FENELON. 
Bebeles. nated, in 1695, to the archbishopric of Cambrai, and 
1B Seatene’ of his divinterentednées of es 
293 
Cambrai has etréd'froni an excess Of love to God; the Fetter: 
Bishop of Meaux has sinned from a want of due love “~v~* 
racter, 
and probation of’ pluratities, by immedi- 
resigning the Abbey of St Valery. He was re- 
¢ by the King still to retain his situation‘ as’ 
ceptor, and to reside at Versailles three months of every 
year, as the laws of the church allowed, while during 
the other nine he should communicate directions for the 
education of his pupils.  Searcely, however, had" he 
arrived at Cambrai, when he heard that Madame Guy- 
on was arrested ; and at once ived that her ene- 
mies were powerful,’ and that their hostility might ex- 
tend to himself. Her impradences ‘had irritated Bos- 
suet to adopt the harshest measures against her; and 
Fenelon’s reluctance to coneur in the same severe treat- 
ment and sweeping censures, rendered’ him an object 
of suspicion to many of his’ ecclesiastical contempora- 
ries, and: particulary vee to from him ‘his’ former 
familiar friend, the Bishop*of Meaux. Having'p 
himself, in the course of the vatious diseussions which 
took place, to give a public declaration of his own sen 
timents} ‘he wrote’ his ** Maxims of the Saints,” which 
he submitted before publication to the Cardinal de 
Noailles, to M. Tronson, and to’ M. Perot, a Doctor of 
the Sorbonne, an acute scholastic theologian, who had 
been one of the examinators’and censurers of Madame 
Guyon,and who had long been devoted to Bossuet. With 
a docility, which extorted their admiration, he altered 
every passage to which objected ; and. received 
rie a metarae—tsae that his book was correct and 
' Nosooner, however; did it appear, in 1697; 
than it was denounced as heretical ; and a scene of al- 
most inexplicable persecution commenced ‘against him, 
under the conduct of: Bossuet, who. accused 
him of fanaticism to the king, and determined to be 
satisfied with i urbe pitcaapel i sama an 
absolute recantation. 3 ipal question in the 
controversy -was, that Fenelon maintained the existence 
of a pure and disinterested love towards God ; while 
Bossuet ‘that this love should always have for 
its foundation the hope of celestial happiness. * © The 
Archbishop of Cambrai resolved to submit his work to 
the decision of the P. with 
the full issi the’ King: » But this would not 
i L isiti of his enemies; and, from ‘an 
amiable desire of conciliation, he entered into a variety 
of personal discussions ‘and explanations; of which his 
availed themselves to effect his disgrace at 
court. He received a peremptory order to retire to his 
diocese ; and was, at the same time, refused permission 
kare cause in at Rome. -flis most va- 
luable friends retained their attachment to his person 
os ey considera — oe either = fear or flat- 
tery; and the y Bi 3; having in 
nibvtlotaeaaet aaa his aaben vailed atleast, 
{though this favour was soon revoked), that he should 
be allowed to retain the title of his tor. ‘Irmo: 
cent XII. was very desirous to the affair in the 
most conciliatory manner ; but, in compliance with the 
aa of Louis XIV. he ten examinators 
of Fenelon’s work, five of voted in .its favour. 
Sy hiya t rei bir anh 
seer 
nvm 
Opinions, apparently ‘80 opposite and 
to his neighbour.” It has ‘also been said of the two 
characters, “ L’un ‘prouve la religion l’autre la fait 
aimer.” But a fresh remonstrance’ from the King of 
Frarice prevailed with the Pontiff to refer the examina- 
tion to the assembly of Cardinals; and, after a struggle 
highly honourable to the friends of Fenelon, a formal, 
but moderate, condemnation of his book, ‘was issued 
from the court of Rome in 1699. During the whole 
course of this enquiry, the mildness and serenity of the 
Archbishop formed a striking contrast with the asperity 
and rancour of his enemies; and, when he heard of 
his sentence, as he was ascending the pulpit on the 
day of the Annunciation, instantly changing the plan 
of the® discourse’ which he had prepared for that occa- 
sion,*he delivered a sermon on the duty of passive 
obedience, ‘which drew tears of admiration from his 
hearers. Actuated by a principle of religious resigna- 
tion to the will of God,’ and love of peace towards his 
enemies; he published a formal submission to his sen- 
tence. His conduct commanded universal admiration, 
and the Pope was so touched with his meekness, that 
he wrote to him’ a letter with many expressions ‘of re+ 
— Inthe general feeling of approbation ‘which 
whole'nation entertained towards the Archbishop, 
it was e that he would in be recalled to 
court, and reinstated in his former functions. But the 
strongest antipathy against him now appeared to have 
the minds both of the King and of Madame 
Maintenon ; and all the circumstances of their con« 
duct concur to confirm the suspicion that there existed 
some secret and more powerful cause of his late perse- 
eution than his theological opinions. Their refusal to 
authorise his return to Versailles, has been ascribed to 
the publication of “ Telemachus,” which a’servant of 
Fenelon’s' had, without his knowledge, first circulated 
in manuscript, and afterwards sold to:a printer at Pa- 
ris, This‘admirable production: was- denounced by 
the cotirt as‘‘a satire: upon the government of Louis 
XIV. ; ‘and the utmost exertions were made to suppress 
it for ever. — hy this opinion, though solemnly disclaim- 
ed by Fenelon, Madame de Maintenon coincided; and, 
whatever had been the intention of the author, the king 
could not but feel that its maxims were completely con- 
tradictory of those by which he had been guided. The 
avidity with which it was , and the approbation 
which it received in every nation of Europe; expressed 
rr pe apVatcanatatinnn if not of Louis him- 
self, yet e politi inciples by whieh: his rei 
inadl been direct ire These 7 évidietioeny tule. 
ever, ofan earlier and more inveterate dislike towards. 
Fenelon, in the heart of the favourite Madamede Main- 
tenon, and to whicl: his future di may be consi- 
dered as principally owing. That lady, not satisfied with 
bein lis taletepati depirel to become the wife of Louis ; 
but king’s confessor, Father la Chaise, referred the 
point'to therarchbishop of Cambrai, as theablest casuist 
at court. ‘His opinions were hostile to the hopes of Ma- 
dame de Maintenon ;\ and, from that moment, his ruin 
was meditated, +» But whatever may have been the im« 
mediate cause of that avowed! or secret hostility to- 
which he fell .a victim, there can be little doubt that he 
had become an object of undefined antipathy to the in. 
Bin Tot ; } ? 
“yy 
a Seman on TE a cema, arémiost ingeniously and satisfactorily reconciled by Bishop Horsley in: 
“ 7 Jd ; 7 ie Pp. igen, Stay § ; 
ot 808 Guardian, voli, Nos, 46, 47,48; and, Yolaite’s Hing deta alse de Lovin, XP, 
