Lives of the most eminent literary and scientific men of France, Vol. 1 (of 2)Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Science
Lives of the most eminent literary and scientific men of France, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Authors, French -- Biography
writings on this occasion are considered his best.[110] His heart and
soul were in them; yet they are now usually omitted from the editions of
his works, as regarding a question which the church has set at rest for
ever. The delay of the pope, and the popularity which Fénélon gained
by his candour and simplicity, enraged the king. His distaste for his
theories, which were founded on a belief in virtue, grew into a positive
dislike and even hatred for the man, whom he now looked on as dangerous.
With his own hand he erased his name, which had remained on the list of
the royal household as preceptor to the princes; he dismissed his
friends, the abbés Beaumont and Langeron, from their employments as
sub-preceptors; he forbade the court to all his relations and many of
his friends; and, added to these mundane inflictions, was the clerical
insult of the Sorbonne, when it condemned twelve propositions drawn from
his book. Fénélon observed on these indignities,--"Yet, but a little,
and the deceitful kingdom of this world will be over. We shall meet in
the kingdom of truth, where there is no error, no division, no scandal;
we shall breathe the pure love of God; and he will communicate to us his
everlasting peace. In the mean time, let us suffer, let us suffer. Let
us be trodden underfoot; let us not refuse disgrace: Jesus Christ was
disgraced by us; may our disgrace tend to his glory!" Nor would he
listen to any advice to turn the tables on Bossuet, by accusing him, in
his turn, of error; but earnestly replied, "Moriamur in simplicitate
nostra?"
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