a wonderful effect in the Converting of others even as one Flame kindles another they had a living not a dead and barren Knowledge of Divine Things their fervent Charity did animate all their Words and Actions and there was nothing impossible to such a Faith and such a Charity this made them pray fervently to God for his Divine Grace to others and he would not deny the Requests of such ardent Charity And his holy Spirit encreasing the Vertue and Efficacy of their Prayers and Labours did inseparably join his powerful Operations to awaken convert and purifie the Hearts of others This made St. Paul say When ye received the Word of God ye received it not as the Word of Men but as it is in Truth as the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe And Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ manifested by us written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables of Stone but in fleshly Tables of the Heart This wrought the Conversion at one time of 3000 and again of 5000 at one Sermon of St. Peter This made the Officers who were sent to apprehend Jesus Christ say Never Man spoke like this and the Evangelists of our Lord 's preaching That he taught as one having Authority and not as the Scribes and they were astonish'd at his Doctrine For his Word was with Power or to speak with St. Paul in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit and of the Power of God that is they made the Operations of the Spirit of God to be felt in the Heart Moreover they taught Men by their Deeds as well as their Words the Holiness of their Lives and their Abstraction from all earthly things did procure Belief to all they said and let the World see that they bid others do nothing but what they firmly believed and heartily set about themselves So that the whole Body of the Church was sound when to be a Minister of Jesus Christ it was required only to embrace an Evangelical Life and to give Evidence of the sincere Love they bear unto Jesus Christ and of being led by his Spirit But wicked and worldly Men crept into the Church and their number increasing they got themselves in to be the Pastors of it then under an outward Cover of Piety and Religion Men were turned away from an Evangelical Life and led to Damnation Then the Pastoral Office was turned into a Trade whereby Men might gain Honour or Greatness or Wealth in the World or at least their Living Then Men fitted themselves for the Pastoral Office not by Humility and Purity of Heart but by Study and Learning then the Pastors becoming generally void of the Spirit of God were deprived of the true and living Knowledge of the things of God and
God giveth them Light and they shall reign for ever and ever see Isa 60. In a Word she makes appear that all the Holy Scriptures by Parables Figures and Prophecies do point out this Kingdom of Jesus Christ with Men This being the Sum of the Designs which God has over Men. And that this is a just and necessary thing it is unconceivable that God would have created this beautiful World only for this short Life of Penitence only for our Misery only to serve Devils and Men as Instruments of their Wickedness and Rebellion against him and then should abolish this great Work of his Hands That it is most just that all things be re-establish'd in their first State that all things be restored that Reparation be made of all the Injuries and Affronts done to his Humanity and to those who loved and followed him and that all that has been done unjustly be repaired both bodily and spiritually and that on the same Theatre that God having given Man both a Body and Soul there must be likewise a Paradise for both the Presence of God being the compleat Paradise of the one and all this visible World with all things in it freed from all Malignity and God dwelling visibly and bodily with Man therein the Paradise of the other which will endure for ever For God's Recompences are not temporal and finite but eternal as coming from an eternal God who cannot give finite or imperfect Gifts XLI These are the most singular of her Accessory Sentiments and by what has been said it appears that they are neither inconsistent with themselves nor with the Holy Scriptures nor with the necessary and essential Truths of Christianity that they serve to clear a thousand Passages of the Word of God that they tend to promote the Love of God and of all Men and lead us to mortifie our corrupt Nature and to despise this present World A. B. herself did not at first speak or write of these Sentiments but to some Friends and when they had shewn them to others she was troubled knowing that the Devil would take Advantage thereby to make them despise the other Truths necessary for their Salvation even as many of our Saviour's Disciples being offended at a hard Saying of his forsook him and walked no more with him And I would not have offered to give a Summary of those her Accessory Sentiments in this Apology but that they being now all publick in her printed Writings they who have set themselves to give an odious Character of her and her Sentiments to the World will be sure to dress them up in a Fool 's Coat to excite the People to cry out both of her and them Away with them Crucifie them And therefore I have chosen to give a simple and true Narrative of them even of those which seem most singular and extravagant All the Works of God are a Mystery and the most ordinary things the Formation of Man now and all the other Works would seem to us as strange if we were not accustomed to see them every Day Such things are not to be enquired into neither out of vain Curiosity nor from a disputing Humour which begets Presumption and Pride of Spirit for the Divine Mysteries are rather to be admir'd and ador'd than curiously search'd into by our blind Reason Let us make it our great Business to imitate Jesus Christ in Humility and Self-denial if we would be truly enlightned and delivered from all Blindness of Heart God walks with the Simple he reveals himself to the Humble he gives Understanding to little ones he opens his Meaning to pure Hearts and he hides his Grace from the Curious and the Proud Human Reason is weak and may be deceived but true Faith cannot be deceived See Psal 18. 118. XLII Now the Account I have given of the Sentiments of A. B. both as to the Essentials and Accessory Truths of Christianity is a just and true Representation which may be more fully and satisfyingly had from her own Writings And I shall leave it to all impartial Readers to consider whether the Character which some have been pleased to give of her Sentiments as heretical blasphemous ridiculous and extravagant be just and equal and if it be not the Result rather of their Mistakes and Prejudices than a plain and fair Account of her Doctrine and Sentiments The excellent Monsieur Paschal in his Pensees Chretiennes gives it as the most essential and distinguishing Mark and Character of true Religion that it makes its chief Precept and the great and essential Duty of Man to be To love God with all our Hearts and this he says is the peculiar and singular Character of the Christian Religion in Contradistinction to all others And if we shall impartially compare the Doctrine of Christianity as it represented in the Writings of A. B. with the Accounts of it delivered to us in the Systems of Divinity of the respective Parties in Christendom I think it will evidently appear that it is a most distinguishing Character of the former tho' it makes the Love of God the great End of Religion and all the other Duties of it means to bring us to that End and that the other tho' they cannot omit when they give an Account of Christianity to mention this as one of its great Precepts yet they so shuffle and confound Doctrines and give it such a Place in their Systems as may make People lay greater Stress on other things and give them Ground to hope they may be saved without it or without conforming our Lives to the Rules and Life of Jesus Christ which lead to it The End of the First Part. AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOVRIGNON PART II. An Answer to the Prejudices raised against her Sentiments and Writings I. THERE is nothing more ordinary than for People upon light and weak Grounds to take up Prejudices against the Persons and Sentiments of others and to judge rashly and inconsiderately of them and this is a Fault to which People of all Tempers are subject The Learned the Dogmatical and the Abettors of Parties cannot endure any thing that seems to lessen the Credit of their Sentiments or their Party they presently raise a Hue-and-Cry and do all they can to animate the People Thus the Scribes and Pharisees were full of Spite and Prejudice against our Lord Jesus Christ and inspir'd the People with the same Spirit The generality of Men see with other Mens Eyes and judge with other Mens Understandings they cannot be at the pains to weigh and consider things impartially themselves but they trust to the Skill and Sincerity of those who pretend to judge for them and such for the most part judging rashly and by their Passions lead the Multitude to do so too Yea even Persons of good Inclinations and who have a true Zeal for God and Divine things are apt to commit the same Fault Thus St. Paul before he was
in his Spirit that he dwelling in our Hearts by Faith may communicate himself to us with all his Graces and Merits It is in the former Sence only that A. B. declares against the common Doctrine Of the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ as if it were a Substitution of total Discharge dispensing with the Obligation that lies on us to live a Life of Penitence and not at all in the Second They who read the Writings of A. B. will see that this is the Summ and Substance of her Sentiments on this Head and that any simple Expressions which seem harsh by themselves are to be interpreted by this Measure And they who consider by what Principles the Generality of the Christian World do I do not say speculate and talk but live and act and what Encouragement the Doctrine and Glosses of Men has given thereunto and how tho' they live in a perfect Contradiction to the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ yet they hope and believe they shall be saved by his Merits will see how necessary and how seasonable it is to inculcate those Truths upon the Hearts of Men. VIII But because it gives great Offence to some that she says Tho' Christ has satisfied all for us on his part yet that the Merits of his Satisfaction will not be applied to us unless we our selves do satisfie the Justice of God for our Sins and in order to our Purification I shall set down her Sentiment more particularly in this Matter We sometimes stumble at Words and Terms when we grant the thing it self upon the matter and it is like this is the case with many here 1. Then she says That no Man could merit Eternal Life tho' Adam had never sinn'd for all our good Works are but Temporal and bear no proportion to eternal Happiness Heaven and eternal Life is the free Gift of God which he prepared for Man before he created him and so he could not merit it He does not therefore bestow it for our Merits but for his great Mercy and for the Love he bears us He is no Merchant and will not sell his Paradise at any price but will give it freely and he has no need of our good Works or Penitence but because of our Corruption and Infirmity we have great need of them without which we must perish 2. That we having forfeited God's Favour and eternal Life Jesus Christ has merited for us Pardon Grace and Life Eternal upon Condition that we receive and correspond with the Pardon and Grace offered and turn again to God with all our Hearts and embrace the Means that are necessary for this End without which in Justice Pardon and Grace could not be demanded for Man and for our Performance of this Jesus Christ becomes our Pledge and Surety 3. As such he cloaths himself with our Mortality and undergoes all the Parts of this Penitence himself that he might merit Grace and Pardon for Man and might strengthen and direct him how to embrace this Penitence and to follow his Example 4. Upon his Intercession and obtaining of Grace and Pardon for Man the Love of God is not immediatly conferr'd upon Man but the Grace of doing Penitence by which he might recover it And this was a greate Mercy to Man than if God had simply pardon'd him and restor'd him to his Love without suffering the Earth to be accursed or all to be corrupted by Sin since it is to be fear'd Man would have quickly fallen back again into new Sins finding himself as before in all sorts of Delights such as Adam had For we see how Men now turn away their Hearts from God to love the Creatures and themselves even when they see they are so wretched weak and imperfect subject to all sorts of Maladies and to Death and that all the Creatures now do them mischief whereas formerly they honour'd and obey'd them as their Lord and tho' they see themselves and all the Creatures so filthy corrupt and miserable yet they cannot abstain from loving them to the Prejudice of the Love they owe to God How much more would Man have done so in case he had remained as beautiful and perfect after his Sin and all the other Creatures had continued as lovely as before It is to be fear'd he would not have remained in the Love of God if he had recovered it after his Sin by the pure Mercy of God without out the Condition of doing Penitence or without all the other Creatures their being accursed in him since we see Men do yet love this Life that is so miserable and the Creatures that are so wretched and Man feels in himself Contradictions Griefs Displeasures and all sorts of vicious Passions which he cannot govern by his Reason and yet his Spirit is become so brutish that it loves those Miseries and Imperfections tho' he find nothing in himself or the other Creatures but what is worthy of Contempt and Hatred Yet he loves and esteems them to the Contempt of the Love of his God who knowing the Baseness of Man's Heart has given him Penitence as a necessary Mean to withdraw his Affections from this wretched Life that he may turn them to his God who will have Man to love him only And for the same Reason he has permitted all the Creatures which were subject to Man to contract with him the Malediction of Sin that by this Mean occasion might be given to Man to return to the Love of his God the only lovely Object 5. Since this Penitence contains the necessary Means to recover the Love of God and we cannot do this so long as we love Self and the Creatures and this corrupt Love cannot be mortified so long as we gratifie our Senses and our Appetites and enjoy a Paradise here and our Lusts cannot be subdued without feeling the Bitterness Anguish Griefs and Pains of them to extinguish the Sence of the unlawful Pleasure and Delight we took in them Penitence therefore is 1. The turning away our Hearts and Affections from every thing that hinders the Love of God Love not the World c. 2. And in order to this the avoiding all the Occasions that may foster the Love of other things and continually striving against and doing Violence to Self-love Self-will and Corrupt Nature He that will come after me saith our Lord let him deny himself And 3. The embracing willingly the Anguish Bitterness and Pains the Afflictions both inward and outward that must be endured for the purifying of our Hearts and bringing us to the Love of God and let him take up his Cross 6. Jesus Christ has taught us how to undergo this Penitence by his Doctrine and by his Example and follow me 7. It is most unreasonable to think that we are discharg'd from this Penitence because Jesus Christ did thus live and suffer for us for we must have the Spirit of Christ our Old Man must be crucified with him we must be conformed
and no sooner is a Sinner converted but he receives him with joy according to the Parable of the Prodigal and therefore it is said there is Joy in Heaven at the Conversion of a Sinner more than over Ninety and Nine righteous Persons All this shews that God is so far from predestinating any Soul to Damnation that even he himself comes to seek and to save those who would damn themselves as appears by the Good Shepherd that left his many Sheep to go and seek the One Sheep that had gone astray and brings it back on his Shoulders with Joy After all this who can doubt that God has created us all for Salvation and none for Damnation which proceeds only from Mens Self-will and not at all from the Predestination or Presence of God This Doctrine of Predestination to Damnation is she says a most blasphemous and dangerous Doctrine robs God of the Honour due to him shocks all his Attributes of Righteousness Goodness and Truth renders him very unlovely to his Creatures gives those occasion who think they are reprobated to spend all their Life in blaspheming God for creating them to Damnation for no Fault of theirs before they had a Being and not rather leaving them into nothing and discourages them from all Endeavours of becoming better since of necessity they must be damned however and it encourages those who think they are predestinated to Salvation to a Libertine kind of Life since they are perswaded that notwithstanding of this they shall be saved and God will some time or other bring them to Repentance It seems Men have taken up these Sentiments that they may attribute to God the Cause of their Damnation and not to themselves which is a horrible Pride and Blasphemy or to flatter their Wickedness in excusing it by Adam's Sin and that they may not fulfill the Penitence that God has enjoyn'd them by him And being full of Passions themselves without Righteousness Goodness and Truth they would give Authority to their Wickedness by making a God to go before them in the matter of their Passions And as they see those who rule over Men do according to their Inclinations disgrace or favour them so they would make God as partial saying that he damns some and saves others according to his Pleasure which will never be for God is no more subject to Passions than to Change Yet nevertheless Men are ready to colour this Doctrine with Passages from the Holy Scripture especially some Expressions misunderstood in the Epistles of St. Paul The Apostle Peter when he touches this very Subject and tells us the reason of the Long-suffering of God because he is not willing that any should Perish but that all should come to Repentance he adduces St. Paul's Testimony to confirm the Truth of it and tells us that he has said the same in his Epistles but withal warns us that there are some things in them hard to be understood which the Unstable wrest to their own Destruction pointing out it seems to this very Subject The necessary Duties of Christianity are plainly set down in the Holy Scriptures and other things cannot be well understood but by the same Spirit that endited them and the Rule already mention'd for interpreting the Holy Scripture may be of great use viz. That we so interpret it as may consist with the known Perfections of the Divine Nature and may lead us to the Love of God and to a sence of our own Nothingness and if there be multitudes of Places of Holy Scripture that do plainly lead us to this and some few that are apt to be wrested to a Sence contrary to all these we ought certainly to interpret them by those plain Passages of the Holy Scripture which do clearly represent the Perfections of God Thus she instanceth in that Expression Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated and makes appear that to take it in the Sence of an irrespective and absolute Predestination and Reprobation from all Eternity is inconsistent with the Nature of God and the other plain Directions of the Holy Scripture which shew that God has no respect of Persons She says That all the things of the Old Testament are Figures of the New and that Jacob and Esau are the Figure of a Person sanctified and of him who lives according to corrupt Nature of the Soul that loves its God and the Soul that loves it self This is the Esau and Jacob which the Scripture understands by those Twins come from One Womb for all Men who are born since the Sin of Adam bring with them into the World the good Spirit of Jacob and the Evil of Esau For God gave Adam his good Spirit when he created him and thereafter the Divil by the Consent of the Will of Adam and Eve produced there his Evil Spirit so that those two are engendred in the Soul of all Men before they come out of the Womb They reside in the Womb of the Free-will that God has given us and there struggle before they are in a State to do Good or Evil as Jacob and Esau did in their Mother's Womb which of them should get out first All Men proceeding from Adam do derive from him all his Qualities by Nature and Grace as the Seed and Plant must still be of the Nature of the Tree and Stock from whence it comes an Inclination to Good being the Instinct he retain â— of the Grace of God and an Inclination to Evil the Instinct which he retain'd from the Corruption of his Corrupt Nature So these two Spirits live in Men before they are born as we see the natural Instinct of Beasts as soon as they are form'd as a Duckling come out of the Shell can swim and duck in the Water without being taught by its Mother so this Evil Spirit of Esau gives all Men this natural Instinct to Evil which they still follow if the Spirit of Jacob do not constrain them to Good and hinder them from Evil. Hence comes the War which Man feels throughout all his Life and according to the Victory so is his eternal Lot This Evil Spirit of Esau always gets first out of the Wombs of our Free-will which is rather inclin'd to the things we see than to the Good that is invisible the Pleasures of our Senses rather than the divine and inward Pleasures which we cannot perceive but at a great Distance and through Darkness This we cannot hinder till we have attain'd the use of Reason when we ought by all means to labour that the Spirit of Jacob may get the uppermost in dispite of wicked Esau Those things are true both in the Nature of these two Children and in that of the two-Spirits But Men not understanding the Scriptures do wrest and explain them to a Sence dishonourable to God and blasphemous of him XI But it may be said if there be no such Predestination how then comes any Man to be damn'd How came Sin into the World
shall consume them as Bread God will not defend them and he is with us therefore let us not fear them Thus we ought to animate all well-disposed Persons and let them see that the Ways and the End of Christianity are very possible with the Grace of God If this Method had been taken the Doctrine of Christian Perfection and its Practice would not have been so strange and so rare a thing XV. I shall here mention another Accusation as having Relation to this from which she clearly vindicates her self and that is That they said she believed herself impeccable and that her Friends did so at least that she never actually sinned no not in Thought and that she derived no Guilt and Corruption from Adam She vindicates herself from this Accusation in a Letter to Serrarius In the eighth Place you accuse me says she very falsely in saying that I say or that I believe I am impeccable and cannot fall any more for in Effect I have no other Fear but that of not abiding faithful to my God and I cannot endure those who say or believe that there is a State of Perfection in this World in which Persons are impeccable I look on this as a great Errour and Self-presumption Is it possible that I should hold my self what I blame so much in others I say God ought to be served with Fear and Trembling and I never demand of others what I do not first my self If I say that God ought to be served with Fear I still do it first and I am sure if God did withdraw his Grace from me I should fall presently You have been present several times when I related to many how I fell after that I had been from my Youth prevented by the Grace of God yet being grown up I let my self be carried away to follow the Vanities of the World and resisted the Inspiration of God which drew me to the contrary and because of this Resistance I deserved that God should withdraw from me and I began to please my self in the Pleasures and Divertisements of the World and the Praises of Men so that this Fall was the Cause that I gave my self to great Mortifications of Body to Watchings Tears and Prayers for the Space of about 7 Years This Story was told many times to your Disciples and in your Presence Now if I relate so freely how I fell so basely from so exalted a State of Grace in which God had put me how could I say or believe that I could not fâ—ll any more or think my self impeccable since what a Person has done once they may do many times The State of Integrity in which I was before my Fall might rather have rendred me impeccable than that in which I live after it I do not believe that ever any Creature on Earth can be impeccable during this miserable Life where there are so many Stones of Stumbling a S. Peter the Apostle a David according to God's own Heart a Solomon filled with the Holy Spirit with so many others have committed gross Faults and great Faults after having received great Grace from God Should I be so Ignorant as to believe that I could not fall any more or fail of the Grace of God I may do it assuredly every Moment if I should withdraw my Conversation with God to converse with my Senses for God forces no Body having given to all Men Free-will with which they shall act to all Eternity and as long as this Will abides fix'd in God it is impossible that the Person fall but if this Will withdraw it self from a Dependance on its God it falls easily even tho' it had been exalted as high as a Seraphim For this Cause I said I have no other Fear in the World but that of not abiding faithful to God because I know that so long as I shall be united to him I cannot fall but if I withdraw my self from him I shall fall at the first Step as an Infant that cannot walk And yet you dare say that I call my self impeccable and when I ask where I have said or written such things You tell you draw it from my Writings by Consequences But I would gladly ask you if in case I had drawn by Consequences out of your Letters or Words that you are a wicked Man would it be lawful for me to go and publish it from Town to Town as you do the ill and abusive Consequences that you say you draw from my Writings without letting me know where how in what Place and by what Words I may have given Matter for drawing of such Consequences directly contrary to the true Sentiments that I profess I know not with what Conscience you can do this and say that it is for Good that you may warn Persons that I believe my self impeccable and that I exalt my self and so forth but tho' indeed there were in me any such thing it would neither be good nor necessary to advertise so many Persons of it For First my Imperfections cannot defile them it is I that must account for them to God and my Words cannot wound them because all those whom you sent to me are Persons who have their Five Senses and a good enough Judgment to discern if what I say be Good or Evil and to take only that that may serve them for Good lâ—tting the rest alone so that it is not necessary for you to go tell them the Faults which your Fancy has imagin'd Your procedure is very contrary to that of Jesus Christ who said to the People speaking of the Pharisees Hypocrites do what they bid you but do not as they do You will grant I say very good things as the Truth is but you would annihilate that Good by the Evil that you untruly say is mine The Evil that was in these Pharisees was not powerful enough to discredit the Good that was in their Words but you make my imaginary Sins mount to so high a degree that they are capable of discrediting all the Good even that which you confess to be there If you were Just you would make a right Judgment of what you ought to do and leave and if you had Goodness you would procure to all those Persons the Good that they might receive by the Light which God gives me and if you had Truth you would not perswade them to believe a Lie in this that I say I am impeccable Thus as on the one hand she evidently shews the Duty and Possibility of obeying the Commands of God and of tending to Perfection by his Grace only so she as plainly shews her Abhorrence of the Presumption of being impeccable in whatsoever state in this World XVI Another Sentiment which gave no small Offence was that she says When Jesus Christ took on him our Mortality his inferiour Will or Self-will was Evil so that he behov'd never to follow but always to resist it This they cry out on as a Blasphemy
