Preface.

he guided her through the hardest and strictest paths, in order to ensure that she might find the life resurrected in God through the certain means of the Cross and the total dying-away of self dying-away of self: from the German "Absterbung ihrer selbsten," a mystical process of surrendering one's ego and desires to become a vessel for the divine. One will even find many letters written to this lady in the second and third volumes of Mr. Bertot's writings, which those who have thoughtfully read her autobiography will easily recognize. It is indeed true that Madame Guyon herself admits (*) how Mr. Bertot provided her very little help regarding her inner state. This occurred through a singular providence of God the protective care of God as a spiritual power, in order to tear away from her all the supports that might have prevented her from losing her entire "self-life." However, in the meantime, Mr. Bertot passed away just as the new life began to dawn within her—into which God's goodness had blissfully led her, after she [emerged] from all her anxieties and...

(*) See her Autobiography, Part 1, Chapter 29, Section 6; as well as Chapter 19, Section 2, and Chapter 24, Section 3, etc.