Christ. She was of a middle Stature slender and delicate her Countenance was agreeable her Complexion brown her Forehead broad and without Wrinkles and her Eyes were a little bluish She had an ingenious Air and such an exquisite Sight that she never used Glasses Her Nose was well made and proportionable She was Out-mouthed having Lips and Teeth somewhat big Age had whiten'd her Hairs Sickness had made her Face lean and she was hollow about the Eyes Her Mien her Speech her Address and way of receiving Persons were very taking and agreeable Her Gate was grave bearing her Head a little high and she did not appear to be above Forty Years old All her Senses except Tasting were strong and lively She was of a quick and active Disposition She was never sad but always of an even Temper She would never suffer her Picture to be drawn not only because she did not approve of this sort of Vanity but also because it very much concern'd her not to be known upon the account of her Persecutors As to the Gifts and Qualities of her Spirit her Writings do partly shew them but none is capable to know the greatness of them save He who bestowed them This same Person tells us That from her Infancy she had the gift of Chastity in so high a degree that she often said That in all her life she never had not even upon a Temptation or Surprize the least Thought which might be unbecoming the Chastity of the purest Virgin-state St. Teresa writes of her self That God sometimes favour'd her with the same Grace But as for Madamoiselle Bourignon she possess'd it to that degree that it overflowed if one may have leave to speak so upon those who conversed with her Her Presence and Conversation did send forth such an Odour of Continence as made others forget the Pleasures of the Flesh And I leave it saith he to the Experience of those who read her Books with attention to judge whether they do not feel some Impressions of and whether they be not drawn with Inclinations to this Vertue that is so acceptable to God Though this Character of Madamoiselle Bourignon be very great and declares the great Affection of him who gives it yet it is very far short of what is furthen said of her for this only respects her private Personal state and sets her forth as a Woman singularly Good and Vertuous in this corrupt Age But if we will take the Word of this anonymous Author and some others this Woman was above all that is Humane she was inhabited by the Spirit of God and all she did or spoke was to be ascribed to Him and to be reckon'd not so much hers as His who design'd that she should be the greatest Blessing that ever was conferr'd on Mankind therefore they are not either afraid or ashamed to bestow upon her the Epithets that are given to Iesus Christ they set her on the same Level with Him they honour her with his Titles they apply to her the Prophecies which the Church hath always believed to be meant of Him 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 To intimate which God sent a Comet when she was born another when she first began to write and a third at her death which was greater and more dreadful than any that was ever seen before She is the Divine Sun of Righteousness she is Truth pure Truth and the only Truth that can guide one to Heaven and Eternal Life There is no other way of Life Eternal says he but what is in the Mouth in the Writings and in the Life of the most holy Antonia Bourignon And again If ever the Church of God be edified upon Earth it cannot be by any other means but by the Remonstrances the Rules Doctrine Spirit and Example of Madamoiselle Bourignon He calls her the Woman spoken of in the Revelation who was shewn to St. Iohn in a Vision whom saith he our Eyes have seen and by whom our Ears have heard and our Hands have handled the Word of Life And as he renders unto God Thanks for the Grace of knowing her and of being acquainted with her so he most passionately expostulates with God for suffering her to die who was the only Just the only Holy the only Person who had the Spirit of God Where Lord where is now your Holy Church Alas it is altogether destroyed and subsists only in ruined Houses in some scatter'd Stones which as the Stones of the ancient Sanctuary are poured out upon the top of every street broken defaced and unpolish'd and there is none to gather them together nor to set about the building of your New Ierusalem for you have taken away the holy Instrument of your Spirit whom you had called and filled with the Treasures of your Grace to labour in that Work You have extinguish'd the Light which you sent to the World for guiding well-disposed Souls Where is now Lord the Truth of your Promises Where are now your ancient Mercies which never suffer'd the World to be destitute of living Witnesses How have you suffer'd the time to come in which it may be said without exception that the righteous is perished there is no more a prophet amongst us nor have we any who knows how long I might bring many other Passages out of this Author to this purpose but I judge these are sufficient to prove his Sentiments of Antonia Bourignon And they are not peculiar to him for all who have taken this Woman's part are of the same mind He who writes the Apologetick Preface to her Works employs all the Rhetorick which Passion and a strong-heated Passion can inspire in defence of this Woman to remove the Prejudices which are entertain'd against her Person and Doctrine and to convince the World that she was filled with the Holy Ghost and sent to renew the Church and to bring it to its utmost Perfection If this Author ought to be believed all the Words and Writings of this Woman are Sacred as Scripture it self they ought to have the same Authority and should be as devoutly read yea much rather read for if it be true what he says they are more profitable and do discover more fully the hidden Mysteries of God As the Author of the Leipsick Transactions observes he makes the New Scripture of Madam Bourignon either to confirm the Old or to explain them or to correct them In this Preface the Author considers the several ways by which God may and doth communicate himself to Men and he asserts confidently of Madamoiselle Bourignon That God used all these several ways with her as Visions external Voices intimate Impressions upon the Soul and such ineffable Communications as made her to know and understand the Mind of God and all Truths as they are in him Her whole Life saith