the Grandeur of Charity or the Love of God that of Reason and that of worldly Empire and Honour Alexander and others have excell'd in the last and seem Great to the Eyes of Flesh Archimedes and others have excell'd in the second and seem Great to the Eyes of Reason Jesus Christ appear'd in none of these Grandeurs had neither Learning nor worldly Greatness and was of no regard neither to the Eyes of the Flesh nor those of the Great Philosophers and of Reason but O! how Great was he in the Eyes of Charity how Meek and Humble and Patient and Self-denied in a Life of absolute Poverty Contempt and Pain for the Love of God and Men. Now all the Writings and Actions of A. B. tending to draw Men into this Kingdom of Charity and the Love of God which is of a quite distinct Rank and Order from that of humane Reason as well as of worldly Greatness it was no wonder that she put no great Value on the one more than the other they being both unspeakable Hindrances in the way to it and the second more than the third She shews that there is in the Soul a Principle for above humane Reason and that is Divine Faith which does not consist in believing only with the understanding the Twelve Articles of the Creed which may be done by a humane Faith as we believe the recital of some History when a Person worthy of Credit relates it this gives not to the Soul any Divine Vertues which God only can operate in us Faith is a Divine Light which God infuses in the Soul which makes us to know and desire Eternal things and despise Temporal It is not a natural Quality as our Reason but a Divine Quality which proceeds from God as the Beams do from the Sun as nothing can make us see the Sun but the Sun himself It was communicated to all Men at their Creation lost by their Fall renew'd by the Merits and Grace of Jesus Christ When it shines in our Souls it warms them with the Love of God and Men who bear his Image and Likeness and produces Charity And this Charity regulates all our Life and gives weight and measure to all our Actions For Divine Faith is always living and operating It partakes of all the Divine Qualities Righteousness Goodness and Truth So that he who has Faith in his Soul cannot be Unjust nor a Liar nor a Deceiver nor Wicked nor seek his own Interest his own Glory his own Pleasure or Satisfaction seeing all these respect time and earthly things Humane Reason is an Inferiour Principle that may indeed convince us that there is a God the Author of Nature who made and sustains all things but this cannot produce in our Souls Faith and Charity Vertues derived immediately from God and not from Nature or the Understanding of Man which is a frail Creature limited to Earth and Time And to think to know or comprehend God by the natural Understanding is a greater Folly than the Heathens committed in worshipping the Sun All Men being now void of humane Faith take up with a humane Belief and divide and dispute and quarrel and hate and despise one another without knowing wherefore and without perceiving that the Folly they have in themselves is more to be despised than what they require in their Brother The active Exercise of our Reason when depriv'd of the Light of Faith serves but the more to confound and darken us it keeps us in a vain Amusement makes us neglect the necessary means of obtaining Divine Faith blows up the Heart with Pride makes us despise the most Divine Truths when they do not accord with our Principles and value our selves beyond others tho' humble ignorant Persons are more to be regarded as being more disposed to receive the Light of Faith than those Learned who have drunk in the Doctrine of Men. She blesses God that preserv'd her from this for then she should have been uncapable of receiving that of the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ call'd the Simple and Ignorant to be his Disciples and Apostles it was they whom he train'd up to instruct and teach others the way to Salvation When a Learned Nicodemus came to him he told him that unless he became as a little Child he could not enter into the Kingdom of God He founded no Colleges nor Academies to train up his Followers in all sorts of Learning but taught them by Word and Deed to deny themselves in all earthly things and to take up their Cross and follow him True Religion is preserved or received by the same means by which it is at first instituted and established They who say in another case that Christ being more faithful than Mâ—ses in all the House of God who yet left not a Pin of the Tabernacle unmade and therefore he surely could not be wanting in ordering what was fit for his Church may examine their own Measures by this Rule She says The Schools and Doctrine of Men have corrupted the true Sence of the Scriptures and by their Learning authorize all sorts of Sins that it seems the Schools are expresly instituted to forge Cases of Conscience capable of leading Men to Hell For what need is there to Gloss the Gospel and the Life of Jesus Christ They are clear Truths which Jesus Christ taught by Word and Deed that we must be poor in Spirit humble in Heart desirous to suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake and to do to others as we would have them do to us but to corrupt all these things the Learned make Glosses that it is not against Poverty of Spirit to labour or trade that we may get Money and make some Fortune in the World and to flatter Men the better to their Ruine they add by Word that we must possess Riches as not possessing them which is a great Deceit for Men are not now so dispos'd as those of the Old Testament who receiv'd Temporal Goods from God as a Blessing to employ them to his Glory not having their Hearts any ways wedded to them as those of our Time who incessantly covet Riches desiring still more and more It is an infallible Truth that all who would be saved must love God with all their Heart And if we ask those Divines if it be not lawful for a Man to love his Father Mother Wife Children Kinsfolk Friends yea his Country Money House Honour Divertisements Meat Drink Cloaths and every other Creature they will answer yes because they love them themselves and yet imagine they fulfil the Command of God of loving him with all their Heart and to disguise this Lie the better they will say We must not love all these things inordinately giving us to understand thereby that our Hearts may be well divided into so many different Affections without sinning which has so authoriz'd the neglect of the Command of loving God with all our Heart that no Body thinks it is needful They live and die in
Places This says she is the greatest Falshood of all for I said from the Beginning that if my Life and Words are not conformable to the said Scriptures they ought not to believe me This I have often repeated since and say it over again now and on all fit Occasions I tell every one that the Sence of the Scriptures is the Nourishment of Souls It seems to me says she a very ill thing to forbid Christians the Reading of the Bible in the vulgar Tongue since it must teach us all that we ought to do and forsake c. The only Good says she that remains in the World is that the Text of Scripture remains in its Integrity that the Devil has never had Power to change and falsifie it but to oppose it only by the Glosses and Inventions of Men who endeavour to accommodate it to the modern Corruption but in vain they cannot change it since they who will follow Jesus Christ may yet find it entire and draw in its Fountain all that is written by the Apostles Prophets and other Souls filled with the Holy Spirit In this the Promise of Jesus Christ is fulfilled That Hell shall never be able to pluck it out of the Hands of the Christians that it may serve for Food and Nourishment to all true Believers who not stopping at the broken Cisterns of human Learning shall draw out of the Fountain of living Water to the End of the World In a Word thro' all her Writings she recommends the Reading of the Holy Scriptures looks on it as one of the greatest Miracles of Providence that they have been preserved uncorrupted and entire to be a standing Testimony against the Professors of Christianity while their Lives are a flat Contradiction to them That the Doctrine of Jesus Christ contained in the Gospels is the last Doctrine that is to come into the World and fully directs us the Way to eternal Life and desires that her Life and Doctrine may be examined thereby and no Regard had to it but in so far as it is conformable thereunto and that she aims at nothing but to perswade People to embrace in their Life and Spirit the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ contained in the Gospel It is true she did not give her self to reading of the Holy Scriptures being immediately and inwardly taught by God the same Truths which are contained in them Every one says she ought to use the Means that lead them best to the Love of God because the Ways to this Love are divers some attain to it by the Means of reading seriously the Holy Scriptures others by humble assiduous Prayers others by Solitude and retiring from human Conversation and so of many others It is of small Moment to know by what Means others have attained to this Love of God provided we take the Means that are most fit for us to attain to it also There are divers Ways as there are divers Sins which are Hindrances in those Ways which every one ought to oppose according as he knows them to be in himself without offering to make one general Law and Rule whereby to lead all to God for he who is not immediately instructed by the Holy Spirit would do very ill if he should not make use of the reading of the Holy Scripture or if he should not search for those who speak by the Holy Spirit for this would be to tempt God to Will that he should instruct all Men immediately while they are so taken up with or wedded to the Affairs of this World And on the contrary it would be very ill done if one should make use of Reading or other outward Means when he has withdrawn from all Creatures and finds the immediate Conduct of God Such a Soul would oppose the Holy Spirit and would hinder the operation of his Graces if it should make use of Reading or other outward Means because in this State it ought not any longer to act but to be passive and follow the Spirit who guides it it without operating any more it self In doing this she is far from despising or rejecting the Holy Scriptures when I am with a Friend and converse with him by Word of Mouth and he answers me after the same manner we will not then make use of Writing or Letters and yet it cannot be concluded from thence that I reject or despise his Letters this way of Communication by Letters is most agreeable but it is for the Absent They who see and converse with one another make no use of Writing but they do not despise it they have a more speedy and delightful way of communicating their Thoughts Thus A. B. having inward and immediate Conversation with God had no need of the Scripture for to know his Will she learned it from his own Mouth and enjoy'd his Presence but they who have not recovered that Divine Conversation must have Recourse to the Scriptures and other outward Means according as they find them helpful to bring them nearer to God till they attain to the Enjoyment of himself And this is very agreeable to St. Augustin's Doctrine in his excellent Treatise de Doctrina Christiana He therefore who is establish'd in Faith Hope and Charity and inviolably retains them needs not the Scriptures unless it be to instruct others Therefore many live in the Desart by these Three without Books Hence I think that in them is already fulfill'd that which is said whether there be Prophecies they shall fail whether there be Tongues they shall cease whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away XXII That she declared so positively that there are no True Christians at present upon Earth and that God would make her the Instrument of renewing the Spirit of the Gospel is another grievous Prejudice against her this was often objected to her and is answered by her in many Places of her Writings It was not Uncharitableness but great Charity to Men's Souls that mov'd her to declare this to all the World She was perswaded that none were True Christians but they in whom the Spirit of Christ did live whose Affections and Desires were set only on things Eternal and not on things Temporal that one could not be a True Christian by serving God and Mammon both by joining the Love of God and Self-love seeking to please Men and to please God too She met with many of good Inclinations but none who were truly Regenerated She did well as she says to tell this and she had done a great Evil in saying the contrary for to have said so to others could not have profited them even tho' it had been true it could not encrease their Holiness but rather give them occasion of Vain-glory Nature being tickled with little But when we are told that we are not True Christians we have reason to use the means to become so and to humble our selves before God that we may obtain his Grace If there are True Christians
they will become no less for this Saying and if there are none at least some will be awakened out of their Security and endeavour to become so If A. B. had said that God by an unchangeable Decree from all Eternity had predestinated the greatest part of the World to Damnation it might then indeed be said that she is void of Charity to God and Man But when she declares that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance and yet that all Men were living in a Contradiction to the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ she could not do them a more charitable Office than to warn them of their Danger Will they say the Psalmist was uncharitable and damn'd all the World because he tells us the Lord look'd down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God they are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doeth Good no not one Every Man ought to weigh the Truth or Falshood of this Saying as to himself and see if he can make this particular Exception to the general Saying There is no True Christians upon Earth let him set at the Foot of it Except I my self And if his Conscience dare not write down this Exception he has reason to thank the Charity that put him to the Trial without regard whether it be true or false as to others which will avail him nothing so long as it holds as to himself And as to the other part of the Prejudice that God will make her and her Writings the Mean of the Renovation of the Gospel Spirit She says It is God who enlightens Understandings who warms Wills with his Love who produces Charity in Souls in short who is the only Giver of all Good without any Creatures being able to cause to be born in the Soul of another the Spirit of Regeneration which is to live again to God and to die to ones self This is a Masterpiece of the Works of God much more rare and precious than the Body of Man and nevertheless he will not do it but by the means of Creatures who shall be subject to him and will hear his Voice who will make others Partakers of the Light which God communicates to them that by it they may be enlightned and know their Errors and the Way to become True Believers The Understanding the Speech and the Hand of such spiritual Mothers is the Matter with which God will beget his True Children making them comprehend his Truths by the Words Writings and Actions of those who shall receive the Word of God immediately who are few in number because Men are now so diverted in the Affairs and Business of this World that they cannot hear the Voice of God tho' he speak continually to their Heart And to supply their Weakness and the Wandrings of their Spirit his great Goodness causes to speak and write by sensible and visible Objects the things which may render all those True Believers who truly desire to become so And that her Writings are of this Nature full of Divine and Saving Truths Simple and Solid Milk for Babes and Meat for strong Men suted for all Capacities and all Ages they manifest themselves as the Light does to those who are not Blind And as to their reproaching her that being a Woman yet she would presume to instruct the World when St. Paul would not suffer a Woman to speak in the Church and therefore calling her in Contempt and Old Wife she said That for her being a Woman she could not hinder it since no Body forms themselves they must ask God if they would know why he created her a Woman and not a Man that she her self had been displeas'd at it but since God made her know it was his Pleasure she was content for she lov'd rather to be a little Atom in the Will of God than a whole World in her own Will And when she began to teach by her Writings it was by an express Command of God which she long resisted for which she begs Pardon for she could not resolve on this because she was a Woman who has never so much Authority in matter of Doctrine as a Man But she came over all humane Respects and expos'd her self to all their Mockeries She says If the Truths of God must be rejected because they are dictated by a Woman all the Great and Learned that ever were in the World ought also to be rejected seeing all are equally come of a Woman Why should they then despise their Origin since God does not despise it but makes use of them to operate his greatest Marvels and always Figures the Church his Spouse by a Woman Women are as capable of receiving the Graces of God as Men there being no difference between their Souls and the bodily difference respecting Nature only in which even Woman ought to be more regarded than Men seeing when God would needs become Man he would have a Woman for his Mother but not a Man for his Father and he has done his greatest Wonders by the means of Women What Triumphant Victory did Judith obtain against Holofernes and Esther in the Deliverance of God's People And whereas it is said it is not permitted Women to teach the Apostle she says ordains the aged Women to teach the younger and to instruct their Children and Family in the fear of God and both in the Old and New Testament we read of many Women-Prophetesses foretelling things to come And the Apostle says it is an honour to a Woman to prophesie with her Head covered She says they ought to let God speâ—k by a Woman if it be his Pleasure since he spoke in former Times to a Prophet by a Beast that he bestows his Graces and Wisdom on whom he pleases and Man ought not to ask him why he does so That before God it is not Man or Woman that signifies any thing but the Spirit of Righteousness and Truth That they ought not to regard whether she be Man or Woman but whether what she says be Just and True That she writes by an express Command of God doing this as secretly as she can shut up in her Chamber That Men are now less dispos'd to receive his Divine Light than Women since their Hearts are blown up with Pride to apply all Glory and Authority to themselves instead of referring it to God and cannot endure that a simple Woman as she should speak of Divine Things least their Learning should be less esteem'd So those Great Philosophers will not let God do his Marvels by the means of a Virgin but will oblige him to operate by Great Divines not remembring that he has said * He has chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things that are mighty and the foolish things of the World to confound the wise and base things of the World and
they are regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ tho' all their Actions be quite contrary to those of Jesus Christ and his Spirit for tho' they speak humbly and have an humble Shew and Gestures yet they have a very proud Heart and then they would have it believed that they are regenerated and would take it in ill part if I would say they are not They do not perceive that it is a greater Pride in them to say that they are regenerated than in me to say that I am a Mother of true Believers for he who is regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ lives no longer but Jesus Christ lives in him And a Mother of True Believers is nothing but a frail Creature who may yet sin and undo her self It is a small matter to be a Mother or Father of True Believers as to our own Perfection this gives us no more If God give us sufficient Light for the Conduct of our own Life in particular or if he give us of it in Abundance to enlighten others also this will not add one Degree of Glory to our Soul but in as far as we have been faithful Dispensers of the Graces of God For to be only the matter of a Father or Mother of True Believers a Statue or Image of Wood or Stone would serve as well as a living Person for as much as God is not tied to any thing he can as well speak by the Organ of a Statue of Wood or Stone as he did heretofore by Clouds by a burning Bush by Thunder all these matters cannot boast themselves because God operates by them for he has equally Power over all things and makes use of such Instruments as he pleases If he will beget True Believers by my Mouth he can do it as well as by an Image carv'd out of Wood. The Mennonists therefore are very unjust to take Scandal at the Works of God after I had explain'd to them what I meant by that Word a Mother of True Believers that I understood that all those whom God shall make use of for the Conversion of others shall be the True Fathers and Mothers of those who shall become True Believers by their means and that it is after this manner that St. Paul said I have begotten you The Apostle knew well that he had not Power to beget Children to God but he perceived well that God gave him Light in his Understanding and Words in his Mouth and Charity in his Heart and that by all these things many would be regenerated by becoming True Children of God and dying to the Flesh to live to the Spirit I have explain'd this Word of Mother of True Believers by saying that God by my Organ will give his Light to Men by which they shall see their Darkness and receive the Understanding of the Truth This Light with which he will produce True Believers is not mine tho' he produce them by my Mouth my Hand or my Spirit but it is God's even as our Bodies are not our Parents but of God for they cannot make one Hair of our Head yet God calls them Fathers and Mothers and commands to obey them under pain of Damnation This one Instance of an Expression so highly exaggerated formerly and of late which I think she vindicates as to the true Sence and Meaning to the Satisfaction of all equitable Readers upon the supposition of her being endued with Light by God for the Good of others this Instance I say may serve for a Sample to shew how unjust Men are in forming Characters of Persons from shreds of Expressions gathered here and there and put altogether without letting the World see the Contexts of them the main Scope of them or the Sence and Meaning given of them by the Persons concern'd and how highly thereby they sin against the Truth murther the Reputation of such impose upon the rest of Mankind and beget and become real Fathers of Hatred and Aversion in their Minds and Spirits Lord open their Eyes and lay not this Sin to their Charge As we are very apt to take up with false Vertues our selves so we are ready to judge rashly of others and to accuse them of Pride of which we our selves are more guilty Thus the Jews treated Jesus Christ Abraham say they is dead and the Propthes and thou sayest If a man keep my Saying he shall never taste of Death Art thou greater than our Father Abraham which is dead and the Prophets are dead whom makest thou thy self We see the Saints have often spoke well of themselves and yet with the Spirit of Humility Thus David says of himself I have more Vnderstanding than all my Teachers I understand more than the Ancients Thus S. Paul throughout all his Epistles speaks often well of himself proposes himself and his Vertue for a Pattern and Example So that you see one may speak well of themselves and not from a Spirit of Pride or Self-glorying as our Lord Jesus Christ David S. Paul and other Saints have done False Humility speaks meanly of ones self to cover its secret Pride and to get the Reputation of being humble True Humility speaks the Truth in Simplicity whether of ones self or others without regarding that the World will Censure it as an Effect of Pride and Vain-glory. By this Spirit the Saints were acted from this Principle A. B. spoke thus of herself and that I dare say with less Pride and Vain-glory than others have written against her XXIV Some accuse her of great Injustice in affixing Doctrines Sentiments and Opinions upon Parties and Persons which they do not own She say they makes Men more guilty than they are she imputes to particular Persons to Doctors and even to whole Parties Sentiments Vices and Sins which they have not and of which all think them innocent With this also the Enemies of Jesus Christ did reproach him that he falsly imputed to them Evils of which they were innocent as Murther Thou hast a Devil who seeks to kill thee Jesus Christ tells that we must not judge according to Appearance but righteous Judgment In an unregenerate State Men do not know themselves but they think they are what they are not and what they truly are that they will not believe and they wholly disclaim it The Jews not doubt were astonish'd when the Prophets imputed to them atheistical profane and Epicurean Sentiments as the Denying of Divine Providence and the Immortality of the Soul and making their chief Happiness to consist in being wicked No doubt they would cry out against them as Calumniators and imputing to them Sentiments quite contrary to what they had It is like this was not their Doctrine nor the Sentiments according to which they reasoned far less the Subject of their publick Instructions And yet God by his Prophets reproaches them with it as if they had taught it in express Terms Ezekiel says of them They say the Lord seeth not
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 pure and well-disposed Souls both under the Old and New Testament and that the Scriptures are a second Remedy which God makes use of because of the Blindness and Impurity of Mens Hearts Thus St. Augustin likewise makes appear that the Scriptures and all the outward Dispensations of the Gospel do lead us to this and that a pure Heart and a good Life are necessary Dispositions for it St. John says that In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God In him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men and the Light shineth in Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it not That was the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth And our Saviour says He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him And when one of his Disciples ask'd how he would manifest himself to them and not to the World Jesus said If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And the Apostle assures us that the things of God cannot be known but by the Spirit of God and that the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are Foolishness to him neither can they know them because he are spiritually discerned He tells us likewise that they who are in Christ Jesus the Spirit of God dwells in them and that if they have not the Spirit of Christ they are none of his and that being led by God's Spirit they are his Sons So that all who are truly regenerated are led by the Spirit of God V. They whom God employs for the Good and Salvation of others he not only endues them with the Light and Grace necessary for their own Conduct and Salvation but also with Divine Light and Wisdom that may make them fit Organs and Instruments to communicate the same Blessing to others This is evident from the Holy Scriptures VI. Such is the infinite Goodness of God towards Man that when he has given Men his Law and made known to them their whole Duty yet when they have generally strayed from it and both Priest and People have corrupted their Ways God has been pleas'd to raise up extraordinary Prophets to let them see how grosly they had mistaken and perverted Gods Law to awaken and call them to Repentance and to warn them of God's approaching Judgments VII The Instruments that God made use of on such Occasions were generally Persons who had no worldly nor humane Advantages to recommend them were neither Learned nor Great nor Rich nor Honourable nor Wise in the World's esteem but he chose the weak and the foolish things of the World to confound the Wise and the Mighty Elisha a Labourer of the Ground Amos a Herdsman David a Shepherd John and James Peter and Andrew Fishermen Mathew a Publican Simplicity and humility of Heart were the chief Qualities which recommended them to his Choice They were generally despis'd rejected and condemn'd by the People of the Age wherein they lived Above all they were persecuted by the Pastours and Priests who had the Dexterity by their Learning and Subtilty to wrest and criticize upon their Words and Writings and turn them into Heresies and Blasphemies that they might make the People abhor and persecute them and it was in the following Ages after their Death that Men began generally to esteem and honour them VIII The Holy Persons thus inspir'd by God were far from despising his Word and the Holy Scriptures these they could not contradict for the Spirit of God cannot contradict himself but they shew People how greatly they strayed from them in their Life and Practice They did not contemn his Ordinances but they made appear how Temple and all was an Abomination to God so long as they who profess'd to be his People and to worship him by them did live wickedly and neglect the weightier Matters of the Law They were far from making any Schism or setting up a New Sect and Party but they plainly told both the People and the Priests and Pastours their Sins and Degeneracy and warn'd them to flee from the Wrath to come IX There were not wanting at the same time false Prophets to oppose and destroy the Credit of the true and they wrought Signs and Wonders to procure Belief but the Truth and Sincerity of the one was still discernable from the Paint and Falshood of the other by such as were truly sincere themselves And he that did the Will of God would know of the Doctrine whether it were of God or whether Men spoke of themselves They who were truly led by the Spirit of God liv'd as they spake they required not of others what they did not first themselves they did not flatter the People in their Vices nor promise them Peace Peace when sudden Destruction was near nor did they seek themselves X. As God did thus immediately enlighten by his Holy Spirit some pure and well-disposed Souls before the Coming of Jesus Christ and after his Ascension so it is neither impossible nor improbable that our infinitely Good God should shew the same Mercy in after Ages It is not against his Nature no more than it is against the Nature of the Sun to send his Light and Heath through all where Clouds and Walls do not shut them out for his Delight is to be with the Children of Men. Neither has he declar'd any where that he will not do it as for the Curse denounc'd Revel 22. 18. against those that shall add to the things contain'd therein upon which some understand as such a Declaration from God as it relates only to that Prophesie so it lays a restraint on Men only and not on God as appears by comparing it with that of Deut. 4. 2. 12. 32. If it be said that no immediate Revelation for the Instruction of Mankind is to be expected after the Days of the Apostles because the Will of God and the Way of Salvation were clearly and fully declar'd by Jesus Christ if this Argument were good it would follow that the Doctrine of the Apostles is not to be received as a Divine Revelation but in so far as it contains a Relation of that which was delivered to them by Jesus Christ whereas it is certain they delivered to the Church many other things immediately taught them by the Spirit of God Wherefore from the Fulness Clearness and Perfection of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ we may well infer that there shall be no Revelation of a New Doctrine or a New Religion
