Quakerism A-la-Mode OR A HISTORY OF Quietism Particularly That of the Lord Arch-bishop of Cambray and Madam Guyone CONTAINING An Account of her Life her Prophecies and Visions her way of Communicating Grace by Effusion to those about her at Silent Meetings c. ALSO An Account of the Management of that Controversie now depending at Rome betwixt the Arch-bishop of Cambray and the Bishop of Meaux by way of Answer to the Arch-bishop's Book Writ by Messire Jacques Bonignes Bossuel Bishop of Meaux one of the French King 's Privy Council and Published by his Majesty's Authority Done into English from the Original printed at Paris LONDON Printed for J. Narris at the Harrow in Little Brittain and A. Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhill near Stocks market 1698. Price 1 s. THE PREFACE THe Controversie of Quietism which is the Subject of the following Book having made a great Noise in the World and taken up the Conclave of Rome for some Months and nothing having as yet appear'd in English but on the side of the Defendant the Arch bishop of Cambray It is not at all doubted but this Book which is the Bishop of Meaux's History of that Heresie and his Answer to the Arch-bishop of Cambray will meet with a good Reception from the Publick The Church of Rome who hath all along boasted so much of her Vnity must of Necessity forbear now to urge that Plea any more when as it will appear by this Book she is reduc'd to such a strait that either she must condemn the Generality of the Clergy of France or the Arch-bishop of Cambray and divers Persons whom she has Canonized for Saints It will also appear but too too evidently from this Treatise that Quakerism owes its Origine to that Anti-christian Church and that their Opinions are much favoured there at present when such horrid Blasphemies as those the Bishop of Meaux charges upon M. Guyon and her Champion the Arch bishop of Cambray from Letters and Manuscripts under their own Hands continue so long without a Publick Censure whilst at the same time she foments a Raging Persecution against the Protestants in France and hath rais'd a New One against those of Germany A HISTORY OF Quietism SEing my Lord Archbishop of Cambray desires an answer to his demands so precisely and that in this conjuncture none of 'em are more important than those that regard our proceedings which he endeavours by all means possible torender odious whereas he himself pretends always to abound with Charity aud Meekness even to excess If I should delay to satisfie him he would reap too great an advantage from our silence What does he not insinuate against us by these words of his answer to our Declaration The proceedings of those Prelates of whom I have just cause to complain have been such that I have reason to think I should not be believed if I related them and indeed it is fit to conceal the knowledge thereof from the Publick Nothing can be imagined more vigorous and extream than what is included in this discourse wherein by feigning a desire to keep silence he says more than if he spoke out That he may justifie himself to be in the right and make us appear to be in the wrong this Prelate in the first Edition of his Answer lays down this important matter of Fact That he had got it to be proposed to my Lord of Chartres that we should by consent Petition the Pope to order a new Edition of his Book to be regulated by his Divines at Rome so that we should have nothing to do but to rely upon those Divines And a little after I demanded a speedy answer but instead of that I received the Printed Declaration against me We know nothing of this pretended matter of fact My Lord of Chartres will inform the Publick touching his concern But without expecting the confutation of a fact of such importance My Lord of Cambray retracts it himself seeing he would have recalled that Edition though published at Rome by his own order and that in the other which he substitutes in its place he suppresses the whole Article We have in our hands both Editions the one wherein he alledges that matter of fact and the other where it is suppressed and the proof is demonstrative that that Prelate without remembring the facts he alledges writes the most odious things that can come into his Head and at the same time so false that he himself is obliged to retract and suppress them intirely 2. This is enough to let the World see what a fine gloss he would put on his own Conduct and in what frighful Colours he would set off ours His chief aim is to defame me and he is not satisfied to accuse me in all his Letters of a precipitant and imbittered Zeal It is to me that he writes those words You never cease tearing me in pieces and what is still more injurious You every where deplore my Condition and rend me pretending to bewail me He adds What can any one think of those Tears that serve only to give more Authority to the Accusations in the same Letters he says Passion hinders me from seeing what is before my Eyes and the excess of my prejudice bereaves me of all exactness I am says he the Author of the Accusation against his Book I am that unmerciful Man who not being able to glut my fury by the indirect and ambitious Censure contained in our Declaration redouble my blows upon him in particular And adds That when come to my self again I make use of smooth words to call him a second Molinos an expression that never came out of my Mouth this Prelate knows himself that I have always distinguished betwixt him and Molinos in their Conduct and also in certain Consequences though he has advanced all his principles But here are more particular Accusations 3. I do not comprehend at all says he the Conduct of Monsieur de Meaux On one hand he inslames himself with indignation for to hear him speak I am never compos ment is c. Inflames himself I say with indignation when any one seems but to doubt whether there may not be something of Evidence in Md. Guyons System On the other hand he gives her the Communion himself he authorises her in the daily use of the Sacraments and when she leaves Meaux he gives her a full attestation without requiring any act from her whereby she may formally recant any Error Whence then can so much severity and so much remisness proceed 4. These are the reproaches we have under the Hand of My Lord of Cambray in a writing still extant He knows well enough to whom he directed it and we shall have occasion to speak of it hereafter Every thing is untrue in the place just now mentioned He would not be so just as to say that I gave the Communion once only to Madam Guyon and to observe in the mean time that it
1693. when this was proposed to me Now to divine why they imparted that Secret to me whether it was one of those Sentiments of Trust God puts when he pleases into the Hearts of Men to bring about his hidden Designs or whether they only thought that in the present conjuncture some protector or other must be look'd for amongst the Bishops This I say is beyond my reach I won't use Arguments I I design only to relate Matters of Fact which as in the sight of God I have as fresh in my Memory as the first day and know them also by the Writings concerning them I have in my Hands I am naturally afraid to incumber my self with Business to which I have not a manifest Call What happens in the Flock committed to my Charge notwithstanding my Unworthiness does not give me much Trouble I put confidence in the Holy Ministry and the Divine Vocation As for that time when they proposed to me to examine that Matter they repeated so often that it was the Will of God and that Madam Guyon desiring nothing else but to be taught a Bishop in whom she trusted could not well refuse her the Instruction she demanded with so much Humility that at last I yielded I soon knew it was the Abbot of Fenclon who had given that Counsel and I thought it a happiness to find such a natural occasion offer of explaining my self with him God would have it so I spoke to Madam Guyon all her Books were delivered to me and not only the Printed ones but also the Manuscripts as her Life which she had written in a great Volume some Commentaries upon Moses