enced in consequence. These details, I think, will be found to communicate important instruction, while they will not fail in interest. The discussions, in this part of the work, turn chiefly upon the doctrine of pure or unselfish love, in the experience of which Fenelon thought, in accordance with the views of Madame Guyon, and it seems to me with a good deal of reason, that the sanctification of the heart essentially consists. It is true, that they insist strongly upon the subjection of the will; but they maintain, as they very well may maintain, that such a love will certainly carry the will with it.

The work is committed to the reader, not without a sense of its imperfections, but still in the hopes that something has been done to illustrate character, and to confirm the truth.

THOMAS C. UPHAM.

Brunswick, Maine, 1846.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Time and place of her birth. Her parentage. Sickness in her

infancy. Her residence at the Ursuline Seminary at Montargis.

Duchess Montbason. Residence at the Benedictine Seminary.

A dream. Early religious impressions. Singular experiment

on the strength of her faith, made by the girls in the Seminary.

Unfavorable results. Taken home. The treatment she received

there.

CHAPTER II.

1

Placed a second time at the Ursuline Seminary. Character and

kindness of her paternal half-sister. Interview with Henrietta

Maria, the Queen of England, at her father's house. Explana-

tions of this interview. References to her moral and religious

feelings. Transferred from the care of the Ursulines to that of

the Dominicans. A Bible left in her room. Her study of it.

Proposes to partake of the Eucharist. Remarks.

CHAPTER III.

Visit from her cousin De Toissi, Missionary to Cochin China.

Results of this visit. Renewed religious efforts. Endeavors to

obtain salvation by works rather than by faith. Return of spir-

itual declension. Account which she gives of her own feelings

and conduct at this time. Remarks.

7

16

CHAPTER IV.

Removal from Montargis to Paris. Louis the Fourteenth. Char-

acteristics of the age. Effect of her removal to Paris upon her

character. Her personal appearance at this period. Offers of

marriage. Is married to M. Guyon in March, 1664. Notices of

the family of M. Guyon.

CHAPTER V.

23

Remarks on her marriage. Treatment she experienced at her hus-

band's house. Unkindness of her mother-in-law.
The great

incompatibleness of her situation and her character. Her situa-

tion considered in its relation to the designs of Providence. Her

account of the trials she endured.

CHAPTER VI.

Her trials result in a renewed disposition to seek God. Of the

connection of providential events with the renewal of the heart.

The birth of her first child, and its effect upon her mind. Losses

of property. Experience of severe sickness. Death of her pater-

nal half-sister at Montargis, and of her mother at Paris. Result

of these afflictions upon her mind. Renewed efforts of a religious

nature. Her reading. Her interviews at her father's house with

an exiled lady of great piety. Remarks. Her interviews with

her cousin, M. De Toissi, Missionary to Cochin China. Her

conversation with a Religious of the Order of St. Francis. Her

conversion.

28

38

CHAPTER VII.

Remarks on intellectual experience, in distinction from that of the

heart. Of that form of experience which may be termed appari-

tional. Of that form of experience which is characterized by

joy. Her experience characterized especially by the subjection of

the will. Of the course to be pursued in translating from the

writings of Madame Guyon. Her remarks on the union of the

human with the divine will. Her remarks on faith. Conversa-

tion with a Franciscan. Immersion of her soul in God, and her

contemplation of all things in him..

CHAPTER VIII.

Of the very marked and decisive nature of her conversion. Ceases

to conform to the world in her diversions and modes of dress.

Birth of her second son. Her views of providence in connection

57

with her position in life. Of the discharge of her duty to her

family and to others. Her great kindness and charity to the

poor. Her efforts for the preservation of persons of her own sex.

Her labors for the conversion of souls. Conversation with a lady

of rank. Happy results. Domestic trials. Unkindness of her

step-mother and of her maid-servant. Partial alienation of her

husband's_affections. Conduct of her eldest son. Her solitary

state.

65

CHAPTER IX.

We are to consult our own improvement and good, as well as that

of others. Her desires to be wholly the Lord's. Her efforts to

keep the outward appetites in subjection. Remarks on this sub-

ject. The inordinate action of all parts and powers of the mind

is to be subdued, as well as of the appetites. Austerities or mor-

tifications may be practised without necessarily attaching to them

the idea of expiation or of merit. Statement in relation to the

monks of La Trappe. Temptations to go back again to the

world. Visit to Paris. Of the errors and sins she committed

there. Her grief. Her journey to Orleans and Touraine. Temp-

tations and religious infidelities and falls repeated. Incident on

the banks of the Loire. Her remarks upon her sins. Her visit to

St. Cloud. Her sorrow. Inquiries on the subject of holy living. 82

CHAPTER X.

Seeks assist-

Reference to her early views of her Christian state. Her surprise

at the discovery of the remains of sin in herself.

ance and advice from others. Remarks on the religious char-

acter of that age. Consults with Genevieve Granger, the Prioress

of the Benedictines. Attends religious services at the church of

Nôtre Dame in Paris. On her way thither, she has an extraor-

dinary interview with a person unknown. His advice to her.

Renewed consecration, in which she gives up all without reserve.

Attacked by the small pox. Treatment experienced from her

step-mother. Death of her youngest son. Her feelings. Her

poetical writings. Justice of God amiable.

102

CHAPTER XI.

Faithfulness in trial. Spiritual consolations. General remarks on

her experience during the year 1671. Discharge of domestic and

other duties. Trials in relation to her seasons of prayer. Of

the faults of which she considered herself guilty at this period.

Remarks on a regard for God's providences. Her first acquaint-

ance, July 1671, with Francis La Combe. Some account of

him. The impression made upon him by her conversations. Her

growth in grace. The account she gives of her will, as subdued

in its operations, but not wholly renovated in its nature. Re-

marks on this subject.

120

CHAPTER XII.

Incidents of 1672. Presentiment of her father's death. A message

reaches her soon after with the news of his last sickness. His

death. Remarks. Affectionate eulogium on her daughter. Her

sickness and death. Reference to the renewed and entire conse-

cration which she had made of herself in the year 1670. This

act of consecration reduced to writing and signed for the first

time, July 22d, 1672. Instrumentality of Genevieve Granger in

this transaction. Form of this consecrating act or spiritual mar.

riage covenant. Remarks. Dangers connected with a journey

taken at this time. Reflections upon it.

CHAPTER XIII.

Birth of a son. Her religious state at this period, 1673. Death of

Genevieve Granger. Their intimacy with each other. Remarks

on this affliction. General remarks on worldly attachments and

supports. Her second visit to the city of Orleans. Interview

and conversation with a Jesuit. Remarks upon it. Comments

on undue spiritual earnestness or spiritual impetuosity. Writes

to a person of distinction and merit for his advice. Withdraws

her request. Result, and remarks upon this incident. Marks of

distinction between the wholly and the partially sanctified mind.

Lawsuit. Her conduct in connection with it. Remarks.

Her account of it.

CHAPTER XIV.

......

1674. Commencement of her state of privation or desolation.

Method of proceeding, in correctly estimating

this part of her life. Analysis and explanation of the state into

which she had fallen. Joy not religion, but merely an incident

to it. Her remarks on the subject. Advice of Monsieur Bertot

134

142