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.

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.

Table of contents

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Title page

THE PREFACE.

ERRATA.

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AN APOLOGY FOR M. A. BOƲRIGNON.

PART. I. An Abstract of her Sentiments, and Character of her Writings.

Some peculiar Characters of her Writings and Sentiments.

AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOƲRIGNON. PART. II. An Answer to the Prejudices raised against her Sentiments and Writings.

AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOƲRIGNON. PART. III. Containing the Evidences which she brings, that she was led by the Spirit of God. With her Answers to the Prejudices against the same. To which is added, A Dissertation of Dr. De Heyde, on the same Subject.

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A DISSERTATION OF Dr. Ant. de Heyde, Famous Physician of Middleburg in, Zealand. CONCERNING The Sanctity and Divine Illumination of Antonia Bourignon. Translated from the Original Latin M. S.

An Advertisement to the Reader.

AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOƲRIGNON. PART. IV. CONTAINING An Abridgment of her LIFE. To which are added, Two Letters concerning the Preface to the Snake in the Grass, and Bourignianism Detected; by different Hands.

A LETTER CONCERNING The Preface to the Snake in the Grass, and Bourignianism detected.

A Second LETTER CONTAINING Some short REMARKS upon Bourignianism Detected, Second Narrative, and the Author's Letter to his Friend.

Some LETTERS OF M. ANT. BOƲRIGNON. 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; as is to be seen in the Third and Fourth Letters. All of them are most worthy to be perused by those who sincerely love, and impartially seek after the Truth and the Salvation of their Souls.

LETTER I. Concerning the Love of God. Written to a Pastor at Mechlin; and is the 15th. of La lum. nec en tenebr. Part I.

LETTER II. Of PRAYER, wherein it consists. Of set Prayers and Exercises, and their Use. Of CONTINUAL PRAYER, its Nature, the absolute Nec ssity of it for overcoming our Enemies, both unvard and outward; for obtaining the Grace of God, for attaining unto Perfection, and how to persist in it, without Interruption. This Letter is the 7th of Tomb. de la Fausse Theologie, Part iv.

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.

LETTER IV. That God does not pardon Sin without Penitence. To the same: Wherein is declared that Men fall every Day of new into Adam's Sin, turning away from God to love the Creature, and that they can never be saved without being revived into the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who has merited for us the Grace to imitate him. This Letter is the Eighth of La lum. nèe en tenebr. Part iii.

LETTER V. A Traveller to Eternity minds not earthly things. To a Child of God, who did not sufficiently comprehend that the Cares of this Life, were an Hindrance to the Perfection of the Soul; and was troubled to hear me say, that it behoved me to tarvel alone to Eternal Life, seeing he was desirous tobear me Company: Shewing him that all the things of this World are vain; and when we make it our Business to acquire them, or to please Men, we are not to look for an Eternal Reward. This is the Twelfth of La lum. née en tenebr. Part iv.

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Christians I've sought from my Nativity:

I liv'd, I wrote, to shew how such to be:

Convinc'd the World of [...]rrors, sins, abuses:

All hate me for't, each one my NAME traduces.

To death they persecute me every where:

How should I other Lot than JESUS bear?

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AN APOLOGY FOR M. Antonia Bourignon:

In Four Parts.

I. An Abstract of her Sentiments, and a Character of her Writings.

II. An Answer to the Prejudices raised against them.

III. The Evidences she brings of her being led by the Spirit of God; with her Answers to the Prejudices opposed thereunto. To which is added, A Dissertation of Dr. De Heyde, on the same Subject.

IV. An Abstract of her Life.

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.

Non multum Disputandum, Nuda enim Veritas seipsam Validissime tutatur; & probé intellecta, genuinâ suâ luce tenebras omnes Dispellit.

Rob. Leighton. Archiep. Glasc. Prelect. Theol & Paraenes. p 199

LONDON, Printed for D. Brown, at the Black Swan, without Temple Bar; S. Manship, at the Ship in Cornhil; R. Parker, at the Unicorn under the Piazza's of the Royal-Exchange; and H Newman, at the Grashopper in the Poultry. 1699.

THE PREFACE.

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I.I. The ill Entertainment such an Apology will meet with. SƲch, and so universal, are the Prejudices raised amongst all Parties, against the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. that the Sight of the very Title Page of this Apology, will make some perhaps throw it by which Disdain, scorning to look into it; others to take it up in Derision, and ask, What would this Babler say? Others to pry into it with an evil Eye, with a Design only to carp at it, and to pick out here and there some Expressions or Sentiments which differ from the ordinary Systems, and put them in such a Dress as may excite the Hatred and Derision of the People.

II.II. The Apologist [...] p [...]pos [...]to write it notwith sta [...]ding. and why? But being fully perswaded in my Conscience that those Writings do greatly tend to revive the Life and Spirit of Christianity, which is acknowledg'd to be so much decay'd and lost amongst all the Parties of Christendom; and knowing that there are many welldisposed Persons who are frightned from look [...]ng into them, because of the odious Representations made of them, and the Prejudices given them against them; who, if these Prejudices were remov'd, would certainly peruse them with Delight, and Profit to their Souls, and would sensibly [...]eel that the True [Page]Doctrine of Jesus Christ, and the only way to eternal Life chalk'd out in his Life and Sayings, is there plainly and distinctly repres [...]nted; I shall therefore in all Sincerity, without Respect of Parties or Persons, write this Apology: And I do earnestly beg of Almighty God the Father and Fountain of all Light and Love, that he may be pleas'd so to illuminate my Mind with his Heavenly Light, and warm my Heart with his Divine Love, that I may utter nothing but what flows from or tends to both; and that some Rays of both may stream through this Writing, to touch the Hearts and Spirits of others.

III.III. Writings not to be despised because they and their Author are evil spoken of by all. To dispose Persons to hearken to, and to make a right use of an Apology of this Nature, it is fit to premise two things.

First, That it needs not prejudice any against A. B. and her Writings, so far as not to listen to an Apology for both, that they know she is evil spoken of, said to be an Enthusiast, an Enchantress, a Blasphemer, a Seducer, and the Devil of a Saint, that her Writings are said to be full of Heresies, Delusions, and Errors; and that by Persons of all Parties, Papists, Protestants, Lutherans, Calvinists, Presbyterians, Episcopal Persons, Anabaptists, Quakers, and even by the Preachers, and Writers, and Learned Men of the respective Parties; for there is nothing more ordinary than for the most Innocent, and the most Ʋpright, to be thus treated. Woe to you when all Men shall speak well of you. This was the Treatment that Innocence and Truth it self met with, our Lord Jesus Christ. [Page] He was made to pass for a Blasphemer, a Sorcerer, a Perverter of the Law of God. The most Learned, and the most Godly in his Age hated him. They who in other things stood at the greatest Distance, did agree in this; Herod and Pilate, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Jews and Samaritans. So that this may be rather a favourable Prejudice on her behalf, at least so far as to allow her a fair Hearing.

IV.IV. Not to read them with an evil Eye. 2. I shall entreat you may not come to read this Apology nor the Writings, to which it invites you, with an evil Eye. They who come to consider Writings or Persons with this Disposition, are not capable of understanding them aright themselves, or of giving a true Representation of them to others. I know no Person tho' never so innocent, nor Truth tho' never so clear, nor Book tho writ with never so much Plainness, Sincerity, and Consistency, which they who consider with this Spirit may not mistake, expose, misrepresent, and ridicule. Nothing more true than our Saviour's Words, nothing more confirm'd from daily Experience. The Light of the Body is the Eye; if therefore thine Eye be single, thy whole Body shall be full of Light; but if thine Eye be Evil, thy whole Body shall be full of Darkness. It was from those different Dispositions that our Lord himself, and his Doctrine, met with such different Entertainment in the World. They who were full of Self-love and Esteem, and desir'd to love God and the World both, to please Him and their App [...]tites too, to get and keep that Rank in the Esteem of Men, which they thought they merited, and hugg'd the Glosses and Sences they had put [Page] upon God's Law, by which they had reconcil'd it with the following of their own corrupt Inclinations; such, look'd on all that Jesus said aud did, with an evil Eye; they never came to hear him but with a Design to catch him in his Words, and they found out ways to put a hard Sence upon every thing. The Miracles he wrought, they said, were done by the Power of the Devil, they accus'd him of breaking the Sabbath Day, and of countenancing it in his Disciples; of Blasphemy, in calling himself the Son of God; of Pride, in speaking well of himself; of a Design to destroy the Law, and seduce the People by his Doctrine; and they made him an Enemy to Caesar, in calling himself a King. But the sincere and the single-hearted who came with a pure and upright Desire and Intention to understand and to follow the Truth, did readily embrace the Doctrine of Jesus Christ; the entrance of his Words gave them Light and Understanding; and they were so fully satisfied of the great things of God's Law, that they were not apt to wrest or mistake his Sayings or Actions in things of lesser moment, or where he spoke more mysteriously, as well knowing that he had the Words of Eternal Life. They who come then to consider these Writings with a single Eye, with a sincere Desire to understand the Truth, and to do the same, shall know of the Doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether she speaks of her self.

V.V. The Method and Manner of this Apology. In writing this Apology we shall give, 1st. An Abstract of her Sentiments, and Character of her Writings. 2d. Some of the most remarkable Prejudices raised against her, and her Answers to them. [Page] 3d. The Evidences she gives of her being led by the Spirit of God, with her Answers to the Prejudices opposed thereunto: (most of the Prejudices of late raised against her, being such as were objected to her in her own Life-time, I chose to give her own Defences, which upon many Accounts I judge will be more acceptable than what I might offer to say for her.) 4th. An Abstract of her Life: Ʋnto which shall be subjoined some of her Letters, which will both serve farther to vindicate her from the Calumnies raised against her, and may be of great use to these who do sincerely love the Truth, and desire the Salvation of their Souls. To all such I hope this will not be unacceptable, there being nothing aim'd at but to make us all lay to Heart this great Truth; Civitates duas fecerunt amores duo. Civitatem mundi, quae & Babilonia dicitur, amor sui, usque ad contemptum Dei. Civitatem Dei, quae & Jerusalem dicitur, amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui. August. de Civ. Dei.

ERRATA.

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PAge 6. line 26. for had, read has. p. 7. l. 4. for do, r. di [...]. ibid. l. 25. and 26. into, r. in p. 9. l. 42. the, r. them. p. 15. l. 23. love, r. live. p. 16. l. 20. there, r. the. p. 24. l. 39. dele to. p. 28. l. 20. after People, r. taught. ibid. l. 28 blot out be. p. 29. l. 8 after not, r. from. p. 35 l. 37. he r. she. p. 39. l. 15. him, r. them. p. 41 l. 29. since, after, r. thereafter ibid. blot out had. p. 45. l. 42. after with, r. an. p. 46. l. 28. after them, r. and that p. 51. l. 38. his by, r. by his. p. 56. l. 3. as, r. [...]. p 64. l. 6. not, r. none ibid l 28 after makes, r. appear p. 68 l. 14. converted, r. covered. p. 69. l. 25. there, r. then p. 73. l. 9. and▪ r. of p. 74. l. 30. there, r. their. p. 78. l. 23. after it, r. is. ibid. l 27. tho', r. that. p. 80. l. 39. after done, r. God. p. 84 l. 21. that. r. but p. 101 l. [...]6 [...] to, it p. 1 [...]2 l. 33. blot out only p. 1. 3. l. 18 [...] minuendam ibid. l. 35. nutri, r. neutri. p. 1 [...]8. l. 19. 2. presence, r. prescience. p. 113. l. 32 r. fatereris. [...] 34. r. Nocendum. ibid. 43. r. divinitus p. 114. l. [...] iruendum. p. 120. l. 27. after these, r. says she p. 120. l. [...] great, r. so. p. 13. l. 31 after and, r. lay, p. 134. l. 2 [...] after [...]ccasion, r. to shew. p. 135. l. 18. for that O!, r. O! that. p. 38. l. 8. after withdraw, r. from. p. 144 l. 13. of r. if. p. 152. l. 12. Consultations, r. Conclusious. l. 19. loving, r. living. l. 37 object, r. objects. p. 190. l. 1. he, r. they. ibid. l. 39. dele upon. p. 192 l. 18. his, r. this. l. 40. his, r. this. p. 217. l. 41. Spiri, r. Spirit. p. 213. l. 5. inferiour, r. Superiour. p. 230. l. 36. blot out or Conditions. p. 239. l. 6. Epaphirus, r. Epaphroditus. ibid. [...]mar. for Tit. 4. 20, r. 2. Tim. 4. 20 p. 244. l. 39 such, r. how. p. 247. l. 31. has. r. have. p. 256. l. 33. declare, r. declare. p. 257. l. 37. for had, r. has. p. 271. l. 39. ye, r. yet. p. 273. l. 9. plea'd, r. pleas'd. ibid. l. 11. Smoke, r. Smoak. p. 277. l. 9. blot out to. p. 279. l. 42. substance, r. subsistance. p. 292. l. 28. alie, r. ally. p. 295. l. 9. Coriathe, r. Coriache. p. 296. l. 29. Rufus, r. Refuse. p. 307 l. 39. liquitale, r. liquidate. p. 317. l. 19 fundamentally, r. fraudulently. p. 325. l. 32. after to, r. be. p. 327. l. 25. with it. r. it with. p. 3 [...]9. l. 35. after she, r. did. p. 331. l. 33 D [...]ust [...]uction, r. Destraction. p. 334. l. 27. in r. thro'. p. 336. l. 21 after consider, r. them. p. 352. l. 35. blot our to. p. 353. l. 4 Men all, r. all Men. p. 355. l. 23. pussiman, r. pijssimam. p. 358 l. 14 Narrater. r. Narrator. p. 361 l. 11. for, r. far. p. 374. l. 4 of his, r. of this. p. 379. l. 12. and, r. of. p 383. l 24. so tho' l. so that. p. 384 l. 23, and 24 Corinthus, r. Cerinthus p. 39 l 31. insecti, r infecti. ibid. l. 34. initi, r. miti. p. 394. l. 24. Flaterings [...]. flatering. l. 28. for being almost brought in o, [...]. bending almost into.

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TWo of Mrs. A. B's Treatises done into English, viz. Solid Vertue, and the Light of the World; maybe had at the same Places where this is.

AN APOLOGY FOR M. A. BOƲRIGNON.

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PART. I.
An Abstract of her Sentiments, and Character of her Writings.

I.I. Men ought to consider what is said, and not who says it. MEN are generally led to take an estimate of Sentiments and Writings, from the Opinion they have conceived of the Persons who communicate them; and that grounded upon Circumstances which have no necessary connexion with Truth or Error. The Poor Man's Wisdom is despis'd, and his Words are not heard. The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, if they had come from a Scribe or Pharisee, his Countrymen would have receiv'd both him and them; but because they knew his Extract, the Meanness of his Education, that he had no Learning, and that the Learned had no regard for him, therefore they despiss'd him.Matt. 13. 55. Have any of the Scribes and Pharisees believ'd on him? Is not this the Carpenter's Son? Is not his Mother call'd Mary, and his Brethren, and his Sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this Man all these things? and they were offended in him.

[Page] II.II She treated otherwise. Thus had the Sentiments of A. B. been the Product of some of the Ancient Philosophers, or of the Holy Fathers, or even of some learned Head in this Age, they would have met with regard. But because they come from a Woman, void of all Humane Learning, and declaring that she is taught of God, they are entertain'd with Contempt and Scorn, and instead of weighing the Sentiments themselves, Prejudices are first heap'd together, to disparage her Person, and thereby to breed an Aversion against any thing she can say, tho' never so true and useful. This is very far from the excellent Advice given us by Tho. a Kemp. Of the Imitation of Christ, Book 1. Chap. 5. Sect. 2. which I wish we may all follow: Let not, says he, the Authority of the Writer offend thee, whether his Learning be small or great: But let the Love of pure Truth draw thee to read. Do not enquire, who said these things. but consider well what is said.

III.III. None ought to take Mens Sentiments on Trust from others, especially Enemies. It is no less unjust to take the Sentiments of others only upon Trust, from a declar'd Enemy to the Person whose Sentiments they are; such you know are sure to set them always in a false Light, so as to make them hateful and ridiculous. If you will take the Doctrine of Jesus Christ himself, from the Scribes and Pharisees, they shall make him to speak Blasphemy, and to be in Compact with the Devil. Now this is the unjust Measure given by many to A. B. They take her Sentiments from those only who design to render them hateful and ridiculous, who, after the manner that they represent them, may as easily expose the most Sacred Writings. It is just then to hear her self, and not to judge of her Sentiments by some Expressions or Passages of her Writings, which separately may seem harsh, but to compare such with the whole Context, and with the main Scope and Substance of all her Writings, and this will lead you to interpret them aright. I do not desire that you should take her Sentiments upon Trust from me more than from others. I aim only to set them in a True Light, in opposition to the False Representations made of them: And as to my Sincerity and fair Dealing in it, I appeal to the Writings themselves.

IV.IV. Nor to weigh them by the Systems and Opinion of Men. Neither is it just to weigh Sentiments by the Doctrines of Men, and to despise and reject them, if they do not agree exactly with the commonly receiv [...]d Systems [Page] and Opinions. The Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the Rule we are to walk by. Men in forming of their Systems are ready to flatter Corrupt Nature. It is certain in our practice we all do so, and we are well pleas'd with Doctrines that may favour us in this. If then her Sentiments be the same in Substance with the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, and do not at all tend to sooth and flatter our Corrupt Nature, but on the contrary to lead us to mortifie and subdue it, we ought not to reject them, tho' they do not in all things agree with the Systems of Men.

V.V. She owns the Scriptures for the Test of all Doctrines, and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ for the last and compleat Doctrine of Salvation, and this the Butt of all her Writings. Renouv. de l' Espr. Eva. Pref. pag. 110. Before we set down her Sentiments, it is to be considered, that as she owns the written Word of God to be the Test whereby we are to examine all Doctrines pretended to be come from God, and that none contrary thereunto ought to be receiv'd; and desires, that hers may be tried thereby: So she declares that the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is the last Doctrine that is to come into the World, and contains the necessary means of Salvation; and that there is no other way to Salvation but what he has chalk'd out to us, by his Life, Precepts, and Counsels. So that all her Writings and Sentiments aim at nothing, but to convince Men that they do not follow the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ, and to perswade them to do it, as being indispensably necessary to Salvation.

VI.VI. The Truths of Religion of two sorts, Essential and Accessory. As to her Sentiments, she makes appear, that the Truths of Religion may be considered under two Heads. 1. There are some Truths and Doctrines in which the Essence of Christianity does consist; the Living Knowledge and Practice of which is necessary to Salvation. 2. There are other accessory Truths, without the express Knowledge and Belief of which one may be Saved.

VII.VII. The Ground of all, the Holy Scriptures and the Apostle [...] Creed. First, As to the Essential Truths of Christianity, she supposes before all, the Truth of the Holy Scriptures, and of the Apostles Creed, and that all that is contrary thereunto, ought to be anathematiz'd; and the Soundness of her Faith in these, appears by her Profession of Faith and Religion, which she presented publickly at the Court of Gottorp, in Holstein, which is prefix'd to all her Books, and the Tenour of it is as follows.

[Page] VIII.VIII. Her Profession of Faith, prefix'd to all her Writings. Her Profession of Faith.

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1. I Am a Christian; and I believe all that a True Christian ought to believe

2. I am baptised in the Catholick Church, in the Name of the Father, in the Name of the Son, in the Name of the Holy Ghost.

3. I believe the Twelve Articles of the Apostolick Symbol, or Creed; and I do not doubt of one Article of it.

4. I believe that Jesus Christ is True God, and that he is also True Man; as that he is the Saviour and the Redeemer of the World.

5. I believe in the Gospel, in the Holy Prophets, and in all the Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament.

And I will live and die in all the Points of this Belief which I protest before God, and Men, to all whom it shall concern.

In Testimony of which, I have sign'd this my Confession with my Hand, and seal'd it with my Seal.

At Sleeswick, the 11th. of March, 1675.

[L. S.]

Anthoinette Bourignon.

IX.IX. Her Sentiments to be measur'd by her Confession. Now this short Confession is the Abridgement and Foundation of all her Doctrine, and of her Life, and they who are not willing to be impos'd upon, will be so just as to measure and judge of her Sentiments, according to this Sincere and Publick Confession of her Faith, and not according to the False and Calumnious Representations which some designedly make of them, whereby they would have her to pass in the World for the Inventer of a New and Fantastical Religion, and so raise in the Hearts of the People an Abhorrence of her and her Writings, which aim at nothing but to perswade them to be truly Followers of Jesus Christ. This being presuppos'd, here follows.

[Page] X The Essentials.1. Her Accounts of the Essentials of Religion, in her own Words.

Man created only to love God.1. GOda. Renouv de L. Espr. Evang. Pref. p. 102. created Man only to be lov'd by him, and for no other End. Heibid. p. 6. had no need of Man, nor of any other Creature, being in himself alone Holy and Perfect, Independent upon all things, yea, whom all obey in Heaven and Earth, who is yet able to Create a Thousand Worlds, and an Hundred Thousand kinds of Creatures, according to his Good Pleasure. But his Good Pleasure was to Create Man after his own Likeness, that he might take his Delight with him; and as there cannot be perfect Love, if it be not reciprocal, it was God's Will, that Man should love his God with all his Power, in Requital of the Love which God bear to him; and that he should delight in him only, since God would needs take his Delight with Man, which obliged Man to place all his Affections upon God alone. Seeing he was created for no other End, he neither could, nor ought in justice, to turn his Affections towards any other thing than his God, but to love him only with all his Heart, and with all his Strength.

2. GodLight of the World, Part 1. p. 138. Renouv. Pr. p. 12. creating Man thus to take his Delight with him,Endued for that End with perfect Liberty and other Divine Qualities. and that he might voluntarily love his God, he gave him for this End, Divine Qualities capable of loving him, he created him altogether Free and Perfect; he would not bound nor limit the Will of Man, whom he would needs make after his own Likeness, to be his Spouse, and not to be his Slave, or constrain'd to do his Will; for all the other Creatures were subjected under his Will; but Man alone was created altogether Free, like a little God, Sovereign and Ruler over all the other Creatures, which God had subjected to Man, leaving him Free to use them well or ill, according to his Will.

3. So Man has damn'd himself by turning his [...] from, God. i [...]id pref. p. 10 [...]. soon as Man turn'd away his Affections from God, to love himself or the other Creatures, he became the Enemy of his God, and would not acquiesce in the Designs that God had for Man to take his Delight with him: And by this means Man has damn'd himself, and by ceasing to love God, the Fountain of all Good, he is [Page] fallen into all sort of Evil, which consists in the Privation of all Good.

4. Sinib. p. 128. coming upon this Master-piece of the Works of God,His Misery now. has rendred Man so miserable, so infirm, ignorant, weak, that all things over which he ought to rule, do master and mischief him

5. Menibid. Jesus Christ has obtained Mercy and Grace for them. are now born Children of Wrath and Perdition,All Men so by Nature, and cannot recover themselves. and are therefore assuredly damn'd by Nature; and nothing but the Grace of God can save or deliver them from this Damnation into which they have voluntarily precipitated themselves.

6. Afteribid. p. 102. that miserable Man had thus destroy'd himself, [...]esus Christ, true Eternal God, and true Man, comes to intercede for him with his Eternal Father, and by his Merits and Intercession has obtain'd for this ingrate Creature the Remission of his Sin, and the Grace to do Penitence for it, and a time and state of Trial for that End; that by a perfect Repentance he may obtain the Favour of God, to the End he may return to his Love which he had lost thro' his own Fault, since Man was created free, to continue eternally in the Love of God, without ever falling from it.

7. Whereasibid. p 103. Man ought to recover this Love of God by his own Choice and his own free Will, he must therefore testifie,To recover the Love of God, Man must now live a life of Penitence, by his Contrition and Penitence, the Regret he had to have lost this Love, and effectually make use of the Grace obtain'd for him by Jesus Christ, employing all the time of his Trial, which is this Mortal Life, to bewail his Sins and do Penitence for them, since by the great Mercy of God he has obtain'd the Grace to do it, and has the Means in his hand to fulfil this Penitence, in the Curse that the Earth had receiv'd by his Sin; so that it must be cultivated, and Man must gain his Bread in the Sweat of his Face.

8. ManPierre de Touche p. 3 [...]9. was so corrupted by Sin,No Salvation in the State of corrupt Nature; and Jesus Christ only has made us capable of getting out of it. that he can do no good of himself, more than the Devils. But Man, by the Mediation of Jesus Christ, has received this Mercy from God, that he may be converted. But as long as he follows the Corruption of his Nature, he remains in his Devilish State, and cannot be saved.

[Page] 9. Manib. p. 310. has fallen by withdrawing his Affections from God to place them on the Creatures.No Salvation without returning to the Love of God. And no body will be saved, but he who returns to the Love of God, for which he was created; and they who do, without this Love do perish eternally.

10. Jesus ChristRenouv. de l' Espr. pref. p 25. having interceeded with his Eternal Father for Mercy and Pardon to Man,Jesus Christ as our Pledge suffers and merits for Man. became his Pledge and Surety, that if his Father would yet allow Man a Time of Trial and Grace, he should do Penitence for his Sins, renounce his corrupt Nature, and return to the Love of God. AndAntechr. dec. part 2 p. 41, 74. as Man's Pledge and Surety, he took on him our Mortality, and voluntarily cloathed himself with our Miseries; he bore our Griefs, and, taking the Form of a Sinner, underwent all the Pains due to our Sins, as if he himself had been the greatest Sinner, and bound to do Penitence, tho he was never guilty of the least Sin; that by his Merits and Sufferings he might merit for us, with his Father, the Spirit of Penitence and Conversion;ibid. part. 3. p. 48, 49. which being united to his Sufferings and his Charity, which are Sacrifices more agreeable to God than our unclean Offerings, and our Works defiled with Sin, might be accepted of him.

11. Jesus ChristPierre de Touche. p. 3 8 Renouv. de l' Esp. Ev. part 1. p. 156. took our Mortality,Jesus Christ's Life is our Copy how to recover the Love of God. out of the pure Love he bore to Men, his natural Brethren, that he might withdraw them from Sin, and the Way of Predition, into which they all walked. He became a mortal Man to give us an Example, and to teach us by what Means we may recover the Love and Grace of God; he did take an infirm Body, subject to all sort of Miseries and Death, like to ours, that he might teach and encourage us to do the Works that he had done in his mortal Body; and that we, imitating him, might enjoy the Pardon and Recovery, which his Merits have purchased for us.

12. Jesus Christ,Renouv. de l' Esp. Ev. pref. p. 128, 129. by his Merits and Intercession,None sav'd by Christ but who obey his Gospel-Law, and follow, him. has obtain'd Pardon for Man, and the Grace of God for all who shall voluntarily embrace, his Gospel. Law, and for no other; and therefore none can ever be saved but by the Merits and Intercession of Jesus Christ, which will never be applied to any but to his Disciples and Followers.

[Page] 13. ManPierre de Touche. p. 310. stands in need of keeping the Commandments of Jesus Christ,The Precepts of Jesus Christ are all Remedies for Man's Evils. and the Gospel-Law, because of his Frail y, and because these are all Remedies of his Evils, and by embracing these Remedies he shall recover the Love of God, which he had lost thro' his own Fault.

14. GodRenouv. de l' Esp. Ev. avant. pref. p. 22. is the only Fountain of all Good,All Good from God, all Evil from Man, from whom never any Evil can proceed; and Man is the only Fountain of all Evil, from whom never any Good can come.

15. TheLight of the World, part 3. p. 69, &c. only Essential Command is a constant Dependence upon God,The One Essential Command. and the Resignation of our Wills to him; and all the other Commands teach us only the Means to attain to this Resignation, and how to remove the Hinderances of it.

16. TheAcad. des Theol. part 1. p. 47, &c. Essence of true Vertue consists in the Love of God,The Essence of Vertue and Sin. and the Essence, of Sin in the Love of our selves and of the Creatures.

17 AllLight of the World, part 2. p. 57, &c. the Actions of God do partake of his three Divine Qualities,Nothing acceptable to God but what is just, good, and true, Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth; and nothing we do, can be well pleasing in the Sight of God if it do not partake of the same, if it be not just, and good, and true.

18. ItAcad. des Theol part 1. p 62, &c. is not necessary to Salvation to comprehend in particular the Theory of the Divine Mysteries,Not much specul [...]tive Knowledge; but Resignation of our Liberty and Faculties to God, necessary to Salvation. far less to be wedded to one certain Party rather than another; but that denying our selves, and turning away our Liberty from the Love of the Creatures, and from earthly Things, we resign it, and all our Faculties, into the Hands of God, that he may enlighten, renew, and govern them by his Spirit; after which, he will produce in the Soul the Light and Graces that he sees necessary for its Salvation.

[Page] This is a Summary of the Essentials of Christianity, as they are represented by her, and her Morality is a particular Deduction and Application of these Principles to the Hearts and Actions of Men; and it is so pure and excellent, that her greatest Enemies have been forc'd to acknowledge it to be so, that they might be the less suspected when they blame her in other things.

XI.XI. The Substance of these Truths. This Account of the Essentials of Religion I have given in her own Words, she having summ'd them up in several Parts of her Writings, sometimes under fewer Heads, and sometimes under more, tho' as to their Substance they are still the same. And all her Writings have no other Tendency but to awaken in Mens Hearts a Sense of those Divine Truths, and to convince them how far they are from them in their Practice. She aims at nothing but to perswade Men, that they cannot be saved without the Love of God; that their corrupt Nature now leads them only to love themselves and the Creatures, which is inconsistent with the Love of God; that they cannot return to it without denying and mortifying this corrupt Nature, which Jesus Christ by his Merits and Intercession has obtained Grace for them to do; and this can be done only by obeying his Gospel-Law, and following his Example; which no body truly does. This is the Substance of all her Writings. These Truths she inculcates a hundred and a hundred times. This is the constant Burthen of her Song. Some other Sentiments which she calls Accessory Truths, she mentions perhaps but three or four times in all her Writings. And because every Palate does not relish them, shall therefore those Books be despised and thrown away, which do so lively represent the Essential Truths of the Gospel? Would we throw away a Box of Pearls, because some conceited Friend snatch'd at something amongst them, and squeezing it hard at our Nose, made it smell as Dung, and then cry'd out, Fie! all is Filth, throw all away. Sure, if these be the Great and Essential Truths of Religion, they who love the Religion of Jesus Christ more than Prejudice or Party, will greatly value and esteem the Writings of which those Truths are the Marrow, the Substance, and the All; and will no more be scandaliz'd at them because of the Snarling of some, than they would despise Pearls because Swine trample on the, or Holy Things, because Dogs bark at them.

[Page] XII.XII. That they are the Essence of Christianity, appears, 1. from Scripture. Now, that these are the Great and Essential Truths of Christianity, will, I think, be readily granted by all. The Holy Scriptures declare unto us, that God is Love, that they who dwell in Love dwell in God, and God in them; that there is none Good but God; that the Sum of his Law is to love him with all our Hearts, and our Neighbour as our selves; that while we love the World, the Love of the Father is not in us; that Jesus Christ became Sin for us, who knew no Sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him; that Jesus Christ is come to bless us, in turning every one of us from our Iniquities; that unless we repent we shall certainly perish; that in his Life and Death he was given us an Example that we should follow his Steps; that by Nature we are the Children of Wrath; that we cannot be his Disciples unless we deny our selves, take up our Cross, and follow him; that if we be risen with Christ, we will set our Affections on those things that are above, and not on those things that are beneath; that they who are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof; that Knowledge puffs up, but Charity edifieth; that all Knowledge and all Faith without Charity profits us nothing.

XIII.XIII. 2. From the Fathers. S. Aug. de Doctrin. Chr. lib. 1. c. 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 22, 19, 35. &c. Thus S. Augustine, in his Writings, and particularly in his excellent Treatise, De Doctrina Christiana, Lib. 1. makes a Summary, of the same Nature, Of the Essentials of Christianity. He considered all Beings under Three distinct Ranks and Orders: Some which are to be enioy'd, others which are to be used, and others in the middle between these, and they formed to enjoy and to use those other Beings. The Things to be enjoy'd are those which make us happy. The Things to be used are those which help us to attain to that which makes us happy, and to cleave to it. We, who are to enjoy and use those things, being plac'd between both, if we give our selves to Enjoy the things which we should only use, we are stopp'd in our Course, and come short of our Happiness, being entangl'd with the Love of things below. To enjoy, is by Love to cleave to something for its self. To use a thing, is to employ it as a Mean to attain to that which we love; as Strangers travelling to their Native Country, make use of Horses by Land, or Ships by Sea, to bring them thither. That which is to be enjoy'd is only God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Infinite [Page] and Unchangeable Good. We ought to love nothing for it self, but God; and all other things, only in and for God. Other things are to be used or avoided, as they are Helps or Hinderances of the Love of God. All who are capable of Enjoying God, as we are, that is, all our Neighbours, we ought to love them as our selves, that is, to desire or endeavour that they be brought with us to love and enjoy God. All Sin and Evil consists in the Loving and Enjoying what we ought only to use, the Creatures and their Perfections; and the Using what we ought to Enjoy. Ʋtendis frui, & Fruendis uti: This has so darkned and corrupted our Minds, that we are not capable of loving and enjoying this infinite Good. In order to this, they must be cleansed and purified, which is as it were a Travelling and Voyaging to our Country. This could not have been, if Wisdom it self had not stoop'd to our Infirmity, and cloath'd himself with our Flesh, to obtain Pardon and Grace for Sinners, and to give them an Example in their own infirm Nature. And as, to convey our Thoughts to others, we must cloath them with Words, tho' thereby they are not defil'd nor chang'd; so the Eternal and Unchangeable Word became Flesh, and dwelt among us; the Truth and the Life became the Way, and brought us the wholsom Physick that is necessary to cure the Maladies of our Souls, Remedies for every Disease. The Sum of all is, that the Fulness and End of all the Holy Scriptures is the Love of God and our Neighbours, the Being that is to be enjoy'd, and those Beings which are capable of enjoying him with us. And that we might know and be able to do this, the Providence of God has order'd the whole Temporal Dispensation for our Salvation, which we ought to use not with an abiding Love but a transient one, as we would love a Way or a Chariot, that we may love those things in which we are carried, for the sake of that to which we are going. This is the Substance of that Excellent Book.

XIV.XIV. Her own Declaration, that her great and only Aim is the Love of God, and that she lays no Stress on the acc [...]ssory Truths. It is true, A. B. mentions other Sentiments which are not of the Essence of Religion; but then she declares they are not necessary to Salvation, and that we may let them alone, and suspend our Belief of them, if we [Page] see no Clearness and Evidence in them; and that she aims at nothing but to perswade Men to the Love of God, and to observe the Laws of the Gospel as the necessary Means to recover it. It is best to hear her speak for her self in this Matter.

‘I protest,Renouv. de L. Espr. Ev. pref. p. 110, 111, 112, &c. says she, before God and Men, that I aim at nothing by all my Words and Writings, but to perswade Men to return to the Love of God, from whence they are fallen by the Glosses, Explications, or new Inventions of deceitful Men, who do falsly promise Salvation to those who live and die in their Self-love, and despise the Practice of a Gospel-Life: Seeing such shall never inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, when they despise the Designs of God, and the Means and Graces which he gives them, that they may rise again and deliver themselves from this Damnation. These are the Practice, of the Gospel-Law, which only can save them, because of the Frailty of Man's Nature. They will never save themselves from Damnation if they do not embrace the Gospel-Law, which is the last and most perfect of all the Laws that God has given or ever will give to Men: And I do not pretend to teach any other, neither do I teach Errors, as these Adversaries of the Truth of God do affirm; for God will never change, and Jesus Christ brings it to us in the last Hour. We must not look for any other, nor for New Prophets; for he has prophesied all, and taught what Men ought to do and avoid, even to the End of the World.’

‘Tis true indeed, I speak of several things in my Writings which are not in so many Words in the Gospel; but these are not things which every one is obliged to believe, or the belief of which is necessary to Salvation. I write them out of abundance, and to reinforce the Courage of those who understand and relish them: But they who do not relish or understand them, may let them alone. Their belief or unbelief of these things, neither adds nor takes any things from me. I have obtain'd all my Design, when I have shewn clearly, that no Body shall be saved but they who shall take up the Practice of a Gospel Life; as God has reveal'd to me, leaving every one free to do it if he will, since God forces no Body, neither do I. I have spoken several times in my Writings, of the Creation of the World, of the [Page] Glorious Estate in which Adam was created, how Jesus Christ was born of him in his State of Innocence, with many Divine Mysteries unheard of by Men. But this is but a Cluster of Grapes of the Garden of Eternal Life, as those sent from the Children of Israel, brought a Cluster of the Grapes of the Land of Promise, to make them comprehend the Abundance, and the Fruitfulness of it; even so I have spoken of those high Secret Mysteries which God has reveal'd to me, that I might give a Sample of that which God has prepared for those who observe his Gospel Law. But I do not positively teach those unknown Wonders as Articles of Faith. I declare them only for to strengthen my own Soul, and those who sincerely desire to become True Christians, teaching them also many things which no body has taught hitherto, because the time was not come to know them, since we read in the ancient Prophets, that God says to Daniel, Seal up these Words until the last Times; and in the Revelations there is spoken of a Book closed, sealed with Seven Seals, which none could open but the Lamb slain. All these things with many others do sufficiently testifie that God would conceal from Men many Secret and Divine Mysteries till the last Times; for God has done nothing for Men, which he does not make known to them before the World end.’

‘And if now I declare unto them things which they have not as yet heard, they ought so much the more to esteem them, and enquire narrowly that they may discover whether they be true or profitable for the Salvation of Souls, and not reject or despise them blindly, as Fools do, who condemn all that they do not understand, uttering Reproaches against those who speak to them for their Good. And if these Preachers did this out of Ignorance, they would be in some manner excusable, but it must needs be out of pure Malice that they condemn the Essential Truths of the Doctrine of the Gospel, which I teach substantially through all my Writings, bringing only all other things by way of Comparison, or to make my self be the better understood, that People may by divers means recover the Love of God, which all have lost, and even also his Fear. And that every one may find in my Writings, divers means sutable to their Dispositions, I speak much of the Judgments [Page] of God, of his Rods and Chastisements which we are to look for, that if some are touch'd with Threatnings, and disposed to return to God by Fear and Trembling, they may embrace these Warnings of the last Judgments: And if others are rather drawn unto God by Promises, and the Glory that God has prepared for them after Death; such may meditate seriously upon them, that by those Considerations they may be inflam'd with the Love of a God so bountiful to his Creatures: And if others are dispos'd to return to God by discovering the Falshoods and Errors which are now in Christendom, I speak of them abundantly in my Writings: So that nothing is wanting there for him who truly desires to search, he has certainly the Occasion to find by the reading of my Writings, seeing there are there means, in abundance, for all sorts of Dispositions. But the whole Butt, or the White, at which I draw, in declaring so many Marvels of God, is no other but to shew Men that they will not be saved but by taking up anew the Practise of a Gospel Life, as the Christians of the Primitive Church did; for God is Yesterday and to Day the same; and Jesus Christ, that Divine Physician, has brought the last Receipt of his Gospel-Law, which we must take and swallow until the last Day of Judgment, if we desire to be saved.’

XV.XV. Her Writings not to be despis'd, tho' others may have done as well. Thus she declares, that she aims at nothing in all her Writings, but to perswade Men to return to the Love of God, and to put in practice the Laws of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as the only essential and necessary means thereunto; and whatsoever else is contain'd in them, is only to bring Men to the practice of those great Duties, they being differently mov'd according to their different Dispositions; and these things they may either embrace or let alone, according as they find them helpful or not to the Practise of the great Duties of the Gospel; and the Truth of this appears by the constant Tenour of all her Writings.

But some are apt to say, This is what is done by many others, by many of the Practical Writers of Christianity, and what needs so much adoe about the Writings of this Woman? We ought not to deny to others their just Praise, and I wish that not only many but all the Practical Writers of Christianity did breath the same Spirit. But [Page] because other Writings are good and useful, we ought not therefore to despise these, if they be so too. In things convenient for the Body, the Providence of God affords not only what is simply necessary, but Plenty and Abundance; and what is distasteful to one Palate, will relish with another, and promote their Health. And why should our Eye be Evil, because God is Good? If he be pleas'd to afford us Plenty, and Variety of Spiritual Entertainment, tending to mortifie our Corrupt Nature, and to bring us to the Love of God, and some of it does not please our Taste, why should we be so peevish and ill natur'd, as not only to throw all away that comes from that hand, but decry it as rank Poison, and forbid any to touch it as they would escape Damnation, when it may be all the Evil lies in the Malady and Distemper within us, which it comes to remove; and what we will not use nor relish, may prove very savoury and healthful to the Souls of others. It is strange to see the Disposition of Men. The Poets and Plays, both Ancient and Modern, tho' they flow from, and greatly tend to cherish the Corruption of Humane Nature, yet the Learned do Study and Esteem them; but Writings of this Nature, whose only Aim is to perswade Men to love the Life of Jesus Christ, in their respective Communions, without setting up a New Sect or Party, and to tell them they do it not; meets with nothing but Reproach and Contempt, upon a Pretence there are in them some Sentiments different from the ordinary, tho' they are most consistent with the Essentials of Christianity, and are declared not to be necessary to Salvation. As if we would hate and persecute our best Friend, because his Cloaths differed from ours in their Fashion.

Some peculiar Characters of her Writings and Sentiments.

XVI.XVI. Some peculiar Characters of her Writings and Sentiments. NOW as that which I have mentioned is the great Design of those Writings, and for that Reason they ought to be as readily entertain'd as we do other good Practical Books; so there are some things observable in them, in the Prosecution of that great Design of the Renovation of a Gospel Spirit, which in my Esteem do merit [Page] a particular Consideration. I shall mention some of them.

And First,1. The clear Distinction betweeen the Essentials and Accessories. that which has been already touch'd, her making so clear a Distinction between the Essentials and Accessories of Religion, and her laying so little Stress upon the last, tho' she declares that she had particular Discoveries in them, seems to me a particular Character of her Spirit. They who set up for a peculiar Knowledge in Divine things, or to reform the Corruptions of the Church, or to be Guides and Directors of others, they presently insert all their little Opinions and Doctrines into their Confessions of Faith, make them Articles of their Creed, Shibboleths of their Party; so that none can be of their Communion who do not profess to believe them; and they are more zealous for their particular Forms and Confessions, than for the Gospel and Laws of Jesus Christ, and are ready to esteem or despise others according to their Zeal or Coldness for these; and thus, tho' a Man be proud and covetous and malicious, and his Spirit quite contrary to that of Jesus Christ, yet if he be zealous for their peculiar Doctrines and Forms of such a Party, he shall in his own, and their Esteem, pass for a good Christian; they imagining that God lays as great a Stress on their Doctrines and Forms as they do themselves, while they call them the Cause of Christ, the Jewels of his Crown, &c. thus, most heinously taking God's Name in Vain. Others again, who pretend to divine Revelation, are still upon Mysteries and Visions. But A. B. does most clearly and distinctly represent: wherein the Essence of Christianlty consists,L' Etoile du Matin: p. 40, 41. makes that the Butt of all her Writings, shews what are the Accessory Truths, and tho' she pretends to particular Discoveries in them, yet tells they are not Articles of Faith, nor necessary to Salvation; that they who see no Clearness in them, nor Benefit by them, may let them alone, and tho' we should believe them never so firmly, yet without a Gospel-Life and Spirit there was no Salvation.

XVII.XVII. 2. The Relation that the Duties of Christianity have to one another. Renouv. de l' Esp. Evang. part. 2. n. 81. part 3. n. 39, 48. 2. The Writings of A. B. do clearly shew the Relation that the several Parts and Duties of Christianity have to one another, and the Place that every one holds in [Page]Relation to the Whole, and this is of no small moment to direct us aright in our Endeavours after a Christian Life and Spirit. We may know many of the Parts and Duties of the Christian Religion, and seem much Occupied about some of them, and yet never make any Advances in a Christian Life; all that is directed by Wisdom, is done for a fit and proper End, and fit and seasonable Means are employed for attaining of that End. We see the Footsteps of infinite Wisdom even in the Motions of the brute Creatures. The Birds in the Spring gather proper Materials and build their Nests, and lay their Eggs, and hatch their Young; if they should be taken up only about gathering Sticks, without putting them to any further Use, the Wisdom of their Maker in the Forming of them would not thereby appear. Now God has given Man an Understanding, whereby he may discern a proper End for his Actions, and suitable Means by which to accomplish it. We see in all Trades and Arts they have their proper Ends and their peculiar Means to attain to them; and if the respective Masters or Apprentices should be still occupied about some of the remoter Means of their Calling, without ever directing them to the Attainment of the End of it, or should think to attain the End without the Use of the necessary and immediate Means, we would think they had lost their Wits. If they who pretend to rebuild an House busie themselves only in providing some of the Materials, and contriving Models, and reading Books of Architecture and hearing Discourses about it, and lay some Stones of it upon an old runious Foundation, without ever doing more, or if they think to get the House built without ever digging deep to lay a good Foundation, or using the other consequent necessary Means of Building, such but build Castl [...]s in the Air. Now, tho' Men are not so absurd and unreasonable in other things, yet they are so in Religion. They are taken up with some of the remoter Duties of Religion, without ever aiming at the End of it, or they think to attain the End without using the necessary Means for the Attainment of it, and become thereby so darkned in their Minds, as not to perceive what Relation the Parts and Duties of Religion have to one another. This then is certainly a remarkable Property of the Writings of A. B. that they give so distinct a view of the Relation of the several Parts and Duties of Christianity to [Page] one another, and to the whole: How some hold the Place of the end, and others of the means; some of which are so absolutely necessary in Man's present State, that without them he cannot attain the End. They make appear that the great end of Christianity is to bring us back to the Love of God, and that we can never recover this without the mortifying of our Corrupt Nature, and that this cannot be effected but by obeying the Doctrine, and following the Example of Jesus Christ; so that his Commands are all the necessary Helps of our Frailty, teaching us what way to overcome our Corrupt Nature, and to return to the Love of God. For the End of the Commandment is Charity: The Gospel-Law teaches Man Poverty of Spirit, to shew Man that Covetousness has withdrawn him from the Love of God, and that he cannot recover it without ceasing to covet earthly Goods; and it teaches Men to be humble in Heart, and to choose the lowest Place; because they have lost the Love of God, by loving themselves, and thinking themselves worthy of Honour and Glory, while they merit nothing but Contempt and Confusion. Jesus Christ chose a poor and mean State in the World, lived in Hardships and Unease, in Reproach and Contempt, and never did his own Will, but the Will of him that sent him; to show us what are the things that withdraw us from the Love of God, and what are the means we must use to overcome them.

XVIII.XVIII. 3. Her most amiable Representation of the Divine Nature. 3. The Writings of A. B. do give us most lovely Representations of the Divine Nature, such as may serve to enflame our Souls with Love and Wonder, when we think on the depth and height, and breadth and length of the Love of God in Christ Jesus, which passeth all Knowledge: They shew us that God's very Nature is Love, that there is none Good but God, that no kind of Evil comes from him,Light of the World part 1. conf 7, 14, 15. part 2. conf. 1. part 3. conf. 1, 2, 18. Renouv. de l' Esp [...]it. Evang. but all Good; that it was nothing but Love and Goodness that made him create Man so wonderful a Creature, that he might communicate himself to him, and dwell in him by his Light and Love; and that he might oblige him by the greatness of his Magnificence, made a world of beautiful Creatures to attend him, and to compleat his Happiness and Contentment would needs become like to him, as he had at first form'd Man after his own Image. And so far was he from designing that Man should destroy himself, that he us'd all means to prevent [Page] it,Preface, n. 15 &c. and to keep him from abusing the greatest Natural Gift he could bestow upon him, Liberty of Will; and which he could not in justice take back again, for the Gifts of God are without Repentance: That Man's Baseness and Fall did not alter God's Love, but he resolves to recover him again, and continues unalterably his first Design of taking his Delight with him; that he accepts of the Intercession and Mediation of Jesus Christ for that End, and allows Man Grace, and a Time, and Means of Penitence; that the very Evils that came upon Man, and upon the Creatures by his Sin, he order'd them all so, as that they might tend to his Good and his Recovery; thrust him out of a delightful Paradise into an Earth cursed for his sake, and bringing forth Throns and Thistles; least the Pleasures of the first should now still bewitch his Heart the more, and that the Miseries and Vexations of the last might give him Occasions for Penitence, and make him return to his God; that God has not forsaken Man, but Man has forsaken his God; that God by all his Works, and by his Operations in Man, gives him all sort of Occasions to love him: That he is not content to send us his Servants and Prophets to enlighten us, but he came himself, and became in all things like to us, (yet without Sin) that he might redeem and save us: That God tempts no Man, but every Man is drawn away of his own Lust: That he damns no Man, for he is the Fountain of all Good and can do no Evil; and the Damnation of a Soul is the greatest Evil in the World: That he does not permit Sin, but permits Man to make use of his Free-will, which being the greatest Treasure he could receive, it was not just for God to take it back again, and if Man abuse it, it is for himself, so he may do with his Hands and Tongue, which are given him for excellent uses: That as God is not the Author of any Sin, any Moral Evil, neither by Influence, nor by Decree, nor by Permission; but it proceeds wholly from Men and Devils by the ill use of the Liberty and Free-will that God gave them; so neither is he the Author of any Natural Evil or Malignity that is in the Creatures, he having created all Good and Perfect; but Sin and the Self will of Man has brought a Malignity into all things; and therefore it belongs to Man as being the Works of his Hands: That God lets this Malignity continue now in this Time of Trial, to withdraw [Page] Man from the Love of the Creatures; that at the Times of the Restitution of all things, he will deliver all his Creatures from the Malignity contracted by the Sin of Man; and since it is just to render to each one what belongs to him, it is necessary that they, who will not return to a Dependance upon their God, have for their Portion this Malignity of all the Creatures to all Eternity, as being the Work of their own Hands: That in the Love of God consists all Good, and all Happiness; and in the turning away from that Love, all Evil, and all Misery, which Men are not now so sensible of; because of the superficial and transient Delights, with which the Creatures do amuse and tickle them; but upon the removal of that, they shall feel it to all Eternity. God is not the Author of Death, but by one Man Sin entred into the World, and Death by Sin, and Death has pass'd over all, because all have sinn'd.

‘Ʋ [...]s Deus, una Veritas, una Salus omnium & prima atque summa Essentum, ex qua est omne quicquid est, in quantumest: quia in quantum est quicquid est, bonum est. Et ideo ex Deo non est Mors. Non enim Deus Mortem fecit, nec laetatur in Perditione Vivorum; quoniam summa Essentia esse facit omne quod est, unde & Essentia dicitur. Mors autem non esse cogit quicquid moritur in quantum moritur, nam si ea quae moriuntur penitus morirentur ad nihilum sine dubio pervenirent: Sed tantum moriuntur, quantum minus Essentiae participant.—Corpus autem minus est quam vita quaelibet quoniam quantulumcunque manet in specie per vitam manet.—Corpus ergo magis subjacet Morti), & ideo vicinius est nihilo. Quapropter Vita quae Fructu Corporis delectata negligit Deum, inclinatur ad nihilum, & ista est nequitia.—Id enim amat quod minus est quam Vita quia Corpus est; & propter ipsum Peccatum quod amatur fit corruptibile, ut fluendo deserat Amatorem suum, quia & ille hoc amando deseruit Deum.—Quod vero Corpus Hominis, cum ante Peccatum esset in suo Genere optimum, post Peccatum factum est imbecillum & Morti destinatum, quanquam justa vindicta, Peccati sit, plus tamen Clementiae Dei quam Severitatis ostendit. Ita enim nobis suadetur a Corporis Voluptatibus & ad aternam Essentiam Veritatis Amorem nostrum opportere conver [...]i.. Et est Justitiae Pulchritudo cum Benignitatis Gratia concordans, ut quoniam bonorum inferiorum Dulcedine decepti sumus Amaritudine Poenarum crudiamur. S. Aug. de Vera Relig. Cap. 11, 12, 15 It is, saith St. Augustine, God alone, the only Truth, the only Salvation of all, and the First and Supream [Page] Essence, from whom every thing is what it is, in so far as it is; for in so far as it is, what it is, it is good; and therefore Death is not from God. For God did not make Death, neither does he take Pleasure in the Destruction of the Living; for the supream Essence makes every thing to be what it is, and therefore it is called the Essence. But Death constrains that which dies not to be, in so far as it dies; for if these things which die, should die altogether, undoubtedly they would come to nothing: But by how much less they partake of Essence, by so much they die.—Now a Body is less than any Degree of Life; for whatsoever retains any Form, has some Degree of Life. The Body therefore is subject to Death, and so approaches nearer to nothing; wherefore that Life, which delighting it self in the Pleasures of the Body, neglects God, inclines to nothing; and this is Wickedness.—For it loves that which is less than Life, because it is Body; and because of this very Sin, that which is lov'd becomes Corruptible, that it by passing away may forsake its Lover; because he by loving it had forsaken his God.—But that the Body of Man, which, before Sin, was the most excellent in its kind, is after Sin become so frail and subject to Death; tho' it be a just Punishment of Sin, yet it discovers more of the Clemency, than the Severity of God: For thereby we are perswaded, that we ought to take off our Love from the Pleasures of the Body, and to turn it to the Eternal Essence of Truth: And herein the Beauty of Righteousness, and the Favour of Good meet together; that because we are deceived by the Sweetness of inferiour Goods, we might be instructed by the Bitterness of the Punishments, &c. Thus it is evident that’ nothing comes positively from God as an efficient Cause, but that which is positively from Good; and all Evil and Malignity proceeds from Devils and Men, which God does yet so moderate and restrain in this time of Man's Trial, as many make Man by his Grace come to himself and return to his God,O [...]con di [...] tom. 3. c. 13. and if there be no further hopes of Man, he leaves him to himself, and so punishes him no otherwise than a Physician does a Sick Man, by leaving him to his own Folly and Intemperance, when he will neither be ruled by him, nor take the Physick he has prepared for him. Man does properly damn himself, and he receives only the Works [Page] of his own Hands,Hos 13 9. O Israel, thy Destruction is of thy self, but in me is thy help: When the Holy Scripture represents God as denouncing a Curse on the Earth, the Pains of a Woman in Travail, the Labour and Death of Man, these are charitable Warnings of some of the natural Consequences of his Sin, to dispose him for them, and that he might make a right use of them. And when the Scripture speaks of the Wrath of God, and of the Punishments flowing from it, all this is to be understood in a Sense agreeable to the Nature of God, as we do those Passages which ascribe to him the bodily Parts and Passions of Men; and as by thus interpreting those last Passages, there is no wresting of the Scriptures, but rather their true Sense exprest, which either the clear Idea that we have of God, or one or two plain Places of Scripture concerning him, that he is a Spirit and unchangeable, do sufficiently manifest; so neither are the former wrested by giving them a Sense conformable to the Idea of the Divine Goodness and Perfections, from whence no Evil, Disorder, nor Anxiety can proceed, and to those Places of Scripture which affirm that God is Love, 1 Joh. 4. 8. Is. 27. 4. and that Fury is not in him. What unsutable and unlovely Representations some have given us of the Divine Nature and Operations, and how unfit they are for inflaming Men with True Charity; is but too evident from Men Writings, and from Mens Lives.

XIX.XIX. 4. Their Tendency to Union and Concord. 4. Her Writings and Sentiments have a great Tendency to a Christian Ʋnion and Concord amongst the several Parties of Christendom. We all seem to be sensible of the Evil and Mischiefs of Schisms; and the Hatred, Lying, Evil-speakings, Strifes, Wars, Fightings, Persecutions, Deaths, which have followed upon them, are but too fatal Proofs of it, and therefore every Party strives to wipe off the Blame from themselves, and to lay it on another. But the most useful Thought is to consider how to heal them. The Course followed by the respective Parties will never do it. Those of every Party judge that Orthodoxy is only on their Side, and therefore strive to reduce all to an Union by bringing them to be of their Party; and thus their mutual Animosities and Divisions are still heightned. But the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. Lum. enteneb. part 3. letter 2. do more naturally and more effectually tend to a Christian Union, they teach Men to labour after the Spirit of true Christianity in the [Page] Use of the outward Forms and Rites (which are consistent therewith) of the respective Parties wherein they are, without setting up a New Party, or judging and condemning another because differing from them in those outward Rites and Forms. She shews that the Differences of outward Religions, of their Ceremonies and Opinions, will neither save nor damn; that they are not inseparable from the Essence of Christianity, which consists in the denying of our selves, the mortifying of our corrupt Nature, and the following of Jesus Christ; without which we cannot be saved; that those other things are like the Cloaths and Garments, which do not give Life, but an outward Decency and Conveniency; That the one is the Sword and these other things are the Sheath; and that the Madness and Folly of the Christian World lies in Contending which of us has the best Sheath, while the Devil robs us of the Sword, (the true Love of God and our Neighbour) and laughs at us when we think to overcome him with the Sheath of our outward Religions, as we would laugh at a Soldier, who would needs fight his Enemy with the Sheath of his Sword. And so little Regard had she to the Interest of a Party, that when Lutherans and Calvinists came to be directed by her in the labouring after a Christian Life and Spirit, she never enquired about their Opinions, nor bid them abandon the Communion wherein they were. On the contrary, when the famous Dr. Swammerdam, who was solicited by his Friend Steno, to go over with him to the Church of Rome and to Italy, did ask her Advice in it, she did expresly forbid him, telling him there was nothing but Vanity in the Change of Communions, and that he might labour to be a true Christian in the Communion in which he was. Did this Spirit prevail amongst the respective Parties, how strangely would it sweeten our Minds towards one another? our Animosities would quickly cease, our Difference would fall of themselves, we would be as far from imposing our Forms and Modes of Worship, and Confessions of Faith on others, or persecuting them who did not conform to them, or hating and maligning such as differed from us in their Opinions and Parties, as we would be from treating after this manner those who differed from us in the Fashion of their Garments or the Sheaths of their Swords. We would find the Apostle's excellent Counsel most applicable in all theses Cases.Rom. 14. 2, &c. One believes[Page]that be may eat all things, another who is weak [...]; let not him that eateth, despise him that ea [...] [...] which eateth not, judge him that [...]. One Man esteemeth [...] Man esteemeth every Day [...] perswaded in his own Mind. [...], regardeth it to the Lord; [...] not the Day. to the Lord he doth not regard [...] He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, and he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he [...] not, and he giventh God thanks.—But why dost thou [...] thy Brother? or why dost thou set a nought thy Brother? for we shall all stand before the Judgment. Seat of Christ.—For the Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink, but Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost. Let us therefore follow after the things that make for Peace, and things wherewith one may edisie another.

XX.XX. 5. The [...] from [...] 5. The Writings of A. B. serve to vindicate and reseue the Doctrine of Jesus Christ from the false Glosses which the several Parties of Christendom have put upon it, and whereby they have made it of none effect. The Corruption of Man's Nature leads him to please himself and to follow his own Inclinations, and yet while he does so, he is content to believe that he pleases God and does his [...]; and therefore he puts such Glosses on the Laws [...] Commands of God, as many reconcile them to his corrupt Practice. Thus she Jewish Church had advanced to that He [...]hth of Corruption when our Saviour came into the World, that they had glossed away the whole Law of God, and made it of no Effect by their Traditions: And therefore our Lord Jesus Christ takes care to vindicate Gods Law from their corrupt. Glosses, and most clearly and plainly to point out Man's Duty and the Way to eternal Life. But as the World grows older, the Corruption of Man's Nature encreases and becomes more subtle and refin'd; so that the Professors of Christianity now adays have as palpably glossed away the Law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as ever the Scribes and Pharisees had done to the Law of Moses; for which there needs no greater Proof than to compare their Systems and Explications with the Gospel-Law it self, and their Practice with their Opinion and Belief. For tho' their Lives be in nothing like that of Jesus Christ, yet they believe they [Page] are good Christians, and hope to be saved by his Merits. Now, which is a singular Providence of God, those Writings do most plainly vindicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the false Glosses put upon it. They plainly shew, that there is no Way to Salvation but by the Mortification of our corrupt Nature and Self-love, and by the Imitation of Jesus Christ, dying with him to all the Eases, Honours, Riches, and Pleasures of this World. And tho' no body does this, yet they think they are good Christians, tho' every one seek themselves, their own Glory, and their own Interest, and have form'd Glosses on the Doctrine of Christ that may excuse them: They are frail, they cannot keep the Commandments of God, they hope to be sav'd by the Merits of Jesus Christ, thro' Faith in him; not considering that the Laws of Christ are given us because of our Frailty, and as the most effectual Means to recover the Love of God, and that none will be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ, but they who follow his Example.

XXI.XXI. 6. The leading to a true Reformation. 6. Those Writings do strike at the Root of the Corruption of Man's Nature, and shew the Way to a true Reformation indeed. Many have cried out upon the Corruptions of the Church, and have set up to reform the World; and these Corruptions being so visible, it was easie for such to draw Disciples after them. But then, what has their Reformations been,Renouv. de l'Esp. Ev. Sainte Visiere. Nouv. ciel. p. 160. but a shaking off of some outward Rites, Forms and Opinions, which had been abused, and taking up others in their stead, as far from the Essence of True Christianity, and in the mean time gratifying still their corrupt Inclinations, their Pride, their Love of the World, their sensual Appetities, under the Cover of their peculiar Forms and Opinions. And still a new Sett, discovering the Abuses of the former, stands up for a New Reformation by another Form of Rites and speculative Doctrines? Not but that there may have been good Men in all these Parties; but that this is the Spirit that runs thro' all, is but too visible. It is as if People, designing to cut down a Tree whose Sap and Fruits were full of deadly Poison, should labour to do it only by lopping off some Branckes, or plucking off some Leaves, sometimes on this side, and sometimes on the other, while they still cultivate the Tree carefully about the Root, and what they have done serves only to make it sprout forth on [Page] other Sides with the greater Force and Vigour; or as our Saviour shews, it is the making clean the out-side of the Cup, while within it is full of Corruption. Thus Men reform from some sinful Practices that have an ill Name in the World, but then they gratifie their corrupt Inclinations more freely in other things. Whereas the Root ought to be struck at, the Heart made clean within, and a Reformation made by taking up the first Institution of Christ himself, who cloathing himself with our Mortality, that he might lead us into the right Way of Salvation, he has taken us by the Hand,Joh. 14. 6. c. 10. 9. telling us, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life: I am the Door, he that enters by me shall be saved: And whosoever will come after me, must deny himself, and take up his Cross, and follow me. This is the true Institution of Jesus Christ, and they who neglect this and seem zealous for other things, are not true Christians; and they who pretend to reform Religion without bringing Men back to the first Institution of Jesus Christ, and not straying from its Rules, make only new Institutions and Religions, no true Reformation.

XXII. 7.XXII. 7. The taking off from a speculative Knowledge of Divine things. The Writings of A. B. do tend to take Men off from a dry, barren, dead, superficial and speculative Knowledge of Divine Things, and to lead them to a solid, living, practical and fruitful Knowledge of them. There is a speculative Knowledge of things, and there is a sensible and affecting Knowledge of them. This communicates to us their Qualities, and makes us to enjoy them; and the other gives us only their superficial Pictures or Idea's.Tomb de la fausse Theol. p. 1. Thus when we open our Eyes and behold the Sun, we enjoy his Light and his Heat; he gives us Delight and Pleasure, he lets us see the Beauty of all the Creatures round about us; he enlightens our Path, and lets us see where to set our Feet. But in the Absence of the Light and Sun, when we form to our selves Idea's and Pictures of them, and give our selves to Speculation and Reasoning about these; this is but an empty, dead, superficial and barren Knowledge; the Idea's are true, but they do not give us Light, and Heat, and Delight, and a View of the Beauty of all the Creatures as the Sun himself did. And if we had been born blind, and knew nothing of the Light and Sun, but what we had from the Discourse and Information of others, then our very Idea's and Pictures of them would be false, and nothing but Chimera's of our own [Page] Imagination. The Analogy holds in Divine and Spiritual Things, as well as in Bodily and Material ones. There is a solid, substantial, living, and fruitful Knowledge of them; when God communicates himself to the Soul, and brings along with him his Love, and Light, and Joy, and Peace. These are all felt by it, as we feel the Light when it shines into our Eyes. This Knowledge is to be had only from God, as the Sun and Light can be seen only by themselves: For the things of God knoweth no man, 1 Cor. 2. 11 but the Spirit of God. Tho' the Sun shine never so brightly, yet if we be shut up with thick Walls round about us, or if our Eyes be blinded we cannot behold the Light. This is the State we are born in,Joh. 1. 5. 1 Cor. 2. 14. in corrupt Nature. The Light shines in Darkness, and the Darkness comprehends it not. The natural Man perceives not the things that are of God, but they are Foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Those Impediments and Distempers must be removed, if we would know God aright, and therefore the Light has embodied himself, and the Word became Flesh, and dwelt among us, and became in all things like to us, except Sin, that he might shew us how to come to God, not by much Reading, nor great Learning, nor high Speculations, but by becoming like little Children, by Simplicity and Singleness of Heart, by Humility and Prayer, by taking off our Desires from all other things,Mat. 2. 26. and c. 6. 22. Ps. 25. 9. Joh. 8. 12. and turning our Souls to God. Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall see God. If thine Eye be single, thy whole Body shall be full of Light. The meek will he teach his Way. I am the Light of the World, says Christ, he that follows me shall not walk in Darkness, but shall have the Light of Life. The Divine Knowledge that is thus obtained is solid and living; it satisfies the Heart, it enflames it with Charity, the Love of God, and our Neighbours;Jam. 3. 17. this Wisdom that is from above is pure and peaceable, gentle, and easie to be entreated, full of Mercy and good Fruits, without Partiality, and without Hypocrisie. There is another Knowledge of Divine Things, which is only superficial and speculative, and consists in the forming to our selves the Pictures of Divine Things in the Absence of the Things themselves, and employing our Thoughts and Faculties about these. If we do this only in so far as it may be helpful to excite us to the other, and to labour after those Dispositions that may make us [Page] meet for it; it may be a good Handmaid and Subservient to it. But if we make it our Study, and employ our Time and Faculties about it, we do as foolishly as they who being hungry and thirsty, and depriv'd of the Light of the Sun, should with the dim Light of a Candle go into a Gallery and view the Pictures of the Light and Sun, and of all sorts of delicate Wines and Meats, and should draw a great many of these themselves, each Club contending that their Pictures were the truest, quarrelling and fighting about them, and and forcing one another to assent and swear to their Belief and Opinion of them, and hating such as differed from them, and were so craz'd in their Imaginations as to fansie they did eat, and drink, and enjoy the Light, but when they awake their Soul is empty. Is. 29. 3. This is that Theology which has overspread the Christian World; for the cultivating of which, Seminaries are erected, Masters and Professors set apart, the Youth trained up to handle their Weapons, and to argue Pro and Con, upon every Head. The very Catechisms fill'd with the nice Speculations of the respective Parties, and the People to con their hard Words, and to think themselves mighty knowing in Religion. In this, thousands of Volumes are written, and the Opinions and Pictures drawn by former Ages enquir'd into and curious Criticisms made about every Line, in the Study of which, Divines employ their Time and Talents. In this the Preachers multiply Sermons, giving Stones for Bread, and the People have itching Ears, Ever learning, and never be able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth; like Physicians and Patients that should love to talk and hear respectively elaborate Discourses about Receipts of Physick (the Receipts being plain enough of themselves) without ever applying effectually to use them. In this, Men employ their eal, to maintain their Opinions, to form and foster Sects and Schisms, to multiply Debates and Controversies, to hate and malign those that differ from them, to raise Tumults and Rabbles, to animate Princes against their People, and People against their Princes, and to fill the World with Blood and Confusion. Now all the Writings of A. B. tend to lead Men to that Theology and Divine Wisdom that is to be had only by deep Humilty of Heart, and Poverty of Spirit, to be learn'd only in the School of Jesus Christ, by denying of themselves, and following of him, and to take them of from that false and superficial [Page] Knowledge of Divine Things, which stands in a perfect Opposition to the other. It makes the Mind incapable of being enlightned by the Spirit of God, it keeps it in a constant Amusement; it is that Knowledge that puffs up, and makes us think we know something, 1. Cor. 8. 2, 3. Jam. 3. 15. when we know nothing as we ought to know; but if any Man love God, the same is known of him. It is the Wisdom that descends not above, but is earthly, sensual and devilish; working Envy, Strife and Confusion, and every evil Work. It is of this,Is. 29. 14. that God threatned he would destroy the Wisdom of the Wise, and bring to nought the Vnderstanding of the Prudent. 1 Cor. 1. 19, 27. Therefore God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the Wise. He chose for his Aposles, simple illiterate Men, and when the Learned came to him, he despised their Wisdom,Tomb de la fausse Theol. p. 1. let. 1, 2, &c. La Sainte Visiere. sending Paul to School as an Ignorant to learn of Ananias what he ought to do. And when Nicodemus came to be his Disciple (the only learned Man that came to be converted by him) he declar'd to him, with Asseverations, that unless he were converted and became as a little Child, he could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; to make him understand that his Learning and Wisdom was a Hinderance to it, that he must turn away from it to embrace the Simplicity of a Child. What he says to him, he says to all the Learned that shall ever be in the World. Nicodemus was already turned from Evil to Good when he offered to be his Disciple; but this was not enough. Jesus Christ declares to him, that notwithstanding of this, he shall not enter there, unless he become as a little Child, learning the Simplicity of Jesus Christ, and detesting the Wisdom and Learning of Men. If the Wisdom and Studies of Men were not Hinderances to them, why would he have them Simple as Children?

The same Spirit runs thro' all that Divine Book of Thomas à Kempis, De Imitat. Christi. L. 3. c. 4 [...]. of the Imitation of Christ. Lo here an Extract of one Chapter where Jesus Christ thus speaks to the Soul; ‘Son, let not the fine and subtile Sayings of Men move thee; for the Kingdom of God is not in Word, but in Power. Take heed to my Words, which do enflame the Heart and enlighten the Mind, which bring Compunction and procure various consolations. Never read my Word for this End, That thou may be esteem'd the more learned, or the more wise; but study [Page] the Mortification of thy Vices, for that will profit thee more than many hard Questions. When thou hast read and known much, thou must still return to one Principle. I am he who teaches Man Knowledge, and gives to Little Ones a more clear Understanding than what he can be taught by Man. He to whom I speak will soon be Wise, and will profit much in Spirit. Wo to them that enquire many curious things from Men, and care little how to serve me.—I am he who elevates the humble Mind in a Moment, that it may conceive more Reasons of the Eternal Truth, than if one studied for Ten Years in the Schools. I teach without the Noise of Words, without the Confusion of Opinions, without the Vanity of Honour, without the Debate of Arguments. I am he who teaches to despise earthly things, to loath present things, to seek and relish eternal things, to flee Honours, to suffer Reproaches, to place all their Hope in me, to desire nothing besides me, and to love me ardently above all things.’

‘For a certain Person, by loving me dearly, did learn Divine Things, and spoke wonderful Things: he profited more by forsaking all, than by studying difficult things. But to some I utter common things, to some special ones; to some I appear sweetly in Signs and Figures, but to others I reveal Mysteries in much Light. There is one Voice of Books, but it does not equally instruct all; for I am the Teacher of the Truth inwardly, the Searcher of the Heart, the Understander of the Thoughts, the Furtherer of Actions, distributing to every one as I shall judge worthy.’

Now Writings whose chief Tendency is to lead us to so excellent a Master, to learn in Christ's School, and teach us how to labour for the Dispositions which he himself requires of us, deserve to meet with some Regard by those who pretend to be his Disciples.

XXIII.XXIII. 8. The Plainness and Simplicity of them. 8. Another remarkable Quality of those Writings is, that they are so clear, and plain, and simple. The Thoughts of the Studious and of the Learned are out of the common Road of the People, and so are their Words and Language too; and when they write, they can hardly avoid the Terms of the Schools; and all affect a certain Eloquence that darkens the Thoughts which we would express, both because we have not clear Perceptions of those [Page] Truths, and we still seek our selves; and many who have pretended to Divine Inspiration, have written so Mysteriously, and under such dark Figures, that they cannot be easily comprehended. But those Writings are so clear, that we may easily and distinctly perceive the Intent of them, so plain that Children and the most illiterate People may easily understand them, and so simple that there is nothing of humane Art or Varnish to be seen in them.

XXIV.XXIV. 9. The convincing Force of them. 9. It is no less remarkable, that there is a convincing Force and Efficacy in those Writings which does sensibly touch the Hearts of those that read them; their Consciences bears them witness of the Truth of things as to themselves, and they are convinced of all; not that all are so who read any of them,Recueil des Temoignages. no more than all who heard Jesus Christ himself were affected with his Words, tho' he spoke as one that had Authority, and not as the Scribes, tho' never Man spoke like him, yet the Pharisees said he had a Devil, but others who heard him, felt that he had the Words of Eternal Life. So some call this Virgin a Devil and Enchantress, a mad, whimsical Woman. Others are so convinced of the Truths of the Gospel contained in her Writings, that they are ready to answer, she is not mad,—but speaks the Words of Truth and Soberness. Many, I know, can bear me Witness, that upon the reading of her Writings they have felt a deeper Sense of Divine things, and their Hearts and Consciences have been more touched than by most of other Writings which they have seen. And this can be testified by Persons of different Parties and Perswasions, by Learned and Unlearned, and it deserves the more Consideration that they are not written in a Way to move the Passions in Flights of Devotion, as some would have them pass for, but in a simple naked Declaration of Divine Truths. All Writings carry along with them certain Impressions of the Spirit with which they are written, which we are apt to discern, and accordingly to be affected by them. If Self be the chief Mover, it will be seen thro all the Disguises of the Writer. There's a certain Driness and Deadness in most of Writings and Sermons now adays about Divine Things, that they do not at all touch the Heart; and even the best of them savour more of the Head of than the Heart, of the Spirit of Man than of the Spirit of God, and so they cannot rise higher than their Original; they may strike and please our Fancy, [Page] but they cannot move the Divine Faculties of the Soul. I cannot give a better Account of this than A. B. does when she complains that tho' there was never more Preaching than in this Age, yet never a greater spiritual Famine; that they do not give Nourishment to Souls, which every Day wax leaner and leaner in Vertue, and colder in Charity.Nouv. ciel. p. 166.—170. She says, ‘The Word of the Preachers cannot be God's Word, for then certainly it would produce its Effects in well-disposed Souls; for the Word of God is powerful. It would possess the inseparable Qualities of God, Righteousness, and Goodness, and Truth; If one of these be wanting, it is not the Word of God. they may use the Terms and Expressions which Jesus Christ and his Apostles used, yet that is not the Word of God. They are not called by God, but carried to the Ministry by Ambition, or some worldly and human Interest. Their Sermons are nothing else but Apish Mummeries. If an Ape saw an excellent Painter drawing a curious Picture, and if in his Absence it should take the Pencils and Colours, and so scratch upon the same Table, it would entirely Daub all, tho' it made Use of the same Pencils and Colours, because it wanted the Painter's Spirit; this Defect marrs all, even what was beautiful there before the Ape touch'd it. This is the true Emblem of most of the Preachers and Writers now adays in Religion. They have the Scripture as the Pallet, wherein are distinguish'd the fine Colours of Vertues with which Jesus Christ began the excellent Portraiture of the Holy Church. They have also the Pencil which is the Word with which Jesus Christ and his Apostles laid on these fine Colours of Vertues in Souls; but they want as (that Ape) the Spirit of that excellent Master, which is Jesus Christ. They have on Paper the same Words which the Holy Spirit dictated, but they have not the same Holy Spirit to apply them in Practice to their own Souls, and far less to the Souls of their Hearers.’

XXV.XXV. 18. The just and excellent Representation of the Trushs of Christianity. 10. Those Writings give us such just and clear Representations of the Truths of Christianity as tend to take us off from Self, and from the Creatures, and to make us turn unto, and depend wholly upon God, such as does not favour us in the least Sin, and yet encourages the greatest Sinner to turn to God; such as leads us to ascribe nothing [Page] to our selves but Evil, and nothing to God but Good: Such as lets us see that nothing can excuse us from obeying the Commands of the Gospel, and following the Example of Jesus Christ,Renouv. de l' Espr. Evang. &c. without which by him t [...]ere is no Salvation. It is true of Doctrines as well as Men; By their Fruits ye shall know them: Such Doctrines as tend to sooth Mens Corrupt Inclinations, to teach them how to love God and the World too; to gratifie their Appetites here, and yet hope to enjoy God hereafter, (I do not mean in so many express Words, but in their natural Tendency) such certainly are not of God. Now the Doctrines contained in those Writings have quite another Tendency, as has been said. There we have such true and lively Representations of God, as shews us that he is altogether Lovely; of his Design in creating Man only to be enjoy'd and lov'd by him, without any decree or purpose of damning the greatest part of Mankind, as may stir us up to comply with so tender a Love, with so generous a Design; of the horrid Degeneracy and Corruption of Man now both in Soul and Body, as may make us abhor our selves; of our Sins their being purely our own deed, without any the least Predetermination or Concurrence of God, but the contrary, as may keep us from excusing our selves or laying the blame on God; of the Merits, Satisfaction, and Intercession of Jesus Christ, as may convince us that Pardon and Reconciliation with God, and Grace and Means to return to God is to be obtain'd, and that only by him; of the Necessity and Nature of the preventing, concurring, and renewing Grace of God, as may make us continually seek to him for it, and yield up our selves to be guided by it; of the Nature and Corruption of our Will, as shews the absolute necessity of denying, it and yielding it up to God; of the Doctrine and Example of Jesus Christ as may convince us that our Corrupt Nature cannot be overcome, and we cannot return to the Love of God without obeying his Precepts, and following his Example. Now Writings of such a Tendency ought not to be despis'd and ridicul'd by the Professors and Preachers of the Religion of Jesus Christ; and that they have this Tendency, I appeal to any who have read any of them without an Evil Eye.

XXVI.XXVI. 11. The Divine Explications of Holy Scripture. 11. Those Writings do contain also many Divine Explications of the Holy Scripture, not after the way of criticizing and reckoning up the several meanings [Page] and acceptions of a Word, or the various Sences of Inpreters, which a Man may be well vers'd in, and yet be altogether ignorant of the true sence and meaning of the Holy Scripture where he pretends to Interpret it.Renouv. de L'Espr. Ev. p. 1. We see all Sciences have a certain Light by which they are discerned, a certain Disposition of Faculties which makes us capable to understand them, certain Principles which lead to the Knowledge of them, and when these are wanting, we grope in the Dark. Children and Boys may understand all the Words of a Book of Philosophy, of the Propositions in Euclid, and yet understand nothing of the Truths contain'd there. To understand the Holy Scriptures and the things of God, we had need to be endued with the same Spirit, and to be in the same Disposition with those who wrote them. Now if any will be pleas'd to compare the Expositions given in those Writings of some places of Holy Scripture, with the learned Comments of the Interpreters and Criticks of the Age, I am perswaded that if they be not greatly prejudic'd, they will be convinc'd that her Expositions come from a more Divine Original, than than the most of the other; that they give a clearer Light, more worthy of God, and more suitable to the great Ends of Religion; that in this the Truth of our Saviour's words is manifest, that God hides these things from the Wise and Prudent, and reveals them unto Babes; and that with great reason she blest God who preserv'd her from drinking in Humane Learning. Of all these, I shall instance one which deserves a particular Consideration, and that is her Exposition of the 24th. Chapter of St. Matthew, set down in the First Part of La Lumiere nee on Tenebres. It is too long to offer to transcribe it here; they who are desirous to see it, need not want Occasions.

To this I cannot but subjoin the just Cautions she gives,Her Cautions and Rules, for interpreting of the Holy Scriptures. and the excellent Rules for the Interpreting of the Holy Scriptures. She makes appear how rash Men are in glossing the Holy Scriptures, since the things which concern our Salvation are so plainly set down in them, that they need no Glosses; and the obscure things cannot be understood, but by the same Spirit who endited them,La Dern. misericorde de Dieu avantprop. and not by Humane Wisdom, which is directly opposite to the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit which descends only into humble Souls. That they who will needs interpret the Scriptures by [Page] Humane Wisdom,n. 135, 136, 139, 140, 146, 147, 148. fall into great Mistakes; and understand the Terms quite othewise than the Spirit of God intended. Thus it is said, that God hardened Pharaoh's Heart; the meaning cannot be, that he hardens Mens Hearts, by making them obstinate in Evil; for God can never co-operate to any Evil, being the Fountain of all Good. But he speaks thus to make us know that he leaves a wicked Man to go on in his Wickedness when he will not be restrain'd. But on his part, he uses always Goodness towards them, that he may convert them, both by good Inspirations, Admonitions, and other proper Means. But when their Free-wills are willful to persist in Evil, he leaves them to themselves. The main Difficulty there is in understanding of the Scriptures arises from this, that we do not know the Qualities of God, and we are ready to attribute to him such as Men have, imagining that he has a Love for some, and a Hatred for others. And thus every one is wedded to his own Sence and Opinions, and will maintain them as the Truths of God. But the best Course is still to take the Holy Scriptures in that Sence that draws us more and more to the Love of God, and to the Knowledge of our own Nothingness, and to leave all these things which seem disputable to the Wisdom of God, reckoning our selves unworthy to be able to comprehend what he is, how he does his Works, and by what means he saves Men; relying on the Faith that shews us, that he does all things in Goodness, Righteousness, and Truth, without amusing our selves with any other thing but to put in practice the things which he has openly declar'd to us by his Gospel, which are necessary for our Salvation; such as Humility of Heart, Self-denial, the Love of God, and the Love of our Neighbour. It is better to exercise our selves in these solid Doctrines, than to break our Heads in disputing and desiring to comprehend what is in God; or how he governs Men:Eodem certe Spiritu & credenda & intelligenda S. Scriptura quo tradita est. Th. a Kemp. Better let our selves be govern'd by him as little Children, than to be inform'd how he will govern us. It is to this, says he, that I exhort all the World, knowing well that all the rest is nothing but Vanity and Amusement of Spirit: For all the Learning and Curiosities of all the Men in the World cannot save us; on the contrary, their Doctrines, Learning, and Sentiments, do rather withdraw us from God and our Salvation. They either furnish us with means of Self-presumption, or they [Page] slacken our Care to work out our Salvation. Those words of Scripture which seem to say that God reprobates or damns Men, cannot be understood but by the Signification of them, which cannot be known but by the Light of Faith; for if we take these words according to our Sense, we should speak Evil of God, and believe that he is Furious or Evil; which cannot be, for he is all Goodness, all Peace and Tranquility, and therefore he who would not utter Slanders against God, ought not to stick to the Terms of the Scripture, but in so far as they lead us to love and adore God, or to the knowledge of our own Nothingness, and Charity to our Neighbour;Micah 6. 8. Matt. 22. 37, 40. for God has neither said nor taught to us but the things which tend to these Truths. Thus when we believe that all Grace and Salvation comes immediately from God, (as it is true) because we are Nothings; then we honour God, and acknowledge his Almighty Power, in making so great things by his Grace of nothing; and we must needs love him also by this Consideration, and beg that he will continue and encrease this Grace; and when we believe that God is so Gracious towards us,Ezek. 18. 27, 28. that as soon as a sinner shall repent and turn unto him, he will have Mercy on him; this reinforces our Love to him, in consideration of the Love he bears us, so mercifully to Pardon us. In these two Senses, we may hold different Opinions about Grace, and believe that it comes entirely from God, and believe also that Men may have it when they will, since God never rejects a penitent Sinner. But whether we hold the one or the other of these in terms which do not tend to humble us and to acknowledge the Greatness of God, that we may love and adore him, it is an evil thing, and it is a great rashness for Man to interpret and corrupt the Scriptures by Terms which authorize a Remissness in Vertue. For they who will Gloss on the Scripture Words, might say, that God spoke not truly when he said to Jonas, yet Forty Days and Ninevah shall be destroyed; for the thing did not fall out according to the Terms, which were not conditional, but absolute. Yet notwithstanding we ought not to surprize God in his Words, or in the Scripture Terms; but we ought to draw profit to our Souls from them, conformably to his Designs, who speaks only for our Profit. He says absolutely that Ninevah shall be destroyed, because the Inhabitants merited this Sentence; the Justice of God [Page] condemn'd their Injustice, but how soon they repented and embraced Penitence, his Goodness and Mercy did also pardon them. We must not therefore say that God did not speak truly, but that he judg'd them justly, and that he afterwards mercifully pardon'd them; without being nice, or grumbling about the Form of his Words or Expressions, which are design'd only to make us grosly to understand the things according to our Capacity and Weakness.

These are certainly most excellent Cautions as to the expounding and understanding of the Holy Scriptures, where the most necessary Duties are most plainly set down, and obscure things cannot be discovered by human Wisdom, but by Divine Faith, and by the same Spirit that endited them; where we ought not to quibble about Words and Ph [...]ases, but so to consider them as may tend most to the Love of God, and Charity to our Neighbours, and a deep Sense of our own Nothingness.S. Aug d [...] Doct. Chr. L. 1. ch. 36. This is the excellent Rule given by S. Augustine, hereafter to be mentioned; this is the Method which the holy Fathers observed in interpreting the Holy Scriptures, which makes their Writings so full of Unction, and how desirable a Blessing is it that they who write Commentaries now adays may be acted by the same Spirit: but this is thought too mean and simple for the Learning and Criticks of this Age.

XXVII.XXVII. 13. The clearing of Difficulties in a few Words. 12. The Clearing of Difficulties about Divine Truths in a few Words, is likewise a singular Quality of those Writings. The Learned we see still wrangle about them to Eternity, writing huge Volumes and confounding rather than clearing them by a Multitude of Words and Distinctions. The Doctrines about Grace, Predestination and the Free-will of Man,Acad. des Theol. part 1. ch. 1, 2. have been toss'd unsatisfactorily thro' many Ages, Multitudes of Volumes written concerning them, and yet the greatest Difficulties still left unresolved, both Sides having a Mixture of Truth and Error; the one, that they might give all to God, taking from Man what he had irrevocably given him; and the other, that they might reserve this to Man, taking from God and subjecting to the Caprice of Man, that which belongs to the pure Grace of God, and from both there do follow Consequences most injurious to God, and most prejudicial to the Salvation of Men, tho' disclaimed by the most. Now in two or three Sheets of Paper of those Writings there is more [Page] said for the clearing of those Difficulties than in whole Libraries of Volumes. This in the [...]. and 2. Chap. of the 1. Part of Academ des Scavans Theologiens, written upon Occasion of Conferences with and at the Desire of a learned and pious Divine, Mr. Peter Noels, Canon at Maline, a Jansenist, who had been Secretary to the famous Jans [...]nius Yprensis, and had a great Veneration for this Virgin and her Writings to his Death. I shall mention another Instance of this Nature, of Mr. Gilleman's, Canon and Arch-Priest at Gaunt, famous there for some Writings, who having ask'd her Judgment of the Doctrine of the Casuists, then much talk'd of, viz. That a Man may be sav'd by Attrition without Contrition, by Sorrow for his Sins without the Love of God; telling her, that he had writ a large Volume against this false Doctrine; she told him her Thoughts, and withal, that she had written her Thoughts lately on the same Matter, which he having obtain'd the Sight of, after Importunity, and with a Promise to restore it within three Days, he read it with Feeling and Admiration, and returning it, said, You have said more things and more forcible on this Subject in one Sheet, than I have done in all my Book, which has cost me so much Time, Pains and Expences, and therefore I condemn it never to see the Light. It is the 4th. Chapter of the fore-cited Book.

XXVIII.XXVIII. 13. The taking Men off from the disputing Theology. 13. Those Writings are worthy of our Regard, in that they tend to discourage and remove out of the Christian World the Disputing and Controversal Divinity, and to take Men off from the Spirit of Controversie, which has banished the Life and Spirit of Christianity from among Men. Some are ready to say that her Writings tend rather to multiply Controversies than to remove them,La Sainte Visier. Tomb. de la [...]auss. Theol. Etoile du Mat. p. 37. in that they advance so many new Doctrines and Opinios, which were never formerly heard of. But these need give no Occasion of Dispute; she declares they are not Matters of Faith, are not necessary to Salvation; they who are perswaded of the Truth of them, and find them helpful to increase their Love and Admiration of God, will receive them without disputing about them, and they who are not perswaded of the Truth of them may let them alone, and so there needs no Dispute, and no Body will contend with them about them. But those Writings tend to take Men off from this Spirit; they [Page] make so clear a Difference between the Essentials and the Accessories of Religion, so plainly describe the first, that all cannot but be convinc'd of them; and they shew that the last ought not to be any Subject of Debate and Contention: They make appear, that the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is to be learn'd by Simplicity and humble Prayer, and not by Controversie and Debate, and that none are more capable of understanding it than they who are led by the Spirit; they shew that there is nothing more contrary to the Spirit and Great End of Christianity than the Spirit of Controversie: That they who are led by it cannot endure that others should differ from them in some Sentiments about Religion, (even tho' they agree in the Essentials and Fundamentals of it) but presently they prosecute him with all the Spite and Rancour they are capaple of, as the Enemies of God and Religion, and do all they can to inspire the same Spite and Aversion against them in all on whom they have Influence: They assix on them hateful Names, accuse them of Crimes they were never guilty of, Blasphemy, Idolatry, &c. they treat them with Contempt and Scorn, make them pass for mad and distracted; the Good in them, or the Truth that appears in their Writings, they conceal and are griev'd at it, and make it pass for what they call in Scorn Flights of Devotion, or the Effects of a warm Imagination; and they rejoice when they meet with any thing that can expose them or make them hateful; they cannot easily believe any thing that is Good in them, but very readily Evil; they do not consider the great Tendency of their Life and Writings, but cull out some Instances and Passages of both which may separately seem h [...]rsh; and they assix on them the hardest Sence they are capable of, and from these draw Consequences and form odious Pictures of them; from them they can endure no hard Words without Rage and Displeasure, but against them they insult and triumph. In a Word, this Spirit is the compleat Reverse of that Charity which S.1. Cor. 13. 4, &c. Paul describes. It suffers little, is unkind, envious, rash, puffed up, behaves it self unseemly, seeks it self, is easily provoked, thinketh Evil, rejoiceth in Iniquity, but rejoiceth not in the Truth; bears with nothing, believes nothing, hopes nothing, endures nothing. Now all things being diffusive of themselves, this Evil exerting it self in the Writings and Discourses of Men▪ [Page] spreads like a Contagion, and our corrupt Nature being more susceptible of Evil than Good, is soon seized with the Malignity. Hence cometh that Hatred, Variance, Strife, Evil-speaking, those Revilings, Calumnies, Sects, Schisms, Wars, Fightings, Persecutions, &c. which have made the Christian World so much the Sport of the Devil, and the By-word of the rest of Mankind, Now one would think that by this time Men might be so generally out of Love with the Humour of Controversie, so offended with the Trick [...] of laying the Stress of Christianity on things wherein it does not consist, and so sensible of the Mischiefs that both have done to Religion throughout all Christendom; that those Writings would be generally acceptable, which tend to swee [...]en Mens Minds towards one another, to lessen a Concern for Sects and Parties; to give a clear View of the Essentials of Christianity, and plainly to distinguish them from the Accessories and Circumstantials, and to lead Men to the Mortification of their corrupt Nature, and the Recovery of the Love of God, as those Writings most certainly do.

XXIX.XXXI. 14. The singular Manner of the writing them. 14. The Manner after which those Writings were composed is something singular and extraordinary. It cannot be denied but that they are writ with much Clearness, Solidity and Force in all the things that may be useful for the Salvation of Man; yet they are not the Effect of Study and the reading of other Books; for she read none, and did not derive her Knowledge either from learned Men or Books; reckoning their Learning a Straying from the right Way; and that as the Writing-Master would needs have a Double hire, from those who had learn'd to write an ill Hand, to wit, one hire for unteaching them so ill a Habit, and another to teach them to write well, because he must be at more Pains with such, than with those who had learn'd none at all; so she was with the Learned who came to learn from her in Christ's School, she had a double Labour, one to unteach them the imaginary Wisdom which they had embraced, join'd with Presumption and Rashness; and the other to make them receive the true Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Humility, and the Lowness and Simplicity of a Child. And as her Writings were not the Result of Study and human Learning; so neither were they the Effect of Meditation and human Reasoning. We must think before [Page] we write, and take Time to order our Thoughts and consider our Words; we must blot out, and mend, and add to our first Draughts. But when she put Pen to Paper she wrote as fast as her Hand could guide the Pen, and what was once written, was witten without blotting out or Change. And when she returned to any Writings that she had laid by unfinish'd, tho' for some Months or Years, she did not apply her self to read them over, but having read only five or six of the last Lines to see how the Period ended, she immediately wrote on with her former Swiftness, her Sentiments flowing from her as Water does from a Fountain. She needed not, it seems, the Buckets of Study and Meditation, wherewith to draw out of the broken Cisterns of others; but she had within her a Fountain of living Water, still springing up to everlasting Life. As this is attested by those who were of her particular Acquaintance, and all her Manuscripts are still extant, written with her own Hand; so a particular Account is given given of this by Mr. Francken, Merchant at Amsterdam, in his Testimony concerning her,Recueil. des Temoign. p. 84, 85, &c. where, among other things, he tells, That a learned Man of Amsterdam, a Doctor of Law, said to him one Day, that he could not believe but it was some learned Man who had writ these Letters, and publish'd them under the Name of A. B. as not being willing to be known; and Mr. Francken assur'd him of the contrary; but however he not having had long time to converse with her, he would take care to inform himself more narrowly, so as to be able to convince him, as it fell out; for some time since, after he had told him, he had often found her in her little Chamber with a Piece of Deal Board on her Knees, writing without any other Thing but the Paper on which she wrote, and the Pen and Ink which she made use of, and she leaving off to write, upon her Discovering that he was in the Room (and because she never wrote but with Attention to the Voice of God in the inward Silence and Recollection of her Spirit) he would take up the Paper, with her Permission, to read it, and found it was writ so swiftly, that there would be yet ten or twelve Lines fresh and wet. Having made this Trial of it, his Friend, he says, was perswaded of it as much as if he had seen it himself, having full Confidence in his Sincerity from long Experience and Familiarity.

[Page] XXX.XXX. 15. The Conformity of her Life and Practice. 15. That which ought greatly to recommend her Writings to us, is the Conformity of her Life and Practice. It is the general Complaint concerning those who recommend Vertue and a truly Christian Life to others, that they do not practice it themselves; that they speak by one Principle and live by another, and so their Words have little Force,Recueil. de Temoign. La Vie de M. A. B. and they destroy Christianity one way more than it is possible for them to build it up another. I know some have made an ill Use of the Elogies which have been given of her Life and Spirit by those who were Eye-witnesses of all; like Spiders sucking Poison from the Flowers where the Bees gather Honey, they exaggerate some of their Expressions far beyond the Intent of them; and in Opposition to the Testimonies of those who were living Witnesses of her Life, they, some eighteen Years after she is dead, will needs draw a Picture of her that may represent her very ugly, with what Equity and Candour will appear in its due Place However, any who shall read impartially the Story of her Life and the Testimonies given of her throughout all the Periods of it, [...] will conceive better Thoughts of her than what the New Narratives would give of them. They will see that she liv'd constantly as one travelling towards Eternity, and therein studying in all things to conform her Life to that of Jesus Christ in these and such-like Instances: She convers'd always with God, and no more with Men than her Duty and Charity requir'd; she led a Life of continual Penitence, mortifying her corrupt Nature, and never gratifying her sensual Appetites in any thing: Tho' she might have enjoy'd the Pleasures of her Senses, the Delights of her Taste and of her other Senses, yet she voluntarily depriv'd herself of them to please God: Tho' she had lawfully acquir'd Riches, yet would never use them but for pure Necessity: Tho' she might have been conveniently serv'd and honour'd according to her Condition, yet she despis'd these Honours and Services to imitate Jesus Christ, loving rather to live unknown and serve herself than to be serv'd. There was nothing observ'd in her Actions contrary to the Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth of God, but they appear'd still to be accompanied with those three Qualities deriv'd from the Spirit of God. She never recommended to any the Practice of a Vertue which she did not most exemplarily practice herself. She was most humble and self-denied, [Page] always ready to serve others rather than be serv'd by them, and to take to her self the meanest and the least of every thing. She did not affect to be thought humble, by humble Words, Gestures, Habits, &c. nor did she distinguish her self from the rest of the World by any singular indifferent Thing; but as to Habit, Diet, &c. conform'd her self to the Customs of the Places where she happen'd to be. So great was her Charity, that she brought up some hundreds of Girls, (maintaining fifty of them at a time) for the space of seven Years on her own Charges (what was allow'd by the Founder being only for ten) employing her Time, Wealth, Strength of Body and Mind, in Training them up in all Vertuous Exercises, and distinguishing herself in nothing from them, as to Diet, Bread, Apparel, &c. Such was her Love to Men's Souls, that she spared nothing to perswade them to the Love of God, and to Imitate Jesus Christ, and employ'd her Time and Wealth in writing and publishing the Truths of God, for that End. She suffer'd patiently all manner of Reproaches and Persecutions for the Sake of Jesus Christ. She had an invincible Firmness and Constancy in what was Truth: Nothing could shake or alter her. She did nothing to please Men; She had a constant Equality of Mind in all Conditions; She discover'd a wonderful Prudence on all Occasions. Let any body but read the Testimonies given of her by those who knew her in her Youth, in her old Age, and in all States of her Life, as they are set down in Recucil des Temoignages, and particularly that of Mr. Francken, Merchant of Amsterdam, and they will see how closely she was a Follower of Jesus Christ in Humility and Poverty of Spirit, in a Contempt of all earthly Things, in a Life of Labour and Penitence, and in the true Love of God and the Souls of Men.

Now Writings, whose Substance and Essence contains such excellent Truths as those I have mention'd in the Account of the Essentials of Christianity, and which have such remarkable Qualities, and penn'd by one who liv'd so her self, ought certainly to meet with some Regard, and not to be immediately thrown away, and People frighted from looking into them, because there are in them some Sentiments which do not relish, and seem to us Extravagant.

[Page] XXXI.XXXI. A Summ of her Accessory Sentiments. But perhaps it will be said that those Doctrines which she calls Accessories may be dangerous Opinions and damnable Doctrines, and that what she seems to build with the one Hand, she pulls down with the other; that she makes a Mahumetan Paradise, Eating and Drinking, and Generation in the Kingdom of Heaven. How easie a thing is it to give a hateful Turn to ones Sentiments, to make them pass for impious, extravagant, and ridiculous. I shall therefore set down here a brief Summary of her Accessory Sentiments, first premising some things that may dispose the Reader to consider them calmly and without prejudice.

1.1. That they are not her own. She declares they are reveal'd unto her by God, and that now in the End of the World, and near the Time of the Restitution of all things, many things which were more darkly represented in the Holy Scriptures, are now to be manifestly laid open,L'Etoile du Matin. p. 34. when the Time of fulfilling all is at hand, and that such things are now laid before us like a Clustre of Grapes of the Land of Promise, to make us conceive something of the Beauty and Glory of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

2.2. Not necessary to Salvation. ib. p. 41, 42 Renouv. part 2. p. 121, 122, 223. She declares, as has been said, that those Accessory Truths are not necessary to Salvation, are not Articles of Faith, ought not to be enquired into from a Spirit of Curiosity, are not design'd for all, but for those who being perswaded of them are thereby stirr'd up so much the more to the Love and Admiration of God; and for others they ma [...] let them alone.

XXXII.XXXII. 3. St. Augustin's Rule for judging of Sentiments. 3. St. Augustin, has given us an excellent Rule whereby to judge charitably of Sentiments and Interpretations of the Holy Scripture. ‘Whosoever, says he, De Doct. Christiana lib. 1. c. 36. so understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, as that thereby he does not build up the twofold Charity, the Love of God and our Neighbour, he does not understand them aright: But whosoever gives such a Sense of them, as is profitable for advancing this Charity, and yet what he says is not the particular Sense of the Writer in that place, he does not err damnably, neither does at all lie: And if he err by a Sense which edifies Charity, which is the End of the Commandment, he so errs, as if one by a mistake, leaving the Highway, should go streight over the Field to the Place whither the Way leads.’