Joshua Judges the Gospel the Epistles of St. Paul the Revelations and several other Books of Scripture I took them with me to my Diocess whether I was agoing I read them with attention I made large Extracts of them as are usually made of a Subject by one who is to judge of it I wrote down at length with my own Hand her very words and marked the pages and in four or five months I fitted my self to pronounce the Judgment that was demanded of me 2. I never would take upon me neither to hear the Confession of that Lady nor to direct her though she propos'd it to me but only to declare my sentiments of her of prayer and of the Doctrine of her Books making use in the mean time of the liberty she gave me to command or forbid her in that matter as God whose light I continually begg'd should be pleas'd to inspire me 3. The first occasion I had to make use of that power was this I met with an account in the Life of that Lady that God did give her such abundance of grace that she burst out with it in a Literal sense so that they were fain to unlace her She did not forget to take notice that a Dutchess once on a time perform'd that Office for her in that condition they often laid her upon her Bed and many times if they did but stay and sit by her they receiv'd the grave of which she was full and that was the only way to ease her She said moreover in express words that those graces were not for her that she had no need of them being full of grace otherwise and that this superabundance was for others I lookt upon this immediately as haughty new and unheard of and therefore at least very suspicious and my heart that had a continual loathing of the Doctrine of the Books I read was not able to brook that manner of giving grace For if you take it distinctly it was neither by her prayers nor admonitions she gave it there was no need of any thing else but to sit by her to receive an immediate effusion of that fulness of grace being struck with so amazing a thing I wrote from Meaux to Paris to that Lady forbidding her as God did by my mouth to use that new way of communicating graces until she were further examin'd I was willing to proceed moderately in every thing and to connemn nothing absolutely before I had seen all 4. That part of the Life of Md. Guyon is of too great consequence to be lest doubtful therefore I shall give the explanation of it in her own words Those says she that the Lord has given me this is the stile all over the Book my true Children have a tendency to keep silence by me I discover their need and communicate to them in God what they want they feel very well what they receive and what is communicated to them with fulness A little after There 's no more to be done but to sit by me in silence Therefore that communication is called the communication in silence without speaking and writing it is the Language of the Angles that of the Word which is but an eternal silence Such as sit thus by her are nourished says she inwardly by the grace which I communicate in fulness as they did receive the grace around her I felt my self says she to empty and be eas'd by degrees every one receiv'd their grace according to their degree of prayer and fel by being near me that fulness of grace brought by Jesus Christ It was like a Sluce that over-runs with abundance They did feel themselves filled and for my part I felt my self to be emptied and to be eas'd of my fulness My Soul was represented to me like one of those torrents that fall from the Mountains with unconceivable swift 5. What she tells with particular care is as has been said that there is nothing for her self in that fulness of grace she repeats every where that all was full there was nothing empty in her She was as a Nurse that bursts out with Milk but takes none at all for her self I am Says she for these many years in a state that seems equally naked and empty and for all that I am very full A water that fills a Pool to the brink as long as you see it keep within bounds it affords uothing by which its fulness may be distinguished but if a superabundance be added it must either discharge it self or burst out I never feel any thing for my self but when they stir at any time that Fund which is inwardly full and calm that causes the fulness to be felt with so much excess that it gushes out upon the sense It is continues she an overflowing of the fulness a gushing out of a Well always full for such Souls as have need to draw the Waters of that fulness It is the Divine Cistern whence the Children of Wisdom draw incessantly what they stand in need of Being at a time in one of those excesses of fulness having some person about her and a Woman said that she was fuller than usually I told them said she I should die of fulness and that my senses were so overwhelmed by it as I should burst It was upon this occasion that the Dutchess she mentions
What we most frequently meet with in that Book and in all her other Books is that this Lady was without Error This is the mark she gives every where of her state intirely united to God and of her Apostleship but though her Errors were infinite that which I took notice of most was that which concerned the exclusion of all desires and of all petitioning for ones self by resigning up our selves to the Will of God how secret soever it be in respect either of our Damnation or Salvation This is the Reigning Doctrine in all that Ladies Printed Books and Manuscripts and upon which I examined her in a long Conference I had with her privately I shewed her in her Writings and caused it to be repeated to her several times That every Petition for ones self carried some interest along with it contrary to pure Love and conformity to the will of God and at last very precisely that she could not ask any thing for her self What said I to her can't you ask nothing for your self No answered she I cannot She was much perplexed about the Petitions of the Lords Prayer I said to her What cannot you beg of God the remission of your Sins No replied she Well said I to her again immediately I whom you make the Judge of your way of Prayer I 〈◊〉 you as God does by my Mouth to say after me Lord I beseech thee forgive me my Sins I can said she well enough repeat those words but to make the sentiment thereof enter into my Heart is against my way of silent Prayer It was then that I declared to her that I could no more allow her the use of the Holy Sacraments whilst she entetained such Doctrine and that her Proposition was Heretical She promised me four or five times to receive instructions and to submit to it and this was the end of our Conference It was hâ—ld in the beginning of the year 1694 as I can easily justifie by the Dates of the Letters relating thereunto Soon after this was followed by another more important Conference with the Abbot of Fenelon in his Appartment at Versailles I entred into the same full of confidence that by shewing him in Madam Guyons Books all the Errors and Excesses just now mentioned he would agree with me that she was deceived and was in a state of delusion All the answer I had was that seeing she had submitted as to the Point of Doctrine the Person must not be condemned As for all the other Excuses those prodigious communications of grace as for what she said of her self of the height of her graces of the state of her eminent sanctity that she was the Woman with Child in the Revelations her to whom it was given to bind and to unbind the Corner Stone and the rest of that Nature he told me that it was the practising what St. Paul says Try the Spirits as for the great things she said of her self it was a magnanimity in her not inferior to that of S. Paul when he recounts all his gifts and that it was that very thing that must be tried God gave me quit other sentiments Her submission did not render her form of silent prayer good but gave us only hope that she should be brought back into the right way The rest appeared to me manifest delusions that there was no need of any other proof but only a plain relation of the matter of fact I intimated my Opinion with all imaginable freedom but at the same time with all possible