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49 - 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 Guillon by Jean Kion, chapter nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Scarcely had I arrived at Paris
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  Speaker 1: when I readily discovered the black designs entertained against both
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  Speaker 1: Father la Combe and me. Father la Monte, who conducted
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  Speaker 1: the whole tragedy, artfully dissembled, according to his custom, flattering
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  Speaker 1: me to my face while he was aiming the keenest
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  Speaker 1: wounds behind my back. He and his confederates wanted, for
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  Speaker 1: their own interests, to persuade me to go to Monturkey's,
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  Speaker 1: my native place, hoping thereby to get the guardianship of
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  Speaker 1: my children and to dispose of both my person and effects.
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  Speaker 1: All the persecutions from Father la Monte and my family
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  Speaker 1: have been attended on their part with views of interest.
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  Speaker 1: Those against Father la Combe have sprung from rage and
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  Speaker 1: revenge because he, as my director, did not oblige me
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  Speaker 1: to do what they wanted, as well as out of jealousy.
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  Speaker 1: I might enter into a long detail on this, sufficient
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  Speaker 1: to convince all the work, but I suppress to avoid prolixity.
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  Speaker 1: I shall only say that they threatened to deprive me
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  Speaker 1: of what little I had reserved to myself. To this
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  Speaker 1: I only replied that I would not go to law
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  Speaker 1: that if they were resolved to take from me what
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  Speaker 1: little I had left little. Indeed, in comparison of what
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  Speaker 1: I had given up, I will surrender it entirely to them,
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  Speaker 1: being quite free and willing not only to be poor,
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  Speaker 1: but to be even in the very extremity of want.
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  Speaker 1: In imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ. I arrived at
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  Speaker 1: Paris on Magdalene's Eve sixteen eighty six, exactly five years
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  Speaker 1: after my departure from that city. After Father la Combe arrived,
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  Speaker 1: he was soon followed and much applauded. I perceived some
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  Speaker 1: jealousy in Father la Month hereupon, but did not think
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  Speaker 1: that matters would be carried as far as they have been.
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  Speaker 1: The greater part of the barnabytes of Paris and its
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood joined against Father la Combe, induced from several causes
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  Speaker 1: that particularly related to the order. But all the calumnies
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  Speaker 1: and evil attempts were overthrown by the unaffected piety he manifested,
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  Speaker 1: and the good which multitudes reaped from his labors. I
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  Speaker 1: had deposit a little sum of money in his hand,
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  Speaker 1: with the consent of his superior, to serve for the
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  Speaker 1: entrance of a nun. I thought myself obliged in conscience
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  Speaker 1: to do it. She had, through my means, quit the
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  Speaker 1: new Catholics. It was that young woman whom I mentioned before,
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  Speaker 1: whom the priest of Ghegs wanted to win over, as
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  Speaker 1: she is beautiful. Though very prudent, there are always continued
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  Speaker 1: the cause of fear when such an one is exposed
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  Speaker 1: in the world. La Mant wanted to have that money,
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  Speaker 1: and signified to Father la Combe that if he did
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  Speaker 1: not make me giving it to him for a wall
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  Speaker 1: which he had to rebuild in his convent, he would
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  Speaker 1: make him suffer for it. But the latter, who is
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  Speaker 1: always upright, answered that he could not in conscience advise
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  Speaker 1: me to do anything else but what I had already
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  Speaker 1: resolved in favor of that young woman. Hence la Mank
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  Speaker 1: and the provincial artently longed to satisfy their desire of revenge.
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  Speaker 1: They employed all they thoughts on the means of effecting it.