[Page] If these Accessory Sentiments then tend to promote the Great End of Religion, the Love of God and our Neighbour, tho' there were no Evidence for them from the Holy Scriptures, they are neither hurtful nor damnable.

In giving an Account then of her Accessory Sentiments, I shall consider them under these Heads: Those which relat to. 1. The State of the World before Man's Fall. 2. The Fall of Man and its Consequences. 3. The Methods taken for Man's Recovery by Jesus Christ. 4. The Present State of the World. 5. The Future State, and the Restitution of all things. And because the Series and Chain of those Accessory Sentiments cannot be well conceiv'd without some mention of the Essential Ones too, I shall not scruple to do it where it is necessary to understand the Connexion of those Sentiments.

XXXIII. 1. Before the Fall. 1. As to the State of the World before Man's Fall, the Summ of her Sentiments is as follows.

‘1.1. No Deformity in the Works of God. VVHEN God created all things at First, there was no Deformity in any of his Works, all was Beautiful and Luminous; no Grossness in the Earth; no Whirlwinds and Hurricanes in the Air; no Tempests in the Sea;Le Nouv. Ciel. p. 34. no Poison in the Herbs; no Venom in Insects: The Earth was all transparent throughout, in it were to be seen the Plants, the Stones, and Metals, all transparent likewise; one might see thorouh it to its Center, as easily as through the Air; all the Beasts and Plants were all Beautiful in their respective kinds, no Deformity in any of them, and the Beauty of their Frame and Contrivance was to be seen throughout, all being Transparent and Luminous: All things were worthy of God, and were Representations of his Greatness, Magnificence, Goodness, Beauty, Light, and Fruitfulness in several ways, and according to their different kinds.’

‘2.2. Man created to enjoy God and all his Works The Qualities of his Soul. God having resolv'd to form a Creature that should love and enjoy him, and in whose Love he would take Delight and Pleasure; he creates Man after his own Image, endues him with an immortal Soul breathed from himself, with Understanding capable to receive him, with a Heart to desire and thirst after him, and [Page] cleave to him,Lum. en. teneb. part 1. let. 15. with a perfect Liberty and Free-will, to do it heartily and freely, and without the least Limitation or Constraint: And to oblige him the more to love him, his most Bountiful God and Lover, gives him for an Accessory. Felicity and Happiness, the whole Creation; subjects all his Works to him to be his Servants and to attend upon him, puts all things under his Feet, that he, receiving the Homage and Delight of all the Creatures, might return the Praise of all to God, in the constant Love and Adoration of so Bountiful a God, who would give himself to be lov'd and enjoy'd by him, and would take his Delight with him, and would give him such a world of beautiful Creatures to serve and attend upon him.’

‘3.3. A Body given him wher by to rule over the Creation. ibid. That Man might partake of this Accessory Happiness, and receive the Delight and Homage of all the Creatures, and rule over them as their Lord and King, he forms to him a Body as the Case and Organ of his Soul, by which he might communicate with all the Creatures and rule over them, and endues it with Faculties and Senses capable to give them Orders, and to take in the Tribute of their Delights and Pleasures; the Sense of Seeing, to take in their Light and Beauty; of Hearing, to be entertain'd with their Melody and Musick; Smelling, to receive their odoriferous Steams; and the Taste, to relish their Sweetness and Delight; the power of Moving, of Speech and Gestures, whereby to rule and govern them, he might go to any place and make known his Will, which all obeyed.’

‘4.4. The wonderful Glory and Beauty of that Body. This Body was not created by God after the manner that we see it at present, but incomprehensibly more beautiful and more perfect, as the Master-piece of all Nature, clear, subtile, agile, and transparent; its Skin like Moscovy Glass; its Flesh like Crystal; its Veins like streams of Rubies;Le Nouv. Ciel p 44, 45, 51, 74. 92. its Waters like Diamonds; its Nerves like the Hyacinth; the Substance of the Fruits its Aliment, that of all good Odours its Excrements, all its Parts within and without, its Bones, Muscles, Sinews, Bowels, all so bright, fram'd with such Art, that all the Beauties of the Universe were nothing to the least part of it. The Quintessence of all Natural things was the Matter of which it was form'd, and all Nature obey'd it. If he design'd to go on the Waters, they supported him; if to the Center of the Earth, it yielded to him; [Page] if through the Air, it was a Chariot to him: The Sun, the Stars, the precious Stones, and all the Beauties of the Earth,L'Etoile du Matin. p. 3, 10. were nothing if compar'd with the least Beauty of the Body of Man: His Soul was wholly Divine, his Understanding clear-sighted, penetrating all the Secrets of Nature, all things Divine and Supernatural.’

‘5.5. Man capable of producing his like. ibid. p. 33. Man, when he was created at First, was endued with a Principle of Foecundity, with a Power to produce his like without the help of another, having within his Body the Principles of both Natures, and in that respect being a compleat and perfect Man, which Power was actuated upon ardent Acts of Love to God, and a Desire to produce a Creature like himself, to love and enjoy his Maker.’

‘6.6. Adam did tlus produce one to whom the Divine Nature united it self. ibid. p. 32, 33. Adam, while he was in perfect Innocence, did thus produce one like himself, who was the First-Born of every Creature, the Second Adam, and the Son of Man. And God being desirous to give to Man a full and perfect Contentment in Body and Spirit, and to dwell with him bodily and visibly, so that he might Converse with Man as a Friend with his Friend; he therefore not only made Man after his Image, but he becomes like to Man, he unites himself to the Humane Nature in the Second Adam, that he might Converse familiarly with Man by an Organ, to be seen, heard, and felt by him, conformable to his Nature: This is Jesus Christ, Eternal God, and True Man.’

‘7.7. He began to be too much immers'd in sensible Delights, and the Woman made to prevent his Fall. ibid. p. [...]6, 63, 64, 65. Notwithstanding of this, Adam, swimming amidst all sensible Delights, (the Time of Trial given him, being then a State of Delight and Pleasure) began to lean too much towards them, and to please himself in them, without turning his Soul so constranly towards God, and so became less sensible of the Motions of God's Light and Love upon his Spirit, being taken up too much other ways; which encreasing still upon him to prevent his total Degeneracy, and that he might not sink so low as to place his Love and Affections on things which were only earthly and material, God resolves to make a Help for him; he for this end takes one of the Principles of Foecundity out of Man, and therewith forms the Woman, who being form'd more Beautiful than any of the Creatures, and being a more lively Representation of God, he might love her in God as God's [Page] Image, being endued with a Divine Soul as he was, and so she might take off his Affections from the other Creatures, and raise them towards God.’

XXXIV. 2. Of Man's Fall, &c. 2. As to Man's total Fall, and the Consequences thereof.

‘1.1. She Sins, and leads Man to sin too. ibid. p. 57. THE Woman who was given for a Help to Man, to keep him from a total Degeneracy, listning to the Temptations of the Serpent, the most subtile and beautiful of all the Beasts, turn'd away from God her self, and led on Man to do so too; both of them shaking off their Dependance upon God and his Will, and following their own Wills, and breaking a just and easie Command that God had given them; forbidding them to eat of the Fruit of one Tree, as an Acknowledgement of Homage to their Great Creator and Benefactor, and that they held all of him.’

‘2.2. The horrid Corruption that flow'd from thence to his Soul. As by turning from the Sun we fall into Darkness and Obscurity, so Man much more, by turning away from God, and setting his Heart upon the Creatures, brings an universal Corruption and Misery on himself, and on all the Creatures which had been subjected to him: Above all, Sin corrupted Man's Soul, did it the greatest Mischief,L'Etoile du Matin. p. 6, 7, 8. Renouv. de l' Esp. Evang. avant. Pr. p. 16, 17, pref. p. 11, 12, 13. having damn'd it eternally, and made it like unto the Devil. For both were created by God to love him, and when they both withdraw this Love from God, to love themselves or other Creatures, they are equally become Devils; the one incarnate and the other spiritual, depriv'd of all sort of Good, and fallen into all sort of Evil. So that if Man will consider himself narrowly, he shall find his Soul defil'd with all sort of Sins; fill'd with Injustice, subject to Lying, enclin'd to Covetousness, blown up with Pride, furious with Anger, Lustful, Gluttonous, Sloathful, Negligent, with all other sort of Sins which reside in the depth of his Soul. Sin so corrupted his Will, that he had always a Bent and Inclination to Evil; so that all that comes from the Self-will of Man is Sin, his Self-will being fill'd with nothing but Self-love. Sin has also so corrupted his Reason, that it is no longer capable of discerning and judging aright of things: It has so [Page] darkened his Memory, and confounded his Understanding, that he takes Evil for Good, and Good for Evil, without Judgment and Reason.To his Body. From the Corruption of his Soul, did flow that of his Body;L'Etoile du Matin. p. 6. all its Humours and Parts being disordered, his glorious Body becomes filthy, dark, and deform'd in every part of it, contracts that gross Crust of Corruption which we now carry about with us, and which has seiz'd on every the least part of it within and without; so that our First Parents were asham'd of themselves, sought wherewith to cover their Nakedness, and went and hid themselves. The Senses also became gross, dull, and feeble, could discern nothing but the outside of things, and the whole Body became full of disorder within, subject to the ill Impressions of all the Creatures, and at last to Dissolution and Death.’

‘3.3. To the rest of the Creatures. ibid. p. 5. Man by his Fall, brought also a Corruption and Deformity upon all the Creatures which had been subjected to him; the Earth became gross and dark, barren and unfruitful, and all the Creatures became hurtful and mischievous to Man, and rose up against him who had shaken off his Allegiance to their Bountiful Creator: The Air stifles him, the Waters drown him, the Fire burns him, the Earth, Corn, and Trees, deny him their Fruits without his Care and Labour; the Stars send bad Influences on him, and he is subjected to Cold, Heat, Hunger, Thirst, Weariness, and innumerable other Evils, being deprived of the Dominion he had over all things, and subjected unto them.’

‘4.4. To all Mankind. All Men in the World are the Natural Off-spring of Adam, and do descend from him both as to Body and Soul, so that they must partake of the same Qualities with him,Renouv. de l'Espr. Evang. Pref. p 22, 23. being all his Living Images; and therefore all Men who were in his Loins when he turn'd away from God, sinned in him, and do inherit his Corruption and Misery both of Body and Mind; as, if he had not sinned, he had produc'd all Men to Salvation, as God created them. But every Man for himself would have had the same Liberty that Adam had to remain firm in the Love of God, or to turn away from it, by placing his Affections on himself, or other Creatures. He might damn or save himself, during this Time of Trial, and all who had remained faithful to God would have been [Page] saved; on the contrary, all who had withdrawn their Affections from him, to love any other thing, would have been damn'd; and their Posterity would have been in the same State, tho' Adam had never sinn'd. So free and independent would Men have been, during their Time of Trial; which is that in which we live at present, and must continue till the Day of Judgment: And then being confirm'd in Grace, as the faithful Angels are; they could never fall away, being perfectly united to God after this Time of Trial.’

XXXV. 3. The Means of his Recovery. 3. As to the Means and Method for Man's Recovery.

‘1.1. Jesus Christ by his Merits and Mediation obtains Pardon for him upon Terms, and becomes his Surety. ALL Mankind had been thus irrecoverably lost and damn'd, as the fallen Angels are, if the Son of God, our elder Brother, had not interpos'd and become a Mediator between God and them; who being touch'd with a deep fence of the wretched State into which Man had plung'd himself, he ardently prays and interceeds with his Heavenly Father, that he would have pity on those his wretched rebellious Creatures, and his Brethren; that he would be pleas'd to pardon them, grant them his Grace, tho' most unworthy of it, and [...]llow them yet a Time of Trial, becoming Surety for them,L'Etoile du Matin. p. 122. Renouv. de l' Esp. Evang. Pref p. 21, 25, 30. that they should detest and abhor their Corruption, deny themselves, and return to the Love of God. His Mediation is accepted, and upon the account of his Merits and Intercession, Man is pardoned, Grace is given him of new, and a Time of Trial allow'd him, in which he must lead a Life of Penitence, and thereby mortifie his Corrupt Nature, and return to the Love of God.’

‘2.2. His Time of Trial is now a State of Labour. Renouv. de l' Espr. Ev. part 2. p. 89, 90, 91, &c. The Time of Trial given to Man at first, was a State of Pleasure and Delights; but since the Fall of Man, the Time of Trial assign'd him, is a State of Labour and Toil; and therefore God thrust Man out of a delightful Paradice, and suffered the Malediction and Curse of his Sin to fall upon the Creatures in a great measure; that they all might afford him Vexation instead of Pleasure, and so he might have occasion of doing Penitence, because he had turn'd away his Heart and Affections from God, and set them on the Creature.’

[Page] ‘3.3. A Life of Penitence enjoyn'd him. The Son of God having undertaken the Recovery of Mankind, out of pure Love and Compassion, he provides means and remedies according to the different states of their Maladies. The First Command he gives Man, as a necessary mean of his Recovery,Renouv. [...]de l' Espr. Ev. Pref. p. 44, 45. &c. is a Life of Penitence and Labour, to eat his Meat in the sweat of his Face; but Men multiplying their Sins, he multiplied his Commands, as so many means to turn them from their Sins, and gave them variety of Precepts to make them think upon God in all their Actions and Words, so that their Hearts might be in a continual Elevation to him. But they cleave to the Letter of the Law, without comprehending the Sence of it, and turn'd away yet more from the Love of God, placing their Affections on the Creatures, the Riches, Pleasures, and Honours of this Life, pleasing themselves with the outside of their Rites and Ceremonies.’

‘4.4. Jesus Christ cloaths himself with his Mortality, to recover him. When all other means prov'd unsuccessful, Jesus Christ tries the last Remedy: Men were not capable in their Mortal State, of being taught by him in his Glorious Body. He had obtain'd of his Father to give them in Spirit, good Thoughts and Motions, yea, Divine and Supernatural Light; but all this was not capable to convert them, or to make them sensible they were in a State of Damnation, because of each one's inveterate habit to follow their brutish Nature.L' Etoile du Matin. p. 122. 123, &c. Renouv. de l' Espr. Ev. pref. p. 38, 39. 50. There was need of a Mean, visible and sensible to their Corruption, to move their Hearts, otherwise they had all been lost without a sence of their own Misery, all perishing without perceiving it, by a damnable Imitation of one another; thus all running in the Broad Way to Hell. Having therefore obtain'd from his Father, Mercy and Pardon for them upon their Repentance, Jesus Christ resolves to become a Mortal Man. He therefore cloaths himself with our Mortality, and bringing along with him his Divine Light to enlighten them, and his Divine Love to enflame them, he becomes in all things like to Corrupt Man, yet without Sin; he teaches them by his Word, and his by Example, how they should mortifie their Corrupt Nature, do Penitence, and recover the Love of God; he charges himself with the miseries and frailty that Sin has brought upon Humane Nature, taking on himself all their Maledictions, and the Punishments due to [Page] their Sins, which he did bear and suffer as if he had been the greatest of all Sinners, living a Life of extream Poverty, Labour, Contempt, and Pain, undergoing a shameful, painful, and accursed Death, and so obtaining Pardon for all who should thus follow his Steps.’

‘5.5. We are taught now by the Light of Truth and no need of bodily Vis [...] ons, God made his Will known to good Men; to the ancient Patriarchs, and Prophets, by the Organ of the Glorious Body of Jesus Christ. But since Men were taught by Jesus Christ in his Mortal Body, there is no need to see or understand by his Glorious Body. They have received the Light of Truth, so that they need not bodily Visions, to understand the Will of God. Jesus Christ speaks now to them in Spirit and in Truth, enlightning Souls with his Divine Light,Renouv. de l' Espr. Ev. part 2. p. 99. inwardly by his Holy Spirit, which operates in Souls disengag'd from themselves, and from all earthly Affections, acting in them sweetly and powerfully, when the Soul is in Peace and Tranquility of Mind. It hears then as a soft Wind, which surrounding it with Joy, makes it see what it ought to do, and avoid both for its own Conduct, and for that of other well-dispos'd People.’

XXXVI. 6. The present State. 4. As to the Present State of the World, the Summ of her Accessory Sentiments are,

‘1.1. No true Christians at present. THAT all Men have corrupted their Ways, and that there are no True Christians in the World, truly mortified to corrupt Nature, and regenerated in the Love of God, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ.’ Acad des. Theol. part 1. cap. 9.

‘2.2. Christendom a Babel. That the present State of Christendom is a perfect Babel, our Language being confounded; and the Builders do not understand one another.Con [...]us. des Ouvr. de Babel.’

‘3.3 The Doctrine of Jesus Christ glossed away. Tomb. de la fausse Theol. part 1. let. 1. That we have glossed away the Laws and Doctrine of Jesus Christ by our Expositions, as much as the Scribes and Pharisees did Moses's Law by their Traditions.’

[Page] ‘4.4. Antichrist reigns now. That we live presently in the Reign of Antichrist, and that he rules in Spirit through all the Earth, by his Three Antichristian Qualities, which he sheds into Man's Nature, Injustice, Malice, and Hypocrisie,L'Etoile du Matin. p 98, 99, 100. under a cover of Religion; in Opposition to the Three Divine Qualities, Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, which Jesus Christ came to plant in the Hearts and Lives of all his Disciples. That Men seduce one another under fair Appearances.Antich. Decouv. Light of the World, part 1. p. 31. part 3. p. [...]9. That Sin is mask'd with Holiness, and cover'd with Hypocrisie.’

‘5.5. The Churchmen the Source of all the Evil. Temoign de Verite. part 2 p. 50, 76. That the Source of all the Evils in the Church, is in the Corruption of the Pastors and Churchmen, and that the Abomination of Desolation is in the Sanctuary. That all the Degeneracy of Christians comes from the Degeneracy of their Guides.’

‘6.6. God's last Judgments begun. That the Wickedness of Man now being Universal and come to a height, (greater than in the Days of Noah) the Sentence of Gods last Judgments is irrevocably past, and the Plagues are begun and will continue, till that by War, Famine, Pestilence, and other grievous Judgments,L'Etoile du M [...]tin. p. 107, 108, &c. Light of the World. part 1. p. 151, 188. part 3. p. 29. all the Wicked be consumed from off the Face of the Earth, but this shall be done slowly, and in a Course of many Years, that many may thereby be awakened and brought to Repentance.’

XXXVII. 5. The State of Things to come. 5. As to the State of Things to come, her Sentiments are,

‘1. God will renew his Gospel Spirit.1. THAT God will yet once renew his Gospel-Spirit upon Earth, and will fill well-disposed Souls with the Spirit that Jesus Christ had while upon Earth, and that the latter Christians shall live in greater Perfection than those of the Primitive Church did.Renouv. de l' Espr. Ev. Pref. p. 125. That he will send his Holy Spirit to lay before us those means of Salvation which Jesus Christ taught us while on Earth, that we may clearly see how far we are estranged [Page] from them, and to give us the Light of the Truth, that we may see the way to return, and to take up again the same Gospel-Means, and recover the Dependance of our Will on God, without which none can be saved. And God will give the full Understanding of all that has been delivered in his Name, from the Beginning of the World, both by the Holy Prophets, and by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, or other Saints his Disciples.’

‘2.2. And will [...]ulfil his Propose of living with Man forever on Earth. The Original Design of God in the creating of Man, being to take his Delight with him, for which End he not only made Man after his own likeness, but he also became Man, that he might live with him in perfect Resemblance to all Eternity) and this being now suspended unto Man because of his Sin, until that he have accomplished his Penitence to which he is subjected by Sin; yet since God does not change,Light of the World part 1. p. 145. part 3. p. 83. La Derniere Mesericorde, p 157, 158. nor will ever alter his Designs, this time of Penitence being finished, Man will enter again into Communion with God, as if he had never offended him. He will speak to God Face to Face by his Humanity, which will be rendred immortal, as well as is that of Jesus Christ, that they may delight themselves perfectly together upon Earth, which will then be rendred Paradice, by the lovely Presence of God, who for this End became Man, and in the End of the World will come in Glory upon Earth, to Live and Reign for ever with Men; which is as it were The Sum of all the Designs that God has over Men, and the Alliance he has often promised to make with Man.’

‘3.3. And [...]enew all his Worke into [...] primitive Integrity All the Works of God are Eternal, and nothing that he has made shall ever perish. And in the End of this World, at the Coming of Jesus Christ in Glory, all things shall be renewed and restored into that primitive Integrity, in which they were at first created. All the Evil that is in the Creatures, the Fruit of Man's Sins, shall be wholly taken away. All Nature shall then put off the Corruption, [...] Darkness, and all the Disorders, with which it had been tainted since Adam's Sin: All shall become Bright,Renouv. de l' Espr. [...]. part 2. p 131, 132, 1 [...] Glorious, and Luminous; all Corruption shall be removed from the Body of Man, and it shall be re-establish'd in that glorious perfect State in which it was at first created. And the Soul become perfectly pure, shall take its Delights with God, and the Body with Heaven and Earth, and all the other Creatures. [Page] For God created them for those Ends,Light of the World part 1. p. 148. and for no other thing, that Man might have his full perfect Contentment of Body and Mind in that Life Eternal, wherein Jesus Christ shall reign always in Body and Soul, with the Bodies and Souls of the Blessed, who shall be united in Spirit unto God, and in Body unto the Body of Jesus Christ.’

‘4.4. And the Malignity banish'd from all. After the Judgment, when God shall take all Malignity from the Earth, and from all the Creatures; the Venom from Serpents, Scorpions, and other poysonous Beasts; Maladies and Infirmities from the Bodies of Men and Beasts, and Weaknesses from Spirits:Le Nouv. Ciel. p. 127, 128, 129. Renouv. de l' Esp. Ev [...]ng. part 2. p. 132, 133. Light of the World part 1. p. 153. All this shall be reduced into some corner of the Earth, all in a mass, that these Malignities may act together upon the Bodies of the damned, and that the Works of their hands be rendered unto them. For God never made any of all these Evils: He created all things Good. Men only by their Wickedness have given Malignity unto all created things, and therefore it ought to appertain to them, and to be rendered to them by the Right of Justice, which will come to pass at the Judgment; when the Bodies of the Wicked shall rise also, that none of the Works of God may perish, and shall be sent into that miserable Corner with all the Evils which shall be removed from the Blessed, and from the Earth, from Plants, Beasts, and all the Elements; that all these things may serve them only for Delight and Pleasure, without being able to do any more Evil, as they were in the Beginning of their Creation, and all their Malignities which they have contracted by the Sins of Men, shall be rendered unto their Authors.’

‘5.5. Man restored to his First State. Etoile du Matin. p 93. Light of the World part 1. p. 169. God having at the First Creation endued all living Creatures with a Power of producing their like, and Man in his perfect State, being endued with the same Power of producing his like, without the help of another, he shall be re-establish'd into the same State again: So that in the Kingdom of Heaven there will be eternal Propagation, but altogether Holy, altogether Pure and Deified, without concupiscible Appetite, but by pure Acts of Love to God, which will extend it self to the Production of New Creatures, to the Glory of their Creator. There there is not Male and [Page] Female, they neither marry nor are given in Marriage, but are as the Angels in Heaven.’

XXXVIII.XXXVIII These Sentiments not damnable. This as a Sum of her Accessory Sentiments, and they who shall consider them without prejudice will hardly think, that for them she deserves to be treated either as an Heritick, or as a Mad Whimsical Woman. It has been already said, that she does not propose them as Articles of Faith, necessary to be believed by all; that according to St. Augustine, these only are damnable Doctrines which tend to destroy Charity, the Love of God, and our Neighbour, which it is evident those Sentiments do not, and it were easie to make appear that many other Doctrines and Practices do, which pass among many for very Christian.

XXXIX.XXXIX. They clear the Do [...]ctrines of Christianity. Besides it is evident that these Sentiments tend to clear and confirm all the Truths and Doctrines of Christianity, and to endear them to us. They shew us the great Designs of God's Love in the Creation of Man, the excellent State in which he made him, and the Happiness to which he design'd him. They make appear evidently, that all our Evil is from our selves, and all our Good from God. They shew us the Ground and Reason why Man's Redemption was set about, and not the fallen Angels; why Jesus Christ took such Interest in Man, became Intercessor and Surety for him; and why his Mediation was accepted by God his Father; and why after other means essay'd, he at last cloath'd himself with Man's Mortality; why the following of his Counsels and Example, is indispensibly necessary to Salvation. They represent to us the horrid Corruption that Man is fallen into by Sin, both as to Soul and Body, and all the Creation by him; and how mad we are to gratifie our corrupt Inclinations, and to love this present World. They direct us to a right use of the Rods and Judgments of God, and awaken us to a sence of our present State, wherein all the World lies in Wickedness. They give us a prospect of the World, and of all the Creation worthy of God. They let us see the Wisdom and Goodness of God in bringing about his great Designs, tho' thwarted by the Perversness and Rebellion of Man. They give us some glimpse of the unspeakable Glory to which Man is designed, to partake of the Joys of God, being united to him in Body and Spirit; and to receive the Delights of [Page] all his Works. They shew us that Almighty God design'd this World and all the Creation for some great End more worthy of him, than to serve Devils and Wicked Men as a Theatre and Fewel of their Lusts, and Instrument of their dishonouring him. It is usual for the Learned to form Theories and Systems of Divinity, whereby to give a clear Account of the Doctrines of Faith. If Men will be pleased to consider these Sentiments in this View only, and compare them with the Systems given us by the Divines of all Parties, they may come to be convinc'd that they have a greater Tendency to promote True Christianity.

XL.XL. They are consonant to the Holy Scriptures. And as they are very sutable to the known Articles of Faith, so they do not contradict the Holy Scriptures, but seem to be insinuated and pointed out in them, and to serve to clear Thousands of Passages there, which otherwise cannot be conceived, as A. B. her self makes appear in several Instances.

1.1. As to the Beauty of all things. That all things were created Good and Beautiful at first without any Deformity, appears both from the Nature of God, and from his Word. He is Perfect, and therefore cannot make any thing Imperfect.Nouv. Ciel. p. 80. He is all Good, and can make nothing Evil: All things therefore have been made by him perfectly Good and Beautiful, for the Workman is known by his Works. A rare Painter or Writer is known by his Pictures or Writings, tho' we do not know his Person; much more is God known by his Works, for he can never fail or commit a Fault in them, which the most accomplish'd Spirits amongst Men may do. This is then an Eternal Truth, that God created all things Beautiful and Good, which the Scripture also verifies, when it is said,Gen. 1 31. that God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very Good: Which could not be, if there were any Evil in it; as a thing cannot be Beautiful if it have any Deformity. But we see all his Works now are not Good and Beautiful; in the Air, are Tempests, Whirlwinds, &c. destroying Men by Sea or Land: In it is obscure Darkness, nothing to be seen through it, if it be not favoured with the Rays of the Sun or Stars. The Earth has a filthy colour, that sullies all that touches it, and is of such gross Obscurity, that we can see nothing in it; and to make it bring forth Fruit, Men must employ the sweat of their Body, and after all, it brings forth [Page] often nothing but corrupt Fruit; and if it be not cultivated, only Thorns and Thistles. The Water often swallows and suffocates Men; its greatest Masses are salt or filthy. The Fire has in it a black Smoak ready to stifle Men, if they were not succoured by the Air; it spoils the Eyes of those who steadily look on it, and consumes Men, Beasts, and all other things. These things cannot be created by God as we see and feel them, because they are neither Good nor Beautiful: By a clear Consequence then, we must believe that the Air has been created clear, sweet and agreeable, without these Tempests; and so of the rest.

2.2. As to the Beauty of Man's Body. It is as evident that our Bodies have not been created in the State they are now in, in which there is nothing good and beautiful, no more than in our Minds; and that they have been form'd at first in a glorious State, appears by this, that it being generally acknowledged that Jesus Christ is to restore Man to that primitive Perfection both of Body and Mind, in which he was created; and the Scriptures telling us, That we look from Heaven for our Lord Jesus Christ, to change our vile Bodies, and to make them like to his Glorious Body; and we being told that when at his first Transfiguration on the Mount, he was pleased to give his three Disciples some Prospect of that Glory, and to let some Rays of his Glorious Body stream forth thro' his Mortality; it is said, his Countenance did shine as Lightning, and his Raiment was white as Snow. We may think how glorious the Body of Man was before his Fall, and shall be when this Mortal shall put on Immortality, and this Corruption Incorruption, and Death shall be swallowed up in Victory.

3.3. As to Man's being created to produce his Kind. That Man in his first Creation was endued with a Power of producing his Kind, appears in that at the Creation of Man it is expresly said thatGen. 1. 27. God created Man, Male and Female, and bid him be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the Earth. and tho' it be in the Original, he created them, in the Plural, and not in the Singular, he created him Male and Female;Etoile du Mat. p. 64, 68. yet that does not change the true Sence, since God created in Adam all Men who were to proceed from him, they were all originally in him. And Eve was not as yet formed, and he had rested from all his Works before he proceeded to the Formation of her, how long after it is not known. This seems most evident from the Story [Page] of the Creation, for the Account of the six Days Works is contained in the first Chapter of Genesis, and that God saw that all he made was very good; Gen. 1. 31. but before the Formation of Eve out of Adam, we are told of God's resting on the seventh Day from all his Works which he had made; of his planting a Garden, and there making to grow out of the Ground every Tree that is pleasant to the Sight and good for Food; his placing Man there to dress and keep it; his bringing all the Beasts of the Field and Fowls of the Air before Man, and Adam's giving each of them a Name; his finding it now not good that Man should be alone, Gen. 2 18. tho' before he saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good; his Resolution therefore to make a Help meet for him, and therefore he caused a deep Sleep to fall upon Adam, and took one Principle out of him, called in the Scripture-stile one of his Ribs, and so formed the Woman. As from all this it seems evident that the Formation of the Woman cannot be supposed to have been upon the sixth Day, without a great Straining of the History; so it appears, that Adam was at first created in such a State of Perfection, as to need no Help for the Production of his Kind, and that the Formation of the Woman from him, was upon his beginning to decline from his God, and to delight himself in the Creatures, without referring all to God. It is therefore said, It is not good for Man to be alone; tho' before, God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good. It seems therefore now that all was not good as he had made it, that Man began to abuse the Free Will that God had given him, to be less ardent in his Love and Dependance upon God, and to lean towards the Creatures; and therefore to prevent his total Fall, he makes a Help-meet for him, gives him a Companion endu'd with an immortal Soul and the living Image of God as himself, that in Loving this living Image of the Divinity as himself, his Affection might be raised and strengthened in the Love of God.

4.4. That Jesus Christ came of Adam. That Jesus Christ was come immediately from Adam, and that God in him did assume the human Nature before the Fall of Man, is insinuated by those Instances in the Holy Scripture, that he is call'd peculiarly the Son of Man, Renouv. de l' Esp. Ev. part 2. p. 98. Etoile du Matin. p. 32, 33. there being none other so but he, the second Adam; that he is said to be the First-born of every Creature, none of the Creatures having produc'd any of their Kinds before [Page] Adam; that the Lord conversed familiarly with Adam, and spoke with him Face to Face, and he heard the Lord walking in the Garden and hid himself. Thus it was God in the human Nature, Jesus Christ, that spoke to Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses, to the Patriarchs and the Prophets. The Interpretations which by latter Writers are given of those Apparitions, are an evident Straining of the Text; as to say, that it is a created Angel, a Simple Creature, who says,Exod. 3. 2.—6. I am the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham.—And Moses hid his Face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Itc. 13 21 was he who in Person did lead the Israelites by Day in a Pillar of a Cloud, and by Night in a Pillar of Fire,c. 33 9, 11. out of which he spake to Moses Face to Face, as a Friend speaketh to his Friend. Thus,c. 33. 2, 3. after the Idolatry of the Golden Calf, he threatned not to go up any longer in the midst of them, but to send an Angel before them. And when Moses desired to see his Glory,Ib. v. 22, 23. he was covered with the Lord's Hand while he passed by, and permitted only to see his back Parts, because he could not see his Face and live, (the Weakness of our corrupt Nature not being able to behold that Glory without being dissolv'd) and yet this Divine Body, tho' covered with a Cloud, made such Impression by the Rays of its Glory on the Body of Moses, ch. 14. 28, 35. as that after forty days Conversation his Countenance did shine. And the ancient Fathers were so sensible that all this could not be said of an Angel, that many of them were in the Opinion, that the Son of God did assume a human Body before he was incarnate, and therein appeared to Adam and the Patriarchs; so Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Irenaeus, &c. A very pious and learned Divine of the Church of England has of late made appear,Dr. Scot's Christian Life. part 2. vol. 2. p 233 to 258. that Jesus Christ immediately after the Fall of Man became the Mediatior and Surety of a New Covenant, and so, under the most high God and Father, did immediately rule and govern his Church and People; and that therefore, 1. There was a certain extraordinary Angel, who frequently appeared and spoke to the Jewish Patriarchs, who is sometimes called Jehovah, who ordinarily assumed to himself Divine Appellations, and to whom the holy Men rendred Divine Honours, Vows and Sacrifices; and that he appear'd to them in the Form of a Man. 2. That he was a Divine Person, and no created [Page] Being. 3. That he was that Divine Person that descended upon Mount Sinai, and from thence removed into the Tabernacle, and thence into the Temple. 4. That he was not God the Father. 5. That he was God the Son, who appeared to the Patriarchs, Joh. 8. 56, 58. brought Israel out of Egypt and descended on Mount Sinai, Heb. 12. 16. Eph. 4. 8. Psal. 68. led them thro' the Wilderness into Canaan, 1 Cor. 10. 9. dwelt in the Jewish Tabernacle and Temple, Joh. 12. 41. compared with Is. 6. 1. and was that Jehovah and Divine Lord and King who under the most high Father presided over the Jewish Church Eph. 5, 14. with Is. 60. 1. Is. 41. 4. and 48. 12. with Rev. 1. 2, 17. and 2. 8. and after his coming into the World he still retain'd his Right and Title of King of Israel, Matth. 2. 2. Joh. 1. 49. and 12. 13. Zech. 9. 9, 14, 15. Joh. 18. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37. Now it being evident, that immediately after the Fall of Man, Jesus Christ became a Mediatour and Surety for him; that he took the immediate Care of his People, and often appeared to them in the Form of a Man; is it not as agreeable with the Analogy of Faith and the Holy Scriptures, to say, he was truly so, than to affirm that he took only the Appearance of a Man, till he cloathed himself with our Frailty and Mortality. Besides this is a wonderful Instance of the infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God, that so many of the Angels having fallen from their first State, and so all Intercourse between God and them broken off, to prevent the Fall of Man, or if he should fall, that there might be a way for his Recovery, and that there might be one for whose Sake and Mediation he might pardon Man and conferr new Graces on him; that therefore the Eternal Son of God should unite himself to Man's Nature, and become Man, while Man was yet in his Integrity and Innocency, since afterwards the Divinity would not have united it self to sinful Man, and so all Intercourse between God and Man should have been broken off, as it is between him and the Fallen Angels.

5.5. That Sin did strangely deform Man. That Sin did strangely deform the Body of Man, and that it became quite another thing than it was before, appears by this, that Man after his Sin, was asham [...]d of himself, saw his Nakedness, and was ashamd of it, and sought something wherewith to cover it; whereas there was no such Shame before, no more than the Sun can be ashamed that his Light and Glory is not covered with Clouds and Darkness.

[Page] 6.6. And the Creatures. That Sin has also deform'd the Creation, which is to be restored to its primitive State, is expresly pointed out in the Holy Scriptures, we being toldRom. 8. 20. that the Creature was made subject to Vanity, v. 22. and that the whole Creation groaneth and travelleth in Pain together until now, v. 21. and that it shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God.

7.7. That all Men are propagated of Adam, both as to Soul and Body, That all Men are the Natural Off-spring of Adam, as to their Souls as well as to their Bodies, seems to be a most just and true Sentiment. We see in this visible World God has endued all living Creatures with a Power to produce their like, from the meanest Plant to the most perfect Animal. All kinds of Birds, Beasts, and Fishes produce their Off-spring, of the same kind of Body, Life and Spirit with themselves, endued with the same Power of producing their like, which Life and Spirit, even the Learned as well as the Vulgar, begin again to acknowledge to be somewhat else than meer Mechanism. This Production all the Art of the World cannot imitate, but it is derived down from the first of every Kind, to the respective Series of Individuals of that Kind, thro' all Generations. That all Men do thus derive their Off-spring from Adam as to their Bodies, no body will deny; but the general Opinion of the Learned has been, that our Souls are immediately created or infus'd by God into our Bodies, and that we do not derive them from our Parents, and so from Adam. But as God has endued Man with a Power of producing the Bodies of his Off-spring, so also it seems evident, that he has endued Man's Soul united to his Body with a Power of producing Souls united to Bodies, which receive also from their Constituents the same Power of producing other Souls united to Bodies, and that altogether like themselves. There is no Contradiction in the Nature of the Thing, and the Blessing of Multiplying given to Man, is as unlimited as that to the other Creatures; and the Scripture speaks of the Children in the Parents Loins, and by this we easily conceive how the Corruption of Man's Nature is communicated to his Posterity, without any Blemish in the Holiness and Righteousness of God; for he having created Man Holy and Righteous with a Power to produce his like, had he continued so, the Souls which proceeded from him, had been so too; but he being corrupted in his Nature, he could derive no other to his Posterity. For [Page] Propagation is redoubling of the same Being, and of the same State in which it is. But on the other Hand, if Souls are not derived from the Parent, but immediately created by God, Children may be less said to be the Off-spring of their Parents than the Young of the other living Creatures are from them; so that they all do more perfectly produce their Kinds than does Man. But above all, this will never satisfie as to the other great Truth, That all Souls are now impure and corrupt from their Original,Eph. 2. 3. and Children of Wrath by Nature, as the Scripture says. It were blasphemous to say, That God creates Souls impure, ignorant and corrupt, and it is no less evil to think that God creating them pure and holy, does immediately put them into Bodies, where they no sooner are, but immediately they are thereby reputed so corrupt and guilty, as to merit an eternal Separation from God. The devout and profound S. Augustine was so sensible of the Difficulties in this Matter,Aug. de▪ lib. arb. l. 3. c. 21. Item Epist. Hieron. ad de Orig. animarum. that he was undetermined what Side to take, and professed that he had seen nothing that cleared them, and he was for bearing with one another as to a Difference of Sentiment in these Things. It is absurd to conclude this Sentiment to be false, because we cannot conceive how Souls should propagate Souls, without communicating of themselves in whole or in part; if the last, they are divisible and not spiritual; if the first, they should cease to animate their former Bodies: this is to reason about Souls from the Idea's we have of Bodies. Do not we experience ten thousand things in the World, tho' we cannot conceive how they are? We see the Soul produces Thoughts, and one Thought produces another, and this in infinitum. Now it is easie for God to make, that in certain Circumstances the Divine productive Vertue of the Soul should beget a Thought which has in it a Principle of Activity as it self has, and that this Principle after its Production should not depend any longer on the producing Soul, but subsist by it self.

8.8. That there are no tru [...] Christiani. It has been judged the greatest Uncharitableness for her to declare to the World, that there are no True Christians, whereas in Truth it is one of the greatest Acts of Charity. If a number of Persons were desperately Sick, and their Distempers had so craz'd the most of them, that they were not sensible of their own Sickness and Dangers, tho' they perceived sufficiently the Illness of their [Page] Neighbours; would it be Uncharitableness to awaken them and tell them of their Danger, and direct them to the true Remedies? even tho' some of them were using the proper means and tending to recovery, it were certainly a Kindness done them all. She does not say that there are not among Christians, who have good Purposes and good Desires, and who are good in Comparison of the Wicked, but none who are truly regenerately into the Spirit of Jesus Christ.Acad. de Theol. part 1. c. 9. She says, * To be a true Christian, is, to imitate the Actions of Jesus Christ, and to obey his Instructions. Thus Jesus Christ says, To enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, we must become as a little Child;Light of the World p. 1. conf. 2 we must take the last Place; we must do Penitence; we must be poor in Spirit; we must deny our Selves; we must love our Neighbours as our selves; we must take the Kingdom of Heaven by force; we must pluck out the Eye, or cut off the Hand, that offends us; we must leave our Offering, to go and be reconciled to our Brother; we must love our Enemies, and do good to them that hate us; that we cannot serve two Masters; we must not care for the Morrow, but lay up Treasures in Heaven; we must enter by the strait Gate; that a rich Man will hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; that we must take up our Cross and follow him; that we must give an Account of every idle Word; that God hides his Secrets from the Wise and Prudent, and reveals them to Babes; that he came not to be served, but to serve, &c. She appeals to Christians, whether they be renewed into this Spirit, and makes through all these Instances how far they are from it, and how few there are who aspire after it: And to make People believe otherwise, is but cheating Men into Damnation.

9.9. That Christendom is a Babel. That the present State of Christendom is a Babel, where the Language is confounded, and the Builders do not understand one another, is but too sad a Truth to be denied. If a wise Master Builder design to build a glorious City,Confus. des Ouvr. de Babel. and give particular Instructions how the inferiour Workmen shall be trained up for it, and by what Marks they shall be chosen, and what Measures they shall observe in squaring, fitting, and laying of the Stones; and if the Workmen shall be trained up by quite different Measures, and chosen for the Office by other Marks, and if the Workmen do so far mistake their Measures, Rules, and Instructions, as that some of them say he commanded one thing, [Page] and others the quite contrary; some, that the Stones should be hewn after such a way, and others after a quite different way, and should live in a continual Debate and Scuffle; each side contending that they were only in the right, and striving to draw as many Stones as they could to themselves, and then instead of carefully and wisely hewing them, and fitting them for the Building, should animate these Stones with the same Spite against the Fellow Workmen, and Fellow Stones, which possest themselves, and with great Fury should throw them at them, and dash them to pieces against each other, and so render them unfit for ever entring into the Building: This would certainly be such a Babel, as that nothing could exceed it. The Parable is so plain, it needs no Explication.

10.10. That M [...] gloss [...] the Law [...] o [...] [...]esus Christ. To make appear that we have glossed away the Laws and Doctrines of Jesus Christ by our Explications of them, as much as the Scribes and Pharisees did M [...]ses's Law by their Traditions; we need but consider, that as the Pharisees, tho' they retained still the Letter of the Law, and were very zealous for it,Tomb [...]d la fausse Theol. p. 1. let 1. yet their Lives were contrary to it; but they could so gloss and interpret it, as to reconcile it to their Practice: Even so, tho' the Lives of Christians be in a far greater Contradiction to the Laws of Jesus Christ, and they retain and honour the Letter of them still, yet they have learned so to gloss and interpret them, as to reconcile their Life with the Hopes of Heaven, and the Favour of God, and their Belief of their being Good Christians. For if they had not put false Glosses on the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, there is no Christian who desires to be saved that would live as they do at present; for every one would see, that he could not be sav'd after this manner, and that the Lives of Christians now are quite contrary to those of the Primitive Church, and the Institution of Jesus Christ. His Words are plain and simple, they need no Glosses. He tells his Disciples they must not lay up Treasures upon Earth; they must renounce all they Possess; they must be poor in Spirit; take the last Place, and deny themselves. Now if they employ all their Life in getting and keeping of worldly Goods; if they seek after Places and Honours; take their Delights and Ease; follow their honest Inclinations and please themselves, their Life would seem a plain Contradiction to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ; but we have [Page] learned to Gloss so, as to reconcile them. It is but the Love of all these that Jesus Christ forbids, and we are ready to make our selves believe that our Hearts are not set upon them; as if the Bent of a Man's Desires and Pursuit could be towards a thing all his Life-time, and his Heart not set upon it. Jesus Christ knows well our Weakness and Frailty, that we cannot be immers'd in worldly things without loving them, more than the Body can lie in Snow without being chill'd by it, and that we know not how much our Heart is glew'd to a thing, till we be separated from it, which is the mean also to wean our Hearts; and therefore that we might not put false Glosses on his Doctrine, he has explained it by his own Life, he himself lived in perfect Poverty, Contempt, and Affliction, was Poor as to Wealth, Friends, Honour, Reputation, Learning, Greatness, denied himself in every thing that we Love and Value; and embraced the things that we abhor and dread. But this, we say, was as our Redeemer, to suffer and satisfie the Justice of God for our Sins, and to merit for us Mercy and Pardon. It was so, but withal it was to give us an Example, that we should follow his Steps: His whole Life and Death was a continual Sacrifice to God, renouncing all things that sensible Nature takes Pleasure in, that we might learn from him, how to make thus a continual Sacrifice of our Will and Desires, and Satisfaction to God: Oh! but we think he knows our Frailty, and that we cannot do this; and we rejoice that he has suffered thus for us, and we hope in his Merits for Mercy and Salvation: There is no Salvation indeed but by his Merits, but they are apply'd only to those who follow his Example; for he tells us, none can come after him,Matt. 16. 24. but they who deny themselves, and take up their Cross and follow him; and he lived after this manner, that he might merit Grace for us to follow his Example; so that we have no True Faith in his Merits, when we think this impracticable. But we have another Gloss yet, whereby to indulge and gratifie corrupt Nature. Jesus Christ lived after this manner, not that we should live a Life actually strip'd of all worldly things that gratifie Nature and Self, as his was; but to teach us to be as poor of them in Spirit: If we have them outwardly in Possession, not to have our Hearts set on them; and if we be deprived of them, to be contented and resigned to the Will of God. Indeed [Page] Poverty of Spirit is that in which Jesus Christ would have us mainly to follow him; and if we be poor in Spirit, in the midst of the greatest Abundance, we are truly his Disciples: But he that is poor in Heart seeks not for Wealth, nor Pleasures, nor Honours; and if he have them, they are a charge and burden to him, and he takes no more of them, for himself, than simply serves the Necessities of Nature, and that of the least and meanest, rather than the best and choicest. But the reason why Jesus Christ has given us such an Example, and counselled us to follow it, is, because of our Weakness and Frailty. If we can be poor in Spirit, in the midst of the greatest Abundance, there is no hazard of Wealth, no need to abandon it; but our Lord knew how hard it was for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. He himself could have remained poor in Spirit in the greatest Affluence of worldly things, but he knew it was impossible for us to do so too; and therefore, in Consideration of our Frailty, and to give us an Example, he came into the World strip'd of all that pleases and gratifies corrupt Nature, that he might teach us the safest and surest way to mortifie our Love to the World, and to our selves, and to become poor in Spirit. And that all our Glosses and Explications on this Doctrine and Life of Jesus Christ are false, appears by the Fruits of them in our Hearts and Lives.

11.11. That we are in the Reign of Antichrist. That the Reign of Antichrist prevails in the World at present, few Protestants do deny: that his Empire is more Universal than is generally believed, appears from this, that the Devil being properly the Antichrist by counter-acting the Designs of Jesus Christ, under a Cover of his Religion, and being for him, and by infusing his Nature and Qualities into Men, he has accordingly, instead of the Divine Qualities of Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, with which Jesus Christ came to inspire all his Disciples; he has, I say, shed among the Professors of Christianity his contrary Evil Qualities of Injustice, Malice, and Hypocrisie, under a Cover of Masses, Communions, Prayers, Preachings, and the other outward Forms of Christianity: This is too evident a Truth to be denied. And under this Cover keeps Men in a vain Amusement, and makes 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 [Page] 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,Antichr. Decouv. Light of the World p. 1. conf. 5. 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,12. The Corruption of the Pastors, the Source of all the Evil. 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, [Page]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.1 Thess. 2. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 3. 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 [Page] 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,Light of the World part 1. Conf. 1, 2, 3. 4, 9. Nouv. ciel. let. 5. P. 147.—165. La Sainte Visiere. ch. 1, 2, 3. Tomb. de la fauss. Theol. part 1. let. 1, 9. 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 retained only the outside and the Letter, and varnished it over with their Learning and Human Doctrines; and so the Blind led the Blind: Then instead of the Gospel Simplicity, Schools and Universities were multiplied, and there was nothing to be seen but Disputes and Controversies: Then the Pastors being void of true Charity, and of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, their preaching could have no Divine Force, more than the Motions of Puppets, or the Words of Parrots: Then they learned to preach the Gospel by Study and Human Learning, committing the Idea's of it to their Brain, as Men learn other Trades, and varnish over their Sermons with the same Words and Expressions that Jesus Christ [Page] and his Apostles used, without comprehending or conveying to others the Divine Sence of them, and what came from the Brain could go no farther than the Brain; nothing can rise higher than its Original. Then the great Business of Religion is turned upon the Pastor's side into an Art of Preaching, where on a Theatre he displays his Learning and Eloquence; and on the Peoples side into the work of Hearing, and when they have continued daily in those pious Exercises for 20, 30, 40, or 50 Years, they are for the most part no more truly Vertuous than when they began; whereas, where the Word of the Lord is, there is Power: Then the Pastors being proud and ambitious, and envious, and worldly, and sensual, and selfish, they seek their own things under a Cover of seeking the things of Jesus Christ; their Actions belie their Words; and for their own Credit they so gloss and explain the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, as to perswade People they may be good Christians, and good Ministers of Jesus Christ, and yet gratifie their Appetites and Inclinations: Then being void of true Faith and true Charity, they place Religion in a System of Opinions and Rites, and tho' they agree in the common Principles, yet differing in other things of lesser moment, they thereupon divide, dispute, and quarrel, form Parties, draw all they can to their Side, out of a Pretence to the Glory of God, inspire them with Hatred and Fury against those that differ from them; sooth and flatter the corrupt Inclinations of those of their own Party, or the Great, and those on whom they depend, and stir up Magistrates and Princes to War and Bloodshed, to persecute those who differ from them: And as they make War against one another by their Disputes, so they make Princes and secular Persons to do it by their Swords. Thus instead of the Charity, Peace, and Concord, which Jesus Christ left his Disciples, they beget Hatred, Strife, and Envy among them; and such is their Influence upon the People, that they head their Passions; and what they hate and call Heresie, so do they. Instead of the Self-denial and Mortification to the World, which Jesus Christ and the first Pastors practised and taught, they teach by their Example how to gratifie Self, and love the World; and yet seem greatly to honour Jesus Christ, and to be Champions for his Religion. And if the Salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall the Flesh be salted? And if they who should [Page] be the Light of the World, and the Salt of the Earth, are thus become Darkness and without Savour, how great is that Corruption! And how great is that Darkness! Those of every Party do plainly discern this Evil in the Guides and Leaders of the opposite Parties, but our Self-love blinds and hinders us from considering it in our selves. This is not to be understood but that there are Pastors of good Inclinations and right Intentions amongst the several Perswasions, and therefore what is said ought not to be applied to them; but that this corrupt Spirit of Pride, Vain-glory, [...], Avarice, the Love of Money, [...] Politicks, the pleasing of the [...] Aversion to the Humility, Simplicity, [...], and Cross of Christ, prevails [...] in all Parties, under a Cover of [...] Opinions, and so serves still to [...] the more, is a sad Truth that cannot be [...].

13. That we are in the last Times, [...] Judgment [...]. that the Wickedness of Men is as great and universal as in the Days of Noah, that the Abomination of Desolation is in the Holy Place, that we are now in the time of the last Judgments of God by which he will sweep the Wicked off the Earth; and which shall be more dreadful and terrible than any that ever were; A. B. does so sensibly make appear in her Writings, particularly in the Light of the World, Light of [...] World [...] 1. Con. 2, 29. ‘That they are real Enemies to Mens Souls who sco [...] at them, and divert People from laying them to Heart. She makes appear, that Iniquity is so great and universal, that there is no [...] Faith nor Law among Men. People study nothing but to deceive their Neighbours; the Father cannot trust his Son, nor the Son his Father; the Brother [...] up against his Brother. Friendship is only feigned; [...] is full of Deceit and Fraud; nothing but Pride and Ambition reigning in the Hearts of all Men. Judges are without Equity; Priests without Sincerity; Cloisters filled with Avarice, and the Devout full of Malice; which has been at all times in some particular Persons, but is at present so multiplied, that it possesses almost all [...]: And Charity is not only wak [...]d cold, but altogather frozen and dead in the Hearts of Men. That the Signs of the last Times are all fully accomplish'd, particularly those in 2 Tim. 3. 1. &c. and Matt. 24. That [Page] Mens Lives are the open Book in which these Truths are written, and the Holy Scriptures are the equitable Judge which pronounces the Sentence. That People scoff at this and no Body will believe it, is a most certain Evidence of it. For Jesus Christ says, that it shall be as in the Days of Noah, they were eating and drinking, and marrying, and giving in Marriage, and knew not until the Flood came and took them all away, &c. She makes appear how the Abomination and Desolation is in the Holy Place, if Envy were lost, it might be recovered in Cloisters; if Avarice were dead, it would be revived by the Priests, Vain-glory and Pride is no where so prevailing as among the Clergy: In a word, Simonies and all other Sins abound in that Place which ought to be Holy: That these are the Stars which fall every Day from Righteousness and Truth, for some worldly Interest, or humane Respects. She makes appear, that Men do not now embrace Penitence, nor desire Amendment, that they rather grow every Day worse, and cannot suffer that their Faults should be truly shewn them: That at all times there have been wicked Persons, but when all in general do forget him, it is to be believed that assuredly we are in the last Times, and that the Judgment is given out, because the Measure is full: That God cannot suffer an universal Evil, without an universal Chastisement; and now Men having generally all of them abandoned their God, have, in doing this, given Sentence of the general Destruction of the World, which shall not be recalled, because the Will of Man is not inclin'd to return to God, but rather to be the more estrang'd from him, if the Plagues should yet be delayed: That therefore the irrevocable Sentence is given to purge the whole World by divers Plagues of War, Pestilence, and Famine, which are framed of the Three Means, which have caused Men to abandon God. Their Want of True Love to one another; their Love of this present Life, and their being addicted to their sensual Appetites; the Pleasures of the Mouth and Belly. She shews, that many Signs have appeared in the Heavens; fearful Comets, menacing great Evils; Fire has burnt many Cities; many have been swallowed up by Earthquakes: That these did affright some at first, but so soon as the Devil had leisure to make his Adherents study to find out Reasons, shewing [Page] that these were Natural things, he has made the fear of all these Threatnings of God, sent as the Forerunners of his Justice, to evanish out of Mens Minds; so that no Body is converted to God, nor embraces the Spirit of Penitence; but they mock at God's Warnings, saying, These are but Natural things. She asks these Earflatterers, If God ought not to send his Plagues, but by Supernatural things, and to make Chimera's in the Air? He who has created al [...] the Elements, must he not make use of them to chastise the Offences which we commit against him? Is there not need of Natural things to make our Bodies suffer, which are likewise Natural? The Deludge was made by a Natural Rain; and the last Plagues will be made Pestilence, War, Famine, and Fire, all Natural things, because the Heaven, the Earth, and all the Elements ought to rise up against us to avenge the Offence that we do against their Creator and ours, &c.’

I have transcrib'd all this, because I think the present Age ought to lay these things deeply to Heart. It is a most Remarkable Providence, that a simple illiterate Maid should give Warning to the World of the Approaching of the last general and dreadful Judgments of God; and give such clear Grounds for it, from the Word of God, and the State of the World; and declare that she is commanded by God so to do; and that now, since her Removal, both the Wickedness of Men, and the Signs and Judgments of God, have been still encreasing. There have been such signal and dreadful Earthquakes in many Places, swallowing up many Thousands; such universal Wars, destroying there Hundreds of Thousands, the Fire of which seems only to be covered a while, to break out into a greater Flame; such pestilential Diseases in many Places, particularly in France, Scotland, America, sweeping off vast Numbers; and now most grievous Dearth and Famine, which for One Year scourged France, but for these Three last Years has most signally visited Scotland, and now this present Year being the Fourth, is like to come to so great a heighth as to threaten an utter Desolation, Mens Hearts failing them for fear; all observe such a general Change of Seasons, that the Heavens, the Air, the Earth, and all the Elements do frown upon us, and deny their wonted kindly Influences and Means of Life, so that this last Plague threatens to visit other Nations likewise; yet the rest of [Page] Men, which are not killed of these Plagues do not repent of the Works of their Hands, so that we have just ground to apprehend that these are but the beginnings of Sorrows. Mat. 24. 8. It is high time for us then to awake out of our Stupidity, to repent and do works meet for Repentance, that we may not be found among the Scoffers in the last Days, who say, Where is the promise of his coming? 2 Pet. 3. 3. For tho' these were not the last Plagues and Judgments, yet as A. B. says, as (if I remember rightly) Vincentius of Terrara preached in his time to one City, That within a few Years the last Judgment would be, and tho' it was not, yet many thereby were led to Repentance; so, tho' these were not the last general Judgments, yet they will be the last particular Judgments to many Thousands, and it is a good Office to awaken Men thereby to Repentance.

14.14. That the Works of God shall not perish, but be renewed. That the Works of God shall not perish but endure for ever, and shall be wholly renew'd and freed from all Corruption, is expresly declared in the Holy Scriptures, where we are told Rom. 8. 21. that the Creature itself also shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption, into the glorious Liberty of the Children of G [...]d: And 2 Pet. 3. 13. that according to his Promise, we look for new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness. And Rev. 21. 1. it is said, I John saw a new Heaven and a new Earth; for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away. And Act. 3. 21. we are told, that the Heavens must receive Jesus Christ until the time [...] the [...], Renascentia, Secundus Ortus Restauratio. Restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by he Mouth of all his holy Prophets since the World began. See Is. 65. 17. 66. 22.

15. That Jesus Christ will come and Reign in Glory with the Saints and Blessed for ever upon Earth appears from many express Testimonies of Holy Scripture.That Jesus Christ will reign for ever on the Earth with the Blessed. Thus David Ps. 96. and 98. invites all Creatures to rejoice and be glad before the Lord, for he comes to judge the Earth; the World shall be established that it shall not be removed; with Righteousness shall he judge the World, and the People with his Truth. ThusDan. 7. 27. it is said, that the Kingdom and Dominion, and the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all Dominions shall serve and obey him. Thus it is saidZech. 14. 6, &c. The Lord my God [Page]shall come and all the Saints with him. And it shall come to pass in that Day, that the Light shall not be clear nor dark. But it shall be one Day which shall be known to the Lord, not Day nor Night—And the Lord shall be King over all the Earth; In that day shall there be one Lord, and his Name one. Rev. 5. 9, 10. Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood, out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation, and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests, and we shall reign on the Earth. AndRev. 11 15. The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. Rev. 21. 2. And I John saw the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband; and I heard a great Voice out of Heaven, saying, Behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his People, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God, &c. see all that and the next Chapter.Rev. 22. 5. And there shall be no Night there, and they need no Candle, neither Light of the Sun, for the Lord 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:Light of the world. part 3. Conf. 7. 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 [Page] and finite, but eternal, as coming from an eternal God, who cannot give finite or imperfect Gifts.

XLI.XLI. That those Sentiments are neither inconsistent with themselves, nor with the Scripture. 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,Joh. 6. 66. 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,Mat. 11. 25. 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,Joh. 8. if we would be truly enlightned and delivered from all Blindness of Heart.Graditur D [...]us cum Simplicibus revelat se Humilibus, dat intellectum Parvulis, aperit sensum puris Mentibus, & abscondit Grattam Curiosis & Superbis. Ratio humana debilis est & falli potest; Fides autem Vera falli non potest. Th. a Kemp de Imit. Chr. Lib. 4. c. 18. sect 4. ‘God walks with the Simple, he reveals himself [Page] 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.XLII. That this Account is just, and they who give contrary Representations are not fair. 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.

[Page]

AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOƲRIGNON.
PART. II.
An Answer to the Prejudices raised against her Sentiments and Writings.

I.I. There is a general Disposition to judge rashly. 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 [Page] 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 a Christian, being a Man full of Zeal, and of great Learning, and hearing that there were Persons risen up who would destroy the Law and seduce the Simple, and that they worshipped the first of these Impostors who was hanged on a Tree, and that these new Upstarts were but a Rabble bigotted with that new kind of Folly, which was like to hazard the Law of God; and this being told him by all his Masters and Teachers, the Priests, the People, his Kinsfolks, and Friends, instead of informing himself without Prejudice of those Men, their Doctrine, their Behaviour, which would have prevented many false Steps, he is carried to reproach, and hate, and persecute them, that he may maintain the Truth of God, and cut off Error and Heresie, and the Seduction of the People. Now what has fallen out in former Times, may fall out in this, and the most innocent Persons and Writings, may meet with the most universal Reproaches and Prejudices. It is certainly the Devil's Interest that it should be so, and we see how successful his Attempts have been in former Ages. He still made it his Business to get on his side those who set up to be the Guides and Leaders of the People, and by this means always to oppress, blacken, and discredit Truth and Innocence.

II.II. The Writings and Person of A. B. thus treated. Now the Person and Writings of A. B. have been loaded with as many Reproaches and Prejudices as any in this Age; and that both in her Life time, and since her Death. Where-ever she went, the Church-men of the respective Parties breath'd nothing but Fire and Faggot against her in their Pamphlets and Pulpits, made her to pass for the worst of Hereticks, and her Writings for a Sink of all Heresies and Blasphemies; and thus it was easie to inspire People with Rage and Fury, so that if they could have had her to have ston'd her to Death, they would have thought they had done good Service, and no sooner is one of her Writings translated into English for the spiritual Good of welldisposed Souls, but immediately some are pleas'd to sound the Trumpet, and to cry out, Heresie and Blasphemy, Errors and Delusions; and this is enough to frighten a [Page] whole Island from looking into these Writings, and to breed an Aversion against those who esteem and value them, because of the Truths of God contain'd in them.

It was a remarkable Providence that she met with such Opposition from all Parties, while she lived, whereby as she discovered impartially the Evils of the respective Sects and Parties into which Christendom is divided; so also she clearly vindicated her self from being guilty of the Errors and Heresies of which they accus'd her, discovered the Impudence of their Calumnies and Slanders, and remov'd from well-dispos'd Persons the Prejudices which had been given them against her. We need only then give a short Account of what was laid to her Charge, and her own Vindication of herself; by which, her Sincerity, her Innocency, her distinct and most rational Knowledge of the Truths of Religion, her Orthodoxy, and the Subservency of her Writings to the great Ends of Christianity, will I hope appear to all unbiass'd Readers.

III.III. The unjust Measures of her Adversaries: But first let us premise the Complaint she makes in general of the unjust Measures of her Adversaries; how void they were of true Charity and Equity. What ever Good or Truth was incontestably in her Writings, they conceal'd it, they lessen'd it; whatever was capable of being turn'd to an Evil Sence, they perverted it; they pick'd out half Sentences here and there throughout her Writings, and on these they put a Sence which she never intended, concealing in the mean time what went before or after, that might serve to clear the true sence and meaning of the Expression. Any Doctrine of Christianity that was not so fully exprest in one Place, they were ready to accuse her of denying it, tho' she most clearly asserted it in another. They were ready to catch at her Words, and to interpret them according to the Niceness of the Schools, not considering the simplicity and plainness with which she wrote, she being intent to make known the Truth to all sincere and well-disposed Souls, without regarding that nice and captious Wits would be ready to carp and quibble upon this or the other Word, and not allow her to explain her self. In short, the great End of Christianity being to bring Men to the Love of God, and the Mortification of their corrupt Nature and Self-will, and this being the Butt of all her Writings, as is most evident to any who pleases to read them, she makes appear that her Adversaries cannot [Page] be Lovers of the Truth or of God, that their Aim is not to maintain the Truth and oppose Error; else they would rejoice to see this great End of Religion to be the Butt and Substance of so many Writings, and that there are uncontestably contain'd in them so great a number of Divine Truths, all tending to this End. They would own and acknowledge this, they would wish to meet with the Truth every where, even in the things which seem'd to them obscure and disagreeable to it; they would see if these were more clearly explain'd in other Places, and if they might well bear a Sence that were agreeable to this great End of Religion; or if even the Errors which they thought were contain'd there, were no ways destructive of the true Love of God, and so for the sake of them the whole Writings need not be forbidden and discredited.

IV.IV. Their Spirit and Temper like that of the Scribes and Pharisees. They may be convinced of the Injustice of the Measure, by considering only how hard they would think it to have their own Writings so treated; how odd it would seem to them if one should deal with the Sacred Scriptures after that Method; and what wretched Conclusions an Enemy of Christianity might thereby draw from them; and that if it had been their Luck to have been bred up at the Feet of Gamaliel, among the Jewish Rabbies, or with Porphyr, among the Philosophers, the Spirit and Measures by which they judge of Persons, Sentiments, and Writings, would have animated them as much against Jesus Christ himself; and had they come but Sixteen Hundred Years sooner into the World, and been leaven'd with the same Spirit, they should have been listed among the Philo-Judaeus's and the Porphyrs, and overlooking the Substance of the Doctrine and Life of Jesus Christ, would have pick'd out a half Sentence here, and a Word or two there, and some Passages of his Life that prejudiced Minds would be readiest to judge hardly of, and wrest them to such a Sence, and give all such a Turn, as might make him pas for a Blasphemer, a Seducer, a Subverter of the Law of God, a Teacher of Doctrines that would turn the World upside down; one Self-conceited, who spoke well of himself, and ill of others who were more learn'd and pious than himself; in a word, give such a Character and Narrative of him, patch'd up of some shreds of the Story of his Life and Doctrine written by his own Disciples, and dress him up in such a mock-Robe, as might make him and his Doctrine [Page] the Object of the Scorn and Hatred of the People. I know People flatter themselves with the Opinion, that it were impossible for them to have treated Jesus Christ at this rate, as the Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviour's Days imagin'd, that had they liv'd in the Days of their Fathers, they would not have persecuted and kill'd the Prophets as their Fathers did; and yet our Lord shews them, they have the same Spirit; tho' they seem'd to honour the Prophets * by building their Tombs, Matt. 23. 29, 30. and garnishing their Sepulchres, and saying, If we had been in the Days of our Fathers, we would not have been Partakers with them in the Blood of the Prophets. Yet they persecuted those who were then sent amongst them; and that the same Temper and Spirit reigns now in the world, A. B. makes appear in her Writings, and her Enemies did discover it in their Practices.

V.V. Prejudices cleared. But it will be said they had good Reason to treat her as they did: We come therefore to consider the Prejudices raised against her Doctrine, and they have not been wanting to represent her as the Grossest of Hereticks; but Wisdom is justified of her Children. And,

1.1. Of the Holy Trinity. They accused her of denying the Holy Trinity, and ground their Accusation upon this, that she did not approve of the Word Person, to express the Distinction of the Trinity, and us'd to explain it by Comparisons and Similitudes. Whereas she declares, That she believes in one Divine Essence, the most Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; that the Essence of God is incomprehensible,Antich. Decouv. part 2. p. 9, 10. and so is the Mystery of the Trinity; that it is a great Presumption in Men, who cannot comprehend that which is in themselves, what their Memory, Understanding, and Will is, yet to imagine they will easily comprehend what is in God: That our Soul, which is nothing but a silly Creature, is yet invisible and incomprehensible to us, tho' it be in us, and tho' we perceive and feel it to act and operate, that no Body can comprehend what a Soul is; and yet Men are so presumptous as that they will needs know what is in God, and what the Three Persons of the Trinity are, which are in him; and that not for to honour or love him the more, but that they may be able to talk and dispute well of them, and to draw evil Consequences from them:Pierce d [...] Touch. p. 111, 112. That God made St. Augustin know that this was incomprehensible by any Creature, when once walking by the Sea-side and labouring to [Page] understand it, he saw a Child running to fetch the Water of the Sea in his Hands into a little Hole, which he observing and asking the Child what he did, he replied he would have all the Water of the Ocean brought into that little Pit; at which St. Augustin smil'd, saying, You can never do this, my Child, give over this Ʋndertaking. The Child replied, I shall sooner do this than you shall understand what you would comprehend with your Ʋnderstanding; and then evanish'd.Antich. Decouv. p. 2. n 314122. It is true she makes use of Similitudes to express it by, as, That there is in God the eternal Understanding, the eternal Word, the eternal Love, or Heart; as there is in Man the Understanding, the Speech, and the Heart: That there is in Man the Understanding, the Memory, and the Will, which is a Figure of the Holy Trinity; that God, One in Essence, has in himself Three essential Qualities which are diverse, Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth; and that nothing can be done by God but with Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth altogether, and if one of these Qualities be wanting, it cannot come from G [...]d, who is indivisible in these Three qualities; which may be call'd Persons: That she does not pretend thereby to give adiquate Notions of the Mystery of the Trinity, which she declares is incomprehensible; but that instead of the dark, dry, and barren Speculations of the Schools thereabout, we may consider those Three Divine Qualities, without which God never does any Work. And to find if we are the Children of God, we must see if we partake from him of those Three Qualities of the Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth of God; and if we do not find them all Three together in our Souls, we ought not to perswade our selves that we are the Children of God; for as we approach unto him by Love, accordingly those Three Qualities encrease in the Soul; and as we find our Souls to be estranged from Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, accordingly we are estranged from God. In using Similitudes thus to express the Holy Trinity, she does nothing but what St.Antich. Decouv. part 2. n. 5. Augustin, and other of the Ancient Fathers have done; and she is far from saying, that nothing else is comprehended in the Holy Trinity; but that we ought to be taken up with such useful Considerations of what is in God, rather than feed our Minds with fruitless Speculations, which tend only to nourish Debate and Curiosity. And when once some of her Friends told her that [Page] the Churchmen accus'd her of making the whole Mystery of the Holy Trinity to consist in the Righteousness, Lavice Continuè p. 553, 554. Goodness, and Truth of God; she answered expresly, They lye in so saying. They said to her, that she had said in the mean time more than once, that Righteousness, Truth, and Goodness were the Trinity that was in God; she replied, I had no design to search into the Depth of this Mystery, and to say that all did consist in this; but that this was the most profitable and the most saving Consideration that we could have in the matter of the Holy Trinity, of which the ordinary Speculations are often rash and unprofitable, and for the most part injurious to God. Pierce de Touch. p. 114. ‘She did not desire to use often the Word Person, because she look'd on that as a Word proper to created Beings; that Jesus Christ is indeed a Person in God, being truly Man as we are. Yet she sometimes expresses the Mystery by the Word Persons: In Temoign. de Verite, Part 2. p. 199. she says, I do not believe that there is any Body living upon Earth, who does more honour the most Holy Trinity than I do. And I believe firmly One only God in Three Persons, as I have done from my Childhood.—And how could I deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ, since it is seen by all my Books that I hold Jesus Christ for True God and True Man both together, even from the Beginning of the World; which is to honour him more, than to believe that he is God and Man, only since he was born in Bethlehem, and charg [...]d with our Miseries and Sorrows?’

VI.VI. Of the Divinity of Jesus Christ. They accus'd her also of denying the Divinity of Jesus Christ, tho' there be nothing more False, as appears through all her Writings. She declares expresly in the Profession of her Faith, that she believes that [...]esus Christ is True Eternal God and True Man. And in Antich. Decouv. Part 2. p. 66, 67. she says, ‘That Jesus Christ True Man is also True God, that his Humanity is most strictly and inseparably united with his Divinity; which is the True God and the Eternal Word that created all things and and saves in Christ. In the Third Part, p. 26, 27. she tells how Antichrist has led some to deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and not to pray to him; and shews, that he as God and Man can save us immediately, if we will follow him; that he is the True Eternal God who alone can save as being God; and he is our Mediator, our Master, our Physician, as Man, who is become our Pledge and [Page] Surety to obtain our Deliverance; so that they are wretched Creatures, who say they will not pray to Jesus Christ, since the Salvation of all Men depends on him, and without him no Body can be sav'd.’

VII.VII. As to the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ. They affirmed that she denied the Merits of Jesus Christ, or any Satisfaction made by him for the Sins of Men; and this Calumny they have of late renew'd; affirming that she falls in with the vile Socinian Heresies, and even outdoes them. What Socinian has ever taught, That Man by his Sin would have perish [...]d eternally, and never have obtain'd Pardon, had it not been for Jesus Christ, true eternal God, and true Man, and for his Merits, (the Force and Dignity of which proceed from his Ʋnion with the Divinity) and that he has also obtain'd for Men, Time, Grace, and Means to enjoy this Pardon, and the Effect of those Merits; and that he cloath'd himself with our Mortality, and satisfied for our Sins on his part; that we, in imitating him, might enjoy the Pardon and Recovery which his Merits have purchas'd for us? And yet this is the Substance of the Doctrine of A. B. upon this Head, as appears through all her Writings; as in Temoign. de Verite, Part 1. p. 201, 202, she says, ‘Your Preachers say, that I reject the Merits of Jesus Christ, tho' in truth I esteem them more than any Body in the World. I believe I cannot be sav'd but by the Merits of Jesus Christ, yea, that none was ever sav'd from the Beginning of the World but by the Merits of Jesus Christ;’ for if Jesus Christ had not merited Pardon for ‘all Men, with God his Father, after Adam had sinn'd, all Men had remain'd in a Lost Estate, as the Devils have done, because they had no Intercessor with God to obtain Pardon for their Sins as Men have had; who having Jesus Christ for their Brother, obtain'd by his Means the Remission of their Sins.—I mean not, that Jesus Christ has not also satisfied for the Sins of Men since Adam, seeing for them expresly he cloath'd himself with our Mortality, and came into the World to Redeem us from Eternal Death, into which all Men had wilfully precipitated themselves, and sunk themselves into a Forgetfulness of God, living according to the Motions of corrupt Nature, as the Beasts; which Jesus Christ perceiving, he came from the Bosom of his Father unto the Earth to recal them: He comes to shew them the State in which they were, and how they had abandon'd their God to [Page] delight in other things than in him, and by what means they might recover the Grace of God to attain to Salvation: And he himself does before them the Works that they ought to do after his Example: And because they had turn'd away from the Love of God, to love the Goods and Riches of this World, Jesus Christ came in Poverty, that Men might embrace it after his Example: And because Men had forgotten God, through the Esteem they had of themselves, Jesus Christ came in all Humility and Sufferings to give them an Example: And because Men had left off their Obedience to God, to follow their own Wills, Jesus Christ came to shew that he is Obedidient, even to the Death of the Cross, that he might teach Men how they ought to be subject and obedient even to Death: And Jesus Christ has done all this, with many other things, for the Love he bear to Men, and that by such Means he might draw them to his Father; that he might live with them to all Eternity, giving himself thus in Sacrifice for the Redemption of his Brethren.’

‘But this Sacrifice was not offered for Men who do not believe in him, and do not the Works that he did; nor for those who will needs wilfully continue in their Sins after having known the Law of the Gospel, &c.’

And in Antichr. decouv. Part 2. p. 76. ‘They have, says she▪ sometimes argued against me, that I deny the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ: But I believe this is because I do not hold that Jesus Christ has satisfi'd for Men after the Manner that they hold it; to wit, that Jesus Christ has satisfied for all Men, and that they shall be saved by his Sufferings; without being obliged to suffer themselves; which is a great Error, because the Sufferings of Jesus Christ will never be applied to any but those who shall follow his Life and Doctrine.—’

But because, on the one hand, Men are apt to pervert the Doctrine of the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ to encourage the Indulging of their corrupt Nature, and others to despise it, and think they can save themselves, I think it will not be unacceptable to shew how she discovers the Evil of both, as in many of her Writings, so particularly in Antechr. decouvert. Part 3. p. 45, 46, &c. ‘Those Persons, says she, (she speaks of those who despise Jesus Christ, and think they can save themselves without him) perish thro' Pride, as well as they who say that Jesus [Page] Christ has satisfied all for them. All of them fall into the same Sin of Pride and Ingratitude, tho' by different Ways. The one is proud to believe that he shall be saved by his own Works; and he is also very unthankful that he will not acknowledge what Jesus Christ has done for him, requiting his Benefits with Contempt and Irreverence. And the others commit the same Sin of Pride, in presuming that they are God's Elect, and his Children, to whom Salvation appertains, tho they do not labour to obtain it; and they [...]ll also into the Sin of Ingratitude, in that they will nor render unto Jesus Christ what he has paid for them. They now that he was their Pledge and Surety, yea, that he effectively paid the Penalties due to their Sins, yet they will not use any Endeavours to make Restitution to him. Would it not be a great Ingratitude for a Person to say to him who had paid his Debt, as his Pledge and Surety, That knowing his Debt is paid he resolves to live in Idleness, without taking Care to return the same Payment to him who had paid it for him? Such a Person would be look'd upon by us as wicked and unthankful; while we think our selves the Children of God in doing the same things to the Person of Jesus Christ. We 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 [Page] 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 [Page] 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 [Page] 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,The Sum of her Sentiments, as to the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ. 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 true Man, infinitely beloved by his Father, full of Love to him, and of Charity and Compassion for Man, ardently intercedes with God for him, that he would have Mercy on him. His Father could refuse him nothing that was consistent with his Righteousness and Truth. It was not just that he should receive Man into Favour, if he should continue still to turn away his Love from God to the Creatures and to himself; nor had it been just and safe to have restor'd him presently to the same State of Divine Communion and Joy from whence he had fallen; it was necessary he should feel first the Evil of Forsaking his God, that so his corrupt Nature might be mortified, and he establish'd in the Love of God. God then for the Merits and Intercession of Jesus Christ, pardons Man upon Condition he turn again to the Love of his God from the Creatures and himself; and for this End he communicates again to him his Light and Grace, and allows him a Time of Trial wherein he is to do Penitence for offending his God, that thereby his corrupt Nature and his Love to the Creatures and himself may be throughly mortified, and he return and be establish'd in the Love of God. Jesus Christ accepts of the Terms, and becomes Surety for Man that he shall fulfil them, and applies himself with ardent Love to bring Man back again to God. The Delights of the Creatures being that which had turn'd [Page] away Man's Affections from God, it was just and necessary that he should deny himself to them, and make an entire Sacrifice of all those Delights and of his Lusts after them to the Love of God: To make which the more easie for him, the Earth was accursed for his Sake. Jesus Christ coming now to interpose with God, to bring him back to his Duty, leaves no Means unessay'd to effectuate it; of inward Light and Grace, and outward Laws and Ordinances, according to Man's State and Circumstances. When the Corruption of Man's Nature had resisted and bassl'd all those Means, yet nothing being able to quench his Love, he at last cloaths himself with Man's mortal Nature, puts on all his Infirmities, becomes in all things like to him, yet without Sin, and, as if he had been the greatest Sinner, does Penitence for him, denies himself to all Honours, Riches, Pleasures, Sciences, Eases, Accommodations, Self-seeking, and Self-will, lives and dies in perfect Poverty, Contempt, and Pain, makes an enitre Sacrifice of himself, his Life, and all things of the World unto his God; and this, both that by his Doctrine and by his perfect Example he might shew Man what Way to return to God, how to do Penitence for his Sins, how to deny himself and take up his Cross, and to make a Sacrifice of himself and all unto God; and by doing all this in Man's Nature, to shew him how practicable it was, and also that for the sake of this pure and perfect Oblation of himself, done from so great Love to God and Charity to Man, God might be still moved to have Mercy on Man, to grant him his Grace, and to accept of his Penitence, united to this Sacrifice of Jesus Christ: What Jesus Christ has done and suffered for Man on Earth has infinitely heightned his Merits and the Power of his Intercession with God, so that he obtains for Man, Pardon, and Grace, and Time to repent, and the being receiv'd into perfect Favour with God, upon his Penitence, as if he had never sinned: Jesus Christ has satisfied on his part the Justice of God, but they only receive the Benefit of it who follow his Example in denying themselves, and taking up their Cross, and do thereby mortifie their corrupt Nature and return to the Love of God. It is in this Sence that we also must satisfie God's Justice, not that we can make any Satisfaction to God proportionable to our Demerits. Not that we can merit his Pardon or Salvation; but it being just with God not to receive Man into Communion again with him till he do [Page] Penitence for his Sins, and thereby mortifie his selfish and carnal Affections; not that God stands in need of this, but that it is absolutely necessary for Man's Recovery, we cannot expect Salvation without satisfying in this manner on our part.

The Satisfaction of Jesus Christ for our Sins may be taken in two Sences, by way of Merits, or by way of Discharge: The First way, That he has thereby merited Pardon, Grace, and Salvation for all who shall follow his Example, is most true: The Second, by way of Discharge, That Jesus Christ has so fully satisfied the Justice of God, for the Sins of his Elect, that nothing is required of them but to believe and rely on his Merits; and nothing due from them, but by way of Gratitude, as if God stood in need of their Services; or that they need do, for the mortifying of corrupt Nature, as much only as their Love and Care for the World and themselves will permit, and trust in Christ's Merits for the rest. This, I say, is most false, Christ having merited for us Grace to mortifie our corrupt Nature, and Pardon, and eternal Life, if we return to the Love of God.

Again, there is a twofold Substitution, or the having one in our stead to satisfie the Justice of God for us: There is a Substitution of Self-love, and another of Charity, or the Love of God: The First is, when we desire to gratifie our sensual and corrupt Nature, and follow our own Wills and Lusts, and are very well pleas'd to hear that there is one has suffered for us, and satisfied God's Justice; so that we are content to believe in him and hope in his Merits, going on in the mean time to indulge our corrupt Nature, excusing our selves because of our Frailty and Weakness, and that we cannot do otherwise; but our Saviour Jesus Christ has made an Atonement for all, and we hope in his Merits. This is a False, Diabolical, and Antichristian Substitution, as A. B. makes abundantly appear through all her Writings. The Substitution of Charity, is when out of a deep Sence of our Baseness and Undutifulness to God, and the Propensity of our Natures to continue so still, and to gratifie our corrupt Inclinations, we apply our selves by his Grace to deny our selves, and to make a Sacrifice of all that's dear to us to God, in leading a Life of constant Penitence; but seeing our Penitence bears not Proportion to the infinite Greatnes and Goodness of that [Page] God whom we have offended, we rejoice to know that there is one of perfect Purity, and in full Favour with God, who for us has made a suitable Oblation of himself, not to discharge us from a Life of Penitence, but to obtain Grace for us to do it, and Acceptance of it with God, and shew us how to perform it: To him we flie, and for his sake we beg for the Acceptance of our imperfect Penitence, and desire it may be united to his Sacrifice and done in his Spirit, that he, dwelling in our Hearts by Faith, may communicate himself to us with all his Graces and Merits. It is in the former Sence only that A. B. declares against the common Doctrine Of the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ, as if it were a Substitution of total Discharge, dispensing with the Obligation that lies on us to live a Life of Penitence, and not at all in the Second.

They who read the Writings of A. B. will see that this is the Summ and Substance of her Sentiments on this Head, and that any simple Expressions which seem harsh by themselves are to be interpreted by this Measure. And they who consider by what Principles the Generality of the Christian World do, I do not say speculate and talk, but live and act, and what Encouragement the Doctrine and Glosses of Men has given thereunto; and how, tho' they live in a perfect Contradiction to the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ, yet they hope and believe they shall be saved by his Merits, will see how necessary and how seasonable it is to inculcate those Truths upon the Hearts of Men.

VIII.VIII. Of the Satisfaction due by Man. But because it gives great Offence to some, that she says, Tho' Christ has satisfied all for us on his part, yet that the Merits of his Satisfaction will not be applied to us, unless we our selves do satisfie the Justice of God for our Sins, and in order to our Purification; I shall set down her Sentiment more particularly in this Matter: We sometimes stumble at Words and Terms when we grant the thing it self upon the matter, and it is like this is the case with many here.

1. Then,Le Temoign. de Verite. part 1. p. 83. she says, That no Man could merit Eternal Life, tho' Adam had never sinn'd; for all our good Works are but Temporal, and bear no proportion to eternal Happiness. Heaven and eternal Life is the free Gift of God, which he prepared for Man before he created him, and so he could not merit it. He does not therefore bestow it [Page] for our Merits,Renouv. de l'Espr. Evang avantprop. n. 35. but for his great Mercy, and for the Love he bears us: He is no Merchant, and will not sell his Paradise at any price, but will give it freely; and he has no need of our good Works or Penitence, but because of our Corruption and Infirmity we have great need of them, without which we must perish.

2.Preface, n. 33, 40. 47, 67. 103, 138, 139, 140. That we having forfeited God's Favour and eternal Life, Jesus Christ has merited for us Pardon, Grace, and Life Eternal, upon Condition that we receive and correspond with the Pardon and Grace offered, and turn again to God with all our Hearts, and embrace the Means that are necessary for this End, without which in Justice, Pardon, and Grace could not be demanded for Man; and for our Performance of this, Jesus Christ becomes our Pledge and Surety.

3. As such he cloaths himself with our Mortality, and undergoes all the Parts of this Penitence himself, that he might merit Grace and Pardon for Man, and might strengthen and direct him how to embrace this Penitence, and to follow his Example.

4. Upon his Intercession,Le Temoign. de Verite. Part 1. n. 59, 61, 64. and obtaining of Grace and Pardon for Man, the Love of God is not immediatly conferr'd upon Man, but the Grace of doing Penitence, by which he might recover it. And this was a greate Mercy to Man, than if God had simply pardon'd him, and restor'd him to his Love, without suffering the Earth to be accursed, or all to be corrupted by Sin; since it is to be fear'd Man would have quickly fallen back again into new Sins, finding himself as before in all sorts of Delights, such as Adam had. For we see how Men now turn away their Hearts from God to love the Creatures and themselves, even when they see they are so wretched, weak, and imperfect, subject to all sorts of Maladies and to Death, and that all the Creatures now do them mischief, whereas formerly they honour'd and obey'd them as their Lord; and tho' they see themselves and all the Creatures so filthy, corrupt and miserable, yet they cannot abstain from loving them to the Prejudice of the Love they owe to God. How much more would Man have done so, in case he had remained as beautiful and perfect after his Sin, and all the other Creatures had continued as lovely as before? It is to be fear'd he would not have remained in the Love of God, if he had recovered it after his Sin by the pure Mercy of God without [Page] out the Condition of doing Penitence; or without all the other Creatures their being accursed in him; since we see Men do yet love this Life that is so miserable, and the Creatures that are so wretched, and Man feels in himself Contradictions, Griefs, Displeasures, and all sorts of vicious Passions, which he cannot govern by his Reason; and yet his Spirit is become so brutish, that it loves those Miseries and Imperfections, tho' he find nothing in himself or the other Creatures, but what is worthy of Contempt and Hatred: Yet he loves and esteems them to the Contempt of the Love of his God; who knowing the Baseness of Man's Heart, has given him Penitence as a necessary Mean to withdraw his Affections from this wretched Life, that he may turn them to his God, who will have Man to love him only. And for the same Reason he has permitted all the Creatures which were subject to Man, to contract with him the Malediction of Sin; that by this Mean, occasion might be given to Man to return to the Love of his God, the only lovely Object.

5. Since this Penitence contains the necessary Means to recover the Love of God, and we cannot do this so long as we love Self and the Creatures, and this corrupt Love cannot be mortified so long as we gratifie our Senses, and our Appetites, and enjoy a Paradise here; and our Lusts cannot be subdued without feeling the Bitterness, Anguish, Griefs, and Pains of them, to extinguish the Sence of the unlawful Pleasure and Delight we took in them; Penitence therefore is, 1. The turning away our Hearts and Affections from every thing that hinders the Love of God. Love not the World, &c. 2. And in order to this, the avoiding all the Occasions that may foster the Love of other things, and continually striving against and doing Violence to Self-love, Self-will, and Corrupt Nature. He that will come after me, saith our Lord, let him deny himself. And, 3. The embracing willingly the Anguish, Bitterness, and Pains, the Afflictions both inward and outward, that must be endured for the purifying of our Hearts, and bringing us to the Love of God; and let him take up his Cross.

6.Renouv. de l'Espr. Ev. Pref. n. 52. Jesus Christ has taught us how to undergo this Penitence by his Doctrine, and by his Example; and follow me.

[Page] 7. It is most unreasonable to think that we are discharg'd from this Penitence, because Jesus Christ did thus live and suffer for us; for we must have the Spirit of Christ; our Old Man must be crucified with him; we must be conformed to his Image; we must suffer with him, if we would reign with him. His was meritorious, and expiatory, and exemplary; ours is absolutely necessary for our Purification: By his he obtain'd Pardon and Grace for us, and chang'd the Eternal Punishment we deserved,Ibid. n. 35. into a Temporal Penitence for our Purification and Recovery; and to say we cannot undergo this Penitence, is to have no Faith in his Merits; to believe that it is enough that he did undergo this for us, is the greatest Indignity done him, and the greatest Cheat that we can put upon our Souls; it is to belie, and be false to our Surety and our Pledge: It is like Bankrupts to swagger and rant it out with our Creditor's Goods; because our Surety has paid the Debt for us: It is to make Jesus our Slave to suffer all manner of Afflictions, Poverty, Reproach, and Pain for us, that we may go to Heaven in the pleasant and broad Way of Honours, Wealth, and Pleasures: It is to be well pleas'd that the Physician has provided wholsome and necessary Physick for our Recovery, and has taken it himself for our Direction and Encouragement; but tho' we be sick to Death we will not taste it our selves, because of the Bitterness of it, believing that we shall Recover nevertheless, because the Physician has taken it. Jesus Christ led this Life of Penitence for us in his visible and mortal Body, that he might shew us how ready he is still to undergo it in every one of us by his Spirit.

8. God has no need of this our Penitence,Renouv. de l' Esp. Evang. avantprop. n. 34, 35. but we stand in need of it to recover the Love of God. He does not covet our Wealth, or Honours, or Friends, or Ease, in that he requires of us to be poor in Spirit, to deny our selves, to take up our Cross and follow Christ, to forsake all things, since he created all things for Man, and would be well pleased he could enjoy them still. But Man is become so miserable that he cannot enjoy these things without setting his Heart upon them and turning it away from God; and therefore Jesus Christ has given this his Gospel-Law, without which no body can recover the Love of God. It is a sad Mistake then to think that there is no necessity of good Works, but only by way of Gratitude and Thankfulness [Page] to God, as if he had need of our Acknowledgments, or as if we could make him Presents of our Good Works to thank him; which cannot be said but in Contempt of the Riches of God, who possesses all in himself and seeks nothing without himself, and needs not that we should give him any thing; all the good Works that Men can do, are for no other End but to resist and overcome the Evils of their Corruption. And they are as necessary for our Salvation, as Bread is for the Life of the Body; for we cannot be saved without subduing our Corruption, and no Body can do this but by the means of such good Works, and such Penitence as stifles and mortifies the Vices and Sins which this Corruption has brought into the Soul.

9. It is a Pride to glory in our Penitence,Le Temoign. de Verite. p. 1. n. 107 since it is enjoined us for our Sins; it ought rather to fill us with Humility and Confusion; for in the Beginning it was not so. God created us to live in all sorts of Delights without any Pain. All this beautiful World was created to serve for Pleasures to the Body of Man, and God himself was the Delight of his Soul. But Sin only has changed that excellent Order, and made Man subject to that over which he ought to rule, because he had withdrawn his Subjection from God. Our Sins have occasioned the Law of Penitence, which Jesus Christ came to teach us by Word and Deed. This Penitence does not consist in Undergoing Pennances chosen by our selves and after our Fancy,Light of the World part 2. conf. 11. by which the Devil would drive us headlong and excite us to Vain-glory, and which usually make Men presumptuous, believing themselves to be better than others, and that God is obliged to them for their good Works, as the Pharisee. All this proceeds from Self-love; but true Penitence consists in taking patiently whatsoever God permits to befall us, either to our Body, Estate, or Mind, and willingly to suffer it in the Spirit of Penitence to satisfie for our Sins; for every Moment there falls out Occasions of Suffering and and Submission, so that we need not seek for them. It is necessary that we practise this Resignation of our Will to God, for accomplishing the saving Penitence which he has enjoined us, and for the Exercise of all sort of Vertues.

10.Renouv. de l' Espr. Ev. p. 2. n. 105, 106 Since then the Justice of God could not permit that Pardon and Grace should be given to sinful Man, but upon Condition that he turn away from Sin to God, and in order to that live a Life of Penitence, and co-operate with the [Page] Spirit of Suffering, Self-denial and Mortification, which God will communicate to him if he sincerely desire to be saved; it is necessary that Man satisfie this Duty which is so just before God, and which the Justice of God requires, as well as the Nature of the thing it self. This is that which she calls Man's Satisfying God's Justice on his Part; this is that from which the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ does not procure us a Dispensation, for then he had neither been just to God nor us; but he merited the Acceptance of it at God's Hands, and Grace and Strength for us to perform it, and taught us how to undergo it. If People are nice and captious, and will needs carp at Words and Expressions, as Satisfaction and the Satisfying the Justice of God, while they understand what is meant by them, no body will contend with them about them provided they grant the Truth and Reality of the thing; that no body will be saved by the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ, without the Mortification of their corrupt Nature and the Recovery of the Love of God.

It is good Consideration which is now generally assigned,Et est Justitiae Pulchritudo cum Benignitatis Gratia concordans, ut quoniam bonorum inferiorum dulcedine decepti sumus, amaritudine paenarum crudiamur. S. Aug. de Vera Relig. c. 15. why God thought not fit as Governour of the World to pardon Rebellious Man without the Intervention of an expiatory Sacrifice in the Life and Death of Jesus Christ, that Men might thereby see the Evil of Sin, and God's infinite Hatred and Abhorrence of it, and so might be diverted from continuing in it or returning to it. It is for the very same Reason, that God thought not fit to pardon Man for the Sufferings of Jesus Christ, unless he also follow him in a Life of Penitence and Sufferings; for we are not so sensible of what others suffer, neither does it breed in us such an Abhorrence of that which has occasioned their Sufferings, as when we suffer the like Pains and Evils our selves, without which we have as superficial a Sense of them as of the Actings on a Theatre. And therefore to give us the more lively Sense of the Sufferings of Jesus Christ, and to enflame our Love to him, and to work in us the greater Detestation of Sin and of our corrupt Nature, God thinks fit that we should feel in our Souls the Evil and the Bitterness of Forsaking him, without which they can never be purified nor come to see God.

IX.IX. Of a State of Purification after this Life. There is another Prejudice which has some Affinity to this, and which the generality of Protestants are prepossessed with, and that is because she affirms that there is a [Page] State of Purification after this Life for such Souls as are truly converted unto God, and yet are not wholly purified from their Corruption, and so are not immediately capable of enjoying God. All corrupt Doctrine has generally some Fond of Truth, with which they mingle many other things that tend to promote Men's worldly Interests; the Wealth of the Clergy, and the Dependance of the People. Thus in the Church of Rome they have founded a Purgatory in a Place near to Hell, where Souls are tormented by a material Fire, from whence they are delivered by some Soul-Masses, some superstitious Ceremonies, the dying in a Cordelier's Habit, and a thousand Fopperies of this Nature. But that Souls which die truly converted unto God, and yet have not attained to such a State of Purity as to be capable of enjoying him,L'Eroile du Matin. Let. 25, 26. Le Temoign. de Verite. p 1. n. 53, 66. shall undergo a State of Purification before they can see God, is more than probable. The Sum of her Sentiments as to this are, 1. That is evident, none can enjoy God who are not in a State of so perfect Purity, that there remains in them no Degree of Corruption neither Actual nor Habitual. For no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: There is no Fellowship between Light and Darkness: And they are only the pure in Heart who shall see God. 2. It is certain that they who are truly converted unto God, are in a State of Grace and Salvation, tho' Sin be yet in him, and the Old Adam is not yet dead. If a Person full of Sins and evil Habits be in his Heart and Desires truly turned unto God, he receives him into his Grace, tho' his habitual Sins are not yet rooted out; much more him who is greatly advanced in the Mortification of his corrupt Nature, but has not yet attained to a State of perfect Purity. 3. It is as certain that Conversion and Regeneration are not one and the same thing. The first being the turning away from Evil to Good, from Sin to God; the second being the Renovation of the whole Man after the Image of God, a Creature altogether new, whose Will is wholly resigned to God, who lives no longer but Christ lives in it. 4. It is in Grace and spiritual things as it is in Nature and bodily things: All things advance to their Perfection by Degrees, and not in an Instant. God does all things in Order, in Number, Weight and Measure, and conformably to the Nature of the Beings he has formed. We are first Children before we are Men, and we advance by Degrees to the Stature and Wisdom of Men, [Page] and put away Childish Things. But if the Child come forth of the Womb void of the bodily Life, it remains so still. We are told of Children, and Youth, and Men in Christ Jesus, and we must not think that all these States are attain'd to in an Instant in the spiritual Life no more than in the bodily. 5. It cannot be denied but that many who are saved do go out of this World truly converted unto God, but yet not throughly renewed and purified; and as, on the one hand, God will not reject and cast away such Souls as seek him with all their Heart; so on the other hand in this State of Impurity they are not capable of enjoying him: And therefore God in his infinite Goodness, Truth, and Righteousness, will place them in such a State as whereby all their evil Habits may be wholly rooted out, all their Corruption subdued, all their Filthiness cleansed, and they purified as God is pure 6. This so great and so extraordinary a Change cannot be supposed to be wrought in an Instant, nor yet without most sensible Pain and Labour to the Soul in whom this Change is wrought. The Soul is of a most sensible Nature, and when freed of this mortal Body that stupifies it, its Sensibilities must be infinitely more lively and piercing; and therefore the Sentiment of being deprived of the glorious Presence of God which it ardently thirsts after, and of having within it Dispositions repugnant to this Enjoyment, which a Ray from God manifests it to, cannot but give it unspeakable Pain and Anguish. We see here no sensible Being that is in Disorder can be restored to its right State without Pain and Trouble; a broken Leg, a disjointed Member, a Part of the Body ulcer'd, corrupt Humours, cannot be rectified without Pain and Trouble. It all the Parts and all the Members of a Body were dislocated, corrupted and disordered, the Pain and Trouble that would be felt in the restoring of that Body would be unspeakably greater. All this is but a faint Image of the State of the Soul; all its Faculties are more corrupted and disordered than it is possible for the Body to be; the Restitution of which by the Operation of the Divine Grace cannot be perform'd even in this State of Stupidity without much Pain and Anguish, but after this Life when the Soul is fully awakened, it is supported by the Divine Grace to undergo this Change, but with Dolours beyond Comparison greater. No living thing can pass from one State to another without great [Page] Sensibility, can enter into a new Element, unto which it is not entirely conformable, without suffering its Impressions with Pain; weak and sickly Eyes cannot endure great Light without Pain, nor a weak Body strong Nourishment without Trouble. So a Soul falling into the Element of Eternity of the Divine Light, and of the Fire of the Divin [...] Love, if it be yet weak and ill [...]sposed, if i [...] have yet many contrary Dis [...]sitions, many things to be consumed, many Habits to [...] out; this cannot be done without great Sufferings. Not that God chastises in Wrath; nor that he de [...]nts to torment the Soul; but that the Soul, full of contrary Disp [...]sitions full of Darkness, cannot receive his Light, nor feel the [...] of his Love without most sensible and dolorous Sentiments, till by the Force and Continuance of these Impressions they have banish'd out all that is contrary to his Divine Light and Love, which then transforms the Soul wholly into its own Nature. It is unreasonable to oppose that Passage of Scripture, that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all Sins; for the Meaning of it is not, that because Jesus Christ has shed his Blood, we ought to be cleansed from our Sins without Mortifications and sufferings, but the quite contrary; for the Blood of Jesus Christ is the Grace that he has merited by his Blood; whereby we may be purified from our Sins by Sufferings, and by a Conformity to his Sorrows and Death: And when this is not fully done here, it continues to be done in the other Life, as the Soul is capable to admit it, and its Indisposition requires.

