the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Dictionaries
Bourignonists
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary
or The followers of Antoinette Bourignon, a lady in France, who pretended to particular inspirations. She was born at Lisle in 1616. At her birth she was so deformed, that it was debated some days in the family whether it was not proper to stifle her as a monster; but, her deformity diminishing, she was spared: and afterwards obtained such a degree of beauty, that she had her admirers. From her childhood to her old age she had an extraordinary turn of mind. She set up for a reformer, and published a great number of books filled with very singular notions; the most remarkable of which are entitled. The Light of the World, and The Testimony of Truth. In her confession of faith, she professes her belief in the Scriptures, the divinity and atonement of Christ. She believed also that man is perfectly free to resist or receive divine grace; that God is ever unchangeable love towards all his creatures, and does not inflict any arbitrary punishment; but that the evils they suffer are the natural consequence of sin; that religion consists not in outward forms of worship nor systems of faith, but in an entire resignation to the will of God. She held many extravagant notions, among which, it is said, she asserted that Adam, before the fall, possessed the principles of both sexes; that in an ecstacy, God represented Adam to her mind in his original state; as also the beauty of the first world, and how he had drawn from it the chaos; and that every thing was bright, transparent, and darted forth life and ineffable glory with a number of other wild ideas. She dressed like a hermit, and travelled through France, Holland, England, and Scotland. She died at Fanekir, in the province of Frise, October 30, 1680. Her works have been printed in 18 vols. 8vo.
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Buck, Charles. Entry for 'Bourignonists'. Charles Buck Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/cbd/b/bourignonists.html. 1802.
