LETTERSOF
MADAM GUYON.
BEING SELECTIONS OF HER RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES, TRANSLATED AND RE-ARRANGED FROM HER PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE
By P. L. UPHAM.
“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.”
BOSTON:
HENRY HOYT, No. 9 CORNHILL.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1858, by HENRY HOYT,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
PREFACE.
Madam Guyon’s correspondence was very extensive, occupying five printed volumes. Her style of writing is somewhat diffuse. In giving religious advice to many persons, there would necessarily be frequent repetitions. It has, therefore, occurred to the writer, that a selection and re-arrangement of thoughts, such as is found in this little volume, would be more acceptable and useful, than a literal and full translation of her letters. This selection necessarily involved much re-writing and condensing. Great care, however, has been taken to reach her true sentiments, and to give a just relation of her religious experience.
In the interesting preface to her letters, published in 1767, the writer remarks: “Next to the Holy Scriptures, we do not believe there has been given to the world, any writings, so valuable as Madam Guyon’s; and of all these precious treasures, her letters are the most rare. All who have received the unction of the Holy One, whereby they know the truth, are agreed upon her divine writings.”
If the writer may be permitted to add her humble testimony, having enjoyed the privilege of reading her writings in the original for several years, she would say, there are no writings, excepting the Sacred Oracles, from which she has received so much spiritual benefit. It is on this account, she has endeavored, with divine assistance, to portray to others, Madam Guyon’s deep religious feelings. May the same spirit of devotion to her Lord and Master which she possessed, rest upon the heart of the reader.
Happy are they in whose hearts burns the flame of divine love.
P. L. UPHAM.
Brunswick, Me., April, 1858.
SKETCH OF HER LIFE.
Jeannie Marie Mothe, the maiden name of Madam Guyon, was born at Montargis, in France, April 13, 1648. She was married to M. J. Guyon, in 1664, and became the mother of four children. In July, 1676, she was separated from her husband by death. Madam Guyon was one of that number, who, in advance of the common standard of piety, are called to be Reformers; and on this account, she suffered great persecutions. She was several times imprisoned. At one time eight months; and subsequently four years in one of the towers of the celebrated Bastile. After her release from prison, she was banished for the remainder of her days to Blois, on the river Loire. At the time of her release from the Bastile, she was fifty-four years of age. Her sufferings from the cold, damp walls of the prison, in winter, and the confined air in summer, with other privations and hardships, greatly impaired her constitution, and rendered her a sufferer to the close of her days. She died June 9, 1717, aged sixty-nine years.
During her imprisonment, she wrote her Autobiography, which has been translated into English. Another work of hers, “The Torrents,” has recently been translated, very happily, by Mr. Ford. Also two essays, “Method of Prayer,” and “Concise View of the Way of God,” by J. W. Metcalf. It is not known by the writer, that her other works have been translated, with the exception of some of her poems by William Cowper; and “The Life and Experience of Madam Guyon,” in two volumes, written by my husband.
P. L. U.
This entire book is also available at The Gutenburg Project
I have read your letter, my dear brother, with great pleasure. It is my highest happiness to see the reign of Jesus Christ extending itself in the hearts of God's people. An external religion has too much usurped the place of the religion of the heart. The ancient saints--Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Enoch, Job--lived interiorly with God. The reign of Christ on earth is nothing more nor less than the subjection of the whole soul to himself. Alas! the world are opposed to this reign. Many pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven," but they are unwilling to be crucified to the world, and to their sinful lusts. God designs to bring his children, naturally rebellious, through the desert of crucifixions--through the temptations in the wilderness, into the promised land. But how many rebel, and choose rather to be bond-slaves in Egypt, than suffer the reductions of their sensual appetite.Since Jesus Christ appeared on earth, there is a general belief that the kingdoms of this world will ultimately be subject to his dominion. But we may ask, who hastens his coming, by now yielding up his own heart to his entire control?
Our Lord imposed no rigorous ceremonies on his disciples. He taught them to enter into the closet; to retire within the heart; to speak but few words; to open their hearts, to receive the descent of the Holy Spirit.
The holy Sabbath has not only an external, but a deeply spiritual meaning. It symbolises the rest of the holy soul, in union with God. Oh! that all Christians might know the coming of Jesus Christ in the soul! Might live in God, and God in them!
God alone knows how much I love you.
You are not forgotten, my dear E. God has engraven you on my heart. If you have not consented to the thoughts that have crossed your mind, do not be afflicted on account of them. The examination and dwelling upon these thoughts, brings them again to life. Be on your guard against everything that entangles you in self. God is a Father who bears with the innocent faults of his children, and wipes away the stains they have contracted. The greatest wrong you can do to God is to doubt his love. He regards the simplicity and purity of the intention. It is right to cherish great self-distrust, to realise your weakness and helplessness; but do not stop here. Confide as much more in God, as you hope less from yourself.Do not afflict yourself, because you do not at all times realise a sensible confidence in God, and other consoling, happy states. Walk by faith, and not by sight, or positive perception of the good you crave. Let us, my dear E., be closely united, and walk together; not according to the way we might choose, but according to the way God chooses for us.
