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47 - Autobiography of Madame Guyon by Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon · Autobiography of Madame Guyon

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  Speaker 1: The Autobiography of Madame Quillon. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. The
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  Speaker 1: Autobiography of Madame Quillon by Jean Kion, Volume two, Chapter seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: A poor girl of very great simplicity, when her livelihood
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  Speaker 1: by her labor and was inwardly favored of the lord,
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  Speaker 1: came all sorrowful to me and said, O, my mother,
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  Speaker 1: what strange things have I seen? I asked what they were?
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  Speaker 1: Alas said she, I have seen you like a lamb
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  Speaker 1: in the midst of a vast troop of furious wolves.
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  Speaker 1: I have seen a frightful multitude of people, of all
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  Speaker 1: rugs and rocks, of all ages, sexes and conditions, priests, friars,
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  Speaker 1: married men, maids and wives, with pikes, harperts, and drawn swords,
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  Speaker 1: all eager for your instant destruction. You let them alone,
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  Speaker 1: without staring or being surprised, and without offering any way
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  Speaker 1: to defend yourself. I looked on all sides to see
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  Speaker 1: whether any one would come to assist and defend you,
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  Speaker 1: but I saw not one. Some days after, those who
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  Speaker 1: threw envy, were raising private batteries against me, broke forth,
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  Speaker 1: libels began to spread envious people against me without knowing me.
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  Speaker 1: They said that I was a sorceress, that it was
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  Speaker 1: by a magic power I attracted souls, That everything in
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  Speaker 1: me was diabolical, That if I did charities, it was
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  Speaker 1: because I coined and put off false money, with many
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  Speaker 1: other cross accusations equally false, groundless, and absurd. As the
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  Speaker 1: tempest increased every day, some of my friends advised me
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  Speaker 1: to withdraw. But before I mentioned my living grenoble, I
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  Speaker 1: must say something further of my state. While here it
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  Speaker 1: seemed to me that all our Lord made me do
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  Speaker 1: for souls would be in union with Jesus Christ. In
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  Speaker 1: this divine union, My words but wonderfully effect even the
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  Speaker 1: formation of Jesus Christ in the souls of others. I
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  Speaker 1: was in no wise able of myself to say the
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  Speaker 1: things I said. He conducted me, made me say what
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  Speaker 1: he pleased, and as long as he pleased, to some
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  Speaker 1: I was not permitted to speak a word. And to
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  Speaker 1: others there flowed forth, as it were a deluge of grace.
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  Speaker 1: Yet this pure love admitted not of any superfluity or
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  Speaker 1: a means of empty amusement. When questions were asked to
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  Speaker 1: which an answer was useless, it was not given me.
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  Speaker 1: It was the same in regard to such as our
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  Speaker 1: Lord was pleased to conduct through death to themselves, and
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  Speaker 1: who came to seek for human consolation. I had nothing
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  Speaker 1: for them but what was purely necessary, and could proceed
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  Speaker 1: no farther. I could at least only speak of indifferent
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  Speaker 1: things in such liberty as God allows, in order to
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  Speaker 1: suit every one, and not to be unsociable or disagreeable
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  Speaker 1: to any but for his own word, He himself is
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  Speaker 1: the dispenser of it. Oh, if preachers were duly careful
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  Speaker 1: to speak only in that spirit, what fruits would they
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  Speaker 1: bring forth in the lives of the hearers? With my
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  Speaker 1: true children, I could communicate best in silence, in the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual language of the divine word. I had the consolation
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  Speaker 1: some time before to hear one read in says Augustine,
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  Speaker 1: a converse station he had with his mother. He complains
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  Speaker 1: of the necessity of returning from that heavender language to words.
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  Speaker 1: I sometimes said, Oh, my Love, give me hearts large
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  Speaker 1: enough to receive and contain the fullness bestowed on me.
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  Speaker 1: After this manner. When the Holy Virgin approached Elizabeth, a
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  Speaker 1: wonderful commerce was mandained between Jesus Christ and Saint John
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  Speaker 1: the Baptist, who, after this manifested no eagerness to come
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  Speaker 1: to see Christ, but was drawn to retire into the
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  Speaker 1: desert to receive the like communications with the greatest plenitude.
