thou hast refused, and despised all my counsel! What wonder, then, if at last I too am slow to hear, or altogether refuse to listen? Oh, how often hast thou closed thy ears against the cry of the poor! And dost thou wonder if, when thou criest, thou art not heard? reign good. I have sworn and purposed henceforth, by thy grace, to keep the judgments of thy justice; especially in... and... Despise not, O God, a contrite and humbled heart; and be not angry with the prayer of thy servant. 3. Preparation for prayer by directing the intention to its end. CHRIST. Because thou acknowledgest thy sins, I willingly forgive them. For what the blind man said, "God hears not sinners," is, in a sound sense, true, namely, of the impenitent; for abominable is the prayer of him who turns away his ear from hearing the law. Let thy sins, then, make thee, not faint-hearted, but humble; for the sacrifice most pleasing to me is an afflicted spirit, or a contrite and humbled heart. MAN. Truly, O Lord, I § know it to be so; and that man is not justified before God. If I would contend with thee, I cannot answer thee one for a thousand. If I would justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me. I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to lift up my eyes unto thee. Would that my heart did not upbraid me, great then would be my confidence towards God! If I have looked at iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But who can say, "My heart is clean?" Truly, I am a man of unclean heart and lips; it is I indeed who have sinned, and done evil before thee. Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed? Who but thou, O Lord, who hast washed us in thy own blood? Cleanse, then, my heart and my lips; wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. I am sorry from the bottom of my heart, for the love of thee, that I have offended thee, my God, my Saviour, and my sove Consider, therefore, well why thou prayest; for no one approaches his prince with a petition without a fixed object. Even so bear strongly in mind thy weakness and thy want, and attend seriously to the reason why thou wouldst speak with me, and what thou wouldst ask of me, what that is wherein thou needest most my grace and assistance, what special foe thou shouldst attack and strike down with the arms of prayer; that is, what is the virtue or the vice, to obtain or expel which thou most needest heavenly aid. Have a definite aim, and upon this let your mind and your wishes be entirely fixed. True indeed it is that I, who know all the secrets of the heart, know what thou needest. But this I would have thee know thyself also, that the knowledge of thy own necessity and poverty may be a goad and a spur to urge thee to more fervent and more earnest prayer. Otherwise thou wilt be while thou prayest like one beating the air, casting thy arrows aimless into empty space. It will be right for thee to remember this in thy other prayers also, whether of thanksgiving or of praise. MAN. How sweet, O Lord, to my lips, sweeter than honey to my mouth, are thy words, with which thou so gently and lovingly teachest me to pray. But alas, I will confess my foolishness before the Lord, and will utter my trouble before Him. For why, wretched man that I am, should I hide my misery from thee, who seest into the heart within, and from whom my faults are not concealed? But what I bewail is this, that the heart of thy servant so seldom pours out its prayer before thee with earnestness and sincerity, so greatly is it carried away by the cares and anxieties of the world. Alas, how often I come to prayer without spirit and understanding, and pray for I know not what! The tongue prays, but the mind is unfruitful. I pray from a mere barren custom, scarcely ever remembering the object of my prayer, which should be thy glory, or my own salvation. I am too heedless how I may duly and reverently pray for victory over my sins, and the attainment of the necessary virtues. Spare me, O Lord, our true High Priest, who only knowest how to bear with our infirmities, for thou knowest our frame. Thou seest that now, alas, as of old, the thoughts and affections of man incline to evil from his youth. For the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling presses down the spirit, which would think, seek, and taste only the things of heaven. And what is more wonderful, or rather more piteous, so wretched am I, that I experience this misery most at the time of prayer; the very time that I ought most to seek of thee a cure for my ills and my sorrows: for then a thousand anxieties assault me, my thoughts are scattered, and they wring my heart. Oh, how I inwardly suffer while thinking on heavenly things, when a crowd of carnal things break in upon me as I pray. I desire to be intent on heavenly things, but those of earth and unmortified affections weigh me down. Thus am I tossed on this great sea, a burden to myself; while my spirit would move upwards, and my flesh delights to be below. My God, be not thou far from me, nor turn away in anger from thy servant. Command the winds and the sea, that there may be a great calm in my heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hidden from thee. § 4. Attention and reverence in time of prayer. Remedy against distractions. CHRIST. What a man suffers against his will shall never be imputed to him for sin. Only do thy best to drive away those troublesome flies which defile the sacrifice of prayer. Endure them patiently, if thou canst not overcome them. The prayer will lose none, nay it will rather gain in merit, if thou behave manfully. For the struggle and conflict of prayer is my delight, and I am often most near at the moment when I seem to be farthest away. Only be careful always to have a firm purpose of praying with attention and devotion, and especially at the commencement, which is a point of the greatest importance. So that if it happen, through human infirmity, that the mind is distracted in prayer, still the efficacy of this resolution, made at the beginning, is diffused through all the prayer, and preserves its value, as long as it is not broken by a contrary purpose and will. For