<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<div class="frontmatter">
<h1><SPAN name="png.001" id="png.001"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">i</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span><small>A</small><br/>Short Method of Prayer<br/><small><span>AND</span></small><br/>Spiritual Torrents.</h1>
<p class="auth"><small>BY</small><br/>J. M. B. DE LA MOTHE GUYON.</p>
<p class="transl"><strong>Translated from the Paris Edition of 1790</strong><br/><small>BY</small><br/>A. W. MARSTON.</p>
<p class="publ"><big>LONDON:</big><br/>SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, & SEARLE,<br/><small>CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET.<br/>1875.<br/>[<em>All rights reserved.</em>]</small></p>
<p class="printer"><SPAN name="png.002" id="png.002"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">ii</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY<br/>EDINBURGH AND LONDON</p>
</div>
<div class="preface">
<h2><SPAN name="png.003" id="png.003"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">iii</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span><i>PREFACE TO THE<br/>ENGLISH PROTESTANT EDITION.</i></h2>
<hr class="tiny" />
<p class="first"><span class="smc">Some</span> apology is perhaps needed when a Protestant
thus brings before Protestant readers the works of
a consistent Roman Catholic author. The plea must
be, that the doctrine and experience described are
essentially Protestant; and so far from their receiving
the assent of the Roman Catholic Church, their
author was persecuted for holding and disseminating
them.</p>
<p>Of the experience of Madame Guyon, it should be
borne in mind, that though the glorious heights of
communion with God to which she attained may be
scaled by the feeblest of God’s chosen ones, yet it is
by no means necessary that they should be reached
by the same apparently arduous and protracted path
along which she was led.</p>
<p>The “Torrents” especially needs to be regarded
rather as an account of the personal experience of
the author, than as the plan which God invariably,
or even usually, adopts in bringing the soul into a
state of union with Himself. It is true that, in order
that we may “live unto righteousness,” we must be
<SPAN name="png.004" id="png.004"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">iv</span><span class="ns">]
</span>“dead indeed unto sin;” and that there must be a
crucifixion of self before the life of Christ can be
made manifest in us. It is only when we can say, “I
am crucified with Christ,” that we are able to add,
“Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me.” But it does not follow that this inward death
must always be as lingering as in the case of Madame
Guyon. She tells us herself that the reason was,
that she was not wholly resigned to the Divine will,
and willing to be deprived of the gifts of God, that
she might enjoy the possession of the Giver. This
resistance to the will of God implies suffering on
the part of the creature, and chastisement on the
part of God, in order that He may subdue to Himself
what is not voluntarily yielded to Him.</p>
<p>Of the joy of a complete surrender to God, it is
not necessary to speak here: thousands of God’s
children are realising its blessedness for themselves,
and proving that it is no hardship, but a joy unspeakable,
to present themselves a living sacrifice to God,
to live no longer to themselves, but to Him that died
for them, and rose again.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">A simple trust in a living, personal Saviour; a
putting away by His grace of all that is known to be
in opposition to His will; and an entire self-abandonment
to Him, that His designs may be worked out in
and through us; such is the simple key to the hidden
sanctuary of communion.</p>
<h2><SPAN name="png.005" id="png.005"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">v</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span><i>A SHORT METHOD OF PRAYER.</i></h2>
<hr class="tiny" />
<h2 class="chap nogap">CONTENTS.</h2>
<div>
<table summary="Table of Contents for this book">
<tr><td class="chap"><small>CHAP.</small></td><td></td><td class="pg"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">I.</td><td>PRAYER POSSIBLE AT ALL TIMES, BY THE MOST SIMPLE</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.017">1</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">II.</td><td>FIRST DEGREE OF PRAYER</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.022">6</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">III.</td><td>SECOND DEGREE OF PRAYER, CALLED HERE THE PRAYER OF SIMPLICITY</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.029">13</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">IV.</td><td>SPIRITUAL DRYNESS</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.032">16</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">V.</td><td>ABANDONMENT TO GOD</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.034">18</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">VI.</td><td>SUFFERING</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.037">21</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">VII.</td><td>MYSTERIES</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.039">23</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">VIII.</td><td>VIRTUE</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.041">25</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">IX.</td><td>PERFECT CONVERSION</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.043">27</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">X.</td><td>HIGHER DEGREE OF PRAYER, THAT OF THE SIMPLE PRESENCE OF GOD</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.046">30</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">XI.</td><td>REST IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD—INWARD AND OUTWARD SILENCE</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.051">35</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">XII.</td><td>SELF-EXAMINATION AND CONFESSION</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.055">39</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap"><SPAN name="png.006" id="png.006"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">vi</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>XIII.</td><td>READING AND VOCAL PRAYER</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.058">42</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">XIV.</td><td>THE FAULTS AND TEMPTATIONS OF THIS DEGREE</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.060">44</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">XV.</td><td>PRAYER AND SACRIFICE EXPLAINED BY THE SIMILITUDE OF A PERFUME</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.063">47</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">XVI.</td><td>THIS STATE NOT ONE OF IDLENESS, BUT OF ACTION</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.067">51</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">XVII.</td><td>DISTINCTION BETWEEN EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR ACTIONS</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.079">63</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">XVIII.</td><td>EXHORTATIONS TO PREACHERS</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.087">71</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">XIX.</td><td>PREPARATION FOR DIVINE UNION</td><td class="pg"><SPAN href="#png.093">77</SPAN></td></tr>
</table></div>
<h2><SPAN name="png.007" id="png.007"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">vii</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span><i>SPIRITUAL TORRENTS.</i></h2>
<hr class="tiny" />
<h2 class="chap nogap">CONTENTS.</h2>
<div>
<table summary="Table of Contents for second book">
<tr><td colspan="3"><h2><i>PART I.</i></h2></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap"><small>CHAP.</small></td><td></td><td class="pg"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">I.</td><td>THE DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH SOULS ARE LED TO SEEK AFTER GOD</td><td class="pg">91</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">II.</td><td>OF THE FIRST WAY, WHICH IS ACTIVE AND MEDITATIVE</td><td class="pg">94</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">III.</td><td>OF THE SECOND WAY, WHICH IS THE PASSIVE WAY OF LIGHT</td><td class="pg">103</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">IV.</td><td>OF THE THIRD WAY, WHICH IS THE PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH, AND OF ITS FIRST DEGREE</td><td class="pg">111</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">V.</td><td>IMPERFECTIONS OF THIS FIRST DEGREE</td><td class="pg">125</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">VI.</td><td>SECOND DEGREE OF THE PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH</td><td class="pg">139</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">VII.</td><td>SECT. I.—COMMENCEMENT OF THE THIRD DEGREE OF THE
PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH—FIRST DEGREE OF THE SPOLIATION OF THE SOUL</td><td class="pg">151</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>SECT. II.—SECOND DEGREE OF THE SPOLIATION OF THE SOUL</td><td class="pg">164</td></tr>
<tr><td><SPAN name="png.008" id="png.008"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">viii</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span></td><td>SECT. III.—THIRD DEGREE OF SPOLIATION</td><td class="pg">169</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>SECT. IV.—ENTRANCE INTO MYSTICAL DEATH</td><td class="pg">179</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">VIII.</td><td>THIRD DEGREE OF THE PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH, IN ITS CONSUMMATION</td><td class="pg">185</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">IX.</td><td>FOURTH DEGREE OF THE PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH, WHICH IS THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE DIVINE LIFE</td><td class="pg">193</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="3"><h2><i>PART II</i>.</h2></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">I.</td><td>MORE PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESURRECTION LIFE</td><td class="pg">211</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">II.</td><td>STABILITY, EXPERIENCE, ELEVATION, AND EXTREME PURITY OF THE ABANDONED SOUL</td><td class="pg">221</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">III.</td><td>PERFECT UNION OR DEIFORMITY</td><td class="pg">231</td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">IV.</td><td>ACTIONS AND SUFFERINGS OF THOSE IN A STATE OF UNION WITH GOD</td><td class="pg">240</td></tr>
</table></div>
<h2><SPAN name="png.009" id="png.009"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">ix</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span><small>A</small><br/><big><i>SHORT METHOD OF PRAYER</i>.</big></h2>
<hr class="tiny" />
<p class="quote pgbrk"><small>“Walk before me,
and be thou perfect.”—<span class="smc">Gen.</span> xvii. 1.</small></p>
<h2><SPAN name="png.011" id="png.011"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">xi</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span><i>AUTHOR’S PREFACE.</i></h2>
<hr class="tiny" />
<p class="first"><span class="smc">I did</span> not write this little work with the thought
of its being given to the public. It was prepared
for the help of a few Christians who were desirous
of loving God with the whole heart. But so many
have requested copies of it, because of the benefit
they have derived from its perusal, that I have
been asked to publish it.</p>
<p>I have left it in its natural simplicity. I do not
condemn the opinions of any: on the contrary, I
esteem those which are held by others, and submit
all that I have written to the censure of persons
of experience and learning. I only ask of all that
they will not be content with examining the outside,
but that they will penetrate the design of the
<SPAN name="png.012" id="png.012"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">xii</span><span class="ns">]
</span>writer, which is only to lead others to <span class="allsc">LOVE</span>
<span class="smc">G</span><span class="allsc">od</span>,
and to serve Him with greater happiness and success,
by enabling them to do it in a simple and
easy way, fit for the little ones who are not capable
of extraordinary things, but who truly desire to <em>give
themselves to God</em>.</p>
<p>I ask all who may read it, to read without prejudice;
and they will discover, under common expressions,
a hidden unction, which will lead them
to seek for a happiness which all ought to expect
to possess.</p>
<p>I use the word <em>facility</em>, saying that perfection is
easy, because it is easy to find God, <em>when we seek
Him within ourselves</em>. The passage may be quoted
which says, “Ye shall seek me, and shall not find
me” (John vii. 34). Yet this need not occasion
any difficulty; because the same God, who cannot
contradict Himself, has said, “He that seeketh
findeth” (Matt. vii. 8). <em>He who seeks God, and
who yet is unwilling to forsake sin, will not find
Him, because he is seeking Him where He cannot
be found</em>; therefore it is added, “Ye shall die in
your sins.” <em>But he who sincerely desires to forsake
<SPAN name="png.013" id="png.013"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">xiii</span><span class="ns">]
</span>sin, that he may draw near to God, will find Him
infallibly</em>.</p>
<p>Many people imagine religion so frightful, and
prayer so extraordinary, that they are not willing
to strive after them, never expecting to attain to
them. But as the difficulty which we see in a
thing causes us to despair of succeeding in it, and
at the same time removes the desire to undertake
it; and as, when a thing appears both desirable
and easy to be attained, we give ourselves to it
with pleasure, and pursue it boldly; I have been
constrained to set forth the advantage and the
<em>facility</em> of this way.</p>
<p>Oh! if we were persuaded of the goodness of