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  Speaker 1: When he came forth to preach repentance, he said not
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  Speaker 1: that he was the world, but only a voice which
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  Speaker 1: was sent to make way, or open a passage into
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  Speaker 1: the hearts of the people. For Christ, the world he
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  Speaker 1: baptized only with water, for that was his function. For
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  Speaker 1: as the water, in running off, leaves nothing, so does
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  Speaker 1: the voice when it is passed. But the Word baptized
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  Speaker 1: with the Holy Ghost, because he imprinted himself on souls
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  Speaker 1: and communicated with them by that Holy spirit. It is
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  Speaker 1: not observed that Jesus Christ said anything during the whole
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  Speaker 1: obscure part of his life, though it is truth that
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  Speaker 1: not any of his words shall be lost all love.
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  Speaker 1: If all thou hast said and operated in silence where
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  Speaker 1: to be written, I think the whole word could not
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  Speaker 1: contain the books that should be written. John twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: twenty five. All that I experienced was shown in me
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  Speaker 1: in the Holy Scripture. I saw with admiration that there
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  Speaker 1: passed nothing within my soul which was not in Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: and in the Holy Scriptures. I must pass over many
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  Speaker 1: things in silence, because they cannot be expressed. If they
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  Speaker 1: were expressed, they could not be understood or comprehended. I
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  Speaker 1: often felt much for Father la Combe, who was not
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  Speaker 1: yet fixed in his state of interior death, but often
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  Speaker 1: rose and fell into alternatives. I was made sensible that
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  Speaker 1: Father la Combe was a verse of election, whom God
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  Speaker 1: had chosen to carry his name among the gentiles, that
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  Speaker 1: he would show him how much he must suffer for
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  Speaker 1: that name. A corner wall judges cornerly them and imputes
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  Speaker 1: to human attachment what is from the purest graves. If
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  Speaker 1: this union, by any deviation be broken, the more pure
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  Speaker 1: and perfect it is, the more painful I would it
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  Speaker 1: be felt, the separation of the soul from God by
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  Speaker 1: sin being worse than that from the body of death.
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  Speaker 1: For myself, I may say I had a continual dependence
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  Speaker 1: on God in every state. My soul was ever willing
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  Speaker 1: to pay every motion of his spirit. I thought there
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  Speaker 1: could not be anything in the world which he could
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  Speaker 1: require from me, to which I would not give myself
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  Speaker 1: up readily and with pleasure. I had no interest at
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  Speaker 1: all for myself. When God requires anything from this wretched nothing,
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  Speaker 1: I find no resistance left in me to do His will,
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  Speaker 1: however rigorous it may appear. If there is a heart
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  Speaker 1: in the world of which Thou art the sole, an,
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  Speaker 1: absolute master, mine seems to be one of that sort.
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  Speaker 1: Thy will, however rigorous, is its life and its pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: To resume the threat of my story, the Bishop of
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  Speaker 1: Grenoble's almonor persuaded me to go for some time to
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  Speaker 1: Marseilles to let the storm pass over. He told me
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  Speaker 1: that I would be well received there, its being his
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  Speaker 1: native soil, and that many people of merit were there.
