The Existence of God

The Existence of God

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Existence of God, by Francois de
Salignac de La Mothe- Fenelon, Edited by Henry Morley
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Title: The Existence of God
Author: Francois de Salignac de La Mothe- Fenelon
Release Date: February 11, 2004 [eBook #11044]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
EXISTENCE OF GOD***

Transcribed by David Price, email [email protected]

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

INTRODUCTION

An ancestor of the French divine who under the name of Fenelon has
made for himself a household name in England as in France, was
Bertrand de Salignac, Marquis de la Mothe Fenelon, who in 1572, as
ambassador for France, was charged to soften as much as he could the
resentment of our Queen Elizabeth when news came of the massacre of
St. Bartholomew. Our Fenelon, claimed in brotherhood by Christians of
every denomination, was born nearly eighty years after that time, at the
chateau of Fenelon in Perigord, on the 6th of August, 1651. To the
world he is Fenelon; he was Francois de Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon
to the France of his own time.
Fenelon was taught at home until the age of twelve, then sent to the
University of Cahors, where he began studies that were continued at
Paris in the College du Plessis. There he fastened upon theology, and
there he preached, at the age of fifteen, his first sermon. He entered
next into the seminary of Saint Sulpice, where he took holy orders in
the year 1675, at the age of twenty-four. As a priest, while true to his
own Church, he fastened on Faith, Hope, and Charity as the abiding
forces of religion, and for him also the greatest of these was Charity.
During the next three years of his life Fenelon was among the young
priests who preached and catechised in the church of St. Sulpice and
laboured in the parish. He wrote for St. Sulpice Litanies of the Infant
Jesus, and had thought of going out as missionary to the Levant. The
Archbishop of Paris, however, placed him at the head of a community
of "New Catholics," whose function was to confirm new converts in
their faith, and help to bring into the fold those who appeared willing to
enter. Fenelon took part also in some of the Conferences on Scripture
that were held at Saint Germain and Versailles between 1672 and 1685.
In 1681 an uncle, who was Bishop of Sarlat, resigned in Fenelon's
favour the Deanery of Carenas, which produced an annual income of
three or four thousand livres. It was while he held this office that
Fenelon published a book on the "Education of Girls," at the request of
the Duchess of Beauvilliers, who asked for guidance in the education of

her children.
Fenelon sought the friendship of Bossuet, who revised for him his next
book, a "Refutation of the System of Malebranche concerning Nature
and Grace." His next book, written just before the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes in 1685, opposed the lawfulness of the ministrations of
the Protestant clergy; and after the Edict, Fenelon was, on the
recommendation of Bossuet, placed at the head of the Catholic mission
to Poitou. He brought to his work of conversion or re-conversion
Charity, and a spirit of concession that brought on him the attacks of
men unlike in temper.
When Louis XIV. placed his grandson, the young Duke of Burgundy,
under the care of the Duke of Beauvilliers, the Duke of Beauvilliers
chose Fenelon for teacher of the pupil who was heir presumptive to the
throne. Fenelon's "Fables" were written as part of his educational work.
He wrote also for the young Duke of Burgundy his "Telemaque"--used
only in MS.--and his "Dialogues of the Dead." While thus living in
high favour at Court, Fenelon sought nothing for himself or his friends,
although at times he was even in want of money. In 1693--as preceptor
of a royal prince rather than as author--Fenelon was received into the
French Academy. In 1694 Fenelon was made Abbot of Saint-Valery,
and at the end of that year he wrote an anonymous letter to Louis XIV.
upon wrongful wars and other faults committed in his reign. A copy of
it has been found in Fenelon's handwriting. The king may not have read
it, or may not have identified the author, who was not stayed by it from
promotion in February of the next year (1695) to the Archbishopric of
Cambray. He objected that the holding