Method of Prayer
by
Madame Guyon
A
SHORT AND VERY EASY
METHOD OF PRAYER;
WHICH ALL CAN PRACTICE WITH THE GREATEST FACILITY, AND ARRIVE
IN A SHORT TIME, BY ITS MEANS, AT A HIGH DEGREE OF PERFECTION.
BY MADAME GUYON.
"Walk before me and be thou perfect."--Gen. xvii. 1.
This little treatise, conceived in great
simplicity, was not originally intended for publication. It was written for a
few individuals, who were desirous of loving God with all their heart. Many,
however, because of the profit they received in reading the manuscript, wished
to obtain copies, and, on this account alone, it was committed to the press.
It still remains in its original simplicity. It
contains no censure on the various divine leadings of others; on the contrary,
it enforces the received teachings. The whole is submitted to the judgment of
the learned and experienced; requesting them, however, not to stop at the
surface, but to enter into the main design of the author, which is to induce
the whole world to love God, and to serve Him with comfort and success, in
a simple and easy manner, adapted to those little ones who are
unqualified for learned and deep researches, but who earnestly desire to be
truly devoted to God.
An unprejudiced reader will find, hidden
under the most common expressions, a secret unction, which will excite him to
seek after that happiness which all should wish to enjoy.
In asserting that perfection is easily attained,
the word facility, is used; because God is, indeed found with facility,
when we seek Him within ourselves. But some, perhaps, may urge that
passage in St. John "Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me," (vii.
34); this apparent difficulty, however, is removed by another passage, where
He, who cannot contradict himself, has said to all, "Seek and ye shall
find," (Matt. vii. 7). It is true, indeed, that he who would seek God,
seeks Him where He is not; and, therefore, it is added, "Ye shall die in
your sins." But he, who will take some trouble to seek God in his own
heart, and sincerely forsake his sin, that he may draw near unto Him, shall
infallibly find Him.
A life of piety appears so frightful to
many, and prayer of such difficult attainment, that they are discouraged
from taking a single step towards it. But as the apprehended difficulty of an
undertaking often causes despair of succeeding and reluctance in commencing, so
its desirableness, and the idea that it is easy to accomplish, induce us to
enter upon its pursuit with pleasure, and to pursue it with vigor. The
advantages and facility of this way are therefore set forth in the
following treatise.
O were we once persuaded of the goodness of God
toward his poor creatures, and of his desire to communicate Himself to them, we
should not create ideal monsters, nor so easily despair of obtaining that good
which He is so earnest to bestow: "He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all; how shall He not, with him, also freely give us
all things?" (Rom. viii. 32). It needs only a little courage and
perseverance; we have enough of both in our temporal concerns, but none at all
in the one thing needful, (Luke x. 42).
If any think that God is not easily to be found
in this way, let them not on my testimony alter their minds, but let them try
it, and their own experience will convince them, that the reality far exceeds
all my representations of it.
Beloved reader, pursue this little tract with a
sincere and candid spirit, in lowliness of mind, and not with an inclination to
criticize, and you will not fail to reap profit from it. It was written with a
desire that you might wholly devote yourself to God; receive it then
with a like desire: for it has no other design than to invite the simple and
the child-like to approach their father, who delights in the humble confidence
of his children, and is greatly grieved at their distrust. With a sincere
desire, therefore, for your salvation, seek nothing from the unpretending
method here proposed, but the love of God, and you shall assuredly obtain
it.
Without setting up our opinions above those of
others, we mean only with sincerity to declare, from our own experience and the
experience of others, the happy effects produced by thus simply following after
the Lord.
As this treatise was intended only to instruct in
prayer, nothing is said of many things which we esteem, because they do not
immediately relate to our main subject. It is, however, beyond a doubt, that
nothing will be found herein to offend, provided it be read in the spirit with
which it was written. And it is still more certain, that those who in right
earnest make trial of the way, will find we have written the truth.
It is Thou alone, O holy Jesus, who lovest
simplicity and innocence, "and whose delight is to dwell with the children
of men," (Prov. viii. 31), with those who are, indeed, willing to become
"little children," (Matt. xviii. 3); it is Thou alone, who canst render
this little work of any value, by imprinting it on the heart, and leading those
who read it to seek Thee within themselves, where Thou reposest as in the
manger, waiting to receive proofs of their love, and to give them testimony of
thine. They lose these advantages by their own fault. But it belongeth unto
thee, O child Almighty! uncreated Love! silent and all-containing Word! to make
thyself loved, enjoyed and understood. Thou canst do it; and I know Thou wilt
do it by this little work, which belongeth entirely to Thee, proceedeth wholly
from Thee, and tendeth only to Thee!
Introduction. That all are called to prayer, and by the aid of
ordinary grace may put up the prayer of the heart, which is the great means of
salvation, and which can be offered at all times, and by the most
uninstructed.
All are capable of prayer, and it is a
dreadful misfortune that almost all the world have conceived the idea that they
are not called to prayer. We are all called to prayer, as we are all called to
salvation.
Prayer is nothing but the application of the
heart to God, and the internal exercise of love. St. Paul has enjoined us
to "pray without ceasing;" (1 Thess. v. 17,) and our Lord bids us watch
and pray, (Mark xiii. 33,37): all therefore may, and all ought to practise
prayer. I grant that meditation is attainable but by few, for few are capable
of it; and therefore, my beloved brethren who are athirst for salvation,
meditative prayer is not the prayer which God requires of you, nor which we
would recommend.
2. Let all pray: you should live by prayer, as
you should live by love. "I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
that ye may be rich." (Rev. iii. 18.) This is very easily obtained, much
more easily than you can conceive.
Come all ye that are athirst to the living
waters, nor lose your precious moments in hewing our cisterns that will hold no
water. (John vii. 37; Jer. ii. 13.) Come ye famishing souls, who find nought to
satisfy you; come, and ye shall be filled! Come, ye poor afflicted ones,
bending beneath your load of wretchedness and pain, and ye shall be consoled!
Come, ye sick, to your physician, and be not fearful of approaching him because
ye are filled with diseases; show them, and they shall be healed!
Children, draw near to your Father, and he will
embrace you in the arms of love! Come ye poor, stray, wandering sheep, return
to your Shepherd! Come, sinners, to your Saviour! Come ye dull, ignorant, and
illiterate, ye who think yourselves the most incapable of prayer! ye are more
peculiarly called and adapted thereto. Let all without exception come, for
Jesus Christ hath called ALL.
Yet let not those come who are without a heart;
they are excused; for there must be a heart before there can be love. But who
is without a heart? O come, then, give this heart to God; and here learn how to
make the donation.
3. All who are desirous of prayer, may easily
pray, enabled by those ordinary graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit which are
common to all men.
Prayer is the key to perfection, and the
sovereign good; it is the means of delivering us from every vice, and obtaining
us every virtue; for the one great means of becoming perfect, is to walk in the
presence of God. He himself hath said, "Walk before me, and be thou
perfect." (Gen. xvii. 1.) It is by prayer alone that we are brought into
his presence, and maintained in it without interruption.
4. You must, then, learn a species of prayer
which may be exercised at all times; which does not obstruct outward
employments; which may be equally practised by princes, kings, prelates,
priests and magistrates, soldiers and children, tradesmen, laborers, women, and
sick persons; it is not the prayer of the head, but of the heart.
It is not a prayer of the understanding alone,
for the mind of man is so limited in its operations that it can have but one
object at a time; but it is the prayer of the heart which is not interrupted by
the exercises of reason. Nothing can interrupt this prayer but disordered
affections; and when once we have enjoyed God, and the sweetness of his love,
we shall find it impossible to relish aught but himself.
5. Nothing is so easily obtained as the
possession and enjoyment of God. He is more present to us than we are to
ourselves. He is more desirous of giving Himself to us than we are to possess
Him; we only need to know how to seek Him, and the way is easier and more
natural to us than breathing.
Ah! ye who think yourselves so dull and fit for
nothing, by prayer you may live on God himself with less difficulty or
interruption that you live on the vital air. Will it not then be highly sinful
to neglect prayer? But doubtless you will not, when you have learnt the method,
which is the easiest in the world.
1. First degree of prayer, practised in two ways; one by
reading and meditation, the other by meditation alone.
2,3. Rules and methods of meditation.
4. Remedies for its difficulties.
There are two ways of introducing some
important practical or speculative truth, always preferring the practical, and
proceeding thus: whatever truth you have chosen, read only a small portion of
it, endeavoring to taste and digest it, to extract the essence and substance of
it, and proceed no farther while any savor or relish remains in the passage:
then take up your book again, and proceed as before, seldom reading more than
half a page at a time.
It is not the quantity that is read, but the
manner of reading, that yields us profit. Those who read fast, reap no more
advantage, than a bee would by only skimming over the surface of the flower,
instead of waiting to penetrate into it, and extract its sweets. Much reading
is rather for scholastic subjects, than divine truths; to receive profit from
spiritual books, we must read as I have described; and I am certain that if
that method were pursued, we should become gradually habituated to pray by our
reading, and more fully disposed for its exercise.
2. Meditation, which is the other method, is to
be practised at an appropriated season, and not in the time of reading. I
believe that the best manner of meditating is as follows:
When by an act of lively faith, you are placed in
the presence of God, read some truth wherein there is substance; pause gently
thereon, not to employ the reason, but merely to fix the mind; observing that
the principal exercise should ever be the presence of God, and that the
subject, therefore, should rather serve to stay the mind, than exercise it in
reasoning.
Then let a lively faith in God immediately
present in our inmost souls, produce an eager sinking into ourselves,
restraining all our senses from wandering abroad: this serves to extricate us,
in the first instance, from numerous distraints, to remove us far from external
objects, and to bring us nigh to God, who is only to be found in our inmost
centre, which is the Holy of Holies wherein he dwells. He has even
promised to come and make his abode with him that doeth his will. (John xiv.
23.) St. Augustine blames himself for the time he lost in not having sought
God, from the first, in this manner of prayer.
3. When we are thus fully entered into ourselves,
and warmly penetrated throughout with a lively sense of the Divine presence;
when the senses are all recollected, and withdrawn from the circumference to
the centre, and the soul is sweetly and silently employed on the truths we have
read, not in reasoning, but in feeding thereon, and animating the will by
affection, rather than fatiguing the understanding by study; when, I say, the
affections are in this state, (which, however difficult it may appear at first,
is, as I shall hereafter show, easily attainable,) we must allow them
sweetly to repose, and, as it were, swallow what they have
tasted.