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  Speaker 1: I wrote to Father la Combe for his consent. He
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  Speaker 1: readily gave it. I might have gone to Versil, for
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  Speaker 1: the Bishop of Versil had written me very obliging letters,
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  Speaker 1: earnestly pressing me to come. But a human respect and
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  Speaker 1: fear of affording a handle to my enemies gave me
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  Speaker 1: an extreme aversion there too. Besides the above, the Marchioness
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  Speaker 1: of Bruney, who, since my departure from her had been
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  Speaker 1: more enlightened by her own experience, having met with the
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  Speaker 1: part of the things which I thought would befall her,
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  Speaker 1: had conceived for me a very strong friendship, an intimate
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  Speaker 1: union of spirit, in such a manner that not two
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  Speaker 1: sisters could be more united than we. She was extremely
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  Speaker 1: desirous that I would return to her, as I had
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  Speaker 1: formerly promised her. But I could not resolve upon this
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  Speaker 1: lest it should be thought that I was gone. After
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  Speaker 1: Father la Combe. There had been no room given to
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  Speaker 1: anybody to accuse me of any indirect attachment to him,
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  Speaker 1: For when it depended on myself not to continue with him,
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  Speaker 1: I did not do it. The Bishop of Geneva had
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  Speaker 1: not failed to write against me to Grenoble, as she
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  Speaker 1: had done to other places. His nephew had gone from
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  Speaker 1: house to house to cry me down. All this was
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  Speaker 1: indifferent to me, and I did not cease to do
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  Speaker 1: to his diocese all the good in my power. I
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  Speaker 1: even wrote to him in a respectful manner, but his
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  Speaker 1: heart was too much close to yield to anything. Before
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  Speaker 1: I left Grenoble, that good girl had spoken of came
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  Speaker 1: to me weeping and told me that I was going,
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  Speaker 1: and that I hid it from her, because I would
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  Speaker 1: have nobody know it, but that the devil would be
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  Speaker 1: before me in all the places I should go, too,
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  Speaker 1: that I was going to a town where I will
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  Speaker 1: scarce be arrived before he would steer up the whole
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  Speaker 1: town against me, and would do me all the harm
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  Speaker 1: he possible could. What had obliged me to conceal my
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  Speaker 1: departure was my fear of being loaded with visits and
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  Speaker 1: testimonies of friendship from a number of good persons who
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  Speaker 1: had a very great affection for me. I embarked then
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  Speaker 1: upon the thhone, with my maid and a young woman
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  Speaker 1: of Grenoble, whom the Lord had highly favored through my means.
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  Speaker 1: The Bishop of Grenobles, Almoner, also accompanied me with another
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  Speaker 1: very worthy ecclesiastic. We met with many alarming accidents and
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  Speaker 1: wonderful preservations, But those instant dangers which affrighted others, far
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  Speaker 1: from alarming me, augmented my peace. The Bishop of Grenoble's eyes, Almoner,
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  Speaker 1: was much astonished. He was in a desperate fright when
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  Speaker 1: the boat struck against a rock and opened at the stroke.
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  Speaker 1: In his emotion, looking attentively at me, he observed that
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  Speaker 1: I did not change my accountenance or move my eyebrows,
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  Speaker 1: retaining all my tranquility, I did not so much as
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  Speaker 1: feel the first emotions of surprise, which are natural to
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  Speaker 1: everybody on those occasions, as they depend not on ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: What caused my peace in such dangers as terrify others
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  Speaker 1: was my resignation to God. And death is much more
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  Speaker 1: agreeable to me than life, if such were His will,
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  Speaker 1: to which I desired to be ever patiently submissive. A
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  Speaker 1: man of quality, a servant of God, and one of
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  Speaker 1: my intimate friends, had given me a letter for a
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  Speaker 1: knight of Malta who was very devout, and whom I
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  Speaker 1: have esteemed since I have known him, as a man
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  Speaker 1: whom Our Lord designed to serve the order of Malta greatly,
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  Speaker 1: and to be its ornament and support by his holy life.
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  Speaker 1: I had told him that I thought he should go thither,
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  Speaker 1: and that God will assuredly make use of him to
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  Speaker 1: diffuse a spirit of piety into many of the nights.
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  Speaker 1: He was actually gone to Malta, where the first places
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  Speaker 1: were soon given him. This man of quality sent him
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  Speaker 1: my little book of prayer printed at Grenoble. He had
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  Speaker 1: a chaplain, very averse to the spiritual path. He took
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  Speaker 1: this book, and, condemning it, at once, went to stare
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  Speaker 1: up a part of the town, and among the rest
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  Speaker 1: a set of men who called themselves the twenty two
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  Speaker 1: disciples of Saint Cyrn. I arrived at Marseill at ten
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  Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning, and that very afternoon all was
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  Speaker 1: in a noise against me. Some went to speak to
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  Speaker 1: the Bishop, telling him that on account of that book,
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  Speaker 1: it was necessary to punish me from the city. They
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  Speaker 1: gave him the book, which he examined with one of
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  Speaker 1: his prepants. He liked well. He sent for Monsieur Malaval
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  Speaker 1: and the Father Recollect, who he knew had come to
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  Speaker 1: see me a little after my arrival, to inquire of them.