after it but nevertheless an immediate Revelation tending to explain and illustrate the Doctrine of Jesus Christ to vindicate it from the false Glosses of Corrupt Teachers and to awaken and excite Men to follow and obey it may be both useful and necessary The Jewish State did no more call for his Mercy than does ours Have we the whole Will of God and our Duty consign'd to us in Writ So had they Was it that from time to time their Faith and Hope might be strengthned and encouraged in the Approach of the Messiah the same need have we who are bidden hope and look for his Coming again in Glory and yet in these last Days there are Scoffers walking after their own Lusts and saying Where is the Promise of his Coming Was it because of the great Degeneracy both of the Priest and People that they needed such extraordinary Messages and Warnings from God So do we Ought we to reject all who lay any Claim to Divine Inspiration without any farther Enquiry because there are in this Age many Impostours Enthusiasts who falsly pretend to be led by the Spirit of God and are not So might they Were they in Circumstances to discern those who were truly led by the Spirit of God from those who were acted by a Lying Spirit So may we So that from the Nature of God the Methods of his dealing with Men and the present State of the World and of Mankind this appears to be no impossible nor improbable thing XI Nay there are strong Presumptions on the other side that God will shew his Mercy to Mankind We are forbidden to believe every Spirit but are bidden try the Spirits whether they are of God or not If none are inspir'd by God what need is there to try any but to reject all We are told that in the last Days God will pour out of his Spirit upon all Flesh And when the Apostle S. Peter applies this Prophecy to the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles in the Day of Pentecost he meant not thereby to limit that Promise to that Time as if it had its full Completion but to shew that then it began to be fulfilled and that Jesus being now ascended to his Father and having received the Promise of the Holy Ghost had shed forth this upon them And it evidently appears that he did not limit it to that Time but shew that that was rather the first Fruits of it and that it was to be fulfilled and continued in all After-ages he saying expresly Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost For the Promise is unto you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Which was as it were a Preludium and first Fruits of what they might expect For it is not God's Manner to promise largely and liberally and to perform meanly and sparingly and the Number of Persons on whom the Gifts of the Spirit were poured out in those Days was too small to fill up the Extent of Joel's Prophecy especially if we compare it with and interpret it by other Prophecies of the same Nature it will appear that this is a Mercy which God designs to communicate in a higher Measure after the coming of Jesus Christ than formerly For he has promised that he will put his Law in their inward Parts and write it in their Hearts And they shall teach no more every Man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord. And we are told that the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea So that the Reason why this is so little experienced among Christians now adays is not because the Lord's Hand is shortned that he cannot do it or that this was a Mercy to be shewn only to the first Christians but because our Sins have separated between us and our God XII There have not been wanting in the several Ages of the Church some pure and holy Souls extraordinarily enlightned by the Spirit of God as Anthony and Paul the Hermit and many others of the Ancient Fathers of the Desart and in the later Ages Thaulerus Thomas a Kempis and some other extraordinary Persons as they who read their Lives or Writings without prejudice may see XIII It is generally believed by all Protestants that we are at present in the Reign of Antichrist and it is generally own'd by all That before the End of the World there will be a Destruction of the Antichristian State and a glorious State of the Church of Jesus Christ in Purity and Holiness without which the Conversion of the Jews and the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles cannot be hoped for All the Prophecies both of the Old and New Testament do point at this and their Description of it is so great and magnificent that it were absurd to apply it to any Event has fallen out already for in Divine Things the Reality of them does vastly transcend the most magnificent Descriptions that can be given of them There is nothing more plain from the Holy Scriptures and the State of the World than that the glorious Times foretold by the Spirit of God are not yet come And considering the great Corruption of the World and how unlikely it is that by human Wisdom or Reason such a Change will be wrought since the World by Wisdom knows not God there is all Ground to believe and hope that God will by an extraordinary Effusion of his Spirit bring about so great a Change XIV There being a two-fold Coming of Jesus Christ and a double Completion of Prophecies in relation to both therefore as the Preaching of John the Baptist was the first Coming again of Elias so many judge the Prophecy imports a Second Coming not of his Person but of some in his Spirit to restore all things Jesus Christ telling us even after John was beheaded that Elias will come indeed and restore all things To this Purpose a very sincere Enquirer into the Prophetick Stile takes out of the Prophecies and History concerning Elias and John Baptist a Character of that Spirit of Elias that must renew the World That its Doctrine must be that of casting away all Corruption Insincerity and Hypocrisie Declaring against all Distortion or Perversion of the Simplicity of Christian Truth by proud or politick Persons which will be no sectarian Spirit to rend and tear but a reconciling Spirit to solder together the Affections of Men Which will neither abrogate what is authentick noâ— introduce what is new but be a Restorer only of what useful Truths and Practices may seem to have been lost in the long Delapse
of Ages And perhaps of such clear and plain Principles as may solve the most concerning Difficulties that human Reason is subject to be entangled with He is that Voice in the Wilderness Prepare ye the Way of the Lord and make his Paths straight that they shall be of a Spirit separate from the World and untainted and unsophisticated by the unwholsom Converse of Men That this Spirit will appear rough and rude to the World because it will so freely and impartially reprehend the World and declare the Truth in all Plainness and Simplicity of Heart with an holy Boldness and Vndauntedness of Courage to witness to the Truth and a raising of Men out of a false Security from external or carnal Respects as did the Baptists the Sadducees and Pharisees with a vehement Jealousie in behalf of the Purity of God's Worship against all Polytheism and Idolatry and using only the Power of the Spirit from on High to oppose all Weapons of any carnal Warfare Characters which one would think had been purposely design'd for the present Subject XV. Thus then we ought to be so far from looking on it as an absurd or impossible thing that any should be extraordinarily and immediately led by the Spirit of God in this last Age of the World that we have Ground rather to hope and look for it if God shall find Subjects capable of it We ought not therefore in Prudence indifferently to reject all that come to us as from God with a Thus saith the Lord in their Mouths for by so doing we may chance to repulse God's Messengers and refuse to hear from him that which may be of great Importance to our Salvation Nor ought we on the other hand to receive blindly all as such who pretend to be led by the Spirit of God since many false Prophets do and shall arise and deceive many but we ought to follow the Apostle's Advice and try the Spirits whether they are of God or not Yet this does not oblige us to go and find out and enquire into the Grounds of every Pretender which were an infinite Labour and Expence of Time in an Age that abounds with Multitudes of Pretenders We are dispensed from that when the Falshood of the Pretension discovers it self by some plain Mark or Sign as the wicked or even worldly Life of the Pretender his Disowning the Holy Scriptures or denying or opposing any essential Truth of Religion But when there are no such evident Marks of the Falshood of one's Pretensions to immediate Revelation but they are back'd with such Considerations and attended with such Circumstances as make the Truth of them probable we are concern'd in Prudence to give our selves the Trouble of Enquiring into them and tho' upon Tryal they be found empty we must not think our Pains lost because it is better to be at some Pains in Examining a false Pretension to Revelation than to reject a true one because we would not give our selves the Trouble to enquire into it XVI Seeing then the Pretensions of A. B. to Divine Inspiration are of this last Sort and that by the Testimony of one of her most furious Enemies There are Persons who have the Reputation of Sence Probity and Learning who look upon her as one immediately enlightned by the Spirit of God and seeing the Things that she declares to us are of the greatest Moment and do most nearly concern us we ought in Prudence to hear and weigh the Evidences brought to make appear that she is immediately led by the Spirit of God and see whether they be such as may belong to Impostours or to deluded Persons and what Marks are given whereby we may discern those who are truly inspired by God from Impostours false Prophets and such as either acted by the Spirit of the Devil or the Heat of their own Imaginations I shall set down those Marks and Evidences in her own Words XVII Suspect says she all that I say to you as from God in case that you observe my Life my Manners and my Actions are not all conformable to those of Jesus Christ and that my Doctrine is not entirely like to the Holy Scripture for if it is God that speaks to me he is unchangeable he never changes what he said to his Apostles and his Disciples is the same thing which he declares now inwardly to the Soul There can be no change in God Besides this the Word of God is Living and Operative The Operations that you feel inwardly of my Words ought to be a sure Evidence to you that it is God for it would be a kind of Idolatry to attribute That to the Creature which belongs to the Creator I am a pure Nothing but God is All in me he teaches me he acts he speaks in me without Nature's contributing any thing but as a simple Organ as a Pencil contributes to the Art of a fine Painter Your natural Spirit is capable of judging this for where should a little Girl learn all the Law of God which is imprinted in the Marrow of my Bones without Study and without Books If I perceive the most secret Thoughts of your Heart from whence can this come but from God only Consider always what Properties the Spirit of God has in himself and the Spirit of the Devil and do not believe every Spirit for this is the Time of the Reign of Anti-christ and he has great Dominion over the Spirits of Men now deceiving them with false Appearances under the Pretext of Goodness and Vertue and transforms himself into an Angel of Light to seduce the Well-meaning I intreat you to take good heed and remark rather the Life and Behaviour of the Person who says he has Communication with God than his Words for the Devil can speak well of Divine Secrets as when he was an Angel He has not lost his Lights but they serve him for a Hell therefore he tempts the best by Divine Lights but he cannot give them in Effect the Properties that the Spirit of God brings along with him Read them with Attention The Properties of God He is Truth He is the Way He is Life He who lives in God walks always in Truth He who lives in God is conformed to the Life of Jesus Christ He who lives in God walks in Sincerity of Spirit and Simplicity of Heart He who lives in God fears nothing He who lives in God seeks nothing He who lives in God hopes for nothing out of God for he finds all in him The Properties of the Devil He is the Father of Lies the Master of Inconstancy the Inventer of Hypocrisie He who is of the Devil deals in Lies He who is of the Devil is inconstant He who is of the Devil is dissembled counterfeit hypocritical He who does an unseemly thing hates the Light that his Deeds may not be known He who is of the Devil seeks Darkness for fear that he be discovered He who is of the
promises that if our Eye be Single our whole Body shall be full of Light and if it be Evil it will be full of Darkness For tho' a Soul have not in it self the Holy Spirit yet it shall have the Understanding enlightned to discover him in others provided it behold them with a single Eye without Dissimulation or Surprize but in the Simplicity of a Child as Jesus Christ says we must be in if we would enter into the Kingdom of Heaven They who see me write know well that I do it without any Study or humane Speculation and that it flows from my Spirit as Water flows from its Fountain and that I do nothing but lend my Hand and my Spirit to another Power than mine And God gives yet a more sure Testimony by imparting to me his Righteousness Truth and Charity For these things cannot come from Nature which being corrupted can produce no Good nor any Divine Vertues because I am come of the Corrupt Mass of Adam as all the rest of Men there could not be in me any Righteousness Truth and Charity which are all Divine and Supernatural Vertues which cannot enter into the Soul of Men but by the Work of the Holy Spirit This gives me a sufficient Testimony that I am led by God since the Devil and Nature have nothing of those Vertues And therefore we cannot find a surer Evidence that a Soul is led by the Holy Spirit than when it is possest of the Righteousness Truth and Charity of God For if we desire to see Miracles for a Proof we may be deceived since the Devil can do Miracles or things which seem Supernatural but he can never have in him the Righteousness Truth and Love of God The Good Spirit and the Evil may be known by the Qualities which they have The Spirit of God has in him a Peace and Sweetness that comforts the Soul and draws it to an inward Quiet But the Spirit of the Devil disturbs the Understanding disquiets it and robs it of Tranquility and Rest The Spirit of God acts sweetly and strongly in Peace and Tranquility of Mind All that comes from the Spirit of God is always accompanied with the Qualities of God which are Goodness Righteousness and Truth And that which comes from the Spirit of the Devil carries always the Qualities of the Devil which are Malice Injustice and Lying The Evil Spirit may sometimes move to do a good thing to draw Evil out of it but that seeming Goodness can never be accompanied with Righteousness and Truth which are the inseparable Qualities of God which the Devil may sometimes separately make use of to deceive Men aping the Works of God but he can never do a thing that is Good Just and True altogether since this appertains to God only who cannot be divided in any of these Qualities God does not speak to me by Voices Thundrings and Lightnings as he did of Old to the Prophets or as he spake to Tobit by Angels in the Likeness of Young Men or as he spoke to Jacob in the Vision of a Ladder upon which Angels did ascend and descend or as he spoke to Joseph in a Dream saying to him Take the Child and the Mother and flee into Egypt For I durst not rely upon all these things in which the Devil and the Fancy of Man may mingle themselves and make such things be seen and heard as if they came from the Spirit of God But I fix on the solid Truth of God on his Righteousness and on his Love because in such things the Devil can have no hold I have sometimes had Dreams and Visions coming from God as I may afterwards make appear by Experience but I do not rely on these Dreams and Visions unless the same things that I have seen and dream'd be confirm'd unto me by a secret Notice Intelligence after the manner that I converse ordinarily with God For so soon as the Soul is free of all Image and delivered from the agitation of its Passions and the Imagination ceases to operate then I hear the Voice of God and his Reasoning not with my Ears but with my Understanding And after this manner he makes me see and hear all that I need to know both for my own Conduct and that of others which many have experienc'd and found that I have told them the most secret things of their Hearts which neither Men nor Devils could know Never amuse your self with Discourses Visions or Revelations made to you or others if you do not perceive assuredly that they are accompanied with the Qualities of the Good Spirit of God or otherwise you will be easily deceived Remark always if what you say or do be accompanied with the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God and then you shall assuredly hear God speak to your Soul For if you walk in these Qualities you will be in God and the Devil can deceive you no longer by Illusions or false Imaginations as he will easily do so long as you do not possess those essential Vertues of the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God in which you ought always to walk if you would not be seduced by Satan The Devil can give Visions Ravishments or supernatural Extasies to Sorcerers yea make them foretel things to come being a subtile Spirit and foreseeing afar and by conjectures what will come to pass and he may make them fall out by the means of his Sorcerers who being powerful and numerous may by their Power and Authority bring about what has been Fore told Therefore it is fit to receive nothing for Truth but the things which lead us to a more strict Union with God and Denial of our selves These things are always Good even tho' they should come from the Devil himself we cannot be deceived in believing them I can never have the least doubt as if it were an evil Spirit that communicates himself to my Understanding for the evil Spirit could not in my Judgment produce so good and so constant Operations such as the Love of God and the Hatred of ones Self Moreover he could not separate the Soul from the Pleasures of this Life nor remove from it the coveting the Riches and Honours of the World nor give it a full Contentment in the want of all humane Consolation nor yet Joy in Hardships and Contempt All these things cannot come from the Devil for he is too opposite to all these Vertues and leads ordinarily to all sort of Evil tho' at first he cover them with Vertues The End of his Operations make appear sufficiently the Deeds of the Author and make known the Workman by his Works Thus you see how certain Marks she gives whereby to distinguish true from false Enthusiasm the Conduct and Inspiration of the Spirit of God from the Illusions of the Devil or Ones own Imagination and how Men may preserve themselves from being impos'd upon by the last That where a Soul is
truly purified and the Communications of God's Spirit are to the inferiour Understanding without the use of the Imagination or Senses or the imprinting on them Images Visions or Voices there neither the Devil nor Man's Imagination can have any hold that the Devil cannot work on the Imagination of such as he does on Wicked and Brain sick Persons That when Visions Voices and sensible Raptures are communicated to such that they may be assured that they are from God they ought to apply to him in that inward way in which he is pleas'd to communicate himself the Soul being delivered from the agitation of its Passions and the Imagination That the Spirit of God brings along with him Peace and Tranquility of Soul and his Divine Qualities of Goodness Righteousness and Truth and his Operations are both good and abiding but the Spirit of the Devil disturbs the Understanding robs it of Tranquility and Rest and that which proceeds from that Spirit carries always with it the Qualities of the Devil Injustice Malice Hypocrisie These are the distinguishing Evidences for ones self And for others that they may not be impos'd upon by any pretending to be led by the Spirit of God when it may be they are guided by the Illusions of the Devil or their own Fancy that there is no Hazard of being mistaken if we follow that only which is conformable to the Gospel tho' it were declared by a wicked Person or the Devil himself that there cannot be a surer Testimony that one is led by the Spirit of God than if he produce in them his Fruits and Gifts and impart to them the Divine Qualities of Righteousness Goodness and Charity and by their means produce the same good Effects in others That the evil Spirit may sometimes move to do a good thing to draw Evil out of it but can never do that that is Just and Good and True altogether which comes from God only and tho' the Devil cover his Wickedness at first with seeming Vertues yet the End of all his Operations shew from whom they come Thus A. B. lays no stress on Visions Extasies Raptures or other Sensibilities to which the Imagination contributes and where the Devil and Fancy may impose but upon the immediate Notices of God to the Understanding and for the Truth of this and her Sincerity in it appeals to the Fruits of God's Spirit and the Divine Qualities which he had implanted in her Soul and by which she constantly steer'd all her Actions And that no Body may be deceived by her declaring things as Truths from God which are not she desires they may receive them only in so far as they are conformable to the Gospel and then there is no Hazard of being deceived those Truths being so well confirm'd already and so necessary for all who would be saved and in so far as they lead us to a more strict Union with God and Denial of ones self And these are always Good tho' the Devil should declare them we cannot be deceived in believing them XXI 3. It was said that she was a Woman of a fine natural Spirit of a clear and piercing Judgment and a lively Imagination and being retir'd and thoughtful it was no wonder tho' she had clear and extraordinary Thoughts and Sentiments beyond others all this might be the Effect of the excellency of her Natural Spirit and not from the Spirit of God This Thought always readily occurs to those who upon the reading of her Writings are convinced of the excellency of her Sentiments and it was objected to her self I shall here set down her own Answer You ought to have more Charity for me than to call me Wise and of a good Natural Judgment when you judge that I am Proud for your saying serves only to make me more so I have always said that I am nothing but a simple Child and now I hear Divines and the Learned say that I have a great Natural Spirit which makes me say and write things which so many Persons do admire I have always referr'd them to the Spirit of God who produces them immediately in me and now you would have me so Presumptuous as to believe that all this comes from my self or from my Natural Judgment I should be a wise Girl indeed if I had found out so many excellent Truths without School or Study without Books and without Masters I believe it is Ignorance that makes you speak so and that you know not what the Spirit of God is nor what a Natural Spirit is and cannot distinguish that which comes from Nature from that which comes from Grace as not being sufficiently advanced in the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit I am afraid my Judgment may offend you but I will make it appear to you that it is most true and that you have not yet penetrated nor discovered how the Spirit of God acts and how the Spirit of Nature acts and not having this Touchstone which discovers fine Gold from the Counterfeit you easily take the one for the other You will needs hold the rank of Masters whereas it were your Happiness to be good Scholars To shew that I have more Charity for your Soul than you have Ill-will for mine I will declare what the Spirit of God is and what the Natural Spirit is that you may no longer be mistaken I will tell you what Operations proceed from both these Spirits and how they must be animated The thing is clear and certain easie to be understood by those who will use their Reason and they who do not use it are Beasts for nothing distinguishes a Man from a Beast but Faith and Reason I set down therefore for the chief Mark and Ground of discerning Spirits that the Spirit of God has this Quality that he never acts and operates but for things Divine and Eternal or tending to Eternity and that the Natural Spirit never acts nor aims but for things Earthly and Temporal For all that is from Nature tends to its Centre which is the Earth and Time where Nature is bounded to delight it self without knowing or tending to any other thing but what is conformable to Nature When you would know then if it be Nature that directs the Actions of a Person remark only if by what they say or do they aim only at things earthly and transitory in this case you may well judge that they have but a Natural Spirit and not the Spirit of God since this never acts but for Divine things tending to Eternity So that when you see Persons labour to gain Money or to have Pleasure and Satisfaction in this World it may be absolutely said they have but Natural Spirits and cannot thereby find God nor Life Eternal for tho' they flatter themselves and say that they trade only to make a right use of their Wealth and study that they may make a right use of their Learning all this is but for Time and earthly Things proceeding only
that he spake to his People by him because he was incredulous and rendred himself unworthy of entring into the promis'd Land Must we not believe the Holy Scripture endited by Solomon because â—e fell into Idolatry Or ought we to doubt if David had the Spirit of God because he fell into Adultery and other Sins Truly this would be very extravagant and render all the Works of God suspected and doubtful because of the Trailty of Men. For in the New Testament does not the Apostle make this Distinction of his own Spirit from the Spirit of God When he says It is I who says or does this and elsewhere It is the Spirit of God who says it Even Jesus Christ had he not the Spirit of God in him and the Natural Spirit both When he prays to his Father that his own Will might not be done If he had not had a Natural Will he would not have prayed thus And it could not be the Spirit of God that made him say If it be possible let this Cup pass from me Nor which made him doubt that he was forsaken of his Father in the very brink of Death of necessity these were simply natural Motions which mov'd him to all these things and not at all the Motions of the Holy Spirit Why would they then have me of another Stuff than the Prophets Apostles and Jesus Christ himself and hinder that my natural Motions should not act any more in me after that I have received the Holy Spirit Must I become immoveable in Body and Spirit that I may move no longer naturally Must the Spirit of God make all the Functions of my Spirit and Body to cease that he alone may operate in them Truly God would make use of a strange Figure against his Ordinary since he always makes use of humane Creatures to speak to Men and to make known his Will to them by Organs of those like themselves And for this Cause Jesus Christ took a truly humane Body that by means palpable to their Humanity he might make himself to be understood and obeyed And the Body and Spirit of Jesus Christ did act humanly And the Apostles acted in many things according to their natural Motions and in many things were mistaken for we read that the Apostles being one night assembled after that they had received the Holy Spirit when St. Peter was in Prison from whence being come out miraculously he knock'd at the Gate where they were assembled and the Maid Roda told them he was at the Gate they thought with one common Judgment that the Maid dream'd saying to her that she was a Fool. All the Motions which this Holy Assembly had could not come but from Nature Must we conclude from thence that they had not received the Holy Spirit or that they had lost him because of such Mistakes or because they acted according to their natural Passions or Functions in this Opinion I think we should commit a great Sin to believe any such thing or to suspect the Holy Spirit in them because they are mistaken in some things for these Faults and Mistakes are annexed to humane Nature since Sin which has so blinded Man's Understanding that he is oft-times mistaken in that which he sees before his Eyes But the Holy Spirit can never be mistaken in any thing nor inspire things that are not true And it would be an abominable thing to believe it or to judge that a Person were not guided by the Holy Spirit because he is mistaken in some indifferent things For the Holy Spirit does not teach the Soul that he possesses all the Circumstances of that which it ought to do and say but he teaches it the essential things of Righteousness Goodness and Truth in all that it ought to do or avoid And it is the Business of the Understanding to comprehend and search out the means to attain to these Ends whetting its Spirit and all the Faculties of its Soul that it may rightly accomplish in all things Righteousness Goodness and Truth And if those natural Functions were made to cease acting after this manner the Holy Spirit could do nothing by the Person who is the visible and sensible Organ an Instrument of God without which Instrument he cannot make gross and natural Men to understand him Therefore the Angels themselves have sometimes taken humane Bodies to make themselves be seen and perceived by Men according to their natural Sight and Sentiments Now it is true that God has given me his Holy Spirit promised by Jesus Christ which teaches me all Truth but yet it is not true that he teaches me in particular all the Words that proceed out of my Mouth nor all the Letters or Syllables that I write far less all the Motions of my Body for this is done humanly by my own Spirit or my visible Body For if the Holy Spirit did dictate to me all the Words that I must pronounce or all the Words that I must write I could never commit Faults in Speaking or Writing which I do often commit not knowing sometimes where to find Words to express my self well nor Orthography to write well which I have declared in my printed Writings saying It is the Spirit that teaches me the Doctrine which I write but as for the Faults which are in the Pen or the Words it is I who commits them and not the Holy Spirit which may satisfie all captious Spirits who seek to discredit the Wisdom of God by the Faults that I might have done Naturally Since the Proverb says that all Men do fail and mistake themselves and the Perfect are in Heaven because there are no Perfections but in God alone And it would be to tempt him to require of a human Creature the Perfection of all things since this appertains to God only and not to Men who have only a limited Perfection every one his Talent one the Perfection of speaking well another of writing well another of singing well with other natural Gifts which do not come immediately from the Holy Spirit tho' he makes use of all those Gifts when they may serve for the Glory of God and when the Person offers and resigns them up to his Government For Example God has given me an Ability to compose my Writings and it is his Will that I do it for his Glory and the Good of Souls These things come in Substance from the Holy Spirit but it is my natural Hand that writes it and my natural Spirit that conceives it which may commit accidental or material Faults but there can be no Faults in the thing it self every one may assuredly believe and follow that without amusing himself whether I have any Defect in the Manner or if there be any thing of natural mingled with it since God makes use of Nature and even of its Defects to teach Men to seek those things that are above and not the things that are upon the Earth For all that fine Learning and studied
