Quakerism a-la-mode, or, A history of quietism particularly that of the Lord Arch-bishop of Cambray and Madam Guyone ... also an account of the management of that controversie (now depending at Rome) betwixt the Arch-bishop's book / writ by Messire Jacques Benignes Bossuel [sic] ... ; done into English from the original printed at Paris.

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, ap∣peared at last on a sudden in February, 1697. without the least Mark of any such Approba∣tion. 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 ac∣cording 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 pro∣mised 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 di∣stinguish 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 Ap∣probation, 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 Cam∣bray had, 'tis true, promised to speak nothing but what M. de Paris should approve of, but not to take his Approbation in Writing, for 'tis 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 ma∣nifestly so in the New Book, seeing he pro∣mised 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 con∣tradict me, exposes himself likewise to con∣tradict the Arch-bishop of Paris, and to set the whole Church in a Combustion. He had rather indeed expose himself, and did it ac∣cordingly, 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 Bi∣shops, 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 ex∣ception 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 de∣cision, against the refinedness of the Expressi∣ons, 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 hun∣dred 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 bo∣dy knows the just Reproaches we underwent from the Mouth of so good a Master, for ha∣ving concealed from him what we knew; with which you may be sure he charg'd our Con∣sciences: Yet M. de Cambray, in such a gene∣ral 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 Cre∣dit, but because I have always walk'd so as to obtain common Credit: All of a sudden I have conceived the bold Design of ruining by my Credit alone the Arch-bishop of Cam∣bray, whom until then, I had always been willing to save at my own Peril: But that is nothing, I alone have by imperceptible springs, from a Corner of my Closet, amongst my Pa∣pers and my Books, stirr'd up the whole Court, all Paris, all Europe, and Rome it self, where the universal Astonishment, not to say more; was carried as fast as the Publick News could convey it: What the most credited, and most absolute Potentates could not perform, and care not undertake; viz. to make Men con∣cur, as it were in an instant, in the same thoughts, I alone have done it without stir∣ing from my Closet.

6. Yet I wrote nothing; my Book that was finishing, and printing when that of M. de Cambray appeared, stay'd three Weeks longer in the Press; and when I published it, they sound therein 'tis true, Principles contrary to those of the Maxims of the Saints; (it could not be otherwise, seeing we took such diffe∣rent ways; and that I designed only to esta∣blish

the Articles that M. de Cambray had a Mind to elude) but not one Word against that Prelate.

7. I shall say nothing of my Book, but one well known and certain Matter of Fact: It passed without any seeming Contradiction, I had no Advantage of it, I therein taught the Doctrine of the Catholick Church; the Ap∣probation of M. de Paris, and that of M. de Cam∣bray, did add thereunto that Authority which the Holy Concurrence of Bishops gives natu∣rally in Matters of Faith. The Pope himself did me the Honour to sènd me a Letter upon the Book I had laid at his Sacred Feet, and was pleased to express himself in brief, that my Volume had much encreased the good Will he entertain'd for me: That brief Letter is publish'd in my Second Edition. It appears also in the Letter to M. de Cambray, whether there be a Word of his Book: That difference regards not my Person: It is an Advantage from the Doctrine I taught, which is known all over the Earth, and which is authorized and always favoured by the Chair of St. Peter.

8. Affairs seemed afterwards to be some∣what embroil'd. It is the ordinary Conduct of God against Errors. There happens at the very first Appearance of 'em an illustrious De∣claration of the Faith. It is as the first stroke of the Ancient Tradition, that repulses the No∣velties they design to introduce: A little af∣terwards a second Time follow'd, which I call the time of Temptation; the Cabals, the Fa∣ctions began to stir, Passion and Interest di∣vides

the World: Great Bodies, great Po∣tentates stir themselves, Eloquence dazzles the simple, the Dialecticks lay Snares for them, Extravagant Metaphy sicks carries the Minds of Men into unknown Countries, many know no more what to believe, and hold all in Indifference, without Understanding or Distinction, they embrace their Party meer∣ly out of Humour. There's the Times I call Times of Temptation, if they will, Times of Darkness; we must wait in Faith for the last Time, when Truth shall triumph, and get the victory.