God toward His poor creatures, and of the desire
which He has to communicate Himself to them,
we should not imagine so many obstacles, and
despair so easily of obtaining a good which He is
so infinitely desirous of imparting to us.</p>
<p>And if He has not spared His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, is there anything He
can refuse us? Assuredly not. We only need a
little courage and perseverance. We have so much
<SPAN name="png.014" id="png.014"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">xiv</span><span class="ns">]
</span>of both for trifling temporal interests, and we have
none for the “<em>one thing needful</em>.”</p>
<p>As for those who find a difficulty in believing
that it is easy to find God in this way, let them
not believe all that they are told, but rather let
them make trial of it, that they may judge for
themselves; and they will find that I say very
little in comparison with that which is.</p>
<p>Dear reader, study this little work with a simple
and sincere heart, with lowliness of mind, without
wishing to criticise it, and you will find it of good
to you. Receive it with the same spirit as that in
which it is given, which is no other than the longing
that you may be led to <em>give yourself unreservedly
to God</em>. My desire is that it may be the
means of leading the simple ones and the children
to their Father, who loves their humble confidence,
and to whom distrust is so displeasing. Seek
nothing but <em>the love of God</em>; have a sincere desire
for your salvation, and you will assuredly find it,
following this little unmethodical method.</p>
<p>I do not pretend to elevate my sentiments above
those of others, but I relate simply what has been
<SPAN name="png.015" id="png.015"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">xv</span><span class="ns">]
</span>my own experience as well as that of others, and
the advantage which I have found in this simple
and natural manner of going to God.</p>
<p>If this book treats of nothing else but the <em>short
and easy method of prayer</em>, it is because, being
written only for that, it cannot speak of other
things. It is certain that, if it be read in the spirit
in which it has been written, there will be found
nothing in it to shock the mind. Those who will
make the experience of it will be the most certain
of the truth which it contains.</p>
<p>It is to Thee, O Holy Child Jesus, who lovest
simplicity and innocence, and who findest Thy
delight in the children of men, that is to say, with
those amongst men who are willing to become
children;—it is to Thee, I say, to give worth and
value to this little work, impressing it on the heart,
and leading those who read it to seek Thee within
themselves, where Thou wilt take Thy rest, receiving
the tokens of their love, and giving them
proofs of Thine.</p>
<p>It is Thy work, O Divine Child! O uncreated
Love! O silent Word! to make Thyself beloved,
<SPAN name="png.016" id="png.016"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p </span><span class="pgmark">xvi</span><span class="ns">]
</span>tasted, and heard. Thou art able to do it; and
I even dare to say that Thou wilt do it, by means
of this little work, which is all to Thee, all of
Thee, and all for Thee.</p>
</div>
<div class="main">
<h1><SPAN name="png.017" id="png.017"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">1</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span><small>A</small><br/>SHORT METHOD OF PRAYER.</h1>
<hr class="tiny" />
<h2 class="chap">CHAPTER I.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">ALL ARE COMMANDED TO PRAY—PRAYER THE GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION, AND POSSIBLE AT ALL TIMES BY THE MOST SIMPLE.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>Prayer</span> is nothing else but the <em>application of
the heart to God</em>, and the interior exercise
of love. St Paul commands us to “pray without
ceasing” (1 Thess. v. 17). Our Lord says: “Take
ye heed, watch and pray.” “And what I say unto
you, I say unto all” (Mark xiii. 33, 37). All, then,
are capable of prayer, and it is the duty of all to
engage in it.</p>
<p>But I do not think that all are fit for
<SPAN name="png.018" id="png.018"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">2</span><span class="ns">]
</span>meditation; and, therefore, it is not that sort of prayer
which God demands or desires of them.</p>
<p>My dear friends, whoever you may be, who
desire to be saved, come unto God in prayer. “I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayest be rich” (Rev. iii. 18). It is
easily to be obtained, far more easily than you
could ever imagine.</p>
<p>Come, all ye that are athirst, and take this water
of life freely (see Rev. xxii. 17). Do not amuse
yourselves by hewing out to yourselves “broken cisterns
that can hold no water” (Jer. ii. 13). Come,
hungry souls, who find nothing that can satisfy you,
and you shall be <em>filled</em>. Come, poor afflicted ones,
weighed down with griefs and sorrows, and you
shall be comforted. Come, sick ones, to the great
Physician, and do not fear to approach Him because
you are so weak and diseased: expose all your
diseases to Him, and they shall be healed.</p>
<p>Come, children, to your Father; He will receive
you with open arms of love. Come, wandering
and scattered sheep, to your Shepherd. Come, sinners,
to your Saviour. Come, ignorant and foolish
<SPAN name="png.019" id="png.019"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">3</span><span class="ns">]
</span>ones, who believe yourselves incapable of prayer;
it is you who are the most fitted for it. Come
all without exception; Jesus Christ calls you
all.</p>
<p>Let those only refuse to come who have no heart.
The invitation is not for them; for we must have a
heart in order to love. But who is indeed without
heart? Oh, come and give that heart to God, and
learn in the place of prayer how to do it! All those
who long for prayer are capable of it, who have
ordinary grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit, which
is freely promised to all who ask it.</p>
<p>Prayer is the key of perfection and of sovereign
happiness; it is the efficacious means of getting rid
of all vices and of acquiring all virtues; for the way
to become perfect is to live in the presence of God.
He tells us this Himself: “Walk before me, and be
thou perfect” (Gen. xvii. 1). Prayer alone can bring
you into His presence, and keep you there continually.</p>
<p>What we need, then, is an attitude of prayer, in
which we can <em>constantly</em> abide, and out of which exterior
occupations cannot draw us; a prayer which
<SPAN name="png.020" id="png.020"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">4</span><span class="ns">]
</span>can be offered alike by princes, kings, prelates, magistrates,
soldiers, children, artisans, labourers, women,
and the sick. This prayer is not mental, but <em>of
the heart</em>.</p>
<p>It is not a prayer of thought alone, because the
mind of man is so limited, that while it is occupied
with one thing it cannot be thinking of another.
But it is the <span class="allsc">PRAYER OF THE HEART</span>, which cannot
be interrupted by the occupations of the mind.
Nothing can interrupt the prayer of the heart but
unruly affections; and when once we have tasted of
the love of God, it is impossible to find our delight
in anything but Himself.</p>
<p>Nothing is easier than to have God and to live
upon Him. He is more truly in us than we are
in ourselves. He is more anxious to give Himself
to us than we are to possess Him. All that we
want is to know the way to seek Him, which is so
easy and so natural, that breathing itself is not
more so.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Oh, you who imagine yourselves incapable of
religious feeling, you may live in prayer and in
<SPAN name="png.021" id="png.021"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">5</span><span class="ns">]
</span>God as easily and as continuously as you live by
the air you breathe. Will you not, then, be inexcusable
if you neglect to do it, after you have learned
the way?</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.022" id="png.022"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">6</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER II.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">FIRST DEGREE OF PRAYER—MEDITATION AND MEDITATIVE READING—THE LORD’S PRAYER—PASSAGE FROM THE FIRST DEGREE TO THE SECOND.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>There</span> are two means by which we may be led
into the higher forms of prayer. One is <em>Meditation</em>,
the other is <em>Meditative Reading</em>. By meditative
reading I mean the taking of some truths, either
doctrinal or practical—the latter rather than the
former—and reading them in this way:—Take the
truth which has presented itself to you, and read
two or three lines, seeking to enter into the full
meaning of the words, and go on no further so
long as you find satisfaction in them; leave the
place only when it becomes insipid. After that, take
another passage, and do the same, not reading
more than half a page at once.</p>
<p>It is not so much from the amount read that
we derive profit, as from the manner of reading.
<SPAN name="png.023" id="png.023"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">7</span><span class="ns">]
</span>Those people who get through so much do not
profit from it; the bees can only draw the juice
from the flowers by resting on them, not by flying
round them. Much reading is more for scholastic
than for spiritual science; but in order to derive
profit from spiritual books, we should read them in
this way; and I am sure that this manner of reading
accustoms us gradually to prayer, and gives us a
deeper desire for it. The other way is <em>Meditation</em>,
in which we should engage at a chosen time, and
not in the hour given to reading. I think the
way to enter into it is this:—After having brought
ourselves into the presence of God by a definite
act of faith, we should read something substantial,
not so much to reason upon it, as to fix the
attention, observing that the principal exercise
should be the presence of God, and that the
subject should rather fix the attention than exercise
reason.</p>
<p>This <em>faith in the presence of God within our
hearts</em> must lead us to enter within ourselves, collecting
our thoughts, and preventing their wandering;
this is an effectual way of getting rid of
<SPAN name="png.024" id="png.024"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">8</span><span class="ns">]
</span>distracting thoughts, and of losing sight of outward
things, in order to draw near to God, who
can only be found in the secret place of our
hearts, which is the <i>sancta-sanctorum</i> in which He
dwells.</p>
<p>He has promised that if any one keeps His commandments,
He will come to him, and <em>make His
abode</em> with him (John xiv. 23). St Augustine
reproaches himself for the time he lost through
not having sought God at first in this way.</p>
<p>When, then, we are thus buried in ourselves,
and deeply penetrated with the presence of God
within us—when the senses are all drawn from
the circumference to the centre, which, though
it is not easily accomplished at first, becomes
quite natural afterwards—when the soul is thus
gathered up within itself, and is sweetly occupied
with the truth read, not in reasoning upon it,
but in feeding upon it, and exciting the will by
the affection rather than the understanding by consideration:
the <em>affection</em> being thus touched, must
be suffered to <em>repose</em> sweetly and at peace, <em>swallowing</em>
what it has tasted.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.025" id="png.025"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">9</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>As a person who only masticated an excellent
meat would not be nourished by it, although he
would be sensible of its taste, unless he ceased
this movement in order to swallow it; so when the
affection is stirred, if we seek continually to stir
it, we extinguish its fire, and thus deprive the soul
of its nourishment. We must swallow by a <em>loving
repose</em> (full of respect and confidence) what we
have masticated and tasted. This method is very
necessary, and would advance the soul in a short
time more than any other would do in several years.</p>
<p>But as I said that the direct and principal
exercise should be the <em>sense of the presence of God</em>,
we must most faithfully <em>recall the senses</em> when they
wander.</p>
<p>This is a short and efficacious way of fighting
with distractions; because those who endeavour
directly to oppose them, irritate and increase them;
but by losing ourselves in the thought of a present
God, and suffering our thoughts to be drawn to
Him, we combat them indirectly, and without thinking
of them, but in an effectual manner. And
here let me warn beginners not to run from one
<SPAN name="png.026" id="png.026"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">10</span><span class="ns">]
</span>truth to another, from one subject to another; but
to keep themselves to one so long as they feel a
taste for it: this is the way to enter deeply into
truths, to taste them, and to have them impressed
upon us. I say it is difficult at first thus to retire
within ourselves, because of the habits, which are
natural to us, of being taken up with the outside;
but when we are a little accustomed to it, it becomes
exceedingly easy; both because we have
formed the habit of it, and because God, who only
desires to communicate Himself to us, sends us
abundant grace, and an experimental sense of His
presence, which renders it easy.</p>
<p>Let us apply this method to the Lord’s Prayer.
We say “Our Father,” thinking that God is within
us, and will indeed be our Father. After having
pronounced this word <em>Father</em>, we remain a few
moments in silence, waiting for this heavenly
Father to make known His will to us. Then we
ask this King of Glory <em>to reign</em> within us, abandoning
ourselves to Him, that He may do it, and
yielding to Him the right that He has over us.