For as a person may enjoy the flavor of the
finest viands in mastication, yet receive no nourishment from them, if he does
not cease the action and swallow the food; so when our affections are
enkindled, if we endeavor to stir them up yet more, we extinguish the flame,
and the soul is deprived of its nourishment. We should, therefore, in a
repose of love, full of respect and confidence, swallow the blessed food
we have received. This method is highly necessary, and will advance the soul
more in a short time, than any other in years.
4. But as I have said that our direct and
principal exercise should consist in the contemplation of the Divine
presence, we should be exceedingly diligent in recalling our dissipated
senses, as the most easy method of overcoming distractions; for a direct
contest only serves to irritate and augment them; whereas, by sinking within,
under a view by faith, of a present God, and simply recollecting ourselves, we
wage insensibly very successful, though indirect war with them.
It is proper here to caution beginners against
wandering from truth to truth, and from subject to subject; the right way to
penetrate every divine truth, to enjoy its full relish, and to imprint it on
the heart, is to dwell upon it whilst its savor continues.
Though recollection is difficult in the
beginning, from the habit the soul has acquired of being always abroad, yet,
when by the violence it has done itself, it becomes a little accustomed to it,
the process is soon render perfectly easy; and this partly from the force of
habit, and partly because God, whose one will towards his creatures is to
communicate himself to them, imparts abundant grace, and an experimental
enjoyment of his presence, which very much facilitate it.
1. Method of meditative prayer for those who cannot
read;
2,3. Applied to the Lord's Prayer and to some of the attributes of
God.
4. Transition from the first to the second degree of prayer.
Those who cannot read books, are not, on that
account, excluded from prayer. The great book which teaches all things, and
which is written all over, within and without, is Jesus Christ himself.
The method they should practice is this: they
should first learn this fundamental truth, that "the kingdom of God is
within them," (Luke xvii. 21,) and that it must be sought there only.
It is as incumbent on the clergy to instruct
their parishioners in prayer, as in their catechism. It is true they tell them
the end of their creation; but they do not give them sufficient instructions
how they may attain it.
They should be taught to begin by an act of
profound adoration and annihilation before God, and closing the corporeal eyes,
endeavor to open those of the soul; they should then collect themselves
inwardly, and by a lively faith in God, as dwelling within them, pierce into
the divine presence; not suffering the senses to wander abroad, but holding
them as much as may be in subjection.
2. They should then repeat the Lord's prayer in
their native tongue; pondering a little upon the meaning of the words, and the
infinite willingness of that God who dwells within them to become, indeed,
"their father." In this state let them pour out their wants before him; and
when they have pronounced the word, "father," remain a few moments in a
reverential silence, waiting to have the will of this their heavenly Father
made manifest to them.
Again, the Christian, beholding himself in the
state of a feeble child, soiled and sorely bruised by repeated falls, destitute
of strength to stand, or of power to cleanse himself, should lay his deplorable
situation open to his Father's view in humble confusion; occasionally
intermingling a word or two of love and grief, and then again sinking into
silence before Him. Then, continuing the Lord's prayer, let him beseech this
King of Glory to reign in him, abandoning himself to God, that He may do it,
and acknowledging his right to rule over him.
If they feel an inclination to peace and silence,
let them not continue the words of the prayer so long as this sensation holds;
and when it subsides, let them go on with the second petition, "thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven!" upon which let these humble supplicants
beseech God to accomplish in them, and by them, all his will, and let them
surrender their hearts and freedom into his hands, to be disposed of as He
pleases. When they find that the will should be employed in loving, they will
desire to love, and will implore Him for his love; but all this will take place
sweetly and peacefully: and so of the rest of the prayer, in which the clergy
may instruct them.
But they should not burthen themselves with
frequent repetitions of set forms, or studied prayers; for the Lord's prayer
once repeated as I have just described, will produce abundant fruit.
3. At other times, they may place themselves as
sheep before their Shepherd, looking up to Him for their true food: O divine
Shepherd, Thou feedest thy flock with Thyself, and art indeed their daily
bread. They may also represent to him the necessities of their families: but
let all be done from this principal and one great view of faith, that God is
within them.
All our imaginations of God amount to nothing; a
lively faith in his presence is sufficient. For we must not form any image of
the Deity, though we may of Jesus Christ, beholding him in his birth, or his
crucifixion, or in some other state or mystery, provided the soul always seeks
Him in its own centre.
On other occasions, we may look to him as a
physician, and present for his healing virtue all our maladies; but always
without perturbation, and with pauses from time to time, that the silence,
being mingled with action, may be gradually extended, and our own exertion
lessened; till at length, by continually yielding to God's operations, He gains
the complete ascendancy, as shall be hereafter explained.
4. When the divine presence is granted us, and we
gradually begin to relish silence and repose, this experimental enjoyment of
the presence of God introduces the soul into the second degree of prayer,
which, by proceeding in the manner I have described, is attainable as well by
the illiterate as by the learned; some privileged souls, indeed, are favored
with it even from the beginning.
1. Second degree of prayer, called here "The prayer of
simplicity." At what time we reach it.
2. How to offer and continue it.
3. Requisites to offering it acceptably.
Some call the second degree of prayer
Contemplation, The prayer of faith and stillness, and others call it
The prayer of simplicity. I shall here use this latter appellation, as
being more just than that of contemplation, which implies a more advanced state
than that I am now treating of.
When the soul has been for some time exercised in
the way I have mentioned, it gradually finds that it is enabled to approach God
with facility; that recollection is attended with much less difficulty, and
that prayer becomes easy, sweet, and delightful: it recognizes that this is the
true way of finding God, and feels that " his name is as ointment poured
forth." (Cant. i. 3.) The method must now be altered, and that which I
describe must be pursued with courage and fidelity, without being disturbed at
the difficulties we may encounter in the way.
2. First, as soon as the soul by faith places
itself in the presence of God, and becomes recollected before Him, let it
remain thus for a little time in respectful silence.
But if, at the beginning, in forming the act of
faith, it feels some little pleasing sense of the Divine presence, let it
remain there without being troubled for a subject, and proceed no farther, but
carefully cherish this sensation while it continues. When it abates, it may
excite the will by some tender affection; and if, by the first moving thereof,
it finds itself reinstated in sweet peace, let it there remain; the fire must
be gently fanned, but as soon as it is kindled, we must cease our efforts, lest
we extinguish it by our activity.
3. I would warmly recommend to all, never to
finish prayer without remaining some little time afterward in a respectful
silence. It is also of the greatest importance for the soul to go to prayer
with courage, and to bring with it such a pure and disinterested love, as seeks
nothing from God, but to please Him, and to do his will; for a servant who only
proportions his diligence to his hope of reward, is unworthy of any recompense.
Go then to prayer, not desiring to enjoy spiritual delights, but to be just as
it pleases God; this will preserve your spirit tranquil in aridities as well as
in consolation, and prevent your being surprised at the apparent repulses or
absence of God.
On various matters occurring in or belonging to the degree of prayer, that
is to say,
1. On aridities; which are caused by deprivation of the sensible presence of
God for an admirable end, and which are to be met by acts of solid and peaceful
virtue of mind and soul.
2. Advantages of this course.
Though God has no other desire than to impart
Himself to the loving soul that seeks Him, yet He frequently conceals Himself
from it, that it may be roused from sloth, and impelled to seek Him with
fidelity and love. But with what abundant goodness does He recompense the
faithfulness of his beloved! And how often are these apparent withdrawings of
Himself succeeded by the caresses of love!
At these seasons we are apt to believe that it
proves our fidelity, and evinces a greater ardor of affection to seek Him by an
exertion of our own strength and activity; or that such a course will induce
Him the more speedily to revisit us. No, dear souls, believe me, this is not
the best way in this degree of prayer; with patient love, with self-abasement
and humiliation, with the reiterated breathings of an ardent but peaceful
affection, and with silence full of veneration, you must await the return of
the Beloved.
2. Thus only can you demonstrate that it is
Himself alone, and his good pleasure, that you seek; and not the selfish
delights of your own sensations in loving Him. Hence it is said (Eccles. ii.
2,3): "Be not impatient in the time of dryness and obscurity; suffer the
suspensions and delays of the consolations of God; cleave unto him, and wait
upon him patiently, that thy life may increase and be renewed."
Be patient in prayer, though during your
whole lifetime you should do nothing else than wait the return of the Beloved
in a spirit of humiliation, abandonment, contentment, and resignation. Most
excellent prayer! and it may be intermingled with the sighings of plaintive
love! This conduct indeed is most pleasing to the heart of God, and will, above
all others, compel his return.
1, 2. On the abandonment of self to God, its fruit, and its
irrevocableness.
3. Its nature; God requires it.
4. Its practice.
Here we must begin to abandon and give
up our whole existence to God, from the strong and positive conviction, that
the occurrences of every moment result from his immediate will and permission,
and are just such as our state requires. This conviction will make us content
with everything; and cause us to regard all that happens, not from the side of
the creature, but from that of God.
But, dearly beloved, whoever you are who
sincerely wish to give yourselves up to God, I conjure you, that after having
once made the donation, you take not yourselves back again; remember, a gift
once presented, is no longer at the disposal of the giver.
2. Abandonment is a matter of the greatest
importance in our progress; it is the key to the inner court; so that he who
knows truly how to abandon himself, will soon become perfect. We must therefore
continue steadfast and immovable therein, without listening to the voice of
natural reason. Great faith produces great abandonment; we must confide in God,
"hoping against hope." (Rom. iv. 18.)
3. Abandonment is the casting off all
selfish care, that we may be altogether at the divine disposal. 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 will bring it to pass." (Psalm xxxvii.
5.)
Our abandonment, then, should be, both in respect
to external and internal things, an absolute giving up of all our concerns into
the hands of God, forgetting ourselves and thinking only of Him; by which the
heart will remain always disengaged, free, and at peace.
4. It is practised by continually losing our own
will in the will of God; renouncing every private inclination as soon as it
arises, however good it may appear, that we may stand in indifference with
respect to ourselves, and only will what God has willed from all eternity;
resigning ourselves in all things, whether for soul or body, for time or
eternity; forgetting the past, leaving the future to Providence, and devoting
the present to God; satisfied with the present moment, which brings with it
God's eternal order in reference to us, and is as infallible a declaration of
his will, as it is inevitable and common to all; attributing nothing that
befalls us to the creature, but regarding all things in God, and looking upon
all, excepting only our sins, as infallibly proceeding from Him.
Surrender yourselves then to be led and disposed
of just as God pleases, with respect both to your outward and inward state.
1. On suffering: that it should be accepted from the hand of
God.
2. Its use and profit.
3. Its practice.
Be patient under all the sufferings God
sends; if your love to Him be pure, you will not seek Him less on Calvary, than
on Tabor; and surely, He should be as much loved on that as on this, since it
was on Calvary that he made the greatest display of love.