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  Speaker 1: From hence that great tumult had its rise, which indeed
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  Speaker 1: had no other effect on me than to make me smile,
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  Speaker 1: seeing so soon accomplished what that young woman had foretold.
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  Speaker 1: Mansheer Malavelal, and that good father told the bishop what
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  Speaker 1: they thought of me, after which he testified much uneasiness
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  Speaker 1: at the insult given me. I was obliged to go
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  Speaker 1: to seize him. He received me with extraordinary respect and
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  Speaker 1: begged my excuse for what had happened, desire me to
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  Speaker 1: stay at Marseilles and assure me that he will protect me,
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  Speaker 1: even asked where I lodged that he might come to
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  Speaker 1: see me. Next day, the Bishop of Grenoble's almoner went
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  Speaker 1: to see him with that other priest who had come
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  Speaker 1: with us. The Bishop of Marseilles again testified to them
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  Speaker 1: his sorrow, for they insults given me without any cause,
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  Speaker 1: and told them that it was usual with those persons
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  Speaker 1: to insult all such as were not of their couple,
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  Speaker 1: that they had even insulted himself. They were not content
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  Speaker 1: with that. They wrote to me the most offensive letters possible,
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  Speaker 1: though at the same time they did not know me.
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  Speaker 1: I apprehended that our Lord was beginning in earnest to
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  Speaker 1: take from me every place of abode, and those words
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  Speaker 1: were renew in my mind. The foxes have holes, and
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  Speaker 1: the birds of the air have nests, but the son
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  Speaker 1: of Man had not where to lay his head. Yet.
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  Speaker 1: In the short time of my stay at Marseilles, I
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  Speaker 1: was instrumental in supporting some good souls, and among others,
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  Speaker 1: an ecclesiastic who till then was unacquainted with me, after
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  Speaker 1: having finished his thanksgiving in the church. Seeing me go out,
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  Speaker 1: he followed me into the house in which I lodged.
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  Speaker 1: Then he told me that the Lord had inspired him
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  Speaker 1: to address me and to open his inward state to me.
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  Speaker 1: He did it with as much simplicity as humility, and
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  Speaker 1: the Lord gave him through me all that was necessary
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  Speaker 1: for him. From hence he was filled with joy and
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  Speaker 1: thankful acknowledgments to God. Although there were many spiritual persons there,
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  Speaker 1: and even of his intimate friends, he never had been
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  Speaker 1: moved to open his mind to any of them. He
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  Speaker 1: was a servant of God and favored by him with
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  Speaker 1: a singular gift of prayer. During the eight days I
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  Speaker 1: was at Marseilles, I saw many good souls there. Through
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  Speaker 1: all my persecutions, our Lord always struck some good stroke
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  Speaker 1: of his own right hand, and that good ecclesiastic was
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  Speaker 1: delivered from an anxiety of mind which had much afflicted him.
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  Speaker 1: For some years after I had left Grenoble, those who
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  Speaker 1: hated me, without knowing me, spread libels against me. A
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  Speaker 1: woman for whom I had great love, and whom I
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  Speaker 1: had even extricated from an engagement which she had continued
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  Speaker 1: in for several years, and contributed to her discarding the
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  Speaker 1: person to whom she had been attached, suffered her mind
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  Speaker 1: to resume its fondness for that pernicious engagement. She became
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  Speaker 1: violently enraged against me for having broken it off. Although
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  Speaker 1: I had freely been at some expense to procure her freedom. Still,
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  Speaker 1: she went to the Bishop of Grenoble to tell him
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  Speaker 1: that I had counseled her to do an act of injustice.
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  Speaker 1: She then went from confessor to confessor, repeating the same
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  Speaker 1: story to animate them against me. As they were too
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  Speaker 1: susceptible of the prejudices infused, the fire was soon kindled
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  Speaker 1: in all quarters. There were none but those who knew
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  Speaker 1: me and who loved God that took my part. They
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  Speaker 1: became more closely united to me in sympathy through my persecution.
