Christian Counsel

Francois Fenelon

• Publisher: Darolt Books
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9786586145106
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Bibles

Christian Counsel is a message of meditation based on the Bible and written by Francois Fenelon 1651-1715Francois Fenelon (specifically Francois de Salignac de la Motte-Fenelon) was born on August 6, 1651, at Fenelon Castle in Perigord. Fenelon studied at the seminary Saint-Sulpice in Paris, where he was ordained as a priest. Fenelon published his pedagogical work Traite de l'education des filles (Treatise on the Education of Girls) in 1681, which brought him much attention, not only in France, but abroad as well. At this time, he met Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, who soon became his patron and through whose influence Fenelon was contracted by Louis XIV to carry out the re-conversion of the Hugenots in the provinces of Saintonge and Poitou in 1686 and was appointed in 1689 as educator of his grandson and potential successor, the Duc de Bourgogne. Because of this position, he gained much influence at the court.He was inducted into the Academie Francaise in 1693 and named Archbishop of Cambrai in 1695. During his time as the educator and teacher of the Duke, Fenelon wrote several entertaining and educational works, including the extensive novel Les Aventures de Telemaque, fils d'Ulysse (The Adventures of Telemachus, son of Ulysses), which depicted the ideal of a wise king. When this novel began circulating anonymously among the court, having been fragmentarily published in 1699 without his knowledge, Louis XIV, who saw many criticisms of his absolutistic style of rule in Telemaque, stopped the printing and banned Fenelon from court. Fenelon then retreated to his bishopric in Cambrai, where he remained active writing theological and political treatises until his death on January 17, 1715.In Church history, Fenelon is known especially for his part in the Quietism debate with his earlier patron Bossuet. In his work Explication des maximes des Saints sur la vie interieure (Explanation of the Adages of the Saints on the Inner Life) in 1697, he defended Madame du Guyon, the main representative of Quietistic mysticism. He provided proof that her "heretical" teachings could also be seen in recognized saints. In 1697, Fenelon called on the pope for a decision in the Quietism debate. After long advisement, the Pope banned the Explication in 1699. Fenelon complied with the pope's decision immediately and allowed the remaining copies of his book to be destroyed.

Table of contents

• PREFACE
• 1: Of the Little Knowledge of God there is in the World
• 2: Of the Necessity of Knowing and Loving God
• 3: On Pure Love
• 4: On Prayer and the Principal Exercises of Piety
• 5: On Conformity to the Life of Jesus Christ
• 6: On Humility
• 7: On Prayer
• 8: On Meditation
• 9: On Mortification
• 10: On Self-Abandonment
• 11: On Temptations
• 12: On Wandering Thoughts and Dejection
• 13: On Confidence in God
• 14: In What Manner We are to Watch Ourselves
• 15: On the Inward Teaching of the Spirit Of God
• 16: On Daily Faults and the Toleration of Ourselves
• 17: On Fidelity in Small Matters
• 18: On Transitory Emotions, Fidelity, and Simplicity
• 19: On The Advantages of Silence and Recollection
• 20: Privation and Annihilation, A Terror Even to the Spiritually-Minded
• 21: On The Proper Use of Crosses
• 22: On the Interior Operations of God to Bring Man to the True End of His Creation
• 23: On Christian Perfection
• 24: The Way of Naked Faith and Pure Love is Better and More Certain than that of Illuminations and Sensible Delights
• 25: On the Presence of God
• 26: On Conformity to the Will of God
• 27: General Directions for Attaining Inward Peace
• 28: Pure Love Only Can Suffer Aright and Love its Sufferings
• 29: Interested and Disinterested Love Have Each its Appropriate Season
• 30: On True Liberty
• 31: On the Employment of Time