Madame Guyon. Their doctrine of "Quietism," or constant, pure love,
was liable to create a schism. What the Church wants is fixity, security
and obedience. At that time in France the civil authorities and the
Church worked together. The "lettre de cachet" was utilized, and Father
La Combe was landed suddenly and safely in the Bastile. We have gotten
so used to liberty that we can hardly realize that only a hundred years
ago, men were arrested without warrant, no charge having been made
against them, tried in secret and disposed of as if they were already
dead.

Father La Combe never regained his liberty. His mind reeled under his
misfortunes and he died insane.

Madame Guyon was banished to a nunnery, which was a bastile arranged for
ladies. For two years she was kept under lock and key. The authorities,
however, relaxed their severities, not realizing that she was really
more dangerous than Father La Combe.

Priests are apt to deal gently with beautiful women. From her prison
Madame Guyon managed to get a letter to Fenelon, Bishop of Cambray. She
asked for a hearing and that her case be passed upon by a tribunal.
Fenelon referred the letter to Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, recommending
that the woman be given a hearing and judgment rendered as to the extent
of her heresy. By a singular fatality Bossuet appointed Fenelon as
chairman or chief inquisitor of the committee to investigate the
vagaries and conduct of the Madame.

Bossuet, himself, became interested in the woman. He went to see her in
prison, and her beauty, her intellect, her devotion, appealed to him.

Bossuet was an orator, the greatest in France at that time. His only
rival was Fenelon, but the style and manner of the men were so different
that they really played off against each other as foils.

Bossuet was vehement, powerful--what we would call "Western." Fenelon
was suave, gentle, and won by an appeal to the highest and best in the
hearts of his hearers. Father La Combe and Fenelon were very much alike,
only Father La Combe had occupied a local position, while that of
Fenelon was national. Fenelon was a diplomat, an author, an orator.

Madame Guyon's autobiography reveals the fact that Bossuet was enough
interested in her case to have her removed to a nunnery near where he
lived, and there he often called upon her. He read to her from his own
writings, instead of analyzing hers, which proves priests to be simply
men at the last. Bossuet needed the fe