and extraordinary XX. 2. It is objected against her being led by the Spirit of God that many have had Visions and Revelations and yet not from God but that they have been acted either by the Heat of their own Imagination or by Illusions from the Devil who can transform himself into an Angel of Light and work upon the Fancies and Imaginations of corrupt Men so as to make his Illusions pass for Immediate Communications from God and therefore she may be reckoned among the Enthusiasts and Visionaries with which the World abounds Enthusiast is a Word which at first had a Good meaning viz. one truly led by the Spirit of God but now generally it is taken for one who falsely pretends to it and is not And of such there are several sorts of false Enthusiasts in the World tho' all of them do not go under that Name 1. Many there are who indulging still their corrupt Nature and being strongly acted by their own Imagination or by Impulses of the Devil pretend to Divine Inspiration and vent impious absurd and corrupt things as inspir'd by God By their Fruits ye shall know them Others are become Idolaters of their Reason make it their God But the most ordinary false Enthusiasts are they who least of all will own the Name those I mean who pretend to be Embassadours from God and that to resist them is all one as to resist the Spirit of God and that their Sermons and Explications of the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the Word of God tho' in the mean time they have not the Spirit of Jesus Christ are far from being enlightned by him venting their own Notions Passions Errors and Wranglings for the Word of God wresting it to speak as they would have it and in the mean time hating and persecuting those who are truly taught of God and calling them by the odious Names that belong to themselves True Divine Inspiration so far as we can conceive it from the Representations of those who have been truly and immediately Illuminated of God may be considered under these Two general Heads 1. Either God communicates himself his Light and Truth immediately to the Soul without the Intervention of any sensible Idea or Image Or 2. He makes use of sensible Images to affect the Soul and that after different manners by Dreams Visions Voices c. and it is in these especially and not in the former that the Devil labours to ape God and to delude Souls or that Men are deluded by their own warm Imaginations and the Devil's Illusions or their own Fancies pass for Divine Visions c. Now that the Motions and Sentiments of A. B. were not the Effect of such an Enthusiasm seems evidently to appear from her own Writings It is best to hear her self That I may satisfie says she to a great Lawyer the Question so oft proposed by you how I understand and speak with God I shall tell you in Simplicity what I can say of it God is a Spirit the Soul is a Spirit they communicate in Spirit they are not verbal Discourses but spiritual Notices Intelligences Spirituelles which nevertheless are more intelligible than the best Eloquence of the World God makes himself to be understood by the Soul by inward Motions which the Soul understands and comprehends according as it is freed of earthly Idea's and in so far as the Faculties of the Soul do cease the Motions of God are so much the more intelligible unto it The Notices of God are infallible when the Soul is free of all Images and in a Forgetfulness of all created things but they are doubtful when it acts by Imaginations and seek Sensibilities or any other thing that is not purely God The Saints themselves have in this Point committed Mistakes by Visions vocal Words Extasies or other Sensibilities to which the Imagination contributes God is a Spirit the Soul purified is transform'd into him and has no need of Words nor of Sight to understand him more than we need an Eye or a Tongue to understand our own Conceptions It is hard to declare how this is done it must be hard also to believe it and in Effect it is subject to Deceptions and Illusions of the Devil or the Imagination if these inward Notices and Knowledge be not declared by a Person whose Life and Words are conformable to the Gospel as being inspir'd by one and the same Spirit The rest of this Letter is transcrib'd above There is nothing more Difficult for Man's Understanding than to discern Spirits to know if they are of God or of the Devil or from Nature to discern this a Divine Light is necessary for the same things which the Spirit of God operates that of the Devil or of Nature may do also If the Spirit of God make a Soul say that which is to its Praise by a Spirit of simple Truth that of the Devil will make the same things be spoken through pure Pride that of Nature to get Esteem being so subtile in its Flatteries that it will sometimes utter things to its Contempt that it may appear Humble before those who hear them The same thing may be Holy Diabolical or Humane according to the inward Intention and Motion of the Soul that operates which God alone knows evidently in which so many deceive themselves who presume to discern Spirits and to guide Souls by their own natural Light These are the Blind who lead the Blind and both fall into the Ditch I entreat you to remark that the Holy Spirit is not visible to be seen by the Eyes of the Body where he resides but he manifests himself