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  Speaker 1: A very wicked man who was employed for that purpose,
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  Speaker 1: wrote defamatory libels declaring that the propositions of Molinos, which
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  Speaker 1: had been current for two years past in France, were
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  Speaker 1: the sentiments of Father la Combe. These libels were spread
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  Speaker 1: about in the community. Father la Monte and the provincial,
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  Speaker 1: acting as persons well affected to the church, carried them
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  Speaker 1: to the official or judge of the ecclesiastical court, who
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  Speaker 1: joined in the dark design. They showed them to the Archebishop,
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  Speaker 1: saying it was out of the zeal that they were
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  Speaker 1: exceedingly sorry that one of the fraternity was a heretic,
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  Speaker 1: and as such execrable. They also brought men, but more moderately,
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  Speaker 1: saying Father la Combe was almost always at my house,
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  Speaker 1: which was false. I could scarcely see him at all,
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  Speaker 1: accepted the confessional, and then, for a very short time
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  Speaker 1: several other things equally false. They liberally gave out concerning
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  Speaker 1: both of us. They bethought themselves of one thing, Father
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  Speaker 1: likely to favor their scheme. They knew I had been
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  Speaker 1: at Marseilles, and thought they had a good foundation for
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  Speaker 1: a fresh calumny. They counterfeited a letter from a person
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  Speaker 1: at Marseille's I heard it was from the bishop addressed
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  Speaker 1: to the Archiebishop of Paris or to his official, in
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  Speaker 1: which they wrote the most abominable scandal. Father a month
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  Speaker 1: came to try to draw me into his ner, to
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  Speaker 1: make me say, in the presence of the people whom
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  Speaker 1: he had brought, that I had been at Marseille's with
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  Speaker 1: Father la Combe. There are, said he, shocking accounts against you,
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  Speaker 1: sent by the Bishop of Marseilles. You have there fallen
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  Speaker 1: into great scandal with father la Combe. There are good
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  Speaker 1: witnesses of it. I replied, with a smile. The calumny
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  Speaker 1: is well devised, but it would have been proper to
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  Speaker 1: know first whether Father la Combe had been at Marseilles,
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  Speaker 1: for I do not believe he was ever there in
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  Speaker 1: his life. While I was there, father la Combe was
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  Speaker 1: laboring at Versailles. He was founded it and went off,
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  Speaker 1: saying there are witnesses of its being true. He went
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  Speaker 1: immediately to ask Father la Combe if he had not
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  Speaker 1: been at Marseilles. He assured him he never had been there.
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  Speaker 1: They were struck with disappointment. They then gave out that
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  Speaker 1: it was not Marseille's but Cecil. Now, this cecil is
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  Speaker 1: a place I have never been at, and there is
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  Speaker 1: no bishop there. Every imaginable device was used to terrify
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  Speaker 1: me by threats, forged letters and by memorials drawn up
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  Speaker 1: against me, accusing me of teaching erronias doctrines and of
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  Speaker 1: living a bad life, and urging me to flee the
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  Speaker 1: country to escape the consequences of exposure. Failing in all this,
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  Speaker 1: at length la Month took off the mask and said
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  Speaker 1: to me in the church before la Combe, it is now,
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  Speaker 1: my sister, that you must think of fleeing. You are
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  Speaker 1: charged with grimes of a deep dye. I was not
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  Speaker 1: moved in the least, but replied with my usual tranquility.
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  Speaker 1: If I am guilty of such crimes, I cannot be
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  Speaker 1: too severely punished. Wherefore I will not flee or go
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  Speaker 1: out of the way. I have made an open profession
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  Speaker 1: of dedicating myself to God entirely if I have done
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  Speaker 1: things offensive to Him, whom I would wish both to
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  Speaker 1: love and too cause to be loved by the whole world,
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  Speaker 1: even at the expense of my life. I ought, by
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  Speaker 1: my punishment, to be made an exampled to the word.
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  Speaker 1: But if I am innocent, for me to flee is
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  Speaker 1: not the way for my innocence to be believed. Similar
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  Speaker 1: attempts were made to ruin Father la Combe he was
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  Speaker 1: crossly misrepresented to the King and in order procured for
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  Speaker 1: his arrest an imprisonment in the Bastille. Although on his
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  Speaker 1: trial he appeared quite innocent, and they could not find
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  Speaker 1: anything whereupon to ground a condemnation, yet they made the
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  Speaker 1: King believe he was a dangerous man in the article
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  Speaker 1: of religion. He was then shut up in a certain
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  Speaker 1: fortness of Bastille for life. But as his enemies hurt,
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  Speaker 1: but the captain in that fortness esteemed him and treated
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  Speaker 1: him kindly, they had him removed into a much worse place. God,
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  Speaker 1: who beholds everything, will reward every man according to his works.
