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48 - 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 by G. Chillon, Volume two,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information not to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. After these adventures and others
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  Speaker 1: which it will be tissues to reside, I arrived at Versail,
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  Speaker 1: I went to the inn, where I was badly received.
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  Speaker 1: I sent for Father la Combe, whom I thought had
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  Speaker 1: been already apprised of my coming by the ecclesiastic whom
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  Speaker 1: I had sent before, and who would be of so
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  Speaker 1: much service to me. This ecclesiastic was only a little
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  Speaker 1: while arrived. How much better on the road should I
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  Speaker 1: have been feared if I had him with me? Or
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  Speaker 1: in that country they look upon ladies accompanied with ecclesiastics
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  Speaker 1: with veneration, as persons of honor and piety. Father la
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  Speaker 1: Combe came in a strange threat at my arrival, God
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  Speaker 1: so permitting it. He said that everyone would think I
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  Speaker 1: was come after him, and that would injure his reputation,
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  Speaker 1: which in that country was very high. I had no
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  Speaker 1: less pain to go. It was necessity only which had
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  Speaker 1: obliged me to submit to such disagreeable task. The Father
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  Speaker 1: received me with coolness and in such a manner as
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  Speaker 1: let me sufficiently see his sentiments, and indeed redoubled my pain.
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  Speaker 1: I asked him if he required quired me to return,
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  Speaker 1: adding if he did, I would go off that moment. However,
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  Speaker 1: oppressed and spent both with fatigues and fastings, he said
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  Speaker 1: that he did not know how the Bishop o Verseid
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  Speaker 1: would take my arrival, after he had given over all
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  Speaker 1: his expectations of it, and after I had so long
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  Speaker 1: and so obstinately refused the obliging offers he had made me,
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  Speaker 1: since which he no longer expressed any desire to see me.
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  Speaker 1: It seemed to me then, as if I were rejected
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  Speaker 1: from the face of the earth, without being able to
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  Speaker 1: find any refuge, and as if all creatures were combined
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  Speaker 1: to crush me. I passed that night without sleep, not
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  Speaker 1: knowing what course I should be obliged to take, being
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  Speaker 1: persecuted by my enemies, and a subject of disgrace to
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  Speaker 1: my friends. When it was known at the Inn that
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  Speaker 1: I was one of Father la Combe's acquaintance, they treated
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  Speaker 1: me with greatest respect and kindness. They estemed him as
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  Speaker 1: a saint, The father knew not how to tell the
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  Speaker 1: bishop of my arrival, and I felt his pain more
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  Speaker 1: than my own. As soon as that prelate knew that
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  Speaker 1: I was arrived, he sent his niece, who took me
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  Speaker 1: in her coach and carried me to her house. These
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  Speaker 1: things were only done out of ceremony, and the Bishop,
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  Speaker 1: not having seen me yet, knew not what to think
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  Speaker 1: of a journey so very unexpected. After I had tribes refused,
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  Speaker 1: though he sent expresses on purpose to bring me to him,
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  Speaker 1: he was out of humor with me. Nevertheless, as he
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  Speaker 1: was informed that my design was not to stay at Brazil,
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  Speaker 1: but to go to the Marshioness of Prune's house, he
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  Speaker 1: gave orders for me to be well treated. He could
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  Speaker 1: not see me till Easter Sunday was over. He officiated
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  Speaker 1: all day Eve and all that day. After it was over,
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  Speaker 1: he came in a shase to his nicest house to
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  Speaker 1: see me. Though he understood French hardly any better than
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  Speaker 1: I did Italian, he was very well satisfied with the
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  Speaker 1: conversation he had with me. He appeared to have as
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  Speaker 1: much favor for me as he had indifferenced before. He
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  Speaker 1: conceived as strong a friendship for me as if I
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  Speaker 1: had been his sister, and his only pleasure amid his
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  Speaker 1: continual occupations was to come and pass half an hour
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  Speaker 1: with me in speaking of God. He wrote to the
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  Speaker 1: Bishop of Marseilles to thank him for having protected me
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  Speaker 1: in the persecutions there. He wrote to the Bishop of Grenoble,
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  Speaker 1: and he omitted nothing to manifest his regard from me.
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  Speaker 1: He now seemed to think alone of finding out means
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  Speaker 1: to detain me in his diocese. He would not hear
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  Speaker 1: of my going to see the Marchioness of Pronee. On
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  Speaker 1: the contrary, he wrote to her to come and settle
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  Speaker 1: with me in his diocese. He sent Father la Combe
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  Speaker 1: to her on purpose to exhort her to come, assuring
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  Speaker 1: her that you would unite us all to make a congregation.