meekness fearing nothing so much as to exasperate him whom I design'd to bring again into the good way I withdrew astonished to find a man of such fine wit admiring a Woman whose light was so short her merit so little and her delusions so palpable The tears I poured out then in the sight of God were none of those wherewith my Lord of Cambray upbraids me now you shed tears for me and you tear me in pieces I design'd nothing else but to conceal what I saw without opening my mind to any but to God alone and hardly could I believe it my self Nay I wish'd I had been able to hide it from my self I as it were felt my self trembling and afraid at every step lest I should fall as well as a person of so much light yet I did not lose courage but comforted my self from the experience of so many great Spirits whom God hath humbled for a little while to make them afterwards walk more stedfastly and I applied my self so much the more to undeceive the Abbot of Fenelon because they whom we had instructed were under his Charge 21. A little after this Conference I wrote a long Letter to Madam Guyon wherein I explained my self upon the difficulties just now mentioned reserving some of them for a larger examination I markt all my own Sentiments as I have just now represented them not forgetting those prodigious communications nor the Authority of binding and unbinding her Visions upon the Revelations and the other things I have related My Letter is of the 4th of March 1694. her Answer that follows upon it is very submissive and justifies all the matters of fact I have advanc'd as to the Contents of the Books She accepted my Advice to retire neither to be seen or to write to any body otherwise than about her business I did much esteem the docible Temper that appeared in her Letter and I applied all my attention to the disabusing the Abbot of Fenelon as to a person whose Conduct was so strange Sect. 3. The second part of the Relation containing what passed betwixt Mr. de Chaalons and Mr. Tronson and my self 1. VVHilst I was taken up with these thoughts and labouring betwixt hope and fear Madam Guyon turned the examination to quite another thing than what it was at first She took it in her head to have the accusations brought against her Morals and the disorders that were imputed to her examined Upon this she wrote to that future Protectress whom she thought to have seen in her Prophecy beseeching her to beg of the King that some Commissioners should be appointed with power to inform themselves to pronounce Judgment upon her Life The Copy she sent me of her Letter that which she joyned to it shew by their Dates that this happened in June 1694. This was a design to fulfil her Predictions and for that end Mad. Guyon gave a specious turn to the thing dexterously in sinuating that she must be cleared of the Crimes she was accused of without which they would enter upon the examination of her Doctrine with too much prejudice But it is not so easie a matter to surprize an enlightned Piety It was soon perceiv'd by the Mediatress she had chosen that this Proposal of the Commissiners besides other inconveniences shot wide of the Mark which was to begin by examining the Doctrines contained in her Wrirings they had in hand and in the Books
where with the Church was overflowed and so the Proposal dropt off it self Madam Guyon yielded and then demanded by her Friends the thing in the World that was most agreeable to me viz. that to put an end to an examination of a thing of that importance wherein the matter of Question must be throughly canvass'd and a sort of prayer so pernicious abolished if possible I should be associated with Mr. de Chaalons now Archbishop of Paris and Mr. Tronson superior General of the Congregation of St. Sulpice The Letter by which Madam Guyon acquaints me with this step makes out to the full all the reasons that induced her to submit to those two Gentlemen and to my self The last of 'em was unknown to me except by his reputation But the Abbot of Fenelon and his Friends had a particular confidence in him As for Mr. de Chaalons it is known with what holy friendship he and I have always been united He was also an intimate Friend to the Abbot of Fenelon With such Collegues I hoped to compass all things The King was acquainted with the thing so far as it related to Madam Guyon only and approved of it The Archbishop of Paris has explained what was written to him upon that account and what he answered The Books I had seen were delivered to those persons The Abbot of Fenelon begun then very privately to write upon that matter The Writings he sent us augmented every day and without naming in them Madam Guyon or her Books every thing he wrote tended to maintain or to excuse them The thing really in question was those Books and they made the sole Subject of our Meetings The silent prayer of Madam Guyon was that M. de Fenelon was for and perhaps 't was his own in a particular manner That Lady did not forget her self and during seven or eight month that we applied our selves to so serious a discussion she sent us fifteen or sixteen big Bundles which I have still to make a parallel betwixt her Books the holy Fathers Divines and the Spiritual Authors All this was attended with proffers of entire submission The Abbot of Fenelon took the trouble with some of his Friends to come to Iby a house belonging to the Seminary of Sr. Sulpice where we were obliged to hold our Conference because of the infirmities of Mr. Tronson They all desired that we would enter upon that examination throughly and protested they would refer all to our Judgment Madam Guyon testified the same submission by Letters full of respect and afterwards our only care was to terminate that Affair very privately so as to prevent all suspicion of any dissention in the Church 2. We began to read with more Prayers than Study and with Groans God knows for all the Writing they sent us especially those of the Abbot of Fenelon To compare all the passages and often to read over again whole Books how tedious and laborious soever the reading thereof might be The long extracts I have by me shew what attention we gave to an Affair wherein really the Church was so nearly concerned seeing the thing in question was no less than to hinder the revival of Quietism which we saw again appearing in the Kingdom by the Writings of Madam Guyon which were spread over all 3. We look upon it as the greatest misfortune of all that she had the Abbot de Fenelon for her Defender His Wit his Eloquence His Vertue the place he filled and those he was designed for Engaged us to labour with utmost diligence to reclaim him We could not despair of success for although he wrote to us things that we must own made us afraid the memory where of is as fresh to those persons as to me he mixed them with so many testimonies of submission that we could not perswade our selves that God would deliver him up to a Spirit of Error The Letters he wrote to me during the examination of this Book and before we had come to a Final Resolution breathed out nothing but obedience and tho he surrendred himself entirely to those Gentlemen I must own here that beside my being the President of the Conference he semmed to address himself to me with so particular a freedom because we had been long used to treat together of the Theological matters in dispute One of those Letters was conceived in the following terms 4. I receive my Lord with great acknowledgement the kindness you shew me I can't but see that you are willing out of Charity to to settle my Heart in Peace But I confess it seems to me that you are somewhat afraid to give me a true and perfect security in my State When ever you please I shall acquaint you as to my Confessor with whatever may be comprized in a General Confession of my whole Life and of all that regards my inward State When I besought you to tell me the truth and not to spare me it was neither formal Complement nor a trick to discover your sentiments If I had a mind to use Art it should be in other things and we should not have come to this pass I never desired any thing but what I will ever wish