Autobiography of
madame Guyon
Authored by
Madame Guyon
1709
Translated in full from French to English by
Thomas Taylor Allen
1898
Scanned and edited by
Ruijie Rachel Liu
2001
1
Autobiography of Madame Guyon: Translator’s Preface Translated in full by Thomas Taylor Allen in1898
Contents
Translator’s Preface
Part one
Chapter 1-1
Introduction on the mysterious ways of God, who destroys before building, and regards with more abhorrence the righteous than the sinner
Chapter 1-2
Birth and infancy—Placed with the Uraulines, afterwards with the Benedictines—Remarks on the education of children and serious faults commonly committed therein
Chapter 1-3
Returns to the Uraulines, and placed under her own sister—Various illnesses—Brought back to her father's house, then placed in another convent; where neglected and illtreated
Chapter 1-4
Various troubles at home—First Communion—Affected by report of a visit from a relative, a missionary to the East—Reads something of St. Francis de Sales and the Life of Madame de Chantal, which attract her to prayer—Desires to be a nun
Chapter 1-5
Attends on her father in his illness—Benefits from society of a cousin, whom, however, her mother separates her from—Makes a journey into the country, and neglects prayer of the heart; from which she suffers much injury, vanity gaining strength—Serious loss one suffers who abandons heart prayer,—which the Devil fears and hates
Chapter 1-6
Marriage arranged by her father—Harsh treatment in her husband's house--Isolation and unhappiness drive her back to God for assistance—Crosses of her daily life; afterwards seen to be God's instruments for her salvation
Chapter 1-7
Her first pregnancy —Considerable pecuniary losses —Workings of vanity—Joins her husband at Paris, where she meets Madame de Longueville—Falls ill, and life despaired of—Usefulness of this illness
Chapter 1-8......
Death of her mother—Visit of Madame de Ch—, and of her cousin from Cochin China, to her father's house—Arrival in the neighbourhood of a Franciscan monk, to whom her father sends her— The interview and its effect—He hesitates to accept responsibility of director—Her new state, love and enjoyment
Chapter 1-9
Discussion on visions—Ecstasy—Interior distinct words—Revelations of the future—Ravishment—Her state that of pure love and simple faith
Chapter 1-10
Austerities—Magdalen's Day, 1668, profoundly touched—Absorption in God—Gives up all amusements and society—Annihilation of the Powers: the Will in Charity; the Understanding in Faith; Memory in Hope—The whole soul through the Will absorbed and lost in Charity
Chapter 1-11
The effective way to mortify the senses—One must not become attached to this mortification—Love guides arid corrects her through all—Difficulty of confession—God punishes the least faults and purifies—Severity of such purification; similar to the purgatory after death
Chapter 1-12
Continual domestic trials—Also her husband objects to her devotion—So possessed by God that she sees and feels only his love—Becomes acquainted with Genevieve Granger, Prioress of Benedictines —Opposition of her confessor and her mother-in-law—Intensity of the love by which she was drawn —Delight in crosses
Chapter 1-13
Was given an instinct of self-sacrifice—And a state of prayer in silence—Dryness in prayer—Went on a journey where she committed some infidelities through weakness—At Paris confessors amazed at her—Infidelity and dryness—Mediate speech and substantial operative speech—At Paris has strength to avoid the occasion but not to stand faithful when the occasion arises, therefore hastens to leave—Entertainment at St. Cloud in her honour—Strange interview on her way to Notre Dame with one formerly a porter
Chapter 1-14
Journey to Orleans and Touraine—Struggle between nature and grace, with respect to the admiration she aroused—Inefficiency of confessors—Accidents and dangers on the journey—Perverse confessor—Encouraged on her return home by Mother Granger—Prays to be delivered from the means of sinning through vanity—Melting power of Divine caresses after a fault
Chapter 1-15
Is attacked by small-pox October 4, 1670, in her twenty-third year—Neglected by her family, and in the utmost danger—Severityof her illness—Thankfulness—Younger son died—Refuses to use pomades on recovery, and, in her disfigured state, is compelled by Love to expose herself—Illness of her husband
