a sense of Divine Things above what all the Doctors of the Church are capable of They will have her when she was little more than a weaned infant to be sensible of Christian Perfection and how much short of it those about her were when she could hardly lisp out a word it is pretended that she asked seriously whether there were any Christians or Followers of Jesus and where they lived Now if all this be true and if these things had proceeded from the Spirit of God to give early notice to the World that He had anointed her to be a Prophetess to declare his Will I say if so it is no ways likely that God would have left her so soon to her self or that he would have suffered her to be corrupted whom he had appointed to be so great a Light Samuel Ieremiah and St. Iohn Baptist who were consecrated Prophets from their birth and who were set apart to be special and signal Instruments of a Reformation among God's People they never turned aside to a wicked vain or light Conversation all their Life was unspotted from the World and from their very Infancy they were Examples of a severe Piety But this New Light of the World suffered an eclipse for some years though as is pretended it began to shine very early The early impressions of Piety which Antonia Bourignon is said to have had were for some time smothered and she who is brought in at four years of age complaining of other Christians did her self when grown up follow their vain Example Which is not agreeable to the Methods of the Divine Oeconomy heretofore if God had raised up this Woman and called her out to so great and high things as She and her Followers alledge It is said of our Blessed Lord that as he grew in Stature so he did grow in Wisdom and Favour both with God and Man And if God had designed Madamoifelle Bourignon a second Saviour to Mankind to finish the Work which was only begun by the other it is not at all to be believed that he would have given place to a Spirit of Folly and Vanity or that he would have suffered her to commit such things as were offensive to himself and contrary to his own Purposes that is which were so far from reclaming Men from their Sins that they rather tended to confirm them therein That which they say tempted her to this vain course of life was the Censures and Misconstructions put upon her early Seriousness and Retirement for upon that account she was represented as simple melancholy and wanting Spirit But could not the Spirit of God break through this Temptation Was her extraordinary Grace too weak to resist it Could one so Divinely Inspired find out no other means of rectifying Peoples Mistakes And must so holy a Person do evil merely to pass for a Wit Is Sense and Judgment no where to be manifested but in the acts of a vain and trifling Conversation But whatever was her motive and temptaion or however she may be excused she confesses that she was far engaged into the Vanities of the World and the love of them If we may believe her self she was ambitious of Honour and did love the Pleasures and Divertisements of Sense and Riches because they did procure them she took pleasure in the company of Young Men admitted their Courtship and Addresses and was well pleased when they commended her Wit and especially when they praised her for being Handsom and Agreeable because she had been called always Ugly by her Mother Thus it appears that Pride and Ambition Sensuality and Covetousness prevailed with this Maid and where these prevail the Spirit of God does not much reside It is said indeed That God did often visit her even in this state That he did not cease now and then to awaken her even in the midst of her Divertisements but Company and these Amusements still got the ascendant that is in plain terms she all this time resisted the Spirit of God and walked contrary to the Dictates of her Conscience Videt meliora probatque deteriora sequitur Which is not compatible with a state of extraordinary Grace and Sanctity I would not exaggerate this so much if I was not provoked by the strange Impudence and Delusion of those who will have us to receive this Woman as more than Humane as without Sin as equal to Jesus Christ who never yielded to the strong Temptations of the Devil whereas she was carried away by the weak Persuasions of Men. Again As there appeared no extraordinary Sanctity in Antonia Bourignon before she arrived to the age of Eighteen so even after this which is pretended to be the time of her Conversion she did not determine the great and important state of her Life by Motives and Principles of Religion It is the End which sanctifies our Actions and Persons truly Devout and Holy make God the End of all that they do They who respect only or chiefly their own Ease Pleasure or Profit are not to be reckon'd very holy or above the common rate of Mankind whatever state of Life they betake themselves to For the height of one's Sanctity is not to be taken from their Outward Quality and Behaviour but from the Inward Principles which move them He that is sober only or mainly for saving of his Money or on the account of bodily Health doth indeed wisely but his Temperance is no more an act of Religion than another's eating and drinking out of Pleasure He that retires from the World because he loves his Ease and has an aversion to Trouble and Vexation his Retirement is not Religious nor is he himself to be esteemed more holy than another who follows worldly Employments Now if Madamoifelle Bourignon had been so extraordinary holy as is pretended if she had been Inspired from Above in every thing she would have considered God and not her self she would have consulted that which was best for his Service and not her own Humour and Conveniency But she resolv'd upon a Coelibate State only because she would not be cross'd and uneasie because she hated the Restraints and Troubles of Marriage though they be both the Occasions and Proofs of great Virtue which was no great Instance of any peculiar Sanctity She did not chuse a Virgins State that she might only care for the things of the Lord as the Apostle speaks and not be incumbred in the doing that by the Obligations of pleasing a Husband too But she preferred this State to Marriage only because she had no great or good opinion of the Husbands who were offered to her and because she was afraid that they might be all like her Father who was sometimes rough surly and ill-natur'd towards her Mother This is the Account which she gives her self And he who continues her Life according to his usual Custom doth enlarge upon this Passage and improves it to a great Act of Piety not
