POINTS OF AGREEMENT, HESSIAN. See
Verbesserungspunkte, Hessische.
POIRET, pwa"re', PIERRE: Prominent French mystic; b. at Metz Apr. 15, 1646; d. at Rijnsburg (3 m. n. of Leyden) May 21, 1719. After the early death of his parents, he supported himself by the engraver's trade and the teaching of French, at the same time studying theology, in Basel, Hanau, and, after 1668, Heidelberg. At Basel he was captivated by Descartes' philosophy, which never quite lost its hold on him. He read also Thomas a Kempis and Tauler, but was especially influenced by the writings of the Dutch Mennonite mystic Hendrik Jansz van Barneveldt, published about that time under the pseudonym of Emmanuel Hiel. In 1672 he became pastor of the French church at Annweiler in the duchy of Deux-Ponts. Here he became acquainted with Elisabeth, abbess of Hereford, the granddaughter of James I. of England and a noted mystic, with the Theologia Germanica (q.v.), and with the writings of Antoinette Bourignon (q.v.), which last supplied exactly what he wanted. The desire to make the acquaintance of this gifted woman took him to Holland in 1676. He settled in Amsterdam, and published there in the following year his Cogitationes rationales de Deo, anima, et malo, which gained him an immediate reputation for scholarship and philosophic insight. It is Cartesian in form; the Trinity is conceived in mathematical terms; all knowledge is to rest on evidence — but the end of this knowledge of God is practical, to lead distracted Christendom back to unity. The influence of Thomas a Kempis and Tauler is plainly visible.
From Holland Poiret went on to Hamburg, still
Povret Poissy
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
in quest of Antoinette Bourignon, was completely won by her at the first meeting, and until her death in 1680, he was her faithful disciple. He accompanied her in her wanderings, traveled several times as far as Holstein in connection with her exceedingly confused affairs, and returned to Amsterdam to see to the publication of her complete works, to which he prefixed a thoroughgoing defense of her and added a translation of the Gottliche Gesicht of Hans Engelbrecht (q.v.), the Brunswick enthusiast. He defended her character and divine mission in a Memoire touchant la vie de Mile. A. Bourignon (1679), and championed her cause against Bayle and Seckendorf. He was also a warm admirer of Jane Lead (q.v.). In 1688 he settled at Rijnsburg, where he busied himself on his own works and in multifarious labors for the Dutch booksellers, such as in the Dutch edition of Ruinart. Among his original productions may be mentioned L'Economie divine, ou systeme universel et demontre des ceuvres et des desseins de Dieu envers les hommes (Amsterdam, 1687; Eng. transl., The Divine (Economy, 6 vols., London, 1713), which purports to reproduce the visionary notions of Antoinette Bourignon, but at least gives them in intelligible and consistent form. Another work, La Paix des times dans tous les partis du Christianisme (1687), disregards the formal creeds of the various churches, and appeals to the minority of really sincere Christians, urging them to an inner union without the abandonment of their external affiliations. In De eruditione solida, superficiaria et falsa (1692), he distinguishes between superficial knowledge of the names of things and real or solid knowledge of the things themselves, which latter is to be attained by humble renunciation of one's own wisdom and will. He continued to make contributions to the philosophical and religious controversies of the time, as, for example, against Bayle and his " hypocritical " opposition to Spinoza. The work which probably ran through the most editions was the little treatise on the education of children which first appeared in 1690 in a collection of his shorter writings, was frequently translated, and influenced the Pietistic controversy at Hamburg. His most permanently valuable contribution was Bibliotheca mysticorum selecta (1708), which displays an astonishing acquaintance with ancient and modern mystics, and contains valuable information on some of the less-known writers. He also published a large number of mystical writings both from the Middle Ages and from the French Pietists of the seventeenth century. In 1704 he brought out a new edition of Mme. Guyon s writings, with the addition of a treatise printed for the first time and an introduction. In spite of his devotion to her, he was not a Quietist in the ordinary sense of the word. He would not have man's relation to God one of pure passivity but of receptivity. He repudiated predestination, and condemned Pelagianism because it suppressed the feeling of inherent sinfulness in man — just as he opposed Socinianism because it did not ascribe the whole of salvation to the operation of God's grace. Mystic as he was, he knew how to combine with his own peculiar attitude a firm insistence on certain dogmatic definitions, such as that of the Trinity. He
continually appealed to the authority of Scripture. Though after 1680 he led a quiet and retired life, he was recognized widely by the scholars of his time, such as Thomasius and Bayle, Le Clerc and Walch, as a man of great learning; and his zealous participation in the cause of Antoinette Bourignon did not injure his good name as a devout mystic and an honorable man. His influence persisted after his death, not merely through the work of his spiritual son Tersteegen, but through the respect which his writings won for mysticism, forcing the regular theology, as represented by Le Clerc, Lange, Buddeus, Walch, and Stapfer, to take account of it.
S. Cramer. Bibliography: The one source, contemporary, exact, and detailed, sent by Poiret himself to Ancillon and after Poiret's death printed in Latin in the Bibliotheca Bremensis, iii. 1, Bremen, 1720, is printed as Kort Verhael van des Schryvers Petrus Poirets leven en Schriften in De goddelyke Huishouding, ii. 31-86, 1723. Next to this the best references are to A. Ijpeij, Geschiedenis van de Kristelyke Kerk in de achttiende Eeuw, x. 510-531, Utrecht, 1809; idem, Geschiedenis der systematische Godgeleerdheid, iii. 46-61; and M. Gobel, Geschichte des christlichen Lebens in der rheinisch-westphalischen evangelischen Kirche, vol. iii., Coblenz, 1860. The more general works on Mysticism (see the bibliography there) have practically nothing additional to what is contained in the preceding — cf. R. A. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, ii. 290, 8th ed„ London, n.d.
POISSY, pwQ"si', RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE OF: A conference held in Sept., 1561, between Protestants and Roman Catholics at Poissy (10 m. n.w. of Paris). The wide diffusion of Protestantism in France led the queen regent, Catherine de Medici, to seek to establish some peaceable understanding between the two confessions. After
Purposes the assembly of notables at Fontaineand Pre- bleau in Aug., 1560, and the general liminaries. assembly of the estates at Orleans (Dec. 13, 1560-Jan. 31, 1561), the nobility and the third estate gathered at Pontoise, while the court and the clergy met at the abbey of Poissy. The assembly, which was partly to prepare for the expected reopening of the Council of Trent, partly as a sort of national council to promote the reformation of the French Church, and partly to diminish the debt of the State out of the treasury of the Church, was convened July 28, 1651. The assurance, in the king's name, of the Chancellor Michel de L'H6pital (q.v.) to the bishops and archbishops that there was to be a reformation not only of abuses but also of doctrine, received a very limited approval, and still more so that the Reformed also were to be heard. A review of the preliminaries is necessary properly to understand the call of colloquy. Theodore Beza (q.v.) and colleagues came to Worms in 1557 in behalf of the Evangelicals imprisoned by Henry II. at Paris, and when the Germans requested a confession of faith, the French returned a statement of entire agreement with the Augsburg Confession with the exception of the article on the Eucharist, holding out the prospect, however, of future agreement. The result was that Elector Otto Heinrich interceded with the French king. Meanwhile relations became more strained: Frederick went over to Calvinism, and strict Lutheranism was emphasized in Wiirttemberg. When King Antoine of Navarre, for the