Chapter 1-16
Annoyances from the maid-servant—Ill treatment from her husband and mother-in-law—Her father's remonstrance with her, and the answer—Continued petty vexations, and her behaviour under them—Absentmindedness and incapacity to notice external matters
Chapter 1-17
Increased attraction to, and absorption of her will in God's—Difficulty in obtaining time for prayer and in attending Mass—Special providences regarding Mass—Intercourse with Mother Granger prohibited—Her son set against her—Her husband's indifference to her attentions
Chapter 1-18
First meeting with Father La Combe—Continual prayer and presence of God—Domestic ill treatment—Alternations of crosses—Natural disposition to hastiness—Large charities to the poor—Complete alienation from life of the senses
Chapter 1-19
Effects of small-pox and her austerities—Visit to Paris to see M. Bertot; not of much use to her—Her father's death, and her return home alone, by night, through a dangerous forest—Death of her daughter, a sweet and pious child—Mother Granger sends her a contract of marriage with the Child Jesus—Effects of this consecration—Crosses increased—Letter fromM. Bertot—Malignity of nature in nourishing itself even from despair
Chapter 1-20
Her friend, wife of the governor of the town—Touched by God—Accidents on a journey—Pilgrimage to St. Reine of her husband—Becomes again pregnant—During this period enjoys an anticipation of beatitude, being totally possessed by God—Death of Mother Granger—Marriage of her brother, and his hatred of her—Unjust lawsuit, happily ended on her representations
Chapter 1-21
Entry on state of total privation—The dark night of the Soul—Difference between this and previons temporary privations—Communion, far from relieving, deepens the state—Total abandonment to God, the only root of spiritual happiness here and hereafter—Internal struggle—Inability to fix thoughts in prayer—Utter powerlessness
Chapter 1-22
External crosses and increased illness of her husband—Chapel built by him in the country consecrated—Birth of her daughter—Death of her husband on Eve of the Magdalen—Ill health—Arranges her husband's papers and affairs
Chapter 1-23
The state of privation—M. Bertot of no help, and declines to conduct her—Inability to read—A state of insensibility
Chapter 1-24
Domestic crosses—Visit to Paris to seek Bertot—Makes a retreat under his control—Acquaintance with suspected Jansenist, who becomes hostile and decries her—Often ill—State of pure misere— Abjectness
Chapter 1-25
Instantaneous deliverance from all sensibility for the creature—Various offers of marriage—Extreme illness—Nothing to be seen but condemnation of herself, with a secret joy at Jesns Christ's sufficiency —Self-hatred—Bodily weakness, and utter ignorance of the nature of her state
Chapter 1-26
Given up by the monk whose words first touched her—Perversity of her mother-in-law—Determination to leave her house—Prevented by intervention of a common friend
Chapter 1-27
God had not allowed her to seek relief from His yoke—Since shown how the obscure way in which she was led is the surest—Whence the soul emerges clothed with Jesus Christ's states—Final insensibility mistaken by her for hardness of reprobation—Letter to Father La Combe on behalf of a servant, and his answer—Idea of Geneva had forced itself on her—Second letter to Father La Combe, and his Mass on the Magdalen's Day
Chapter 1-28
Perfect deliverance and entry into the state of God-Peace—One day of which compensates with interest many years of suffering—Perfect indifference, and resignation to God's plans for her—Ascent from the gifts to the Giver—This state never lost, but continued growing in strength and perfectness—Unity in place of Union
Chapter 1-29
Visit to Paris, and direction given by an unknown confessor—Dominican monk, a friend desirous of going to Siam, visits her—Her dream of Tabor—After Mass for the purpose, this monk tells her to go to Geneva, and visits Paris to consult the Bishop of Geneva on the subject—Being in Paris, she consults the Bishop herself, and sees the Superior of the New Catholics—Confirmed in the plan by M. Bertot and others—Prognostics of crosses to come—Satisfied that it was God's will