he was a continued Series of God's Word and Discourse with her and of hers with him And again She had so often those Communications with God which he reckons up in the Second Classis that they were very common with her by which God communicated to her the intimate Knowledge of Things Divine and Humane Matters of Right and Fact Things Speculative and Practical Things Mystical Things appertaining to Faith and Morality Things Future and Prophetick such as are the Last Things of which she has often spoken Finally He makes a kind of Union between God and her Soul and says That they spoke to one another as two Friends use to do and that the Discourse which she had with God as well as that which He had with her proceeded not from her self but from the motion of God which prompted her to speak and that her Books are filled with such Divine Conferences The Prophets and Apostles were Men of like Passions and Infirmities with others and several instances of their frailty are upon Record at the Direction and Inspiration of the infinite Wisdom of God But this Anonymous Advocate for Antonia Bourignon as well as the other above mentioned who continued and enlarged the History of her Life begun by her self I say he will not allow her to be guilty of any slip or inadvertency or failing in Word or Deed unworthy of the Spirit of God it self As it is in the Leipsick Transactions Tantâ cum Religione veneratur ut Soloecismos ejus in stylo errata dictamini divino tribuat He justifies all she said or did by Parallels from the Prophets from Christ and the Apostles and confidently asserts That the Opposition she meets with the Prejudices and Out-cries against her or her Doctrine proceed from the same Spirit and Principles which persecuted them For to give you his Sentiments in short She was the Purest the most Dis-interested and Self-denied Soul and the most resigned to God that ever was upon Earth The World and all that is in the World was of no Value to her she was perfectly denied to all Sense and to every thing that depended upon Imagination In her Divine Conferences that is her conversation with God she used neither Ideas nor Meditations but was in an admirable vacuity of all Desire of knowing either this or that having no will of her own nor any Inclination nor Fondness for any Sentiment no not the most intimate and most divine but a total perfect and most accomplished Resignation for receiving what it would please God to communicate to her and no other thing with an absolute Resolution to execute whatever would please God tho' in doing it it behoved to combat the World and Hell and lose a Thousand Lives In this Habitual and Invariable State where she continued from the Eighteenth year of her Age to the last moment of her Life None but God alone could act in the Fund of her Soul in all those several ways mentioned And the whole Conduct of such a Person could not be but Divine seeing she was united to God by a perfect Resignation Now that the Reputation of Antonia Bourignon may not stand upon the Credit of two obscure and unknown Authors who were afraid to expose their Names that what hath been said may not be thought their particular Rhapsodies I will confirm the same by Instances from some who have publickly owned it and do glory in it I will begin with Monsieur de Cort one of her first Disciples who was Superiour of the Oratory and Pastor of Saint Iohn at Mechlin and who as it is said lost his Life in her Cause This Man in a Letter to the Vicar-General of the Archbishoprick of Mechlin after having told him how he had happened to read that Passage 2 Kings xxii about Hilkiah's finding the Book of the Law of the Lord and sending to Huldah the Prophetess to enquire about it he writes That having made a very serious Reflection upon all this he was touched with a sensible Grief considering that we have here an Excellent Woman a Friend of God the Favourite of Jesus the Organ of the Holy Ghost who is greater than Huldah to whom God has communicated himself extraordinarily and to whom he has discovered all his Secrets She never yet deceived any person was always faithful firm constant immoveable She possesseth the Holy Ghost with his Gifts of Wisdom Understanding Knowledge Piety Courage Counsel fear of God and together with these she possesses the Twelve Fruits of the same Spirit Charity Joy Peace Patience Longanimity Goodness and the rest The Eight Beatitudes do also shine in her she lives not to her self but altogether to God she speaks as she lives and she lives as she speaks Her words are Lively Efficacious and Operative they are conform to the Gospel and the other Scriptures Her Life is altogether miraculous And I do remember that which your Reverence hath often said to me how that she was an admirable Maid that there was never found her like we are happy to have such a Treasure and truly she hath the Holy Ghost Moreover I remember how I have brought Letters to her in which you have earnestly desired her Prayers for your self and for your Friends recommending to her many particular Affairs and â—ow as concerning the Publick in the time of Universal Scourges in all these