PREFACE.

ALTHOUGH, after reading the book recently published against us by Dr. KoelmanJacobus Koelman (1632–1695) was a influential Dutch Reformed minister who became a fierce critic of the Labadist movement, the radical pietist group to which the author of this text belongs., I believed that something ought to be answered, I nevertheless remained in doubt for some time as to whether I should do so. Many assured us from various sides that the author had done himself more harm than he was capable of doing to those against whom he wrote, and that there was no appearance that souls who had any knowledge of the truths that God makes us profess, and of the life that we lead through His grace, would be brought to wavering by such a writing, or hindered or obstructed in their attraction to this Work of the Lord, and the union of their hearts with the same.

And since the manner in which Dr. Koelman chose to declare himself against us is somewhat strange, and because answering him with all the force that the truth would allow—even grant us to use—would only embitter him further and cause him to write again in a way that would be even less edifying; so I can say that I have had some difficulty in arriving at what we are now doing; and that for my part I would just as gladly have followed the advice of some of our friends, who counseled us not to spend our time refuting things that did not seem to require it.

Nevertheless, since on that occasion I felt once again the desire arising in my heart—which I have had for a long time—to treat more fully and explicitly certain points and truths that the Lord makes us embrace, and which need to be better known; and that some of our friends, and in particular Dr. CopperLikely Johannes Copper, a physician and associate of the Labadist community who defended their views., wrote to me that they believed it would be good for something to come to light against the book of Dr. Koelman, and against the Letters that have been added there to give it more weight and authority, I thought that these two matters together original: "te famen", likely "together" based on the catchword