This is a Doctrine very agreeable to the Tenour of the Holy Scriptures, which tell us, that God will render to every Man according to his Works; that no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; that only the pure in Heart only shall see God. The Sence of it seems to be imprinted in the Spirits of all Men, from the Sence they have of the Purity and Righteousness of God and their Consciousness of their own Impurity. The Heathens, Jews, Turks, and Christians have been perswaded of it, those of the Antient Church both Greek and Latin. It is a Doctrine that most powerfully engages to lead a Life of Penitence here, in which the Anguish and Pain of Purification is far less sensible, and whereby a Soul may still acquire new Graces and Capacities of Attaining to a higher Degree of Glory; whereas the Sufferings of Purification [Page] after Death are unspeakably more sensible, and the Soul is not capable of advancing to a higher State. It affords also great Consolation to truly sincere and pious Souls who seek God unfeignedly, but are sensible of the greatness of their Corruption, to know that God will not cast them off, nor deny them his purifying Grace here and hereafter, till he have made them fit Temples for himself to dwell in; and will still so support them in the most dolorous Purification, with a full Acquiescence in his righteous Will, that they would not desire that it were otherwise, but will say with Job, Tho' he slay me, yet will I trust in him. I shall conclude this with a Passage of the most learned and pious Dr. William Forbes, sometimes Bishop of Edinborough, who disproving the Popish Purgatory, and owning that the Greek Fathers and many of the Latins were for a State of Purification after this Life, tho' he says without Pain;Gul. Forbesii Considerationes modestae & purificae p. 266, 267 he concludes thus: Ad Contraversiam hanc tollendam vel saltem minnendam Romanenses Opinionem suam de Purgatorio punitivo, quum nullis certis Fundamentis nec in Scripturis, nec in primorum saeculorum Patribus, nec in priscis Conciliis nitatur, ut supra demonstratum est, pro Fidei Articulo nec habeant ipsimet, neque aliis obtrud int. Protestantes etiam, quibus Opinio ista improbatur, & quidem Jure Meritoque, Hereseos tamen aut Impietatis aperte eandem ne damnent. Senientiae vero communi Graecorum, atque etiam quorundam Virorum doctorum in Latina Ecclesia de Purgatorio expiatorio (quod solum Purgatorii Nomen proprie loquendo meretur) in quo sine Poenis Gehennalibus, Animae Sanctorum, quorum quasi media quaedam Conditio est, in Coelis quidem, sed in Coelorum Loco soli Deo noto, magis magisque usque ad Diem Visionis Dei clarae, fruentes Conspectu & Consortio Humanitatis Christi & sanctorum Angelorum perficiunt se in Dei Charitate per fervida & amorosa Suspiria, ut supra dictum est, nutri pertinaciter obluctentur. Sua enim atque ea quidem haud exigua probabilitate minime destituitur.

There are others who give unjust Representations of her Sentiments concerning Predestination, Grace, and Free-will; I shall therefore give a just Account of them from her own Writings, and in her own Words, and no Reader needs think strange nor load her with Reproaches upon that Head, if he find that in some things they differ from the Doctrine which he has been accustom'd to [Page] hear, there are such differences of Sentiments upon these Subjects, even among Persons of the same Communion.

X.X. Of Predestination. As to the Doctrine of Predestination, she says, That God did certainly create all Men for Salvation, and none for Damnation: That God being infinitely Good without any mixture of Evil, and his Nature Love, nothing can come from him but what is Good; but if he had created a Mass of absolutely reprobated, he would have made Evil things: That Predestination to Damnation could not come from God, since the Damnation of [...]oul is the greatest Evil in the World; that this had been to give them occasion to curse him to all Eternity, looking on him as very unjust toward them, for having predestinated them for Damnation before they had received a Being, without having merited or demerited any thing: That in Truth and Justice such might have said,Tomb. de la fauss. Theol. Part 2. Let. 3. L'Acad. des scav. Theoi. p. 1. ch. 1. Why didst thou not leave me into nothing, rather than to have created me for an eternal Damnation? What had I done before I had a Being to render me thus Miserable? For it had been far better I had never been created, than to have created me only for Damnation.

How cruel is it to hear that God should predestinate a Mass of Reprobates! This is to proclaim God wicked in the Creation of Man! For else he would not have created a Mass of Reprobates to be Miserable to all Eternity, do what they will; he could not create them for Damnation, but out of pure Malice! A greater Blasphemy cannot be uttered against God than this! For it shocks all his Qualities of Goodness, Righteousness, and Truth, without which he can never do any thing. If he had created one part of Men for Damnation, he should not have done a just thing; since those Reproabates did not merit Damnation before they had a Being, and could not in Justice be reprobated without having deserved it: Neither could he exercise his Goodness in decreeing the Damnation of any thing; since this Damnation is the greatest Evil in the World. And how should he be true in reprobating those of whom he says, that his Delight is to be with them, since they are the Children of Men.

This is inconsistent with the original Design of creating Man,Le Nouv. Ciel. p. 25, &c. and the manner of his Formation. He made him to take his Delight with him; and that Man might love and enjoy his God, he form'd him for that End after his own Image. He created one Man only, and in him all Men. [Page] Would he predestinate to Damnation a Creature whom he made to take his Delight with him,Le Temoign. de Verite. Part 1. n. 22, 56, 67, 109. before he had a Being, whom he endued with such wonderful Perfections? Was this only to damn him the more profoundly? Were not all Men created in one Man for Grace and Salvation? He took not two Masses of Earth, to create the one of them for Salvation, and the other for Damnation; but one Mass only, with which he created one Man only for Salvation, creating in him all the Men that ever were or shall be; he created them all in general in the State of Innocence and Salvation, and for this End gave abundance of Graces both bodily and spiritual, and that equally to all, without Exception of any, giving to all a Divine Soul and Free-will, that they might be capable of all manner of Good. And seeing he thus created all Men in Adam, he could not have created any for Reprobation, but all for Salvation.

Is it not to ascribe vitious Passion to God,Light of the world Part 3. Conf. 22. to say that he reprobated Man because of the foresight of the Sins which he would commit after his Creation; and that he predestinated him to Salvation, foreseeing his future Merits? Had God need of Man's Merits to save him? Can all Men together with all their Merits bring one Ray of Glory to God? Is not this to go over to their side, who say, that Men shall be elected and saved by their good Works, and not by Grace only; in which they make God a Liar, who has promised (as they grant) that he will save us by Grace?

To say that God did not create Man for Damnation, but reprobated Man after Adam's Sin, which had undone them all, is most absurd. For as all Men were created in Adam, so they were also all alike fallen in Adam, and all in general reprobated by the same Sin of Adam; for he could not have a divided Will, one part of it sound, and another damn'd; there being but one Man only, and he had but one Will, in which was included the Will of all Men that should ever arise from him. And if God had left Adam in the reprobated State wherein he fell, all Men had equally remained so. And when Adam received the Pardon of his Sin, and was admitted to Penitence, all Men were still in him, and consequently all were restored to Favour, upon Condition of performing the Penitence that God enjoyn'd in Adam. So that God could not leave one part of Men in the Curse, without dividing Adam, and appointing one [Page] part of his Body for Salvation, and another for Reprobation; since there was but one Man. If there had been two, it might have been said of Men, what is said of Angels, that one part of the Angels was damn'd, and another confirm'd in Grace; but that of one Soul and one Body there should proceed reprobated and saved by the Predestination of God, this is odious.

They who say that God did not predestinate to Damnation, but only left one part of Men who were in Adam in Damnation, and did elect another part to Salvation, do directly contradict the Scriptures; for the Scripture says expresly, that with God there is no respect of Persons. How could he then predestinate one part of Men to Salvation, and leave the other part into the Damnation into which they were all equally plung'd; since all had equally sinn'd in Adam, and one no more than another? How then can it be that God, who is no Respecter of Persons, can damn one part and save another, of the same Mass of Persons, (which have equally contracted the, same Sin) without Injustice, which cannot be in God? And tho' he be almighty to save one and damn another, as those Casuists say, yet he will never do it, for he will never do any Injustice; For my part, says she, I would not commit the least Injustice against my Enemies, not against the Devil himself. How much less would God, who is incomprehensibly more Just than I, do such an Injustice as to damn one and save another of the Persons who have committed the same Fault, even tho it were in his Power.

They say, may not a Man do with his own Goods what he will? how much more may God dispose of Man as he pleases, who absolutely belongs to him! and none can ask him, why he saves one and lets another perish. This, says she, seems a weak Argument even in the Comparison; for it is not true that a Man can do with his Goods what he pleases, he ought to use them according to Justice and Reason; and if he do otherwise, he will bear his Punishment before God, who will not suffer Injustice, nor us to abuse our Goods without calling us to an Account at the Day of Judgment. How much more will God dispose of Men justly, even tho' they belong to him? How much less can he commit this Injustice of damning one and saving another of those who have fallen into the same Fault, and are equally Guilty? It is true God is Almighty, and can do [Page] what he will, but he can never will to do any thing unjustly, as this would be, which could not be without respect of Persons, and this cannot be in God.

To say that he expresly predestinated one part of them to Damnation, is to say that he had not so much Righteousness in himself, as that which he requires of Men; for he says to them, Love your Enemies, do good to them that hate you. This Counsel would have had no Authority, if he himself had reprobated those who are become his Enemies. This absolute Reprobation would not be Good, but the greatest Evil that could be imagin'd. How could he command Men to do Good to their Enemies, when he himself would do so great and eternal an Evil, for the Fault they had committed against him, and that while they were yet in a State of Penitence, as they are during this Life, where Reprobation shall never have place, since till the very last Instant they may find Mercy and Pardon. This Reprobation can only have place after Death, and not during this Life. Because this is the Time of Penitence, in which, if Men were certainly reprobated, they could have no part; and it would be a very rigorous and unjust thing to oblige those to Penitence whom he absolutely resolves to damn. Men it seems confound the Times when they speak of Predestination, and take the present for the time to come. For at the Judgment God will separate two masses, the one of Elect, the other of Reprobates, who shall then assuredly be damned, because the Time of Penitence will then be past; but during this Life there can be no predestinated Reprobates.

If God has reprobated the Wicked to Damnation, he would not give them so many secret and inward Warnings to turn them unto him; as all Sinners may know by experience, that even when by Sin they have turn'd away from God, they feel how oft he recals them by many Occasions, and by Checks of Conscience. All the Souls who are damned have been often admonished by God both inwardly and outwardly; as may be seen in the Holy Scriptures. How often did he admonish Pharoah and other wicked Men? If it were true that God had reprobated them, he would not have been sincere in giving them so many Admonitions to turn them from their Wickedness, or at least they were all vain Admonitions, since being predestinated to Evil, it was impossible for them to do Good. Must God tempt Men, or render them more guilty than otherwise they would have been of themselves?

[Page] God has declared that as he Lives he has no pleasure in the Death of the Wicked, but that the wicked Man turn from his way and live; and that he is not willing that any should Perish. God then should not be sincere in his words, if he had predestinated some Souls to Damnation; which cannot be said of God who is Truth it self, always faithful in his Promises; and no sooner is a Sinner converted, but he receives him with joy, according to the Parable of the Prodigal, and therefore it is said, there is Joy in Heaven at the Conversion of a Sinner, more than over Ninety and Nine righteous Persons: All this shews that God is so far from predestinating any Soul to Damnation, that even he himself comes to seek and to save those who would damn themselves, as appears by the Good Shepherd that left his many Sheep to go and seek the One Sheep that had gone astray, and brings it back on his Shoulders with Joy. After all this, who can doubt that God has created us all for Salvation, and none for Damnation, which proceeds only from Mens Self-will, and not at all from the Predestination or Presence of God?

This Doctrine of Predestination to Damnation is, she says, a most blasphemous and dangerous Doctrine, robs God of the Honour due to him, shocks all his Attributes of Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, renders him very unlovely to his Creatures; gives those occasion who think they are reprobated to spend all their Life in blaspheming God, for creating them to Damnation for no Fault of theirs, before they had a Being, and not rather leaving them into nothing, and discourages them from all Endeavours of becoming better, since of necessity they must be damned however; and it encourages those who think they are predestinated to Salvation to a Libertine kind of Life, since they are perswaded that notwithstanding of this they shall be saved, and God will some time or other bring them to Repentance.

It seems Men have taken up these Sentiments that they may attribute to God the Cause of their Damnation, and not to themselves, which is a horrible Pride and Blasphemy; or to flatter their Wickedness in excusing it by Adam's Sin, and that they may not fulfill the Penitence that God has enjoyn'd them by him. And being full of Passions themselves without Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, they would give Authority to their Wickedness, by making [Page] a God to go before them, in the matter of their Passions. And as they see those who rule over Men do according to their Inclinations, disgrace or favour them, so they would make God as partial, saying, that he damns some, and saves others according to his Pleasure; which will never be, for God is no more subject to Passions than to Change.

Yet nevertheless Men are ready to colour this Doctrine with Passages from the Holy Scripture, especially some Expressions misunderstood in the Epistles of St. Paul. The Apostle Peter when he touches this very Subject, and tells us the reason of the Long-suffering of God, because he is not willing that any should Perish, but that all should come to Repentance, he adduces St. Paul's Testimony to confirm the Truth of it, and tells us that he has said the same in his Epistles, but withal warns us that there are some things in them hard to be understood, which the Unstable wrest to their own Destruction, pointing out it seems to this very Subject. The necessary Duties of Christianity are plainly set down in the Holy Scriptures, and other things cannot be well understood but by the same Spirit that endited them; and the Rule already mention'd for interpreting the Holy Scripture may be of great use, viz. That we so interpret it as may consist with the known Perfections of the Divine Nature, and may lead us to the Love of God, and to a sence of our own Nothingness; and if there be multitudes of Places of Holy Scripture that do plainly lead us to this, and some few that are apt to be wrested to a Sence contrary to all these, we ought certainly to interpret them by those plain Passages of the Holy Scripture, which do clearly represent the Perfections of God. Thus she instanceth in that Expression, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated, and makes appear, that to take it in the Sence of an irrespective and absolute Predestination and Reprobation from all Eternity, is inconsistent with the Nature of God, and the other plain Directions of the Holy Scripture; which shew that God has no respect of Persons. She says, That all the things of the Old Testament are Figures of the New, and that Jacob and Esau are the Figure of a Person sanctified, and of him who lives according to corrupt Nature; of the Soul that loves its God, and the Soul that loves it self. This is the Esau and Jacob, which the Scripture understands by those Twins come from One Womb; for all Men who are born since [Page] the Sin of Adam, bring with them into the World the good Spirit of Jacob, and the Evil of Esau: For God gave Adam his good Spirit when he created him, and thereafter the Divil by the Consent of the Will of Adam and Eve produced there his Evil Spirit, so that those two are engendred in the Soul of all Men before they come out of the Womb: They reside in the Womb of the Free-will that God has given us, and there struggle before they are in a State to do Good or Evil, as Jacob and Esau did in their Mother's Womb, which of them should get out first. All Men proceeding from Adam do derive from him all his Qualities by Nature and Grace (as the Seed and Plant must still be of the Nature of the Tree and Stock from whence it comes) an Inclination to Good being the Instinct he retain [...] of the Grace of God, and an Inclination to Evil the Instinct which he retain'd from the Corruption of his Corrupt Nature. So these two Spirits live in Men before they are born, as we see the natural Instinct of Beasts as soon as they are form'd, as a Duckling come out of the Shell can swim and duck in the Water without being taught by its Mother; so this Evil Spirit of Esau gives all Men this natural Instinct to Evil, which they still follow if the Spirit of Jacob do not constrain them to Good, and hinder them from Evil. Hence comes the War which Man feels throughout all his Life, and according to the Victory so is his eternal Lot. This Evil Spirit of Esau always gets first out of the Wombs of our Free-will, which is rather inclin'd to the things we see, than to the Good that is invisible; the Pleasures of our Senses, rather than the divine and inward Pleasures, which we cannot perceive but at a great Distance, and through Darkness. This we cannot hinder till we have attain'd the use of Reason, when we ought by all means to labour that the Spirit of Jacob may get the uppermost in dispite of wicked Esau. Those things are true both in the Nature of these two Children, and in that of the two-Spirits. But Men not understanding the Scriptures, do wrest and explain them to a Sence dishonourable to God, and blasphemous of him.

XI.XI. Of Free-will. But it may be said, if there be no such Predestination, how then comes any Man to be damn'd? How came Sin into the World? Can any thing fall out against the Will of God, and which he has not decreed to fall out? As I live, saith the Lord, I delight not in the Death of a Sinner.[Page]Let no Man say when he is tempted, Academ. de Scav. Theol. p. 1. ch. 1, 2. that he is tempted of God. O Israel! thy Destruction is of thy self. God did not decree that Man should sin, nor that he would permit him to sin, but took care by all means to prevent it; and has spar'd no Mean to recover him from it. But Man has wilfully destroyed himself.

God created him out of pure Love to delight himself in him,Light of the World Part 3. Conf. 2, 21, 22. and therefore to make this Love perfect and compleat, he created him altogether Free and Perfect. He would not bound nor limit the Will of Man, whom he would needs make after his own Likeness, to be his Spouse, and not his Slave, or constrain'd to do his Will, as are all the other Creatures. But Man was created altogether Free, as a little God, Sovereign and Ruler over the other Creatures, and free to use them well or ill, as he would.

If he had received only a limited Will,Le Nouv. Ciel p. 67. Renouv. de l'Espr. Evang▪ avantprop. n. 11. 18, 24, 25, 31. he would have had no Divine Quality for God to take his Delight with him; for that two Beings may find Contentment together, there must be a Proportion and Sympathy between them. God cannot take his Delight with any Creature of a bounded Will, he himself being an infinite God; there must be in Man some infinite Quality by which he may unite himself to God, and that is an absolute Liberty of willing, which nothing can constrain. This was the most precious thing that God could give to Man, for by it he was made like to God; for otherwise he should have been a limited Creature in whom God could not take Pleasure. Could God take Delight in a thing so unlike himself? Could so powerful a God unite himself to such an impotent Creature that had not Free-will to love him? God having no Bounds nor Limits, could he take Pleasure in a Creature whose Will was bounded? And could a limited Will attain to the Love of a God without Limits? This is the only thing that makes Man capable of being united to God. We see in Nature the Alliance is not true and agreeable, if two Persons be not united in their Wills in God; if there be Force, Limitation, or Constraint on either side, the Contentment cannot be compleat. This is the Figure of the perfectly Free Union that the Soul ought to have with God; and if the Soul were constrain'd or forc'd to this Union, God could not take perfect Delight in it. Where there is Constraint, there can be no perfect Love; the Free Consent and Cooperation of two united must necessarily concur to make the Love compleat,

[Page] As God gave this Liberty to Man when he created him, so he will never take it from him; for his Designs are unchangable, all his Works are Eternal, and his Gifts are without Repentance. Both Devils and Men shall have their Free-will to all Eternity, else they could not do Evil, for God never retracts what he has once given; he will never retake those Divine Qualities, the Divine Soul and Eternal Liberty, and cannot bound them, because he cannot be changeable in his Gifts, nor can he take away what he has been pleas'd once to give. If it be establish'd among Men to lay no longer Claim to a thing given, how much more ought we to hold, that God lays no Claim to the Free-will of Devils and Men, to whom he voluntarily gave it. The Devils and demned Souls will never use their Liberty to do well, being so habituated to Evil and in the Element of it; as the Holy Angels and Blessed Saints will never use their Liberty to do Evil, it being swallowed up in God.

From hence it is evident, that God did not predetermine Man from all Eternity to Good or Evil by any absolute Decree; for this is to constrain that which he would have to be Free, to ranverse the Order he had so wisely establish'd, and to take from man the most precious thing that he gave him. If he had made Man a limited Creature, he would have predestinated all Men to Salvation, so that none of them should have perished. For all that God makes absolutely dependent on him▪ is always Good without any mixture of Evil; and it can never be that a limited Creature can do Evil, since God can create nothing that is Evil.

God endued Man with such an unlimited Free-will, that he would not only not predetermine him, but also not foresee how he should dispose of that Free-will, that he might not thereby limit it, or oblige Man to do what he had foreseen. His Power and Wisdom is as great, (yea far more conspicuous) in forming him thus Free, and letting him fully enjoy the Liberty that he had given him, than if he had limited him by Fore-sight and Predestination.

God being Almighty can save or damn as he pleases, and no body can withstand him, for all are subject to him; but he neither does, nor ever will do it, but in the Ways which his powerful Wisdom and the Love, he has conceived for Man, have resolved upon, whom he would needs create [Page] like unto himself by the absolute Free-will he gave him, and would neither constrain him to Good, nor hinder him from Evil; but would have him his by pure Love, with the free Consent of his Will, that he might delight in him, and Man also might voluntarily delight in the Love of his God. Thus we see how Sin came into the World, and how Man damns himself. God neither willed it nor permitted it, that he might bring Glory to himself; (a most blasphemous Sentiment) but, against the Will of God, Man abused the most precious Gift that could be bestowed upon him, his Free-will, and turn'd away his Love from God, and placed it on himself and on the Creature. God does not permit Man to do Evil, but by all Means restrains him. He permits him only to use the Free-will he has given him; and, having endued him with an immortal Soul, and an eternal Liberty, he can no more take away this Liberty without destroying his Nature and making him cease to be Man, than he can make a Circle to be a Square without destroying the Nature of a Circle. God, by giving Man Free-will to make him capable of the greatest Good, is no more the Cause of Man's Sin and Reprobation, than a Cutler would be the Cause of a Lord's murthering of his Brother, because it was done with a Weapon which he had made for him of well-temper'd Steel, of a sharp Edge, and for good Uses. It would be a cruel Malice to accuse the Cutler of the Murther; the Malice is infinitely greater to say, that God created us for Damnation, or is the Cause of it, because he has given us Free-will.

‘You see, saith S. Augustin, howVides quantum boni desit Corpori, cui desunt Manus & tamen Manibus male utitur, qui eis operatur vel saeva vel turpia. Sine Pedibus aliquem si aspiceres; fatereris de esse Integritati Corporis plurimum bonum; & tamen eum qui ad nocendam cuipiam, vel seipsum dehonestandum Pedibus uteretur, male uti Pedibus non negares. Oculis hanc Lucem videmus, Formas (que) internoscimus Corporum;—Oculis tamen pleri (que) plera (que) agunt turpiter, & eos militare cogunt Libidini: Et vides quantum bonum desit in facie si Oculi desint: Cum autem adsunt, quis hos dedit; nisi bonorum omnium Largitor Deus? Quemadmodum ergo ista probas in Corpore; & non intuens eos qui male his utuntur, laudas illum qui haec dedit bona: Sic liberam voluntatem sine, qua nemo potest recte vivere, opportet & bonum esse & Divinitùs datum, & potius eos damnandos qui hoc bono male utuntur, quam, cum qui dederit, dare non debuisse fatearis.—Cum in Corpore ergo Oculum concedas esse aliquod bonum, quo amisso tamen ad recte vivendum non impeditur, Voluntas libera tibi videtur nullum bonum, sine qua recte Nemo vivit?—NonIbid. Lib. 3. c. 1. enim quicquam tam firme atque intime sentio quam me habere Voluntatem, eaque me moveri ad aliqu [...]d fruendum: Quid autem meum dicam prorsus non invenio, si Voluntas qua volo & nolo non est mea? quapropter cui tribuendum est, siquid per illam Male facio, nisi mihi? Cum enim bonus Deus me fecerit, nec bene aliquid faciam nisi per Voluntatem ad hoc potius datam esse a bono Deo satis apparet: Motus autem quo huc atque illuc convertitur, nisi esset voluntarius, atque in nostra potius Potestate, neque laudandus cum ad Superiora, neque culpandus Homo esset cum ad inferiora detorquet quasi quendam cardinem Voluntatis: Neque omnino monendus esset, ut istis neglectis aeterna vellet adipisci, atque ut male nollet vivere, vellet autem bene. Hoc autem monendum non esse Hominem quisquis existimat, de Hominum numero exterminandus est. S. August. de Libero arbitr. Lib. 2. c. 18. much Good is wanting to the Body where the Hands are wanting, and yet he makes ill use of his Hands who acts any thing that [Page] is base or filthy with them. If you should see any without Feet, you would confess there is much wanting to the Perfection of the Body; yet you would not deny but that he, who should use them, either to hurt any one, or to his own Dishonour, makes an ill Use of his Feet. With our Eyes we see the Light, and discern the Forms of Bodies.—Yet many act Evil with their Eyes and make them the Instruments of Lust; Yet you see what a Defect there is in the Face without the Eyes. Now where these are entire, who is the Giver of them but God the Giver of all Good. Wherefore as you approve of those in the Body, and without regarding those that misuse them, give Praise to God that gave them: So it is necessary that the Free-will, without which no one can order his Life aright, must be both Good and also the Gift of God. And you must confess that those rather are to be condemn'd that make ill Use of this Good, than that he should be Impeached who gave it. Since then in the Body you grant the Eye to be a Good, which yet if it were wanting there would be no Hinderance to our living well; How can that seem to you no Good, without which none can live aright?—For there is nothing that I do so firmly and intimately feel as that I have a Will, and that by it I am moved to do this or that. And I see not why I should call it mine, if the Will wherewith [Page] with I do will and not will, is not mine. Wherefore to whom must it be attributed, if I commit Evil thereby, but to my self? For since God hath made me, and I cannot do any thing well but by the Will; it doth thence sufficiently appear that the Will was given rather for this End by the good God. And unless that Motion were voluntary and in our Power, whereby the Will is turned hither and thither, Man would be neither worthy of Praise when he lifteth it up to Things above, nor of Blame when he wresteth aside as it were a certain cardinal Point of the Will to Things below: Neither were he to be admonished, that neglecting these temporal, he should seek to gain Eternal Things; and that he should refuse to live ill, and chuse to live Well. But whosoever thinks that Man is not to be admonished to this, ought not to be suffered among Men.’

XII.XII. Of Grace. But if Man have Free-will, can be do Good of himself without the Grace of God; or if he turn away from God, can he recover again without God's Grace, or is God partial in his Grace, denying it absolutely to some, and b [...]st [...]wing it on others? In all this, these are her Sentiments.

As to the first, Acad. de [...] Theol [...]g p. 1. c. 1. God is the Author of all Good, and Man can never do any Good of himself, but by the Grace of God, with which God requires that Man by his Free will should co-operate, that he may give him more Grace. To conceive how God gives his Grace to Man, and how he must co-operate therewith, we need but consider the Order that he has placed in Nature as to the human Body. It is he who forms it independantly from the Creatures; so that Parents cannot add one Hair to the Head of their Infant. Yet he brings no Men into the World but by the Co-operation of two Persons, who are so united as that two Bodies are made one Flesh; as Hearts and Wills ought to be one in Christ Jesus, for the Forming of the Holy Church. God might have created all Men of the Dust of the Earth as he did Adam, or made them generate as Fishes; but he wills this Conjugal Co-operation, to maintain his Charity among his Creatures, and produces no Men by any other Way, tho' he be Almighty. Even so he gives his Grace to Man, that he may love him and work out his S [...]lvation. It is he alone who gives this Grace, and Man contributes nothing to it, nor has ever merired it. Nevertheless this Grace liberally given, will never produce its [...]ect, without [Page] the Consent of the Free-will of Man and his Co-operation, tho' he can add nothing to Grace, which comes immediately from God, as does also the Generation of Men.

But the Ordinance of God will still stand, and Man ought not to ask the Reason of it, or to say, that the Grace of God ought to operate alone; or which is worse, to say that Man can do Good of himself. These are Sayings as rash as presumptuous, whereby Men would give Laws to God, and would have his Grace to operate alone. And to attribute to Man the Power of doing Good, without being prevented by his Grace, is a Pride surpassing that of Lucifer, who would only equal himself to God; whereas Man who would do Good of himself, preferrs himself to him, and will not take him for the Co-operator of his Good, but will assume the Power of doing it by himself.

That we may conceive how all Good comes from God, and that Man can do no good of himself, we are to consider, that Man being created to enjoy God, and to enjoy all his Works, is made up of many several Faculties, Capacities or Vessels, as it were, fitted for receiving and being filled with their respective Goods from God and the Creatures, and is endued with a Free-will, whereby he may turn these Faculties to their respective Objects, or turn them away from them as he pleases. We may conceive this as to spiritual things, by considering the Case as to bodily things. Thus his Eyes are formed to receive the Light and all the Objects which it presents. The Light surrounds him, he opens his Eyes and receives it; or he shuts them, and keeps it out, and walks in Darkness; or he encompasses himself with a thick Wall that he may not behold the Light; or he does that which makes them blind, and so his Darkness comprehends it not. Has he reason to boast himself because he opens his Eyes and beholds the Light as if he were the Author of it, or had given himself the Power to behold it; or to accuse the Light, when he shuts his Eyes against it, or makes himself Blind. The Delight and Good he receives is not from himself, but from the Light, nor yet the Power of beholding it; and the Evil or Privation of it is purely owing to himself. Even so God's Delight is with the Soul, as the Light is to shine into the Eyes, if it turn to him he fills it with Good; if it turn away from him, it is all Misery and Darkness.

[Page] As to the second, if Man now by his own Free-will can in his corrupt State do Good and turn to God; she says, There is no Good but what comes from God, and no Good can proceed from corrupt Man, more than pure Wine can come out of a filthy Vessel full of Uncleanness. The Scripture tell us, a Man takes out of the Treasure of his Heart that which is in it,Renouv. de l' Espr. Ev. Pref. n. 22. to wit, from an evil Heart evil Things. For the Heart possess'd with Self-love, cleaving to its Corruption, is filled only with evil Things, from whence nothing but Sin and Evil can proceed. It is a great Errour to think that Man by his Free-will may save himself since he was corrupted by Sin,Academ. Theol. p. 1. c. 1. as well as when he was in the State of Innocence. This is a great Self-presumption, for Men to boast of a Grace and Vertue, which they have basely lost by their Wickedness and Sin, which has fill'd them with all Evil, and depriv'd them of all Good; seeing Sin, having separated them from God the Fountain of all Good, has plung'd them into all sort of Evil, which is the Privation of all Good.Light of the World part 1. Cons. 8. And he can of himself no more recover God, than he that walks in gross Darkness can see the Light. And, being corrupted in all his Faculties, he can no more Love God, than a blind Man can enjoy the Light; and being enclined and habituated to Evil, his Free-will of it self will not desist nor change from it. So that without the Grace of God, Man can do nothing, but sin, which he does of himself; for God does not retract the Liberty that he gave him in Creating him, which being now bent to Evil, can freely do Evil against the Will of God, and without his Concurrence of Permission: But he can in no wise do Good without the Grace of God, not only that which he received a [...] his Creation, but also Grace concurring effectually in all our Actions. So that it is Grace alone that works in us all our good Works and our Salvation: For Man has nothing of himself but the Liberty to adhere to Good, which he received at his Creation, and which will never be taken from him. Yet this Grace is not sufficient to work out his Salvation, if God do not continually give him new Grace: For, having once resisted the first Grace, he would never more recover it; having voluntarily abandon'd it; and his Case would have been like that of the rebellious Angels whom God justly abandon'd and suspended his Graces upon the first Rebellion of their Will, which he might as justly have done to Man, if the Love [Page] he bare him had not far surpass'd that to the Angels, which appears by the Graces he has imparted to him since his Sin; for instead of reprobating and condemning him to Hell, he gives him new Grace that he may recover again.

As to the third; Acad. de Theol. p. 1. c. 1, 2. They do not know the Love that God has for Man, who say that their Reprobation proceeds from the Want of his Grace; for it is never wanting on God's Part, even towards the most Wicked, and if it do not produce its Operations, it is because the Sin and Wickedness of Man resists it: Even as the Sun by his Nature darts his Rays as brightly on the Dunghil as on a Diamond, yet the one receives more Splendour than the other, because of the Difference of the Objects which receive them; the same Sun makes the Dunghil to stink and the Diamond to sparkle, yet he gives no more of himself to the one than the other.

The Property of God is to give continually new Grace to Man, to the Sinner and to the Just; yet if it do not operate on the Wicked, his Sin hinders it; the same Grace that makes the Just to shine, makes the Wicked more filthy, he making Use of it to sin the more. It is impossible for him to perceive this, because of the Opposition which his Sin makes, rendring him insensible of it, even as a thick Cloud before the Sun will neither let us see his Light nor feel his Heat. The Sun never ceases to shine and give heat in all Seasons; and God does not cease always to give his Grace, but our Opposition hinders the Operations and Effects of it in our Soul, purely thro' our own Fault; for if we were faithful in little things he would place us over great things.

He created Adam in a Grace as bright as the Sun at Noon-Day; his Soul beheld and tasted his God. But after that, by his Rebellion he opposed his Will, this Sin set it self against the Grace of God, as a thick Wall before the Sun, which hindred the Seeing and Feeling its favourable Influences. God did not cease to give his Grace to Adam after this Sin as before; but the Wall that this Sin had built up between God and him, keeps him from seeing God any more, or receiving his Grace to operate as before.

So long as this Sin is between God and our Soul, its Eyes are blinded, and its Understanding darkned as to Good, and it knows not whither it goes; and therefore it was said, Adam, where art thou? after he had sinned: For having lost [Page] the Light of Grace, no body knows where he is, nor can find the Way to recover it; tho' Grace is not wanting on God's part, no more than the Sun is wanting in Light, tho' he who has a thick Wall between him and it has no more Benefit than if it did not shine.

It is only by the help of a Candle that he can discern the Objects that are about him; so it is only sensible Lights and Grace, such as are to be perceived by the Senses, that can make him discern inward Good; his Heart is so fix'd to the Earth by his Sin, that he cannot perceive Divine things but by the help of Material ones. And if his Free-will do not choose the Good which he may know by this Mean, he can never work out his Salvation.—Thus the Sinner has always some sensible Grace sufficient to raise him again, as Displeasure for his Sin, the Disquiet it brings, Remorse of Conscience, or the Fear of his Damnation; which are so many sensible Graces that God gives him, whereby to call him back again, making him see as it were by the help of a Candle, the Miseries that his Sin has brought upon him, with a desire to rise again, and to recover the Grace of God.

Those sensible Graces are more than sufficient to work out Man's Salvation after a great many Sins, provided his Free-will be effectualy resolved to detest and abandon his Sins with a strong Resistance, which breaks down at least some Stones of the Wall that is oppos'd to Grace; that he may perceive as it were by a chink, some small Ray of that enlightning and warming Grace lost by Sin, which will give him new force to break down more and more of this Opposition to Grace, if so be the Soul be faithful and force it self according as the Light manifests it self. It is thus, that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers Violence, and that the Violent take it by force; for if the Will do not Violence to it self, to forsake its Sins, when Reason makes it see the Evil they bring, and it feels Vexation of Spirit, with the fear of Damnation, (all which are sensible Graces which Sin never deprives him of; no more than of his Free will to effectuate this Desire of getting out of his miserable State: Unless his rebellious Will do yet resist these sensible Graces, and wilfully stifle those Trouble and Fears, because it loves the Pleasure of its Sin, more than the Love of its God, this will harden the Heart, and so thicken the [Page] Wall of Opposition to Grace, making it at last uncapable of being saved.

It is certain God cannot reprobrate any Man without ceasing to be the Fountain of all Good, and Man cannot save himself, since he is a Nothing who can do Nothing. His Salvation can never come from himself, no more than his Damnation can come from God; for he created all Men for Salvation, and none of them shall perish for want of his Grace, who never fails to give to every one what is necessary for his Salvation.

It is true, he sometimes makes particular Elections, as of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Mother of his Humanity, St. Paul for his Disciple, and some others; but he does not encrease his Grace to them, but according to their Co-operation with the First, with which they strive to resist vicious Inclinations, and to break the Wall of Opposition to Grace, that they may receive inward Light in greater Abundance, which comes into their Souls from the Abundance of his Grace, so that they can no longer resist it; for their Sins being removed, Grace has its full Operation, dilating it self into all the parts of the Soul, and there it consumes all that is Imperfect, yea, the least Inclinations to Evil; so that Grace dwells and rules in all the Faculties of the Soul without any Impediment, and at last deifies it, by yielding up entirely its Free-will unto the full Power and Liberty of its God who gave it.

These are the Souls whom I call the Elect of God, because they can no more perish; and those whom I call the Elect who have chosen to follow God by the help of his Grace, are all others who have chosen to follow Good and to forsake Evil. These last may perish, not having entirely resign'd their Free-will into the hands of God, nor broken down the Wall of Sins which resist his Grace; but they abide in the Possession of this Free-will, which sometimes enclines them to Good, oft-times to Evil, co-operating sometimes with Grace, and falling also sometimes into Sin, from whence they arise again by the effort they make to break down that Wall of Sin, which they know to be opposite to Grace, by the Disquiet it brings into the Soul, by checks of Conscience, and at other times by the Attractions they have to Good, and the fear of Damnation, which are so many Evidences that they have chosen to follow God by his Grace, for if this Grace were not, they would not feel [Page] Remorse of Conscience, nor a desire to return to God after their Sin. They are therefore Elect, not that they have elected themselves, for they could not have chosen God before they had a Being; but God who always was, may have elected them from all Eternity, since all is still present to him, both what is past, and what is to come; but he has chosen them conditionally, in case they co-operate with his Grace, and no otherwise; leaving their Free-will still to act, without which he forces no Body.

But when he has re-taken the Free-will which those first Elect would yield up to him, then he constrains them by the force of his Love, and of his Grace; so that they can no more forsake him: This is not of themselves, but by the force of his Love, which he manifests to them; binding them to himself by an inseparable Bond of mutual Love; so that the Soul becomes so united to him, that it can no more forsake God than he can forsake it without Infidelity, which can never be in God, nor yet the want of his Grace. And if a Soul sin after having received much Grace from God, (as it sometimes falls out) certainly it has not effectually yielded up its Free-will unto its God, but only us'd it self to co-operate with his Grace, to which if it abide faithful, it assuredly works out its Salvation, which it has chosen to do by these Graces; but if it come in the End to resist them, it may perish, notwithstanding of much Grace received: For this Election is not Absolute, but Conditional.

How many great Saints have attain'd to great Perfection, with this Election of obeying God, by the help of his Grace? Having co-operated with the Talents which they have received and gained by them, God has at last set them over all his Goods; as he has promis'd in his Gospel to the Faithful, and from the Unfaithful he causes to take the Talent to give it to him who will put it to Profit. This falls out daily as to our Souls. He assuredly gives them his necessary Grace, if they correspond to it, he encreases it; and the more they have, the more they shall receive; their being faithful to one measure of Grace procures always greater, and that infinitely; for the Bounty of God is great, that he delights continually to give and to encrease his Gifts. But if the Soul resist the first Graces, it loses them; and hinders the effect of others which would have followed, had it not been for this Resistance.

[Page] To lay the Blame of this Resistance upon God is a great Injury done him; since he gives liberally without being oblig'd to it. If he would with-hold the Grace of cooperating with it, it were better for him to with-hold the first Grace than to render the second Grace of co-operating therewith useless. God does nothing in vain, if he give Grace to be saved, he gives at the same time Grace to co-operate to this Salvation; and if Man resist this Cooperation, this is only from his own depraved Will; for no Body can damn us but our selves. It is true, the Devils may tempt us many ways, but they can never force our Free-will. Wicked Men may advise us to Evil, but we are still free not to believe or follow them. Nothing can constrain the Free-will that God has given us to choose Good or Evil. We but flatter our selves when we say or believe it.

He flatters himself yet more who believes it is for want of the Grace of God, that he does no Good, and works not out his Salvation. He deceives himself and believes Falshoods, which he may easily discover if he will seriously examine his own Conscience, and remark how oft God has prevented him with his Grace, which he has resisted. How many good Thoughts God has put into his Mind, which he has rejected? How many secret inward Motions, which he has neglected? How many good Books and holy Admonitions which might help him to Salvation, which he has despised? How many occasions favourable for his Salvation, which he has us'd for his Damnation? So many Prosperities, to make him acknowledge the Love and Care that God had for him! So many Adversities to recal him from his Sin, and to set him in the way of Salvation! How many diverse Accidents have fallen out as to Neighbours, which have mov'd him to Contrition, as sudden Deaths, Slaughters, Plagues, Fire, and other things, which no Man can avoid! Nevertheless, all these Graces and Drawings have met with no Correspondence from Man's Will, on the contrary they turning away from the Creator, have turn'd to the Creature to love it more than God. And which is more, they will lay the Blame of all their Damnation upon him for want of his Grace; a horrible and insuppertable Abuse! That Man is not satisfied to abuse the Grace of God, but he will also make him guilty of his Damnation. It is an unspeakable Pride, when we [Page] feel that we resist his Grace every Moment, and yet say, our Damnation comes from the want of this Grace, instead of giving Sentence against our Baseness and Wickedness, which we may so sensibly perceive and feel.

It were better to smite the Breast and condemn our selves, than to argue about the Grace of God, since our own Conscience is an irrefragable Witness that Grace has been still given us, yea even in the midst of our Sins. How many amorous pulls has God given our Hearts to withdraw them from Damnation? How many new Graces for our corresponding with some small Grace; always when we have cast an Eye to God, and lifted up our Hands, yea a Finger, has he not drawn us strongly to himself and forgiven our Sins? What Effort did we ever make to resist Sin, without feeling immediately his Help and his Grace? Who ever call'd on him without being help'd, or sought him without finding him? No Body can say it without a Lie, for he always delights to do us Good. Our Prayers are agreeable to him, and our Complaints are pleasant. He wills not the Death of a Sinner, but that he be converted and live.

If we do not always feel the Effects of his Mercy, it is because our Conversion is not sincere, and we seek some other thing than God; and often think we love him, when we love our selves: And it is no wonder then that we do not find Grace, for we have nothing and can give nothing either to our selves or others; God, being the only True Good, and all that is not God is nothing. We are often sorry that we have sinn'd without regarding God, but our selves, considering the Sins as Evil or disagreeable to Men, and this makes us sorry to have committed them; on the other side, we look on Vertue as beautiful, pleasant, and honourable; this makes us desire it, for Good is always Lovely of it self. But in these we do not respect God, to oblige him to give us his Grace. It is rather a Self-love that makes us desire it. Yet our Wickedness has the Impudence to say that we seek God and do not find him. Is it a wonder if such a Soul feels not the Influence of his God, so long as it voluntarily Delights in the Creatures in Contempt of the Creator.

I cannot express the Resentment I have that we would attribute to God the Cause of our Damnation, or that it is for the want of his Grace; since I have found that God has [Page] often prevented and recall'd me, even when I would have forsaken him: And if he had not prevented me, I would have thrust my self into all the ways that lead to Damnation, being gone so far as to say to his inward Admonitions; I will never have pleasure in thinking always upon this. I would have withdrawn from God, and he call'd upon me again, inwardly to make me remember him; and so soon as I return'd to him, he receiv'd me lovingly, giving me stronger Grace to withstand all that would divert me from him. All Men will find this, if they would enter into themselves, that God has still prevented them with his Grace, even tho' they have been most wicked. Why then to Men say, when they live ill, That they have not the Grace of God, if he never fail to give it? They ought to say, It is my Fault, for I have certainly resisted his Grace, instead of obliging him to give me more by my Correspondence.

It is true God gives all; the Will to do good, and to be saved comes from him, as also the Courage and Constancy to persevere in it. It is God who does all in us. Sin only is our Work. All Good comes from God, who is pleas'd to give it us. If we think we have Good of our selves, we fall yet into a greater Error than the former; for tho' God should not give us Grace, he is not obliged to it by us, for he has no need of us: But to say that we can do Good and work out our Salvation of our selves, is most false. For how can a Nothing do any thing that's Good? Man in his Nothing was Nothing. If he be since Something, it is by the Grace of God.

He who is all Good, out of whom there is no Good, will not communicate himself to the Soul, but with its Consent he first shews it its Good, he gives it the desire to desire it; thereafter he offers it. If the Soul accepts it, it enjoys him; if it refuse it, it remains depriv'd of it. For God never gives his Graces by force, nor without the Consent of the Soul; unless it yield up it self entirely unto him.

God deals with the Soul as an honest Lover who designs to espouse his Mistress; he serves her, he courts her, he caresses her, and by all means endeavours to gain her Friendship. If his Love be agreeable to her, she loves him reciprocally, and fully enjoys his Person, and all his Goods. If she disdain this Love, and all his Offices of Goodwill, he withdraws and leaves her, tho' with regret, having [Page] employed in vain to the utmost all sort of means to oblige her to love him. He endeavours then to forget her, and to efface her out of his Memory; not that his Love changes, or that he is unconstant on his part; but because there is no Correspondence or Agreement on the part of his Mistress. God loves the Soul as a perfect faithful Lover, he shews her the excellency of his Love, by Rays of inward Light, which do sometimes warm the Soul with Love to him. He excites her by good Motions; he draws her by some sweet inward Consolation; he gives her Desires to love him; he prevents her with many Favours, shewing her that he seeks her and would give himself to her by the Vexations that she meets with in every other thing that she would love. But if after a long course of so many Favours, the Soul comes to reject them, and to disdain the Friendship of her God, to wed her self to some other thing, whether the Love of her self or any Creatures; God then withdraws from her, and leaves her; not that on his part his Love changes, or can changes; but because the Soul disdains his Friendship, to which he would have her to correspond, that the love he bears to her might be perfect, and that he might fully delight himself in her; not that he can delight in her for her self, being a Subject too remote from his Greatness, but for the Love he bears himself: But she only receives all the Advantages of this Love; for so soon as she gives her full Consent to the Love of her God, she enjoys him and all his Graces in such Abundance, that if God himself did not hold her in Life, she would expire with so many Consolations surpassing her natural Strength.

What hinders all Men from enjoying this Abyss of Happiness? Nothing but Sin alone! And what is Sin? Nothing but the turning away from God, to turn to the Creatures. they give divers Names to it, and yet all are but one and the same thing, to wit, a turning away from God to love the Creature.

Thus I have set down at some length, in her own Words, her Sentiments about these Matters; wherein she makes appear that all Men were created by God for Eternal Happiness and to enjoy him, and therefore that God has not by an Eternal Decree reprobated any Man for Da [...] tion, but is desirous that all should be saved. That he gave Man irrevocably a Liberty and Free-will which he has [Page] not limited by predetermining the Acts of it from all Eternity, or by any other manner of way; because he would have him to love him freely, and from a most willing Choice. That Sin came into the World neither by the Will, nor Decree, nor Permission of God, but by Man's abuse of the Free-will which he had irrevocably given him, the greatest Natural Gift that could be bestow'd upon him. That Man notwithstanding of his Liberty can of himself do nothing that is truly Good without the Grace of God, there being nothing Good but what comes from God. That in his Fallen Estate he cannot of himself return again to God, without his preventing and concurring Grace. That he denies his Grace to none, not to the most Wicked. That Man in his Corrupt State not being capable of his most inward enlightning Grace, he fails not to recal him by sensible Graces, Providence, Fears of Hell, Remorse of Conscience, good Desires and Purposes, &c. That God requires Man's Co-operation with his Grace, to which he enables him, and will thereupon still give him more Grace. That if he deny this Co-operation with God's Grace he destroys himself, and puts a stop to the Operations of the Divine Grace. That if he entirely and absolutely yield up his Free-will into the hands of God, to be wholly directed by him, he then takes him into his immediate Direction, enters in that Soul and makes his abode with it, it does not so much live as Christ lives in it, it is one of his absolute Elect and cannot fall away. Sure they who consider these things without Prejudice, will see how sutable they are to the Nature of God; how truly they represent his Power, and Righteousness, and Wisdom, and Holiness, and Love, and Impartiality, and Constancy, and Sincerity, and Truth, and what a Consistency there is between his Attributes and his Providence; how clear it is that Man's Sin and Damnation is owing entirely to himself, and all his Good to God; what reason we have to be deeply humbled, to distrust and deny our selves, and what great encouragement to Prayer, to turn to God with all our Heart, and entirely to depend upon him. They will see how clearly the Difficulties about Providence are resolv'd, which are so unaccountable by the other Systems. They who desire a full view of all this, and an Answer to the Objections made against it, will find it done with great Evidence and Clearness in M. Poirets Oeconomy Divine, particularly Tom. 7. De la Providence Ʋniverselle.

[Page] XIII.XIII. Of the Divine Prescience. Another Prejudice against the Sentiments of A. B. is that concerning the Divine Prescience, to wit, that God would not and did not absolutely and determinately foresee the Sin and Fall of Adam; and this some aggravate as a horrible Blasphemy against the Omnisciency of God, that he did not know or foresee from all Eternity in a most determinate manner all things that shall come to pass in the World. Would Men consider things calmly and without Passion, they would not be so rash in censuring others, and the often Experiences they may have of the weakness of their own Understandings, and how often, and how greatly they are mistaken themselves, may make them less positive and dogmatical than they are.L' Etoile du Matin. p. 157 A. B. says, ‘That God having created Man after his own likeness, he therefore made him altogether free, without any Exception or Constraint. That he might be lov'd by Man most freely and willingly, and that so God might take his Delight in so free and voluntary a Love from Man. He therefore would not only not predetermine him in his Actions, but would not limit his Free-will so far as to foresee how he should dispose of the same. Not but that by his Almighty Power he could have foreseen and known all; but he would not so far limit the Liberty he had given, as that it should be necessitated by any such foresight. Even, says she, as if a Man, because he loves his Wife and finds her Wise, would give her an absolute Permission to dispose of his Goods without his being desirous to know how she should do it.’ Now as this is a Principle that does not in the least infringe any of the Divine Attributes, so it clears the Riddles of Providence, and shews how so great a part of the Creation has degenerated, and Sin and Wickedness overspread the World, and that without any manner of Concurrence on God's part, not the least Blemish on his unspotted Righteousness, Goodness, Holiness, and Purity. Whereas in all the other Systems it is acknowledged by all unbyass'd Persons, that there are insuperable Difficulties how to reconcile the Righteousness and Goodness of God, his Hatred of Sin, his Sincerity and Truth, with the Events and Mysteries of Providence; and whatever Difficulties are brought against God's absolute Predetermination to all Mens Actions how wicked and hainous soever, have no less force against his determinate Prescience of them. The Two greatest Objections [Page] against this Sentiment of A. B. are, that, 1. It enroaches on God's Omniscience. 2. That it is inconsistent with Prophecies and Predictions of future Events. To clear the First, It is to be considered that God is infinitely Self-sufficient, and stands not in need of any other Being in the World, nor the Idea of any other Being to make him infinitely Perfect. So that all Beings besides himself and all their Idea's are the result of his Arbitrary Will and Pleasure, and are therefore form'd of such Natures and Perfections, as he in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness, was freely pleas'd to grant. It was free then to God to form the Idea's of other Beings or not, to create them or not, to give them Liberty or not, to determine, to foresee all their Acts or not, all this was indifferent to God, who is Self-sufficient and stands not in need of any thing besides himself. God having created Man perfectly free in his Light and Love, did foresee in the general all the possible ways, how he might determine the Liberty of his Acts; but would not determine them nor foresee them determined, and far less determine or determinately foresee that Man would turn away from God, and that by such Ways and Actions, all determined and foreseen. Now it cannot be said that God could not form a Man with such a Liberty. This would be indeed to deny his Omnipotency, there is no Contradiction in the Nature of the thing, and therefore it was not impossible to God. Now suppose that God determined so to do, and actually did form Man in this Nature, then his not foreseeing determinately how he would dispose of this Liberty is not a denial of the Omniscience of God. Such a foresight is not an Object of Knowledge. Our Concerns have no more relation to his absolute Perfections in himself, than the dim Light of a Candle has to the Sun. His Knowledge of us, as well as his forming us, is but the effect of his Arbitrary Will. Besides, if it be said that God cannot make a Contradiction to be true; will we therefore affirm that such deny his Omnipotence? Not at all, for this is not the Object of it; even so, to say that the indeterminate Actions of free Agents are not determinately foreseen, is not to deny Omniscience, because this is not the Object of it; yea, to affirm the contrary is to ascribe to God a Knowledge that is not conformable to the Nature of things; for to know a thing determinately, that is, in its own Nature [...] [Page] ever till the free Agent determine himself, is to know it contrary to its Nature, and not as it is in its self.

The Divine Decrees being the pure effect of his Good Pleasure, without any necessity in himself, it was free for God, either to decree from all Eternity, all that he should bring to pass in all Events, and all Circumstances in all Ages of the World. Or otherwise having established his general Purposes in creating of the World, to determine himself as to particular Events and Circumstances in effectuating and bringing about the same according to Occurrences in the Corresponding of free Agents throughout the series of Ages. The former looks like the establishing a Fate, to which not only all the Creatures but God himself is subjected, and by which he has bound up his own Hands to all Eternity. And it lays an eternal Restraint both upon his Liberty and Power. If the other be granted, which is most sutable to the Nature of an infinitely Free, Wise, Good, and Powerful Being, and is the greatest encouragement to Prayer, and a continual Dependance upon God, then all the rest of the First Objection falls to the Ground.

The Learned Dr. Henry More, Divine Dialogues Part 1. p. 80, 81, &c. declares for this Sentiment upon the very same Reasons. He shews that as no Body thinks the Omnipotency of God maimed, because he cannot do those things that imply a Contradiction: So if the certain Prescience of uncertain things imply a Contradiction, it may be struck out of the Omniscience of God, and yet God will nevertheless be as Omniscient as he is Omnipotent. That this is no Impediment to his ordering the Affairs of the World, for that eternal Mind that knows all things possible to be known, comprehends all things, and so has laid such Trains of Causes as shall most certainly meet every one in due time in Judgment and Righteousness, let him take what way he will. That the Perfection of Knowledge is to know things as they are in their Nature, and therefore to know a free Agent which is undeterminate to either part, to be so undeterminate, and that he may choose which part he will, is the most perfect Knowledge of such an Agent and of his Action, till he be perfectly determinate and has made his Choice. And therefore to know him determined, before he be determined, or while he is free, is an Imperfection of Knowledge, or rather no Knowledge at all, but a Mistake and Error: And [Page] indeed is a Contradiction to the Nature of God, who can understand nothing but according to the distinct Idea's of things in his own Mind. And the Idea of a free Agent is undeterminateness to one part before he has made his Choice. Whence to foresee that a free Agent will pitch upon such a part in his Choice, with Knowledge certain and infallible, is to foresee a thing as certain even then when it is uncertain; which is a plain Contradiction or gross Mistake.

And as to the Second Objection, that this is inconsistent with Prophesies and Predictions of future Events, he shews, That there is still room enough for Millions of certain Predictions, if God thought fit to communicate them so throughly to the World. For tho' the Souls of Men are free, yet there are infinite numbers of Actions, wherein they are certainly determined: Such are the Actions of all those that are deeply lapsed into Corruption, and of those few that are grown up to a more heroical State of Goodness. It is certainly foreknowable what they will do in such and such Circumstances. Not to add, says he, That the Divine Decrees, when they find not Men fitting Tools, make them so where Prophecies are peremptory, or unconditionate. This he tells, he proposes by way of Essay, rather than that of Dogmatizing; and when so worthy and pious a Member of the Church of England, so rational a Defender of the Faith of Jesus Christ, against the Socinians and Deists, thought fit to offer this as an Essay for the clearing of those Mysteries, it may teach others to be more Sober in their Characters and Censures.

But this matter of the Divine Prescience, and of the certainty of Divine Predictions and Prophecies is at large and most distinctly treated of in M. Poiret's Oeconomie de la Providence, Chap. 10. upon more Just and Divine Principles than those which make the Introduction of Sin and Wickedness into the World, necessary for the Glory of God, for accomplishing his great Designs on Mankind, and for the Manifestation of his Wisdom, Mercy, Justice, and other Glorious Attributes; a most cursed and blasphemous Principle. The former are most Just Representations of the Truth, and Righteousness, and Goodness of God; the latter most contrary to all of them: A distinct Account of the former Principles is to be had best from the Book it [Page] self, and I am perswaded a sincere and impartial Enquirer into Truth will thank me for the Advertisement.

XIV.XIV. Of the Possibility of keeping the Commands of God. and of Perfection. Another Errour in her Doctrine, they say, is that she affirms, That it is possible to keep the Commandments of God, and to imitate Jesus Christ, and to attain to a State of Perfection. One would think this should nor be reckoned a Heresie amongst Christian, who profess to believe the Scriptures and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She says nothing but what the Apostle says: Of our selves we cannot think one good Thought, but through Christ that strengthens us, Renouv. de l' Esp. Evang. avant. prop. p. 18, 19. we are able to do all things. ‘It is true, says she, if we consider only the Miseries and Weakness of Man corrupted by Sin, the Gospel-Law is impossible, but not if we have regard to the Power of God's Grace: This Jesus Christ intimated to his Apostles, when he told, as to a rich Man's entring into the Kingdom of Heaven, that it was impossible with Men, but not with God; when a Man shall entirely yield up himself to him to be wholly governed by him, God will easily operate in him a Gospel-Life; and Jesus Christ has said, if you who are evil, know how to give good things to your Children, how much more will your heavenly Father give his holy Spirit to them that ask him! It is false therefore to say that the Gospel-Law cannot be kept, since it was given for no other End, and Jesus Christ brought it from Heaven as the only Remedy of all our Evils, and the only Means of our Salvation; and has said, I have done these things to give you an Example. And God will never enjoyn Man to do any thing but what he will give him Grace to accomplish. But such is Man's Wickedness, that he would impute to God his own Faults, and the Blame of his Damnation on him, as if he were severe and cruel, by laying on him Burthens of Commands that are insupportable (that Man may thus be justified and God condemned) tho' truly Man only is worthy of Condemnation.—For God still imparts his Graces to him, and all those Laws are special Instances of his Love to Man, that by them he might bring him back to the Love of his God for his eternal Salvation.’ Reno [...]v. de l' Espr. Ev. part 2. p. 66, 67, 68. And in many Places of her Writings she shews the Possibility of Obeying God's Commands, and the Blasphemy of the contrary Doctrine, from the Design of them and the End for which God gave them. ‘Open your Eyes, says [Page]she, to see this Light of Truth; That never any Body will be saved, who dies without the Love of God; and that no Body can love God if he do not hate himself. These are the Sentences which God has often confirmed to me, and given me Assurance that they are true, and that all the Laws and Commands which God has given to Men are only so many Means to make them return to his Love.’

‘—Now the whole Doctrine of the Gospel is nothing else but so many Means to withdraw Man from Sin, that he may recover the Love of God. And when this Law teaches him Poverty of Spirit, it is to shew him that Covetousness has withdrawn him from the Love of his God, and that he cannot return to it without leaving off to covet earthly Goods. And when it teaches him to be humble of Heart, and to chuse the last Place, it is because he had lost the Love of God, by loving himself, esteeming himself worthy of Honour and Glory, tho' he be worthy of nothing but Shame and Confusion. And he not knowing this, stands in need of a Doctrine contrary to his Errours and Ignorance, to make him return to the Love of God which he had lost by his Pride. And when Jesus Christ declares, that he came not to do his own Will, but the Will of him that sent him; it is to teach Men, that to fulfil their own corrupt and perverse Wills, they have left off to do the Will of God and to love him, and that if they do not renounce their own Wills to follow the Will of God, and thereby to return to his Love, they cannot be saved.’

‘Behold how Jesus Christ has brought Physick for our Diseases, being desirous to cure them by Remedies contrary to our Infirmities; and yet these Ignorants would gloss away the Gospel-Law as if it were impossible to observe it, as they say it is impossible to keep the Commandments of God, tho' both these Laws be nothing else but Remedies for our Diseases.’

‘Christians,Aveagiement des Hommes. p. 60. she says, are guilty of Ingratitude, when they say they cannot keep the Commandments of God nor the Laws of the Gospel, since all these are only true Means to recover the Love of God. For all the Commandments are no other thing but Means to loose Mens Hearts from Self-Love and the evil Inclinations that Sin has brought into their Nature.—All the Commands [Page] import no other thing in Substance, but that Man must always resist his Self-Love, refusing its Desires, because, being corrupted by Sin, it can desire nothing but what is Evil, or tends to an evil End; which because Men did not well know, God would shew them in particular what they ought to do and forbear, that they might recover his Love.—Now tho' he has given his Commands because of our Frailty, yet Man is so ungrate as to say it is impossible for him to keep those Commands because of that very Frailty, for the Help of which God has given his Commands as Supports to his Frailty.—He is Evil in that wherein God is Good, and takes for Burthens the Helps that God has given him because of his Frailty. For, if he had not had any frailty, God would never have given him any Laws, since the Love he bare to God was a Law to it self, and had no need of any other Guide or Directour.’

The Summ of her Sentiments in this Matter is,The Summ of her Sentiment [...] as to the Commands of God. that all the Laws of God are given to Man as Helps of his Frailty, as Warnings to shew him what Way he has stray'd from God, and as indispensable and necessary Means to recover and bring him back again to the Love of God (even as if a Father should give his Son, who was become an habitual Drunkard, or lewd Person, strict Commands absolutely to forbear such Conversation and such Houses which would infallibly intangle and keep him still in his Sins) that Jesus Christ has in his own Example as a Man, shewn us both the Necessity of this, and how possible and easie it is to observe them: That no Man can observe them by his own Strength, but only by the Grace of God; that we are first Children before we are Men, and our Falls and Stumbles ought not to discourage us, but we must get up and go forward, and depend upon God, and he will be with us, as the Child that is learning to walk must not be discouraged by its Falls, but must get up and go forward, and hold more closely by its Mother: That they who are truly regenerated may live in Obedience to God, without Sin, but are not impeccable, may fall from that State, and yet recover it again by the Grace of God; that to say the Commandments of God are impossible, is to deny the Merits of Jesus Christ, the Efficacy of his Intercession, the Power of his Grace, the Usefulness of his Example; to assert the Force of the Devil and corrupt Nature beyond that of God, [Page] to accuse God of the greatest Cruelty in giving us Laws which it is impossible to observe, and then to damn us for not observing them; that it is to indulge and gratifie our corrupt Nature in following our own Wills and Inclinations, and taking our Ease and Pleasure here, and yet to give us the false Hopes of eternal Life and Salvation hereafter, because of some speculative Doctrines and Opinions, and some fine Words and Complements that we give to God. Whosoever impartially considers the ordinary Systems that are given of the Christian Religion, and the Use that the Generality of People make of them in their Lives and Practice, will easily see that they are exactly calculated for dispensing with a Man's following closely the Life and Laws of Jesus Christ, and allowing him to gratifie his corrupt and sinful Inclinations in things that do not sound harsh in the World, and are not hateful before Men, without using the indispensably necessary Means of mortifying the Love of himself and the World, and recovering the Love of God.

It will not be impertinent on this Occasion,Dr Henry More s divine Dialogues. Dial. 5. [...] p. 117. [...] that the most pious Dr. Henry More, in his Divine Dialogues, having set down his Reasons of hoping for a glorious State of the Church and a Renovation of it approaching, lays down some Principles, the Practice of which he thinks would hasten and advance those excellent Times; and his last and chief Principle is, Faith in the Power of God and the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he has promised to all Believers, that by this Assistance we may get the Conquest over all our Sins and Corruptions, and perfect Holiness in the Fear of God; that through the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us, we are able to be reduced to that Rectitude of Life and Spirit which our Saviour sets out in his Sermon on the Mount, and elsewhere in the Gospels. It is this Doctrine, he says, that must renew the World in Righteousness, and bring on those glorious Times.—For what Doctrine but this, says he, can reach the Hypocrisie of Mens Hearts, who under Colour of not being able to be rid of all their Sins, will set themselves against none, or but the least considerable, or will be sure to spare their darling Sins, and perpetually decline that Self-resignation which is indispensably required of every true Christian; nay, they will quit none of them, under Pretence we must necessarily retain a gradual Imperfection throughout. And they will be sure to [Page] pitch on that Degree that is most for their own Ease and the Satisfaction of their own Lusts.—It is this Faith, he says, p. 422. in the Promise of the Assistance of the Spirit of Christ in the new Birth, that must renew the World into the Living Image of God, and make all the Nations of the Earth Blessed, which must bring the new Jerusalem from Heaven, and will call down God himself to pitch his Tabernacle amongst Men. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Much more to this purpose is said there by that excellent Person.

If this be a Doctrine so necessary for renewing the World and awakening Men out of their deadly bloth and Slumber in their Sins, what need have all the Pastours of the Church to lay it to heart themselves, and withal to inculcate it more earnestly on the People. And tho' perhaps in some particular Churches, their Sermons, Confessions of Faith, and Catechisms have propagated quite contrary Doctrine; yet that O! they may not continue to sow Pillows to the Armholes of Sinners, and blow them up with the false Hopes of Salvation. Wo to the Watchmen that do so. Let us remember that the Possibility of obeying the Commands of God, and the Duty of tending always to Perfection thro' Faith in Jesus Christ is the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, and also of the holy Fathers. Rom. 5. 5. The Love of God is shed abroad, by the Holy Spirit, in the Hearts of those who are truly justified: Rom. 13. 10. And this begets the Love of our Neighbour and the fulfilling of the Law. And1 Joh. 5 3, 4. this is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments, and his Commandments are not grievous; for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World. 1 Joh. 3. 9. &c. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin, for his Seed remaineth in him, &c. ‘It is an impious thing to say the Commands of the Spirit are impossible, Basil. in verba Mos. Attende tibi, &c. We detest, (says S. Augustin Serm. 291. de temp.) the Blasphemy: of those who say that there is any thing impossible commanded by God to Man, and that the Commands of God may not be observed by every Man.’ This Doctrine has no dangerous Consequence, provided, 1. it be not founded on a Presumption of Man's Strength, but only in the Power and Strength of the Holy Spirit. 2. That they who have not attained to Perfection, yet are not excluded from Salvation, if they be in the Way to Perfection and tending to it.

[Page] 3. That it be not said that in that State there is not a Possibility of Sinning, yea, and of perishing. 4. That it be acknowledged that this is not a Perfection of Degrees, free of all Imperfection. Yea, the Scripture tells usLuk. 1. 5, 6. of some that walked in all the Commandments of the Lord, blameless. But that the contrary Doctrine has mischievous and most damnable Consequences, has been made appear.

Were it not better,M. Poiret Oeconomie divine. Tom. 6. p. 467, 468, 469, &c. says one, how imperfect so ever we are, yet to hearken to those sincere and generous Souls, that we may be animated by Hope, and strengthened in God, to become what we are not yet; than to give ear to cowardly Seducers, who as the guilty Spies in Moses's Time make the Peoples Hearts to melt, and dispose them by their diabolical Lyes and Calumnies to rebel against God, and to return into Egypt? It is true, say they, the Land is a good Land, flowing with Milk and Honey, but the Cities are great and strong, and there are mighty Giants there, and a strong People, we cannot overcome them, for they are stronger than we. It is true, say they, at present, the State of Regeneration and of perfect Christianity is an excellent thing, full of Divine Joy and Delight; but it is of hard Access; there are high Walls of Difficulties; Sin and the Devil are strongly fortified in the Hearts of Men; there are strong Passions and a profound Corruption there; we can never overcome this which is stronger than we, who being so frail, cannot exactly do that which God has commanded us for that End. These are the execrable Tongues, and the living Interpreters of the Will of Satan, whom they will curse to all Eternity, who have been so unhappy as to hearken to them, and to live in Sloth, and be seduced by their Means. Let us go up, let us go up, said Caleb and Joshua, wisely, let us go up boldly and possess this Land, certainly we shall be stronger; if we strive to please the Lord, he will bring us into it, and will give it to us. Let us not rebel against the Lord; let us not fear those Enemies, we shall consume them as Bread; God will not defend them, and he is with us; therefore let us not fear them. Thus we ought to animate all well-disposed Persons and let them see that the Ways and the End of Christianity are very possible with the Grace of God.—If this Method had been taken, the Doctrine of Christian Perfection and its Practice would not have been so strange and so rare a thing.

[Page] XV.XV. Of Impeccability, not to be attained in this Life. I shall here mention another Accusation, as having Relation to this, from which she clearly vindicates her self; and that is, That they said she believed herself impeccable, and that her Friends did so; at least, that she never actually sinned, no, not in Thought; and that she derived no Guilt and Corruption from Adam. She vindicates herself from this Accusation in a Letter to Serrarius. Tomb. de f. Th. part 2. p. 115, 116, &c. ‘In the eighth Place, you accuse me, says she, very falsely, in saying that I say, or that I believe I am impeccable, and cannot fall any more; for in Effect I have no other Fear but that of not abiding faithful to my God; and I cannot endure those who say or believe that there is a State of Perfection in this World in which Persons are impeccable. I look on this as a great Errour and Self-presumption. Is it possible that I should hold my self what I blame so much in others? I say God ought to be served with Fear and Trembling; and I never demand of others what I do not first my self; If I say that God ought to be served with Fear, I still do it first; and I am sure if God did withdraw his Grace from me, I should fall presently.’

‘You have been present several times when I related to many how I fell, after that I had been from my Youth prevented by the Grace of God; yet being grown up, I let my self be carried away to follow the Vanities of the World, and resisted the Inspiration of God, which drew me to the contrary; and because of this Resistance, I deserved that God should withdraw from me, and I began to please my self in the Pleasures and Divertisements of the World, and the Praises of Men; so that this Fall was the Cause that I gave my self to great Mortifications of Body, to Watchings, Tears and Prayers, for the Space of about 7 Years. This Story was told many times to your Disciples and in your Presence. Now if I relate so freely how I fell so basely from so exalted a State of Grace in which God had put me, how could I say or believe that I could not f [...]ll any more, or think my self impeccable? since what a Person has done once, they may do many times. The State of Integrity, in which I was before my Fall, might rather have rendred me impeccable, than that in which I live after it.’

‘I do not believe that ever any Creature on Earth can be impeccable during this miserable Life, where there [Page] are so many Stones of Stumbling, a S. Peter the Apostle, a David according to God's own Heart, a Solomon filled with the Holy Spirit, with so many others, have committed gross Faults and great Faults, after having received great Grace from God: Should I be so Ignorant as to believe that I could not fall any more or fail of the Grace of God? I may do it assuredly every Moment, if I should withdraw my Conversation with God, to converse with my Senses; for God forces no Body, having given to all Men Free-will, with which they shall act to all Eternity; and as long as this Will abides fix'd in God, it is impossible that the Person fall; but if this Will withdraw it self from a Dependance on its God, it falls easily, even tho' it had been exalted as high as a Seraphim. For this Cause I said, I have no other Fear in the World, but that of not abiding faithful to God; because I know that so long as I shall be united to him I cannot fall; but if I withdraw my self from him I shall fall at the first Step, as an Infant that cannot walk. And yet you dare say, that I call my self impeccable, and when I ask where I have said or written such things? You tell you draw it from my Writings by Consequences. But I would gladly ask you if in case I had drawn by Consequences out of your Letters or Words, that you are a wicked Man, would it be lawful for me to go and publish it from Town to Town, as you do the ill and abusive Consequences that you say you draw from my Writings, without letting me know where, how, in what Place, and by what Words I may have given Matter for drawing of such Consequences, directly contrary to the true Sentiments that I profess.’

‘I know not with what Conscience you can do this, and say that it is for Good, that you may warn Persons that I believe my self impeccable, and that I exalt my self and so forth; but tho' indeed there were in me any such thing, it would neither be good nor necessary to advertise so many Persons of it. For First my Imperfections cannot defile them, it is I that must account for them to God, and my Words cannot wound them, because all those whom you sent to me are Persons who have their Five Senses, and a good enough Judgment to discern if what I say be Good or Evil, and to take only that that may serve them for Good, l [...]tting the rest alone, so that it is [Page] not necessary for you to go tell them the Faults which your Fancy has imagin'd. Your procedure is very contrary to that of Jesus Christ, who said to the People, speaking of the Pharisees, Hypocrites, do what they bid you, but do not as they do. You will grant I say very good things, as the Truth is, but you would annihilate that Good, by the Evil, that you untruly say is mine. The Evil that was in these Pharisees was not powerful enough to discredit the Good that was in their Words; but you make my imaginary Sins mount to so high a degree, that they are capable of discrediting all the Good, even that which you confess to be there. If you were Just, you would make a right Judgment of what you ought to do and leave; and if you had Goodness, you would procure to all those Persons the Good that they might receive by the Light which God gives me, and if you had Truth, you would not perswade them to believe a Lie in this, that I say I am impeccable.’

Thus, as on the one hand she evidently shews the Duty and Possibility of obeying the Commands of God, and of tending to Perfection by his Grace only, so she as plainly shews her Abhorrence of the Presumption of being impeccable in whatsoever state in this World.

XVI.XVI. Of the Inferiour Will of Jesus Christ enclin'd to please it self. Another Sentiment which gave no small Offence was, that she says, When Jesus Christ took on him our Mortality, his inferiour Will or Self-will was Evil, so that he behov'd never to follow, but always to resist it. This they cry out on as a Blasphemy and a great Dishonour done to Jesus Christ; but whosoever reads without Prejudice the Sixth Letter of the Second Part of Solid Vertue, and the Accessory Letter in the end of that Part, will see how rashly they condemn her.Solid Vertue. Part 2. Lett. 6. Acces. Lett. There she says, ‘That Jesus Christ was united always to his Heavenly Father in his Superiour part, is most true. I have written that he never contracted Sin, tho' he contracted all the Maledictions of Sin, after he cloathed himself with our Mortality. But he resolving to become a Mortal Man, subjected himself to all the Miseries both of Body and Mind, which Sin had brought into humane Nature, and according to this, he felt in his natural Will a Rebellion to the Will of God in Sentiment, but never in Consent, and resisted this Rebellion, which he felt in his Corruption; for he says, I came not to do my own Will, but the Will of him that sent me. Now if his own natural Will had been so inseparably [Page] united to the Will of his Father, to what purpose would he have distinguish'd these two Wills, since they were but one. For he gives us sufficiently to understand thereby, that his own Will was Evil, since he would not follow it; but that of his Father which alone he knew to be Good; for there is nothing Good but God, and Jesus Christ himself had nothing Good in him but what God did operate there; so that as he was God, he was most Good, most Wise, and most Powerful; but as Man, he was every way frail as all other Men, since he voluntarily cloathed himself with their Miseries in the Womb of the Virgin, and became then truly Man of the corrupt Race of Adam: And in this corrupt mass he felt a Rebellion of his Will against the Will of God, which all Men feel in themselves.—And therefore he behov'd to resist his own Will, and contradict it with so much Vehemence, that he sweat Blood in the Garden, where he says also to shew his wrestings, my Soul is heavy even unto Death; and to his Father, Not my Will, but thino be done, after his own Will had pray'd, If it be possible, let this Cup pass from me; and even being on the Cross, he says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?—Could he say in Truth that he was forsaken by his Father, if he had not found in his Inferiour part the separation of his Will from that of God; he could not believe nor say that he was forsaken of his eternal Father, since his Superiour part was never divided from him one Moment: For if it had been never so little separated, he had certainly fallen into Sin as other Men; whereas it may be said to the Praise of Jesus Christ, exclusively of all other, that he never sinn'd, and that his Soul remain'd still pure and immaculate in the Frailty and Rebellion with which he charg'd himself, for the Love he bare to us, doing as a most faithful Brother, who throws himself into a Sink of Uncleanness to draw out his Brother, whom he sees perishing without Succour and Help. For Jesus Christ according to his humane Nature is truly our Brother, come of Adam our common Father, and he saw in the Bosom of his Father, that we were all lost in the Sink of our Self-will. Therefore he would needs throw himself into it, to draw us out and save us from those Dangers. Would you think it a dishonour if your Brother should voluntarily throw himself into a Sink to get you out of it, when without his Help we could not [Page] Recover, but must perish for ever; would you not rather be oblig'd to honour such a Benefactor, and to esteem as Jewels the Filth that he had contracted to deliver you from Death? How can you think that this is to dishonour Jesus Christ?—All those things are so clear that it is a wonder how Men find Difficulty in them; but they judge of God and his Works as they would of their Equals, and would attribute Honour to Christ by the Contempt they have for his Person: Seeing he would not be so valuable in his humane Nature, if he had not therein a Will rebellious to the Superiour part of his Soul; for in that case he would have had nothing to fight against, and consequently could not carry the Victory, which belongs only to victorious Combatants, and not to those who are in Quiet, and without Enemies. And if Jesus Christ had not charg'd himself with our corrupt Will, he could not endure and suffer, for in this case all his Sufferings would have been insensible, by the inseparable Union with God, who is Impassible as well as Immortal. And of necessity this Divinity of Jesus Christ behov'd to be in some way separated from his Humanity, for to work our Redemption: For abiding in this perfect Union with the Divinity, he could not satisfie for Man, since Man himself owes this Satisfaction to the Divinity; seeing he alone had done Evil against the Will of God, he also ought to repair it, but God ought not to satisfie himself for guilty Man, since being Independent on all things, he has no need of Men nor of their Satisfaction; but Jesus Christ as Man, being the true natural Brother of Men, would needs for the Love he bare them, charge himself with the Miseries and Sins into which they had wilfully plung'd themselves. And I think, Sir, you will find in the Scripture that Jesus Christ was even made Sin for Men.’

‘Not that it is to be understood that Jesus Christ ever sinn'd, or actually followed the rebellious Will of his humane Nature.—But the Inferiour and Mortal part gave him Combats and Assaults which Jesus Christ behov'd to resist.—Jesus Christ also could not in Justice say to Men as he does, Be ye Followers of me, if it had not been so; since their rebellious Wills could not attain to the Perfection of a Will altogether holy and united with that of God. And if God required of Men the Imitation of Jesus [Page] Christ, in case he had not had Rebellion in his humane Nature, he should have required of them impossible things, as some erroneous Persons would maintain, saying and preaching that it is impossible to keep the Commandments of God, or the Law of the Gospel, and tho' these are Blasphemies against God, many believe them, because this Doctrine flatters their Corruption, and lets them live quietly in their Sins and Negligence, on this false Supposition, that they cannot keep the Commands of God, nor imitate Jesus Christ.’

‘The Will of Jesus Christ himself, his Apostles, and all Persons living in the World, even tho' they were regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, have all of them their natural Evil-wills, and all their Vertues and Perfections consist in resisting them manfully, which they must do even till Death; for tho' they have overcome their own Wills by force of Resistance, yet it is but asleep or mortified, and may be awakened or revive by diverse Accidents. Therefore a regenerate Person himself has still his Self will to fight against even to Death: Wherefore the Apostle says Our Life is a continual Warfare, and Jesus Christ makes appear sufficiently that he had his Self-will to resist even to Death, when towards the end of Life he yet prays, Not my Will, but thy Will, Father, be done.’

‘But if you cannot understand these things, says she, leave them for those who shall understand them; take only of my Writings what is good and profitable for your Soul, and suspend your Judgment as to the rest, till God give you Light; for there are many things in them which it is not necessary for the Salvation of many to understand.—And it is far better to know well how to love God, than how to speak well of Vertue:’

Thus it appears with what Force and Evidence she advances this Sentiment,The reasonableness of her Sentiment in this. and yet how far she is from requiring a Belief of it from all as of necessity to Salvation, how clearly she shews, that it is so far from dishonouring Jesus Christ, or being contrary to his Purity, (in that State of Trial and Temptations to which he voluntarily subjected himself) that on the contrary it manifests the greatness and constancy of his Love to God, the ardency of his Charity for Men, the firmness of his Adherence to God amidst all Temptations, the value of his Merits and Satisfaction [Page] for us, and the encouragement he has given us by his Example to resist all Temptations, and to follow his Steps, and to depend on him for Succour and Compassion, since we have not a High-Priest who cannot be touch'd with the feeling of our Infirmities,Heb. 4. 15. but was in all Points tempted like as we are, yet without Sin. In this Passage, we see also how expresly she asserts our Redemption by Jesus Christ, and his Satisfaction for our Sins. They who desire this Matter handled at more length, may find it in Oecon. Div. Part 5. p. 21, to 60. and in the Accessory Letter above-mention'd. I shall here only add, that we ought not to stumble at harsh Expressions when we know the main intent of them, as St. Paul says, Christ was made a Curse and Sin, which seems most harsh. There is an ambiguity in the Words, Evil, Corrupted, and Corruption, which may either signifie Sin it self, or the Effects and Consequences of it. So the Will signifies sometimes the Superiour Faculties of the Soul; sometimes the Bent and Inclination of sensible Nature to please it self, and in this last Sence one may have a Self-will evil and corrupted, yet without sinning when he resists it. So the Summ of her Sentiment is, that Jesus Christ took on him, not the act of Evil, or Sin, but the Impulsions, the Inclinations, the Temptations, weaknesses of the Inferiour Will, of sensible Nature, not to consent to it in any thing, but to resist it, and to make all these die in himself by the Power of his Spirit, and his Eternal Light, and by means most contrary to the Inclinations of sensible Nature, that he might the more help and encourage his Brethren to the same Fight and Victory.

XVII.XVII. Of the State of Infants To some, her Sentiments concerning the State of Children before they have attain'd the use of their Reason, is no small stumbling; to wit, That the Will of Children is bound up in the Will of the Parents, till they have attained the use of their Reason, and can use their own Free-will themselves,L'Etoile du Matin. p. 159, 16 [...], &c. then they are free to choose Good or Evil, and to be sav'd, or damn themselves, according to this Choice. ‘But before they come to the use of Reason, this Choice is in the Power of their Parents, who may save or damn them, even as they can give them natural Life or Death; because of the strict Union and Sympathy between the Body of the Mother and of the Child in the Womb. If she takes in Poyson, the Child dies; if Physick, it is healed; [Page] for these two Bodies are but one and the same Substance divided into two parts.—This is true also as to the Soul, so that if a Mother give the Child in her Womb to the Devil, it is his, till being come to the use of Reason, it resists the Devil, renouncing him with its Free-will, and abjuring its evil Inclinations to become the Child of God.—And if Fathers or Mothers were true Christians, or Persons regenerated in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, undoubtedly they would produce also Christian Children in this Regeneration, and till they had attain'd the use of their Reason, they would always be God's, by the Free-will of their Parents; but if they become Wicked of their own Wills after this, they are free to do it, and their Parents cannot hinder them.’

‘I know many doubt of a Child dying in Infancy can be damn'd, but it is for want of Divine Light that they do not comprehend the Works of God, with whom it is as Just to damn the Child of a wicked one, as it is to save the Child of a just Man; for he has united inseparably the Will of the Father to that of the Child, as he has united the Body of the Child with that of the Mother.—And if they will condemn this for an Injustice, they may as well hold it an Injustice that all Men are fallen in Adam, which would be a Blasphemy against God. —He created at the Beginning all Men in Adam, as he did all the Trees of one kind in the first Tree of that kind, &c. and all things with Seeds for to produce each one their like; which will never change, for the Works of God are Eternal, being created by an Eternal God; and Man not being capable of using this Free-will in his Childhood, of necessity it must subsist somewhere to be preserv'd, till it may reside in the Person for whom it was created: As we see, the Free-will of all Men was in the Free-will of Adam, since all are Partakers of his Sin and Miseries that he brought upon Man; for it is most certain, that God could not have given to Man an inclination to Evil, which he feels from his Birth, nor the Miseries of Body and Mind in which he finds himself. For God being all Good, cannot do any Evil; and we must of necessity conclude that the Free-wills of Men were in the Free-will of Adam when he sinn'd. And since all Christians believe that all Men sinn'd in Adam, why ought they not by the same Consequence to believe, [Page] that Children sin in their Parents, or are damn'd in them.’

‘The Catholicks believe that all Children are sav'd, provided they be baptized, and that those Children shall be damn'd who shall die without Baptism, but that they shall not endure the Pains of Hell, as those who sin with their Free-will. It is true as in Paradise there are diverse Degrees of Glory, signified by those Words of Scripture, which say, In God's House there are many Mansions, there are also diverse Punishments in Hell; but it is not true that all Children dying without outward Baptism shall be damn'd: For this is but a Testimony of the Faith which the faithful Christian has in his Soul, which he declares to all Men by the means of the Water of outward Baptism; but if this living Faith is not in the Man's Soul, this outward Baptism will serve him for nothing. This is the Reason why Anabaptists will not baptize Children; but they themselves seem to have no more Faith when they are grown up, than when they were Children, for the Scripture says, He who believes in Jesus Christ, does the Works that he did, which they do not; which shews they do not believe in him tho' they are not baptiz'd till they come to the use of Reason. So the Soul of Man cannot receive Salvation by the means of outward Baptism, when he has not in him living Faith, or his Parents for him, if he be in Childhood. The Catholicks then have no ground to believe that all Children who are baptized shall be saved, and that they who die without Baptism shall be damn'd, since this depends upon the Free-will of their Parents; who offering willingly their Children to God to become true Christians, they are accepted of God by the Will of their Parents, and will assuredly be saved if they die before the use of Reason: And if others by their Parents are offered to the Devil, and to Sin, and die in their Nonage, they will be damned by the Evil will of their Parents, even tho' outwardly they receive the Baptism of Water, which without Faith is null, and Faith without Baptism in diverse cases does save.’

We see with what strength of Reason she declares this Sentiment, and tho' there were nothing else but the Consideration of our case in Adam, it serves to confirm it; for there is no partiality in God, no respect of Persons, he acts [Page] by the same Measures, and the same Rules, with Creatures of the same Kind and Qualities.

The Offence we take at this,The reasonableness of this Sentiment. proceeds from our Ignorance of God and his Works, and the Desire we have to extenuate the Guilt and damnable Effects of our Unchristian Care of our Children. When God created things at first,L'Oecon. Divine, Part 3. p. 299, 300, &c. he did not establish them in the Disorder in which we now see them, but all good and excellent in their respective kinds. When he establish'd the Propagation of Man to come from Man, it was not that they might communicate Imperfections to one another, but the Perfections he had given them; and God's wise and admirable Conduct in this, is thus in some measure represented. When he created free and intelligent Beings, it was not possible but that at first they must be frail and capable of falling away, for then they had no Habits to Good, which consisting in frequently repeated Acts, and being acquired thereby; intelligent Creatures at first were not strengthned in Good, and thro' their weakness they might abuse their Liberty and fall away. God having seen this come to pass in an infinite Number of Angels, and desiring to settle other Creatures in their room, thought how he might place others who from their Birth or Being might have Habits to Good, and so being thus establish'd in it, might not so easily fall away. If then all those Creatures should come from one Source that were habitually Good, then they who came of them should be born all with an habitual strength to Good, and they encreasing and strengthning their good Habits, those who descended from them should be yet much more establish'd and invincible in Goodness, and so on by a continual Gradation. But to accomplish this charitable Design, the first Creature of that kind must be produc'd in the common Lot, without an habitual Firmness, but in a State actually Good, and such care taken to prevent his Fall, as that God bodily converses with him. If therefore Man do not correspond to this Care, it is purely his own fault, who of his Free-will has chang'd into a Source of Misery that which ought to have been a Source of Communication of Good. Now the same Reason for which Men were to come of one another by Propagation, is the Reason also why the Lot of Children is the same with that of the Parents so long as they have not the use of their Liberty. If Parents had remain'd in the Perfection in which God plac'd [Page] them, and encreas'd in it according to his Establishment, this had been a great Happiness for their Children, who had thus been Partakers of habitual Good even from their Original; but if the contrary did afterwards happen, this is neither from the Decree nor Design of God, but purely the fault of Man, with which God's Decree has no concern. Now suppose that God has appointed that Men should descend of one another by Propagation, it follows immediately and naturally without the intervention of a New Decree, that the Lot and Liberty of the Children should be bound up in the Parents so long as they are not in a State to make use of it freely themselves. As long as an Effect is in its Cause, it is one and the same with its Cause: And as long as it is not like to its Cause, and is not Independent on it, it is also in it; for it goes out from it, but according as it has it self apart the natural and necessary Faculties and Functions for its own Constitution, and for its individual Government, as its Cause has, to be naturally compleat. If therefore it have not as yet the free conduct of it self, (being found to be a free Agent) it is as yet in regard of that in its Cause or in its Parents. Not that for some Years after a Child is born, his Free-will is yet in an inherent manner in his Parents, and that it must flow from them into the Child, when he is farther advanc'd in Age. But that the Parents produce a Body and a Soul in a State imperfect enough, so as yet to need their Care and Operation, so to speak, for some Years, before the Subject which hitherto is imperfect become perfect. And so long as it is not, it belongs yet naturally to the producing Cause, which is obliged to have a care of it, as a part of it self, as in effect it is. Hence also comes the Right which Fathers and Mothers have of educating their Children, which is not a Right that is positive or may be dispenc'd with, or which simply regards the Body; but a natural indispensible Right, which much more respects the Soul than the Body.

XVIII.XVIII. Of Reason. Another great Prejudice rais'd against her was, that she spoke so meanly of Reason, did not look on it as the surpeam Faculty of the Soul, nor the Exercise of it as the best Employment, and thought there were such dangerous Fruits of Sciences, and humane Learning, and the means of acquiring them. In the Thoughts of M. Pascal, there are, I remember, excellent Reflections about the Three different sorts of Grandeur, which have their different [Page] Empires, Dignities, Honours, &c. and may be call'd Divine, Rational, and Earthly; the Grandeur of Charity or the Love of God, that of Reason, and that of worldly Empire and Honour. Alexander and others have excell'd in the last, and seem Great to the Eyes of Flesh; Archimedes and others have excell'd in the second, and seem Great to the Eyes of Reason. Jesus Christ appear'd in none of these Grandeurs, had neither Learning nor worldly Greatness, and was of no regard neither to the Eyes of the Flesh, nor those of the Great Philosophers, and of Reason; but O! how Great was he in the Eyes of Charity! how Meek and Humble, and Patient and Self-denied, in a Life of absolute Poverty, Contempt, and Pain for the Love of God and Men. Now all the Writings and Actions of A. B. tending to draw Men into this Kingdom of Charity and the Love of God, which is of a quite distinct Rank and Order from that of humane Reason, as well as of worldly Greatness, it was no wonder that she put no great Value on the one more than the other, they being both unspeakable Hindrances in the way to it, and the second more than the third.

‘She shews that there is in the Soul a Principle for above humane Reason,La Sainte Visiere. Tomb. de la [...]ausse Theol. Part 1 Let. 12. and that is Divine Faith, which does not consist in believing only with the understanding the Twelve Articles of the Creed, which may be done by a humane Faith, as we believe the recital of some History when a Person worthy of Credit relates it; this gives not to the Soul any Divine Vertues, which God only can operate in us. Faith is a Divine Light which God infuses in the Soul, which makes us to know and desire Eternal things, and despise Temporal. It is not a natural Quality, as our Reason, but a Divine Quality, which proceeds from God, as the Beams do from the Sun, as nothing can make us see the Sun, but the Sun himself. It was communicated to all Men at their Creation, lost by their Fall, renew'd by the Merits and Grace of Jesus Christ. When it shines in our Souls, it warms them with the Love of God and Men who bear his Image and Likeness, and produces Charity: And this Charity regulates all our Life, and gives weight and measure to all our Actions. For Divine Faith is always living and operating; It partakes of all the Divine Qualities, Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth. So that he who has Faith in his [Page] Soul cannot be Unjust, nor a Liar, nor a Deceiver, nor Wicked, nor seek his own Interest, his own Glory, his own Pleasure or Satisfaction; seeing all these respect time and earthly things. Humane Reason is an Inferiour Principle that may indeed convince us that there is a God, the Author of Nature, who made and sustains all things, but this cannot produce in our Souls, Faith and Charity, Vertues derived immediately from God, and not from Nature, or the Understanding of Man, which is a frail Creature limited to Earth and Time. And to think to know or comprehend God by the natural Understanding, is a greater Folly than the Heathens committed in worshipping the Sun.’

‘All Men being now void of humane Faith, take up with a humane Belief, and divide, and dispute, and quarrel, and hate, and despise one another, without knowing wherefore, and without perceiving that the Folly they have in themselves is more to be despised than what they require in their Brother.’

‘The active Exercise of our Reason, when depriv'd of the Light of Faith, serves but the more to confound and darken us, it keeps us in a vain Amusement, makes us neglect the necessary means of obtaining Divine Faith, blows up the Heart with Pride, makes us despise the most Divine Truths when they do not accord with our Principles, and value our selves beyond others; tho' humble ignorant Persons are more to be regarded, as being more disposed to receive the Light of Faith, than those Learned who have drunk in the Doctrine of Men. She blesses God that preserv'd her from this, for then she should have been uncapable of receiving that of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ call'd the Simple and Ignorant to be his Disciples and Apostles, it was they whom he train'd up to instruct and teach others the way to Salvation. When a Learned Nicodemus came to him, he told him, that unless he became as a little Child he could not enter into the Kingdom of God. He founded no Colleges nor Academies to train up his Followers in all sorts of Learning, but taught them by Word and Deed to deny themselves in all earthly things, and to take up their Cross and follow him. True Religion is preserved or received by the same means by which it is at first instituted and established.’

[Page] They who say in another case that Christ being more faithful than M [...]ses, in all the House of God, who yet left not a Pin of the Tabernacle unmade, and therefore he surely could not be wanting in ordering what was fit for his Church, may examine their own Measures by this Rule.

She says, ‘The Schools and Doctrine of Men have corrupted the true Sence of the Scriptures, and by their Learning authorize all sorts of Sins; that it seems the Schools are expresly instituted to forge Cases of Conscience capable of leading Men to Hell. For what need is there to Gloss the Gospel, and the Life of Jesus Christ? They are clear Truths which Jesus Christ taught by Word and Deed, that we must be poor in Spirit, humble in Heart, desirous to suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake, and to do to others as we would have them do to us; but to corrupt all these things, the Learned make Glosses, that it is not against Poverty of Spirit to labour or trade that we may get Money, and make some Fortune in the World, and to flatter Men the better to their Ruine, they add by Word, that we must possess Riches as not possessing them; which is a great Deceit, for Men are not now so dispos'd as those of the Old Testament, who receiv'd Temporal Goods from God as a Blessing to employ them to his Glory, not having their Hearts any ways wedded to them, as those of our Time, who incessantly covet Riches, desiring still more and more. It is an infallible Truth that all who would be saved must love God with all their Heart. And if we ask those Divines if it be not lawful for a Man to love his Father, Mother, Wife, Children, Kinsfolk, Friends, yea his Country, Money, House, Honour, Divertisements, Meat, Drink, Cloaths, and every other Creature; they will answer, yes; because they love them themselves, and yet imagine they fulfil the Command of God, of loving him with all their Heart; and to disguise this Lie the better, they will say, We must not love all these things inordinately, giving us to understand thereby, that our Hearts may be well divided into so many different Affections without sinning, which has so authoriz'd the neglect of the Command of loving God with all our Heart, that no Body thinks it is needful. They live and die in the Love of all sorts of Creatures and yet think to be saved; for their Divines have found out Philosophical Reasons to maintain this.’

[Page] ‘Yet,Appel. de Dieu. Part 2. p. 58, 59. she says, what she has written of the Learned, is not that she will despise Learning or the Study of Sciences and Languages: Since all these things may serve for the Glory of God, when we will apply them to those Ends; and moral Vertues give Advantage to divine Vertues. For a well bred Person will still be more docile in the Practice of true Vertue, than one ill-bred; and one of good Learning will be more able to understand and receive true Vertue than a rude and ignorant Person; so that what, says she, makes me fear that few of the Learned and of the Great shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, is that I see in effect that very few of them are humble in Heart, and that it is impossible (speaking naturally) that they should not esteem themselves more than another, as having more ground for it. And unless by Divine Vertue, a Learned Person know the Misery and Ignorance into which Sin has plung'd him, he can never be without Self-esteem and Presumption of Spirit, which things God resists, and does not give them his Grace; for of necessity they must be humble in Heart to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.’

But because this Sentiment,The Nature and Order of the Faculties of Man. M. Poiret. De Erud. Solid, supersic. & falsa. concerning the Nature of humane Reason, is so contrary to the common Opinion of the Learned, I shall here briefly represent it in a Light and Method conformable to our ways of reasoning and enquiring into things; as it is most rationally and fully accounted for by M. Poiret in his Treatise De Eruditione, to which I refer those who desire to enquire farther into it for full Satisfaction.

1. The Original Ends of God's creating Man being to enjoy him and all his Works, the one as his Essential Happiness, and the other as Accessory, he therefore gives him an Immortal and Divine Soul and a Material Body, and endues these with sutable Faculties capable of enjoying this twofold Happiness; the one material and sensible, his bodily Senses by which he might take in the Beauty and Delight of all the Creatures; and the other Divine and Spiritual, his Understanding, by which he might be capable of enjoying God and Divine things, and of receiving his Light and Love.

2. Those Faculties are passive, and do not by any activity of theirs, produce their Objects, but only are laid open and turn'd to them to receive them. Our Eyes do not form [Page] the Light, but only passively receive it and the Beauties of the other Creatures; and in the Night, tho' we open and turn them about never so earnestly, we meet with nothing but Darkness. So is it as to our spiritual Faculties and their Objects.

3. Those respective Objects when they are present to their respective Faculties, do make so strong and vivid an Impression on them, that in their Absence we are capable of forming to our selves in our Minds, Images and Pictures of them, and of compounding, or dividing, or comparing these Pictures together, and of forming Propositions and Consultations about them, and according as these passive Faculties have received due and vivid Impressions, or faint, or none at all, from their respective Objects, we are accordingly capable of forming true or false Pictures of them. And this is the active Faculty which we call Reason.

4. The Knowledge we have by the Impressions from the Objects themselves in our passive Faculties, is a loving, solid, real Knowledge, making us enjoy the Object, and the Delight, and Happiness it can give us. The Knowledge we have by the Exercise of this active Faculty of our Reason, is a dead, dry, barren, superficial Knowledge, that communicates nothing to the Soul of the Delight and Reality of the Objects themselves. We see what a difference there is between beholding the Sun, and forming to our selves Idea's and Pictures of him in his Absence; the first enlightens, warms, delights, directs us, lets us see the Beauty of all the Creation; the other affords nothing of this; and if we had still been Blind and never seen the Light, even the very Pictures of it, we fancy to our selves, would be false as well as superficial. Now it is just the same as to the spiritual things; the natural Man perceives not the things of God, they seem Foolishness to him. His Idea's and Reasonings about them are like a Blind Man's Reasoning about Colours, and tho' they were never so Just, yet they cannot make him Happy, nor to enjoy the Object themselves, no more than a Man's drawing the Pictures of Light, Fire, Meat, and Drink, can enlighten, warm, and nourish his Body. Our Souls must be turn'd to God and taken off from all other things; And blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall see God. The Knowledge we have by Reason then is a superficial, barren, and dead Knowledge, [Page] does not bring to the Soul the true and living Knowledge of God. They who give themselves up to it, do really deny God, make their Reason their God, are guilty of a more dangerous Idolatry than they who worship the Sun; and how universal this Evil is now in the World, he that runs may read. The true and living Knowledge of God is to be had only from God, our divine Faculties must be turn'd to him, and turn'd away from other Things, that they may be enlightned by him; they are in our corrupt State more dead and defiled and vitiated than the weakest or most blinded Eyes, and Reasoning will not recover them, more than it will give Eyes to the Blind. Physick is indispensably necessary to heal them, and the Laws and Life of Jesus Christ transcribed into our Hearts and Practice is the only Remedy for them.

XIX.XIX. Of forming a new Sect. They accused her that she designed to form a new Sect and Party, and so to encrease the Divisions and Schisms in Christendom; whereas no body did more deplore the Divisions of Christians than she. She saw that Schisms and Sects served only to destroy true Charity, the Love of God and Men, and brought in nothing but Hatred, Envy, and every evil Work, under a Cover of different Forms and Opinions: She desired nothing but to reunite Christians in one, in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and to have obtained that, would have been willing to have spent to the last Drop of her Blood. She protested a hundred and a hundred times, that she would establish no Party nor draw any after her, but send all to Jesus Christ, and to the Practice of the Doctrine of the Gospel. She shunned the Conversation of Men, and liv'd always shut up in a Chamber; she wished never to see any Body, provided they were all united to God. To set up a Sect, is to leave a Society and a certain publick Worship where Persons were once Members, and to establish another, to which they draw by human Motives as many Persons as they can, and acknowledge them as Members of it when they make a verbal Profession of this new Worship, and are joined to those Persons and their Opinions. Now she establish'd no new Worship, nor new Exercises, nor Laws, nor Rules that savour of a Sect, but only by her Life and Writings, call'd on People to return to the Love of God, and to imitate the Life of Jesus Christ, in which State they were not, and without which they could not be saved.

