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truth_n	darkness_n	light_n	shine_v	2,493	5	8.8882	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42287	An apology for M. Antonia Bourignon in four parts ... : to which are added two letters from different hands, containing remarks on the preface to The snake in the grass and Bourignianism detected : as also some of her own letters, whereby her true Christian spirit and sentiments are farther justified and vindicated, particularly as to the doctrine of the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ.	Garden, George, 1649-1733.; Bourignon, Antoinette, 1616-1680.; De Heyde, Dr.	1699 (1699)	Wing G218; ESTC R18554	402,086	456

to pure and well-disposed Souls both under the Old and New Testament and that the Scriptures are a second Remedy which God makes use of because of the Blindness and Impurity of Mens Hearts Thus St. Augustin likewise makes appear that the Scriptures and all the outward Dispensations of the Gospel do lead us to this and that a pure Heart and a good Life are necessary Dispositions for it St. John says that In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God In him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men and the Light shineth in Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it not That was the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth And our Saviour says He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him And when one of his Disciples ask'd how he would manifest himself to them and not to the World Jesus said If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And the Apostle assures us that the things of God cannot be known but by the Spirit of God and that the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are Foolishness to him neither can they know them because he are spiritually discerned He tells us likewise that they who are in Christ Jesus the Spirit of God dwells in them and that if they have not the Spirit of Christ they are none of his and that being led by God's Spirit they are his Sons So that all who are truly regenerated are led by the Spirit of God V. They whom God employs for the Good and Salvation of others he not only endues them with the Light and Grace necessary for their own Conduct and Salvation but also with Divine Light and Wisdom that may make them fit Organs and Instruments to communicate the same Blessing to others This is evident from the Holy Scriptures VI. Such is the infinite Goodness of God towards Man that when he has given Men his Law and made known to them their whole Duty yet when they have generally strayed from it and both Priest and People have corrupted their Ways God has been pleas'd to raise up extraordinary Prophets to let them see how grosly they had mistaken and perverted Gods Law to awaken and call them to Repentance and to warn them of God's approaching Judgments VII The Instruments that God made use of on such Occasions were generally Persons who had no worldly nor humane Advantages to recommend them were neither Learned nor Great nor Rich nor Honourable nor Wise in the World's esteem but he chose the weak and the foolish things of the World to confound the Wise and the Mighty Elisha a Labourer of the Ground Amos a Herdsman David a Shepherd John and James Peter and Andrew Fishermen Mathew a Publican Simplicity and humility of Heart were the chief Qualities which recommended them to his Choice They were generally despis'd rejected and condemn'd by the People of the Age wherein they lived Above all they were persecuted by the Pastours and Priests who had the Dexterity by their Learning and Subtilty to wrest and criticize upon their Words and Writings and turn them into Heresies and Blasphemies that they might make the People abhor and persecute them and it was in the following Ages after their Death that Men began generally to esteem and honour them VIII The Holy Persons thus inspir'd by God were far from despising his Word and the Holy Scriptures these they could not contradict for the Spirit of God cannot contradict himself but they shew People how greatly they strayed from them in their Life and Practice They did not contemn his Ordinances but they made appear how Temple and all was an Abomination to God so long as they who profess'd to be his People and to worship him by them did live wickedly and neglect the weightier Matters of the Law They were far from making any Schism or setting up a New Sect and Party but they plainly told both the People and the Priests and Pastours their Sins and Degeneracy and warn'd them to flee from the Wrath to come IX There were not wanting at the same time false Prophets to oppose and destroy the Credit of the true and they wrought Signs and Wonders to procure Belief but the Truth and Sincerity of the one was still discernable from the Paint and Falshood of the other by such as were truly sincere themselves And he that did the Will of God would know of the Doctrine whether it were of God or whether Men spoke of themselves They who were truly led by the Spirit of God liv'd as they spake they required not of others what they did not first themselves they did not flatter the People in their Vices nor promise them Peace Peace when sudden Destruction was near nor did they seek themselves X. As God did thus immediately enlighten by his Holy Spirit some pure and well-disposed Souls before the Coming of Jesus Christ and after his Ascension so it is neither impossible nor improbable that our infinitely Good God should shew the same Mercy in after Ages It is not against his Nature no more than it is against the Nature of the Sun to send his Light and Heath through all where Clouds and Walls do not shut them out for his Delight is to be with the Children of Men. Neither has he declar'd any where that he will not do it as for the Curse denounc'd Revel 22. 