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  Speaker 1: The Marchioness entered into it readily, and so did her daughter.
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  Speaker 1: They would have come with Father la Combe, but the
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  Speaker 1: Marchioness was sick. The Bishop was active and earnest in
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  Speaker 1: collecting and establishing a society of us, and found several
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  Speaker 1: pious persons and some very devout young ladies who were
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  Speaker 1: all ready to come to join us. But it was
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  Speaker 1: not the will of God to fix me that, but
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  Speaker 1: to crucify me yet more. The fatigue of traveling made
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  Speaker 1: me sick. The girl, also whom I brought from Grenoble,
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  Speaker 1: fell sick. Her relations were covettas took it in their
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  Speaker 1: heads that if she should die in my service, I
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  Speaker 1: would get her to make a will in my favor.
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  Speaker 1: They were much mistaken. Far from desiring the property of others,
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  Speaker 1: I had given up my own. Her brother, full of
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  Speaker 1: this apprehension, came with all speed. The first thing he
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  Speaker 1: spoke to her about, although he found her recovered, was
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  Speaker 1: to make a will that made a great noise in Versil.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted her to return with him, but she refused.
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  Speaker 1: I advised her to do what her brother desired. He
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  Speaker 1: contracted a friendship with some of the officers of the garrison,
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  Speaker 1: to whom he told ridiculous stories as that I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to use his sister. Butly he presented she was a
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  Speaker 1: person of quality. Gave out what I was still afraid
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  Speaker 1: of that I was come after Father la Combe. They
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  Speaker 1: even persecuted him on my account. The bishop was much troubled,
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  Speaker 1: but could not remedy it. The friendship he had for
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  Speaker 1: me increased every day, because as he loved God saw
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  Speaker 1: he did all those whom he thought desired to love God.
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  Speaker 1: As he saw me so much indisposed, he came to
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  Speaker 1: see me with assituity and charity. When at leisure from
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  Speaker 1: his occupations he made me little presents of fruits and
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  Speaker 1: other things. His relations were jealous. They said that I
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  Speaker 1: was come to ruin him, to carry off his money
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  Speaker 1: into France, which was fatherless from my thoughts. The Bishop
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  Speaker 1: patiently bore these effronts, hoping still to keep me his
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  Speaker 1: diocesses when I should be recovered. Father la Combe was
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  Speaker 1: the Bishop's prepent and his confessor. The Bishop esteemed him highly.
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  Speaker 1: God made use of him to convert several of the
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  Speaker 1: officers and soldiers, who, from being men of scandalous lives,
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  Speaker 1: became patrons of piety. In that place everything was mixed
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  Speaker 1: with crosses, but souls were gained to God. There were
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  Speaker 1: some of the friars who, after his example, were advancing
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  Speaker 1: toward perfection. Though I neither understood their language, nor they mine.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord made us understood and each other in what
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  Speaker 1: concerned his service. The director of Jesuits took his time
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  Speaker 1: when Father la Combe was gone out of town to
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  Speaker 1: prove me, as he said he had studied theological matters
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  Speaker 1: which I did not understand. He propounded several questions. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord inspired me to answer him in such a manner
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  Speaker 1: that he went away both surprised and satisfied. He could
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  Speaker 1: not forbear speaking of it. The Barnabites of Paris, or
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  Speaker 1: Father la Month took it in head to try to
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  Speaker 1: draw Father la Combe to go and preach at Paris.
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  Speaker 1: He wrote to the Father General about it, because they
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  Speaker 1: had no one at Paris to support the house, that
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  Speaker 1: they church was deserted. That it was a pity to
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  Speaker 1: leave such a man as Father la Come in a
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  Speaker 1: place where he only corrupted his language. It was necessary
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  Speaker 1: to make his fine talents appear at Paris, where he
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  Speaker 1: himself could not bear the burden of the house if
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  Speaker 1: they did not give him an assistance of such qualifications
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  Speaker 1: and experience. Who would not have thought of this to
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  Speaker 1: be sincere? The Bishop of Versil, who was very much
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  Speaker 1: a friend of Father General, having advised thereof opposed it,
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  Speaker 1: an answered that it would be doing him the greatest
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  Speaker 1: injury to take from him a man who was so
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  Speaker 1: exceedingly useful to him, and at a time when he
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  Speaker 1: had the greatest need of him. The father General of
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  Speaker 1: the Barnabites could not agree to the request of Father
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  Speaker 1: la Month for fear of offending the Bishop of Versil.