[Page] ‘In her Letter to M. Reinboth, Le Temoign. de Verite. part 2. p. 45, 46. Superintendant in Holstein, I am very far, says she, from making a new Church, as some maliciously slander me, for I bring no new thing, and Novelties are very displeasing to me. I am careful therefore not to introduce any; but I labour to advance in a Gospel-Life and to practise it. And all my Writings, and all I said formerly to well-disposed Persons, aimed only at this, and I forbear now to speak to them, because I found it was unprofitable. Your Preachers wrong me greatly when they cry out that I draw their People from them; for in the ten Months I have been in Holstein, I have not made Acquaintance with so much as one Person, not so much as with my Landlady; so that I give them no ground to say or think that I strive to draw People to form a new Church, or teach a new Doctrine; seeing that which Jesus Christ left us, is the most perfect, and the last that God will send unto Men. No new thing needs be invented; but we should labour to perfect our selves in it, and to put it truly in Practice instead of Disputing about it; for all these Disputes are raised by the Devil, to bring Hatred, Divisions and Discords amongst Christians, whereas the Church of God should be united in Peace and Love, in the meek Spirit of Jesus Christ; and it is now divided in as many Parties as there are different Sects, which is lamentable, and disturbs the Peace of Christian Souls, and makes that they do not love one another; tho' Jesus Christ has so earnestly recommended to them to love one another: They are all partial, and only love the Party which they have undertaken to stand by, or defend: This proceeds from an Antichristian Spirit, and not from the Spirit of Christ.’

XX.XX. That she despised not Sermons, Sacraments, Pastours. They libell'd her, that she despised Sermons, Sacraments, Pastours, Priesthood, and all Government; which were all most horrid Calumnies. ‘This, says she, (in her Letter to Dr. Nieman, Superintendant in Holstein) is a gross Calumny; for I wish with all my Heart that both Church and State may continue in Vigour; for otherwise there would be no Knowledge of God in the Land, nor Commonwealths maintained.Le Temoign. de Verite. part 2. p. 199, 200 &c. Seeing Preachings and Sacraments preserve amongst Men the Memory of sacred things; and States keep their People in their Duty by Justice, or else there would be nothing but Confusion, and the Good would be destroyed by the Wicked, if [Page] there were no Government and Magistrates to rule and govern them.—I indeed despise the Abuse of Churches, and Sermons, and Sacraments, but not the Use of them, nor the Essence of these, which are established by God, as is also Government and Magistracy. And there is a great Difference between the despising a thing in it self, and the Abuse that is made of it. For it is one thing to say that every Sect abuses the Holy Scriptures, and another to say that the Scripture is of no Worth, or to despise it because many abuse it. Now it seems Buchardus would make People believe that I despise all these Holy Things, when I despise only the Abuse of them, as true Christians ought to do, who lay to Heart God's Honour: They ought to lament when they see Men to degenerate as to the Love of God, that they seem to hold meerly to the Bark of the things ordained by God, without squaring their Lives by them.’

‘—They say I despise the Sacraments and other Offices of Piety; while I believe there is no body that esteems them more than I do: For the Quakers accused me, by their defamatory Treatise, That I had an abominable Doctrine, sending Persons to Churches, Sermons, or Sacraments, or other outward Solemnities; desiring to infer from this, that I had not the Spirit of God, since I still esteemed those outward Devotions, and also incited others to make use of them as Means to approach unto God.’

‘Your Preachers may read what I have written in that Advertisement upon this Head, so that I need not enlarge my self farther here, but will satisfie them as to what they say, That in effect I despise the Sacraments and other outward Devotions, because I do not go my self to the Church nor to the Sacraments; and they will needs reject all that I say in the Praise of Holy Things, because I do not observe them my self to give an Example to others; and would infer from thence, That I speak with Dissimulation in praise of Holy Things, and not sincerely as I think in my Heart. This convinces me that they no ways know me. For if they only knew me outwardly, they would sufficiently see that I am sincere, and not at all feigned or dissembled; so that if I had in my Heart a Contempt for the Sacraments and other outward Devotions, I would openly declare it by Word and Writ; for [Page] I have overcome the World, and am not afraid to tell the Truth of what I know.’

‘I have indeed written against the Abuse of the Sacraments and other outward Solemnities, but I never spoke against the things themselves, seeing they are good, and have often serv'd me as Means of Union with God. But if I do not go now to the Church or Sacraments, it is not out of Contempt of Holy Things, but because I have no longer so great need of outward Means of Union with God as I had formerly, when the Conversation of Men, and the Diversion of the Cares of temporal Affairs did divert my Attention from God. I retired then to Churches, and approached the Sacraments, that I might be the more recollected and united to God. But since God has given me the Grace to find this Recollection in my little Chamber, and to entertain my self in Spirit with God in Solitude, I have not thought it so necessary to use these outward Ceremonies, which sometimes would serve me for a Distraction to my inward Recollection.’

‘This is partly the Reason why I have left them off; but this is not all: For if I had the Freedom to go to Church, I would go to it on the Days commanded, and would receive the Sacrament at the Times appointed: Since I am under the Ordinances of the Roman Church, Jesus Christ teaches me to obey the Laws both of God and Men, as he himself did on Earth, obeying Caesar and other Superiours, tho' they were sometimes evil, but their Ordinances good, as I have particularly shewn in the said Advertisement.—But I cannot go to Church without hazard of my Life, and it is not lawful for me to expose my self to so evident Dangers, and Necessity has no Law. There are Persons in the Roman Church who do as your Preachers, and say that I am become a Heretick, and therefore would think they did God good Service to take away my Life, and have even watched divers Occasions to murther me, which God discovered to me timously that I might avoid them; and if I would yet go to their Churches, I think I should not come out alive, but they would stone me as they did S. Stephen, for having spoke the Truth. And being born and brought up in the Roman Church, it is not permitted me to go to another without sinning mortally (according to their Ordinances) [Page] so that by Force I must stay in Solitude and not go to Church, which I suffer willingly, and comfort my self that so many Fathers Hermits were so agreeable to God while they lived in the Desarts, and did not use the Sacraments nor other outward Solemnities.’

‘And in her forecited Letter to Mr. Reinboth. Le Temoign. de Verite. Part 2. p. 74, 75.—As to what you tell me, says she, that you wish I had not touched the Ecclesiastick State, I could not omit it, since for them particularly that Work was made (The Light of the World) and they ought all to thank God that he has permitted their Faults to be known, that they may amend them while they are yet in this World. But in order to this, they must really desire to become true Christians, such as I have described them; for otherwise they will take God's Admonitions for the Reproofs of a Wife, which they will not endure. I pardon them, for they do it out of Ignorance, thinking these are Novelties, tho' they be the ancient Truths of God, but a little grievous to those who live according to the Motions of corrupt Nature. For it would always bear Rule, be praised and esteemed, and cannot endure Reproof, nor bear its Faults, without taking the Alarm or avenging it self, opposing still the Truth that reproves it, and will not acknowledge its Fault. This is the Way of a natural Man, who has not yet overcome himself, in which your Pastours seem yet to be fix'd; since they would blame me for speaking the Truth of the Degeneracy of the Ecclesiastick State, of which too much cannot be spoken; and they themselves ought to publish it if they were free of Passions, and regarded more the Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls. But impartial and disinterested Persons are no longer to be met with. Every one looks to his own Advantage, his own Glory and Profit; and when they are in this State I need not wonder if your Pastours blame me, since I bring them no Profit, Advantage, or Vain-glory.’

‘This is not that I will not honour or prefer Churchmen in their Dignities, since I esteem them as the Lieutenants of God, of which I have spoken sufficiently in the Advertisement against the Quakers. For I always distinguish the State from the Person. I honour Priests, Magistrates, Judges, and other Superiours, because God has establish'd this Order upon Earth, without which. Men [Page] would be much more disorderly. But I cannot honour the Faults of all those Persons who are plac'd in State and Dignity, since they seem to me more heinous in such, than in the Common People; and I remark that Jesus Christ despised wicked Priests and Judges, more than he did private Sinners; for he dismiss [...]d the Woman taken in Adultery, saying only to her, Go, and sin no more. He called an Usurer to be an Apostle; he suffered a Magdalen, a common Sinner, to kiss and follow him. But he does not so treat the Pharisaical Priests or Judges and Superiours, but gives them publickly many Reproaches and Contempts, calling them so often Hypocrites, whited Sepulchers, Generation of Vipers, and saying they made clean the out-side of the Cup and Platter, but within were full of Corruption and dead Mens Bones.’

‘And if you had liv'd, Sir, in the Times of Jesus Christ, and heard him thus despise and condemn the Priests and Superiours, you would have taken Offence, that he blamed so particularly the Ecclesiastick State, since you take Offence now that I blame the Faults which God has made known to be universally in that State. And if you believe there are amongst others some good Men who are not guilty of the Faults that I have marked in that Light of the World; it is not of them that I speak, since I will not blame the Office in it self, seeing God has established it, and Jesus Christ himself honour'd it, even in wicked Persons, whom he reproved for many Faults; for after he had healed the Leper, he commanded him to go shew himself to the Priest. It is not to be believ'd that this was to a holy Priest, since he was of the same Synagogue with those who out of Envy crucified Jesus Christ; but he would teach the Respect and Honour that ought to be had to the Priestly Dignity, tho' the Vices of the Persons placed in that Dignity are much more displeasing to God than the Vices of others, and they will certainly be more punish'd in Hell for their Dignities and Offices which they have unworthily discharged. Therefore I had more ground to touch the Ecclesiastick State than any other on that Occasion, when I was conversing with Ecclesiastick Persons: For it would not have touched them so nearly to have spoken to them of the deplorable State in which Lawyers, Merchants, Physicians, and other secular Persons do now live, since [Page] the Vices of others could not be corrected by those Church-men, and they might well correct their own Vices which I discover'd to them to be crept into the Ecclesiastick State; for they must account for this before the great Judge.’

‘I never repented of having touched on that Occasion the Ecclesiastick State, since this is the chief Cause of the Degeneracy of Christendom: For if the Priests had continued true Christians and Disciples of Jesus Christ, undoubtedly they would yet draw to that State of Christianity a great Number of People after them. But when we see the Heads of the Christian Church degenerate from that Spirit, and that they will not so much as hear their Degeneracy spoken of, what can be hoped for from the People, but that they will become still worse, as Experience makes appear, &c.’

Thus it appears how far she is from overturning or despising Priesthood and the outward Ordinances, how plainly she distinguishes the Offices and Dignities from the Persons, the Use of Divine things from the Abuse of them; and that she as much honours the former, as she exposes the Evils of the latter, and why it is the Churchmen on all sides raise such a Hue-and-Cry against her. I designed once to have set down here her execellent Vindication of the Sacraments and outward Ordinances, and the Dignity and Reverence of the Priesthood from the Reproaches of the Quakers, in her Advertisement against them. But lest it should make this Paper swell too much, I have forborn it.

XXI.XXI. Nor rejected the Holy Scriptures. They accused her that she rejected and despised the Holy Scriptures; from which she vindicates her self in many Places. ‘This, says she, is the greatest Falshood of all; for I said from the Beginning, that if my Life and Words are not conformable to the said Scriptures, they ought not to believe me:Tomb. de la fausse Theol. part 2 p. 78 Light of the world. part 1. p. 101. Lum. nec en tenebr. P. 2. p. 81. This I have often repeated since, and say it over again now, and on all fit Occasions, I tell every one that the Sence of the Scriptures is the Nourishment of Souls.—It seems to me, says she, a very ill thing to forbid Christians the Reading of the Bible in the vulgar Tongue, since it must teach us all that we ought to do and forsake, &c.’

‘The only Good, says she, that remains in the World is, that the Text of Scripture remains in its Integrity, that [Page] the Devil has never had Power to change and falsifie it, but to oppose it only by the Glosses and Inventions of Men, who endeavour to accommodate it to the modern Corruption, but in vain; they cannot change it, since they who will follow Jesus Christ may yet find it entire, and draw in its Fountain all that is written by the Apostles, Prophets, and other Souls filled with the Holy Spirit. In this the Promise of Jesus Christ is fulfilled, That Hell shall never be able to pluck it out of the Hands of the Christians, that it may serve for Food and Nourishment to all true Believers, who not stopping at the broken Cisterns of human Learning, shall draw out of the Fountain of living Water to the End of the World.’

In a Word, thro' all her Writings she recommends the Reading of the Holy Scriptures, looks on it as one of the greatest Miracles of Providence that they have been preserved uncorrupted and entire, to be a standing Testimony against the Professors of Christianity, while their Lives are a flat Contradiction to them. That the Doctrine of Jesus Christ contained in the Gospels is the last Doctrine that is to come into the World, and fully directs us the Way to eternal Life, and desires that her Life and Doctrine may be examined thereby, and no Regard had to it but in so far as it is conformable thereunto; and that she aims at nothing but to perswade People to embrace in their Life and Spirit, the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ contained in the Gospel.

It is true, she did not give her self to reading of the Holy Scriptures, being immediately and inwardly taught by God the same Truths which are contained in them. Every one, says she, ought to use the Means that lead them best to the Love of God, because the Ways to this Love are divers, some attain to it by the Means of reading seriously the Holy Scriptures, others by humble assiduous Prayers, others by Solitude and retiring from human Conversation, and so of many others. It is of small Moment to know by what Means others have attained to this Love of God, provided we take the Means that are most fit for us to attain to it also.

‘There are divers Ways,Tomb. de la fausse Theol. Part 1. p. 17, 18. as there are divers Sins which are Hindrances in those Ways, which every one ought to oppose, according as he knows them to be in himself, without offering to make one general Law and Rule [Page] whereby to lead all to God; for he who is not immediately instructed by the Holy Spirit, would do very ill, if he should not make use of the reading of the Holy Scripture, or if he should not search for those who speak by the Holy Spirit; for this would be to tempt God to Will that he should instruct all Men immediately, while they are so taken up with, or wedded to the Affairs of this World. And on the contrary it would be very ill done, if one should make use of Reading or other outward Means, when he has withdrawn from all Creatures, and finds the immediate Conduct of God. Such a Soul would oppose the Holy Spirit, and would hinder the operation of his Graces, if it should make use of Reading or other outward Means, because in this State it ought not any longer to act, but to be passive, and follow the Spirit, who guides it it, without operating any more it self.’

In doing this, she is far from despising or rejecting the Holy Scriptures; when I am with a Friend and converse with him by Word of Mouth, and he answers me after the same manner, we will not then make use of Writing or Letters, and yet it cannot be concluded from thence, that I reject or despise his Letters; this way of Communication by Letters is most agreeable, but it is for the Absent. They who see and converse with one another make no use of Writing, but they do not despise it; they have a more speedy and delightful way of communicating their Thoughts. Thus A. B. having inward and immediate Conversation with God, had no need of the Scripture for to know his Will, she learned it from his own Mouth, and enjoy'd his Presence, but they who have not recovered that Divine Conversation, must have Recourse to the Scriptures, and other outward Means, according as they find them helpful to bring them nearer to God, till they attain to the Enjoyment of himself.

And this is very agreeable to St. Augustin's Doctrine in his excellent Treatise de Doctrina Christiana. ‘HeHom [...] itaque flde, spe & Charitate Subnixu [...], eaque inconcusse retinens, non indiget Scripturis, nisi ad alios Instruendos, itaque multi per hac tria in Solitudine sine Codicibus Vivunt, unde in illis arbitror jam completum esse quod dictum est; sive Prophetiae evacuabuntur. sive Longuae cossabunt, sive scientia destruetur, &c. Aug. de Doctr. Chr. Lib. 1. Cap. 36. therefore who is establish'd in Faith, Hope, and Charity, and [Page] inviolably retains them, needs not the Scriptures, unless it be to instruct others. Therefore many live in the Desart by these Three without Books. Hence I think that in them is already fulfill'd that which is said; whether there be Prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be Tongues, they shall cease; whether there be Knowledge, it shall vanish away.’

XXII.XXII. That there are no True Christians, &c. That she declared so positively, that there are no True Christians at present upon Earth, and that God would make her the Instrument of renewing the Spirit of the Gospel is another grievous Prejudice against her; this was often objected to her, and is answered by her in many Places of her Writings. It was not Uncharitableness, but great Charity to Men's Souls, that mov'd her to declare this to all the World. She was perswaded that none were True Christians but they in whom the Spirit of Christ did live, whose Affections and Desires were set only on things Eternal, and not on things Temporal; that one could not be a True Christian by serving God and Mammon both, by joining the Love of God and Self-love, seeking to please Men and to please God too. She met with many of good Inclinations,Tomb. de la fauss. Theol. Part 2. p. 155. but none who were truly Regenerated. ‘She did well, as she says, to tell this, and she had done a great Evil in saying the contrary; for to have said so to others could not have profited them, even tho' it had been true; it could not encrease their Holiness, but rather give them occasion of Vain-glory, Nature being tickled with little. But when we are told that we are not True Christians, we have reason to use the means to become so, and to humble our selves before God, that we may obtain his Grace. If there are True Christians, they will become no less for this Saying; and if there are none, at least some will be awakened out of their Security and endeavour to become so.’ If A. B. had said, that God by an unchangeable Decree from all Eternity had predestinated the greatest part of the World to Damnation, it might then indeed be said that she is void of Charity to God and Man: But when she declares that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance, and yet that all Men were living in a Contradiction to the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ, she could not do them a more charitable Office than to warn them of their Danger. Will they say the Psalmist was uncharitable, and [Page] damn'd all the World,Psal. 14. 2, 3. because he tells us, the Lord look'd down from Heaven upon the Children of Men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God; they are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doeth Good, no not one. Every Man ought to weigh the Truth or Falshood of this Saying as to himself, and see if he can make this particular Exception to the general Saying, There is no True Christians upon Earth; let him set at the Foot of it, Except I my self. And if his Conscience dare not write down this Exception, he has reason to thank the Charity that put him to the Trial, without regard whether it be true or false as to others, which will avail him nothing so long as it holds as to himself.

And as to the other part of the Prejudice,That God would make her and her Writings the Mean of renewing the Spirit of the Gospel. Tomb. de fauss. Theol. Part 2. p 161, 162. that God will make her and her Writings the Mean of the Renovation of the Gospel Spirit: She says, ‘It is God who enlightens Understandings, who warms Wills with his Love, who produces Charity in Souls; in short, who is the only Giver of all Good; without any Creatures being able to cause to be born in the Soul of another the Spirit of Regeneration, which is to live again to God, and to die to ones self. This is a Masterpiece of the Works of God much more rare and precious than the Body of Man, and nevertheless he will not do it but by the means of Creatures, who shall be subject to him and will hear his Voice; who will make others Partakers of the Light which God communicates to them, that by it they may be enlightned and know their Errors and the Way to become True Believers. The Understanding, the Speech, and the Hand of such spiritual Mothers is the Matter with which God will beget his True Children, making them comprehend his Truths by the Words, Writings, and Actions of those who shall receive the Word of God immediately, who are few in number, because Men are now so diverted in the Affairs and Business of this World, that they cannot hear the Voice of God, tho' he speak continually to their Heart. And to supply their Weakness and the Wandrings of their Spirit, his great Goodness causes to speak and write by sensible and visible Objects, the things which may render all those True Believers who truly desire to become so. And that her Writings are of this Nature, full of Divine and Saving Truths, Simple and Solid, Milk for Babes, and Meat for [Page] strong Men, suted for all Capacities and all Ages; they manifest themselves, as the Light does to those who are not Blind.’

And as to their reproaching her,Temoign. de verite. Part 2. p. 43, 44, 61, 62. that being a Woman, yet she would presume to instruct the World, when St. Paul would not suffer a Woman to speak in the Church, and therefore calling her in Contempt and Old Wife, she said, That for her being a Woman she could not hinder it, since no Body forms themselves; they must ask God, if they would know why he created her a Woman and not a Man, that she her self had been displeas'd at it, but since God made her know it was his Pleasure, she was content; for she lov'd rather to be a little Atom in the Will of God, than a whole World in her own Will. And when she began to teach by her Writings, it was by an express Command of God, which she long resisted, for which she begs Pardon; for she could not resolve on this because she was a Woman, who has never so much Authority in matter of Doctrine as a Man.—But she came over all humane Respects, and expos'd her self to all their Mockeries. She says, If the Truths of God must be rejected because they are dictated by a Woman, all the Great and Learned that ever were in the World ought also to be rejected, seeing all are equally come of a Woman. Why should they then despise their Origin, since God does not despise it, but makes use of them to operate his greatest Marvels, and always Figures the Church, his Spouse, by a Woman. Women are as capable of receiving the Graces of God as Men, there being no difference between their Souls, and the bodily difference respecting Nature only; in which even Woman ought to be more regarded than Men, seeing when God would needs become Man, he would have a Woman for his Mother, but not a Man for his Father, and he has done his greatest Wonders by the means of Women. What Triumphant Victory did Judith obtain against Holofernes; and Esther in the Deliverance of God's People?—And whereas it is said, it is not permitted Women to teach, the Apostle, she says, ordains the aged Women to teach the younger, and to instruct their Children and Family in the fear of God, and both in the Old and New Testament we read of many Women-Prophetesses foretelling things to come. And the Apostle says, it is an honour to a Woman to prophesie with her Head covered. She says, they ought to let God spe [...]k [Page] by a Woman, if it be his Pleasure, since he spoke in former Times to a Prophet by a Beast; that he bestows his Graces and Wisdom on whom he pleases, and Man ought not to ask him why he does so. That before God it is not Man or Woman that signifies any thing, but the Spirit of Righteousness and Truth: That they ought not to regard whether she be Man or Woman, but whether what she says be Just and True: That she writes by an express Command of God, doing this as secretly as she can, shut up in her Chamber: That Men are now less dispos'd to receive his Divine Light than Women, since their Hearts are blown up with Pride, to apply all Glory and Authority to themselves, instead of referring it to God, and cannot endure that a simple Woman as she, should speak of Divine Things, least their Learning should be less esteem'd. So those Great Philosophers will not let God do his Marvels by the means of a Virgin, but will oblige him to operate by Great Divines,1 Cor. 1. 27, 28. not remembring that he has said, * He has chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things that are mighty, and the foolish things of the World to confound the wise, and base things of the World, and things which are despis'd, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no Flesh should glory in his Presence. And thus he destroys the Wisdom of the Wise, and brings to nothing the Understanding of the Prudent; so that it shall be said, where is the Wise, Where is the Scribe, where is the Disputer of this World? This they will acknowledge was the way of God's Dealing in former Times, and why would they have him to alter it now, when the Pastors, Doctors, and Teachers, the Learned, the Scribes, and the Disputers of the Age, are as full of their own Wisdom, of their humane Studies and Learning, as ever the Scribes and Pharisees, the Wisemen and Philosophers were when God rais'd up Publicans and Fishermen to confound their Wisdom and Learning by the Simplicity of their Words.

That it is not St. Paul's Meaning that God may not thus communicate his Light and Truth to a Woman as well as Men,1 Tim. 2. 11, 12. 1 Cor. 14. 34, 35. Preface Apolog [...]t p. 21, 2 [...], 23. for the Good of others, is evident from the Sayings themselves. In his time, when the Faithful met together, it was not as now, when a Man who has his Head full of Learning declaims an Hour or two alone, very often with Conceitedness enough, to the People, who [Page] must take for good Coin all that he says is such, and which he stamps with Passages of Holy Scripture. But then there were mutual Conferences where each of the Faithful were allow'd to tell their Sentiment, or ask that of his Brethren and Elders; but that all might be done in Order, St. Paul ordains that their Women might not be of the number of the Interlocutors, either by telling their own Thoughts, or asking those of others; but that they should do this at Home, and even there should not pretend to teach their Husbands, but learn of them. It is evident then, he speaks of ordinary Women, married, and encumbred with the Cares of their House, who have need to learn, and yet would be thought very Knowing, and it is a Rule of Decency to avoid Confusion. But at present they would have St. Paul's Meaning to be, that Women enlightned by God, in a free State, always employed about Divine things, should, I do not say abstain from speaking publickly, but even not write in secret, in their own Houses, the saving Light that God communicates to them, and commands them; and that when there is no fear of Confusion, since such being very rare, it is not to be fear'd that their number will bring Confusion. This is as far from his Opinion, as Falshood from Truth, who a little before allows a Women to Prophesie, (if she have the Gift of it) provided she be vail'd; who knew that Anna spoke in the Temple, and had seen Four Virgins Prophesie, which were the Daughters of Philip the Evangelist. Thus those envious Usurpers of the Key of Knowledge and Instruction, are they become such absolute Masters of it as to oblige God to give it to no Body but to them? A Passage of the Life of T [...]res [...] is remarkable to this purpose, as they spoke to her one Day of those Words of St. Paul, and she thought on them, God said to her, Tell them not to be directed by one single Passage of Scripture, but let them consider other Places; and ask them, if they will bind up my Hands?

XXIII.XXIII. The Accusation of Pride. They accused her of intolerable and blasphemous Pride, in speaking well of her self, in pretending to know the Accomplishment of the Holy Scriptures; yea, and to understand them better than they who wrote them; that she calls her self a Mother of True Believers, and that she exalts her self above the Prophets, Apostles, the Virgin Mary; yea, above God himself. It is easie to give an ill turn to ones Words, but Charity thinks no Evil, and interprets them [Page]by the whole Tenour of their Life, Spirit, and Sentiments.

1.1. That she exa [...]ted her self above Prophets, Apostles. Pierre de Touch. p. 257. ‘That she exalted her self more than the Prophets, Apostles, the Virgin Mary, &c. she said was an impudent Lie; for I know very well, says she, that I am a simple humane Creature as all other Men, come of the corrupt mass of Adam. And I do not say, that I am either Prophet or Apostle, or Virgin Mary, or God himself, as this Bucchardus says, but I declare I am a frail Creature as all others, to whom nevertheless God has sent his Light of Truth to communicate it to Men.’

‘Did they believe truly that there is a living God, they durst not treat so ill the things which are declared from God, and cause to be burnt by the Hangman the Books which the Holy Spirit has dictated, of which they may have Evidence both from God and Men; for they who see me write, know very well that I do it without any humane Speculation or Study, and that this flows from my Spirit as a River of Water flows from its Fountain, and that I only lend my Hand and my Spirit to another Power than mine.—Many Persons are Witnesses of this. God also has given me a more sure Testimony, by imparting to me his Righteousness, his Truth, and his Charity; for these things cannot come from Nature, which being corrupt, cannot produce any Good, nor any Divine Vertues; because I am come from the corrupt mass of Adam, as all the rest of Men, there could not be in me any Righteousness, Truth, or Charity, which are all Divine and Supernatural Vertues, which come not into the Souls of Men, but by the work of the Holy Spirit; for none but God only is perfectly Just and True. And no Body can glory in the Righteousness, Truth, and Charity that he possesses, without having a disordered Mind; because these Vertues are no ways in the Person, but in God alone, who imparts them to whom he pleases. And he who has receiv'd any of these Vertues ought to glorifie God, and not to glory in himself for them, as by the Grace of God I do not glory in my self. And I do not fear that any Body can prove that I ascribe any Perfection or Vertue any manner of way to my self; for God has given me too much of the Light of Truth to do this, having made me see clearly that all Good comes from God, and all Evil from Man and from the Devil; [Page] which two Creatures being equally withdrawn from God, the Fountain of all Good, are fallen into all sort of Evil. And therefore nothing can proceed from the corrupt Nature of Man but Evil and Sin; for this cause a Man can have no occasion of glorying in himself for his Vertues, which are not his, nor at his disposal. And therefore Bucchardus has said most injuriously in his Book, that I esteem my self more than the Prophets, Apostles, &c. of whom I do not know to what Degrees of Grace they arriv'd, that I should compare them to the Graces that God has imparted to me. I know well that I am a poor Creature subject to many Miseries and Infirmities, which makes me often humble my self before God and Man: But I well know also that God dwells in my Heart by his Righteousness, Truth, and Charity, and that he makes me govern all my Actions by the square of these Vertues, which is a sufficient Evidence to me that it is God who guides me, since the Devil and Nature have nothing of these Vertues. And therefore there cannot be a surer Testimony that a Soul is guided by the Holy Spirit, than when it is possest with the Righteousness, Truth, and Charity of God.’

‘I imagine if Bucchardus heard that I say, I have the Truth,Ibid. p. 209. Righteousness, and Charity of Moses, he will condemn me more than ever, having done it so often thro' his Book, tho' I had not there spoken openly of the Graces which God had given me. But the being condemn'd by so imperfect a Man, can do no hurt to my Soul. For God knows, it is he who commands me to do this, and it matters little whether it please or displease Men; it is enough to me, when it pleases God. Yet I will not say that I have the same Degrees of the Vertues, Righteousness; and Charity that Moses had: For God has not reveal'd to me how much of them he imparted to him; but I will only say, that my Soul is possest in proportion with the same Charity, Righteousness, and Truth that Moses had; but if he had a Pound of each of these Vertues, and I an Ounce only, I do not at all know, neither will I ask; for the Vertue of another does not concern me, it is enough for me that I be faithful in what is committed to me. If God has given me his Divine Love, I must do all my Actions, and form all my Intentions for this Love, without seeking in any thing [Page] my own, or the Satisfaction of Men; and if God has given me his Righteousness, I must exercise this Vertue equally in things great and little, according to my Employ, doing always justly to every one, even to my Enemies. And God has so planted this Righteousness in the bottom of my Soul, that I cannot suffer Injustice towards the Beasts, far less towards any Person. And the Truth that God has imparted to me is so rooted in my Soul, that I suffer for it all sort of Persecutions. And tho' it be hard for me to suffer so much for having told the Truth which God commands me, I cannot cease to do it. For it is better to obey God than Man.’

As to the Accusation of Pride, 2. That she understood the Holy Scriptures without having read them, &c. for saying that she underderstood all the Holy Scriptures without having read them, that it was enough for the Fathers that they understood what Men had need of then, that God now reveals the Secrets which he would then have kept to be hid; that the Prophets have indeed declar'd all that must come to pass, but neither they themselves nor any others understood their Sayings; that all this was spoken without blasphemous Pride, appears by the rest of the Discourse, and the comparing it with all her Writings. That the Prophets had Visions of things to come, which they themselves did not perfectly Understand, cannot be denied; that God may give a fuller understanding of them near the time of their Accomplishment is no absurd nor impossible thing; that he has been pleas'd so to do to this Virgin, all her Writings do testifie; that she declares this without Pride, as it appears in all her Writings, so in that very place cited.Light of the World Part 1. p. 136, 137. Where she says, ‘Yes, Sir, I may say it with Confusion, that it has pleas'd God to communicate his Secrets to me which he has hid from the Wise and Great of the Earth. If such has been his Will, who can reprove it, or find fault with that which he finds Good? Is not he the absolute Lord of all things? That which he will, he can do without Man's being able to contradict it, for no Body is capable of giving Law to him; he is as Powerful, as Just, and Good, let us only adore his Designs. Tho' I were ev [...]n the most wicked Creature in the World, he might serve himself of me in what pleases him, and then might damn me in the end, if I have merited it. All things being subject to him, all must obey him, the Infernal Powers, as well as the Celestial and Terrestrial. Nothing can resist his Almighty [Page] Arm, I must submit, if God will declare his Marvels by me, I cannot hinder him. If he will speak by a Stone or Wood, he ought to be heard with respect.’

And as to the Expression in one of her Letters,3. That she calls herself a Mother of true Believers. Tomb. de f. Theol. Part 2. P. 41, 42, 43. wherein she calls her self a Mother of True Believers, for which the Anabaptists or Mennonists accuse her of blasphemous Pride, she unanswerably vindicates her self. ‘I do not wonder, says she, that those Mennonists are scandaliz'd at it, for they do not know from what Fund it is taken; and while they think I am led by the same Spirit with them, they must needs be scandaliz'd at the simple Truth with which I express my Sentiments. They think I would do better to study humble Words, to speak soberly in what relates to me; and that I ought not to tell so openly the things which God communicates to me; for they practice the quite contrary to my Sentiments, and yet think they possess the finest Vertues. They have for a Maxim, to learn to speak humbly; and have for Rules, to be simply apparel'd, to be strictly united to their Party, and not to converse nor drink or eat with those who are cut off from it, and far less to assist them any manner of way. And all these things are contrary to what God has planted in my Soul.—To study to speak humbly of ones self, having a proud Heart, is a great Pride accompanied with Deceit and Lying: The Pride consists in desiring to be thought Humble before Men, by speaking humbly; the Lying consists in saying often that which is False; for he who says he is Weak and has no Good in him, is sometimes so proud at the Bottom, that he cannot endure that another should have so mean Thoughts of him, and would be ill content to hear some one say that he has not Vertue, or that he is not in a State of Perfection.’

‘Do you not remember, Sir, that some of those learned Persons ask'd you, if I durst say that they are not regenerated in Jesus Christ, while none of their Actions do discover this Regeneration? For we see them as much wedded to earthly things as other Men; for they are well pleas'd to be honoured, and served, and esteemed by every Body. If they were regenerated, all these Desires would be dead in them; the Spirit of Poverty, Sufferings, Humility, and Charity would effectually live in their Souls; for Regeneration consists in dying to ones self to [Page] live to God, and if they were dead to the World, they wuold seek the things which are above, and no longer those which are on Earth.—And yet they who are sunk into the Traffick of the World, and gain as much as is possible for them; would have it be believ'd that 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 [Page] 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,Ibid. p. 58. 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,4. That she extols her self as a Pattern. Joh. 8. 52, 53. 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.Psal. 119. 99, 100. Thus David says of himself, I have more Ʋnderstanding than all my Teachers; I understand more than the[Page]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 Selfglorying, 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.XXIV. O her affixing Doctrines on others, which they deny. 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? Joh. 7. 20. 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.Ezek. 9. 9. Is. 22. 13, 28. 15. Ezekiel says of them; They say the Lord seeth not. Esay accuses them that they had said, Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we must die; we have made a Covenant with Death, and with Hell we are at [Page]Agreement; for we have made Lies our Refuge, and under Falshood have we hid our selves. Mal. 3. 14. Malachy: It is in vain for us to serve the Lord, we will call the Proud Happy, &c. This was not true in the Sight of Men, but it was true in the Sight of God, who saw that there were no living Impressions in their Hearts of the Divine Providence, of a happy or miserable Eternity, of the great Happiness of Vertue, &c.

There are generally two sorts of Principles and Sentiments in Men, which do widely differ from one another; one by which they reason, and discourse, and preach, and write Books, and teach Doctrines; and this is their speculative Principle. The other is that by which a Man acts and governs both his inward Affections and his Life. This last only is a Man's true Sentiments and Principle, tho' for the most part this is unknown to the Man himself. S. Paul, before his Conversion, and e'er he was enlightned by the Holy Ghost, would have been highly offended with any that should have call'd him a Blasphemer, a Persecuter of God, and good Men, and the Chief of Sinners, as imputing to him Crimes and Sentiments of which he not only thought himself innocent, but that those very things were Vertues in the Sight of God; tho' when God opened his Eyes, he found he had been truly such. So strange is the Blindness of corrupt Man! Therefore when God would deliver Men from Death, he stops not at the outward Appearance, and what Men say, and at their dead Reasonings and Sentiments, who may tell him, We teach Vertue, we preach good Works, we recommend Mortification of the Old Man, we detest Security and Presumption, &c. while in effect their Lives are regulated by quite contrary Principles, and their Hearts live in another Element; and therefore he warns them of that which is hid within them, and which they do not yet perceive, and tells them, that tho' they profess to know him, yet by their Works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and to every good Work reprobate. Now it is according to this Measure that A. B. speaks of Men and Parties, and of their Sentiments. When a whole Society lives according to Principles, the contrary of which they affirm with their Mouths, it is certain this may be imputed to that Society. When the greatest part of particular Persons in that Society have certain Sentiments, as to flatter themselves that they are in the State of Grace, or predestinated to Salvation, it is [Page] certain that the Society, in the gross, may be said to have these Sentiments.Vide pref. apolog. Le Temoign. de Verite. Part 1. p. 90. If, while they live in a worldly and carnal Manner, yet they commonly believe they shall be saved by the Use of the Ceremonies and Sacraments, this is to be reckoned the real Sentiment of the Society in gross, tho' the Speculations of some particular Persons and Doctors do not say so. It is the People that makes the Church, and not a small Number of learned Heads. It is the living and inward Principles, Inclinations and Dispositions of the Spirits and Hearts of the People that makes the Sentiments of the Church, and not some vain Theories of the Learned, which are oft-times dead and barren in their own Hearts. When in a Society some particular Persons teach expresly evil Doctrines, as the Justifying of horrid Murthers, or that we may be saved without the Love of God, and direct Souls according to these Doctrines; if the whole Body of such a Church, knowing this, do not openly and loudly extirpate such a Doctrine by their Councils or other proper Means, undoubtedly such a Society, and particularly they who preside in it, are reckoned by God as if they themselves authoritatively taught and maintained these detestable Maxims. Now if what A. B. says as to the Principles, Sentiments, and Evils of Parties or Persons be examined by these Rules, it will appear that she imputes nothing to them falsly.

XXV.XXV. Of wrong Explications of the Holy Scriptures. Another Accusation brought against A. B. is, that she gives wrong Explications of several Passages in the Holy Scripture, as her applying that of S. Paul, We know in part, &c. to a greater Degree of Knowledge and Illumination than God will give in this last Age of the World. Her understanding the Words of our Saviour, Joh. 12. 23. of his glorious Appearing in the End of the World, when the Context shews it is meant of his Death and Sufferings; her singular Exposition of the Lord's Prayer, as containing things that we are to obtain only in Perfection when Christ comes to reign in Glory. We see what Expositions the Apostles give of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and the Fathers, of both the Old and New, which oft-times seem very different from the Sence that naturally offers. S. Augustin's Rule, already mentioned, has Place here, ‘That whosoever gives such a Sence of the Scripture as serves to promote the Love of God and our Neighbours, which is the great End, tho' it cannot be made appear [Page] that the Pen-man of the Scripture did so understand it in that particular Place, he does not err damnably, nor does he make a Lye.’ Aug. de Doct. Chr. Lib. 3. c. 27 But that other remarkable Rule he gives, serves fully to remove this Accusation. ‘That as to all the Sences that are given of the Holy Scripture, which are not repugnant to the Truth, it is to be believed they were intended by the Holy Spirit. That when many Sences are given of the same Words, if it appear from other Places of the Scripture, that they are agreeable to the Truth and to Faith, there is no Danger. For perhaps the Author of those Writings did perceive the same Sence of them; and certainly the Spirit of God, who wrought by him, foresaw without doubt that this would occur to the Reader and the Hearer, yea, took care that it should occur. For what more liberal and bountiful Provision could be made by God in the Divine Oracles, than that the same Words should be understood in many Sences, all which the other no less Divine Writings might confirm.’

‘Agreeable to this,M. Weyeri Effata. Eff. 1. we have a Divine Maxim of a pious Writer of the last Age▪ That, according to the State that Man is in, so he understands the Holy Scripture; if he be as yet in the State of Nature, he explains it of Natural Things; if he have ascended higher, he understands it of more sublime Things; and the higher State he is advanced to, he still finds so much the more sublime Testimonies of things in the Scripture. Inferiour things are the Image and Similitude of the superiour: If a Man therefore be in the lowest Degree, the Scripture proposes low things to him; but if he be placed in superiour Degrees, it points out to him higher things.’

‘When Paul says, Not in Rioting and Drunkenness, not in Chambering and Wantonness, &c. Rom. 13. 19. this concerns a Man according to the different State of this Life, either literally or spiritually: If he live carnally, it is to be understood of the visible Flesh: If he lives spiritually, it denotes also the Flesh, but a more subtile Flesh, to which he must likewise die. But before he die to it, he must first live to it; but he cannot live to it until he be first dead to the more gross Carnality.’

‘It is impossible that a Man can conceive this sublime Way of Dying until he have attained to that Degree, but if any attain it rather in the Contemplation than as to the true Essence of things, there is great Hazard of Erring.’

[Page] ‘The carnal Life spiritually understood, is most clearly express'd in that rich Man who was cloathed in Purple, and fared sumptuously; while on the other hand Lazarus was lying poor, and hungry, and naked, and full of Sores. But what's the Event? Riches are reduced into the extreamest Poverty, and extream Poverty is exchanged for the greatest Riches.’

We ought to consider that the Holy Scriptures are dispensed by the Spirit of God, to afford Life and Nourishment for Mens Souls, according to all the different States of Men, and all the several Ages of the Church, to the end of the World; and as the same Holy Spirit that endited them gives the true Understanding of them only to humble and simple Souls, so he gives them different Degrees of Light and Notices from them, according to the different States they are advanced to, when it is for their own spiritual Profit only; or according to the different States of the Church, when it is for the spiritual Good of the rest of Mankind, and when he is to accomplish the things he has foretold; and all these Sences are intended by the Holy Spirit, one of them always being not only true in it self, but also a. Figure and Similitude of what is to follow, and the full Sence of them cannot be had till the Perfection and Completion of all things. We see an Image of this in Natural Things. Thus the Buds of Fruittrees in the Winter-season are very small to Appearance, and seem nothing but a little dry Excrescence; but when the Spring comes, first the Leaves break forth, and after them the Flowers and Blossoms, and last of all the Fruit, which by Degrees advances to Ripeness and Perfection; all which are not new form'd, but were originally in the Bud, even in the Winter-season, and were discoverable by magnifying Glasses, so they are only an Evolution and Displaying of what was all formerly shut up in the Bud, according to the different Seasons. Thus from the small Eggs of Insects there break out first Caterpillars and small Worms, which afterwards casting Skins, put on another Shape, and at last break forth into Butterflies, or Flies of their respective Kinds, which is no Transformation, but an Evolution of Parts which were formerly wrapp'd up within the Caterpillar, as it were in Swaddling-cloaths (as Dr. Swammerdam most ingeniously discovers) and were no doubt also originally within the little Egg. So the same Seed [Page] of the Word of God, which to the natural Man seems dry and insipid, does by the Warmth and Operation of God's Spirit display different Degrees of Light and Truth, according to the different Degrees by which the Soul advances towards God, or the Periods of Time in which things are to be accomplished, the Displaying of one Degree still making Way for another. Thus God in his Word has prohibited Idolatry; when all the Heathen Nations were given to the Worshipping of Idols, and the Grossness and Rudeness of the Jewish Nation was such, that they were easily led to imitate them, the Commandment was understood no farther. But when afterwards in our Saviour's Days they had a sufficient Aversion from the worshipping of outward Idols in Groves or Temples; but in the mean time their Hearts were set upon Riches and this Worlds Goods, the Commandment was farther explained, and they were told that that was Idolatry, and that they could not serve God and Mammon. And as the Soul is weaned from this Idol and advances to another State, the Spirit of God does there also discover to it other more spiritual things which it is ready to worship instead of God, and so the Sence of God's Law is displayed to it, far beyond what could be at first conceived. So true is that of the Psalmist, I have seen an end of all Perfections, but thy Commandments is exceeding broad.

This, with those who are not disposed to cavil, will serve to clear A. B. as to this Accusation form'd against her. And as to the Passages mentioned, as 1 Cor. 13. 8. &c. tho' ultimately it is to be understood of the Life to come, yet it is no Absurdity, to say that it may imply also a more plentiful Light and Communication of God's Spirit in aftertimes. S. Augustin, we see, gives an Interpretation of it relating even to this present Life. ‘They, says he, who have Faith,Aug. de Doct Chr. L 1. c 39. Hope, and Charity, and do firmly cleave to them, do not need the Scriptures except for Instructing others. And therefore many live by these Three in the Desart, without Books. Whence I think that Saying is already fulfilled in them; Whether there be Prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be Tongues, they shall cease; whether there be Knowledge, it shall vanish away.’ As to Job. 12. 32. I think it will be granted that the full Completion of it is not yet come to pass, but is that we look for. As for her Exposition of the Lord's [Page] Prayer, no Body who loves not to carp, will be scandaliz'd at it.Light of the world. Conf. 28. She says, ‘That in it is comprehended all that we can ever ask of God for his Honour and our Salvation; all the Adorations we owe to God; all the Thanksgivings we can render him; all that we may or ought to ask of him for our selves or for all others: And therefore tho’ it contain all the things that relate to our Pilgrimage in our way to Eternal Bliss, and so may be understood in that Sence likewise, as she does so interpret it in other Places, yet since it contains all that we ought to ask of God, and nothing in Perfection is granted here, and God will not make us ask the things which he has no Mind to grant, it is most reasonable to conclude that this most excellent Prayer in its compleat and perfect Sence refers to a future State, which he would have us always to long after, (as the Jews did Jerusalem when they were by the Rivers of Babylon) and in which we shall obtain in Perfection the effect of our Requests.

XXVI.XXVI. Of Tautologies and Repetitions. Some are greatly disgusted because they think her Writings are full of Tautologies and Repetitions, and without exactness of Order and Method. Had she put her Thoughts in an orderly System as the Learned do, they might have look'd into them; but when the same things are said over and over again,S [...]e the Truth of Christian Religion, By Abad. P. 1. S. 3. c. 2. and 5. Oeconomie Divine. p. 5. Preface. this passes in their Stile for Cant, and they nauseate it. I take Cant for a multitude of Words without any True and Divine Sence, and not flowing from an inward Life and Spirit, and of this there is but too much in the World. But the Writings of A. B. are of another Temper; and no Body will nauseate them upon this Head, but they who have a secret Disgust for the Holy Scriptures. God's Ways are not as our ways: When we write, we seek our selves, we strive to discover our Reason and our Learning, and study what may please the Curiosity, the Fancy, and the Niceness of others. The Holy Writings are most unlike to ours, both as to Matter, and Manner, and Method, and Stile; they are not written to please the Learned, the Orator, the Philosopher, the Critick, the Curious; but to bring down every lofty Imagination, and to mortifie our Self-conceit, to Comfort the Humble and the Afflicted, to give Light and Knowledge to the Poor and Simple, and to send the Rich away empty. They repeat again and again the great and necessary things of God's Law, to mortifie our Niceness and Curiosity, and to [Page] beat them in upon us by all means, while we think it enough to know these things, tho' we are not so happy as to do them. Now Writings that partake so much of this Spirit, will not be despis'd on this Head by any sincere Christian.

XXVII.XXVII. Of her making a Mahumetan Paradise. Some endeavour to render her Sentiments ridiculous concerning the State of the Blessed in the Life to come; and they say she establishes a Mahumetan Paradise, Eating and Drinking, and Generation in the Kingdom of Heaven, making the Earth to become that Heaven, and that it shall be a Place of all sensitive Delights. Ʋnto the pure all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure; but even their Mind and Conscience is defiled. I would gladly ask such, if Adam had continued always in the State of Innocence perfectly Pure and Holy, whether they would have called his State a Mahumetan Paradise, and a sensual Life. If there were no Concupiscence in Man's Nature, but a most ardent, pure, and habitual Love of God, the Beauties and Delights of all the Creatures would serve to enflame the Soul still the more with the Love of God. There needs no more but to understand her Sentiments, to be convinced of the impudent Falshood of their Reproaches.

She says then, That the Earth, and all this visible World being wholly renewed and restored to that glorious State in which it was at first formed, (of which in the First Part) shall be the Seat of the Kingdom of God with Men for ever, where Jesus Christ, God-Man, will reign with the Blessed, both as to his Divinity and Humanity. That Heaven, as to the Soul, is the Presence of God, and we are in Heaven, when we are in God, and God is in Heaven as he is in the Souls of his Saints, as Augustin interprets, Our Father which art in the Heavens; but as God has given us both a Body and Soul, he has given us also a Paradise of both, the Soul can have its compleat Paradise in the Presence of God, but the Body must have a material and bodily one, like it self: For this end, the Earth, and all this visible World, and all that therein is, were created, and for the same Reason God would have become Man, tho' Man had never sinn'd, that he might live with him both bodily and spiritually, and to make his Happiness compleat. And therefore he being unchangeable in his infinitely Wise and Good Designs, he will certainly make, not an imaginary, [Page] but a real, divine, and corporeal Reparation of all things to last for ever; for his Recompences are Eternal, and will purge away from all the Creatures the Malignity and Corruption that Sin has brought upon them. And in this State every individual Saint being restored in Body and Soul to the State in which Adam was in his greatest purity before the Woman was formed out of him; shall produce his like of himself alone through all Eternity, from a Principle of the Love of God, and by an ardent Desire that there may be still more Creatures to love and praise the Divine Majesty. This then shall not be a corrupt, lustful, and shameful Propagation, like to that of this corrupt World, but altogether Pure, Holy, and Glorious; as we see in a manner an earthly Figure of it still in all the Plants and Trees.Matt. 2 [...]. 30. In the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in Marriage, but are as the Angels of God in Heaven.

Now what is there in all this, unworthy of God, or unsutable to the State of the Blessed, or contrary to the Holy Scriptures, or to the Nature of things? It is certain none of the Works of God shall perish, but all shall be restored to their primitive Perfection. The Scripture tells us there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth. Whose Habitation would the Earth have been if Man had never sinn'd, and if the Earth had never been accursed? And whose Habitation shall it be when it is renewed and made a new Earth? When Men fancied all the Works of God to be shut up as it were in a round Sphere, and the Earth to be its Centre, and the Planetary and Starry Heavens so many firm and solid Orbs moving round about it, and the Empyreal Heaven above all, this Sentiment about the Earth might have been thought absurd. But in the Age we live in, wherein is made known the vastness of the Universe, and that all the fix'd Stars are probably Suns and Centres of different Systems of the whole, and all the other Planets as well as our Earth among which it moves, replenish'd no doubt with variety of living and intelligent Beings, we have reason to admire the Providence of God in giving Discoveries to a simple unlearned Woman, of the State and Habitation of the Blessed, sutable to what is now known of the Frame of the Universe, which is also fully confirmed from the Holy Scriptures, as was shewn in the First Part; and does so clearly demonstrate the unchangeable [Page] Wisdom and Goodness of God, who having created Man in a Pure and Happy State, and the Delights and Beauties of this World for his Accessory Felicity; and the Devil by his Craft and Subtilty having perverted both, and made this Earth for many Ages nothing but Scenes of Wickedness and Misery; yet God by his infinitely Wise Conduct and Providence brings about at last the perfect Renovation of Man, and of his Habitation, the Earth, and of all the Creatures, and makes it an Eternal Paradise of unspotted Purity and Bliss: Whereas on the other Hand it is most unaccountable how infinite Wisdom and Goodness, who changes not, after he had form'd Man and this World in so excellent a State, and both are corrupted by the Devils, should continue the Earth for so many Ages, to be the Theatre of their Wickedness, and then entirely destroy it. Might it not then be said, as she expresses it, That God had created the Earth and so many reasonable Creatures, only for the Glory of the Devil and his Adherents, if he did not renew the Earth, and make it bring forth Fruit for his Glory.

And as to Man's Propagation of his like to all Eternity; if Man had continued Pure and Holy, I am sure this would not have been thought a sensual State. A Power to produce a Creature that is capable of loving and enjoying God, is an astonishing Perfection; only Concupiscence has now so polluted our Hearts that we cannot think of this, but our Imagination presently defiles it, and we joyn it to the sensual Idea's that Sin and Lust have brought into the World, and cannot conceive how the one can be without the other, judging of things according to our Corrupt Nature; and we presently cry out, A Mahumetan Paradise! Which truly discovers only the Filthiness and Corruption of our Hearts, and not the Impurity of the Sentiment, but only, that to the Impure nothing is pure. If there were a Creature perfectly Pure and Holy, and if God endued it with a Power of producing its like, this Production would be no Act of Concupiscence, but an Act of the most ardent Love of God. This is the State, she says, the Saints shall be in to all Eternity, which, whatever be of the Truth of it, is no Mahumetan Paradise; and as there are remarkable Places of Scripture cited for the Proof of it▪ so the Reason she assigns is very weighty, to wit, That all the Works of God are Eternal, and his Gifts without [Page] out Repentance; and if there were no such Production to all Eternity, a very small number of Men would bless him for rever, whereas so many reasonable Creatures are become Adherents to the Devil. It must needs be then, that the Generation of the Blessed multiply eternally, as the Generation of the Miserable has multiplied temporally from the Beginning of the World.

And why should we think it absurd to say, that Angels do thus produce their like to all Eternity? We see here in this visible World that all Creatures who have any Degree of Life, from the highest to the lowest, are endued with this Power of producing their like; all the Plants and Trees, all the Beasts, Birds, Fishes and Insects, and the reasonable Creature, Man, both as to his Soul and Body, as has been made appear; and you know the Rule of Analogy is of great weight as to all the Works of Nature. And therefore unless we should suppose God to act unlike himself, as to a higher Degree of living Beings, we have all the Reason that the Nature and Analogy of things does suggest, to conclude that Angels also do produce their like, to all Eternity.

XXVIII.XXVIII. The Conclusion. It is not possible to foresee all the Prejudices that People may conceive, or that may be suggested to them against the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. far less to Answer them all particularly, in this Apology. I have considered only the most Remarkable of those which do usually occur, and have for the most part set down her own Answers in this, the former, and the following Parts; which tho' it has made it the longer, yet I hope it will make it the more useful. I am not asham'd to Copy; for I write only Narratives and not Originals. If others write Originals when they pretend to write Narratives, I shall not envy them. I am only sorry that some are at such pains to deter Men from perusing those Writings which may be most useful to help them in the way to Eternal Happiness. If they will not make that good use of them themselves, they need not hinder others from profiting by them; Thousands perhaps would be awakened to a deeper sense of the necessity of mortifying and dying to their Corrupt Nature, who would never be stumbled at the things which they carp at, but pass them over. Whatever are her singular Sentiments, such as this last mentioned, you may look upon them all if you please as Dreams and Romances, but [Page] since the necessary Duties of Christianity, and the plain Way to Eternal Life, are so clearly, so forcibly, and so divinely inculcated, and prest in all those Writings, and no stress laid on those other things; O! that the Love of God, and of Men's Souls, and our own Salvation, may constrain us to the serious practice of them our selves, and make us carefully to avoid the being an Offence and Stumbling-Block to others. O si tantam ad hiberent diligentiam ad extirpanda vitia, & Virtutes inserendas, sicuti ad movendas quaestiones! tunc non fierent tanta mala & scandala in populo. Tho. à Kemp. de Imitat. Christ. l. 1. c. 3. n. 5.

The End of the Second Part.

[Page]

AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOƲRIGNON.
PART. III.
Containing the Evidences which she brings, that she was led by the Spirit of God. With her Answers to the Prejudices against the same.
To which is added, A Dissertation of Dr. De Heyde, on the same Subject.

I.I. Pretence to Divine Inspiration, a great Prejudice in this Age. IN the Age wherein we live there needs no greater Prejudice against a Person, his Sentiments, and Writings, than for him to declare that he is immediatly led by the Spirit of God. This is enough to make us reject all he can say, without any farther Enquiry. We presently conclude he is Brainsick, Hypochondriack, Melancholly and Craz'd, at least as to that Point, however Rational he may be in other things; or otherwise that he is a Knave, who designs to put a Trick upon Mankind; and that all who esteem him are as much Fools or Knaves as he.

[Page] II.II. For different Reasons. The Wise and the Learned of the World, and from them the generality of Men are enclin'd to think so, upon different Grounds and Principles.

1.1. Some disbelieve all Revelation Some disbelieve all Revelation from God, and conclude that as all other Creatures have natural Powers given them to guide them to the End and Perfection of their Being, so has Man; and that there is nothing necessary for him to lead him to the End and Perfection of his Being, but only the right Use and Improvement of his Reason.

2.2. Others, Any since Christ and his Apostles. Others are convinc'd of the shortness and insufficiency of Humane Reason, to lead Man to Happiness; and of the Truth and Necessity of Divine Revelation: But then God having spoken at sundry times and in diverse manners unto the Fathers by the Prophets, and in these last Days by his only Begotten Son, and all this being consign'd in Writing to be a standing Rule to all Generations, and confirm'd by most satisfying Evidences to be from God; they conclude that we must not look for any to be thus immediately inspir'd and enlightned by God now, by whom he should speak to us, and that any who pretend to it are Impostours, or Brainsick Persons, who will needs ape what they read or hear of in the Holy Scriptures, and fancy they are such Persons immediately enlightned by God, as they read of in those Holy Writings: and to own any now as inspir'd by God, is to render the Scriptures useless, to give way to a Private Spirit, and to all manner of Confusion and Imposture.

3.3. Both confirm'd from false Pretences to Divine I [...]spiration. And both these are the more confirm'd in their Sentiments, by seeing the many false Pretenders to Divine Inspiration, which have been in the World. The Devil studies always to ape and counteract God, and since he can easily transform himself into an Angel of Light, he most effectually undermines the True Religion of Jesus Christ, by appearing to be for it, and under a Cover of Religion, he insinuates into Mens Minds his Infernal Qualities of Pride, Hypocrisie, and Unrighteousness; and one of the Disguises under which he acts, is that of a Pretence to Divine Inspiration, and the being led by the Spirit of God. And this he has done in all Ages, both before and since the Coming of Jesus Christ. He rais'd up among the Jews false Prophets, and that especially when there were any truly inspir'd by God, that those last might be discredited [Page] and despised, because of the Impostures of the other: And this is also one of the Artifices he had used among Christians, through all the Ages of the Church, and particularly in this last Age, setting up whole Orders and Societies of Persons who pretend to be immediately enlightned and guided by the Spirit of God, tho' the quite contrary appear by their Life and Spirit. And thereby he not only infatuates some, but makes them also such a Stumbling-Block to others, as to make some of them to despise all Revelation from God, and to look upon it as an Imposture, and others to be altogether prejudic'd against any who may be truly inspir'd by God, in this present Age, tho' the Evidences were never so Uncontestable and Convincing; however, they own the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures, because the Convincing Reasons which prove it, have not the Prejudices of a contrary Education to withstand them. And thus the Devil is become most successful in Disparaging and putting out of Credit with the Wise, the Rational, and the Learned, all immediate Inspiration by the Spirit of God in this Age of the World, tho' it were ever so clear and evident.

III.III. No great Hopes of convincing the first, tho' enough to awaken their Consideration, if truly Rational. As for those who are Enemies to all Divine Revelation, it is a folly to think of Convincing them that God has been pleas'd to communicate to any in this Age, the immediate Knowledge of his Will by the Light of his Holy Spirit; for if they believe not Moses and the Prophets, Jesus Christ, and his Apostles, neither will they be perswaded, tho' one should rise from the Dead. Yet if they were sincerely, and truly rational, and not fantastically so, it would certainly astonish them, and awaken their Consideration to see a Chain of Sentiments, so well connected, so agreeable to True Reason, so worthy of God, so sutable to his Divine Perfections, so clearly pointing out the Nature and Duty of Man, the great End of his Being, and the true way to prosecute it, so plainly unfolding the Mysteries of Providence, and the past, present, and future State of the World; so far beyond all that ever any, or all of the Philosophers have said of former or later Ages; and that declared by an illiterate Woman, void of all Study and Learning, without conversing with Men or Books, but living retir'd from the World, in a continual Dependance upon God, and Elevation of her Spirit to him, and in a Conformity of her Heart and Life to those Sentiments: [Page] And if they are not greatly partial and prejudic'd, they must needs acknowledge that here is the Finger of God.

But they who [...] the Holy Scriptures to be the Word of God,The second cannot think it impossible or improbable. and that the Penmen of them were inspir'd by the Holy Spirit, that Holy Men of God spake of old time as they were mov'd by the Holy Ghost, tho' there were then false Prophets among the People, as there shall be now false Teachers among Christians; they can neither think it impossible nor improbable that God should even in this Age immediately enlighten and guide by his Holy Spirit, Souls truly denied to the World and to themselves, and wholly resign'd to him.

IV.IV. God created Man to communicate himself to him, and the things of God cannot be understood but by the Spirit of God. St. Chrys. in Prefat. ad Homil. in Matt. For God having created Man after his own Image, to love and to enjoy his Maker, and that he might take his Delight with Man, his Soul was originally design'd for God's Temple and Dwelling-place, that he might reside in it, and fill it with his Light and Love. And tho' Man by turning away from God, did wilfully deprive himself of this Happiness, yet through the Merits and Intercession of Jesus Christ, God has pity on him, and continues to prosecute his first Design of taking his Delight with him: And this is the End of all his outward Dispensations toward Man. Therefore, says St. Chrysostom, ‘We ought in all things to lead so pure a Life, as that we should no ways need the help of Letters, but instead of them should use the Grace of the Holy Spirit; that the Holy Spirit might write upon the Table of our Hearts, as they write upon Paper. But since we have thrust this Grace from us, let us at least make use of the second Mercy. But that the first was far more sublime, God makes appear both by his Words and Deeds. For he spoke to Noah, and Abraham, and his Posterity, and to Joseph, and Moses not by Scripture, but by himself, because he found their Hearts Pure. But when all the People of Israel did degenerate into the Sink of Vices, then Scripture and Tables were given them, by which they were warn'd. And we see this happened not only to the Holy Men of the Old Testament, but also of the New. For Christ did not deliver any Writing to the Apostles, but instead of Scripture promised to give them the Grace of the Holy Spirit: He, says he, will teach you all things. And that you may know that this is far better than the other, hear what the Lord says by the Prophet: And I, saith [Page] the Lord, will make a New Covenant with you: I will put my Laws in your Minds, and write them in your Hearts, and they shall be all taught of God. St. Paul also, to shew the Excellency of this, says, he had receiv'd the Law not in Tables of Stone, but in fleshly Tables of the Heart. But because in process of time many had stray'd from the right way, they needed therefore again that Warning that is given by Scripture. Consider then what a Degree of Madness it is, that when we ought to lead a Life of such Integrity and Perfection, as not to need Scripture, but should yield up our Hearts to the Holy Spirit for Paper to be writ upon; how is it, I say, if when we have lost this first Dignity, and stand in need of the lesser, yet we will not use aright even this second Remedy for our Salvation.’ Thus he begins the Preface to his Homilies on St. Matt. shewing, that if Mens Hearts were pure, God would speak inwardly to them by his Holy Spirit; that he has done so 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 Aug. de Doct. Chr. Lib. 1. c. 10. 11. 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, thatJohn 1. 1, 4, 5, 9, 14. 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, HeJohn 14 21, 22, 23. 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,1 Cor. 2. 14. 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 [Page]him, neither can they know them, because he are spiritually discerned: He tells us likewise, thatRom. 8. 9, 14. 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.V. Of which they whom he employs to save others must have a sutable Measure. 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.VI. He us'd to send such when Priest and People were corrupted. 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.VII. Who had no outward Qualities to recommend them, 1 Kings 19 19. 2 Kings 7. 1, 2. Jer. 29. 26, 27. Amos 7. 14. Matt. 11. 18. Joh 8. 48. 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.

[Page] VIII.VIII. They despis'd not the Word and Ordinances of God, but declar'd Peoples Abuse of them. 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.IX. The Devil rais'd up false Prophets to oppose and discredie them. 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.X. It is neither impossible nor improbable that the Spirit of God should immediately enlighten Souls now as well as before the Coming of Jesus Christ 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 [Page] 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 after it; but nevertheless, an immediate Revelation tending to explain and illustrate the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, to vindicate it from the false Glosses of Corrupt Teachers, and to awaken and excite Men to follow and obey it, may be both useful and necessary. The Jewish State did no more call for his Mercy, than does ours: Have we the whole Will of God and our Duty consign'd to us in Writ? So had they: Was it that from time to time their Faith and Hope might be strengthned and encouraged in the Approach of the Messiah? the same need have we, who are bidden hope and look for his Coming again in Glory, and yet in these last Days there are Scoffers walking after their own Lusts, and saying, Where is the Promise of his Coming? Was it because of the great Degeneracy both of the Priest and People, that they needed such extraordinary Messages and Warnings from God? So do we: Ought we to reject all who lay any Claim to Divine Inspiration without any farther Enquiry, because there are in this Age many Impostours, Enthusiasts, who falsly pretend to be led by the Spirit of God, and are not? So might they: Were they in Circumstances to discern those who were truly led by the Spirit of God, from those who were acted by a Lying Spirit? So may we. So that from the Nature of God, the Methods of his dealing with Men, and the present State of the World, and of Mankind, this appears to be no impossible nor improbable thing.

XI.XI. There are strong Presumptions that he will do it. Nay, there are strong Presumptions on the other side, that God will shew his Mercy to Mankind. We are forbidden to believe every Spirit, but are bidden try the Spirits whether they are of God or not. If none are inspir'd by God, what need is there to try any, but to reject all? [Page] We are told that in the last Days God willJoel 2. 28. pour out of his Spirit upon all Flesh. And when the Apostle S. Peter Act. 2. 16, 17. applies this Prophecy to the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles in the Day of Pentecost, he meant not thereby to limit that Promise to that Time, as if it had its full Completion, but to shew that then it began to be fulfilled, and that Jesus being now ascended to his Father, and having received the Promise of the Holy Ghost, had shed forth this upon them. And it evidently appears that he did not limit it to that Time, but shew that that was rather the first Fruits of it, and that it was to be fulfilled and continued in all After-ages; he saying expresly,Act 2. 38, 39. Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the Remission of Sins, and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. For the Promise is unto you and to your Children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Which was as it were a Preludium and first Fruits of what they might expect. For it is not God's Manner to promise largely and liberally, and to perform meanly and sparingly; and the Number of Persons on whom the Gifts of the Spirit were poured out in those Days was too small to fill up the Extent of Joel's Prophecy, especially if we compare it with and interpret it by other Prophecies of the same Nature, it will appear that this is a Mercy which God designs to communicate in a higher Measure after the coming of Jesus Christ than formerly. For he has promised that he will put his Law in their inward Parts, and write it in their Hearts.—And they shall teach no more every Man his Neighbour, Jer. 31. 33, 34. and every Man his Brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, Isa. 11. 9. saith the Lord. And we are told that the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord, as the Waters cover the Sea. So that the Reason why this is so little experienced among Christians now adays, is not because the Lord's Hand is shortned, that he cannot do it, or that this was a Mercy to be shewn only to the first Christians; but because our Sins have separated between us and our God.

XII.XII. There have been some such in all Ages. There have not been wanting in the several Ages of the Church, some pure and holy Souls extraordinarily enlightned by the Spirit of God, as Anthony, and Paul the Hermit, and many others of the Ancient Fathers of the Desart; and in the later Ages, Thaulerus, Thomas[Page]a Kempis, and some other extraordinary Persons, as they who read their Lives or Writings without prejudice may see.

XIII. It is generally believed by all Protestants that we are at present in the Reign of Antichrist; and it is generally own'd by all.XIII. The present and future State of the World calls for it. That before the End of the World there will be a Destruction of the Antichristian State, and a glorious State of the Church of Jesus Christ in Purity and Holiness, without which the Conversion of the Jews and the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles cannot be hoped for. All the Prophecies both of the Old and New Testament do point at this,Is. 11. 4, 5, &c. c. 12. 2, 3, &c. c. 60. 1, 2, 19. 21, 22, &c. c. 11. 9, 11. c. 30. 26. c. 44. 3. Jer. 31. 31, 33, 34. Ezek. 36. 25, 26, 27. c. 39. 29. c. 47. 1, 12. Zech. 12. 8. Matth. 11. 11. Rev. 11. 8, 15. c. 21. 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17. and their Description of it is so great and magnificent, that it were absurd to apply it to any Event has fallen out already; for in Divine Things the Reality of them does vastly transcend the most magnificent Descriptions that can be given of them. There is nothing more plain from the Holy Scriptures and the State of the World, than that the glorious Times foretold by the Spirit of God are not yet come. And considering the great Corruption of the World, and how unlikely it is, that by human Wisdom or Reason such a Change will be wrought (since the World by Wisdom knows not God) there is all Ground to believe and hope that God will, by an extraordinary Effusion of his Spirit, bring about so great a Change.

XIV.XIV. Characters of the Spirit of Elias to come. There being a two-fold Coming of Jesus Christ, and a double Completion of Prophecies in relation to both; therefore as the Preaching of John the Baptist was the first Coming again of Elias, so many judge the Prophecy imports a Second Coming, not of his Person, but of some in his Spirit to restore all things. Dr. H. M. Divine Dialog. Dial. 5. p. 355, 359 Jesus Christ telling us (even after John was beheaded) that Elias will come indeed and restore all things. To this Purpose a very sincere Enquirer into the Prophetick Stile, takes out of the Prophecies and History concerning Elias and John Baptist, a Character of that Spirit of Elias that must renew the World: That its Doctrine must beMal. 3. 1, 2. 3. that of casting away all Corruption, Insincerity and Hypocrisie.Is. 40. 3, 4. 5. Declaring against all Distortion or Perversion of the Simplicity of Christian Truth by proud or politick Persons;Mal. 4. 5. Rev. 16. 16. Matth. 17. 10, 11. which will be no sectarian Spirit: to rend and tear, but a reconciling Spirit [Page] to solder together the Affections of Men: Which will neither abrogate what is authentick, no [...] introduce what is new, but be a Restorer only of what useful Truths and Practices may seem to have been lost in the long Delapse of Ages. Kings 18. 8, 9, &c. Matth. 3. 3, &c. And perhaps of such clear and plain Principles as may solve the most concerning Difficulties that human Reason is subject to be entangled with. He is that Voice in the Wilderness, Prepare ye the Way of the Lord, and make his Paths straight: that they shall be of a Spirit separate from the World, and untainted and unsophisticated by the unwholsom Converse of Men: That this Spirit will appear rough and rude to the World; because it will so freely and impartially reprehend the World, and declare the Truth in all Plainness and Simplicity of Heart; with an holy Boldness and Ʋndauntedness of Courage to witness to the Truth, and a raising of Men out of a false Security from external or carnal Respects, as did the Baptists, the Sadducees and Pharisees; with a vehement Jealousie in behalf of the Purity of God's Worship, against all Polytheism and Idolatry; and using only the Power of the Spirit from on High, to oppose all Weapons of any carnal Warfare. Characters which one would think had been purposely design'd for the present Subject.

XV.XV. We ought not to reject all Pretensions to Divine Revelation, nor blindly to receive any, but to try them. Thus then we ought to be so far from looking on it as an absurd or impossible thing that any should be extraordinarily and immediately led by the Spirit of God in this last Age of the World, that we have Ground rather to hope and look for it, if God shall find Subjects capable of it. We ought not therefore in Prudence indifferently to reject all that come to us, as from God, with a Thus saith the Lord, in their Mouths; for by so doing, we may chance to repulse God's Messengers, and refuse to hear from him that which may be of great Importance to our Salvation: Nor ought we on the other hand, to receive blindly all as such, who pretend to be led by the Spirit of God, since many false Prophets do and shall arise and deceive many; but we ought to follow the Apostle's Advice, and try the Spirits, whether they are of God or not. Yet this does not oblige us to go and find out and enquire into the Grounds of every Pretender, which were an infinite Labour and Expence of Time in an Age that abounds with Multitudes of Pretenders. We are dispensed from that when the Falshood of the Pretension discovers it self by some plain Mark or Sign, as the wicked or even worldly Life of the Pretender, [Page] his Disowning the Holy Scriptures, or denying or opposing any essential Truth of Religion. But when there are no such evident Marks of the Falshood of one's Pretensions to immediate Revelation, but they are back'd with such Considerations, and attended with such Circumstances as make the Truth of them probable, we are concern'd in Prudence to give our selves the Trouble of Enquiring into them, and tho' upon Tryal they be found empty, we must not think our Pains lost; because it is better to be at some Pains in Examining a false Pretension to Revelation, than to reject a true one, because we would not give our selves the Trouble to enquire into it.

XVI.XVI. The Pretensions of A. B. deserve this Enquiry. Seeing then the Pretensions of A. B. to Divine Inspiration are of this last Sort, and that by the Testimony of one of her most furious Enemies. There are Persons who have the Reputation of Sence, Probity and Learning, who look upon her as one immediately enlightned by the Spirit of God, and seeing the Things that she declares to us are of the greatest Moment, and do most nearly concern us, we ought in Prudence to hear and weigh the Evidences brought to make appear that she is immediately led by the Spirit of God, and see whether they be such as may belong to Impostours or to deluded Persons, and what Marks are given whereby we may discern those who are truly inspired by God, from Impostours, false Prophets, and such as either acted by the Spirit of the Devil, or the Heat of their own Imaginations. I shall set down those Marks and Evidences in her own Words.

XVII.XVII. A Summ of the Evidences she brings of being led by the Spirit of God. ‘Suspect, says she, all that I say to you as from God, in case that you observe my Life, my Manners and my Actions are not all conformable to those of Jesus Christ; and that my Doctrine is not entirely like to the Holy Scripture; for if it is God that speaks to me, he is unchangeable, he never changes; what he said to his Apostles and his Disciples, is the same thing which he declares now inwardly to the Soul. There can be no change in God.’

‘Besides this,Lum. nee en tenebr. Part 1. p. 2, 3. the Word of God is Living and Operative. The Operations that you feel inwardly of my Words ought to be a sure Evidence to you, that it is God; for it would be a kind of Idolatry to attribute That to the Creature which belongs to the Creator. I am a pure Nothing, but God is All in me; he teaches me, he acts, he [Page] speaks in me without Nature's contributing any thing, but as a simple Organ, as a Pencil contributes to the Art of a fine Painter.’

‘Your natural Spirit is capable of judging this; for where should a little Girl learn all the Law of God, which is imprinted in the Marrow of my Bones without Study and without Books?—’

‘—If I perceive the most secret Thoughts of your Heart, from whence can this come, but from God only? Consider always what Properties the Spirit of God has in himself, and the Spirit of the Devil, and do not believe every Spirit; for this is the Time of the Reign of Anti-christ, and he has great Dominion over the Spirits of Men now, deceiving them with false Appearances under the Pretext of Goodness and Vertue, and transforms himself into an Angel of Light, to seduce the Well-meaning. I intreat you to take good heed and remark rather the Life and Behaviour of the Person who says he has Communication with God, than his Words; for the Devil can speak well of Divine Secrets as when he was an Angel. He has not lost his Lights, but they serve him for a Hell; therefore he tempts the best by Divine Lights, but he cannot give them in Effect the Properties that the Spirit of God brings along with him: Read them with Attention.’

The Properties of God.

‘He is Truth.’

‘He is the Way.’

‘He is Life.’

‘He who lives in God walks always in Truth.’

‘He who lives in God is conformed to the Life of Jesus Christ.’

‘He who lives in God walks in Sincerity of Spirit and Simplicity of Heart.’

‘He who lives in God fears nothing.’

‘He who lives in God seeks nothing.’

‘He who lives in God hopes for nothing out of God, for he finds all in him.’

‘The Properties of the Devil.’

[Page]‘He is the Father of Lies, the Master of Inconstancy, the Inventer of Hypocrisie.’

‘He who is of the Devil deals in Lies.’

‘He who is of the Devil is inconstant.’

‘He who is of the Devil is dissembled, counterfeit, hypocritical.’

‘He who does an unseemly thing hates the Light, that his Deeds may not be known.’

‘He who is of the Devil seeks Darkness for fear that he be discovered.’

‘He who is of the 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,Tomb. de la fauss. Theol. Part 1. p. 77, 78. 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.

[Page] ‘—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,Ibid. p. 76. 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 for [...]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 [Page] 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, [...] Acad de [...] scav. Part 2. p. 3. 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 [Page] 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,Ibid. p. 13. 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 is unchangeable, always consistent with himself; and no Body can be mistaken in following what is conformable to the Gospel, even to tho' it were declar'd by a wicked Person, yea, by the Devil himself.’

‘But if some one declare some particular thing respecting the Salvation or Damnation of any, they must see from whence this Knowledge comes. If such have it by the Light of the Holy Spirit, they must believe it as the Scripture; or else they be in Hazard of being forsaken by God, for despising the Warnings which he often gives us by some one of his Friends, whom he makes use of to declare his Will to those who would not hear it so particularly themselves: As he did to David by the Prophet Nathan, to declare his Sin to him of which he was become insensible, and so many others whom he has withdrawn from the way to Hell, by the Warnings of some Souls enlightned by him; as he does sometimes yet at present.’

‘A True Prophet never seeks himself,Ibid. p [...] desires not to please Men, aims at nothing but to satisfie the Will of God, tho' it cost him his Life. He speaks of his Commission without fear or respect of any. He has no soft Words that flatter the Ears, but hard ones that pierce Hearts. He declares the Truths that reprove Men more willingly than those which commend them.—A True Prophet rejoyces more to be hated than lov'd, because he sees then he is more conformable to his Master, who in doing Good was hated and persecuted by Men.—There [Page] is not a more certain Mark than the Reproach and Contradictions of Men, whereby to discern a True Prophet from a False; for Falshood always flatters, and so is loved by the People, who are willingly flattered.’

‘The Holy Spirit can have no regard to what pleases or displeases,Ibid. p. 21. but to what is pure Truth without respect of Persons.—And if there remain any doubt if it is the Holy Spirit who speaks by a Person who says so, we must try if that Person possess the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit, his Seven Gifts, and the Eight Beatitudes; so you shall see visibly in them the Holy Spirit, by his infallible Operations.’

Thus you see what excellent and true Marks and Characters she gives, whereby we may try whether any be truly endued with the Spirit of God or not; and the more her Doctrine, Life and Spirit are enquir'd into by the Lovers of Sincerity and Truth, the more they will abide this Touchstone: And it will still the more clearly appear that her Doctrine is the same in Substance with the Gospel; her Life and Spirit a Transcript of it; that the Law of God was written in her Heart, from whence her Doctrine came as from a Fountain of Living Water springing up to Everlasting Life, and was not derived from the broken Cisterns of humane Learning, Conversation, Study, and Books: And that her Words are sharp and piercing, searching into the Heart and Conscience, and far from soothing and flattering the Corruptions of Men.

XVIII.XXVIII. M. Pascal's distinguishing Mark of the Divine Authority of the Christian Religion. M. Pascal has given it as a distinguishing Mark and Character of the Christian Religion, in Contradiction to all other Religions of the World, as an Argument of its Divine Authority and Original, that it makes Charity, or the Love of God its principal End, and Man's chief Duty, which no other Religion does. And I think it may be given as a distinguishing Character of the Doctrine of A. B. its being a true Representation of Christianity, in Contradiction to most of the Systems of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, which have been advanc'd in this last Age of the World, that she makes Charity, or the Love of God, the great End of that Religion, and the Precepts and Life of Jesus Christ, the necessary Means to bring us to that End, and when this is so clearly discovered and represented to us by an illiterate Child, without the use of any humane Helps, and our false Glosses, whereby we have perverted [Page] the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, are laid open to us; to ascribe this to Natural Judgment, Heat of Fancy, any Humane or Diabolical Means, or to think to confound it with our Buffoonry and Criticks, is a Spiritual Infatuation like that of the Scribes and Pharisees.

XIX.XIX. The Prejudices against her being led by the Spirit of God proposed and cleared by her self. 1. The want of Miracles answered. Tomb. de la fausse Theol. Part 1. p. 11. Now all that has been or can be opposed to those Evidences of A. B. her being led by the Spirit of God, come under these Two Heads. viz. it is either affirm'd that these Marks and Characters are not sufficient Evidences, even tho' she had them, or that they do not all belong to her. I shall give you then her own Vindication of her self in answering some Prejudices relating to these Heads.

First then, they objected that there could be no sufficient Evidence of her being led by the Spirit of God, unless she were endued with the Power of working Miracles. In Answer to which she says.

‘It is a great Ignorance to desire to see Miracles that we may believe that a Soul is possest with the Holy Spirit; for the Devil at this time can easily do Wonders. Jesus Christ has assur'd us that in the last Times many false Prophets will arise that shall do great Signs and Wonders. And we live now in the Reign of Antichrist. They who ask now for Miracles deserve to be seduc'd by Satan; for what need is there of them, since God is not to send into the World a New Doctrine. The Gospel Law is the last and most perfect of all Laws. Nothing New will come to instruct Men, except the fulfilling of the Gospel Law, which was sufficiently confirm'd by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, who needed then for the Hardness of Mens Hearts to work outward Miracles, because of their Unbelief. For those Persons, Signs were wrought that were visible to their Senses. But now Men are sufficiently confirm'd in the Gospel Law. There are no Christians incredulous in this Point. And therefore Miracles would serve to no purpose now, since nothing is taught but what Jesus Christ and his Apostles taught, and this is believed both by good and bad Christians.’

‘I think you have not the true Touchstone to discern if a Person has the Spirit of God,Ibid. p. 13. when you would try him by Miracles; for the Spirit of Satan may do great Signs and Wonders in the Persons where he dwells. I have seen Persons possest with that unclean Spirit who would have done admirable things. Some were Blind for some [Page] Years, and recovered their Sight in an Instant; others were Dumb, and recovered their Speech by supernatural Means; others did hang and flee visibly in the Air, before all the People; others were without Pulse and Motion for some Nights and Days, and in an Instant would arise and walk chearfully. Are not here the Dead raised, the Sick healed, the Blind recovered to their Sight, the Dumb to their Speech, and Bodies suspended in the Air by the Power of the Devil? How could you judge then by Miracles if a Person be led by the Spirit of God, or of the Devil?’

‘You 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.’

[Page] ‘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,1 Cor. 13. 1, 2. Ibid. p. 26, 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;Ibid. p. 27. 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 [Page] 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 [Page] 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 and extraordinary.

XX.XX. 2. That all might have been from the Devil or her own Imagination, answered. 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 [Page] 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,La Lum. nee en tenebr. Part 1. Let. 1 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 [Page] 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,Ibid. p. 8. 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,Ibid. p. 53. 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, [...]cad. de S [...]av. Theol. Part 2. p. 22, 29. 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 One [...].’

[Page] ‘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 promises, that if our Eye be Single, our whole Body shall be full of Light; and if it be Evil, it will be full of Darkness.—For tho' a Soul have not in it self the Holy Spirit, yet it shall have the Understanding enlightned to discover him in others, provided it behold them with a single Eye, without Dissimulation or Surprize; but in the Simplicity of a Child, as Jesus Christ says we must be in, if we would enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.’

‘They who see me write,Pierre de Touch. p. 293. know well that I do it without any Study or humane Speculation; and that it flows from my Spirit as Water flows from its Fountain, and that I do nothing but lend my Hand and my Spirit to another Power than mine.—And God gives yet a more sure Testimony, by imparting to me his Righteousness, Truth, and Charity.’

‘For these things cannot come from Nature, which being corrupted, can produce no Good, nor any Divine Vertues; because I am come of the Corrupt Mass of Adam, as all the rest of Men, there could not be in me any Righteousness, Truth, and Charity, which are all Divine and Supernatural Vertues, which cannot enter into the Soul of Men, but by the Work of the Holy Spirit.’

‘This gives me a sufficient Testimony that I am led by God,p. 295. since the Devil and Nature have nothing of those Vertues. And therefore we cannot find a surer Evidence that a Soul is led by the Holy Spirit, than when it is possest of the Righteousness, Truth, and Charity of God: For if we desire to see Miracles for a Proof, we may be deceived, since the Devil can do Miracles, or things which seem Supernatural; but he can never have in him the Righteousness, Truth, and Love of God.’

‘The Good Spirit,Tomb. de la fausse Theol. Part 3. p. 49. and the Evil, may be known by the Qualities which they have. The Spirit of God has in him a Peace and Sweetness that comforts the Soul, and draws it to an inward Quiet. But the Spirit of the Devil disturbs the Understanding, disquiets it, and robs it of Tranquility and Rest. The Spirit of God acts sweetly and strongly in Peace and Tranquility of Mind.—All [Page] that comes from the Spirit of God, is always accompanied with the Qualities of God, which are Goodness, Righteousness, and Truth. And that which comes from the Spirit of the Devil, carries always the Qualities of the Devil; which are Malice, Injustice, and Lying.—The Evil Spirit may sometimes move to do a good thing, to draw Evil out of it; but that seeming Goodness can never be accompanied with Righteousness, and Truth, which are the inseparable Qualities of God; which the Devil may sometimes separately make use of to deceive Men, aping the Works of God; but he can never do a thing that is Good, Just, and True, altogether; since this appertains to God only, who cannot be divided in any of these Qualities.’

‘God does not speak to me by Voices,Pierre de Touch. p. 299, 300. Thundrings, and Lightnings, as he did of Old to the Prophets; or as he spake to Tobit, by Angels in the Likeness of Young Men; or as he spoke to Jacob in the Vision of a Ladder, upon which Angels did ascend and descend; or as he spoke to Joseph in a Dream, saying to him, Take the Child and the Mother, and flee into Egypt: For I durst not rely upon all these things, in which the Devil and the Fancy of Man may mingle themselves, and make such things be seen and heard, as if they came from the Spirit of God. But I fix on the solid Truth of God, on his Righteousness, and on his Love, because in such things the Devil can have no hold. I have sometimes had Dreams and Visions coming from God, as I may afterwards make appear by Experience; but I do not rely on these Dreams and Visions, unless the same things that I have seen and dream'd be confirm'd unto me by a secret Notice, (Intelligence) after the manner that I converse ordinarily with God. For so soon as the Soul is free of all Image, and delivered from the agitation of its Passions, and the Imagination ceases to operate; then I hear the Voice of God, and his Reasoning, not with my Ears, but with my Understanding. And after this manner he makes me see and hear all that I need to know both for my own Conduct, and that of others; which many have experienc'd, and found that I have told them the most secret things of their Hearts, which neither Men nor Devils could know.’

[Page] ‘Never amuse your self with Discourses,Tomb. de la fausse Theol. Part 4. p. 57. Visions, or Revelations made to you or others, if you do not perceive assuredly that they are accompanied with the Qualities of the Good Spirit of God, or otherwise you will be easily deceived. Remark always if what you say or do be accompanied with the Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth of God, and then you shall assuredly hear God speak to your Soul.—For if you walk in these Qualities, you will be in God, and the Devil can deceive you no longer by Illusions, or false Imaginations; as he will easily do, so long as you do not possess those essential Vertues of the Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth of God, in which you ought always to walk, if you would not be seduced by Satan.’

‘The Devil can give Visions,Part 1. p. 69, 70. Ravishments, or supernatural Extasies to Sorcerers; yea, make them foretel things to come, being a subtile Spirit, and foreseeing afar, and by conjectures, what will come to pass, and he may make them fall out by the means of his Sorcerers; who being powerful and numerous, may by their Power and Authority bring about what has been Fore told. —Therefore it is fit to receive nothing for Truth, but the things which lead us to a more strict Union with God, and Denial of our selves. These things are always Good, even tho' they should come from the Devil himself, we cannot be deceived in believing them.’

‘I can never have the least doubt as if it were an evil Spirit that communicates himself to my Understanding;Lum. nee en tenebr. Part 3. p. 184. for the evil Spirit could not in my Judgment produce so good and so constant Operations, such as the Love of God, and the Hatred of ones Self: Moreover he could not separate the Soul from the Pleasures of this Life, nor remove from it the coveting the Riches and Honours of the World; nor give it a full Contentment in the want of all humane Consolation, nor yet Joy in Hardships and Contempt. All these things cannot come from the Devil, for he is too opposite to all these Vertues, and leads ordinarily to all sort of Evil; tho' at first he cover them with Vertues. The End of his Operations make appear sufficiently the Deeds of the Author, and make known the Workman by his Works.’

Thus you see how certain Marks she gives whereby to distinguish true from false Enthusiasm; the Conduct and [Page] Inspiration of the Spirit of God from the Illusions of the Devil, or Ones own Imagination, and how Men may preserve themselves from being impos'd upon by the last: That where a Soul is truly purified, and the Communications of God's Spirit are to the inferiour Understanding, without the use of the Imagination or Senses, or the imprinting on them Images, Visions, or Voices, there neither the Devil nor Man's Imagination can have any hold; that the Devil cannot work on the Imagination of such, as he does on Wicked and Brain sick Persons: That when Visions, Voices, and sensible Raptures are communicated to such, that they may be assured that they are from God, they ought to apply to him in that inward way in which he is pleas'd to communicate himself, the Soul being delivered from the agitation of its Passions, and the Imagination: That the Spirit of God brings along with him Peace and Tranquility of Soul, and his Divine Qualities of Goodness, Righteousness, and Truth, and his Operations are both good and abiding; but the Spirit of the Devil disturbs the Understanding, robs it of Tranquility and Rest, and that which proceeds from that Spirit carries always with it the Qualities of the Devil, Injustice, Malice, Hypocrisie. These are the distinguishing Evidences for ones self. And for others, that they may not be impos'd upon by any pretending to be led by the Spirit of God, when it may be they are guided by the Illusions of the Devil or their own Fancy; that there is no Hazard of being mistaken, if we follow that only which is conformable to the Gospel, tho' it were declared by a wicked Person or the Devil himself; that there cannot be a surer Testimony that one is led by the Spirit of God, than if he produce in them his Fruits and Gifts, and impart to them the Divine Qualities of Righteousness, Goodness, and Charity, and by their means produce the same good Effects in others: That the evil Spirit may sometimes move to do a good thing to draw Evil out of it, but can never do that that is Just, and Good, and True altogether, which comes from God only; and tho' the Devil cover his Wickedness at first with seeming Vertues, yet the End of all his Operations shew from whom they come.

Thus A. B. lays no stress on Visions, Extasies, Raptures, or other Sensibilities to which the Imagination contributes, and where the Devil and Fancy may impose, but upon the [Page] immediate Notices of God to the Understanding; and for the Truth of this and her Sincerity in it, appeals to the Fruits of God's Spirit, and the Divine Qualities which he had implanted in her Soul, and by which she constantly steer'd all her Actions: And that no Body may be deceived by her declaring things as Truths from God which are not; she desires they may receive them only in so far as they are conformable to the Gospel, and then there is no Hazard of being deceived, those Truths being so well confirm'd already, and so necessary for all who would be saved; and in so far as they lead us to a more strict Union with God, and Denial of ones self. And these are always Good; tho' the Devil should declare them, we cannot be deceived in believing them.

XXI.XXI. 3. That all might be the Effect of a great Natural Judgment answered. 3. It was said, that she was a Woman of a fine natural Spirit, of a clear and piercing Judgment, and a lively Imagination, and being retir'd and thoughtful, it was no wonder tho' she had clear and extraordinary Thoughts and Sentiments beyond others; all this might be the Effect of the excellency of her Natural Spirit, and not from the Spirit of God. This Thought always readily occurs to those who upon the reading of her Writings are convinced of the excellency of her Sentiments, and it was objected to her self. I shall here set down her own Answer.

‘You ought to have more Charity for me,Tomb de la fausse Theol. Part 2. p. 124, &c. than to call me Wise, and of a good Natural Judgment, when you judge that I am Proud, for your saying, serves only to make me more so. I have always said, that I am nothing but a simple Child, and now I hear Divines and the Learned say, that I have a great Natural Spirit, which makes me say and write things which so many Persons do admire.—I have always referr'd them to the Spirit of God, who produces them immediately in me, and now you would have me so Presumptuous as to believe that all this comes from my self, or from my Natural Judgment. I should be a wise Girl indeed, if I had found out so many excellent Truths, without School or Study, without Books, and without Masters. I believe it is Ignorance that makes you speak so, and that you know not what the Spirit of God is, nor what a Natural Spirit is; and cannot distinguish that which comes from Nature, from that which comes from Grace, as not being sufficiently advanced in the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit.’

[Page] ‘I am afraid my Judgment may offend you; but I will make it appear to you, that it is most true, and that you have not yet penetrated nor discovered how the Spirit of God acts, and how the Spirit of Nature acts; and not having this Touchstone which discovers fine Gold from the Counterfeit, you easily take the one for the other: You will needs hold the rank of Masters, whereas it were your Happiness to be good Scholars. To shew that I have more Charity for your Soul, than you have Ill-will for mine, I will declare what the Spirit of God is, and what the Natural Spirit is, that you may no longer be mistaken. I will tell you what Operations proceed from both these Spirits, and how they must be animated. The thing is clear and certain, easie to be understood by those who will use their Reason, and they who do not use it are Beasts, for nothing distinguishes a Man from a Beast but Faith, and Reason.’

‘I set down therefore for the chief Mark and Ground of discerning Spirits, that the Spirit of God has this Quality, that he never acts and operates but for things Divine and Eternal, or tending to Eternity; and that the Natural Spirit never acts nor aims but for things Earthly and Temporal: For all that is from Nature tends to its Centre, which is the Earth and Time, where Nature is bounded to delight it self, without knowing or tending to any other thing, but what is conformable to Nature.’

‘When you would know then if it be Nature that directs the Actions of a Person, remark only if by what they say or do, they aim only at things earthly and transitory; in this case you may well judge, that they have but a Natural Spirit, and not the Spirit of God, since this never acts but for Divine things tending to Eternity. So that when you see Persons labour to gain Money, or to have Pleasure and Satisfaction in this World, it may be absolutely said, they have but Natural Spirits, and cannot thereby find God, nor Life Eternal; for tho' they flatter themselves, and say, that they trade, only to make a right use of their Wealth; and study, that they may make a right use of their Learning; all this is but for Time and earthly Things, proceeding only from the Natural Spirit that cloaks it self with the Spirit of God, for this Divine Spirit never tends but to Divine Things.’

[Page] ‘If you had observed, Sir, that that fine Spirit which you attribute to me, had been applied to get Wealth or to gain Praise, or to Conversation, to take Pleasure with Men, you would have had some Reason to say that I had nothing but a natural Spirit; or if you had discovered in my Words any Ornament of Language to make me be esteemed Eloquent; or in my Writing any Affectation of speaking well, that I might be praised; these would be all Marks of a human Spirit.—’

‘I would gladly ask you, Sir, if you have ever seen me acted by this natural Spirit? First, if I have ever done any thing to gain Money? Or, if I have desir'd any sensual Pleasures, or fed my self with Praises, or lov'd the Conversation of Men? Have you not rather perceiv'd that I ask nothing of any Body? For I can say in Truth, that if they would give me Riches I would not accept of them, for my own Goods are a burthen to me, and the two things I hate in the World are, Honour, and Sin; the Conversations and Divertisements of the World are a Weariness to me; and if I affected to be prais'd for my Words or Writings, I would study to speak well, to write well, and to spell well; whereas I have nothing but a simple vulgar Language, nakedly to signifie my Thoughts, without Curiosity or any Circumspection. And for my Writings, do you not see they are without any Study or Ornament, full of Faults of Writing and Orthography, without any human Regard or Reflection.’

‘Do you think I have not enough of Spirit to correct all these Faults, and to learn in a little time to write and spell perfectly, that Men might see my Skill? I am far from these Sentiments; for I would never learn any thing of Men, because I desired not to be prais'd by them. One would have freely taught me Orthography, another Poesy, another the Mathematicks, another the Latin Tongue; and I despis'd all this, to content my self with writing on my Knees, on a little piece of Board, the things that God sheds into my Spirit, without desiring to make any Reflection to see if I wrote well or ill, or if what I say will please one or displease another, whether they will be well receiv'd and approved, or despis'd or censur'd: I have no other aim in Speaking or Writing but eternal things, without caring for temporal and earthly things; having no Pretensions upon Earth, but only that of pleasing [Page] God, and stirring up my Neighbour to his Love. This cannot proceed from a Natural Spirit which is confin'd to earthly things, and cannot aim to please God, nor at eternal things; for Nature cannot find its Pleasure and Satisfaction in a God which it does not see and feel: What is beyond Sense, is not Food agreeable to Nature, more than precious Stones can be Food for Horses; for neither of these are Aliments proportioned to the Nature of either: For the Natural Senses will no more be filled with God and things Eternal, than a Horse will be satisfied with Jewels for his Food, but he loves the Grass and Hay far better, as Food more sutable to his Nature.’

‘Even so it is of the Natural Spirit and Senses, they do far more esteem things earthly and sensual, than God, who is an Invisible Spirit; or things Eternal, which they do not perceive and feel with their Senses. Whence we may draw a sure Consequence, that he who does not seek or desire the Goods and Pleasures which tickle our Senses, has the Spirit of God, and lives supernaturally; and he who seeks nothing but God and things Eternal, cannot have this from a Natural Spirit; and when you will needs say that my Writings proceed from a Natural Spirit, you must prove that they aim at some Profit, Pleasure, or Praise from Men. If I desired to Profit by them, I would endeavour to please them, and to gain their Friendship; and if I desired to take Pleasure among them, I would draw them to me as you do; and if I desired their Praises, I would speak that which they would willingly hear, and would not say, that they are not true Christians: For if I would say, that all who have visited me are vertuous Souls and true Christians, undoubtedly every one would esteem me, and greatly praise me; but when I do the quite contrary, I shew it is the Spirit of God who acts in my Writings, since they aim at nothing but to make known the Truth of God, which alone can guide Souls to eternal Life, and that the same Writings speak nothing but of despising earthly and temporal things.’

There cannot be a more evident mark of Distinction between the actings of the Spiri of God, and that of Nature, than what is assign'd by her; the last tending only to things Temporal, and the other to things Eternal; and [Page] that the Spirit she was guided by had this constant Tendency to God and Eternity, and not to Honour, Praise, Wealth, or Pleasure, or any Temporal and Earthly things, appears by the whole Course of her Life and Conversation.

XXII.XXII. 4. That she ascribed all her Mistakes to the Spirit of God answered. 4. It was alledged as another Presumption, that she could not be led by the Spirit of God, but by her own wild Imagination, that they say she was ready to ascribe to the Spirit of God, even all her Mistakes in writing or citing of Passages of Scripture, naming Peter for Paul, or the like; and for an Evidence of this, they cite the Story concerning M. Noel, a Divine in Flanders, who when he first read some of her Writings, they being full of Faults of Orthography and Language,La vie Continue p. 271. and not so methodically ordered, and the same things often repeated in different places, tho' after a different manner; he offered to put them in a better Order and Stile, without changing the Essence of the Truth; but when she ask'd Counsel of God, it was said to her: What rashness is it for Men to offer to Correct the Works of God. All this may be very true, and yet it does not follow, that she ascribes all her Mistakes to the Dictates of the Spirit of God; yea, she plainly affirms the contrary, and that all the Mistakes and Errors she falls into, are from her self, and not from God.

‘When you ask,I [...] Aveug [...]ement des Hom▪ Part 2. p. 172. &c. says she, If there be any thing humane in my Motions, Words, and Deeds? This Question seems to me Ridiculous. Since being a humane Creature, as well as others, I must have natural Motions and Faculties as others have; otherwise I should be an Angel, or a Statue of Wood, Stone, or Metal, which Instruments God never makes use of for declaring his Truths to Men. But the Devil has oft spoken by such Oracles. But God spake by his Holy Prophets, Natural Persons as others are, who through their natural Frailty did often commit very great Faults; yea, sometimes gross Sins. Must we doubt if Moses had the Spirit of God, and that he spake to his People by him, because he was incredulous, and rendred himself unworthy of entring into the promis'd Land? Must we not believe the Holy Scripture endited by Solomon, because [...]e fell into Idolatry? Or ought we to doubt if David had the Spirit of God, because he fell into Adultery and other Sins? Truly this would be very extravagant, and render all the Works of God suspected and doubtful, because of the Trailty of Men. For in the [Page] New Testament, does not the Apostle make this Distinction of his own Spirit from the Spirit of God? When he says, It is I who says or does this; and elsewhere, It is the Spirit of God who says it. Even Jesus Christ, had he not the Spirit of God in him, and the Natural Spirit both? When he prays to his Father, that his own Will might not be done. If he had not had a Natural Will, he would not have prayed thus. And it could not be the Spirit of God that made him say: If it be possible let this Cup pass from me; Nor which made him doubt that he was forsaken of his Father in the very brink of Death: of necessity these were simply natural Motions which mov'd him to all these things, and not at all the Motions of the Holy Spirit.’

‘Why would they then have me of another Stuff than the Prophets, Apostles, and Jesus Christ himself; and hinder that my natural Motions should not act any more in me, after that I have received the Holy Spirit? Must I become immoveable in Body and Spirit, that I may move no longer naturally? Must the Spirit of God make all the Functions of my Spirit and Body to cease, that he alone may operate in them? Truly God would make use of a strange Figure, against his Ordinary, since he always makes use of humane Creatures to speak to Men, and to make known his Will to them by Organs of those like themselves. And for this Cause Jesus Christ took a truly humane Body, that by means palpable to their Humanity, he might make himself to be understood and obeyed. And the Body and Spirit of Jesus Christ did act humanly.—And the Apostles acted in many things according to their natural Motions, and in many things were mistaken;Acts 12. 12, 13. &c. for we read that the Apostles being one night assembled, after that they had received the Holy Spirit, when St. Peter was in Prison; from whence being come out miraculously, he knock'd at the Gate where they were assembled, and the Maid, Roda, told them he was at the Gate, they thought with one common Judgment that the Maid dream'd, saying, to her, that she was a Fool. All the Motions which this Holy Assembly had, could not come but from Nature. Must we conclude from thence that they had not received the Holy Spirit, or that they had lost him because of such Mistakes, or because they acted according to their natural Passions or Functions in this Opinion.’

