Christ. She was of a middle Stature slender and delicate her Countenance was agreeable her Complexion brown her Forehead broad and without Wrinkles and her Eyes were a little bluish She had an ingenious Air and such an exquisite Sight that she never used Glasses Her Nose was well made and proportionable She was Out-mouthed having Lips and Teeth somewhat big Age had whiten'd her Hairs Sickness had made her Face lean and she was hollow about the Eyes Her Mien her Speech her Address and way of receiving Persons were very taking and agreeable Her Gate was grave bearing her Head a little high and she did not appear to be above Forty Years old All her Senses except Tasting were strong and lively She was of a quick and active Disposition She was never sad but always of an even Temper She would never suffer her Picture to be drawn not only because she did not approve of this sort of Vanity but also because it very much concern'd her not to be known upon the account of her Persecutors As to the Gifts and Qualities of her Spirit her Writings do partly shew them but none is capable to know the greatness of them save He who bestowed them This same Person tells us That from her Infancy she had the gift of Chastity in so high a degree that she often said That in all her life she never had not even upon a Temptation or Surprize the least Thought which might be unbecoming the Chastity of the purest Virgin-state St. Teresa writes of her self That God sometimes favour'd her with the same Grace But as for Madamoiselle Bourignon she possess'd it to that degree that it overflowed if one may have leave to speak so upon those who conversed with her Her Presence and Conversation did send forth such an Odour of Continence as made others forget the Pleasures of the Flesh And I leave it saith he to the Experience of those who read her Books with attention to judge whether they do not feel some Impressions of and whether they be not drawn with Inclinations to this Vertue that is so acceptable to God Though this Character of Madamoiselle Bourignon be very great and declares the great Affection of him who gives it yet it is very far short of what is furthen said of her for this only respects her private Personal state and sets her forth as a Woman singularly Good and Vertuous in this corrupt Age But if we will take the Word of this anonymous Author and some others this Woman was above all that is Humane she was inhabited by the Spirit of God and all she did or spoke was to be ascribed to Him and to be reckon'd not so much hers as His who design'd that she should be the greatest Blessing that ever was conferr'd on Mankind therefore they are not either afraid or ashamed to bestow upon her the Epithets that are given to Iesus Christ they set her on the same Level with Him they honour her with his Titles they apply to her the Prophecies which the Church hath always believed to be meant of Him they draw a Parallel betwixt Him and Her and do make Him the Type of Her and not Him but Her the last and highest Expression of God's Love to Mankind To intimate which God sent a Comet when she was born another when she first began to write and a third at her death which was greater and more dreadful than any that was ever seen before She is the Divine Sun of Righteousness she is Truth pure Truth and the only Truth that can guide one to Heaven and Eternal Life There is no other way of Life Eternal says he but what is in the Mouth in the Writings and in the Life of the most holy Antonia Bourignon And again If ever the Church of God be edified upon Earth it cannot be by any other means but by the Remonstrances the Rules Doctrine Spirit and Example of Madamoiselle Bourignon He calls her the Woman spoken of in the Revelation who was shewn to St. Iohn in a Vision whom saith he our Eyes have seen and by whom our Ears have heard and our Hands have handled the Word of Life And as he renders unto God Thanks for the Grace of knowing her and of being acquainted with her so he most passionately expostulates with God for suffering her to die who was the only Just the only Holy the only Person who had the Spirit of God Where Lord where is now your Holy Church Alas it is altogether destroyed and subsists only in ruined Houses in some scatter'd Stones which as the Stones of the ancient Sanctuary are poured out upon the top of every street broken defaced and unpolish'd and there is none to gather them together nor to set about the building of your New Ierusalem for you have taken away the holy Instrument of your Spirit whom you had called and filled with the Treasures of your Grace to labour in that Work You have extinguish'd the Light which you sent to the World for guiding well-disposed Souls Where is now Lord the Truth of your Promises Where are now your ancient Mercies which never suffer'd the World to be destitute of living Witnesses How have you suffer'd the time to come in which it may be said without exception that the righteous is