Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-11-04
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1854.
SATURDAY EVENING READING.
Mndnme Guyon.

MADAME GuyOns
In her earliest youth Madamoiselle Jeanne
Marie Bouvieres de la Mothe was singular,
even in the fastidious Paris of Louis Quatorze,
for her beauty and fascination, and for the
powers of mind, " fait pour lie monde" At
sixteen she was married to Monsieur Guyon,
wealthy but unwelcome sutton of which
event she said long after, " No sooner was /
at the house of my husband, than perceived
it would be for me house of mourning" Il
required long years of domestic misery, of be-
reayement, bodily sickness, and mental de-
preston to turn her heart aolo1ly to the Lord.
At last while still in the prime of her youth
and beauty, and beset by many worldly temp
tations, her biographer says of her, And
here, l think, we may mark a distinct and
very important crisis in the history of her spir-
itual being. Taught by sad experience, she
saw the utter impossibility of combining the
love of the world with the love of God. From
this day, this hour, if it be possible, 1 will be
wholly the Lord s. The world shall have no
portion in me-" Such was the language of
her heart,-such her solemn determination.
She formed her resolution after counting the
costa resolution which was made in Gods
strength, and not in her own,-which in after
life was often smitten by the storm and tried
in the fire but from this time onward, so far
er consumed-was never broken. She gave
herself to the Lord, not only to be His in the
ordinary and mitigated sense of the terms, but
to be His aoholly, and to be His foreUer, to be
His in body and in spirit,-to be His in per-
sonal efforts and inhuenCe,-to be His in all
that she ,oas, and in all that it was possible
for her to be. There was no reserve.
Through the whole of Madame Guyon's
noble missionary and martyr career, we find
this feature of whole hearted conservation ev-
er prominent. She was permitted to see the
full triumph of faith in her home,-to show
forgiveness to the mother. law who had
cruelty injured her,-to minister peace and
comfort to the husband who had tyrannized
over her, Ito be the means of conversion to
hundreds who called her their spiritual moth
Grand to show forth Gods glory in society,
where it was said of her by one of the worlds
devotees, " It's very visible that she lives in
the presence Of God" Permitted to let her
sweet and stirring voice be heard in hymns
that yet cheer the Zionward traveller, and in
valuable works of devotion, she was counted
worthy of even more honor. She was chosen
to confess Christ and His free justification, and
above all, His Spirits free sanctifcaton, be-
fore kings, and rulers, and Roman ecclesias-
tics for His names sake she suffered the loss
Of all MISREPRESENTATION, solitary confne-
years in the fearful Bastile, next door to tho
dungeon where persisted the Man in the Iron
Mask. She at last Gin 1717) died death in
Punishment, OF which it was said, g Such
departure, preceded by such life as we have
described, might be called transition rather
than death. 1t is proper, indeed to say, that
she died; but it is equally proper to say that
she 'oeat home" 1t is true that there were
| some doctrinal and g mystical errors resting
| upon her faith, but they were spots on the
sun,-hay and stnbble dropped for while on
| the firm rock. We shall conclude our chap
ter by the following lines, expressive of this
devoted Christians entire self-renunciation
and divine love.
II love my God, but with no love of mine
| For have none to give;
| love thee Lord but all the love is Thine.
For by Thy love live.
] am as hing, and rejoice to be
Emptled, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee.
Thou, Lord, alone, art all Thy children need,
And there is none beside;
From Thee the streams ofblsssedness proceed.
In Thee the blest abide.
Fountain file, and all Astounding grace,
Our source, our centre, and our dwelling placer
Mad. Guyons Poems.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES the introduction of
our religion, human nature has made great
progress, and society experienced great chan
world, Christianity, instead of losing its ap-
plication and Importance, is found to be more
and more congenial and adapted to man S ma
ture and wants. Men have outgrown the
other institutions of that period when Chris
tianty appeared its philosophy, its modes of
warfare its policy, its pubic and private econ
omy; but Christianity has never shrunk as
intellect Fas opened, but has always kept in
advance of mems faculties, and unfolded no.
bier views in proportion as they have ascend
&c. The highest powers and affections which
our nature has developed find more than adj
equate objects IN this religion. Christianity
is indeed peculiarly fitted to the more improv-
ed stages of society, to the more delicate sem
sibilities of refined minds and especially to
that dissatisfaction with the present state
which always grows with the growth of our
moral powers and affections. Asmen advance
in civilization, they become susceptible of
mental sufferings, to which ruder ages are
strangers and these Christianity is fitted to
assuage. Imagination and intellect become
more restless; and Christianity brings them
tranquility, by the eternal and magnificent
truths, the solemn and unbounded prospects
which it unfolds. This fitness of our religion
to more advanced stages of society than that
in which it was introduced, to wants of hui
man nature not then developed, seems to me
very striking. The religion bears the marks
of having come from a being who perfectly
understood the human mind, and had power
to provide for its progress. This feature of
Christianity is of the nature of prophecy. 1t
was an anticipation of future and distant
ages; and when we consider among whom
our religion sprung, where, but in God, can
we find an explanation of this peculiarly p.
Claiming.