Dangers no body consults her no body makes Prayers to her no body employs her These Thoughts have touched my Heart very sensibly As for me I have thanked you and do still thank you infinitely because God inspired you to send me to this Creature I never received neither from Arch-Bishop nor from Bishops nor from Pastors nor from my Directors and Superiours nor from Saints nor from God himself immediately more good than from her by God only I beseech you for the Honour of God for the Good of the Church for your own private good and for the good of all those who are under your Charge to consult her and to believe her as to that which she shall tell you from God concerning these deplorable Times St. Ierome says That Deuteronomium est secunda Lex Evangelicae legis praefiguratio that is Deuteronomy or the Book that was found in the time of Huldah is the Second Law or the Second Establishment of the Law of God and that it is a Figure of what shall be under the Evangelical Law Now I am of the Mind that the Evangelical Law which was first Established and afterwards forgotten and lost shall be renewed and re-established as Deuteronomy was a Second time under the Ministry of this New Huldah This Letter is prefixed to the Treatise which bears the Title of The Word of God or the interiour Life of Madamoiselle Bourignon Where also there are Extracts of some Letters of the same Vicar-General bearing a Testimony unto her Here we have had one bearing witness to Antonia Bourignon not upon
secret Thoughts of Men's Hearts and Things to come and did not foretell them by way of Supposition or related them as if she had dreamt them We found also diverse times that she could tell what past in her absence and how our Souls behaved themselves towards God In short This Divine Soul told us so many Secrets of the Mystical and Inward Life that all our Theology was too short and insufficient to answer her to so high Questions not only in Matters of Theology but also in all other Matters according to the various Rencounters and Occurrences which fell out so that one would have thought that though a Man had perused all sorts of Histories and grown old in the study of all sorts of Sciences he could not know with such Understanding all the things which this Pilgrimess told us It is impossible to write in particular the admirable things which we have heard of this Pilgrimess so that We may say of her Discourses what St. Paul said of his Rapture That he had seen and heard things which eyes had not seen nor ear heard and that it has not entered into the mind of man what God has prepared for his elect Now lest any should think that this extraordinary Knowledge came to her by Natural Means or that it was the effect of some Art and Industry which others had not the happiness to know neither were capable to undergo we are told That she never read nor learn'd of any body That she was without Study even without Reading and which is more without Meditation Years and Experience make others Wise and Knowing but she had her vast Knowledge from the beginning she was not wiser in her Old Age than in her Youth for she was infallible in both neither was there any occasion for correcting or amending that which she spoke or wrote in her first years For if you peruse her Writings impartially you will meet with many remarkable Characters that are not ordinarily to be found in many Writings A clear and distinct Account of the Essential Truths of Christianity with a constant urging of them as the one thing necessary and distinguishing them from the accessory Truths which are not necessary to Salvation an inimitable simplicity of Expression which a Child may understand with as singular a sublimity of Thoughts a convincing power and force going along with them a plain unfolding in a few Lines the Difficulties about which the Learned write many Volumes a constant harmony and uniformity of Sentiments in the Writings of a course of forty years from about the Twenty third to the Sixty fifth year of her age in which she died with an evidence and clearness to the conviction of our Natural Reason And all this by one who never read any Books never conversed with the Learned to be instructed by them never premeditated what she wrote never blotted out nor mended what was once written but being attentive to the Love of God in the calm and inward recollection of her Spirit wrote as fast as her hand could guide the Pen and when some Writings were laid by unfinish'd for some years returned to them and finish'd them after the same manner without reading any more of what had been written than some few of the immediately foregoing Lines to make a due connexion Thus Memory and those Rational discussive Faculties which help others to the knowledge of Truth were of no use to her because they make her to have had an immediate intuition of all things in God with whom she had inward Conversation from her Childhood She neither did nor would learn any thing from the Scriptures though they were given by Inspiration and were designed to make every Man of God perfect and throughly instructed to every good word and work She would take nothing from the second-hand but would have all things immediately from God himself and therefore she asked Him Questions and received Answers from Him about the smallest matters In a word the design of these three Prefaces is to prove That all her Words and Thoughts are God's and that the Spirit was not given to her by measure no more than it was to Iesus Christ and that there was the same reason for both For as God had chosen a Virgin for his Mother so he had chosen another Virgin to be the Organ of his Light and Spirit by whom he designed to renew his Church and to give the last Blow and Overthrow to Satan's Kingdom for which cause she is called