I love you tenderly.
Notwithstanding all that is said to me, my dear M., in opposition to my state, I cannot have one doubt of its reality. There is within me an inward testimony to the truth; so deep, that all the world could not shake it. It is the work of God upon my heart, and partakes of his own immutability. It seems to me that all the difficulties of theologians concerning this state, arise from viewing it, not in the light of divine truth and power, but in the light of the creature. It is true, the creature, in itself, is only weakness and sin; but when it pleases God to new-create the soul, and make it one with himself, it is then transformed into the likeness of Christ.Who will dare limit the power of God? Who will say that God, whose love is infinite as it is free, cannot give such proofs of love as he pleases, to his creatures? Has he not the right to love me as he does? Yes, he loves me, and his love is infinite. I do not doubt it. And he loves you, too, dear M., in the same manner. This is eternal love manifested,–the heart of God drawn out,–expressed towards his creature.
In this state, we understand the mutual secrets of the Lover and the beloved. Who will so deny the truth of the Lord, as to question this? When I hold my beloved in my arms, in vain does one assert, “It is not so,–I am deceived.” I smile inwardly and say, “My beloved is mine and I am his!” “If we receive the witness of men, how much greater is the witness of God?"
I assure you, you are very dear to me. I rejoice very much in the progress of your soul. When I speak of progress, it is in descending, not in mounting. As when we charge a vessel, the more ballast we put in, the lower it sinks, so the more love we have in the soul, the lower we are abased in self. The side of the scales which is elevated, is empty; so the soul is elated only when it is void of love. "Love is our weight," says St. Augustine. Let us so charge ourselves with the weight of love, as to bring down self to its just level. Let its depths be manifested by our readiness to bear the cross, the humiliations, the sufferings, which are necessary to the purification of the soul. Our humiliation is our exaltation. "Whosoever is least among you shall be the greatest," says our Lord.I love you, my dear child, in the love of the Divine Master, who so abased himself by love! Oh! what a weight is love, since it caused so astonishing a fall, from heaven to earth,–from God to man! There is a beautiful passage in the Imitation of Christ, “Love to be unknown.” Let us die to all but God.
God communicates himself to pure souls, and blesses, through them, other souls, who are in a state of receptivity. All these little rills, which water others, little compared with the fountain from which they flow, have no determinate choice of their own, but are governed by the will of their Lord and Master. The nature of God is communicative. God would cease to be God if he should cease to communicate himself, by love, to the pure soul. As the air rushes to a vacuum, so God fills the soul emptied of self.The seven blessed spirits around the throne, are those angels who approach nearest to God, and to whom he communicates himself the most abundantly. St. John, perhaps, was better prepared than any of the apostles to receive the Word, incarnate, dwelling in the soul.
On the bosom of Jesus,–in close affinity with him,–John learned the heights and depths of divine love. It was on this account our Lord said to his mother, “seeing the disciple stand by whom he loved, Woman behold thy Son.” He knew the loving heart of John would give her a place in his own home.
God communicates himself to us in proportion as we are prepared to receive him. And in proportion as he diffuses himself in us, we are transformed in him, and bear his image. O, the astonishing depths of God’s love! giving himself to souls disappropriated of self, becoming their end, and their final principle, their fulness, and their all.
I am very grateful to you, my dear sir, for your sympathy in my apparent ills. God has not permitted that I should consider them otherwise than blessings. I trust what appears to destroy the truth will, in the end, establish it. Those who maintain the inward reign of the Holy Spirit will yet suffer many persecutions. There is nothing of any value but the love of God, and the accomplishment of his will. This is pure and substantial happiness. This joy no man taketh from us.It is my only desire to abandon myself into the hands of God, without scruples, without fears, without any agitating thoughts.
Since I am there, O Lord, how can I be otherwise than happy? When divine Love has enfranchised the soul, what power can fetter it? How small the world appears to a heart that God fills with himself! I love thee, my Lord, not only with a sovereign love, but it seems to me I love thee alone, and all creatures only for thy sake. Thou art so much the soul of my soul, and the life of my life, that I have no other life than thine. Let all the world forsake me; my Lord, my Lover lives, and I live in him. This is the deep abyss where I hide myself in these many persecutions. O, abandonment! blessed abandonment! Happy the soul who lives no more in itself, but in God. What can separate my soul from God? Surely, none can pluck me from my Father’s hands. All is well, when the soul is in union with him.