Words yea these Niceties of the precise Truth of Terms are things on Earth esteemed by vain Men who seek Praise and Curiosities more than the Essence of the Means of their Salvation and the Holy Spirit will not encourage these Niceties but inspires always Simplicity For this Cause I do not reflect upon the Mistake that I oft times commit of naming Peter for Paul or Wood for Stone It is enough to me that I make the Substance of the thing be understood that Men may return to the Love of God And he having permitted me to cause to be printed all my Writings has not appointed in what Time by what Person in what Place or by what Means I might do it I must therefore apply my natural Spirit to find out these Means I have writ of it to my Friends and advertised them that it was the Will of God that this should be done for his Glâ—â—â— And if I had not acted naturally in this these Persons could not know this express Will of God because they are not yet so disengaged that they may hear the Voice of God Ought I therefore to hold my Peace and not to write because the Holy Spirit does not dictate to me all the Words and because I make use of those which I speak in my homely vulgar Language And must I prove otherwise than by my Words that it is the Holy Spirit who acts in me They who consider this without an evil Eye will I am perswaded be convinc'd that she is far from attributing her Mistakes and Defects to the Dictates of the Spirit of God and that yet it might be very well said to him who was desirous to reduce her Writings to a greater Exactness free of all Mistakes What Rashness is it for Men to offer to correct the Works of God For God thinks fit to chuse weak and foolish things to confound the wise and mighty and to make his strength appear in their weakness that when we see the great and substantial Truths of God declared by one of such Simplicity without Disguise and Affectation without all Human Learning and the Artifices and Exactness whereby we recommend our Writings to the World we may clearly see that it is not her own Natural Spirit that by its Industry and Application searches out and discovers those Divine Truths tho' its Defects and Weakness appear in applying to declare them to the World but that it is the Spirit of God And as they who are very intent upon the cultivating of their Minds with Human Learning are very unconcern'd as to fine Cloaths and other outward things about which others are very nice and ready to laugh at their unfashionableness so one who is wholly taken up with the great and substantial Truths of God and Eternity and intent to impress them on the Hearts of others has no regard to niceness of Words and Terms is not curious to avoid little Mistakes about lesser and accidental Matters but earnest only to inculcate to them the great things of Eternity And that this was the Disposition of A. B's Spirit appears thro' all her Writings It may be Joshuah knew not whether it was the Sun or Earth that stood still and Esay thought that Hezekiah would undoubtedly die of his Disease and S. Matthew that Jeremy had written that which Zachary had said and that there were two Thieves who upâ—raided Jesus Christ on the Cross tho' S. Luke tells it was but one of them and Jesus Christ himself that there were Figs on a Fig-Tree when there were none But what will some say is not this to take from the divine Writers their Authority and Force This is as ridiculous as if a Man dying for Hunger would not take the Bread offer'd him under a Pretext that he who offer'd it was mistaken in some Words when he offered it as that he said it was bak'd such a Day whereas it was on another Day or that it came from Peter's House whereas it came from John's or that the Corn it was made of came from France when it was from Germany from whence the poor famish'd Man would fancy that the Bread could not nourish him that it was not good that they who were mistaken in this might be mistaken in taking it may be Poison or Tares for Corn or Arsnick for Meal But what ought such Mistakes to be imputed to the Holy Spirit God forbid they belong only to the Creature And when it pleases the Holy Spirit for so saving Ends as to recommend Simplicity the study of Purification the cleaving to the one thing needful to teach those who desire to be enlightned by God that they must leave off the ways of humane Exactness and Speculation and of confounding the Understanding with a Thousand barren and needless Curiosities which certainly devour much precious time without making us well-pleasing to God or advancing one step in his Love but have rather turn'd us away from it and occupied and blown us up with these useless Vanities That the Holy Spirit I say should permit for so saving an Advantage some Mistakes which regard Accidental Foreign and Accessory things to remain some time in the Instruments which he makes use of most certainly and infallibly in the things that concern the way to Heaven What is there in all this that derogates from the Glory of God the Salvation of Souls or the Divine Authority of those sent by God to guide Man without fail to this supream End The Difference that is observed amongst Persons inspired by God and sometimes of the same Person from himself comes from this that they have not the same Gifts by Nature or are not equally enlightned or the same Person is not so much at one time as at another even touching Divine Things when they are Accessories Thus the Apostles knew not from the Beginning that the Gentiles would be called to the Gospel and therefore at first they lived exactly after the Manner of the Jews But when God gave and encreased this Light they acted and spoke otherwise must we conclude from this that they were first deceived or that the Holy Spirit did not inspire them or did not inspire them aright Not at all But that at first it was not necessary it should be made known to them till the saving Doctrine of the Gospel were established among the Jews So that we must hence conclude only that the Holy Spirit gives and encreases his Light as he sees it expedient for Men's Salvation Thus A. B. in her younger Years had not received the Light which respects the glorious State in which Adam was created before Eve and therefore spake of Adam then according to the common Opinion but afterwards in a more sublime Manner XXIII 5. It was again objected to her that she contradicted both the Holy Scriptures and her self and therefore could not be led by the Spirit of God To this she replied That this cannot be true indeed if her Writings be endited
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
know no true Christians it cannot be understood that I know them for true Christians because I call them by that Name but I conform my self in this to the Disposition of those who hear me and not to the Truth of what they are Which if I would follow I behov'd sometimes to call those nominal Christians Atheists or Antichristians which scarce any Man would understand therefore to make my self be understood I must use common and ordinary Terms and pronounce them as briefly as I can since we must give an account of every idle Word I ought not to add uselesly to the Name of Christians as they call them since it is understood well enough of it self without pronouncing those Words as the Quakers do To make appear how fully she clears her self as to Contradictions which they were ready to impute to her I shall here adduce one Instance I understand says she by yours that my Writings have had some good Operation in your Soul but withal that you have found as it seems to you some Contradiction in them in that I say absolutely that to be a true Christian one must abandon all that he possesses and nevertheless you find in one of my Letters that a Man must keep his Goods for his Necessities since the World is now without Charity and they would leave the Just without help in his need Both these things are most true and do not at all contradict one another for a Man must absolutely abandon the Love of earthly Goods if he would become a true Christian Jesus Christ has very often affirm'd this Truth in his Gospel and said that he who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be his Disciple I bring no Novelties when through all my Writings I press this Necessity of forsaking all things to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ since Jesus Christ his Apostles and all who have received the Holy Spirit say the same thing and there is but one Truth which is God which says through all the same thing So that they who speak otherwise are Liars and Seducers of the People who flatter Men to destroy them under the Pretext of Glosses and false Reasons which they draw from the Holy Scriptures without any Ground This I have declar'd sufficiently in my Writings as you have well observ'd and approved as you say seeing I very much blam'd a Woman of Friesland who was yet careful what she should eat and drink and wherewithal she should be cloathed after she had resolved to become a true Christian as you have remarked in the Second Letter of the Fourth Part of La lum née en tenebres And I am still of the same Sentiment that when one relies upon temporal things and will not voluntarily abandon them to follow Jesus Christ he cannot be his Disciple and that Woman will never be one so long as she is not disengag'd from temporal Goods Tho' she be now gone out of her Country with a design to embrace a Gospel Life she cannot attain to it because of the Affection she has still for her Ease and Conveniences which proceeds from Self-love being anxious for the temporal Part and fearing Want And I can assure all those who are still in that Disposition that they are not true Christians But when I wrote to one of my Friends in the 24th Letter of the Fourth Part of La lum née en tenebr as you alledge that he â—ought to keep his Goods for his own Necessities or that of others without leaving them to his Friends or giving them to the Poor now adays I had reason to do it because this Man was more disengag'd in his Soul from temporal Wealth than that Woman and had already resolv'd to abandon them all so that his Heart was free to possess them as if he did not possess them which a Person wedded to them could not do tho' it seems to him he could and he will say so with his Mouth for there is nothing more deceitful than the Heart of Man which none knows but God and he to whom God reveals it And I had reason to advise this Man to keep his Goods and that Woman that she should not care for the Morrow without any Contradiction in my Advices but in the Disposition of those Two Persons whom you mention Since the one was free to possess Wealth without sinning and not the other and a good Physician ought always to consider the Original of his Patient's Disease if he would heal him For if he ordain the same Physick for all sorts of Maladies he would kill more than all the Executioners together So you must not think that there is a Contradiction in my Two Letters mentioned by you but that there are Two divers Remedies for Two different Diseases to wit one Remedy against the Love or Desire of earthly things and another against too great Liberality or Indiscretion Again A. B. says somewhere That no Body ever was or can be saved but by the Merits of Jesus Christ and some Pages after in the same Treatise she says that no Body can be saved by the Merits of another This seems contradictory as well as those Two Propositions the one of St. Paul and the other of St. James Man is justified by Faith without the Works of the Law and Man is justified by Works and not by Faith only This last Contradiction â—s reconciled by saying that St. Paul understands that the Principle which admits in us that true Righteousness which God places there is Faith and that Works are not that Principle But St. James means that that Principle which admits in us the Righteousness of God is Faith but that Faith is not destitute of Works for if Faith were without Works it were a dead Faith which would justifie no Body Thus these have no Contradiction and yet are harder to reconcile than any Passages of the Writings of A. B. Thus as to the forecited Passage when she says that no Body is saved but by the Merits of Jesus Christ her meaning is that Jesus Christ is the Author and meritorious Cause of the Salvation of Men who will accept of this Salvation by the ways that God teaches them and when she says that no Body can be saved by the Merits of another this signifies that none who will not co-operate to their Salvation by the ways that God preâ—cribes them câ—n be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ or that the Merits of Jesus Christ will not save those who will not follow the way of Salvation Thus you see how easie it is for critical and captious Spirits to find Contradictions where there are none that the Holy Scriptures themselves have many seeming Contradictions tho none in Truth that they who are led by the Spirit of God write in great Simplicity regarding the Essence and Substance of divine Truths and not the niceness of Terms and how captious Spirits may misinterpret them and divine Truths had need to be read and
do not exercise them according to their own Will or as they please but they are resign'd to God that he may do in them and by them when and how he please For Example St. Paul had without doubt the Gift of Miracles he struck Elymas Blind raised the Young Man that fell down dead and healed others And yet nevertheless when he was taken he made none Blind that he might escape from his Persecutors neither did he miraculously heal Epaphirus Trophimus Timothy And even so when the Light of God the Gift of Knowledge c. is given unto the Saints they do not therefore discover all things in that Light and by that Gift according to their Will but being dead to their own Will and resign'd to the Will of God they discover in that Light of God those things only which he is pleased to manifest unto them in it so that if God in his Wisdom see it convenient for them that they be ignorant of the Evils of some with whom they converse whether to exercise them or that some external things may be done to them by these Hypocrites or for other Ends known to his infinite Wisdom then without any Prejudice to the Light of God or the Gift of Discerning of Spirits they shall not know these Hypocrites till God be pleas'd to bring that Gift into act as to that Matter which he uses to do when he sees it necessary either for their own Salvation or that of others or for the Glory of his Name It is a great Error then for us to think that the Gifts of God are managed by Mens Self-will or Self-wisdom and from hence to conclude that that Person to whom the inward Disposition of others was known for some time did not only want the Gift of Discerning Spirits but that also it is from hence evident that it cannot be known from such a Person 's Life and Doctrine that he was led by the Spirit of God since he did embrace in others that which was but Appearance and Imposture only for Truth For David Jeremy another true Prophet they who baptized Simon Magus Paul as to Demas have sometimes taken the Appearance or Imposture of some Hypocrites or Liars for Truth Does it from hence follow that it could not be known by their Life and Doctrine that they were led by the Spirit of God As if the stress of their whole Life and Doctrine were to be laid upon some one or other innocent Mistake Or as if rather from hence it ought not to be inferred that God in his Wisdom saw it expedient that they should be ignorant of the Hypocrisie of such Persons for some time and that the Gift of Discerning of Spirits should be differently directed and applied in those who are acted by the Spirit of God according to his Will who can truly say Not I live but Christ lives in me Thus I have given a plain and true Narrative of the Sentiments of Antonia Bourignon both as to the Essential and Accessory Truths And of the Prejudices generally raised against her and the just Defences she makes for her self by which she clears and removes them and of the Evidences she brings for her being led by the Spirit of God and not by that of the Devil or Nature or her own Imagination and the Answers given to what is oppos'd against it And tho' I might have contracted all into lesser Bounds yet I chose rather to give it in her own Words and to let her speak for her self And now after all I beg leave to summ up the Evidence XXVI If any pretend to be led by the Spirit of God and in the mean time are worldly or sensual or selfish or contradict the Doctrine of Jesus Christ it is evident they are not of God But if any publish to the World a Doctrine that is Pure and Holy tending only to mortifie Corrupt Nature and to recover the Love of God if it be wholly conformable unto and the same with the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and of his Gospel If they who publish it do still live conformably unto it and bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God in their whole Life and Practice despising all temporal things and tending only to things eternal and manifesting the Righteousness Goodness and Truth of God in all their Actions if their Words be accompanied with a Force and Power which reaches the Heart and convinces the Conscience If they discover often the secret Thoughts of the Hearts of others and their Dispositions even sometimes tho' their Persons be unknown to them If they be Persons full of Simplicity and Sincerity having no worldly Aim doing nothing to please Men nor to gain their Esteem but declaring the Truth in Simplicity even in things which they know will be most unpleasing to Men and will bring upon them Hatred Contempt and Persecution from Men instead of their Favour and Esteem If they are altogether Illiterate and have acquired no Knowledge by the humane means of Study Reading Conversation and Meditation and yet manifest a clear distinct and comprehensive Knowledge of Divine Things far beyond the most Learned Divines If in declaring those Truths to the World by writing they flowed from them as Water does from a Fountain as fast as their Hand could guide the Pen without musing or meditating what to write or changing and correcting what they had once written or reading it over again and yet all as to the main is of a Thread most rational and clear and consistent and no real Contradiction either to the Holy Scriptures or amongst those Writings themselves as to the Essence and Substance of them And if such declare to the World that of themselves they are sinful Nothings of the corrupt Mass of Adam from whence nothing can come but Evil and that all the Good that is in them and all the Truths they communicate to the World is not from them but from God and the immediate Operation of his Holy Spirit who is pleased to make use of weak and simple Means to confound the Mighty and Wise If all these can be truly said of any these are certainly Evidences that will abide the Verdict of an impartial Jury even tho' there be no visible Miracles as John the Baptist and many of the ancient Prophets did none there being no New Doctrine publish'd but the pressing and clearing of that already declared and confirm'd by Jesus Christ and his Apostles Now this is the Summ of the Plea of Antonia Bourignon and for the Proof of it as to her Doctrine and Sentiments she refers to her Writings which any that please may consult as to her Life and Spirit to those who were daily Witnesses of it of which there are a Cloud of Testimonies made publick as also for the manner of composing her Writings As to the Force and Efficacy of them to those who by their Experience have found and do attest it And these are the
that A. B. was Holy and in the Love of God and that to such a Degree that this Love seem'd to flow from her into them and other well-disposed Souls because many are brought by her to abandon their own Wills and the Creatures that they may Love God only and subject themselves wholly to his Will And I am perswaded that her Writings will have such Operations in all those who shall read them with a sincere and hearty desire to find the saving Truth and to endeavour to walk in it in so far as they know it Unless they be so far possest with Prejudices as that they will admit of nothing for Truth but what is consonant to their formerly receiv'd Opinions looking upon every thing that differs from them or seems contrary unto them as Lies and Error This is as if one looking always through a coloured Glass by which all Bodies would appear to him of the same Colour should imagine and affirm that other Men who look with the naked and single Eye are perfectly mistaken when they say that they see clearly that every Body has its own distinct Colour XVIII Unto these Four Evidences of the Sanctity of A. B. this Fifth ought to be added to wit the wonderful Works that A. B. did and the extraordinary Divine Lights that God communicated to her To reckon up all these we behov'd to narrate her whole Life and to adduce all her Writings which are full of such wonderful Works and Light Therefore let every one that loves the Truth apply to these Writings and which soever he shall be pleas'd to peruse he will by them be sufficiently convinc'd of this matter But that some Instance of this may be given it is to be considered that this ought to be look'd upon as a great Miracle in A. B. that she so generously fought against her corrupt Nature that she wholly subdued it not by her own Strength which could do nothing but Evil but by the Grace of God through which the weakest can do all things This Miracle ought to be more esteemed than raising the Dead giving Sight to the Blind and such like which serve only for this present Life and therefore may be performed by Men who are not Holy But to overcome corrupt Nature is an infallible mark of Holiness for the obtaining of which all other Miracles ought to be done otherwise they avail nothing but on the contrary do much hurt Among the innumerable Divine Lights communicated to Antonia Bourignon this is the chief that she had explain'd the Truths of the Gospel more clearly and efficaciously than any has done hitherto demonstrating that an Obedience to them is absolutely necessary for Salvation and rescuing them from the Glosses and false Expositions by which the Learned have so perverted the Truths of the Gospel that almost every Christian promises Salvation to himself although he do not walk according to these Truths XIX Since then it seems to appear sufficiently from what has been said that A. B. was Holy and in the Love of God it will be now fit to consider the Second Question proposed to wit If she was moved by the Spirit of God to write and to enlighten others For answer to this Question there needs nothing be adduc'd but what has been said as to the First Question For it A. B. was Holy and in the Love of God she would not have committed so great a Sin as to pretend that she was moved to write by the Spirit of God if it was false or if she was not certain that it was most true But that I may answer something in particular to this Second Question it is to be considered how we may be assured that any Writing is endited by God In order to this let us enquire how it appears that the Holy Scriptures were written by Men led by the Spirit of God as all Christians do believe XX. That we may proceed aright in this Enquiry it is to be remarked that God gives unto Men Breath and Life and all Things for in him we live and move and have our Being Nevertheless he has given to all Creatures the Faculty whereby to continue in their Being or to exist For God is Eternal and his Gifts are without Repentance therefore his Works do never perish besides they are endued with a Power of multiplying themselves and producing their like It is true many things perish but these are not the Works of God but Corruption and Vanity brought into the World and yet coming into it by Sin and Lust But besides these Faculties of preserving themselves and producing their like God gave to Man the Liberty of turning himself to God that he might be govern'd and ruled by him or of acting by the Strength already given him without asking new Strength from God If he do so he departs from God the Author of all Light and Good and then such a Man of necessity becomes Miserable and is sunk in Darkness as appear'd in the Fall of Adam and is to be seen daily in those who follow their own Wills that is who act by the Strength once given them and will not ask new Strength from God nor yield up themselves to be govern'd by him But if a Man yield up himself to God and ask help from him in every thing he goes about he will find God ready to help him Even as one in a very close Chamber is in the Day-time immediately enlightned by the Sun how soon he permits the Windows of the Chamber to be opened and the more Windows there are opened he receives the greater Light XXI From what has been said it appears that when we say that the Holy Scripture is endited by God we understand thereby that the Holy Men who committed it to Writing did so wholly deny their own Strength whether innate unto them or acquired by Diligence Learning and Meditation that they willingly acknowledged that thereby they could do no good nor any thing that was acceptable to God but did so entirely yield up themselves to be govern'd by God that they no longer lived to themselves but God did live and operate in them Now that we may be assured that the Holy Scriptures were penned by such Men we must examine what Operation the Holy Scriptures have in our Souls When then we experience that the Thoughts of our Hearts are manifested by them which can be done by none but God who alone knows the Heart and if this Holy Scripture be a powerful Mean for loosing our Hearts from the Love of Temporal things and drawing them to the Love of God and of things Eternal For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any Two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit the Joynts and Marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart overthrowing every Imagination and Thought that exalts it self against God So that an Unbeliever perceiving