the Light of the World and these words of Isaiah are applied unto her The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined And upon this account Monsieur de Cort says I look upon her Acquaintance as a greater favour than all the Graces and Favours which God hath bestowed on me in this World yea even than my Creation it self for that would serve me in little stead without the working out of my Salvation which would have been in great danger if I had not attained to the knowledge of my self and of the Designs and Marvels of God which I have learned and discovered by the means of this Creature and she has certainly been sent me as the only Means of the Perfection of my Soul and of all those who will profit by the recital of this Narrative which I find my self obliged to publish for the profit of many This is the true treasure hid in the earth he who shall find it ought to sell all that he has to by this Ground to the end he may find and discover this Treasure and take it up with Joy as the most precious thing in the World I have insisted the longer upon the Character of Madamoiselle Bourignon her personal Endowments and Qualifications her Divine Mission and Authority as they are declared and set forth by her Disciples because they are Material Points in our Enquiry about her And for the same reason I have chose to give these things in their own words that it may appear to all that I do not charge them with things which they do not neither will own And now I may have liberty to add That if Madamoiselle Bourignon deserves the Character which is here given to her if it be true what these Authors I have quoted do say of her if their Commendations and Praises are not rash and groundless but built upon a solid Foundation then she is not only a very Singular and Extraordinary Person but without exception the greatest that ever was Born of a Woman She is above all the Ancient Patriarchs she is to be preferred to Moses and the Prophets to Iohn the Baptist and the Apostles and at least she ought to be honoured equally with Jesus Christ who is said to be God blessed for ever She was as much without Sin as he was and her Body was of
hear-say or any uncertain Report but from his own Experience There is another still alive who knew her was intimately acquainted with her and who gives her a Character above what either Man or Woman besides Jesus Christ ever deserved It is Monsieur Poiret who may be called the Chief Disciple or First Apostle of Antonia Bourignon he having spread her Fame and propagated her Opinions more studiously and with more Zeal and Fervour than any other As St. Paul desired to know nothing save Iesus Christ and him crucified so this Man seems to desire to know nothing but Madamoiselle Bourignon He does not believe a God more firmly than that this Woman was divinely inspired His words were to some of my Acquaintance who visited him Tam certus sum eam Virginem inspiratam esse quam Deum existere She is ever in his Mouth and on all occasions he recommends her Books as having Light and Instruction and all desirable Advantages above all the Books in the World without excepting the Scriptures Some few Years after her Death he sent a Memorial to Monsieur Bale to be inserted in the Novelles de la Republique de la Lettre that all the learned World might have the Knowledge of this wonderful Woman And because Monsieur Bale had dropt something which did not savour of that respect which is due to Madamoiselle Bourignon he again expostulated with him and corrected him by another Memorial both which may be seen in the Ninth Articles for the Months of April and May for the Year 1685. All which Monsieur Poiret writes now is upon the Principles of this Woman Her Doctrine is the Foundation of his Oeconomy Divine in which he imagines that he has explained all the Mysteries both of Nature and Religion cleared all Difficulties either in Philosophy or Divinity and revealed the secret Purposes of the Counsel of God both in respect of what is past and of what is to come All these great things he hath done by the Light which his Beloved Mistress afforded him Take his own words for it I ought to acknowledge that these Principles and many other things are not of my own Invention but that I have been led to them by the Divine Writings and by the Instruction of one of Unknown Worth I should never have come to the knowledge of these Truths of my self if the Light which God communicated to one of his Saints had not Administred the Occasion She is a Person whose Writings have led me into the Knowledge of the solid Principles of all things Madamoiselle Bourignon hath received from God such certain and particular Light as without which I neither could have seen nor been sensible in this manner of these Divine Truths how palpably soever the Text of Scripture may seem to lead the attentive Reader unto them God hath drawn me forth not by the force and subtilty of my wretched Reason nor by Study or by Reading the Books of Learned Men but by the Writings of a Woman through which God has touched and illuminated my Heart making me see a perfect Light in all these Matters and Difficulties as well as almost in all other things whether Divine or Humane Natural or Supernatural Behold a great and notable Truth and a Key of an infinite number of admirable Lights for explaining a Thousand Passages of Divine Scripture and of the charitable and adorable Conduct of God towards Men Nothing is wanting to make this rare and incomparable Truth to be received of Men but that its Discovery and the Explication of these Passages of Scripture which point it out have not been communicated by some Ancient Father or by some great Doctor but by an unlearned Woman to whom God has been pleased to manifest himself so far notwithstanding of the contrary