Latest / Autobiography of Madame Guyon / 44 - Autobiography of Madame Guyon by Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon

Transcript

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Autobiography of Madame Quillon by Jean Kion, Volume two,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: chapter fourteen. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. One night, in a dream,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: our Lord showed me that he would also purify the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: maid whom he had given me, make her truly enter
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: into death to herself. I freely resolved to suffer for her,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: as I did for Father la Combe. As she resisted
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: God much more than he, and was much more under
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the power of self love. She had more to be
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: purified from. What I could not tolerate in her was
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: her regard for herself. I so clearly that the devil
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: can hurt us only so far as we retain some
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: fondness for this corrupt self. This sight was from God.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: He gave me the discerning of spirits, which would ever
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: accept what was from Him or reject what was not.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: That not from any common methods of judging, not from
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: any outward or information, but by an inward principle, which
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: is His gift alone. It is needful to mention here
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: that souls which are yet in themselves, whatever degree of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: light and order they have attained are unqualified for it.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: They often think they have this discernment when it is
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: nothing else but sympathy or antipathy for nature. Our Lord
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: destroyed in me every sort of nature antipathy. The soul
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: must be very pure, and depending on God alone, that
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: all these things may be experienced in him in proportion.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: As this made became inwardly purified. My pain abated till
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the Lord let me know her state was going to
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: be changed, which soon happily ensued in comparison with inward
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: pain for souls outward perseitutions, though ever so violent, scarce
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: gave me any. The Bishop of Geneva oughte to different
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: persons He wrote in my favor, to such as he
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: thought would show me his letters, and quite the contrary,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: in the letters which he thought I would never see.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: It was so ordered that these persons, having shown each
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: other the letters received from him, were struck with indignation
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to see in him so shameful a dublicity. They sent
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: me those letters that I might take proper precautions. I
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: kept them two years, and then burned them, not to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: hurt the prelate. The stronger's battery he raised against me
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: was that he did with the Secretary of State, who
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: held that post, in conjunction with the Marchioness of Pruney's brother.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: He used all imaginable endeavors to render me audience. He
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: employed certain abbots for that purpose, insomuch that though I
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: appeared very little abroad, I was well known by the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: description this bishop had given of me. This did not
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: make so much impression as it would have done if
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: he had appeared in a better light at court. Some
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: letters of his which her Royal Highness found after the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Prince's death, written to him against her, had effect on
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: the Princess that instead of taking any notice of what
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: he now wrote against me, she showed me great respect.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: She sent her request to me to come to see her.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Accordingly I waited on her. She assured me of her
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: protection and that she was glad of my being in
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: her dominions. It pleased God here to make use of
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: me to the conversion of two or three ecclesiastics, but
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I had much to suffer from their repugnancies and many infidelities.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: One of them had vilified me greatly, and even after
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: his conversion, turned aside into his old ways. God at
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: length graciously restored him. As I was undetermined whether I
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: should place my daughter at the visitation of Turenn or
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: take some other course, I was exceedingly surprised. At a
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: time I least expected to see Father la Combe arrive
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: from Versail. He told me that I must return to
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Paris without any delay. It was in the evening, and he,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: he said, set off the next morning. I confess this
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: sudden news startled me. It was for me a double
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: sacrifice to return to a place where they had cried
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: me down so much, also toward a family which held
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: me condemned, and who had represented my journey caused by
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: pure necessity as a voluntary course pursued through human attachments.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Behold me then disposed to go off with my daughter
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: and my maid, without offering a single word in reply,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: without anybody to guide an attendance. Father la Combe was
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: resolved not to accompany me, not so much as passing
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the mountains. The Bishop of Geneva had written on all
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: sides that I was gone to Turine to run after him.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: But the Father Provincial, who was a man of quality
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: and well acquainted with the virtue of Father la Combe,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: told him that it was improper and unsafe to venture
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: on these mountains without some person of acquaintance, the more
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: as I had my little daughter with me. He therefore
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: ordered him to accompany me. Father la Combe confessed to
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: me that he had some reluctance to do it, and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: only obedience and the danture to which I should have
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: been exposed made him surmount it. He was only to
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: accompany me to Grenoble, and from thence to return to Turin.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: I went off then, designing for Paris there to suffer
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: whatever crosses and trials it should please God to inflict.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: What made me go by Grenoble was the desire I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: had to spend two or three days with a lady