secret Thoughts of Men's Hearts and Things to come and did not foretell them by way of Supposition or related them as if she had dreamt them We found also diverse times that she could tell what past in her absence and how our Souls behaved themselves towards God In short This Divine Soul told us so many Secrets of the Mystical and Inward Life that all our Theology was too short and insufficient to answer her to so high Questions not only in Matters of Theology but also in all other Matters according to the various Rencounters and Occurrences which fell out so that one would have thought that though a Man had perused all sorts of Histories and grown old in the study of all sorts of Sciences he could not know with such Understanding all the things which this Pilgrimess told us It is impossible to write in particular the admirable things which we have heard of this Pilgrimess so that We may say of her Discourses what St. Paul said of his Rapture That he had seen and heard things which eyes had not seen nor ear heard and that it has not entered into the mind of man what God has prepared for his elect Now lest any should think that this extraordinary Knowledge came to her by Natural Means or that it was the effect of some Art and Industry which others had not the happiness to know neither were capable to undergo we are told That she never read nor learn'd of any body That she was without Study even without Reading and which is more without Meditation Years and Experience make others Wise and Knowing but she had her vast Knowledge from the beginning she was not wiser in her Old Age than in her Youth for she was infallible in both neither was there any occasion for correcting or amending that which she spoke or wrote in her first years For if you peruse her Writings impartially you will meet with many remarkable Characters that are not ordinarily to be found in many Writings A clear and distinct Account of the Essential Truths of Christianity with a constant urging of them as the one thing necessary and distinguishing them from the accessory Truths which are not necessary to Salvation an inimitable simplicity of Expression which a Child may understand with as singular a sublimity of Thoughts a convincing power and force going along with them a plain unfolding in a few Lines the Difficulties about which the Learned write many Volumes a constant harmony and uniformity of Sentiments in the Writings of a course of forty years from about the Twenty third to the Sixty fifth year of her age in which she died with an evidence and clearness to the conviction of our Natural Reason And all this by one who never read any Books never conversed with the Learned to be instructed by them never premeditated what she wrote never blotted out nor mended what was once written but being attentive to the Love of God in the calm and inward recollection of her Spirit wrote as fast as her hand could guide the Pen and when some Writings were laid by unfinish'd for some years returned to them and finish'd them after the same manner without reading any more of what had been written than some few of the immediately foregoing Lines to make a due connexion Thus Memory and those Rational discussive Faculties which help others to the knowledge of Truth were of no use to her because they make her to have had an immediate intuition of all things in God with whom she had inward Conversation from her Childhood She neither did nor would learn any thing from the Scriptures though they were given by Inspiration and were designed to make every Man of God perfect and throughly instructed to every good word and work She would take nothing from the second-hand but would have all things immediately from God himself and therefore she asked Him Questions and received Answers from Him about the smallest matters In a word the design of these three Prefaces is to prove That all her Words and Thoughts are God's and that the Spirit was not given to her by measure no more than it was to Iesus Christ and that there was the same reason for both For as God had chosen a Virgin for his Mother so he had chosen another Virgin to be the Organ of his Light and Spirit by whom he designed to renew his Church and to give the last Blow and Overthrow to Satan's Kingdom for which cause she is called the Light of the World and these words of Isaiah are applied unto her The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined And upon this account Monsieur de Cort says I look upon her Acquaintance as a greater favour than all the Graces and Favours which God hath bestowed on me in this World yea even than my Creation it self for that would serve me in little stead without the working out of my Salvation which would have been in great danger if I had not attained to the knowledge of my self and of the Designs and Marvels of God which I have learned and discovered by the means of this Creature and she has certainly been sent me as the only Means of the Perfection of my Soul and of all those who will profit by the recital of this Narrative which I find my self obliged to publish for the profit of many This is the true treasure hid in the earth he who shall find it ought to sell all that he has to by this Ground to the end he may find and discover this Treasure and take it up with Joy as the most precious thing in the World I have insisted the longer upon the Character of Madamoiselle Bourignon her personal Endowments and Qualifications her Divine Mission and Authority as they are declared and set forth by her Disciples because they are Material Points in our Enquiry about her And for the same reason I have chose to give these things in their own words that it may appear to all that I do not charge them with things which they do not neither will own And now I may have liberty to add That if Madamoiselle Bourignon deserves the Character which is here given to her if it be true what these Authors I have quoted do say of her if their Commendations and Praises are not rash and groundless but built upon a solid Foundation then she is not only a very Singular and Extraordinary Person but without exception the greatest that ever was Born of a Woman She is above all the Ancient Patriarchs she is to be preferred to Moses and the Prophets to Iohn the Baptist and the Apostles and at least she ought to be honoured equally with Jesus Christ who is said to be God blessed for ever She was as much without Sin as he was and her Body was of