that is if it be Gods will that I may know the Truth I am a Priest I owe all to the Church and nothing to my self nor to my personal Reputation I declare to you still my Lord That I wont abide in Error one moment through my own fault If I don't abandon it without delay I declare it is you who are the cause of it seeing you determine nothing to me I do not value my place but I am ready to leave it if I am rendred unworthy of it by my my Errors I summon you in the Name of God and for the Love you have to the truth to tell it me in the utmost severity I shall go and hide my self and do Pennance the remaining part of my Days after having abjured and recanted the Erronious Doctrine that has seduced me But if my Doctrine be innocent do not keep me in suspence out of some Humane Respect To you it appertains to instruct with Authority those that are scandalized because they know not the Operations of God in the Soul You know with what confidence I have delivered my self to you and applied my self without intermission that you should not be Ignorant of my strongest perswasions There remains nothing for me to do but to obey For it is not the Man or the most Grand Doctor that I esteem in you it is God And though you should mistake your self my simple and upright obedience shall not deceive me and I account it as nothing to mistake when I do it with Vprightness and Humility under the hand of those who have Authority in the Church Once more my Lord if you doubt never so little of my decible Temper withou reserve be pleased to put it to the proof without spairing me Although your mind is more enlightned than that
makes wonderful Arguments upon his Conduct Is it that I was meek and fearful when I signed the thirty four Propositions they may judge of that by my present Resolution Is it that I have refused out of Self-conceit and a Factious Spirit to approve the Book of M. de Meaux they may judge of that by my readiness to Sign the thirty four Propositions To what purpose are his Arguments when Matters of Fact speak Those Matters of Fact shew a Rule and a more simple and natural way to judge of his Change of Conduct It is in a word to be Arch-bishop or not to observe Measures before his being made so and to keep none when the Business is consummated 23. He Values himself much upon Readiness to suffer M. Guyon to be condemned confined fined and loaden with Reproaches without saying so much as one word to justifie her to excuse her or to sweeten her Condition We must not yet argue too much on this Point It is naturally and plainly thus that M. Guyon by her ill Doctrine and her rash Conduct for it was not then throughly div'd into was become so ridiculous and odious that the Prudence and Precaution of the Abbot de Fenelon even since he was made Arch-bishop of Cambray did not permit him to expose himself in vain What do I say to expose himself to lose his good Name utterly by upholding her and that there was no other way for one that would defend her but to take indirect Methods 24. It is what appears to us in all his Writings that he had secretly undertook to defend her Thus that he defends her to this very day in maintaining the Book of the Maximes of the Saints He lays down now as he did then all the Principles he can to uphold her If by his Knowledge he covers her Doctrine if he mittigates it in some places that way of Teaching it is so much the more dangerous In fine we could not excuse him then but by his extream Submission the Proof whereof we have been constrained to give by his own Letters and we had not lost those Hopes of him but by the Publication of his Book of which we must now speak SECTION VI. Of the History of the Book 1. THat Book that ought to have been so well Concerted with my Lord of Paris and M. Tronson As for me I was one to whom he would no more hearken That Book I say wherein he had engaged himself as has been said not to put any thing but what was Corrected and approved by them appeared at last on a sudden in February 1697. without the least Mark of any such Approbation The Arch-bishop of Paris has explain'd himself to the Arch-bishop of Cambray how that Book appeared against his Advice and against the formal Word M. de Cambray had given him As for me who restrict my self wholly to what is publick on that Head I shall only Observe that not to find the Arch-bishop of Paris's Approbation at the Head of that Book is the same in my Opinion as the Refusal of it seeing that according to the Obligations M. de Cambray had taken upon him he ought to have demanded it Let us not then any more speak of mine which was no less necessary seeing I was one of the two Prelates whose Principles he promised to explain We must not forget that Authentick Promise in the Advertisement of M. de Cambray There was publish'd a Book that was to decide such Nice Matters to distinguish so exactly betwixt the true and the false to take away all Equivocations and to reduce the Expressions to the utmost rigour of the Theological Language and by that means to serve as a Rule to all Spirituality We saw I say that Book appear without any Approbation not so much as of those from whom it was most Necessary and whose Approbation he had promised to take 2. It is in vain to Answer that M. de Cambray had 't is true promised to speak nothing but what M. de Paris should approve of but not to take his Approbation in Writing for 't is not the Custom to prove an Approbation by a Chimerical Matter of Fact It must be shewed in Writing and Signed especially when he of whom he takes it is concerned in the Case as the Arch-bishop of Paris was manifestly so in the New Book seeing he promised in the Preface of his Book that he would explain his Doctrine 3. So M. de Cambray ventured at He that chose rather to dye than to present the Publick with so scandalous a Scene as to contradict me exposes himself likewise to contradict the Arch-bishop of Paris and to set the whole Church in a Combustion He had rather indeed expose himself and did it accordingly than with his Friends with his Fellow-Bishops not to say with them he had Chosen for Arbitrators of his Doctrine whilst on our part we offered to Concert all things with him and did so accordingly and put our Compositions into his Hands He has broke all Union out of an eager desire to give Laws to the Church and to furnish Excuse to M. Guyon nor can he endure to be told that he alone is the Cause of Division among the Bishops and of the Scandal of Christendom 4. He would have it forgot how speedy and universal an Opposition was made to his Book The Town the Court the Sorbonne the Monasteries the Learned the Ignorant Men Women yea all Orders without exception shewed their Indignation not against the Proceedings for they were known but to few and indeed to no body throughly but against the boldness of such an ambitious decision against the refinedness of the Expressions the strangeness unprofitableness and the ambiguity of that unheard of Doctrine It was then that the Publick Noise convey'd to the Sacred Ears of the King what he had so carefully conceal'd He heard it from an hundred Persons that M. Guyon had met with a Protector in his Court in his Family one that waited upon the Princes his Children And with what Displeasure we may judge by the Piety and the Prudence of that great Prince We were the last that spoke of it every body knows the just Reproaches we underwent from the Mouth of so good a Master for having concealed from him what we knew with which you may be sure he charg'd our Consciences Yet M. de Cambray in such a general dissatisfaction only complained of us and when we were constrained to excuse our selves for having served him too much and that we must lastly begg Pardon for our Silence that hád saved him he made and contrived the most strange Accusations that could be against us 5. Did I alone raise up the Publick what my Cabal my Emissaries shall I dare to say so I can say it with Confidence and before the Sun the most simple of all Men I would say the most incapable of all Cunning and of all Dissimulation as one who never found Credit but