Be not like those who give themselves to Him at
one season, only to withdraw from Him at another. They give themselves only to
be caressed, and wrest themselves back again, when they are crucified; or at
least turn for consolation to the creature.
2. No, beloved souls, you will not find
consolation in aught but in the love of the cross, and in total abandonment;
who savoreth not the cross, savoreth not the things that be of God. (See Matt.
xvi. 23.) It is impossible to love God without loving the cross; and a heart
that savors the cross, finds the bitterest things to be sweet; "To the
hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet;" (Prov. xxvii. 7:) because it
finds itself hungering for God, in proportion as it is hungering for the cross.
God gives us the cross, and the cross gives us God.
We may be assured that there is an internal
advancement, when there is progress in the way of the cross; abandonment and
the cross go hand in hand together.
3. As soon as anything is presented in the form
of suffering, and you feel a repugnance, resign yourself immediately to God
with respect to it, and give yourself up to Him in sacrifice: you will then
find, that when the cross arrives, it will not be so very burthensome, because
you have yourself desired it. This, however does not prevent you from feeling
its weight, as some have imagined; for when we do not feel the cross, we do not
suffer. A sensibility to suffering is one of the principal parts of suffering
itself. Jesus Christ himself chose to endure its utmost rigors. We often bear
the cross in weakness, at other times in strength; all should be alike to us in
the will of God.
1. On mysteries; God gives them in this state in
reality.
2,3. We must let Him bestow or withhold as seems good to Him, with a loving
regard to his will.
It will be objected, that, by this method, we
shall have no mysteries imprinted on our minds; but so far is this from bring
the case, that it is the peculiar means of imparting them to the soul. Jesus
Christ, to whom we are abandoned, and whom we follow as the way, whom we hear
as the truth, and who animates us as the life (John xiv. 6,) in imprinting
himself on the soul, impresses there the characters of his different states. To
bear all the states of Jesus Christ, is a much greater thing, than merely to
meditate about them. St. Paul bore in his body the states of Jesus Christ;
"I bear in my body," says he, "the marks of the Lord Jesus;"
(Gal. vi. 17;) he does not say that he reasoned thereon.
2. In this state of abandonment Jesus Christ
frequently communicates some peculiar views, or revelations of his states:
these we should thankfully accept, and dispose ourselves for what appears to be
his will; receiving equally whatever frame He may bestow, and having no other
choice, but that of ardently reaching after Him, of dwelling ever with Him, and
of sinking into nothingness before Him, and accepting indiscriminately all his
gifts, whether darkness or illumination, fecundity or barrenness, weakness or
strength, sweetness or bitterness, temptations, distractions, pain, weariness,
or uncertainty; and none of all these should, for one moment, retard our
course.
3. God engages some, for whole years, in the
contemplation and enjoyment of a single mystery, the simple view or
contemplation of which recollects the soul; let them be faithful to it; but as
soon as God is pleased to withdraw this view from the soul, let it freely yield
to the deprivation. Some are very uneasy at their inability to meditate on
certain mysteries; but without reason, since an affectionate attachment to God
includes in itself every species of devotion, and whoever is calmly united to
God alone, is, indeed, most excellently and effectually applied to every divine
mystery. Whoever loves God loves all that appertains to him.
1.2. On virtue. All virtues come with God and are solidly and
deeply implanted in the soul in this degree of the prayer of the heart.
3. This takes place without difficulty.
It is thus that we acquire virtue with
facility and certainty; for as God is the principle of all virtues, we inherit
all in the possession of Himself; and in proportion as we approach toward his
possession, in like proportion do we receive the most eminent virtues. For all
virtue is but as a mask, an outside appearance mutable as our garments, if it
be not bestowed from within; then, indeed, it is genuine, essential, and
permanent: "The King's daughter is all glorious within," says David.
(Psalm xlv. 13.) These souls, above all others, practice virtue in the most
eminent degree, though they advert not to any particular virtue. God, to whom
they are united, leads them to the most extensive practice of it; He is
exceedingly jealous over them, and permits them not the least pleasure.
2. What a hungering for sufferings have those
souls, who thus glow with divine love! How would they precipitate themselves
into excessive austerities, where they permitted to pursue their own
inclinations! They think of nought save how they may please their Beloved; and
they begin to neglect and forget themselves; and as their love to God
increases, so do self-detestation and disregard of the creature.
3. O were this simple method once acquired, a way
so suited to all, to the dull and ignorant as well as to the most learned, how
easily would the whole church of God be reformed! Love only is required:
"Love," says St. Augustine, "and then do what you please." For
when we truly love, we cannot have so much as a will to do anything that might
offend the object of our affections.
1. On mortification: that it is never perfect when it is
solely exterior.
2. But it must be accomplished by dwelling upon God within.
3. Which, however, does not dispense with its outward practice to some
degree.
4. Hence, a sound conversion.
I say further, that, in any other way, it is
next to impossible to acquire a perfect mortification of the senses and
passions.
The reason is obvious: the soul gives vigor and
energy to the senses, and the senses raise and stimulate the passions; a dead
body has neither sensations nor passions, because its connection with the soul
is dissolved. All endeavors merely to rectify the exterior impel the soul yet
farther outward into that about which it is so warmly and zealously engaged.
Its powers are diffused and scattered abroad; for, its whole attention being
immediately directed to austerities and other externals, it thus invigorates
those very senses it is aiming to subdue. For the senses have no other spring
whence to derive their vigor than the application of the soul to themselves,
the degree of their live and activity being proportioned to the degree of
attention which the soul bestows upon them. This life of the senses stirs up
and provokes the passions, instead of suppressing or subduing them; austerities
may indeed enfeeble the body, but for the reasons just mentioned, can never
take off the keenness of the senses, nor lessen their activity.
2. The only method of effecting this, is inward
recollection, by which the soul is turned wholly and altogether inward, to
possess a present God. If it direct all its vigor and energy within, this
simple act separates it from the senses, and, employing all its powers
internally, it renders them faint; and the nearer it draws to God, the farther
is it separated from self. Hence it is, that those in whom the attractions of
grace are very powerful, find the outward man altogether weak and feeble, and
even liable to faintings.
3. I do not mean by this, to discourage
mortification; for it should ever accompany prayer, according to the strength
and state of the person, or as obedience demands. But I say, that mortification
should not be our principal exercise; nor should we prescribe to ourselves such
and such austerities, but simply following the internal attractions of grace,
and being occupied with the divine presence, without thinking particularly on
mortification, God will enable us to perform every species of it. He gives
those who abide faithful to their abandonment to Him, no relaxation until He
has subdued everything in them that remains to be mortified.
We have only, then, to continue steadfast in the
utmost attention to God, and all things will be perfectly done. All are not
capable of outward austerities, but all are capable of this. In the
mortification of the eye and ear, which continually supply the busy imagination
with new subjects, there is little danger of falling into excess; but God will
teach us this also, and we have only to follow his Spirit.
4. The soul has a double advantage by proceeding
thus; for, in withdrawing from outward objects, it constantly draws nearer to
God; and besides the secret sustaining and preserving power and virtue which it
receives, it is farther removed from sin the nearer it comes to Him; so that
its conversion becomes firmly established as a matter of habit.
1. On the perfect conversion which is the result of this kind
of prayer; how it is accomplished.
2,3. Two of its aids; the drawing of God, and the tendency of the soul to
its centre.
4. Its practice.
"Turn ye unto Him from whom the children
of Israel have so deeply revolted." (Isa. xxxi. 6.) Conversion is nothing
more than turning from the creature in order to return to God.
It is not perfect (however good and essential to
salvation) when it consists simply in turning from sin to grace. To be
complete, it should take place from without inwardly.
When the soul is once turned toward God, it finds
a wonderful facility in continuing steadfast in conversion; and the longer it
remains thus converted, the nearer it approaches and the more firmly it adheres
to God; and the nearer it draws to Him, it is of necessity the farther removed
from the creature, which is so contrary to Him; so that it is so effectually
established in conversion, that the state becomes habitual, and as it were
natural.
Now, we must not suppose that this is effected by
a violent exertion of its own powers; for it is not capable of, nor should it
attempt any other co-operation with divine grace, than that of endeavoring to
withdraw itself from external objects, and to turn inwards; after which it has
nothing farther to do, than to continue firm in its adherence to God.
2. God has an attractive virtue which
draws the soul more and more powerfully to Himself, and in attracting, He
purifies; just as it is with a gross vapor exhaled by the sun, which, as it
gradually ascends, is rarified and rendered pure; the vapor, indeed,
contributes to its ascent only by its passivity; but the soul co-operates
freely and voluntarily.
This kind of introversion is very easy and
advances the soul naturally, and without effort, because God is our centre. The
centre always exerts a very powerful attractive virtue; and the more spiritual
and exalted it is, the more violent and irresistible are its attractions.
3. But besides the attracting virtue of the
centre, there is, in every creature, a strong tendency to reunion with
its centre, which is vigorous and active in proportion to the spirituality and
perfection of the subject.
As soon as anything is turned towards its centre,
it is precipitated towards it with extreme rapidity, unless it be withheld by
some invincible obstacle. A stone held in the hand is no sooner disengaged than
by its own weight it falls to the earth as to its centre; so also water and
fire, when unobstructed, flow incessantly towards their centre. Now, when the
soul by its efforts to recollect itself, is brought into the influence of the
central tendency, it falls gradually, without any other force than the weight
of love, into its proper centre; and the more passive and tranquil it remains,
the the freer from self-motion, the more rapidly it advances, because the
energy of the central attractive virtue is unobstructed, and has full liberty
for action.[6]
4. All our care should therefore be directed
towards acquiring the greatest degree of inward recollection; nor should we be
discouraged by the difficulties we encounter in this exercise, which will soon
be recompensed on the part of God, by such abundant supplies of grace, as will
render it perfectly easy, provided we are faithful in meekly withdrawing
our hearts from outward distractions and occupations, and returning to our
centre, with affections full of tenderness and serenity. When at any
time the passions are turbulent, a gentle retreat inwards to a present God,
easily deadens them; any other way of opposing rather irritates than appeases
them.
1. Another and more exalted degree of prayer, the prayer of
the simple presence of God, or of Active Contemplation, of which very little is
said, the subject being reserved for another treatise.
2,3,4. How selfish activity merges here in an activity lively, full,
abundant, divine, easy, and as it were natural; a state far different from that
idleness and passivity objected to by the opponents of the inner life. The
subject illustrated by several comparisons.
5. Transition to Infused Prayer, in which the fundamental, vital activity of
the soul is not lost, but is more abundantly and powerfully influenced (as are
the faculties) by that of God.