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  Speaker 1: It would have been very easy for me to destroy
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  Speaker 1: the calumny as well. With the Bishop of Grinoble, I
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  Speaker 1: need only to tell who the person was and show
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  Speaker 1: the fruits of her disorder. I could not declare the
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  Speaker 1: guilty person without making known at the same time the
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  Speaker 1: other who had been her accomplish, who now being touched
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  Speaker 1: of God, was very penitent. So I thought it best
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  Speaker 1: for me to suffer and be silent. There was a
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  Speaker 1: very pious man who knew all her history, from the
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  Speaker 1: beginning to the end of it, who wrote to her
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  Speaker 1: that if she did not retract her lies, he would
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  Speaker 1: publish the account of her wicked life, to make known
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  Speaker 1: both her cross iniquity and my innocence. She continued some
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  Speaker 1: time in her malice, writing that I was a sorceress,
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  Speaker 1: with many other falsehoods. Some time after she had such
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  Speaker 1: a cruel remorse of conscience on this account that she
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  Speaker 1: wrote both to the Bishop and others to retract what
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  Speaker 1: she had said. She induced one to write to me
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  Speaker 1: to inform me that she was in despair for what
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  Speaker 1: she had done, that God had punished her. After these recandations,
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  Speaker 1: the outright abated, the Bishop disabused, and since that time
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  Speaker 1: he has testified a great regard for me. This creature had,
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  Speaker 1: among us other things, said that I caused myself to
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  Speaker 1: be worshiped, also other unballed follies from Ma Sayle. I
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  Speaker 1: knew not how or whether I should turn next. I
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  Speaker 1: saw no likelihood either of stain or of returning to Grenoble,
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  Speaker 1: where I had left my daughter in a convent. Father
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  Speaker 1: la Combe had written to me that he did not
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  Speaker 1: think I ought to go to Paris. I even felt
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  Speaker 1: a strong repugnance to the idea of going, which made
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  Speaker 1: me think it was not yet the time for it.
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  Speaker 1: One morning I felt myself inwardly pressed to go somewhere.
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  Speaker 1: I took conveyance to go to see the Marchioness of Prune,
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  Speaker 1: which was I thought the mo most honorable refuge for
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  Speaker 1: me in my present condition. I thought I might pass
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  Speaker 1: through Niees on my way to her habitation, as some
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  Speaker 1: had assured me I might. But when I arrived at Nice,
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  Speaker 1: I was greatly surprised to learn that the conveyance could
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  Speaker 1: not pass the mountain. I knew not what to do,
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  Speaker 1: nor which way to turn. Alone, forsaken of everybody, and
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  Speaker 1: not knowing what God required of me, my confusion and
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  Speaker 1: crosses seemed to increase. I saw myself without refuge or retreat,
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  Speaker 1: wondering as a vaga pond. All the tradesmen whom I
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  Speaker 1: saw in their shots appeared to me happy in having
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  Speaker 1: a dwelling of they own in which to retire. Nothing,
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  Speaker 1: in the words, seemed harder than this wandering life. To me,
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  Speaker 1: who naturally loved propriety ant decorum, As I was in
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  Speaker 1: this uncertainty, not knowing what course to take, one came
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  Speaker 1: to tell me that next day a sloop would set off,
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  Speaker 1: which used to go in one day to Geno, and
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  Speaker 1: that if I chose it, they will land me at Savona.
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  Speaker 1: From my hands I might get myself carried to the
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  Speaker 1: Marchioness of Brunei's house. To that I consented, as I
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  Speaker 1: could not be supplied with any other way. I had
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  Speaker 1: some joy at embarking on the sea. I said in myself,
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  Speaker 1: if I am the dregs of the earth, the corn
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  Speaker 1: and off scarring of nature, I am now going to
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  Speaker 1: embark on the element, which, above all others, is the
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  Speaker 1: most treacherous. If it be the Lord's pleasure to plunge
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  Speaker 1: me in the waves, it shall be mine to perish
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  Speaker 1: in them. There came a tempest in a place dangerous
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  Speaker 1: for a small boat, and the mariners were some of
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  Speaker 1: the wickedness. The irritation of the waves gave a satisfaction
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  Speaker 1: to my mind. I pleased myself in thinking that those
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  Speaker 1: mutenus belows might probably supply me with the grave. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: I carried the point too far in the pleasure I
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  Speaker 1: took at seeing myself beaten and bandied by the waves.
