JOHN, a French enthusiast, son of John Charles Labadie, governor of Bourges and gentleman in ordinary of the bed-chamber to the French king, was born in 1610. He entered young into the Jesuits' College at Bordeaux, which, by his own account, he afterwards quitted; but, according to others, he was expelled from it for his peculiar notions, and particularly for hypocrisy. He became a popular preacher; but being repeatedly detected in working upon female devotees with spiritual instructions for improper purposes, his loss of character with the Catholics forced him to seek for refuge amongst the Protestants. A reformed Jesuit being thought a great acquisition, he was precipitately accepted as pastor of Montauban, where he officiated for eight years; but having attempted the chastity of a young lady whom he could not convert to his purpose, and quarrelled with the Catholic priest about the right of interring a dead body, he was at length banished from that place. Driven out of Montauban, Labadie went to seek an asylum at Orange; but not finding himself so safe there as he imagined, he withdrew privately to Geneva, where he imposed on the people by his zealous preaching and devout carriage. From Geneva he proceeded to Middleburg, where his spirituality made him and his followers be considered as so many saints, and distinguished by the name of Labadists. They increased so much, that he excited the attention of the other churches, whose authority he disputed, till he was formally deposed by the synod of Dordrecht. But instead of obeying, he procured a tumultuous support from a crowd of his devotees; and at length formed a little settlement between Utrecht and Amsterdam, where he erected a printing press, which sent forth many of his works. He was, however, betrayed by some deserters, who exposed his private life, informing the public of his familiarities with his female disciples, under pretence of uniting them more particularly to God; and he was finally obliged to retire to Altona, where he died in 1674.