Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	believe_v	strong_a	unrighteousness_n	1,917	5	11.2143	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33542	Bourignianism detected, or, The delusions and errors of Antonia Bourignon, and her growing sect which may also serve for a discovery of all other enthusiastical impostures / by John Cockburn.	Cockburn, John, 1652-1729.	1698 (1698)	Wing C4804; ESTC R17688	48,522	82

Astronomers have calculated their Motions and reduced them to some System which like that of other Planets may be improv'd by after Observations Comets indeed are Prodigies that is they are prodigious and stupendous Instances of God's Power of the Vastness of the Creation and Extent of the Universe But how can they be said to point out particular Persons and Places when like the Sun they are seen every where Madamoiselle must be equal to Jesus Christ in every thing and because there was a Star which directed the Wise Men of the East to his very Door therefore she must have a Comet and I wonder that he did not give this Reason why her sign was more visible than his because she was to be the greater and more Publick Blessing no doubt the next Edition of her Life will have it But the Fool should have remember'd that 't was not for the Credit of his Adorable Mistriss to mention a Comet or to apply it to her because all the Superstitious Observers of Comets have look'd upon them as Presages of the Divine Wrath and Vengeance If therefore these Comets were given for a sign to Antonia Bourignon they signifie that she is the Scourge of God a heavy Judgment to all who follow her Which Interpretation is more just and reasonable than the other for there cannot be a greater Judgment than to be given up to Lyes and strong Delusions which is the Judgment threatned to those who do not believe the Truth but have Pleasure in Unrighteousness that they may be Damned Thus I have considered and examined the Reasons pretended for the high Character of Madamoiselle Bourignon and have shewed the weakness of them and if the Reasons be not sufficient to perswade us the Authority of De Cort Poiret and others who have publish'd her History will be found yet of less avail for it is evident to all who read them that they take but little heed to what they say Passion and Fancy do inspire them more than Truth and they write not like faithful Historians but like Romancers like Flatterers and those who are brib'd to make Panegyricks who study Hyperboles and the Art of magnifying every thing They are far from the Integrity and Candour of the Holy Apostles and Evangelists who propose things plainly without any Affectation of Language they write the Naked Truth and despise the Artificial Dress of Words which in the Judgment of all Wise Men doth deface rather than beautifie they set the Matter simply before us and leave the Readers to draw the Consequence which is done like Men who neither are deceived nor intend to deceive Whereas the other disguise Matters being afraid to shew them as they are they study the enticing words of Man's Wisdom and in the multitude of their words they lose themselves and the Truth too and deceive others with an empty sound I will give one or two Instances and let any judge whether I have not Reason on my side The First shall be concerning that Passage of Madamoiselle when but four Years old which is very much insisted upon viz. That then she ask'd for the Country of Christians and often desired to be carried thither I do confess that if at that Age she understood what she said 't was remarkable 't was much for a Child to be sensible of the contrariety betwixt Christians and the Religion which they profess though nothing is more palpable and that one may even in Christendom it self ask for a Christian as well as the Philosopher at Athens did look for a Man at Noon-day that is one who acted wisely and reasonably But yet even this is not Matter of much Admiration when it is remembred that common Children do often drop Sayings worthy of the wisest without being sensible of the Importance of their own words This might have been occasion'd by the Pious Discourses of her Father and others about her when they read the New Testament which Monsieur Bourignon caus'd to be put into the hands of his Children notwithstanding that he was in the Communion of the Roman Church However the Author of her Life shews only his own vain Humour when he spends almost a whole Chapter upon it and magnifies this above all that was ever said or written All Doctors and Teachers yea all the World ought to be silent and to hearken to the Lisping of this Infant and for my part I love better to hear and meditate on these four words where is the Country of Christians than to turn over all the Volumes of all the Learned of the World Millions of Millions of Sermons are not to be compared to them from which more Light more Instruction more Saving Knowledge more Rules for the Conduct of Life may be drawn than from all the most reasonable Opinions and Speculations which often do not import much and which have not more certainty than the Doctrine fo the probable Opinions of the new Saviours of the World Again The Account of her Chastity which is set down in the Second Article of this Narrative is a high stretch beyond Truth and the common sence of Mankind for however free Madamoiselle might be of carnal Inclinations after her serious Conversion to God yet it is hardly credible that all the while she followed a vain Conversation she never had one Thought unbecoming the Chastity of the purest Virgin State especially when she confesses that she delighted much in Mens Company If the Opinion of some be received that none are pure Virgins but such as do not know the distinction of Sexes Madamoiselle cannot pass for one for she had as much Philosophy I will not say Experience as to know that nay and the use of these Distinctions too for sometimes she talks pretty sensibly of the Pleasure of Conception and Propagation that Sin only hinders Women from having as much Pleasure in the Birth as now they have in the Conceiving and that in the other World this Pleasure shall not be light and short as at present but lasting and perpetual Antonia was not altogether free of Suspition but I will not accuse her yet if she was not guilty of actual Defilements there is one Passage which gives occasion to suspect her Imagination Take her own account of it which is thus One Sunday after Dinner being in a profound retreat it was said to me Why does thou not desire Children I answered Children Lord give me Children Instantly the Pastor which I suppose was Monsieur de Cort was strongly imprinted in my Fancy as if he had cast himself into my Embraces I was surprized and said Men Lord these are Men It was answered Yes they are Men. Upon which I thought I conceived five comely Persons P. C. E. L. L. But whatever may be pleaded for Madamoiselle her self Monsieur Poiret or whoever it was that continued her Life strain'd a Figure above all Truth and rais'd his Hyperbole to a perfect Falshood when he said