If we feel here an inclination to peace and silence,
<SPAN name="png.027" id="png.027"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">11</span><span class="ns">]
</span>we should not continue, but remain thus so long
as the condition may last; after which we proceed
to the second petition, “Thy will be done on
earth, as it is in heaven.” We then desire that God
may accomplish, in us and by us, all His will;
we give up to God our heart and our liberty, that
He may dispose of them at His pleasure. Then,
seeing that the occupation of the will should be
love, we desire to love, and we ask God to give
us <em>His love</em>. But all this is done quietly, peacefully;
and so on with the rest of the prayer.</p>
<p>At other times we hold ourselves in the position
of sheep near to the Shepherd, asking of Him our
true food. O Divine Shepherd! Thou feedest Thy
sheep with Thine own hand, and Thou art their
food from day to day. We may also bring before
Him our family desires; but it must all be done
with the remembrance by faith of the presence of
God within us.</p>
<p>We can form no imagination of what God is: a
lively faith in His presence is sufficient; for we
can conceive no image of God, though we may of
Christ, regarding Him as crucified, or as a child,
<SPAN name="png.028" id="png.028"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">12</span><span class="ns">]
</span>or in some other condition, provided that we
always seek Him within ourselves.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">At other times we come to Him as to a Physician,
bringing our maladies to Him that He may heal
them; but always without effort, with a short
silence from time to time, that the silence may be
mingled with the action, gradually lengthening the
silence and shortening the spoken prayer, until at
length, as we yield to the operation of God, He
gains the supremacy. When the presence of God
is given, and the soul begins to taste of silence
and repose, this experimental sense of the presence
of God introduces it to the second degree of
prayer.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.029" id="png.029"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">13</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER III.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">SECOND DEGREE OF PRAYER, CALLED HERE “THE PRAYER OF SIMPLICITY.”</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>The</span> second degree has been variously termed
<em>Contemplation</em>, <em>The Prayer of Silence</em>, and <em>of
repose</em>; while others again have called it the
<em>Prayer of Simplicity</em>; and it is of this last term
that I shall make use here, being more appropriate
than that of <em>Contemplation</em>, which signifies
a degree of prayer more advanced than that of
which I speak.</p>
<p>After a time, as I have said, the soul becomes
sensible of a facility in recognising the presence of
God; it collects itself more easily; prayer becomes
natural and pleasant; it knows that it leads to
God; and it perceives the smell of His perfumes.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.030" id="png.030"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">14</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>Then it must change its method, and observe
carefully what I am about to say, without being
astonished at its apparent implausibility.</p>
<p>First of all, when you bring yourself into the
presence of God by faith, remain a short time in
an attitude of respectful silence. If from the beginning,
in making this act of faith, you are sensible
of a little taste of the presence of God, remain as
you are without troubling yourself on any subject,
and keep that which has been given you, so long
as it may remain.</p>
<p>If it leaves you, excite your will by means of
some tender affection, and if you then find that
your former state of peace has returned, remain in
it. The fire must be blown softly, and as soon as
it is lighted, cease to blow it, or you will put it
out. It is also necessary that you should go to
God, not so much to obtain something from Him,
as to please Him, and to do His will; for a servant
who only serves his master in proportion to
the recompense he receives, is unworthy of any
remuneration.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Go, then, to prayer, not only to enjoy God, but
<SPAN name="png.031" id="png.031"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">15</span><span class="ns">]
</span>to be as He wills: this will keep you equal in
times of barrenness and in times of abundance;
and you will not be dismayed by the repulses of
God, nor by His apparent indifference.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.032" id="png.032"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">16</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">ON SPIRITUAL DRYNESS.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>As</span> God’s only desire is to give Himself to the
loving soul who desires to seek Him, He
often hides Himself in order to arouse it, and compel
it to seek Him with love and fidelity. But
how does He reward the faithfulness of His beloved!
And how are His apparent flights followed
by loving caresses!</p>
<p>The soul imagines that it is a proof of its fidelity
and of its increased love that it seeks God with
an effort, or that at least such seeking will soon
lead to His return.</p>
<p>But no! This is not the way in this degree.
With a loving impatience, with deep humility and
abasement, with an affection deep and yet restful,
with a respectful silence, you must await the return
of your Beloved.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.033" id="png.033"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">17</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>You will thus show Him that it is <em>Himself</em> alone
that you love, and His good pleasure, and not the
pleasure that you find in loving Him. Therefore
it is said, “Make not haste in time of trouble.
Cleave unto Him, and depart not away, that thou
mayest be increased at thy last end” (Ecclus. ii.
2, 3). Suffer the suspensions and the delays of
the visible consolations of God.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Be patient in prayer, even though you should
do nothing all your life but wait in patience, with
a heart humbled, abandoned, resigned, and content
for the return of your Beloved. Oh, excellent
prayer! How it moves the heart of God, and
obliges Him to return more than anything else!</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.034" id="png.034"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">18</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER V.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">ABANDONMENT TO GOD—ITS FRUIT AND ITS IRREVOCABILITY—IN WHAT IT CONSISTS—GOD EXHORTS US TO IT.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>It</span> is here that true <em>abandonment</em> and consecration
to God should commence, by our being deeply
convinced that all which happens to us moment by
moment is the will of God, and therefore all that
is necessary to us.</p>
<p>This conviction will render us contented with
everything, and will make us see the commonest
events in God, and not in the creature.</p>
<p>I beg of you, whoever you may be, who are
desirous of giving yourselves to God, not to take
yourselves back when once you are given to Him,
and to remember that a thing once given away
is no longer at your disposal. <em>Abandonment</em> is the
key to the inner life: he who is thoroughly abandoned
will soon be perfect.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.035" id="png.035"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">19</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>You must, then, hold firmly to your abandonment,
without listening to reason or to reflection. A
great faith makes a great abandonment; you must
trust wholly in God, against hope believing in hope
(Rom. iv. 18). <em>Abandonment</em> is the casting off of all
care of ourselves, to leave ourselves to be guided
entirely by God.</p>
<p>All Christians are exhorted to abandonment, for
it is said to all, “Take no thought for the morrow;
for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
need of all these things” (Matt. vi. 32, 34). “In
all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct
thy paths” (Prov. iii. 6). “Commit thy works
unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established”
(Prov. xvi. 3). “Commit thy way unto
the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring
it to pass” (Ps. xxxvii. 5).</p>
<p>Abandonment, then, ought to be an utter leaving
of ourselves, both outwardly and inwardly, in the
hands of God, forgetting ourselves, and thinking
only of God. By this means the heart is kept
always free and contented.</p>
<p>Practically it should be a continual loss of our
<SPAN name="png.036" id="png.036"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">20</span><span class="ns">]
</span>own will in the will of God, a renunciation of
all natural inclinations, however good they may appear,
in order that we may be left free to choose
only as God chooses: we should be indifferent to
all things, whether temporal or spiritual, for the
body or the soul; leaving the past in forgetfulness,
the future to providence, and giving the present
to God; contented with the present moment, which
brings with it God’s eternal will for us; attributing
nothing which happens to us to the creature, but
seeing all things in God, and regarding them as
coming infallibly from His hand, with the exception
only of our own sin.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Leave yourselves, then, to be guided by God as
He will, whether as regards the inner or the outward
life.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.037" id="png.037"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">21</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">OF SUFFERING WHICH MUST BE ACCEPTED AS FROM GOD—ITS FRUITS.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>Be</span> content with all the suffering that God may
lay upon you. If you will love Him purely,
you will be as willing to follow Him to Calvary as
to Tabor.</p>
<p>He must be loved as much on Calvary as on
Tabor, since it is there that He makes the greatest
manifestation of His love.</p>
<p>Do not act, then, like those people who give themselves
at one time, and take themselves back at
another. They give themselves to be caressed, and
take themselves back when they are crucified; or
else they seek for consolation in the creature.</p>
<p>You can only find consolation in the love of the
cross and in complete abandonment. He who has
no love for the cross has no love for God (see
<SPAN name="png.038" id="png.038"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">22</span><span class="ns">]
</span>Matt. xvi. 24). It is impossible to love God without
loving the cross; and a heart which has learned
to love the cross finds sweetness, joy, and pleasure
even in the bitterest things. “To the hungry
soul every bitter thing is sweet” (Prov. xxvii. 7),
because it is as hungry for the cross as it is hungry
for God.</p>
<p>The cross gives God, and God gives the cross.
Abandonment and the cross go together. As soon
as you are sensible that something is repugnant to
you which presents itself to you in the light of
suffering, abandon yourself at once to God for that
very thing, and present yourself as a sacrifice to
Him: you will see that, when the cross comes, it
will have lost much of its weight, because you will
desire it. This will not prevent your being sensible
of its weight. Some people imagine that it is not
suffering to feel the cross. The feeling of suffering
is one of the principal parts of suffering itself. Jesus
Himself was willing to suffer it in its intensity.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Often the cross is borne with weakness, at other
times with strength: all should be equal in the will
of God.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.039" id="png.039"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">23</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">ON MYSTERIES—GOD GIVES THEM HERE IN REALITY.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>It</span> will be objected that, by this way, mysteries
will not be made known. It is just the contrary;
they are given to the soul in reality. Jesus
Christ, to whom it is abandoned, and whom it follows
as the <em>Way</em>, whom it hears as the <em>Truth</em>, and
who animates it as the <em>Life</em>, impressing Himself
upon it, imparts to it His own condition.</p>
<p>To bear the conditions of Christ is something far
greater than merely to consider those conditions.
Paul bore the conditions of Christ on his body. “I
bear in my body,” he says, “the marks of the Lord
Jesus” (Gal. vi. 17). But he does not say that he
reasoned about them.</p>
<p>Often Christ gives in this state of abandonment
views of His conditions in a striking manner. We
must receive equally all the dispositions in which
<SPAN name="png.040" id="png.040"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">24</span><span class="ns">]
</span>He may be pleased to place us, choosing for ourselves
to abide near to Him, and to be annihilated
before Him, but receiving equally all that He gives
us, light or darkness, facility or barrenness, strength
or weakness, sweetness or bitterness, temptations
or distractions, sorrow, care, uncertainty; none of
these things ought to move us.</p>
<p>There are some persons to whom God is continually
revealing His mysteries: let them be faithful
to them. But when God sees fit to remove them,
let them suffer them to be taken.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Others are troubled because no mysteries are
made known to them: this is needless, since a loving
attention to God includes all particular devotion, and
that which is united to God alone, by its rest in
Him, is instructed in a most excellent manner in all
mysteries. He who loves God loves all that is of
Him.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.041" id="png.041"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">25</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">ON VIRTUE—ALL VIRTUES GIVEN WITH GOD IN THIS DEGREE OF THE PRAYER OF THE HEART.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>This</span> is the short and the sure way of acquiring
virtue; because, God being the principle of all
virtue, we possess all virtue in possessing God.</p>
<p>More than this, I say that all virtue which is not
given inwardly is a mask of virtue, and like a garment
that can be taken off, and will wear out. But
virtue communicated fundamentally is essential, true,
and permanent. “The King’s daughter is all glorious
within” (Ps. xlv. 13). And there are none who
practise virtue more constantly than those who acquire
it in this way, though virtue is not a distinct
subject of their thought.</p>
<p>How hungry these loving ones are after suffering!