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  Speaker 1: I know by an interior communication that he is very
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  Speaker 1: well condemned and fully designed to God. A month now
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  Speaker 1: endeavor more than ever to induce me to flee, assuring
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  Speaker 1: me that if I went to Mountkeys, I should be
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  Speaker 1: out of trouble, but that if I did not, I
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  Speaker 1: should pay for it. He insisted on my taking him
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  Speaker 1: for my director, to which I could not agree. He
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  Speaker 1: decried me wherever he went, and rode to his brethren
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  Speaker 1: to do the same. They send me very abusive letters
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  Speaker 1: assuring me that if I did not put myself under
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  Speaker 1: his direction, I was undone. I have the letters by
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  Speaker 1: me still one. Father desired me in this case to
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  Speaker 1: make a virtue of necessity. Nay, some advised me to
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  Speaker 1: pretend to put myself under his direction and to deceive him.
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  Speaker 1: I abhorred the thought of deceit. I bore everything with
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  Speaker 1: the greatest tranquility, without taking any care to justify or
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  Speaker 1: defend myself, leaving it entirely to God to order as
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  Speaker 1: he should please about me. Herein he was graciously pleased
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  Speaker 1: to increase the peace of my soul. While everyone seemed
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  Speaker 1: to cry against me and to look on me as
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  Speaker 1: an infamous creature, except those few who knew me well
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  Speaker 1: by a near union of spirit at church, I heard
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  Speaker 1: people behind me exclaim against me, and even some priests
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  Speaker 1: say it was necessary to cast me out of the church.
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  Speaker 1: I left myself to God without reserve, being quite ready
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  Speaker 1: to endure the most rigorous pains and tortures if such
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  Speaker 1: were his will. I never made any solicitation, either for
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  Speaker 1: Father la Combe or myself, though charged with that among
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  Speaker 1: other things, willing to owe everything to God, I have
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  Speaker 1: no dependence on any creature. I would not have it
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  Speaker 1: said that any but God had made Abraham Genesis fourteen
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  Speaker 1: twenty three. To lose all for him is my best gain,
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  Speaker 1: and to gain all without him would be my worst loss.
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  Speaker 1: Although at this time so general an outcry was raised
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  Speaker 1: against me, God did not fail to make use of
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  Speaker 1: me to gain many souls to himself. The more persecution
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  Speaker 1: raged against me, the more children were given me, on
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  Speaker 1: whom the Lord conferred great favors through his handmade. One
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  Speaker 1: must not judge of the servants of God by what
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  Speaker 1: they enemies say of them, nor by their being oppressed
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  Speaker 1: under calumnis without any resource. Jesus Christ expired under panks.
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  Speaker 1: God uses the like conduct towards his dearest servants to
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  Speaker 1: render them conformable to his son, in whom he is
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  Speaker 1: always well pleased, but fuel places that conformity where it
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  Speaker 1: ought to be. It is not involuntary pains or austerities,
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  Speaker 1: but in those which are suffered in a submission ever
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  Speaker 1: equal to the will of God, in a renunciation of
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  Speaker 1: our whole selves, to the end that God may be
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  Speaker 1: our all in all, conducting us according to His views,
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  Speaker 1: and not our own, which are generally opposite to his.
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  Speaker 1: All perfection consists in this entire conformity with Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: not in shining things which men esteem. It would only
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  Speaker 1: be seen in eternity. Who are the true friends of God.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing pleases him but Jesus Christ and that which bears
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  Speaker 1: his mark or character. They were continually pressing me to flee,
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  Speaker 1: though the archibishop had spoken to me and beaten me
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  Speaker 1: not to leave Paris. But they wanted to give the
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  Speaker 1: appearance of criminality both to me and to Father la
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  Speaker 1: Combe by my flight. They knew not how to make
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  Speaker 1: me fall into the hands of the official. If they
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  Speaker 1: accused me of crimes, it must be before other judges.