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  Speaker 1: As to me, my disposition increased the air which is
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  Speaker 1: there extremely bad, caused me a continual call with frequent
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  Speaker 1: returns of favor. I grew so much worse that it
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  Speaker 1: was thought I could not get over it. The Bishop
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  Speaker 1: was afflicted to Seed, but having consulted the physicians, they
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  Speaker 1: assure him that the air of that place was mortal
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  Speaker 1: to me. Whereupon he said to me, I had rather
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  Speaker 1: have you live though distant from me, than see you
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  Speaker 1: die here. He gave up his design of establish in
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  Speaker 1: his congregation, for my friend would not settle there without me.
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  Speaker 1: The genois lady could not easily leave her own city,
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  Speaker 1: where she was respected. The Genois besought her to set
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  Speaker 1: up there what the Bishop of herself had wanted her
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  Speaker 1: to set up. It was a congregation almost like that
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  Speaker 1: of Madame de Mira Minens. When the Bishop had first
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  Speaker 1: proposed this, however agreeable, it appeared I had a presentiment
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  Speaker 1: that it would not succeed, that it was not what
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  Speaker 1: our law required of me. Though I submissively yield to
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  Speaker 1: the good proposal, were it only to acknowledge the many
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  Speaker 1: special favors of this prelad. I was assured that the
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  Speaker 1: Lord would know well how to prevent what he should
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  Speaker 1: now require of me as this good prelad, So he
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  Speaker 1: must resign himself to let me go. He said to me,
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  Speaker 1: you were willing to be in the Diocese of Geneva,
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  Speaker 1: and there they persecuted and reject you. I, who would
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  Speaker 1: gladly have you, cannot keep you. He wrote to Father
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  Speaker 1: la Manthe that I should go in the spring, as
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  Speaker 1: soon as the weather would permit. He was sorry to
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  Speaker 1: be obliged to let me go, yet he still hoped
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  Speaker 1: to have kept Father la Combe, which probably might have
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  Speaker 1: been had not the death of the Father General given
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  Speaker 1: it another turn. Here it was that I wrote upon
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  Speaker 1: the apocalypse, and that there was given me a greater
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  Speaker 1: certainty of all the persecutions of the most faithful servants
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  Speaker 1: of God. Here also I was strongly moved to write
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  Speaker 1: to Madame de jay. I did it with great simplicity,
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  Speaker 1: and what I wrote was like the first foundation of
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  Speaker 1: what the law required of her. Having been pleased to
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  Speaker 1: make use of me to help to bring her into
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  Speaker 1: his ways, being one to whom I am much united,
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  Speaker 1: and by her to others. The Bishop of Versail's friend,
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  Speaker 1: the Father General of the Barnabites, departed this life as
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  Speaker 1: soon as he was dead. Father la Month wrote to
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  Speaker 1: the Vicar General, who now held his place till another
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  Speaker 1: should be elected, renewing his request to Father la Combe
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  Speaker 1: as an assistant. The father, hearing that I was obliged
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  Speaker 1: on account of my indisposition, to return into France, send
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  Speaker 1: an order to Father la Combe to return to Paris
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  Speaker 1: and to accompany me in my journey. As his doing
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  Speaker 1: that will exempt the house at Paris, already poured from
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  Speaker 1: the expenses of so long a journey. Father la Combe,
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  Speaker 1: who did not penetrate the poison under this fair outside,
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  Speaker 1: consented there too, knowing it was my custom to have
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  Speaker 1: some ecclesiastic with me in traveling, Father la Combe went
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  Speaker 1: off twelve days before me in order to transcend some
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  Speaker 1: business and to wait for me at the passage over
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  Speaker 1: the mountains, as the place where I had most need
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  Speaker 1: of an escort. I set off in land, the weather
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  Speaker 1: then being fine. It was a sorrowful parting to the bishop.
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  Speaker 1: I pitied him. He was so much affected at losing
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  Speaker 1: both Father la Combe and me, he caused me to
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  Speaker 1: be attended at his own expense, as far as to reign,
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  Speaker 1: giving me a gentleman and one of his ecclesiastics to
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  Speaker 1: accompany me. As soon as the resolution was taken that
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  Speaker 1: Father la Combe should accompany me, Father la Month reported
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  Speaker 1: everywhere that he had been obliged to do it. To
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  Speaker 1: make him return into France. He expeciated on the attachment
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  Speaker 1: I had Father la Combe, pretending to pity me. Upon this,
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  Speaker 1: every one said that I ought to put myself under
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  Speaker 1: the direction of Father la Mann. In the meantime, he
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  Speaker 1: deceitfully palliated the malignity of his heart, writing letters full
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  Speaker 1: of esteem to Father la Combe and sum to me
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  Speaker 1: of tenderness, desiring him to bring his dear sister and
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  Speaker 1: to serve her in her infirmities and in the hardships
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  Speaker 1: of so long a journey, that he should be sensibly
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  Speaker 1: obliged to him for his care. With many other things
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  Speaker 1: of the like nature, I could not resolve to depart
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  Speaker 1: without going to see my good friend, the Marchioness of Brune.