and God who had so much comforted her in Prayer all the time that she was despised now withdrew from her and her Prayers were without any fervour Her Conscience often check'd her when she did or said any thing to please the World but she had not the courage to withdraw from it But God had pity on her who had abandon'd him to turn to the Creatures She oft-times felt inward Motions from God and even in the midst of her Divertisements and Dancings she had sometimes secret Reproofs from him piercing her Heart with those inward Words Will you forsake me then for another Will you find a Lover more compleat and more faithful than I am But a little after Company and Divertisements got the Ascendant and even when she was excited by those inward Motions to abandon all she would reply Then I should never have Pleasure It is fit for one to take some Pleasure in their Youth VII Then God seeing that his gentle Motions avail'd nothing took more severe means to recover her and fill'd her Spirit with fearful Apprehensions of Death Judgment and Hell the hearing of the Deaths of others and Sermons about Death and Judgment did before that touch her but very little like the Stories of Foreign Countries and she would not let her self think that she was concern'd in them But when God was pleas'd to open her Eyes and let her see she must Die and appear at the great Judgment then unexpressible Apprehensions seiz'd her and all the Day long when she was alone she would say to her self Poor Creature What will become of thee Thou must die all the things of the World cannot save thee from this fearful Death thou caâ—st not escape it And what wilâ— thou say when that Hour shall come This she often repeated both in her Mind and by Word They with whom she convers'd observing her Sadness endeavour'd to chear and divert her but all in vain For then she had a disgust of all Recreations and earthly Pleasures And when she forc'd her self to take Contentment in any thing she thought it was said to her Heart To what purpose takest thou Pleasure since thou must die For what will this serve thee before God But the sensitive part of her Soul was very displeas'd to see it self thus afflicted and said in its mute Language Thou shalt never be well if thou put not these Fancies out of thy Head but will die very shortly if thou continue in such Apprehensions This made her leave oft for some time But as soon as she came to her self the superiour part said Forget Death as much as you will it shall not forget thee It is a folly to think to free thy self of it by shutting it out of thy Memory It will find thee every where and does not wait till thou be ready but comes at its time unlook'd for and when thou shalt think least of it And if the Idea of it only does so affright yea put thy Life in hazard how will the reality of it make thee afraid when thy Soul shall be in Danger Give place to those Truths without flattering thy self with any Reasons VIII These were the Debates which toss'd her Spirit without ceasing She resolv'd then to quit all the World and prepare for Death and prevent it since it followed her so hard But she found great Difficulty to do it being Young and in the midst of all worldly Advantages so that she might promise to her self as much of worldly Pleasures Honour and Wealth as any of her rank Nevertheless the thoughts of Death had yet greater force when she thought on the future State She said to her self It is very true Mirth is agreeable Pleasures are sweet and Wealth delightful but this lasts but for a little time Death will come and change all and all must be parted with with a lamentable regret and it may be an eternal Punishment for a good of so short continuance So that perceiving clearly this Truth she prayed earnestly to God to give her Grace to think always upon Death and never to let it be out of her Mind for any thing that might befall her which she obtain'd after a long perseverance in this Prayer And to fix it the more upon her Spirit she went oft to the Church-yard where looking on the Bones of the dead she said See my Body what will become of thee Thy own Head and thy own Hands will be very shortly thrown into this Company and she was afraid to look upon them and forc'd her self to approach them being naturally timorous and to handle them saving O miserable Creature Wilt thou have a Horror for thy self Draw near boldly Thou shalt be a Thousand times more vile when the Worms shall eat thee and this will be the greatest Honour that can befal thee to be ranked with these Bones here IX This gave her a great disgust for the Body which she formerly cherish'd and a hatred and severity against her self and after her Sister was married she retir'd from all sort of Company staid alone in her Chamber entered upon a very austere Life Lying hard Sleeping little Fasting much mingling what she did eat with Ashes to mortifie her Taste wearing hair cloath next to her Skin and afflicting her Body and praying and weeping the most part of her time for Grief that she had left the sweet Conversation she had with God to please her self in the Divertisements of the World She visited the Poor and Sick frequented the Churches and Sacraments not knowing by what means she could recover the Favour of God which she had lost through her own Fault She durst scarce sleep in the Night fearing to fall into Hell while asleep and that the Earth would not bear her So terrible were her Apprehensions of the Judgments of God that she durst not shut her Eyes because of her Sins which seem'd to her so great that none had ever committed the like not that she was guilty of any Crime or wicked Deed but because she had forsaken the sweet Conversation that her Soul had with God to please her self with the Divertisements of the World after having received so many Favours from God which deserved the Thanksgiving of her whole Life This appear'd to her so great a Sin that Hell was not sufficient to punish it She continued in those Austerities and Mortification for Seven Years and would have done so still if God had not commanded her when she was Twenty Five Years of Age to leave this and lead an ordinary Life Her Mortifications were not the Effect of a melancholy Humour nor accompanied with it for she was of the most serene and chearful Temper even to her Death But she chastis'd her self with an inward Contentment and Tranquillity out of a Principle of Justice And her Floods of Tears flowing from the Love of God whose Friendship she had lost through her own Fault were attended with a secret and most solid Pleasure
to see her and she urging to pursue her Journey to the Desart he by no means would suffer her but having brought her some Refreshment went to Mons to acquaint the Archbishop of Cambray of her who bid him keep her till he came there this greatly troubled her fearing to be detained and making her Complaint to God seeing he said she should serve him perfectly in the Desart it was told her That the time was not yet come many Societies of Men and Women must follow her thither and that she should re-establish his Gospel Spirit And when she could not comprehend how this could be being an ignorant Child who had never learnt of any what a Gospel Life was and knew none and had no Authority it was said to her Behold these Trees in the Church-Yard they seem dry Wood without Leaves or Fruit or any Appearance nevertheless when the Season comes they shall bring forth Leaves Flowers and Fruit in abundance without any Bodie 's touching them So shall it be of my Work XVIII The Archbishop Vanderburgh came about Three Weeks after and spoke with her and was perswaded that she was guided by the Spirit of God but would not let her go to the Desart but oblig'd her to live a Recluse there in a little House which the Pastour offer'd to make for her in the Church-yard But the same Day her Parents came thither from Lisle to find her and with great Difficulty she was prevail'd with to return with them her Father faithfully promising to the Archbishop to allow her all freedom to serve God in the Perfection she desired without engaging her in worldly Affairs or urging her to Marry the Archbishop being surety he should perform it and if not he would take her into his own Care XIX But after some Months her Father engag'd her again into his Affairs and on divers Occasions spoke to her of Marriage contrary to his Promise which greatly troubled her She beg'd leave to return to the Archbishop which he would not permit She exercis'd her self in visiting the Sick and Poor in frequenting the Churches learn'd the Offices and other vocal Prayers in which she found great Devotion and confest and communicated thrice a Week but she found at length that the Poor were deceitful and not thankful to God but by what they got sinn'd the more She left off visiting them yet gave for God all she could All Creatures became Hindrances to her and she gave her self more to Solitude and Silence and went seldomer to Church finding more Recollection in her Chamber She could not say her Office being still interrupted with inward Conversation She beg'd of God to know if he had forsaken her or if she had become sloathful He said I am Spirit speak to me in Spirit I will operate now in Spirit and in Trtuh Cease and I will do all She resign'd her self wholly to him banishing all Imaginations of her own And she understood more clearly the Inspirations of God XX. The Religious of the several Orders came to her to warn her of her Danger of being deluded by the Devil for want of a Director and each offered their Service She thank'd them and was warn'd by God to apply to her own Pastor and never had any other Confessor She continued in her Retirement and interiour Prayers with great delight The Devil fail'd not to disturb her therein by Spectres and other Noises She was greatly afraid but addressing to God and pursuing her Prayers he said Fear not I am with thee And thus she acquired so much firmness that she fear'd nothing but Sin XXI Being still warned to go from her Father's House and not having obtain'd his leave nor finding any dispos'd to go with her she propos'd to stay till she knew the Place and Persons that were to follow her that she might go seek them tho' to the end of the World It was said to her Seek none but cultivate what shall be delivered and put into your Hands Declare only my Designs It troubled her to declare those Designs out of fear of Vain-glory and conceal'd the Graces of God to her even from her Confessor She pray'd to God that he would deliver her from this Enterprize and choose another she being a simple Girl void of all Force and Authority every way weak He said to her I will be thy All My Power is not limited Give thy Consent She said Wherefore hast thou not made me a Man I would have had more Advantage and Capacity that thou mightest serve thy self of me He answered I will serve my self of the vilest Matter to confound the Pride of Men. I will give thee all that thou shalt need be faithful to me XXII Resolving then to go tell the Archbishop what the Will of God was after she had staid for a Year and a half with her Parents she begg'd leave of her Father on her Knees and his Blessing telling him that God had call'd her out of the World Her Confessor and the Prior of the Capuchins her Father 's intimate Friend soliciting him to grant it but he would not do it threatning his Malediction if she should go The Prior and Pastor told him that his Malediction could not reach her being in the Grace of God and they desir'd her to go freely whither God call'd her XXIII She came to the Archbishop at Mons and declar'd to him that God had tauâ—ht her to lead a Gospel Life and to live as the first Christians disengag'd from all earthly things from all Creatures and from the Love of her self and that many would follow her therein and begg'd Permission to take a Place in the Country in his Diocess to begin it He ask'd what she meant by a Life disengag'd from all earthly Goods We cannot live upon nothing She said We will labour the Ground and have our Necessaries from the Fields without asking Money of those who would come thither Poor and Rich shall be alike welcome We aiming at no Commodity on Earth but pure Necessaries and to please God He said she propos'd great things and he would think on it and caus'd to lodge her in a House of Devout Maids of Notre Dame which was better regulated than the Cloisters XXIV Two Days thereafter he sent Pere du Bois Superiour of the Oratory at Maubeuge to examine her who having heard her Propositions admir'd them and was perswaded she was taught of God Four Maids of the House observing her Behaviour and Retiredness that she staid alone in her Chamber had no Bed sought no Ease nor Pleasure eat but once a Day at Night and that moâ—tly Bread and Water desired earnestly to speak with her and were so perswaded of her being led by the Holy Spirit that they resolv'd to follow her wherever she should 〈◊〉 XXV The â—â—suits being the Directors of that House set themselves to counteract her tho' they knâ—w not her Design they bid the Maids
XLVII She retir'd to Gaunt and from thence to Mechlin and form'd a Process before the King's Council at Brusselâ— against the Magistrates at Lisle for the Recovery of the Hospital and tho' it did appear most evidently that she was Innocent and that they had acted against her with inexcusable Violence yet they would not venture to give Sentence for her against a Party so Powerful and far more Considerable before Men than was the Innocence of a simple private Maid So the Process remains undecided to this Day and she could no longer abide in Safety in Lisle unless in secret XLVIII She staid Four Years in Flanders at Gaunt and Mechlin after she had left the Hospital and many well-dispos'd Persons made Acquaintance with her The first she spoke with at Mechlin was one Mr. Coriathe an Archdeacon who became afterwards Vicar General At his Request she wrote the first Treatise of her Life call'd La Parole de Dieu She wrote to him also many Letters which are printed in the First and Second Parts of La lum nèe en tenebr She had also there in the number of her Friends a Learned and Pious Divine M. Peter Noel Licentiate in Divinity Priest and Canon who had been Secretary of the Famous Cornelius Jansenius Bishop of Ypres This Man being of the Sentiments of Augustin engag'd her in Conferences concerning Grace where she unravell'd in an admirable manner all the Difficulties which have hitherto been inexplicable by Mens Spirits This gave occasion to her writing the Treatise call'd Academie des Sâ—avans Theologiens because of the great Contests which were then between the Jansenists and Molinists concerning Grace and the great Noise that was made about the Doctrine of the Casuists concerning Attrition Contrition Probability and their Morals wherein her Friends being all Jansenists discours'd to her often of the Excess of their Adversaries which she could hardly believe till she went and heard some of their Preachers who vented sometimes their sine Morality She was touch'd with Compassion for the Blind that were led and with Indignation at the Blind Leaders It pitied her to see the general Abuse among the Churchmen the Religious and the People who rested on Trifles and a meer Outside which the Blindness of some Guides recommended as a sure way to Salvation tho' they never thought of being purified from their inward and secret Sins nor of returning to the Love of God In this Treatise all these things are handled with great Penetration Clearness and Solidity Monsieur Noel was perswaded that she was full of the Holy Spirit but on the other hand it troubled him to see that the Holy Fathers had not still the same Light with her in Theological Matters or as to divers Places of the Holy Scripture She wrote to him several Letters on this and other Subjects which are in La Lum neé en tenebres Another of her Acquaintances was M. Gillemans Canon and Archpriest of Gaunt who one Day asking her Opinion of the Doctrine of the Casuists that one might be saved by Attrition without Contrition and telling her he had written a great Volume against the Jesuits upon that Subject she told him her Thoughts and that she had lately put them into Writing After having oft solicited for this Paper he obtain'd a sight of it for some Days which he read with such Admiration that when he return'd it he said You have said more things and more convinciâ—g on this Subject in these Three Leaves than I have done in all my Book which has cost me so much Time Labour and Expences and therefore I condemn my Book never to see the Light This Writing is the Fifth Chapter of the First Part of Academie des Sçavans Theologiens She return'd to Lisle May 1664. where she staid privately for some Months about her Affairs for the most part in the House of her Pastor Monsieur Lamberti where she wrote the Explication of the 24th and 25th Chapters of St. Matthew which are in La Lum nec en tenebres To him she wrote many Letters after her first Return to Lisle in the 23d and 24th Years of her Age which was the first of all her Writings and it is call'd L'Appel de Dieu le Rufus des Hommes Part I. XLIX But the most faithful and constant Friend she had in Flanders was M. Christian de Cort Pastor of the chief Church at Mechlin and Superiour of the Fathers of The Oratory there A Man full of Zeal for God and Charity for his Neighbour and void of all Self-seeking From the first time that A. B. spoke to him he was so touch'd enlightn'd and enflam'd by God that immediately he resolv'd absolutely to follow Jesus Christ even to Death in the abandoning all Honour Pleasures and Wealth of this World which he promis'd a little after to A. B. and perform'd with an inviolable Fidelity He no sooner discovered that God had hid in her the Treasures of his Divine Wisdom than he took all Occasions to be instructed by her and when alone set down in Writing the Summ of what had past in their Conversation but briefly and without order He acquainted her with his Resolution to publish this to the World thinking himself oblig'd in Conscience to undeceive others as by those Divine Truths he was undeceiv'd himself But when she had seen his Papers and read a little of them she told him they would be useful for himself but not for others because they often answer'd the Thoughts of his own Mind which no Body perceived but himself and being solicited by him to compose this Work anew returning him his Papers she her self wrote by way of Conference the things which God brought into her Memory in the same manner as they are now publish'd in the Three Parts Of the Light of the World L. In September 1667. she went for Holland at the Solicitation of M. de Cort in order to the printing of this Book her Friends having assur'd her that she would not be permitted to do it in Brabant and she propos'd to retire from thence to the Isle of Noordstrand where she had bought a Farm from M. de Cort the Director of it She had Debates with her self before she could resolve to go to Holland having never been in any Place without the Dependance of the Church of Rome and being made believe that all the Hereticks as they call'd them were monstrous and infectious But having recommended this Affair to God she was told That these common Differences of Religion do not bring Salvation but the Love of God only and Vertue which we ought to love in all Persons who aspire to it without regarding what outward Religion they profess that she ought to do Good to all and to communicate to all the Light of the Divine Truth of what Religion soever they be This wrought in her Soul such a perfect Impartiality that she never afterwards enquired of what Religion one was provided
render thee such and such a Worship and Service but it is much against my Will they constrain me to it and I would not do it were it not to avoid barbarous Usage and to gain some Money Pleasures and Honours This is the Disposition of Heart to which those detestable Murtherers of Conscience and Religion do reduce Men and which they call the Conversion of Hereticks and the Compel them to come in of the Parable Whereas that Constraint of the Gospel is nothing but the Declartion of God's Judgments upon good Men who would needs stay in the World and that these shall partake of its Plagues and Scourges which God will pour out on all the Earth XLII A. B. caused 'em to hire a great Lodging for those Persons in the Town of Susum resolving to leave Sleswick to stay with them to see if they were dispos'd to embrace a truly Christian Life She came thither in July 1672. but instead of finding Persons disposed to embrace a Gospel Life she was astonished to see a Company of People who seem'd to be come as to a Country Fair to eat drink do nothing to observe no Rules nor good Manners nor Discretion tâ— seek every one their own their Ease and what accommodated them best the best things their Fancy and their own Will each desired to be best treated most sparâ—d most honoured and which was worst none would unlearn this soft LIfe nor deny themselves to embrace another She soon saw that this would not agree with the Designs and Will of God and after some trial of them she rid her self of them by degrees all of them engaging in the World the Flesh and earthly Things more than ever and the most part of them became her Enemies and Slanderers where ever they went On this Occasion she wrote many Letters where she makes appear the Qualities and Dispositions which one must have to become a True Christian and the Indispositions which render Persons uncapable of this they make up the Book call'd The Stones of the New Jerusalem She wrote also upon the same Occasion The Blindness of Men now-a-days which contains the History of these Frieslanders and refutes the Errors to which the most part of the Mennonists or Anabaptists are subject as these were About this time also she wrote for her Friends the First Part of the Treatise of Solid Vertue where she lays down the Grounds of the Apprenticeship of a Christian Life of the Imitation of Jesus Christ of Vertue and of the Conflict we must undertake against all the Insults of the Devil She design'd to cause her Books to be printed in her own House and therefore brought from Holland compleat Furniture for a Printing-Office But one little Essay gave her Enemies Occasion to persecute her to a high Degree LXIII A Young Man of the Reformed Church of Altena near Hamburg being ill treated by his Pastors and forbid the Lord's Supper for reading and expressing his Esteem of some of her Writings took occasion to search for her and came to Husum which so vext these Gentlemen that under the Name of the Visiter of their Sick they publish'd Two Treatises in High Dutch against her and put them in the Gazettes accusing her both of Heresie and of an evil Life She perceiving that the Devil design'd to pre-occupy Men against the Truth by the Defamation of her Person in a Country where she was not known and in a Tongue which she did not understand writes a Book which she causes to be translated and printed in her own House in High Dutch under the Title of The Testimony of Truth where she makes appear the Injustice of the Calumnies and Accusations and that the true Cause why they persecuted her was that no Body would heâ—r the Truth which reproves and disturbs them in the â—â—joyment of their Pleasures Honours and Ambition wherein the Churchmen and Pastors are as much or more engaged than the rest of Men and shews that she has no Aim but to lead Persons to Jesus Christ not to her self nor to any Sect new or old To this she joins a Collection of authentick Attestations of Persons who knew her in her native Country many of them being upon Oath before Judges and of those who were with her that she might stop all the Ways by which they would defame her and render in her Person the Truth of God hateful and contemptible LXIV This made a terrible Alarm It was not written against the Lutheran Pastours yet those of Holstein took it to them M. Ouve of Flesburg and Burchardus of Sleswick animate the rest by their Writings Preachings and Discourses they Stir up the People against her who would have massacred her if they had found her in the Streets they stir up the Judges and Magistrates impute to her a thousand horrible Crimes worthy of Death as Blasphemy the Overturning of Christianity and of all States both Civil and Ecclesiastick they charge her with a thousand Heresies tell that such and such Hereticks were burnt alive and such after their Death and she was worse than them all Some among them would not dip their Hands iâ— innocent Blood particularly M. Reinboth Superintendant and Pastour of Duc a Man of Honesty and Conscience who would let none of the Pastours under his Care vent their Spleen against her while he liv'd but Dr. Nemo who succeeded him was not so moderate LXV The Pastours of Susum and Sleswick obtain'd of the Court and Magistrates a Sentence to forbid her Printing-Office and then an Order to take Informations concerning her and hers at Husum but they could find nothing but that they were good People and lived a good just chast and exemplary Life Yet they continued their Pursuits She retired out of the Jurisdiction of the Duke of Holstein to Flensbourg till the Cloud were over She was but few Days there tho' in the greatest Privacy when the Pastours were advertised and it being at Christmas when the People shew more Zeal and Devotion than ordinary and the Pastours preach oftner all their Sermons tended to inspire the People with a Spirit of Rage and Horrour against this Woman so that the Mob in their Fit of Zeal would have thought it great Service to God to have â—orn in Pieces such a Person if they could have found her So she returned to Sleswick the 5th of January 1674. The next Day the Pastours came to have found her and the Magistrates came and broke up her Coffers examining the Widow that came with her at their Town-House and removing her out of Town with a Rabble Upon which A. B. wrote a Letter to them complaining of their Injustice forbidding her Friend to give it till he was about to go out Town How soon they read it they put him in Irons in a Dungeon to live on Bread and Water for five Weeks making him pay Two Crowns a Week for his Treatment which she behoved to send else he must perish in
that you shall re-establish his gospel-Gospel-Spirit upon Earth among Men and Women that a great Number shall follow you to the Desart and out of the Hurry of the World and such like Promises which not being yet fulfilled it follows you cannot die yet since the Work for which God raised you up is not yet done and God will not forsake his Work She answer'd God will not give over his Work neither will he fail in his Promise but I have already seen enough that may save the Truth of his Promise tho' I die I have seen the Accomplishment of it in part by the first Fruits tho' not so perfectly God has already given me several Children I have some of them who are gone to him I have seen some of them follow me in Retiring from the World and hear me with all their Heart and that of all sorts tho' they have neither been in so great Numbers nor so perfect Nevertheless this is enough to have seen by the first Fruits the Truth of the Promises of God which on his Part he never fails to fulfil entirely But when Men do not correspond thereto God leaves them retakes from them his Gifts and seeks out other Subjects fitter to receive the Accomplishment of what he promises Whereas Men at present do render themselves unworthy of it and will not acknowledge nor receive the remarkable Graces that God offers them I greatly fear lest God withdraw his Gifts from them and turn himself to others so I cannot assure you that I shall not die shortly On the contrary when I consider the Ingratitude and Vnthankfulness which Men shew for the Favours of God I doubt if God will not shortly take me out of the World But added she suppose God withdraw me what is your Concern with my Person You ought not for this to leave off to seek God to cleave to him to do the best that is possible for you to enjoy his Spirit and then you shall have no more need of my Person for there is nothing in me to be esteemed nor sought after nor followed but the Spirit that guides me LXXVI So long as her Enemies knew not that she was at Hamburgh she liv'd peaceably enough but it coming at last to the Ears of the Lutheran Pastors they were the more affected with it that one or two of their Hearers relish'd the Truth of her Writings which put them into an extream Jealousie the predominant Passion of Churchmen They set Spies on her Friends who went to see her and having thereby found her Lodging and being certainly inform'd of her being there they assemble in Consistory and conclude to depute two of their number to Morrow Morning to represent this to the Magistrates that they might preserve the City and Religion from being infected with so great an Evil. A. B. was advertised of this and convey'd about Ten a Clock at Night to a little Garret beside a poor Man having sent her Manuscripts before her On the Morrow the Council sent four armed Sergeants to bring her to the Town-House but did not find her She staid fifteen Days in this little Garret from whence she wrote Letters to encourage her Friends But her Enemies persisting in their search for her she resolved to go to Friesland to a Baron who had invited her thither So she parted from Hamburg the 26th of June 1677. LXXVII After several Troubles in her Journey she came at last to the Lordship of Lutzburgh in East-Friesland and being well received by the Lord of the Place sent for her Friends to Sleswick who had endured much from the Rage of the People and Pastors there Reflecting on the Place where she was she judged it proper to live in according to the Designs of God who had already said to her The Perfection that I desire is to have your Heart entirely looss'd from all the Goods of the World 2dly From all the Creatures 3dly From the Love of ones self and to desire nothing but God alone To live in a forgetfulness of all the World To shut up your selves in some Place apart To offer and give up your selves entirely unto God Not to aim at any good things upon Earth To live all in common on the same Revenue and the same Entertainment And that without any other Engagement or Bond but the Love of God and without any other Rule but the Holy Gospel To receive all Souls who are fit and dispos'd for it without regarding whether they have temporal Means or not and this after the same Manner with the Christians of the Primitive Church God had also said unto her formerly upon Occasion of this Petition which she often put up unto him Lord what wilt thou have me to do Separate your selves entirely from Men. Keep silence Possess nothing in Property the Earth is sufficient to maintain your Life Do not entertain your Body but with its own Labour Never give it any thing but its Necessity Let nothing be in the Lodging but that the use of which is necessary Continue always in Simplicity and Poverty of Spirit Have no Priests but for necessity Let nothing be divided among you but let all be common without Preference Manure the Ground Be united as I am with my Father Let it be your only care to loosen Souls from the Earth I will take care of the rest LXXVIII She accepted the Care of a Hospital with which the Baron was charg'd by his Ancestors for a Retreat to Stran ers and the Persecuted and to her great Satisfaction she was freed of this Charge by a Letter from the Baron after having born it about two Years with Trouble and without any Fruit for the Glory of God There came thither some Strangers from Holland Hamburgh and elsewhere to lead as they said a Christian Life with her but really they gave her only much Trouble by bringing Dispositions quite contrary to that Design So they return'd whither they pleas'd While she and hers enjoy'd any Health they applied themselves to the care of Houshold Affairs to a Country Life to Husbandry the feeding of Beasts she sometimes to write and others to translate her Writings or put them in a Condition of being printed She was visited by many Persons even of Quality who came more than once and from several Places to converse with her She wrote here the Letter which makes the Body of the First Part of The Renovation of the Gospel Spirit and the Introduction that is prefixt to it She finish'd there the Second Part which she had began formerly and began the Third which is not finish'd she being employ'd in it when the last Persecutions and Death came upon her she made ready also the best part of her Manuscripts for the Press LXXIX She had there two long Sicknesses the first a continued Fever for some Months and the other a violent Quartan Ague which lasted for sixteen or eighteen Months When she was at the worst two of