6. The facility of these methods of coming to God, and an exhortion to self
abandonment.
The soul that is faithful in the exercise of
love and adherence to God, as above described, is astonished to feel Him
gradually taking possession of its whole being; it now enjoys a continual sense
of that presence which is become as it were natural to it; and this, as well as
prayer, becomes a matter of habit. It feels an unusual serenity gradually
diffusing itself over all its faculties. Silence now constitutes its whole
prayer; whilst God communicates an infused love, which is the beginning of
ineffable blessedness.
O that I were permitted to pursue this subject,
and describe some degrees of the endless progression of subsequent states? But
I now write only for beginners; and shall therefore proceed no farther, but
wait our Lord's time for developing what may be applicable to every state.[7]
2. We must, however, urge it as a matter of the
highest import, to cease self-action and self-exertion, that God himself may
act alone: He says by the mouth of his prophet David, "Be still and know
that I am God." (Psalm xlvi. 10.) But the centre is so infatuated with love
and attachment to its own working, that it does not believe that it works at
all unless it can feel, know, and distinguish all its operations. It is
ignorant that its inability minutely to observe the manner of its motion, is
occasioned by the swiftness of its progress; and that the operations of God,
abounding more and more, absorb those of the creature; just as we see that the
stars shine brightly before the sun rises, but gradually vanish as his light
advances, and become invisible, not from want of light in themselves, but from
the excess of it in him.
The case is similar here; for there is a strong
and universal light which absorbs all the little distinct lights of the soul;
they grow faint and disappear under its powerful influence, and self-activity
is now no longer distinguishable.
3. Those greatly err, who accuse this prayer of
inactivity, a charge that can only arise from inexperience. O! if they would
but make some efforts towards the attainment of it, they would soon become full
of light and knowledge in relation to it.
This appearance of inaction is, indeed, not the
consequence of sterility, but of abundance, as will be clearly perceived by the
experienced soul, who will recognize that the silence is full and unctuous by
reason of plenty.
4. There are two kinds of people that keep
silence; the one because they have nothing to say, the other because they have
too much: the latter is the case in this state; silence is occasioned by excess
and not by defect.
To be drowned, and to die of thirst, are deaths
widely different; yet water may be said to be the cause of both; abundance
destroys in one case, and want in the other. So here the fullness of grace
stills the activity of self; and therefore it is of the utmost importance to
remain as silent as possible.
The infant hanging at its mother's breast, is a
lively illustration of our subject; it begins to draw the milk, by moving its
little lips; but when its nourishment flows abundantly, it is content to
swallow without effort; by any other course it would only hurt itself, spill
the milk, and be obliged to quit the breast.
We must act in like manner in the beginning of
prayer, by moving the lips of the affections; but as soon as the milk of divine
grace flows freely, we have nothing to do, but, in stillness, sweetly to imbibe
it, and when it ceases to flow, again stir up the affections as the infant
moves its lips. Whoever acts otherwise, cannot make the best use of this grace,
which is bestowed to allure the soul into the repose of Love, and not to
force it into the multiplicity of self.
5. But what becomes of the babe that thus gently
and without exertion, drinks in the milk? Who would believe that it could thus
receive nourishment? Yet the more peacefully it feeds, the better it thrives.
What, I say, becomes of this infant? It drops asleep on its mother's bosom. So
the soul that is tranquil and peaceful in prayer, sinks frequently into a
mystic slumber, wherein all its powers are at rest, till it is wholly fitted
for that state, of which it enjoys these transient anticipations. You see that
in this process the soul is led naturally, without trouble, effort, art or
study.
The interior is not a strong hold, to be taken by
storm and violence; but a kingdom of peace, which is to be gained only by love.
If any will thus pursue the little path I have pointed out, it will lead them
to infused prayer. God demands nothing extraordinary nor too difficult;
on the contrary, He is greatly pleased by a simple and child-like conduct.
6. The most sublime attainments in religion, are
those which are easiest reached; the most necessary ordinances are the least
difficult. It is thus also in natural things; if you would reach the sea,
embark on a river, and you will be conveyed to it insensibly and without
exertion. Would you go to God, follow this sweet and simple path, and you will
arrive at the desired object, with an ease and expedition that will amaze
you.
O that you would but once make the trial! how
soon would you find that all I have said is too little, and that your own
experience will carry you infinitely beyond it! What is it you fear? why do you
not instantly cast yourself into the arms of Love, who only extended them on
the cross that He might embrace you? What risk do you run in depending solely
on God, and abandoning yourself wholly to Him? Ah! he will not deceive you,
unless by bestowing an abundance beyond your highest hopes; but those who
expect all from themselves, may hear this rebuke of God by his prophet Isaiah,
"Ye have wearied yourselves in the multiplicity of your ways, and have not
said, let us rest in peace." (Isa. lvii. 10, vulgate.)
1. On the rest before God present in the soul in a wonderful
way.
2. Fruits of this peaceful presence.
3. Practical advice.
The soul advanced thus far, has no need of
any other preparation than its quietude: for now the presence of God, during
the day, which is the great effect, or rather continuation of prayer, begins to
be infused, and almost without intermission. The soul certainly enjoys
transcendent blessedness, and finds that God is more intimately present to it
than it is to itself.
The only way to find him is by introversion. No
sooner do the bodily eyes close, than the soul is wrapt in prayer: it is amazed
at so great a blessing, and enjoys an internal converse, which external matters
cannot interrupt.
2. The same may be said of this species of
prayer, that is said of wisdom: "all good things come together with her."
(Wisdom vii. 11.) For virtues flow from this soul into exercise with so
much sweetness and facility, that they appear natural to it, and the living
spring within breaks forth abundantly into a facility for all goodness, and an
insensibility to all evil.
3. Let it then remain faithful in this state; and
beware of choosing or seeking any other disposition whatever than this simple
rest, as a preparative either to confession or communion, to action or prayer;
for its sole business is to suffer itself to be filled with this divine
effusion. I would not be understood to speak of the preparations necessary for
ordinances, but of the most interior disposition in which they can be
received.
1,2. On interior silence; its reason; God recommends it.
3. Exterior silence, retirement and recollection contribute to it.
"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 indispensable, is, because the Word is essential and eternal, and
necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to
His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense
formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not
communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear for that
purpose. Christ, the eternal Word, who must be communicated to the soul to give
it new life, requires the most intense attention to his voice, when He would
speak within us.
2. Hence it is so frequently enjoined upon us in
sacred writ, to listen and be attentive to the voice of God; I quote a few of
the numerous exhortations to this effect: "Hearken unto me, my people, and
give ear unto me, O my nation!" (Isa. li. 4,) and again "Hear me, all ye
whom I carry in my bosom, and bear within my bowels:" (Isa. xlvi. 3,) and
further by the Psalmist, "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.)
We must forget ourselves, and all
self-interest, and listen and be attentive to God; these two simple actions, or
rather passive dispositions, produce the love of that beauty, which He himself
communicates.
3. Outward silence is very requisite for the
cultivation and improvement of inward; and, indeed, it is impossible we should
become truly interior, without loving silence and retirement. God saith by the
mouth of his prophet, "I will lead her into solitude, and there will I speak
to her heart (Hos. ii. 14, vulg.); and unquestionably the being internally
engaged with God is wholly incompatible with being externally busied about a
thousand trifles.
When, through weakness, we become as it were
uncentered, we must immediately turn again inward; and this process we must
repeat as often as our distractions recur. It is a small matter to be devout
and recollected for an hour or half hour, if the unction and spirit of prayer
do not continue with us during the whole day.
1,2. On the examination of conscience; how it is performed in
this state, and that by God himself.
3,4. On the confession, contrition, and forgetfulness or remembrance of
faults in this state.
5. This is not applicable to the previous degree, Communion.
Self-examination should always precede
confession, but the manner of it should be conformable to the state of the
soul. The business of those that are advanced to the degree of which we now
treat, is to lay their whole souls open before God, who will not fail to
enlighten them, and enable them to see the peculiar nature of their faults.
This examination, however, should be peaceful and tranquil; and we should
depend on God for the discovery and knowledge of our sins, rather than on the
diligence of our own scrutiny.
When we examine with effort, we are easily
deceived, and betrayed by self-love into error: "We call the evil good, and
the good evil," (Isa. v. 20); but when we lie in full exposure before the
Sun of Righteousness, his divine beams render the smallest atoms visible. We
must, then, forsake self, and abandon our souls to God, as well in examination
as confession.
2. When souls have attained to this species of
prayer, no fault escapes the reprehension of God; no sooner are they committed
than they are rebuked by an inward burning and tender confusion. Such is the
scrutiny of Him who suffers no evil to be concealed; and the only way is to
turn simply to God, and bear the pain and correction He inflicts.
As He becomes the incessant examiner of the soul,
it can now no longer examine itself; and if it be faithful in its abandonment,
experience will prove that it is much more effectually explored by his divine
light, than by all its own carefulness.
3. Those who tread these paths should be informed
of a matter respecting their confusion, in which they are apt to err. When they
begin to give an account of their sins, instead of the regret and contrition
they had been accustomed to feel, they find that love and tranquility sweetly
pervade and take possession of their souls: now those who are not properly
instructed are desirous of resisting this sensation, and forming an act of
contrition, because they have heard, and with truth, that this is requisite.
But they are not aware that they thereby lose the genuine contrition, which is
this infused love, and which infinitely surpasses any effect produced by
self-exertion, comprehending the other acts in itself as in one principal act,
in much higher perfection than if they were distinctly perceived.
Let them not be troubled to do otherwise, when
God acts so excellently in and for them. To hate sin in this manner, is to hate
it as God does. The purest love is that which is of his immediate operation in
the soul; why should we then be so eager for action? Let us remain in the state
He assigns us, agreeably to the instructions of the wise man: "Put your
confidence in God; remain in quiet where he hath placed you." (Eccles. xi.
22.)
4. The soul will also be amazed at finding a
difficulty in calling its faults to remembrance. This, however, should cause no
uneasiness, first, because this forgetfulness of our faults is some proof of
our purification from them, and, in this degree of advancement, it is best to
forget whatever concerns ourselves that we may remember only God. Secondly,
because, when confession is our duty, God will not fail to make known to us our
greatest faults; for then He himself examines; and the soul will feel the end
of examination more perfectly accomplished, than it could possibly have been by
all our own endeavors.
5. These instructions, however, would be
altogether unsuitable to the preceding degrees, while the soul continues in its
active state, wherein it is right and necessary that it should an all things
exert itself, in proportion to its advancement. As to those who have arrived at
this more advanced state, I exhort them to follow these instructions, and not
to vary their simple occupations even on approaching the communion; let them
remain in silence, and suffer God to act freely. He cannot be better received
than by Himself.