Guide of that Author and of touching only upon the 68 Propositions as if they were the only Subject of the Condemnation of the Holy See without comprizing that Book therein 13. As for the person adds he whose Books the Prelates have censured I have already given an Account to the Pope my Superior of what I thought thereupon Who does not see that this is to shift off the essential point is it in vain that St. Peter had said That we must be ready to give an Account of our Faith not only to a Superior but to all those that desire it What would it have been for M. de Cambray to explain himself to the whole Church without affecting to spare and uphold M. Guyon But yet let us see what Account he has given to the Pope of his Sentiments upon the Books of that Woman I do not repeat it says he my Letter being made publick There is no Letter publick but that wherein he says to the Pope That there are some certain small Books censured by the Bishops some places whereof in the sense that naturally offer'd were condemnable You see all the Account he gives to the Pope of those Books that are pernicious throughout and not to be countenanced in any sense because what is read in them is pernicious and what he conjectures is to be found in them is forced and not sufficient 14. One may also observe here his affectation of naming to the Pope only Molinos and not M. Guyon It is true he hath set down in the Margin of the Letter to the Pope the short Method c. with the Explication of the Song of Songs But after the Liberty M. de Cambray has taken to say that they have inserted what they would in his Text who shall hinder him from disowning a Marginal Note the Text whereof is insignificant and whatsoever happens he will come off with condemning some places only in those Books whilst he spares the bottom which is wholly corrupted and besides he condemning them only in that pretended severe sense for which he is surety that it never came into the Author's Mind 15. He does not satisfie the publick any thing more in adding these Words I shall do on this point as on all others what the Pope will judge fit for what was he to expect since the Centure of Rome in the Year 1689. do we not see that M. de Cambray who has so long after defended that Book designs still to shift off the Condemnation thereof by deferring it So that Letter which he hath made publick does visibly say nothing at all therefore M. de Cambray would fain have us to believe that he has written a more secret and express Letter to the Pope It is for this reason that in the second Edition of his Answer he has supprest these Words My Letter is made publick and he would have recall'd the Edition wherein they were because we saw there very plainly that as to the Books of M. Guyon he was meerly for shifting off and never for explaining himself 16. He does more than keep silence M. de Paris has demonstrated that his Book of the Maxims is only a faint Mittigation a dexterous and artificial Justification of the Books of M. Guyon M. de Cambray has only covered over with fine Colours the Exclusion of the Hope and of the Desire of Salvation with that of Jesus Christ and of the Divine Persons in pure Contemplation and all the other Excesses of that Woman It is visibly her interior Life that this Prelate designed to describe and that he would palliate her manifest Failings in his 39 Articles it is what is found in her Life where she speaks of her self in this manner Souls of inferior degrees will often appear more perfect Then they find themselves soremote from the rest of Men and they think so differently from 'em that their Neighbour becomes insupportable Here 's a new Wonder to find themselves so much above other Men that the Eminency of Perfection which induces us to look upon our Neighbours with the most tender Condescension should hinder us from enduring them But the Wonder of Wonders is this We feel adds he in the new Life that We cover the exterior part by apparent Weaknesses So that among the Failings which she can neither overcome nor cover she flatters by those haughty Excuses the hidden Complaisance that makes her to turn her Weakness into Pride and by the same means M. de Cambray entertains the Admiration of the just that know her 17. What signifies these fine Discourses in the Maxims of the Saints upon Souls that pretend to be perfect They speak of themselves out of pure Obedience simply well or ill as they would speak of another Who does not see that they were design'd as Excuses for the Enormous Boastings of a Woman that gave out she was endued with a Prophetick and Apostolick Spirit with Power to bind and unbind so full of Grace as to over-flow and with a perfection so eminent that she could not endure the rest of Men when such Excesses discover themselves the Excuse is ready for it in the Book of M. de Cambray M. Guyon spoke of her self as she would have spoke of another she spoke out of Obedience to Father Lacombe her Director to whom she addresses her Life wherein are found all those things which have been related 18. Father Lacombe was he that was given her in a particular and wonderful manner if he was become her spiritual Father she had first been his Mother it was he alone to whom she communicated Grace tho' afar off with all the tenderness that she represents in her Life to that degree as to feel her self constrained that it might evaporate to tell him sometimes O my Son you are my beloved Son in whom alone I am well pleased God had notwithstanding given her in her Prison and as the Fruit of her Labours another Man far more intimate than Father Lacombe and how great soever her Union might be with that Father that she was to have with the latter was quite another thing As to that I will not conjecture any thing I relate here only that of her Life to shew that the false Mystery is continued and that we are not come to the end of the Delusions that we are to expect from that Woman 19. In the mean while that Father Lacombe is the Author of the Analysis condemned at Rome and since by several Bishops The Circumstances of his Intimacy with that Woman have been known of the late Bishop of Geneva of holy Memory John d' Aranthon And the History thereof is become publick in the Life of that holy Bishop which the Learned and pious general of the Carthusians has published The time is come when the pleasure of God is that this Union should be entirely discovered I shall say nothing more of it but shall content my self to describe the Person by whose Order M. Guyon wrote her
not having in him such a Principle of Habitual Charity nor any thing that unites him to God by the Rule of M. de Cambray tho' he may do never so much he always sinneth mortally 17. So the New Explications being side-ways go off more and more from the Truth to enter into them was to throw one's self into a Labyrinth of Errors which is not yet finished The Author writes no Books without producing some Novelty against sound Divinity He seemed to have rejected the involuntary he had admitted in the Trouble of the Holy Soul of Jesus Christ but it is clearer than the day that in his last Writings he re-establishes that impious Doctrine I have made a Demonstration of it which I don't repeat that is to say he walks without Rule and Principle according as his present Occasions push him 18. It is evident by such Matters of Fact as these that we could not receive his Explications It is therefore likewise evident that we could not but reject the Book nor be hindered from disowning publickly the Author who had publickly ascribed to us the Doctrine of it For what could we do or what could M. de Cambray advise us to hold our Peace it is to consent It is failing in an essential part of the Episcopal Function all the Grace whereof consists in speaking the Truth It is so opposing our selves to the Sentence of Pope St. Hosmidas Ipse impellet in Errorem qui non instruit ignorantes He drives the Simple into Error who does not Instruct them Especially in such a Case wherein you are appeal'd to as a Witness and your Name made use of to deceive them What then shall we speak it is what we have done with all simplicity in our Declaration But say