CHAPTER XX

On the twenty-ninth of January, 1688, I went to
St. Mary’s. There they let me know I must neither
have my daughter nor a maid to serve irv, but must be
locked up alone in a chamber. Indeed it touched me
to my heart when my daughter was taken from me.
They would neither allow her to be in that house, nor
anybody to bring me any news of her. I was then
obliged to sacrifice my daughter, as if she were mine
no longer. The people of the house were prepossessed
with so frightful an account of me, that they looked at
me with horror. For my jailor they singled out a nun,
who, they thought, would treat me with the greatest
rigor, and they were not mistaken therein.

They asked me who was now my confessor. I
named him; but he was seized with such a fright that
he denied it; though I could have produced many per -
sons who had seen me at his confessional. So then
they said they had caught me in a lie; and I was not
to be trusted. My acquaintance then said they knew
me not, and others were at liberty to invent stories,
and say all manner of evil of me. The woman,
appointed for my keeper, was gained over by my ene¬
mies, to torment me as an heretic, an enthusiast, one
crackbrained and an hypocrite. God alone knows
what she made me suffer. As she sought to surprise
me in my words, I watched them, to be more exact in
them; but I fared the worse for it. I made more slips

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and gave her more advantages over me thereby, beside
the trouble in my own mind for it. I then left myself
as I was, and resolved, though this woman would
bring me to the scaffold, by the false reports she was
continually carrying to the prioress, that I would simply
resign myself to my lot; so I re-entered into my former
condition.

Monsieur Charon the Official, and a Doctor of Sor-
bonne, came four times to examine me. Our Lord did
me the favor which he promised to his apostles, viz., to
make me answer much better than if I had studied.
Luke xxi. 14, 15. They said to me, “ If I had explained
myself, as I now did, in the book entitled, ‘ Short and
Easy Method of Prayer/ I would not now have been
here.” My last examination was about a counterfeit
letter, which they read and let me see. I told them
the hand was no way like mine. They said, “it was
only a copy; they had the original at home.” I desired
a sight of it, but could not obtain it I told them I
never wrote it, nor did I know the person to whom it
was addressed; but they took scarcely any notice of
what I said.

After this letter was read, the official turned to me
and said, “You see, madam, that after such a letter
there was foundation enough for imprisoning you.”
“ Yes, sir,” said I, “if I had written it.” I showed them
its falsehoods and inconsistencies, but all in vain. I
was left two months, and treated worse and worse,
before either of them came again to see me. Till then
I had always some hope that, seeing my innocence,
they would do me justice; but now I saw that they did
not want to find me innocent, but to make me appear
guilty.

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THE LIFE OF MADAME GUYON.

The official alone came the next time, and told me,
“I must speak no more of the false letter; that it was
nothing.” “ How nothing,” said I, “ to counterfeit a per¬
son’s writing, and to make one appear an enemy to the
State ! ” He replied, “ We will seek out the author of
it” “ The author,” said I, “ is no other than the Scriv¬
ener Gautier.” He then demanded where the papers
were which I wrote on the Scriptures. I told him, “ I
would give them up when I should be out of prison;
but was not willing to tell with whom I had lodged
them.”

About three or four days before Easter he came
again, with the doctor, and a verbal process was drawn
up against me for rebelling, in not giving up my papers
Copies of my writings were then put into their hands;
for I had not the originals. I know not where those
who got them from me have put them; but I am firm
in the faith that they will all be preserved, in spite of
the storm. The prioress asked the official how my
affair went. He said, very well, and that I should soon
be discharged; and this became the common talk; but
I had a presentiment of the contrary.

I had an inexpressible satisfaction and joy in suffer¬
ing, and being a prisoner. The confinement of my
body made me better relish the freedom of my mind.
St. Joseph’s day was to me a memorable day; for
then my state had more of heaven than of earth beyond
what any expression can reach. This was followed, as
it were, with a suspension of every favor then enjoyed,
a dispensation of new sufferings. I was obliged to
sacrifice myself anew, and to drink the very dregs of
the bitter draught.

I never had any resentment against my persecutors,

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333

though I well knew them, their spirit and their actions.
Jesus Christ and the saints saw their persecutors, and
at the same time saw that they could have no power
except it were given them from above. John xix. 11.