Judgment of some bearded Animals Whosoever would see these things in the most sensible and most Divine Light that can be desired have no more to do but to consult the Works of Madamoiselle Bourignon particularly these Three or Four The renewing of the Gospel-Spirit Antichrist Discovered The Light of the World and the Touchstone For I do acknowledge That I have not perceived that God since the beginning of the World did ever discover more clearly more sensibly more strongly more plainly the greatness of Man's Corruption as he hath done in our Days by that excellent Organ of the Holy Ghost And nothing but the Discovery of this Evil has offended all wilfully wicked Persons at her their Proud Heart would not humble it self nor be covered with Confusion nor can they be induced to hate and renounce themselves The Devil also their good Friend who dwells in their corrupt Hearts not enduring to be thus exposed has resolved to employ by his Diabolical Slaves against this Divine Light and this Holy Soul which declares it his two ordinary Machines Lying and Violence which he hath inspired abundantly into the Hearts of many wicked Persons both Learned and Idiots who have not been wanting hitherto to labour in this as it becomes them in favour of their Master and King the Murtherer the Persecutor the Lyar the Calumniator from the Beginning who will one Day give them his common Pay if they do not defeat the Work which they have Diabolically made for him against the most Divine the most Splendid and the most Solid Truth which ever yet appeared Thus far Monsieur Poiret But that I may not be thought to impose upon the English Reader by Quotations from foreign Books which are little known and in few hands I will justifie this high Character of Antonia Bourignon by Passages of a parallel strain out of the Prefaces to her Treatise of The Light of the World which is now rendred into English to be read understood and considered by all who desire to be saved as the Title-page bears There her eminent Sanctity is declared and set forth in words which were never applicable to any Creature before for none but Iesus Christ was ever said to be perfect and without sin But the Purity of Antonia Bourignon's Life was exact and constant she was a perfect Pattern and living Exemplar of the Spirit and Doctrine of the Gospel In short We may all truly affirm That we never observed in her any Vice Sin or any Weakness of Spirit but a perfect and solid Vertue surpassing Natural and Humane Strength which made us say That her Life was altogether Miraculous as if Adam had never sinned in her And as to her Knowledge and Understanding it is made Infinite for there were hid in her the Treasures of Divine Wisdom which enabled her to utter things unheard of so marvellous and sublime that we often remained quite lost with Admiration for we had never heard such things She explained likewise the Holy Scriptures so perfectly that none of the holy Fathers have ever so done nor any body since the Creation of the World She knew the
censorious full of himself and who has no esteem for others who observes no distance neither pays any respect to other Mens outward Dignities or Moral Endowments who is above all Advice and Counsel who pretends a Privilege from Obedience and a Right to Command then I say these things are to be suspected and slighted deservedly then we may without uncharitableness conclude that they are done out of some sinistrous Design or that they are the Effects of a melancholy Head or crazy Brain or of some surly peevish predominant Humour How many Instances may be given of the long Fastings and Watchings of rigid and severe acts of Mortification performed both by Hypocrites and Fools How often have both Madmen and Wicked seemed to be transported strangely in the Exercises of Devotion therefore these things are not certain Signs nor sufficient Proofs of true solid Sanctity Which consists in the Rectitude of the whole Man in a sincere Conformity of our inward Thoughts and Sentiments and of our outward Actions to the Will of God manifested to us by Reason and Revelation And therefore also we have no reason to take them for Divinely inspired who mistake the Nature of Sanctity who take fallible Signs and uncertain Appearances for sure Demonstrations Antonia Bourignon is often represented as having as much Evidence from Heaven as Jesus Christ had I think the Comparison not only odious but impious nor is there the least ground to make it yet we are obliged to consider it for detecting and curing the strange Delusions of this Party Sure his Sanctity was infinitely more evident than hers none that hath either Eyes or Judgment and are unbyass'd can pretend any true or real Resemblance His Sanctity was constant and did shine with such a convincing Lustre that no place is left for doubting it He indeed made no vain ostentation of great Austeritius he did not amuse People by severe and unimitable acts of Mortification He wisely avoided these himself nor would he enjoin them to his Disciples because he knew the superstitious humour of Mankind how fond they are of an External Religion how much inclin'd to be Bigot for things of an Indifferent Nature rather than to love and esteem that which is really Good and how ready to make atonement for the Sins of their Soul by the Exercises of their Body and therefore he would not give any Example which might confirm their Errors and encourage them in their Delusions But he gave Instances of a true and perfect Sanctity a Sanctity which cannot be contradicted a Sanctity against which no shadow of Objection can be framed either on the account of Deficiency or Redundancy None but God can see the Heart of Man but the Heart may be known by the Actions and that the Heart of Jesus was Right that it was full