her best Friends who were with her fell sick also unto Death but God upheld them they were all three expos'd to the Mercy of some wicked Servants who had horrible Projects against them if God by the Warnings he gave her and by the Arrival of some Friends from Amsterdam had not prevented it LXXX Those Servants began by robbing all that was in the Lodging which they confest they consum'd in their nightly Sabbaths After this they resolved in their Sabbaths at the Solicitation of the Devil to murther her by Night and her two Friends that was then sick They declar'd they had been prest to it by some who had promis'd them a Thousand Crowns that for six Days they were watching an Occasion and for three Nights came to the Door of the Apartment where she was arm'd with Swords and Hatchets to execute the Design That they gave it over one of the Nights because they could not agree whether to begin at her or her two Friends and the two other Nights they found the Door shut which they had left open and thereafter some Friends came they confest they had tried often before to poyson her with Diabolical Powders amongst her Meat and that of her Friends not doubting but that might be the cause of their continual Maladies LXXXI After this came the last Persecution that befel her of which the Author of the Continuation of her Life thinks fit to give only a general Account without mentioning the Particulars hoping that God may give Repentance to some of those who had a hand in it The Occasion was this She had caused to be brought from Holland of the Effects that belong'd to her Friends to the Value of many thousands which were lent in this Country under her Name thinking it may be that this would serve to make them protect her that they might the longer enjoy these Advantages and she could not credit the Suggestions made to her that perhaps they would endeavour to pick a Quarrel with her that they might have a Pretext to keep her Goods after they had treated her ill and chas'd her away This seem'd the quietest Time she had yet enjoyed the Fever had left her tho' Weakness confined her for the most part to her Bed and there was nothing but Assurances of Friendship but underhand it was quite another thing Quid non mortalia pectora cogis Auri sacra fames LXXXII She had at Hambourg some Enemies who hated her mortally they prompt a Child of eight or nine Years of Age to utter many Falshoods against her and her Friends because he had staid with them they made him say he had been press'd by severe Chastisements to declare certain things to the Disadvantage of some Which were pure Falshoods invented because of six stripes with a Wand which his Master gave him for some little Faults without the knowledge of A. B. and that many Weeks before the pretended Fact of the rigorous Treatment which they suggested to him to complain of However how soon this is heard of in East-Friesland it was enough to turn all into a Civil or Capital Crime into Criminal Tortures inflicted privately by Order of that Maid against the Right of Authority for which her Person and Goods ought to be arrested And Letters were sent to the Magistrates of Hamburg to cause the Child to depone judicially and send the Act to them that the Crime might not go unpunish'd and to other three to abet this and that two of them would come straight to East-Friesland and insist against her demanding to seize her Person and arrest her Goods assuring them of Success The Magistrates judged it unworthy of their Notice but a Lutheran Priest took the Deposition by Writing and in all the eight Articles it contained there was not one thing against A. B. but a Friend of hers whose Reputation and Probity suffic'd to preserve him from Suspicion of any base thing When she heard of all she said Ah this was unhappily lent Silver Then said I find I must absolutely leave this Place quickly And tho' she knew not where to retire yet she took Courage and God gave her suddenly Strength to walk which she had lost for more than a Year LXXXIII She parted from thence secretly into Franeker in West-Friesland which is under the jurisdiction of the States-General taking one Friend along with her there she turn'd in into a House of one of her Acquaintance sending her Friend to Amsterdam that he hiring a Lodging there she might afterwards retire to it So she was resolved to pass the Winter there but the Inconveniency of the Lodging brought such an Alteration on her Body that her Fever return'd with greater Violence with a Flux and a continual Vomiting October 8th St. Vet. her Malady encreas'd daily She prepar'd to die spoke to those of the Lodging about her Burial That they should cause her Body to interr'd in the most mean and simple manner as if she had been a simple Maid-Servant and that quickly and without noise She spoke many things addressing her self to God but those of the House not understanding French could give small Account of it Those of the Lodging being taken up about their Affairs after they had waited on her for some Days committed her to the care of two old Women who had no regard for her She became every Day weaker and her Disease encreas'd so that the 20th of Octâ—ber St. Vet. Anno. 1680. her Soul was separated from her earthly Tabernacle having lived 64 Years 9 Months and 14 Days LXXXV 1. Antonia Bourignon was of a middle Stature and Slender her Countenance was agreeable her Complexion brown her Forehead without Wrinkles her Looks full of Ingenuity her Mien her Speech her Address without Affectation and agreeable She had a lively Spirit a quick Ear a strong Sight a good Memory a clear Judgment 2. Tho' she was of a healthful Body and a cheerful Mind of an agreeable Temper and lively Spirit had abundance of temporal Goods and all the Advantages that could be desired to lead a pleasant and honourable Life in the World yet in the flower of her Age she despised all these to follow Jesus Christ in a Life of Poverty Contempt and Trouble and persevered in it till Death maugre all the Scorn Oppositions Hardships and Discouragements she met with 3. In all things she studied to be poor in Spirit and still chose for her self the meanest and the least things when she might have had the best and in the greatest Abundance Her Diet was sober without Abundance or Delicacies She made no difference of Meats except that she shunn'd those which were too dear or which were more for gratifying the Palate than for necessary Nourishment She was modest in Apparel without affecting Singularity accommodating her self to the Custom of the Place where she was only she took care to imitate the Lowliness of Jesus Christ and therefore never chose the finest
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
without deriving Vain glory from them This befals all those who live still in the Sentiments of corrupt Nature But I am says she by the Grace of God arrived at that State that the Praises and Reproaches of Men are all one to me and I make no more reckoning of the one than of the other because of the small Esteem I have of the Judgment of Men who often praise that which they ought to despise and despise that which they ought truly to esteem If says she M de Cort has said in his Preface that I have more Light than all the Authors that he had ever read this does not infer that he would place me above the Prophets Apostles or Jesus Christ himself as you alledge but he would only declare that he received more Light by my Discourses than by reading of all the Authors he had ever seen yea even the Scripture it self since it is obscure in some places whereas our daily Conferences gave him more Clearness and my Practice made him penetrate the true Sence of the Scriptures in which he had read many things whereof he understood nothing at all If the Author had not been hasty to condemn her but had calmly heard and considered what she had to say for her self he would not perhaps have past so hard a Censure but would have been convinc'd that the most humble may speak well of themselves and suffer others to do so too and that without the least Tincture of Pride or Vain-glory. If we would first set our selves to cast out the Beam out of our own Eye we should then see clearly to take the Beam out of anothers VI. The Second Accusation that she overturn'd Priesthood and the Ordinances is evinced to be as palpable a Mistake as the former in the Second Part Of the Apology pag. 154 155 c. It was no fair dealing in the Author to pick out some few Words of a Passage and not relate the whole as it is in p. 54. of the First Part of the Light of the World And whereas you ask says she whether all these outward Devotions which are now in use in Christendom are good and saving I doubt it very much for Christ taught no such Varieties of Devotions as we see now adays but he taught solid inward Vertues as Faith Hope and Charity these are the Instructions of Jesus Christ but they who are at present call'd Churchmen teach no other thing but to resort to Churches to frequent Sacraments and to say a great many vocal Prayers by rote and number and with these outward things they make them believe that they are True Christians which cannot be since Christianity consists in an inward spiritual Life for it is Divine and not Humane Which Words might have born a more favourable Construction than the overturning of all Priesthood and the Ordinances of the Gospel they being truly levelled against the Corruptions of the Ordinances and might have been so understood especially if the Author had considered that A. B. had never yet been without the Bounds of the Roman Communion whose Churchmen all Protestants do accuse of laying the Stress of Religion too much upon the Varieties of their outward Devotions and Ceremonies And when it is told that A. B. has written an express Apology for Pastors the Pastoral Office and the Publick Ordinances it is I must say a singular way of answering to reply that those Enthusiasts are all Contradictions to themselves and opposite to one another as if one could not blame the Abuses of the Priesthood and outward Devotions and yet stand up for the Office of Pastors and the Ministry without a Contradiction Sure the Holy Scripture is a good President which establisheth these and yet condemns the Abuses of them in a thousand Places calling the Pastors Deceivers Dumb Dogs Hirelings Hypocrites Thieves Wolves and many other Names of this nature God abhors his own Institutions when corrupted Church-men have their Corruption as well as others and to flatter them in them is but to sow Pillows to their Arm-holes When the Pastoral Office is turn'd into a Trade whereby Men chiefly propose to get a Living and Reputation in the World when the great End of it is despised and the Duties of it done superficially in order to these other Ends This is a Priestcraft that should be decried and they who have the greatest love to Christianity will be most forward to do it and it is in this Respect only that A. B. condemns the Abuses of the Priesthood and the outward Ordinances and not the Function and the Offices themselves VII The Author's Third Point of her Vncharitableness and damning all the World is cleared in the Apology A. B. declares that God would have all Men to be saved and that no Body can be saved without being regenerated into the Spirit of Jesus Christ the Spirit of Charity Humility and Poverty and without leading his Life and that in the mean time all generally have strayâ—d out of the Paths of his Life and are Strangers to his Spirit If this be a certain Truth then to cry aloud and give warning of this is an Act of the greatest Charity If mortal and pestilential Diseases had overspread the whole Earth and the Contagion were universally derived from Parents upon the Children and the most part were insensible of their Disease and could hardly be perswaded that they were sick if notwithstanding it should please God to raise up a skilful and infallible Physician who had provided certain and undoubted Remedies taken them first himself and left plain Directions how to use them and great numbers at first by following his Rules and Example had fully recovered their Health If yet in process of Time the generality of Men few or none excepted left off to follow the Precepts would not be confined to such strict Rules of Physick as to Air Diet Company Self-will c. as if they were all contagious and thought the Physician 's Rules and Example unpracticable but yet made a Fashion of honouring him and proceeded so far as to restrain the grossest outward Eruptions which would make them loathsome to their Neighbours tho inwardly they still laboured under mortal Diseases and could hardly be convinced of it Would it be thought want of Charity in any to give loud Warning of this to the World If any had recovered or were upon the recovering Hand would they think themselves greatly injured by any who should say that now there were none in Health and they did not see how any could recover after the manner the lived now They would rather think it might well be said so the Number being so few that they might be called none at all and this might perhaps excite and awaken some of those who remained still insensible of their State to take the true Measures for their Recovery That this is a true Figure of the Spiritual State of the World at present is but too evident
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
and not him but her the last and highest Expression of God's Love to Mankind And that all her Words and Writings are Sacred as Scripture it self and ought to have the same Authority For these and such like Expressions he should have given us his Vouchers for the Places cited by him import no such thing but we are hopeful no impartial Reader will believe the Doctor in these upon his own bare Credit and Authority after the Sample he has given of his way of writing Narratives 5. It is against natural Equity as well as Christian Charity to draw hateful Consequences from or put Sences upon the Sayings and Writings of others which may load them with Reproach and Hatred Which the Sayings do not necessarily infer but are capable of a more benign Interpretation which are against their known Principles and openly and sincerely disclaimed by them But such is the Doctor 's way The Persons whom he traduces having a deep Sence of the Divine Truths of God and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ contain'd in the Writings and shining forth in the Life and Spirit of A. B. were perswaded that all who would peruse them with sincerity and simplicity of Heart would find great Profit to their Souls and therefore they recommended them with much concern to others but were far from intending to affirm those things to which the Doctor perverts their Words or the odious Consequences which he widely draws from them As that A. B. is the greatest that ever was born of a Woman above all the ancient Patriarchs to be preferred to Moses and the Prophets to John the Baptist and the Apostles and at least ought to be honoured equally with Jesus Christ who is said to be God Blessed for ever that she was as much without Sin as he and her Body of a better Frame That it is a clear Consequence from what they say That she must either have always been personally united to the Deity and so to be esteemed God-Woman or else that her Body and humane Nature were not real but a meer Phantome by which God was pleased to declare his Will to Man That all her Words and Writings are of the same Authority with the Sacred Scriptures That there ought to be a Commemoration of her in the publick Liturgies as well as of our Lord Jesus Christ and instead of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ now we should say the God of A. B. and the Spirit that spoke by her The Persons cited by the Doctor do abhor such Consequences their Words compared with the rest of their Writings will not bear them And in the Sence he puts on them they disclaim them as none of theirs Every Body can best explain their own Sense and Meaning and what is apt to be misunderstood in one Place Equity requires that we interpret it by another where a Man does more distinctly express and explain his Mind in relation to that very thing The Doctor knows how M. Poiret vindicates himself in his Answer to M. Juricu's Critique of him M. Jurieu says he is offended that I have an Esteem for A. B. tho' I have less Attachment to her than he has to Calvin and many of his Hearers have to him I have never regarded through all but the Wisdom and Truth of God and it was always indifferent to me by what means God would make it known to me by a Man or a Woman by one Learned or Unlearned by a Catholick a Calvinist a Lutheran c. I will approach to it not because of the Organ that God makes use of but because of the Truth that he communicates thereby It would be ridiculous to insult over a Person of Sense who goes to a Fountain as if he went thither out of Love to the Wooden Pipe Yet as to me this is the admirable Procedure of M. Juriâ—u c. Thus M. Poiret clears himself in his Answer to M. Jurieu and if the Doctor will accept of it I shall give him his Vindication of himself in a Letter to a Friend upon Occasion of the Doctor 's First Narrative As saith he I never recommended Mrs. A. B. for any oâ—her Reason but because she proposes the Doctrine of Jesus Christ with all Clearness and Purity and draws Souls to none but to him so it is against Truth and Equity what the Narrator says of me in Opposition to St. Paul who desired to know nothing but Jesus Christ Crucified that I it seemed desired to know nothing but M. A. B. To recommend an INstrument that leads to none but Jesus Christ is that to recommend this Instrument in Opposition to Christ or to him who recommends none but Christ By this Reasoning neither Saint 〈◊〉 nor any other ought to be recommended Beâ—â—â— I have published many Books wherein I have not 〈…〉 one Word of her as usually I do not speak of 〈…〉 any unless they speak of her to me first and 〈…〉 I gave of her were extorted by the 〈…〉 Slanders and Persecutions of her Adversaries 〈…〉 was very far from exalting her above Jesus 〈…〉 as he would insinuate against the Truth but sincâ— I saw that good Souls might be deprived of that sâ—ving Profit which they would reap from her Writings if they were diverted from them by the Evil Impressions of Defamers I only aimed simply to bring them to an even Ballance by this Consideration that there are other Persons convinced that she M. A. B. was quite another Person than she is represented to have been by her Defamers who never conversed with her â—â—ver knew her and whose Character of her while they decry one who had no other Design but to recommend the Practice of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is contrary to Righteousness and Charity Whereas the recommending of such Persons and the interpreting Candidly all they say is by St. Paul ascribed to Charity And as for any Personal Attachment to Mrs. A. B. I am so free from it as I have already publickly declared That if the Universal Defamation of her might serve to advance the Glory of God and the Salvation of Men I should be well pleas'd that she were calumniated every where without Reply Thus for M. Poiret XXI After the Doctor has patch'd up her Character and given his Comment upon it he is at great pains Artticle XII to prove that which no Body denies viz. That we ought not to receive A. B. as so highly dignified of God and her Scheme of Religion and System of Opinions as divine and absolutely necessary to be followed upon the bare Authority and Testimony of those Men whom he had formerly quoted For as to the embracing her System of Opinions as absolutely necessary they do not require any such thing A. B. her self does expresly declare That she does not require any to believe the Truths she writes because she says they are revealed to her by the Spirit of God but to examine if they be not the Truths
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
excuses himself that he offers to judge and censure her Actions If he satisfie himself I shall excuse him but can find no excuse for his Misrepresentations and giving these as the greatest Proofs of Sanctity adduced by her Friends which neither she nor they reckon to be such viz. Affected Solitude and Retirement Celibacy Fastings Watchings Humiliations wearing of Sackcloth a contempt of the common Ornaments of her Sex with such like Austerities and great Raptures and Extasies in Devotion and declaring that he perceives no singular Instance of Sanctity mention'd by them beside those For it was easie to observe from the Accounts given of her that she lived as one constantly travelling towards Eternity and as such studied in all things to conform her Life to that of Jesus Christ I shall not here recount the many Instances of this which aâ—e to be seen in the First Part of the Apology and in the Character given of her in the end of the Apology but shall refer the Doctor to the Places cited on the Margent in which Places he will see some Instances of true Sanctity which he did not think fit to notice how observable soever they be in her own Writings and in the Accounts that are given of her by those who knew her in her Youth and Old Age and in all the Stages of her Life in the Temoign de la Verite and particularly in that by Mr. Franken Merchant in Amsterdam In the Eighteenth Article he speaks as if A. B. and others in comparing her Life with that of Jesus Christ thought that there were an Equality without giving any Evidence for it the thing is utterly false both she and they affirm only that she was a Follower of Jesus Christ she makes the Essence of Christianity to consist in the Imitation of Jesus Christ and in all her Writings lays before us his Life and Spirit for our Imitation in a way more divine and forcible than the general way of sermonizing And if her Vertues were truly Transcripts of the Life of Jesus it is very Just that they be represented to the World as such that so it may appear that it is the Devil and our corrupt Nature only that makes us believe that he is not imitable and that by such an Instance we may be stirred up to be true Followers of Jesus Christ In the next Article he hath a long Discourse upon Solitude Because he says it is recommended as a special Act of Sanctity by the Example and Sentiments of A. B. and because it has been much debated by Heathens and Christians by Ancients and Modern yet few says he have offered a just Decision of the Matter I was in good Hopes this should have been done by him yet at last he will not determine which of the States the Active or the Contemplative is fittest but then he thinks A mixt State the happiest which is plainly every Bodies State and gives his Reasons for it and corrects a vulgar Error concerning the Clergy as if they all ought to be Men of Study and Retirement which he says is a great Mistake since they are to shew the Possibility of the Divine Laws by their Practice and he who can hear himself prais'd without Vanity and accused without Wrath can accept of good things when they are offered without a brutal Joy and yet never be out of Humour when are they wanting Such a one prosecutes the End of his Calling better and his Conversation does more good c. A. B. considers and determines this Matter upon other Principles and by another Spirit It is not which of the States makes a Man a Drone or a Drudge in which a Man may enjoy himself best or do most good acquire Knowledge and Experience give himself to Study or to Business Which are the Measures by which the Doctor determines But she says we are all travelling to Eternity and our great Business both as Men and Christians is to give our whole Love to God and to keep our selves unspotted from the World that every one is obliged sincerely to examine their own Hearts and Consciences and whatever they find to be a Hindrance to the Love of God by all means to avoid it and whatever they find to be to them a necessary Help to it to embrace it that the Corruptions abounding in the World make it very hard for some to converse with it and not become Partakers of their Sin that many are so weak or so easie to be surprized by the Temptations it offers that they find it for their Safety as much as they can to avoid them by Solitude and Retirement that Babylon is presently over all and God calls to all his Children to come out of her least they be Partakers of her Sins and so of her Plagues also That nevertheless God has different Ways of bringing Souls unto himself and therefore what Method one follows and finds for his Eternal good he is not to impose upon others nor are others to despise him XXIII In the 20th Article the Doctor brings as he thinks certain Proofs that she had no Sactnity 1. That till the 18th Year of her Age she ran into a vain and light Conversation by which she lost her Conversation with God where in his Judgement he shews a flat Contradiction in the Preface to the English Reader of the Light of the World because a few Lines before he had affirmed this he had said that from her Childhood she had inward Conversation with God as if any could lose a thing they never had or never lose it because they had it from their Childhood However this he thinks proves That she could not be anointed by the Spirit of God to declare his Will for if it had been so it is no ways likely he would have left her so soon to her self or suffered her to be corrupted whom he had appointed to be so great a Light especially when that which tempted her was but the Censures and Misconstructions of other Men What could not the Spirit of God break through this Temptation Was her Grace too weak to resist it Must so Holy a Person do Evil merely to pass for a Wit The Doctor reasons upon other Principles different from those of the rest of Mankind when he comes to speak of A. B. Were not David and Solomon separated from the Womb Did not their Graces and Sanctity appear early Did they not fall into grievous Sins Is this a Proof that God did not anoint them to declare his Will Could not the Spirit of God break through their Temptations c. But moreover it is to be considered that it was no gross and scandalous Sin by which she lost her Conversation with God and yet notwithstanding she lived a Life of great Mortification for it for several Years 2. His next Proof is that even after this which is pretended to be the Time of her Conversation She did not determine the great State of her
the Judgment of others who think well of them that there are many things in them which appear unto us wild and uninrelligible God may reveal things under most mysterious Figures altogether dark and hidden from us and yet before the Consummation of all things may make them plain and evident as we see in Ezekiel Daniel and the Revelations We must not therefore despise them because we have unquestionable Evidences of those Persons their being inspired by the Spirit of God So rather than with the Doctor to speak Evil of the things which I do not know I will conclude Quae intellexi optima sunt puto item quae non intellexi XXX I have detained you so long upon the Doctor 's first Narrative that I shall need to say little of the second for what answers the first serves for an Answer to the second also where he has done nothing toward the satisfying Peoples Expectations which he rais'd by his big Promises I shall let it pass with three or four Remarks only 1. He continues still to give false Representations of her It is not true that she pretends to a Sanctity above the Prophets or the Apostoles a Sanctity next to that of God nor to a comprehensive Knowledge Natural and Divine and all manner of speculative Truths nor to the Knowledge of all matters of Fact at what distance of Time and Place or how secret sover nor that she contradicts her self as if she asserted sometimes that both the Divine Truths which she declares and all the Words by which she utters them were inspired by the Spirit of God and sometimes the first only nor that she makes Jesus Christ a Type of her nor that she is the Mother of all that shall be converted unto God her Sayings import no such thing when they are considered without Prejudice in her own Writings as is made appear already 2. Notwithstanding of the Narrator's great Sincerity and that he intends to set down her own Pretences in her own Words without adding to or diminishing from or curtailing any Passage which may be necessary to qualifie the Meaning of them yet so earnest is he to make her odious that he forgets himselfe and either by truly curtailing the Passages or by his Comments on them he makes her speak quite otherwise than she intended So that they who would not judge rashly may please to read them in her own Writings without the Doctor 's Curtailings and Glosses Thus as to his false Glosses when he says My Thoughts Words and Actions must have the Three Qualities of Righteousness Goodness and Truth else I should be as a sounding Brass c. Does this infer that she arrogates to her self a Sanctity above the Prophets and Apostles and next to God himself Souls truly regenerate are Partakers of the Divine Nature Christ lives in them Piety cannot be true as he himself grants without a Perfection of Parts tho' not of Degrees without an Universal Conformity to the Will of God so that their Thoughts Words and Actions must be both Just Good and True now as one Star differs from another in Glory so do regenerate Souls Her Words then imply no more but that God had truly renewed and regenerated her by his Holy Spirit and not that she exceeded all others in Sanctity as his malicious Gloss would have it Thus when she says I do not remember I ever committed any Faults but when I believed the Counsel of Men. It is far from her Meaning that she was born without Sin or that Original Corruption was perfectly cured in her as appears by all her Writings and by that very Place cited but that as Plants and Trees seem all Dead and without Life in the Winter-Season till the warm Spring make them all bud anew and discover the Life and Spirit that was in the Root so Mens natural Corruption which seems dead and mortified is awakened and exerts it self according to the diffirent outward Occasions conformable to the Variety and Difference of People's Inclinations and that this was her weak side by which her Self-love and Vanity did exert it self Again when she gives a convincing Reason for what she says or speaks of her self with the greatest Humility or limits general Sayings so as to confine them to her true Sense and Meaning all this he very cautiously keeps out and conceals as appears in the Citations out of the Light of the World in the 9 11 17 20 and 21st p. of the Narrative Thus where she wonderfully Illustrates how the Holy Spirit communicates to pure Souls such a comprehensive Divine Light and Knowledge as cannot be express'd by many Words the Doctor industriously skips it over and joins the foregoing and following Senâ—ences together I have need says she to express my self by humane Reasons and Comparisons because otherwise they could not understand me for the Holy Spirit speaks so succinctly that one Word makes me comprehend many things He gives Subtility to the Understanding to conceive great things by one of his small Motions It is just as if one were in a fine Room well adorned with Variety of Furniture and Rarities but there were no Light in it whereby to see all these things In such a Case it would need a great many Words to make him who had never seen them understand in particular all the fine Things and Furniture that were in the Room telling him here be such and such Pictures such Tables such Seats and such like things and yet we could not make him comprehend well the Beauty of this Furniture and Rarities But if a Light were brought into the Room tho' it were but that of a Candle in a Moment it would give more Knowledge of all the things that are in the Room than all the Discourses that were uttered to make them known So it is with the Light of the Holy Spirit when it enters into a Soul it makes it know and comprehend all things very clearly Nevertheless these things cannot be seen by Souls who are yet in the Darkness and Obscurity of their own Passions many Words and Discourses must be used to make them understand the Rarities that are in the Works of God So far A. B. All this is left out by the Doctor except only the first and last two Lines the rest did not serve his turn he design'd to confound and darken all and they gave too distinct and convincing a Light They who shall be pleased to peruse that whole Conference will see how little Ground there is for his scurrilous â—ests if we consider the thing in Thesi without relation to A. B. that when the Spirit of God does immediately enlighten a Soul he does not endite all the precise Words that it ought to make use of in explaining that Light and Truth to others only that he brings along with him the Gift of Wisdom to express it self so as to make the Divine Truths to be understood It cannot be mistaken