1. On reading and vocal prayers; they should be limited.
2. Not to be used against our interior drawing, unless they are of
obligation.
The method of reading in this
state, is to cease when you feel yourself recollected, and remain in stillness,
reading but little, and always desisting when thus internally attracted.
2. The soul that is called to a state of inward
silence, should not encumber itself with vocal prayers; whenever it makes use
of them, and finds a difficulty therein, and an attraction to silence, let it
not use constraint by persevering, but yield to the internal drawing, unless
the repeating such prayers be a matter of obligation. In any other case, it is
much better not to set forms, but wholly given up to the leadings of the Holy
Spirit; and in this way every species of devotion is fulfilled in a most
eminent degree.
1. On petitions; those which are self-originated cease; and
their place is supplied by those of the Spirit of God.
2. Abandonment and faith necessary here.
The soul should not be surprised at feeling
itself unable to offer up to God such petitions as had formerly been made with
facility; for now the Spirit maketh intercession for it according to the will
of God; that Spirit which 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." (Rom. viii. 26.) We must second
the designs of God, which tend to divest us of all our own operations, that his
may be substituted in their place.
2. Let this, then, be done in you; and suffer not
yourself to be attached to anything, however good it may appear; it is no
longer such to you, if it in any measure turns you aside from what God desires
of you. For the divine will is preferable to every other good. Shake off, then,
all self-interest, and live by faith and abandonment; here it is that genuine
faith begins truly to operate.
1. On faults committed in the state. We must turn from them to
God without trouble or discouragement.
2. The contrary course weakens us and is opposed to the practice of humble
souls.
Should we either wander among externals, or
commit a fault, we must instantly turn inwards; for having departed thereby
from God, we should as soon as possible turn toward Him, and suffer the penalty
which He inflicts.
It is of great importance to guard against
vexation on account of our faults; it springs from a secret root of pride, and
a love of our own excellence; we are hurt at feeling what we are.
2. If we become discouraged, we are the more
enfeebled; and from our reflections on our imperfections, a chagrin arises,
which is often worse than the imperfection themselves.
The truly humble soul is not surprised at its
defects or failings; and the more miserable it beholds itself, the more it
abandons itself to God, and presses for a more intimate alliance with Him,
seeing the need it has of his aid. We should the rather be induced to act thus,
as God himself has said, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way
which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye." (Psalm xxxii. 8.)
1. On distractions and temptations; the remedy for them is to
turn to God.
2. This is the practice of the saints, and there is danger in any other
way.
A direct struggle with distractions and
temptations rather serves to augment them, and withdraws the soul from that
adherence to God, which should ever be its sole occupation. We should simply
turn away from the evil, and draw yet nearer to God. A little child, on
perceiving a monster, does not wait to fight with it, and will scarcely turn
its eyes toward it, but quickly shrinks into the bosom of its mother, in
assurance of its safety. "God is in the midst of her," says the
Psalmist, "she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right
early." (Psalm xlvi. 5.)
2. If we do otherwise, and in our weakness
attempt to attack our enemies, we shall frequently find ourselves wounded, if
not totally defeated: but, by remaining in the simple presence of God, we shall
find instant supplies of strength for our support. This was the resource of
David: "I have set," says he, "the Lord always before me; because he
is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my
glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope." (Psalm xvi. 8,9.) And
it is said in Exodus, "The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your
peace." (Exod. xiv. 14.)
1,2. Prayer divinely explained as a devotional sacrifice,
under the similitude of incense.
3. Our annihilation in this sacrifice.
4,5. Solidity and fruit of this prayer according to the Gospel.
Both devotion and sacrifice are comprehended
in prayer, which, according to St. John is an incense, the smoke whereof
ascendeth unto God; therefore it is said in the Apocalypse, that "unto the
angel was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all
saints." (Rev. viii. 3.)
Prayer is the effusion 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.) The prayer of the wise men at the feet of
Christ in the stable of Bethlehem, was signified by the incense they
offered.
2. Prayer is a certain warmth of love, melting,
dissolving, and sublimating the soul, and causing it to ascend unto God, and,
as the soul is melted, odors rise from it; and these sweet exhalations proceed
from the consuming fire of love within.
This is illustrated in the Canticles, (i.
12,) where the spouse says, "While the king sitteth at his table, my
spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof." The table is the centre of the
soul; and when God is there, and we know how to dwell near, and abide with Him,
the sacred presence gradually dissolves the hardness of the soul, and, as it
melts, fragrance issues forth; hence it is, that the Beloved says of his
spouse, in seeing her soul melt when he spoke, "Who is this that cometh out
of the wilderness, like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh and frankincense?"
(Cant. v. 6; iii. 6.)
3. Thus does the soul ascend to God, by giving up
self to the destroying and annihilating power of divine love. This is a state
of sacrifice essential to the Christian religion, in which the soul suffers
itself to be destroyed and annihilated, that it may pay homage to the
sovereignty of God; as it is written, "The power of the Lord is great, and
he is honored only by the humble." (Eccles. iii. 20.) By the destruction of
self, we acknowledge the supreme existence of God. We must cease to exist in
self, in order that the Spirit of the Eternal Word may exist in us: it is by
the giving up of our own life, that we give place to his coming; and in dying
to ourselves, He himself lives in us.
We must surrender our whole being to Christ
Jesus, and cease to live any longer in ourselves, that He may become our life;
"that being dead, our life may be hid with Christ in God." (Col. iii.
3.) "Pass ye into me," sayeth God, "all ye who earnestly seek after
me." (Eccles. xxi. 16.) But how is it we pass into God? In no way but by
leaving and forsaking ourselves, that we may be lost in Him; and this can be
effected only by annihilation, which, being the true prayer of adoration,
renders unto God alone, all blessing, honor, glory, and power, forever and
ever." (Rev. v. 13.)
4. This prayer of truth; it is "worshipping
God in spirit and in truth:" (John iv. 23.) "In spirit," because we
enter into the purity of that Spirit which prayeth within us, and are drawn
forth from our own carnal and human method; "in truth," because we are
thereby placed in the truth of the all of God, and the nothing of the
creature.
There are but these two truths, the All and the
Nothing; everything else is falsehood. We can pay due honor to the All of God,
only in our own Annihilation; which is no sooner accomplished, that He, who
never suffers a void in nature, instantly fills us with Himself.
Ah! did we but know the virtues and the blessings
which the soul derives from this prayer, we should not be willing to do
anything else; It is the pearl of great price; the hidden treasure,
(Matt. xiii. 44,45,) which, whoever findeth, selleth freely all that he
hath to purchase it; it is the well of living water, which springeth up unto
everlasting life. It is the adoration of God "in spirit and in
truth:" (John iv. 14-23:) and it is the full performance of the purest
evangelical precepts.
5. Jesus Christ assures us, that the "kingdom
of God is within us:" (Luke xvii. 21:) and this is true in two senses:
first, when God becomes so fully Saviour and Lord in us, that nothing resists
his domination, then our interior is his kingdom; and again, when we possess
God, who is the Supreme Good, we possess his kingdom also, wherein there is
fulness of joy, and where we attain the end of our creation. Thus it is said,
"to serve God is to reign." The end of our creation, indeed, is to enjoy
God, even in this life; but, alas! who thinks of it?
The objections of slothfulness and inactivity made to this
form of prayer fully met, and the truth shown that the soul acts nobly,
forcibly, calmly, quickly, freely, simply, sweetly, temperately, and certainly;
but in dependence upon God, and moved by his Holy Spirit: the restless and
selfish activity of nature being destroyed, and the life of God communicated by
union with Him.
Some persons, when they hear of the prayer of
silence, falsely imagine that the soul remains stupid, dead, and
inactive; but it unquestionably acts more nobly and more extensively than
it had ever done before; for God himself is its mover, and it now acts by the
agency of his Spirit. St. Paul would have us led by the Spirit of God.
(Rom. viii. 14.)
It is not meant that we should cease from action;
but that we should act through the internal agency of his grace. This is finely
represented by the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the wheels, which had a living
Spirit; and whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went; they ascended and
descended as they were moved; for the Spirit of life was in them, and they
returned not when they went. (Ezek. i. 18.) Thus the soul should be equally
subservient to the will of that vivifying Spirit which is in it, and
scrupulously faithful to follow only as that moves. These motions never tend to
return in reflections on the creatures or self; but go forward in an incessant
approach toward the end.
2. This activity of the soul is attended
with the utmost tranquility. When it acts of itself, the act is forced and
constrained, and, therefore, it is more easily distinguished; but when the
action is under the influence of the Spirit of grace, it is so free, so easy,
and so natural, that it almost seems as if we did not act at all. "He
brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because He delighted
in me." (Ps. xviii. 19.)
When the soul is in its central tendency, or in
other words, is returned through recollection into itself, from that moment,
the central attraction becomes a most potent activity, infinitely surpassing in
energy every other species. Nothing, indeed, can equal the swiftness of this
tendency to the centre; and though an activity, yet it is so noble, so
peaceful, so full of tranquility, so natural, and so spontaneous, that it
appears to the soul as if it were none at all.
When a wheel rolls slowly we can easily perceive
its parts; but when its motion is rapid, we can distinguish nothing. So the
soul which rests in God, has an activity exceedingly noble and elevated, yet
altogether peaceful; and the more peaceful it is, the swifter is its course;
because it is given up to that Spirit by whom it is moved and directed.
3. This attracting Spirit is no other than God
himself, who, in drawing us, causes us to run to Him. How well did the spouse
understand this, when she said, "Draw me, we will run after thee."
(Cant. i. 4.) Draw me unto Thee, O my divine centre, by the secret springs
of my existence, and all my powers and senses shall follow Thee! This simple
attraction is both an ointment to heal and a perfume to allure: we
follow, saith she, the fragrance of thy perfumes; and though so
powerful an attraction, it is followed by the soul freely, and
without constraint; for it is equally delighted as forcible; and whilst it
attracts by its power, it carries us away by its sweetness. "Draw me,"
says the spouse, "and we will run after thee." She speaks of and to
herself: "draw me," --behold the unity of the centre which is drawn!
"we will run,"--behold the correspondence and course of all the senses
and powers in following the attraction of the centre!
4. Instead, then, of encouraging sloth, we
promote the highest activity, by inculcating a total dependence of the
Spirit of God, as our moving principle; for it is in Him, and by Him
alone, that we live and move, and have our being. (Acts xvii. 28.) This
meek dependence on the Spirit of God is indispensably necessary, and causes the
soul shortly to attain the unity and simplicity in which it was created.
