PREFACE.

Was there then no people of God in Babylon A common biblical metaphor used by Reformers to refer to the Roman Catholic Church, drawing from the Book of Revelation's command to "come out of her, my people.", when the Lord let His fine voice be heard, and commanded them to go out from there? Would D. KoelmanJacobus Koelman (1632–1695), a Dutch minister and prominent critic of the Labadist movement. really dare to hold all those who lived under the Papacy before the Reformation as idolaters, or as estranged from Christ? And does he not believe that after that time the Lord could still have kept some remnant of His true people under the same, whom He did not wish to pull out immediately—especially when He wanted to use some of them to testify against it? He showed that He had exactly this intention for His faithful servant Mr. de LabadieJean de Labadie (1610–1674), the former Jesuit who became a famous Reformed preacher and later founded the Labadist community..

If D. Koelman would cast his eye on what Mr. PajonClaude Pajon (1626–1685), a French theologian known for his views on grace and providence., a minister in France, recently wrote in his refutation of the book called Legitimate Prejudices against the Calvinists original: Préjugez legitimes contre les Calvinistes, a famous polemical work by Pierre Nicole. pages 127, 128, 129, he would see there how one had to receive Mr. de Labadie when he came over from the Roman Catholics to the Reformed, and how his calling to the pastoral office had as little need of being renewed as his baptism; indeed less, one could say, if the matter is well-taken and viewed more in its foundation than in its external circumstances.

Since D. Koelman has grieved and wounded the hearts of many who, with good reason, have a tender love and high esteem for that faithful servant of Jesus Christ, it is only fair that we have dwelled a bit on what he said about him, and that we admonish him that henceforth he should no longer speak and write of him as he has done in his book against us. D. Koelman accuses Mr. de Labadie of having spoken advantageously of himself: yet he could often say with the Apostle A reference to the Apostle Paul, who often defended his own apostolic authority and character in his letters to the early churches. that he was forced to do so. And we can add to that, that one must not judge Men of God by what appears at first in them as unusual, somewhat strange, and unsettling. It is true, they have their faults; but they also