A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 1

The Universal Call to Prayer

What a dreadful delusion hath prevailed over the greater part of mankind, in supposing that they are not called to a state of prayer! whereas all are capable of prayer, and are called thereto, as all are called to and are capable of salvation.

Prayer is the application of the heart to God, and the internal exercise of love. S. Paul hath enjoined us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. v 17), and our Lord saith, "I say unto you all, watch and pray" (Mark xiii. 33, 37): all therefore may, and all ought to practice 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.

Let all pray: we should live by prayer, as we should live by love. "I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that ye may be rich" (Rev. iii. 8), this is much more easily obtained than we can conceive. "Come, all ye that are athirst, to these living waters"; nor lose your precious moments in "hewing out cisterns, broken cisterns that will hold no water" (John vii. 37; Jer ii. 13). Come, ye famished souls, who find naught whereon to feed; come, and ye shall be fully satisfied!

Come, ye poor afflicted ones, who groan beneath your load of wretchedness and pain, and ye shall find ease and comfort! Come, ye sick, to your Physician, and be not fearful of approaching Him because ye are filled with diseases; expose them to His view 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 not asked; for there must be a heart, that there may be love. But who is without a heart? O come, then, give this heart to God; and here learn how to make the donation.

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 guide to perfection and the sovereign good; it delivers us from every vice, and obtains us every virtue; for the one great means to become perfect, is to walk in the presence of God: He Himself hath said, "walk in my presence and be ye perfect" (Gen. xvii. 1). It is by prayer alone, that we are brought into this presence, and maintained in it without interruption.

You must then learn a species of prayer, which may be exercised at all times; which doth not obstruct outward employments; and which may be equally practiced by princes, kings, prelates, priests and magistrates, soldiers and children, tradesmen, labourers, women and sick persons: it cannot, therefore, be the prayer of the head, but of the heart; not a prayer of the understanding 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, but irregular and disordered affections: and when once we have tasted of God, and the sweetness of His love, we shall find it impossible to relish aught but Himself?

Nothing is so easily obtained as the possession and enjoyment of God, for "in him we live, move, and have our being;" and He is more desirous to give Himself into us, than we can be to receive Him.

All consists in the manner of seeking Him; and to seek aright, is easier and more natural to us than breathing. 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.

Posts in this series:
Madame Guyon - A Spiritual Reading
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Preface
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 1
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 2
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 3

Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Preface

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION

This little treatise, conceived in great simplicity, was not originally intended for publication: it was written for a few individuals, who were desirous to love God with their whole heart; some of whom, because of the profit they received in reading the manuscript, wished to obtain copies of it; and on this account alone, it was committed to the press.

It still remains in its original simplicity, without any censure on the various Divine Leadings of others: and we submit the whole to the judgment of those who are skilled and experienced in Divine matters; requesting them, however, not to decide without first entering into the main design of the Author, which is to induce the world to love God and to serve Him with comfort and success, in a simple and easy manner, adapted to those who are unqualified for learned and deep researches, and are, indeed, incapable of anything but a hearty desire to be truly devoted to God.

An unprejudiced reader may find hidden under the most common expressions, a secret unction, which will excite him to seek after that Sovereign Good, whom all should wish to enjoy.

In speaking of the attainment of perfection, the word Facility is used, because God is indeed found with facility when we seek Him within ourselves.

But, in contradiction to this, some perhaps may urge that passage in S. John, "Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me" (John vii. 34). This apparent difficulty, however, is removed by another passage, where He, who cannot contradict Himself, hath said to all, "Seek and ye shall find" (Matt. vii. 7). It is true, indeed, that he who would seek God, and is yet unwilling to forsake his sins, shall not find Him, because he seeks not aright; and therefore it is added, "Ye shall die in your sins." On the other hand, he who diligently seeks God in his heart, and that he may draw near unto Him sincerely forsakes sin, shall infallibly find Him.

A life of devotion appears so formidable, and the Spirit of Prayer of such difficult attainment, that most persons are discouraged from taking a single step towards it. The difficulties inseparable from all great undertakings are, indeed, either nobly surmounted, or left to subsist in all their terrors, just as success is the object of despair or hope. I have therefore endeavoured to show the facility of the method proposed in this treatise, the great advantages to be derived from it, and the certainty of their attainment by those that faithfully persevere.

