SPIRITUAL PROGRESS

FENELON AND MADAME GUYON.

Table of Contents

EDITOR’S PREFACE.

　

CHRISTIAN COUNSEL, ON DIVERS MATTERS PERTAINING TO THE INNER LIFE. 

　

I. OF THE LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THERE IS IN THE WORLD

II. OF THE NECESSITY OF KNOWING AND LOVING GOD.

III. ON PURE LOVE.

IV. ON PRAYER AND THE PRINCIPAL EXERCISES OF PIETY.

V. ON CONFORMITY TO THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST.

VI. ON HUMILITY.

VII. ON PRAYER

VIII. ON MEDITATION.

IX. ON MORTIFICATION.

X. ON SELF-ABANDONMENT.

XI. ON TEMPTATIONS.

XII. ON WANDERING THOUGHTS AND DEJECTION.

XIII. ON CONFIDENCE IN GOD.

XIV. IN WHAT MANNER WE ARE TO WATCH OURSELVES.

XV. ON THE INWARD TEACHING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

XVI. ON DAILY FAULTS AND THE TOLERATION OF OURSELVES.

XVII. ON FIDELITY IN SMALL MATTERS.

XVIII. ON TRANSITORY EMOTIONS, FIDELITY, AND SIMPLICITY.

XIX. ON THE ADVANTAGES OF SILENCE AND RECOLLECTION.

XX. PRIVATION AND ANNIHILATION, A TERROR EVEN TO THE SPIRITUALLY-MINDED.

XXI. ON THE PROPER USE OF CROSSES.

XXII. ON THE INTERIOR OPERATIONS OF GOD TO BRING MAN TO THE TRUE END OF HIS CREATION.

XXIII. ON CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.

XXIV. THE WAY OF NAKED FAITH AND PURE LOVE IS BETTER AND MORE CERTAIN THAN THAT OF ILLUMINATIONS AND SENSIBLE DELIGHTS.

XXV. ON THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

XXVI. ON CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD.

XXVII. GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR ATTAINING INWARD PEACE.

XXVIII. PURE LOVE ONLY CAN SUFFER ARIGHT AND LOVE ITS SUFFERINGS.

XXIX. INTERESTED AND DISINTERESTED LOVE HAVE EACH ITS APPROPRIATE SEASON.

XXX. ON TRUE LIBERTY.

XXXI. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF TIME.

　

　

SPIRITUAL LETTERS.

　

LETTER I. The advantage of humiliation.

LETTER II. How to bear suffering so as to preserve our peace.

LETTER III. The beauty of the cross.

LETTER IV. The death of self.

LETTER V. Peace lies in simplicity and obedience.

LETTER VI. The true source of peace is in the surrender of the will.

LETTER VII. True good is only reached by abandonment.

LETTER VIII. Knowledge puffeth up; charity edifieth.

LETTER IX. We are not to choose the manner in which our blessings shall be bestowed.

LETTER X. The discovery and death of self.

LETTER XI. The sight of our imperfections should not take away our peace.

LETTER XII. Living by the cross and by faith.

LETTER XIII. Despair at our imperfection is a greater obstacle than the imperfection itself.

LETTER XIV. Pure faith sees God alone.

LETTER XV. Our knowledge stands in the way of our becoming wise.

LETTER XVI. Those who endeavor to injure us are to be loved and welcomed as the hand of God.

LETTER XVII. Quietness in God our true resource.

LETTER XVIII. True friendships are founded only in God.

LETTER XIX. The cross a source of our pleasure.

LETTER XX. The absence of feeling and the revelation of self no sufficient causes of distress.

LETTER XXI. The imperfection of others to be borne in love.

LETTER XXII. The fear of death not taken away by our own courage, but by the grace of God.

LETTER XXIII. Sensitiveness under reproof the surest sign we needed it.

LETTER XXIV. Imperfection only is intolerant of imperfection.

LETTER XXV. We should listen to God and not to self-love.

LETTER XXVI. Absolute trust the shortest road to God.

LETTER XXVII. The time of temptation and distress is no time to form resolves. 

LETTER XXVIII. Who has love, has all.

LETTER XXIX. Weakness preferable to strength, and practice better than knowledge.

LETTER XXX. Beware of the pride of reasoning; the true guide to knowledge is love.

LETTER XXXI. The gifts of God not to be rejected on account of the channel that brings them.

LETTER XXXII. Poverty and spoliation the way of Christ.

LETTER XXXIII. The will of God our only treasure.

LETTER XXXIV. Abandonment not a heroic sacrifice, but a simple sinking into the will of God.

LETTER XXXV. Daily dying takes the place of final death.

LETTER XXXVI. Suffering belongs to the living, not the dead.

LETTER XXXVII. The limits of our grace are those of our temptation.

LETTER XXXVIII. Resisting God, an effectual bar to grace.

LETTER XXXIX. God speaks more effectually in the soul, than to it.

LETTER XL. The circumcision of the heart.

　

　

METHOD OF PRAYER

　

THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

　

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI.

CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER XX.

CHAPTER XXI.

CHAPTER XXII.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CHAPTER XXIV.

　

On The Way to God

　

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

PART II.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

　

SPIRITUAL MAXIMS

This etext is in the public domain.

SPIRITUAL PROGRESS:

 or

 INSTRUCTIONS IN THE DIVINE LIFE OF THE SOUL

 FROM THE FRENCH OF

 FENELON AND MADAME GUYON.

INTENDED FOR SUCH AS ARE DESIROUS TO COUNT ALL THINGS BUT LOSS THAT THEY MAY WIN CHRIST.

EDITED BY JAMES W. METCALF

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD,

BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, CITY HALL SQUARE

1853.

“Howbeit, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory.”

1 Cor. ii. 6.