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  Speaker 1: Any other judge would have seen my innocence. The false
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  Speaker 1: witness would have run the risk of suffering for it.
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  Speaker 1: They continually spread stories of horror crimes, but the official
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  Speaker 1: assure me that he had heard no mention of any
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  Speaker 1: He was afraid lest I should retire out of his jurisdiction.
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  Speaker 1: They then made the King believe that I was a heretic,
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  Speaker 1: that I carry on a literary correspondence with Molinus, I
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  Speaker 1: who never knew there was a Molinus in the world
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  Speaker 1: till the gazette had told me of it. That I
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  Speaker 1: had written a dangerous book, and that on those accounts
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  Speaker 1: it would be necessary to issue an order to put
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  Speaker 1: me in a convent that they might examine me. I
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  Speaker 1: was a dangerous person. It would be proper for me
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  Speaker 1: to be locked up, to be allowed no commerce with
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  Speaker 1: any one, since I continually held assemblies, which was very fard.
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  Speaker 1: To support this calumny, my handwriting was counterfeited and a
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  Speaker 1: letter was forged as from me, importing that I had
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  Speaker 1: great designs, but fear that they would prove abortive through
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  Speaker 1: the imprisonment of Father la Combe, for which reason I
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  Speaker 1: had left off halting assemblies at my house, being too
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  Speaker 1: closely watched, but that I would hold them at the
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  Speaker 1: houses of other persons. This forged letter they showed the King,
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  Speaker 1: and upon it an order was given for my imprisonment.
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  Speaker 1: This order would have been put in execution two months
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  Speaker 1: sooner than it was, had I not fallen very sick.
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  Speaker 1: I had inconceivable pains and fever. Some thought that I
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  Speaker 1: had a gathering in my head. The pain I suffered
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  Speaker 1: for five weeks made me delirious. I had also a
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  Speaker 1: pain in my breast and a violent cough. Twice I
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  Speaker 1: received the Holy sacrament, as I was thought to be expiring.
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  Speaker 1: One of my friends had acquainted Father la Monte, not
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  Speaker 1: knowing him to have had any hand in Father Lacombe's imprisonment,
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  Speaker 1: that she had sent me a certificate from the inquisition
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  Speaker 1: in Father la Combe's favor, having heard that his own
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  Speaker 1: was lost. This answered a very good purpose, for they
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  Speaker 1: had made the king believe that he had run away
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  Speaker 1: from the inquisition. But these showed the contrary. Father la
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  Speaker 1: Month then came to me when I was in excessive pain,
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  Speaker 1: counter fating all the affection and tenderness in his power,
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  Speaker 1: and telling me that the affair of father la Combe
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  Speaker 1: was going on very well, that he was just ready
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  Speaker 1: to come out of prison with honor, that he was
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  Speaker 1: very glad of it. If he had only this certificate,
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  Speaker 1: he would soon be delivered. Give me it, then, said he,
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  Speaker 1: and he will be immediately released. At first I made
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  Speaker 1: a difficulty of doing it. What said he, would you
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  Speaker 1: be the cause of ruining poor father la Combe, having
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  Speaker 1: it in your power to save him, and cause as
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  Speaker 1: that affliction. For want of what you have in your hands,
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  Speaker 1: I yielded, ordering it to be brought and given him.
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  Speaker 1: But he suppressed it and gave out that it was lost.
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  Speaker 1: It never could be got from him again. The ambassador
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  Speaker 1: from the court of Turin sent a messenger to me
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  Speaker 1: for this certificate, designing the proper use of it to
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  Speaker 1: serve Father la Combe. I referred him to Father la Month.
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  Speaker 1: The messenger went to him and asked him for it.