sufficiently by the Operations which he produces in those Souls which possess him They are adorn'd with all his Gifts and Fruits which are sure Marks of his Operations for neither the Devil nor Nature can work such Effects no more than natural Fruits can be brought forth without the Trees by which Fruits we discern the Trees so ought we to discern Souls that are filled with the Holy Spirit for to regard only the Bark which are the outward Actions and Words there is occasion of being greatly deceived for the Devil covers himself with the Garment of seeming Vertue and Sanctity and under this deceives the most Pious and the most Learned The Twelve Fruits and the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Eight Beatitudes have always their Operations in the Person who possesses the Holy Spirit who cannot reside any where without them more than the Sun can be without Light so that it is in vain to seek other Signs whereby to discern this Spirit since these only are the true Oneâ— So that we may know if a Person be animated by the Holy Spirit or by the Devil or by Nature by the Operation of his Works we need only consider them with a single Eye with a pure Intention without Curiosity or Affectation and then we cannot be deceived for God
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
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
Devil is haughty proud and desirous of Honour He who is of the Devil has a Deference to none The surest Mark to know true Prophets is to remark if they who call themselves such are true Christians since of Necessity they must first be this before they can be true Prophets Examine if they have the Qualities of a true Christian and if they truly know God He who truly knows him loves him and he cannot love him without partaking of his Divine Qualities and being transform'd into them As God is good righteous and true so will he be who truly knows and loves him If we see in these Prophets any thing contrary to the Goodness Righteousness and Truth of God we must not believe that they are sent from him because he who is his Friend is always transform'd into him and partakes expresly of his Three Qualities Righteousness Goodness and Truth bringing them forth in all his Works They also are not true Christians who are not true Disciples and Followers of Jesus Christ To be his Disciple we must do as he did and to be his Follower we must depend in all things on God as he depended and be willing for the Salvation of our Neighbour to endure hard Treatments Affronts Pains yea Death And if they who call themselves Prophets are not possess'd with this Sentiment they have not true Charity are not true Christians nor the Disciples of Jesus Christ You may ask me if I do not believe that I am a true Christian I will answer My Belief may perhaps deceive me but if you do not observe in me the Qualities of Charity the Fruits and Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Eight Beatitudes you ought not to believe it For these Marks are infallible to a truly Christian Soul so that they who have them not or at least do not labour to obtain them cannot be call'd truly Christian far less Prophets say what they please The Affectation of Desiring that People believe them is a Sign that they seek their own Glory For the Prophet of God affects nothing and forces nothing He only declares his Commission to him to whom he is sent as a Messenger that has no Concern in the Contents of the Letter that he carries Therefore they use to make themselves be believed the Desires they have that their Prophecies may come to pass and their Eagerness to act in their Designs shew that they seek their own Satisfaction For the Friend of God acts always with Meekness and Indifferency leaving all the Success of his Commission to God and he is as content with his own Confusion as with his Honour seeking and aiming at no other thing but to have satisfied him who sent him If those Prophets were of God they would all speak conformably and also with Constancy for there can be no mutability in God what he said to the Ancient Prophets he says yet now adays to the Souls which he possesseth They can be no new Prophecies for God has forâ—â—old all from ancient Times but he gives now the understanding and clearing of these ancient Prophecies to Souls resign'd to him Neither do they bring new Laws or Instructions because Jesus Christ has brought the last which is the Gospel and he teaches all things in Perfection and what Men ought to do and avoid that they may return to a Dependance upon God from whence they have strayed and this so perfectly that he has perfectly compleated all the Laws and all saving Instructions So that if any would teach another thing he is a Seducer and ought not to be believed But when one comes from God to awaken Men that they may consider how they are fallen from the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and how far they are estranged from a Dependance upon God making this appear to them by eternal Truths and by so clear Reasons that all Men of sound judgment may comprehend it these things ought not to be rejected because they are good in themselves and cannot but profit those who believe them tho' they should come from the Mouth of a false Prophet yea of the Devil himself We ought not then to stick so much at examining