Prayer is the application of The Heart to God, and the internal exercise of Love. It is by prayer alone that we are brought into this Presence, and maintained in it, without interruption. We must learn a species of prayer, which may be exercised at all times, which does not obstruct outward employments, and which may be equally practiced by all. It cannot be the prayer of the head, but of the heart. Not a prayer of reason alone, which is so limited in its operations, that it can have but one object at one time. But the prayer of the heart is not interrupted by the exercises of reason. Indeed, nothing can interrupt this prayer, except irregular and disordered affections. And when once we have tasted of God, and the sweetness of this love, we shall find it impossible to relish anything but this. Nothing is so easily obtained as the possession and enjoyment of the Divine: for in this we live, move and have our being. Though you think yourselves ever so stupid, dull and incapable of sublime attainments, yet by prayer you may live in God himself — with less difficulty or interruption than you live in the vital air. Will it not then be highly sinful to neglect prayer? But this I trust you will not when you have learnt the method which is exceedingly easy. I believe the best manner of meditating is as follows... When by an act of lively faith you are placed in the presence of God, recollect some truth wherein there is substance and food. Pause gently and sweetly thereon, not to employ the reason, but merely to calm and fix the mind. For you must observe that your principal exercise should ever be the Presence of God. Your subject, therefore, should rather serve to stay the mind, than exercise the understanding. From this procedure it will necessarily follow that the lively faith in a God immediately present in our inmost soul will produce an eager and vehement pressing inwardly into our selves, and a restraining of all our senses from wandering abroad. This serves to extricate us speedily from numberless distractions, to remove us far from external objects, and to bring us nigh unto our God — who is only to be found in our inmost center, which is The Holy of Holies, wherein He dwells. When we are thus fully introverted and warmly penetrated throughout with the living sense of the Divine Presence; when the senses are all recollected and withdrawn from the circumference to the center, and the Soul is sweetly and silently employed on the truths that we have read — not in reasoning but in feeding thereon, and in animating the will by affection, rather than fatiguing the understanding by study… When the affections are in this state, no matter how difficult it may appear at first, we must allow them sweetly to repose, and peacefully to drink in that which they have tasted. We should therefore, in stillness and repose, with respect, confidence and love, swallow the blessed food of which we have tasted. This method is indeed highly necessary, and will advance the Soul farther in a short time than any other in a course of years. Our direct and principal exercise should consist in the contemplation of the Divine Presence. We should be exceedingly watchful and diligent in recalling our dissipated senses, as the most easy method of overcoming distractions. By simply turning inwards, we wage insensibly a very advantageous though indirect war with the senses. Though recollection is difficult in the beginning because the habit the Soul has acquired of being all ways from home, once it becomes a little accustomed to it, it will soon be rendered perfectly easy, and become delightful. Such is the experimental taste and sense of His Presence. When the Divine Presence is granted us, and we gradually relish silence and repose, this experimental feeling and taste of the Presence of God introduces the Soul into the second degree of prayer, which is attainable as well by the illiterate as the learned. Some favored souls indeed are indulged with it, even from the beginning. When the Soul has been for some time exercised in the Presence, it finds that it is gradually enabled to approach God with facility — that recollection is attended with much less difficulty, and that prayer becomes easy, sweet and delightful. But the method must now be altered, and that which I presecribe should be followed with courage and fidelity, without being disturbed by the difficulties we may encounter. First, as soon as the Soul, by Faith, places itself in the Presence of God, it becomes recollected before Him. Let it remain thus for a little time, in a profound and respectful silence. If, at the beginning, informing the act of Faith, you feel some little pleasing sense of the Divine Presence, remain there without being troubled for a subject, and proceed no further, but carefully cherish this sensation while it continues… As soon as it abates, the Will may be excited by some tender affection, and if by the first moving thereof, it finds itself reinstated in sweet peace, let it there remain. The smothered fire must be gently fanned, but as soon as it is kindled, we must cease that effort, lest we extinguish it by our own activity. I would warmly recommend never to finish prayer without remaining some time after in a respectful silence. It is also of the greatest importance for the Soul to go to prayer with Courage, and such a pure and disinterested Love as seeks nothing from God but the ability to please Him, and to do His Will. Go then to prayer, not that you may enjoy spiritual delights, but that you may be either full or empty, just as it pleases God. This will preserve you in an evenness of spirit, in dessertion, as well as in consolation. And prevent your being surprised at arridity, and at the apparent repulses of God. Though God has no other desire than to impart Himself to the loving Soul that seeks Him, yet He frequently conceals Himself, that the Soul may be roused from sloth, and impelled to seek Him with fidelity and Love. I conjure you, my dearly beloved, who sincerely wish to give up yourselves to God, that after you have made the donation, you will not snatch yourselves back again. Remember, a gift once presented, is no longer at the disposal of the donor. Abandonment is a matter of the greatest importance in our process. It is the key to the inner court. So that whosoever knows truly how to abandon themselves, soon becomes perfect. We must therefore continue steadfast and immovable, and not listen to the voice of natural reason. Great faith produces great abandonment. We must confide in