We must, therefore, forsake our multifarious
activity, to enter into the simplicity and unity of God, in whose image we were
originally formed. (Gen. i. 27.) "The Spirit is one and manifold,
(Wisdom vii. 22,) and his unity does not preclude his multiplicity. We enter
into his unity when we are united to his Spirit, and by that means have one and
the same spirit with Him; and we are multiplied in respect to the outward
execution of his will, without any departure from our state of union.
In this way, when we are wholly moved by the
divine Spirit, which is infinitely active, our activity must, indeed, be more
energetic than that which is merely our own. We must yield ourselves to the
guidance of "wisdom, which is more moving than any motion," (Wisdom vii.
24,) and by abiding in dependence upon its action, our activity will be truly
efficient.
5. "All things were made by the Word, and
without Him was not anything made, that was made." (John i. 3.) God
originally formed us in his own image and likeness; He breathed into us
the Spirit of his Word, that breath of Life (Gen. ii. 7) which He gave us at
our creation, in the participation whereof the image of God consisted. Now,
this Life is one, simple, pure, intimate, and always fruitful.
The devil having broken and deformed the divine
image in the soul by sin, the agency of the same Word whose Spirit was
inbreathed at our creation, is absolutely necessary for its renovation. It was
necessary that it should be He, because He is the express image of his Father;
and no image can be repaired by its own efforts, but must remain passive for
that purpose under the hand of the workman.
Our activity should, therefore, consist in
placing ourselves in a state of susceptibility to divine impressions, and
pliability to all the operations of the Eternal Word. Whilst tablet is
unsteady, the painter is unable to produce a correct picture upon it, and every
movement of self is productive of erroneous lineaments; it interrupts the work
and defeats the design of this adorable Painter. We must then remain in peace,
and move only when He moves us. Jesus Christ hath life in himself, (John
v. 26,) and He must give life to every living thing.
The spirit of the church of God is the spirit of
the divine movement. Is she idle, barren, or unfruitful? No; she acts, but her
activity is in dependence upon the Spirit of God, who moves and governs her.
Just so should it be in her members; that they may be spiritual children of the
Church, they must be moved by the Spirit.
6. As all action is estimable only in proportion
to the grandeur and dignity of the efficient principle, this action is
incontestably more noble than any other. Actions produced by a divine
principle, are divine; but creaturely actions, however good they appear,
are only human, or at least virtuous, even when accompanied by grace.
Jesus Christ says that He has life in Himself:
all other beings have only a borrowed life; but the Word has life in Himself;
and being communicative of his nature, He desires to bestow it upon man. We
should therefore make room for the influx of this life, which can only be done
by the ejection and loss of the Adamical life, and the suppression of the
activity of self. This is agreeable to the assertion of St. Paul, "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;) but this state can be accomplished
only by dying to ourselves, and to all our own activity, that the activity of
God may be substituted in its place.
Instead, therefore, of prohibiting activity, we
enjoin it; but in absolute dependence on the Spirit of God, that his activity
may take the place of our own. This can only be effected by the consent of the
creature; and this concurrence can only be yielded by moderating our own
action, that the activity of God may, little by little, be wholly substituted
for it.
7. Jesus Christ has exemplified this in the
Gospel. Martha did what was right; but because she did it in her own spirit,
Christ rebuked her. The spirit of man is restless and turbulent; for which
reason he does little, though he seems to do a great deal. "Martha,"
says Christ, "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.) And what was it Mary had chosen? Repose,
tranquility, and peace. She had apparently ceased to act, that the Spirit of
Christ might act in her; she had ceased to live, that Christ might be her
life.
This shows how necessary it is to renounce
ourselves, and all our activity, to follow Christ; for we cannot follow Him, if
we are not animated by his Spirit. Now that his Spirit may gain admittance, it
is necessary that our own should be expelled: "He that is joined unto the
Lord," says St. Paul, "is one spirit." (1 Cor. vi. 17.) And David
said it was good for him to draw near unto the Lord, and to put his trust in
him. (Psalm lxxiii. 28.) What is this drawing near? it is the beginning of
union.
8. Divine union has its commencement, its
progress, its achievement, and its consummation. It is at first an inclination
towards God. When the soul is introverted in the manner before described, it
gets within the influence of the central attraction, and acquires an eager
desire after union; this is the beginning. It then adheres to Him when it has
got nearer and nearer, and finally becomes one, that is, one spirit with Him;
and then it is that spirit which had wandered from God, returns again to its
end.
9. Into this way, then, which is the divine
motion, and the spirit of Jesus Christ, we must necessarily enter. St. Paul
says, "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his"
(Rom. viii. 9): therefore, to be Christ's, we must be filled with his
Spirit, and emptied of our own. The Apostle, in the same passage, proved the
necessity of this divine influence. "As many," says he, "as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Rom. viii. 14.)
The spirit of divine filiation is, then, the
spirit of divine motion: he therefore adds, "Ye have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby
ye cry Abba, Father." This spirit is no other than the spirit of Christ,
through which we participate in his filiation; "The Spirit beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God."
When the soul yields itself to the
influence of this blessed Spirit, it perceives the testimony of its divine
filiation; and it feels also, with superadded joy, that it has received, not
the spirit of bondage, but of liberty, even the liberty of the children of God;
it then finds that it acts freely and sweetly, though with vigor and
infallibility.
10. The spirit of divine action is so necessary
in all things, that St. Paul, in the same passage, founds that necessity on our
ignorance with respect to what we pray for: "The Spirit," says he,
"also 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 plain enough; if we know not what we stand in
need of, nor how to pray as we ought for those things which are necessary, and
if the Spirit which is in us, and to which we resign ourselves, must ask for
us, should we not permit Him to give vent to his unutterable groanings in our
behalf?
This Spirit is the Spirit of the Word, which is
always heard, as He says himself: "I knew that thou hearest me always;"
(John xi. 42;) and if we freely admit this Spirit to pray and intercede for
us, we also shall be always heard. And why? Let us learn from the same great
Apostle, that skillful Mystic, and Master of the interior life, where he adds,
"He that searcheth the heart, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit;
because he maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God"
(Rom. viii. 27): that is to say, the Spirit demands only what is
conformable to the will of God. The will of God is that we should be saved, and
that we should become perfect: He, therefore, intercedes for all that is
necessary for our perfection.
11. Why, then, should we be burthened with
superfluous cares, and weary ourselves in the multiplicity of our ways,
without ever saying, let us rest in peace. God himself invites us to cast
all our care upon Him; and He complains in Isaiah, with ineffable goodness,
that the soul had expended its powers and its treasures on a thousand external
objects, when there was so little to do to attain all it need desire.
"Wherefore," saith God, "do you spend money for that which is not
bread; and your labor 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.)
Oh! did we but know the blessedness of thus
hearkening to God, and how greatly the soul is strengthened by such a course!
"Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord" (Zech. ii. 13); all must cease
as soon as He appears. But to engage us still farther to an abandonment without
reservation, God assures us, by the same Prophet, that we need fear nothing,
because he takes a very special care of us; "Can a woman forget her sucking
child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, she may
forget; yet will not I forget thee." (Isa. xlix. 15.) O words full of
consolation! Who after that will fear to abandon himself wholly to the guidance
of God?
1-6. Distinction between inward and outward acts; in this
state the acts of the soul are inward, but habitual, continued, direct,
lasting, deep, simple, unconscious, and resembling a gentle and perpetual
sinking into the ocean of Divinity.
7,8. A comparison.
9. How to act when we perceive no attraction.
Acts are distinguished into external and
internal. External acts are those which appear outwardly, and bear
relation to some sensible object, and have no moral character, except such as
they derive from the principle from which they proceed. I intend here to speak
only of internal acts, those energies of the soul, by which it turns
internally towards some objects, and away from others.
2. If during my application to God, I should form
a will to change the nature of my act, I should thereby withdraw myself from
God and turn to created objects, and that in a greater or less degree according
to the strength of the act: and if, when I am turned towards the creature, I
would return to God, I must necessarily form an act for that purpose; and the
more perfect this act is, the more complete is the conversion.
Till conversion is perfected, many reiterated
acts are necessary; for it is with some progressive, though with others it is
instantaneous. My act, however, should consist in a continual turning to God,
an exertion of every faculty and power of the soul purely for Him, agreeably to
the instructions of the son of Sirach: "Re-unite all the motions of thy
heart in the holiness of God" (Eccles. xxx. 24,); and to the example of
David, "I will keep my whole strength for thee," (Psalm lix. 9, vulg.)
For we have strayed from our heart by sin, and it is our heart only that God
requires: "My son give me thine heart, and let thine eye observe my
ways." (Prov. xxiii. 26.) To give the heart to God, is to have the whole
energy of the soul ever centering in Him, that we may be rendered conformable
to his will. We must, therefore, continue invariably turned to God, from our
first application to Him.
But the spirit being unstable, and the soul
accustomed to turn to external objects, it is easily distracted. This evil,
however, will be counteracted if, on perceiving the wandering, we, by a pure
act of return to God, instantly replace ourselves in Him; and this act subsists
as long as the conversion lasts, by the powerful influence of a simple and
unfeigned return to God.
3. As many reiterated acts form a habit, the soul
contracts the habit of conversion; and that act which was before interrupted
and distinct becomes habitual.
The soul should not, then, be perplexed about
forming an act which already subsists, and which, indeed, it cannot attempt to
form without very great difficulty; it even finds that it is withdrawn from its
proper state, under pretence of seeking that which is in reality acquired,
seeing the habit is already formed, and it is confirmed in habitual conversion
and habitual love. It is seeking one act by the help of many, instead of
continuing attached to God by one simple act alone.
We may remark, that at times we form with
facility many distant yet simple acts; which shows that we have
wandered, and that we re-enter our heart after having strayed from it; yet when
we have re-entered, we should remain there in peace. We err, therefore, in
supposing that we must not form acts; we form them continually: but let
them be conformable to the degree of our spiritual advancement.
4. The great difficulty with most spiritual
people arises from their not clearly comprehending this matter. Now, some acts
are transient and distinct, others are continued, and again, some
are direct, and others reflective. All cannot form the first,
neither are all in a state suited to form the others. The first are adapted to
those who have strayed, and who require a distinct exertion, proportioned to
the extent of their deviation; if the latter be inconsiderable, an act of the
most simple kind is sufficient.
5. By the continued act, I mean that
whereby the soul is altogether turned toward God by a direct act, always
subsisting, and which it does not renew unless it has been interrupted. The
soul being thus turned, is in charity, and abides therein; "and he that
dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God." (1 John iv. 16.) The soul then, is it
were, exists and rests in the habitual act. It is, however, free from sloth;
for there is still an uninterrupted act subsisting, which is a sweet
sinking into the Deity, whose attraction becomes more and more powerful.