they it is an anticipated Censure Not at all it is a Necessary Declaration of our Sentiments when we are forced to speak them out What obliged M. de Cambray to explain our Articles without our Consent to Cite us in our own Names and lastly to make us believe that his Book where we found so many Errors was but a more large Explication of our own Doctrine is he allowed to undertake whatever he pleases and must we keep silent tho' he goes on against us These are not meer Pretexts they are Reasons clearer than the Sun M. de Cambray is no less unjust when he says that we have denounced him Sincerity would oblige him to acknowledge that he denounced himself by his Letter to the Pope when he desires him to judge of his Book No Body had accused him it is he who did himself the Honour to bring the Business before the Pope We approved of his Submission but we could not dissemble that it was without consenting to his Doctrine 19. Why says he did you send your Declaration to Rome The answer is ready in every one's Mind It is because his Book had been sent thither that he himself had sent it thither and that he wrote to the Pope that this Book contained no other thing but our Doctrine Does Sincerity allow any Man to dissemble in things so clear but the thing is he had a mind to complain tho' he had no reason for it 20. These Complaints are confuted by one word only they tend only to this to say that we had a mind to ruine M. de Cambray God knows the contrary But without calling so great a Witness the thing speaks of of it self Before his Book appeared we conceal'd his Errors so far as to endure the Reproaches you have heard of already When the Books appear'd he had already ruined himself enough If we have been willing to ruine him he concurred with us by raising up all the World against him by his ambitious Decisions and by filling his Book with Errors so palpable and with so many unexcusable Excesses 21. When he upbraids us and me in particular as if he had proposed it to us that we should by a common Letter beseech the Pope to order our Question to be judged without Noise by his Divines and in the mean time to keep silence First he tells a thing of which I never heard one Word and so false that he himself suppresses the chief Circumstances as has been seen from the beginning of this Relation It is besides true that the Proposal was impracticable What he had imputed to us as to his Doctrine was made publick in his Advertisement in the Book of the Maxims of the Saints He had reiterated it without asking our Consent as he owns it and he repeated therein once or twice that his Doctrine was conformable to ours Therefore our Conscience obliged us to disown it as publickly as we had been appeal'd to as Witnesses of it In the third place we made no question of the Falshood of his Doctrine We held it determinately to be evil and not to be countenanced This was not a particular Affair between M. de Cambray and us It was the Cause of the Truth and the Concern of the Church which we could not take upon our selves alone nor treat it as a private Quarrel which M. de Cambray would have been at Then suppose he persisted invincibly as he has done to impuâ—e unto us his Thoughts and would never retract it We should not save our selves but by declaring our Sentiments to all the World This Declaration remained naturally submitted to the Pope as all Particulars in matters of Faith do and presenting it to him was as much as to submit it to him but in the mean time we discharg'd our Conscience and as much as we could we rejected the Errors which our Silence might have confirm'd SECTION VIII Vpon Gentle Methods and Amicable Conferences IF it be said that we should have tried all ways of Mildness before we had come to a Solemn Declaration this we did also The Arch-bishop of Paris has demonstrated it so clearly for himself and for us that I should have nothing to add upon that Fact were it not for the particular Accusations whereby they attack me 2. But if any one has a Mind to be satisfied by his own Eyes as to the fairness of my Conduct let him but read the Writing I addressed to M. de Cambray before the sending of our Declaration If the Reader thinks it tedious to be referred to other Writings and would find all in this here 's in short what I said That after so many Writings we must take a shorter way and where also we may explain our selves more precisely which is a Conference Viva Voce that this way was always used and even by the Apostles as the most efficacious and gentle to agree about any thing this being often proposed him I did again propose it my self by writing upon condition to put far away from me all manner of Contention and to be declared an Enemy of Peace if on my side it was not amicable and respectful As for what he seemed to fear my quickness as he called it I
Every Bishop ought to give an Account in Convenient time of what the Disposition of the Divine Providence has put in his Hand Therefore I have been constrained to explain that the Arch-bishop of Cambray a Man of that Dignity is fallen into that unhappy Mystery and has made himself the Defender tho' by indirect ways of that Woman and her Books 2. He will not say that he knew not that prodigious and non-sensical Communication of Graces nor so many pretended Prophecies nor the pretended apostolical Mission of that Woman when he has suffer'd her according to his own Confession to be esteemed by so many great Persons who put a Confidence in him as to Matters of Conscience He had then suffer'd a Woman to be esteemed who Prophesied according to the Delusions of her Heart His great Intimacy with that Woman was grounded upon her Spirituality and this was the only Bond of their Correspondence This is what we have seen writ with his own Hand after which we have no reason to be amazed at his having undertaken the Defence of her Books 3. It was to defend them that he wrote so many Memoirs before those that were chosen Arbitrators nor is it necessary for me to represent the long Extracts of 'em I have yet by me seeing the substance of 'em is to be found in the Book of the Maxims of the Saints 4. That he might have a Pretext for defending those pernicious Books the Text whereof he himself thought could not be maintained he must have recourse to a hidden sense which that Woman has discover'd to him he must say that he has explained those Books better than the Books explained themselves the Sense that naturally offers is not the true Sese It is but a rigorous Sense which he assures us she never thought on so that to understand them well we must read the thoughts of their Author we must guess what is known to M. of Cambray only and judge of Words by Words by Sentiments and not of Sentiments by Words The most non-sensical in the Books of that Woman is a Mystical Language for which the Prelate is our Security that her Errors are meer Equivocations her Excesses are innocent Exagerations like unto those of the Fathers and of approved Mysticks 5. These are the Thoughts of this great Prelate touching the Books of M. Guyon after having if we may beleive him examin'd them unto the utmost rigor this is what he has writ with his own hand some time before the publishing of his Book and after so many Censures we have not for all that been able to draw from him a real Condemnation of those Evil Books On the contrary it was to save them that he spared the Guide of Molinos which is the Original of them 6. Yet notwithstanding all the Mittigations in the Book of the Maxims of the Saints we may still find therein M. Guyon and Molinos too weakly dignified not to be known and if I say further that the Work of an Ignorant and Enthusiastical Woman and that of M. de Cambray have manifestly one and the same Design I shall say no more after all but what appears of it self 7. I shall not say it but after having tried to the utmost what Meekness and Charity could do we us'd no Tricks as to the Submission of M. Guyon We admitted them with a well-meaning mind I shall make use of this Word and presuming always on her Sincerity and Obedience we consulted the Honour of her Name of her Family of her