9. The first thing that appeared upon open∣ing the Book of M. de Cambray, was a mani∣fest affectation to excuse the Mysticks newly condemned, by cutting them off once, twice and thrice, from the List of the false Spiritu∣alists. Here we may discover him that had pro∣mised to keep silence to the last upon the Ac∣count of M. Guyon. We have shewed in ano∣ther place, that the short Method of that Wo∣man was nothing else but a more express Ex∣plication of Molinos's Guide, and especially as to indifference about Salvation, and that they had besides affected to transcribe into that small Book, the same Passages Molinos relyes upon in his Guide; among others a Letter of Father Falconi, which has been censur'd at Rome. So that to save Madam Guyon, they must save Molinos; and for this reason M. de Cambray spared him in the Maxims of the Saints. It is true, that he durst not forbear condemning expresly, that Heresrarcha in his

Letter to the Pope. But he spoke therein on∣ly of 68 Propositions of that Wretch, and af∣fected to keep silence as to the Guide, which is the Original of the New Quietism, and of the short Method. As for this last Book, very far from condemning it, he excused it in the same Letter, by comprising his Author among the Mysticks; Who, says he, carrying the Mystery of the Faith in a pure Conscience, had favoured the Error by an excess of affectionate Piety, for want of precaution, the choice of terms, and through a pardonable Ignorance of the Principles of the Di∣vinity. He adds, that this was the Subject of the Zeal of some Bishops, and of the 34 Pro∣positions; altho' those Propositions and Cen∣sures had no regard to any, but to M. Guyon and Molinos. There's the pretended Exage∣rations, the pretended Equivocations, and in one Word, the pretended Mystical Language, which is plainly to be seen he prepared as a Refuge to that Woman; and he presented that Excuse to the Pope himself, to draw his Advantages from it, if he would have receiv∣ed it.

10. Here we may see the same Spirit of In∣dulgence for the short Method, and M. Guyon's other Books, when speaking of the Censures of some Bishops against certain little Books, of which he durst not hold his Peace altoge∣ther before the Pope, he reduces the same Censures to some places, which taken in the sence that naturally offers at first, deserve to be con∣demned. He would seem thereby to condemn them, if we remember'd not the particular

sense he would have to be found in the same Books, notwithstanding their proper Words, and judges them to be condemnable only in a rigorous sence, which he assures us never came into the Mind of their Author; by which it is but too plain, he reserved to himself the Li∣berty of excusing them, by this particular sense he pretends to find in the Book, not∣withstanding the Words of the Book it self.

11. In the mean while, how little soever he may have said of it, he is so afraid we should believe that he hath pass'd a Sentence of Con∣demnation upon the Books of M. Guyon, by so speaking in his Letter to the Pope of the Bi∣shops that have censured her, that he explains it in his Answer to the Declaration; where he says, that he does not relye at all upon their Censures, wherein he never had any part nei∣ther directly nor indirectly: Words chosen on purpose, to shew that he was very far from approving them.

12. What he answers upon the affected Omission of Molinos, and of M. Guyon, is no less estrange; Do they pretend, says he, seriously, that I would defend or excuse Molinos, when in all my Books I detest all the Errors of the 68 Pro∣positions, that occasion'd him to be condemned? Yes without doubt, they seriously pretend it, see∣ing that these very Words confirm the perpe∣tual affectation of suppressing the Guide of that Author, and of touching only upon the 68 Propositions, as if they were the only Sub∣ject 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 Cam∣bray, 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, be∣cause 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 affectati∣on 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 Me∣thod, &c. with the Explication of the Song of Songs. But after the Liberty M. de Cam∣bray has taken, to say, that they have insert∣ed what they would in his Text, who shall hin∣der him from disowning a Marginal Note, the