They think only of what can please their Beloved,
and they begin to neglect themselves, and to think
<SPAN name="png.042" id="png.042"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">26</span><span class="ns">]
</span>less of themselves. The more they love God, the
more they hate themselves.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Oh, if all could learn this method, so easy that it
is suited for all, for the most ignorant as for the most
learned, how easily the whole Church would be reformed!
You only need to love. St Augustine
says, “Love, and do as you please;” for when we
love perfectly, we shall not desire to do anything
that could be displeasing to our Beloved.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.043" id="png.043"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">27</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">OF PERFECT CONVERSION, WHICH IS AN EFFECT OF THIS METHOD OF PRAYER—TWO OF ITS AIDS, THE ATTRACTION OF GOD, AND THE CENTRAL INCLINATION OF THE SOUL.</h3>
<p class="chapstartq"><small>“</small><span class="drop">T</span><span>urn</span> ye unto Him from whom the children of
Israel have deeply revolted” (Isa. xxxi. 6).
Conversion is nothing else but a turning from the
creature to God. Conversion is not perfect, though it
is necessary for salvation, when it is merely a turning
from sin to grace. To be complete, it must be a
turning from without to within.</p>
<p>The soul, being turned in the direction of God,
has a great facility for remaining converted to Him.
The longer it is converted, the nearer it approaches
to God, and attaches itself to Him; and the nearer
it approaches to God, the more it becomes necessarily
drawn from the creature, which is opposed to
God.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.044" id="png.044"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">28</span><span class="ns">]
</span>But this cannot be done by a violent effort of the
creature; all that it can do is to remain turned in
the direction of God in a perpetual adherence.</p>
<p>God has an <em>attracting virtue</em>, which draws the soul
more strongly towards Himself; and in attracting
it, He purifies it: as we see the sun attracting a
dense vapour, and gradually, without any other effort
on the part of the vapour than that of letting itself
be drawn, the sun, by bringing it near to himself,
refines and purifies it.</p>
<p>There is, however, this difference, that the vapour
is not drawn freely, and does not follow willingly,
as is the case with the soul.</p>
<p>This manner of turning within is very simple, and
makes the soul advance naturally and without effort;
because God is its centre. The centre has always
a strong attractive power; and the larger the centre,
the stronger is its attractive force.</p>
<p>Besides this attraction of the centre, there is given
to all natural objects a strong tendency to become
united with their centre. As soon as anything is
turned in the direction of its centre, unless it be
stopped by some invincible obstacle, it rushes
<SPAN name="png.045" id="png.045"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">29</span><span class="ns">]
</span>towards it with extreme velocity. A stone in the air
is no sooner let loose, and turned towards the earth,
than it tends to it by its own weight as its centre.
It is the same with fire and water, which, being no
longer arrested, run incessantly towards their centre.</p>
<p>Now I say that the soul, by the effort it has made
in inward recollection, being turned towards its
centre, without any other effort, but simply by the
weight of love, falls towards its centre; and the
more it remains quiet and at rest, making no movement
of its own, the more rapidly it will advance,
because it thus allows that attractive virtue to draw it.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">All the care, then, that we need have is to promote
this inward recollection as much as possible,
not being astonished at the difficulty we may find in
this exercise, which will soon be recompensed with
a wonderful co-operation on the part of God, which
will render it very easy. When the passions rise, a
look towards God, who is present within us, easily
deadens them. Any other resistance would irritate
rather than appease them.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.046" id="png.046"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">30</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER X.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">HIGHER DEGREE OF PRAYER, WHICH IS THAT OF THE SIMPLE PRESENCE OF GOD, OR ACTIVE CONTEMPLATION.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>The</span> soul, faithfully exercising itself in the affection
and love of its God, is astonished to find
Him taking complete possession of it.</p>
<p>His presence becomes so natural, that it would
be impossible not to have it: it becomes habitual
to the soul, which is also conscious of a great calm
spreading over it. Its prayer is all silence, and God
imparts to it an intrinsic love, which is the commencement
of ineffable happiness.</p>
<p>Oh, if I could describe the infinite degrees which
follow! But I must stop here, since I am writing
for beginners, and wait till God shall bring to light
what may be useful to those more advanced.<sup><SPAN href="#fn.1" name="fna.1" id="fna.1">1</SPAN></sup> I
<SPAN name="png.047" id="png.047"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">31</span><span class="ns">]
</span>can only say, that, at this point, it is most important
that all natural operation should cease, that God
may act alone: “Be still, and know that I am God,”
is His own word by David (Ps. xlvi. 10).</p>
<p>But man is so attached to his own works, that he
cannot believe God is working, unless he can feel,
know, and distinguish His operation. He does not
see that it is the speed of his course which prevents
his seeing the extent of his advancement; and that
the operation of God becoming more abundant, absorbs
that of the creature, as we see that the sun, in
proportion as he rises, absorbs the light of the stars,
which were easily distinguishable before he appeared.
It is not the want of light, but an excess of light,
which prevents our distinguishing the stars.</p>
<p>It is the same here; man can no longer distinguish
his own operation, because the strong light absorbs
all his little distinct lights, and makes them fade
away entirely, because God’s excess surpasses them
all. So that those who accuse this degree of prayer
of being a state of <em>idleness</em>, are greatly deceived; and
only speak thus from want of experience. Oh, if
they would only prove it! in how short a time they
<SPAN name="png.048" id="png.048"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">32</span><span class="ns">]
</span>would become experimentally acquainted with this
matter!</p>
<p>I say, then, that this failure of work does not
spring from scarcity, but from abundance.</p>
<p>Two classes of persons are silent: the one because
they have nothing to say, the other because they
have too much. It is thus in this degree. We are
silent from excess, not from want.</p>
<p>Water causes death to two persons in very different
ways. One dies of thirst, another is drowned: the
one dies from want, the other from abundance. So
here it is abundance which causes the cessation of
natural operation. It is therefore important in this
degree to remain as much as possible in stillness.</p>
<p>At the commencement of this prayer, a movement
of affection is necessary; but when grace begins to
flow into us, we have nothing to do but to remain at
rest, and take all that God gives. Any other movement
would prevent our profiting by this grace, which
is given in order to draw us into the <em>rest of love</em>.</p>
<p>The soul in this peaceful attitude of prayer falls
into a mystic sleep, in which all its natural powers
are silenced, until that which had been temporary
<SPAN name="png.049" id="png.049"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">33</span><span class="ns">]
</span>becomes its permanent condition. You see that the
soul is thus led, without effort, without study, without
artifice.</p>
<p>The heart is not a fortified place, which must be
taken by cannonading and violence: it is a kingdom
of peace, which is possessed by love. Gently following
in His train, you will soon reach the degree of
<em>intuitive</em> prayer. God asks nothing extraordinary and
difficult: on the contrary, He is most pleased with
childlike simplicity.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">The grandest part of religion is the most simple.
It is the same with natural things. Do you wish to
get to the sea? Embark upon a river, and insensibly
and without effort you will be taken to it. Do you
wish to get to God? Take His way, so quiet, so
easy, and in a little while you will be taken to Him
in a manner that will surprise you. Oh, if only you
would try it! How soon you would see that I am
telling you only too little, and that the experience
would far surpass any description that could be given!
What do you fear? Why do you not throw yourself
at once into the arms of Love, who only stretched
them out upon the cross in order to take you in?
<SPAN name="png.050" id="png.050"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">34</span><span class="ns">]
</span>What risk can there be in trusting God, and abandoning
yourself to Him? Oh, He will not deceive you,
unless it be by giving you far more than you ever
expected: while those who expect everything from
themselves may well take to themselves the reproach
which God utters by the mouth of Isaiah: “Thou
art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst
thou not, There is no hope” (Isa. lvii. 10).</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.051" id="png.051"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">35</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">OF REST IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD—ITS FRUITS—INWARD SILENCE—GOD COMMANDS IT—OUTWARD SILENCE.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>The</span> soul, being brought to this place, needs no
other preparation than that of repose: for <em>the
presence of God</em> during the day, which is the great
result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be
<em>intuitive</em> and <em>almost continual</em>. The soul is conscious
of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in
it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing
to do in order to find God, which is to retire within
itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself
in prayer.</p>
<p>It is astonished at this infinite happiness; there is
carried on within it a conversation which outward
things cannot interrupt. It might be said of this
method of prayer, as was said of Wisdom, “All good
things together come to me with her” (Wisdom of
<SPAN name="png.052" id="png.052"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">36</span><span class="ns">]
</span>Solomon vii. 11), for virtue flows naturally into the
soul, and is practised so easily, that it seems to be
quite natural to it. It has within it a germ of life and
fruitfulness, which gives it a facility for all good, and
an insensibility to all evil. Let it then remain faithful,
and seek no other frame of mind than that of
simple rest. It has only to suffer itself to be filled
with this divine effusion.</p>
<p>“The Lord is in His holy temple: let all the earth
keep silence before Him” (Hab. ii. 20). The reason
why inward silence is so necessary is, that Christ, being
the eternal and essential Word, in order that He may
be received into the soul, there must be a disposition
corresponding with what He is. Now it is certain
that in order to receive words we must listen. Hearing
is the sense given to enable us to receive the
words which are communicated to us. Hearing is
rather a passive than an active sense, receiving, and
not communicating. Christ being the Word which is
to be communicated, the soul must be attentive to
this Word which speaks within it.</p>
<p>This is why we are so often exhorted to listen to
God, and to be attentive to His voice. Many
<SPAN name="png.053" id="png.053"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">37</span><span class="ns">]
</span>passages might be quoted. I will be content to mention
a few: “Hearken unto me, O my people;
and give ear unto me, O my nation” (Isa. li. 4).
“Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the
remnant of the house of Israel” (Isa. xlvi. 31).
“Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline
thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy
father’s house; so shall the King greatly desire thy
beauty” (Ps. xlv. 10, 11).</p>
<p>We must <em>listen</em> to God, and be attentive to Him,
<em>forgetting ourselves</em> and all self-interest. These two
actions, or rather passions—for this condition is
essentially a passive one—arouse in God a “desire”
towards the “beauty” He has Himself communicated.</p>
<p>Outward silence is extremely necessary for the
cultivation of inward silence, and it is impossible to
acquire inward silence without having a love for
silence and solitude.</p>
<p>God tells us by the mouth of His prophet, “I
will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak to her heart” (marginal reading of Hosea
ii. 14).</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.054" id="png.054"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">38</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>To be inwardly occupied with God, and outwardly
occupied with countless trifles, this is impossible.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">It will be a small matter to pray, and to retire
within ourselves for half an hour or an hour, if we
do not retain the unction and the spirit of prayer
during the day.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.055" id="png.055"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">39</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">SELF-EXAMINATION AND CONFESSION.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>Self-examination</span> should always precede
confession. Those who arrive at this degree
should expose themselves to God, who will not fail
to enlighten them, and to make known to them the
nature of their faults. This examination must be
conducted in peace and tranquillity, expecting more
from God than from our own research the knowledge
of our sins.</p>
<p>When we examine ourselves with an effort, we
easily make mistakes. We “call evil good, and good
evil;” and self-esteem easily deceives us. But when
we remain exposed to the searching gaze of God,
that Divine Sun brings to light even the smallest
atoms. We must then, for self-examination, abandon
ourselves utterly to God.</p>
<p>When we are in this degree of prayer, God is not
<SPAN name="png.056" id="png.056"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">40</span><span class="ns">]
</span>slow to reveal to us all the faults we commit. We have
no sooner sinned than we feel a burning reproach.</p>
<p>It is God Himself who conducts an examination
which nothing escapes, and we have only to turn
towards God, and suffer the pain and the correction
which He gives. As this examination by God is
continual, we can no longer examine ourselves; and
if we are faithful to our abandonment to God, we
shall soon be better examined by the divine light
than we could be by all our own efforts. Experience
will make this known. One thing which often causes
astonishment to the soul is, that when it is conscious
of a sin, and comes to confess it to God, instead of
feeling regret and contrition, such as it formerly felt,
a sweet and gentle love takes possession of it.</p>
<p>Not having experienced this before, it supposes
that it ought to draw itself out of this condition to
make a definite act of contrition. But it does not
see that, by doing this, it would lose true contrition,
which is this <em>intuitive love</em>, infinitely greater than anything
it could create for itself. It is a higher action,
which includes the others, with greater perfection,
though these are not possessed distinctly.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.057" id="png.057"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">41</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>We should not seek to do anything for ourselves
when God acts more excellently in us and for us. It
is hating sin as God hates it to hate it in this way.