perished there is no more a prophet amongst us nor have we any who knows how long I might bring many other Passages out of this Author to this purpose but I judge these are sufficient to prove his Sentiments of Antonia Bourignon And they are not peculiar to him for all who have taken this Woman's part are of the same mind He who writes the Apologetick Preface to her Works employs all the Rhetorick which Passion and a strong-heated Passion can inspire in defence of this Woman to remove the Prejudices which are entertain'd against her Person and Doctrine and to convince the World that she was filled with the Holy Ghost and sent to renew the Church and to bring it to its utmost Perfection If this Author ought to be believed all the Words and Writings of this Woman are Sacred as Scripture it self they ought to have the same Authority and should be as devoutly read yea much rather read for if it be true what he says they are more profitable and do discover more fully the hidden Mysteries of God As the Author of the Leipsick Transactions observes he makes the New Scripture of Madam Bourignon either to confirm the Old or to explain them or to correct them In this Preface the Author considers the several ways by which God may and doth communicate himself to Men and he asserts confidently of Madamoiselle Bourignon That God used all these several ways with her as Visions external Voices intimate Impressions upon the Soul and such ineffable Communications as made her to know and understand the Mind of God and all Truths as they are in him Her whole Life saith
we close with this or that Method of Salvation otherwise we are shamefully lazy negligent and easie in things which do most concern us 'T is true the generality of the World practise the contrary they take these things upon trust and are satisfied with that which is first proposed and which lie nearest them But this is a Reproach to Mankind nor can there be a greater instance of the Corruption of Humane Nature than this that Men use their Reason least in things of greatest moment However we are not to consider what is commonly done but what should be done what is fit to be done by wise and good Men by such as would build their present Peace and Comfort and their eternal Interest not upon Sand but upon a Rock which can hold out against Storms and Tempests Now if in such cases a reasonable Conviction a satisfying Evidence be necessary then to receive Madamoiselle Bourignon as one so highly dignified by God and her Scheme of Religion and System of Opinions as Divine and absolutely necessary to be followed we ought to have something more than the Authority and Testimony of those Men formerly quoted for whatever their Morals be they are fallible as others if they will not wilfully deceive yet they are liable to be deceived and if they have been imposed upon where are we if we follow them The Testimony of Men is only valuable so far as they are competent Judges of the things which they declare It is unjust to deny the Testimony of sincere honest Men when they bear witness only to Matters of Fact to things which they have heard and seen but when it comes to Opinions Perswasions and Sentiments both good and wise Men ought to be submitted to a Tryal and Examination whether there be Reasons for their Belief Now the Case before us is of the Nature of the last that is It is not a Matter of Fact but a Matter of Faith and Opinion and therefore we must be allowed to judge the Validity of the Reasons of these Mens Sentiments of Antonia Bourignon before we can or ought to be of their Side And I am confident that if their Reasons be weighed in the Balance if they be put into just and equal Scales they will be found light and wanting Weight to make them pass for the Value which is put upon them I will not conceal any of their Reasons nor will I misrepresent them I do not remember to have met with any besides those which follow which have been suggested and which may be gathered from what has been said above 1. An Early and Extraordinary Sanctity 2. The secret Knowledge of Mens Thoughts 3. Foretelling things to come 4. A Sublime and Wonderful Knowledge of Divine Mysteries with an Uniformity and Agreement of Sentiments both with her self and Scripture 5. The Supernatural Means and Method of her coming to the Knowledge of all these things viz. without Reading without consulting Men or Books and without Meditation 6. The apparition of Comets at her Birth when she began to Write and at her Death From these Reasons they conclude that she was Divinely Inspired and sent to the World upon some great Design and for these Reasons they make her the Woman in the Revelation who was cloathed with the Sun and had the Moon under her Feet they call her the Spouse of Christ and give her that large Character which we have seen above I intend to consider these Reasons calmly and impartially First whether supposing them true the Consequence drawn from them be just and necessary