of the Love of God and wholly intent upon the pleasing him is evident to a Demonstration by his chearful complyance with the Will of God in every thing whether it was to do or susser He embraced all Opportunities of shewing Zeal for God and he went up and down continually doing good unto Men never wearying in either whatever Difficulties Discouragements and Provocations he met with He wanted no Virtue and exerted every one in the most perfect manner neither over-acting any thing nor yet being defective in any thing His Life was so perfect his Words and Actions so conform to Truth so well adjusted to the Occasion to the Time Place and other Circumstances that Divine and Infinite Wisdom is not more discernible in the Creation Contrivance and Harmony of the Material World than in the Life and Actions of Jesus Christ and therefore we are sure that both proceeded from one and the same Almighty most Wise and most Holy Spirit for as the Invisible Things of God his Eternal Power and Godhead are clearly seen by the one so from the other it is demonstrable that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Jesus Christ for so great an Effect could not be produced by any less Cause nor could such exact Sanctity such perfect Holiness proceed from any meer Man The most inspired Prophet was Inferiour to him and though this Holy Jesus has had and I hope still hath many sincere Followers yet never any was neither can any be so perfect so holy as he was for his Holiness will exceed others as much as the Works of Nature are beyond those of the most perfect Art And there is as much nay more foundation for a Parallel between the Actions of a Bedlamite and the even Tract of a most wise and virtuous Man than for a just Comparison of the Sanctity of Antonia Bourignon to that of Jesus Christ. His Sanctity like all the Works of God will be found the more perfect and more admirable the more narrowly it is examined and considered whereas the Sanctity of Madamoiselle Bourignon and all other especially Enthusiastical or Conceited Persons shews best at a distance for if we view them near they appear very defective and wanting several stroaks to give them a true resemblance to Jesus Christ who is the only Model and Standard of perfect Sanctity whose Life ought to be studied with great attention both for getting right Notions of Sanctity and also for facilitating the attainment of it Others are to be followed only so far as they are Followers of him and we may assure our selves that nothing is an essential part of Sanctity or a necessary Demonstration of it but that which he practised for as he declared all the Counsel of God concerning us so he gave us an Example of every thing that is absolutely good or necessary to Eternal Life I will not transcribe here that which I have delivered elsewhere about Corporal Austerities nor will I at present enter upon the Examination of Raptures Extasies and Visions which are given as signs of the extraordinary Sanctity of Antonia Bourignon because I may have hereafter a more proper occasion for this But before I pass to another Head I judge it may be of use to speak more particularly of Solitude and a Total retreat from the World which is recommended as a Special Act of Sanctity by the Example and Sentiments of Antonia Bourignon and which others also besides her Followers seem to be exceedingly taken with Whether the Preference should be given to an Active or to a Contemplative Life has been much debated both by Heathens and Christians and also by Ancients and Moderns And I must say that very few have offered a just Decision of the Matter for the Advocates of either side as generally those who manage Law Suits have endeavoured to shew Wit rather than Truth and the Judges have passed Sentence by Inclination or Interest more than from the serious Consideration of the Nature of the Thing Sanguine Persons have favoured the Active Life as the Contemplative has been preferred by those that are Melancholy Men have been in love with Publick
calls him to he doth give as great a Testimony of his love to God as any who affects Solitude and Retirement which deserves to be well considered especially by all religious Wives and Servants that out of a pretext of Devotion as has been too often done the one may not neglect the Service of their Masters nor the other the Affairs of their Husbands and the Care of their Family and Children Further as it is evident that Religion cannot be confined or annexed only to the Contemplative Life or a State of Sequestration from the World so neither must we think this State more perfect or more eligible than any other Perfection is attainable by the Active as well as Contemplative Life and the choice of either is to be justified only by the prudent consideration of one's Natural Constitution his outward State and Circumstances for neither of these are agreeable to all or proper for all Retirement may be very prudent and proper for some in some Cases and yet neither prudent nor commendable for others nor for the same Persons at other times but may be constructed deservedly an instance of unmanly Cowardice and of a shameful desertion of their Post. So that in my judgment neither of these States is to be preferred to the other nor do they wisely consider them who presume to determine absolutely which is best for the one or other is best according to one's personal State and Circumstances or his Publick Ingagements And I do also think that he is in the happiest Condition who partakes of both States whose life is neither wholly Contemplative nor wholly Active but which is made up of both by the intermixture of Retirement and Business For he that is wholly retired lives only to himself which makes him an idle Drone with regard to others and he is a Drudge to the World