TWO EARLY SCOTTISH ATTACKS ON THE 'GROWING SECT' OF ANTONIA BOURIGNON. 2 vols in 1, 4tos. [203 x 150 mm]. (4), 76 pp; (2), 61 pp, (1) p publisher’s advertisements. Bound in 19th century (?) brown paper wrappers, with remains of original 18th century leather spine visible. Title-pages and final leaves heavily toned; outer edge of D1 (Narrative I) curiously burned away, with no loss of text; some scattered light soiling but mainly well-preserved. Short closed tear to inner margin of title-page of Narrative I repaired on verso. Rare sole editions of two of the earliest English responses to the ‘growing’ threat posed by the teachings of the radical female millenarian Antoinette Bourignon (1616-1680). Cockburn’s dual Narratives was written in response to the translation into English of Bourignon’s principal work, The Light of the World (London, no printer, 1696). In turn, the Scottish minister George Garden’s An Apology for M. Antonia Bourignon (1699) sought to refute Cockburn’s claims. Bourignon’s teachings attracted followers particularly in the North of England and Scotland (cf Henderson, Mystics of the North-East), where she was avidly read by the Scottish mystic James Gardner (1647-1726) and the physician George Cheyne (1672-1743) among others. A Scottish Episcopalian clergyman living in exile in Amsterdam thanks to his refusal to swear allegiance to William of Orange, John Cockburn (1652-1729) was already familiar with Bourignianism in the Netherlands and expresses his concern that “the Infection has spread hither to this Isle, and has seized many especially in Scotland” (preface). He also notes that the movement has been successful in attracting all sorts of followers: “They are not mean and ignorant Persons who follow this Woman, they are some of the better sort, who have been reputed, Men of Sense, Learning and Probity…”. Cockburn here refutes Bourignon’s claims to sanctity based on her practices of austerity and mortification, and instead lumps her in with other misguided sects of the day: “our Quakers and Philadelphians, as well as the Quietists and Pietists abroad, are of the same kidney”. The daughter of a wealthy Lille merchant, Antoinette Bourignon de la Porte ran away from home aged 20 in order to avoid an arranged marriage. Incensed, her father refused to pay a dowry for her to join a convent, forcing his daughter into an itinerant existence as a ‘pilgrimess’ – disguised as a male pilgrim – who suffered persecution at various times for heresy and sorcery. She arrived in the religiously tolerant Netherlands in 1667 where she was finally able to settle and set pen to paper, producing a torrent of writings from 1669 onwards. Bourignon believed she was chosen by God to lead the world into the days of the Last Judgement; part of her appeal to English readers was her non-conformity to both Catholicism and Protestantism. Instead, her experience of sectarianism in the religiously pluralist Netherlands led her to eventually reject all established doctrine, relying solely on the ‘inner light’ of the spirit as her guide. The present examples of both pamphlets evidently circulated ‘naked’ and stab-stitched, as is apparent from the heavy toning to the title-pages and final leaves – before being bound up together probably in the 18th or early 19th century. The two ‘narratives’ were evidently printed separately. Narrative I is considerably more common in census; but of Narrative II the ESTC records just 3 US copies at the Folger, Harvard, and Newberry. * ESTC R17688 & R224538; cf also Bouldin, Women Prophets and Radical Protestantism in the British Atlantic World, 1640-1730, pp. 114-117; and the DNB entry on Cockburn.