and then what truth is in them I begin with the First viz. her Early and Extraordinary Sanctity And I do acknowledge that true Sanctity is only from God It is not the work of Nature but of Grace No Man can be perfectly Holy of himself nor can the Devil either intend or effectuate such a thing if therefore any have the Gift of Sanctity they have it from above God certainly is the Author of it whose Spirit only can subdue our Natural Corruption and raise us to a Conformity to the Divine Nature And as this Gift is of God so it is more valuable than the Gift of Miracles Prophecies speaking with divers Tongues and such like for it is a greater sign of the love of God and does better secure an Interest in him When our Lord bestowed the Power of Miracles and of casting out Devils upon the Seventy Disciples that they might not overvalue this Special Privilege or boast too highly of it be said unto them Notwithstanding in this rejoyce not that the Spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven Now all who are truly holy have their Names written there Many who have Prophesied and cast out Devils and done many wonderful Works shall be disowned in the great Day of the Lord they shall be commanded to Depart from Christ our Saviour but they who are truly sanctified will never be separated from him theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven for ever But though Sanctity be a great and most desirable token of God's Love and Favour yet it is not always attended with extraordinary Illuminations and Inspirations It may be without these and these may be separated from it Good and Holy Persons in the other World shall have a full and clear Vision of all things then they shall understand the Intricacies of Providence and the Secrets of the Divine Counsel then they shall see God as he is and know even as they are known But at present the best and most Holy see as through a Glass darkly and are ignorant of many things as well as others nay persons very good and holy and very dear to God may not know so much as some that are wicked and unsanctified What St. Paul supposeth may be proved by several Instances that one may have the Gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and yet be without Holiness for if they may want Charity they want a special part of Holiness Wherefore suppose we should grant Sanctity to Antonia Bourignon suppose her to be truly and extraordinarily Holy yet she is not therefore to be reckoned Infallible nor endued with all Knowledge nor are her Doctrines to be received Implicitly Let her Sanctity be never so great yet that alone doth not raise her to the Station and Dignity of a Prophet at whose Mouth the Church and all particular Persons should receive the Law and Will of God for though Holiness doth certainly not only dispose Persons to receive special Influences of the Spirit of God but also give a deeper Sence of Divine Truths than Reading even as Practice in any Art doth make one Wiser and more Skilful than Speculation yet every Holy Person must not pretend a Revelation of all particulars or to know the Mind of God in every thing Wherefore we find St. Paul distinguishing warily what was his own Judgment from what he had
certainly from God Madamoiselle Bourignon might be Holy and yet no Infallible Oracle And there is yet far less reason upon this account to entitle her the peculiar Organ of the Holy Ghost the Singular Spouse of Christ the Queen of Heaven the Mother of the Faithful and the like For though Saints be dear unto God and very precious in his sight though he has prepared for them things which Eyes have not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the heart of Man though they receive secret Favours and Communications which none knoweth neither can understand save he who receiveth them yet they themselves should keep still the distance of Creatures and cloth themselves with Humility and acknowledge their Unworthiness And others when they honour them should beware of running into Excess they should not exalt them unto an Equality with God nor yet unto Degrees which approach near to it for this is to Deify Creatures which as it is foolish so it is very provoking 'T is true God bestoweth in the Scripture upon Saints great and glorious Epithets which are most worthy of our Contemplation because they declare the Greatness of God's Love but also we may perceive that the Saints were both ashamed and afraid to receive them from the sence of their unworthiness and infinite distance from God Humility is the foundation of true and perfect Sanctity and it teacheth neither to reject or despise the free Expressions of that great Love with which God is pleas'd to honour his Servants nor yet to claim and enhance them by way of merit For any to arrogate these Divine Honours as peculiarly belonging to them is intolerable Pride as it is high Presumption and Insolency for any to take upon them to give or appropriate these unto others without