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  Speaker 1: He denied I had given it to him, saying her
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  Speaker 1: brain is disorder, which makes her imagine it. The man
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  Speaker 1: came back to me and told me his answer. The
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  Speaker 1: persons in my chamber bore witness that I had given
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  Speaker 1: it to him, Yet all signified nothing. It would not
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  Speaker 1: be got out of his hands. But on the contrary,
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  Speaker 1: he insulted me and caused others also to do it.
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  Speaker 1: Though I was so weak that I seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: at the very gates of death. They told me they
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  Speaker 1: only waited for my recovery to cast me into prison.
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  Speaker 1: He made his brethren believe that I had treated him ill.
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  Speaker 1: They wrote to me that it was for my crimes
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  Speaker 1: that I suffer, and that I should put myself under
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  Speaker 1: the control of Father la Month, otherwise I should repent
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  Speaker 1: it that I was mad and ought to be bound,
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  Speaker 1: and was a monster of pride. Since I would not
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  Speaker 1: suffer myself to be conducted by Father la Month. Such
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  Speaker 1: was my daily feast in the external comity of my pain,
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  Speaker 1: deserted of my friends, and oppressed by my enemies, the
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  Speaker 1: former being ashamed of me through the calumnies which were
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  Speaker 1: forged and industriously spread, The latter led Louis to persecute me,
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  Speaker 1: under all which I kept silence, leaving myself to the
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  Speaker 1: Lord that I was not any kind of infamy, error,
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  Speaker 1: sorcery or sacrilege, of which they did not accuse me.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as I was able to be carried to
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  Speaker 1: the church in a chair, I was told I must
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  Speaker 1: speak to the prepend It was a snare converted between
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  Speaker 1: Father la Month and the canon at whose house I lodged.
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  Speaker 1: I spoke to him with much simplicity, and he approved
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  Speaker 1: of what I said. Yet two days after they gave
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  Speaker 1: out that I had uttered many things and accused many persons,
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  Speaker 1: and from hence they procured the punishment of sundry persons
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  Speaker 1: with whom they were displeased, persons whom I had never seen,
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  Speaker 1: or of whom I never heard. They were men of honor.
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  Speaker 1: One of them was punished because he said, my little
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  Speaker 1: book is a good one. It is remarkable that they
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  Speaker 1: say nothing to those who prefixed the approbations, and that
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  Speaker 1: far for condemning the book, it has been reprinted since
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  Speaker 1: I have been in prison, and advertisements of it have
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  Speaker 1: been posted up at the Archibishop's palace and all over Paris.
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  Speaker 1: In regard to others, when they find faults in their books,
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  Speaker 1: they condemned the books and leave the person at liberty.
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  Speaker 1: But as for me, my book is approved, sought, and spread,
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  Speaker 1: while I am kept a prisoner for it. The same
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  Speaker 1: day that those gentlemen were punished, I received a letterate
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  Speaker 1: de cachet or steal, order to repair to the convent
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  Speaker 1: of the Visitation of Saint Mary in a suburb of
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  Speaker 1: Saint Adoin. I received it with a tranquility which surprised
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  Speaker 1: the bearer exceedingly. He could not forbear expressing it, having
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  Speaker 1: seen the extreme sorrow of those who were only punished.
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  Speaker 1: He was so touched with it as to shed tears.
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  Speaker 1: Although his order was to carry me off directly, he
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  Speaker 1: was not afraid to trust me, but left me all
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  Speaker 1: the day, desiring me to repair to Saint Mary's. In
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  Speaker 1: the evening on that day, many of my friends came
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  Speaker 1: to see me, and found me very cheerful, which surprised
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  Speaker 1: such of them as knew my case. I could not stand.
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  Speaker 1: I was so weak, having the fever every night, it
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  Speaker 1: being only a fortnight, since I was thought to be expiring.
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  Speaker 1: I imagined they would leave me my daughter and maid
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  Speaker 1: to serve me. End of Chapter nineteen, Athens, Greece, July
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  Speaker 1: of two thousand nine,