the Instrument from whence those Truths came to know if it be true and good and aim at God's Glory and the Salvation of Souls For God makes use sometimes of Persons who are imperfect and vicious yea of the Devil himself to declare to us the Truth that is necessary for us that we may not pretend Ignorance or blame God for our Damnation as being wanting to warn us He therefore sometimes makes Beasts wicked and possess'd Persons to speak that they may manifest his Will to us but we must not therefore make reckoning of the Beasts Devils and wicked Persons but Profit by the Things that God makes known to us by them when that which they say is good and true If a Soul be truly possest with the Holy Spirit he discovers himself sufficiently by his Operations He brings forth there always his Fruits he brings thither infallibly his Gifts by which we may truly know that it is he Tho' he be an invisible Spirit he is seen and sensibly comprehended by his visible Works and by the Operations he works in the Soul and Understanding of him who possesses him which may be clearly seen in the Conversation of the Person who says he possesses him For he must be Charitable Joyful Peaceable Patient Persevering Good Gentle Meek Faithful Modest Continent and Chast The Holy Spirit cannot be in a Soul without producing those Fruits no more than the Sun can be without giving Light to the Earth which feels 〈◊〉 Heat and Splendour tho' it does not comprehend the Essence of the Star There may be Fruits in the Soul resembling these which are only Sensualities and Self-love and Moral Vertues tho' they may take the Name of the Fruits of the Spirit they are vain because they respect only the present time They who do not possess the Holy Spirit cannot discern if he reside in another but by the Wisdom of the same Spirit which is known by the Holy Scriptures without which there is nothing but Darkness and Ignorance If we would discover that a Soul has True Charity we must see if its Works are accompanied with the Conditions of that Charity described by St. Paul That we may give Credit to the Sayings of those who say they are led by the Holy Spirit we must first see if what they say be conformable to the Holy Scriptures for the Holy Spirit is Uniform through all He inspir'd the Prophets of the ancient Law and thereafter the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ as he does Souls living at present upon Earth There must be a Conformity in Substance between all those Inspirations if they proceeded from one and the same Holy Spirit All being but the same Doctrine and the same Spirit in which there can never be any Deceit because the Spirit of God
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
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
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
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ she would have Men take up the Spirit of the first Christians and let the good Seed of the Doctrine of the Gospel spring up in their Souls and not her Doctrine For she has no particular nor new Doctrine as to the Conduct of Mens Souls* and that when she adds any thing in her Writings that does not concern the Doctrine of the Gospel they ought to lay it aside till God give them a more clear Understanding of it And as to her Friend's Testimonies they were designed in some measure to ballance the bold and impudent Censures and Calumnies of her Enemies and to excite Men to examine and weigh her Writings impartially and not to suffer their Minds to be forestall'd by Prejudices or to judge rashly and inconsiâ—erately of things before they know them So the Doctor might have spared this Narrative and it may be all that is to follow for his only Business ought to have been to let the World see that what she calls the Doctrine of the Gospel and necessary to Salvation really iâ— not so or that her other Sentiments do destroy it for provided that Men be perswaded of the Truth of this that none can be saved without the Love of God and will follow the only way to come at this the mortifying corrupt Nature and following the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ she is content to undergo all reproach her self and that all her other Sentiments and Doctrines pass for Dreams and Romances If the Doctor say as he does in his Letter Artticle XV. that he finds nothing good in her Writings but what is common and handled in every Practical Treatise and the Subject of daily Sermons Well might not the Doctor have suffered her Books to pass among Practical Treatises and even to be preferred to most of them by such who see the Doctrine of Christ more clearly and purely represented in them than in others without the Glosses of corrupt Nature and feel a Divine Force Power and Spirit accompanying them who see in them the horrid Corruption of our Nature and of our Wills clearly laid before them the Christian Vertues most lively represented and most excellent Directions how to copy them out according to the great Original Jesus Christ XXII The other Part of the Doctor 's Narrative is spent in disproving the Reasons why A. B. is so much admired and said to be divinely inspired c. and I am sorry that his Passions or Prejudices do as much darken his Reason and with-hold him from candour and fair dealing here as in the former The Reasons which