who is always imployed in Business and who neither has nor takes time to refresh his Mind with the sweet Pleasures of Retirement Solitude is more Profitable for one's self but Business and Conversation renders one more Useful to the World In the one we enjoy our selves best but it is only by the other that we can do any good or manifest the Vertues and Graces which God hath bestowed on us By Solitude we acquire Knowledge and by being conversant in the World we learn Experience In Retirement we may more easily preserve our Innocence but without Conversation and Business we cannot exert Christian Wisdom and Courage and other necessary Vertues Solitude and Retirement are a safe Refuge for weak Constitutions but they who are strong should shew themselves upon the Theatre of the World A Religious Retreat is as necessary to the Spiritual as Rest is to the Bodily Life for by it we renew our decayed Spirits we recollect our dissipated Thoughts and add strength and vigour to our wise Resolutions and pious Purposes It is impossible that one can act wisely who never thinks seriously or that he can think seriously and to purpose who is always in the hurry of Affairs Therefore certainly every one who consults his own Good and is in any wise Master of himself will so wisely contrive his business and so order his affairs that he may have Hours and Days if not Weeks and Months for Meditation and Contemplation That by this means he may have an intercourse and acquaintance with Heaven while he lives upon Earth that he may be fortified against all Encounters and be qualified for gaining that Victory over the World which will give him a right to the Crown of Glory And I am of the opinion that frequent retreats are more adviseable to religious Persons than a constant or total sequestration from the World For such is the weakness of our Minds while they are clogg'd with this gross Flesh that they cannot hold out long without wearying in those divine and spiritual Exercises for which Solitude and Retirement are to be desired If our Spirits be too much extended at once they will flag and will become no more capable of being elevated unto degrees of Fervour than a tired and spent Body is of quick and vigorous Motion Therefore the Devotions of Cloister'd Persons are very often-dry and insipid and they do frequently perform their Exercises with less tast and satisfaction than Men in the World If there be not care taken to preserve those devout and sublime Thoughts which soar above material Things and a sublunary World they will either quite evaporate or they will condense into airy Notions or fantastical Conceits whence it is that Dreams and Visions and such like Extravagancies do happen unto Persons altogether or very much abstracted from the World more than unto others Religious Retirements are liable to be abused and are sometimes attended with dangerous Consequences as well as Conversation and Business nor have Persons who are entangled in the Affairs of the World more need of Monitors than those who have sequestred themselves of wise Directors All I shall add more upon this Head is That as the Church of Rome hath erred grossly in chaining Religion so much to Monastries and Cloisters so it was a great blemish in our Reformation to demolish these Houses entirely which as they ought to have been reformed from the abuses that had crept into them so they might have been kept up to the advantage of Religion and to the benefit of both the Publick and particular Persons They are very profitable if the snare of Vows and the delusion of a peculiar Sanctity in them be removed This Digression about the nature of Solitude and a Contemplative Life is not altogether from our purpose which is to shew the Mistakes of Enthusiastical Persons who commonly are excessively fond of this state and do ascribe more to it than it well deserves But now to return to Madamoiselle Bourignon As the chief Instances alledged are not certain Proofs of her Sanctity so there be several things which she her self confesses and which they who write her Life do acknowledge which do not very well agree with that extraordinary Sanctity that is ascribed to her For First We are told That until the Eighteenth Year of her Age she run into a vain light and idle Conversation and followed the Pleasures Recreations and Divertisements of the World by which she lost her Conversation with God as the Author of the Preface to the English Reader saith which in my judgment is a flat Contradiction to what he said some few lines before viz. That from her Childhood she had inward Conversation with God It is indeed no strange thing to see Children and Youth taken with Vanities when those of riper years do too much follow them nor would there be reason to upbraid it here if Madamoifelle Bourignon and her Disciples did not pretend that she was Sanctified from the Womb and boast that at three or four years of age she was Divinely Inspired and that even so early she began to express