[Page] ‘I think we should commit a great Sin to believe any such thing, or to suspect the Holy Spirit in them, because they are mistaken in some things; for these Faults and Mistakes are annexed to humane Nature since Sin; which has so blinded Man's Understanding, that he is oft-times mistaken in that which he sees before his Eyes: But the Holy Spirit can never be mistaken in any thing, nor inspire things that are not true. And it would be an abominable thing to believe it, or to judge that a Person were not guided by the Holy Spirit, because he is mistaken in some indifferent things. For the Holy Spirit does not teach the Soul that he possesses all the Circumstances of that which it ought to do and say; but he teaches it the essential things of Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, in all that it ought to do or avoid. And it is the Business of the Understanding to comprehend and search out the means to attain to these Ends; whetting its Spirit and all the Faculties of its Soul, that it may rightly accomplish in all things Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth. And if those natural Functions were made to cease acting after this manner, the Holy Spirit could do nothing by the Person, who is the visible and sensible Organ, an Instrument of God, without which Instrument he cannot make gross and natural Men to understand him. Therefore the Angels themselves have sometimes taken humane Bodies, to make themselves be seen and perceived by Men, according to their natural Sight and Sentiments.’

‘Now it is true that God has given me his Holy Spirit promised by Jesus Christ, which teaches me all Truth, but yet it is not true, that he teaches me in particular all the Words that proceed out of my Mouth, nor all the Letters or Syllables that I write, far less all the Motions of my Body; for this is done humanly by my own Spirit or my visible Body. For if the Holy Spirit did dictate to me all the Words that I must pronounce, or all the Words that I must write, I could never commit Faults in Speaking or Writing, which I do often commit, not knowing sometimes where to find Words to express my self well, nor Orthography to write well; which I have declared in my printed Writings, saying; It is the Spirit that teaches me the Doctrine which I write, but as for the Faults which are in the Pen or the Words, it is I who commits them, and not the Holy Spirit; which may satisfie all [Page] captious Spirits, who seek to discredit the Wisdom of God, by the Faults that I might have done Naturally: Since the Proverb says, that all Men do fail and mistake themselves, and the Perfect are in Heaven, because there are no Perfections but in God alone.’

‘And it would be to tempt him, to require of a human Creature the Perfection of all things; since this appertains to God only, and not to Men, who have only a limited Perfection, every one his Talent; one the Perfection of speaking well, another of writing well, another of singing well, with other natural Gifts, which do not come immediately from the Holy Spirit, tho' he makes use of all those Gifts, when they may serve for the Glory of God, and when the Person offers and resigns them up to his Government. For Example: God has given me an Ability to compose my Writings, and it is his Will that I do it for his Glory, and the Good of Souls. These things come in Substance from the Holy Spirit; but it is my natural Hand that writes it, and my natural Spirit that conceives it, which may commit accidental or material Faults; but there can be no Faults in the thing it self; every one may assuredly believe and follow that, without amusing himself whether I have any Defect in the Manner, or if there be any thing of natural mingled with it, since God makes use of Nature and even of its Defects, to teach Men to seek those things that are above, and not the things that are upon the Earth.’

‘For all that fine Learning, and studied Words, yea these Niceties of the precise Truth of Terms, are things on Earth, esteemed by vain Men, who seek Praise and Curiosities more than the Essence of the Means of their Salvation, and the Holy Spirit will not encourage these Niceties, but inspires always Simplicity. For this Cause I do not reflect upon the Mistake that I oft times commit of naming Peter for Paul, or Wood for Stone. It is enough to me that I make the Substance of the thing be understood, that Men may return to the Love of God. And he having permitted me to cause to be printed all my Writings, has not appointed in what Time, by what Person, in what Place, or by what Means I might do it. I must therefore apply my natural Spirit to find out these Means. I have writ of it to my Friends, and advertised them that it was the Will of God that this should [Page] be done for his Gl [...], And if I had not acted naturally in this, these Persons could not know this express Will of God, because they are not yet so disengaged that they may hear the Voice of God. Ought I therefore to hold my Peace and not to write, because the Holy Spirit does not dictate to me all the Words, and because I make use of those which I speak in my homely vulgar Language? And must I prove otherwise than by my Words, that it is the Holy Spirit who acts in me?’

They who consider this without an evil Eye, will, I am perswaded, be convinc'd that she is far from attributing her Mistakes and Defects to the Dictates of the Spirit of God, and that yet it might be very well said to him who was desirous to reduce her Writings to a greater Exactness, free of all Mistakes, What Rashness is it for Men to offer to correct the Works of God? For God thinks fit to chuse weak and foolish things to confound the wise and mighty, and to make his strength appear in their weakness; that when we see the great and substantial Truths of God declared by one of such Simplicity, without Disguise and Affectation, without all Human Learning, and the Artifices and Exactness whereby we recommend our Writings to the World, we may clearly see that it is not her own Natural Spirit, that by its Industry and Application searches out and discovers those Divine Truths (tho' its Defects and Weakness appear in applying to declare them to the World) but that it is the Spirit of God. And as they who are very intent upon the cultivating of their Minds with Human Learning, are very unconcern'd as to fine Cloaths and other outward things, about which others are very nice and ready to laugh at their unfashionableness; so one who is wholly taken up with the great and substantial Truths of God and Eternity, and intent to impress them on the Hearts of others, has no regard to niceness of Words and Terms, is not curious to avoid little Mistakes about lesser and accidental Matters; but earnest only to inculcate to them the great things of Eternity. And that this was the Disposition of A. B's Spirit, appears thro' all her Writings.

It may be Joshuah knew not whether it was the Sun or Earth that stood still; and Esay thought that Hezekiah would undoubtedly die of his Disease; and S. Matthew that Jeremy had written that which Zachary had said, and that there were two Thieves who up [...]raided Jesus Christ [Page] on the Cross, tho' S. Luke tells it was but one of them; and Jesus Christ himself, that there were Figs on a Fig-Tree when there were none. But what, will some say, is not this to take from the divine Writers their Authority and Force. This is as ridiculous as if a Man dying for Hunger would not take the Bread offer'd him, under a Pretext that he who offer'd it was mistaken in some Words when he offered it; as that he said it was bak'd such a Day, whereas it was on another Day; or that it came from Peter's House whereas it came from John's; or that the Corn it was made of came from France, when it was from Germany; from whence the poor famish'd Man would fancy that the Bread could not nourish him, that it was not good, that they who were mistaken in this, might be mistaken in taking, it may be, Poison or Tares for Corn, or Arsnick for Meal.

But what, ought such Mistakes to be imputed to the Holy Spirit? God forbid! they belong only to the Creature. And when it pleases the Holy Spirit for so saving Ends, as to recommend Simplicity, the study of Purification, the cleaving to the one thing needful; to teach those who desire to be enlightned by God, that they must leave off the ways of humane Exactness and Speculation, and of confounding the Understanding with a Thousand barren and needless Curiosities, which certainly devour much precious time, without making us well-pleasing to God, or advancing one step in his Love, but have rather turn'd us away from it, and occupied and blown us up with these useless Vanities: That the Holy Spirit, I say, should permit, for so saving an Advantage, some Mistakes which regard Accidental, Foreign, and Accessory things, to remain some time in the Instruments which he makes use of most certainly and infallibly in the things that concern the way to Heaven; What is there in all this that derogates from the Glory of God, the Salvation of Souls, or the Divine Authority of those sent by God to guide Man without fail to this supream End.

The Difference that is observed amongst Persons inspired by God, and sometimes of the same Person from himself comes from this, that they have not the same Gifts by Nature, or are not equally enlightned, or the same Person is not so much at one time as at another, even touching Divine Things, when they are Accessories. Thus the Apostles [Page] knew not from the Beginning that the Gentiles would be called to the Gospel, and therefore at first they lived exactly after the Manner of the Jews. But when God gave and encreased this Light, they acted and spoke otherwise; must we conclude from this, that they were first deceived, or that the Holy Spirit did not inspire them, or did not inspire them aright? Not at all. But that at first it was not necessary it should be made known to them, till the saving Doctrine of the Gospel were established among the Jews. So that we must hence conclude only that the Holy Spirit gives and encreases his Light as he sees it expedient for Men's Salvation. Thus A. B. in her younger Years had not received the Light which respects the glorious State in which Adam was created before Eve, and therefore spake of Adam then according to the common Opinion, but afterwards in a more sublime Manner.

XXIII.XXIII. 5. That she contradicted the holy Scriptures and her self answered. 5. It was again objected to her, that she contradicted both the Holy Scriptures and her self, and therefore could not be led by the Spirit of God. To this she replied; ‘That this cannot be true indeed, if her Writings be endited by the Spirit of God, who cannot contradict himself; for God is Yesterday and to day the same, unchangeable, and always equal to himself, from whom no Variableness nor Contradiction can proceed. But if her Adversary would examine all the Holy Scripture after the Manner he had done her Writings,Avertis. contr. le Trembl. p. 8. he would find many more such seeming Contradictions in the Bible. For indeed there are many more according to the narrow Apprehension and shallow Judgment of Men, who being earthly and carnal, cannot understand spiritual things, or those endited by the Holy Spirit, and they forge in their little Brains Errours out of most solid Truths, and Contradictions out of the greatest Conformities.’

‘From hence have sprung so many Errours, Schisms, and Divisions in the Church of God; because every one would understand the Scripture after their own Mode, they have invented so many different Religions; and each says, This is founded on the Holy Scripture: tho' very often they have different Sentiments, and contradict one another in the same Truths, while every one thinks he understands them aright.—Tho' they are uncapable of understanding Divine Things; for the same Spirit that endited the Holy Scriptures, gives the Understanding [Page] of them; and when the Spirit of Man undertakes to do it, he still falls from one Errour into another, and loses himself in that great Ocean of Divine Wisdom, which he cannot understand nor comprehend.’

‘—It does not trouble me that there appears to be Contradictions in my Writings to the Judgments of Men, since they will hardly find two Prophets speak the same Words upon the same Matter; and the four Evangelists do not relate the same Things after the same Manner: Must it therefore be said that there are Contradictions in the Holy Scriptures, as this Benjamin Furly says there are in my Writings?—God commands to honour Father and Mother; and Jesus Christ says we must hate Father and Mother; adding, that he who does not forsake Father and Mother, and all things, cannot be his Disciple. How will this Benjamin reconcile these two Passages.—For, to honour Father and Mother, is a thing quite contrary to the hating and forsaking them. And Jesus Christ says that he is not come to bring Peace upon Earth, but War between Father and Son, &c. And elsewhere he says, my Peace I give you.—In one Place he says, Drunkards and Gluttons shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; and elsewhere he says, that that which enters into the Mouth does not defile the Soul.’

‘—Truth is invincible and does not change, for all that may be thundered against it; but it is the more established when it is opposed and contradicted by ignorant Persons, as this Benjamin, who cannot discern Truth from Lying and from Contradictions.’

‘He confounds one time with another, and will needs give general Rules for all sorts of Occasions; and when these Rules are not punctually observed at all times, he thinks that Persons do change or contradict themselves. And if he had been an Apostle of Jesus Christ when he lived upon Earth, he would have often reproved him (as at present he does me.) For when Jesus Christ was afraid of his Enemies, he bids his Apostles buy Swords, and if they wanted money to do it, that they should sell their Garments; and a little after he commands to put up the Sword, and threatens that he who strikes with the Sword, shall be strucken by it.—If this Benjamin had been in S. Peter's Place when he cut off Malchus's Ear, he would certainly have been displeased at Jesus Christ, and [Page] blamed him for Inconstancy and Contradiction, because he could not discern the time when he ought to strike, and when he ought to forbear.—He reproaches me that I have written somewhere, that I might say something that is not true, without lying or sinning. He does not consider that there are material Lies which are not Sins. —He would have Words precisely spoken, which are true according to his Caprice; for it is a chief Article of the Quakers to justifie themselves before Men; for they study precise Words, that they may not commit a material Lie, and they dare not call a Christian by that Name, without adding as they call them, fearing to Lie by calling him a Christian when he is not truly such.—’

‘For my part I am far from these Maxims, for I never regard the pronunciation of Words, but the Essence of the Truth of the things which I advance. If I express them in this or that Term, it is all one to me, provided I deceive no Body, and that I make the things to be understood which I would signifie. But there is this difference between the Spirit that guides me, and the Spirit that guides that Sect, that they would be esteem'd by Men for good Men, and for the People of God; whereas I am not concern'd how they esteem me, for I am content with the Testimony of my own Conscience, and seek not the Approbation of Men, far less will I say any Words to the end they may think that I am Just and guided by God. It suffices me that I know it, and God knows it; for it is written, He who would please Men is not the Servant of Jesus Christ. Therefore I will freely speak a material Lie, when I believe the thing is true: for Example, I have often said that I was Two Years younger than I find I am since I caus'd one to search the Register of my Baptism. I grant I have thus made many material Lies, yet without sinning thereby or lying; since a Lie is a Deceit or Falseness of the Heart that kills the Soul; which I could not do by saying that I was Two Years younger; for I aim'd not thereby to deceive any Body, nor to speak against the Truth. I have uttered many such material Lies.—I love rather to possess the Essence of Truth in the bottom of my Soul, than to speak verbally true Words through Hypocrisie.’

[Page] ‘For what else is it to call Men by the Name of Christians, and to add to it as they call them than Hypocrisie, and Contempt of the Truth, such as the Jews had, when they said to Pilate, that he ought to write on the Cross of Jesus Christ, that he was King of the Jews, by adding to it, as he said; which Pilate would not add, saying only, What is written, is written; as I also answer to this Benjamin, when he would teach me to speak Words which are true before Men: For I know well that all whom I call Christians, are not truly Christians before God; yet I will not learn from the Quakers to add to the Name of Christian, as they call them; since this seems to me superfluous, and I have no other Intention in calling them simply Christians, but to make it be understood of whom I speak, to wit, that I speak not of the Jews or Heathens, but of those only whom I call Christians, yet without design to maintain that they are true Christians. Since I declare elsewhere, that I know no true Christians, it cannot be understood that I know them for true Christians, because I call them by that Name; but I conform my self in this, to the Disposition of those who hear me, and not to the Truth of what they are: Which if I would follow, I behov'd sometimes to call those nominal Christians, Atheists, or Antichristians, which scarce any Man would understand; therefore to make my self be understood, I must use common and ordinary Terms, and pronounce them as briefly as I can; since we must give an account of every idle Word, I ought not to add uselesly to the Name of Christians, as they call them, since it is understood well enough of it self, without pronouncing those Words as the Quakers do.’

To make appear how fully she clears her self as to Contradictions which they were ready to impute to her, I shall here adduce one Instance.Avis salut. p. 84, 85. &c. ‘I understand, says she, by yours, that my Writings have had some good Operation in your Soul; but withal that you have found (as it seems to you) some Contradiction in them, in that I say absolutely, that to be a true Christian one must abandon all that he possesses, and nevertheless you find in one of my Letters, that a Man must keep his Goods for his Necessities, since the World is now without Charity, and they would leave the Just without help in his need.’

[Page] ‘Both these things are most true, and do not at all contradict one another; for a Man must absolutely abandon the Love of earthly Goods, if he would become a true Christian. Jesus Christ has very often affirm'd this Truth in his Gospel, and said, that he who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be his Disciple. I bring no Novelties, when through all my Writings I press this Necessity of forsaking all things to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ, since Jesus Christ, his Apostles, and all who have received the Holy Spirit, say the same thing, and there is but one Truth, which is God, which says through all the same thing: So that they who speak otherwise, are Liars and Seducers of the People, who flatter Men to destroy them, under the Pretext of Glosses, and false Reasons which they draw from the Holy Scriptures, without any Ground.—This I have declar'd sufficiently in my Writings, as you have well observ'd and approved as you say; seeing I very much blam'd a Woman of Friesland, who was yet careful what she should eat and drink, and wherewithal she should be cloathed, after she had resolved to become a true Christian, as you have remarked in the Second Letter of the Fourth Part of La lum. née en tenebres. And I am still of the same Sentiment, that when one relies upon temporal things, and will not voluntarily abandon them to follow Jesus Christ, he cannot be his Disciple; and that Woman will never be one, so long as she is not disengag'd from temporal Goods: Tho' she be now gone out of her Country with a design to embrace a Gospel Life, she cannot attain to it, because of the Affection she has still for her Ease and Conveniences, which proceeds from Self-love, being anxious for the temporal Part, and fearing Want. And I can assure all those who are still in that Disposition, that they are not true Christians.’

‘But when I wrote to one of my Friends, in the 24th. Letter of the Fourth Part of La lum. née en tenebr. as you alledge, that he [...]ought to keep his Goods for his own Necessities, or that of others; without leaving them to his Friends, or giving them to the Poor now adays: I had reason to do it, because this Man was more disengag'd in his Soul from temporal Wealth than that Woman, and had already resolv'd to abandon them all, so that his Heart was free to possess them, as if he did not possess them: [Page] which a Person wedded to them could not do, tho' it seems to him he could, and he will say so with his Mouth; for there is nothing more deceitful than the Heart of Man, which none knows but God, and he to whom God reveals it.’

‘And I had reason to advise this Man to keep his Goods, and that Woman that she should not care for the Morrow, without any Contradiction in my Advices; but in the Disposition of those Two Persons whom you mention: Since the one was free to possess Wealth without sinning, and not the other; and a good Physician ought always to consider the Original of his Patient's Disease, if he would heal him. For if he ordain the same Physick for all sorts of Maladies, he would kill more than all the Executioners together.—So you must not think that there is a Contradiction in my Two Letters mentioned by you, but that there are Two divers Remedies for Two different Diseases; to wit, one Remedy against the Love or Desire of earthly things; and another against too great Liberality or Indiscretion.’

Again, A. B. says somewhere That no Body ever was or can be saved but by the Merits of Jesus Christ, and some Pages after in the same Treatise, she says, that no Body can be saved by the Merits of another: This seems contradictory, as well as those Two Propositions, the one of St. Paul, and the other of St. James; Man is justified by Faith without the Works of the Law; and Man is justified by Works and not by Faith only. This last Contradiction [...]s reconciled by saying that St. Paul understands that the Principle which admits in us that true Righteousness which God places there, is Faith; and that Works are not that Principle: But St. James means that that Principle which admits in us the Righteousness of God, is Faith; but that Faith is not destitute of Works, for if Faith were without Works, it were a dead Faith, which would justifie no Body. Thus these have no Contradiction, and yet are harder to reconcile than any Passages of the Writings of A. B. Thus as to the forecited Passage, when she says, that no Body is saved but by the Merits of Jesus Christ, her meaning is, that Jesus Christ is the Author and meritorious Cause of the Salvation of Men, who will accept of this Salvation by the ways that God teaches them; and when she says, that no Body can be saved by the Merits of another, this signifies that none who will not co-operate to their Salvation by the ways that God pre [...]cribes them, c [...]n be [Page] saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ, or that the Merits of Jesus Christ will not save those who will not follow the way of Salvation.

Thus you see how easie it is for critical and captious Spirits to find Contradictions where there are none; that the Holy Scriptures themselves have many seeming Contradictions, tho none in Truth; that they who are led by the Spirit of God write in great Simplicity, regarding the Essence and Substance of divine Truths, and not the niceness of Terms; and how captious Spirits may misinterpret them; and divine Truths had need to be read and considered with the same Spirit that dictates them, at least with a single Eye; for to an evil Eye they look as the Cloud which guided the Israelites did appear to the Egyptians, tho' it was all Light to the first, yet to the last it was all Darkness and Confusion.

XXIV. 6. It is farther objected,XXIV. 6 That the Predictions set down in her Writings did not come to pass answered. Joh. a Cruce. Ascensus Montis Carmeli. Lib. 2. Cap. 19. 20. If these Communications are from God, how comes it that they have not their Accomplishment, according as it was prom [...]s'd to her. The Apostle foretold that in the last Days there should come Scoffers walking after their own Lusts, and saying, Where is the Promise of his Coming? For since the Fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were since the Beginning of the Creation. For the removal of this Prejudice, there is adduc'd an excellent Passage of a Devout Author, which I shall transcribe here likewise, since it gives so great Light in this Matter.

‘The Visions and Words of God, says that Author, tho' they are always true and certain in themselves, yet are not always so after our way of understanding them, and that for Two Reasons, the one proceeds from the Imperfection of our way of understanding them; and the other from the Reasons and Grounds upon which the divine Words and Visions are establish'd; for oft-times they are Comminations, and of a conditional Nature, or Condition; for Example, that such shall amend, such a thing shall be done; tho' nevertheless the divine Word, to take it in the Letter, is absolute, and does not express this Condition. These two things I prove by Authorities of Holy Scripture.’

‘First, it is evident that the Word of God is not always, and does not always come to pass, after our way of understanding it, because of the weakness and imperfection of our [Page] Understanding. For God being Immense and Profound, it is no wonder that in his Words and Revelations there is ordinarily a sense and meaning far beyond our common way of conceiving them, and which shall be so much the more true and certain in themselves, the less probability and certainty they seem to us to have. We find very often in the Scripture that the Ancients found many of the Divine Words and Prophecies to fall out quite otherwise than they conceiv'd and hop'd for after their gross way of understanding them: For Example.’

‘God said to Abraham, after he had led him into the Land of the Canaanites, I will give thee this Land. Gen. 13. 15, 17. and he often repeats this to him; nevertheless Abraham waxed Old, and God did not give it to him: therefore when God said to him the same Words once again, Abraham seeing no effect of them, ask'd him, Lord, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? Gen 15. 7, 8. Then God made known to him, that it was not his Person that should possess that Land, but his Children and Posterity, and that not till after 400 Years. Abraham thereby understood that God's Promise was most true in it self, because God giving it to his Children, and that out of Love to him, this was to give it to himself. Abraham was therefore mistaken in his way of conceiving it, and if he had acted at first according to his way of understanding that Promise, he might have really deceived himself, the Promise not being expresly annext to that time. And they who had seen Abraham die without possessing that Land, after that God had promis'd it to him, might have remain'd confounded, and believed that it was false.’

‘This also befell Jacob, when Joseph made him come from Canaan to Egypt, with all his House, to save him from the general Famine; God appear'd to him in the way, and said to him, Fear not Jacob, go down into Egypt; I will go with thee, and I will surely bring thee up again, Gen. 46. 3, 4. Yet this came not to pass, as we would have taken it, after our way of conceiving things; for we know Jacob died there: It was in his Posterity that this was to be accomplish'd, and it was long after that God brought back his Race. Now he who had known whilst Jacob liv'd, that God had made this Promise to him, would without doubt have believ'd and [Page] thought that Jacob going down to Egypt in Life, must by the Favour of God come out of it in Life also. Yet he would have been mistaken, and would have wonder'd to see him die in Egypt without seeing any Accomplishment of what he might have hoped for. We may therefore be mistaken in the Words of God, which yet are most true in themselves.’

‘We read in the History of the Judges, that all the Tribes of Israel being assembled to fight against Benjamin, and to punish a Crime to which they had consented, God having appointed who should fight first, they were so perswaded of the Victory, that having been defeated with the loss of 22000 of their Men, they were greatly astonish'd at it, and wept before the Lord till Midnight; for they couldnot conceive, how having look'd on the Victory as so certain, they should be so greatly defeated. And having ask'd, if they should fight again? And God having answered them, Yes; they reckon'd at this time the Victory to be altogether certain: But being put to flight again with the loss of 18000 Men, they were so amazed that they knew not what to think of it, when they saw that with 40000, and withal the express Command of God, they could not stand before 26000. But they were mistaken in their way of conceiving God's Word, who would needs chastise and humble them, by allowing them to fight, yet without promising them the Victory, except at the third time, when they overcame, but with much pains, and a stratagem which they behov'd to make use of.’

‘After this and many other ways, it falls out that Souls deceive themselves, as to the Revelations and Word of God, taking it too literally. God's main design when he speaks, is to shew and give the Spirit which is contain'd and hid under these Words, which Men after their way of conceiving do not so easily comprehend, for it is much more ample than the Letter, beyond its Bounds and Extraordinary. So that whosoever will tie himself to the Letter of God's Word, and to the Appearances of the divine Visions, do what he will, he cannot miss to be much mistaken, and to come short of, and be confounded as to the full and true meaning, because he has followed his way of conceiving, and has not given place to the Spirit, emptying himself of his own Sentiment; the [Page]Letter kills, 2 Cor. 3. 6. says St. Paul, but the Spirit quickneth. On this Occasion therefore, we ought to loose our selves from the Letter, and yield to a Faith, which will make our Sentiments pass for Darkness: For this Faith finds the Spirit, which Sense cannot comprehend. For this Cause, the Sayings and Predictions of the Prophets did not succeed to many of the Children of Israel according to their Hope, for they took them too much in the Letter; and because they came not to pass as they understood them, they afterwards despis'd them, and would no longer believe them, so as to mock and make a by-Word of what the Prophets said to them. Even Jeremy himself thought he was much mistaken, when he saw not the Effect of the good Promises that God had made to his People;Jer. 4. 10. Ah! Lord God, surely thou hast greatly deceived this People, and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have Peace, whereas the Sword reacheth unto the Soul. The same Difficulty of not being able to comprehend the Word of God, according to our way of conceiving it, befel the very Disciples of Jesus Christ, who had convers'd with him, they were mistaken and thought themselves deceived, witness the two, who after his Death, going to Emmaus sad and without hope,Luke 24. 21. said, We trusted that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel, and beside all this, to Day is the third Day since these things were done. And even when Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven, some ask'd him,Acts 1. 6. if at this time he would restore Israel. The Holy Spirit makes many things be said in another Sense than Men understand it,’ as in what he made Caiphas say,John 11. 60. concerning Jesus Christ, that it was expedient that one Man should die, that the whole People perish not; which he spoke not of himself, and understood in another manner, and for a quite different end than that of the Holy Spirit.

‘Thus we see we may be easily mistaken by our way of understanding the Words and Revelations of God. They are an Abyss and Depth of Spirit, which our natural Sense cannot comprehend. We must free our Mind from our way of conceiving things, and place it in the Liberty of a Faith which may make it reckon its own ways of conceiving obscure and dark. There we shall receive the Abundance of the Spirit, Wisdom, and Understanding proper for conceiving aright the Words of God, which no Man that is not Spiritual can comprehend [Page] or judge of, they being Divine. He cannot judge even reasonably of them, and if he judge of them according to the outside, he is not Spiritual: For tho' they be covered with this outside, yet he cannot understand them; as St. Paul says, that the natural Man does not conceive the things which are of the Spirit of God, 1 Cor. 2. 14. for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are Spiritual: But the spiritual Man discerns all things. It is a rashness therefore to give our selves the Liberty to treat of Divine things by a way of comprehending them naturally, when they require a Discerning that is Supernatural to Sense.’

‘Let us conceive this also by some Examples: Suppose a Holy Person sees he is persecuted by his Enemies, and God says to him, I will deliver thee from them all, (see Jer. 1. 19.) this Prophecy may be true, tho' his Enemies kill him, (as it happened to that Prophet:) therefore he who should understand this Prediction in a temporal way, should be deceived; for God might have spoken of the true and chief Deliverance and Victory, which is Salvation, by which the Soul is victorious and delivered from all its Enemies, in a far more true and profitable way than the temporal and outward Deliverance. And in this Sense, that Prediction was more true and ample, than the Man would have conceiv'd it to be, if he understood it only for this temporal Life: For the Words of God do comprehend always the principal and most useful Sense, and Man may understand them after his way according to the less principal Sense, and so be mistaken. (Add, that if a Person to whom God has given such a Promise, be the Head of a Family or Society, bodily or spiritual, the Promise may concern his Children, or those associated with him bodily, and may be fulfilled in them, tho' as to the Death of the Head, the Promise is annihilated.) Even so if a Soul desiring to die a Martyr for God, receive this Word from him, Thou shalt be a Martyr, it may fall out that the Person shall not die a Martyr, and yet the Promise remain true; for it will be accomplish'd according to the principal and essential part, God giving him the Love and Recompence of Martyrdom, making him a Martyr of Love, giving him a Martyrdom lengthned out in Labours, the continuance of which will be more troublesome than [Page] Death. In which he will accomplish both the desire of the Soul, and his own Promise; for the desire of the Soul was not simply that kind of Death, which of it self would signifie nothing without God's Friendship; but to render to God the Service and the Love of a Martyr: The other, because God will give most perfectly the Reality and Recompence of this, tho' by other means. God has promised to fulfil the Desire of the Righteous, because their Desires are just and true, If therefore God do not fulfil them during this temporal Life, it is certain he will do it after this Life, and in a most perfect manner; so that the Promises do still remain most true.’

‘The second Cause why divine Words and Visions, tho' always true in themselves, yet nevertheless are not always certain as to us, is because of the Reasons, Motives, and Grounds upon which they are built, since they may change, the Effect does not follow. We must therefore believe that these things will infallibly come to pass, so long as that shall remain which moves and incites God: for Example, to punish, as if God said, Within a Year I will send such a Plague upon this Kingdom; the Ground of this Threatning is a certain Transgression which they commit in this Kingdom against God. If therefore the Transgression cease or vary, the Punishment may also cease or be changed. Nevertheless the Threatning was true, forasmuch as it was founded on an actual Fault, and it would have been executed, if the Offence had continued. This appears in what happened to the City of Ninevah, whither God sent the Prophet Jonah to denounce from him; Yet Forty Days, and Ninevah shall be destroyed. Which nevertheless was not fulfilled, because the Cause of this Threatning ceas'd, which was the Sins of the People, who immediately repented; otherwise this Denunciation from God would certainly have taken effect. The same thing as to the matter of divine Threatning we see in King Ahab, whom God threatned by the Prophet Elias with a great Judgment, Him, his House, and Kingdom. But because he rent his Garments with Grief, covered himself with Sackcloth, fasted and lay in Sackcloth and Ashes, humbled and afflicted himself, God immediately tells him by the same Prophet, that he would not send that Evil in his Days. Where we see, because Ahab chang'd, the Threatning and Sentence of God ceas'd also.’

[Page] ‘From hence we must conclude, that tho' God reveal or speak affirmatively to a Soul any thing in Good or Evil concerning it self or others; this may change more or less, or none at all, according to the Change of the Affection or Disposition of that or these Souls, and according to the Cause and Reason that God looks to; and this will not be fulfill'd after the Manner that we look for it, even without knowing sometimes wherefore, but God only knows. For tho' he say, and teach, and promise things many times, this is not that they are to be understood, received, or possessed at the same time, but that they are to be afterwards understood, or when it shall be fit to give Clearness in them, or when the Effect shall follow; as this fell out often even to the Disciples of Jesus Christ,Joh. 12. 16 of whom S. John says; These things understood not his Disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembred they that these things were written of him. There may pass many particular things after this Manner, which cannot be understood before their Time.’

‘To shew this in the Matter of the Promises of God, which are not fulfilled to those to whom they were made for want of good Dispositions; we read in the Book of the Kings, that God being provoked against the High-Priest Eli, because of the Sins of his Children whom he did not correct, sent to tell him these Words by Samuel; I said, 1 Sam. 20. 38. indeed, that thy House and the House of thy Father should walk before me for ever, (as to the Priesthood) but now the Lord saith, be it far from me. For this Office being founded on this, that he ought to glorifie and honour God, and God having promised the Continuance of it to him upon the same Ground, presupposing that on his Part he would not be wanting in his Duty, it came to pass that Eli coming short in his Zeal for God's Honour, who, as the Lord complains of him, honoured his Sons more than God himself, dissembling their Sins for fear of dishonouring them; it fell out, I say, that God's Promise failed him also, which would have been firm, if they had remained firm in their Piety.’

‘We must not therefore think that Divine Visions and Revelations, tho' true in themselves, ought to fall out infallibly as they [...]ound, particularly when by the Order of God they depend upon human things, which may vary, change, be omitted, or not. Now God knows when Revelations [Page] are thus annex'd to Conditions and Dispositions which depend upon Men, and he does not always discover it, and oftentimes he speaks or reveals the Thing without saying any thing of the Condition, as he did to the Ninevites, to whom he foretold determinately, that they should perish within Forty Days. Sometimes also God declares this Condition, as he did to Roboam▪ If thou keep my Commandments as my Servant David, I also will be with thee, and will build thee a stable House as I did to David.’

‘But whether he declare these Conditions or not, it appears by what has been said hitherto, that we cannot be assured by the natural Way of Perceiving, that we are not mistaken in the Understanding of Divine Revelations. They will say, it may be, Why then does God communicate them? It is to make them be understood in their Time, by the Order of him who has told them; and he shall conceive them to whom it shall please God to give the Understanding of them [yea, even those shall see the Ratification of them who shall be in the Dispositions requisite and annex'd to those Declarations.] Laying aside this, People expose themselves to great Dangers of Error and Confusion, when they will needs judge determinately and absolutely of them, by what seems and appears at first outwardly of them.’

‘The Prophets knew this very well, they who had God's Word in their Mouth, and to whom it was heavy and grievous to carry it to the People; because a great Part of the Predictions did not fall out according to the Sence of the Letter [nor so soon as they look'd for them] which made the Prophets so ridiculous,Jer. 26. 6, 7, 8. that Jeremy said, I am in Derision daily, every one mocketh me; for since I spake, I cried out, I cried Violence and Spoil; but the Word of the Lord was made a Reproach unto me, and a Derision daily. Then I said I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his Name. And the Reason why Jonah fled when God sent him to denounce the Destruction of Ninevah, was, that he could not comprehend assuredly the Truth of the Divine Words, nor determinately understand their Sence. So for fear they should mock at him, if this Prophecy came not to pass, he chose rather to flee than to prophesie; and having prophesied, he abode forty Days without the City, to see if his Prophecy [Page] should be fulfilled; which when it was not, he was so far grieved,Jon. 4. 2. as to say to God in his Complaint; I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my Saying when I was yet in my Country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I know that thou art a Gracious God and a Merciful. And the Saint being grieved, prayed to God that he would take him out of this World. Must we therefore be astonish'd if the things that God reveals to his Friends do not fall out as they might have conceived them, and far less as others understood them? For suppose God declare unto them some Good or Evil for them or others; if these things are founded on certain Dispositions of Spirit, the Obedience of those Souls as to God, and a certain Perseverance, and that this must fall out upon these Conditions; yet it is not certain for this, that the Event shall fall out as the Words sound, so long as the Condition and Perseverance are uncertain and do not appear.’

Here is more than sufficient for solving all the Difficulties that may occur in the Writings of A. B. as to any Predictions. And as to the Promises and Declarations of God how absolute soever they may seem in Words, yet the Completion of them is not to be look'd for, when there is not a Correspondence by an entire Conversion unto God, in those to whom they are given. God does not retract his Promises, but he leaves them to whom they were given, takes his Talents from them to give them to others, till he find such as will profit by them. A. B. has declared all that has been said on this Head,Avertis. contr. le Trembl. n. 96. in Two or Three Lines. ‘God, says she, is always True and cannot Lie: But Men do not understand his Language, or do not know the Time of his Predictions, or they hinder the Effect of his Promises by their Sins or Indispositions.’

XXV.XXV. That she was imposed upon by Impostors, is no Argument that she had not the Spirit of God. In the last Place it is given as an Instance that A. B. was not led by the Spirit of God, and that she had not the Gift of Discerning if Spirits were of God or not, in that she was deceived for many Years by S. Saulien, and others. It is to be considered, that the Holy Spirit does not confer his Gifts upon those in whom Self-will does yet reign, and who are guided by it, but on those only who are dead to their own Wills. When these are endued with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, they do not exercise them according to their own Will, or as they please, but they are resign'd to God, that he may do in them, and by them, [Page] when, and how he please. For Example: St. Paul had without doubt the Gift of Miracles; he struckActs 13. 20. 28. Elymas Blind, raised the Young Man that fell down dead, and healed others. And yet nevertheless when he was taken he made none Blind, that he might escape from his Persecutors, neither did he miraculously heal Epaphirus, Trophimus, Timothy. Phil. 2. 27. Tit. 4. 20. 1. Tim. 5. 23. And even so when the Light of God, the Gift of Knowledge, &c. is given unto the Saints; they do not therefore discover all things in that Light and by that Gift, according to their Will; but being dead to their own Will, and resign'd to the Will of God, they discover in that Light of God, those things only which he is pleased to manifest unto them in it: so that if God in his Wisdom see it convenient for them that they be ignorant of the Evils of some with whom they converse, whether to exercise them, or that some external things may be done to them by these Hypocrites, or for other Ends known to his infinite Wisdom; then without any Prejudice to the Light of God, or the Gift of Discerning of Spirits, they shall not know these Hypocrites, till God be pleas'd to bring that Gift into act, as to that Matter, which he uses to do when he sees it necessary either for their own Salvation, or that of others, or for the Glory of his Name. It is a great Error then for us to think that the Gifts of God are managed by Mens Self-will, or Self-wisdom, and from hence to conclude, that that Person to whom the inward Disposition of others was known for some time, did not only want the Gift of Discerning Spirits, but that also it is from hence evident that it cannot be known from such a Person's Life and Doctrine that he was led by the Spirit of God, since he did embrace in others that which was but Appearance and Imposture only, for Truth: ForPsa. 55. 14, 15. Jer. 11. 19. 1 Kings 13. 2 Tim. 4. David, Jeremy, another true Prophet; they who baptized Simon Magus, Paul (as to Demas) have sometimes taken the Appearance or Imposture of some Hypocrites or Liars for Truth: Does it from hence follow that it could not be known by their Life and Doctrine, that they were led by the Spirit of God? As if the stress of their whole Life and Doctrine were to be laid upon some one or other innocent Mistake. Or, as if rather from hence it ought not to be inferred, that God in his Wisdom saw it expedient that they should be ignorant of the Hypocrisie of such Persons for some time; and that the Gift of Discerning of Spirits [Page] should be differently directed and applied in those who are acted by the Spirit of God, according to his Will; who can truly say, Not I live, but Christ lives in me.

Thus I have given a plain and true Narrative of the Sentiments of Antonia Bourignon, both as to the Essential and Accessory Truths: And of the Prejudices generally raised against her; and the just Defences she makes for her self, by which she clears and removes them; and of the Evidences she brings for her being led by the Spirit of God, and not by that of the Devil or Nature, or her own Imagination; and the Answers given to what is oppos'd against it. And tho' I might have contracted all into lesser Bounds, yet I chose rather to give it in her own Words, and to let her speak for her self. And now after all, I beg leave to summ up the Evidence.

XXVI.XXVI. The whole Evidence summ'd up. If any pretend to be led by the Spirit of God, and in the mean time are worldly, or sensual, or selfish, or contradict the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, it is evident they are not of God. But if any publish to the World a Doctrine that is Pure and Holy, tending only to mortifie Corrupt Nature, and to recover the Love of God; if it be wholly conformable unto, and the same with the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and of his Gospel: If they who publish it do still live conformably unto it, and bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God in their whole Life and Practice, despising all temporal things, and tending only to things eternal; and manifesting the Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth of God in all their Actions; if their Words be accompanied with a Force and Power which reaches the Heart and convinces the Conscience; If they discover often the secret Thoughts of the Hearts of others, and their Dispositions, even sometimes tho' their Persons be unknown to them; If they be Persons full of Simplicity and Sincerity, having no worldly Aim, doing nothing to please Men, nor to gain their Esteem, but declaring the Truth in Simplicity, even in things which they know will be most unpleasing to Men, and will bring upon them Hatred, Contempt, and Persecution from Men, instead of their Favour and Esteem: If they are altogether Illiterate, and have acquired no Knowledge by the humane means of Study, Reading, Conversation, and Meditation; and yet manifest a clear, distinct, and comprehensive Knowledge of Divine Things, far beyond the most Learned Divines: [Page] If in declaring those Truths to the World by writing, they flowed from them as Water does from a Fountain, as fast as their Hand could guide the Pen, without musing or meditating what to write, or changing and correcting what they had once written, or reading it over again; and yet all as to the main is of a Thread, most rational, and clear, and consistent, and no real Contradiction either to the Holy Scriptures, or amongst those Writings themselves as to the Essence and Substance of them: And if such declare to the World, that of themselves they are sinful Nothings, of the corrupt Mass of Adam, from whence nothing can come but Evil; and that all the Good that is in them, and all the Truths they communicate to the World, is not from them, but from God and the immediate Operation of his Holy Spirit, who is pleased to make use of weak and simple Means to confound the Mighty and Wise: If all these can be truly said of any, these are certainly Evidences that will abide the Verdict of an impartial Jury; even tho' there be no visible Miracles, as John the Baptist, and many of the ancient Prophets did none, there being no New Doctrine publish'd, but the pressing and clearing of that already declared and confirm'd by Jesus Christ and his Apostles.

Now this is the Summ of the Plea of Antonia Bourignon; and for the Proof of it, as to her Doctrine and Sentiments, she refers to her Writings, which any that please may consult; as to her Life and Spirit, to those who were daily Witnesses of it, (of which there are a Cloud of Testimonies made publick,) as also for the manner of composing her Writings: As to the Force and Efficacy of them, to those who by their Experience have found and do attest it. And these are the greatest Evidences that can be given to those who were not Eye-Witnesses, nor have experienc'd that Efficacy of her Writings themselves.

XXVII.XXVII. What Weight the Testimony of others may have. And seeing by the Testimony of her greatest Enemies, these Writings are valued and esteem'd by some who have the Reputation of being Men of Sense, Learning, and Probity, and that there are others highly deserving that Character still alive, who were Witnesses of her Life and Spirit, and have found so much of the Divine Power accompanying those Writings, as has made them abandon the Love and Care of all Temporal things, to mind and prepare for Eternity. And seeing they are known to be Men [Page] of no Hypochondriack nor Enthusiastick Spirit, do not pretend to immediate Revelations themselves, are not led by the heat of Fancy or Imagination, but were addicted to all the sorts of rational Learing, and to the mechanical Philosophy, wherewith the World now abounds; this may so far Counter-ballance the Prejudices raised by some other Men of Reputation for Learning and Parts, (who never read those Writings till they came to them with an evil Eye, with a design to expose, ridicule, and confute them) this, I say, may so far Counter-ballance that Prejudice, as to encline People not to throw them away, as unworthy of their notice, but impartially to weigh and consider what they say.

XXVIII.XXVIII. The Importance of the Matter in those Writings. And I am the more bold and earnest to perswade this, because they contain the matters of the greatest Importance in the World: They encourage no New Sect nor Schism, set up no New Creeds, teach no Disobedience to Superiours, Civil or Ecclesiastick, no Contempt of the Holy Scriptures or Divine Ordinances; they do not teach Men to distinguish themselves from the rest of the World by a Preciseness, in Words, Gestures, Apparel, or other outward indifferent things: But they clearly manifest the horrid Corruption of our Nature; the indispensable necessity of the Love of God to be saved; the only means to recover it by following the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ: how contrary all Men walk to this and yet flatter themselves with their false Glosses on Christ's Life and Doctrine; and the great and universal Judgments that God is now to bring upon the World, as he did in the Days of Noah, its Wickedness being as Universal, and at as great a Height: With many other important Truths which I cannot now repeat. And as they are of such Weight and Moment, so they are so clearly and rationally represented as to convince our natural Reason.

XXIX.XXIX. That the accessory things need deter none. It needs divert none from laying to Heart those great and necessary Truths, because they may meet with other accessory things which they cannot relish; they are told they may lay them aside, suspend their belief of them, they may be sav'd without them. And whereas it is replied, That they being declared to be revealed by the Spirit of God, we ought to believe them: It is answered, That it is not necessary to Salvation to believe that those Writings are Divinely inspir'd; many may believe the Divine [Page] Essential Truths contain'd in them because of their Agreement with the Holy Scripture, and labour to form their Lives and Hearts accordingly, and yet not be perswaded that she had immediate Revelation; besides, the same Spirit that declares even those accessory Truths, declares also that they are not necessary to Salvation, and that they who do not relish them, and are not bettered by them, may let them alone. Even as God of his infinite Bounty, has provided not only for the Necessities of Man's Life, but also variety of Entertainment, of which some is agreeable to some Palates and naufeous to others: It is not needful that every Man should eat of all sorts of Food, but it is fit he take that only which is most convenient for his Health, not despising other Food, because he cannot relish it, for it may be very agreeable and healthful to others; however he may let it alone.

God grant us all the Spirit of divine Charity and a sound Mind;Phil. 3. 15, 16. and that whereto we have already attain'd, (the Essential Truths we all acknowledge) we may walk by the same Rule, and mind the same things: And then if in any thing we be otherwise minded, God will reveal this unto us.

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IN Opposition to all the Prejudices rais'd against the Writings of A. B. this may be a favourable one for them, that whereas her Enemies do all they can to frighten People from looking into them, and would have them to know no further of them, than what they think fit to put into their Narratives, those on the other hand who give good Characters of them, aim at nothing thereby but to perswade People impartially to read and consider the Writings themselves, and not to trust them upon their Words, no more than those who bespatter them; even as we Protestants perswade the People to read the Holy Scriptures, and those of the Roman Church do all they can to hinder them, as being conscious that they make against them. And as thus the Intention of these Witnesses is much more Candid and Just than the other; so their Testimony will by all impartial Judges be esteem'd no less Weighty: The one are Eye-Witnesses, and the other only upon Conjecture, Inferences, or Hearsay, and they who thrust in to be Evidences upon no better Grounds, give occasion to suspect them as false Witnesses, and to put them to the Oath of Calumny e'er they be admitted. And as they had far the Advantage of knowing the Truth of what they declare beyond these others; so their Ability to make a right Judgment and their Probity is unquestionable; of these I shall instance only in two. The one is the great Anatomist and Naturalist, Dr. Swammerdam, whose Writings are well known and esteem'd by all Enquirers into the History of Nature, and it is certain that that Genius does not lead to a Brainsick Enthusiasm; but after that he had seen some of the Writings of A. B. and convers'd with her, he was fully perswaded in his Conscience that she was led by the Spirit of God, and found the happy Effect of it upon own his Heart and Spirit. The other is Dr. Ant. de Heyde, known also to the World by some curious Enquiries and Observations in the History of Nature and in Physick, who for many Years had no small Contempt and Aversion for A. B. and her Writings, so that it was the force of Truth only, and no favourable Prepossession that brought him to esteem them, who has now abandon'd all earthly things to follow his Master Jesus Christ, and such powerful a Mean they were for this End, appears from this following Account, which he permits to be communicated to the World, being heartily desirous to contribute for the Good of those who labour under the same Indispositions.

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A DISSERTATION OF Dr. Ant. de Heyde, Famous Physician of Middleburg in, Zealand. CONCERNING The Sanctity and Divine Illumination of Antonia Bourignon.
Translated from the Original Latin M. S.

Quest. 1. If A. B. did lead a Pious and Holy Life? 2. If she was moved by the Spirit of God to write for the enlightning of others?

I. THAT we may know if A. B. did lead a Pious and Holy Life,I. What Holiness is. we must first understand wherein true Holiness and Piety does consist, to wit, in the Love of God only, and of those things which are Eternal. And seeing two Contraries cannot be lov'd at the same time, and the Love of the Creatures and things Temporal, is opposite to the Love of the Creator and of things Eternal; it is from hence more clear than the Sun at Noon-Day, that he who loves God cannot love the Creatures. Our Saviour having taught us that no Man can serve two Masters, but he must needs hate the one and love the other. St. Paul says expresly, If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, and set not your Affections upon those things which are on Earth. Col. 3. 1. 1 Joh. 2. 15. And St. John warns us, That we love not the World, nor the things which are in the World; for if we do so, the Love of the Father is not in us.

[Page] II.II. To be discern'd by Divine Light only. This is likewise confirm'd by the Example of all the Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, as he who reads the Holy Scriptures will find through all, so that there is no need to produce Testimonies here. But seeing this Love of God, and of things Eternal, is hidden in the Heart, and the Heart is known by God only, it is therefore difficult to know if any truly love God. This Difficulty is so much the greater, that Hypocrites and wicked Persons can so craftily counterfeit the outward Actions which are the Signs and Fruits of this Love, that it is hard to distinguish them. That this Difficulty may be removed, it is to be observed and considered: 1. That there are nevertheless sure Signs by which one may be convinc'd of the Holiness of another, and that he is endued with the Love of God. For we affirm that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, were Holy, and that with so much Assurance, that we look upon it as an Example which we ought to imitate. But 2. it is to be considered that we cannot know but by Divine Light, and not at all by Natural Reason, if one be Holy and a Lover of God: And this is bestowed on those only who are Holy themselves, or at least endeavour in Sincerity of Heart to become so. To such God reveals his Secrets, in so far as it is fit for them to know them for their own Conduct, or that of others; as for others who are not in that State, but care for and seek after earthly things, they really cannot know if any be truly Holy and a Lover of God or not. Nevertheless they take upon them to judge magisterially of all things, as if they only did possess all divine and humane Wisdom; tho' in the mean time they are ignorant of the Essence of things, and content themselves with their outside and surface. So that their Testimony as to Holiness and the Love of God, even of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, is founded meerly upon their own Advantage; For they judge that to be Good and Holy which advances this; but on the other hand they account that to be Evil and Prophane which brings them in no temporal Gain.

III.III. Illustrated by the material Light. It is just of this Matter as it is of the Light, of which a Blind Man cannot judge, neither can he form the Idea of it, because his Eyes, by which alone the material Light is perceived, are ill disposed for it. Yet this does not hinder, but that he whose Eyes are well-disposed may be [Page] certain that he sees the Light, because when he opens his Eyes, he discovers many things round about him, which without this Light could not be discern'd, and withal he can walk and do other Works, which would be impossible for him, if he were depriv'd of that Light: And when he sees other Men walk resolutely and steddily, and do their Works by sure Rules, he has reason to conclude that these Men do also enjoy the Light. This may be easily applied to Spiritual things. For tho' the natural Man turning his closed Eyes towards the Divine Light, is Blind in Spiritual things, neither can he know if one be Holy and have the Love of God, yet this does not hinder, but that he who has the Eyes of his Mind opened, may be assured that he himself and others like unto him, are illuminated by God; for when the inward State of his Soul is discovered to him, and the work of God in his Soul, and the means that are to be made use of for the preserving and strengthning of that Work, he justly concludes from hence that he enjoys the Divine Light, and he, walking in that Light, and abandoning all the Creatures, that he may love the Creator only, may be certain that he loves God, and is Holy: And observing the like in others, he concludes that they also do truly love God and are Holy. Upon such Grounds is founded that Knowledge by which Holy Men do understand their own State, and the State of other Holy Men. And after this manner are they perswaded that the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles were Holy Men.

IV.IV. Two sorts of spiritually Blind. The 1. capable of seeing, the 2. not. Some perhaps may reply to all this. Altho' Good and Holy Men may mutually know their own and others State, yet it is not so with those who has not as yet attain'd to Holiness and the Love of God. I answer, such imperfect Persons may be of two sorts, to wit, some know that they are Blind and therefore are desirous of the means whereby they may see and be enlightned; others, altho' they be more Blind, than Moles, yet they do not desire to see; either because they imagine that they are enlightned and see sufficiently, or for that they are so sunk into and carried away by the Love of the Creatures, that they have no thought of the Creator and of things Eternal. Those of this second kind are so far from being able to know their own State or that of others that they cannot form any Idea of it, more than a Blind Man can judge of [Page] Light and Colours. Hence it would be to no purpose to endeavour to demostrate to such that one is Holy, and in the Love of God. But as for those of the first sort, who know they are Blind and desire the Light, they, according to our Saviour's Promise, shall see. And as they are conscious of their own Blindness, and anxious about it; so God will reveal unto them the Holiness and Illumination of his beloved ones, in so far as that may be a Mean of recovering them out of Darkness into Light, and from Sin to Holiness. So St. Paul was instructed by Ananias; Cornclius, the Centurion, by St. Peter. And God in all times has employ'd Holy Men for the enlightning of others, and for guiding them by their Examples, Words, and Writings into the way of Holiness. This is the Ground and Origine of the Divine Ministery, which for this very Reason is highly necessary, to wit, that they who live holily, and are illuminated by God may shine and go before others. Even as an Artificer that is skilful in any Art, goes before his Scholars and Apprentices by working, that they may imitate him. And as in an unknown way we choose a Guide who may lead us into the right and shortest way▪ And as there are certain Signs given whereby we may know if this Artificer understand his Trade, and if the Guide know well the best and shortest way, so there are sure Marks whereby we may know if any be Holy and enlightned by God, and do truly love him. This is a sign; if he seek those things that are above, and not those things that are on Earth; if he love not the World, nor the things that are in the World. And altho' it fall out, and falls out but too often that Hypocrites and wicked Persons may outwardly so behave themselves, as if they were truly Holy and in the Love of God, that by their feigned Piety, the Good may be seduced; yet God will not permit their Hyprocisie to be always hid, especially when the Salvation of others is thereby in hazard.

V.V. Five Testimonies of Holiness in any. It is therefore certain and acknowedg'd by all Men of sound Reason, that it may be known by manifest and undoubted Signs if any love God and is Holy. So all Christians are fully perswaded that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the other Patriarchs, and also the Apostles were Holy Men. This we know, 1. by the Evidence they gave from their Deeds, Words, and Writings, that they saw clearly that God, and things invisible, were far more [Page] excellent than the Creatures and things visible, and were thereby engaged to forsake these things and count them as nothing, and only to seek and love those other things with all their Heart. Believing that God is, and that he is a Rewarder of those who seek him. To this Testimony, 2. there is added the Testimony of others, who well knew the thing, and are not moved by any Self-Interest or Advantage, to give this Testimony; which gives us so much Assurance that we may acquiesce in it, as we do in the Testimonies of Historians, Geographers, and Naturalists, in things of which they have been Eye Witnesses in their respective Sciences. To this add, 3. that so long as there is nothing made appear contrary to these Testimonies, there is no reason to call them in Question. 4. We may be certain of the Holiness of another, and of their Love of God by the Testimony of our own Conscience; for he who is truly Holy and possesses the Love of God, does rightly infer from the Conformity of anothers Actions to his, that that other Person is Holy and loves God. But he who has not attain'd to this Perfection, may yet be certain of the Holiness of others, by observing that their Actions do as far excel and transcend his, as the Actions of him who sees clearly and walks at Noon-day, do transcend those of a Blind Man, or of one groping in the Dark. But as for those of an evil Eye, as they are Blind, tho' they boast that they see, so they are not in a State of Judging of others. Besides it would serve them to no purpose, so long as they remain in that damnable State, to know if others be Holy or not. To these may be added, 5. as a Testimony of the Holiness of any the Miracles and wonderful Works which such Men do, and the extraordinary Light communicated unto them by God. But whereas there are also lying Wonders, by which false Prophets do seduce many, and the Dragon is worshipped by all the World; and seeing the Devil has great Knowledge, therefore this Testimony alone without the foregoing, is not enough to ascertain us of the Holiness of any.

VI.VI. All these as to A. B. But that we may come more closely to the matter in hand; I say, if it can be made appear that the Evidences and Signs which convince us that the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, were endued with Holiness and the Love of God, have place also as to Antonia Bourignon, [Page] then we may be assured likewise, that this Virgin was Holy, and in the Love of God.

VII.VII. 1. Her verbal Testimony of her self valid, and no sign of Pride. That Antonia Bourignon testifies this of her self, is not doubted by any who has look'd though but superficially into her Writings: For she bears Witness in many places of her Sanctity and extraordinary Love of God. So that her Adversaries take occasion from hence to reproach her, as if it were not sutable to the Sanctity of Holy Persons that they themselves should publish the Grace given them by God; and they would most absurdly discredit such a Testimony. As the corrupt Jews did for the same Reason reject Jesus Christ, because he bore Witness of himself. But our Saviour did so little regard this, that he said nothing else, but, I have spoken the Truth, and if ye will not believe me, believe the Works which I do. Thus we see also, that Moses, David, Paul, and other Holy Writers were not afraid to declare the Grace given them by God. Which Testimony ought not in any wise to be look'd upon as a Token of Pride, because these Holy Men were convinc'd that they were nothing, that they were come of the corrupt mass of Adam, and so worthy of Damnation; that of themselves they could not think one good Thought, but that all their sufficiency was of God, and that they had no Good, but what they had received. Moreover those Holy Men were commanded by God to bear Witness to the Truth of themselves, that they might stop the Mouths of Gainsayers, and might encourage the Good to yield up themselves wholly to God, who can do even in the weakest, when they deny themselves, exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. For God has no respect of Persons, but he gives to every one liberally. And that Antonia Bourignon did truly imitate those Holy Men, is abundantly demonstrated in her Writings, even to the Confusion of Gainsayers; for she was in that State, that she endeavour'd always to speak the Truth only, whether it made for her or against her, not Studying to please Men, as becomes the Servants of Jesus Christ.

VIII.VIII. The Testimony of her Actions. But that we may see whether we ought to give Credit to this verbal Testimony of A. B. we come to consider her Actions. And these were such that throughout all her Life she sought only God and things Eternal, entirely abandoning all the Creatures and things Temporal. [Page] If you except some Years, in which she followed the Vanities of the World, not out of Inclination, but that she might please Men; tho' even then she did nothing that by Christians now adays is reckon'd to be Evil, or blameworthy: Yet this withdrawing from God did greatly hurt her; while she enjoy'd worldly Delights, she lost the Divine Ones, and that with such bitter Remorse of Conscience, that she thought her self in Hell. She got no rest till she forsook the World, the Things of the World and Self, that she might love God only, and be resign'd to his Will in every thing. In which Resolution she persevered so faithfully, even to the end of her Life, that she would rather have died a Thousand times, than have desired any Creature, or followed her own Will in any thing; never undertaking any thing till she was first perswaded that it was the Good-will of God. As appears every where in the Writings of Antonia Bourignon, particularly in the Account of her inward and outward Life, and the Continuation of it; where this is sufficiently demonstrated: Which Testimony tho' given by her self, is nevertheless true, as I have made appear in the Seventh Section.

IX.IX. 2. The Testimony of others. Moreover this Testimony is confirm'd by many Good and I [...]ous Men who knew Antonia Bourignon from her Infancy, and did narrowly observe her Conversation: Many such Testimonies are to be met with, in that Treatise of A. B. which is called, The Testimony of the Truth. It is worthy of Observation, that these Testimonies seem to have been published by the Providence of God, that it might be evident to every one that A. B. led a Pious and Holy Life; and that the Mouths of malicious Slanderers might be stopped, not only by Two or Three Witnesses, by whose Mouth every Truth is established; but by such a Cloud of Witnesses; who assure us that the Thoughts and Words of Antonia Bourignon were serious and pious, even from her early Infancy; so that observing the change that Man is subject to throughout all his Life, and that he must part with all at Death, while he seems to propose to himself, in every thing that he undertakes, an abiding and perpetual Good: this made her conclude that we were not created for this wretched Life, but for an abiding, eternal, and blessed Life; of which she became so desirous, that she counted all bodily Delights, Recreations, Pleasures, fine Cloaths, and all other perishing things, as Dung [Page] and Loss, for the Love of those good things which were Eternal, and would never fail. And about the Fourth Year of her Age, having learned that our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles did lead a Life wholly free of all earthly and temporal Cares and Desires, that they might only care and seek for those things which are above, and are eternal, she look'd on such a Life as most reasonable and worthy of a Man; but observing that the Life of Christians now adays was altogether contrary to that kind of Life, hence she concluded that they were not True Christians, and begging that her Parents would have her to the Country where the Christians liv'd, she vehemently thirsted to go thither, that she might lead a truly Christian Life. And tho' they endeavour'd to perswade her that she liv'd amongst Christians, yet she could not believe this, especially when advancing more in Years she found that the best among all the Parties of Christendom, did still love and seek after earthly things; so that their Deeds were directly opposite to the Deeds of Jesus Christ, and of the First Christians. While in the mean time our Saviour says expresly, That the Disciple ought to be like his Master, and that he who believes in him shall do the Works that he did, yea, greater Works than these; as the Children of Abraham do the Works of Abraham.

X.X. Her Solitude. As Antonia Bourignon grew in Years, the Love of God and her Neighbour did encrease in her, of which she gave infallible Proofs on all Occasions; for observing that the Conversation of Men was an effectual Mean to withdraw us from God, and to deprive us of his Love, she therefore lived as solitarily as was possible; not that she was Melancholly or Brainsick, for such also seek to be Solitary, but that applying her self to the Contemplation of God, and of his Perfections, she might the better continue in his Love. She was otherwise of a chearful, sociable, and ingenuous Temper, and understood well how they ought to carry themselves who desire to be lov'd by the World; as appear'd in the time that she applied her self to the Conversation of the World.

XI.XI. Her Self [...]enial. Moreover she denied her self as to Meat, Drink, Apparel, &c. all things that were not absolutely necessary for the support of Life; and this, both that she might not adhere to any Creature, and that she might bestow on the Poor, and the Sick, what she had beyond her Necessity. [Page] And that Antonia Bourignon did these things, not that she might be seen of Men, like unto the Hypocrites, but only from the Love of God, and her Neighbour, and things Eternal, appears from hence, that she did all these things in secret, as much as was possible, entering into her Chamber, and shutting the Door, pray'd to her Father in Secret, and gave Alms, her Lefthand not knowing what her Righthand was doing: She shew'd such a chearful Countenance, that none but her pious Mother knew that she fasted.

XII.XII. Her firm perseverance to Death. That the Deeds and Actions of Antonia Bourignon did proceed from the Love of God, appears also from this, that she persever'd in them constantly to the end of her Life; except that short time in which she engag'd her self [...]n the Vanities of the World, and no Reproaches, Persecutions, hard Usages with which she wrestled throughout all her Life, did ever make her s [...]acken; nor yet the Deceit, fair Words, and feign'd Sanctity of Hypocrites and Impostours, who continually endeavour'd by many ways to distract her, and to withdraw her from the Love of God. So that she had received the Gift of Fortitude from the Holy Spirit, to such a Degree, that she would not have done any thing against the Will of God, nor omitted that which she knew to be agreeable to the Will of God, no not for the whole World. And tho' she greatly desired Solitude, because there she had learned to converse with God, and to hear him in a profound Silence, yet when the Glory of God, or the Salvation of her Neighbour did require that she should converse with Men, she willingly left that Solitude: For she ever observed this Rule, to prefer the Glory of God and the Salvation of her Neighbour, to her own Profit; being always ready not only to lay down her Life for her Neighbour, but being content also to be blotted out of God's Book, and with St. Paul, to be an Anathema for her Christian Brethren.

XIII.XIII. The purity of her Virgin State. Antonia Bourignon finding that Virginity was most acceptable to God, and an effectual Mean of persevering in the Love of God; she therefore from her Childhood begg'd of God that she might be the Spouse of Jesus Christ, earnestly desiring never to be married to any Man. This she obtain'd so perfectly from God, that she never entertain'd a Thought contrary to it, tho' she was oft-times sought in Marriage by Persons who could have afforded her many worldly Advantages, and her Parents were solicitous [Page] to have her married; Yea, her Father, contrary to her Will, promised her in Marriage to a rich Merchant. And that she might avoid that Stroke, she separated her self from the World, and from all Creatures, and about the Eighteenth Year of her Age, having put on the Habit of a Hermit, she left her Father's House, without taking with her so much as a Penny, forsaking Wealth, Accommodations, Delights, and all temporal Things, only for the Love of God. The abandoning of all which, was so well-pleasing to God, that he wonderfully guided and preserved her, and delivered her out of the Hands of wicked Men, and committed her to the Care of such as were truly Good, who were ready to be helpful to her in all things.

XIV.XIV. Of Faith, Hope, and Charity. That I may not be too tedious, as to the Testimony which others give concerning the Piety and Sanctity of Antonia Bourignon, I shall only propose some Remarks as to those Three principal Vertues: 1. Faith. 2. Charity. 3. Hope. For if there can be sufficient Evidences brought, whereby it can be made appear that A. B. did possess these, there can be then no doubt but that she was Holy and Pious. That this may be made appear, it is not needful to examine each of these Vertues particularly by it self, because they always go together. There is no doubt then, yea, we may be assured of it, that he who possesses one of these Vertues, does possess them all. Faith then is the Subsistence of things hoped for, Heb. 11. 1. and the Evidence of things not seen: Or, Faith is that Divine Light infus'd by God into Man at his Creation, by which he conceives things Divine and Eternal, which by the natural Understanding are unconceivable. In this Sense, Faith is communicated unto all Men; for it is that true Light that enlightens every Man that comes into the World. But this Light is so darkned and hindred to encrease, by the Love of the Creatures and of temporal Things, in which Sin consists, that Faith, being without Life and Spirit, becomes dead and ineffectual. To make appear therefore that any has Faith, it is not enough that he is endued with this first innate Light, because in that Sense all Men have Faith, while in the mean time all are not Holy. But here we speak of the Faith which all have not, but they only who do not resist this Divine Light, nor strive to quench it; and who they are that follow it, and walk in it, and whose Faith worketh by Love, must and ought to be made evident by their [Page] Works, that it may appear to be living and not dead. This was the Faith in Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the rest of the Holy Men, spoken of Heb. 11. who seeing the invisible God, contemned all visible Things, suffering all manner of Reproaches, Persecutions, and Torments, that they might ever see and enjoy him, and this with so great Resolution, as the whole World could not divert them from their purpose, or separate them from the Love of God, because they knew certainly that the Hope they had, would never make them ashamed.

XV.XV. That these did live and operate in her. Now that in A. B. Faith did thus work by Love, with an assured Hope of enjoying God, appears by all her Life, as has been already shewn. And that we may have the greater Evidence of this, we need read only the Account of her Life, given both by her self and others. Among innumerable Instances it is very remarkable, that A. B. took upon her the Care of governing, educating, and instructing in the Christian Religion, many poor Orphan Girls in an Hospital, and that without any Tie or Obligation, or any other End, but the Hope she had of bringing up these Orphins in the Fear of God, and of forming them to be true Christians; employing in this Office all her Industry, her Goods, and the Strength both of her Body and Mind. In which Work of Charity, she continued for Nine Years, confiding so firmly in God, that tho' she was toss'd with infinite Afflictions, her Refuge was in him alone, and that with such an assured Hope, that she was never confounded nor frustrated of her End. In such Works of Charity, A. B. continued even to Death, but with this Caution afterwards, that having found by Experience that most of the Poor, and other Men also, did abuse Alms, and the other Offices of Charity, to encourage themselves the more in their Sins, she did dispence the Gifts of Charity more warily, enquiring first if they might promote the Salvation of her Neighbour, which ought to be our great aim; and being once perswaded of this, she spar'd neither Money, nor Travel, nor her own Life, where she could contribute for the Salvation of others. But where she saw that her good Works could contribute nothing to this, she endeavoured to live in as much Retiredness and Quiet with God as was possible, that she might work out her own Salvation with fear and trembling, being thus truly helpful to all, when a few had rejected her Help. [Page] The Malicious therefore have no reason to accuse A. B. of Avarice, or Cruelty, because she did not distribute her Goods indifferently to all the Poor; for this did not spring from so evil an Original, but from true Charity, that she might not concur by the Poors abusing of her Alms to the multiplying of their Sins, and so to the aggravating of their Damnation. This proceeded also from the Care she had that the Goods which God had committed unto her, as to a Steward, might be faithfully distributed.

XVI.XVI. 3. The contra [...]y to those Evidences, not made appear. It was premised in the third place, that we ought to admit the fore-mentioned Evidences for proving a Person to be Holy, and a Lover of God, as good and valid, so long as the contrary is not made appear. Now as to the Holiness of Antonia Bourignon, and her Love to God, that the contrary is not yet made appear, is evident from this, that no body could ever yet discover that her Life and Actions were at any time blameworthy, even then, when to follow the Vanity of the World, she lived for some time distracted from God. But from hence we ought not to conclude, as some malicious Persons have done, that Ant. Bourignon and her Friends do affirm, that she neither sinn'd in Adam nor in her self; which is most false: For A. B. declares in many places that she, as well as other Men, was born of the corrupt mass of Adam, and did sin in him. And not only so, but that turning aside from God unto the World, she sinn'd in her self; tho' she never did any thing that is blame worthy before Men. For she was fully perswaded that every turning aside from God unto the Cretures, is a Sin that deserves Damnation.

XVII.XVII. 4. The Testimony of the Conscience of others. The Fourth Evidence, to wit, that of our Conscience, as to the Sanctity of A. B. is most abundant; for many Persons of all Parties of Christians, of all sorts of Ranks, and those most Pious, do decalre that they have felt such Operations in their Souls by the Presence, the Words, and Writings of Antonia Bourignon, that they were sufficiently convinced in their Conscience that A. B. was Holy, and in the Love of God, and that to such a Degree, that this Love seem'd to flow from her into them and other well-disposed Souls, because many are brought by her to abandon their own Wills and the Creatures, that they may Love God only, and subject themselves wholly to his Will. And I am perswaded that her Writings will have such Operations in all those, who shall read them with a [Page] sincere and hearty desire to find the saving Truth, and to endeavour to walk in it, in so far as they know it. Unless they be so far possest with Prejudices, as that they will admit of nothing for Truth, but what is consonant to their formerly receiv'd Opinions, looking upon every thing that differs from them, or seems contrary unto them, as Lies and Error. This is as if one looking always through a coloured Glass, by which all Bodies would appear to him of the same Colour, should imagine and affirm, that other Men who look with the naked and single Eye, are perfectly mistaken when they say that they see clearly that every Body has its own distinct Colour.

XVIII.XVIII. The wonderful Works she did, and the Divine Light given her. Unto these Four Evidences of the Sanctity of A. B. this Fifth ought to be added; to wit, the wonderful Works that A. B. did, and the extraordinary Divine Lights that God communicated to her. To reckon up all these we behov'd to narrate her whole Life, and to adduce all her Writings, which are full of such wonderful Works and Light. Therefore let every one that loves the Truth, apply to these Writings, and (which soever he shall be pleas'd to peruse) he will by them be sufficiently convinc'd of this matter. But that some Instance of this may be given, it is to be considered, that this ought to be look'd upon as a great Miracle in A. B. that she so generously fought against her corrupt Nature, that she wholly subdued it, not by her own Strength, which could do nothing but Evil, but by the Grace of God, through which the weakest can do all things. This Miracle ought to be more esteemed than raising the Dead, giving Sight to the Blind, and such like, which serve only for this present Life, and therefore may be performed by Men who are not Holy. But to overcome corrupt Nature is an infallible mark of Holiness, for the obtaining of which all other Miracles ought to be done, otherwise they avail nothing, but on the contrary do much hurt. Among the innumerable Divine Lights communicated to Antonia Bourignon, this is the chief, that she had explain'd the Truths of the Gospel more clearly and efficaciously than any has done hitherto, demonstrating that an Obedience to them is absolutely necessary for Salvation, and rescuing them from the Glosses and false Expositions by which the Learned have so perverted the Truths of the Gospel, that almost every Christian [Page] promises Salvation to himself, although he do not walk according to these Truths.

XIX.XIX. The Second Question answered, by answering the First. Since then it seems to appear sufficiently from what has been said, that A. B. was Holy, and in the Love of God; it will be now fit to consider the Second Question proposed, to wit, If she was moved by the Spirit of God to write and to enlighten others▪ For answer to this. Question there needs nothing be adduc'd but what has been said as to the First Question: For it A. B. was Holy and in the Love of God, she would not have committed so great a Sin, as to pretend that she was moved to write by the Spirit of God, if it was false, or if she was not certain that it was most true. But that I may answer something in particular to this Second Question, it is to be considered, how we may be assured that any Writing is endited by God. In order to this, let us enquire, how it appears that the Holy Scriptures were written by Men led by the Spirit of God, as all Christians do believe.

XX.XX. Natural Gifts cannot make Happy, without a continual Dependance upon God. That we may proceed aright in this Enquiry, it is to be remarked, that God gives unto Men Breath, and Life, and all Things, for in him we live and move, and have our Being. Nevertheless, he has given to all Creatures the Faculty whereby to continue in their Being, or to exist. For God is Eternal, and his Gifts are without Repentance, therefore his Works do never perish; besides they are endued with a Power of multiplying themselves, and producing their like. It is true, many things perish, but these are not the Works of God, but Corruption and Vanity, brought into the World, and yet coming into it by Sin and Lust. But besides these Faculties of preserving themselves, and producing their like, God gave to Man the Liberty of turning himself to God, that he might be govern'd and ruled by him, or of acting by the Strength already given him, without asking new Strength from God. If he do so, he departs from God the Author of all Light and Good; and then such a Man of necessity becomes Miserable, and is sunk in Darkness, as appear'd in the Fall of Adam, and is to be seen daily in those who follow their own Wills; that is, who act by the Strength once given them, and will not ask new Strength from God, nor yield up themselves to be govern'd by him. But if a Man yield up himself to God, and ask help from him in every thing he goes about, he will find God ready to help [Page] him. Even as one in a very close Chamber is in the Daytime immediately enlightned by the Sun, how soon he permits the Windows of the Chamber to be opened, and the more Windows there are opened, he receives the greater Light.

XXI.XXI. How it app [...]ars the Holy Scriptures were endited by the Holy Spirit. From what has been said, it appears that when we say, that the Holy Scripture is endited by God, we understand thereby that the Holy Men, who committed it to Writing, did so wholly deny their own Strength, whether innate unto them, or acquired by Diligence, Learning, and Meditation, that they willingly acknowledged that thereby they could do no good nor any thing that was acceptable to God, but did so entirely yield up themselves to be govern'd by God, that they no longer lived to themselves, but God did live and operate in them. Now that we may be assured that the Holy Scriptures were penned by such Men, we must examine what Operation the Holy Scriptures have in our Souls. When then we experience that the Thoughts of our Hearts are manifested by them, which can be done by none but God, who alone knows the Heart; and if this Holy Scripture be a powerful Mean for loosing our Hearts from the Love of Temporal things, and drawing them to the Love of God and of things Eternal: For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any Two-edged Sword; piercing even to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit, the Joynts and Marrow; and is a discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart; overthrowing every Imagination and Thought that exalts it self against God: So that an Unbeliever perceiving that by this Word the inward Thoughts of his Heart are made manifest and laid open, he is forced to fall down upon his Face and to acknowledge that it is God who speaks unto him. This one Mark is sufficient to prove the Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture, and it is so clear that it may be understood by the most simple, moreover it is most certain and infallible. To this, many other Marks might be added, which for brevity's sake I pass over, and so much the rather that they are to be had abundantly from those Writers who have designedly treated of the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures.

XXII.XXII. That the Writings of A. B. were end [...] ted by the Holy Spirit. Now that this may be applied to the Writings of Antonia Bourignon, both I my self and many Persons of Probity have experienced and do daily experience that those [Page] Writings do as clearly lay before us our inward State, as if God were immediately speaking unto us. Moreover, they do so clearly and so lively set before our Eyes the Vanity and Nothingness of all Earthly and Temporal things, and the Glory of Heavenly and Eternal things, that we are forced, unless we would do Violence to our Conscience, to love and seek after these last things only, and absolutely to forsake and avoid the other. And there is no doubt but that all they who sincerely desire to do the Will of God, and to embrace and practice the Truth which they know, shall experience in themselves the same Effects from the reading of those Writings, and give Testimony that they are endited by the Spirit of God.

XXIII.XXIII. They are consonant to the Holy Scriptures, and a Key to them. Moreover the Writings of Antonia Bourignon are so consonant to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, that from hence it appears more clearly than the Sun at Noon-day, that the same Spirit has endited both. Yea, the Writings of Antonia Bourignon are as a Key, whereby the Sacred Scriptures are opened and expounded. So that the great Mysteries hitherto understood by none, are expounded by these Writings, and the Difficulties which hitherto have been most intricate, are resolved. It is also most worthy of Observation, that a Virgin, so simple as Antonia Bourignon, should without Study or Meditation commit to Writing the most solid, clear, and saving Truths. Being moved to write against her natural Inclination, only for promoting the Glory of God, and the Good of her Neighbour, without the prospect of any temporal Advantage; but on the contrary, foreseeing that she must suffer much because of these Writings, as the Event did confirm; for because she did so clearly and efficaciously declare the saving Truth, the Churchmen and the Learned of all Sects and Parties, did prosecute her with Hatred, Calumnies, and Persecution, even to her Death.

XXIV.XXIV. The Conclusion. We judge therefore that we have abundance of Reasons and Arguments to conclude that A. B. was moved by the Spirit of God, to write for the enlightning of others.

The End of the Third Part.

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An Advertisement to the Reader.

THEY who esteem the Writings and Sentiments of A. B. will no doubt be desirous to know the History of her Life; and they who make it their Business to traduce and defame her to the World, do make it necessary to be known; thereby to prevent or remove the Prejudices which they may breed in the Minds of well-disposed Persons, against Writings which would be so helpful to them, in the way to Eternal Life.

The inward Sentiments of others cannot be known but from themselves, or by the Spirit of God, and their Sincerity may appear from the constant Tenour of their Actions in the whole course of their Lives; and the Story of their Life and Actions may be had both from themselves, and from those who have been Eye-Witnesses of their Conversation, both Friends and indifferent Persons. The Testimony of Enemies in bespattering and defaming them, is no more to be regarded than that of false Witnesses, when there are unquestionable Evidences to the contrary. It is easie also for those who consider things with an evil Eye, to give such a turn to the Actions of the Best, as may make them hateful and ridiculous, witness the Author of Dictionaire Historique & Critique, in his Character of the King and Prophet David.

The inward Life of A. B. and the outward likewise, for a Course of many Years, is written by her self, and the Continuation of it to her Death, by a Person of known Integrity, who was with her for some of the last Years of her Life, and was helped in it by her own Memorials and those of her Friends, and often led her to relate unto him her whole Life. Besides, there are some sixty Testimonies, some private, others publick before Judges, Magistrates upon Oath, of Persons to whom she was well known, which do refer to a good part of the most remarkable Events of her Life. From these Originals then, I have drawn the following Summary of her Life, the fuller Account being to be had from those Writings themselves.

I know there are many who sit in the Seat of the Scornful, and will turn all this into Ridicule; at which we need not wonder, when even the Penmen of the Sacred Scriptures d [...]es not escape their Lash. God's ways are so different fro [...] Man's, that the natural Man perceiveth not the things that are of God, but they seem Foolishness to him. We have strong Attachments to Parents, Friends, Wife, Children, [Page] to our Guides, the Learned, the Eloquent, the Great, to Study, and Learning, and worldly Accommodations, and therein gratifie and cherish the corrupt Inclinations of our Hearts. God will have I [...]struments form'd upon different Molds. Our Lord would not let them go take leave of their Friends, or go bury their Father. He engages them to forsake their Wives and Children, or if they be free, not to be bound. God makes Men forsake their Country, and their Friends, and go they know not where, upon his Word only. He chooses Children, Persons without Learning, forbidding them to study or to follow the Conduct and Wisdom of Men. He chooses them W [...]k and Simple, without Authority or Power, without a Following or Applause, keeps them for the most part in Solitude, either that they may converse with God, or to preserve them from the Persecutions of Men, of those especially who call themselves the Church and People of God; and when he draws them out of it, he lets them be chas'd from one Place to another, and at last die in Assliction and Misery. How impertinent does this Conduct seem to the Wisdom of humane Reason, and yet by these Rules God has form'd Men for his Service in all Ages, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ames, [...]ohn Baptist, [...]esus Christ himself, all the Apostles, and the true Saints who have followed him. When Men then are so wise in their own Eyes as to condemn this in the Person of A. B. they must know that they condemn the Conduct of God himself in his Saints, who will thereby have their Hearts and Wills wholly disengag'd from self and all worldly things, and entirely resign'd unto him.

It is not for those Scessers then, that I have written this Abridgment, but for those who desire in the Simplicity of their Hearts to be helped on in the way to Eternal Life. Jesus Ch [...]ist is the way, and we are made believe that his Life is unimitable. The first Christians followed him in a Life of Poverty, Reproach, and Pains; in which now we think he neither can nor ought to be followed. Here's an Instance of are in this last Age of the World, who, as she declares to all, that [...] is no Salvation without following the Example a [...] [...] of Jesus Christ, so she made him her constant Pattern, and this her great Work from the Eighteenth Year of her Age to her Death, and thereby encourages and invites [...] all to deny our selves, and take up our Cross and follow him. Give her then of the Fruit of her Hands, and let her own Works praise her in the Gates.

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AN APOLOGY FOR M. ANT. BOƲRIGNON.
PART. IV.
CONTAINING An Abridgment of her LIFE.
To which are added, Two Letters concerning the Preface to the Snake in the Grass, and Bourignianism Detected; by different Hands.

I.I. A. B. her Birth and Parentage. MRs. Antonia Bourignon was born in the Town of Lisle in Flanders, the 13th. of January, 1616. baptiz'd in the Parish of St. Maurice, and nam'd Antonia; her Father was John Bourignon, an Italian by Nation, and her Mother Margaret Becquart, born near to Lisle; they lived in a married State Thirty One Years, having Four Daughters, of which Antonia was the Third, and One Son, all of which died in their Childhood, except the eldest Daughter who lived till the Thirty Sixth Year of her Age, and was twice married. She died Anno 1647. Her Mother in July 1641. Her Father married again in October, being more than Sixty Years Old, [Page] and died April, 1648. And Antonia remained the only Heiress of her Mother, her Sister having died without Children.

II.II. Her Mothers Aversion to her, and why. When she came into the World, her Mother thought she had borne a Monster, because her whole Forehead was covered with black Hair even to her Eyes, and her upper Lip was fastned to her Nose, and so her Mouth stood open; they conceal'd her for some Months, and the Hair fell off of it self, and the Lip was untied by a Surgeon, and she encreast in Comliness; yet her Mother could not forget the Aversion she had conceiv'd, and could not love her as she did her other Children; but slighted her from her Infancy, and could hardly look upon her; the other Children also treated her rudely, without her Father's knowledge, who then loved her best of all his Children: But his Affairs kept him still abroad, except at Meals.

III.III. The serious Thoughts of [...]er Childhood. This rough Treatment made her retire from childish Plays, and be much alone. God then drew her powerfully to himself, as soon as she had any use of Reason; all her Thoughts were serious, and her Reasonings seem'd not to proceed from a Child; and having been instructed by her Parents, when about Four Years of Age, of the First Principles of Christianity, and of all that Jesus Christ had done and suffered for Men, she was desirous to be inform'd in what Country the Christians lived? and profest a great desire to go thither; and when her Parents mock'd her, and told h [...] she was in the Country of Christians, she said, that could not be, for Jesus Christ was born in a Stable, and liv'd in Poverty, whereas they all love to have fine Houses, and fine Furniture, and much Wealth; and therefore she concluded they were not Christians, and that she would go into the Country where the Christians do live; but no Body understood this Language, but turn'd it into Raillery, and so she was constrain'd to hold her Peace.

IV.IV. Her early Conversation with God. Finding so little Satisfaction in the World, she turned her self unto God by Prayer, and he being always ready to be found of them that seek him with their whole Heart, especially little Children, she from her Infancy had daily Conversation with God, he speaking inwardly to her Heart; and she thought this Divine Conversation was a thing common to all. Then every thing serv'd her for an Occasion to Address to God. Thus for Instance, remarking [Page] that her Father was surly to her Mother, and oft-times transported with Anger against her, after having endeavour'd to appease him by her childish Embraces, she would retire apart, and considering how hard a thing it was to be married to a troublesom Husband, would say to God, My God, my God, grant I may never marry, and she beg'd that instead of being married, he would give her the Grace to become his Spouse. Her Prayer was so well-pleasing to God, that he granted her the full Accomplishment of it, giving her from her Infancy the Gift of Chastity and Continence in so perfect a manner, that she often said, she never had in all her Life, even by Temptation or Surprize, the least Thought unworthy of the Chastity and Purity of the Virgin State.

V.V. She turns towards the World. Her Sister was much addicted to the Vanities of the World, and could not look upon her Retiredness and Aversion from them, without Indignation and Displeasure, and among her Companions she made all this pass for an Effect of Stupidity and Dulness. This made her quit her first Simplicity to follow for some time the Vanities of the World, not that her Heart was set upon them, but to shew that she had enough of Spirit, and was not a Fool as her Sister would make them believe. Thus the Devil laid Snares for her to entrap her, and the sweetness of her Humour gain'd her the Love of the Young People they converst with, beyond her Sister. Thus she continu'd to Dress, to frequent their Company, to recreate her self with them in their Plays, Dances, and other youthful Divertisements, tho' in all Honesty, if that may be call'd Honesty which turns away the Heart from God, however, it past for such in the World. Thus she greatly pleas'd her Parents, particularly her Father, who deny'd her nothing whereby she might appear with Advantage in the World. Her Parents were anxious to have her married, being Rich, and having but Two Daughters, and many Young Men would have had her for their Wife, but she could never resolve to marry, having an Aversion to it. Yet she took Pleasure in the Conversation of the Youth, till they urg'd her to marry, and then she withdrew from them, and would discourse with them no more. She began also to take Pleasure in the Praises and Esteem of Men, because they said she was fair and lovely, whereas her Mother had still call'd her ugly, and despis'd her on all Occasions.

[Page] VI.VI. God wit [...] draws from her. But as the World took place in her Soul, God withdrew from it by degrees; so that she felt no longer that Devotion or Pleasure in Prayer or Solitude, which formerly gave her so much Contentment. This made her Melancholly, and the more she endeavoured to divert it by Company, the more it encreast: For her Soul was never at rest, and God who had so much comforted her in Prayer, all the time that she was despised, now withdrew from her; and her Prayers were without any fervour. Her Conscience often check'd her when she did or said any thing to please the World, but she had not the courage to withdraw from it. But God had pity on her who had abandon'd him to turn to the Creatures. She oft-times felt inward Motions from God, and even in the midst of her Divertisements and Dancings, she had sometimes secret Reproofs from him, piercing her Heart with those inward Words. Will you forsake me then for another? Will you find a Lover more compleat and more faithful than I am? But a little after, Company and Divertisements got the Ascendant; and even when she was excited by those inward Motions to abandon all, she would reply, Then I should never have Pleasure! It is fit for one to take some Pleasure in their Youth!

VII.VII. New Motions from God, and her Combats thereupon. Then God seeing that his gentle Motions avail'd nothing, took more severe means to recover her, and fill'd her Spirit with fearful Apprehensions of Death, Judgment, and Hell; the hearing of the Deaths of others, and Sermons about Death and Judgment, did before that touch her but very little, like the Stories of Foreign Countries, and she would not let her self think that she was concern'd in them. But when God was pleas'd to open her Eyes, and let her see she must Die, and appear at the great Judgment, then unexpressible Apprehensions seiz'd her, and all the Day long, when she was alone, she would say to her self, Poor Creature! What will become of thee? Thou must die; all the things of the World cannot save thee from this fearful Death; thou ca [...]st not escape it▪ And what wil [...] thou say when that Hour shall come? This she often repeated both in her Mind and by Word. They with whom she convers'd observing her Sadness, endeavour'd to chear and divert her, but all in vain: For then she had a disgust of all Recreations and earthly Pleasures. And when she forc'd her self to take Contentment in any thing, [Page] she thought it was said to her Heart, To what purpose takest thou Pleasure, since thou must die? For what will this serve thee before God? But the sensitive part of her Soul was very displeas'd to see it self thus afflicted, and said in its mute Language, Thou shalt never be well, if thou put not these Fancies out of thy Head; but will die very shortly if thou continue in such Apprehensions: This made her leave oft for some time. But as soon as she came to her self, the superiour part said, Forget Death as much as you will; it shall not forget thee. It is a folly to think to free thy self of it by shutting it out of thy Memory. It will find thee every where, and does not wait till thou be ready; but comes at its time unlook'd for, and when thou shalt think least of it. And if the Idea of it only does so affright, yea put thy Life in hazard; how will the reality of it make thee afraid, when thy Soul shall be in Danger. Give place to those Truths, without flattering thy self with any Reasons.

VIII.VIII. The thoughts of Death fix'd upon her Spirit. These were the Debates which toss'd her Spirit without ceasing. She resolv'd then to quit all the World, and prepare for Death and prevent it, since it followed her so hard. But she found great Difficulty to do it, being Young and in the midst of all worldly Advantages, so that she might promise to her self as much of worldly Pleasures, Honour, and Wealth, as any of her rank. Nevertheless the thoughts of Death had yet greater force, when she thought on the future State. She said to her self, It is very true, Mirth is agreeable, Pleasures are sweet, and Wealth delightful; but this lasts but for a little time; Death will come and change all; and all must be parted with, with a lamentable regret, and it may be an eternal Punishment for a good of so short continuance. So that perceiving clearly this Truth, she prayed earnestly to God, to give her Grace to think always upon Death, and never to let it be out of her Mind for any thing that might befall her; which she obtain'd, after a long perseverance in this Prayer. And to fix it the more upon her Spirit, she went oft to the Church-yard, where looking on the Bones of the dead, she said, See my Body; what will become of thee? Thy own Head, and thy own Hands will be very shortly thrown into this Company; and she was afraid to look upon them, and forc'd her self to approach them, being naturally timorous, and to handle them, saving, O miserable Creature! Wilt thou have a Horror for thy self? Draw near boldly. [Page]Thou shalt be a Thousand times more vile, when the Worms shall eat thee; and this will be the greatest Honour that can befal thee to be ranked with these Bones here.

IX. This gave her a great disgust for the Body which she formerly cherish'd,IX. Her Conversion and Peni [...]ence. and a hatred, and severity against her self; and after her Sister was married, she retir'd from all sort of Company, staid alone in her Chamber, entered upon a very austere Life, Lying hard, Sleeping little, Fasting much, mingling what she did eat with Ashes to mortifie her Taste, wearing hair cloath next to her Skin, and afflicting her Body, and praying, and weeping the most part of her time, for Grief that she had left the sweet Conversation she had with God, to please her self in the Divertisements of the World. She visited the Poor and Sick, frequented the Churches and Sacraments, not knowing by what means she could recover the Favour of God, which she had lost through her own Fault. She durst scarce sleep in the Night, fearing to fall into Hell while asleep, and that the Earth would not bear her. So terrible were her Apprehensions of the Judgments of God, that she durst not shut her Eyes because of her Sins, which seem'd to her so great, that none had ever committed the like, not that she was guilty of any Crime or wicked Deed, but because she had forsaken the sweet Conversation that her Soul had with God, to please her self with the Divertisements of the World, after having received so many Favours from God, which deserved the Thanksgiving of her whole Life. This appear'd to her so great a Sin, that Hell was not sufficient to punish it. She continued in those Austerities and Mortification for Seven Years, and would have done so still, if God had not commanded her when she was Twenty Five Years of Age to leave this, and lead an ordinary Life. Her Mortifications were not the Effect of a melancholy Humour, nor accompanied with it; for she was of the most serene and chearful Temper, even to her Death. But she chastis'd her self with an inward Contentment and Tranquillity, out of a Principle of Justice: And her Floods of Tears flowing from the Love of God, whose Friendship she had lost through her own Fault, were attended with a secret and most solid Pleasure, founded upon this, that there was nothing more just than to bewail the Fault of ceasing to love so Lovely a God. Yet she confest that she had run too far to an Extremity in her [Page] Mortifications, and that so great, that she would never tell it but to one, and would never advise any to do as she had done, but only to yield up themselves to God, and suffer themselves to be exercis'd by him, and by the Events which he sends them.

X. Thus she spent whole Nights in Prayer,X. Instructions from God. oft repeating, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? And being one Night in a most profound Penitence, she said from the bottom of her Heart. ‘O, my Lord! What must I do to please thee? For I have no body to teach me. Speak to my Soul, and it will hear thee.’ At that Instant she heard, as if another had spoke within her; Forsake all earthly things. Separate thy self from the Love of the Creatures. Deny thy self.

XI. She was quite astonish'd,XI. She would go into a Monastery. not understanding this Language, and mus'd long on these Three Points, thinking how she could fulfil them. She thought she could not live without earthly things, nor without loving the Creatures, nor without loving her self. Yet she said, By thy Grace I will do it, Lord. But when she would perform her Promise, she knew not where to begin, finding her self strongly engag'd in the Love of all earthly things, which she did not observe before, and knew not how to be disengaged. Having thought on the Religious in Monasteries, that they forsook all earthly things, and the Conversation of the Creatures, by being shut up in a Cloyster, and the Love of themselves, by subjecting of their Wills: She ask'd leave of her Father to enter into a Cloyster, of the discalceated Carmelites, but he would not permit it, saying, He had rather see her laid in her Grave. This seem'd to her a great Cruelty; for she thought to find in the Cloysters the True Christians she had been seeking, but she found afterwards that he knew the Cloysters better than she; for after he had forbidden her, and told her he would never permit her to be a Religious, nor give her any Mony to enter there, yet she went to Father Laurens, the Director, and offered to serve in the Monastery, and work hard for her Bread, and be content with little, if he would receive her: At which he smiled, and said, That cannot be, we must have Money to build; we take no Maids without Money, you must find the way to get it; else there is no entry here. This astonish'd her greatly, and she was thereby undeceiv'd as to the Cloysters, resolving to forsake all [Page] Company, and live alone, till it should please God to shew her what she ought to do, and whither to go.

XII. The more she entered into her self,XII. God's Call. the more she was enclin'd to abandon all, and to retire somewhere, without knowing whether her Heart was disengag'd from temporal Goods, from worldly Pleasures, from all Creatures. Yet she did not find her self altogether free nor entirely united unto God, for she was apt sometimes to turn again to what she had left. She ask'd always earnestly, ‘When shall I be perfectly thine,’ O, my God? And she thought he still answered her, When thou shalt no longer possess any thing, and shalt die to thy self. ‘And where shall I do that,’ Lord? He answered her In the Desart. This made so strong an Impression on her Soul, that she aspired after this; but being a Maid, of Eighteen Years only, she was afraid of unlucky chances, and was never us'd to travel, and knew no way. She laid aside all these Doubts, and said, ‘Lord, thou wilt guide me how and where it shall please thee. It is for thee that I do it. I will lay aside my Habit of a Maid, and will take that of a Hermit,’ that I may pass unknown.

XIII. Having then secretly made ready this Habit,XIII. She leaves her Father's H [...]use. while her Parents thought to have married her, her Father having promis'd her to a rich French Merchant, she prevented the time, and on Easter Evening, having cut her Hair, put on the Habit, and slept a little, she went out of her Chamber about Four in the Morning, taking nothing but One Penny to buy Bread for that Day; and it being said to her in the going out, Where is thy Faith? in a Penny. She threw it a way, begging pardon of God for her Fault, and saying, ‘No, Lord, my Faith is not in a Penny, but in thee alone.’ Thus she went away wholly delivered from the heavy Burthen of the Cares and good Things of this World, and found her Soul so satisfied, that she no longer wish'd for any thing upon Earth, resting entirely upon God, with this only fear, least she should be discovered and be oblig'd to return home; for she felt already more Content in this Poverty, than she had done for all her Life, in all the Delights of the World.

XIV. She knew no way,XIV. Is discovered and delivered. nor whither to go. She went out at the Gate that leads to Tournay, and came thither about Ten a Clock; then past into the Province of Hainault, and coming through a Village called Bassec, where were [Page] arriv'd that Day a Company of Soldiers, who were playing in the Market-Place, when she had past by them, and come to the end of the Village, she met a number of Children at their Play, who looking on her, began to say it was a Maid, and crying this so loud to one another, the Soldiers ran to know the Fray, and then taking Horse, they overtook her in the Fields, and stopt her, asking who she was, and whither she went. She was surpriz'd, but looking before her, she saw a Church, and hoping there might be some good Pastor there to deliver her, she said she was going to the Pastor who would satisfie them. The Commander brought her to the next Village, Blatton, to the old Mayor's House, promising to have her to the Pastor's when once his Men were lodged. There he thought to have abus'd her by force or enticement, but she told him resolutely that he should first kill her or she him, and that she believ'd the Earth would open to swallow him up. The old Mayor and his Wife defended her, and he threatned to burn the House, and call'd his Men to Arms about it, The Maid of the House got out at a Window, and told the Pastor, who coming into the Chamber where the Captain was, raging like one mad, gravely rebuked him, and taking her by the Hand, he with his Chaplain, led her through the Soldiers into his Lodging, the Captain sinking into an Astonishment against the Wall without stirring; for the Pastor was a grave and vertuous Man, of great Age, whose Words had struck the Captain and taken away all his Strength and Spirit. But when this was over, he came with his Men to the Pastour's House to search for her, and not finding her, and being made believe she was gone, they gallop'd toward Mons, thinking to overtake her.

XV. The Pastor ask'd who she was;XV. The Pastor of Blatton's Esteem of her. she told the Truth, and that she fled out of the Dangers of the World to follow Jesus Christ; the good Man wept, and his Soul was confounded, to see a Child, like her, quit all the Wealth and Pleasures of the World to embrace Poverty and Hardships, while he after so many Years of Penitence was not come to such a Disengagement. Ye, he was a very Holy Man who liv'd in continual Prayer and Penitence, the Story of whose Life is most remarkable, the summ of it is thus.

[Page] XVI. This Pastor of Blatton, XVI. His Life. George de Lisle, was design'd for the Pastoral Office from his Youth, and train'd up after the ordinary ways of Study and Learning. He had for some Years exercis'd the Functions of the Pastoral Charge, after the manner that is usually done; living after the way of the World in God's Judgment, though Honestly and without Scandal in the World's Sense, being often in Company as others of his rank, and there diverting himself, Eating, Drinking, and making Merry, till it pleas'd God to touch his Heart, and draw him from the brink of Perdition, after this manner.

He and the Mayor having been invited on Shrove-Tuesday to make good Chear with the Lord of the Mannor, after having past a part of the Night in Feasting, as they came home about Midnight, an enraged Soldier met them, who had sworn to kill the first he met with, he shot the Mayor, who fell down dead at the Pastor's Feet, who immediately was inwardly struck by God with these Thoughts. ‘How is it that thou art not in the place of this Man? And if thou wet there, in what State could thy Soul be, but that of eternal Damnation; dying in so wretched a Disposition as the fulness of Meat, Wine, and good Cheer, which thou hast made? O my God, said he, (turning suddenly to God) What Mercy hast thou shewn to make me now escape the eternal and certain Damnation of my Soul? I'll now watch and take care to be in a better Disposition.’ Which he resolv'd and executed from that very Moment, beginning to lead a Penitent and Christian Life, without ever drawing back from it, to his Death.

