The Autobiography of Madame Guyon | Page 5

continued long disconsolate, and would receive no
comfort; something inwardly reproved me, for not having embraced
that opportunity of going to Heaven, when it rested altogether on my
own choice.
At my solicitation, and on account of my falling so frequently sick, I
was at length taken home. On my return, my mother having a maid in
whom she placed confidence, left me again to the care of servants. It is
a great fault, of which mothers are guilty, when under pretext of
external devotions, or other engagements, they suffer their daughters to
be absent from them. I forbear not condemning that unjust partiality
with which parents treat some of their children. It is frequently
productive of divisions in families, and even the ruin of some.
Impartiality, by uniting children's hearts together, lays the foundation
of lasting harmony and unanimity.
I would I were able to convince parents, and all who have the care of
youth, of the great attention they require, and how dangerous it is to let
them be for any length of time from under their eye, or to suffer them
to be without some kind of employment. This negligence is the ruin of
multitudes of girls.

How greatly it is to be lamented, that mothers who are inclined to piety,
should pervert even the means of salvation to their destruction--commit
the greatest irregularities while apparently pursuing that which should
produce the most regular and circumspect conduct.
Thus, because they experience certain gains in prayer, they would be all
day long at church; meanwhile their children are running to destruction.
We glorify God most when we prevent what may offend Him. What
must be the nature of that sacrifice which is the occasion of sin! God
should be served in His own way. Let the devotion of mothers be
regulated so as to prevent their daughters from straying. Treat them as
sisters, not as slaves. Appear pleased with their little amusements. The
children will delight then in the presence of their mothers, instead of
avoiding it. If they find so much happiness with them, they will not
dream of seeking it elsewhere. Mothers frequently deny their children
any liberties. Like birds constantly confined to a cage, they no sooner
find means of escape than off they go, never to return. In order to
render them tame and docile when young, they should be permitted
sometimes to take wing, but as their flight is weak, and closely watched,
it is easy to retake them when they escape. Little flight gives them the
habit of naturally returning to their cage which becomes an agreeable
confinement. I believe young girls should be treated in a manner
something similar to this. Mothers should indulge them in an innocent
liberty, but should never lose sight of them.
To guard the tender minds of children from what is wrong, much care
should be taken to employ them in agreeable and useful matters. They
should not be loaded with food they cannot relish. Milk suited to babies
should be administered to them not strong meat which may so disgust
them, that when they arrive at an age when it would be proper
nourishment, they will not so much as taste it. Every day they should
be obliged to read a little in some good book, spend some time in
prayer, which must be suited rather to stir the affections, than for
meditation. Oh, were this method of education pursued, how speedily
would many irregularities cease! These daughters becoming mothers,
would educate their children as they themselves had been educated.

Parents should also avoid showing the smallest partiality in the
treatment of their children. It begets a secret jealousy and hatred among
them, which frequently augments with time, and even continues until
death. How often do we see some children the idols of the house,
behaving like absolute tyrants, treating their brothers and sisters as so
many slaves according to the example of father and mother. And it
happens many times, that the favorite proves a scourge to the parents
while the poor despised and hated one becomes their consolation and
support.
My mother was very defective in the education of her children. She
suffered me whole days from her presence in company with the
servants, whose conversation and example were particularly hurtful to
one of my disposition. My mother's heart seemed wholly centered in
my brother. I was scarcely ever favored with the smallest instance of
her tenderness or affection. I therefore voluntarily absented myself
from her. It is true, my brother was more amiable than I but the excess
of her fondness for him, made her blind even to my outward good
qualities. It served only to discover my faults, which would have been
trifling had proper care been taken of me.
CHAPTER 3
My