18. against those that shall add to the things contain'd therein upon which some understand as such a Declaration from God as it relates only to that Prophesie so it lays a restraint on Men only and not on God as appears by comparing it with that of Deut. 4. 2. 12. 32. If it be said that no immediate Revelation for the Instruction of Mankind is to be expected after the Days of the Apostles because the Will of God and the Way of Salvation were clearly and fully declar'd by Jesus Christ if this Argument were good it would follow that the Doctrine of the Apostles is not to be received as a Divine Revelation but in so far as it contains a Relation of that which was delivered to them by Jesus Christ whereas it is certain they delivered to the Church many other things immediately taught them by the Spirit of God Wherefore from the Fulness Clearness and Perfection of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ we may well infer that there shall be no Revelation of a New Doctrine or a New Religion

say he is our Pledge and by his Sufferings has paid the Penalty due to our Sins having died to redeem us while we will suffer nothing nor share in his Pains being well pleased to have our Debts paid with the Goods of another It is on the other hand a great Boldness in those who think they shall be saved by their own Merits without the Merits of Jesus Christ For if Jesus Christ had not merited for them the Grace to do well they were not capable of having so much as one good Thought or Desire of doing one good Work So that all the Grace they have of doing any Good comes from the Merits of Jesus Christ tho' by Ignorance they despise it as poor blinded ones who can discern nothing thro' the Weakness of their Sight For if Jesus Christ had not come to bring Light to the World no body would have perceived his own miserable State and if he had not interceded with his Father no body would have had the Grace to receive his Light so that without Jesus Christ all Men would have remained lost thro' their Blindness and would never have been able to comprehend by what Means they ought to return to God if Jesus Christ had not come to teach them by Word and Deed. And if he had only taught them by Word as the other Prophets no body would have followed him since they believe even yet that it is impossible to imitate Jesus Christ and to follow the Evangelical Life But he himself has put it in Practice before Mens Eyes that after his Example they must endeavour to satisfie the Justice of God by the Union of his Sufferings and of his Charity which are Sacrifices more agreeable to God his Father than our unclean Offerings and our Works defiled with Sin If one had mortally offended his Equal he durst not of himself procure Peace and the Pardon of his Offence but he would interpose some Mediator who were a Friend of the offended Person to satisfie his just Wrath. But they who would be saved by their good Works have too much Pride to take Jesus Christ as Mediator but with an up-lifted Head they address to God whom they have so often offended that they rather draw down his avenging Hand upon their Heads than the Pardon of their Sins for God resists the Proud and gives his Heart to the Humble If they join'd their good Works to the Humility of Jesus Christ they might peradventure receive the Mercy of God by his Son Jesus Christ but standing up as the Pharisee who thanked God for his good Works they shall no more be justified than he was when he went out of the Temple Because he who is not cloathed with Jesus Christ is not admitted to his Father since before his Coming into the World all Men were Enemies to God So that he who is not cloathed with Jesus Christ cannot be acknowledged for his Friend far less for his Son seeing the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the only Son in which he takes Pleasure and not in another He therefore who thinks to go to God without the Mediation of Jesus Christ will be rejected as unworthy and rash because Jesus Christ is the only Door of Salvation They are Thieves who would enter by the Windows into the Kingdom of Heaven for that only belongs to the Disciples of Jesus Christ In which those greatly deceive themselves who believe that they may enter into it while they despise him or reject his Merits which have opened the Door to all those who will follow and imitate him Yet not to those who esteem Jesus Christ and his Merits but with all this will not embrace Penitence under a Pretext that Jesus Christ has satisfi'd wholly for their Sins comprehending even those which they shall commit in time to come as well as those which they have committed in time past In which Error are the most part of those who are called Christians yea amongst others the most perfect We