then as to the Substance and Essence of the Truths tho' it may be as to Faults of Speech through its own Weakness and Ignorance which Faults come from it self and not from the Holy Spirit And yet it is not the Will of God that it should be taken up about the Correcting of these Faults both because this would divert its immediate Attention from God and make it lose the Divine Light and withal his immediate Force and Power is seen in its Weakness Again in the 17th p. of his Narrative when he cites a part of this 18th Conference of the 2d Part of the Light of the World to prove that she pretended to know all matters of Fact whatsoever he leaves out that which serves to qualifie the Meaning of it All that is needful in this says she is to disingage our Soul from earthly Affections and to resign it to the Will of God then he goâ—verns and illuminates it in such sort as that it cannot be ignorant of any thing that it ought to know For as for simple Curiosities we ought never to ask or desire them but only that which is well-pleasing to God or profitable to our Neighbours the Knowledge of which things God does not deny to Souls who are faithfully dedicated to him Thus the Spirit of God made known to Peter the matter of Fact of Ananias and Saphira and to Elijah that of Gheazi where is there Occasion from this for all the Narrators idle Jests in the 19th and 20th p. of the Narrative 3. The Doctor starts a great many Questions upon a false Supposition p. 31. it being already told in the English Preface to the Light of the World that not M. de Cort but M. A. B. did write all the Conferences of the Light of the World which are now published 4. I am sorry that he seems to have drunk in the Hetetodox Sentiments of his new Friends and to declare himself so much Pelagian as to deny all kind of Vnion betwixt a regenerate Soul and God For one of the Articles of his Impeachment of A. B. seems to import no less for he accuses her because she asserts that there was some kind of Union betwixt her and God and that he dwelt with her in some ineffable and incomprehensible manner I thought that all God's Woorks had been incomprehensible and that if he dwell in any Soul it is in an ineffable manner And Jesus had said if any Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our Abode with him and St. Paul declares that Christ lived in him and that if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his I thought all this did import some kind of Union betwixt a regenerate Soul and God If any will please to read the half Sentence if you knew me you should also know God in the Original it self they will see how far she is from his Insinuations of Parallelling her self with Jesus Christ or making her self equal with God If says she I should say things contrary to the Gospel do not believe me For you ought not to believe any thing because I say it to you but only because it is really true And if you knew me you should also know God because he is one and the same Spirit in all things So far as you shall discern Righteousness Goodness and Truth in any Person so far shall you discern God living in them and no farther The Doctor wilfully mistakes her Meaning in the other Passage he cites Light of the World Part 2. Conference 17. p. 128 129 and keeps out of the midst of it that which clears it most She makes not a Distinction betwixt a Doctrine as from of a prophetical Spirit and as immediately from God as he would insinuate but that what God thought fit to declare more darkly by the Prophets now about the time of their Accomplishment he declares them more manifestly with such Clearness and Reasons as bring along with them their own Evidence And that he communicates now a Light not of prophecying things to come but of shewing the approaching and present Accomplishment of what has been foretold already The Prophecies says she of the Antient Prophets will all of them very shortly be fulfilled there is no need of any longer having obscure Prophecies because we are fallen into the last Times wherein all the Prophecies shall cease and we shall see them all entirely accomplished and we shall not receive any more new ones because the King of all the Prophets will himself govern his People and will give an entire Accomplishment to all that has been prophesied of him so tho' Sir you shall not need to say that you hold these Truths from a Prophet because the Work does always bear witness who the Workman has been Thus A. B. in the midst of the Passage which the Doctor has cited No doubt when the Doctor began this Narrative he resolved to be Ingenuous and to curtail no Passage that might qualifie her Meaning But when he writes against A. B. it will not do with him Naturam expellas furcâ licet usque recurret 5. M. Poiret being still alive the Narrator should have dealt by him as a prudent Man and a Christian Pastor he should have pleased to tell him his Fault and endeavour'd to restore him in the Spirit of Meekness if there were any Defects and Errors I am perswaded he would have found him easily convinced of them for he is none of the crack'd whimsical bigotted Heterodox and Blasphemous Fouls which he and his Friend represent him to be He is a Protestant Minister whom Providence has discharged from the exercising of his Office by the Dissolution of his Congregation through the Miseries of Wars he has a sound Mind a solid Head a clear Understanding a penetrating Reason and Judgement a cheerful Temper and a sincere Mind He is not wedded to any Party or Person farther than they are united to the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus he values the Writings of A. B. because they contain the true Doctrine of Jesus Christ rescued from the false Glosses of corrupt Nature and because her Life and Spirit were conformable to her Writings he most firmly believes and adheres to all the Articles of the Christian Faith and labours to have them transcribed in his Heart and Life and values no other Sentiments nor Reasonings but as they tend to promote the Interests of Christ's Gospel The unjust and unaccountable Representations given of him by the Narrator and his Friend have made me give you this Character of him and that this is a true one his Writings are irrefragable Evidence which whosoever disparages betrays only the wrong set of his own Heart and Understanding As for that Letter which has given Occasion to the Doctor 's hasty Excommunication of him and made him inconsiderately rank him with Mahomet Ebion
and Corinthus it ought to be considered 1. That it was in a manner extorted from him by one who some time before had gone over to the Church of Rome and because his Change was disaproved by A. B. being enraged at her endeavour'd to divert well-meaning Persons from hearkning to the Truths of the Gospel contain'd in her Writings because it was not foretold in the Holy Scriptures that God would communicate his Graces to a Woman for the Renovation of his Gospel Spirit M. Poiret upon this Occasion applied himself to shew both the Absurdity and Falseness of the Exception which otherways it may be would never have entered into his Mind 2. That the Doctor here again falls into his ordinary Method of connecting very distinct Passages together and leaving out that which would put them into a right Light as is evident from the Letter it self and falsly translating some part of it as that Adam some time after his Creation had brutal Inclinations for there is no such Expression there 3. That M. P. considers the thing only in Thesi what Evidences the Scriptures give of God's purpose and design to make Womankind the Instrument of his Light and Spirit to the World when the other Sex Man through his Pride and Wisdom had rendred himself uncapable of it 4. That if the Narrator had been so just as to have shewn the Principles upon which M. Poiret proceeded I am sure no candid Reader would have subscribed the Doctor 's Sentence They are to be gather'd from Temoign des S. Ecrit That God is resolute in all his designs and will at last bring them to pass The counsel of the Lord stands for ever and the thoughts of his heart to all generations That God made Man for true Happiness in the Enjoyment of his God and that he persists in this design through all Generations That Adam beginning soon after his Creation to turn away from God to the Creatures God to prevent his total Fall resolved to give him a Help-meet for him a Woman in whom the divine Image should shine that his Soul might be thereby raised unto God That this first Eve thwarting his design by turning Man farther away from God yet he still persisted in his design resolving to put his divine Image in a Woman and by her as by a second Eve to reduce the Generality of Mankind and that accordingly he gives the Promise of the Enmity between the Seed of the Woman and that of the Serpent Gen 3. 15. That Jesus Christ coming in the Flesh is pointed out in this Prophecy by these words I will put for it is he who speaks in a glorious Body and shews that he will be the Source of the Enmity against the Devil and Sin that is the Author of Grace Sanctification and all divine Strength and Virtue that we need against the Enemy That the Serpent's Head not being yet bruised Jesus Christ must be supposed farther to fulfill this Prophecy by making a Woman his Organ or Instrument for exciting again and promoting among Men this Enmity against the Devil c. Now what is there in all this that deserves Excommunication as a Blasphemer and a vile Heretick not worthy to live Blasphemy is to speak Evil of God and Heresy pertinaciouslâ— to teach that which turns away from the Love of God and this is very far from either 5. The Doctor ought to treat others with Meekness and Charity and Equity lest he himself be tempted and fall into the same Condemnation with which he unjustly reproaches others When he considers the Reasons why God was pleased to permit Sin which is so disagreeable to himself and so pernicious to his Creatures he tells us God has not concealed from us the Reason of this Conduct his own Glory is the End of all and by Sin his Glory is exceedingly manifested As he manifested the Omnipotency of his Power by creating many things out of nothing so he demonstrates the infinity and vast wonderful reach of his Wisdom in that he can bring Good out of Evil. How could we have known God's wonderful Patience his Meekness Long suffering and Forbearance and his strict and severe Justice in distinguishing the merits of Persons and Things if Sin had not entred into the World What adorable Instances of Love Mercy and Goodness would have been wanting if Sin had not given occasion for them If Sin had not happened where would there have been place for the Mercy of God Who would have dream'd of the stupendious Love of God towards Mankind It might have been suspected without Sin that God and all other things were under some inevitable Fate but now it appears that he is free that he can do what he pleases and that all things are managed by his Wisdom If the Revelation of the Gospel be admitted God has had more Honour and been more glorified by the Fall of Angels and the Sin of Man than by the Creation of the World I have staid long says he upon this but it is pardonable seeing the importance and intricacy of the Subject required it and seeing some have written Volumes upon this alone which very few have cleared to Satisfaction And the sum you see of the Doctor 's Resolution is That God decreed and resolved to permit Sin and Wickedness in the World because by his way of managing it it would tend most to his Glory and his Perfections and Attributes would not have been so conspicuous without it Father forgive him for he knows not what he says I doubt not but the Doctor has written all this with a good Intention but upon the matter it is Blasphemy with a Witness and a very unfit Resolution for convincing of the Atheists and Deists Non ipsa peccata saith St. Augustin vel ipsa miseria perfectioni universitatis sunt necessaria sed animae in quantum animae sunt quae si velint peccant si peccaverint miserae fiunt A. B 's Writings which the Doctor so much despises do clear the Mysteries of Providence far more to the Honour and Glory of all the divine Attributes and to the Conviction of our Reason as many who do read them without prejudice are fully perswaded 6. But to return to the Narrative as to what he says of a Parallel drawn up by A. B. betwixt her and Jesus Christ his Misrepresentations and Mistakes lie in this That she calls it a Comparison not a Parallel there being a great difference between these two In how many publick Sermons have the Sufferings and Virtues of King Charles the Martyr been compared with those of his Master Jesus Christ Will it be said that the Preachers intended to make a Parallel betwixt them or to make Jesus Christ the Type of him 2. The Comparison is between the second Birth of Jesus Christ or the renewing of the Church and his first Birth and not betwixt him and A. B. He may speak as she says out of a Bush or out of an
Ass but his Spirit is still to be regarded through all she is but the Organ the Instrument and the Conduit but the Spirit Life and Power the living Waters and the pure Truth come from Jesus Christ 3. Tho' there were no more but this one Expression in the Comparison it were enough to shew how far she is from making a Parallel as to what relates to her self The Child Jesus says she gathered Disciples after him the second also will draw a great number of persons to be Disciples of the first 4. There are few serious Christians who do not believe that there will be a renewing of the Church of God before the End of the World and that Jesus Christ will live in her by his Light and Spirit Now there being a great Analogy in the Works of God through the several Ages of the World a prudent serious Christian will not scoff at the making a Comparison betwixt the Renovation of his Gospel Spirit in the World and the first establishing of it 7. As to what he says in his Tenth Article her own Defences are already given in the Apology As I shall never desire to mock at and speak evil of things that I do not know so had the Doctor lived among the Pharisees at the time of the Birth of Jesus Christ he would have made it as much the subject of his Scorn and Raillery that it was said a Virgin betroth'd to a Husband had conceived a Son only by the power of the Holy Ghost as now he diverts himself and others with his light and foolish lests in relation to this Virgin To turn an innocent Raillery in Conversation which had nothing in it of any impure Idea and uttered 30 years ago by a Person of known Gravity who never staid with A. B. tho' he greatly esteem'd her and with whom her other Friends had never any Acquaintance to turn this I say into an impure Jest and fix it upon her and her Friends as their ordinary Conversation shews only how impure as well as malicious the Imaginations of some are who catch at all occasions to turn the most innocent things that way Turpe est Doctori c. 8. It is a dangerous thing it seems to come near the Narrator when he is in his Majesty for then he lays furiously about him The Author of The State of the Philadelphian Society had a modest Reflection upon the Doctor 's boasting that he would overturn the Quakers Philadelphians Quietists and Pietists as well as the Bourignianists all at one blow The Doctor treats him with a great deal of Insolence and Scorn tho' what he said stands good after all that the Doctor hath yet replied The Doctor says that the Church of England and the Presbyterians do not stand upon the same Foundation nor resolve their Faith by the same Rule yet themselves say they do it viz. by the divine Authority of the Scriptures and the Practice of the purest Ages of the Church which was all the Postscript affirmed What that Author said of the internal Light of the Spirit of God being so rationally stated in the Treatise it self in opposition to all Enthusiastical Delusion and Imposture and made appear to be ownd by all the Reformed Churches and particularly by the Church of England I am sorry that the Doctor shews himself such an Enemy to the Grace and Spirit of God as to flout at it and to scoff at Authors and Writings which he does not know There are many who look upon the Writings of A. B. as excellently representing the Essentials of Christianity yet they do not believe her other particular Sentiments but commend her Discretion in the manner of their delivery Now he who that Author hopes may undertake to give a true Character of her may be of that number and so the Doctor might have spared all his Declamations about his Vtopias and Hennepins The Doctor concludes with an uncommon strain of disdainful and boasting words If he persist to amuse Men with his Narratives as he has already given a proof with how little Caâ—dour he manages them and confounds and â—â—akens the Truth instead of clearing it so he may be disappointed of his Designs and miss his Aim come short of the Glory and Name he aspires after and make the Writings of M. A. B. to be more valued and esteemed in the World in which I am sorry he should think himself unhappy for the more narrowly they are enquired into by sincere and serious Persons their Worth will the more appear and they who clearly see the great and essential truths of Jesus Christ contained in these Writings will never be shaken by his Narratives and let him calumniate as he will it will still more and more appear that God has chosen the weak base and foolish things of the World to confound the Wise the Learned and the Mighty and the Writings of that despised and pious Virgin M. Aâ—t Boâ—â— ignon will be admired and esteemed when it will be quite forgotten that ever there were such Writings in the World as the Preface to the Snake in the Grass and Bourign Detected It may please God to open his Eyes and to let him see what Mistakes his Passions and his rash and hasty judging of things have made him run into and what mischief he does unto the true interest of Christianity how he entertains and diverts the Scoffers and the Profane and lays a stumbling-block in the way before many serious Persons to turn them away from that by which they might reap unspeakable spiritual profit to their Souls by his giving such Characters of Persons and Writings which aim at nothing but to perswade People to the Love of God and for that end to follow the Example of our Lord Jesus Christ in a Life of Penitence and Mortification of our corrupt Nature which desire none to sollow the Instrument of these Writings but Jesus Christ only nor believe any thing upon her Authority but upon his only and as it is conformable to his Gospel nor to have any regard for her particular Sentiments as not being necessary to Salvation and which do not at all tend to make a new Sect or divide Christians or separate them from their lawful Pastors but to unite us all in the Spirit of Jesus Christ If he seriously pursue this great Design himself in the true Fear of God his Prejudices will vanish as a Mist before the Sun That God may grant him this Grace and that he may instantly ask it of him with a sincere and humble heart is the earnest and daily Prayer of SIR c. POSTSCRIPT HAving seen a Letter of M Poiret's to a Friend I here send you an Extract out of it by which you will see with what a Christian Spirit he considers the Doctor 's unworthy Usage of him Nil moror quod in me ita debacchetur Narrator dicta in sensus horridos blasphemos interpretetur aversionem suam
they will not be reduced from their supposed Errors by Noise and Banter All to the best of my Understanding that A. B. pretends to is only to be an Instrument in Christ's Hands and that no otherwise than by publishing these Truths that he by his Spirit communicated to her and which his Power and Grace alone was afterwards to make effectual Now let it be supposed but not granted that it was so What Disparagement is it to our Redeemer to make use of a poor contemptible Creature in order to accomplish great Designs Was it any Dishonour to him that his Apostles in his Name and Power converted more to the Christian Religion and wrought more Miracles than he did himself when he dwelt in mortal Flesh V. Perhaps it may be thought I am byassed in Favours of A. B. and therefore not so capable to discern that Latet Anguis in Herba I am sure if I am so my Prejudices are of no old Date they are not yet so rooted but sober and just Reasonings might discuss them and reclaim me from my Mistakes neither I think can it be said that they have been fortified from any prospect of Reputation or worldly Interest But whatever my Prejudices may be I can sincerely declare that what determined me to have an Esteem for this Person 's Writings was a Conviction that they not only recommended the great and essential Duties of the Gospel distinguished them from the Accessories discovered the Mischief of Sects and Parties and the Vanity of laying Stress on nice and airy Speculations but also because they suggested solid Principles which might serve as an Antidote against the Infusions of Atheists and Deists Pelagians and Socinians Antinomians and Fatalists and false Pretences to Inspiration And tho' I met with some things in them that seem'd a little odd and startling yet I choosed rather to suspend my Judgment since even her self does not impose them on any than forego what appear'd to me so very solid and useful Some LETTERS OF M. ANT. BOVRIGNON 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 as is to be seen in the Third and Fourth Letters All of them are most worthy to be perused by those who sincerely love and impartially seek after the Truth and the Salvation of their Souls LETTER I. Concerning the Love of God Written to a Pastor at Mechlin and is the 15th of La lum nec en tenebr Part I. SIR I. I Know not how one of sound Judgment can love any other thing but God seeing there is no created thing that is worthy of our Love as he is being the Fountain of all Good Wisdom the Giver of all Wisdom the Beauty that creates all Beauty the Righteousness of the Righteous the Goodness of all Goodness the Accomplishment of all Perfections in short the only Object worthy of our Love without whom nothing is Lovely neither in Heaven nor in Earth Nothing without him can satisfie our Soul nothing can content it nothing can give it Perfect Pleasure nothing can make it happy neither now nor hereafter It is he who created us it is he who preserves us it is he who will judge us If Good of its own Nature is always Lovely why then does not the Soul employ all its Powers to love the Original the Perfection and the Consummation of all Good which is God II. If Likeness beget Love how can your Soul which was made after the Similitude of God live without loving him What other Lovely Object can it find without God whom only it resembles What Original or Pattern is there among all perishing Things to this Divine and Immortal Soul which cannot find its like but in God himself III. If Benefits do oblige even Nature it self to love its Benefactors how ought the Soul to love its God when he has given it all that it posseseth and has promised infinite and eternal Goods beyond Comparison in the Life to come He has given the Soul which he created of nothing He not only made it after the Similitude of the Angels of Heaven but after the likeness of God himself so that all Souls are by Creation made little Gods Could this God of Love give unto Man greater Goods and Gifts to make himself be loved by him than this Divine Creation of his Soul Immortal as himself The Body which he formed to be the Keeper and Sheath of this Soul could it have more Perfections Is there any thing in Nature more Admirable than the Body of Man animated with all the Powers of the Soul with an Understanding to conceive with a Memory to remember with a Will to act so that the very Body is in some manner an Image or Resemblance of the HOLY TRINITY IV. Could God give unto Man more and greater Gifts than he has done to oblige him to love him For after having given him a Being and Life he upholds and maintains it with all necessary things which he has likewise created for the Entertainment of this Man to whom he has subjected so many Creatures under his Power having made him Superiour over all the living Creatures and given him Authority as the Master-piece of the Works of God the Earth for his Foot-stool the Air to breath in the Fire to warm him the Water to refresh him the Fruits to nourish him the Flowers to recreate him in short all the visible and material things that God created were only for the Body of Man What must he have laid up for his Soul which is beyond all Comparison more valuable as being Divine created after the Image of God If he has made so many admirable Things for the entertainment of the Body which must die and remain for so short a time upon Earth Should not all those Gifts all those Benefits oblige Man to love such a Benefactor Seeing he has not received and can never receive any true Good without this Giver of all Good V. How can he be without loving him when he considers his Love which was not satisfied with having freely imparted unto us so many Gifts but after that this ungrateful Man had abused so many favours by turning away from his Creator to join himself to the Creature valuing the Gifts more than the Giver presuming to merit yet more he rebels against his Orders will needs out of Ambition of Spirit know more than it pleas'd his Creator and breaks his Commandment that he might equal himself unto him This God of Love who in a Moment could have punished all these Ingratitudes by an eternal Damnation unto which he had banish'd the fallen Angels lov'd Man more than the Angels and having more regard to the Love he bear him than to his Disobedience he pardons his Sin and forgives his Fault upon Condition of a temporal Penitence VI. This Testimony of Affection from a God towards his Creature