First he resolv'd to live Solitary for some time, to strengthen him in Good, and having substituted one to wait on his Cure for Six Months, he sought out a Holy Person by whom he might be directed, who accordingly for Six Months treated him with great Austerity. And when he return'd to his Cure, he encreas'd and continu'd what he had begun. He resolved to mortifie his Body, because it was so ready to tempt his Soul, and to punish it for having taken too much its Ease and Pleasures. Because he had pleas'd himself with fine Linen, and fine Cloaths, he never wore Linens any more, and girded himself with a great Chain of Iron, which went twice about and sunk into his Flesh. Because he had lov'd to Sleep [Page] at Ease in a good Bed, he caus'd them to bring his Coffin and a Stone in it for his Pillow, where he lay with his Chain about his Loins all the rest of his Life. Because he had taken too much Rest, and past sometimes a part of the Night in Mirth and Laughter, he spent Three Hours every Night, from Eleven to Two after Midnight, in Prayers and Tears on his Knees, before the high Altar of his Church, to bewail his Sins, and Mens Blindness and Hardness. Because he had plesa'd himself with commodious Lodging, he staid in an Apartment which was almost always full of Smoke. To punish the Excess he thought he had committed in Eating and Drinking, he not only abstain'd from Flesh and Wine, all his Days, but also Seven whole Years from drinking Wine, Water, or any Liquor, He would have been in the heats of Summer as in a Furnace all dry, Mouth, Tongue, Palate, Lips peel'd, on Fire, and like one in a burning Fever. He renounc'd all Studies, and all curious Learning, referving only Two Books, the Holy Bible, and the Lives of the Saints, in the one of which he read every Day a Chapter, and in the other a Life; saying of these Two Books, Here's the Doctrine, (the Bible;) and here's the Practice, (the Lives of the Saints.) He had led this Life many Years when A. B. met with him first, being then Sixty Years of Age, and continued in it Twelve Years more. This Holy Man had received Power from God over unclean Spirits, and cur'd many possest with Devils; a Lorain Soldier was brought to him afflicted with a Devil; he staid with him for some Months, and finding himself better, went away; the Pastor exhorting him to live in the fear of God, least if he should fall again into Sin, the Devil get more hold of him than formerly. But he giving up himself to all sort of Licentiousness, the Devil made him more wicked than before, and among other things, inspir'd him with such a hellish Rage against the Pastor, that he resolv'd to kill him, because he had remonstrated to him that his Life was Evil. He told it openly, and threatned it for Three Years, and when he came there to his Winter-Quarters, they advertis'd the Pastor, but he judg'd it was nothing but Menaces, and thought himself unworthy to die the Death of a Martyr. On Good-Friday having heard the Confessions of his Parishioners who prepar'd to communicate at Easter, and all being gone out, [Page] as he was rising from the Confessional Chair, and prostrate before the High Altar to bewail their Sins, and his own, and beg God's Pardon; this Soldier lurking among the Seats with his Carbine, shot at him, who fell suddenly down, calling upon God: The Villain perceiving that he yet breathed, ran and gave him many strokes with his drawn Sword in the Head, till he cleav'd it so as the Brains fell on the Pavement. Some Children who had staid in the Church, ran and publish'd the Murther. He was carried into his House and lived till the next Morning, tho' without Senses. The Soldier died by the hand of Justice without shewing any Repentance.

A. B. sometimes ask'd him about his great Austerities, how he came to continue them, being so old, since to be well pleasing to God, there is nothing needful but to love him. He replied, ‘You do not know me: In the Age in which you see me, I assure you my Flesh is yet so rebellious, that if I did not tame it and make it suffer, it would yet rise up against my Spirit, it would rule over, me and carry my Affections to things below, to seek Pleasure and Satisfaction in them, which would certainly turn me away from the Love of God. I must therefore keep it in Subjection and Slavery, least it become Mistress.’

XVII. But to return to A. B. the Pastor shut her up in a little Apartment of the Church,XVII Her Consolations when shutup in the Church of Blatton. where she was full of Consolation, seeing her self disengag'd from all earthly things, and retaining no Affection for any thing but a perfect Union with God. Next Day he came to see her, and she urging to pursue her Journey to the Desart, he by no means would suffer her, but having brought her some Refreshment, went to Mons to acquaint the Archbishop of Cambray of her, who bid him keep her till he came there; this greatly troubled her, fearing to be detained, and making her Complaint to God, seeing he said she should serve him perfectly in the Desart, it was told her, That the time was not yet come, many Societies of Men and Women must follow her thither, and that she should reestablish his Gospel Spirit. And when she could not comprehend how this could be, being an ignorant Child, who had never learnt of any what a Gospel Life was, and knew none, and had no Authority; it was said to her, Behold these Trees in the Church-Yard, they seem dry Wood without [Page]Leaves or Fruit, or any Appearance; nevertheless, when the Season comes, they shall bring forth Leaves, Flowers, and Fruit in abundance, without any Bodie's touching them. So shall it be of my Work.

XVIII. The Archbishop Vanderburgh came about Three Weeks after,XVIII. The Archbishop of Cambray comes to see her. and spoke with her, and was perswaded that she was guided by the Spirit of God, but would not let her go to the Desart, but oblig'd her to live a Recluse there in a little House which the Pastour offer'd to make for her in the Church-yard. But the same Day her Parents came thither from Lisle to find her, and with great Difficulty she was prevail'd with to return with them, her Father faithfully promising to the Archbishop to allow her all freedom to serve God in the Perfection she desired, without engaging her in worldly Affairs, or urging her to Marry; the Archbishop being surety he should perform it, and if not, he would take her into his own Care.

XIX. But after some Months,XIX. She returns home with her Parents. her Father engag'd her again into his Affairs, and on divers Occasions spoke to her of Marriage, contrary to his Promise, which greatly troubled her. She beg'd leave to return to the Archbishop, which he would not permit. She exercis'd her self in visiting the Sick and Poor, in frequenting the Churches, learn'd the Offices, and other vocal Prayers in which she found great Devotion, and confest and communicated thrice a Week; but she found at length that the Poor were deceitful, and not thankful to God, but by what they got, sinn'd the more. She left off visiting them, yet gave for God all she could. All Creatures became Hindrances to her, and she gave her self more to Solitude and Silence, and went seldomer to Church, finding more Recollection in her Chamber. She could not say her Office, being still interrupted with inward Conversation ‘She beg'd of God to know if he had forsaken her,’ or if she had become sloathful. He said, I am Spirit, speak to me in Spirit, I will operate now in Spirit and in Trtuh. Cease, and I will do all. She resign'd her self wholly to him, banishing all Imaginations of her own. And she understood more clearly the Inspirations of God.

XX. The Religious of the several Orders came to her,XX. Her Confessor. to warn her of her Danger of being deluded by the Devil for want of a Director, and each offered their Service. She thank'd them, and was warn'd by God to apply to [Page] her own Pastor, and never had any other Confessor. She continued in her Retirement and interiour Prayers with great delight. The Devil fail'd not to disturb her therein by Spectres and other Noises. She was greatly afraid, but addressing to God and pursuing her Prayers; he said, Fear not; I am with thee. And thus she acquired so much firmness that she fear'd nothing but Sin.

XXI. Being still warned to go from her Father's House,XXI. The Reason of God's choice of her. and not having obtain'd his leave, nor finding any dispos'd to go with her, she propos'd to stay till she knew the Place and Persons that were to follow her, that she might go seek them, tho' to the end of the World. It was said to her, Seek none, but cultivate what shall be delivered and put into your Hands: Declare only my Designs. It troubled her to declare those Designs out of fear of Vainglory, and conceal'd the Graces of God to her, even from her Confessor. She pray'd to God, that he would deliver her from this Enterprize, and choose another; she being a simple Girl, void of all Force and Authority, every way weak. He said to her, I will be thy All; My Power is not limited; Give thy Consent. She said, Wherefore hast thou not made me a Man? I would have had more Advantage and Capacity that thou mightest serve thy self of me. He answered, I will serve my self of the vilest Matter to confound the Pride of Men. I will give thee all that thou shalt need; be faithful to me.

XXII. Resolving then to go tell the Archbishop what the Will of God was,XXII. She [...]eaves again her Father's House. after she had staid for a Year and a half with her Parents, she begg'd leave of her Father, on her Knees, and his Blessing, telling him that God had call'd her out of the World: Her Confessor, and the Prior of the Capuchins, her Father's intimate Friend, soliciting him to grant it; but he would not do it, threatning his Malediction if she should go. The Prior and Pastor told him that his Malediction could not reach her, being in the Grace of God, and they desir'd her to go freely whither God call'd her.

XXIII. She came to the Archbishop at Mons, XXIII. Her Proposal to the Archbishop of Cambray. and declar'd to him that God had tau [...]ht her to lead a Gospel Life, and to live as the first Christians, disengag'd from all earthly things, from all Creatures, and from the Love of her self, and that many would follow her therein; and begg'd Permission to take a Place in the Country in his Diocess [Page] to begin it. He ask'd what she meant by a Life disengag'd from all earthly Goods? We cannot live upon nothing. She said, ‘We will labour the Ground, and have our Necessaries from the Fields, without asking Money of those who would come thither. Poor and Rich shall be alike welcome. We aiming at no Commodity on Earth, but pure Necessaries and to please God. He said, she propos'd great things, and he would think on it, and caus'd to lodge her in a House of Devout Maids of Notre Dame, which was better regulated than the Cloisters.’

XXIV. Two Days thereafter he sent Pere du Bois, XXIV. Pere du Bois, and s [...]me Ma [...]s esteem her. Superiour of the Oratory at Maubeuge, to examine her, who having heard her Propositions admir'd them, and was perswaded she was taught of God. Four Maids of the House observing her Behaviour and Retiredness, that she staid alone in her Chamber, had no Bed, sought no Ease nor Pleasure, eat but once a Day, at Night, and that mo [...]tly Bread and Water, desired earnestly to speak with her, and were so perswaded of her being led by the Holy Spirit, that they resolv'd to follow her wherever she should [...].

XXV. The [...]suits being the Directors of that House,XXV. The Jesuits distur [...] her. set themselves to counteract her, tho' they kn [...]w not her Design; they bid the Maids beware of her, said she was guided by an evil Spirit, that one such was plague enough in a Community: And told her self that the Devil con [...]ducted her, that he transform'd himself into an Angel of Light; that there needed no other proof than her living without a Director, and she would ruine her self, if she did not submit to their Direction. They press [...]d her by so many Reasons, that she doubted in might be true. She had recourse to God, but her Spirit being to [...]t with divers Passions, she discern'd nothing, being wholly in Darkness. She went to the Archbishop, who being perswaded she was guided by the Holy Spirit, thought she ought not to take the Direction of Men. Pere du Bois confirm'd the same. She rested upon this, yet begg'd leave of the Archbishop to read the New Testament, that she might discover her Errors, by confronting her Sentiments with the Gospel. She no sooner began to read attentively the Gospels, than she perceived such a Conformity with her inward Sentiments, that if she were to set them down in Writing, she should write such a Book in Substance as [Page] the Gospel. She left off to read more, because God taught her inwardly all that she needed; and that his Conduct and the Gospel were the same thing.

XXVI. The Archbishop,XXVI. The Bishop grants her desire. with the Consent of his Council, judging the Undertaking to be from God, gave her his Blessing and Permission to begin such a Society at Blatton, where a Widow-Woman had offered a piece of Ground; for which she afterwards paid her, and there was a House begun but not finish'd, because of the Death of the Pastor G. de Lisle, and the Churchmen applied with all Vigour to stop it, as they did. He ask'd her, ‘Whereupon they would live? She said, upon their little Garden, and God would provide for the rest. That he never fail'd those who serv'd him truly; and if they serv'd him ill, far better that all be dissolved than to deceive the World by Hypocrisie. He ask'd, If she would make Vows. She said, None. He said, Each ones Love was not so strong as to make them persevere freely. She said, They who have it not, will not come: And if they lose the Love of God when they are there, it is far better they return to the World, than to disorder others or make them lukewarm.’

XXVII She had communicated to Pere du Bois, XXVII. The Clergy incensed against her. upon his importunity, a Writing wherein she represented that God had made known to her that all the Evils of the Church came from the Churchmen, and that they must amend, if they would turn away God's Wrath. This Paper was quickly spread abroad, of which she complain'd to Pere du Bois, who said he was oblig'd in Conscience to do it. All the Churchmen and Religious Orders were so far from amending there Faults thereby, that it fill'd them with Hatred and Revenge against her, uttering many Reproaches, some of them declaring that if they could have her, they would drown her.

XXVIII. The Jesuits learning the Design she had of re-establishing a Christian Life in a Community,XXVIII. [...] Bishop retracts his Permission set on the Archbishop with so much Earnestness, and so many Calumnies against her, that they entirely chang'd him, and he retracted his Permission. She remonstrated to him his Sin in being so easily perswaded by Men to change his Resolutions, and to oppose what he knew came from God, and forewarn'd him that for a Punishment he should die very shortly, as he did about Six Months thereafter. [Page] Pere du Bois perswaded her to go to Liege where she would obtain her desire, but before she return'd, the Jesuits had constrain'd the poor Maids to promise by Oath not to follow her, and even not to speak to her. Two of the best of them Mary Malapert, and La Barre the younger, died shortly after, through the Anguish and Affliction of Spirit in which they put them. A. B. says of Mary Malapert, that she was the purest Soul that ever she knew, and the only Person she ever knew in the World in a State of compleat Regeneration and Union with God; which she enjoyed without knowing it well her self; not but that when she enjoyed actual Conversation with God, she was then most certain of it; but when she return'd to her Directors, they knew so well to distract her by outward things, by constrain'd Rules, and clouds of foreign Thoughts, that she knew not where she was, nor the true State of her Soul. And one of the three things for which A. B. always bless'd God was, that he had preserv'd her from the Direction of Men.

XXIX. Having after this,XXIX. She waits on her Mother at her Death, keeps her Father's House. He marries, and she retires. staid for some time at Blatton, and then by Pere du Bois's Advice, with the Countess of Wallerwal, who living in Caelibacy, and designing to employ her Wealth to the Glory of God, desired to see her, where she met with nothing but Distraction; she was call'd back to Lisle, by the Sickness of her Mother, who long'd to see her before she died. She found her sick to Death, who bless'd God that he had granted her desire, and foretold her what grievous Afflictions were to befal her. After her Mother's Death, she resolving to retire again, her Father and Friends urge her that all the Laws both of God and Man do oblige her, though she had been in a Desart or a Cloyster, to come and assist her aged Father in his Affairs. She was perswaded so to do, and so ordered her Hours of Recollection and the Times of managing his Affairs, that she did all to his Contentment. Yet, tho' Sixty Years of Age, he would needs marry without his Childrens knowledge, a poor Maid for his Fancy, without either Wit or Vertue. A. B. staid with them four Months to acquaint her with the Affairs, in which time she suffered grievously by her. She resolv [...]d to retire, and desired of her Father some of her Mother's Goods for her Substance, which he utterly refused. It is well known that the Laws and Customs of the Low-Co [...]ntries are quite [Page] different from those of England or Scotland, particularly in this Matter of the Goods of Husband and Wife; for the Goods of the Wife being either the Portion given her, or any other Goods given her, or purchas'd by her self; the Husband has nothing but the Use and Profit of the Portion during the Wife's Life, and she may dispose of, and trade with her other Goods as she pleases, and at her Death the Propriety and Profit also of her Portion and all her Goods, do belong to her Children or other Heirs, and none of them to the Husband. A. B. related to her Sister what had past, and that their Father said all their Mother [...]s Goods belong'd to him. Upon which her Sister's Husband resolv [...]d to oblige him by Law, and accordingly presented a Bill to the Magistrate. But he being a Man of Wit and Credit, drew them into a Process, in which they could not get Justice; for during it, her Brother-in-Law fell sick and died, upon which she desisted from that pursuit, and retir'd to a little House at the Church of St. [...] near Lisle.

XXX. There she liv'd alone,XXX. Lives in great Solitude at St. Andrew. wrought to gain her living, was m [...]re con [...]ted than ever, being rid of the Affairs of the World, and convers'd with no body. A poor Maid brought her Food once a Week, and very often the Door was not opened till she came again. The Consolations she received from God in that Place were unexpressible, full of spiritual Delights: So that she often past whole Days without eating or drinking, not knowing it was Night. She was so transported with them, that she ask'd of God if there was any thing beyond them in Life Eternal. He answered, Infinitely more beyond Comparison. You ought not during this Life to delight your self in such Sensibilities. The least sensible Motions of the Soul are the most perfect, and of which the Devil can take no hold, as he does in the sensible ones. Thus he delivered her from all corpor [...]al Sensibilities, to which she was no more subject, and [...]he afterward walked surely in Spirit and in Truth. And whereas she would fix her Residence in that Place of Delights, he said to her, Thou shalt walk yet in the World and be persecuted and reproached. Thou shalt fly into the Desart through rugged Ways. Prefer my Glory to thy Contentment. I had no Repose upon Earth.

XXXI. She was troubled there for some time by the pursuit of a foolish Youth,XXXI. I disturbed by an insolent Youth. Nephew to the Pastor there, [Page] who having seen her, became desperately in Love with her, and still haunted about her House: She complain'd to his Uncle, who having threatned to put him away if he should not desist, he chang'd his Love into Fury, and several times shot a Fuzee through her Chamber, and at last gave out he had married her; and in less than an Hour all Lisle was full of it, every one spoke of her with Contempt, she knowing nothing of it till her Confessor sent to ask her, and the Preachers publish'd the Falshood of it to the People.

XXXII. After Four Years stay in this Retreat,XXXII. Is forced from thence by the War. she was forc'd to flee in haste, the French coming into this Village to surprize Lisle. She retir'd into the Town in the House of a poor devout Maid, who gave her a Corner in a Garret, where in the Winter she suffered great Cold, being oft covered with Snow in the Morning when she awak'd. The Countess of Willerwall wrote to her earnestly to return to her, which she did, and staid with her about a Year, till she was call'd to Lisle, her Father being a dying.

XXXIII. Having done the last Offices to her Father,XXXIII. Does the last Offices to her Father, and succeeds to her Mother's Goods. and her Sister being dead Childless, and she remaining the sole Heiress of her Mother, she was doubtful whether she should meddle with the Succession. She considered on the one hand, that after having forsaken all worldly Goods to follow the Poverty of Jesus Christ, she ought not to take them up again; on the other side, she knew not to whom to leave it, fearing to do Evil, and to partake in the Sins of those who should possess it. Her Mother-in-Law had wasted those Goods more than a half for the Five Years she had liv'd with him, and tho' at his Marriage he had 20000 Florins in Cash, yet she had not only spent that, but great Revenues of his own Goods, and of his first Wife's; besides the Revenues of his Office, capable of maintaining honourably all his Family; so that at his Death there was not wherewith to bury him. She would not be guilty therefore of leaving them to one who would make no other use of them but to offend God: In this Perplexity she advis'd with her Confessor, who thought that she ought to take what belong'd to her, and dispose of it in Alms; remitting her nevertheless to be determined by God. After some Days of earnest Prayers to God, that he would direct her what to do in this [Page] matter, he said to her, Pursue your Right, take your Goods, you shall have need of them for my Glory. She claim'd then the half of the Goods, due to her by Law and Custom, as the sole Heiress of her Mother, leaving the other for the Children of the second Marriage; and was tost with many Troubles before that Process was at an end.

XXXIV. Some are ready to interpret this as a hankering after the World,XXXIV. Nothing in this, contrary to the Laws of God, or Man. as she foresaw they would, and that her Declaration, that it was the Will of God that she should possess her Rights, was purely her own Invention to cover this. We are still apt to measure others by our selves, and to think tht their Actions cannot proceed from another Spirit and Principle than what we are conscious ours would flow from in the same Circumstances. But they who consider the whole tract of her Life, will not be so rash in their Judgment: Worldly Goods are not Evil in themselves, the only Evil is, that when we possess them, we are not as tho' we possest them not, but our Hearts are set on them; and therefore God commands either the forsaking or keeping of them, and we ought either to abandon or possess them, according as our Hearts are apt to be set upon them, or are wholly mortified to them. A. B. had been habituated to a State of Mortification to the World, and all earthly things, by an actual abandoning of it in a course of many Years, God having thus tried her, as he did Abraham in relation to his Son Isaac, and this was become her Delight and Element. And when she came to possess them again, it appears through all her Life that she did it as tho' she possest them not, looking on her self only as a Steward of them, to employ them for her Master's Use, and they as a weighty Charge to her, which she would gladly have been rid of, employing them wholly for many Years in the bringing up of Orphans, and never throughout all her Life taking to her self but simple Necessaries, no more than if she had been in the greatest Poverty.

XXXV. Being one Day in the Street about her Affairs,XXXV. St. Saulieu accosts her. a Man whom she knew not accosted her, and afterwards came to her Lodging, telling her there were multitudes of poor Infants made Orphans by the Wars, in great Want both as to Body and Soul, and that she might remedy this great Evil, God having given her Talents and Commodities to undertake so good a Work, and pray [...]d [Page] her to recommend this Proposition to God, who would make known his Will to her thereabout. The Man had a great Appearance of Piety, and spoke so divinely of spiritual Things, that she thought he was taught by the Holy Spirit. He told her, He was call'd John S. Saulieu, born near Dorway, that he had never studied Letters but for his own Perfection; that he had still convers'd with Vertuous Persons, and staid some time with an Hermit, and had now for his Director the Pastor of St. Stephens, at Lisle; (and a Character being ask'd of him, he said he was a Man of an Apostolick Zeal.) He walk'd on the Streets with his Countenance still bow'd down, without Curiosity. In the Churches he was almost still on his Knees, as in a profound Devotion: He visited the Poor and Sick, giving them all he had; and if he had found any without cloathing, in the Winter, on the Streets, he would have gone aside and taken off his own Garment and given them; he gave many Appearances of extraordinary Piety, so that all judg'd him a Holy Person. Many Priests and godly Persons consulted him in spiritual Matters, in which he was very Knowing, and gave Counsel to every one. He told her he was dead to Nature, and so disengag'd from all worldly Goods that he could take no Pleasure in them, and that by Abstinence he had lost the taste of all Meats, so that all were alike to him.

XXXVI. He continued to sollicite her to this Employ,XXXVI. She undertakes the Care of a Hospital of Orphans. for a Year and a half, as that whereby she could best promote the Glory of God. In November, therefore, 1653. about the 37th. Year of her Age she undertakes the Care of a Hospital of Orphan Maids, founded by one John Stappart a Merchant in Lisle, some Twelve or Thirteen Years before. She found all Filthy, and in Disorder. She made all Clean, and put all in Order, and made a Rule by which all were alike as to Diet, Bed, Cloathing, and all other Accommodations. She eat with them at the same Table, and observ'd the same Rule. All went well outwardly, but her greatest Compassion was for their Souls. She found them as Rude and Ignorant as little Beasts. Girls receiv'd into the House of Fourteen or Fifteen Years of Age, knew not they had a Soul. This gave her such Compassion that she wish'd she could take them all into her House. It encreas'd to more than Fifty, though the Fond was but for Ten or Twelve. And God gave her [Page] spiritually and bodily all that she had need of. And she employed her own Goods to maintain them, and her Time to instruct them. They learn'd the Christian Doctrine, and some Calling to gain their Living, each according to their Capacity. And she brought all things into such Order, that there was almost no Trouble in governing this great Family. All was regulated from Morning till Night without Intermission. They rose precisely at Five; and after having spent half an Hour in dressing and Prayer, they learn'd to read and write till half after Six: Then they went to Church: At Seven they were set to work, with which they recited the common Prayers: They breakfast at Eight, and read some pious Book: At Nine they sung spiritual Songs: The next Hour they past in silence at work: At Eleven they repeated the Catechism: And din'd at Noon: After which they took half an Hours Recreation. And from One to Eight they past over the same Exercises which they had done in the Forenoon: When they had sup'd, at Eight they went into the Oratory to pray; and after that, lay down in silence, and all the Lamps were put out at Nine. Thus the House was establish'd in good Order and Discipline, and the Citizens were desirous to have Servant-Maids out of it, when they had spent some time there, because they were Honest and Faithful.

XXXVII. A. B. was much afflicted in this Hospital with frequent Sicknesses,XXXVII. Her frequent Sicknesses there. which would often seize her suddenly, and bring her to the Gates of Death; they seem'd not to be natural, and afterwards the Children confest they had endeavour'd to poyson her by Diabolical Powders. Stappart and S. Saulieu came oft to visit her, and seem'd greatly pleas'd with the good Government of the House. S. Saulieu had had for some Years the Care of another House of Orphan Boys, which about this time broke up, the Rent being exhausted. He solicited A. B. to contribute to the building of another. He and Stappart told her one Day of a Project to take Farms of the City, where he would gain 2000 Florins a Year in receiving them, if she would be Surety for him. And this would begin a Fond for such a House. She consented, so he got the Profit of Three Years which came to 6000 Florins; but no more Word of the Poor, he said all was his, and the Fruit of his Labour.

[Page] XXXVIII. One Day he propos'd to A. B. that they might marry together,XXXVIII St. Saulieu's Persecution of her. and yet live in Virginity, that he might assist her in the Cares of the House. She told him, Marriage was not needful for that. He began from time to time to give little Demonstrations of Friendship, which she did not take notice of, because of the good Opinion she had of him. But by degrees he discover'd entirely his Passion, telling her this Love must be from God, for he could never affect any Maid to espouse her, and now Night and Day he was enclin'd to marry her, and could not resist God. She shew'd great Displeasure; and he beg'd Pardon with Tears, offering to do Pennance, and said it was only a Tentation had surpriz'd him. Out of Natural Goodness she believ'd it was so. But whereas he began the same several times, she would needs banish him the House. Then he told her, she must be his Wife or he would kill her. She endeavour'd to reason him out of his Madness, representing to him the Sanctity of his former Discourses, the Zeal of his Charity, the Honesty of his Conversation, and the Reputation he had acquir'd amongst good Men, asking the Reason of such a Change. He told her, ‘He was not what he had appear'd to be; that having from his Youth a haughty Mind, he desir'd to distinguish himself from the People, which since he could not do by Birth or Wealth, he resolv'd to put on the Appearance of Vertue and Piety, as being more esteem'd, which made him practise outward Works of Mortification and Devotion; that he learn'd to speak after so sublime a manner of inward things, by reading carefully spiritual Books, and observing her Words, Sentiments, and way of Behaviour: That the first time he saw her on the Street he was struck with Love of her, and all he had done and said since, was to insinuate into her Friendship, and to enjoy her by Love or Force; which he was resolv'd upon,’ tho' he should hang for it. She threatning to send for the Three Pastors, the Overseers of the House, he said he would then proclaim she was his Wife, and that he had lain with her, and divers Casuists were in the Opinion one might do so, and so with a good Conscience he might follow this probable Opinion.

XXXIX. A. B. resolving rather to be expos'd to the Persecution of evil Tongues,XXXIX. Her Delivery from him, and his end. than to the Brutality of this Villain, she acquaints the Pastors, and he continuing [Page] notwithstanding to molest her, knocking at the Gates, and threatning to break up her Doors and Windows, she applies to the Magistrates, and after the Affair was examin'd, he being afraid to be imprison'd, or even hang'd for offering to force the House, he by the Jesuits, among whom he had a Brother, employs many Friends to solicite the Magistrates and A. B. to cease the Process, offering to make what Reparation she pleas'd. So there was an Authentick Accord made and seal'd with the great Seal of the City, the 17th. of August, 1658. Wherein he retracts the Slanders he had uttered against her, obliging himself under a great Penalty never to come again into her Presence, and paying all the Expences of the Process. After this, he debauch'd, at Gaunt, one of the Maids who had been with her, who with Difficulty got him to marry her, both of them afterwards leading a profligate Life, and he stirring up all the Mischief he could against A. B. But at the end of Three Years he became mad, and died in rage, denying God, and calling on the Devils to help him, crying out that he felt the Pains of Hell, and the Torments of Devils. She afterwards often ask'd of God, ‘Why he permitted her to remain so long in Blindness as to that Man, while she often knew the State of the Souls of others whom she never saw?’ She was told, It was to exercise her.

XL. To prevent the like Dangers,XL. She turns her House into a Cloyster. A. B. would needs have her House shut up as a Cloyster, that no Men might have occasion to come to her, which was done by Order and under Protection of the Bishop of Tournay. She was now greatly comforted and in quiet, being out of the Hazard of the Conversation of Men. The Children also lived more satisfied, learning all things more perfectly. She applied more closely to teach them, and to observe their Faults. She endeavoured to her Power to perfect their Souls, and to make them capable also to gain their Living, they greatly lov'd and obey'd her, and liv'd in great Concord, tho' of different Countries and Tempers, and every one thought those Children happy, and that they were like little Angels, as they outwardly appear'd.

XLI. About Three Years after,XLI. The Discovery of the Childrens Sorceries. she was thus shut up, one of the Girls of Fifteen Years having done some Fault, was shut close up for a Pennance in the Prison of the House. Within an Hour after she came into the Work-House [Page] where all the rest were, tho' the Provisor had lock'd her up within Three Gates, and was gone to the Market, and had the Keys at her Girdle. A. B. upon enquiry, finding all this to be true, ask'd her How she got out? She said, ‘A Man had taken her out.’ And after Dinner having call'd her to her, and she giving the same Answer. She ask'd If she knew him. She said, ‘Very well, it was the Devil.’ At this A. B. trembled, saying, The Devil is a Spirit, not a Man. The Girl said, ‘He comes to me in the form of a Man, and I calling him to help me when shut up,’ he opened the Door and took me out. A. B. ask'd if she had known this Man of a long time. She said, ‘Yes, all her Life, that her Mother from her Childhood had carried her to the Sabbath of the Witches, which is kept in the Night, and that she being a little Child, this Devil Man was then also a Young Boy, and grew up as she did, being always her Lover, and caress'd her Day and Night.’ A. B. could not conceive this, for she had never heard of such things.

She immediately wrote for the Three Pastors, the Overseers of the House, to whom the Maid declared that she had given her Soul to the Devil, and denied God, and to confirm the Gift had received a Mark in her Foot, which she did freely when Twelve Years of Age, though long before this Lover had still entertain'd her and carried her to the Sabbaths of Sorcerers in great Castles, where they met to eat, drink, dance, sing, and do a thousand other Insolencies. She put her out of the House the same Day, fearing least the other Girls should be corrupted. It grieved her to see the Devil had such Power, and yet she could not believe that this Bellotte (for the Girl was so call'd) was a Witch, for she still thought they were filthy and deform'd Creatures, as she had heard they transform'd themselves into Cats or other Animals. She pray'd to God to discover her unknown Sins, and continued in her pious Exercises, believing she had purg'd the House of such Persons.

About Three Months after, another Girl of Fifteen Years was going to be imprison'd for Stealing, she said the Devil made her do it; and she was immediately put out of the House that it might be purg'd of such. But Three Months after, another of Eleven Years was going to be whip'd for the same Fault, and she said do it not, and I [Page] will tell who made me do this Evil. And A. B. taking her to her Chamber, she said it was the Devil; that being Young and playing with the Girls of the Town, they ask'd her if she would go with them to the Dedication, that she should have good Cheer and a Lover, how soon she was Content, the Lover came on a little Horse, and took her by the Hand, asking if she would be his Mistress; she consenting, was carried through the Air with him, and the other Girls, into a great Castle, where they had all sort of Feasting and Mirth, that she has been there ever since, Three or Four times a Week: That at the Age of Ten Years she gave her Soul to the Devil, renounc'd God and her Baptism, and receiv'd a Mark in her Head, which was afterwards found to be insensible; for they put a Pin the length of ones Finger into her Head without her feeling any Pain.

The Pastors having examined this Girl, thought not fit to put her out of the House, till it were discovered from whence his Evil might arise. She was kept in a Chamber apart, and Peter Salmon, Pastor of St. Sauvear, undertook to examine her daily, and to endeavour her Conversion; and asking her one Day, if there were any other in the House like to her, she said there were Two who went with her daily to the Sabbath. They being call'd, and spoke with separately in private, confest ingenuously that they were in Covenant with the Devil. These Two said, there were yet other Two in the House, and being desired to name them, each of them nam'd Two different Persons, who being call'd, confest, each of these naming yet Two different Persons who were of the same Crew: So that from Two to Four, from Four to Eight, it was discovered that all the Two and Thirty Girls which were then in the House, were all in general, and each one in particular bound to the Devil, of their own Free-will, having contracted it diversly; some from their Fathers, others from their Mothers, some had learn'd it by little Girls in playing together, as they declared both to A. B. and to the said Pastor, who put in Writing all they said to him.

A. B. was in no little Perplexit to be shut up in a House, from whence she could not get out, with Thirty Two Persons who declar'd they had given their Souls to the Devil, and that she must eat and drink with them, or [Page] what they made ready. She propos'd to dismiss them by degrees, but then fear'd to be guilty of the Mischiefs they would do to others, for they confest they had made both Men and Beasts die. The Pastors thought it fittest to keep them; said there were Hopes they might be converted to God, having been engag'd to the Devil before the Use of their Reason, and promised to come every Day to admonish and exercise them, and pray for their Conversion. This was done for the space of Eight Months, in which the Girls made great shews of Conversion, by Tears, repeated Confessions, Prayers, and attending to the Admonitions given them, but without Sincerity. Their Hearts were wedded to the sensual Pleasures which the Devil gave them. So that they had not the Desire to change or leave those wretched Pleasures; as one of them, of Twenty Two Years, said one Day to A. B. No says she, ‘I would not be otherwise, I find too much Contentment in it to leave it, I am always caress'd: I have been so from Eight Years to Two and Twenty.’

XLII.XLII. Their Declarations. Pastor Salmon wrote down their Confessions, they declar'd plainly they had daily carnal Conversation with the Devil, that they went to the Sabbath, where they eat, drank, danc'd, and committed other Sensualities. Each had their Devil in form of a Man, and the Men theirs in form of a Woman; that they never saw more numerous Meetings in the City than at their Sabbaths, of People of all Ranks, Young and Old, Rich and Poor, Noble and Ignoble, but above all, of all sorts of Monks and Nuns, Priests and Prelates, and that every one kept their Rank there, as they are in the World. Many of them shed plenty of Tears when A. B. spoke to them of the Judgments of God, of the Joys of Paradise, and the Pains of Hell; and when she ask'd some of the most sensible of them, If those Tears were sincere; they said, ‘They proceeded from a Grief of having denied God, and given up themselves to the Devils; but this lasted no longer than they were spoke to, or thought upon their miserable State, and then presently the Devil came and ask'd them if they would leave him, and the Pleasures they had together, and so caress'd them, that they renewed their Covenant with him, forgetting all their former good Purposes.’

[Page] She ask'd, If the Admonitions, Exorcisms, and Prayers of the Pastors did not deprive the Devil of Power to keep them subject to him. They said, ‘The Devil mock'd at these things, and did ape the Pastors: When they kneeled to pray, he did so behind them, and with a Book mumbled the same Words. When they preach'd, he us'd the same Gestures, and also threw Holy Water, and Incens'd as they did, aping them always in Mockery.’

She ask'd, How they could pray or sing so many good Prayers all Day, being in Covenant with the Devil. They said, ‘He prayed and sang with them, because their Prayers were without Attention; and instead of singing Praises to God, their Intentions were to sing Praises to the Devil, in which he gloried and valued himself. She’ ask'd, How they could approach the Table of the Lord, and receive the Sacrament. They said, ‘The Devil incited them to do it as often as they could, and the greatest Pennance she could ordain them was to make them abstain from the Sacrament, which cover'd their Wickedness, and made them pass for good Persons before Men: Besides, the Devil did his most mischievous Deeds with the Consecrated Bread. She said, All this would assuredly’ lead them to Hell. They said, ‘They knew it very well; but the Devil promised them the same carnal and sensual Pleasures there, that they had with him in this World.’

She ask'd, If they knew indeed that it was the Devil that entertain'd them so, and if they knew there was a Hell, and a Paradise before they came into her House. They said, ‘Yes; for the Devil taught them that, and had often catechis'd them, and taught them there was a God, a Paradise, a Hell, and a Devil; that they who did his Will, could never see God, but should be his Companions in Hell to all Eternity.’ She ask'd, How they could belong to the Devil from their Infancy. They said, ‘This came from their Parents. When Fathers or Mothers give themselves to the Devil, they give all that is theirs, and it is rare to see, when they have been offered by their Parents to the Devil, even before they are born, that they withdraw after they are come to Age, for the Habit in Evil becomes natural to them; and the Devil entertaining them from their Infancy with Caresses and sensual Pleasures, he so gains upon them, that they [Page] would not quit him for any thing, after they have been so allur'd by his Sensualities, such as all Men could not give them: For he contrives to make them eat all sort of Meats savoury to their Taste, all sort of Liquors pleasant to their Throat, all sort of Musick to their Ears, of Odour to their Smell, of Ticklings to their Flesh, so that being brought up thus, it is almost impossible to desire to leave them; and therefore, say they, we would not change our Condition, for we find more Pleasure in it than Men can give us.’

She bewail'd their Misery, and shew'd them all was but Deceit and Illusion: For Instance, that they had not eaten nor drunken at their Sabbaths, they would have been very hungry in the Morning, and eaten with good Appetite great Lumps of Butter, yea, dry Bread when given them. And if they had been eating such dainty Meat, they would have disrelish'd such gross Food. They said, ‘They had nevertheless the taste and pleasure of all these, and therefore would not leave them.’

She ask'd, How it was possible that Parents should thus offer their Children to the Devil, and not to God who created them. They said ‘Those who are thus bound to the Devil, will have no other God but him, and therefore offer him all they have that is most dear, and even are constran'd to offer their Children, else he would beat them, and hinder them from being married or having Children; both which he can hinder by his Adheren [...] That when a Child thus offered comes to the Use of Reason, he then asks their Soul, makes them deny God, renounce their Baptism and Faith, and promise Faith and Fidelity to the Devil, after the manner of an Espousal. And instead of a Ring, gives them some Mark, as with an Awl of Iron, in some part of the Body, which Marks he renews as oft as they have a desire to leave him, and binds them more strongly by new Promises, giving them those new Marks for a Pledge that they shall continue faithful to him: And how soon they come to Age capable of having Children, he makes them offer the Will they have of marrying to his Honour, and therewith all the Fruit that can proceed from their Marriage, which they promise willingly, that they may attain their Designs; otherwise the Devil threatens [Page] to hinder them, by all sort of means from marrying or bringing forth Children.’

XLIII.XLIII. No ground to disbelieve this Story, or that the World swarms with such. Some can hardly believe that all these Girls could have been in Compact with the Devil, far less that Declaration of A. B. as from God, that so vast a multitude of People on the Earth are in Compact with him. A. B. could as little believe it as any, for she thought none but the vilest Miscreants were such, till there were undoubted Proofs given her of it. The voluntary Confession of all the Girls, the preternatural Acts done by them in her Presence, their Agreement in their Confessions as to their Sabbaths, the manner of Dovoting themselves to the Devil, &c. Their Declaration of all this to the Three Pastors, some of them still owning their Confession, (tho' others were easily perswaded to deny it again, finding they were caress'd by the Magistrates for so doing) and the Attestation of the Truth of all this by the Three Pastors (Copies of which are in the La vie Continuée, and the Originals in the Hands of the Writer of it) are such Evidences as will satisfie all, but they who will not be satisfied. And as for the other, we need not think it so extravagant, if we consider that it is Satan's earnest Desire and Ambition to have Men devoted to him by express Covenant; that the more he have of such, he is the more capable of doing Mischief to the rest of Mankind than he can do by himself without them; that he obliges all who are so, to devote to him all their Posterity; that he still labours to alie and marry them with the Good, that so he may corrupt their Off-spring, that they who are thus devoted to him, being once habituated to all manner of sensual Delights, can hardly ever will to be reclaimed again; that in outward Appearance they differ nothing from others, but put on for the most part the greatest pretences to Devotion; that when ever any of them are discovered and tried, if strict Enquiry be made about them, their number appears incredible; witness the late Trials in the West of Scotland, those of Sweden, New England, and what the Learned Bodinus tells from his own Knowledge, That when Pardon was granted to a Sorcerer upon Condition to discover his Compalices, he discovered so many of all Ranks, that at length he plainly told there would be One Hundred Thousand in that Country.

[Page] XLIV.XLIV. The Parents accuse her to the Magistrates. About the end of that time, an old Woman of Lisle importun'd A. B. to take into the House a Girl of Nine Years, who being discovered to be one of the Coven, was immediately thrust out again, telling the old Woman that all their Secrets were discovered to the Regent of the Hospital. She run about immediately to the Magistrates, and the Parents of the Children, telling how their Reputation was quite broken by A. B. by saying they were Witches. She obtain'd of the Magistrates that Enquiry should be made into the Life of A. B. without her knowledge. And the Criminal Clerk took Informations upon Oath in the Town, and neighbouring Towns and Villages, all which serv'd only to make her Innocence and Purity the more evident; for the Witnesses they had pitch'd upon as most animated against her, could depone nothing but what was good and praise-worthy, and could lay-nothing to her Charge. Which he who received the Dpositions admired; saying, he knew no Body, who if their Life had been examin'd from their Childhood, by Enemies, and with the same Rigour, could have undergone the Trial so unblameably, without being guilty of something. She was afterwards allow'd Witnesses for her Excuspation, and when some of them were heard, he said, there needs no more, for there is almost enough already for to Canonize her, and declare her a Saint. All these Depositions are still in the Register of the Town of Iasle.

XLV.XLV. [...]. On the 9th. of Febraury, 1662. they sent the Lieutenant and Sergeants armed, and broke open her House, and carried her violently to the To [...], with a great Noise and croud of People, who imagin'd she was seiz'd for a Witch, because of the Report spread about the Children, where they examin'd her most strict [...]y Six Hours, and made her give an Account of all the Affairs that concern'd the Hospital, which she did with such a presence of Mind, as made her remember all, and answer most pertinently; so they behov'd to acknowledge they could not find any Fault in her. Yet they brought her before them after the same manner at several times, without granting her Request of calling her in the Evening to avoid Scandal. They caus'd bring the Children also to see what they could draw from them against her, but they could say nothing against her; only some of them said, a Servant-Maid of hers had chastis'd one of [Page] the Girls with a Wand, and not long after that she died. So they caus'd seize the poor Servant as if she had kill'd the Girl, and resolv'd to do so to the Mistress, under pretext that the Correction was by her Order; but four Persons declar'd upon Oath that this was most false and that the Gird died by eating to excess of green Fruits out of the Lodging. One of the Magistrates said to the Children, ‘She accuses you of Witchcraft, and going to the Sabbaths; Why do you not accuse her too. But the Girls, how wicked soever, trembling at such a black Malice, said immediately, No, No, our Mother, (so they call'd her) is no Witch, she goes not to the Sabbath; Our Mother is a Saint, she is all full of God.’

XLVI.XLVI. Malefices to take a way her Life. They conspir'd in the House to take away her Life by Malefices; the Devil had Meetings with Twenty Five of them, how to effectuate it, and with their Consent made an Unguent of divers matters, of which there were Balls given to put in her Broth. S. Saulieu was at the Meeting, for he also kept the Sabbaths, and stirred them up to make her away. One of the eldest of them discovered it to her, and went with her to one of the Girl's Bed and found the Ball. She advertis'd the Pastors, and they the Magistrates, and she was told if she was afraid, she might remove, and they would place another in her room. She staid till she discovered Fourteen Children who had of these Balls to destroy her. She then chose a Regent and retir'd, entring a Protestation before the Magistrates, that she did not abandon the Regency having left one in her Place. When the Magistrates examin'd the Girls, the eldest declared all the Truth, and the Magistrates laboured to make her unsay it, which she would nor. The others who denied all, they sent away cheerful, [...]ing one to another, the Magistrates are for us. Two Days after she retired, the Magistrates thrust the Widow out of the Regency. The Jesuits got the Oversight of it, there they plac'd one of their Maids, they admitted the Girls presently to Confession and Communion, making them pass for little Saints, and A. B. for Guilty.

XLVII.XLVII. She wi [...]hdraws to Gaunt and Mechlin. She retir'd to Gaunt, and from thence to Mechlin, and form'd a Process before the King's Council at Brussel [...], against the Magistrates at Lisle, for the Recovery of the Hospital, and tho' it did appear most evidently that she was Innocent, and that they had acted against [Page] her with inexcusable Violence, yet they would not venture to give Sentence for her against a Party so Powerful, and far, more Considerable before Men, than was the Innocence of a simple private Maid: So the Process remains undecided to this Day, and she could no longer abide in Safety in Lisle, unless in secret.

XLVIII.XLVIII. Is esteem'd by Learned and Good Men there. She staid Four Years in Flanders, at Gaunt, and Mechlin, after she had left the Hospital, and many well-dispos'd Persons made Acquaintance with her. The first she spoke with at Mechlin was one Mr. Coriathe, an Archdeacon, who became afterwards Vicar General. At his Request she wrote the first Treatise of her Life, call'd La Parole de Dieu. She wrote to him also many Letters which are printed in the First and Second Parts of La lum. nèe en tenebr. She had also there in the number of her Friends, a Learned and Pious Divine, M. Peter Noel, Licentiate in Divinity, Priest and Canon, who had been Secretary of the Famous Cornelius Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres. This Man being of the Sentiments of Augustin, engag'd her in Conferences concerning Grace, where she unravell'd in an admirable manner all the Difficulties which have hitherto been inexplicable by Mens Spirits. This gave occasion to her writing the Treatise, call'd Academie des S [...]avans Theologiens, because of the great Contests which were then between the Jansenists and Molinists, concerning Grace, and the great Noise that was made about the Doctrine of the Casuists concerning Attrition, Contrition, Probability, and their Morals; wherein her Friends, being all Jansenists, discours'd to her often of the Excess of their Adversaries, which she could hardly believe till she went and heard some of their Preachers who vented sometimes their sine Morality. She was touch'd with Compassion, for the Blind that were led, and with Indignation at the Blind Leaders. It pitied her to see the general Abuse among the Churchmen, the Religious, and the People, who rested on Trifles and a meer Outside, which the Blindness of some Guides recommended as a sure way to Salvation, tho' they never thought of being purified from their inward and secret Sins, nor of returning to the Love of God. In this Treatise all these things are handled with great Penetration, Clearness, and Solidity. Monsieur Noel was perswaded that she was full of the Holy Spirit, but on the other hand it troubled him [Page] to see that the Holy Fathers had not still the same Light with her in Theological Matters, or as to divers Places of the Holy Scripture. She wrote to him several Letters on this and other Subjects, which are in La Lum. neé en tenebres.

Another of her Acquaintances was M. Gillemans, Canon and Archpriest of Gaunt, who one Day asking her Opinion of the Doctrine of the Casuists, that one might be saved by Attrition without Contrition, and telling her he had written a great Volume against the Jesuits upon that Subject; she told him her Thoughts, and that she had lately put them into Writing. After having oft solicited for this Paper, he obtain'd a sight of it for some Days, which he read with such Admiration, that when he return'd it, he said, You have said more things, and more convinci [...]g on this Subject, in these Three Leaves, than I have done in all my Book, which has cost me so much Time, Labour, and Expences; and therefore I condemn my Book never to see the Light. This Writing is the Fifth Chapter of the First Part of Academie des Sçavans Theologiens.

She return'd to Lisle, May, 1664. where she staid privately for some Months about her Affairs, for the most part in the House of her Pastor Monsieur Lamberti, where she wrote the Explication of the 24th. and 25th. Chapters of St. Matthew, which are in La Lum nec en tenebres. To him she wrote many Letters, after her first Return to Lisle, in the 23d. and 24th. Years of her Age, which was the first of all her Writings, and it is call'd L'Appel de Dieu & le Rufus des Hommes, Part I.

XLIX.XLIX. Particularly by M. de Cort But the most faithful and constant Friend she had in Flanders, was M. Christian de Cort, Pastor of the chief Church at Mechlin, and Superiour of the Fathers of The Oratory there: A Man full of Zeal for God, and Charity for his Neighbour, and void of all Self-seeking. From the first time that A. B. spoke to him, he was so touch'd, enlightn'd, and enflam'd by God, that immediately he resolv'd absolutely to follow Jesus Christ even to Death, in the abandoning all Honour, Pleasures, and Wealth of this World, which he promis'd a little after to A. B. and perform'd with an inviolable Fidelity. He no sooner discovered that God had hid in her the Treasures of his Divine Wisdom, than he took all Occasions to be instructed by her, and when alone, set down in Writing the [Page] Summ of what had past in their Conversation, but briefly and without order. He acquainted her with his Resolution to publish this to the World; thinking himself oblig'd in Conscience to undeceive others, as by those Divine Truths he was undeceiv'd himself. But when she had seen his Papers, and read a little of them, she told him, they would be useful for himself but not for others, because they often answer'd the Thoughts of his own Mind, which no Body perceived but himself; and being solicited by him to compose this Work anew, returning him his Papers, she her self wrote by way of Conference, the things which God brought into her Memory, in the same manner as they are now publish'd, in the Three Parts Of the Light of the World.

L.L. Goes to Holland. In September, 1667. she went for Holland, at the Solicitation of M. de Cort, in order to the printing of this Book, her Friends having assur'd her that she would not be permitted to do it in Brabant; and she propos'd to retire from thence to the Isle of Noordstrand, where she had bought a Farm from M. de Cort, the Director of it. She had Debates with her self before she could resolve to go to Holland, having never been in any Place without the Dependance of the Church of Rome, and being made believe that all the Hereticks, as they call'd them, were monstrous and infectious. But having recommended this Affair to God, she was told, That these common Differences of Religion do not bring Salvation, but the Love of God only, and Vertue, which we ought to love in all Persons who aspire to it, without regarding what outward Religion they profess; that she ought to do Good to all, and to communicate to all, the Light of the Divine Truth, of what Religion soever they be. This wrought in her Soul such a perfect Impartiality, that she never afterwards enquired of what Religion one was, provided only he desired to put in practice the Doctrine of Jesus Chrik, and to recover the Love of God.

LI.LI. [...]. sick at Amderdam, and is visited by Persons of all Perswasions. When they came to Amsterdam, she chose a little House in a very private Place, to live solitarily in Conformity to the Private, Poor, and Mean State of Jesus Christ; but a dangerous Sickness seizing her, she permitted M. de Cort to bring to her a Physician of his Acquaintance, who could not forbear speaking of her to others, so that in a little time her Fame went through all the Country, and [Page] People of all sorts desired to speak with her. She thought that God might, perhaps, by this means, open the Eyes of some, make them see the miserable State of the World, and dispose them to embrace a Christian Life. And indeed many were mov'd to this, so far as to encline to resolve upon it. But it was as in the Days of Jesus Christ, one Day one would follow him, and a little after withdraw from him, without thinking any more on him, unless it were, it may be, to defame him or stone him, or cry, Crucifie him; Every one had Business and Excuses which hindred them from Corresponding with the Calls of God.

The Anabaptists or Mennonists, came to her, and seem'd greatly to esteem the Graces of God in her, but she no sooner discover'd the Nature and Properties of Hypocrisie, and the generality of the Corruption even in the most Holy, but finding themselves included, they all declared against her. She look'd on them as a Set of Persons, who under modest and humble Words, Cloaths, and Gestures, did conceal proud, worldly, and unregenerate Hearts. Of them she writes in La Lum. neé en tenebres, Part 2.

Serrarius, Famous enough for his Writings and Correspondence, at first highly esteem'd her, proclaim'd her as a living Gospel: And all the time he found her Thoughts agree with his, as to the last Plagues, the Conversion of the Jews, Re-establishment of the Church, and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ upon Earth, all went well; but when he found that she was not for the Re-establishment of a certain Levitical Worship which he fancied, nor made any reckoning of an Impostor among the Jews, who was risen up in the East, he declared against her, and studied to effice every where the good Impressions he had given of her. She clears her self by a publick Print, Tomb. de la fausse Theol. Part 2. Letter 14.

At that time Labadie and his Disciples, had as much Esteem for her and her Writings, as afterwards they conceiv'd an Aversion for both: They endeavour'd to bring her over to them by M. de Cort, offering great Summs of Money to buy Noordstradt, and to go with them, but to no purpose. She found he had no other Light but what Reading, barren Speculations, and some Acts of his own Understanding gave him; and for a Motive of his Conduct, some strong Conceits and Motions of his corrupt Passions, without being any ways enlightned by the [Page] Spirit of God, or govern'd by the calm Motions of the Divine Inspiration. Therefore he and his, fail'd not to blacken her on all Occasions, the most piously and cunningly they could, that the People might reckon her to be an Instrument of Satan, and abhor her as the Devil himself.

M. Commenius, so Famous among the Learned, being then acquainted with her, had quite other Thoughts. But his Knowledge had not puff'd him up, tho' it gave him some Prejudices, which made him propose some Difficulties, in which she satisfied him. On his Death-Bed he bid tell her to give him the last Visit, saying, O the Holy Maid! Where is she? May I have the Happiness to see her yet once before I die! All the Knowledge and Sciences I have had, are nothing but Productions of Reason, and of the Mind of Man; but she has a Wisdom and Light that comes from none but God alone, immediately by the Holy Spirit. A. B. said often of him, that she never knew a Learned Man who had a better and more humble Heart than he.Tomb. de la fausse Theol. Part 2. Letter 1. ‘I was visited also, says she, by the Socinians, who do altogether despise Jesus Christ, saying, that it is Idolatry to worship him: And they ask'd me one Day, If I believed also in a created God, as Jesus Christ was? I did not much reason with them, because such impertinent Questions deserv'd no Answer, telling them only, that they ought not to come to me with such impertinent Discourse, so they withdrew themselves. Yet some affirm, that I am of their Sentiments, from which I pray God preserve me.’

Many false Prophets and Prophetesses came to visit her: One shewing her his Sword half drawn, said he was going to behead all the Kings of the Earth, and would begin at England; and so entring into a little Bark, it is not known what became of him. Another, John Roth, had made ready Standards for the Twelve Tribes of Israel, whom he was to re establish, and some well-meaning People followed him. In some Visits he made her, she easily discovereded the Illusion, and warn'd her Friends to beware of him, being expresly told by God, that he was a presumptuous Man over whom the Devil had much Power. God gave her the same Sentiments of those of his Cabal, particularly of one Quirin Kuhlman. The Quakers also would try if they could draw her over to their Sect, but they soon gave over their Hopes, and one wrote against [Page] her, upon which afterwards when in Holstein, she wrote the Advertisement contre les Trembleurs. Thus it seems the Devil design'd to distract or seduce her by all these sorts of Persons. But God would thereby exercise her, and make her know by experience to what height the Folly and Presumption of Man can go, when joyn'd with the Illusions of the Devil, never letting her be deceived by them. He design'd also thereby to let the World see the vast difference between the false Lights of the Devil or the Imagination, and the true Light that God sends in a way so solid, so clear, and so little capable of being suspected, since she, by whom he communicates it, seeks to draw no body after her, aiming at nothing but a simple, retir'd, solitary Life, disengag'd from all Pleasures, Riches, and Honours, imitating Jesus Christ, without obliging any body to believe any other thing, as necessary for Salvation, but the Love of God, and the denying of ones self; looking on all other Knowledge, and even things of Revelation, as not necessary for those who have not yet Light and Grace enough necessary to receive them. In which it is absolutely impossible that Seduction should mingle it self. God made her also see how far the best cultivated humane Spirits are blinded and remov'd from the Kingdom of God, by some Conversations she had with the Cartesians, both Divines and Philosophers, particularly with the Professors, Heydanus and Burmannus; upon which occasion she wrote the Twelfth Letter of the First Part of Tomb. de la fausse Theol. The Philosophers would perswade her, that in spiritual things she came near their Principles. She told them their Malady was, that they would needs comprehend all by the activity of Humane Reason, without giving place to the Light of Divine Faith, which requires a Cessation of the activity of our Reason; that God may shed or revive therein that Divine Light, without which not only God is not well known, but even he and the true Knowledge of him are banish'd out of the Soul by this activity of our corrupt Mind and Reason; which is a real kind of Atheism, and rejecting of God. They were so full of their Idea's, that they mock'd at her Remonstrances: But one of them being a little after seiz'd with a mortal Sickness, in the Flower of his Age, and God opening his Eyes to let him see his Error, he began to lament and cry, Night and [Page] Day, My Ʋnderstanding! my Ʋnderstanding, to what hast thou brought me! Alas, my Reason, in which I so much trusted! what assistance canst thou give me now! Now thou canst give me neither Salvation, nor the hope of it! I must be damned! There can be no Mercy for me. A Friend of A. B. going to see him in that State, endeavour'd to comfort him; but the other finding no Quiet, ask'd him still, If he thought there was yet any Mercy to be hop'd for his Soul. And then, casting again his Eyes and Arms from one side to another, began again his Complaints; My Ʋnderstanding! my Ʋnderstanding! Whether hast thou guided me? Some of his Friends, amongst others, Steno and Swammerdam, came often to visit and comfort him; but nothing could calm him. At last he turns to the Friend of A. B. saying, ‘Go tell that good Soul (meaning A. B.) to pray to God for me, that I may obtain the Pardon of this Sin, otherwise I am damned or must suffer a very long Purgatory. O, if I could recover of this Sickness, I would turn wholly unto God, and would follow quite another Way.’ But when this was told to A. B. She answered, He shall not rise again, but he will die; for if he should recover, he would fall again more profoundly into this pernicious Errour. He died, his Judgment being sound and good, but with Great Repentance and Contrition, adoring, with great Fervency, Jesus Christ crucified, to the Greeks and to the Philosophers, Foolishness.

A. B. had such an Horrour for this wicked Disposition of the Philosophers, that she could not suffer it, affirming that God had declared to her expresly, That this Errour of Cartesianism was the worst and most cursed of all the Heresies in the World, and a formal Atheism or a rejecting of God, in whose Place corrupt Reason did set up it self. Not that this Idol of corrupt Reason is not a thing common to all the Learned, and to all sorts of Philosophers, as well as the Cartesians; but these are incomparably more wedded to it; they think they are in Possession of it above all, and they will admit of nothing but by this Way.

After she had been visited by all sorts of Persons who reaped not that Profit they might have done, God sent her two or three sincere and well disposed Men, who finding in her Life and Conversation the Means to approach unto God, and to advance the Perfection of their Souls, left the World, their Business and Friends, and continued with her [Page] all the time of her Life and theirs. All others withdrew to her great Satisfaction. She said, ‘God had made her see by this Converse with People of all Sorts whom she had admitted indifferently by his Divine Order, how few are to be gained in the World, even among the best, and those who seek the Truth; and that after these Visits, God would never more engage her to such a Distraction, and that she should lead a retir'd Life all the rest of her Days.’ Which fell out, and she begun it then in Amsterdam, and did not give access as formerly.

LII.LII. Wrote here some of her Books. She employ'd most of this Time to compose many Books, Of which these are the Principal; The Funeral of False Divinity, in 4 Parts. Upon Occasion of some Conferences with the Cartesian Philosophers, she wrote the Holy Perspective. There she wrote also her Outward Life, and the New Heaven and the New Earth. In the writing of which, she was so ravished that she often forgot her necessary Food. She designed to have continued these Wonders: But God said unto her, Leave that Work; Men are not worthy nor capable of it; they will imagine that they have the Dispositions requisite for that glorious State, but they are very far from them. Shew them rather the miserable State they are brought into by Sin, under the Dominion of corrupt Nature, and under the Empire of Antichrist who now rules over them without their apprehending it. Write to them of the Reign of Antichrist. So she laid by her Pen and that Work, saying to God, I shall do it, Lord, and wrote afterwards the Treatise of Antichrist discovered, in Three Parts. She began another Treatise, called The last Mercy of God, but did not finish it, for the Reasons told in the Conclusion of it, and the Traverses she met with in the Imprisonment of M. de Cort, and her own Persecutions and Flights kept her from the Pursuing that and other Works which she had begun.

LIII.LIII. Mr. de Cort cast into a Dun geon by the Jansenists. Had M. de Cort followed her Counsel, he might have avoided all the Mischief he fell into; but the Sincerity and Goodness of his Nature would not let him think that he had such cruel Enemies, especially amongst his Brethren and Friends, the Priests, Churchmen, and his own Disciples whom he had brought up, and to whom he had hitherto left and given all; he could not believe that they would seek to imprison him, or endeavour to poison him, as she forewarn'd him of both, and still bid him take heed of them.

[Page] The true Cause of this Imprisonment was, that God having touched his Heart to hearken to the Divine Truths declared unto him by A. B. he resolved not only to embrace them, but to publish them also to others, designing to retire to the Isle of Noordstrand, of which he was Director, and had the best Part of it at his Disposal, and to invite good Men thither, who desir'd to lead a Christian Life. This seem'd to his Brethren an Apostacy, and the setting up a new Heresie; they resolve therefore to ruin him. But this Pretext would not do at Amsterdam or Holstein, and therefore they must devise another.

At Amsterdam there is a Dungeon, where at the Instance of Creditors they arrest and shut up Strangers who are in Debt, till they have satisfied it. There are usually ten or twelve Prisoners there, living in Despair as mad, passing the time in swearing, blaspheming, and committing a thousand Impieties, and sometimes killing one another, having no Food but a piece of brown Bread and a little small Beer; and there some of them die in Misery. They thought this Place would do as well as one of the Prisons of the Roman Inquisition; and to get him there, this Expedient was thought upon.

Monsieur Gorin, who was truly Monsieur de Saint Amour, who was sent to Rome in the Affair between the Jansenists and Jesuits; and on that Occasion wrote the famous Journal of St. Amour, having bought from Monsieur de Cort some Lands in Noordstrand, who had assured him that he would have Eight per Cent. of yearly Revenue, and if it did not yield that, promised to restore him his Principal, and to take back the said Lands, and by a Trick he got him to sign a Paper for this; in which Paper the principal Summ was set at 12000 Florins French Money; and when M. de Cort said the Price of the Lands was only 8000 Florins, Gorin said, it's true, but 8000 of Dutch Money make 12000 of French; and so the good Man replying, he did not know the Value of the Exchange, hastily signed the Writing when he was taking Horse at Paris, whither he had gone to see his good Friends, the Jansenists, who were then persecuted, and to whom he would have given all his Lands if they had ask'd them. So Gorin being Procurator for the other French Jansenists who had bought Interests in Noordstrand, resolves to demand his Principal and more, as having got only 4 or 5 per [Page]Cent. of yearly Revenue, and he knew M. de Cort had not Money to re-imburse him. The other Partners consent, and especially the Fathers of the Oratory at Mechlin, who had not yet deprived themselves of the Possession of M. de Cort's Goods, and thought this would be a Mean to perpetuate it. The Matter stood thus; M. de Cort had purchased a considerable Interest in Noordstrand, besides the Tythes, and the being the Director of it, he being perswaded that God would make that Island a Place of Refuge for his Persecuted Servants, and looking then on the Jansenists as such, he drew them out of France, Flanders, and Holland, into this Isle, of which he sold them Parcels: And he himself having contracted Debts in making of this Purchase, the Fathers of the Oratory at Mechlin urg'd him to leave all his own Possessions and Rights there, to their Congregation. He consented, provided they would pay his Debts which he had contracted in the Acquisition. This they promised to do; but, to authorize their Right, they would have it by Way of Contract, as if they had had given him such Summs for his Possessions (tho' he never received any) and made him leave out the Condition of Paying his Debts, for that they would have him trust their World; alledging that otherwise his Creditors might fall upon them all at once to their Ruin. Thus they entred in Possession; and when they would pay none of his Creditors, he makes a Revocation of this Contract of Sale, as fraudulent, to which the Grand Council at Mechlin consents, provided he satisfie the Fathers within a Year and a half, and the same is ratified by the Duke of Holstein, the Prince of the Island. Thus he was ready to free his Possessions of all their Pretensions against them, and to retire thither with'those who loved the Truth. But their Avarice, and Hatred of him as a Deserter, made them conspire his Ruin.

The 7th of March, 1669. M. Gorin, or St. Amour, came with two others to make a friendly Visit to M. de Cort in his Lodging. Within two Days he came again, and M. de Cort being absent, he spoke with A. B. who offered to give him his principal Summ for the Lands he had of M. de Cort, at which he seem'd well satisfied. The same Day he obtained an Order for seizing his Person upon the Pretences already said. Within two Days he invites him friendly to come to the House of John de Swaan, to treat with the [Page] Partners about the new Dike he designed to make in Noordstrand, and having the Sergeants ready, he was immediately seized and made Prisoner at the Instance of M. Gorin.

LIV.LIV. Her Concern for him, and his Deliverance. Tho' the Fathers of the Oratory possest all his Revenues, they sent him not one Penny in his Misery. A. B. offered sufficient Bail, solicited to have him Prisoner in the Town-House, obtain'd Orders from the Duke of Holstein, to his opposite Party, to set him at Liberty, that both might answer at his Courts, their proper Judge; spar'd neither Procurators nor Advocates; wrote for his Justification, to all concern'd, pleading with a force of Reason and Equity, worthy of the greatest Civilian; but all in vain. They sought to seize her as the only Person that supplied him with Food and other things, and she was forc'd to leave her Lodgings and conceal her self. She wrote him many Letters for his Conduct and Consolation; and being spent with Labours and Afflictions, and praying earnestly to God to assist him whom no Creature would help, it was told her, That he would be his Advocate and deliver him; upon which she left off to solicite any. When Bail was offered, they got still some new Pretensions to arrest him. God made use of the same means for his Liberation. One of his Creditors, Mugenhove, took a Remorse for this Arrest, and calling together his Brethren and [...]isters, Coheirs, brought them to sign a Paper for his Deliverance, which was presented to the grand Officer at Amsterdam, M. Hasclaer, who finding it sing'd with so many Hands thought it was a general Warrant, and gave Order to set him at Liberty, which was done, after a miserable State of Six Months, by which God purg'd his Soul, and gave him so absolute a Patience, Tranquility, and Resignation to his Will, that he seem'd quite another Man. He immediately past over to Holstein, his Enemies being enrag'd at his unexpected Deliverance.

LV.LV. They Pe [...]n him in Holstein. But their Malice ceast not there: About Six Weeks after, he came to Holstein, there came to him a Stranger, pretending to be sent from one of his Friends at Hamburg, to see Noordstrand, and to be a Lover of the Truth. And after having entertain'd him kindly for some Days, speaking of some bodily Indisposition he had contracted in the Prison, and of the Gravel; the Stranger said he had a most singular Powder for it: He was prevail'd [Page] with to take it, and at the second time was struck next Morning with an universal Palsie, making Signs that he was poyson'd by the Stranger, who had got away early in the Morning, and past over in the first Boat; he died some Days after, November, 1669.

LVI.LVI. Her long Sickness. About this time A. B. was seiz'd with a long and grievous Sickness, which brought her often to the Gates of Death. She could not move her self, nor often express her Needs. Her Friends, who were but one or two, durst not go see her in the Day-time, least she should be discovered. There was none to assist her but a sloathful Maid, who let her suffer a Thousand Necessities. About this time the Murtherer came to ask for her, and bad tell her he was come from her Friend from Noordstrand, with Letters from him, and something to tell her by word of Mouth. No sooner did one of her Friends break it off to her, than she was seiz'd with an Aversion and a Divine Warning, and bid them beware to let him come into her Chamber, but remove him presently out of the House. Some Weeks after, she got the sad News of M. de Cort's Death, the only Assistance she had in the World. This at first made her complain to God, but upon a Warning from him, she said to him who had brought her the News: Since it was the Will of God so to permit it, I am content and satisfied, and I desire not that it should be otherwise.

LVII.LVII. M. de Cort had left her his Rights to Noordstrand. M. de Cort being dead, they levell'd all their Rage against A. B. whom he had constituted his Heiress, when he was formerly in Noordstrand, Anno. 1668. When walking one Day solitary in the Fields, as he was wont, and offering up his Prayers to God, and asking what he should do with that Isle, it was answer'd him thrice, as with an intelligible Voice, Give this Isle to Anthoinette Bourignon. He believ'd at first some Body near him might have spoke so, but looking round about him on the Plain, he was certain that no Body was near him. Then going quickly into his Lodging, he wrote the Testament with his own Hand, laying up one Copy of it seal'd among the Registers of the Isle, and sending another by Post to Amsterdam, in a Letter to A. B. praying her to examine it, and alter it as she pleas'd. She threw it on the Table without opening it, saying to her Friends, I have nothing to do with a Testament, for my own Goods are a Burthen to me, and so it remain'd seal'd long after his [Page] Death. This greatly afflicted him when he return'd to Amsterdam, and when she told him there would be no want of Persons to accept his Testament, he said, Not such as I wish: For if I leave my Goods to the Oratory, they will not pay my Debts; and if I leave them to my Friends, they will destroy one another with Processes, and every one will take what he can in Confusion. She said, Let us speak of other things.

LVIII.LVIII. They persecute her therefore This serv'd them for a Pretext to pursue her, and they thought to get her shut up in the Place where he had been; therefore they pursue the grand Officer for setting M. de Cort at Liberty, that to be free of them, he might put A. B. into the same Place. They had many Meetings and Contrivances on this Subject. It had been easie to execute all against a poor Languishing Creature that could not stir; but God hindered them both by Motions of Piety, and the Fear of God which he inspired in to the grand Officer, and by discovering to her in her spirit, their Plots when they were contriving them. She told her Friends who were with her; ‘I see, says she, in my Spirit such and such Enemies met together, who devise how to seize me: They have sent for the grand Officer; such propose to him that I am Heiress of M. de Cort, he has a right to seize me, and treat me as M. de Cort was, otherwise they will pursue him. He hears them, he wavers somewhat; but I perceive yet in his Heart Piety, and the Fear of God, that hinder him from yielding to the Solicitations of my Enemies: this was so true, that the grand Officer declared more than once all the same things to two of her Friends. After the’ Death of M. de Cort, she wrote to Brabant, that if any of his Kinsfolks would be his Heir, provided they would pay his Debts, she would quit that Inheritance, and yield them all her Rights. But it was told her, that neither any of them were capable of doing it, neither did they desire to meddle with it, so that she was obliged to do it for the Honour of his Memory, and for the Payment of his Creditors, which she still offered to do, if they would liquitale their Claims, and give her Access to his Inheritance.

LIX.LIX. She goes to Holstein. But her Enemies Malice still encreasing, she found it necessary to seek to preserve her Life by flight, and being so sick and weak that she could not stand, she was carried [Page] in the Night to the other end of the City, to a Merchant's House, where she was hid Eleven Months, with no less Hazards than those she had escaped, being left without Help, and without Necessaries, when she could not rise of her self. Yet God was pleas'd to give her Health by degrees, and returning to her first Lodging, she publish'd some of her Books; and then went from Amsterdam to Harlem, after she had petition'd to be allowed to stay under the Security of a Habcas Corpus; and it being made known to her, That it was the Will of God she should go to possess Noordstrand, she took Shipping for Holstein at Enchuysen, a Town in North-Holland, Four of her Friends going with her, they landed at Tonningue in Holstein, the 13th. of June, 1671. and in July, went to Sleswick, where she liv'd peaceably for some time under the Duke's Protection. Many Nobles and Officers both of the Court of Holstein, and Denmark, came to see her, and discourse with her of spiritual things, and did highly esteem both her and her Writings.

LX.LX. The Quakers write, and she Answers. About this time, the Quakers publish'd a Book against her, in low Dutch, to defame her, and within Three Months the Answer was compos'd, translated into Dutch, and printed at Amsterdam, under the Title of An Advertisement against the Sect of Quakers: Where she makes appear how far they are from being led by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and does so plainly point out their Spirit, that as to the general Temper of their Sect and Party, they may therein see themselves as in a Mirrour: It contains also the Foundations of all sorts of States, Order, Justice, Manners, and Commerce amongst Men, and gives a perfect Idea of a True Christian, or a Regenerate Person.

LXI.LXI. Some Anabaptists of Friesland come to her. When the War broke out at that time between France and Holland, several Persons of Friesland, to the number of Twenty, who were convinc'd of the Truth of her Writings, but were not disengag'd enough from the World, came to Holstein to live with A. B. and to embrace, as they said, an Evangelical Life; their Design might be justly suspected, since the Incommodity of War had made them abandon the World. But since, in the Parable of the Gospel, the King received to his Feast those who came there by Constraint, so she would not refuse these, tho' it appeared there was Constraint mingled [Page] in their Procedure. This is properly the Compel them to come in of the Gospel, and not that Men ought to constrain one another by force, to embrace some Religion which they judge best; Which is intirely Diabolical, and cannot please God, who requires a free and willing Service; for the most Essential Part of Religion, is an Offer of our Liberty, our Will, and our Heart unto God, and not a forced Act of a Person, who might say to God; ‘Lord, I 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.LXII. Their Behaviour. 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; t [...] 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 spar [...]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 [Page] 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.LXIII. The occasion of a new Persecution. 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 he [...]r the Truth which reproves and disturbs them in the [...]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; [Page] 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.LXIV. The Pastours of Holstein are alarmed. 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 i [...] 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.LXV. She is persecuted at Flensbourg. 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 [...]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 [Page] 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 the Prison. [...] brought him by the Hangman the [...]' a Guard to the Place of Execution, and caused to be [...] her Books which they found in the Coffer, and the Letter before him, wishing they had her to burn there with them; and the Hangman led him out of the Town, and they banish [...]d him all Holstein. The Pastours read an Ordinance of the Magistrates from the Pulpits, forbidding to lodge any of the Friends of this Maid, or to keep any Correspondence with them. The Animosity was no less every where. The Roman Priest, the Jesuit of Frederickstadt, wish'd he might furnish Fewel to burn her. Peter Gerard Patin, Priest of the Oratory at Mechlin, who staid at Noordstrand, and possess'd it for the Society and others of the Oratory, detainned her Goods, rejoiced in her Persecutions, and made several Attempts to rid themselves of her.

LXVI.LXVI. At Husum, and robb'd of her Printing. Press, Books and Pap [...]rs. When she returned to Husum, she had a little Security there. The Churchmen continued secretly their Pursuits to destroy her: And where they become a Party they are an inexhaustible Source of Enmity; and, as all the People count them holy Men, at least zealous for the Truth, so they never want Men enough ready to devote themselves to the Execution of their unjust Passions. When they forbad her to print any more there was in the Press, unfinish'd in Low and High-Dutch, the Treatise of Solid Vertue, and since it treated of no Controversie, she might have finish'd the Sheets that were wanting, but she did it not. However, Surmises being made to the Pastours that the Press was going, they obtained Orders from the Court, that the Fiscal of Sleswick should seize the Press and what [...] to it; and under Colour of this, by the Instigation or the Pastours and other Enemies, he came with Fury, Feb. 2. with Force to assist him, entred the House with Insolence, Cries and Menaces, broke up the Chests and Chambers, searched thro' all, took not only the Press and what belong [...]d to it, but many thousands of Books come from Holland, a Hundred Reams of White-Paper, her Papers and Books which concerned her Goods; her Process, [Page] her Books of Rentals, Obligations, Titles, Papers of the Executory of M. de Cort, being two Days a pillaging, and all the Rabble about them. All was had to the Town-House of Susum, and from thence transported in ten or twelve Carts. The Fiscal tore the Books in the Streets, and gave them to any Body that pleas'd to have them; crying, Here's the ungodly and blasphemous Books of Anthoinette. Her Loss amounted to more than Six thousand Florins.

LXVII.LXVII. General-Major Vanderwyck, appears for her. Yet the Pastors, insatiable in their Persecutions, continu'd their Complaints at the Court of Gottorp, complaining that she was suffered still to write and speak, and that any were permitted to go near her; the Duke wearied with their Importunities, Consents that she shall be put in perpetual Imprisonment, and the Order is sent to General-Major Vanderwyck. He was a Man of Probity, and one that fear'd God, and by a remarkable Rencounter, those very Persecutions had brought him to know and esteem her; for the Soldiers who were Centinels at the General's Gate, having catch'd some flying Leaves of her Book, when they were transporting them in Carts, the General coming in, took out of one of their Hands one of these Sheets, which was of the Treatise of Solid Vertue, he thinking it had been a Gazette; but having read it, he was so astonish'd, and so touch'd, that he sigh'd for the Injustice done to those good Persons, of whom he had never heard any thing spoken but ill. Is this, says he, the Doctrine and the People of whom they speak so much Evil, and whom they treat at this rate? From that time he loved them. ‘When he received this Order, he was so much touch'd with Indignation and Grief, that he immediately went to ask the Prince the cause of his Commission, and if he had heard the Accused in their own Defence. The Prince said, not, but the Pastors would not give him rest, and said so much ill of her, that he must needs remove the Occasion. But the General excus'd himself from executing the Order, said he could not do it in Conscience, and that his Highness should consider, that even the Heathens condemn'd no Body without having first heard them; that he should not let himself be so much pre-occupied by those Pastors, as to hear them only, and give Sentence on their Word, without hearing the other Party.’ The Prince was touch'd with it, and well pleas [...]d [Page] he had hindred so unjust an Execution, and immediately he generously revoked the Sentence which the Pastors had surpriz'd from him by their cunning Lies. A Pattern for all Princes to imitate.

LXVIII.LXVIII. The Pastors write against her. The Pastours finding they had not Audience enough at Court, resolve to make the World ring with their Slanders and bloody Reproaches against an innocent Maid. Burchardus writes a Book called Christian and Solid Remarks on the blasphemous Errors of Antoinette Bourignon; which she answered by a Writing, Entituled, The Touchstone. M. Ouwe wrote another Pasquil, called Apocalipsis Haereseos, &c. but he is so beside himself, that he fights with his own Shadow, and there could be no better Answer to him than to let him alone. All their Writings and Calumnies can never alter the Heart of a good Man that is truly touch'd with a sence of Divine things. One Line of Truth is more Powerful than all their Sophistries. One of their Designs in writing, was to engage her to answer, that they might have a Pretence to seize her, she being forbid to publish any thing, and this they threatned to her Friends. She resolved to go where she might be in more Security.

LXIX.LXIX. She lives in great Sec [...]ecy and Hazard at Sleswick, the People being inflam'd by the Pastors. In the middle of the hard Winter, 1674. which was so Extraordinary both for Frost and Snow, she went to Sleswick, where she was in as great Hazard as at Susum. The late Exploit against her, and the Calumnies and Sermons of the Pastors had alarum'd all the People. They thought her some strange Monster of a Woman who had written Books which were burnt in some Places, and confiscated in other, and against which the Pastors thundred with so much Zeal, and concluded her worse than the Hereticks that had been burnt. To receive her into their Houses they thought was to take in one worse than the Devil, and they would not have fail'd to turn her out to the Streets again. The People were eanest to enquire for her every where, and even as she past sometimes, tho' unknown, they would be enclin'd to think that it was A [...]thoinette, tho they had never seen her, and knew only that she was a French Woman, and unmarried, and so nimble a Fugitive that she would be whiles here whiles there, as it were by a Charm, without knowing how. She was for [...]'d to change from one House to another, for she was no sooner come into any, but they would presently think, [Page] perhaps this was Anthoinette, and became so prying and inquisitive, that she was still necessitated to seek out another. At last a Friend hired for her in his own Name, a little Chamber being but the half of a Room, divided in two by so thin a Wall, that all that was done or spoken was heard in the other, where lived Persons pre-occupied with the common Fame and Animosity. There she remain'd under the Protection of God alone, lying, during the Nights of a cold Winter, on the Floor, without putting off her Cloaths, without Bed, Straw or Covering. Nevertheless, the Peace of God fill'd her Heart with Joy to see that her State and Treatment was a Copy taken from the Original of the Life of her Suffering and persecuted Saviour, who because he declared the Truth, was so persecuted by the Priests and Pharisees, as to be obliged to flee here and there, so that he could not enjoy the Advantage which the most miserable Beasts have, who have safe Retreats, Holes, and Nests, while he had not where to lay his Head. Here she wrote the Treatise called The Touchstone: She was then in an extream want of all things. Her Friends were all disperss'd in Holland, Husum, Noordstrand, and elsewhere. Her Mother-in-Law caused confiscate her Goods and Revenues at Lisle to the King of France his Profit, under a Pretence that there being War between France and Holland, she was in an Enemies Country; which was false, she having left Holland before the War was proclaim'd. She gave them to the Hospital of Lisle, which she had govern'd to free them from this unjust Confiscation.

LXX.LXX. The scattering the Sheets of her Books, discovers the Calumnies of the Pastors. Lies prevail but for a time, and however Men have been pre-occupied, yet at last they desire to be rightly informed, and so it fell out here. Those of Judgment and Understanding were desirous to know at the bottom what the Doctrine of that Maid was, against whom the Pastors were so enrag'd. The pillaging of the Books, and the scattering Sheets of them here and there, contributed much to this. Both great and small found thereby, that she had been greatly wrong'd. The Inns and Private Houses were full of these Leaves, wrapping up their Tobacco and other small Wares, so that many who had occasion to read them, were so convinc'd of the Truth, as to pronounce her Innocent, and the Pastors Guilty of wronging her by their Calumnies. At the Court they began [Page] to speak well of them, and to read them. The General declar'd openly for them, the Grand President, M. Kielman, and others began to esteem them. Some in a Conversation at Court having said that if the Accusations of the Pastours were Falshoods, she ought to have answered them: Another answered, that nothing ought to be inferred from her Silence, she being forbid to write against them, and that if his Highness should permit her to answer, she would do it very quickly. The Duke said, if it depended upon his Permission, he gave it willingly. The President caused her to be acquainted with this; and immediately she caused to be delivered to him a fair Copy of her Answer, The Touchstone. He read it with great Satisfaction, and gave it to many of the Court. They were thereupon perswaded of her Innocence. The President offered to cause her Press and Books to be restored. She said, all this would serve her for nothing, so long as they kept her out of her Inheritance at Noordstrand, which the Fathers of the Oratory unjustly occupied; also she offer'd to satisfie all the Creditors as it should be found just. The President promised to assist her in it.

LXXI.LXXI. The Court gives her Protection. Thus she breathed a little more freely; the Prince took her again into his Protection, her Friends who were scattered, return'd to her again. She staid in a convenient Lodging with four of them peaceably from the Year 1675. to the next. The Churchmen of Holstein were not a little enraged to hear of giving her Possession of Noordstrand. They renewed their Clamours at Court, and when they could not get it stopp'd, they suggested to clog it with a thousand Restrictions; sometimes, that she should possess it upon Condition of printing nothing; sometimes that she should not publish her Doctrine; her People should not speak of it to any Body; she should be answerable for all the Words and Actions of her Friends, and such like, under Pain of losing all her Goods. When she shewed the Invalidity of these Projects, they proposed others, the Nullity of which she as evidently made appear. So that at last the President said he was weary of these Priests and their Absurdities, still renewing their old Complaints, without being willing to hear Reason. On this Occasion there passed several Letters between A. B. and the Superintendant Nieman: But he would y [...]eld as little to Reason and Equity as he thought it dishonourable for a [Page] learned Doctor to yield to a Maid, in spiritual Things. These Letters to him are in the Second Part of The Testimony of the Truth.

LXXII.LXXII. She gives in a Confession of her Faith. The President finding him to be as unreasonable as the rest, saw there was nothing to be done with them, and advised her to make and present to his Highness a short Confession of her Faith, because Great Men are not taken up in the Reading of Controversies, and so her Replies and Duplies with the Priests would be of little Use: But a short Confession of Faith would confound their Lies and convince the Prince. She did so; and it is already set down in the First Part of this Apology. After this, People were entirely perswaded of her Innocence, and that the Pastours Accusations were Slanders, tho' they ceased not to say that her Profession was contrary to her Sentiments; and would catch at, and tear out Pieces of Sentences in her Writings to prove it; but it is evident that what they do or can cite out of her Writings, contrary to the Articles of this Confession, is fundamentally dismembred and falsly interpreted; and the Consequences they may draw from her Writings, contrary to this Confession, are false Consequences, which she wholly disclaims; and if there be any thing obscure and ambiguous in her Writings, it may and ought to be taken in a Sence and Signification agreeable to this Confession, which is the Key, the Rule, the Substance and the Abridgment of all her Writings.

LXXIII.LXXIII. The Church men prevail. Yet the Churchmen prevailed so far at Court as to protract the Affair of her Establishment at Noordstrand, and to make them relent, and at last give over their Inclination to do her Justice; upon which, she openly declared her Sentiments to the Court in Writing, That God had expresly sent her into the Country of Holstein, that she might there lead a retired and Christian Life with her Friends; and that he promised to take in his Protection the Country that should receive her; and to shed his Blessings there, while hi [...] Plagues should be felt over all the Earth: That for this Effect she desi [...]ed they would let her go into the Isle of Noordstrand, to the Succession of M. de Cort, which the Orator [...] detained unjustly from her; and that she might there enjoy the Liberties and Privileges which his Highness had granted to the Partners of that Isle; that she had nothing to do with the Pastours of Holstein, her Enemies, that she and [...] would let them and their Hearers do and say what [...]ey [Page] pleased; that while they gave Offence to no body, but liv'd honestly and justly, and even brought temporal Advantage to the Inhabitants of the Country, and had nothing but just Designs, they ought not to oppose them, fearing thereby to oppose God: That otherwise God would take Vengeance on them; and that she was much afraid that he might punish the Country and the Inhabitants in the same Manner that she had been and might yet be treated by them. It is like the Discourses of the Pastours made all this vanish, but they could not put off what follow'd some Months after. However, she resolv'd to wait with Patience to see if they would grant her just Requests.

She applied herself to take a particular Care of forming the Souls of those who were with her according to the Will of God, both as to spiritual and temporal. She wrote for their spiritual Direction, besides many particular Letters, one common to them all, which is the Second Part of The Renovation of the Evangelical Spirit; and for their outward Behaviour, began to write the Treatise called Sound Advices, and also The Rules of Christians, which last is joined to the Treatise called The Stones of the New Jerusalem. As she prescrib'd them nothing of herself, she ask'd God his Will as to the Government of outward Things, for which he gave her particular Rules, which are already put into English in the Preface to The Light of the World. p. 19.

Shortly after this, the Court was forc'd to remove, the King of Denmark and his Troops passed over all the Country, and the President being then secur'd, the Pastours applied to the King's Council, who then took the Government of the Country, to cause her to be seiz'd; she immediately after went for Hambourg with one Maid, leaving her Friends in the House which she had bought but some Weeks before; and the King's Armies came into the Country and ravaged every where; and they who would not tolerate a Servant of God, who could do them nothing but Good both for Body and Soul, were forc'd to suffer private and publick Hardships, which were long and severe enough.

LXXIV.LXXIV. She goes to Hambourg. She came to Hambourg, the last of March, 1676. where there was Appearance she might live long enough retiredly, in a Place whose Freedom, Greatness, and Trade, keeps them from taking exact Notice of [Page] Strangers and private Persons that live there. The first Traverse she met with, was that she could find no where a free Chamber, where she might live retir'd; so that after having waited all Day, she was forc'd to go lodge in a Soldier's House, who offer'd her a little Chamber, where she staid fifteen Months for want of a Retreat elsewhere. In the Spring time she applied herself to make a little Garden of a Court which was useless to the Lodging, and accommodated it very well and profitably. She repaired and whiten'd her Chamber and a Part of the Lodging, wash'd her own Linen, and serv'd herself in every thing except the Buying of Provisions, not daring to go abroad lest she should meet with some of her Acquaintaince. She was most exact in all the outward things which Necessity and good Order required, and said, this pleased God more than the most sublime Contemplations, which often gratifies Self-love, and thereafter gives Occasion of Disorder and Displeasure to the Soul, by the Confusion that Negligence has brought in outward things. Whereas outward Labour even in the meanest things, humbles the Heart, simplifies it, begets an entire and exact Submission to God, a laudable Charity and Care for our Neighbour, and a certain Repose and Contentment of Soul, which did more satisfie S. Joseph in being a Carpenter, than were the Doctors of the Law, in preaching in Moses's Chair. She told how S. Terese having begun to write one of her sublimest Works, and having interrupted it for to Spin, when her Religious Nuns begg'd she would continue to write, she answered them, that she must first have done with her Distaff. This A. B. told sometimes smiling, to those who would perswade her not to employ her self in outward Labours, that she might bestow all her Time in writing spiritual Things.

LXXV.LXXV. Her Exerc [...]se and Writings there. She wrote then the Second Part of Solid Vertue, and the excellent Preface to The Renovation of the Evangelical Spirit, and the Preface before The Blindness of Men now adays; for she resolv'd to prepare all her Writings to be published; after that God had made known to her that such was his Will; for by them the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached thro' all the World. There were several Persons who came to her at this time from several Parts, and being convinced of the Truth, offered her all the Services they were capable of. And she offered them always unto God, that she might know how to behave with [Page] them. She was again surrounded with Afflictions on all sides. In Sleswick her Friends were robb'd, beaten and wounded by the Soldiers and Rabble, and forc'd to leave the Lodging and flee into the Woods, and from thence thro the Snow into the Town of Kiel. In Noordstrand the Peasants stole the Beast and other Goods she had bought with her Money, her Friends there neglecting to sue after them. She herself at Hambourg was seized with some Fits of Sickness which brought her very low. And perceiving that some Friends who were then with her, were troubled with the Thoughts of her being to be taken from them shortly by Death; she said, Why do you make such Reckoning of me? I am nothing but a human Creature. Fix upon God, and cleave to him. From him you must call for Help, him you must strive to please. You are to have no Concern at all for me as to my Person: It is to God only and to his Spirit that you must cleave. If I come to die, what matters it? You must not for this leave off in the least to cleave unto God and continue faithful unto him. If you trust in me, you will deceive your selves. I may die as any other Person. And if God did not still preserve my Life, as by a Miracle, amidst so much Weakness and Perils, I should have been dead already a thousand times.

They were so perswaded of this particular Protection of God, that it made them too confident that God would yet preserve her Life for a long time One of them said to her, ‘I do not believe that you can die so soon, whatever Evil befall you.’ And I, says she, do certainly believe I may die even at this Moment. What reason have you to believe the contrary? ‘Because, replied he, God has given you Promises which are not yet fulfilled, and we are sure that God will not be wanting in his Word. He has promised, that you shall have Children who shall imitate you; that you shall re-establish his Gospel-Spirit upon Earth among Men and Women; that a great Number shall follow you to the Desart, and out of the Hurry of the World, and such like Promises, which not being yet fulfilled, it follows you cannot die yet, since the Work for which God raised you up is not yet done; and God will not forsake his Work.’ She answer'd, God will not give over his Work, neither will he fail in his Promise, but I have already seen enough that may save the Truth of his Promise tho' I die; I have seen the Accomplishment [Page] of it in part, by the first Fruits, tho' not so perfectly. God has already given me several Children, I have some of them who are gone to him. I have seen some of them follow me in Retiring from the World, and hear me with all their Heart, and that of all sorts; tho' they have neither been in so great Numbers nor so perfect. Nevertheless this is enough, to have seen by the first Fruits the Truth of the Promises of God, which on his Part he never fails to fulfil entirely: But when Men do not correspond thereto, God leaves them, retakes from them his Gifts, and seeks out other Subjects fitter to receive the Accomplishment of what he promises: Whereas Men at present do render themselves unworthy of it, and will not acknowledge nor receive the remarkable Graces that God offers them. I greatly fear lest God withdraw his Gifts from them, and turn himself to others; so I cannot assure you that I shall not die shortly. On the contrary, when I consider the Ingratitude and Ʋnthankfulness which Men shew for the Favours of God, I doubt if God will not shortly take me out of the World. But added she, suppose God withdraw me, what is your Concern with my Person? You ought not for this, to leave off to seek God, to cleave to him, to do the best that is possible for you, to enjoy his Spirit, and then you shall have no more need of my Person, for there is nothing in me to be esteemed, nor sought after, nor followed, but the Spirit that guides me.

LXXVI.LXXVI. She is persec [...]ted by the Pastors there. So long as her Enemies knew not that she was at Hamburgh, she liv'd peaceably enough; but it coming at last to the Ears of the Lutheran Pastors, they were the more affected with it, that one or two of their Hearers relish'd the Truth of her Writings, which put them into an extream Jealousie, the predominant Passion of Churchmen. They set Spies on her Friends who went to see her, and having thereby found her Lodging, and being certainly inform'd of her being there, they assemble in Consistory, and conclude to depute two of their number to Morrow Morning, to represent this to the Magistrates, that they might preserve the City and Religion from being infected with so great an Evil. A. B. was advertised of this, and convey'd about Ten a Clock at Night to a little Garret, beside a poor Man, having sent her Manuscripts before her. On the Morrow the Council sent four armed Sergeants to bring her to the Town-House, [Page] but did not find her. She staid fifteen Days in this little Garret, from whence she wrote Letters to encourage her Friends. But her Enemies persisting in their search for her, she resolved to go to Friesland, to a Baron who had invited her thither. So she parted from Hamburg the 26th. of June, 1677.

LXXVII.LXXVII. Goes to Lutzburg, in Friesland. After several Troubles in her Journey, she came at last to the Lordship of Lutzburgh, in East-Friesland; and being well received by the Lord of the Place, sent for her Friends to Sleswick, who had endured much from the Rage of the People and Pastors there. Reflecting on the Place where she was, she judged it proper to live in according to the Designs of God, who had already said to her: The Perfection that I desire, is to have your Heart entirely looss'd from all the Goods of the World 2dly. From all the Creatures. 3dly. From the Love of ones self, and to desire nothing but God alone. To live in a forgetfulness of all the World. To shut up your selves in some Place apart. To offer and give up your selves entirely unto God. Not to aim at any good things upon Earth. To live all in common on the same Revenue, and the same Entertainment. And that without any other Engagement or Bond but the Love of God, and without any other Rule but the Holy Gospel. To receive all Souls who are fit and dispos'd for it, without regarding whether they have temporal Means or not, and this after the same Manner with the Christians of the Primitive Church. God had also said unto her formerly upon Occasion of this Petition which she often put up unto him. ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ Separate your selves entirely from Men. Keep silence. Possess nothing in Property, the Earth is sufficient to maintain your Life. Do not entertain your Body but with its own Labour. Never give it any thing but its Necessity. Let nothing be in the Lodging but that the use of which is necessary. Continue always in Simplicity and Poverty of Spirit. Have no Priests but for necessity. Let nothing be divided among you, but let all be common without Preference. Manure the Ground. Be united as I am with my Father. Let it be your only care to loosen Souls from the Earth. I will take care of the rest.

LXXVIII.LXXVIII. Her Employment, and Writings there. She accepted the Care of a Hospital, with which the Baron was charg'd by his Ancestors, for a Retreat to Stran ers and the Persecuted; and to her great [Page] Satisfaction she was freed of this Charge by a Letter from the Baron, after having born it about two Years with Trouble, and without any Fruit for the Glory of God. There came thither some Strangers from Holland, Hamburgh, and elsewhere, to lead, as they said, a Christian Life with her; but really they gave her only much Trouble, by bringing Dispositions quite contrary to that Design. So they return'd whither they pleas'd. While she and hers enjoy'd any Health, they applied themselves to the care of Houshold Affairs, to a Country Life, to Husbandry, the feeding of Beasts; she sometimes to write, and others to translate her Writings; or put them in a Condition of being printed. She was visited by many Persons, even of Quality, who came more than once, and from several Places to converse with her. She wrote here the Letter which makes the Body of the First Part of The Renovation of the Gospel Spirit; and the Introduction that is prefixt to it. She finish'd there the Second Part which she had began formerly, and began the Third which is not finish'd, she being employ'd in it when the last Persecutions and Death came upon her; she made ready also the best part of her Manuscripts for the Press.

LXXIX.LXXIX. Long Sickness. She had there two long Sicknesses, the first a continued Fever for some Months, and the other a violent Quartan Ague which lasted for sixteen or eighteen Months. When she was at the worst, two of her best Friends who were with her, fell sick also unto Death, but God upheld them; they were all three expos'd to the Mercy of some wicked Servants who had horrible Projects against them, if God by the Warnings he gave her, and by the Arrival of some Friends from Amsterdam, had not prevented it.

LXXX.LXXX. Persecuted anew, by her Servant's Sorcerers. Those Servants began by robbing all that was in the Lodging, which they confest they consum'd in their nightly Sabbaths. After this, they resolved in their Sabbaths, at the Solicitation of the Devil, to murther her by Night, and her two Friends that was then sick. They declar'd they had been prest to it by some who had promis'd them a Thousand Crowns; that for six Days they were watching an Occasion, and for three Nights came to the Door of the Apartment where she was, arm'd with Swords and Hatchets to execute the Design. That they gave it over one of the Nights, because they could not [Page] agree whether to begin at her, or her two Friends; and the two other Nights they found the Door shut which they had left open; and thereafter some Friends came, they confest they had tried often before to poyson her with Diabolical Powders amongst her Meat, and that of her Friends; not doubting but that might be the cause of their continual Maladies.

LXXXI.LXXXI. By those who pretended to protect her. After this, came the last Persecution that befel her, of which the Author of the Continuation of her Life, thinks fit to give only a general Account, without mentioning the Particulars, hoping that God may give Repentance to some of those who had a hand in it. The Occasion was this: She had caused to be brought from Holland of the Effects that belong'd to her Friends to the Value of many thousands, which were lent in this Country under her Name, thinking, it may be, that this would serve to make them protect her, that they might the longer enjoy these Advantages; and she could not credit the Suggestions made to her, that perhaps they would endeavour to pick a Quarrel with her, that they might have a Pretext to keep her Goods, after they had treated her ill and chas'd her away. This seem'd the quietest Time she had yet enjoyed; the Fever had left her, tho' Weakness confined her for the most part to her Bed, and there was nothing but Assurances of Friendship, but underhand it was quite another thing.

—Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,

Auri sacra fames?—

LXXXII.LXXXII. The Pretence for it, and the true Cause. She had at Hambourg some Enemies who hated her mortally; they prompt a Child of eight or nine. Years of Age to utter many Falshoods against her and her Friends, because he had staid with them, they made him say he had been press'd by severe Chastisements to declare certain things to the Disadvantage of some. Which were pure Falshoods invented because of six stripes with a Wand which his Master gave him for some little Faults without the knowledge of A. B. and that many Weeks before the pretended Fact of the rigorous Treatment, which they suggested to him to complain of. However, how soon this is heard of in East-Friesland it was enough to turn all into a Civil or Capital Crime, into Criminal Tortures inflicted [Page] privately by Order of that Maid, against the Right of Authority; for which her Person and Goods ought to be arrested: And Letters were sent to the Magistrates of Hamburg to cause the Child to depone judicially, and send the Act to them, that the Crime might not go unpunish'd, and to other three to abet this, and that two of them would come straight to East-Friesland and insist against her, demanding to seize her Person, and arrest her Goods, assuring them of Success. The Magistrates judged it unworthy of their Notice, but a Lutheran Priest took the Deposition by Writing, and in all the eight Articles it contained, there was not one thing against A. B. but a Friend of hers, whose Reputation and Probity suffic'd to preserve him from Suspicion of any base thing. When she heard of all, she said, Ah, this was unhappily lent Silver: Then said, I find I must absolutely leave this Place quickly. And tho' she knew not where to retire, yet she took Courage, and God gave her suddenly Strength to walk, which she had lost for more than a Year.

LXXXIII.LXXXIII. Goes to Franeker. She parted from thence secretly into Franeker, in West-Friesland, which is under the jurisdiction of the States-General; taking one Friend along with her, there she turn'd in into a House of one of her Acquaintance, sending her Friend to Amsterdam, that he hiring a Lodging there, she might afterwards retire to it. So she was resolved to pass the Winter there; but the Inconveniency of the Lodging brought such an Alteration on her Body, that her Fever return'd with greater Violence, with a Flux and a continual Vomiting, October, 8th. St. Vet. her Malady encreas'd daily. She prepar'd to die, spoke to those of the Lodging about her Burial: That they should cause her Body to interr'd in the most mean and simple manner, as if she had been a simple Maid-Servant, and that quickly and without noise. She spoke many things addressing her self to God, but those of the House not understanding French, could give small Account of it. Those of the Lodging being taken up about their Affairs, after they had waited on her for some Days,LXXXIV. Her Death. committed her to the care of two old Women, who had no regard for her. She became every Day weaker, and her Disease encreas'd, so that the 20th. of Oct [...]ber, St. Vet. Anno. 1680. her Soul was separated from her earthly Tabernacle, having lived 64 Years, 9 Months, and 14 Days.

[Page] LXXXV.LXXXV. Her Character. 1. Antonia Bourignon was of a middle Stature, and Slender; her Countenance was agreeable, her Complexion brown, her Forehead without Wrinkles, her Looks full of Ingenuity; her Mien, her Speech, her Address without Affectation and agreeable. She had a lively Spirit, a quick Ear, a strong Sight, a good Memory, a clear Judgment.

2. Tho' she was of a healthful Body and a cheerful Mind, of an agreeable Temper and lively Spirit, had abundance of temporal Goods, and all the Advantages that could be desired to lead a pleasant and honourable Life in the World; yet in the flower of her Age she despised all these to follow Jesus Christ in a Life of Poverty, Contempt, and Trouble, and persevered in it till Death; maugre all the Scorn, Oppositions, Hardships, and Discouragements she met with.

3. In all things she studied to be poor in Spirit, and still chose for her self the meanest and the least things, when she might have had the best, and in the greatest Abundance. Her Diet was sober, without Abundance or Delicacies: She made no difference of Meats, except that she shunn'd those which were too dear, or which were more for gratifying the Palate than for necessary Nourishment. She was modest in Apparel, without affecting Singularity, accommodating her self to the Custom of the Place where she was, only she took care to imitate the Lowliness of Jesus Christ, and therefore never chose the finest 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.