Text whereof is insignificant? and whatsoe∣ver 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 Let∣ter to the Pope: It is for this reason that in the second Edition of his Answer, he has sup∣prest these Words, My Letter is made publick, and he would have recall'd the Edition where∣in they were, because we saw there very plain∣ly, that as to the Books of M. Guyon, he was meerly for shifting off, and never for explain∣ing 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 dexte∣rous 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 Per∣sons in pure Contemplation, and all the other Excesses of that Woman: It is visibly, her in∣terior Life, that this Prelate designed to de∣scribe, 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 ap∣pear more perfect: Then they find themselves sore∣mote from the rest of Men, and they think so diffe∣rently from 'em, that their Neighbour becomes in∣supportable. 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 ten∣der Condescension, should hinder us from endu∣ring 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 nei∣ther 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 pre∣tend 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 Boast∣ings of a Woman, that gave out she was en∣dued 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 them∣selves, 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 constrain∣ed that it might evaporate, to tell him some∣times, O my Son, you are my beloved Son, in whom alone I am well pleased: God had notwithstand∣ing given her in her Prison, and as the Fruit of her Labours, another Man far more inti∣mate 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 conje∣cture any thing, I relate here only that of her Life, to shew that the false Mystery is conti∣nued, 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 Cir∣cumstances 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 disco∣vered: I shall say nothing more of it, but shall content my self to describe the Person by whose Order M. Guyon wrote her Life.

20. In every page of that Life she gives way to her Rapture, so far as to say, O let me hear no more of Humility! The Virtues are no longer for me! No, my God, let there be no more for me neither Virtue, nor Perfection, nor Holiness! And every where in her Life she says, Virtuous Manners are imperfect Manners: The Virtue Humility is a feigned Virtue, or at least affected and forced: It is there also that we find the Source of the New Language; where it is mentioned, that they will have no more Virtue as Virtue. M. de Cambray has adopt∣ed those words: Thence comes whatsoever we find in his Writings to lessen the Esteem of Vir∣tue, and thence comes in the last place his per∣petual forcing so many passages of St. Francis de Sales, which are to be understood more sim∣ply as that Saint did.

21. We had said nothing like this in our Articles: Such Explications as are added in Favour of M. Guyon are not a more large expli∣cation, as M. de Cambray promised; but an evi∣dent

Depravation of our Sentiments and Prin∣ciples. In the as Article we spoke all upon the Conditions and Suppositions impossible: This was sufficient to verifie what had been said of it by St. Chrysostom and other Saints, who would never introduce those Suppositions, but with the Expression of an impossible Case. But what was sufficient for the Saints, was not suf∣ficient to excuse M. Guyon: So that to Con∣temn her, they were fain to invent the absolute Sacrifice never heard of before, and all the Circumstances that have been often remarkt, all things added to our Articles, and unknown to all Authors, except to Molinos and M. Guyon.

22. To speak a word of it by the by, and to bring the Reader a little back again to the Matter of Fact, was that an Expliction of our Principles, or his acquiescing to his just Condemnation, which one of our Articles has expressly condemned, that we must never suffer troubled Souls to acquiesee in their Despair, and apparent Damnation: On the contrary, M. de Cambray permits such as ac∣quiescence by a Director; and to render it more voluntary, to ascribe it to the highest part of the Soul, he calls it a Sacrifice, and an absolute Sacrifice. We said in the same Article, that we must with S. Francis de Sales assure those Souls, that God will not forsake them: But far from approving that Article, M. de Cambray confutes it expresly, when he says that our Business is not, neither to argue with those Souls that are incapable of all rea∣soning, nor to represent unto them the Good∣ness

of God in general. We must then de∣prive of Comfort those Souls we suppose to be holy, and bereave them with their Reason of the reasonable Service St. Paul teaches: We must deliver them up to their Cruel Thoughts, and to speak it in one word, to their Despair; was this to explain or to de∣prave our Principles? Did we say any thing like this in our Articles?