Friends and of her Person as much as was possible nothing has been omitted to convert her and nothing was censured but her Errors and ill Books 8. As for the Arch-bishop of Cambray we have but too well justified our selves by the undeniable matters of Fact contain'd in this Relation as to my own particular I am justify'd more than I wish I were But in order to confute all the unjust Reproaches of that Prelate we were under a Necessity not only to discover part of the matter of Fact but to have the whole as far as the Source By which if I may say so it appears from the beginning that we have endeavoured to follow the motions of that Meek and Patient Charity which neither suspects nor thinks any evil Our Silence was insuperable till M. de Cambray declared himself by his Book Nay we had Patience to the utmost so that notwithstanding his obstinate Refusal of all Conference we did not declare our selves 'till the Extremity Where will he fix the Jealousie he accuses us of without Proof and if we must clear our selves of so mean a Passion what were we jealous of in the New Book of that Arch-bishop Did we envy him the Honour of defending and setting forth M. Guyon and Molinos with fine Colours Did we bear an Envy to the Style of an ambiguous Book or to the Credit it gave to its Author whose Glory on the contrary was thereby buried I am ashamed for the Friends of M. de Cambray who make Profession of Piety and yet have without any ground published every where and even as far as Rome that some private Interest has set me at Work How strong soever the Reasons be which I could produce in my Defence God puts no other Answer into my Heart but that the Defenders of the Truth as they ought to be free from all self-interest they ought no less to be above the fear of that Reproach to be accounted self-interested Persons However I am not against their believing that Interest has provok'd me against that Book if so be that there is nothing worthy of Reproof in its Doctrine nor any thing that may be favourable to the Woman whose Delusions must be made manifest God has permitted that against my Will they should put into my Hands those Books that are Evidences of it God was willing that the Church should in the Person of a Bishop a living Witness of that Prodigy of Error It is only invincible Necessity obliges me to discover it when they continue so wilfully blind in their Error as to force me to declare all When not being satisfied to triumph they will needs insult When God on the other hand discovers so many things that were kept secret I take great care not to impute to M. de Cambray any other Design but that which he has discovered by his Hand-writing by his Book by his Answers and by several undeniable matters of Fact This is enough and too much that he should be so open a Protector of a Woman that prophesies and who proposes to her self the seducing of the whole Universe If they say this is too hard against a Woman whose Errors seem to be the effect of madness I will grant it if that madness be not a pure Fanaticism and if the Spirit of Seducing did not work in that Woman and if this Priscilla has not met her Montanus to defend her 9. If in the mean time the Weak are scandalized
Orders than he the simplicity of my Sentiments conformable to those of the Church and the Person I was to act gave me that confidence M. de Chaalons was desired to be one of the Assistants in the Ceremony and we thought we should give the Church a Prelate of the same mind with those that Consecrated him 15. I don't believe that M. de Cambray will forget this praise-worthy Circumstance of his submission After the signing of the Articles and about the time of his Consecration he desir'd me to keep at least some of his Writings to serve as an Evidence against him if ever he should stray from our Sentiments I was far from that spirit of mistrust No Sir said I I will never use any other precaution with you than to take your word I gave back all the Papers as they were given me not keeping so much as one nor any other thing except my extracts for a memorandum of the Errors I was to confute without naming the Author As for the Letters that belonged to me I kept some of them as has been seen rather for my comfort than that I believed I should ever have need of them except perhaps for M. Cambray to put him in mind of his holy Submissions in case he should be tempted to forget them that they are now published is really owing to pure Necessity which compelled me to speak more than I would The protestation he made to me a little before his Consecration should also have been kept in silence as well as the rest if it had not come to the King's Ears that advantage was made of it and that they made as if I confirmed the Doctrine of the Book of the Maxims of the Saints because I had Consecrated the Author 16. A little before the Publishing of that Book an Affair happen'd that gave me a great deal of Trouble In my Pastoral Instructions of the 16th of April 1695 I had promised a larger one to explain our Articlâ—s and I desired the Archbishop of Cambray to join his Approbation to that of M. de Chaalons then promoted to the See of Paris and to that of M. de Chartres for the Book I design'd for that Explication Seeing we are to name here the Bishop of Chartres I must take notice he was the first of the Bishops of that neighbourhood who discover'd the evil Effects of the Books and Conduct of Madam Guyon The Consequences of that Affair made us concur together in many things as for the Archbishop of Paris I was so much the more obliged to support my self by his Authority because for the good of our Province he was become the Chief of it I thought also it was for the publick Edification that our unanimity with M. de Cambray should be known more and more every where I put my Book in Manuscript into the Hands of that Bishop I expected his Exceptions and to correct my self according to his Advice I found in my self I thought the same compliance for him that he had shewed to me before his Consecration But about three Weeks after his Approbation was refused me and that too for such a Reason as was far from my being able to foresee A Friend to us both gave me in the Gallery of Versailles a Letter of Credentials from the Archbishop of Cambray who was in his Diocese Upon which I was given to understand that that Prelate could not enter into the Approbatition of my Book because I therein condemned Madam Guyon whom he could not condemn 17. It was in vain for me to represent unto that Friend the Incovenience that M. de Cambray would fall into What! it will appear said I that to sustain M. Guyon he disunites himself from his Brethren then all the World will see that he is her Protector the suspicion wherewith he was dishonoured abroad will now be found a certainty What becomes of those fine Discourses we so often had of M. de Cambray and which he and his Friends spread abroad as that he was so far from being concerned in the Books of that Woman that he was ready to condemn them if it were necessary Now that she had condemned them her self that she had before me subscribed the Condemnation of them together with the Evil Doctrine contained in them would he countenance them more than her felf In what amazement will the World be to find at the head of my Book the Approbation of the Archbishop of Paris and of the Bishop of Chartres without his Was not that the way to make the signs of his Division from his Brethren manifest his Consecrators his most intimate Friends What Scandal what Reproach to his Name Of what Books would he become the Martyr why would he bereave the People of the comfort of seeing in the Approbation of that Prelate the solemn Testimony of our unanimity All these Reasons had no effect my Manuscript was restored to me again having staid three whole Weeks in the hands of M. de Cambray The Friend that had taken upon him to give it me again said he had kept it for most part of the time himself and that M. de Cambray had it but few days and gave it back without having read much of it I wrote a few Lines to that Prelate intimating to him my just Fears I received