Fénelon: The Mystic

[1]This edition of the “Letters,” edited by H. L. Sidney Lear, is also published by the Longmans of London. There is an abridged edition, in paper, for fifteen cents, for sale by George W. McCalls, Philadelphia, who also publishes Fénelon’s “Christian Counsel,” “Spiritual Letters” of Madame Guyon, “Life of Dr. John Tauler,” and other similar books. The five most important Lives of Fénelon are by E. K. Sanders, Longmans, London, 1901; by Viscount St. Cyres, Methuen & Co., London, 1901; by H. L. Sidney Lear, Rivingtons, London, 1877; by Dr. T. C. Upham, Harpers, New York, 1846; and by Charles Butler, Esq., John Murray, London, 1819.

[2]Quoted in The American Presbyterian and Theological Review for October, 1863, page 674, and also in McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, Vol. III, page 529.

[3]The celebrated historian of the Reformation, J. H. Merle d’Aubigne, who died at Geneva in 1872, was descended from the same family.

[4]The principal sources of information on this important subject of Mysticism, from which we have drawn and to which we would refer such readers as wish to investigate the question further, are the following: “Christian Mysticism,” by William Ralph Inge, being the Bampton Lectures for 1899; Vaughan’s “Hours With the Mystics;” articles in the Encyclopedia Britannica; Schaff-Herzog Cyclopedia; McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia; articles in the Methodist Quarterly Review for January, 1860, January, 1869, and July, 1878; various Church Histories, and Histories of Doctrine, together with the Lives and Writings of the main Mystics mentioned in the present chapter and the chapter which follows.

[5]Even Spinoza said, “He that would love God aright must not seek to be loved in return;” and Goethe confessed himself haunted by this wonderful saying. It is fully in accord with the fact that the most chivalrous and generous friendship is never concerned about payment in kind, about what it shall get in return; it only asks the privilege of loving and of pouring itself out unstintedly for its beloved. Disinterestedness should not probably be pressed as a requirement upon minds not capable of such heights, but it has a grandeur that appeals sometimes to nearly all. This was especially the case in an age when Jesuit cheapjacks were accustomed to haggle with God for the price of the soul, and discuss whether it was necessary to love Him once in a week or once in a year, or whether salvation might not be purchased still more cheaply at the price of one act of love in a lifetime.

[6]Inge says: “Fiery energy and unresting industry characterized St. John of the Cross. No one ever climbed the rugged peaks of Mt. Carmel with more heroic courage and patience. His life shows what tremendous moral force is generated by complete self-surrender to God. His reward was fellowship with Christ in suffering.”

[7]See “Honey from Many Hives,” gathered by Rev. James Mudge, New York, Eaton and Mains, 1899. Large quotations also from Francis of Sales are given in this volume, and from many other Mystical writers.

[8]Fénelon, on sending the manuscript to the Archbishop of Paris used these words: “I have done what I believed to be my duty, and I leave the rest to God. I do not care about my work. I am not even anxious about truth, God will care for it.”