This love, which is the operation of God in the soul,
is the purest of all love. All we have to do then is
to remain as we are.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Another remarkable thing is, that we often forget
our faults, and find it difficult to remember them;
but this must not trouble us, for two reasons: The
first, that this very forgetfulness is a proof that the
sin has been atoned for, and it is better to forget all
that concerns ourselves, that we may remember God
alone. The second reason is, that God does not
fail, whenever confession is needful, to show to the
soul its greatest faults, for then it is He Himself
who examines it.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.058" id="png.058"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">42</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">ON READING—VOCAL PRAYER—REQUESTS.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>The</span> proper manner of reading in this degree is,
as soon as we feel attracted to meditation, to
cease reading, and remain at rest.</p>
<p>The soul is no sooner called to inward silence,
than it should cease to utter vocal prayers; saying
but little at any time, and when it does say them,
if it finds any difficulty, or feels itself drawn to
silence, it should remain silent, and make no effort
to pray, leaving itself to the guidance of the Spirit
of God.</p>
<p>The soul will find that it cannot, as formerly, present
definite requests to God. This need not surprise
it, for it is now that “the Spirit maketh
intercession for the saints, according to the will of
God. The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for
we know not what we should pray for as we ought;
<SPAN name="png.059" id="png.059"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">43</span><span class="ns">]
</span>but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with
groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. viii.
26, 27).</p>
<p>We must second the designs of God, which are
to strip the soul of its own works, to substitute His
in their place.</p>
<p>Let Him work then, and bind yourself to nothing
of your own. However good it may appear to you,
it cannot be so if it comes in the way of God’s
will for you. The will of God is preferable to all
other good. Seek not your own interests, but live
by abandonment and by faith.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">It is here that <em>faith</em> begins to operate wonderfully
in the soul.</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.060" id="png.060"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">44</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">THE FAULTS COMMITTED IN THIS DEGREE—DISTRACTIONS, TEMPTATIONS—THE COURSE TO BE PURSUED RESPECTING THEM.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>As</span> soon as we fall into a fault, or have wandered,
we must turn again within ourselves; because
this fault having turned us from God, we should as
soon as possible turn towards Him, and suffer the
penitence which He Himself will give.</p>
<p>It is of great importance that we should not be
anxious about these faults, because the anxiety only
springs from a secret pride and a love of our own
excellence. We are troubled at feeling what we are.</p>
<p>If we become discouraged, we shall grow weaker
yet; and reflection upon our faults produces a vexation
which is worse than the sin itself.</p>
<p>A truly humble soul does not marvel at its weakness,
and the more it perceives its wretchedness,
the more it abandons itself to God, and seeks to
<SPAN name="png.061" id="png.061"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">45</span><span class="ns">]
</span>remain near to Him, knowing how deeply it needs
His help. God’s own word to us is, “I will instruct
thee, and teach thee in the way which thou
shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye” (Ps.
xxxii. 8).</p>
<p>In distractions or temptations, instead of combating
them directly, which would only serve to augment
them, and to wean us from God, with whom
alone we ought to be occupied, we should simply
turn away from them, and draw nearer to God;
as a little child, seeing a fierce animal approaching
it, would not stay to fight it, nor even to look
at it, but would run for shelter to its mother’s arms,
where it would be safe. “God is in the midst of
her, she shall not be moved: God shall help her,
and that right early” (Ps. xlvi. 5).</p>
<p>If we adopt any other course of action, if we
attempt to attack our enemies in our weakness, we
shall be wounded, even if we are not entirely defeated;
but remaining in the simple presence of
God, we find ourselves immediately fortified.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">This was what David did: he says, “I have set
the Lord always before me; because He is at my
<SPAN name="png.062" id="png.062"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">46</span><span class="ns">]
</span>right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my
heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also
shall rest in hope.” It is also said by Moses,
“The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold
your peace” (Exod. xiv. 14).</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.063" id="png.063"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">47</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">PRAYER AND SACRIFICE EXPLAINED BY THE SIMILITUDE OF A PERFUME—OUR ANNIHILATION IN THIS SACRIFICE—SOLIDITY AND FRUITFULNESS OF THIS PRAYER AS SET FORTH IN THE GOSPEL.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>Prayer</span> ought to be both petition and sacrifice.</p>
<p>Prayer, according to the testimony of St John,
is an incense, whose perfume rises to God. Therefore
it is said in the Revelation (chap. viii. 3),
that an angel held a censer, which contained the
incense of the prayers of saints.</p>
<p>Prayer is an outpouring of the heart in the presence
of God. “I have poured out my soul before
the Lord,” said the mother of Samuel (1 Sam. i. 15).
Thus the prayers of the Magi at the feet of the
infant Jesus in the stable of Bethlehem were signified
by the incense which they offered.</p>
<p>Prayer is the heat of love, which melts and dissolves
the soul, and carries it to God. In proportion
<SPAN name="png.064" id="png.064"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">48</span><span class="ns">]
</span>as it melts, it gives out its odour, and this
odour comes from the love which burns it.</p>
<p>This is what the Bride meant when she said,
“While the King sitteth at His table, my spikenard
sendeth forth the smell thereof” (Cant. i. 12).
The table is the heart. When God is there, and
we are kept near to Him, in His presence, this
presence of God melts and dissolves the hardness
of our hearts, and as they melt, they give forth their
perfume. Therefore the Bridegroom, seeing His
Bride thus melted by the speech of her Beloved, says,
“Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness, perfumed
with myrrh and frankincense?” (Cant. iii. 6).</p>
<p>Thus the soul rises up towards its God. But in
order to this, it must suffer itself to be destroyed
and annihilated by the force of love. This is a
state of <em>sacrifice</em> essential to the Christian religion,
by which the soul suffers itself to be destroyed and
annihilated to render homage to the sovereignty of
God; as it is written, “The power of the Lord is
great, and He is honoured of the lowly” (Ecclus.
iii. 20). And the destruction of our own being confesses
the sovereign being of God.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.065" id="png.065"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">49</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>We must cease to be, so that the Spirit of the
Word may be in us. In order that He may come
to us, we must yield our life to Him, and die to self
that He may live in us, and that we being dead, our
life may be hidden with Christ in God (Col. iii. 3).</p>
<p>“Come unto me,” says God, “all ye that be
desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits”
(Ecclus. xxiv. 19). But how can we be filled with
God? Only by being emptied of self, and going
out of ourselves in order to be lost in Him.</p>
<p>Now, this can never be brought about except by
our becoming nothing. Nothingness is true prayer,
which renders to God “honour, and glory, and
power, for ever and ever” (Rev. v. 13).</p>
<p>This prayer is the prayer of truth. It is worshipping
the Father in spirit and in truth. In
<em>spirit</em>, because we are by it drawn out of our
human and carnal action, to enter into the purity of
the Spirit, who prays in us; and in <em>truth</em>, because
the soul is led into the truth of the <span class="allsc">ALL</span> of God,
and the <span class="allsc">NOTHING</span> of the creature.</p>
<p>There are but these two truths, the <span class="allsc">ALL</span> and the
<span class="allsc">NOTHING</span>. All the rest is untruth.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.066" id="png.066"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">50</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>We can only honour the <span class="allsc">ALL</span> of God by our
<span class="allsc">NOTHINGNESS</span>; and we have no sooner become nothing,
than God, who will not suffer us to be empty,
fills us with Himself. Oh, if all knew the blessings
which come to the soul by this prayer, they would
be satisfied with no others: it is the pearl of great
price; it is the hidden treasure. He who finds it
gladly sells all that he has to buy it (Matt. xiii. 44,
46). It is the well of living water, which springs
up into everlasting life (John iv. 14). It is the
practice of the pure maxims of the gospel.</p>
<p>Does not Christ Himself tell us that the kingdom
of God is within us? (Luke xvii. 21). This kingdom
is set up in two ways. The first is, when God is so
thoroughly master of us that nothing resists Him:
then our heart is truly His kingdom. The other way
is, that by possessing God, who is the sovereign Lord,
we possess the kingdom of God, which is the height
of felicity, and the end for which we were created.
As it has been said, <em>to serve God is to reign</em>.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">The end for which we were created is to enjoy
God in this life, and men do not believe it!</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.067" id="png.067"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">51</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">THIS STATE OF PRAYER NOT ONE OF IDLENESS, BUT OF NOBLE ACTION, WROUGHT BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, AND IN DEPENDENCE UPON HIM—THE COMMUNICATION OF HIS LIFE AND UNION.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>Some</span> people, hearing of the prayer of silence,
have wrongly imagined that the soul remains
<em>inactive</em>, <em>lifeless</em>, and <em>without movement</em>.</p>
<p>But the truth is, that its action is more noble and
more extensive than it ever was before it entered this
degree, since it is moved by God Himself, and acted
upon by His Spirit. St Paul desires that we should
be <em>led by the Spirit of God</em> (Rom. viii. 14). I do
not say that there must be no action, but that
we must act in dependence upon the divine movement.