Pollutions of the World and be good and upright even in a Corrupt Age none could have found Fault with them nor was there reason for Strangers to suspect the Truth of what they say But they have betrayed themselves by an Extravagant Immodesty and their Truth and Sincerity may be justly questioned now that they ascribe to her more than what is possible if we look upon their Character by the Light of the Scripture For they make her Impeccable at least they say as was shewed above that she never actually sinned no not in Thought and that she derived no Guilt or Corruption from Adam which must be Monsieur de Cort his meaning when he said that it seemed Adam never sinn'd in her Whereas the Scripture saith that we are born in Sin and conceived in Iniquity that there is no man not the most just and perfect that doth good and sinneth not and that none are perfectly righteous in the sight of God but all are guilty before him If Monsieur de Cort and Monsieur Poiret their Description of Antonia Bourignon be true she did not as St. Paul speaketh in the Name of the rest of Mankind carry about with her a Body of Sin and Death she had not a Law in her Members warring against the Law of her Mind she needed no High Priest nor Sacrifice for Sin and the Blood of Christ would be applied to her in vain for she is clean without it If Madamoiselle Bourignon was the Woman which they represent her she was indeed a very great Miracle yea the greatest Wonder amongst Mankind for she was the Offspring of sinful and unclean Parents and yet clean her self she was born of Flesh and yet no Flesh or without the Natural and Inherent Properties of Flesh and so she or they give the lye not only to Iob who said Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one but also to our Lord himself who said positively That which is born of the flesh is flesh But shall a De Cort or a Poiret have more Credit than the Son of God Should their words be received in Contradiction to the Scripture which we know was given by Inspiration of the Holy Ghost what Impudence is it in them to impose such notorious Falshoods upon us or how strangely are they infatuated if they believe themselves Both he that saith of himself that he hath no Sin and he that saith that another is without Sin is deceived and the truth is not in them This one Instance as well as many others which follow doth sufficiently prove that the Insallible Spirit of God has not guided the Pens of Monsieur de Cort or Monsieur Poiret and that though they pretend to be the truest and most perfect Christians because Followers of Bourignon yet it is much more probable that they belong to that Party which the Apostle St. Iude describes which he makes spots in the Christian feasts of Charity whose mouth speaketh great swelling words having mens persons in admiration because of advantage Antonia Bourignon was either Mother or Midwife to some wild Metaphysical Whimsies and Extravagant Notions which Monsieur Poiret is passionately fond of and therefore to make them be received by all for Divine Truths she must be exalted above the present State and Capacity of Humane Nature Lord how doth passion Blind Men How do their Affections transport them without all bounds of Sense and Discretion But it will perhaps be replied by the Poiretans and Bourignianists that there is no reasoning against Matter of Fact that a thing may be true though it be strange and unaccountable that Madamoiselle Bourignon is an extraordinary Instance and an Exception from the General State of Mankind And therefore I proceed further to shew First That the things instanced by them which they insist most upon and which they talk most of are not certain Proofs of Sanctity Secondly That several things are own'd both by her self and them which are very inconsistent with such extraordinary Sanctity as is ascribed to her First I say that the things instanced are not certain Proofs of Sanctity By certain Proofs I do not mean strict Demonstrations such as the Science of Mathematicks requires and doth afford but such good Moral Assurances as may be the Ground of a reasonable Belief and which may satisfie that we are not deceived and imposed upon The present case differs very much from that of judging and censuring the Lives and Actions of our fellow Christians who pretend to nothing extraordinary there a strict Enquiry is not necessary there Charity should bear the sway and then we ought to believe and hope the best providing we do not destroy the Notions of Good and Evil nor yet recommend an evil Action out of an excess of Charity But here where there are more than common Pretensions where an extraordinary Sanctity is pretended a Sanctity worthy to be observed and imitated a Sanctity which is thought sufficient to make the Person worthy to be received as a Prophet as one sent from God to give great Light and Instruction both by Doctrine and Example then every prudent Person ought to make a narrow Enquiry and to judge warily then we should ask for good and sufficient Evidence and without it we have all reason to suspend our Belief and to deny our Assent Now I do ingenuously declare That having considered seriously both what Antonia Bourignon writes of her self and the Accounts which others have given of her I do not perceive any singular or extraordinary Instance of Sanctity besides affected Solitude and Retirement her Celibacy and resisting all Importunities to Marriage Fastings Watchings Humiliations wearing of Sack-cloth a contempt of the common Ornaments of her Sex and such like Austerities as also great Raptures and Extasies in Prayer and Devotion none of which are certain signs of true and solid Piety for as these things may and do sometimes proceed from the right Knowledge of God a sincere Love to him and a serious Consideration of our own Nature and the Nature of other things so they may be and often are only the Effects of a particular Temper and Constitution as they may be and often have been counterfeited by Persons in the gall of bitterness and bonds of Iniquity These things make a great shew which both surprizes unthinking Beholders and also deludes the Persons themselves but they deserve not to be admired or praised except when they are transacted by Persons of sound and solid Judgment whose sence and understanding are under no suspicion of being Sick and when they are accompanied with a Spirit of great Humility and Submission towards God of Meekness and Charity towards others when there is a sincere respect had to all God's Commands and suitable Honour and Obedience paid unto Men. But when these things are done by one that is continually a quarrelling with Providence and the state of Humane Affairs by one that is vain proud and