Andrew Michael Ramsay passes away this day in 1743.

Andrew Michael Ramsay was a Scottish-born writer. He was born in Ayr, Scotland on January 9, 1686. In his youth, Ramsay was drawn to George Garden a leader in the early Episcopal Church. Ramsay studied at Garden's community in Rosehearty, Scotland where they practiced quietism. Quietism was popular in the 1670's and 1680's before being banned by Pope Innocent XI for heresy. Quietism encourages contemplation instead of meditation, silent thought instead of vocal prayer. It also replaces the Holy Trinity with the Godhead. The Trinity being three different beings in one entity and the Godhead refers to the divinity or substance of God. The Trinity can be defined as "who" God is and the Godhead can be defined as "what" God is. Quietism would lead Ramsay to live around Europe, particularly in France.

In 1710, Ramsay traveled and met Madame Guyon who was a French mystic and leader in the Quietism movement. Unlike the movement from 30 to 40 years earlier, Madame Guyon instructed her followers to focus on the idea of Pure Love. Although she never required anyone living in her community to convert to Roman Catholic, she encouraged it and Ramsay converted to Catholicism. While in France Ramsay became involved with the Jacobite movement.

In 1721, Ramsay wrote a essay which was later expanded and re-released the following year regarding the politics of Britain. In the essay he advocated for the restoration of James Francis Edward Stuart to the throne. He also advocated for the removal of the House of Commons in favor of an aristocratic senate which would advise the King. He would soften on the idea of the removal of the House of Commons in a later work.

In 1723, Ramsay was knighted to the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, which was originally a group of crusader knights who protected pilgrims heading to the Holy Land during the Crusades. The following year he headed to Rome where he became a tutor to Bonnie Prince Charlie (also known as The Young Pretender) when he was 3 and a half years old. Ramsay supported Bonnie Prince Charlie's father claim to the British throne along with the other Jacobite's. The young Bonnie Prince Charlie and court intrigue caused Ramsay to return to Paris in the same year.

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