In B. John's own lifetime Gerard Groote was alarmed, and wrote once to the Canons of Groenendael of a Doctor in Theology, and of one Henry of Hesse, who had declared that the _Spiritual Espousals_ contained errors. Twenty years after Ruysbroeck's death, John Gerson, the famous Chancellor of Paris, in a letter to one Bartholomew, a Carthusian, who had given him a copy of this treatise, praises the first two books, but declares that the third teaches a kind of pantheism. This charge brought forth a lengthy and spirited defence from a Canon Regular of Groenendael, named John Scoenhoven; and then in a second letter Gerson maintained his objections, but acquitted the holy author of all intentional error. A similar stand was taken later by Bossuet, who excuses Ruysbroeck but condemns his manner of expression. It must be remembered that these two were engaged in confuting false mystics, and naturally they would discredit the writings of even a holy man, however orthodox, which would appear to favour the erroneous tenets of their opponents. Once more, we remark that not only was Ruysbroeck manifestly free from all culpable error, but throughout in his own mind he never lost sight of the essential distinctions, though at times his language must necessarily sound exaggerated to unaccustomed ears. On the other hand, to outweigh the unfavourable opinion of these two French critics, we have a host of writers of Ruysbroeck's own and subsequent days who not only defend the orthodoxy of his writings, but who also speak of them in terms of the deepest admiration, and regard their author almost as inspired. We have already seen the esteem in which the holy Prior of Groenendael and his writings were held by Tauler, Gerard Groote, and the Venerable Thomas à Kempis, and the vigour with which his memory was vindicated by John of Scoenhoven, But his advocates were by no means confined to the limits of his own Order, period, or country. Henry van Herp, a Franciscan, compiled a _Mirror of Perfection_, taken almost exclusively from the _Spiritual Espousals_; and by his means the teachings of Blessed Ruysbroeck were propagated among the followers of St. Francis, particularly of the Third Order. Denys the Carthusian is unstinted in his praises. He calls him the _Divine Doctor_. "I name him the Divine Doctor," he writes, "because his only master was the Holy Ghost. Of this the abundance of wisdom wherewith he was gifted is a sure guarantee.... Ignorant man as I am, I confess that nowhere have I found such sublimity and such knowledge, save in the works of Denys the Areopagyte. But in his writings the difficulty arises especially from the style, whereas it is not so with the Prior of Groenendael.... As they say of Hugh of St. Victor that he is another St. Augustin, so I will say of Ruysbroeck that he is another Denys the Areopagyte." Thomas of Jesus, a Carmelite, in his _De Divina Oratione_, frequently quotes from Ruysbroeck and adopts his method.