calls him to he doth give as great a Testimony of his love to God as any who affects Solitude and Retirement which deserves to be well considered especially by all religious Wives and Servants that out of a pretext of Devotion as has been too often done the one may not neglect the Service of their Masters nor the other the Affairs of their Husbands and the Care of their Family and Children Further as it is evident that Religion cannot be confined or annexed only to the Contemplative Life or a State of Sequestration from the World so neither must we think this State more perfect or more eligible than any other Perfection is attainable by the Active as well as Contemplative Life and the choice of either is to be justified only by the prudent consideration of one's Natural Constitution his outward State and Circumstances for neither of these are agreeable to all or proper for all Retirement may be very prudent and proper for some in some Cases and yet neither prudent nor commendable for others nor for the same Persons at other times but may be constructed deservedly an instance of unmanly Cowardice and of a shameful desertion of their Post. So that in my judgment neither of these States is to be preferred to the other nor do they wisely consider them who presume to determine absolutely which is best for the one or other is best according to one's personal State and Circumstances or his Publick Ingagements And I do also think that he is in the happiest Condition who partakes of both States whose life is neither wholly Contemplative nor wholly Active but which is made up of both by the intermixture of Retirement and Business For he that is wholly retired lives only to himself which makes him an idle Drone with regard to others and he is a Drudge to the World who is always imployed in Business and who neither has nor takes time to refresh his Mind with the sweet Pleasures of Retirement Solitude is more Profitable for one's self but Business and Conversation renders one more Useful to the World In the one we enjoy our selves best but it is only by the other that we can do any good or manifest the Vertues and Graces which God hath bestowed on us By Solitude we acquire Knowledge and by being conversant in the World we learn Experience In Retirement we may more easily preserve our Innocence but without Conversation and Business we cannot exert Christian Wisdom and Courage and other necessary Vertues Solitude and Retirement are a safe Refuge for weak Constitutions but they who are strong should shew themselves upon the Theatre of the World A Religious Retreat is as necessary to the Spiritual as Rest is to the Bodily Life for by it we renew our decayed Spirits we recollect our dissipated Thoughts and add strength and vigour to our wise Resolutions and pious Purposes It is impossible that one can act wisely who never thinks seriously or that he can think seriously and to purpose who is always in the hurry of Affairs Therefore certainly every one who consults his own Good and is in any wise Master of himself will so wisely contrive his business and so order his affairs that he may have Hours and Days if not Weeks and Months for Meditation and Contemplation That by this means he may have an intercourse and acquaintance with Heaven while he lives upon Earth that he may be fortified against all Encounters and be qualified for gaining that Victory over the World which will give him a right to the Crown of Glory And I am of the opinion that frequent retreats are more adviseable to religious Persons than a constant or total sequestration from the World For such is the weakness of our Minds while they are clogg'd with this gross Flesh that they cannot hold out long without wearying in those divine and spiritual Exercises for which Solitude and Retirement are to be desired If our Spirits be too much extended at once they will flag and will become no more capable of being elevated unto degrees of Fervour than a tired and spent Body is of quick and vigorous Motion Therefore the Devotions of Cloister'd Persons are very often-dry and insipid and they do frequently perform their Exercises with less tast and satisfaction than Men in the World If there be not care taken to preserve those devout and sublime Thoughts which soar above material Things and a sublunary World they will either quite evaporate or they will condense into airy Notions or fantastical Conceits whence it is that Dreams and Visions and such like Extravagancies do happen unto Persons altogether or very much abstracted from the World more than unto others Religious Retirements are liable to be abused and are sometimes attended with dangerous Consequences as well as Conversation and Business nor have Persons who are entangled in the Affairs of the World more need of Monitors than those who have sequestred themselves of wise Directors All I shall add more upon this Head is That as the Church of Rome hath erred grossly in chaining Religion so much to Monastries and Cloisters so it was a great blemish in our Reformation to demolish these Houses entirely which as they ought to have been reformed from the abuses that had crept into them so they might have been kept up to the advantage of Religion and to the benefit of both the Publick and particular Persons They are very profitable if the snare of Vows and the delusion of a peculiar Sanctity in them be removed This Digression about the nature of Solitude and a Contemplative Life is not altogether from our purpose which is to shew the Mistakes of Enthusiastical Persons who commonly are excessively fond of this state and do ascribe more to it than it well deserves But now to return to Madamoiselle Bourignon As the chief Instances alledged are not certain Proofs of her Sanctity so there be several things which she her self confesses and which they who write her Life do acknowledge which do not very well agree with that extraordinary Sanctity that is ascribed to her For First We are told That until the Eighteenth Year of her Age she run into a vain light and idle Conversation and followed the Pleasures Recreations and Divertisements of the World by which she lost her Conversation with God as the Author of the Preface to the English Reader saith which in my judgment is a flat Contradiction to what he said some few lines before viz. That from her Childhood she had inward Conversation with God It is indeed no strange thing to see Children and Youth taken with Vanities when those of riper years do too much follow them nor would there be reason to upbraid it here if Madamoifelle Bourignon and her Disciples did not pretend that she was Sanctified from the Womb and boast that at three or four years of age she was Divinely Inspired and that even so early she began to express