Following this potent attraction, and dwelling in love and charity, the soul
sinks continually deeper into that Love, maintaining an activity infinitely
more powerful, vigorous, and effectual than that which served to accomplish its
first return.
6. Now the soul that is thus profoundly and
vigorously active, being wholly given up to God, does not perceive this
act, because it is direct and not reflective. This is the reason why some, not
expressing themselves properly, say, that they make no acts; but it is a
mistake, for they were never more truly or nobly active; they should say, that
they did not distinguish their acts, and not that they did not act. I
grant that they do not act in themselves; but they are drawn, and they follow
the attraction. Love is the weight which sinks them. As one falling into the
sea, would sink from one depth to another to all eternity, if the sea were
infinite, so they, without perceiving their descent, drop with inconceivable
swiftness into the lowest deeps.
It is, then, improper to say that we do not make
acts; all form acts, but the manner of their formation is not alike in all. The
mistake arises from this, that all who know they should act, are desirous of
acting distinguishably and perceptibly; but this cannot be: sensible
acts are for beginners; there are others for those in a more advanced state. To
stop in the former, which are weak and of little profit, is to declare
ourselves of the latter; as to attempt the latter without having passed through
the former, is a no less considerable error.
7. "To everything there is a season"
(Eccles. iii. 1): every state has its commencement, its progress, and its
consummation, and it is an unhappy error to stop in the beginning. There is no
art but what has its progress; at first, we labor with toil, but at last we
reap the fruit of our industry.
When the vessel is in port, the mariners are
obliged to exert all their strength, that they may clear her thence, and put to
sea; but they subsequently turn her with facility as they please. In like
manner, while the soul remains in sin and the creature, many endeavors are
requisite to effect its freedom; the cables which hold it must be loosed, and
then by strong and vigorous efforts it gathers itself inward, pushes off
gradually from the old port of Self, and, leaving that behind, proceeds to the
interior, the haven so much desired.
8. When the vessel is thus started, as she
advances on the sea, she leaves the shore behind; and the farther she departs
from the land, the less labor is requisite in moving her forward. At length she
begins to get gently under sail, and now proceeds so swiftly in her course,
that the oars, which are become useless, are laid aside. How is the pilot now
employed? he is content with spreading the sails and holding the rudder.
To spread the sails, is to lay ourselves
before God in the prayer of simple exposition, to be moved by his Spirit; to
hold the rudder, is to restrain our heart from wandering from the true
course, recalling it gently, and guiding it steadily by the dictates of the
Spirit of God, which gradually gains possession of the heart, just as the
breeze by degrees fills the sails and impels the vessel. While the winds are
fair, the pilot and the mariners rest from their labors. What progress do they
not now secure, without the least fatigue! They make more way now in one hour,
while they rest and leave the vessel to the wind, than they did in a length of
time by all their former efforts; and even were they now to attempt using the
oars, besides greatly fatiguing themselves, they would only retard the vessel
by their useless exertions.
This is our proper course interiorly, and a short
time will advance us by the divine impulsion farther than many reiterated acts
of self-exertion. Whoever will try this path, will find it the easiest in the
world.
9. If the wind be contrary and blow a storm, we
must cast anchor in the sea, to hold the vessel. This anchor is simply trust in
God and hope in his goodness, waiting patiently the calming of the tempest and
the return of a favorable gale; thus did David: "I waited patiently for the
Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry." (Ps. xl. 1.) We must
therefore be resigned to the Spirit of God, giving ourselves up wholly to his
divine guidance.
1,2. The barrenness of preaching, vice, error, heresies, and
all sorts of evils arise from the fact that the people are not instructed in
the prayer of the heart;
3-5. Although the way is surer, easier, and fitter for the simple
minded.
6-8. Exhortation to pastors to set their flocks upon the practice of it,
without employing them in studied forms and methodical devotion.
If all who labored for the conversion of
others sought to reach them by the heart, introducing them immediately into
prayer and the interior life, numberless and permanent conversions would ensue.
On the contrary, few and transient fruits must attend that labor which is
confined to outward matters, such as burdening the disciple with a thousand
precepts for external exercises, instead of leading the soul to Christ by the
occupation of the heart in Him.
If ministers were solicitous thus to instruct
their parishioners, shepherds, while they watched their flocks, would have the
spirit of the primitive Christians, and the husbandman at the plough maintain a
blessed intercourse with his God; the manufacturer, while he exhausted his
outward man with labor, would be renewed with inward strength; every species of
vice would shortly disappear, and every parishioner become spiritually
minded.
2. O when once the heart is gained, how easily is
all the rest corrected! this is why God, above all things, requires the heart.
By this means alone, we may extirpate the dreadful vices which so prevail among
the lower orders, such as drunkenness, blasphemy, lewdness, enmity and theft.
Jesus Christ would reign everywhere in peace, and the face of the church would
be renewed throughout.
The decay of internal piety is unquestionably the
source of the various errors that have appeared in the world; all would
speedily be overthrown, were inward devotion re-established. Errors take
possession of no soul, except such as are deficient in faith and prayer; and
if, instead of engaging our wandering brethren in constant disputations, we
would but teach them simply to believe, and diligently to pray,
we should lead them sweetly to God.
O how inexpressibly great is the loss sustained
by mankind from the neglect of the interior life! And what an account will
those have to render who are entrusted with the care of souls, and have not
discovered and communicated to their flock this hidden treasure!
3. Some excuse themselves by saying, that there
is danger in this way, or that simple persons are incapable of comprehending
the things of the Spirit. But the oracles of truth affirm the contrary: "The
Lord loveth those who walk simply." (Prov. xii. 22, vulg.) But what danger
can there be in walking in the only true way, which is Jesus Christ, giving
ourselves up to Him, fixing our eye continually on Him, placing all our
confidence in his grace, and tending with all the strength of our soul to his
purest love?
4. The simple ones, so far from being incapable
of this perfection, are, by their docility, innocence, and humility, peculiarly
qualified for its attainment; and, as they are not accustomed to reasoning,
they are less tenacious of their own opinions. Even from their want of
learning, they submit more freely to the teachings of the divine Spirit;
whereas others, who are cramped and blinded by self-sufficiency, offer much
greater resistance to the operations of grace.
We are told in Scripture that "unto the
simple, God giveth the understanding of his law" (Psalm cxviii. 130,
vulg.): and we are also assured, that God loves to communicate with them:
"The Lord careth for the simple; I was reduced to extremity and He saved
me." (Psalm cxvi. 6, cxv. 6, vulg.) Let spiritual fathers be careful how
they prevent their little ones from coming to Christ; He himself said to his
apostles, "Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the
kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xix. 14.) It was the endeavor of the apostles to
prevent children from going to our Lord, which occasioned this command.
5. Man frequently applies a remedy to the outward
body, whilst the disease lies at the heart. The cause of our being so
unsuccessful in reforming mankind, especially those of the lower classes, is
our beginning with external matters; all our labors in this field, do but
produce such fruit as endures not; but if the key of the interior be first
given, the exterior would be naturally and easily reformed.
Now this is very easy. To teach man to seek God
in his heart, to think of Him, to return to Him whenever he finds he has
wandered from Him, and to do and suffer all things with a single eye to please
Him, is leading the soul to the source of all grace, and causing it to find
there everything necessary for sanctification.
6. I therefore beseech you all, O ye that have
the care of souls, to put them at once into this way, which is Jesus Christ;
nay, it is He himself that conjures you, by all the blood he has shed for those
entrusted to you. "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem!" (Isa. xl. 2, vulg.)
O ye dispensers of his grace! preachers of his word! ministers of his
sacraments! establish his kingdom!--and that it may indeed be established, make
Him ruler over the heart! For as it is the heart alone that can oppose his
sovereignty, it is by the subjection of the heart that his sovereignty is most
highly honored: "Give glory to the holiness of God, and he shall become your
sanctification." (Isa. viii. 13, vulg.) Compose catechisms expressly to
teach prayer, not by reasoning nor by method, for the simple are incapable of
that; but to teach the prayer of the heart, not of the understanding; the
prayer of God's Spirit, not of man's invention.
7. Alas! by directing them to pray in
elaborate forms, and to be curiously critical therein, you create their
chief obstacles. The children have been led astray from the best of fathers, by
your endeavoring to teach them too refined a language. Go, then, ye poor
children, to your heavenly Father, speak to him in your natural language; rude
and barbarous as it may be, it is not so to Him. A father is better pleased
with an address which love and respect have made confused, because he sees that
it proceeds from the heart, than he is by a dry and barren harangue, though
never so elaborate. The simple and undisguised emotions of love are infinitely
more expressive than all language, and all reasoning.
8. Men have desired to love Love by formal rules,
and have thus lost much of that love. O how unnecessary is it to teach an art
of loving! The language of love is barbarous to him that does not love, but
perfectly natural to him that does; and there is no better way to learn how to
love God, than to love him. The most ignorant often become the most perfect,
because they proceed with more cordiality and simplicity. The Spirit of God
needs none of our arrangements; when it pleases Him, He turns shepherds into
Prophets, and, so far from excluding any from the temple of prayer, he throws
wide the gates that all may enter; while wisdom is directed to cry aloud in the
highways, "Whoso is simple let him turn in hither" (Prov. ix. 4); and to
the fools she saith, "Come eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I
have mingled." (Prov. ix. 5.) And doth not Jesus Christ himself thank his
Father for having "hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed
them unto babes?" (Matt. xi. 25.)
On the passive way to Divine Union.
It is impossible to attain Divine Union,
solely by the way of meditation, or of the affections, or by any devotion, no
matter how illuminated. There are many reasons for this, the chief of which are
those which follow.
1. According to Scripture, "no man shall see
God and live." (Exod. xxxiii. 20.) Now all the exercises of discursive
prayer, and even of active contemplation, regarded as an end, and not as
a mere preparative to that which is passive, are still living exercises, by
which we cannot see God; that is to say, be united with him. All that is of man
and of his doing, be it never so noble, never so exalted, must first be
destroyed.
St. John relates that there was silence in
heaven. (Rev. viii. 1.) Now heaven represents the ground and centre of the
soul, wherein all must be hushed to silence when the majesty of God appears.
All the efforts, nay, the very existence, of self, must be destroyed; because
nothing is opposite to God, but self, and all the malignity of man is in
self-appropriation, as the source of its evil nature; insomuch that the purity
of a soul increases in proportion as it loses this self-hood; and that which
was a fault while the soul lived in self-appropriation, is no longer such,
after it has acquired purity and innocence, by departing from that self-hood,
which caused the dissimilitude between it and God.
