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The Contents of the Second PART..
•Supernatural Affiftance towards the Ends and Purpofes
of a good Life, 330. A Confideration of their inward
Teftimony, and the impoffibility of making it a Rule of
Faith and Practice."
Page 331, 332, &c.
The Antient Quakers made the Light within the fuperior
primary Rule of Faith and Practice. p. 337. The Abfurd

Confequences of this.
338, 339, &c.

5thly, of the Infpiration of A. Bourignon. She affected to

be thought more Infpir'd than the Prophets or Apostles. 343

How fhe fupports this. She pretended not to Miracles. 349

Inferences from this.

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1. She urg'd the Holiness of her Life for her Divine Infpi-
ration. p. 354. the precarioufness of this. 355,356,&c.

2. The Excellency and Power of her Writings, another thing

urg'd for her Divine Inspiration. A Confutation of

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The Knowledge of Men's Thoughts pretended by A. B.

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Laftly, Whether it is not moft rational to impute the In
Spirations, Miracles of thefe Men to a diforder'd Imagina-
tion, or a Difcafe.

409 AN

(1)

AN

ESSAY

ON

INSPIRATION.

PART I.

A.

G

The Intro

OOD Neighbour, well met.
B. Good morrow Neighbour; duction.
pray how is it I find you fo early
in this Walk? You ufe to be clofe

elsewhere, in your Study or Garden.

A. I must tell you, it was not without Design; I have for fome Days defired to have you thus alone.

B. What's the Matter, I pray you?

A. Why, good Sir, think you your felf not obferv'd? A wonderful Change in you is remark'd by all Men, is become the Subject of

B

your

your Friends Difcourfe and Admiration; from a Briskness of Humour and Conversation, I muft tell you, you are fallen into a strange Sort of Mopifhnefs, and here you freqnent Woods and filent Walks, and defert your old Friends and Acquaintance: What can be the Meaning of this Sullennefs? Is there any fore Calamity that oppreffes you?

B. My dear Friend, I cannot but take this kindly, becaufe I know it proceeds from true Affection and Friendship, yet at prefent I muft defire you to excufe me, not that I doubt your Will, but Ability to affift me.

A. I fhould illy anfwer the Character you are pleas'd to allow me, of your Friend and Acquaintance, to let you languifh at this Rate; and to deal plainly with you, I am refolv'd not to leave you, until you impart your felf to

me.

B. The Truth is, I am odly perplex'd and bewildred, but the Caufe, I fear, will appear weak and idle to you, but to me it is far otherwife.

A. Pray proceed directly, without more Apology.

B. Depending upon your Council and Affiftance, and that long Intimacy that hath been between us, I will freely open to you my prefent Difficulties. You know I have always profeffed my felf a Member of the Church of England.

A. You have, and believe me, I think, you have done extreamly well in it. In my Judgment, there is no Church you can be more fafely in; that holds the Doctrines of our Saviour more purely and unccorruptly.

B. Why, this was my firm Belief, till of late; no Son he had thought more worthily of her

Doctrines,

Doctrines. of her Difcipline, and Divines, than my felf: But alas, what Delufion!

A. How is this!

B. I was lull'd in a foft Repofe. The Devil thro' our own Lufts, and the Tyranny of Education, ftrangely deceives us.

A. This is unaccountable. Please to let me hear your Charge. Pray, Sir, What monftrous Errors have you lately difcover'd in this Church?

B. As to the Doctrines you mention, they are the fartheft imaginable from the Purity and Simplicity of the Gofpel; and as to the Divines, there is nothing of the Spirit of Chriftianity amongst them. My Friend, we are all fallen into Antichriftianifm.

A. This would be a deplorable Cafe indeed, would in Truth render me as melancholy as your felf, could I fanfie any fuch thing. But before I put you upon the Proof of this heavy Accufation, or trouble my felf to confute you; Please to inform me from whence you derive thefe marvelous Discoveries.

B. I tell you, from a Fountain pure and uncorrupt, the Spirit of GOD.

A. Sure, You do not fanfie your felf Inspired? B. That I dare not fay of my felf, that these Truths were immediately reveal'd to me: No, a certain Author contains them, that I am pofitive was Infpired.

A. Now that I much queftion. I have read many of thofe Authors that have pretended to Inspiration, and I profefs fincerely to you, upon the moft Candid and Impartial Confideration, there feem'd to me, many Things that favour'd of much Weakness and Melancholy, high Pride, and Self Conceit, but not the leaft of Divine Infpiration in them. B. You

B 2

B. You mean the Quakers, I fuppofe, and I agree with you as to them. GOD forbid I fhould arrive to that Degree of Infatuation, as to father many of their Fooleries on the Divine Spirit. If there were nothing else, the Lives of thefe Men are fhocking, generally fo far wide of the Mark that thofe truly Infpired Perfons, our Saviour and his Apoftles have fet us, that this is to me a clear Confutation of the Pretence of being Acted and Govern'd by a Divine and Infallible Spirit. I would not condemn all, more especially the common and illiterate Sort; but among the Leaders of their Party, their Speakers, who more efpecially pretend to Infpiration, where is there any thing like that Heavenly-Mindednefs, that generous Contempt of the World that the Gofpel commands, and that fo clearly fhin'd forth in the first Publishers of our Religion? I own outwardly they make great Shews of Mortification and Self-Denial; and to fee one of them approach at diftance, the Garb and outward Mein would cozen one : One would oftentimes think Famine or Mortification it felf approach'd; but follow 'em Home to their Houses, and Gardens, and Tables, you would fee a marvelous Change; all things full of Splendor and Delicacy, favouring of high Feeding and Voluptuoufnefs; which methinks fhould at leaft befpeak the Men, not fo indifferent, fo perfect Strangers to the Pleasures of Senfe, when so much Pains, and Coft, and Art feem us'd to recommend them. Do I bely them, or is this a thing open and palpable, and Matter of all Men's Obfervation? Is there any thing among them more ftudy'd, than Sweetnefs and Delicacy of Living? And would they cover thefe Things with a thin Pretence of a particular Habit and Way? Do I grudge them this

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