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  Speaker 1: Those who were with me took notice of my interpidity,
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  Speaker 1: but not the cause of it. I asked some little
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  Speaker 1: hole of a rock to be placed in there, to
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: live separate from all creatures. I figured to myself that
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: some uninhabited island would have terminated all my disgrace and
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: put me in a condition on infallibly doing b wild.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Thou designest me a prison far different from that of
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the rock, and quite another punishment than that of the
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: uninhabited island. Thou reservest me to be battered by blows
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: more irritated than those of the sea. Calumnis proved to
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: be the unrelenting waves to which I was to be
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: exposed in order to be lashed and tossed by them
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: without mercy. By the tempest, we were kept back, and
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: instead of a short day's passage to Genoa, we were
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: eleven days. Making it how peaceable was my heart in
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: so violent an agitation. We could not land at Savonna.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: We were obliged to go on to Genoa. We arrived
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: there in the beginning of the week before Easter. While
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I was there, I was obliged to bear the insults
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: of the inhabitants caused by the resentment they heard against
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: the French because of the havoc of a late bombardment.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: The Douche was neon gone out of the city and
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: had carried off with him all the coaches. I could
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: not get one, and I was obliged to stay several
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: days at excess expenses. The people there demanded of us
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: exorbitant sums and as much for every single person as
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: they would have asked for a company at the best
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: eating place in Paris. I had little money left, but
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: my store in Providence could not be exhausted. I begged
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: with the greatest earnestness for a carriage at any price,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: to pass the feast of Easter at the Marchioness of
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Pruney's house. It was then within three days of Easter
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I could scarce any way get myself to be understood
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: by the force of entreaty. They brought me at length
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: a sorry coach with lame mules, and told me that
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: they would take me readily to Versil, which was only
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: two days journey, but demanded an enormous sum. They were
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: not engage to take me to the Marchioness of Brunei's house,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: as they knew not where her estate lay. This was
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: to me a strong mortification, for I was very willing
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: to go to Brazil. Nevertheless, the proximity of Easter and
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: want of money in a country where they used every
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: kind of extortion and tyranny left me no choice. I
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: was under an absolute necessity of submitting to be that
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: conveyed to Versil. Thus providence led me whither I could
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: not our. Mulitier was one of the most brutal men,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: and for an increase of my affliction, I had sent
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: away to Versail the ecclesiastic who accompanied us, to prevent
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: their surprise at seeing me there after I had protested
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: against going. That ecclesiastic was very coarsely treated on the
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: road through the hatred they bore to the French. They
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: made him go part of the way on foot, so
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: that though he set off the day before me, he
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: arrived there only a few hours sooner than I did.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: As for the fellow who conducted us, seeing he had
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: only women under his care, he treated us in the
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: most insolent and boorish manner. We passed through a wooden
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: infested with robbers. The muleteer was afraid and told us
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: that if we met any of them on the road,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: we should be murdered. They spurred nobody. Scarcely had he
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: uttered these words. When there appeared four men well armed,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: they immediately stopped us. The man was exceedingly frightened. I
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: made a light bow off my head with a smile,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: for I had no fear, and was so entirely resigned
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: to providence that it was all one to die this
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: way or any other, in the sea or by the
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: hands of robbers. Where the dangers were most manifest. Then
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: was my faith the strongest, as well as my interpidity,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: being unable to wish for anything else than what should
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: fall out, whether to be dashed against the rocks, drawn,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: or killed in any other way, everything in the will
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: of God being equal to me. The people who used
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: to convey or attend me said that they had never
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: seen a carriage like mine. For the most alarming dangers
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: and the time when death appeared the most certain, were
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: those which seemed to please me the most. Was it
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: not thy pleasure of my God which guarded me in
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: every imminent danger and held me back from rolling down
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: the precipice on the instant of sliding over its dizzy brow.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: The most easy I was about life, which I bore
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: only because thou wast pleased to bury it, the more
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: care thou tookest to preserve it. There seemed a mutual
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: emulation between us, on my part to resign and on