Chapter 1-30
Change in her mother-in-law's behaviour—Purgation of a priest and of a nun—Severity of the winter 1680, and her charities—Dying soldier taken in and nursed by her—Love to her children—Despite hesitations beforehand, since the event has never doubted she was doing God's will—Discussion of plans with New Catholics—Diverted from her first idea—Daughter of the Cross of Geneva
Part two
Chapter 2-1
Departure from home; afterwards from Paris—Mysterious behaviour of her daughter—Foretelling crosses—Vision of a holy nun—Incompatibility between the New Catholics and the spirit guiding her—Divine support and protection on the road—Arrival at Annecy—Mass at the tomb of St. Francis de Sales—Arrival at Gex ; where only bare walls—Profound suffering on account of her daughter
Chapter 2-2
Father La Combe, by order of the Bishop of Geneva, came to see her—Spiritual union perceived at once, to her great astonishment—Father La Combe said Masses to ascertain God's will regarding her—Answers given in the central depth of her spirit—Distinction between communications ab externo falling upon the Powers, and immediate communication through the central depth—Meeting with a holy hermit at Tonon—His vision—Anxieties on account of her daughter
Chapter 2-3
General condemnation in France of her departure—Borne by her in a divine manner—Enlargement of her intelligence when lost in God—Bishop of Geneva came to see her, and was convinced of her divine call—Praised Father La Combe, and gave him as her director—Her dangerous illness—Cured miraculously—Her vows of perpetual chastity, poverty, and obedience—The realities corresponding to these vows—Tender watchfulness of God over her
Chapter 2-4
Radical purification with annihilation of the selfhood in its effects—Experience at the commencement of this state—Passage over of the soul into God—Partitions or dividing barriers caused by trifling and superficial assertions of the selfhood—The Union becomes Unity— Extraordinary experience while at confession, lasting over three days-Return to Gex, after her retreat at Tonon, through Geneva ; where thrown from a horse—Change of opinion at Paris
Chapter 2-5
Surrenders all her property-Sees all external crosses as coming from God—The Devil attempted to alarm her—Rappings on the windows and all over the room, but she was without fear—Then he attacked her indirectly, through an influential ecclesiastic—Choice between approbation of men with the assurance of her salvation, and GOD'S GLORY ALONE—Mysterious dream foreshowing persecution to her and Father La Combe—Ill treatment by the New Catholics
Chapter 2-6
The Bishop of Geneva turns against her; wishes to force her to become Prioress of this House at Gex; and urges Father La Combe to order her to consent—Father La Combe preaches a sermon at which that ecclesiastic takes offence—Madame Guyon leaves Gex, and retires to the Ursulines at Tonon—Vision of a holy aged priest
Chapter 2-7
The Bishop and his ecclesiastic intercept her letters, and write against her—Father La Mothe, her step-brother, joins with them in circulating calumnies—Her interior state: the central depth in enjoyment of a peace, freedom, vastness, admitting of no disturbance—So lost in the Will of God as to will only what he willed—Means previously used by God to make her perfectly supple—The two modes by which God leads souls to himself shown under figure of two drops of water—Visit of Bishop to Tonon at Easter,1682—Speaking with the responsibility of his office, he expressed approval
Chapter 2-8
Tranquillity of her soul—Description of a soul in the state of divine indifference, self-centre annihilated—Trials vary according to the state of the soul—Grace must come and go in its purity in God—The soul perfectly happy in what she has, without choice or desire—A plaything of providence—Reserve of former states no longer proper—Engendering of the Word—Apostolic state
Chapter 2-9
Calumnies against her and Father La Combe—Circulated by Father La Mothe—Reception at Rome of Father La Combe—Arrival of her sister, an Ursuline nun, with a maid for her—Sanctity in God's sight and in man's—Return from Rome of Father La Combe—Serious affection of the eyes—Immovable in the midst of all her crosses—In such immovable state, only suffering direct from the hand of God can make itself felt