an Answer that signifi'd nothing and then he had begun to prepare what you shall see afterwards 18. You would perhaps know beforehand what was become of M. Guyon She had desired to be received into my Diocese in order to be there instructed She was six Months in the Holy Convent of the Damsels of St. Mary upon condition she should have no communication with any person whosoever either within or without by Letter or otherwise save only with the Confessor I appointed her according to her Desire and with two Nuns I had chosen one of whom was the venerable Mother le Picard a most prudent Woman Superior of that Monastery Seeing all her Letters and Discourses breathed out nothing but submission and a blind submission we could not refuse her the use of the Holy Sacraments I instructed her diligently she subcribed the Articles where she plainly saw they utterly condemn'd her Doctrine I rejected her Explications and her submission was pure and simple A little after she subscribed the just Censure that M. de Chaalons and I published against her Books and the Evil Doctrine contain'd in them condemning them with Heart and Mouth as if each Proposition had been expresly utter'd Some of the chief of 'em were specified that comprised all the rest and she renounced them in plain terms The Books she condemned were the Short Method and the Song of Songs which were the only Printed Books she owned I would not meddle with the Manuscripts that were not known abroad She offer'd at every word to burn them all but I thought that precaution needless because of the Copies that remain'd So I satisfi'd my self with forbidding her to
communicate them or to write of 'em to others or to teach dogmatise or direct condemning her to silence and retirement as she desired I received the Declaration she made against the Abominations she was accused of presuming her to be innocent as long as she was not Convicted by a lawful Examination whereupon never enter'd She asked me leave to go to the Waters of Bourbon after her submissions she was free She desired to be received after her return from the Waters into the same Monastery where she kept her Apartment I granted it one design to instruct and thoroughly to convert her without leaving her if possible not so much as the least tincture of the Visions and Delusions past I gave her that attestation her Friends so much bragg'd of abroad but she never durst shew it because I expresly specified therein that Account of the Declarations and Submissions of M. Guyon which we had by us subscribed by her own Hand and of the Prohibitions accepted by her with submission neither to Write Teach nor Dogmatise in the Church nor to spread abroad her Printed Books or Manuscripts nor to lead People into the way of her silent Prayer or otherwise I was satisfied with her Conduct and had continu'd her in the participation of the Holy Sacraments wherein I found her This Attestation was dated the First of July 1695. I set out the next day for Paris where we were to advise what course we should take concerning her for the future I shall not recount how she went off before the day I had fixed for her departure nor how she since absconded her self how she was taken again and convicted of several things contrary to what she had signed What I cannot conceal is that she set up always for a Prophetess I have in her Writings sign'd with her own hand that God had put into her disposal the life of such as oppose themselves to her Visions She has made Prelates and Archbishops far different from those the Holy Ghost hath chosen She has also made such Predictions as would strike horror into those that hear them You have already seen what she had foretold as to the Protection of her Silent Prayer by the King himself She has since given out that after what she calls Persecution her Prayers would spring up again under a Child The Prophecy has been taken notice of to the August Infant without making any Impression upon his Mind God forbid I should accuse M. de Cambray nor the wise Heads that are about that lovely Prince of the Discourses that have been made to him concerning it but there are amongst all Parties People of outragious tempers who speak without measure or aim and that sort of People spread Reports abroad that the times will change and thus they frighten the simple You see then plainly the Reasons I have to write those Circumstances You see in whose presence it is I write them and why at last I make a Woma nknown who is at present a cause of Divisions in the Church 14. M. de Cambray during the time of our examination spoke of her in different manners he has often frighten'd us when he said to two or three of us together that he had learnt more from her than from all the Doctors together and at other times he comforted us saying he was so far from approving her Books that he was rather ready to condemn them if it were thought necessary in the least I doubted no more of his Conversion upon this point than upon the rest and seeking nothing else but to convince throughly of his Errors a Man of parts by a method so much the more sincere as it was meek and without compulsion I wished he might come of his own accord to himself again as it were from a short fit of giddiness and we thought fit to defer the proposing to him the express condemnation of the Books of that Woman 'till such time as he could do it without reluctancy Thus you have an Account of those unmerciful Men and of those Persons that envied the glory of M. de Cambray those that had a mind to ruin him that have carried their severity so far as it 's impossible the relation of it can find Belief amongst Men. Let the time at least be instanc'd when that madness seiz'd us They might well have found fault that we spared him too much shew'd him too much meekness and were guilty of too much compliance Let it be so and I will own it and to speak only of my self that I carried my Confidence the love of Peace and that benign Charity which suspects no evil too far hitherto it remains at least an uncontroverted Truth That the Archbishop of Cambray disunited himself from his Brethren to maintain Madam Guyon against them Sect. IV. M. de Cambray's Excuses for refusing me his approbation 1. That Prelate well foresaw the inconvenience I had intimated to his Friend to whom he gave the Charge of his credential Letter and here I shall give you what he writ with his own hand to the Person in the World before whom de desir'd most to clear himself I shall relate the whole without retrenching one word Let the Reader be attentive to it and therein see the true cause of all the Troubles of the Church The Writing begins thus 2. When M. de Meaux proposed to me that I should approve of his Book I testified to him with all imaginable tenderness that I should be very glad to give that publick mark of my conformity in Opinion with a Prelate whom I have lookt upon from my Youth up as my Master in the Science of Religion I offer'd to go to Germigny to draw up with him my Approbation I said at the same time to my Lords of Paris and Chartres and to Monsieur Tronson that I saw no shadow of difficulty between M. de Meaux and me as to the Point of Doctrine But that if he would attack Madam Guyon personally I could not approve of it This is what I have declar'd six Months ago I never knew any thing of it more than what follows 3. M. de Meaux gave me lately a Book to be examin'd at the opening of the Packet I found that they were full of personal Confutation I presently acquainted My Lords of Paris and Chartres and M. Tronson with the hardship that M. de Meaux put upon me 4. Let us explain whether he takes for personal Coufutation the Condemnation of the Person I did not so much as once think of condemning the Person of Madam Guyon who had submitted her self If he call the Confutation of her Book a personal Confutation it was not then her Person but her Book he has a mind to defend He goes on 5. They did not fail to tell me that I might condemn the Books of Madam Guyon without defaming her Person or doing my self an injury But I conjure them that speak so to weigh as before God the Reason I