they bring are to be had more truly from her and their Writings and are set down in the Thrid Part of the Apology and some of those mentioned by the Doctor were never brought by them as Reasons why they thought her divinely inspir'd but upon other Grounds of which afterwards The first he considers is her Sanctity which he says is nor always attended with extraordinary Illuminations and then inferrs that suppose her to be truly and extraordinarily Holy she is not therefore to be reckon'd to know the Mind of God in all things by immediate Revelation all which is readily granted But make once the Doctor 's Supposition and then add that the Person so truly Holy declares that God is pleas'd to communicate his Light immediately unto her and that without all humane Helps and that upon trial it be found that what she declares is the same with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what God has already revealed by his Spirit this I think may be reckoned a weighty Evidence of Divine Inspiraration for a Person so truly Holy would not lye nor would God suffer such a one to be so deluded The Doctor singles out every Reason by it self and would prove that suppose it were true the Consequence is not just and so rejects the Consequence drawn from them altogether which is just as if one should reason that 2 and 4 and 6 do not make 12 because 2 makes not 12 and 4 makes it not nor yet 6 Ergo c. In the rest of this Article he has a long Discourse to shew How far Saints should keep their Distance and be cloathed with Humility and how others should beware of running into excess when they honour them not to exalt them to an equality with God nor near it we ought to honour those whom God hath honoured yet only so as to make them the subject Matter of honouring God A. B. and her Friends do perfectly join with the Dostor what goes beyond this they abhor it Where there is no Humility there is no Sanctity for that is the Foundation of this but we may be greatly mistaken to call that Humility which is the greatest Pride to speak meanly of our selves when it appears by all our Actions that we are not so in our Hearts the Saints may declare the Grace of God to themselves with the greatest Humility ascribing all to God and seeing the more their own Nothingness As David Paul c. and what A. B. says of her self may proceed from the same Spirit notwithstanding of all the Doctor 's Reasons That her Friends publish blasphemous Encomiums of her and are guilty of Idolatry as to her is a bold unjust and malicious Calumny which they utterly deny In the XV. Article he justifies his Zeal against her and them for exalting her above the present State and Capacity of humane Nature only that all her metaphysical Whimsies which M. Poiret is passionately fond of might be received for Divine Truths I have already replied to this that neither A. B. nor M. Poiret do bid any believe what he calls Whimsies to be Divine Truths but only entreat Men to be True Christians and if they please they may look upon all her other Thoughts that have no immediate relation to this to be really metaphysical Whimsies It is a wrong Imagination of his that that make her impeccable or at least never to have actually sinned She asserts the contrary her self and they believed no such thing as I have already shewn M. de Cort's Expression As if Adam had never sinned in her implies no such thing as the Doctor inferrs from it but that during the time he conversed with her he observed in her such a compleat and solid Vertue that he thinks she could not have been in a purer State tho' she had not been born of the corrupt mass of Adam as indeed she was So this is the Subject of another Consideration whether by the Grace of God a Person may be advanced to such a State of Vertue as not actually to commit any Sin neither in Heart nor Life tho' they be born of the corrupt mass of Adam are not impeccable and have been guilty of many Sins In the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Article he proceeds to shew That the things they instance in her are not certain Proofs of Sanctity and first
Age of Eighteen she voluntarily abandoned all that she might have possessed with rich Parents and when afterward she had an express Command from God to assume her Goods she took them only as a great Charge and Burthen to her not knowing how to employ them according to the Will of God that she was herself satisfied with simple Necessaries and employâ—d all in the Glory of God and in Charity to her Neighbour that she spent herself and Goods and Cares in training up young Girls sometimes Fifty at a Time providing both for their Souls and for their Bodies c. She afterwards adds That he Benjamin Furly wrongfully accuses me that I seek worldly Goods and that I possess my own Goods in Coâ—etousness and also those of others viz. thâ—se of the deceas'd M de Cort. I know not what this Covetousness would serve for since I have resolved to live soberly without all Attendance or Service which I have no more desired since I possessed my own Goods than I did before and would not do even tho' I should possess Noordstrand yea tho' I should possess a whole Kingdom Because the Resolution I have to imitate the Lowness of Jesus Christ is more valuable in mâ— judgment than all the Wealth Pleasures and Commoâ—â—â—â—es in the World Which Resolution I will never alter and therefore I have no need to covet this World's Goods to make my self Great or to take my Delights here for I look for them after Death and when it shall be lawful to enjoy all sorts of Contentments but it is not lawful in this Valley of Tears which is the time of Penitence XXIV The Doctor 's 5th Instance to disprove her Sanctity is considered already And now since the Doctor is an intimate Acquaintance of Mr. 