special Command and Direction For the giving of Honours is an Act of Soveraignty and appertains to God and not unto Men. The Saints in Scripture shewed the greatest Humility when God magnified them most and they used to speak of one another with great Modesty The affecting of great Names and Titles proceeds from Pride and Vanity and none but rash inconsiderate and unthinking Persons will bestow them lavishly High Encomiums are the Effects of a strong fervent and interess'd Passion and not the Product of a solid Judgment We ought indeed to praise famous Men according to the Exhortation of the wise Son of Sirach that others may be excited to imitate them but then our Praises should be just and true modest and proper suitable to the present Condition of Mankind which is frail and mortal and liable to many weaknesses We ought to praise Men but we should also remember that they are Men and not magnifie them above what they are or make Gods of them I do not know which is more Criminal or more to be censured whether the detracting from ones just Praise or the giving extravagant and excessive Commendations perhaps more may be said against this It has many pernicious Consequences and does proceed from the same partial Spirit which regards Humour and Interest more than Truth or Justice both are reproved and condemned in Scripture and the one as well as the other is very unbecoming the Spirit of the Gospel which requires us not to rest in the Admiration of the Persons of Men or of any Creature but to carry our Thoughts from these up towards God who alone is worthy to be admired and praised and who is the Author of all the good that is in any There ought indeed to be a Cognizance of the Divine Wisdom Power Goodness Mercy and Grace which are manifested in any or towards any we ought also to honour those whom God has honoured thus yet only so as to make them the Subject Matter of praising and honouring God But we make Idols of Men when we either ascribe to them Perfections which they never had or fix upon their personal Qualifications and consider their Virtues as theirs without looking higher This was a great part of Heathenism and from hence sprung that abominable Idolatry which the World was so full of Immoderate Flattery of Mens Persons was the occasion of it To prevent which among Jews and Christians the infinite Wisdom of God did and doth still represent those worthy Persons he made use of as Men that is as Persons of the like Passions and Infirmities with other Men The meanest of the Prophets or Apostles were greater by far than the Gods whom the Gentiles worshipp'd and yet that Divine Honour might not be paid to them that they might not be adored as Gods as Originals of their own Virtues and Qualifications their Failings and Weaknesses are not concealed but exposed to the View of all the World they shewed themselves Earthen Vessels while they manifested the heavenly Treasures of Wisdom and Power committed to them that the Praise may be unto God and not unto Men. God is a Jealous God and is not pleas'd when the Glory which is due to himself is given either in whole or in part to another which may be done without offering Sacrifice or burning Incense or making Prayers for this is done by an excessive Admiration of any ones Person by thinking of them above what we ought to think by ascribing to them much more than is due and expecting from them that which God only can be the Author of Upon this account we accuse the Church of Rome of Idolatry towards the Virgin Mary and other Saints because she raiseth and honoureth them above the Rank and Condition of Creatures And yet neither the Virgin nor any other pretended or real Saint is so much honoured by that Church as Madamoiselle Antonia Bourignon is by Monsieur de Cort Monsieur Poiret and their Followers There have been Published several Blasphemous Encomiums of the Blessed Virgin but they are all short of that which has been said above of this Woman and therefore I can be bold to say that the Bourignianists are at least in this as much guilty of Idolatry as the Church of Rome nor can they ever justifie themselves without proving that she is no Creature but a God or Goddess Her Sanctity will not excuse them be it never so great or unspotted nor though it would is her Sanctity so great as is pretended Which is the next thing I intend to shew It may look a little Invidious to go about to lessen the Reputation of another and I have always consider'd them as sordid Souls like Swine who take Pleasure in raking up the Faults of others But as in some cases there is reason for it so here it is necessary for curing the dangerous Delusions of some and for securing others from the like Contagion Truth must be always preferr'd to Persons If the fond Favorites of Madamoiselle Bourignon had only represented her as a Devout Religious and Virtuous Woman it might have passed if they had only propos'd her as a good Pattern how one may escape the