This is admirably set forth by Ezekiel. The
prophet saw wheels which had the spirit of life, and
wherever this spirit was to go, they went; they went
on, or stood, or were lifted up, as they were moved,
<SPAN name="png.068" id="png.068"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">52</span><span class="ns">]
</span>for the spirit of life was in them: but they never
went back (see Ezek. i. 19–21). It should be the
same with the soul: it should suffer itself to be moved
and guided by the living Spirit who is in it, following
His direction, and no other. Now this Spirit will
never lead it to go backwards, that is, to reflect upon
the creature, or to lean upon itself, but always to go
forward, pressing continually towards the mark.</p>
<p>This action of the soul is a restful action. When
it acts of itself, it acts with effort; and is therefore
more conscious of its action. But when it acts in
dependence upon the Spirit of grace, its action is so
free, so easy, so natural, that it does not seem to act
at all. “He brought me forth also into a large
place; He delivered me, because He delighted in
me” (Ps. xviii. 19).</p>
<p>As soon as the soul has commenced its course
towards its centre,<sup><SPAN href="#fn.2" name="fna.2" id="fna.2">2</SPAN></sup>
from that moment its action
becomes vigorous—that is, its course towards the
centre which attracts it, which infinitely surpasses
the velocity of any other movement.</p>
<p>It is action then, but an action so <em>noble</em>, so <em>peaceful</em>,
<SPAN name="png.069" id="png.069"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">53</span><span class="ns">]
</span>so <em>tranquil</em>, that it seems to the soul as though it
were not acting at all; because it rests, as it were,
naturally. When a wheel is only turning with a
moderate speed, it can easily be distinguished; but
when it goes quickly, no part of it can be distinctly
seen. So the soul which remains at rest in God
has an action infinitely noble and exalted, yet very
peaceful. The greater its peace, the greater is its
velocity, because it is abandoned to the Spirit, who
moves it and makes it act. This Spirit is God
Himself, who draws us, and in drawing makes us
run to Him, as the Bride well knew when she said,
“Draw me, we will run” (Cant. i. 4). Draw me, O
my Divine Centre, by my inmost heart: my powers
and my sensibilities will run at Thy attraction! This
attraction alone is a balm which heals me, and a
perfume which draws. “We will run,” she says, “because
of the savour of Thy good ointments.” This
attracting virtue is <em>very strong</em> but the soul follows it
<em>very gladly</em>; and as it is equally strong and sweet, it
attracts by its strength and delights by its sweetness.</p>
<p>The Bride says, “Draw me, we will run.” She
speaks of herself, and to herself: “Draw <em>me</em>;” there
<SPAN name="png.070" id="png.070"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">54</span><span class="ns">]
</span>is the unity of the object which is attracted: “<em>We</em>
will run;” there is the correspondence of all the
powers and sensibilities which follow in the train of
the centre of the heart.</p>
<p>It is not then a question of remaining in idleness,
but of acting <em>in dependence upon the Spirit of God</em>,
who animates us, since it is in Him that “we live,
and move, and have our being” (Acts xvii. 23).
This calm dependence upon the Spirit of God is
absolutely necessary, and causes the soul in a short
time to attain the simplicity and unity in which it
was created. It was created one and simple, like
God. In order, then, to answer the end of our creation,
we must quit the multiplicity of our own actions,
to enter into the simplicity and unity of God, in
whose image we were created (Gen. i. 27). The
Spirit of God is “one only,” “yet manifold” (Wisdom
of Solomon vii. 22), and its unity does not prevent
its multiplicity. We enter into God’s unity when
we are united to His Spirit, because then we have
the same Spirit that He has; and we are multiplied
outwardly, as regards His dispositions, without leaving
the unity.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.071" id="png.071"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">55</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>So that, as God acts infinitely, and we are of one
spirit with Him, we act much more than we could do
by our own action. We must suffer ourselves to be
guided by Wisdom. This “Wisdom” is more moving
than any motion (Wisdom of Solomon vii. 24). Let
us, then, remain in dependence upon His action,
and our action will be vigorous indeed.</p>
<p>“All things were made by (the Word); and without
Him was not anything made that was made”
(John i. 3). God, in creating us, created us in His
image, after His likeness (Gen. i. 26). He gave to
us the Spirit of the Word by the breath of life (Gen.
ii. 7), which He breathed into us when we were
created in the image of God, by the participation of
the life of the Word, who is the image of His Father.
Now this life is one, simple, pure, intimate, and
fruitful.</p>
<p>The devil having disfigured this beautiful image,
it became necessary that this same Word, whose
breath had been breathed into us at our creation,
should come to restore it. It was necessary that it
should be He, because He is the image of the
Father; and a defaced image cannot be repaired by
<SPAN name="png.072" id="png.072"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">56</span><span class="ns">]
</span>its own action, but by the action of him who
seeks to restore it. Our <em>action</em> then should be, to
<em>put ourselves</em> into a position to suffer the action of
God, and to allow the Word to retrace His image
in us. An image, if it could move, would by
its movement prevent the sculptor’s perfecting it.
Every movement of our own hinders the work of
the Heavenly Sculptor, and produces false features.</p>
<p>We must then remain silent, and only move as
He moves us. Jesus Christ has <em>life in Himself</em>
(John v. 26), and He must communicate life to all
who live.</p>
<p>That this action is the most noble cannot be
denied. Things are only of value as the principle
in which they originate is noble, grand, and elevated.
Actions committed by a divine principle are <em>divine
actions</em>; whereas the actions of the creature, however
good they may appear, are <em>human actions</em> or
at best they are virtuous actions, if they are done
with the help of grace.</p>
<p>Jesus says that He has life in Himself; all other
beings have but a borrowed life, but the Word has
life in Himself; and as He is communicative, He
<SPAN name="png.073" id="png.073"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">57</span><span class="ns">]
</span>desires to communicate this life to men. We must
then give place to this life, that it may flow in us,
which can only be done by evacuation, and the loss
of the life of Adam and of our own action, as St
Paul assures us: “If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things are passed away; behold
all things are become new” (2 Cor. v. 17). This
can only be brought about by the death of ourselves
and of our own action, that the action of God may
be substituted for it. We do not profess, then, to be
without action, but only to act in dependence upon
the Spirit of God, suffering His action to take the
place of our own. Jesus shows us this in the
gospel. Martha did good things, but because she
did them of her own spirit, Christ reproved her for
them. The spirit of man is turbulent and boisterous;
therefore it does little, though it appears to
do much. “Martha, Martha,” said Jesus, “thou art
careful and troubled about many things; but one
thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good
part, which shall not be taken away from her”
(Luke x. 41, 42).</p>
<p>What had she chosen, this Magdalene? Peace,
<SPAN name="png.074" id="png.074"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">58</span><span class="ns">]
</span>tranquillity, and repose. She apparently ceased to
act, that she might be moved by the Spirit of God;
she ceased to live, that Christ might live in her.</p>
<p>This is why it is so necessary to renounce ourselves
and all our own works to follow Jesus; for we
cannot follow Him unless we are animated with His
Spirit. In order that the Spirit of Christ may dwell
in us, our own spirit must give place to Him. “He
that is joined to the Lord,” says St Paul, “is one
spirit” (1 Cor. vi. 17). “It is good for me to draw
near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God”
(Ps. lxxiii. 28). What is this “drawing near”? It
is the beginning of union.</p>
<p>Union has its beginning, its continuation, its completion,
and its consummation. The commencement
of union is an inclination towards God. When the
soul is converted in the manner I have described,
it has an inclination to its centre, and a strong
tendency to union: this tendency is the commencement.
Then it adheres, which happens when it
approaches nearer to God; then it is united to Him,
and finally becomes one with Him—that is, it
becomes one spirit with Him; and it is then that
<SPAN name="png.075" id="png.075"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">59</span><span class="ns">]
</span>this spirit, which proceeded from God, returns to
Him as its end.</p>
<p>It is, then, necessary that we should enter this
way, which is the divine motion, and the Spirit of
Jesus Christ. St Paul says, “If any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom.
viii. 9). To be Christ’s, then, we must suffer ourselves
to be filled with His Spirit, and emptied of
our own: our hearts must be evacuated. St Paul,
in the same place, proves to us the necessity of this
divine motion: he says, “As many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom.
viii. 14).</p>
<p>The divinely-imparted Spirit is the Spirit of
divine sonship; therefore, the same apostle continues,
“Ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom.
viii. 15). This spirit is no other than the Spirit of
Christ, by whom we participate in His Sonship;
and this “Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are the sons of God.”</p>
<p>As soon as the soul leaves itself to be moved by
<SPAN name="png.076" id="png.076"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">60</span><span class="ns">]
</span>the Spirit of God, it experiences the witness of this
divine sonship; and this witness serves the more to
increase its joy, as it makes it know <em>that it is called to
the liberty of the sons of God</em>, and that the spirit it
has received is not a spirit of bondage, but of liberty.</p>
<p>The Spirit of the divine motion is so necessary for
all things, that Paul founds this necessity upon our
ignorance of the things that we ask for. “The Spirit,”
he says, “helpeth our infirmities; for we know not
what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which
cannot be uttered.” This is conclusive: if we do not
know what to pray for, nor how to ask as we ought
for what is necessary for us, and if it is needful that
the Spirit who is in us, to whose motion we abandon
ourselves, should ask it for us, ought we not to leave
Him to do it? He does it “with groanings which
cannot be uttered.”</p>
<p>This Spirit is the Spirit of the Word, who is always
heard, as He says Himself: “I know that Thou
hearest me always” (John xi. 42). If we leave it to
the Spirit within us to ask and to pray, we shall always
be answered. Why so? O great apostle, mystic
<SPAN name="png.077" id="png.077"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">61</span><span class="ns">]
</span>teacher, so deeply taught in the inner life! teach us
why. “It is,” he adds, “because He that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because He maketh intercession for the saints according
to the will of God;” that is to say, this Spirit
only asks that which it is God’s will to give. It is
God’s will that we should be saved and that we
should be perfect. He asks, then, for all that is necessary
to our perfection. Why, after this, should we be
burdened with superfluous cares, and be wearied in
the greatness of our way, without ever saying, There
is no hope in ourselves, and therefore resting in
God? God Himself invites us to cast all our care
upon Him, and He complains, in inconceivable goodness,
that we employ our strength, our riches, and our
treasure, in countless exterior things, although there
is so little joy to be found in them all. “Wherefore
do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and
your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken
diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in fatness” (Isa. lv. 2).</p>
<p class="pgbrk">Oh, if it were known what happiness there is in
thus hearkening unto God, and how the soul is
<SPAN name="png.078" id="png.078"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">62</span><span class="ns">]
</span>strengthened by it! All flesh must be silent before
the Lord (see Zech. ii. 13). All self-effort must cease
when He appears. In order still further to induce us
to abandon ourselves to Him without reserve, God
assures us that we need fear nothing from such abandonment,
because He has a special individual care
over each of us. He says, “Can a woman forget
her sucking-child, that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget,
yet will I not forget thee” (Isa. xlix. 15). Ah, words
full of consolation! Who on hearing them can fear
to abandon himself utterly to the guidance of God?</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.079" id="png.079"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">63</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">DISTINCTION BETWEEN EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR ACTIONS—THOSE OF THE SOUL IN THIS CONDITION ARE INTERIOR, BUT HABITUAL, CONTINUED, DIRECT, PROFOUND, SIMPLE, AND IMPERCEPTIBLE—BEING A CONTINUAL SINKING IN THE OCEAN OF DIVINITY—SIMILITUDE OF A VESSEL—HOW TO ACT IN THE ABSENCE OF SENSIBLE SUPPORTS.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>The</span> actions of men are either exterior or interior.