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  Speaker 1: Notwithstanding the difficulty of the roads, I caused myself to
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  Speaker 1: be carried it, being scarcely possible to go otherwise on
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  Speaker 1: account of the mountains. She was extremely joyful at seeing
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  Speaker 1: me arrive. Nothing could be more courtial than what passed
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  Speaker 1: between us. It was then that she acknowledged that all
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  Speaker 1: I had told her had come to pass. A good
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  Speaker 1: ecclesiastic who lives with her told me the same. We
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  Speaker 1: made ointments and plasters together, and I gave her the
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  Speaker 1: secret of my ramedies. I encouraged her, so did Father
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  Speaker 1: la Combe, to establish a hospital in that place, which
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  Speaker 1: was done while we were there. I contributed my MND
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  Speaker 1: to it, which has ever been pleased to all the
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  Speaker 1: hospitals which had ever been established in reliance on providence.
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  Speaker 1: I believe I had forgotten to tell that the law
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  Speaker 1: had made use of me to establish one near Grenoble,
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  Speaker 1: which subsists without any other fund than the supplies of providence.
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  Speaker 1: My enemies made use of that afterward to slander me,
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  Speaker 1: saying that I had wasted my children's substance in establishing hospitals,
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  Speaker 1: though far from spending any of their substance, had even
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  Speaker 1: given them my own. All those hospitals have been established
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  Speaker 1: only on the front of divine providence, which is inexhaustible.
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  Speaker 1: But so it has been ordered for my good that
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  Speaker 1: all our Lord has made me to do. His glory
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  Speaker 1: has ever been turned into crosses for me. As soon
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  Speaker 1: as it was determined that I should come into France,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord made known to me that it was to
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  Speaker 1: have greater crosses than I ever had. Father la Combe
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  Speaker 1: had the like sense. He encouraged me to resign myself
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  Speaker 1: to the divine will, to become a victim offered freely
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  Speaker 1: to new sacrifices. He also wrote to me, will it
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  Speaker 1: not be a thing very glorious to God if he
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  Speaker 1: should make us serve in that great city for a
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  Speaker 1: spectacle to angels and to men. I set off then
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  Speaker 1: with a spirit of sacrifice, to offer myself up to
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  Speaker 1: new kinds of punishments, if pleasing to my dear Lord.
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  Speaker 1: All along the road something within me repeated the very
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  Speaker 1: words of Saint Paul. I go bound in the spirit
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  Speaker 1: unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things should befall me there,
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  Speaker 1: save that the Holy Gods witness, saying that bondes and
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  Speaker 1: afflictions abide me. But none of these things moved me,
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  Speaker 1: neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that
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  Speaker 1: I might finish my course with joy, asked twenty verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty two, twenty three, and twenty four. I could not
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  Speaker 1: forbear to testify to it to my intimate friends, who
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  Speaker 1: try hard to prevail on me to stop and not
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  Speaker 1: to proceed. They were all willing to contribute a share
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  Speaker 1: of what they had for my settlement there and to
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  Speaker 1: prevent my coming to Paris. But I found it my
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  Speaker 1: judy to hold on my way and to sacrifice myself
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  Speaker 1: for him who first sacrificed himself for me. Chambery, we
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  Speaker 1: saw Father la Month, who was going to the election
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  Speaker 1: of the Father General. Though he affected an appearance of frenchship,
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  Speaker 1: it was not difficult to discover that his thoughts were
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  Speaker 1: different from his words, and that he had conceived dark
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  Speaker 1: designs against us. I speak not of his intentions, but
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  Speaker 1: to obey the command given me to omit nothing. I
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  Speaker 1: shall necessarily be obliged often to speak of him. I
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  Speaker 1: could wish with all my heart it were in my
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  Speaker 1: power to suppress what I have to say of him.
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  Speaker 1: If what he has done respected only myself, I would
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  Speaker 1: willingly bury all. But I think I owe it to
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  Speaker 1: the truth, and to the innocence of Father la Combe,
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  Speaker 1: so queerly oppressed and grievously crushed, so long by wicked calumnies,
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  Speaker 1: by an imprisonment of several years, which in all probability
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  Speaker 1: would last as long as life. Though Father la monthe
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  Speaker 1: may appear heavily charged in what I say of him,
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  Speaker 1: I protest solemnly and in the presence of God, that
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  Speaker 1: I pass over in silence many of his bad actions.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter eighteen, Athens, Greeks, June of two thousand nine.