God, hoping against hope. Abandonment is the casting off of all selfish care, that we may be all together at the Divine disposal. Our abandonment then should be as fully applied to external, as internal, things, giving up all 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. It is practiced by continually losing our own will, in The Will of God, by renouncing every particular inclination as soon as it arises, however good it may appear, that we may stand in indifference with respect to ourselves, and only will that which God from eternity has willed; by being resigned in all things, whether for Soul or body, whether for time or Eternity; by leaving what is past in oblivion, what is to come to Providence, and devoting the present moment to God, which brings with itself God’s Eternal Order. God has an attractive virtue which draws the Soul more and more powerfully to Himself, the nearer it approaches towards Him; and in attracting, He purifies and refines it — just as with a gross vapor, exhaled by the sun, which as it gradually ascends, is reified and rendered pure. The vapor indeed contributes to its exhalation only by its passiveness, but the Soul cooperates with the attractions of God by a free and affectionate correspondence. This kind of introversion is both easy and efficacious, advancing the Soul naturally and without constraint, because God Himself is its center. Every center has a powerfully attractive virtue, and the more pure and exalted it is, the stronger and more irresistable are its attractions. But besides the potent magnetism of the center itself, there is in every creature a correspondent tendency to reunion with its peculiar center, which is vigorous and active, with proportion to the spirituality and proportion of the subject. As soon as anything is turned towards its center, its own gravitation instigates and accelerates it thereto. Now when the Soul by its efforts to abandon outward objects and gather itself inwards is brought into the influence of this central tendency without any other exertion it falls gradually by the weight of Divine Love into its proper center. And the more passive and tranquil it remains, and the freer from self-motion and self-exertion, the more rapidly it advances. Because the energy of the central attractive virtue is unobstructed and has full liberty for action. We must not suppose that this is affected by a violent exertion of the Soul’s own powers, for it is not capable of, nor should it attempt any other cooperation 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 steadfast in adherence to God. The Soul that is faithful in the exercise of Love and adherence to God is astonished to feel Him gradually taking posession of their whole being. It now enjoys a continual sense of that presence, which has become, as it were, natural to it. And this, as well as prayer, is the result of habit. The Soul feels an unusual serenity gradually being diffused throughout all its faculties, and silence now wholly constitutes its prayer, whilst God communicates an intuitive Love, which is the beginning of ineffable blessedness. It is a matter of the highest importance to cease from self-action and self-exertion that God Himself may act alone. “Be still and know that I am God.” But the creature is so infatuated with the love and attachment to its own workings that it imagines nothing at all is done if it does not perceive 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 progess, and that the operations of God, in extending and diffusing their influence, absorb those of the creature. The stars may be seen distinctly before the sun rises, but as His light advances, their rays are gradually absorbed by His, and they become invisible. Not from the want of light in themselves, but from the superior effulgence of the chief luminary. The case is similar here. For there is a strong and universal light that 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. Yet those greatly err that accuse this prayer of idleness, a charge that can arise only from inexperience. This appearance of inaction is indeed not the consequence of sterility and want, but of fruitfulness and abundance, which will be clearly perceived by the experienced Soul, who will know and feel that the silence is full and unctuous, and the result of causes totally the reverse of apathy and barenness. There are two kinds of people that keep silence: the ones because they have nothing to say, the other because they have too much. It is so with the Soul in this state. The silence is occasioned by the superabundance of matter to great for utterance. The interior is not a stronghold 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, this path will lead you to intuitive prayer. God demands nothing extraordinary nor difficult. On the contrary he is best pleased by a simple and childlike conduct. That which is most sublime and elevated in religion is the easiest attained, the most necessary sacraments are the least difficult. It is thus also in natural things: if you would go to sea, embark on a river, and you will be conveyed to it insensibly and without exertion. Follow this sweet and simple path and you will arrive at the desired object with an ease and expedition that will amaze you. It is fear that prevents you from instantly casting yourself into those arms of Love which were widely extended on The Cross, only to receive you. He will not deceive you, unless by bestowing an abundance beyond your highest hopes. But those who expect all from themselves will inevitably be deceived. You have wearied yourselves in the multiplicity of your ways, and have not said, “Let us rest in peace.” The Soul advanced thus far has no need of any other preparation than its quiettude. For now the presence of God, which is the great effect, or rather, continuation of prayer, begins to be infused — and almost without intermission. The Soul enjoys transcendent blessedness, and feels that it no longer lives, but that Christ liveth in it. And that the only way to find Him is introversion. No sooner do the bodily eyes close than the Soul is wrapped up in prayer. It is amazed at so great a blessing and enjoys an internal converse which external matters cannot interrupt. Outward silence is very requisite for the cultivation and improvement of inward, and indeed it is impossible that we should become truly internal without the practice of outward silence and retirement. God said by the mouth of His prophet, “I will lead her into solitude, and there will I speak to her heart.” (Hosea 2.14)