Loving the strokes which God gives, one cannot
hate the hand which he makes use of to strike with.

A few days after, the official came, and told me he
gave me the liberty of the cloister, that is, to go and
come in the house. They were now very industrious
in urging my daughter to consent to a marriage, which,
had it taken place, would have been her ruin. To suc¬
ceed herein, they had placed her with a relation of the
gentleman whom they wanted her to marry. All my
confidence was in God, that he would not permit it to
be accomplished, as the man had no tincture of Chris¬
tianity, being abandoned both in his principles and
morals .

To induce me to give up my daughter they prom¬
ised me an immediate release from prison and from
every charge under which I labored. But if I refused,
they threatened me with imprisonment for life and
with death on the scaffold. In spite of all their prom¬
ises and threatenings, I persistently refused.

Soon after, the official and doctor came to tell the
prioress I must be closely locked up. She represented
to them that the chamber I was in, was small, having
an opening to the light or air, only on one side, through
which the sun shone all the day long, and being the
month of July, it must soon cause my death. They
paid no regard thereto. She asked why I must be
thus closely locked up. They said, “ I had committed
horrible things in her house, even within the last
month, and had scandalized the nuns.” She protested

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the contrary, and assured them the whole community
had received great edification from me, and could not
but admire my patience and moderation. But it was
nil in vain. The poor woman could not refrain from
tears, at a statement so remote from the truth.

They then sent for me, and told me, “ I had done
base things in the last month.” I asked what, things?
They would not tell me. I said then, “ that I would
suffer as long and as much as it should please God;
that this affair was begun on forgeries against me, and
so continued. That God was witness of everything.”
The doctor told me, that to take God for a witness in
such a thing was a crime. I replied, “Nothing in the
world could hinder me from having recourse to God.”
I was then shut up more closely than at first, until I
was absolutely at the point of death, being thrown into
a violent fever, and almost stifled with the closeness of
the place, and was not permitted to have any assist¬
ance.

In the time of the ancient law, there were several of
the Lord’s martyrs who suffered for asserting and
trusting in the one true God. In the primitive Church
of Christ the martyrs shed their blood, for maintaining
the truth of Jesus Christ crucified. Now there are
martyrs of the Holy Ghost, who suffer for their depend¬
ence on it, for maintaining its reign in souls, and for
being victims of the Divine will.

It is this Spirit which is to be poured out on all
flesh, as saith the Prophet JoeL The martyrs of Jesus
Christ have been glorious martyrs, he having drank up
the confusion of that martyrdom; but the martyrs of
the Holy Spirit are martyrs of reproach and ignominy.
The devil no more exercises his power against their

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faith or belief, but directly attacks the dominion of the
Holy Spirit, opposing its celestial motion in souls, and
discharging his hatred on the bodies of those whose
minds he cannot hurt. Oh, Holy Spirit, a Spirit of
love, let me ever be subjected to thy will, and, as a leaf
is moved before the wind, so let me be moved by thy
Divine breath. As the impetuous wind breaks all that
resists it, so break thou all that opposes thy empire*

Although I have been obliged to describe the pro¬
cedure of those who persecute me, I have not done it
out of resentment, since I love them at my heart, and
pray for them, leaving to God the care of defending
me, and delivering me out of their hands, without
making any movement of my own for it. I have
apprehended and believed that God would have me
write everything sincerely, that his name may be glori¬
fied; that the things done in secret against his servants
should one day be published on the house-tops; for
the more they strive to conceal them from the eyes ol
men, the more will God in his own time make them all
manifest.

August 22d, 1688, it was thought I was about com¬
ing out of prison, and everything seemed to tend
toward it. But the Lord gave me a sense that, far
from being willing to deliver me, they were only laying
new snares to ruin me more effectually, and to make
Father La Mothe known to the king, and esteemed by
him. On the day mentioned, which was my birthday,
being forty years of age, I awaked under an impression
of Jesus Christ in an agony, seeing the counsel of the
Jews against him. I knew that none but God could
deliver me out of prison, and I was satisfied that he
would do it one day by his own right hand, though

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ignorant of the manner, and leaving it wholly to him¬
self.