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: who was an eminent servant of God and one of
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: my friends. When I was there, Father la Combe and
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: that lady spoke to me not to go any farther.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: God would glorify himself in me and by me in
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: that place. He returned to Brasil, and I left myself
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: to be conducted as a child by providence. This lady
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: took me to the house of a good widow. There
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: not be accommodations at them, as I was ordered to
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: stop at grenoble at her house, I recited, I placed
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: my daughter in a convent, and resolved to employ all
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: this time in resigning myself to be possessed in solitude
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: by Him, with the absolute suffering of my soul. I
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: made not any visit in this place, no more had
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I in any of the others where I was so adjourned.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I was greatly surprised when a few days after my
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: arrival there came to see me several persons who made
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: profession of a singular devotion to God. I perceived immediately
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: a gift which He had given me, of administering to
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: each that which suited their states. I felt myself invested
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden with the apostolic state. I discerned
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the conditions of the souls of such persons as spoke
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: to me, and that with so much facility that they
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: were surprised at it, and said one to another that
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: I gave every one of them the very thing they
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: had stood in need of. It was thou o, my God,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: who didst all these things. Some of them sent others
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: to me. It came to such excess that generally from
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: six in the morning till eight in the evening, I
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: was taken up in speaking of the Lord. People flocked
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: on all sides, far and near. Friars, priests, men of
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: the world, maids, wives, widows all came, one after another.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: The Lord supplied me with what was pedutenant and satisfactory
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to them all after a wonderful manner, without any share
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: of my study or meditation. Therein, nothing was hit from me.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Of the interior state of God passed within them. Here O,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: my God, thou madest an infinite number of conquests known
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: to thyself. Only they were instantly furnished with a wonderful
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: facility of prayer. God conferred on them his grace plentifully
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: and wrote marvelous changes in them. The most advanced of
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: these souls found when with me in silence, a grace
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: communicated to them which they could neither comprehend nor cease
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: to admire. The others found an unction in my words
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: that they were operated in them what I said. Friars
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: of different orders and priests of Mary came to see me,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to whom our Lord granted very great favors, as indeed
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: he did to all without exception who came in sincerity.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: One thing was surprising. I had not a syllable to
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: say to such as came only to watch my words
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and to criticize them. Even when I thought to try
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to speak to them, I felt that I could not
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and that God would not have me do it. Some
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: of them, in return said, the people are fools to
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: go to see that lady. She cannot speak. Others of
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: them treated me as if I were only a stupid symbleton.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: After they left me there came on and said, I
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: could not go hither soon enough to apprize you. Not
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: to speak to those persons. They come from such and
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: such to try what they can catch from you to
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: your disadvantage. I answered them, our Lord has prevented your charity,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: for I was not able to say one word to them.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I felt that what I spoke low from the fountain,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: that I was only the instrument of Him who made
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: me speak. Amid this general applause, our Lord made me
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: comprehend what the apostolic state was with which he had
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: honored me. That to give oneself up to the help
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: of souls in the purity of his spirit was to
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: expose to heself to the most cruel persecutions. These very
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: words were imprinted on my heart to resign ourselves to
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: serve a neighbor is to sacrifice ourselves to a cheapid
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: such as now proclaim blessed is he who come in
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the name of the Lord, would soon cry out away
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: with him crucify him. When one of my friends spoke
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the general esteem the people had for me, I said
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: to her, observe what I now tell you, that you
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: will hear curses out of the same mouse which at
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: present pronounce blessings. Our Lord made me comprehend that I
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: must be conformable to him in all his states, and
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: that if he had continued in a private life with
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: his parents, he never had been crucified. That when he
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: would resign any of his servants to crucifixion, he employed
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: such in the ministry and service of their neighbors. It
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: is certain that all the souls employed the hearing by
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: apostolic destination from God, and who are truly in the
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Apostolic state, are to suffer extremely. I speak not of
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: those who put themselves into it, who not being called
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: of God in a singular manner, and have in nothing
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: of the grace of the apostleship, have none of its crosses,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: but of those only who surrender themselves to God without
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: any reserve, and who are willing with their whole hearts
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: to be exposed for His sake, to sufferings without any medication.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: And of Chapter fourteen in Athens Greets, April two thousand
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: and nine,