That she sent forth such an Odour of Continence as made others forget the Pleasures of the Flesh For both he and she give an Account how that she was several times assaulted first at Blatton when she fled from her Father's House disguised as a Hermite where she was taken up by some Soldiers as a suspected Person and where the Officer that commanded them kept her all night in a Chamber with himself continually importuning her to lie with him Again In her Solitude at the Church of St. Andrew near Lisle a Nephew of the Pastor of that Church made attempts upon her And lastly The famous Monsieur Saulieu whom at first she took for a great Saint pursued her so much that she was forced to ask the assistance of others to be delivered from him Now what regard is to be paid to these Men who do so little consider what they write who contradict themselves while the Pen is in their Hand and are so impudent as to require a Belief contrary to their own very Relations I know no excuse for this but that which Monsieur Poiret gives on another occasion in his Preface to his Treatise of the Oeconomy Divine with which I suppose very few will be satisfied All Diversity is not Contrariety often Contradictions are only in Appearance and in the Spirit of the Readers but to deal ingenuously I desire the Reader not to give himself the trouble more than I do to adjust my Sentiments together but but let him search out the Truth independently from what I have said before Commonly when I write a thing I do not consider what I have said else where but I proceed to discover the Truth anew Lying may be in a thousand ways contrary to it self whosoever puts off Falshood ought to have a good Memory and to remember what he has said Mendacem oportet esse memorem but as Truth is uniform so whosoever follows its course needs neither Memory nor Reflection upon what is past A most notable way for reconciling Contradictions and for removing the shame of belying one's self By Monsieur Poiret's leave Memory and Reflection are very necessary to secure us from wandring out of the way of Truth and it is certain that he who contradicts himself as he has often done does not tread the paths of Truth And therefore neither his Evidence nor the Evidence of Monsieur du Cort who are the Heads of the Bourignianist Faction are sufficient for receiving Antonia Bourignon as sent of God and Divinely Inspired especially when the same Monsieur Poiret recommends Persons as Divine and Extraordinary whom wise and sober Men can have no esteem for as particularly Iacob Behmen who is only to be admired for his wild Notions and Nonsence But why should not Fowls of a feather fly together FINIS Advertisement from the Printer The Reader is entreated to put Fancy for Passion p. 5. l. 19. and to excuse the other Errata if there be any ADVERTISEMENT A Short Discourse upon the Doctrine of our Baptismal Covenant being an Exposition upon the Preliminary Questions and Answers of our Church Catechism proper to be read by all young Persons in Order to their Understanding the whole Frame and Tenor of the Christian Region and to their being duly prepared for Confirmation With Devotions Preparatory to that Apostolick and Useful Ordinance To which is added An Appendix being a Method of Family Religion By Tho. Bray D. D. Printed for W. Hawes at the Sign of the Rose in Ludgate-Street Lavie Continue c. 34. n. 3. Ibid. c. 2. p. 21. Ibid. c. 34. Ib. p. 598 601. Acta Lipsica Mense Ian. 16â—â— p. 3. Pref. Apol. p. 188. Ib. p. 192. Ib. p. 193. Ib. p. 197. Pref. n. 28. Tom. 3. c. 11. n. 16. Ibid. c. 12. p. 21. Ibid. c. 17. p. 340. Tom. 4. chap. 16. p. 379. Tom. 7. c. 3. p. 92. Preface to the English Reader p. 21. M. Corte's Pref. p. 43. Ib. p. 17. Ib. p. 41. Ib. p. 44. 45. Ibid. Ib. p. 46. Ib. p. 41. Ib. p. 33. Ib. p. 21. Ib. p. 13. Ib. p. 19. Ib. p. 46 47. Pref p. 47. Luk. 10. 20. Ecclus. 44. 1 Ps. 51. 5. 1 K. 8. 46. Job 14. 4. Joh. 3. 6. 1 Joh. 1. 18. 1 Joh. 1. 8. Jude 16. See Causabon his Treatise of Enthusiasme and Burton of Religious Melancholy Serm. XV. On 1 Tim. 5. 23. VI. Can. Apost III. Can. Con. Chalced Novel Just. 123. 1 Tim. 4. 12. Light of the World Pref. p. 14. La Vie Contin c. 2. ' La Parole de Dieu n. 3. La Vie Exterieure §. 4. Light of the World Pref. p. 14. La Vie Ext. § 6. p. 148. La Vie Cont. c. 2. p. 20. Luke 2. 51. La Parole de Dieu n. 8. p. 5. La Vie Ext. §. 6. La Parole de Dieu n. 91. p. 62. 1 Cor. 6. 7. La Vie Cont. c. 12. Ibid. c. 22. Dictionaire Hist. Critique per M. Baile Ibid. 2 Tim. 2. 4. Light of the World Pref. p. 44. See Enquiry into the Nature c. of Christian Faith part 2. p. 121. Mat. xxiv 24. Deut. xviii 22. Light of the World Coâ—f 2. part 1. p. 17. La Vie Cont. c. 19. p. 275. Light of the World part 1. p. 144. La Vie Cont. c. 34. p. 580. La Vie Ext. §. 3. La Vie Cont. c. 2. See Light of the World Part. 1. p. 7. Ibid. p. 16 17. Noveaux Saveurs de la Terre La Vie Cont. p. 330. La Parole de Dieu p. 158. La Parole de Dieu p. 16. Ib. p. 64. Ib. p. 77 78.