O were we once truly sensible of the goodness of God toward His poor creatures, and of His infinite desire to communicate Himself unto them, we should not allow imaginary difficulties to affright us, nor 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). But we want courage and perseverance; we have both to a high degree in our temporal concerns, but want them in "the one thing needful" (Luke x. 42).

If any think that God is not easily to be found in this way of Simple Love and Pure Adherence, let them not, on my testimony, alter their opinion, but rather make trial of it, and their own experience will convince them that the reality far exceeds all my representations of it.

Beloved reader, peruse this little treatise with a humble, sincere and candid spirit, and not with an inclination to cavil and criticize, and you will not fail to reap some degree of profit from it. It was written with a hearty desire that you might wholly devote yourself to God; receive it, then, with a like desire for your own perfection: for nothing more is intended by it than to invite the simple and child-like to approach their Father, who delights in the humble confidence of His children, and is grieved at the smallest instance of their diffidence or distrust. With a sincere desire, therefore, to forsake sin, seek nothing from the unpretending method here proposed but the Love of God, and you shall undoubtedly obtain it.

Without setting up our opinions above those of others, we mean only, with truth and candour, to declare, from our own experience and the experience of others, the happy effects produced by thus Simply Following our Lord.

As this treatise was intended only to instruct in Prayer, there are many things which we respect and esteem, totally omitted, as not immediately relative to our main subject: it is, however, certain, 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. 3), with those who are, indeed, willing to become "little children"; it is Thou alone, who canst render this little work of any value by imprinting it on the hearts of all who read it, and leading them 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. Yet alas! They may still lose these unspeakable advantages by their negligence and insensibility! But it belongeth unto Thee, O thou Uncreated Love! Thou Silent and Eternal Word! it belongeth unto Thee, to awaken, attract, and convert; to make Thyself be heard, tasted, and beloved! I know Thou canst do it, and I trust Thou wilt do it by this humble work which belongeth entirely to Thee, proceedeth wholly from Thee, and tendeth only to Thee! And, O most Gracious and adorable Saviour!

To Thee be all the Glory!

Posts in this series:
Madame Guyon - A Spiritual Reading
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Preface
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 1
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 2
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 3

Madam Guyon - a spiritual reading

The Wikipedia article on one of the most well-known Christian Mystics begins as follows:

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (commonly known as Madame Guyon) April 13 1648 - June 9 1717, ) was a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism. Quietism was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, and she was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing a book on it A Short and Easy Method of Prayer.

Widowed at 28, and left with 3 children, she pursued the secrets of the mystical life, the secrets of which she had been initiated into by Père Lacombe.

The book we are to read here, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, was inspired mostly by her own experiences. She distinguishes three kinds of prayer:

1. The first is meditation.


2. The second is the prayer of simplicity - keeping oneself in a state of recollection and silence in the presence of God.


3. The third is active contemplation. The soul, conscious that God is taking possession of it, leaves Him to act and remains in repose, abandoning itself to the Divine effluence which fills it -- powerless to ask anything for itself, since it has renounced all its own interests.

This last state is pure love, the desire and goal of true mysticism. In the Spiritual Torrents, and her commentaries on Holy Scripture, Madame Guyon presents the same ideas using slightly different images and forms.

Jeanne Guyon's books were banned in 1688. However, in spite of her being a Roman Catholic, she won warm support among a number of Protestants also seeking spiritual reality in her time, and over whom she had great influence. Some of these we will read later.

I plan now to present to you A Short and Easy Method of Prayer in the following series of posts. Enjoy them as they appear. You should remain aware that the versions of the Bible to which Madame Guyon in 1685 had opportunity of access were not the same as theirs of to-day, and therefore oftentimes discrepancies apparently occur in her quotations from the Bible. Very often, too, she is quoting direct from the Vulgate.

The edition I am using was published in London by H. R. Allenson, Ltd., Racquet Court, 114 Fleet Street, and it is in the public domain.

Posts in this series:
Madame Guyon - A Spiritual Reading
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Preface
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 1
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 2
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 3