hear nothing more ordinary in their pious Discourses than to say God is Good he will save us and Jesus Christ died to give us Entry into Paradise And with these fine Discourses every one thinks they are sure of Paradise even tho' they live and die in their natural Motions and Sentiments which is a great Mistake for God tho' he be good will save no body but him who shall satisfie his Divine Justice The Merits of the Death and Suffering of Jesus Christ will never be applied but to Souls which are regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ For he has not suffered but for those who from a natural Life shall enter into a spiritual one For Jesus Christ says that all Righteousness must be fulfilled Now it were not just that they who have forsaken a Dependance upon God to depend upon their own Wills should enjoy the Merits of Jesus Christ without being converted and embracing his Spirit since he came not but to bring Sinners to Repentance and he who continues to persevere in his natural Life cannot repent and so cannot enjoy the Merits of Jesus Christ since it is not for those that he has suffered or merited but only for those who by Ignorance or Frailty have quitted their Dependance upon God and delight themselves in the Creatures without thinking they ought to delight themselves in God alone They lived in the Darkness of Death without knowing it Therefore Christ had Compassion on them and offered himself to his Father promising unto him that they should be converted and do Penitence provided he brought them the Light of Truth by which they might get out of their Darkness and their Errors In this Jesus Christ was our Pledge and answered for our Penitence with which we must be saved and not otherwise Therefore they form to themselves imaginary Ways in the Air who think that Jesus Christ is come to save us in speculative Way or by some incomprehensible Mysteries seeing our Redemption is accommodated to our Capacity But the Devil to divert us from taking the straight Way thro' which Jesus Christ walked blinds our Eyes with imaginary Things that we may never come to the Knowledge of the straight Truth making some believe that they cannot be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ and others that his Merits will save them even though they use no Endeavours to imitate and follow him Many other Passages might I bring out of her Writings but these may shew her Sentiments in this Matter The Sum of her Sentiments comes to this That Man turning away his Heart and his Affections from God thereby all Communion between God and Man ceas'd and so Man was plung'd into an irrecoverable State of Sin and Misery as well as the fallen Angels if there had been none to interpose for him with God for whose Sake he should shew him Mercy there being nothing now in Man that could move God to have any Regard for him That Jesus Christ true God and

they are regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ tho' all their Actions be quite contrary to those of Jesus Christ and his Spirit for tho' they speak humbly and have an humble Shew and Gestures yet they have a very proud Heart and then they would have it believed that they are regenerated and would take it in ill part if I would say they are not They do not perceive that it is a greater Pride in them to say that they are regenerated than in me to say that I am a Mother of true Believers for he who is regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ lives no longer but Jesus Christ lives in him And a Mother of True Believers is nothing but a frail Creature who may yet sin and undo her self It is a small matter to be a Mother or Father of True Believers as to our own Perfection this gives us no more If God give us sufficient Light for the Conduct of our own Life in particular or if he give us of it in Abundance to enlighten others also this will not add one Degree of Glory to our Soul but in as far as we have been faithful Dispensers of the Graces of God For to be only the matter of a Father or Mother of True Believers a Statue or Image of Wood or Stone would serve as well as a living Person for as much as God is not tied to any thing he can as well speak by the Organ of a Statue of Wood or Stone as he did heretofore by Clouds by a burning Bush by Thunder all these matters cannot boast themselves because God operates by them for he has equally Power over all things and makes use of such Instruments as he pleases If he will beget True Believers by my Mouth he can do it as well as by an Image carv'd out of Wood. The Mennonists therefore are very unjust to take Scandal at the Works of God after I had explain'd to them what I meant by that Word a Mother of True Believers that I understood that all those whom God shall make use of for the Conversion of others shall be the True Fathers and Mothers of those who shall become True Believers by their means and that it is after this manner that St. Paul said I have begotten you The Apostle knew well that he had not Power to beget Children to God but he perceived well that God gave him Light in his Understanding and Words in his Mouth and Charity in his Heart and that by all these things many would be regenerated by becoming True Children of God and dying to the Flesh to live to the Spirit I have explain'd this Word of Mother