what, my son, do I desire, but thy heart? If that is good, all is good. That thou mayest, however, the more effectually strengthen thy heart in prayer, always remember this one thing when thou prayest, namely, who it is with whom thou hast to do. For who among you is not astonished, awed, and full of reverence and fear, when he seriously considers that he stands in my presence, who am his judge, his Lord and creator, and sovereign king? Who would not be afraid to turn his back upon me, or his mind to idle and empty thoughts, still more his eyes to vanity, and his lips to trifling conversation? Behold the disposition, the fear and dread of my beloved ones, Abraham, Moses, David, John the Precursor, Peter, the Publican, and many others, when they stood before me. Am not I the supreme monarch of heaven and earth, before whom the cherubim and seraphim, and all the angelic powers, tremble? He who comes to God must believe that He is, said my Apostle. But so it is, your unbelief and blindness, or else your weak sense of my presence, makes you irreverent in my presence, before whom the pillars of the world tremble. MAN. I am ashamed, O Lord, when I think who 8 thou art, and who I am. Shall the vile worm, or the slimy frog from its pool, creep up to the glorious throne of the most high God, and enter the heavenly court where the King of kings sits on his starry seat, surrounded with the innumerable spirits of the blessed? Shall I sing to thee in the sight of the angels, worship towards thy holy temple, and confess thy name? This is what holy men, beloved of thee, pondered seriously with a living faith, and hence they prayed with reverence and devotion. But, alas, my zeal is far removed from theirs, and hence it is that I am so absent from thee, that I am nowhere less than where I seem to be when I pray. Thus while I wish to plead my cause in prayer, I they are pleased to pray, it make it worse; and while I desire to propitiate thee, I only offend thee the more. that it cannot bring forth fruit. Think how much it must displease me to see the sons of men so wholly and earnestly occupied with the concerns of the flesh and of the world, and this life's goods, and so regardless of prayer, on which depends their eternal salvation, and the glory of my name. Look at the children of this world: they eat, drink, play, pass their days in pleasure, and no one feels the length of time thus spent a burden; they are engaged with their farms and their cattle, wrapt up in cares and business, and occupied in an infinity of questions. Though never idle, they are always ill employed, because they are never at leisure to see that I am God. Or if at any time § 5. Frequency and constancy in prayer. CHRIST. What wonder is it, my son, if where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also? Hardly can the understanding be withdrawn from where the affections are fixed. Thou art of the earth, and art not careful enough to have thy conversation in heaven, but art too much busied with the love of earthly things. Hence spring up those thorns which so deeply wound thy heart, and choke the good seed, so is either deferred to the last hour, or to the most improper time, or else it is thoughtWould any earthly prince enlessly and carelessly done. dure to be admitted to speak to thyself, only when all the lowest of the people have been received before him? Not so David my chosen servant, the man according to my own heart. He was a king, and entangled in the cares of a very great kingdom, yet his eyes prevented the morning, that he might meditate on my words, and he gave praise to me seven times a day; nay rose at midnight to praise me. Not so very many others my friends, who study to please me rather than men, to whom the life is more than food, or drink, or raiment; but esteem all things to be but loss, and count them but as dung, that they may gain me. Willingly they withdraw themselves from their occupations when they are able, or take care so to arrange their occupations, that, amid all their exterior business, time may not be wanting for the one which outweighs all the rest, the business of the soul. Accordingly, at stated hours, they enter into their chamber, and having shut the door, pray to me in secret, pouring out their hearts before me; and in the early morning they keep watch to me, that the best part of the day, when the mind is freest and purest, may be devoted to the noblest work, the work of prayer. And these are they who receive from me a fuller light of understanding, by which they may be directed in their ways; these are they who taste more abundantly how sweet is the Lord, and that there is no weariness in his society. So thou too, my son, consider what it will profit thee, if thou shouldst gain the whole world, and neglect the one thing necessary, the care of thy soul. Set bounds, therefore, to thy worldly prudence, and be not engaged on many things at once; for he shall find wisdom whose engagements are few. Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, in the confidence that all other things shall be added to thee. Why art thou careful and troubled about many things? Why waste thy strength with profitless toil? Have pity on thy own soul in pleasing God. To whom wilt thou be good, if thou art evil to thyself? To what purpose dost thou, to the loss of prayer, pursue with such anxiety of thought the projects in which thou art engaged? Be sure of this, that no human reason will avail like earnest prayer to bring thy plans to a happy accomplishment. Cast all thy solicitude upon me, for I have care of thee, all the greater in proportion to the assurance with which thou reliest upon me, and committest thy designs to my providence. True it is, that unless I build the house, they all labour in vain that build it. Dost thou believe this? Blessed is he who understands it. many receive not this word; that is to say, those who trust in their own strength, and torture themselves with different cares and toils, but are as unfortunate in the plans which they contrive, as the spiders which exhaust the substance of their bodies to weave their fruitless webs; because they repair not with For |