Chapter 2-10
Miraculous recovery of her daughter—Difficulties as to her education ; but all received as from God, leaving no sting—Spiritual conversations unprofitable—Divine providenre sole rule and guide fora soul whose self-centre is lost—The divine moment—Enjoyment of saints in heaven—St. Catharine of Genoa on purgatory
Chapter 2-11
Withdrawal of Father La Combe from the way of illumination into that of blind faith—Instances of GOd's providence in her affairs—Further persecution—Retreat, where she learns the natnre of spiritual maternity—During this retreat strongly moved to write—Manner of writing—Has to suffer for La Combe's purification, whenever he resists God's operation—Thereby more powerful possession of her soul taken by God—Obliged to tell Father La Combe all her thoughts—Can pardon no defects in him
Chapter 2-12
Enters upon a state of childhood to express Jesus Christ the Child—Dependence upon Father La Combe—State of the maid brought by her sister—To command and to obey through the Word—This maid attacked by demons—Miracles by the Word Himself—Temptation of a nun, and scornful treatment she met from a sister nun—Extreme illness covering the mystery of the Childhood
Chapter 2-13
Troubles from her sister and others unable to understand her state—Foresees persecution—The Child Jesus unites her to Father La Combe—Childlike interiorly and exteriorly—Illness of La Combe, and miraculous recovery for the Lent sermon—Communication in silence—The language of angels—Communication of the Trinity—Hierarchical order in heaven, and on earth—Spiritnal fecundity—Communication of Jesus Christ to the disciples
Chapter 2-14
Foreshown her state of rejection and isolation, similar to that of Jesus Christ—The woman of the Apocalypse—When recovering from this protracted illness, one morning struck by Satan—Effects—Death, just victorious, driven back at Father La Combe's command—Foundation of hospital—Bishop of Verceil appoints Father La Combe to be his theologian—Visits Lausanne
Chapter 2-15
Leaves the convent, and takes up her abode in a small cottage—Marquise de Prunai procures lettre de cachet ordering La Combe to bring her to Turin—Remains there with Marquise—Her dependence on Father La Combe—Bishop of Verceil invites her to his diocese—Father La Combe distrustfulof her grace—The widow penitent accepted by him as a saint—Madame Guyon's letter he interprets ill, and compels her to confess to pride—Terrible effect on her—He is enlightened
Chapter 2-16
Purification of her maid effected, with much suffering for Madame Guyon—Nature of this shown in mysterious dream beforehand—The maid becomes strangely awkward and incapable—Bishop of Geneva's double-dealing—A mysterious dream, foreshowing how she is called to help her neighbour—Interior state firm, immovable, admits of no description—Utterly lost in God
Chapter 2-17
Conversion of a hostile monk—His subsequent history—Another monk, bitterly opposed to Father La Combe, and extremely violent, given to her—The beautiful birds of the mysterious dream—Suddenly told by Father La Combe to return to Paris—In obedienae to his Provincial he accompanies her over the mountains to Grenoble,—where she finds herself invested with the Apostolic state—Discernment of spirits—Foreshown perseaution —The necessary attendant on this state
Chapter 2-18
Some souls were given merely as plants for her to cultivate, others as spiritual children—Her suffering for these—The maternity of Jesus Christ—A certain order of monks most hostile to the way of prayer—Persecutions by these—A begging friar of this order visits Madame Guyon in her illness, and becomes a true spiritual Child—Her relations to such children—Nourished through her from the plenitude with which Jesus Christ fills her to overflowing.
Chapter 2-19
Account of a girl particularly so given to her, and Satan's temptation—Unfaithfulness of this girl—Rejection of the sinner by God, its nature; continues only so long as the will of the sinner is in rebellion—Two things in us need purification: the cause of sin and the effects—The cause of that girl's rejection from Madame Guyon's spirit—Before her arrival at Grenoble her friend shown in dream how she should have many children from our Lord