of True Believers by saying that God by my Organ will give his Light to Men by which they shall see their Darkness and receive the Understanding of the Truth This Light with which he will produce True Believers is not mine tho' he produce them by my Mouth my Hand or my Spirit but it is God's even as our Bodies are not our Parents but of God for they cannot make one Hair of our Head yet God calls them Fathers and Mothers and commands to obey them under pain of Damnation This one Instance of an Expression so highly exaggerated formerly and of late which I think she vindicates as to the true Sence and Meaning to the Satisfaction of all equitable Readers upon the supposition of her being endued with Light by God for the Good of others this Instance I say may serve for a Sample to shew how unjust Men are in forming Characters of Persons from shreds of Expressions gathered here and there and put altogether without letting the World see the Contexts of them the main Scope of them or the Sence and Meaning given of them by the Persons concern'd and how highly thereby they sin against the Truth murther the Reputation of such impose upon the rest of Mankind and beget and become real Fathers of Hatred and Aversion in their Minds and Spirits Lord open their Eyes and lay not this Sin to their Charge As we are very apt to take up with false Vertues our selves so we are ready to judge rashly of others and to accuse them of Pride of which we our selves are more guilty Thus the Jews treated Jesus Christ Abraham say they is dead and the Propthes and thou sayest If a man keep my Saying he shall never taste of Death Art thou greater than our Father Abraham which is dead and the Prophets are dead whom makest thou thy self We see the Saints have often spoke well of themselves and yet with the Spirit of Humility Thus David says of himself I have more Vnderstanding than all my Teachers I understand more than the Ancients Thus S. Paul throughout all his Epistles speaks often well of himself proposes himself and his Vertue for a Pattern and Example So that you see one may speak well of themselves and not from a Spirit of Pride or Self-glorying as our Lord Jesus Christ David S. Paul and other Saints have done False Humility speaks meanly of ones self to cover its secret Pride and to get the Reputation of being humble True Humility speaks the Truth in Simplicity whether of ones self or others without regarding that the World will Censure it as an Effect of Pride and Vain-glory. By this Spirit the Saints were acted from this Principle A. B. spoke thus of herself and that I dare say with less Pride and Vain-glory than others have written against her XXIV Some accuse her of great Injustice in affixing Doctrines Sentiments and Opinions upon Parties and Persons which they do not own She say they makes Men more guilty than they are she imputes to particular Persons to Doctors and even to whole Parties Sentiments Vices and Sins which they have not and of which all think them innocent With this also the Enemies of Jesus Christ did reproach him that he falsly imputed to them Evils of which they were innocent as Murther Thou hast a Devil who seeks to kill thee Jesus Christ tells that we must not judge according to Appearance but righteous Judgment In an unregenerate State Men do not know themselves but they think they are what they are not and what they truly are that they will not believe and they wholly disclaim it The Jews not doubt were astonish'd when the Prophets imputed to them atheistical profane and Epicurean Sentiments as the Denying of Divine Providence and the Immortality of the Soul and making their chief Happiness to consist in being wicked No doubt they would cry out against them as Calumniators and imputing to them Sentiments quite contrary to what they had It is like this was not their Doctrine nor the Sentiments according to which they reasoned far less the Subject of their publick Instructions And yet God by his Prophets reproaches them with it as if they had taught it in express Terms Ezekiel says of them They say the Lord seeth not

and not him but her the last and highest Expression of God's Love to Mankind And that all her Words and Writings are Sacred as Scripture it self and ought to have the same Authority For these and such like Expressions he should have given us his Vouchers for the Places cited by him import no such thing but we are hopeful no impartial Reader will believe the Doctor in these upon his own bare Credit and Authority after the Sample he has given of his way of writing Narratives 5. It is against natural Equity as well as Christian Charity to draw hateful Consequences from or put Sences upon the Sayings and Writings of others which may load them with Reproach and Hatred Which the Sayings do not necessarily infer but are capable of a more benign Interpretation which are against their known Principles and openly and sincerely disclaimed by them But such is the Doctor 's way The Persons whom he traduces having a deep Sence of the Divine Truths of God and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ contain'd in the Writings and shining forth in the Life and Spirit of A. B. were perswaded that all who would peruse them with sincerity and simplicity of Heart would find great Profit to their Souls and therefore