In the order of Divine Providence my case was
laid before Madame de Maintenon, who became deeply
interested in the account given her of my sufferings,
and at length procured my release, and a few days
afterward I had my first interview with the Abbe Fene-
lon.

Coming out of St. Mary’s I retired into the com¬
munity of Mad. Miramion, where I kept my bed of a
fever three months, and had an imposthume in my
eye. Yet at this time I was accused of going continu¬
ally out, holding suspected assemblies, together with
other groundless falsehoods. In this house my daugh¬
ter was married to Mons. L. Nicholas Fouquet, Count
de Vaux. I removed to my daughter’s house, and on
account of her extreme youth, lived with her two years
and an half, but even there my enemies were ever
forging one thing after another against me. I then
wanted to retire quite secretly, to the house of the
Benedictines at Montargis, (my native place) but it
was discovered, and both friends and enemies jointly
prevented it.

The family in which my daughter was married being
of the number of Abbe Fenelon’s friends, I had the
opportunity of often seeing him at our house. We had
some conversations on the subject of a spiritual life, in
which he made several objections to my experiences
therein. I answered them with my usual simplicity^
which, as I found, gained upon him. As the affair of
Molinos at that time made a great noise, the plainest
things were distrusted, and the terms used by mystic
writers exploded. But I so clearly expounded every-

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337

thing to him, and so fully solved all his objections, that
no one more fully inbibed my sentiments than he;
which has since laid the foundation of that persecution
he has suffered. His answers to the Bishop of Meaux
evidently show this to all who have read them.

I now took a little private house, to follow the incli¬
nation I had for retirement; where I sometimes had
the pleasure of seeing my family and a few particular
friends. Certain young ladies of St. Cyr. having
informed Mad. Maintenon, that they found in my con¬
versation something which attracted them to God, she
encouraged me to continue my instructions to them;
and by the fine change in some of them with whom
before she had not been well pleased, she found she
had no reason to repent of it. She then treated me
with much respect; and for three years after, while
this lasted, I received from her every mark of esteem
and confidence. But that very thing afterward drew
on me the most severe persecution. The free entrance
I had into the house, and the confidence which some
young ladies of the Court, distinguished for their rank
and piety, placed in me, gave no small uneasiness to
the people who had persecuted me. The directors
took umbrage at it, and under pretext of the troubles
I had had some years before, they engaged the Bishop
of Chartres, Superior of St. Cyr, to present to Mad.
Maintenon that, by my particular conduct, I troubled
the order of the house; and that the young women in
it were so attached to me, and to what I said to them,
that they no longer hearkened to their superiors. I
then went no more to St. Cyr. I answered the young
ladies who wrote to me, only by letters unsealed, which
passed through the hands of Mad. Maintenon.

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THE LIFE OF MADAME GUYON.

Soon after I fell sick. The physicians, after trying
in vain the usual method of cure, ordered me to repair
to the waters of Bourbon. My servant had been
induced to give me some poison. After taking it, I
suffered such exquisite pains that, without speedy suc¬
cor, I should have died in a few hours. The man
immediately ran away, and I have never seen him
since. When I was at Bourbon, the waters which I
threw up burned like spirits of wine. I had no thought
of being poisoned, till the physicians of Bourbon
assured me of it. The waters had but little effect. I
suffered from it for above seven years.

God kept me in such a disposition of sacrifice, that
I was quite resigned to suffer everything, and to receive
from his hand all that might befall me, since for me to
offer in any way to vindicate myself, would be only
beating the air. When the Lord is willing to make
any one suffer, he permits even the most virtuous peo¬
ple to be readily blinded toward them; and I may con¬
fess that the persecution of the wicked is but little,
when compared with that of the servants of the Church,
deceived and animated with a zeal which they think
right. Many of these were now, by the artifices made
use of, greatly imposed on in regard to me. I was
represented to them in an odious light, as a strange
creature. Since, therefore, I must, O my Lord, be
conformable to thee, to please thee; I set more value
on my humiliation, and on seeing myself condemned of
everybody, than if I saw myself on the summit of
honor in the world. How often have I said, even in
the bitterness of my heart, that I should be more afraid
of one reproach of my conscience, than of the outciy
and condemnation of all men !

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