[Page] 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,Matth. 26. 48. 73. 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 [Page] 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 su [...]fering all manner of Reproaches, [Page] and Har [...]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 [...]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 upon some extraordinary Accident, or some great Fault committed by others, yet it was soon [...]ver; and she no sooner entred into her Chamber, or her Solitude, but she returned again with great Tranquility. She usually said, That she hated nothing but, Honour and Sin.

15. Her Patience and Resignation was singular in the Sicknesses, Pains, and other Adversities which be [...]el her, and her bearing with the Faults and Infirmities of those who were with her; tho' upon Occasions her Zeal and Fervour made her rebuke them earnestly, especially when they sinned wilfully and maliciously: For they who were of good Inclinations, and sinned through Infirmity or Ignorance, she bear with them, or corrected them with great Mildness and Lenity; but if any who had been often admonished, did sin wilfully and maliciously, she did rebuke them vehemently, and being moved with a lively Zeal, set her self against their Iniquity: and we see it was usual for the most Holy to do so, Moses, Paul, and others, yea, and Jesus Christ himself.

16. Her Faith in God did uphold her on all Occasions, never doubting of the Truth of his Word, waiting his [Page] Time for the fulfilling of it, and looking still to the things which are not seen, and which are eternal.

17. Her admirable Knowledge in Divine Things, appears by all her Writings, and the manner of acquiring it, was no less Admirable, not by the means of Books, Schools, or Men; (as was evident to all who convers'd with her,Temoign de Vertie, Part 1. p. 146. and appears from all her Writings) ‘But all my Books, says she, and Library consist in the Conversation of my Spirit with God, and my School is to learn to purge my Soul from Sin, and to withdraw its Affections from all earthly things, that it may love only those which are Eternal.’ The manner also of composing her Writings, as has been already mentioned, was no less singular and extraordinary. Her Knowledge was singular also in other things, as there was occasion for it; particularly in the Law, in the Matters of Right and Justice, so that the greatest Lawyer could not have more distinctly deduced an Affair, nor urged it with stronger Reasons, as appears in the Affairs of M. de Cort, and of Noordstrand.

18. Her Humility and Lowliness did shine forth in her Actions, so that they who conversed with her do declare, they could not observe in her any thing of Pride or Self-esteem. Yet this was not express'd by artificial humble Words and Gestures, which affect the Reputation of being thought so, and cover the greatest Pride, but by an unaffected Poverty of Spirit, and giving the Glory of all Good to God: And the very things which her Enemies adduce as Instances of Pride, were great Evidences of the contrary.

19. Simplicity and Sincerity of Heart were her nature; there was no Guile in her Spirit; she not only would not deceive Men, but also would not deceive her self; and because of this single Eye, her whole Body was full of Light; for God makes wise the Simple.

20. She often bless'd God for three Things: 1. That he never let her drink in the Doctrine of Men; for this, she said, would have made her uncapable of receiving that of the Holy Spirit. 2. That he had not engaged her in a married State; for then she would have lost the Liberty of cleaving to God only. 3. That he gave her Peace and Tranquility of Mind in all Rencounters; for otherwise she [Page] would have oft times stumbled or fallen in the so many different Accidents and Miseries to which she was exposed.

21. Her Life was a continual Prayer,Tomb. de la fausse Theol. Part 3. Letter 1. nu. 17, 18. her Spirit being always turned towards God, whether she was writing, or working, or eating, or walking, or in her Chamber, or travelling; every thing gave her Occasion of begging his Help, or to bless him for his Favours, or to adore and celebrate his Perfections.

22. As she heartily regrated the Divisions of Christendom, so she advised those of her Friends who had withdrawn themselves from the World to lead a Christian Life, not to make new spiritual Assemblies and Meetings. She said, Christians ought always to entertain one another with spiritual Things; and that all their Words and Works should be Sermons for edifying and animating one another to Vertue, and to the Perfection of their Souls. She bid them purge their Souls from Sin, and labour to acquire true Vertue, and to preach to themselves and others by their Life. Not but that she thought publick Assemblies were necessary for those who were still taken up about Worldly Affairs, and who would apply the whole time of their Life in temporal Affairs, if there were not some Times appointed for Prayer, or some Places for hearing Instruction. Nor did she think publick Assemblies unlawful when they sincerely sought the Glory of God: Nor that they who were truly regenerated themselves and endu'd with Divine Light to instruct others, ought not to teach them. But she gave this Counsel to her Friends, both that they might avoid the Scandal of Forming a new Sect, and the drawing upon themselves unnecessary Persecutions and Hatred in Places where such Assemblies were not tolerated, and that they might not be tempted to Vain-glory, Curiosity, and Destruction, by offering to teach others before they were well taught themselves for their own Perfection, or by desiring to learn from others that which they did not practice.

23. Being ask'd concerning the Eucharist, if she held Transubstantiation, or Consubstantiation, or a figurative Representation only; She said, These were all unprofitable Speculations, about which Men dispute to no purpose, and yet none of them can tell how this Mystery is. Neither is it necessary for Salvation, nor for the Fruit of true Communicating. As for me, says she, I never apply my [Page] self to these Formalities, but in Simplicity I lift up my Heart and Spirit unto God, and place my self always as in his Presence, and I communicate, uniting my Design, and my Intention with that of Jesus Christ, and in his Spirit, without troubling my self with other Particularities, provided my Spirit be united to his, and in a true Disposition of conforming my self to him, and of following him.

24. Tho' she had the Liberty to Converse with many, ‘Yet,Avis salut. lett. 133. she said, she saw it not fit, since Men now are so accustomed to see affected Gestures and counterfeit Vertues, that they cannot receive True Vertue, says she, unless it be accompanied with that Surliness and those Hypocritical Gestures which I abhor; for God will not lead me by these Ways. He gives me a Tranquility of Mind, and a Joy in my Soul, that even appears outwardly. I have no insolent Laughters, but a continual Joy that oftentimes chears those who converse with me, when they know that my Joy does not proceed from any human Satisfaction, but from my Conversation with God. But they who do not understand these things, do imagine that one who has received the Holy Spirit should be still melancholy, sad and serious to the utmost Degree, thinking that he ought not to do or speak the least thing that Men see or know; painting out Vertue like to a hideous Old Wife wasted with Penitence; tho' all these things may be done in Hypocrisie and a Study of Self-esteem. But the Spirit of God gives Liberty to those whom he governs, (rendring them sincere, affable, and friendly, without any Dissimulation,) to treat with an open Heart with the Friends of God, without any Reserve or Windings, but freely and openly, tho' with Prudence towards the Wicked: This is to be simple as Doves and wise as Serpents, and to beware of Men, as says the Scripture.’

But her Character is to be had best from her Writings, and from the Spirit that guided her.

The End of the Fourth Part.

[Page]

A LETTER CONCERNING The Preface to the Snake in the Grass, and Bourignianism detected.

SIR,

I.I. The Occasion of the Letter. YOU tell me that you have seen a written Apology for A. B. and that you thought strange to find no Mention there of the Preface to the Snake in the Grass, and Bourignianism detected. Sir, I am perswaded that the Writer of the Apology did that upon a good Design; he saw how hard it was to reason with Men in Passion and not become angry too, or inflame them the more: He thought it was best not to answer, and yet to answer them; and by this Means to preserve the Quiet of his own Mind, and yet give them a fair Occasion to reflect upon their own Mistakes. Yet since you say, that Zeal for the Truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and Charity to Mens Souls, especially those who may have conceived Prejudices from their Misrepresentations, and to the Authors themselves in particular, do require a more particular Application to these Writings. I shall therefore freely and plainly tell my Sentiments of them, with that Candour and Charity to the Persons concern'd, that, I hope, they will take them for the Reproofs of a Friend, and so count them better than the deceitful Kisses of Flatterers, or the groundless Plaudites of unthinking Persons, who are more taken with an Air of Confidence, and a bold Way of Representing things, than with Truth and Reality.

II.II. Necessary Qualifications in Writers of Narratives und Characters. They who take upon them to write Narratives, and to give the World Characters of the Sentiments, Spirit, and Writings of any Person (as those two Authours do of [Page] A. B. the one in some Instances only, the other more fully) ought to have these Qualifications, if they would do it aright. 1. They ought throughly to be acquainted with the Writings and Sentiments, before they can give a just and true Account of them, things being cleared, express'd and owned in one Place that are not so in another. 2. They ought to consider the great Scope and Design of the Writer, and the Means by which he prosecutes it, and (it both the one and the other be good and excellent) to give his Words and Sentiments in other things as favourable an Interpretation as they will bear, sutable to the main Scope and Substance of the Writings: If they be Things wherein they have no Knowledge nor Experience, they ought neither to judge nor censure them; and if there be even Mistakes in lesser Things, they ought not to aggravate nor ridicule them, but to extenuate and cover them for the sake of the main things that are so excellent and praise-worthy. This same Rule also is to be observed in [...]udging of the Lives of Persons, to consider the main Scope of them, whether it be Time or Eternity; and the Means by which they prosecute that great End, and not rashly to judge or give a Character of them, from some outward Actions which may be good or evil according to the inward Principle they proceed from. 3. They ought to look upon the Sentiments and Actions they would judge of, with a simple, unprejudiced Eye, otherwise they cannot judge aright, they look in coloured Glasses, and so deceive both themselves and others who listen to them. 4. Narrators ought to be faithful and sincere, not falsifying in the least, nor singling out Pieces of Sentences or Purposes, or some Circumstances of Actions, studying thereby to blacken them, and designedly concealing what would serve to clear and justifie them, but faithfully and honestly narrating the whole.

III.III. These wanting in the Authours of the Preface to the Snake in the Grass, and Bourignanism detected. Now, I am sorry, I must say that in this Affair those Authors have been greatly wanting as to these Requisites, and so were very unfit for such an Undertaking. 1. They were Strangers to the Life or Sentiments of A. B. the one neither knew nor had read any of her Writings, but such as were done in English; and the other had read few or none of them, till he applied himself to confute them; and tho' he never knew her himself, will now, Eighteen Years after her Death, essay to blacken her by [Page] most horrid Imputations; tho' her Innocence and Purity be sufficiently attested by Persons of unquestionable Credit and Integrity. 2. In their Narratives they have neither regarded nor mentioned the great Scope of all her Writings, which is to perswade Men to the Love of God, and to convince them that they are estranged from it: Nor the Means by which she prosecutes this End; the leading Men to the Imitation of the Life of Jesus Christ, in Mortifying their corrupt Nature, and living a Life of Penitence. And how she makes it appear they do it not. Nor does the Doctor in the Character of her Life of represent the great Scope thereof, the Travelling towards Eternity; nor the Means she used in order thereto. 3. It is visible, That what they have read of her Writings, has been with an evil Eye, with a Design to carp at them, to pick out such Expressions, as might serve them to render her and her Writings hateful and ridiculous to the World. They who compare their Narratives with her Writings, will easily be convinc'd of this, when they find them skipping over the most excellent Matters, and fixing only upon such Things as they thought capable of being perverted and empoisoned by their false Turns and malicious Glosses; while hundreds of indifferent Persons have acknowledged that they could not read any of her Writings without being touch'd with a serious Sense of Divine Things; and that they see the practical Part of Christianity represented in them with a Clearness beyond any that is to be seen in most practical Writers. And, 4. It is no less evident, that they have not been faithful and ingenuous, but have either singled out some mangled Sentences, concealing the Context that might clear them, or tack'd together a Number of Passages of different Places, to make them ridiculous, or most untruly translated them; of which I shall hereafter give some Instances.

IV.IV. The first Authour's rash and spiteful Charge against A. B. One would have thought that the Author of the Preface to the Snake in the Grass, who exposes others for their furious, spiteful and foul Language, and gives a necessary Caution, That in Answering his Book, they should not after their usual Fashion carp at some Ward or Expression, and neglect the whole Substance of the Matter; and who had sufficient Caution given him in the Preface to the Light of the World, not to affix such a Sence to any single Expressions or Passages of A. B [...]s Writings, as runs [Page] contrary to the whole Tenour of them, and to a Protestation concerning the Summary of her Sentiments, with Respect to the Essentials of Christianity there inserted; for thus the best Authors may be traduced, by the most shameful Manglings, malicious Interpretations, deceitful Calumnies, injurious Consequences, &c. One would have thought that after all this, he should not have followed these Measures himself; and yet we find him palpably forming the high Charge of: 1. Blasphemous Pride: 2. Overturning all Priest hood and Ordinances of the Gospel: 3. Ʋncharitableness and damning all the World: 4. The misrepresenting the Design and Import of the Gospel: 5. The perverting the Doctrine of the Gospel: 6. A Contempt of the Holy Scriptures; and lastly, of wild and barbarous Notions, against her, upon the same False and Disingenuous Proceedings, and not abstaining from the Furious and Spiteful Words, Cloven Foot, the Devil of a Saint, Mad, Craz'd, Bigotted. How false this Charge is, how ill founded, how contrary to the Temper of her Spirit, and the strain of her Writings, the Author might have observed from her own Writings, if he had considered without Prejudice or Passion; and may now further see in the Apology: I need not fully resume the Particulars, but only touch upon and direct him to the Places where he may have Satisfaction concerning them.

V.V. A. B. Vindicated from the 1, Of blasphemous Pri [...]. She is vindicated from the 1. of Blasphemous Pride, in the Second Part of the Apology, p. 166, &c. where it appears, that she is far from exalting her self above the Prophets, or Apostles, or Fathers, far less above Jesus Christ himself; that she acknowledges her self a poor, frail Creature of the corrupt mass of Adam, subject to Sins and Infirmities, who greatly straied from God in her younger Years, that of her self she has nothing but Evil, and that all Good comes from God; and that since it may please God in the latter Ages of the World, by some of his Servants, more clearly to explain and unfold the hidden Prophecies and Parables of the Old and New Testament when the time of their Accomplishment draws near; it will not be found, that those, to whom God shall please to make such Discoveries, are thereby exalted above the Prophets, or Jesus Christ himself; or that they, by owning and declaring them, do exalt themselves: Thus A. B. when she speaks of God's Graces to her, does it with the greatest [Page] Humility as is evident from these very Places cited by the Author, whence he culls his half Sentences, where she assumes to her self no Prerogative above the most Wicked of all Creatures, or even a Stone or Wood, wherewith, she declares God might have served himself in declaring of his Marvels, if it had been his Pleasure, whom yet she cannot resist, since he pleases to declare his Marvels by her, and that he may damn her (if she has merited it) in the End, being absolute Lord of all things; to this Purpose her own Words in the 136, and 137 p. of the Light of the World, are fully cited in the 169 p. of the Apology: And thus also p. 132 of the Light of the World. ‘I would be very presumptuous, says she, to believe that these so clear Interpretations come from my self.’ Yea, on the other hand it should pass for an Instance of great Self-denial, and humble Resignation unto the Will of God, in any who will, even by the Command of God, declare themselves to be the Organ of his Spirit for more clear Explications of those things that have been formerly express'd in dark Similitudes and Parables, when they know assuredly that they will meet with nothing but Scorn and Reproach from Men upon that Account. And if this be the Case of A. B. as the Thrid Part of the Apology gives strong Presumptions for it, and many are perswaded it is, then her Declaration of the Truth of this is no Instance of Pride, or that she exalts her self above others, but a great Instance of Self-denial and humble Resignation. To this,Parole de Dieu. p. 127. Purpose she expresseth her self: ‘I must not, says she, because of the Reproach and Confusion I may meet with, conceal that which God will have published and observed. It does not become a poor Worm of the Earth to give Laws of God. He knows by whom and how he will operate, without regard to out Meanness and Unworthiness.’

As to that other Proof of her Blasphemous Pride, taken from the high Characters given her by others whom he calls her Bigotted Disciples, some of them twenty Years after her Death, (as that in the English Preface to the Light of the World) it is a new way of Reasoning, owing, I think, purely to the Author: Yet there, she is not preferred to the Blessed Virgin; for tho' to be the Organ of the Light and Spirit of God is more than to be the Organ or Mother of his humane Body; yet to be [Page] the Organ both of Spirit and Body, is more than to be the Organ of any one of them; and this is not denied to the Blessed Virgin. When, because of the high Characters given her by some while she lived, it was objected to her, that she affected the Praise of Men, and suffered M. de Cort, Temoig. de verite. Part 2. p. 47. and others, highly to extol the inward Graces that God imparted to her: She said, ‘That if such had felt the Operations of God in their Souls by her means, as M. de Cort, and some others had done, they would have said the same; that they did not praise her Person (in which there was nothing praise worthy) but the Light and Truth of God, which they saw and heard by her means. This, she said, did not puff her up, since the Works of God, which she remarked, did humble her Heart, the more she discovered them; for I discern, says she, the Spirit of God from that of Nature, and see clearly that all that comes from God is Good, and all that comes from my self is Evil, so that I have no Ground to glory in my Evil, and I know no Good out of God, this Rule keeps me steady from fall [...]ng into Vain [...]glory.Ibid. p. 59, 60.—It is no wonder that some judge, that I please my self with the Praises of Men, in suffering that Preface to be published; when they will needs measure me by themselves, they cannot judge otherways but that I take Pleasure to hear my own Praises, feeling in themselves, that they could not hear their own Praises without vain Complacency; and measuring every one by themselves, every one thinks, another is as he himself is: A Thief trusts no Body, thinking that another is as much Thief as himself: A lewd Person cannot believe that another would live in Continence, when he has a fair Occasion to satisfie his Lust; and so a proud Person cannot believe that one would hear their own Praises without having their Heart puff'd up with Pride, because he himself cannot hear his Praises, without deriving Vain glory from them. This befals all those who live still in the Sentiments of corrupt Nature.—But I am, says she, by the Grace of God, arrived at that State, that the Praises and Reproaches of Men are all one to me, and I make no more reckoning of the one than of the other, because of the small Esteem I have of the Judgment of Men, who often praise that which they ought to despise, and despise that which they ought truly to esteem.’

[Page] ‘If,I [...]id. p. 81, [...]. says she, M de Cort has said in his Preface that I have more Light than all the Authors that he had ever read, this does not infer that he would place me above the Prophets, Apostles, or Jesus Christ himself, as you alledge) but he would only declare that he received more Light by my Discourses, than by reading of all the Authors he had ever seen, yea, even the Scripture it self, since it is obscure in some places; whereas our daily Conferences gave him more Clearness, and my Practice made him penetrate the true Sence of the Scriptures, in which he had read many things, whereof he understood nothing at all.’ If the Author had not been hasty to condemn her, but had calmly heard and considered what she had to say for her self, he would not perhaps have past so hard a Censure, but would have been convinc'd, that the most humble may speak well of themselves, and suffer others to do so too, and that without the least Tincture of Pride or Vain-glory. If we would first set our selves to cast out the Beam out of our own Eye, we should then see clearly to take the Beam out of anothers.

VI.VI. From the 2. That she overturn'd Priesthood. &c. The Second Accusation, that she overturn'd Priesthood and the Ordinances, is evinced to be as palpable a Mistake, as the former, in the Second Part Of the Apology, pag. 154, 155, &c. It was no fair dealing in the Author to pick out some few Words of a Passage, and not relate the whole, as it is in p. 54. of the First Part of the Light of the World. ‘And whereas you ask, says she, whether all these outward Devotions, which are now in use in Christendom, are good and saving, I doubt it very much; for Christ taught no such Varieties of Devotions as we see now adays, but he taught solid inward Vertues, as Faith, Hope, and Charity, these are the Instructions of Jesus Christ, but they who are at present call'd Churchmen, teach no other thing but to resort to Churches, to frequent Sacraments, and to say a great many vocal Prayers by rote and number; and with these outward things they make them believe that they are True Christians, which cannot be, since Christianity consists in an inward spiritual Life, for it is Divine and not Humane.’ Which Words might have born a more favourable Construction, than the overturning of all Priesthood and the Ordinances of the Gospel; they, being truly levelled against the Corruptions of [Page] the Ordinances, and might have been so understood; especially if the Author had considered, that A. B. had never yet been without the Bounds of the Roman Communion, whose Churchmen all Protestants do accuse of laying the Stress of Religion too much upon the Varieties of their outward Devotions and Ceremonies. And when it is told, that A. B. has written an express Apology for Pastors, the Pastoral Office, and the Publick Ordinances; it is, I must say, a singular way of answering, to reply, that those Enthusiasts are all Contradictions to themselves, and opposite to one another, as if one could not blame the Abuses of the Priesthood and outward Devotions, and yet stand up for the Office of Pastors and the Ministry, without a Contradiction. Sure the Holy Scripture is a good President, which establisheth these, and yet condemns the Abuses of them in a thousand Places, calling the Pastors, Deceivers, Dumb Dogs, Hirelings, Hypocrites, Thieves, Wolves, and many other Names of this nature. S [...] Is. 1. God abhors his own Institutions when corrupted. Churchmen have their Corruption as, well as others, and to flatter them in them, is but to sow Pillows to their Armholes. When the Pastoral Office is turn'd into a Trade, whereby Men chiefly propose to get a Living, and Reputation in the World, when the great End of it is despised, and the Duties of it done superficially, in order to these other Ends: This is a Priestcraft that should be decried, and they who have the greatest love to Christianity will be most forward to do it; and it is in this Respect only that A. B. condemns the Abuses of the Priesthood and the outward Ordinances, and not the Function and the Offices themselves.

VII.VII. From the 3, Of Uncharitableness, &c. The Author's Third Point of her Ʋncharitableness, and damning all the World, is cleared in the Apology p. 63, 161, &c.. A. B. declares that God would have all Men to be saved, and that no Body can be saved without being regenerated into the Spirit of Jesus Christ; (the Spirit of Charity, Humility, and Poverty) and without leading his Life; and that in the mean time all generally have stray [...]d out of the Paths of his Life, and are Strangers to his Spirit: If this be a certain Truth, then to cry aloud and give warning of this, is an Act of the greatest Charity: If mortal and pestilential Diseases had overspread the whole Earth, and the Contagion were universally derived from Parents [Page] upon the Children, and the most part were insensible of their Disease, and could hardly be perswaded that they were sick; if notwithstanding it should please God to raise up a skilful and infallible Physician, who had provided certain and undoubted Remedies, taken them first himself, and left plain Directions how to use them, and great numbers at first by following his Rules and Example had fully recovered their Health: If yet in process of Time the generality of Men, few or none excepted, left off to follow the Precepts, would not be confined to such strict Rules of Physick, (as to Air, Diet, Company, Self-will, &c. as if they were all contagious) and thought the Physician's Rules and Example unpracticable; but yet made a Fashion of honouring him, and proceeded so far as to restrain the grossest outward Eruptions, which would make them loathsome to their Neighbours, tho inwardly they still laboured under mortal Diseases, and could hardly be convinced of it. Would it be thought want of Charity in any to give loud Warning of this to the World? If any had recovered, or were upon the recovering Hand, would they think themselves greatly injured by any who should say, that now there were none in Health, and they did not see how any could recover after the manner the, lived now? They would rather think it might well be said so, the Number being so few, that they might be called none at all, and this might perhaps excite and awaken some of those who remained still insensible of their State, to take the true Measures for their Recovery: That this is a true Figure of the Spiritual State of the World at present, is but too evident. If God has declared in different Ages of the World,Gen. 6▪ 12. Ps 14. 3. Mic. 7. 2. that all Flesh has corrupted his Ways; that there was none that did Good, no not one; that the good Man is perished out of the Earth, and there is none Ʋpright among Men: And at the same time there might have been some few who sought God with all their Hearts, God's Saying was not to damn, but to rescue from Damnation; Why may not the same be now declared, if the World be in as bad a State. I am sure the Ʋncharitableness and Damning lies on the other side. If any pleases to read the entire Passages out of which the Author has cull'd his half Sentences, it is like they will have other Impressions of her Spirit, than what he would give them. She shews, what is the true Doctrine of Jesus Christ.Light of the World, Part 1. p. 47. ‘And therefore, [Page] says she, I fear there shall be so few Souls at present saved, because few or none follow indeed this Doctrine of Jesus Christ, and there is nothing more true than that without doing this, we cannot be saved, as you also acknowledge.’ [...]emo ig [...] de ve [...]i [...]e, Part 2. p. 71. ‘It were better, as she says, for every on [...] to search their own Hearts, and to discover if they really possess the Qualities, which the Spirit of Jesus Christ has, than to dispute whether there be yet any True Christians upon Earth; seeing this touches no Body in general, but every one for himself ought to labour to become a true Christian, without being so curious to know, whether his Neighbour be so or not; since though all the Men of the World were so, and I were not,’ this would avail me nothing. The Design of such Words, is not, that we may nicely and critically quibble upon the Words, but that we may impartially search our own Hearts, and see what Truth there is in them as to our selves.

VIII.VIII. From the 4, Of [...] the Design [...]. One could hardly have imagined, that the Author could have formed his fourth Accusation, of her misrepresenting the Design and Import of the Gospel, and founded it upon the Passages he cites. She says, the Design of the Gospel is, to recover Men to the Love of God; and that the Laws and the Life of Jesus Christ, are the necessary means to that End. She never understood it, that all use of Riches was forbidden; or that Riches without any more were an infallible Sign of not being a Christian; but that we ought to be poor in Spirit, even when we have Riches, and if they prove an Impediment to that, rather to abandon them, than not to aspire to the other. The first Passage the Author cites to prove his Charge, is a Saying of hers, when a Child of Four Years, occasioned by the difference she then observed betwixt the Lives of them about her, and the Character she had then learned of Jesus Christ, which, taking her own Sence of them, do not in the least differ from the true Design and Import of the Gospel. This, says she, is an Eternal Truth, that ‘the Spirit of God, loves and desires nothing but things Eternal, and the natural Spirit only loves and seeks after things Temporal: This was clearly shewn me from my Childhood, and therefore at the Age of Four Years, I was desirous to go and find out the Country, where the Christians lived; reasoning with my little Judgment, [Page] that those could not be True Christians, who seek after, or desire the Honours, Pleasures, and Riches of this World; but that they ought only to seek after things Eternal.’ In the other Place, she is speaking against the excessive Pomp of the Church of Rome. ‘The Practice of those, says she, who are Members of Rome, does sufficiently evidence to me, That the Holy Spirit cannot be the Author of those things which are contrary to the Practice of Jesus Christ: We see the Prelates attended with Servants, and Coaches, and Trains, like to Secular Princes, their Houses and Furniture do surpass them; (this the Author leaves out) if they had Faith to believe that God being Man, was poor and despised, they would blush for Shame, (as all other Christians) to make themselves thus to be honoured.’ All which might have been said, without so harsh a Censure, from a Protestant Minister, as that she had mistaken the whole Design and Import of the Gospel. I thought still that to desire, and love, and make one self to be honoured, had been Pride and Ambition; as well, as to desire Riches, is Covetousness; and that it had been inconsistent with the Spirit of the Gospel in Churchmen as well as in others. Our Author in the next Impression of his Preface, by his way of Reasoning, may bring in our Saviour, mistaking the Design of his own Gospel, when he says, Woe to you that are Rich, how hard it is for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: Woe to you that are full: Woe to you that laugh: Woe to you Pharisees, for you love the uppermost Seats in the Synagogues, and greetings in the Markets, and to go in long Cloathing, and to have the uppermost Rooms at Feasts; he may as consequentially infer, that the Rich, and such as live Plentifully, and make themselves to be honoured, are acccording to Christ's Doctrine, in a State of Damnation; as that according to A. B's Doctrine, all Prelates, and all Christians who have Servants or Coaches, or make themselves to be honoured, do all run blindly to Damnation: But if he can put such a Sence upon our Saviour's Words, as is consistent with the Use of Riches, and giving honour to whom it is due; why may not he candidly construct her Words, without inferring that she destroys all Relations among Men.

The Author's Friend, it seems, hath no regard to Truth, when he makes him inconsiderately publish so [Page] many Falshoods. The Jesuits never cheated A. B. of any of her Estate; she left not M. Poiret a Penny, and he always was, and still is, as sound and sober in his Mind and Reason as the Author.

IX.IX. From the 5, Of her denying the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ. But the most grievous Accusation, and that in which he most triumphs, is the 5th. that she miserably perverts the Doctrine of the Gospel, falling in with the vile Socinian Heresies, and even outdoing them; and that she absolutely denies and disputes against any Satisfaction made by the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ: From this, her own Writings fully vindicate [...], as is made appear in the Apology p 86, 87, &c.. The Socinians its known, deny the Foundation of all Merit in Jesus Christ, his Divinity and Personal Union with the Godhead; they deny the very saving Means and Remedies that flow from his Merits, viz. the inward renewing and sanctifying Grace and Operations of Jesus Christ purifying the Soul; they deny the Disease it self that needs these Remedies, viz. the vast and unspeakable Corruption of our whole Natures both inward and outward, derived upon us by Adam, and greatly encreas'd by us. All this A. B. utterly abhors, and declares on the Contrary, that Jesus Christ is true Eternal God, and true Man; that he is the Mediator between God and Man, the Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind, that none ever was or shall be saved, but by his Intercession and Merits; that he became their Pledge and Surety, and effectively paid the Penalty; that he cloathed himself with our Mortality, and gave himself in Sacrifice for the Redemption of his Brethren; that from his Life, his Actions, his Sufferings, and Death, do flow all the saving Means both outward and inward, that are necessary for removing the horrid Corruption of Mankind, both as to Body and Soul; for destroying in us all Evil, all Wickedness, and the Image of the Devil; and for recovering us unto and perfecting us in Holiness; and in the Love and Image of God. This is the Essence of the true Orthodox Christian Doctrine, as to the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ; and the Reason why many of her Expressions are so misunderstood upon this Subject, seems to be, that she endeavoured to undeceive such as soothed and flattered themselves in the looseness and irregularity of their Lives, (from the Pretence of the utter Impossibility to keep the Commandments of God, and the full Satisfaction of Jesus Christ, and the Penalties [Page] paid by him) by declaring distinctly, that as Jesus Christ had done enough on his Part for their Salvation, procuring them Pardon and Time to repent, and Grace to return to the Love of God; so they must do what is required on their Parts, repent and return to the Love of God, and the Instructions and Commands Jesus Christ left with them, are the necessary Means to bring them to it. If we would reign with Christ, we must suffer with him. It is well known that the vulgar way of explaining this Doctrine, had too great a tendency to the Flattering of corrupt Nature, that the Doctrine of the Antinomians is now owned by many, and as to Mens Practices, it seems to be the Principle of all: What need is there then to caution against so damnable a Principle? And grant once that none can be saved by Jesus Christ, but they who follow his Life and Doctrine, and the Sentiments of A. B. will allow, the Doctrine of the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ to be received in the highest Sense, that may shew God's Indignation against Sin, his Compassion to Sinners, his Regard to the Holiness and Authority of his Laws, and may lay a powerful Obligation upon Men not to trample upon them. In this manner the Doctrine of the Satisfaction has been explained and cleared by the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet, Dr. Outram, Dr. Scot, and others, and I know none who Esteem the Sentiments of A. B. who would not thus cordially embrace it. How unjust and injurious the Author is in this Matter to A. B. evidently appears by the 6th. and 8th. Letters, of the Third Part of Lum. en tenebres, the last whereof is subjoined to this Apology among some others translated into English.

The Occasions of these Expressions cited by the Author, upon which he grounds this Accusation, is a peculiar Sentiment of A. B. That such is God's Love to Mankind, and his Delight with the Children of Men, that he designed to become like to Man, as he had made Man like to himself, that there might be mutual Contentment in a mutual Likeness; and he might live spiritually and bodily with Men to all Eternity, even tho' Man had never sinned; yea, that he united himself to the humane Nature from the Beginning in the first Born in Adam See Ap [...] logy, p. 59, &c., and after that Man had plunged himself into Sin and Misery, he became in all things like to him, yet without Sin, that he might redeem and save them. Now the only difference [Page] between this and the generally received Doctrine, lying in these two, that God would have become Man though Adam had not sinned, and that he united himself to Man's Nature even in the Beginning, (which the Author if he pleases may look upon as Dreams, since no Body says they are necessary to Salvation) she might well have used these Expressions cited by the Author, without denying thereby any Satisfaction by Jesus Christ.Light of the World p. 139. She gives good Reasons, for saying, that God had no need to become Man to redeem us; he is not subject to any Necessity; that he might have suffered Man to perish eternally, and created a Thousand Adams, and a Thousand earthly Paradices, with the same Perfections in which he created the first, out of Nothing: She does not deny that Jesus Christ, coming to redeem Man, must suffer, (and so the Texts the Author brings to prove this are needless) but affirms, that God would have become Man, tho' Adam had not sinned: And the Reason why she says he would needs suffer and die by Accident, for the Instruction and Relief of Men, is because she was perswaded that Sin came into the World by Accident; by Man's abuse of his free Will, against the Will of God, and contrary to the first and essential Designs that he had in creating Man, which was, that he might take his Delight with him, and not that Man might sin, and thereby give him an Occasion to magnifie his [...]ustice and Mercy. And God's primary Design in becoming Man, was, that he might make an eternal Alliance with Man; and Man [...]s falling into Sin, gave Occasion to his prosecuting his first Design by a State of Humiliation and Suffering, that so he might recover Fallen Man.

Altho' Jesus Christ did highly glorifie God, by the Divine Vertues of Meekness, Patience, Charity, &c. manifested by him in his Sufferings, yet certainly the unworthy Treatment he met with in the World, from those whom he came to save, must needs be Matter of the greatest Grief and Sorrow to those pious Souls that beheld it, and to all that ever knew it; and therefore it is no wonder, tho' that Day, in the beholding whereof, the Fathers in the ancient Law are said to rejoyce, be interpreted, of the Day of his second Coming in Glory, and not of his first Coming to Suffer.

The Author is greatly mistaken in what he calls her second Argument, as if she affirmed that none of the [Page] Holy Prophets spoke of Jesus Christ's Coming to Suffer; for all that she affirms, isLight of the World. p. 142. ‘That if you read attentively the Prophets, you will find they speak much more of his Coming in Glory, than of that in Reproach.’ And there has been Occasion given of mistaking the Passage cited by the Author in the End of the 22d. p. of his Preface, by the Trnslation of it, for it imports no more in the Original, but that, of the Holy Prophets, who foretold the Coming of Jesus Christ in the Flesh, many of them did not speak of his Sufferings.

X.X. From the 6, Of her Contempt of the Holy Scriptures. The Author is most injurious to A. B. in alledging, for a 6th. Accusation, that she joyns with the Quakers in the Design of leading Men from the Ʋse of the Holy Scriptures: The Contrary is most evident in all her Writings, as appears from the Apology p. 159, &c.. She thinks the Scriptures contain the true spiritual Food and Nourishment of Souls; and the Preservation of them in their Purity, notwithstanding their Contradiction to Mens Lives, in whose hands they are, to be a standing Miracle; and the Doctrine of Jesus Christ to be the last and most perfect Doctrine, that is to come into the World, and the Standard by which all others are to be examin'd and tried; and desires no body may receive her Sentiments, but in so far as they are agreeable thereunto; and condemns the Practice of the Roman Church, in with-holding the Use of the Scriptures from the People, as a heinous Injustice and Impiety. Tho' she does not think, that God has bound up himself only to this way of communicating his Light, but may when he pleases, immediately communicate the same to any Person without the Use of the Holy Scriptures, and such Persons may forbear the reading of them, as she did, without despising them, as one needs not be taken up with reading his Friend's Letter, when he is immediately conversing with him. And for an Evidence of it, she appeals to the Truths which she declares are communicated to her by God, if they are not the same in Substance with those contained in the Holy Scriptures.

XI.XI. From the 7, Of her wild and barbarous Notions. The Author comes next to some of her Opinions, which she her self has often declared are not necessary to be believed, and which if Men please, they may count them Dreams and Fancies. He calls them wild and barbarous, and indeed as he conceives and represents them, he would make some of them appear Extravagant enough; [Page] tho' a candid Interpretation of them will render them both amiable and useful. Thus, what Wildness or Barbarity is there, in Asserting that Jesus Christ and his Church are one, that it is his Spirit internally animating, influencing and informing the Souls of Men, that makes them Members of his Mystical Body, which is the Church? or in Asserting that the last Judgment, by which she means the Universal Plagues by which God will in a Course of many Years destroy the Wicked from off the Earth, is at handSee the Apology. p. 72. &c.? Few who seriously consider the State of the World will think this a wild and barbarous Notion, but the Scoffers who walk after their own Lusts, and say, Where is the Promise of his coming? She maintains no Mahume [...]an Paradise Ibid. p. 180. &c., but such a one as Man would have enjoy'd in the State of Innocence, when as yet he had no Lust or Concupiscence. Ʋnto the Pure all things are Pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing Pure, but even their Mind and Conscience is defiled. She says, with our Saviour, That the Saints after the Resurrection neither marry nor are given in Marriage, but are as the Angels in Heaven. She condemns human Learning no farther than it fosters Pride, Amusement, Self-conceit, and the Lust of the Eye, or Curiosity, and destroys Charity and the Love of God. There is no greater Absurdity in saying that Jesus Christ thought fit to appear in our human Nature, void of human Learning, no Mathematician, no Philosopher, nor Critick, than to say that he appear'd poor and despised of all, not having where to lay his Head, since he thought fit to deny himself of all that we make the Object of our Vanity and Concupiscence.

XII.XII. The undiscreet Treatment of M. Poiret. What the Author is pleas'd to say of M. Poiret, that he was craz'd, and is still so reputed, being utterly false, can do him no Hurt with such as are either acquainted with himself or his Writings; but it shews that Mens Passions will make them rashly utter false and extravagant Things, which they themselves do not believe. For the Author himself in the next Page reckons him among the Men of Sence and Learning, who have written in Defence of A. B. abroad. It is no wonder then, that some in Britain admire his Books, for (he is no superficial rambling Writer) as they discover more than an ordinary Degree of Sence and Learning, so they direct to the solid Knowledge and Practice of true Christianity. Freed from the [Page] false Glosses of Parties and the Disguises of Self-Love and corrupt Nature: the Charge of his denying the Divine Prescience is clear'd in the Apology *.pag. 127, &c. They do also endeavour to make him odious, by publishing an Expression which they say he used in a private Conversation with two Gentlemen of their Acquaintance. M. Poiret himself says, it is not easie for him to remember the Conversations he hath with all who come to see him; nor if he had such an Expression to any, but that, if he had, those Gentlemen may think he had Reason for what he spoke, and he is well pleased that all the World know it; that as he is fully perswaded that God is, so he is perswaded that A. B. was illuminated and inspired by his Holy Spirit. Both these are Truths, but it does not follow that he looks upon both as of equal Moment, or that he believes them upon equal Grounds.

XIII.XIII. The Fury of his Zeal wrong levell'd. After the Author has formed so grievous and unjust a Charge, laying aside a Christian Temper, he proceeds in his 8. Sect. to sound the Trumpet, and excite others to Fury and Indignation; and in his late Book of the History of Sin and Heresie, p. 33. he repeats over the same Charge, with all the hard Words that Spite and Fury could invent, and insinuates his Fears of a Growing Sect and Party. It is strange to see Men more alarm'd and enrag'd against Enemies created by their own Fancy, than they are against real ones. If the Author of the Preface were once out of the Heat that his Imagination has put him in, it were easie, I should think, to convince him that these he calls Bourignianists are no such Enemies as he has fansied to himself. I can assure him, they do heartily own that our Reconciliation with God is obtain'd only by the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ; That the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures is the Standard by which we are to try and examine all Doctrines; That no Inspiration can come from God that does not fill the Soul with Humility, and Charity; or, That instills, under the Sheeps Clothing of Devotion and Piety, any Heresie, or any thing that tends to Schism, or to withdraw Obedience from their lawful Bishop, or to set up new Sects; and that Corruptions in the Church are better amended by living in the Communion of it, and there, by good Example, to reclaim, than by open Desertion, to set up opposite Factions, which heightens Animosities, embitters Spirits, renders them deaf to one anothers Advices, and often proceeds to [Page] Blood and Slaughter, as the Author of the Preface does so rationally conclude it, in the Marks he gives to distinguish between Inspirations from God, and Diabolical Enthusiasm. And if there be any thing in the Writings of A. B. contrary to these, or to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, they do openly disown and disclaim the same, and stand up for them no farther than they tend to promote the great Interests of Christianity, Truth, Holiness, and Peace.

XIV.XIV. The Doctor the Author of the Narratives, the Occasion of all this Noise [...] I come now to speak with the Author of Bourignianism detected, who might have allowed one of the Writings of A. B. to be put in English, and recommended as useful to advance the Interest of true Christianity, without making such a Noise about it; yet it no sooner comes to his Hands, but he presently raises the Hue and-Cry, Delusions and Errours, and magnifies it into a new and growing Sect, that he might get himself a Name, and have the Glory to encounter, and, as he hop'd, to defeat it. But the Doctor is not so dreadful an Enemy as he would seem at first On-set; they who bluster most are not always the most dangerous. They who have read the Writings of A. B. and find that the Marrow and Substance of them are the Essential Truths of Christianity, and that her singular Sentiments (which she says are not necessary to be believed) do not contradict those Essential Truths, do justly wonder what has moved the Doctor to raise all this Dust and Clamour. I know he once profess'd a great Veneration for Thomas à Kempis his Book de Imitatione Christi; (but he being a Mystick, and one who seems to own his being immediately enlightned by the Spirit of God; it may be the Doctor despises him now, as in his late Letter he declares he has long since turn'd off such Conversation) and a deceas'd Friend of his had not only a great Esteem for that Book, but also for others of the same Nature, such as the Life of M. de Renti, &c. The Person I mean, was the most pious and learn'd H. Scougall, of whom the Reverend Dr. Burnet, now Bishop of Sarum, gave so deserv'd a Character, in his Preface to Bishop Bedal's Life, and with whom he prevail'd to let him publish his Devout Treatise of the Life of God in the Soul of Man (to which he was pleas'd to prefix a Preface, and to subjoin a Discourse of his own, of a Spiritual Life) which little Book also contains an excellent Idea of the Divine Life in the Soul, and particularly a [Page] Notion of Faith far above the Common, and approaching as near as any I know to that of A. B. viz. that it is a kind of Sense, and feeling Perswasion of Spiritual Things, and has the same Place in the Divine Life, that Sense hath in the Natural. Now the Doctor professing a great Esteem for these Writings, and acknowledging that they contain the Marrow and Substance of Christianity; and the Writings of A. B. being the same in Substance, and she requiring no Regard to be had to her accessory Sentiments, but in so far as any should find them useful for increasing in them the Love of God; some think it unaccountable, why the Doctor should fall so foul upon her for her accessory Opinions, and does not rather honour her for the sake of the main Truths, and more favourably and candidly construct the others.

XV.XV. Great Caution to be used in judging of Spiritual Things. There are Variety of Dishes in spiritual as well as in bodily Food, and that may be very agreeable and healthful to one Palate, which another cannot relish; why should the Doctor then set up to be a Taster to all the World; and because his nice and learned Palate cannot relish some course and homely, tho' very substantial Fare, should he therefore cry out, There is Death in the Pot, and frighten all others from tasting of it, as far as his Testimony can have Influence? We do not use to drive our Flocks from a good Pasture, even tho' all the Herbs in it be not equall [...] nourishing. They who have a true Sense and Relish of Divine Things, if they were reading the Writings of A. B. would be so affected with the Divine Truths contained therein, as they would quite pass over the accessory Opinions, they would run to the Pearls and gather the wholsom Food, and apply themselves only to Things which direct them to the Love of God and the mortifying of their corrupt Natures. The Doctor should have considered the Woe pronounced against all them by whom Offences do come, and not rashly have laid a Stumbling-block before his Brethren, and by his abusive and unlovely Characters endeavoured to raise Prejudices against, and frighten many from A. B's Writings, where they might have reaped so much Good and Profit, and been brought to a true and lively Sense of Divine Things.

[Page] XVI.XVI. The Falseness of the Charge of a Sect. The Doctor is unjust in his Title Page, where he calls his Narratives The Delusions and Errours of A. B. and her Growing Sect. I know no such Sect in the World. A. B. was grieved there were so many Sects already, so far was she from designing to make a new one: I know none who esteem her Writings that are form'd into any Sect. I know of no separate Meeting, nor new Rites, nor other Symbols, that distinguish this Sect. There be Romanists, Calvinists, Lutherans; there be of the Episcopal and Presbyterian Perswasions, who esteem those Writings as they do other good Books, yet they form no new Sect or Party; there are none farther from the Spirit of a Sect than they, unless this be called a new Sect, to endeavour after the Spirit of the Primitive Church, viz. an entire and brotherly Union in Divine Charity.

XVII.XVII. His Uacharitableness to his Country-men. He is neither kind nor just to his Country men, in telling the World the Infection has seized many in Scotland, and some of the better Sort, who have been reputed Men of Sence, Learning and Probity. They might have read those Writings as they do other good Books, without being branded for Hereticks and Sectarians; he might have discovered what he thought to be Delusions or Errours, without defaming his Country-men, or bringing up an evil Report upon them; his Books might have instructed and confuted them, without pointing them out. I am perswaded the Doctor would think it a crying Sin to proclaim those Persons to be Thieves, Robbers and Murtherers, tho' I think his saying so, would do them no great Hurt; and if he would consider things calmly, he would find it no less, and perhaps a greater injustice to tell the World they are become Hereticks, Blasphemers, Idolaters, and new Sectarians, and so thereby, as far as in him lies, to murther their Reputation, make some to despise and abhor them, and excite others to persecute them as Men unworthy to live: But, as a Conquerour, he was resolv'd upon to a Triumph, and to add to the Glory, they must be led at his Chariot.

XVIII.XVIII. In both the Narratives he fights with his own Shadow. The Doctor has taken up two long Narratives in fighting with his own Shadow; the first, in proving that we ought not to believe the high Characters which M. de Cort, M. Poiret and others give of the Person and Sentiments of A. B. upon their bare Word; and the second, that we are not to believe the Characters she gives of herself and her own Sentiments, upon her own Testimony, without sufficient Enquiry and Evidence: And in both [Page] these, I know none will contend with him. In the First, he would make Men believe, that the great Business of her Friends is to recommend her to all the World, by a great many Elogies of all Sorts, that Men all might extol her and adhere to her for the Making up of a New Sect. In the Second, he gives this Idea of herself, as if her great Design was to boast that she was endued with all Sort of Prerogatives, that she might draw Souls to follow her, as if she aim'd to be the Head of a Party in Religion, and to draw Disciples after her. Now there is nothing more false than all this, for the Friends of A. B. had no other Aim, but to seek after the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus. 2. And having found the Truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, most purely and savingly represented in the Writings and Conversation of A. B. they do highly valu [...] them, and endeavour to conform their Hearts and Liv [...] unto them. 3. They desire that these Truths in [...] Purity and Force may be communicated unto others, [...] the Glory of God and the Salvation of their Souls. 4. And therefore thought themselves obliged to vindicate the Author from the many Aspersions, Calumnies and Reproach [...] cast upon her at the Instigation of Satan, by wicked and malicious Men, by declaring what they had seen and known for many Years of this Virgin, that so the Weak mig [...]t [...] be frighted away from the Truth by the malicious [...] of Slanderers. As for A. B. herself, the bent of her [...] was to live retir'd with God, and to conceal rather [...] publish his Graces to her Soul; and thus she did for [...] than fifty Years, and would have done so still, had [...] God commanded, and Providence order'd her such [...] sions as oblig'd her to publish these Truths. 1. [...] present there are no true Christians upon Earth. 2. [...] what Means the Spirit of true Christianity is to be [...] according to the true Precepts of the Gospel which [...] disguised by the Glosses of Men. 3. That they who [...] not sincerely labour after this, would be shortly [...] by the just Judgments of God. The various [...] and Objections that were brought against her, [...] to declare several other Truths in Vindication of [...] and Doctrine; and thus she is obliged to declare to [...] that God, who makes Use of weak and simple Me [...] confound the Wise, had sent her to make know [...] [...] Truths of Jesus Christ to others, that by the [...] [Page] God those Things are done in her, from the doing of which they excuse themselves, as if they were impossible; to others she was oblig [...]d to speak of God's Mission, his Call to teach others, and the Gifts and Capacities he bestows for that End; and that there might be no Obstacle in her to hinder others from embracing the Truths of Jesus Christ, she clears herself from the reproachful Calumnies and Lies form'd against her, by the contrary Vertues and Favours which God had bestow'd on her, and by the unquestionable Evidences and Testimonies of those to whom she was well known. This is true Matter of Fact, and these were the Occasions and Reasons which led both her and her Friends to speak of the Graces of God bestowed on her.

XIX.XIX. His Disin genuity in his Narrations The Doctor's first Narrative contains his Character of A. B. taken, as he says, from her Friends, with his Inferences from it; and then his Collection of the Reasons why they have such Sentiments of her, with his Censure of them. In the First, there is not one Instance of a fair and ingenuous Narration, but many of great Injustice, Disingenuity, and foul Dealing, most unbecoming a Writer of Narratives. For,

XX.XX. Appears in his unjust Way of forming her Character. 1.1. By p [...]ecing together half Sentiments from different Places. The Method he follows, palpably discovers that his great Aim was to blacken her. If one designed to make a beautiful Person appear ugly, he could not do it more effectually, than if he should first deprive her of all Life and Spirit, then take off the Skin of the Body, and dismember it all in Pieces, and quite invert the Order of its Parts, and take withal only some Bits of it to set them together, and at last bespatter all with Filth and Spittle, crying, Here is the Woman. And such is the Doctor's singular Way of making Characters. They who have reaped great spiritual Advantages from the Writings and Conversation of any Person, do speak of such a Person with more Esteem and Admiration, than others who not having had such Experiences will think their Expressions extravagant, especially when half Sentences are taken out by themselves, and pieced with others at a great Distance from them; and yet this is the Doctor's Way of making up the Character of A. B. skipping from one Book to another, from one Chapter to another, to pick out the half Sentences that might be serviceable to his evil Design. In the rest of his Narrative, he takes out little Passages of her [Page] Life, here and there, without narrating ingenuously the true Circumstances of them, he dresses them up with his fine Reflexions, and so exposes them to the World as a Character of her Life. The Answer he gives to this in his Letter to his Friend at London, Art. XIV. is frivolous, and needs no Reply; it shews only how willing he is to say any thing rather than ingenuously confess a real and a heinous Sin.

2.2. By borrowing pieces of it from her avow'd Enemies. The Doctor's foul Dealing appears farther in making up this Character by borrowing Pieces of it, not from her own or her Friends Writings, but from those of hers and their avowed Enemies; (as the next Day some of the Doctor's Temper and Acquaintance will, it may be, take her Character as given by her Friends upon his Word, and so fill it with horrid Untruths). Thus he takesNar. 1. p. 75. a Part of their Character of her from the Author of the Leipsick Transactions, which Part is shewn to be a most abominable Falshood in the Monitum ad Acta Erudit. Leips. and what Regard is to be had to the Testimony and Judgment of the Collector of the Leipsick Acts in this Matter, appears by the Account of a Friend of his, who speaks thus of that Subject: Firmiter persuasus sum fuisse Bourignoniam Virginem pussimam, &c. ‘I am firmly perswaded that the Virgin A. Bourignon was most pious, and her Heart the Temple of the Holy Spirit; her Doctrine, as to the main, is holy and sound, and her Books most worthy to be perused by the Serious. As to her Sentiments concerning some Mysteries, she wrote, no doubt, according to her Perswasion, and it savours nothing of Folly or Enthusiasm, if you shall read her Writings without Prejudice [...]and a sectarian Infallibility, even tho' you be of another Opinion your self. I impute it to human Weakness, if she thought that no Body would be saved but they who embraced her Sentiments; yet she herself uses to distinguish between the Sentiments about the Mysteries of Religion, and the Doctrine of Godliness. The Collectors of the Leipsick Acts have pass'd a severe Censure against her and our Author (M. Poiret). Yet I knew the Author of that severe Censure wrote according to his Perswasion. I got, at a publick Auction, that Copy of the Works of A. B. which the Author of the Censure made use of; and, with great wonder, I observed the Weakness of Man. The Author was a wise Man, of [Page] great Judgment and Sincerity; but what cannot Prejudices do, that grow up with us? I found many Places marked with a little Line on the Margent, which if you consider them alone, cannot but make the Doctrine of A. B. look suspicious, yea blasphemous; but if you join them with what goes before and follows after in her Writings, they have an excellent and pious Sence. The Author, who while he liv'd was most dear to me, and whom I am bound to honour now he is dead, had such Prudence, Judgment and Sincerity, that he would never have made such Exceptions, if the preconceiv'd Opinion of a Sect (as it daily happens t [...] others) had not bewitch'd him; nevertheless, I am perswaded that if he had lived till now, he would have come to see his Errour. This is’ the Judgment of Dr. Christianus Thomasius, Counsellor to the Elector of Brandenbourg and Professor of the Law in the University of Hale in Saxony, and is published in one of his Discourses before the Treatise De Eruditione solida, &c. which he caused to be reprinted in Germany, and I wish with all my heart that Doctor Cockbourn and his Friend may impartially consider it, and it may please God to open their Eyes, and let them see their Mistakes.

3.3. By obtruding false Translations. So zealous is the Doctor to blacken her, that to compleat the Extravagancy of the Character, he ventures to translate their Words falsly, and even of those False Translations, will tack together two half Sentences that are more than a Page distant in the Original, as if they had been written in the blasphemous Way that he represents them in one Breath. Thus, Narr. 1. p. 4. lin. 7, 8, 9. he makes the Author of the Continuation of her Life say of her, She is the divine Sun of Righteousness: (and with the same Breath) She is pure Truth, and the only Truth that can guide one to Heaven and eternal Life: As if he had affirm'd both of her, and both in one Period; whereas they are in two different Paragraphs, and neither of them spoken of her. The first is a Petition put up to Almighty God, by the Author of the Vie Continuée, p. 599. ‘That he would please to fix him in the Heaven of his Truth, that the Dragon might not be able to cast him upon the Earth by his Violence, nor by his Artifice; That, says he, I may then always receive the Light of the Divine Sun of Righteousness, in which thou hast placed thine Handmaid. [Page] And then in the next Section, when he had appealed unto God the Searcher of Hearts, concerning his Integrity in seeking after Truth, and his Impartiality in examining the Life and Writings of A. B. concerning his Readiness to disprove, if he could, with all the Application of his Mind have found any thing in them favouring Corruption or Sin, or contrary to the Glory of God, &c. he continues his Appeal in these Words; ‘Is it not with the utmost Sincerity of my Heart, that I protest openly, that the Words of eternal Life have been with an incomparable Purity, Clearness and Solidity in this Soul which thou hast sanctified, and are yet in her Writings: Certainly the Way that is recommended there, as necessary to Salvation, is the only and true Way (this is the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ) and there is no Danger to give up our selves to it entirely; for this is Truth it self, This is the Truth, This is the pure Truth’ Thus we see there cannot be a more palpable Disingenuity, in citing and translating, than this is, which can bear no Apology, b [...]t an ingenuous Acknowledgment of the Pevarication. Again, Nar. 1. p. 9. lin. 18. he makes M. de Cort complain, that no body makes Prayers to her, in the Times of Universal Scourges. The O [...]iginal is (ni la point faire prier) and the true Translation is, they do not desire her to pray. I shall not enquire what Sence the Doctor would have the Reader put upon his Translation, but must say, that he himself should not have aggravated his Guilt by calling that a close and literal Translation (Art. XIII. of his Letter) when he cannot be ignorant, that it is both a false and a foul one. Again, Nar. 1. p. 17. he makes the Author of the Preface Apologet. prefix'd to her Life, pag. 97. say, that A. B. was the purest, most disinterested and self denied Soul, and the most resigned to God, that ever was upon Earth. The Words in the Original are, ‘Or je puis dire avec verite,’ —que M. Bour. estoit une ame des plus pures, des plus degagées, &c. and the true Translation thus, that she was one among the Souls which have been most pure, &c. his false Translation would have him to exalt her above all humane Creature; the true, lists her only among the Saints of the first Form, among the hundred forty four thousand which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. Rev. 4. 14 Again, Nar. 1. p. 74. forming an Argument against her Chastity, from a Passage of her Life, and her own Account [Page] of it, La Parole de Dieu, n. 158. (and by the way I must say, that no Lover of Purity would have perverted this Passage to the Sence that he has done, nor is there any thing in the Embraces of Parents and Children, that can be supposed to defile the Imagination of a Soul such as hers was in a truly regenerate State, and in a profound Recollection and Communion with God) he falsely translates the [...] last Part of it: The Original is, ‘Je pensay de concevor cinque Personnages, que je tiens gens de bien:’ The true Version, I thought I conceived Five Persons whom I reckon to be good Men. But the Doctor must render it Five comely Persons, that it might serve his Design, and afford Matter for impure Jest.’

4.4. By affirming things as said of her without giving Evidence. It is no fair dealing in a Narrater, to affirm things as spoken or written by others, in his own Words, without giving Evidence for them. But the Doctor in his own Words tells us,P [...]eface, §. 2. ‘That if she may be believed, Christ only laid the Foundation for her Works, and did no more but prepare the way for her Design. That the last and greatest Manifestation of the Divine Wisdom, Power, Love, and Goodness, was reserved to her, and therefore she is and must be a greater Person than Jesus Christ himself. And,p. 3. §. 3. says he, if we will take the Words of the Anonymous Author of La vie Continuee, and some others, this Woman was above all that's Humane.—That God designed she should be the greatest Blessing that ever was conferr'd on Mankind.—That they set her on the same Level with Jesus Christ. That they draw a Parallel betwixt him and her, and do make him the Type of her, and not him but her, the last and highest Expression of God's Love to Mankind.—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,p. 5. §. 4. 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.

5.5. By drawing Consequences contrary to their Principles, which their Sayings do not infer, and they expresly disclaim. 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 [Page] 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;Nar. 1. p. 18. §. 10. &c. 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,La paix de bonnes ames. p. 186 &c, ‘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 [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] 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 [Page] 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.XXI. The Dr's great Mistake as to the Regard required to the Testimony of Men. 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 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,See Apology, p. 14. &c. 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 inconsi [...]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 i [...] not so, or that her [Page] 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.XXII. The true Reasons why A. B. was highly esteemed, not adduced by the Doctor. Nor those adduced, sufficiently disproved: As 1. her Sanctity. 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 [Page] 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 [Page] Whimsies. It is a wrong Imagination of his, that that make her impeccable, or at least never to have actually sinned.See Apology, p. 137. 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, The Doctor not faithful in relating the Proofs of her Sanctity. he proceeds to shew. That the things they instance in her, are not certain Proofs of Sanctity; and first excuses himself, that he offers to judge and censure her Actions. If he satisfie himself, I shall excuse him; but can find no excuse for his Misrepresentations, and giving these as the greatest Proofs of Sanctity, adduced by her Friends, which neither she nor they reckon to be such, viz. Affected Solitude and Retirement, Celibacy, Fastings, Watchings, Humiliations, wearing of Sackcloth, a contempt of the common Ornaments of her Sex, with such like Austerities, and great Raptures, and Extasies in Devotion; and declaring, that he perceives no singular Instance of Sanctity mention'd by them, beside those: For it was easie to observe from the Accounts given of her, that she lived as one constantly travelling towards Eternity, and as such, studied in all things to conform her Life to that of Jesus Christ. I shall not here recount the many Instances of this, which a [...]e to be seen in the First Part of the Apology See Apology, p. 42, 43., and in the Character given of her, in the end of the Apology; but shall refer the Doctor to the Places cited on the Margent, in which Places he will see some Instances of true Sanctity, which he did not think fit to notice, how observable soever they be in her own Writings, and in the Accounts that are given of her by those who knew her in her Youth and Old Age, and in all the Stages of her Life, in the Temoign. de la Verite; and particularly in that by Mr. Franken Merchant in Amsterdam.

[Page] In the Eighteenth Article, he speaks as if A. B. and others, in comparing her Life with that of Jesus Christ, thought that there were an Equality, without giving any Evidence for it; the thing is utterly false, both she and they affirm only, that she was a Follower of Jesus Christ, she makes the Essence of Christianity to consist in the Imitation of Jesus Christ, and in all her Writings lays before us his Life and Spirit for our Imitation, in a way more divine and forcible, than the general way of sermonizing: And if her Vertues were truly Transcripts of the Life of Jesus, it is very Just that they be represented to the World as such, that so it may appear, that it is the Devil and our corrupt Nature only that makes us believe that he is not imitable, and that by such an Instance we may be stirred up to be true Followers of Jesus Christ.

In the next Article, he hath a long Discourse upon Solitude: ‘Because, he says, it is recommended as a special Act of Sanctity by the Example and Sentiments of A. B. and because it has been much debated by Heathens and Christians, by Ancients and Modern, yet few, says he, have offered a just Decision of the Matter: I’ was in good Hopes this should have been done by him, yet at last he will not determine which of the States, the Active, or the Contemplative is fittest: but then he thinks, ‘A mixt State the happiest, (which is plainly every Bodies State) and gives his Reasons for it, and corrects a vulgar Error concerning the Clergy, as if they all ought to be Men of Study and Retirement, which, he says, is a great Mistake, since they are to shew the Possibility of the Divine Laws, by their Practice, and he who can hear himself prais'd without Vanity, and accused without Wrath, can accept of good things when they are offered, without a brutal Joy, and yet never be out of Humour when are they wanting.—Such a one prosecutes the End of his Calling better, and his Conversation does more good, &c.’

A. B. considers and determines this Matter upon other Principles, and by another Spirit. ‘It is not which of the States makes a Man a Drone or a Drudge, in which a Man may enjoy himself best, or do most good; acquire Knowledge and Experience; give himself to Study or to Business:’ Which are the Measures by which the [Page] Doctor determines. But, she says, we are all travelling to Eternity, and our great Business, both as Men and Christians, is to give our whole Love to God; and to keep our selves unspotted from the World; that every one is obliged sincerely to examine their own Hearts and Consciences, and whatever they find to be a Hindrance to the Love of God, by all means to avoid it, and whatever they find to be to them a necessary Help to it, to embrace it; that the Corruptions abounding in the World make it very hard for some to converse with it, and not become Partakers of their Sin; that many are so weak or so easie to be surprized by the Temptations it offers, that they find it for their Safety as much as they can to avoid them by Solitude and Retirement; that Babylon is presently over all, and God calls to all his Children to come out of her, least they be Partakers of her Sins, and so of her Plagues also. That nevertheless, God has different Ways of bringing Souls unto himself; and therefore what Method one follows, and finds for his Eternal good, he is not to impose upon others, nor are others to despise him.

XXIII.XXIII. His Reasons against her Sanctity disproved; and she vindicated from, 1. That of a light and vain Conversation. In the 20th. Article, the Doctor brings, as he thinks, certain Proofs, that she had no Sactnity.

1. That till the 18th Year of her Age, she ran into a vain and light Conversation, by which she lost her Conversation with God; where, in his Judgement, he shews a flat Contradiction in the Preface to the English Reader, of the Light of the World; because a few Lines before he had affirmed this, he had said, that from her Childhood she had inward Conversation with God, as if any could lose a thing they never had, or never lose it because they had it from their Childhood: However, this he thinks proves, ‘That she could not be anointed by the Spirit of God to declare his Will; for if it had been so, it is no ways likely he would have left her so soon to her self, or suffered her to be corrupted, whom he had appointed to be so great a Light, especially when that which tempted her was but the Censures and Misconstructions of other Men: What, could not the Spirit of God break through this Temptation? Was her Grace too weak to resist it? Must so Holy a Person do Evil,’ merely to pass for a Wit? The Doctor reasons upon other Principles different from those of the rest of Mankind, when he comes to speak of A. B. Were not David and Solomon separated from [Page] the Womb? Did not their Graces and Sanctity appear early? Did they not fall into grievous Sins? Is this a Proof that God did not anoint them to declare his Will? Could not the Spirit of God break through their Temptations? &c. But moreover, it is to be considered, that it was no gross and scandalous Sin, by which she lost her Conversation with God, and yet notwithstanding she lived a Life of great Mortification for it, for several Years.

2.2. From following her own Humour without any regard to the Principles of Religion. His next Proof is, that even after this, which is pretended to be the Time of her Conversation, ‘She did not determine the great State of her Life, by Motives and Principles of Religion, but by her own Humour; she resolved upon a Celibate Life, only because she would not be crost, &c.’ But the Doctor sets this in a false Light, as he does every thing else that concerns her. The true Case is this, when she was a Child, it troubled her to see her Father sometimes so rough to her Mother, and when he was in Wrath, she would run and embrace his Knees to appease him, and then would retire and pray, that God would never suffer her to marry, but that he would take her for his Spouse. This was before her turning aside from God, to divert her self with the Vanities of the World. In the 18th Year of her Age, she was struck with a deep Remorse for her straying from God, and led a Life of most severe Penitence for Seven Years; so that other Considerations did then affect her, and draw her to a State of Celibacy. As for the Doctor's immodest Insinuations upon this Occasion, I shall leave it to his own Conscience to check him for them; but for the other Reason he gives for her Celibacy, That she undervalued all she saw, and could find none of Merit enough to deserve her, &c. its purely his own Invention, without the least Ground given for it, in her Life or Writings, or any manner of way, and will be judged by every enquiring Reader, to be a malicious and wilful Calumny.

3.3. From her Disobedience to [...]her Parents. A Third Evidence against her Sanctity is, says he, her Disobedience to her Parents; contrary to whose express Commands, she was importunate to go into a Cloyster, and when that would not do, stole away from her Father's House privately. He exaggerates this matter greatly, but is not aware of one Reason he brings, which determines the Case clearly on her side; ‘If the Case had been, says he, about turning Christian, she ou [...]ht to [Page] have done it, even without a particular Revelation, whether her Father would or not.’ The Case was the very same with her, and a particular Command from God to strengthen it: She saw she could not become a true Christian, without abandoning the World, and that while she was in her Father's House, she could not sufficiently disingage her self from it, and therefore resolved to obey Jesus Christ, who bids us forsake Father and Mother and all that we have, for his sake. Our Lord called James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, from waiting on their Father, and they forsook all and followed him.

4.4. From Covetousness, because of her Law Suits. The Doctor triumphs greatly in his Fourth Instance, her suing her Father at Law, to divide his Goods with her after his Second Marriage; which does not agree, he says, with common Measures of Grace and good Nature, because it proceeded from an inordinate Love of the World, and could not be managed without great disrespect to her Father. The Doctor's Passions make him so disingenuous in every thing that relates to this Virgin, that it will nor be thought strange to tell that he is manifestly so in this Instance. Mr. Poiret's Reply to this being so full in the fore-mentioned Letter to a Friend, I need only adduce it for her Vindication, and this the rather, because the Doctor thinks that the Reason why he who continued her Life, takes no Notice of this Passage, (tho' she gives an Account of it herself) was, because he knew not how to justifie it. ‘It is not true, says he, (M. Poiret) that I had any Interest to defend the Life and Actions of Mrs. A. B. by a Legacy which she left me, (as the Narrator says) she did not leave me in Legacy to the Value of a Penny. But there is nothing more contrary to Truth, as well as to Justice and Charity, than what he says of the Law-Suits of Mrs. A. B. with her Father, and Step Mother; I pray God he may not have acted maliciously, against his Knowledge, in the Judgment that he would have the English and Scots to make of her Civil Actions, whose Civil Laws are different from those of her Country. It may be, it would be a Crime in England, or Scotland, for a younger Daughter, after her Mother's Death, to require by Law, of her Father, the Goods of her deceas'd Mother. But in France, where among Citizens, in the matter of Succession, there is no Distinction between Son or Daughter, elder or younger, [Page] it is the Law and Custom in many Places, That after the Decease of the Mother, her Goods are tak [...]n from the Administration of the Father, and put under other Curators, to be after equally divided amongst the Children: And in Mrs. A B's. Country the Law is, That the Widow-Husband cannot marry again, until he first divide with the Children of the first Marriage, and give them their Mother's Goods, and to refuse this, is to violate Law and Justice; now this is what the Father of A. B. did, whose Injustice our Doctor thinks fit to justifie, and for this end, to suppress, change, and fal [...]ifie the Circumstances of the Affair, against the Truth of what he had read of it.’

‘To render Mrs. A. B. faulty and impious against her Father, he speaks nothing of the Laws or Customs of the Place,Vie exter, [...] 49. (tho' they were expresly mentioned in her Ac [...]count of the Affair) according to which the Father is the Breaker of them, and the Daughter would have them observed. He say, the Father would have maintain'd her in his House; but he does not tell that his new Wife whom he had taken clandestinly, tho she was but a poor Girl, without Wit or Vertue, studied to waste and consume the Goods of A. B. persecuting her, for the Four Months she staid with her Father, in so continual and cruel a manner, as cannot be expressed. [...]. Mrs. A. B. saw and experienced, that this was inconsistent with her Recollection, and contrary to the will of God. He says, that Mrs. A. B. was picqued, because her Father refused her Money, but does not tell that her Father was then in a most plentiful Condition,ibid. n. 57. that as for her self, she had not a Penny, that she ask'd only what was necessary for her: That he (irritated by his Wife) was so cruel as not to assist her with a Penny when she was dangerously Sick; that for want of Convenience she was obliged to lie under a Roof, when the Snow and Cold deprived her even of the Nights rest,Vi [...] exter, n. 52, 54. so that Strangers were mov'd to give her Alms. He would have it to be understood, that she entered into a Law Sure against her Father, of her own head, and therefore says, that her Sister was already dead, and that her Brother-in-Law perswaded her to proceed, hoping afterwards to wheedle her out of it, all which is false. Her Married Sister was yet living, and lived Five Years thereafter, and [Page] about Four Years after her Husband.ib. n. 5, 49, 51. The half of the Mother's Goods belonging to the Sister and her Husband, they resolved to require their Father to deliver them, to whom they did not appertain;ib. p. 180. and it was only by way of Concomitance and Adjunction, that Mistress A. B. interven'd in it, it not being Just that she should wrong her Brother-in-Law, and Sister, by refusing her Assent to this Affair, and it appears that she came in but accessorily; for how soon her Brother-in-Law died, she wholly desisted from it.ib. and Part de Dien n. 9. p. 163. So that the Question comes to this:’

‘If in a Place where the Laws require that a Father, before he marry again, leave the Goods of the deceas'd Wife to the Children that he had by her, a Daughter of more than Twenty Years of Age, persecuted by a Mother-in-Law, who wastes her Goods, does commit a Crime, when, (after having asked in vain, but only simple Necessaries, from her Father who is in a plentiful Condition she consents, that her elder living Married Sister and her Husband, should apply to the Judges, to demand their own Goods which are wasted, and a Portion for this Maid, while they constantly refuse to allow her the least share, for the necessities of Life, so as to leave her generally without any Help, even in her Maladies, how dangerous soever they were, or might be?’

‘No Man living hitherto, not even any of her greatest Enemies, had so much as a Thought to give her the least Reproach for it; and this is the Reason why he who continued her Life, had no ground nor thought of making any Apology for this. Fifteen or Twenty Years after this, a certain Doctor lifts up himself to accuse her for this of Impiety, and an inordinate Love to the World, and that she had neither Law nor Reason on her side, and glories publickly in this fine Discovery, which ought rather to fill him with Confusion before God and Men, considering the Artifices wherewith he hath disguised and perverted the Matter of Fact; God's forbidding to meddle with other Mens Matters; and the wretched Injustice with which he takes part against the Right of oppressed Innocence.—Having given an Account of’ the just Reason she had to resume the Sure after her Father's Death, he thus concludes, ‘As there was nothing in this, but what was according to Divine, Natural, and [Page] Civil Equity, and since Mrs. A. B. affirmed, that she acted in this by the Will and Motion of God, and against her particular Inclination, and in short, since the Effect makes appear, that she made use of her Goods for the Glory of God, and the Advantage of the Poor, in the Erection of a Hospital, which subsists to this Day, and to which she left all her Goods: What is here in all this, that deserves not to be esteemed in the Judgments of all good Men? So far M. Poiret.’

The Doctor is unjust, when he would have it pass for an Invention of M. Poiret's, ‘That she was commanded by God to pursue her Right, and that she should need it for his Glory,’ &c.—He knows that M. A. B. declaresParole de Dieu. p. 67. that she was expresly mov'd to it by God. And the Sincerity that appears in all her Life and Actions, and that Poverty of Spirit which she still possessed in the midst of Abundance, may convince any unprejudiced Person of the Truth of her Declaration; and that she was not acted by an inordinate Love of the World.

That this was not inconsistent with her Abstractedness from the World, as it appears by an excellent Resolution which she gave on another Occasion,Vie exter, p. 186. the Extract of which you see in the Third Part of the Apology, N. 23. p. 227. So he who continues her Life does sufficiently evince it in the Place cited by the Doctor, (tho' not with that Justice and Candour that might be expected from a Narrator)Av [...]s salut. p. 86. by some Reflections upon God's Dealing with her in that Matter, such as, that this happened after he had made Trial of her hearty Sincerity by a twelve Years actual Disingagement from the World; that it was against her Will, but by God's express Command, that she resumed her Goods; that she possess'd them in a most real Disingagement, and employed them in God's Service only, and concludes with this Illustration of the Matter, ‘Vie Continuè [...] cap. 12. p. 128, 129. If we had not seen Abraham pass three Days with Peace and Tranquility of Mind, in the Resolutions and actual Preparations to kill his Son; if we had not seen him ready to stab him, and putting the Knife to his Throat, we could not have known, and he himself could not have certainly known whether his Affections were so disingaged from his Son, as to give him wholly to God. But after this Proof, God gives him back that which he might afterwards possess according to God. It is such an Abandoning of all, [Page] that God requires of all true Christians (tho' not of all after the same Manner) after which he restores unto them their abandon [...] Goods, or not, as he sees fit; and if he give them, they are a Charge to them who possess them then, when their Disingagement is true, they possess them then as Goods which are not theirs, but given them of God, that they may employ them for God only, who allows them to take of [...] their simple Necessaries and no more; all the rest ought to be for him and on his Account. This is what truly befel M. A. B. who on this Occasion receiv'd and dispens'd God's Goods with an exemplary and unviolable Fidelity, and spared no Pains to maintain what was God's, because he had declared, that such was his holy Will.’

The other Branch of the Doctor's Accusation, as to Coverousness in her suing her Right to the Isle of Noordstrand, is no less unjust than the former; and his Account of it is not fair nor ingenuous▪ Temoign. de Verite, Part 2. p 3 [...]2, 303 M. de Cort left her sole [...]eiress by his latter Will, without her Knowledge or Consent, when he was far distant from her in Noordstrand, and when she testified an Aversion unto it, her own Goods being a Charge to her already; he told her, with Grief, there was none else that [...]e could trust with it, for if he should leave it to the Fathers of the Oratory, they would not pay his Debts; it to his Relations they would destroy one another with [...] Suits. The Doctor might have taken the true Narrative of it where it was to be had, and not from M. Bayl [...]s Dic [...]onaire Critique, if he had given her own Defences against his malicious Accusation when it was brought against her with the same Spite and Fury, by Benjamin Furly the Quaker; he might have spared all his Insults, or the Reader would have found them to be very ridiculous. Her Defence is to be had at large in the Place citedAvertis. contre les Tremb. p▪ 213, &c. on the Margent, in her own Words, the Substance whereof, in short, is this: That it could not be Covetousness that acted her in that Business of Noordstrand, since she was told it was burdened with Debts more than it was worth, and was therefore refused by his Blood-Relations, when she proffered it unto them with the same Conditions she her self held it: That she had given sufficeint Testimony of her Detachment from the World, when at the Age of Eighteen she voluntarily abandoned all that she might have possessed with rich Parents; and [Page] 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 employ [...]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 Co [...]etousness, and also those of others, viz. th [...]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 m [...] judgment, than all the Wealth, Pleasures, and Commo [...]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.XXIV. [...] &c. 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 vers [...] 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 la [...]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 ( [...] [Page] 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.XXV. 2. Her Knowledge of secret Thoughts not disproved. 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.XXVI. 3. Her foretelling things to co [...]e not disproved. 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 Apology, p. 230. &c.. 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: [Page] 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.XXVII. 4. The Supernatural Means of her Knowledge not disprov'd. 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 must be owned that she consulted Men and Books very little, for she had both in great Contempt: And yet within Eight Lines he says, That her sublime Thoughts were suggested by her Conversation with others, by Sermons which she heard, and by Conferences with Confessors, Priests, and Learned Men.’ The Doctor who is so ready to fasten Contradictions upon others, would do well to clear himself of them, [Page] here he seems to contradict himself, with his Pen in his Hand. ‘O, but, says he, no matter how she came by them,’ unless they be Solid and True. But if they be both Solid and True, it is certainly worth the while to consider both them and the Source of them. His Calumny of her despising the Scriptures, is already answered. It had been good the Doctor had given us a Specimen of the fine Thoughts of the metaphysical mean Person of his Neighbour Parish; he has been unkind to his Acquaintance there, that he never let them know of this fine Wit; he might have given a Narrative of him in Bourignianisin detected. As for the Singular Talents of his Weaver, he may meet with such in every Parish.

XXVIII.XXVIII. [...] One of his great Talents in his Narratives, lies in making long Common Places, and then giving such a turn to some Expression of A. B. or of her Friends, as may amuse the Reader, and make him think that they act, or write, contrary to the Vertues or Divine Truths, about which he has been preaching, or are guilty of the absurd things he has been exposing; and when he comes to the Application, he speaks not Truth in one Article; but h [...]s the Art of darkning and confounding things, instead of putting them in a true Light; this appears in his XXV. Article, as well as in all the former. It is not true, that the Appearance of Comets is given as a Reason for having Mrs. A. B. in so high esteem; for they were not mention [...]d as Signs of her, but as Presages of the approaching Judgments of God which she also declared, concerning which the Author of the Vie continuè, c. 3 [...]. n. 5, 6 had good Reason to regret that the Devil should prevail so far, as to get Books and Sermons published, to efface our of Mens Hearts the Fear of God's Judgments, which might arise from the Considerations of such wonderful Appearances, [...] by t [...]lling that Comets are Natural things, and so there is no Reason to be apprehensive of them; as if the greatest [...] were not inflicted by natural Means; as that Author there considers to excellent Purpose. And as A. B. does in the Place cited on the Margent, ‘Many Signs, says she, have appeared in Heaven, in the Sun, in the Stars, fearful Comets, menacing great Evils, which did affright, some at first: But so soon as the Devil had leisure to make his Adherents study to find out Reasons, shewing that these were but Natural things, he made the [Page] Fear of these Threatnings of God, sent as the Fore-runners of his Justice, to evanish out of their Minds, &c.—It seems Men mock (now) at God's Warnings, calling them Natural things.—The Deluge was made by a Natural Rain, and the last Plagues will be made by Pestilence, War, Famine, and Fire, all Natural things. But the Devil to divert us from believing that these things are the Beginnings of the last Plagues, makes it be said by his Adherents, That these are Natural things; that no Body may turn to Repentance.’ So nothing could occur more naturally in the writing of the Life of such a Person, giving warning of such approaching Judgments, than to excite Men also to consider Gods Warnings from the Heavens. From all which, there was not the least Ground for the Doctor to make the Inferences which he does, or to call his Brother Fool, not fearing the Danger incurred by so doing. But the Doctor with his Friend, the Author of Pensces diverses sur les Cometes, will tell us, ‘They are all the superstitious Observers of Comets, who look upon them as Presages of Divine Wrath, and that Eclipses were sometimes as formidable; and Comets now come to be better understood.’ And in all Appearance, the better they are understood, they will become the more dreadful and terrible, not only as Presages and Warnings of God's Judgments, but also as the most dreadful and immediate Instruments of them.

XXIX.XXIX. Just Remarks upon what [...] of the [...] As the true Reasons for which A. B. and her Writings are esteemed by some, are not at all weakened by the Doctor, but rather confirmed, so neither is the Testimony of M. de Cort, and M. Poiret, being Men led by Truth, more than Passion or Fancy) by all that he alledges to the contrary. What she said at the Age of Four Years, being so weighty a Truth, and the Text of her whole Life, is most deservedly laid before the Doctors and Teachers, by the Author of her Life, and the [...] that every good Man will make of it, will be, to s [...]arch his own Heart, and not to lesten the weight and due Impression of any of God's Calls, even out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings.

What he says to disparage the Purity of her Soul, as well as of her Life, shews only the Disorder of his own Mind, who from Spiritual things, studies to excite in himself, end others, impute Imaginations. Ʋnto the [...][Page]all things are pure. The Contradiction he finds out in M. Poiret, lies only in his own Fancy: Jesus Christ, the Saints, the Holy Scriptures, do certainly send forth an Odour of Truth, Charity, Holiness, Chastity, and of all Vertues; but this is not perceptible but only by them who are rightly disposed, and who truly seek God: Whereas they who love Falshood and Impurity, are so far from feeling those Impressons, that their Passions are rather excited to the contrary; as appears by the Enemies of the Gospel. So the Writings and Conversation of A. B. might make Divine Impressions of Charity and Purity upon some, and yet the Spite, and Malice, and evil Passions of others, might be thereby the more enflamed; and that this is neither a Falshood nor a Contradiction, daily Experience does testifie.

As to the Passage cited out of the Preface to M.Narra. 1. p. 75. Poiret's Divine Aeconomie, whosoever shall read it at length, as it is in the Preface it self, will find the Thought so just and so excellent, that he will see the Doctor has bewrayed only the Weakness of his own Understanding in censuring of it. We see the Art that is now most magnified for finding out the Truth, and upon which the Mathematicians do so much value themseves, (and I hope the the Doctor is a Friend to the Mathematicks, tho' not to the Metaphysicks,) is that of shutting out all Idea's foraign to the thing in Question; that the Mind may search after the Truth, without Respect to its former Conceptions of it, upon which the Truth does not at all depend.

If there be unquestionable and sufficient Evidences of the Divine Illumination of a Person;Ibid. p 76. this is not a sufficient Ground to despise them, or to disparage the Judgment of others who think well of them, that there are many things in them which appear unto us wild and uninrelligible. God may reveal things under most mysterious Figures, altogether dark and hidden from us, and yet before the Consummation of all things, may make them plain and evident; as we see in Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Revelations: We must not therefore despise them, because we have unquestionable Evidences of those Persons their being inspired by the Spirit of God. So, rather than with the Doctor, to speak Evil of the things which I do not know, I will conclude, Quae intellexi, optima sunt; puto item & quae non intellexi.

[Page] XXX.XXX. Some Remarks upon the Second Narrative. I have detained you so long upon the Doctor's first Narrative, that I shall need to say little of the second, for what answers the first serves for an Answer to the second also; where he has done nothing toward the satisfying Peoples Expectations, which he rais'd by his big Promises. I shall let it pass with three or four Remarks only.

1.1. He persists in his false Representations. He continues still to give false Representations of her. It is not true, that she pretends to a Sanctity above the Prophets or the Apostoles, a Sanctity next to that of God; nor to a comprehensive Knowledge Natural and Divine, and all manner of speculative Truths, nor to the Knowledge of all matters of Fact, at what distance of Time and Place, or how secret sover; nor that she contradicts her self, as if she asserted sometimes, that both the Divine Truths which she declares, and all the Words by which she utters them, were inspired by the Spirit of God, and sometimes the first only; nor that she makes Jesus Christ a Type of her; nor that she is the Mother of all that shall be converted unto God; her Sayings import no such thing, when they are considered without Prejudice in her own Writings, as is made appear already.

2.2. In his Curtailings and Glossings. Notwithstanding of the Narrator's great Sincerity, and that he intends to set down her own Pretences in her own Words, without adding to, or diminishing from, or curtailing any Passage which may be necessary to qualifie the Meaning of them; yet so earnest is he to make her odious, that he forgets himselfe, and either by truly curtailing the Passages, or by his Comments on them, he makes her speak quite otherwise than she intended: So that they who would not judge rashly, may please to read them in her own Writings without the Doctor's Curtailings and Glosses.Nar. 2. p 4. Light of the World. Part 2. p. 84. Thus as to his false Glosses, when he says, My Thoughts, Words, and Actions, must have the Three Qualities of Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, else I should be as a sounding Brass, &c. Does this infer that she arrogates to her self a Sanctity above the Prophets and Apostles, and next to God himself? Souls truly regenerate, are Partakers of the Divine Nature, Christ lives in them; Piety cannot be true, as he himself grants, without a Perfection of Parts, tho' not of Degrees, without an Universal Conformity to the Will of God, so that their Thoughts, Words, and Actions, must be both Just, [Page] Good, and True; now as one Star differs from another in Glory so do regenerate Souls. Her Words then imply no more, but that God had truly renewed and regenerated her by his Holy Spirit, and not that she exceeded all others in Sanctity, as his malicious Gloss would have it.Light of the World, Part 1. p. 92. Nar. 2. p. 5. Thus when she says, I do not remember I ever committed any Faults, but when I believed the Counsel of Men. It is far from her Meaning that she was born without Sin, or that Original Corruption was perfectly cured in her, as appears by all her Writings, and by that very Place cited: but that as Plants and Trees seem all Dead and without Life, in the Winter-Season, till the warm Spring make them all bud anew, and discover the Life and Spirit that was in the Root, so Mens natural Corruption, which seems dead and mortified, is awakened and exerts it self, according to the diffirent outward Occasions, conformable to the Variety and Difference of People's Inclinations, and that this was her weak side, by which her Self-love and Vanity did exert it self.

Again, when she gives a convincing Reason for what she says, or speaks of her self with the greatest Humility, or limits general Sayings, so as to confine them to her true Sense and Meaning, all this he very cautiously keeps out, and conceals, as appears in the Citations, out of the Light of the World in the 9, 11, 17, 20, and 21st. p. of the Narrative. Thus where she wonderfully Illustrates how the Holy Spirit communicates to pure Souls such a comprehensive Divine Light and Knowledge, as cannot be express'd by many Words; the Doctor industriously skips it over, and joins the foregoing and following Sen [...]ences together. ‘I have need, says she, to express my self by humane Reasons and Comparisons, because otherwise they could not understand me; for the Holy Spirit speaks so succinctly, that one Word makes me comprehend many things. He gives Subtility to the Understanding to conceive great things, by one of his small Motions. It is just as if one were in a fine Room well adorned with Variety of Furniture and Rarities, but there were no Light in it whereby to see all these things: In such a Case it would need a great many Words, to make him who had never seen them, understand in particular all the fine Things and Furniture that were in the Room, telling him here be such and [Page] such Pictures, such Tables, such Seats, and such like things; and yet we could not make him comprehend well the Beauty of this Furniture and Rarities: But if a Light were brought into the Room, tho' it were but that of a Candle, in a Moment, it would give more Knowledge of all the things that are in the Room, than all the Discourses that were uttered to make them known. So it is with the Light of the Holy Spirit, when it enters into a Soul, it makes it know and comprehend all things, very clearly. Nevertheless, these things cannot be seen by Souls, who are yet in the Darkness and Obscurity of their own Passions; many Words and Discourses must be used, to make them understand the Rarities that are in the Works of God.’ So far A. B. All this is left out by the Doctor, except only the first and last two Lines the rest did not serve his turn; he design'd to confound and darken all, and they gave too distinct and convincing a Light. They who shall be pleased to peruse that whole Conference, will see how little Ground there is for his scurrilous [...]ests, if we consider the thing in Thesi, without relation to A. B. that when the Spirit of God does immediately enlighten a Soul, he does not endite all the precise Words that it ought to make use of in explaining that Light and Truth to others, only that he brings along with him the Gift of Wisdom, to express it self so as to make the Divine Truths to be understood. It cannot be mistaken then as to the Substance, and Essence of the Truths, tho' it may be, as to Faults of Speech through its own Weakness and Ignorance, which Faults come from it self, and not from the Holy Spirit: And yet it is not the Will of God that it should be taken up about the Correcting of these Faults, both because this would divert its immediate Attention from God, and make it lose the Divine Light, and withal his immediate Force and Power is seen in its Weakness.

Again, in the 17th. p. of his Narrative, when he cites a part of this 18th. Conference, of the 2d, Part of the Light of the World. to prove that she pretended to know all matters of Fact whatsoever; he leaves out that which serves to qualifie the Meaning of it.Light of the World Part [...]. p. 39. ‘All that is needful in this, says she, is to disingage our Soul from earthly Affections, and to resign it to the Will of God; then he go [...]verns and illuminates it in such sort, as that it cannot [Page] be ignorant of any thing that it ought to know: For as for simple Curiosities we ought never to ask or desire them, but only that which is well-pleasing to God or profitable to our Neighbours; the Knowledge of which things, God does not deny to Souls, who are faithfully dedicated to him. Thus the Spirit of God made known to Peter, the matter of Fact of Ananias and Saphira; and to Elijah, that of Gheazi; where is there Occasion from this, for all the Narrators idle Jests, in the 19th. and 20th. p. of the Narrative?’

3.3. Makes Questions upon a false Supposition. The Doctor starts a great many Questions upon a false Supposition, p. 31. it being already told in the English Preface to the Light of the World, that not M. de Cort, but M. A. B. did write all the Conferences of the Light of the World, which are now published.

4.4. He opposeth the Truth, and joins with the Pelagians. I am sorry that he seems to have drunk in the Hetetodox Sentiments of his new Friends, and to declare himself so much Pelagian as to deny all kind of Ʋnion betwixt a regenerate Soul and God: For one of the Articles of his Impeachment of A. B. seems to import no less; for he accuses her because she asserts, that there was some kind of Union betwixt her and God, and that he dwelt with her, in some ineffable and incomprehensible manner. I thought that all God's Woorks had been incomprehensible, and that if he dwell in any Soul, it is in an ineffable manner: And Jesus had said, if any 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 St. Paul declares that Christ lived in him; and that if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his: I thought all this did import some kind of Union betwixt a regenerate Soul and God.

If any will please to read the half Sentence, if you knew me, you should also know God, in the Original it self, they will see how far she is from his Insinuations of Parallelling her self with Jesus Christ,Light of the World Part 2. Conf. 13. p. 85. or making her self equal with God. ‘If, says she, I should say things contrary to the Gospel, do not believe me: For you ought not to believe any thing because I say it to you, but only because it is really true: And if you knew me, you should also know God; because he is one and the same Spirit in all things.1 Cor. 6, 17. So far as you shall discern Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, in any Person, so [Page] far shall you discern God living in them, and no farther.’

The Doctor wilfully mistakes her Meaning in the other Passage he cites,D. C. Nar. p. 36, 37. (Light of the World, Part 2. Conference, 17. p. 128, 129,) and keeps out of the midst of it, that which clears it most. She makes not a Distinction betwixt a Doctrine as from of a prophetical Spirit, and as immediately from God, as he would insinuate, but that what God thought fit to declare more darkly by the Prophets, now about the time of their Accomplishment, he declares them more manifestly, with such Clearness and Reasons, as bring along with them their own Evidence: And that he communicates now a Light, not of prophecying things to come, but of shewing the approaching and present Accomplishment of what has been foretold already. ‘The Prophecies, says she, of the Antient Prophets will all of them very shortly be fulfilled; there is no need of any longer having obscure Prophecies, because we are fallen into the last Times, wherein all the Prophecies shall cease, and we shall see them all entirely accomplished, and we shall not receive any more new ones; because the King of all the Prophets will himself, govern his People, and will give an entire Accomplishment to all that has been prophesied of him; so tho', Sir, you shall not need to say, that you hold these Truths from a Prophet, because the Work does always bear witness who the Workman has been.’ Thus A. B. in the midst of the Passage which the Doctor has cited. No doubt when the Doctor began this Narrative, he resolved to be Ingenuous, and to curtail no Passage that might qualifie her Meaning. But when he writes against A. B. it will not do with him.

Naturam expellas furcâ licet, usque recurret.

5.5. A just Character of M Poiret, and the Narrator's unchristian dealing with him; considered. M. Poiret being still alive, the Narrator should have dealt by him as a prudent Man, and a Christian Pastor; he should have pleased to tell him his Fault, and endeavour'd to restore him in the Spirit of Meekness; if there were any Defects and Errors, I am perswaded he would have found him easily convinced of them, for he is none of the crack'd, whimsical, bigotted Heterodox and Blasphemous Fouls, which he and his Friend represent him to be: He is a Protestant Minister whom Providence has discharged [Page] from the exercising of his Office, by the Dissolution of his Congregation, through the Miseries of Wars; he has a sound Mind, a solid Head, a clear Understanding, a penetrating Reason and Judgement, a cheerful Temper, and a sincere Mind: He is not wedded to any Party or Person, farther than they are united to the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus; he values the Writings of A. B. because they contain the true Doctrine of Jesus Christ rescued from the false Glosses of corrupt Nature, and because her Life and Spirit were conformable to her Writings; he most firmly believes and adheres to all the Articles of the Christian Faith, and labours to have them transcribed in his Heart and Life, and values no other Sentiments nor Reasonings but as they tend to promote the Interests of Christ's Gospel. The unjust and unaccountable Representations given of him by the Narrator and his Friend, have made me give you this Character of him, and that this is a true one, his Writings are irrefragable Evidence; which whosoever disparages, betrays only the wrong set of his own Heart and Understanding.

As for that Letter which has given Occasion to the Doctor's hasty Excommunication of him, and made him inconsiderately rank him with Mahomet, Ebion, and Corinthus; it ought to be considered,

1. That it was in a manner extorted from him, by one who some time before, had gone over to the Church of Rome, and because his Change was disaproved by A. B. being enraged at her, endeavour'd to divert well-meaning Persons from hearkning to the Truths of the Gospel contain'd in her Writings, because it was not foretold in the Holy Scriptures, that God would communicate his Graces to a Woman, for the Renovation of his Gospel Spirit, M. Poiret upon this Occasion applied himself to shew both the Absurdity and Falseness of the Exception, which otherways, it may be, would never have entered into his Mind.

2. That the Doctor here again falls into his ordinary Method, of connecting very distinct Passages together, and leaving out that which would put them into a right Light, as is evident from the Letter it self, and falsly translating some part of it, as that Adam some time after his Creation, had brutal Inclinations; for there is no such Expression there.

[Page] 3. That M. P. considers the thing only in, Thesi, what Evidences the Scriptures give of God's purpose and design to make Womankind the Instrument of his Light and Spirit to the World, when the other Sex, Man, through his Pride and Wisdom, had rendred himself uncapable of it.

4. That if the Narrator had been so just as to have shewn the Principles upon which M. Poiret proceeded, I am sure no candid Reader would have subscribed the Doctor's Sentence. They are to be gather'd from Temoign. Tem. des S. Ecrit. p. 387, 388. des S. Ecrit. That God is resolute in all his designs, and will at last bring them to pass; The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations: That God made Man for true Happiness in the Enjoyment of his God, and that he persists in this design, through all Generations: That Adam beginning soon after his Creation to turn away from God to the Creatures, God, to prevent his total Fall, resolved to give him a Help-meet for him, a Woman, in whom the divine Image should shine; that his Soul might be thereby raised unto God: That this first Eve, thwarting his design, by turning Man farther away from God, yet he still persisted in his design, resolving to put his divine Image in a Woman, and by her, as by a second Eve, to reduce the Generality of Mankind;Ibid. p. 402, 4 [...]3. and that accordingly he gives the Promise of the Enmity between the Seed of the Woman, and that of the Serpent, Gen 3. 15. That Jesus Christ coming in the Flesh is pointed out in this Prophecy by these words, I will put; for it is he who speaks in a glorious Body, and shews that he will be the Source of the Enmity against the Devil and Sin, that is, the Author of Grace, Sanctification, and all divine Strength and Virtue that we need against the Enemy: That the Serpent's Head not being yet bruised, Jesus Christ must be supposed farther to fulfill this Prophecy, by making a Woman his Organ or Instrument for exciting again and promoting among Men this Enmity against the Devil, &c. Now what is there in all this that deserves Excommunication, as a Blasphemer, and a vile Heretick, not worthy to live? Blasphemy is, to speak Evil of God; and Heresy, pertinaciousl [...] to teach that which turns away from the Love of God: and this is very far from either.

5. The Doctor ought to treat others with Meekness and Charity, and Equity, lest he himself be tempted, and fall into the same Condemnation with which he unjustly reproaches [Page] others.D. C's Essays, part 2. pag. 163, 164, 165. When he considers the Reasons why God was pleased to permit Sin, which is so disagreeable to himself, and so pernicious to his Creatures, he tells us, ‘God has not concealed from us the Reason of this Conduct; his own Glory is the End of all, and by Sin his Glory is exceedingly manifested. As he manifested the Omnipotency of his Power by creating many things out of nothing, so he demonstrates the infinity and vast wonderful reach of his Wisdom, in that he can bring Good out of Evil. How could we have known God's wonderful Patience, his Meekness, Long suffering and Forbearance, and his strict and severe Justice, in distinguishing the merits of Persons and Things, if Sin had not entred into the World? What adorable Instances of Love, Mercy, and Goodness, would have been wanting, if Sin had not given occasion for them? If Sin had not happened, where would there have been place for the Mercy of God? Who would have dream'd of the stupendious Love of God towards Mankind? It might have been suspected, without Sin, that God, and all other things, were under some inevitable Fate; but now it appears that he is free, that he can do what he pleases, and that all things are managed by his Wisdom. If the Revelation of the Gospel be admitted,’ God has had more Honour, and been more glorified by the Fall of Angels, and the Sin of Man, than by the Creation of the World.

‘I have staid long, says he, upon this; but it is pardonable, seeing the importance and intricacy of the Subject required it; and seeing some have written Volumes upon this alone, which very few have cleared to Satisfaction.’

And the sum, you see, of the Doctor's Resolution is, That God decreed and resolved to permit Sin and Wickedness in the World, because by his way of managing it, it would tend most to his Glory, and his Perfections and Attributes would not have been so conspicuous without it. Father, forgive him, for he knows not what he says. I doubt not but the Doctor has written all this with a good Intention, but upon the matter it is Blasphemy with a Witness, and a very unfit Resolution for convincing of the Atheists and Deists. Non ipsa peccata (saith St. Augustin) vel ipsa miseria, perfectioni universitatis sunt necessaria, sed animae in quantum animae sunt quae si velint peccant; si peccaverint miserae fiunt. A. B 's Writings, which the Doctor so much [Page] despises, do clear the Mysteries of Providence far more to the Honour and Glory of all the divine Attributes, and to the Conviction of our Reason; as many, who do read them without prejudice, are fully perswaded.

6.6 The Narrator's Mistakes as to the comparison betwixt Jes. Christ's First birth and the Renovatio [...] of his Gospel Spirit. But, to return to the Narrative, as to what he says of a Parallel drawn up by A. B. betwixt her and Jesus Christ. his Misrepresentations and Mistakes lie in this, That she calls it a Comparison not a Parallel, there being a great difference between these two. In how many publick Sermons have the Sufferings and Virtues of King Charles the Martyr been compared with those of his Master Jesus Christ? Will it be said that the Preachers intended to make a Parallel betwixt them, or to make Jesus Christ the Type of him? 2. The Comparison is between the second Birth of Jesus Christ, or the renewing of the Church, and his first Birth; and not betwixt him and A. B. He may speak, as she says, out of a Bush, or out of an 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.

7.7 His rash Censure of things he does not understand. 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, [Page] which had nothing in it of any impure Idea,Narr. 2. p. 49. 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.

8.8. His [...]. 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 Ʋtopias 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 Ca [...]dour he manages them, and confounds and [...]akens the Truth instead of clearing it, so he may be disappointed [Page] 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. A [...]t. Bo [...] 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.