〈◊〉 and well versâ— in his Dictionaire Histor Critique he being one of his great Vouchers whom it seems he approves in his 〈◊〉 of treating Divine Things and Persons he still 〈…〉 honourably of him tho' Men of another Character 〈◊〉 as Dr. Tillotson and Dr. 〈◊〉 how far soever they seem to be out of his Road cannot escape his laâ—h I would entreat him to compare his own Character of A. B. with Mr. Bayle's of the Royal Prophet and Psalmist 〈◊〉 and he will find that tho' he has been very solicitous in drawing of her Picture not to render her very Lovely yet if he compare it with his Friend's Picture of 〈◊〉 it will be found that what appeared to him as he says 〈◊〉 ugly Scabs and Ulcers are really Marks of Beauty 〈◊〉 taken in his own Sense in Respect of the Lineaments his Friend gives the other There is hardly any Crime or Vice wherein he does not make him exceed the worst King of his Age and that throughout all his Life and yet he says it cannot be deny'd that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit because he wrote the Psalms If the Doctor approve of his Critique he confounds his own if not how can he pretend Zeal for God and the Authority of his Holy Word and yet make him one of his most familiar and most intimate Friends cite the Authority of his Book on all Occasions to justifie his Narratives which good Men are ashamed to say they have look'd into as well because of the Impudicity of it as of his impious Undermining of the Sacred Scriptures by studying with the most malicious Art utterly to discredit the Writers of them as Men void of All True Vertue XXV In the XXI Article the Doctor very weakly disproves her Knowledge of secret Thoughts by denying the thing as being asserted only by M. de Cort Whereas there be several Instances given of it by Mr. Franken Mr. Van de Velde Tiellens and others in Temoignage de la Verite It is true God is the only Searcher of Hearts but it is neither against Reason nor Scripture that one should know the Thoughts and Heart of another when God is pleas'd to reveal it to him and that the Thoughts and Dispositions of the Hearts of some were made known by God to Mrs. A. B. and declared by her is more than once testified both in her Life and in the Temoign de la Verite XXVI As to the XXII Article as the foretelling of things to come is no infallible Sign of Divine Inspiration unless it be joined with the real Holiness of the Person and the Purity of the Doctrine So that things do not immediately come to pass in the time and after the manner that we think they have been foretold is no sufficient Proof that they who foretold them are false Prophets as appears in the Third Part of the Apology Jonah foretold that Ninevah should be destroyed within Forty Days and yet it was not destroyed And tho' he says she told things very positively which are not yet come to pass yet that does not infer that she was not inspired by God her Meaning as to the last Judgments is touched upon already and is mistaken by the Doctor Besides we are to consider that those inspired by God have their Minds so filled with the Representations of Divine and Future Things that they appear to them near even at the Door So St. Paul speaks of the last Judgments and of Christ's Coming in the Clouds and of their being to be changed who were then upon the Earth at his Coming as if all were to be accomplished in his own Days It is much that has obliged the Doctor to say one good Word of her sure the Matter must be very notorious that he had not the Confidence to pass it by and conceal it He says Article XXIII It must be acknowledged that she speaks and writes more plainly and intelligibly than any of the Mystick Sect and is somewhat more on the Moral than others of that Gang. But as if it were against the grain to say any thing that might seem in the least to commend her he dashes all again by telling That her high Flights were effects of Fancy rather than Judgment as not having much Reason and Meditation That her Notions are Sublime but so are a Bedlamites Well A. B. will not quarrel with any who distinguishing the Accessories from the Essentials of Christianity in her Writings do firmly adhere to and practice the first tho' they look upon the last as Dreams or metaphysical Whimsies For she requires no Body to believe them if they see no Clearness in them she lays no Stress upon them He undertakes to prove that her Notions do neither hang well together nor are consonant to the Scriptures and pawns his Reputation for the Performance But he did not well to hazard what he so highly values where the Probability of losing was so great XXVII In the XXIV Article He is at a stand what Reply to give to the Account of the Supernatural Means by which she came to her Knowledge without Reading without consulting Men and Books and even without Meditation He says It
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