many vocal words others to Speculations or Meditations of the Spirit which they call Mental Prayers But believe me it is neither Words nor Speculation that makes Prayer But TRUE PRAYER consists in the Conversition of Spirit that Man has with his God when his heart speaks to him and asks the things that he has need of or blesses him and thanks him for his Favours or praises his Greatness Goodness Love and the other Qualities which Man observes in his God This Elevation of Spirit or Conversation that he has with God makes up true Prayer without which there can be no true Prayer tho' they call by this Name many divers things which it were impossible that Man could do continually as Jesus Christ has said that he must always pray and never faint 17. He could not have appointed Man to do impossible things as continual Prayer would be after the manner that they would understand it For if to pray a Man behov'd to be always in Churches all the other things necessary for the support of Life would perish and Man would die for want of them And if to pray he must be always on his Knees the Body could not suffer this continual Fatigue And if he behov'd always to meditate fine Speculations in his Spirit he would break his head or if he must speak Prayers continually he could neither sleep eat nor drink So that it is not to be believ'd that God demands of Man any other continual Prayer but that of the Conversation of his Spirit with God which may be done continually while working drinking eating writing yea even while sleeping seeing he who has entertain'd his Spirit with God all the day long does certainly rest with him while sleeping because the Spirit having walked with its God while awake it reposes it self likewise with him when sleeping And usually the vital Spirits are full of that which they love and that which has been seen and heard in the day time is represented unto the Spirit in Sleep So that he who converses with his Spirit elevated unto God by day loses very little of the same Conversation during the night and even sometimes God communicates himself unto him by Dreams 18. By which it appears that it is very possible to pray continually as Jesus Christ has taught us yea there is nothing more easie and agreeable For my part I could not live without this continual Prayer and Death would be more sweet to me than to be one hour out of it because all sorts of Pleasures without this Conversation are to me Vexations and mortal Afflictions For this cause I abide always in it and I do not think that you have seen me go out of this Conversation to delight in other things By which you may see that it is very possible to pray always and never to cease and that it is even good and pleasant seeing he who is in this continual Prayer is never melancholy which you may also have observed as to me amidst so many different Events and occasions of Grief 19. Give your self therefore to this Continual Prayer and by it you shall overcome both your inward and outward Enemies You shall have Joy and Peace in your self and you shall learn all that you have need to do and avoid Do not apply your self to contemlate the great Wonders of God or his Conduct towards Men nor the other Mysteries of God or of Religion but practise this Continual Prayer according to your need speaking to God continually If you are in Temptation beg his Assistance if you are in Ignorance beg Wisdom from him to fulfil his Will if you are weak Strength and if you receive his Graces bless him and thank him for this Favour done to you a Sinner And thus you shall have continual matter of having your Spirit lifted up to God in which TRUE PRAYER consists By this you shall habituate your self by degrees to speak unto God and to converse with him in Spirit and at last he will speak unto you and you shall be here united unto him looking for a perfect Unity in Eternity Which she wishes you who remains Your very affectionate in Jesus Christ A. B. From the place of my Retreat Apr. 7. 1671. LETTER III. That the Spirit cannot rule where the Flesh rules That to him who has mortified the old Adam in himself it is most easie to imitate Jesus Christ and that it is difficult only to him who would live according to his Natural Inclinations This is the 7th Letter of the Third Part of La lum nee on tenebr My dear Child 1. I Do not wonder that your Friends say It is impossible to imitate Jesus Christ so long as they live according to their Natural Inclinations for it is a certain Truth that a natural Man cannot live according to the Spirit of Jesus Christ He must be regenerated and the old Adam must die in him for the Spirit cannot reign where the Flesh reigns seeing they are two sworn Enemies and cannot agree together no more than Heat and Cold This it is that makes Thunders and Lightnings in the Air when the Cold and Heat meet together the same befalls Souls cold in Charity when they feel themselves touch'd by the Arrows of God's Love or the heat of his Anger 2. If it be said to a carnal Person that he ought to love God with all his Heart with all his Soul and with all his Strength you shall see him presently break out in Words and throw out as it were fiery Flames of Anger to maintain that he loves God while in effect he loves nothing but himself And if it be told him that he cannot love God while he loves himself and the transitory things of this World he well let fly like Claps of Thunder against him who lays before him this Truth because he neither knows nor conceives it and his natural Inclinations cannot take pleasure in loving that which they do not see nor feel such as God and eternal Things which are invisible to his Carnal Eyes 2. We must of necessity die to the Flesh that we may live to the Spirit otherwise we shall never comprehend Spiritual things There are two Natures in us the one is Divine and other Humane The Divine Nature loves things Eternal and the Humane Nature loves things Temporal The Divine respects nothing that is earthly and the Humane respects nothing that is heavenly because each of these tend always to their Centre The Divine part in Man aims and tends to Divine things and endeavours to serve God who is its Principle from whence it comes and the Humane Nature aims and tends always to Earth from whence it takes its Original and cannot be pleased in any other thing This is the Reason why they who live according to their Nature say That it is impossible to imitate Jesus Christ which is most true as long as they will needs continue to live according to their Nature For it was corrupted by
Sin since which time it can produce nothing but all sort of Evil it being impossible for it to do any Good or to have one good Thought For this Cause Job had good Reason to curse the Day of his Birth for none of the Beasts would be so miserable in their Nature as is Man if he had not in him a Divine Nature 4. All must grant this and say with your Friends that it is impossible to imitate Jesus Christ seeing he lived supernaturally having subjected his Humane Part to his Divine and made his Flesh die that he might live to his Spirit and despised Temporal things that he might embrace Eternal But I would gladly ask all those Natural Persons if they desire to do the same things And if they have put to Death the old Adam in them that is the Inclinations of corrupt Flesh And if they have labour'd with all their Power to revive in them the Spirit of the new Adam which contradicts the Sensualities of the Flesh Which appears by the Person of Jesus Christ who overcame all Natural Sensualities 5. It may be they will say that it would be impossible for them to attain to such a Perfection as Jesus Christ had while they will not part with so much as one of the Affections which they have for their Pleasures or Sensualities that they might follow him at a distance For they do not so much as desire to imitate him far les to tend to his Perfection They believe indeed by an imaginary Speculation that Jesus Christ has satisfied all for them and they will not believe by a Divine Truth that he has merited for them by his Sufferings the Grace and the Power to imitate him because they do not desire to do it for they love rather to remain in the Corruption of the old Adam than to be quickened into the new which is Jesus Christ 6. Thus it is that those poor Souls flatter themselves to their Ruine while they say that they cannot imitate Jesus Christ nor live without Sin because of their great Frailty This is as much as to say that they resolve not to be saved and they resolve to die in their Sins for there are only two ways the one of Salvation the other of Damnation and Jesus Christ is that which leads to Salvation He who will not walk in the same Way in which he walked cannot find Life but without all doubt shall die for ever Therefore my dear Child do not give way to the Discourses of those poor blinded ones who have fill'd their Understanding with Errors but walk according to the Light that God has given you and labour to be born again in the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Saviour Withdraw from the World since he says that he prays not for the World but for those whom his Father has given him out of the World Those who are of the World are they who love the transitory things of the World and will not part with them to imitate Jesus Christ They are rich in Will and proud in Heart loving their fleshly Sensualities while they flatter themselves by saying that it would be impossible for them to imitate Jesus Christ and to live without Sin because of their great Frailty which if they understood aright they would use means to overcome it and he who felt his Heart cleave to Riches would not possess them but would put them far away from him as some of the Heathens did who threw all their Money into the Sea fearing least it should deprive them of the Liberty of their Mind And if a Man found himself so frail as to fall into the Sin of Pride he would shun Offices Greatness and Honours that he might follow the Poverty and Lowliness of Jesus Christ and if hâ— found himself so frail as that he could not eat and drink delicate things without falling into the Sin of Gluttony he would take the coarsest Meats and Drink proportionably to support the Weakness and Frailty of Nature weaning it from all Sensuality or fleshly Apperite But Men do not feel themselves too frail to iudulge their Body in all its Appetites and Pleasures and they will needs make themselves believe that they are too frail to abstain from Sin or to imitate Jesus Christ 7. This Sentiment is so Erroneous that I would be ashun'd to refute it were it not that I see so many Souls possess'd with it especially among those of Calvin's Reformatiâ—on who live and die in this Belief that Jesus Christ has satisfied all for them that it is impossible for them to do good or to imitate Jesus Christ This it seems is inculcated unto them from the Cradle since in effect we see that all their practice is founded upon it while they live according to the Motions of corrupt Nature and with this believe that they shall be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ without striving to imitate him since they are taught that it is impossible to do this And tho' this is a false Theology yet every one follows after it leaning upon a broken Reed 8. For that Man of whom I spoke to you formerly said that it was impossible for him to do any good Work yea to say the Lord's Prayer with Attention no more than they with whom he convers'd whom he had often ask'd if they could say it with Attention and they all answered they could not It is to be remarked that they were Merchants of great Trade and Spirit who found out all sort of Inventions for gaining of Money with great Dexterity and Care and their Spirit was not disingag'd for saying the Lord's Prayer with Attention For where their Treasure was there was their Heart and the Attention cannot be perfect in two so contrary things at the same time but if they had purg'd their Souls from coveting earthly Goods and as carefully applied their Understanding to speak unto God and to hear him without doubt they might not only have said the Lord's Prayer with Attention but might also have attention seriously upon continual Prayer which Jesus Christ has so much recommended to us saying that we ought always to pray and never to cease 9. But those poor Ignorants think to please God with fair Words as they please Men by saying that they are too frail to do any Good far less can they imitate Jesus Christ for these Excuses will condemn them For if they were truly sensible of their Frailty they would avoid the Occasions of Sin and use the Means of Poverty Humility and Patience that they might imitate Jesus Christ for he did nothing when he was upon Earth but that which another would do that were animated with the same Spirit that he was For the same God has through all the same Power and can do by the Body and Spirit of other Men that which he did by that of Jesus Christ 10. For in as much as he is God his Power is not limited provided that Man give no â—indrance
not interpos'd and become a Mediator between God and them who being touch'd with a deep fence of the wretched State into which Man had plung'd himself he ardently prays and interceeds with his Heavenly Father that he would have pity on those his wretched rebellious Creatures and his Brethren that he would be pleas'd to pardon them grant them his Grace tho' most unworthy of it and â—llow them yet a Time of Trial becoming Surety for them that they should detest and abhor their Corruption deny themselves and return to the Love of God His Mediation is accepted and upon the account of his Merits and Intercession Man is pardoned Grace is given him of new and a Time of Trial allow'd him in which he must lead a Life of Penitence and thereby mortifie his Corrupt Nature and return to the Love of God 2. The Time of Trial given to Man at first was a State of Pleasure and Delights but since the Fall of Man the Time of Trial assign'd him is a State of Labour and Toil and therefore God thrust Man out of a delightful Paradice and suffered the Malediction and Curse of his Sin to fall upon the Creatures in a great measure that they all might afford him Vexation instead of Pleasure and so he might have occasion of doing Penitence because he had turn'd away his Heart and Affections from God and set them on the Creature 3. The Son of God having undertaken the Recovery of Mankind out of pure Love and Compassion he provides means and remedies according to the different states of their Maladies The First Command he gives Man as a necessary mean of his Recovery is a Life of Penitence and Labour to eat his Meat in the sweat of his Face but Men multiplying their Sins he multiplied his Commands as so many means to turn them from their Sins and gave them variety of Precepts to make them think upon God in all their Actions and Words so that their Hearts might be in a continual Elevation to him But they cleave to the Letter of the Law without comprehending the Sence of it and turn'd away yet more from the Love of God placing their Affections on the Creatures the Riches Pleasures and Honours of this Life pleasing themselves with the outside of their Rites and Ceremonies 4. When all other means prov'd unsuccessful Jesus Christ tries the last Remedy Men were not capable in their Mortal State of being taught by him in his Glorious Body He had obtain'd of his Father to give them in Spirit good Thoughts and Motions yea Divine and Supernatural Light but all this was not capable to convert them or to make them sensible they were in a State of Damnation because of each one 's inveterate habit to follow their brutish Nature There was need of a Mean visible and sensible to their Corruption to move their Hearts otherwise they had all been lost without a sence of their own Misery all perishing without perceiving it by a damnable Imitation of one another thus all running in the Broad Way to Hell Having therefore obtain'd from his Father Mercy and Pardon for them upon their Repentance Jesus Christ resolves to become a Mortal Man He therefore cloaths himself with our Mortality and bringing along with him his Divine Light to enlighten them and his Divine Love to enflame them he becomes in all things like to Corrupt Man yet without Sin he teaches them by his Word and his by Example how they should mortifie their Corrupt Nature do Penitence and recover the Love of God he charges himself with the miseries and frailty that Sin has brought upon Humane Nature taking on himself all their Maledictions and the Punishments due to their Sins which he did bear and suffer as if he had been the greatest of all Sinners living a Life of extream Poverty Labour Contempt and Pain undergoing a shameful painful and accursed Death and so obtaining Pardon for all who should thus follow his Steps 5. God made his Will known to good Men to the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets by the Organ of the Glorious Body of Jesus Christ But since Men were taught by Jesus Christ in his Mortal Body there is no need to see or understand by his Glorious Body They have received the Light of Truth so that they need not bodily Visions to understand the Will of God Jesus Christ speaks now to them in Spirit and in Truth enlightning Souls with his Divine Light inwardly by his Holy Spirit which operates in Souls disengag'd from themselves and from all earthly Affections acting in them sweetly and powerfully when the Soul is in Peace and Tranquility of Mind It hears then as a soft Wind which surrounding it with Joy makes it see what it ought to do and avoid both for its own Conduct and for that of other well-dispos'd People 4. As to the Present State of the World the Summ of her Accessory Sentiments are 1. THAT all Men have corrupted their Ways and that there are no True Christians in the World truly mortified to corrupt Nature and regenerated in the Love of God and the Spirit of Jesus Christ 2. That the present State of Christendom is a perfect Babel our Language being confounded and the Builders do not understand one another 3. That we have glossed away the Laws and Doctrine of Jesus Christ by our Expositions as much as the Scribes and Pharisees did Moses's Law by their Traditions 4. That we live presently in the Reign of Antichrist and that he rules in Spirit through all the Earth by his Three Antichristian Qualities which he sheds into Man's Nature Injustice Malice and Hypocrisie under a cover of Religion in Opposition to the Three Divine Qualities Righteousness Goodness and Truth which Jesus Christ came to plant in the Hearts and Lives of all his Disciples That Men seduce one another under fair Appearances That Sin is mask'd with Holiness and cover'd with Hypocrisie 5. That the Source of all the Evils in the Church is in the Corruption of the Pastors and Churchmen and that the Abomination of Desolation is in the Sanctuary That all the Degeneracy of Christians comes from the Degeneracy of their Guides 6. That the Wickedness of Man now being Universal and come to a height greater than in the Days of Noah the Sentence of Gods last Judgments is irrevocably past and the Plagues are begun and will continue till that by War Famine Pestilence and other grievous Judgments all the Wicked be consumed from off the Face of the Earth but this shall be done slowly and in a Course of many Years that many may thereby be awakened and brought to Repentance 5. As to the State of Things to come her Sentiments are 1. THAT God will yet once renew his gospel-Gospel-Spirit upon Earth and will fill well-disposed Souls with the Spirit that Jesus Christ had while upon Earth and
that the latter Christians shall live in greater Perfection than those of the Primitive Church did That he will send his Holy Spirit to lay before us those means of Salvation which Jesus Christ taught us while on Earth that we may clearly see how far we are estranged from them and to give us the Light of the Truth that we may see the way to return and to take up again the same Gospel-Means and recover the Dependance of our Will on God without which none can be saved And God will give the full Understanding of all that has been delivered in his Name from the Beginning of the World both by the Holy Prophets and by Jesus Christ and his Apostles or other Saints his Disciples 2. The Original Design of God in the creating of Man being to take his Delight with him for which End he not only made Man after his own likeness but he also became Man that he might live with him in perfect Resemblance to all Eternity and this being now suspended unto Man because of his Sin until that he have accomplished his Penitence to which he is subjected by Sin yet since God does not change nor will ever alter his Designs this time of Penitence being finished Man will enter again into Communion with God as if he had never offended him He will speak to God Face to Face by his Humanity which will be rendred immortal as well as is that of Jesus Christ that they may delight themselves perfectly together upon Earth which will then be rendred Paradice by the lovely Presence of God who for this End became Man and in the End of the World will come in Glory upon Earth to Live and Reign for ever with Men which is as it were The Sum of all the Designs that God has over Men and the Alliance he has often promised to make with Man 3. All the Works of God are Eternal and nothing that he has made shall ever perish And in the End of this World at the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory all things shall be renewed and restored into that primitive Integrity in which they were at first created All the Evil that is in the Creatures the Fruit of Man's Sins shall be wholly taken away All Nature shall then put off the Corruption Darkness and all the Disorders with which it had been tainted since Adam's Sin All shall become Bright Glorious and Luminous all Corruption shall be removed from the Body of Man and it shall be re-establish'd in that glorious perfect State in which it was at first created And the Soul become perfectly pure shall take its Delights with God and the Body with Heaven and Earth and all the other Creatures For God created them for those Ends and for no other thing that Man might have his full perfect Contentment of Body and Mind in that Life Eternal wherein Jesus Christ shall reign always in Body and Soul with the Bodies and Souls of the Blessed who shall be united in Spirit unto God and in Body unto the Body of Jesus Christ 4. After the Judgment when God shall take all Malignity from the Earth and from all the Creatures the Venom from Serpents Scorpions and other poysonous Beasts Maladies and Infirmities from the Bodies of Men and Beasts and Weaknesses from Spirits All this shall be reduced into some corner of the Earth all in a mass that these Malignities may act together upon the Bodies of the damned and that the Works of their hands be rendered unto them For God never made any of all these Evils He created all things Good Men only by their Wickedness have given Malignity unto all created things and therefore it ought to appertain to them and to be rendered to them by the Right of Justice which will come to pass at the Judgment when the Bodies of the Wicked shall rise also that none of the Works of God may perish and shall be sent into that miserable Corner with all the Evils which shall be removed from the Blessed and from the Earth from Plants Beasts and all the Elements that all these things may serve them only for Delight and Pleasure without being able to do any more Evil as they were in the Beginning of their Creation and all their Malignities which they have contracted by the Sins of Men shall be rendered unto their Authors 5. God having at the First Creation endued all living Creatures with a Power of producing their like and Man in his perfect State being endued with the same Power of producing his like without the help of another he shall be re-establish'd into the same State again So that in the Kingdom of Heaven there will be eternal Propagation but altogether Holy altogether Pure and Deified without concupiscible Appetite but by pure Acts of Love to God which will extend it self to the Production of New Creatures to the Glory of their Creator There there is not Male and Female they neither marry nor are given in Marriage but are as the Angels in Heaven XXXVIII This as a Sum of her Accessory Sentiments and they who shall consider them without prejudice will hardly think that for them she deserves to be treated either as an Heritick or as a Mad Whimsical Woman It has been already said that she does not propose them as Articles of Faith necessary to be believed by all that according to St. Augustine these only are damnable Doctrines which tend to destroy Charity the Love of God and our Neighbour which it is evident those Sentiments do not and it were easie to make appear that many other Doctrines and Practices do which pass among many for very Christian XXXIX Besides it is evident that these Sentiments tend to clear and confirm all the Truths and Doctrines of Christianity and to endear them to us They shew us the great Designs of God's Love in the Creation of Man the excellent State in which he made him and the Happiness to which he design'd him They make appear evidently that all our Evil is from our selves and all our Good from God They shew us the Ground and Reason why Man's Redemption was set about and not the fallen Angels why Jesus Christ took such Interest in Man became Intercessor and Surety for him and why his Mediation was accepted by God his Father and why after other means essay'd he at last cloath'd himself with Man's Mortality why the following of his Counsels and Example is indispensibly necessary to Salvation They represent to us the horrid Corruption that Man is fallen into by Sin both as to Soul and Body and all the Creation by him and how mad we are to gratifie our corrupt Inclinations and to love this present World They direct us to a right use of the Rods and Judgments of God and awaken us to a sence of our present State wherein all the World lies in Wickedness They give us a prospect
Stuffs Linens c. but the coursest and cheapest To these her Lodging and Accommodation were sutable a little Chamber a few old Chairs a little Table and sometimes a piece of Board upon her Knees to write upon her Bed and its Furnituee of the same kind yet all neat and cleanly She always served her self and was never served by others but in case of necessity but most ready to serve others whether Poor or Rich indifferently if this only could be of any Profit to the Soul or if any urgent Necessity called for Help no Service was then too mean for her and to spare others she would readily go and do the meanest Offices even to wash the Dishes scour the Pots take off the Ashes wash the Linen sweep and clean the House not excepting any Employ how low soever provided Health good Order or other Reasons did permit it 4. Yet in all these she never set to her self any particular Rules and advised her Friends never to amuse themselves with particular Rules of some outward Customs of humble Habits and pious Countenances which some Persons and Sects do observe to shew they are Devout and Spiritual as to wear their Apparel only of such a Fashion or such a Colour or such a Stuff or to choose particular Meats or the like whereby they distinguish themselves from the rest of the World as being more Holy and more Vertuous than they This she said begets in such an Esteem of themselves and a Contempt of others is real Hypocrisie and the greatest Pride and far from the Doctrine and Practice of Jesus Christ who could not be distinguish'd from his Disciples by his Enemies when they came to apprehend him without a Sign from Judas of his kissing him nor his Disciples from the rest of the People but when their Speech bewrayed them 5. She was most diligent in her Affairs did all things both for the Body and Soul with Foresight and good Order without letting any thing be spoiled but put all to some good use being always well employed in something and acting in all things with as much care as a faithful Steward and that in little things as well as great She would never undertake a thing hastily nor go about with it Precipitation not to have it soon done but to have it well done She took time first to recommend it to God and being once perswaded that it was agreeable to his Will she did it leisurely but with Perseverance as God she said did all his Works Doucement Fortement this she said was good both for Body and Soul and advanced any Affair better than too much Vehemence 6. She was so little concern'd for to be esteem'd and honoured by Men that their Praises and Reproaches did equally touch her as little as if she had never heard of them seeking nothing in the World but that God might be honoured and the Souls of Men saved Her Business and her Thoughts never aimed to procure Honour Ease Wealth or Pleasures for her self or others All her Pleasure was to delight in God in her Solitude out of the Conversation of Men and to bring to light what he gave her for the Salvatian of Souls This made her stay for the most part Solitary in her Chamber and even when she was taken up in sowing or any other Work she lov'd still to be alone to keep her Spirit always united to God and if the Salvation of her Neighbour had not required it she would certainly have broken off from all Society 7. Tho' Solitude was a thousand times more agreeable to her than any Company yet she would part with it and make her self as it were a State of continual Labours and Cares for the good of others purely for the Love of God and the Salvation of Souls So entire was her Resignation unto God that what she once knew to be his Will tho' contrary to her Inclinations and Quiet tho' she saw she would meet with nothing but Contempt Reproach and Persecution in it yet she made a Sacrifice of all to follow it 8. Her constant Rule was Righteousness not only to render to every one in outward things what appertain'd to them but it extended to all things to those of the Soul as well as of the Body She did not despise the Good that was in her Enemies nor excuse the Evil that was in her Friends She never judged according to Passions but according to Equity She would not be Partaker of other Mens Sins 9. Truth was the Rock on which she stood firm and to which she did adhere and cleave without Respect of Parties or Persons so that they who opposed it might well hurt themselves they could not shake her and tho' all the Learned in the World would have set themselves against her she would have regarded it no more than if they had been Children being so establish'd in the Truth So free was she from all humane and worldly Respects that she would not for all the Wealth Friendship or Terrors of the World omit to declare the Truth if the Glory of God required it 10. The Love of God was the Element in which she lived She delighted in him only despised all earthly things for him and adhered to him so strongly that she would do nothing without his Divine Will 11. All her Life was a constant Proof of her Charity to Men. From this Spirit she employed her Time Labour and Goods for many Years for the Good of the Souls and Bodies of a multitude of Orphans She took all care to communicate to the World even against Mens Will and endeavours to the contrary the Light that God gave her for the Good of their Souls denuding her self of all Accommodations and suâ—fering all manner of Reproaches and Harâ—ships that she might do them the greatest Good and bring them to God 12. And such was her Perseverance and Fortitude in this that all the Scorn and Contempt and Hardships and Persecutions that she met with in a Course of many Years did not shake nor alter her 13. She was so disinteress'd so far from seeking her self that she would never seek for any nor draw any Body over unto her Sentiments and would not let those who were with her strive any ways to draw in others even tho' they by this way had been able to bring over the most Powerful and the most Learned in the World and from whom she and hers might have received â—ore of outward Advantages and Support Her Rules for her self and Friends were Seek none let God operate in Souls otherwise all will be nothing but the Works of Mens hands which will perish As she had no other Butt but to send all to God so she would have no other thing for the Motive and Principle but the being moved by God 14. She had always a serenity and cheerfulness of Spirit a tranquility of Mind and Joy that even appeared outwardly And whatever Emotion she might be seiz'd with