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: thine to maintain it. Their offers then advanced to the coach,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: but I had no sooner saluted them than God made
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: them change their design, Having pushed off one another, as
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: it were, to hinder each of them from doing any harm.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: They respectfully saluted me, and with an air of compassion
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: unusual to such sorts of persons, retired. I was immediately
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: struck to the heart with a full and clear conviction
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: that it was a stroke of Thy right hand, who
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: had other designs over me than to suffer me to
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: die by the hands of robbers. It is thy suffering
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: power which takes a whale there all from thy devoted lovers,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: and destroys their lives with all that is of self,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: without pity or sparing anything. The muleteers, seeing me attended
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: only with two young women, though he might treat me
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: as he would, perhaps expecting to draw money from me.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Instead of taking me to the inn, he brought me
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: to a mill in which there was a woman. There
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: was but one single room with several beds in it,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: in which the millers and muleties lay together. In that chamber,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: they forced me to stay. I told them Mulatier I
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: was not a person to lie in such a place,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: and wanted to oblige him to take me to the Inn.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Nothing of will would he do. I was constrained to
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: go out on foot at ten o'clock at night, carrying
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: a part of my clothes, and to go a good
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: way more than a quarter of a leak in the dark,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: in a strange place, not knowing the way, crossing one
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: end of the wood infested with robbers, to endeavor to
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: get to the inn. That fellow, seeing us go off
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: from the place where he had wanted to make me lodge,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: put it after us in a very abusive manner. I
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: bore my humiliation cheerfully, but not without feeling it. But
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: the will of God and my resignation to it render
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: it everything easy to me. We were well received at
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: the Inn, and the good people there did the best
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: in their power for our recovery from the fatigue. We
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: had undergone the assurance. The place we had left was
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: very ten. Next morning we were obliged to return on
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: foot to the carriage, for that man would not bring
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: it to us. On the contrary, he gave us a
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: shower of fresh insults. To consumate his base behavior. He
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: sold me to the post, whereby I was forced to
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: go the rest of the way in a post chesse
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: instead of a carriage. In this equipage I arrived at Alexandria,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: a frontier town subject to Spain, on the side of
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: the Melanies. Our driver took us according to the accustomed
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: to the post house. I was exceedingly astonished when I
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: saw the landlady coming out, not to receive him, but
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: to oppose his entrance. She had heard there were women
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: in the chase and taken us for a different sort
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: of way, women from what we were. She protested against
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: our coming in. On the other hand, the driver was
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: determined to force his entrance in spite of her. Their
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: dispute rose to such a high that a great number
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: of the officers of the garrison with the mob gathered
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: at the noise, who were surprised at the odd humor
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: of the woman in refusing to lodge us. With earnestness,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: I entreated the post to take us to some other house,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: but he would not. So obstinately was he bent on
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: carrying his point. He assured the landlady we were persons
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: of honor, and peted too. The marks were off he
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: had seen at last, by force of pressing entreaties, he
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: obliged here to come to see us. As soon as
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: she had looked at us, she acted as the robbers
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: had done. She relented at once and admitted us. No
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: sooner had I alighted from the sheaise than she said,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: go shut yourselves up in that chamber hard by, and
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: do not stare that my son may not know you
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: are here. As soon as he knows it, he will
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: kill you. She said. It was so much force, as
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: did also the servant made that if death had not
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: so many charms for me, I should have been ready
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: to die with fear. The two poor girls with me
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: were under frightful apprehensions. When they stared or came to
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: open the door, they thought they were coming to kill them.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: In short, they continued in a dreadful suspense between life
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: and death till next day, when we learn that the
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: young man had sworn to kill any woman who lodged
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: at the house. A few days before, an event had
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: fallen out which had liked to have ruined him, a
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: woman of a bad life having there privately murder a
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: man in some esteem that had cost the house a
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: heavy fine, And he was afraid of any more such
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: persons coming, not without reason. End of Chapter seventeen, Offense,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: May of two thousand nine.