they recommended them with much concern to others but were far from intending to affirm those things to which the Doctor perverts their Words or the odious Consequences which he widely draws from them As that A. B. is the greatest that ever was born of a Woman above all the ancient Patriarchs to be preferred to Moses and the Prophets to John the Baptist and the Apostles and at least ought to be honoured equally with Jesus Christ who is said to be God Blessed for ever that she was as much without Sin as he and her Body of a better Frame That it is a clear Consequence from what they say That she must either have always been personally united to the Deity and so to be esteemed God-Woman or else that her Body and humane Nature were not real but a meer Phantome by which God was pleased to declare his Will to Man That all her Words and Writings are of the same Authority with the Sacred Scriptures That there ought to be a Commemoration of her in the publick Liturgies as well as of our Lord Jesus Christ and instead of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ now we should say the God of A. B. and the Spirit that spoke by her The Persons cited by the Doctor do abhor such Consequences their Words compared with the rest of their Writings will not bear them And in the Sence he puts on them they disclaim them as none of theirs Every Body can best explain their own Sense and Meaning and what is apt to be misunderstood in one Place Equity requires that we interpret it by another where a Man does more distinctly express and explain his Mind in relation to that very thing The Doctor knows how M. Poiret vindicates himself in his Answer to M. Juricu's Critique of him M. Jurieu says he is offended that I have an Esteem for A. B. tho' I have less Attachment to her than he has to Calvin and many of his Hearers have to him I have never regarded through all but the Wisdom and Truth of God and it was always indifferent to me by what means God would make it known to me by a Man or a Woman by one Learned or Unlearned by a Catholick a Calvinist a Lutheran c. I will approach to it not because of the Organ that God makes use of but because of the Truth that he communicates thereby It would be ridiculous to insult over a Person of Sense who goes to a Fountain as if he went thither out of Love to the Wooden Pipe Yet as to me this is the admirable Procedure of M. Juri●u c. Thus M. Poiret clears himself in his Answer to M. Jurieu and if the Doctor will accept of it I shall give him his Vindication of himself in a Letter to a Friend upon Occasion of the Doctor 's First Narrative As saith he I never recommended Mrs. A. B. for any o●her Reason but because she proposes the Doctrine of Jesus Christ with all Clearness and Purity and draws Souls to none but to him so it is against Truth and Equity what the Narrator says of me in Opposition to St. Paul who desired to know nothing but Jesus Christ Crucified that I it seemed desired to know nothing but M. A. B. To recommend an INstrument that leads to none but Jesus Christ is that to recommend this Instrument in Opposition to Christ or to him who recommends none but Christ By this Reasoning neither Saint 〈◊〉 nor any other ought to be recommended Be●●● I have published many Books wherein I have not 〈…〉 one Word of her as usually I do not speak of 〈…〉 any unless they speak of her to me first and 〈…〉 I gave of her were extorted by the 〈…〉 Slanders and Persecutions of her Adversaries 〈…〉 was very far from exalting her above Jesus 〈…〉 as he would insinuate against the Truth but sinc● I saw that good Souls might be deprived of that s●ving Profit which they would reap from her Writings if they were diverted from them by the Evil Impressions of Defamers I only aimed simply to bring them to an even Ballance by this Consideration that there are other Persons convinced that she M. A. B. was quite another Person than she is represented to have been by her Defamers who never conversed with her ●●ver knew her and whose Character of her while they decry one who had no other Design but to recommend the Practice of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is contrary to Righteousness and Charity Whereas the recommending of such Persons and the interpreting Candidly all they say is by St. Paul ascribed to Charity And as for any Personal Attachment to Mrs. A. B. I am so free from it as I have already publickly declared That if the Universal Defamation of her might serve to advance the Glory of God and the Salvation of Men I should be well pleas'd that she were calumniated every where without Reply Thus for M. Poiret XXI After the Doctor has patch'd up her Character and given his Comment upon it he is at great pains Artticle XII to prove that which no Body denies viz. That we ought not to receive A. B. as so highly dignified of God and her Scheme of Religion and System of Opinions as divine and absolutely necessary to be followed upon the bare Authority and Testimony of those Men whom he had formerly quoted For as to the embracing her System of Opinions as absolutely necessary they do not require any such thing A. B. her self does expresly declare That she does not require any to believe the Truths she writes because she says they are revealed to her by the Spirit of God but to examine if they be not the Truths