[Page]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 summumque odium testetur adversus me qui hominem incognitum, res (que) ejus tetigi nunquam. Quaestio mihi suit cum aliis circa rem quae ipsum non concernit. Contendebant nonnulli, licet veritates egregiae. donaque non vulgaria in A. B. ejusque scriptis essent, eam tamen non esse audiendam, siquidem è Scripturis non pateat Deum velle homines per sominam docere, provocabant (que) uti hoc ostenderetur: provocatus, qui alias tacuissem, ostendere conatus sum Deum in Scripturis declarasse quod placeat ipsi in ultimis temporibus soemina aliqua sive foemineo sexu uti, tanquam instrumento, quo lumen Christi, di in [...]s (que) veritates evangelii multis efficaciter communicet ad unam Dei glori [...]m, hominumque salutem: atque hoc est meum illud crimen. q [...]od omni haeresi ac insaniae anteponit, & ob quod ipsemet ad rabiem us (que) videtur in M. A. B. & in me insanire. Si mens ille Theologa esset aut Christiana, diligeret me quamvis inimicum, & ex Christiana indole omnia in meliorem partem tentaret interpretari; quae in bonum utcunque capi possunt, licet incommode enunciata, charitate sua tegeret; si qui errores & defectus non poss [...]nt à charitate sua excusari, misericordia moveret eum pro errante Deum deprecari, ut per Gratiae lumen mihi subveniret; tum homines caeteros ad eandem erga me charitatem commovere, memor ipse propriae suae infirmitatis, timensque ne si in eos, qui opinione sua ceciderunt, insolentius insurgat, permittat Dominus, superbae insolentiae osor, eum profundius cadere, quam ab ullo alio factum sit. Verum nil simile in ejus scriptis, in quibus è contra, tantum demonstrat coram omnibus sibi animum ess [...] malevolum, de inventione mali gaudere quaerentem, quaevis aliis bene dicta depravantem, irrisorem, bonorum adversarium, & ut omnes istis qualitatibus infecti sint, efficere gestientem; quod sane doleo, licet non invito animo hanc amplector occasionem, osorem ac inimicum m [...]um dilectione & benedictione prosequendi, rogans Deum ex animo ut ipsi sit propitius, eum è malis suis eripiat, donetque luminoso, miti ac humili spiritu servatoris nostri, cujus misericordia ego quoque summe indigeo.

[Page]

A Second LETTER CONTAINING Some short REMARKS upon Bourignianism Detected, Second Narrative, and the Author's Letter to his Friend.

SIR,

I.I. The Occasion and Design of the Letter. THo' I am sensible that I have very good Reason to be diffident of my self, and to entertain always a profound Sense of the weakness and fallibility of my Understanding, and of my unfitness to pass a Judgment on the Performances of great and learned Men, yet since you have put that Honour upon me, as to desire once and again, that I should give you my Sense of the Reverend Dr. Cockburn's, 2d. Narrative, and the Letter annexed, I might justly challenge my self Guilty of a piece of Rudeness, if I deny'd your Request; and therefore I resolv'd not to decline doing that which perhaps might afford you a little innocent Divertisement.

I have always, I think, own'd to you, that I am an impartial Enquirer after Truth, and I hope, if my Heart deceive me not, I shall through the Divine Grace, be ready to embrace it, and rejoice in it, where-ever I find it. And it is my humble Petition to the Father of Mercies, the God of Light and Truth, that he would never suffer me to espouse the Interests of any Persons or Parties any farther than they have Truth and Goodness on their side.

A general Verdict on the whole of the Doctor's Performance, might be dispatch'd in a few Lines, but I suppose, this would not be Satisfying, and therefore I conclude, that giving you my Thoughts, together with the Reasons of them, in some particular Instances, will be [Page] more agreeable, and more fully answer your Expectations.

II.II. Remarks upon Doctor Cock bourn's Letter to his Friend: The perusal of the Doctor's Letter to his Friend, gave me Ground to make the following Reflections, which I shall impart to you with all the Succinctness that is possible for me, and you may judge of the Justice and Reasonableness of them: 1.1. H. judging others, condemns himself. Whatever Comments Enthusiasts may make on providential Events, yet they whom the Doctor calls M. B's. Admirers and Followers, who do not pretend to be inspired Persons, are not very forward to interpret the Language of these Dispensations. However, I find, the DoctorLetter, p. 2. himself, notwithstanding the Censure he passes on the bold and temerarious Pretences of Enthusiasts, to know the secret Reasons of providencial Occurrences, scruples not to fall a guessing and even determining of the Intent and Meaning of that Dispensation which hath lately befallen himself. He is very suspicious that A. B.'s. Disciples may have entertain'd some secret Triumphs in their Bosoms on the Account of his being forced to retreat to Holland, and is at some pains to abate the Joy of these imaginary Jo Poeans. But for any thing I know, he is out in his Conjecture, and might have spared himself the Trouble of what he wrote on that head. I very much doubt, if our being put in more advantagious Circumstances for accomplishing the Designs that we are very [...] and intent upon, and which we may fancy to be very useful, be a good Assurance to us of the Countenance and peculiar Interposal of Divine Providence in our Favours.

2.2. Unjust [...], and [...]. The DoctorPag. 9. c. [...] pag. [...]. in these Passages where he tells us what are, and what are not the Grounds of his appearing against A. B. hath several very pretty and just Reflections. Such generals go well away with every Party. It is the Justice of their Application that will be disputed. Yet I question the Truth of some of his general Maxims; such as, for Instance, that true Piety, like Gold, is current every where, and at all times. I am sure it was not so in the Days of our Saviour and his Apostles. The great thing that hath engaged his Zeal in this Attack, is his supposed Discovery of Errors, Heresies, and Delusions. The mutual Charge of pernicious Doctrines, is what hath set the several Sects by the Ears. The Doctor indeed advances his Charge against A. B. to a very great height, [Page] affirming that the whole Scheme of her Principles hath a Tendency contrary to the Christian Constitution. This Assertion, I know, will oblige some to tell him, that it would seem he had not yet well digested his Thoughts on that Matter. However, if he solidly evince this, he will do a great Kindness to many, who for the Present think that they are not wholly ignorant of the Designs and Tendency of the Christian Constitution. In the mean time, the Doctor modestly acknowledges that he is not infallible.

3.3. The Doctor in Danger by becoming h [...]s own Interpreter. In the preceding Narrative Pag. 30. the Doctor had asserted, that neither the Virgin, nor any other Saint, was so much honoured by the Roman Church, as A. B. is by her Followers. Now I presume that one of the greatest Instances of Honour, paid by that Church to the Virgin, is their making Addresses t [...] her frequently, and in these same Terms that they do to God himself. And since the Doctor translated that Passage in M. de Cort's Letter concerning A. B. thus, No Body makes Prayers to her, was it not reasonable to infer, that he intended his Readers should believe that A. B.'s Friends paid the like Deference to her? I am sure a great many Readers took it in that View: However, now he retracts it, yet I wonder how he comes to call his Translation of the Passage, a literal and close one, which indeed is none at all. The Words are these—Et maintenant, dans les Affairres publiques, dans les fleaux universels, dans tous [...]ces Perils, ne la point consulter, ne la point faire prier? Ni l'employer? Certainly the true and literal Translation of that Period is No Body makes or obliges her to pray.

4.4. Not just in making of Characters. I think the Doctor doth not sufficiently discharge the Censure that the brings in Num. XIV. It supposes that there are a great many good things in A. B's Life and Writings, and certainly there are, and to a far greater number than the things that are more singular, and not so agreeable to all. And why might not these have been taken to make up, at least, some Strokes of her Picture? But the Doctor will needs have her to be absolutely Black and Deformed, and is very angry that all others do not think of her as he does. There are some Faces and Shapes, that to some, appear very agreeable, which others imagine to be full of Deformities and Unhandsomness, and they will pick Quarrels at every Part and Lineament, tho' really [Page] there may be no just Ground for so doing, and the true Reason of the Dislike may be the false Measures which Men have set up in their own Fancies, whereby to judge of either Natural or Moral Beauties.

5.5. Makes a Controversie where there is none. The Doctor, in my Opinion, states the Controversie very invidiously, p. 14. ‘There is a Debate, saith he, whether A. B. is to be preferred before Fathers, Prophets, and Apostles? A. B. never claim'd to any such Preference,’ she owns and honours these Holy and Eminent Persons, as the Messengers of God, and the Organs of his Spirit. She acknowledges the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets to be the Standard of all other Doctrines, and of her own too. All which might be verified from an Hundred and an Hundred Passages of her Books; And why should the contrary be peremptorily asserted?

6. I wish from my very Soul that the Doctor's Remarks, A. B's Writings valuable for their Plainness, Simplicity, and Disinterestedness. p. 15. were true, namely, that what is good in A. B's Writings, is handled and recommended in every Practical Treatise, and is the Subject of almost daily Sermons. But I am afraid, it will be found not with that Plainness, Simplicity, and Disinterestedness; for we have the Christian Graces and Vertues, ordinarily so crusted over with the fulsome Varnish of a gaudy Eloquence, or so blunted and dispirited by the Flatterings, Constructions, and Glosses put upon them, that we neither see them in their true Beauty, nor feel the Divine Force and Vigour of them, but have them with any Face our deceived Fancy pleases to put upon them, and being almost brought into any Compliance with our corrupt Natures, so as they are nothing bettered by them. The Doctor in my Opinion is Injurious to A. B's Friends, in representing them to the World, as egregious Undervaluers of Sermons. Such as press and urge the great Design of our Religion, they dearly value, and I believe the Doctor himself will pay no great regard to these Discourses that are meerly calculated to recommend the petty Interests and little Opinions of a Party, as if they were the great things, the Cause of God, &c. or that are visibly the Product of Vanity and Ostentation. Indeed the Names of Resignation and Self-denial, are not new, yet I believe the Import of them may be unknown to not a few. And I doubt not but vast numbers, who pretend to look into the Scriptures seriously enough, are still ignorant of the Nature of them, and insensible of their Obligations to them.

[Page] I wonder extreamly how the Doctor could forget that false Notions of Religion do oftentimes draw such a vail over the Understandings of Men as hinders them from discerning the Import of the Duties of the Gospel. The frightful and tragical Expostulations that I meet with in this and the following Page, are, I must say, nothing but calumnious Insinuations, and go all upon the wild Supposition, that there is a new Name, a new Authority besides, and above that of Jesus Christ and his Apostles obtruded on the World, which they whom he here Levels at, do infinitely abhor.

7.7. The Doctor's Prenciples not friendly to St. Paul. The Improvement that the Doctor makes of the Twelve Apostles, as being the Twelve Foundations of the New Jerusalem, bids fair to seclude St. Paul, who was none of the Twelve, and gives Ground to think, that if the Doctor had been in those Days he would have entered his Protestation against him, and cry'd out, How comes a new one to be added, are the other decayed? Or did not God foresee what is necessary? Will Men offer to mend the Work of God? But St. Paul built on the same Foundations, and so A. B. pretends likewise to do, and on Jesus Christ the chief Corner Stone.Etoile du Matin. p. 23. Hear her self, ‘Since Jesus Christ is the only Foundation of the true Church, and whosoever does not build on this Foundation, builds upon the Sand, &c.’

8.8. His Rudeness to A. b's Friends. I would fain know upon what Grounds the Doctor affirms, p. 20, 21. That they who favour A. B. do it on M. de Cort's, and M. Poiret's simple Authority, and why he accuses them of a lazy, unreasonable, and overhasty Credulity? Does he think that they either wanted the Exercise of, or did not imploy their rational Faculties and Discretion in this Matter, or that they were not at the Pains of any mature and serious Deliberations about it? These and a great many more of the Doctor's Complements seem, in my Opinion, to be pretty Rude, and to savour too little of good Breeding or Charity.

9.9. His Rudeness to the Philadelphian. The Doctor makes good Company with the Philadelphian. Yet, I think, he ought to have returned him the Civility of the Two Illustrious Epithet of Ingenious and Learned, wherewith he adorned him in his Postscript, and not to have treated him so coarsly as he doth. I am of the Mind that the Philadelphian by the same Foundation on which all the Parties he mention'd pretend to stand, [Page] and by the same Rule according to which they resolve the Principles of their Faith, understands the Holy Scriptures. And it is evident, I think, that these he instances in, do pretend to resolve their several Principles into the Word of God, as their Foundation and Rule, whereas the Doctor, as I take him, seems to mean by them, the Improvements and Deductions which the several Parties make in their own Favours, both from Scripture and Reason, and argues against the Philadelphian in that View. I think moreover, that when the Doctor in the heat of his Opposition against Pretences to Inspiration, argues thus, as if it were impossible or unheard of, for one to be deluded, and yet not to be sensible of it, or to exclaim against a thing, of which he himself is as guilty as any, puts a Sword in the Hand of the Deists, whereof they may very dexterously turn the Edge against such as were unquestionably inspired, since they who truly bore that Character, did very much cry out against false Prophets, and many of them I believe, did not justifie their Pretences to Inspiration by working Miracles. In fine, I think, the Doctor needed not have made such a Bustle about the Import of neither a Friend nor an Adversary, since it seems obvious, that the Philadelphian meant no more than one who is neither a fond Friend nor a fierce Enemy.

III.III. Remarks upon the second Narrative. I proceed next to glance at some things in the Doctor's Second Narrative: He introduces it with a very fair Promise, assuring us that he will set down her own Pretences, in her own Words, without adding to them, or diminishing from them, or courtailing any Passages which may be necessary to qualifie the Meaning of them. This, if he keeps to it, is a very honest and candid Resolution. And indeed could he assure also, that he will put no other Meaning on her Words but her own, nor distort them to a Sense that she never intended, he might then very plausibly invite his Readers to depend on his Citations, without needing to consult her Writings. But I much doubt if this can be expected from one who examines in the View, and with the Design, that the Doctor doth: We know that a great many, who pretend to make free and impartial Enquiries, gloss or rather pervert the Holy Scriptures themselves in favour of their own Prejudices.

That I be not uneasie to you, I shall only touch on a very few things, and by my Animadversions on them, you [Page] may judge if the Doctor be as Candid and Impartial as he pretends to be, or hath kept his Promise.

1.1. A. B's Pretences to Sanctity not so high at he describes them, for she does not exalt her self above the Prophets, &c. He charges A. B. as arrogating to her self a Sanctity above the Prophets and Apostles, without the Alloy of humane Passions or Infirmities, a Sanctity which is next to it, or rather the same with that of God himself. Now let any free and disinteressed Spirit determine if the Passages which the Doctor adduces, will amount to this Assertion, I would ask him, Is it not our Duty to have Truth, Righteousness, and Goodness, in all our Thoughts, Words, and Actions? And if so, is it not attainable by the Grace of God? And if A. B. by this Grace attained to some singular Measures of them, ought that to have been made her Crime and Reproach? Doth she arrogate any Truth, Righteousness, or Goodness to her self, as the Cause and Author? Where doth she say, That she arrived at these Heights of Sanctity that the Blessed are possessed of? For I think that to pretend to these, were to assume to ones self a Sanctity without the Alloy of humane Passions or Infirmities. But why doth the Doctor assert, That a Sanctity without this Alloy, is the same with that of God? Is not the Sanctity of Angels without it? Shall we then say, that theirs is the same with that of God? Further, are not the Actions of such as are made Partakers of the Divine Nature, in the Apostle's Phrase, more than humane; that is, Do they not come from a higher and more noble Principle than what is meerly Natural?

And when a Soul hath attain'd to this Bliss, when Christ is formed in him, when he is the Master, and Guide, and Inspirer of his inward Man, must it be accounted Blasphemy or a Rivaling the Deity, to say that his Actions are not Humane. This is certainly all that is meant by that Passage which so scandalized the Doctor. A. B. owns indeed, that by the Divine Grace she arrived at great Measures of Sanctity, but yet such as others might attain to by a faithful Dependance on that same Grace; and she encouraged all that conversed with her, generously to aspire after it. What if she had delivered her self in the Words of the Psalmist? I am undefiled in the Way, I keep God's Testimonies, I seek him with my whole Heart, I also do no Iniquity, I walk in his Ways. Would the Doctor have quarrelled it? Is not this the Character of every truly Righteous Person?

[Page] The Doctor, p. 5. after a scornful Preamble,She does not pretend to be without Sin or Corruption. brings an injurious Aspersion upon A. B. he will have it, that either she was born without Sin, or that Original Corruption was perfectly cured in her, and so that she was not as others liable to Sin, without external Temptations. How is this proved? Why, because she says, ‘For my part, I can say in in Truth, that I do not remember I ever committed any Faults, but when I believed the Counsel of Men: Now,’ if I have any Sense, this Passage overturns what the Doctor would establish by it; For does not our yielding to outward Temptations, evidently suppose that there is something within us that complies with them, and what is that but our Original Corruption? For, I think, it is very plain, that if Original Corruption were perfectly cured in us, there would be nothing within us on which outward Temptations or evil Counsel could get hold. Achan's taking the goodly Babylonish Garment which he saw among the Spoils, and Judas's complying with the Offer of Thirty Pieces of Silver, did discover the covetous Dispositions of their Hearts: When I believe and listen to the evil Counsels of another, and thereupon commit Faults, this seems clearly to demonstrate that there is something within me that likes, and agrees to the wicked Suggestions that are made to me, which plainly implies a Depravation. Very often it comes to pass that outward Temptations do awaken and discover some latent and hidden Corruption, or wicked Inclination that the Person was not sensible of before. Doubtless St. Peter did not know that latent Cowardice and Infidelity that were in his Heart, till the outward Temptation gave him the Discovery of them; so that tho' it were true that one did never actually sin but by means of outward Temptations, yet it will not therefore follow that he hath no internal Corruption, or that he is exempt from that Degeneracy of Nature, that is common to all the fallen Posterity of Adam. The Doctor for all that he talks here, since he reads A. B's Books, could not be Ignorant, that she frequently acknowledges the Degeneracy of her Nature, and that she was of the same Make and Frame with the rest of lapsed Mankind. Take this one Passage for the Proof of it.Solid Vertue. Part 2. p. 71. ‘If I had not known, says she, that my own Will was Evil and Corrupt, I should never have learned to resist it, since there is not any thing more agreeable to our Natures than [Page] accomplishing their proper Wills.’ To be perfectly cured of Original Corruption, is the Privilege only of the Blessed. Even they who were sanctified from the Womb, did, while they were in this Life, feel, and were obliged to resist the Importunities of corrupt Nature.

The Doctor adds,She owns her Failings. That neither here nor any where else, does A. B. give any Instances of her Faults, except some Levities before she was Sixteen years old; and, that she does not any where own the having Sin. I intreat that it be remarked, That what the Doctor here diminishingly calls some Levities, was by him egregiously aggravated in his first Narrative, Sect. xx. Here he can find no Instances of her Faults, and there he thought he discovered too many. Here he represents her as no where owning that she had Sin; there he introduces her confessing, that she had run into a vain, light, and idle Conversation, following the Pleasures, Recreations, and Divertisements of the World. And this Scene of her Life, when he thought it seasonable for him so to do, he delineates in all the shapes of Horror, telling us1 Narrat. p. 49., ‘That she suffered an Eclipse for some years—Pride and Ambition, Sensuality and Covetousness, prevail'd on her, that she resisted the Spirit of God, and walked contrary to the Dictates of her Conscience, video meliora—In effect, he turns her into what Forms he pleases;’ sometimes she must be a Goddess, and at other times a very Devil.

I judge that it will be evident to any impartial Person,In that very passage cited by the Author. that the Doctor hath dealt very unfairly by that Passage which he cites at the close of pag. 5. I shall set it down entire. ‘I spent, says she, most of my time all alone in my Chamber in Prayer, and Tears, and great Grief, for my having thus followed the [ways of the] World;Vie exter. p. 150. I entred upon a very austere Life, using hard Beds, Fasting, Watching, and wearing Sackcloth, that so I might chastise my Body; I visited the Poor and Sick, I frequented the Churches and Sacraments, not knowing by what means I might be restored to the Favour of God, which I had lost by my own Fault. I could not sleep at night, fearing lest I should go down to Hell, for I was afraid of the Judgments of God, that I dared not shut my eyes because of my Sins, which appeared to me so great, as none had ever committed the like: not because I had done any [wicked or] evil Actions, for all Men esteemed and honoured me; [Page] but because I had parted with the ravishing Intercourses which my Soul had with God, that I might take my pleasure in the Divertisements of the World, after I had received so many Favours from God as merited my Acknowledgments throughout all my Life. This Sin appeared to me so great, as Hell had no Punishment answerable to it.’ I should think it had been impossible for any body, after having perused this Passage, to write at the rate the Doctor does, without firmly resolving to cross all the Dictates of Ingenuity and Candor: Is this then no where to own that she had Sin? and to justifie every thing that she said or did? Are there no Instances of Faults given here? or does the Doctor think, that following the World, or turning the heart from God, tho' but for some time, and not in the highest degrees, are but little veniai Levities? Are there here no penitential Acknowledgments made neither general nor particular? What would the Doctor have? Are there not here ingenuous Confessions of very great Faults? and a very deep and sensible Sorrow for them? Doth she not highly aggravate them, both as to the Guilt they included, and the Punishment they deserved? And doth she not, on the account of them, put in Practice the Severities of Mortification and Self-denial? Is the Doctor angry because she was not a greater Sinner, or would her being so have recommended her the more to him?

The Doctor translatesPag. 6. that period,He most injuriously mistakes and translates some of A. B's words. point que J'eusse fait aucunes manuvaises actions, very disingenously thus, That she had never done Evil; whereas he should have turned it, you see, ‘Not that she had done any wicked or evil Actions.’ It is manifest, that there is a vast Difference between Never having done evil, and Not having done any wicked Actions. The Doctor's Translation, which is neither literal nor true, though it serves his present turn, makes A. B. pretend to an absolute Innocence and Guiltlessness; but by the other, which is a just one, the Reader easily sees, that her Words import only, That she had not done any outward Actions that were gross and scandalous. But then it is very possible that one may be guilty of having done a great deal of Evil inwardly, and in his heart, tho' he had never committed any gross and visible Immoralities. And that this is the true Sense of the Passage, is evident not only from the scope of this whole Paragraph, but particularly from the Reason that she there assigns, namely, That eveevery [Page] one esteem'd and honour'd her: they did so, because they discovered nothing in her outward Carriage but what was modest, sober, and agreeable. And I think none that consider well what they read, will make any Scruple to admit this as a sufficient Reason for what she asserted, tho' the Doctor insinuates some will. And thus tho' A. B. refuses that, in the Circumstances in which she then was, she had not done any Actions that were visibly scandalous, yet with the same breath she acknowledges very penitently, that she was guilty of very great Evils in suffering the World to gain Ground on her Heart. Now tho' the Doctor promised his Readers at the beginning of his Narrative, that he would give them A. B's Pretences in her own Words, and not curtail Passages; yet let any that is unbyass'd, judge if he hath done so here, and whether the Nice and Inquisitive have not need to consult her Writings, and rather believe their own Eyes than his partial Accounts: and whether in fine, tho' he engages in his Letter, pag. 28. that he will be as faithful in relating matters of fact, according to his Knowledge, as if he were a Witness upon Oath; whether, I say, this Promise of his can be a sufficient Security for relying on his Testimony, if it be found that he falls frequently into such Inadvertencies or Misrepresentations as these?

The Doctor sets down the Return which she made to the Charge of M. Serarius very faintly.Put malicious glosses upon others. I will impart to you some Periods of it.Tomb. dela Faus. Theol. part 2. let. 14. p. 115. ‘In effect, says she, my only Fear is, lest I should not continue faithful to my God, and I cannot bear with them who say or believe, That there is a state of Perfection in this World, wherein Men are impeccable. I look upon this as a great Error, and Self-presumption in them.’ And then he tells M. Serarius how he was present when she rehearsed before several Persons the account of the great defection of her Youth, which she here relates again with a fresh Sorrow, and in very exaggerating Terms, tho' the Doctor affirms that in all this Passage there are no penitential Acknowledgments, neither general nor particular. And afterwards she adds, ‘Or si je raccount si librement comment, &c.Ibid. Now if I so freely relate, how grosly I fell from so exalted a State of Grace as that wherein God had placed me from my Infancy, how can I [be supposed to] say or believe that I can no more fall, since what one hath once done, he may do many times?’ And [Page] after having asserted that no Creature can be impeccable during this miserable Life, where there are so many stones of stumbling, and instanced in Peter, David, and Solomon, she says,Ibid. ‘Can I be so ignorant, as to believe that [...] can no more fall, or decline from the Grace of God? I am certain I may do it every moment, if I would retire my self from my Intercourse with God, and entertain my self with my Senses. I know, so long as I remain united with him, I cannot fall; but if I should break off this Communion, I should fall the first step I made thereafter, as a young Child that cannot go.’ Doth she not here plainly own her Lability, Weakness, and Insufficiency, that of her self she could not be without sinning, no, not for a moment: that she, as well as all others during this Life of Temptations, is continually liable to Falls; and that her only fear was, lest she should discontinue her Fidelity to God? But is this to arrogate to her self a Sanctity without the Alloy of humane Passions or Infirmities, and which, as the Doctor afterwards hath it,Pag. 7. is not exceeded, but only equall'd by that of Jesus Christ? It is his ordinary course, all along in the Commentaries that he makes on A. B's words, to run into intolerable Excesses. In effect, the Glosses he puts on them do in a great many places palpably destroy the Text, and gives them a Meaning that she never intended. I believe the Doctor would take it very ill to have his own Words so dealt by. I must here take notice of a Passage of his Letter,Pag. 2. which sounds as highly at least, as any that he quotes out of A. B. on the Head we are now considering. Indeed, saith he, I was never so profane as to forget my Dependance on God. Now it is certain, that one never sins, but when he forgets this Dependence; and to say, that Sin is the forgeting of our Dependance on God, is a very proper Definition of it. Here then the Doctor arrogates to himself an absolute Innocence. I know he intended no such thing; but yet you see, the words very easily bear this Meaning.

I shall not now enter upon the Enquiry, into what heights of Purity and Holiness God may by his Grace advance such as are truly regenerate, and who continue faithful to him. This, I know, will fall under the Doctor's Disquisition more properly afterwards: But whatever these heights may be, they do not contradict that Passage of Holy Scripture he mentions, nor supersede the use of the Lord's [Page] Prayer. I thought fit to discuss this Section of the Doctor's Second Narrative at some length, because he frequently raises a great deal of Dust about what he insists on in it. I shall touch on a few other Passages more passingly.

2.2. A. B. [...]as made no Additions to the Essentials of Christianity. A. B. does not pretend to have made by her Discoveries any Additions to the Essentials of the Christian Religion: this she every where disclaims, and affirms that the Holy Scriptures contain a full and perfect System of them: She says indeed, that the things which were revealed to the Authors of the Sacred Books more generally and more darkly, are discovered to her more fully, more clearly, and more particularly, but that they are such as do not strictly concern the Essence of Christianity; tho' also she pretends to rescue even these things from the false and deluding Glosses which the self-flattery of Men hath put on them. Now dato sed non concesso that this were so, I do not see that her owning of it is, as the Doctor alledgesa Nar. p. 11., a preferring her self unto, or setting her self above the Prophets and Apostles; for it is certain that the Apostles had more clear and more full Revelations of the Christian Oeconomy made to them than were made to the old Prophets: but I hope by their owning this, they did not claim a preference to them. This is an invidious stating of the matter: all that can be justly inserred from such a Pretence is, that it hath pleased God, for great and wise Reasons, to manifest himself more to one than to another; but then the Instrument he makes use of hath no ground of boasting or selfexaltation, as A. B. tells very often.

3.3. Her Expression about Moses's Chair no mark of Pride. She confidently asserts, saith the Doctor2 Nar. p. 11. that God hath given her the favour to sit in Moses's Chair; and that she has more right to it than any of the Doctors or Pastors who now pretend to it. Had the Doctor set down the Passage to which he here refers wholly as it is, it would have look'd with a more acceptable Aspect than in the tour that he gives it. In number 288 of the Book that he cites, the Spirit of Burchardus is compared with that of Moses. Moses, saith she, exhorted and taught the People to observe all the Commandments of God, whereas Burchardus affirms that Men are too infirm to keep these Commandments; and because I teach that we must keep them if we would be saved, he is moved with Anger against me: then follows the Passage which the Doctor notices,—‘By which it appearsPierre d [...] Touche, p. 286. that I am more in Moses's Chair than is Burchardus with [Page] all his Promotion, seeing he teaches the contrary to what Moses taught, and I teach the same things Moses taught, —And all these Graces which God has imparted to me, sufficiently evince that I am by him set in Moses's Chair, by being in his Doctrine and Sentiments.’ Where it is, I think, very evident, that the Reason why she asserts her being in Moses's Chair is not a vain-glorious Affectation of, or pretending to a Magisterial Superiority over others, but because she taught Moses's Doctrine as to keeping the Commands of God: And, in effect, all that she means by being in Moses's Chair, as the perusal of the whole Section will convince any candid Reader, is nothing else but having Moses's Spirit and Sentiments. Nothing of all this appears in the Passage as it is curtail'd by the Doctor.

4.4 Her Pretences to Knowledge not such as he describes them. A. B. does not pretend, as the Doctor will have it, pag. 14. num. iv. to the Knowledge of all manner of speculative Truths, not to be sure of the nice and vain Subtilties of the Schools, which are mostly but the Inventions of corrupt and airy Heads, but only of these that are solid and useful, and might tend to advance the Souls of Men in true Goodness. Neither does she pretend to the Knowledge of all matters of fact, but of these only, (as the Passages quoted * by himself do expresly bear,)2 Nar. p. 15. that were needful to be known for her own and others Conduct, and therefore not of such as would tend only to gratifie Pride and vain Curiosity, and carnal Interests of Men; and consequently, tho' we should suppose that A. B. had the Spirit of God, yet it will not follow that she would be useful to the Doctor for easing the Minds of curious Girls, by shewing them what was written in the Book of Fate, as he very piously jests, pag. 18. He falls very foul on M. P. ( [...] Narrat. p. 49.) as if he and others descended to the light and wanton Railleries of the Profane, for relating a much more innocent Jest, tho' I think his half Page looks liker that sort of Wit. The Doctor seldom narrates any thing A. B. said or did, or was said of her, but he pushes it to an Excess, and carries it to a height that was never intended. However, I suppose he will not, neither indeed can he deny the possibility of the thing, since the Holy Scriptures furnish us with a great many Instances of God's having discovered the secret Dispositions of the Souls of Men, and other matters of fact to illuminated Persons: All then he can aim at, must be to evince the Nullity of this Pretence as to A. B.

[Page] 5.5. That she requires the same respect to her Sayings as to the Scripture, is false. 2 Nar. p. 20, 22. To say* that A. B. requires the same Respect to her Sayings as to the Scripture, is, in my opinion, to do her very great Injustice; for since very plainly and frequently she acknowledges and asserts that the Sacred Writings are the Standard and Rule by which all other Doctrines must be tried and examined, it is evident, that in so doing she owns a peculiar Respect and Deference to be due to the Holy Scriptures, which neither hers, nor any others Sayings ought to pretend to.Lum. en ten. part i. pag. 2. ‘Look, says she, with a suspicious eye upon any thing I declare unto you as coming from God, in case you find my Doctrine not entirely agreeing with the Holy Scripture.’ Whence it is plain, that she would have her Sayings to be tried by the Holy Scriptures, and that the value of what she says is to be determined by its Conformity to them. This, one would think, is not to put the Scriptures and her Sayings in the same ballance, or to require an equal respect to be paid to both. The Doctor, now that he peruses A. B's Writings, could not but remark this and a great many more Passages to the same purpose. How comes it then to pass, that he brings not in these into his Accounts of A. B.? Why this would spoil the design that he hath conceived of exposing her to the World altogether in black and horrid shapes. But, says the Doctor, what she delivered must be of the same Authority with the Holy Scriptures, because God is the Author of it. But tho' we should suppose A. B. to be truly inspired, yet his Consequence will not follow: and the Reason is, because, as one very pertinently expresses it, Quae à Deo procedunt, ejusdem sunt veritatis, &c. ‘Things that proceed from God are of equal Truth, but not of equal Authority; for tho' some things may be of God, yet if any Person do not know, or doubt if they be such, they have not the same Authority nor Right to such a Persons Obedience, as those things whose divine Origin is allowed by universal Consent: altho' when it is evident to any person that any thing is revealed to them by God, they are bound to pay the same Obedience to things thus revealed, as to God himself.’ Several Books that are now universally received into the Canon of Scripture were for some time doubted of in the Primitive Church: it is certain that the questioned Books, tho' really of Divine Original, were not of the same Authority with these that were by unanimous Consent acknowledged to be Divine.

[Page] 6.6. The Doctor draws unjust and invidicus Consiquences, 1. Instance. If the Doctor can hit on any Period in A. B.'s Books, that can give the least Colour to an invidious Consequence, he is sure to make it serve his turn, but without any Regard to that Candor that might be expected from him. Of this we have a remarkable Instance, pag. 32. n. 7. I shall give you the whole Passage to which he refers, as it is,Light of the World Part 2. p. 85. If, ‘saith she, I should say any thing contrary to the Gospel, do not believe me; for you ought not to believe any thing because I say it to you, but because it is really true. And if you knew me, you should also know God, because he is one and the same Spirit in all things, so far as you shall discern Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth in any Person, so far shall you discern God living in them, and no farther. So that its never good to follow Persons for themselves,’ but to follow the Righteousness, Goodness, and Truth, which you shall discover to abide in them. Now to discover the Vanity of that Improvement which the Doctor makes of this Passage, let it be considered, that when things which import Excellency are attributed both to Jesus Christ, and to Christians his Followers, it is undeniable that we must alter our Idea's of these things according as we differently apply them either to him or them: Our Lord calls himself the Light of the World, and he is so in a Supernatural manner, because he is the Divine Source and Original of all spiritual Light, he in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge. Matt. 5. 14. This same very Title, he gives all his faithful Followers: But will any Body imagine that it is applied to them in that same Sence in which it is understood of him? No sure, for we conceive of them only as subordinate Luminaries which receive all their Light and Heat from the Son of Righteousness. And when St. Paul assures Timothy., that by doing what he recommended to him,1. Tim. 4. 16. he would save both himself and those that heard him, we must not entertain the same Idea of Saving, when we apply it to Timothy, that we have when we attribute it to Jesus Christ. Just so, tho' our Lord uses, concerning himself, Words to the same Purpose with these which A. B. hath in this Period, yet we must not imagine that they are of the same Import, or that she intended they should. Indeed the very Scope of the Passage plainly enough determines that she meant no more but this; if you were acquainted with me, and saw my Life and Practise, you would see that I imitate [Page] and transcribe in my Conversation, the Divine Qualities of Truth, Righteousness, and Goodness; for God who by his Holy Spirit, works uniformly in all his Children, imprints these Characters of himself on them all, and as much of these as you discern in me, so far do you discern God in me, and your seeing me exemplifie them before you in a lively manner, will be an Inducement to you to imitate them, and so to know God truly; for then we truly know God when we imitate his Perfections. If the Doctor had not been visibly in a Disposition to Cavil, he would not have put a Gloss on this Passagess that it cannot bear, without doing it open Violence, nor omitted what was so evidently necessary to qualifie the Meaning of it. Neither can I divine, what but this could have moved him to imagine that the Passage which he here cites, do import that A. B. asserted some kind of unaccountable Union between God and her. I can see no Union that she can pretend to, but to be taught, guided, and influenced by his Spirit. And will he call this an uncouth thing? How can he digest that Passage of St. Paul, He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit.

Such an invidious Tour he givesPag. 32. the Passage that follows,Second Instance. as if A. B. disdained that her Doctrines should be published as from one of a prophetical Spirit; that was too mean, saith the Doctor. Now the Perusal of the very first Period of it, even as it is curtail'd by himself, will sufficiently discover the Fallacy:Light of the World Part 2. Conf. 17. p. 128, 129 ‘I am not saith she, Prophetical as the Ancient Prophets were, who spoke of very obscure things.’ Whence it is plain, that the Reason why she denies her self to be Prophetical, was not, because she declined that Character as too mean for her; but whereas the Prophets delivered themselves in dark and obscure Terms, God, she pretends, enabled her to speak of Divine Things more clearly and more distinctly, and that this is her Meaning, the last Clause of the Passage abundantly evinces. ‘There is no need, saith she, to say that I have a prophetick Spirit, when God gives Reasons and Comparisons to explain it after the manner of Men.’

7.7. The Doctor's Ignorance of A. B.'s Princ [...]ples appears. 2. Nar. p. 33. n. 7. When the Doctor affirms, * that the Reason of this singular Grace to A. B. is, because by the Eternal Purposes of God's Counsel, she was design'd to be the Organ of the Holy Ghost, he bewrays that he hath not as yet digested well her Principles; for she owns not any personal [Page] Decrees to have been made from all Eternity, neither is the least Ground given him from the Passages he here cites, for asserting them with Regard to her self. The Doctor's Inferences from many Passages of the Writings of A. B. are very often as wide as his was who would needs prove that there must be a Pope; because in the Beginning of Genesis, it is said, Ia Principio.

But here I must stop; my Circumstances will not allow me to employ my Thoughts any more at present on this Subject. I intended indeed to have gone through the whole, and particularly to have animadverted on the Improvements which he makes on two or three Passages, which as he represents them, look somewhat Frightful; but the Preparations that I am obliged to make in order to take my Staff in my Hand, as himself speaks, keep me so hurried, that I have little time for sedate Thoughts; tho' if I understand that the Prosecution of this Matter, would do you a Pleasure, and can have so much leisure, I may yet perhaps resume the Design.

IV.IV. A [...] Surv [...]r of the Doctor's whole Performance; with Reflections on his undisercet Zeal. But that I may give you my Sense of the Doctor's Performance in brief, there are some things, that to the best of my Thoughts, he excessively aggravates, some he palpably misrepresents, and in other some he is down right mistaken. He charges A. B. with a great many ill things, he imagines that he hath evinced the Truth of the Charge, and upon this Supposition, which I must needs say is precarious, he heats himself into a Transport, and falls a pelting of her with the most opprobrious Language that an angry Zeal is wont to inspire. He satisfies himself that to justifie the Rudeness of this Treatment, it is sufficient to tell his Readers briskly,2 Nar. p 55. Who should hinder the thrusting back with Contempt and Scorn, an overforward and blasphemous Arrogancy, one who without any Reason, without any Warrant, Divine or Humane, demands a Place above Prophets or Apostles, and all who were truly inspired; nay, who insults over Jesus Christ himself, assumes the Honour and Power that he has been in Possession of from the Beginning of the World, and who pretends to be more competent to carry on a Victory over the Devil and his Train? If the Grounds on which the Doctor builds these Assertions be not yet solidly established, I think he begins his Triumph too soon, and if he believes really that they are, then, in my Opinion, he needs not be at the pains of writting any more Narratives; [Page] for enough is already done to beget in the Hearts of all honest Christians, an eternal Horror and Dislike of A. B. It is beyond Contradiction plain, that no Body can adopt these Positions without an open and barefac'd Renounciation of Christianity. The Doctor indeed acts a very pretty Play, but it ends tragically enough to some. A. B. and such as favour her, are brought on the Stage as formally disclaiming the Redeemer of the World, as divesting him of his unquestionable Prerogatives, and cloathing a mad Woman, a Visionary, with them. Certainly this is the most bloody and criminal Charge that can be laid at the Door of such as profess the Christian Religion; this is to represent them as having turned downright Apostates from it, as trampling under foot, and crucifying afresh, the Divine and Adorable Author of it. But then if this dreadful Accusation be false and illgrounded, if they, against whom it is brought, do infinitely detest such an abominable Villany, if they set no Person on the same Level with the Son of God, but would appear against such sacrilegious Pretences with as much Zeal as the Doctor himself, if they own that no Victories can be obtain'd over the Devil and his Train but only by the Almighty Grace and Power of Jesus Christ, and that he alone, and none other, is competent to triumph over the Powers of Darkness; and in fine, if they adhere to the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets, and to Jesus Christ the chief Corner Stone, and disclaim, as false and unsound, what is not built thereupon and conform thereto, I say if these things be so, as most certainly they are; How can the Author and Spreader of such injurious Calumnies, excuse himself from a Degree of Uncharitableness, that cannot be well parallelled? To act the Scene in a Corner had not look'd so very ill natur'd, but to act it publickly before the Face of the whole World, and thereby to expose these he levell'd at as much as in him lay, not only to Contempt and Derision, but also to Hatred and Persecution, is such a Flight of Zeal, as, in my Judgment, cannot pretend to the Qualities of peaceable and gentle, easie and impartial. But did not the Doctor engage to give us A. B's Pretences in her own Words? Where then doth she pretend to be more Competent to carry on a Victory over the Devil than Christ himself?Lette [...] p. 21. Where doth she assume to her self his Honour and Power; or claim a Place above the Apostles [Page] and Prophets, and all truly inspired Persons? Must he conclude Men irrecoverable, because they will not be reduced from their supposed Errors by Noise and Banter? All, to the best of my Understanding, that A. B. pretends to, is only to be an Instrument in Christ's Hands, and that no otherwise than by publishing these Truths, that he by his Spirit communicated to her, and which his Power and Grace alone was afterwards to make effectual. Now let it be supposed, but not granted that it was so, What Disparagement is it to our Redeemer, to make use of a poor contemptible Creature in order to accomplish great Designs? Was it any Dishonour to him, that his Apostles in his Name and Power, converted more to the Christian Religion, and wrought more Miracles than he did himself, when he dwelt in mortal Flesh?

V.V. 5. The Writer apologizeth for himself. Perhaps it may be thought I am byassed in Favours of A. B. and therefore not so capable to discern that Latet Anguis in Herba. I am sure, if I am so, my Prejudices are of no old Date, they are not yet so rooted, but sober and just Reasonings might discuss them, and reclaim me from my Mistakes; neither, I think, can it be said that they have been fortified from any prospect of Reputation or worldly Interest. But whatever my Prejudices may be, I can sincerely declare, that what determined me to have an Esteem for this Person's Writings, was a Conviction, that they not only recommended the great and essential Duties of the Gospel, distinguished them from the Accessories, discovered the Mischief of Sects and Parties, and the Vanity of laying Stress on nice and airy Speculations, but also because they suggested solid Principles which might serve as an Antidote against the Infusions of Atheists and Deists, Pelagians and Socinians, Antinomians and Fatalists, and false Pretences to Inspiration. And tho' I met with some things in them that seem'd a little odd and startling, yet I choosed rather to suspend my Judgment, (since even her self does not impose them on any) than forego what appear'd to me so very solid and useful.

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Some LETTERS OF M. ANT. BOƲRIGNON.
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; as is to be seen in the Third and Fourth Letters. All of them are most worthy to be perused by those who sincerely love, and impartially seek after the Truth and the Salvation of their Souls.

LETTER I. Concerning the Love of God.
Written to a Pastor at Mechlin; and is the 15th. of La lum. nec en tenebr. Part I.

SIR,

I.I. God alone Lovely; Motives to the Love of God: 1. He is the Fountain and Accomplishment of all Good. I Know not how one of sound Judgment can love any other thing but God, seeing there is no created thing that is worthy of our Love, as he is, being the Fountain of all Good, Wisdom, the Giver of all Wisdom, the Beauty that creates all Beauty, the Righteousness of the Righteous, the Goodness of all Goodness, the Accomplishment of all Perfections; in short, the only Object worthy of our Love, without whom nothing is Lovely, neither in Heaven nor in Earth. Nothing without him can satisfie our Soul, nothing can content it, nothing can give it Perfect Pleasure, nothing can make it happy, neither now nor hereafter. It is he who created us; it is he who preserves us; it is he who will judge us.

If Good of its own Nature is always Lovely, why then does not the Soul employ all its Powers to love the Original, the Perfection, and the Consummation of all Good, which is God?

[Page] II.II. 2. The Soul's Likeness to him. If Likeness beget Love, how can your Soul, which was made after the Similitude of God, live without loving him? What other Lovely Object can it find without God, whom only it resembles? What Original or Pattern is there among all perishing Things to this Divine and Immortal Soul, which cannot find its like, but in God himself?

III.III. 3. Of the Benefits bestowed by him upon the Soul and Body. If Benefits do oblige even Nature it self to love its Benefactors, how ought the Soul to love its God, when he has given it all that it posseseth, and has promised infinite and eternal Goods, beyond Comparison, in the Life to come? He has given the Soul, which he created of nothing. He not only made it after the Similitude of the Angels of Heaven, but after the likeness of God himself, so that all Souls are by Creation made little Gods. Could this God of Love give unto Man greater Goods and Gifts to make himself be loved by him, than this Divine Creation of his Soul, Immortal as himself? The Body, which he formed to be the Keeper and Sheath of this Soul, could it have more Perfections? Is there any thing in Nature more Admirable than the Body of Man, animated with all the Powers of the Soul, with an Understanding to conceive, with a Memory to remember, with a Will to act; so that the very Body is in some manner an Image or Resemblance of the HOLY TRINITY.

IV.IV. 4. The Provision he has made both for Soul and Body. Could God give unto Man more and greater Gifts than he has done to oblige him to love him? For after having given him a Being and Life, he upholds and maintains it with all necessary things, which he has likewise created for the Entertainment of this Man, to whom he has subjected so many Creatures under his Power, having made him Superiour over all the living Creatures, and given him Authority as the Master-piece of the Works of God, the Earth for his Foot-stool, the Air to breath in, the Fire to warm him, the Water to refresh him, the Fruits to nourish him, the Flowers to recreate him; in short, all the visible and material things that God created were only for the Body of Man. What must he have laid up for his Soul, which is beyond all Comparison more valuable, as being Divine, created after the Image of God? If he has made so many admirable Things for the entertainment of the Body, which must die and remain for so short a time upon Earth? Should not all those Gifts, all those Benefits, oblige Man to love such a Benefactor? Seeing [Page] he has not received, and can never receive any true Good without this Giver of all Good.

V.V. 5. His Mercy to become the Saviour of Man. How can he be without loving him, when he considers his Love, which was not satisfied with having freely imparted unto us so many Gifts; but after that this ungrateful Man had abused so many favours, by turning away from his Creator to join himself to the Creature, valuing the Gifts more than the Giver, presuming to merit yet more, he rebels against his Orders, will needs out of Ambition of Spirit know more than it pleas'd his Creator, and breaks his Commandment that he might equal himself unto him? This God of Love, who in a Moment could have punished all these Ingratitudes by an eternal Damnation unto which he had banish'd the fallen Angels, lov'd Man more than the Angels; and having more regard to the Love he bear him than to his Disobedience, he pardons his Sin, and forgives his Fault, upon Condition of a temporal Penitence.

VI.VI. 6. His Inacrnation. This Testimony of Affection, from a God towards his Creature, does it not deserve that it love him? He farther obliges it by more powerful Means: For that he might make them see that his Delight is to be with the Children of Men, he becomes Man, visible and sensible as themselves, not being satisfied to have made Man after his Image and Likeness; but God is made after the Image and Likeness of Man, yea, he becomes truly Man to teach them how to love him by material Words and Deeds, conformable to their humane Capacities.

VII.VII. 7. His Annihilation. Could God testifie more Love for Man, than to abase himself, yea, to annihilate himself (to speak according to our Language) and to cloath himself with humane Nature? What Judgment could conceive greater Testimonies of his Love? Or what Means could be fallen upon, more powerfully to oblige Man to love him, than to become like to Man in Nature, to become his Equal in Condition, not preferring himself to the meanest Men; to converse and be familiar with them as their Brother and Companion; yea, he subjects himself unto, and obeys Man that he might gain his Friendship, he serves him, even to the washing of his Feet, and tho' Man offend him, he prevents him always with Friendship; lets a Judas kiss him who contriv'd his Death; and at the time he came to deliver him up to his Enemies, he even calls him his Friend.

[Page] VIII.VIII. 8. His becoming a Teacher and Prophet. And for an Evidence that he makes Man his Friend, he declares unto him his Secrets and all that he learned from his Father; and all this to engage Men to a reciprocal Love. He eats and drinks with them, draws them by his sweet Conversation, teaches them familiarly all the necessary Means to love him, gives them a Law all of Love, which contains no other thing but the Love of God and our Neighbour. All his Gospel contains nothing but the true Means to fulfil this Law of Love. He so earnestly presses this Love, that he threatens with eternal Damnation if we do not love him with all our Heart, with all our Soul, and with all our Strength. Could he express more powerfully the Desire he has that Man love him, while he draws him even by force to his Love?

IX.IX. 9. His becoming a Priest. And to make this Force altogether Lovely, he charges himself with the Burthen of Man's Sins, resolving, out of the Love he bear him, to suffer in his own Body the Punishments due for them. He suffers Hunger, Thirst, Weariness, travelling through so many Places to seek Man, and to help him in his Penitence, that he might have no other Care out to love him. Is it possible that Man should not acknowledge such a Love? Is he so unnatural as not to love such a Benefactor, who obliges him by so many, so painful Proofs of his Love, that they seem to exceed the Bounds of Reason?

X.X. 10. That he gave his Life, even for his Enemies. Who ever saw Love arrive to such an Excess of Goodwill for the Person beloved? For a GOD to debase himself, to subject himself, and to suffer for his Creature; that which no Body would do for his Equal, and it would be no small Love for one to give his Life for his Friend: Which JESUS CHRIST gave for Man who was his Enemy, having overcome his Malice by the Excess of his Love: And the more that Man is transported to deal hardly with him, he is led the more to love him, laying down his Life voluntarily the more to oblige him by the Consideration of such a LOVE, that surpasses all Ʋnderstanding. that a GOD should be enclin'd to love a Worm of the Earth, of which he has no need, and which is led even to outrage and offend him, instead of being enclin'd to love him?

XI.XI. 11. The Advantages of Divine Love. Ingrate Creature! Wilt not thou yield to this LOVE? Cruel to thy Self! Enemy of thy own Good! Wilt not thou bow under this Yoke which is so gentle [Page] and lovely? Its Captivity is Liberty; its Service is a Kingdom; its Pains are Delights; its Labours are Repose; its Griefs are Contentments. This LOVE satisfies the Soul, fills it with all Happiness, comforts it and adorns it, keeps it always chearful with its Beloved, nothing can offend it. What Happiness, what Joy, what Peace, what Delights to the Soul that possesseth this Love! It fears nothing, it hopes for nothing, it seeks nothing, it finds nothing Lovely without this LOVE.

XII.XII. 12. The Vanity of the earthly Love of Riches. How blind and ignorant is he who loves the Wealth, the Honours, and the Pleasures of this World! He is never content, nor satisfied! For Riches bring along with them a Thousand Cares and Disquiets, with an unsatiable Thirst, which fastens the Soul to Earth and to Metals, and turns it away from God.

Honours are yet more vain than Riches,Honours. for they are nothing but Fantastical and Imaginary, which give nothing to the Soul that loves them but an empty swelling of Pride, which makes the Heart break at the least change of Fortune, which vexes and torments them continually with the fear and care of Losing them; and tho' they did possess them lawfully and securely, yet they are nothing but a Smoak of Vanity, since we are nothing, and all they who honour us are equally Nothings. What Folly is it to look for Glory from all these NOTHINGS, and to love Honours so vain, and of so short Continuance?

Pleasures, Pleasures. such as they may be, give very little Satisfaction to Man in general, because they are of so short Continuance, in particular, for that they are so vile and earthly, unworthy of the Nobleness of our Soul, which is Divine and Spiritual; for to take Pleasure to eat and drink, is to level our selves in this Point with the Beasts, and often to hurt both Soul and Body; seeing these Pleasures do sometimes breed Excesses, prejudicial to the Health, indisposing both Body and Mind, which pay very dear for the Pleasures which they pretend to have in Meat and Drink. All the other Pleasures of the Body are always insatiable to him who would please his Five Senses; the Eye will never be satisfied with Seeing, the Ear with Hearing, and so of the rest; if Reason do not govern all, they will still importune us, yea become Insolent and Unsatisfiable: To love Play, is loss of time; to love Hunting, is Weariness; to love Company, is Disquiet: The [Page] more we would oblige them, the more they are dissatisfied. And what shall we have after having satisfied all our Senses, and given to our Body all the Pleasures that it desires? Nothing but Weariness and Remorse of Conscience, which will torment the Soul, especially at Death. We may lawfully use these things, but not love them; for they are no wise worthy of our Love.

XIII.XIII. 13. Nothing Lovely but God. There is nothing LOVELY and that can satisfie our Soul, but GOD ALONE: Neither was it created for any other End but to love its god, and to cleave to him only. All other Goods are false and deceitful. Since we cannot live without LOVE, Why do we not love this GOD, who is ALONE LOVELY? So much the rather that he desires it, that he has obliged us to it by so many Gifts, and that he continues them every Moment, and will continue them even to our Death?

14.14. Without him all is Folly and Misery. From whom do we look for our Happiness, but from God who will judge us? If we have served the World, it will pay us with Ingratitude; if our selves, we have nothing but Weakness and Miseries. I can see no other Happiness but that of LOVING GOD; all the rest is vain and perishing: Riches, Wisdom, Pleasures, Honours, are nothing but Smoak, if they aim at any other End but this of LOVE. All the rest is nothing but Emptiness, Filtihness, and Inconstancy, unworthy of being lov'd by a Soul so Noble and Divine, the Lawful SPOUSE of GOD, and the COHEIRESS of JESUS CHRIST. Is it not sad, yea Abominable, that it should joyn it self or commit Adultery with the Base things of the Earth, forsaking its Faithful BRIDEGROOM, who loves it so perfectly, and who has done such admirable things to engage it to his Love, yea to consent only to let it self be loved by him according as he desires; but that it should thrust away from him to love and cleave to the Earth, Winds, Metals, Flesh and Blood, how depraved is its Judgment! Which makes me often sigh, when I see this Ingratitude of the Creatures towards their Creator, whom I beg that he may open the Eyes of their Souls, to see the true Means of their Salvation. In the mean time I continue,

Sir,

Your most humble Servant, Antho. Bourignon.

Gaunt, March, 15th. 1667.

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LETTER II. Of PRAYER, wherein it consists. Of set Prayers and Exercises, and their Use. Of CONTINUAL PRAYER, its Nature, the absolute Nec ssity of it for overcoming our Enemies, both unvard and outward; for obtaining the Grace of God, for attaining unto Perfection, and how to persist in it, without Interruption.
This Letter is the 7th of Tomb. de la Fausse Theologie, Part iv.

My dear Friend,

SInce you have resolved to deny your self, and no longer to follow your Sensualities, you have need of Continual Prayer, that you may be enabled to perform you good purposes. For when the Devil has once had Power over a Person, and made him love and follow his Sensualities, he does not easily depart from him, not being willing to quit the Fortress of which he has once been Governour; but he keeps it by force, and against the Inclination of the Person who would thrust him out of it: so that he must oppose him by force. It is of such Devils that Jesus Christ says, That they go not forth but by Fasting and Prayer: not that Jesus Christ and his Apostles had not Grace from God powerful enough for casting out all sorts of Devils; but when they have once gained a Power over the Will of Man, and he has consented to all the Suggestions of the Devil, he will not go out but by the force of Fasting and Prayer, seeing he has gain'd the Man's Soul by Sensualities and the Neglect of Prayer.

2. He must of necessity be thrust out by means directly contrary to those which he has made use of for getting entry into Souls. When they have obeyed the Devil in following the Sensualities of corrupt Nature, they must afterwards renounce the same Sensualities by Fasting and Abstinence; otherwise they will never cast out this sort of Devils. And if they have hearkned to the Temptations of the Devil instead of the Inspirations of the Holy Spirit, there is a necessity of continual Prayer to cast forth this kind of Devil, seeing he has continually entertained the Spirit with vain Thoughts, the same Spirit [Page] must entertain it self continually with God, otherwise it can never thrust out this kind of Devil.

3. And therefore I exhort you unto CONTINUAL PRAYER, that you may overcome this Enemy of your Soul, and chase him out by the help of Prayer, which is a powerful Armour against all the Furies of Hell.

4. In the mean time I must shew you what PRAYER is, before you can perform it aright; for we often take some fine words that we have read, or heard of others, to be Prayer, as in this Country they use to read or sing Psalms when they would pray, and in other places they say so many Pater Nosters, Ave Maria's, or some other Prayers written in some Books, or they learn the words, that they may repeat them when they would pray.

5. All this ought not to be termed Prayer, since these words and these Psalms may be said without making any Prayer to God: and that one may pray in saying Psalms, he ought to have the same DESIRES which they had who made them, and to say the same words with the same Desire that they had in saying them; otherwise, this cannot be PRAYER, but rather idle Words, which do not profit: yea, by these Words Men do often reproach God, or they utter Lies or Mockings. For to say a Psalm of David which he uttered when he was penitent, when he fasted and prayed washing his Couch with his Tears, while they who sing these things are very often fill'd with Wine and delicious Fare, spending whole Nights in Riot and Luxury, is not this to mock God, and to lie in his Presence? So do they also who say the Lord's Prayer, or any other Prayers, without having Desires sutable to the Words which they pronounce.

6. They will say that God is their Father, without being willing to obey him as Children. That his Name be hallowed, while indeed they dishonour and despise him, loving rather their own Will and Honour than God's They say, Let his Kingdom come, when they desire nothing but to reign in this World, where they would wish still to live, if God would give them Prosperity. And by word they say, His Will be done on Earth, as it is in the Heavens, while they will not resign themselves to the Will of God in any thing, but endeavour to accomplish their own as much as is possible for them. And while they pray to have daily Bread, they labour and study to have Abundance, and maugre God, they will needs have more than the daily Bread for which they pray. They pray [Page] likewise, That he would forgive them their Sins, while they love them, and will needs go on to commit them more and more every day. And, That he would deliver them from evil, while they pursue and do the Evil from which they say they would be delivered. And while they pray to God, That he would deliver them from Temptation, they feed it, follow and obey it.

7. Behold how Men do mock God by such Prayers, and lie in his Presence! I do not therefore desire that you pray after this manner, for it avails nothing; and you cannot thereby obtain the Grace of God, but rather a greater Condemnation: for God will not be mocked, and he takes no pleasure in vain Discourses. He only searches the Reins, and tries the Consciences, being the Searcher of hearts, and not the Hearer of our feigned words. The Gospel likewise tells us, That we must not pray as the Pharisees, who thought to be heard for their much speaking, and advises to shut our door when we would pray to our Father in secret, assuring us, that our Father knows what we have need of, without our much speaking.

8. It is not then these kinds of Prayers to which I export you, my Child, but unto CONTINUAL PRAYER, which must ARISE FROM THE HEART. Every moment you have need of Strength and Assistance from God to resist the Devil, the World, and the Flesh; and tho' you have undertaken to overcome them, yet in effect you do it not, but you are often overcome by them. You stand in [...] then of supernatural Strength, which you cannot obtain but by Prayer, which, if you understood it aright, would be very easie, and would become habitual to you. And as you have continual need of Assistance from God, so also you have need of continual Prayer.

9. You must therefore embrace it, and NEVER AGAIN LEAVE IT OFF, if you would subdue your Enemies; otherwise you can never overcome them, but they will alway [...] tyrannize over you against your Inclination and Will. I doubt not but you have often prayed to God to be delivered from your Enemies; but these Passing-Prayers are not sufficient for resisting an Enemy so common (or continual) as is the Devil, who every moment assumes new Vigour, and is never wearied in tempting and surprizing us, seeing this Enemy is never at rest, and never ceases to do evil. He will indeed sometimes leave us in quiet in the time of Prayer; but no sooner is it finish'd than he returns, and off times with more [Page] Vigour than before: and thus he regains what he had lost during Prayer.

10. This is the Reason that he is never affrighted with the Prayers that we make Morning, Evening, Before and After Meat, or at other express times which we set apart for Prayer, tho' these Prayers be performed with Attention. The Devil withdraws indeed for that little time: but, as when a Friend absents himself for some time from his Friend, he returns to him, from his Voyage, with greater Expressions of Friendship than he had before his Departure, and oft-times makes some new Alliance; so does the Devil with the Man who gives himself to Prayer by custom: for he believes he has pleased God, after having said his ordinary Prayers; and when they are over, he lets loose his Spirit to the Cares after earthly Goods, or to take his Pleasures and Recreations, without minding God.

11. This is not, that I would blame Morning and Evening Prayers, or those at Meat, or any other express time which Men set apart for Praying; for this is commendable for those who live in the World, who being so distracted and diverted in their Affairs and Business, if they set not apart certain times for Prayer, it is to be feared that they would never find any leisure to think upon God: they do therefore very well to set to themselves a Rule, and to appoint an express time for their Prayers, that they may sometimes think upon God, and may not forget themselves amidst their worldly Affairs.

12. But as for the Children of God, and those who tend to Christian Perfection, they ought to pray continually, and never to cease, because the Devil never ceases to tempt them: and the more they desire Perfection, the more are they assaulted with Temptations, and they have the more occasion for continual Prayer; sometimes to beg Assistance from Heaven, sometimes to thank God for his Graces, sometimes to bless and honour him. So that there never passes one moment of the day wherein he who observes narrowly the Dispositions of his Soul, has not some occasion to pray unto God. He will find it ALWAYS NECESSARY TO PRAY CONTINUALLY, because he has continual matter for it, by the occasions which befall us, both inwardly and outwardly.

13. For if we converse with Men, they sometimes will praise us, so as to give us occasion of Vain-glory; at other times they will despise us, so as to make us angry, or sullen, [Page] or to despise or hate them: and when we have any business with them, Avarice slips in, or we seek our selves. A prosperous Event will make us rejoyce, or will puff us up: an Adversity will make us sad and melancholly: and thus a thousand other Accidents which do daily befall us outwardly, do continually afford occasion to have Recourse unto God by Prayer, to [...]eg of him his Grace, and strength to uphold us that we fall not into Sin amidst so many divers Rencounters, which do outwardly befal us, and much more inwardly. For if we did consider well the divers Agitations and Motions of the Passions of our Souls, we would there find infinite Evils which we must resist. This of bridling our vicious Inclinations, is a continual Employment for him who applies to the Perfection of his Soul; and he will find ALWAYS MATTER FOR PRAYER TO GOD, and for begging his help and assistance, without which we cannot fight against so many visible and invisible Enemies. He must give himself to Continual Prayer, or else live and die their Slave, and be always miserable.

14. I do not desire that you should have your Spirit continually bent unto Prayer after your ordinary way; for this would wrong your Head, and would forge a thousand Imaginations which would neither be necessary nor useful. But I would have you to call upon God always when you have need, and to bless him as often as you receive from him any Grace and Assistance, seeing it is an Ingratitude not to thank him for every particular Gift that he bestows upon us; since gratefulness for a Benefit obtains always new Favours from God, and he desires that we should call upon him in our Needs, promising to succour and help us. If God desires that we pray unto him, why should we not do it? He says, Seek, and ye shall find; ask, and ye shall receive; knock at the door of Mercy, and it shall be opened unto [...]

15. How comes it then, my Child, that you cannot overcome your Enemies, since God on his part has given you so many Promises, which on his side will always be infallible? It must needs be said, that the Failing is on your side; and I cannot see what it can be but that of Continual Prayer which you do not sufficiently understand; and you think to overcome your Enemies with your own Strength, which you will never do. You have indeed given them power to hurt you by your own Will; but it is not strong enough to chase out your Enemies. There is needful now AN ALTOGETHER [Page] PARTICULAR GRACE OF GOD, WHICH WILL NOT BE GIVEN YOU BUT BY PRAYER, and that CONTINUAL.

16. I will tell you what PRAYER is, that you may understand it, fearing lest it seem to you too hard to be embraced, tho' there is nothing more sweet and agreeable: But Mens Imaginations make it appear difficult, yea impossible, to some, because they have never discover'd what Prayer is. Some attribute it to 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 [Page]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.

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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 [Page] 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 Sin, since which time, it can produce nothing but all sort of Evil, it being impossible for it to do any Good, or to have one good Thought. For this Cause, Job had good Reason to curse the Day of his Birth; for none of the Beasts would be so miserable in their Nature, as is Man, if he had not in him a Divine Nature.

4. All must grant this, and say with your Friends, that it is impossible to imitate Jesus Christ, seeing he lived supernaturally, having subjected his Humane Part to his Divine, and made his Flesh die that he might live to his Spirit, and despised Temporal things that he might embrace Eternal. But I would gladly ask all those Natural Persons, if they desire to do the same things? And if they have put to Death the old Adam in them, that is, the Inclinations of corrupt Flesh? And if they have labour'd with all their Power to revive in them the Spirit of the new Adam, which contradicts the Sensualities of the Flesh? Which appears by the Person of Jesus Christ, who overcame all Natural Sensualities.

5. It may be, they will say, that it would be impossible for them to attain to such a Perfection as Jesus Christ had; while they will not part with so much as one of the Affections which they have for their Pleasures or Sensualities, that they might follow him at a distance: For they do not so much as desire to imitate him, far les to tend to his Perfection. They believe indeed by an imaginary Speculation that Jesus Christ has satisfied all for them; and they will not believe by a Divine Truth that he has merited for them by his Sufferings, the Grace, and the Power to imitate him, because they do not desire to do it; for they love rather to remain in the Corruption of the old Adam, than to be quickened into the new, which is Jesus Christ.

[Page] 6. Thus it is that those poor Souls flatter themselves to their Ruine, while they say, that they cannot imitate Jesus Christ, nor live without Sin because of their great Frailty. This is as much as to say, that they resolve not to be saved, and they resolve to die in their Sins; for there are only two ways, the one of Salvation, the other of Damnation; and Jesus Christ is that which leads to Salvation. He who will not walk in the same Way in which he walked, cannot find Life, but without all doubt shall die for ever. Therefore, my dear Child, do not give way to the Discourses of those poor blinded ones, who have fill'd their Understanding with Errors; but walk according to the Light that God has given you, and labour to be born again in the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Withdraw from the World, since he says, that he prays not for the World, but for those whom his Father has given him out of the World. Those who are of the World, are they who love the transitory things of the World, and will not part with them to imitate Jesus Christ. They are rich in Will, and proud in Heart, loving their fleshly Sensualities, while they flatter themselves by saying, that it would be impossible for them to imitate Jesus Christ, and to live without Sin because of their great Frailty; which if they understood aright, they would use means to overcome it; and he who felt his Heart cleave to Riches, would not possess them, but would put them far away from him, as some of the Heathens did, who threw all their Money into the Sea, fearing least it should deprive them of the Liberty of their Mind: And if a Man found himself so frail as to fall into the Sin of Pride, he would shun Offices, Greatness, and Honours, that he might follow the Poverty and Lowliness of Jesus Christ and if h [...] found himself so frail as that he could not eat and drink delicate things, without falling into the Sin of Gluttony, he would take the coarsest Meats and Drink proportionably, to support the Weakness and Frailty of Nature, weaning it from all Sensuality or fleshly Apperite. But Men do not feel themselves too frail to iudulge their Body in all its Appetites and Pleasures; and they will needs make themselves believe that they are too frail to abstain from Sin, or to imitate Jesus Christ.

7. This Sentiment is so Erroneous, that I would be ashun'd to refute it, were it not that I see so many Souls possess'd with it, especially among those of Calvin's Reformati [...]on, who live and die in this Belief, that Jesus Christ has satisfied [Page] all for them, that it is impossible for them to do good or to imitate Jesus Christ. This it seems is inculcated unto them from the Cradle, since in effect we see that all their practice is founded upon it, while they live according to the Motions of corrupt Nature, and with this believe that they shall be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ, without striving to imitate him; since they are taught, that it is impossible to do this. And tho' this is a false Theology, yet every one follows after it, leaning upon a broken Reed.

8. For that Man of whom I spoke to you formerly, said, that it was impossible for him to do any good Work, yea, to say the Lord's Prayer with Attention, no more than they with whom he convers'd, whom he had often ask'd, if they could say it, with Attention; and they all answered, they could not. It is to be remarked that they were Merchants of great Trade and Spirit, who found out all sort of Inventions for gaining of Money with great Dexterity and Care, and their Spirit was not disingag'd for saying the Lord's Prayer with Attention: For where their Treasure was, there was their Heart; and the Attention cannot be perfect in two so contrary things at the same time; but if they had purg'd their Souls from coveting earthly Goods, and as carefully applied their Understanding to speak unto God, and to hear him, without doubt they might not only have said the Lord's Prayer with Attention, but might also have attention seriously upon continual Prayer, which Jesus Christ has so much recommended to us, saying, that we ought always to pray, and never to cease.

9. But those poor Ignorants think to please God with fair Words as they please Men, by saying, that they are too frail to do any Good, far less can they imitate Jesus Christ; for these Excuses will condemn them: For if they were truly sensible of their Frailty, they would avoid the Occasions of Sin, and use the Means of Poverty, Humility, and Patience, that they might imitate Jesus Christ; for he did nothing when he was upon Earth but that which another would do that were animated with the same Spirit that he was: For the same God has through all the same Power, and can do by the Body and Spirit of other Men, that which he did by that of Jesus Christ.

10. For in as much as he is God, his Power is not limited, provided that Man give no [...]indrance to it by his Free-will: So that if one at present did submit his Will to that of God, [Page] as Jesus Christ did; he would certainly feel the same Operations of Divine Vertues that he felt in his Soul, and would likewise do the outward Miracles that he did, if there were need for them; for the Spirit of God is not lessened, and his Power was not limited to the Person of Jesus Christ only, seeing he says, that his Delight is to be with the Children of Men. He does not speak of one singular Man, but of all Men who submit their Wills to his, and renounce the Corruption of the old Adam, to be cloathed with the new, which is Jesus Christ.

11. Those will find sufficiently by Experience, that it is very possible to imitate Jesus Christ, yea, that it is easie and agreeable when they are denuded of that old Adam: For Jesus Christ himself says, that his Yoke is easie, and his Burthen light. This Truth it self cannot lye, that it should be true that it is impossible to bear this Yoke: But carnal Persons do certainly lye, while they say, that it is impossible to imitate him, since he did nothing as Man but that which another Man may do, being posses'd with the Holy Spirit; for G [...]d is impassible, and cannot have endur'd the Sufferings of [...] Christ: It was his Humanity only that suffered, assi [...] by the Grace of God, which will not be denied to tho [...] that ask it; seeing God is the common Father of all Men, and promises to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask it. His Promises are infallible, the Scripture assures us of this, saying. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my Words shall not pass away, bringing the Comparison of an evil Father, who would not give his Son a Stone instead of Bread, nor a Serpent for a high Fish; asking them, How then shall not your hea [...] Father give his Holy Spirit to him who asks him?

12. Truly, my dear Child, I can scarce reason more to make appear those Truths, which are so clear. I have spoken of them several times, and they still bring me new Arguments to maintain the Corruption of our miserable Times, wherein Men have invented so much silly Stuff, whereby to flatter such as themselves, and to make them live and die in the Sentiments of corrupt Nature, falsly perswading them that they cannot attain to the Perfection of Jesus Christ, that they may not use any Endeavours to attain to it; for it would be in vain to endeavour that which is impossible. Therefore we see Men to the E [...]y of one another, give up themselves to Pastimes take their Pleasures, and heap up Riches, as if they were created for this, looking for Salvation [Page] as it were in Recompence for their Sins: Which is very sad, and will make many to be deceiv'd at Death, who in this Life think that they are good Christians, because they have not committed the gross Sins of Theft, Whoredom, or Drunkenness, and have frequented Churches and Sacraments, prayer much, and given much Alms: All this will avail nothing before God, if we are not animated with the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

13. For God will know no Men but those who at Death shall be cloathed with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which is Charitable, Humble, poor in Spirit; in short, adorned with all his Vertues; and to be a Christian, one must imitate him, as he himself has said: For his Doctrine is not a History to be read or heard out of Curiosity; but is all Lessons which we must retain to put them in practice, else we shall falsly bear the Name of Christian, which signifies no other thing but a Person dead to the Flesh, to live unto the Spirit; or one who has renounced the Corruption of the old Adam, to live renewed into the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

14. It is far more safe to believe that Jesus Christ, by his Death and Sufferings, has merited for us the Grace of dying to our selves, that we may live unto him, than to believe that he has satisfied all for us, while we rest upon this false Pillow, abiding in the Sentiments of our Nature, eating, drinking, and doing all other things according to our Sensualities. This is the broad Way that leads to Pe [...]dition, and many there are who walk in it; but you, my dear Child, take the narrow Way that leads to Life, even tho' there be few that walk in it. Every one will bear his own Burthen. If your Friends will not walk in it, leave them rather than follow them, seeing Jesus Christ says, that we must can off the Member, or pluck out the Eye that offends us; and that he who leaves not Father, and Mother, Wife, and Children, for his Names sake, is not worthy of him. I do not require of you the Perfection that Jesus Christ had; but that you tend to it, and aspire after it, as much as is possible for you: In doing of which you will oblige her to love you, who subscribes her self.

Yours, wholly in God, Antho. Bourignon.

Amsterdam, July, 1 [...]th. 1670.

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LETTER IV. That God does not pardon Sin without Penitence.
To the same: Wherein is declared that Men fall every Day of new into Adam's Sin, turning away from God to love the Creature, and that they can never be saved without being revived into the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who has merited for us the Grace to imitate him.
This Letter is the Eighth of La lum. nèe en tenebr. Part iii.

My dear Child,

1. I Wonder how it is possible that your Friends should say, that I reject the Merits of Jesus Christ, and that I do not look upon them as the Means of our Salvation; seeing that I do not look for Salvation for my self but by the Merits of Jesus Christ, who came into the World to redeem us, after that we had been all lost by Sin, and by it sold and delivered up into the Power of the Devil.

2. For Sin is no other thing but a turning away from God to turn towards the Creature. The Angels did first thus turn away, when they saw themselves so Beautiful and so Perfect, they were pleased in themselves desiring to be like unto God: And thus they became Devils, Enemies of God, and of all his Works, looking on them with Envy and Jealousie, labouring as much as was possible to destroy and corrupt them. Therefore the Devil tempted Man as soon as he perceived his Creation, that he might hinder the Designs which God had of taking his Delight with him; and Man, by the Instinct of the Devil, turn'd away from his God to regard the Creatures, in regarding of which he coveted and lov'd them, against the Prohibition of his God, thus withdrawing himself by his Will to cleave to the Satisfaction of his humane Nature, which we do yet daily.

3. And this turning away from God is call'd Sin, which brought forth Death to the Soul of Adam, and to all Men in him, seeing Adam had in his Loins all the Men that are since, or shall be born by his Seed in Generation: And by this [Page] means all Men have perish'd in him, having contracted the Corruption that we do yet feel in our Nature; for tho' God did pardon Adam, and Men in him, his Sin as to the guilt; yet he did not remove the Miseries of Spirit, and the Corruption of Flesh, which the same Sin had brought upon him; seeing even to this Day we feel Inconstancy, Ignorance, and Wickedness in our Spirit, and Corruption, Pains, and Death in our Flesh.

4. God cannot have made all these things; since they are Evil, and he can do nothing but Good, being himself the perfect Goodness, from which no Evil can ever proceed; but he has left to Adam and his Posterity, the Miseries which their Sin had brought forth, that thereby Penitence might be done for it during this Life, which is our time of Trial: For seeing the Justice of God could not promise the Pardon of Sin without Satisfaction, it was needful by a straight Justice that the same Flesh which had taken Pleasure to turn away from him, should likewise suffer Pain that it might return unto him.

5. But Men, since Adam, instead of accepting of this Penitence, and suffering willingly the Miseries of this Life, to satisfie the Justice of God, rebell'd against him, and endeavour'd to charm their Miseries; by striving to reject Sufferings, and to take their Delights instead of Penitence, and thus they straied more and more from God, so that at last they quite forgot him to delight in themselves. God of his Goodness raised up Prophets from time to time, as Moses and others, to withdraw Men from these Errors: He gave them Laws and Ordinances that they might discover their Sins and amend them by returning unto him, and repenting that they had forsaken him; but very few heard his Voice, and many hardned their Hearts, chosing rather to adhere to themselves and follow their Sensualities, than willingly to take up the Penitence ordain'd by God for this short Life; so that all Men in general have at last corrupted their Ways, and walked according to the Concupiscence of the Flesh, in a forgetfulness of God, and thus have all merited Damnation, and that incomparably more than Adam; since he fear [...]d God, and repented how soon he heard his Voice, not daring to appear before him out of great Confusion for his Sin.

6. But Men after him, have voluntarily damn'd themselves, and given the Devil Power to rule over their Souls, whom they do insensibly obey more than God: for while they follow [Page] their natural Will, they do indirectly follow that of the Devil, seeing these two Wills of the fallen Angels and of Men are equally rebellious against God: and those Men who follow the Will of their corrupt Flesh, may be well called the Devil's Angels; for one is always his Angel whose Will he does: if he submit his Will to God's, he is the Angel of God; for Angel imports Subject or Obedient. Those Men who obey the Law of the Gospel, are the Angels of Jesus Christ: for this Cause the Scripture says, that the Son of Man will come attended with his Angels, which are not pure Spirits, according to the Angelical Nature, but Men who have followed the Will of Jesus Christ.

7. This being so, he may be well call'd our Saviour; for if he had not come at last into the World, all Men had perished. He alone is the Foundation of our Salvation since Sin; and I confess before all Men, that the Light of Faith teaches me that I could not be saved without the Coming of Jesus Christ upon Earth; and I will always ascribe my Salvation to the Merits of his Sufferings. So far am I from rejecting them, as your Friends do blindly believe. And I have much more reason to say that they reject the Merits of Jesus Christ, since they say that they have not Grace to imitate Jesus Christ, while they look only to the Power of their corrupt Nature, without making use of his Sufferings, which have merited for us the Grace to be able to imitate him, yea to obtain the Perfection of God himself, if we will apply his Merits to our Soul, and let his Spirit fill it, since Truth it self says to us, Be ye perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus Christ will require nothing of us that's impossible, no more than his Father; but he says, Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you; ask, and ye shall receive. This does not teach us that we cannot attain to the Perfection of Jesus Christ, but even to aim at that of our heavenly Father.

8. Remark well, my dear Child, the Sentiment of your Friends, and you will find that it cannot come but from the Devil; and this under a good Pretext of ascribing their Salvation to the Merits of Jesus Christ. For if they truly believed that his Sufferings have merited for them the Grace of God, they could not in Truth say, that they are too weak to imitate Jesus Christ; since this Grace of God gives strength to the Weak to overcome the Corruption of our Nature, from which we ought never to ask Advice if we may [Page] imitate Jesus Christ: For if his Apostles and Disciples had ask'd Advice from their Wives, their Children, Fathers, and Mothers, Brethren and Sisters, undoubtedly they would not have counfell'd them to forsake them that they might follow Jesus Christ; since no man hates his own Flesh, which seeks its own Advantages: so that if the Apostles, and Disciples of Jesus Christ had ask'd Counsel of their Flesh, and their Selfwill, if they could follow Jesus Christ, they would never have been Apostles nor Disciples, seeing without the Grace of God we can do nothing but know our Frailty and Weakness.

9. But since Jesus Christ is come into the World to reconcile us unto his Father, and to bring us back to him by his Grace, there is no longer any cause of Fear on God's part. We may do what we will, by the assistance of this Grace, which is never denied to him who seeks and asks it; so much the more that Jesus Christ is come to merit it for us by his Sufferings, but not to merit Salvation for us while we continue to cleave to our corrupt Nature: by which we may see clearly the Falshood of that Doctrine, that Jesus Christ has satisfied all for us, after the manner that so many understand it; for this makes them sleep the sleep of Death: since they reject the Grace that Jesus Christ has purchas'd for us of his Father, to embrace the means by which we may overcome the Flesh and live unto the Spirit of Jesus Christ, follow his Example, and imitate his Virtues, that hereafter we may follow him in Eternity, where none shall enter but he who shall be cloathed with the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

10. This is that of which I was desirous to warn you, for fear that you let your self be deceived by false Appearances, hearing those poor blinded ones so often repeat, that Jesus Christ has satisfied all for us, and say that I reject his Merits by teaching that of necessity we must imitate him if we would be saved. This might well surprize some weak Spirits, who would think that they did Honour to Jesus Christ in saying that he had merited all for them, and that they are too weak to endure any thing. But this cannot surprize one of sound Judgment, who will very clearly perceive that I esteem the Merits of Jesus Christ, since to them I ascribe my eternal Happiness.

11. For if Jesus Christ had not interposed with God his Father for our Reconciliation, never any Man had been saved, since every one of them would have turn'd away from God to cleave to their natural Sentiments, of which they were become [Page] Idolaters, to love them with all their heart, as they were obliged to love God, having chang'd the Love of God into that of our fleshly Sensualities. Of necessity there behov'd to be a MEDIATOR between God and Man to make this RECONCILIATION, and to obtain the PARDON of so great a Fault.

12. We were all guilty of High Treason against God, and justly condemn'd to eternal Punishment, unable to deliver our selves from it, having lost the Grace of God, and become his Enemies: There was nothing to be hop'd for on our part for obtaining Mercy; for we even knew not our Miseries, so far were we from having Strength to help them, or Assurance to beg of God his Grace, whose Enemies we had made our selves by our Sins. There was no ground of hoping for Mercy by our selves; therefore JESUS CHRIST, as our Advocate, undertook our Cause, and procur'd this Pardon, not as the Ddvocates at the Tribunals of this World, who plead that they may gain Money; but as a divine Advocate, who aims at nothing but his Father's Glory. He offers to pay himself the Penalties due to our Sins, that his Father might in justice pardon the Guilt of them, and take us again into his Favour, which he has assuredly obtain'd; for Light and Grace have been given us by Jesus Christ, otherwise no body would see from whence he had strayed by Sin, nor whether he had gone by the forgetting of God.

13. It is the Light only which Jesus Christ brought upon Earth that has made us see both the one and the other: for after that he had obtain'd the PARDON of our Sins as to the Guilt, by his Merits only, who was innocent, and subjected himself to Sufferings and to Death, that he might reconcile us with God, and deliver us from the Power of the Devil, to which we had voluntarily subjected our selves; this bowed the heart of God, to speak after our way, and forc'd his Will unto Mercy towards us. This Grace was grace was granted unto us by God only for the Merits of Jesus Christ, of his Death, and his Sufferings, without our Intervention: So that Jesus Christ may for this be truly call'd our Saviour; for he alone has saved us from the death of Sin, and recover'd us from eternal Damnation, into which we had miserably fallen through our own Fault and our Sins: for it was impossible for Man to recover himself from so grievous a Fall.

14. He would have remain'd to all Eternity in his Damnation without remedy, since he saw not the means by which he [Page] might be re-united to his God: But Jesus Christ brought Light unto them when he came into the World, and has made them see by his Deeds and Words the things which had withdrawn them from God, and what things they must do that they may return unto him: for he was not satisfied to have obtained Grace for them, but he would also procure their Salvation, which cannot be obtain'd without the co-operation of our own Will, because we are created by God free Creatures. He cannot take back that which he his once given. So that tho' God was able to create us of nothing, without our own Will, before we had a Being, yet we cannot be saved without the co-operation of this Free will which he has given us; for Adam could not be saved after his Sin without his accepting of the Penitence due unto it: even so Jesus Christ cannot save Men by the Merit of his Sufferings, and of his Death, if they will not take the Remedies for their Evils.

15. He is indeed the Physician who prepares Physick for our Souls, and takes it himself in our presence; but if we will not swallow it our selves, it will have no operation upon us: This we ought well to consider, if we would know how Jesus Christ has suffered for us, and how his Merits will be applied unto us: for, to believe foolishly that the Merits of Jesus Christ will save us, without our co-operation, is a very dangerous Mistake, seeing God could not pardon the Sin of Adam, who had committed but one Disobedience, without obliging him to so long a Penitence, how could he save us who have committed so great a number of Sins, unless we will embrace for them the Sufferings which Jesus Christ has taught us, since the Scripture assures us, by Jesus Christ, that unless we do Penitence we shall all perish.

16. How can we refute this Truth by saying, That we are too frail to imitate Jesus Christ? This is directly to reject his Merits, since they have merited for us Pardon, and Grace to amend our Sins, and to do Penitence for them. They who after so many Favours say that they are uncapable to imitate him, despise his Merits, and will not have them applied unto them, rejecting them as insufficient to give them strength to do well; which is false: for there is nothing wanting to us on God's part. He says, Be faithful in few: things, and I will set you over many things. We have received by Jesus Christ the Light of Truth, which is not a small Grace, since by it we can discern Good and Evil, and in what state our Soul in.

[Page] 17. If we were faithful in this Grace of Knowledge, we would obtain that of amending our Faults, and resisting Vice; and after being faithful to this Resistance, we would obtain Grace to renounce all together, the Inclinations of our Nature, and to die unto the Old Adam that we might live unto the New, which is Jesus Christ. This is to have no Faith nor Belief in Jesus Christ; for if we did believe that he has merited for us the Grace of God by his Death and Sufferings, it would be impossible to say or believe, that we are too frail to be able to imitate him.

17. Your Friends reject my Sentiments, as if I rejected the Merits of Jesus Christ; and they do not see that it is they themselves who do indeed reject them, while they say that they esteem them. This cannot proceed but from a great blindness of Spirit, that they do not sufficiently-discover it; and in this they are much to be lamented, since they cannot be saved in this Belief, because Faith without Works is a dead Faith, in which while they remain, they will never obtain Salvation, seeing a living and operative Faith is necessary, which cannot be recovered but in the imitation of Jesus Christ; for otherwise no body can recover the Grace of God, which he has merited for us, for those only who will embrace the Gospel Law, for it only teaches us how to return to God, and points out all the things which have withdrawn us from him.

18. If the Gospel Law did not tell me that I must be poor in Spirit, I would never have known that the Goods of the World could withdraw me from God; and if the same Law did not tell me that I must be humble in Heart, I would have remained in the Pride in which Nature begot me; and if the same Law did not teach me that I must deny my self, take up my Cross, and follow Jesus Christ, I would never have known that the Love of my self drew me away from the Love of God, or that my natural Inclinations did incline me to Sin: I would never have done Violence to them that I might take the Kingdom of Heaven by force; but having learned in the School of Jesus Christ the Truth of my Duties, I will follow them, and walk in the Light that he has purchas'd for me by his Sufferings, and will not lean upon the Opinions of blinded Men, who take Lies for Truth; for I know well, that for me the Gospel Law was made, and that without the observing of it I cannot be among those whom the Father has given unto Jesus Christ, and for whom he prays unto his [Page] Father. I hope you also will be of that number, my dear Child, that having been in this World united in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we may be united together with him for ever. Which she wisheth, who remains

Yours wholly in God, A. B.

Amsterdam, Jul. 15. 1670.

LETTER V. A Traveller to Eternity minds not earthly things.
To a Child of God, who did not sufficiently comprehend that the Cares of this Life, were an Hindrance to the Perfection of the Soul; and was troubled to hear me say, that it behoved me to tarvel alone to Eternal Life, seeing he was desirous tobear me Company: Shewing him that all the things of this World are vain; and when we make it our Business to acquire them, or to please Men, we are not to look for an Eternal Reward.
This is the Twelfth of La lum. née en tenebr. Part iv.

My dear Child,

1. I Know that you are troubled to hear me say, that I am all alone in the World, since you desire to accompany and follow me. Your Desire is good in this, but my Proposition is true, that I am all alone in the way through which God leads me. You ought not to be troubled to hear the Truth, but rather to discover what must be done to accompany me.

I TRAVEL TOWARDS ETERNITY, and I see all the World travelling towards the Land of their Banishment, which is this miserable World, after which every one aspires; for I have not yet found one Person who seeks nothing but eternal things only.

2. All Men of sound Judgment say, that they aspire after things Eternal, while their Thoughts, Labour, and Studies, [Page] are taken up about what respects the Earth and Time. Is it possible that they can have such a Blindness of Spirit, as to believe that they desire eternal things when they despise them? [...]or [...]e who seeks after the Goods of this World, gives a sure Evidence that he despises Eternity: Since it gives a full Satisfaction to the Man who desires it, and he can no longer desire any other thing. For all that is Temporal and Transitory, seems to him Dung and Filth; of which he makes use of the least [...]e can, and would flee in the Air towards Eternity, without any wise touching the Earth, if his Body were not of so [...] Matter, and obliged to take such gross Food for its [...] But they who travel towards the World, are still desirous of Silver and Gold, that by this means they may make themselves to be served and honoured, that they may take their Delight in Eating, Drinking, Walking, commodious Apparel, in adorning their Houses with fine Moveables, and rich Ornaments, that they may satisfie their Five Natural Senses, of Sight, Hearing Smell, Taste, and Feeling.

3. So that it is no wonder that a Person who travels towards Eternity, finds herself alone in the way; since all the Men that we see now, do so desire and seek after all these things, studying and labouring with all their Power to obtain them, and they will not despise or forsake them for all the Reasons that can be told them. They would indeed have Eternity, without resolving to forsake temporal things; tho' Jesus Christ tells us: That we cannot serve Two Masters without being unfaithful to the one or the other. They wrest this Passage according to the Sensuality of their Inclinations, and they will needs follow them, and have eternal Life also; which is impossible. Therefore I do not understand Men now, neither do they understand me; and for this Cause we cannot stay together.

4. I must indeed out of necessity be among Men: But as soon as it shall be possible for me, I will leave them to follow the way that God points out to me; and leave them to follow those ways which they will needs choose for their Damnation. I will not say, my dear Child, that you walk in this way of Damnation, since you have an effectual Desire to be saved, and to accompany me: But you are yet travelling towards the World which is not as yet crucified in you; you do not yet know how one must die to it in all things. I am therefore troublesome to you in RESOLVING TO WALK ALONE; and you give me more trouble to oblige me to [Page] follow you, in travelling towards the Earth and Temporal things, where I cannot accompany you without continual Strife and Debates; for there is not a temporal Action or Word which is not blameworthy in this way that leads to Eternity: For I should no sooner hear you speak of things which respect the Earth only, but I would reprove you for them as idle Words and unprofitable for Eternity. And if by your Actions you should labour for earthly things, I would complain of your Employ, and reckon your Labour to be vain.

5. You see how I would be a Burthen to you, and you would be insupportable to me. And therefore our Journey would be melancholly and troublesome both for you and me, and worse than that of two Persons who did not understand one another by Signs nor Words. Nevertheless your Company does not offend me, for I love it because of the good Desires which you have; neither will I reprove you by way of Correction or Reproof, but out of good Inclination for your Perfection; which I love as my own. But your Nature will feel Troubles thereby, which perhaps would be insupportable to you, or would wrong your Health.

6. For I YIELD IN NOTHING TO NATURE, knowing well that it is corrupt, and begets all sort of Sins, which kill the Soul, and make it lose a Blessed Eternity: Of necessity we must contradict it and deny all its Desires; or otherwise it will lead us to all sort of eternal Miseries, which few Persons do conceive. For we see every one follows his own Will without thinking that he does Evil, for they do not sufficiently perceive that our SELF WILL BRINGS FORTH ETERNAL DEATH, as in Truth it does; which I see by the Eyes of Faith. And Jesus Christ has also taught us it when he says, that he who does not deny himself cannot be his Disiple. I cannot find more express Terms to make Man understand that he must not follow his own Will, but absolutely deny it all that it asks. Nevertheless, we see that the best enclin'd now adays think themselves happy that they can follow their own Will, which is always enclin'd towards earthly and tempo [...]al things, and never towards Eternity, which is unto it invisible and incomprehensible.

7. For this Cause I can never Accompany one who travels towards the World, and follows his own Will: I must still w [...]lk alone, so long as I shall not find others, being like a [Page]desolate Widow, who has no Companion, nor Consolation in this World; which is even very grievous to Nature: Because it is always sociable, and is pleas'd with the Society of those like to it, which I have not as yet met with in this World, having being always obliged to travel alone, for I have found none to joyn my self unto, tho' I have still sought after them, and inform'd my self, where are THOSE SOULS WHICH TRAVEL TOWARDS ETERNITY, without having hitherto discovered any.

8. I have convers'd with the Religious and Devout Persons of our side, and have found them all seeking after earthly things; for if they study and preach, it is to recommend themselves to Men, or to get their Living. And secular Persons, who are engag'd in the Practice of Physick or in Merchandizing, do all to gain Money, or to acquire Honour and Pleasure in this World: So that none of those can accompany me in the way to Eternity; and therefore I must walk alone, or turn backward to the way of the World: Which I will never do, choosing rather to die alone in the way of Salvation, than to follow a croud in the way of Perdition; seeing the great number of the damned would never ease my Pain, but rather encrease it by the encrease of the number of damned Souls.

Therefore I will continue in the way to Eternity, tho' I should travel ALONE in it even to Death, choosing rather to be alone with Jesus Christ, than in a great Company with the World and Hell. I know indeed, my dear Child, that you do not desire to follow the World or Hell; but in effect you still follow them so long as you yet seek any other thing than Eternity. You think you will not seek any other thing, since you have resolved to quit the World: But believe me, so long as you yet seek to please Men, and that you are afraid to displease them, you are still in the way of the World: And so long as you take pleasure here in the Honour or Prosit of the World, you cannot relish the Delights or the Repose of Eternity. And if you have yet an Esteem for Wealth, it is certain you are not come to the Knowledge of eternal good things, for these make one always to despse earthly Goods, finding them to be vain and unworthy of our Love.

9. By which you may certainly discern if you are in the way of Eternity, or in that of the Earth and Time; according as your Aims and Designs tend unto the one or the [Page] other. This is a general Rule for ALL Men of the World, by which they may measure if they are in the way to a BLESSED ETERNITY, or in that which leads unto a MISERABLE ETERNITY, by examining if their Cares, Desires, and Affections are towards earthly things, or indeed towards things Eternal.

10. Not that one must live in Idleness in this World, for he ought continually to labour in it, to accomplish the Penitence that God has enjoyn'd us. But our Labour ought to respect Eternity, the Glory of God, the Salvation of our Soul, or that of our Neighbour; and all that is without this, is Evil. For if one labour for this World, he receives here the Recompence of his Labour; and therefore he has no more to pretend to for Etern [...]ty. For otherwise, God would not be just; seeing he who has laboured that he may gain Money, having gain'd it, has received the Reward of his Labour, and has no Right to pretend to any other thing; for he desired no other thing. If you labour that you may get an Office, and you obtain it, your Labour is well rewarded by the obtaining of that Office. If you labour in Traffick and Business, that you may gain Money, and if this succeed according to your Desires, you must not look for any other Recompence but the Money that you have gained. If you study that you may accomplish your self before Men, you are rewarded by the Praises which they give you, and the Esteem they have for you. You see all that a Person can pretend to who labours for the Earth and for Time. God cannot in Justice give him a Blessed Eternity, when his Labours have no other End but the Earth, towards which he travels all the Days of his Life; as we see all Men do now, and they think themselves Wise and Happy when they dextrously seek after their Advantages in this World: For he who does it not, is despised by them, and look'd upon as a Fool.

11. This is the way in which all Men do travel, wherein it would be impossible for me to follow or imitate them; for I look upon all these things as Follies and Amusements of Satan. For what can it profit a Man if he attains to some Office or Benefice, or that he has heaps up Money that he may take his Delights in this World? Death puts an end to all; and the Praises of Men which he has acquired by improving himself, are nothing but a blast of Wind, which drives away the Ashes of our Corruption by forgetfulness out of their Memories: And the poor Soul finds it self deprived of [Page] eternal Glory, which it can never recover after this transitory Life, which is the only way to a blessed or miserable Eternity. It is a Folly and Deceit to hope for it. He must content himself with the Earth, which he lov'd; and with Men whom he desired to please.

12. Behold, my dear Child, what Recompence the Earth and Men can give them for all the Services which they shall render them; nothing but the Pain and Sorrow of being forced to abandon them, and Remorse of Conscience for having sought after earthly things, and travelled towards a deceitful and transitory World. For my part, I see all these things as clear as the Sun; I will therefore despise and forget them, that I may think only upon durable Goods, whcih will never end. If you will accompany me, you may do it; for God has created you free, placing you between Fire and Water, that you may choose which you please best. The Fire will warm you with a Desire of having Riches, Pleasures, and Honours in this World: And the Water will make you to embrace Penitence, that you may resist the Devil, the World and the Flesh, which are the Three Enemies of your eternal Bliss. You have already taken up a Resolution to travel towards Eternity, and to quit the way of the World; which in effect you do not as yet perfectly do. Therefore you cannot accompany me, until you shall be altogether free from earthly Goods, and shall have quitted the Desire of pleasing Men: For these things would always make you stumble in our Journey.

13. For sometimes a Man must lose or spend earthly Goods upon Occasions respecting Eternity; which would be troublesome to you so long as you have yet any Affection for these Goods. And in the way to Eternity we must often displease Men. Therefore Jesus Christ says, that he who would please Men, is not his Disciple. And elsewhere he says, that he came not to bring Peace upon Earth; but War between Father and Son, Brother against Brother, Husband against Wife, &c. to shew that he who would travel towards Eternity, must fight against all those who travel towards the World, even tho' it were against his nearest Kinsfolk and Friends.

For if one would sh [...]ken that he may please them, he will never arrive at Eternity; for they will still hold us in the way, without coming to the End. For our nearest Relations are the most powerful Enemies that we meet with in travelling towards Eternity, when they will not accompany us; we [Page] must therefore quit the Desire of pleasing them; for this Cause Jesus Christ said, that he who forsakes not Father, Mother, Sisters, Brethren, and all things for his Name, is not worthy of him. Whereby he shews what Foundation of Vertue those ought to have, who would travel towards Eternity.

14. They ought first of all, to offer unto God all the Goods which they possess, to be employed only for his Glory, and no longer according to our Desires, or that we may follow our Sensualities. Secondly, A Man must leave off the Desire of pleasing Men, since in pleasing them of necessity he must displease God; because their Desires are altogether different from those of God, and respect only their own Interests; and therefore they cannot approve that we should abandon the World, and its Riches, and Pleasures, of which they partake, so long as we possess them to satisfie them. You see why it is that we must lose their Friendship, if we would have God's, and undertake this War into which Jesus Christ is come to engage us against the Flesh and our nearest Relations.

15. People think that it is well done to preserve Peace among them; which I grant so long as they will travel with us in the way to Eternity. There is nothing more desirable in this World than Peace and Concord between Friends and Neighbours. But when they detain or hinder us from travelling towards Eternity, we must break that Peace, which ominates nothing but the Wrath of God. For it is one of the Signs of his last Plagues; when Men shall promise to themselves Peace and Security, then (says the Holy Spirit) is the Time of their utter Ruine. Thus it befalls a Person who undertakes to travel towards Eternity, and will maintain Peace with those who yet travel towards the World. We must declare WAR against them, if they retard or hinder us from advancing towards Eternity; for their Friendship is not so considerable as our Eternal Salvation, which they cannot give us, but they may serve as a mean of our Damnation. For these two Points, the Love of Riches, and the Desire to please Men, have been the Occasion of the Eternal Ruine of a great many, even well-meaning Persons.

16. For so long as we have yet an Affection for earthly things, we cannot travel towards Eternity. We must be altogether free, and aspire only after our blessed Country, taking for our Necessity the least that is possible for us of earthly things, that we finish our Voyage; the least of Honour, of Offices, of Money, of Apparel, of Meat and Drink, that [Page] we can. And with this we shall indeed travel together towards Eternity, adn chearfully perform the Voyage. For tho' we should find in our way Labours, Cares, Sufferings, Persecutions, Contempt, Reproaches, Prisons, or Death; all this will seem Light to us in the Hope of that Eternal Blessedness. For if he who travels after the World, thinks himself happy in gaining Money by his Pains, Cares, or Labours; how much more ought he who looks for the Eternal Reward in travelling towards Eternity. He will be loth to stop to gather up the Sand of Gold and Silver, which would be very heavy to him in travelling towards Eternity. I advise you therefore to cast it far from you; and then, I will take you by the Hand, that we may the better accomplish our Journey. In expectation of which, I remain

Your faithful Friend in God, A. B.

Amsterdam, Octob. 23. 1670.

FINIS.

[Page]

Information about this book

Title statement

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.

Edition statement

1699

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Text Creation Partnership,

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Date

2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A42287

ID [STC]

Wing G218

ID [STC]

ESTC R18554

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

12873640

ID [OCLC]

ocm 12873640

ID [VID]

94808

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A42287)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 94808)

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— 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..

Extent

[8], 444 p. : port.

Printed for D. Brown ... S. Manship ... R. Parker ... and H. Newman ...,. London :: 1699.. (Attributed to George Garden. Cf. BM; DNB.) (Errata on p. [8].) (Advertisement on p. [8].) (Reproduction of original in Union Theological Seminary Library, New York.) (Marginal notes.) ((from t.p.) I. An abstract of her sentiments and a character of her writings -- II. An answer to the prejudices raised against them -- III. The evidences she brings of her being led by the spirit of God, with her answers to the prejudices opposed thereunto. To which is added a dissertation of Dr. De Heyde on the same subject -- IV. An abstract of her life.)

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