The <em>exterior</em> are those which appear outwardly,
and have a sensible object, possessing neither good
nor evil qualities, excepting as they receive them from
the interior principle in which they originate. It is
not of these that I intend to speak, but only of interior
actions, which are those actions of the soul by which
it <em>applies itself</em> inwardly to some object, or <em>turns away</em>
from some other.</p>
<p>When, being applied to God, I desire to commit
an action of a different nature from those which He
<SPAN name="png.080" id="png.080"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">64</span><span class="ns">]
</span>would prompt, I turn away from God, and I turn
towards created things more or less according to the
strength or weakness of my action. If, being turned
towards the creature, I wish to return to God, I must
commit the action of turning away from the creature,
and turning towards God; and thus the more perfect
is this action, the more complete will be the conversion.</p>
<p>Until I am perfectly converted, I need several
actions to turn me towards God. Some are done all
at once, others gradually; but my action ought to
lead me to turn to God, employing all the strength of
my soul for Him, as it is written, “Therefore even
now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your
heart” (Joel ii. 12). “Thou shalt return unto the
Lord thy God … with all thine heart and with
all thy soul” (Deut. xxx. 2). God only asks for our
heart: “My son, give me thy heart, and let thine
eyes observe my ways” (Prov. xxiii. 26). To give
the heart to God is to have its gaze, its strength, and
its vigour all centred in Him, to follow His will. We
must, then, after we have applied to God, remain
always turned towards Him.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.081" id="png.081"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">65</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>But as the mind of man is weak, and the soul, being
accustomed to turn towards earthly things, is easily
turned away from God, it must, as soon as it perceives
that it is turned towards outward things, resume its
former position in God by a simple act of return to
Him.</p>
<p>And as several repeated acts form a habit, the soul
contracts a habit of conversion, and from action it
passes to a habitual condition.</p>
<p>The soul, then, must not seek by means of any
efforts or works of its own to come near to God; this
is seeking to perform one action by means of others,
instead of by a simple action remaining attached to
God alone.</p>
<p>If we believe that we must commit no actions, we
are mistaken, for <em>we are always acting</em>; but each one
must act according to his degree.</p>
<p>I will endeavour to make this point clear, as, for
want of understanding it, it presents a difficulty to
many Christians.</p>
<p>There are <em>passing</em> and <em>distinct</em> actions, and <em>continued</em>
actions; <em>direct</em> acts and <em>reflected</em> acts. All cannot
perform the first, and all are not in a condition to
<SPAN name="png.082" id="png.082"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">66</span><span class="ns">]
</span>perform the others. The first actions should be committed
by those who are turned away from God.
They ought to turn to Him by a distinct action, more
or less strong according to their distance from Him.</p>
<p>By a <em>continued</em> action I understand that by which
the soul is completely turned towards its God by
a <em>direct</em> action, which it does not renew, unless it
has been interrupted, but which exists. The soul
being altogether turned in this way, is in love, and
remains there: “And he that dwelleth in love,
dwelleth in God” (1 John iv. 16). Then the soul
may be said to be in a habitual act, resting even
in this action. But its rest is not idle, for it has
an action <em>always in force</em>, viz., <em>a gentle sinking in
God</em>, in which God attracts it more and more
strongly; and, following this attraction, and resting
in love, it sinks more and more in this love, and
has an action infinitely stronger, more vigorous,
and more prompt, than that action which forms
only the return. Now the soul which is in this
<em>profound and strong action</em>, being turned towards its
God, does not perceive this action, because it is
direct, and not reflex; so that persons in this
<SPAN name="png.083" id="png.083"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">67</span><span class="ns">]
</span>condition, not knowing how rightly to describe it, say
that <em>they have no action</em>. But they are mistaken;
they were never more active. It would be better
to say they do not distinguish any action, than
that they do not commit any.</p>
<p>The soul does not act of itself, I admit; but it
is drawn, and it follows the attracting power.
Love is the weight which sinks it, as a person
who falls in the sea sinks, and would sink to infinity
if the sea were infinite; and without perceiving
its sinking, it would sink to the most profound
depths with an incredible speed. It is, then, incorrect
to say that no actions are committed. All
commit actions, but all do not commit them in
the same manner; and the abuse arises from the
fact, that those who know that action is inevitable
wish it to be <em>distinct</em> and <em>sensible</em>. But sensible
action is for beginners, and the other for those
more advanced. To stop with the first would be
to deprive ourselves of the last; and to wish to
commit the last before having passed the first
would be an equal abuse.</p>
<p>Everything must be done in its season; each
<SPAN name="png.084" id="png.084"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">68</span><span class="ns">]
</span>state has its commencement, its progress, and its
end. There is no act which has not its beginning.
At first we must work with <em>effort</em>, but afterwards
we enjoy the fruit of our labour.</p>
<p>When a vessel is in the harbour, the sailors have
a difficulty in bringing it into the open sea; but
once there, they easily turn it in the direction in
which they wish to navigate. So, when the soul
is in sin, it needs an effort to drag it out; the
cords which bind it must be loosened; then, by
means of strong and vigorous action, it must be
drawn within itself, little by little leaving the
harbour, and being turned within, which is the
place to which its voyage should be directed.</p>
<p>When the vessel is thus turned, in proportion as
it advances in the sea, it leaves the land behind
it, and the further it goes from the land, the less
effort is needed to carry it along. At last it begins
to sail gently, and the vessel goes on so rapidly
that the oars become useless. What does the pilot
do then? He is contented with spreading the sails
and sitting at the helm.</p>
<p><em>Spreading the sails</em> is simply laying ourselves
<SPAN name="png.085" id="png.085"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">69</span><span class="ns">]
</span>before God, to be moved by His Spirit. <em>Sitting
at the helm</em> is preventing our heart from leaving
the right way, rowing it gently, and leading it
according to the movement of the Spirit of God,
who gradually takes possession of it, as the wind
gradually fills the sails, and impels the vessel forward.
So long as the vessel sails before the wind,
the mariners rest from their labour. They voyage
farther in an hour, while they rest in this manner
and leave the ship to be carried along by the
wind, than they would in a much longer time by
their own efforts; and if they wished to row, besides
the fatigue which would result from it, their labour
would be useless, and would only serve to retard
the vessel.</p>
<p>This is the conduct we should pursue in our inner
life, and in acting thus we shall advance more in a
short time by the Divine guidance, than we ever
could do by our own efforts. If only you will try
this way, you will find it the easiest possible.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">When the wind is contrary, if the wind and the
tempest are violent, the anchor must be thrown in
the sea to stop the vessel. This <em>anchor</em> is trust in
<SPAN name="png.086" id="png.086"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">70</span><span class="ns">]
</span>God and hope in His goodness, waiting in patience
for the tempest to cease, and for a favourable
wind to return, as David did: “I waited patiently
for the Lord,” he says, “and He inclined unto
me” (Ps. xl. 1).</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.087" id="png.087"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">71</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">THE DRYNESS OF PREACHERS, AND THE VARIOUS EVILS WHICH ARISE FROM THEIR FAILING TO TEACH HEART-PRAYER—EXHORTATION TO PASTORS TO LEAD PEOPLE TOWARDS THIS FORM OF PRAYER, WITHOUT AMUSING THEM WITH STUDIED AND METHODICAL DEVOTION.</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>If</span> all those who are working for the conquest
of souls sought to win them <em>by the heart</em>, leading
them first of all to prayer and to the inner
life, they would see many and lasting conversions.
But so long as they only address themselves to
the outside, and instead of drawing people to
Christ by occupying their hearts with Him, they
only give them a thousand precepts for outward
observances, they will see but little fruit, and that
will not be lasting.</p>
<p>When once the heart is won, other defects are
easily corrected. This is why God particularly
asks for the <em>heart</em>. By this means alone would be
<SPAN name="png.088" id="png.088"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">72</span><span class="ns">]
</span>prevented the drunkenness, blasphemy, lewdness,
enmity, and robbery which are prevalent in the
world. Jesus Christ would reign universally, and
the Church everywhere would be revived.</p>
<p>Error only takes possession of the soul in the
absence of faith and prayer. If men could be
taught to <em>believe simply</em> and to <em>pray</em>, instead of
disputing amongst themselves, they would be gently
led to Christ.</p>
<p>Oh, how inestimable is the loss of those who
neglect the inner life! Oh, what an account will
they have to render to God who have the charge
of souls, for not having discovered this hidden
treasure to all those whom they serve in the
ministry of the Word!</p>
<p>The excuse given is that there is <em>danger</em> in this
way, or that ignorant people are incapable of
spiritual things. The oracle of truth assures us
that God has hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and has revealed them to babes. And
what danger can there be in walking in the
only true way, which is Jesus Christ, in giving
ourselves to Him, looking to Him continually,
<SPAN name="png.089" id="png.089"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">73</span><span class="ns">]
</span>putting all our trust in His grace, and tending,
with all the forces of our souls, to His pure
love?</p>
<p>Far from the simple ones being <em>incapable</em> of this
perfection, they are the most suitable for it, because
they are more docile, more humble, and
more innocent; and as they do not reason, they
are not so attached to their own light. Having
no science, they more readily suffer themselves to
be guided by the Spirit of God: while others who
are blind in their own sufficiency resist the divine
inspiration.</p>
<p>God tells us, too, that it is to the <em>simple</em> He
gives understanding by the entrance of His Word
(Ps. cxix. 130). “The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the <em>simple</em>” (Ps. xix. 7). “The
Lord preserveth the <em>simple</em>: I was brought low, and
He helped me” (Ps. cxvi. 6).</p>
<p>O ye who have the oversight of souls! see that
you do not prevent the little ones from going to
Christ. His words to His disciples were, “Suffer
little children to come unto me, and forbid them
not; for of such is the kingdom of God” (Luke
<SPAN name="png.090" id="png.090"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">74</span><span class="ns">]
</span>xviii. 16). Jesus only said this to His disciples, because
they wished to keep the children away from
Him. Often the remedy is applied to the body,
when the disease is at the <em>heart</em>. The reason why
we have so little success in seeking to reform men, is
that we direct our efforts to the outside, and all
that we can do there soon passes off. But if we
were to give them first <em>the key of the interior</em>, the
outside would be reformed at once with a natural
facility.</p>
<p class="pgbrk">And this is very easy. To teach them to seek
God in their heart, to think of Him, to return to
Him when they find they have turned away, to do
all and suffer all for the sake of pleasing Him—this
is to direct them to the source of all grace,
and to make them find there all that is necessary
for their sanctification. O you who serve souls! I
conjure you to put them first of all into this way,
which is Jesus Christ; and it is He who conjures
you to do this by the blood He has shed for the
souls He confides to your care. “Speak to the
heart of Jerusalem” (Isa. xl. 2, marg.) O dispensers
of His grace, preachers of His Word,
<SPAN name="png.091" id="png.091"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">75</span><span class="ns">]
</span>ministers of sacraments! establish His kingdom;
and, in order to establish it truly, make it reign
over <span class="allsc">HEARTS</span>. For as it is the heart alone which
can oppose His empire, it is by the subjection of
the heart that His sovereignty is most honoured.