a sense of Divine Things above what all the Doctors of the Church are capable of They will have her when she was little more than a weaned infant to be sensible of Christian Perfection and how much short of it those about her were when she could hardly lisp out a word it is pretended that she asked seriously whether there were any Christians or Followers of Jesus and where they lived Now if all this be true and if these things had proceeded from the Spirit of God to give early notice to the World that He had anointed her to be a Prophetess to declare his Will I say if so it is no ways likely that God would have left her so soon to her self or that he would have suffered her to be corrupted whom he had appointed to be so great a Light Samuel Ieremiah and St. Iohn Baptist who were consecrated Prophets from their birth and who were set apart to be special and signal Instruments of a Reformation among God's People they never turned aside to a wicked vain or light Conversation all their Life was unspotted from the World and from their very Infancy they were Examples of a severe Piety But this New Light of the World suffered an eclipse for some years though as is pretended it began to shine very early The early impressions of Piety which Antonia Bourignon is said to have had were for some time smothered and she who is brought in at four years of age complaining of other Christians did her self when grown up follow their vain Example Which is not agreeable to the Methods of the Divine Oeconomy heretofore if God had raised up this Woman and called her out to so great and high things as She and her Followers alledge It is said of our Blessed Lord that as he grew in Stature so he did grow in Wisdom and Favour both with God and Man And if God had designed Madamoifelle Bourignon a second Saviour to Mankind to finish the Work which was only begun by the other it is not at all to be believed that he would have given place to a Spirit of Folly and Vanity or that he would have suffered her to commit such things as were offensive to himself and contrary to his own Purposes that is which were so far from reclaming Men from their Sins that they rather tended to confirm them therein That which they say tempted her to this vain course of life was the Censures and Misconstructions put upon her early Seriousness and Retirement for upon that account she was represented as simple melancholy and wanting Spirit But could not the Spirit of God break through this Temptation Was her extraordinary Grace too weak to resist it Could one so Divinely Inspired find out no other means of rectifying Peoples Mistakes And must so holy a Person do evil merely to pass for a Wit Is Sense and Judgment no where to be manifested but in the acts of a vain and trifling Conversation But whatever was her motive and temptaion or however she may be excused she confesses that she was far engaged into the Vanities of the World and the love of them If we may believe her self she was ambitious of Honour and did love the Pleasures and Divertisements of Sense and Riches because they did procure them she took pleasure in the company of Young Men admitted their Courtship and Addresses and was well pleased when they commended her Wit and especially when they praised her for being Handsom and Agreeable because she had been called always Ugly by her Mother Thus it appears that Pride and Ambition Sensuality and Covetousness prevailed with this Maid and where these prevail the Spirit of God does not much reside It is said indeed That God did often visit her even in this state That he did not cease now and then to awaken her even in the midst of her Divertisements but Company and these Amusements still got the ascendant that is in plain terms she all this time resisted the Spirit of God and walked contrary to the Dictates of her Conscience Videt meliora probatque deteriora sequitur Which is not compatible with a state of extraordinary Grace and Sanctity I would not exaggerate this so much if I was not provoked by the strange Impudence and Delusion of those who will have us to receive this Woman as more than Humane as without Sin as equal to Jesus Christ who never yielded to the strong Temptations of the Devil whereas she was carried away by the weak Persuasions of Men. Again As there appeared no extraordinary Sanctity in Antonia Bourignon before she arrived to the age of Eighteen so even after this which is pretended to be the time of her Conversion she did not determine the great and important state of her Life by Motives and Principles of Religion It is the End which sanctifies our Actions and Persons truly Devout and Holy make God the End of all that they do They who respect only or chiefly their own Ease Pleasure or Profit are not to be reckon'd very holy or above the common rate of Mankind whatever state of Life they betake themselves to For the height of one's Sanctity is not to be taken from their Outward Quality and Behaviour but from the Inward Principles which move them He that is sober only or mainly for saving of his Money or on the account of bodily Health doth indeed wisely but his Temperance is no more an act of Religion than another's eating and drinking out of Pleasure He that retires from the World because he loves his Ease and has an aversion to Trouble and Vexation his Retirement is not Religious nor is he himself to be esteemed more holy than another who follows worldly Employments Now if Madamoifelle Bourignon had been so extraordinary holy as is pretended if she had been Inspired from Above in every thing she would have considered God and not her self she would have consulted that which was best for his Service and not her own Humour and Conveniency But she resolv'd upon a Coelibate State only because she would not be cross'd and uneasie because she hated the Restraints and Troubles of Marriage though they be both the Occasions and Proofs of great Virtue which was no great Instance of any peculiar Sanctity She did not chuse a Virgins State that she might only care for the things of the Lord as the Apostle speaks and not be incumbred in the doing that by the Obligations of pleasing a Husband too But she preferred this State to Marriage only because she had no great or good opinion of the Husbands who were offered to her and because she was afraid that they might be all like her Father who was sometimes rough surly and ill-natur'd towards her Mother This is the Account which she gives her self And he who continues her Life according to his usual Custom doth enlarge upon this Passage and improves it to a great Act of Piety not