2. To unite two things so opposite as the purity
of God and the impurity of the creature, the simplicity of God and the
multiplicity of man, much more is requisite than the efforts of the creature.
Nothing less than an efficacious operation of the Almighty can ever accomplish
this; for two things must have some relation or similarity before they can
become one; as the impurity of dross cannot be united with the purity of
gold.
3. What, then, does God do? He sends his own
Wisdom before Him, as fire shall be sent upon the earth, to destroy by its
activity all that is impure; and as nothing can resist the power of that fire,
but it consumes everything, so this Wisdom destroys all the impurities of the
creature, in order to dispose it for divine union.
The impurity which is so fatal to union consists
in self-appropriation and activity. Self-appropriation; because
it is the source and fountain of all that defilement which can never be allied
to essential purity; as the rays of the sun may shine, indeed, upon mire, but
can never be united with it. Activity; for God being in an infinite
stillness, the soul, in order to be united to Him, must participate of his
stillness, else the contrariety between stillness and activity would prevent
assimilation.
Therefore, the soul can never arrive at divine
union but in the rest of its will; nor can it ever become one with God, but by
being re-established in central rest and in the purity of its first
creation.
4. God purifies the soul by his Wisdom, as
refiners do metals in the furnace. Gold cannot be purified but by fire, which
gradually consumes all that is earthy and foreign, and separates it from the
metal. It is not sufficient to fit it for use that the earthy part should be
changed into gold; it must then be melted and dissolved by the force of fire,
to separate from the mass every drossy or alien particle; and must be again and
again cast into the furnace, until it has lost every trace of pollution, and
every possibility of being farther purified.
The goldsmith cannot now discover any adulterate
mixture, because of its perfect purity and simplicity. The fire no longer
touches it; and were it to remain an age in the furnace, its spotlessness would
not be increased, nor its substance diminished. It is then fit for the most
exquisite workmanship, and if, thereafter, this gold seem obscured or defiled,
it is nothing more than an accidental impurity occasioned by the contact of
some foreign body, and is only superficial; it is no hinderance to its
employment, and is widely different from its former debasement, which was
hidden in the ground of its nature, and, as it were, identified with it. Those,
however, who are uninstructed, beholding the pure gold sullied by some external
pollution, would be disposed to prefer an impure and gross metal, that appeared
superficially bright and polished.[8]
5. Farther, the pure and the impure gold are not
mingled; before they can be united, they must be equally refined; the goldsmith
cannot mix dross and gold. What will he do, then? He will purge out the dross
with fire, so that the inferior may become as pure as the other, and then they
may be united. This is what St. Paul means, when he declares that "the fire
shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (1 Cor. iii 3); he adds,
"If any man's work be burnt, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire." He here intimates, that there are works so
degraded by impure mixtures, that though the mercy of God accepts them, yet
they must pass through the fire, to be purged from self; and it is in this
sense that God is said to examine and judge our righteousness, because that by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified; but by the
righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ. (Rom. iii. 20,
etc.)
6. Thus we may see that the divine justice and
wisdom, like a pitiless and devouring fire, must destroy all that is earthly,
sensual, and carnal, and all self-activity, before the soul can be united to
its God. Now, this can never be accomplished by the industry of the creature;
on the contrary, he always submits to it with reluctance; because, as I have
said, he is so enarmored of self, and so fearful of its destruction, that did
not God act upon him powerfully and with authority, he would never consent.
7. It may, perhaps, be objected here, that as God
never robs man of his free will, he can always resist the divine operations;
and that I therefore err in saying God acts absolutely, and without the
consent of man.
Let me, however, explain. By man's giving a
passive consent, God, without usurpation, may assume full power and an
entire guidance; for having, in the beginning of his conversion, made an
unreserved surrender of himself to all that God wills of him or by him, he
thereby gave an active consent to whatever God might afterwards require. But
when God begins to burn, destroy, and purify, the soul does not perceive that
these operations are intended for its good, but rather supposes the contrary;
and, as the gold at first seems rather to blacken than brighten in the fire, so
it conceives that its purity is lost; insomuch, that if an active and
explicit consent were then required, the soul could scarcely give it, nay
would often withhold it. All it does is to remain firm in its passive consent,
enduring as patiently as possible all these divine operations, which it is
neither able nor desirous to obstruct.
8. In this manner, therefore, the soul is
purified from all its self-originated, distinct, perceptible, and multiplied
operations, which constitute a great dissimilitude between it and God; it is
rendered by degrees conform, and then uniform; and the passive
capacity of the creature is elevated, ennobled, and enlarged, though in a
secret and hidden manner, hence called mystical; but in all these operations
the soul must concur passively. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning its
activity is requisite; from which, however, as the divine operations become
stronger, it must gradually cease; yielding itself up to the impulse of the
divine Spirit, till it is wholly absorbed in Him. But this is a process which
lasts a long time.
9. We do not, then, say, as some have supposed,
that there is no need of activity; since, on the contrary, it is the gate; at
which, however, we should not always tarry, since we ought to tend towards
ultimate perfection, which is impracticable except the first helps are laid
aside; for however necessary they may have been at the entrance of the road,
they afterwards become greatly detrimental to those who adhere to them
obstinately, preventing them from ever attaining the end. This made St. Paul
say, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those
which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. iii. 13.)
Would you not say that he had lost his senses,
who, having undertaken a journey, should fix his abode at the first inn,
because he had been told that many travellers had come that way, that some had
lodged there, and that the masters of the house dwelt there? All that we wish,
then, is, that souls would press toward the end, taking the shortest and
easiest road, and not stopping at the first stage. Let them follow the counsel
and example of St. Paul, and suffer themselves to be led by the Spirit of God,
(Rom. viii. 14,) which will infallibly conduct them to the end of their
creation, the enjoyment of God.
10. But while we confess that the enjoyment of
God is the end for which alone we were created, and that every soul that does
not attain divine union and the purity of its creation in this life, can only
be saved as by fire, how strange it is, that we should dread and avoid the
process; as if that could be the cause of evil and imperfection in the present
life, which is to produce the perfection of glory in the life to come.
11. None can be ignorant that God is the Supreme
Good; that essential blessedness consists in union with Him; that the saints
differ in glory, according as the union is more or less perfect; and that the
soul cannot attain this union by the mere activity of its own powers, since God
communicates Himself to the soul, in proportion as its passive capacity is
great, noble and extensive. We can only be united to God in simplicity and
passivity, and as this union is beatitude itself, the way that leads us in this
passivity cannot be evil, but must be the most free from danger, and the
best.
12. This way is not dangerous. Would Jesus Christ
have made this the most perfect and necessary of all ways, had it been so? No!
all can travel it; and as all are called to happiness, all are likewise called
to the enjoyment of God, both in this life and the next, for that alone is
happiness. I say the enjoyment of God himself, and not of his gifts; these
latter do not constitute essential beatitude, as they cannot fully content the
soul; it is so noble and so great, that the most exalted gifts of God cannot
make it happy, unless the Giver also bestows Himself. Now the whole desire of
the Divine Being is to give Himself to every creature, according to the
capacity with which it is endowed; and yet, alas! how reluctantly man suffers
himself to be drawn to God! how fearful is he to prepare for divine union!
13. Some say, that we must not place ourselves
in this state. I grant it; but I say also, that no creature could ever do
it; since it would not be possible for any, by all their own efforts, to unite
themselves to God; it is He alone must do it. It is altogether idle, then, to
exclaim against those who are self-united, as such a thing cannot be.
They say again, that some may feign to have
attained this state. None can any more feign this, than the wretch who is
on the point of perishing with hunger can, for any length of time at least,
feign to be full and satisfied. Some wish or word, some sigh or sign, will
inevitably escape him, and betray that he is far from being satisfied.
Since then none can attain this end by their own
labor, we do not pretend to introduce any into it, but only to point out the
way that leads to it: beseeching all not to become attached to the
accommodations on the road, external practices, which must all be left behind
when the signal is given. The experienced instructor knows this, points to
the water of life, and lends his aid to obtain it. Would it not be an
unjustifiable cruelty to show a spring to a thirsty man, then bind him so that
he could not reach it, and suffer him to die of thirst?
14. This is just what is done every day. Let us
all agree in the way, as we all agree in the end, which is evident and
incontrovertible. The way has its beginning, process, and termination; and the
nearer we approach the consummation, the farther is the beginning behind us; it
is only by leaving the one, that we can arrive at the other. You cannot get
from the entrance to a distant place, without passing over the intermediate
space, and, if the end be good, holy, and necessary, and the entrance also
good, why should the necessary passage, the direct road leading from the one to
the other, be evil?
O the blindness of the greater part of mankind,
who pride themselves on science and wisdom! How true is it, O my God, that
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes!
[6] This beautiful image comprehends the whole
essence of the divine life, as understood by the teachers of the interior, and
seems to contain as much truth as beauty. God is the great magnet of the soul,
but of that only; and impurity or admixture prevents his full attractive power.
If there were nothing of the kind in the soul, it would rush, under this
all-powerful attraction, with irresistible and instantaneous speed, to be lost
in God. But many load themselves with goods, or seize some part of earth or
self with so tenacious a grasp, that they spend their whole lives without
advancing at more than a snail's pace towards their centre; and it is only when
God in love strikes their burden violently from their hands, that they begin to
be conscious of the hinderance that detained them. If we will only suffer every
weight to drop, and withdraw our hands from self, and every creature, there
will be but little interval between our sacrifice and our resurrection. Some
pious persons have objected to the passivity here inculcated, as though the
soul were required to become dead, like an inanimate object, in order that God
might do his pleasure with it. But this objection will vanish if it be
considered that the life of the soul is in the will, and that this condition of
utter passivity implies the highest state of activity of the will, in willing
without any cessation, and with all its powers, that the will of God shall be
done in it, and by it, and through it. See this further insisted upon in
chapter xxi.--Editor.
[7] A design subsequently carried out in the
work entitled "The Torrents," and less diffusely in the "Concise View," follows
the present treatise.--Editor.
[8] "God knows that (in speaking of the
superficial impurity) I had only reference to certain defects which are
exterior and entirely natural, and which are left by God in the greatest saints
to keep them from pride, and the sight of men, who judge only from the outward
appearance, to preserve them from corruption, and hide them in the secret of
his presence. (Ps. xxxi. 20.) At the time I wrote, I had heard no mention
of the perversions subsequently spoken of that those in union with God might
sin and yet remain united to Him, and, as such an idea had not once occurred to
me, I never imagined that it was possible for any one to draw such inferences
from a simple illustration."--Mad. Guyon, Courte Apologie, etc.