Reflections on
the Life of
Madame Jeanne de la Mothe Guyon.
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.
She thought, therefore, with some reason, that at this period of her life she might have failed, in some degree, in her duty to her husband and her family, in consequence of not fully understanding the will of God as developed in his providences. And this view of things perhaps gives a significancy to a remark, which her husband once made, that "she loved God so much that she had no love left for him." It will help to illustrate the source of error and trouble which we are now trying to explain, if we give one or two other facts, which involve the same principle. She had a beautiful garden. And in the time of fruits and flowers, she often walked there. But such was the intensity of her contemplations on God, such "her inward attraction," as she expresses it, that her eye seemed to be closed, and she knew nothing, comparatively speaking, of the outward beauty which surrounded her. And when she went into the house, and her husband asked her how the fruits were, and how the flowers grew, she knew but little about it. And it was not surprising, I think, that it gave him considerable offense.
Again, it oftentimes happened that things were related in the family, which were not without interest, and which were entitled to consideration. The principle of curiosity was awake then, as it is now; and mankind had its history then, as it has now. Others conversed and listened and remembered; but so entirely absorbed was her mind in another direction, that she was scarcely able to do either. And when these topics subsequently came up for remark, although they were entitled to notice, even from a Christian, it was found that she knew nothing of them. This seemed to indicate a want of respect for the feelings of others, if not an obvious disregard of duty. And as she viewed the subject subsequently, and in the light of a higher experience, it seemed to her, that the course which she pursued was erroneous.
The highest form (not that which appears to be so, but that which really is such) of Christian experience is always in harmony with present duty. It admits no kind of feeling, and no degree of feeling, which is inconsistent with the requirements of our present situation, whatever it may be. The highest love to God does not require us to violate our duty to our neighbor, or even to our enemy. It neither requires us to violate our duty, nor does it do it in point of fact. When our religious experience stops in "emotionality," it is apt to do this; when it but partially controls the desires, it is not always a safe guide; but when, in connection with its other conquests, it breaks down all self-will, and truly establishes the throne of God in the centre of the soul, it does all things right and well; first, by estimating all things in themselves and their relations just as they ought to be estimated, and then by corresponding to this just estimate by an equally just conduct. To this state she had not as yet fully attained.
— from The Life of Madame Guyon (1877), Volume 1, Chapter 11.
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