Alas! we seek to make <em>studied</em> prayers; and by
wishing to arrange them too much, we render
them impossible. We have alienated children from
the best of Fathers, in seeking to teach them a
polished language. Go, poor children, and speak
to your Heavenly Father in your natural language:
however uncultivated it may be, it is not so to
Him. A father loves best the speech which is
put in disorder by love and respect, because he
sees that it comes from the heart: it is more to
him than a dry harangue, vain and unfruitful
though well studied. Oh, how certain glances of
love charm and ravish Him! They express infinitely
more than all language and reason. By
wishing to teach how to love <span class="smc">Love</span> Himself with
method, much of this love has been lost. Oh! it
is not necessary to teach the art of loving. The
language of love is barbarous to him who does not
<SPAN name="png.092" id="png.092"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">76</span><span class="ns">]
</span>love; and we cannot learn to love God better
than by loving Him. The Spirit of God does not
need our arrangements; He takes shepherds at His
pleasure to make them prophets; and, far from
closing the palace of prayer to any, as it is imagined,
He leaves the doors open to all, and Wisdom
is ordered to cry in the public places, “Whoso
is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that
wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat
of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have
mingled” (Prov. ix. 4, 5). Did not Christ thank
His Father that He had hidden these things from
the wise and prudent, and had revealed them to
babes? (Matt. xi. 25.)</p>
<h2 class="chap"><SPAN name="png.093" id="png.093"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">77</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
<h3 class="chap">AFTER THE PRECEDING WAYS, THERE REMAINS AN AFTER WAY, PREPARATORY TO DIVINE UNION, IN WHICH WISDOM AND JUSTICE MAKE THE PASSIVE PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL, ALL WHICH IS TREATED IN DETAIL IN THE FOLLOWING TREATISE, ENTITLED “SPIRITUAL TORRENTS.”</h3>
<p class="chapstart"><span>It</span> is impossible to attain divine union by the way
of meditation alone, or even by the affections,
or by any luminous or understood prayer. There
are several reasons. These are the principal.</p>
<p>First, according to Scripture, “No man shall see
God and live” (Exod. xxxiii. 20). Now all discursive
exercises of prayer, or even of <em>active contemplation</em>,
regarded as an end, and not as a preparation for the
<em>passive</em>, are exercises of life by which we cannot see
God, that is, become united to Him. All that is of
man, and of his own industry, however noble and
elevated it may be, must die.</p>
<p>St John tells us that “there was silence in heaven.”
<SPAN name="png.094" id="png.094"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">78</span><span class="ns">]
</span>Heaven represents the depths and centre of the soul,
where all must be in silence when the majesty of God
appears. All that belongs to our own efforts, or to
ourselves in any way, must be destroyed, because
nothing is opposed to God but appropriation, and all
the malignity of man is in this appropriation, which
is the source of his evil; so that the more a soul
loses its appropriation, the more it becomes pure.</p>
<p>Secondly, in order to unite two things so opposed
as the purity of God and the impurity of the creature,
the simplicity of God and the multiplicity of the
creature, God must operate alone; for this can never
be done by the effort of the creature, since two things
cannot be united unless there is some relation or resemblance
between them, as an impure metal would
never unite with one that was pure and refined.</p>
<p>What does God do then? He sends before Him
His own Wisdom, as fire will be sent upon the earth
to consume by its activity all the impurity that is
there. Fire consumes all things, and nothing resists
its activity. It is the same with Wisdom; it consumes
all impurity in the creature, to prepare him for
divine union.</p>
<p><SPAN name="png.095" id="png.095"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">79</span><span class="ns">]<br/></span>This impurity, so opposed to union, is appropriation
and activity. <em>Appropriation</em>, because it is the
source of the real impurity which can never be united
to essential purity; as the sun’s rays may touch the
mud but cannot unite with it. <em>Activity</em>, because God
being in an infinite repose, in order that the soul may
be united to Him, it must participate in His repose,
without which there can be no union, because of the
dissemblance; and to unite two things, they must be
in a proportionate rest.</p>
<p>It is for this reason that the soul can only attain
divine union by the rest of its will; and it can only
be united to God when it is in a <em>central rest</em> and in
the purity of its creation.</p>
<p>To purify the soul God makes use of wisdom as fire
is used for the purification of gold. It is certain that
gold can only be purified by fire, which gradually
consumes all that is earthly and foreign, and separates
it from the gold. It is not sufficient that the earth
should be changed into gold; it is necessary that the
fire should melt and dissolve it, to remove from it
all that is earthly; and this gold is put in the fire so
many times that it loses its impurity, and all necessity
<SPAN name="png.096" id="png.096"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">80</span><span class="ns">]
</span>of purification. Then it is fit to be employed in the
most excellent workmanship.</p>
<p>And if this gold is impure in the end, it is because
it has contracted fresh defilement by coming in contact
with other bodies. But this impurity is only
superficial, and does not prevent its being used;
whereas its former impurity was hidden within it, and,
as it were, identified with its nature.</p>
<p>In addition to this, you will remark that gold of an
inferior degree of purity cannot mix with that of a
superior purity. The one must contract the impurity
of the other, or else impart its own purity to it. Put
a refined gold with an unrefined one, what can the
goldsmith ever do with it? He will have all the
impurity taken from the second piece, that it may be
able to mix with the first. This is what St Paul tells
us, that “the fire shall try every man’s work of what
sort it is;” he adds, that if any man’s work should be
found to deserve burning, he should be saved “so as
by fire” (1 Cor. iii. 13, 15). That means, that though
there are some works which are good, and which God
receives, yet, so that he who has done them may be pure,
they too must pass through the fire, in order that all
<SPAN name="png.097" id="png.097"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">81</span><span class="ns">]
</span>appropriation, that is, all that was his own, may be
taken from them. God will judge our righteousness,
because “by the deeds of the law there shall no
flesh be justified,” but by “the righteousness of God,
which is by faith” (Rom. iii. 20, 22).</p>
<p>This being understood, I say that, in order that
man may be united to his God, wisdom and
divine justice, like a pitiless and devouring fire,
must take from him all appropriation, all that is
terrestrial, carnal, and of his own activity; and
having taken all this from him, they must unite
him to God.</p>
<p>This is never brought about by the labours of
the creature; on the contrary, it even causes him
regret, because, as I have said, man so loves what
is his own, and is so fearful of its destruction, that
if God did not accomplish it Himself, and by His
own authority, man would never consent to it.</p>
<p>It will be objected to this, that God never deprives
man of his liberty, and that therefore he
can always resist God; for which reason I ought
not to say that <em>God acts absolutely, without the consent
of man</em>. In explanation I say, that it is sufficient
<SPAN name="png.098" id="png.098"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">82</span><span class="ns">]
</span>that man should give a <em>passive consent</em>, that
he may have entire and full liberty; because having
at the beginning given himself to God, that He
may do as He will both with him and in him, he
gave from that time an <em>active</em> and general assent to
all that God might do. But when God destroys,
burns, and purifies, the soul does not see that all
this is for its advantage; it rather believes the
contrary: and as at first the fire seems to tarnish
the gold, so this operation seems to despoil the
soul of its purity. So that if an <em>active</em> and <em>explicit</em>
consent were required, the soul would find a difficulty
in giving it, and often would not give it. All
that it does is to remain in a passive contentment,
enduring this operation as well as it can, being
neither able nor willing to prevent it.</p>
<p>God then so purifies this soul of all natural, distinct,
and perceived operations, that at last He makes
it more and more <em>conformed</em> to Himself, and then
<em>uniform</em>, raising the passive capacity of the creature,
enlarging it and ennobling it, though in a hidden and
unperceived manner, which is termed mystical. But
in all these operations the soul must concur passively,
<SPAN name="png.099" id="png.099"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">83</span><span class="ns">]
</span>and in proportion as the working of God becomes
stronger, the soul must continually yield to Him,
until He absorbs it altogether. We do not say, then,
as some assert, that there must be no <em>action</em>; since,
on the contrary, this is <em>the door</em>; but only that <em>we must
not remain in it</em>, seeing that man should tend towards
the perfection of his end, and that he can never
reach it without quitting the first means, which,
though they were necessary to introduce him into the
way, would greatly hinder him afterwards, if he
attached himself obstinately to them. This is what
Paul said, “I forget those things which are behind,
and reach forth unto those things which are before;
I press toward the mark” (Phil. iii. 13, 14).</p>
<p>Should we not consider a person destitute of
reason who, after undertaking a journey, stopped at
the first inn, because he was assured that several had
passed it, that a few had lodged there, and that the
landlord lived there? What the soul is required to
do, then, is <em>to advance towards its end</em>, to take the
shortest road, not to stop at the first point, and,
following the advice of St Paul, to suffer itself to be
“led by the Spirit of God” (Rom. viii. 14), who will
<SPAN name="png.100" id="png.100"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">84</span><span class="ns">]
</span>lead it to the end for which it was created, which is
the enjoyment of God.</p>
<p>It is well known that the sovereign good is God;
that essential blessedness consists in union with God,
and that this union cannot be the result of our own
efforts, since God only communicates Himself to the
soul according to its capacity. We cannot be united
to God without passivity and simplicity; and this
union being bliss, the way which leads to it must be
the best, and there can be no risk in walking in it.</p>
<p>This way is not <em>dangerous</em>. If it were, Christ
would not have represented it as the most perfect
and necessary of all ways. All can walk in it; and as
all are called to blessedness, all are called to the
enjoyment of God, both in this life and in that
which is to come, since the enjoyment of God is
blessedness. I say the enjoyment of God Himself,
not of His gifts, which can never impart essential
blessedness, not being able fully to satisfy the soul,
which is so constituted that even the richest gifts of
God cannot thoroughly content it. The desire of
God is to give Himself to us, according to the capacity
with which He has endowed us; and yet we fear
<SPAN name="png.101" id="png.101"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">85</span><span class="ns">]
</span>to leave ourselves to God! We fear to possess Him,
and to be prepared for divine union!</p>
<p>You say, <em>we must not bring ourselves to this condition</em>.
I agree to that; but I say too, that no one ever
could bring himself to it, since no man could ever
unite himself to God by his own efforts, and God
Himself must do the work.</p>
<p>You say that some pretend to have attained it. I
say that this state cannot be feigned, any more than
a man dying of hunger can for any length of time
pretend to be satisfied. It will soon be known
whether or no men have attained this end.</p>
<p>Since, then, none can arrive at the end unless he
be brought there, it is not a question of introducing
people to it, but of showing them the way which
leads to it, and begging them not to rest in those
practices which must be relinquished at God’s command.</p>
<p>Would it not be cruelty to show a fountain to a
thirsty man, and then hold him bound, and prevent
his going to it, leaving him to die of thirst? That is
what is being done now. Let us all be agreed both
as to the way and the end. The way has its
<SPAN name="png.102" id="png.102"></SPAN><span class="ns">[p</span><span class="pgmark">86</span><span class="ns">]
</span>commencement, its progress, and its terminus. The more
we advance towards the terminus, the farther we go
from the commencement; and it is impossible to
reach the terminus but by constantly going farther
from the starting-point, being unable to go from one
place to another without passing through all that
comes between them: this is incontestable.</p>
<p>Oh, how blind are the majority of men, who pride
themselves upon their learning and talent!</p>
<p>O Lord! how true it is that Thou hast hidden Thy
secrets from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes!</p>
<hr class="footnote" />
<div class="footnote">
<p><SPAN href="#fna.1" name="fn.1" id="fn.1">1.</SPAN> This subject is pursued in the treatise entitled “Spiritual
Torrents.”</p>
<p><SPAN href="#fna.2" name="fn.2" id="fn.2">2.</SPAN> See <SPAN href="#png.043">chap. ix</SPAN>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN>
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