To Pastors and TeachersIf all who laboured for the conversion of others
were to introduce them immediately into Prayer and the Interior Life,
and make it their main design to gain and win over the heart,
numberless as well as permanent conversions would certainly ensue. On
the contrary, few and transient fruits must attend that labour which is
confined to outward matters; such as burdening the disciple with a
thousand precepts for external exercises, instead of leaving 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, might have the Spirit of the primitive
Christians, and the husbandman at the plough maintain a blessed
intercourse with his God; the manufacturer, while he exhausts his
outward man with labour, would be renewed in internal strength; and
every species of vice would shortly disappear and every parishioner
become a true follower of the Good Shepherd.O when once the heart is
gained, how easily is all moral evil corrected! it is, therefore, that
God, above all things, requires the heart. It is the conquest of the
heart alone that can extirpate those dreadful vices which are so
predominant, such as drunkenness, blasphemy, lewdness, envy, and theft.
Jesus Christ would become the universal and peaceful Sovereign, and the
face of the Church would be wholly renewed.The decay of internal piety
is unquestionably the source of the various errors that have arisen in
the Church; all which would speedily be sapped and overthrown should
inward religion be re-established. Errors are only so far prejudicial
to the soul as they tend to weaken faith and deter from prayer; and if,
instead of engaging our wandering brethren in vain disputes, we could
but teach them simply to believe and diligently to pray, we should lead
them sweetly unto God.O how inexpressibly great is the loss sustained
by mankind from the neglect of the Interior Life! And how tremendous
must the great day of retribution be to those who are entrusted with
the care of souls, for not having discovered and dispensed to their
flock this hidden treasure.Some excuse themselves by saying that this
is a dangerous way; pleading the incapacity of simple persons to
comprehend spiritual matters. But the Oracles of Truth affirm the
contrary: "The Lord loveth those who walk simply" (Prov. xii. 22). And
where can be the danger of walking in the only true way, which is Jesus
Christ? of giving up ourselves to Him, fixing our eye continually upon
Him, placing all our confidence in His grace, and tending with all the
strength of our soul to His pure Love?The simple ones, so far from
being incapable of this perfection, are, by their docility, innocence,
and humility, peculiarly adapted and qualified for its attainment; and
as they are not accustomed to reasoning, they are less employed in
speculations, 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 blinded by self-sufficiency and
enslaved by prejudice, give great resistance to the operations of
Grace.We are told in Scripture "that unto the simple God giveth the
understanding of his law" (Ps. cxviii. 130); and we are also assured
that God loveth to commune freely with them: "The Lord careth for the
simple; I was reduced to extremity, and he saved me" (Ps. cxiv. 6). To
warn Spiritual Fathers against preventing the 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 gracious charge. 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 class, is our beginning with external matters; all
our labours 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. To teach man to seek God in his heart,
to think of Him, to return to Him whenever he finds that he has
wandered from Him, and to do and to suffer all things with a single eye
to please Him, is the natural and ready process; it is leading the soul
to the very source of Grace, wherein is to be found all that is
necessary for sanctification.I, therefore, conjure you all, O ye who
have the care of souls, to put them at once into this way, which is
Jesus Christ; nay, it is He Himself who conjures you, by the Precious
Blood He hath shed for those entrusted to you, "to speak to the heart
of Jerusalem" (Isa. xl. 2). O ye Dispensers of His Grace, ye Preachers
of His Word, ye Ministers of His Sacraments, establish His Kingdom! -
and that it may indeed be established, make Him Ruler over the hearts
of His subjects! 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 exalted: "Give glory to the holiness of God, and he
shall become your sanctification" (Isa. viii. 13). Compose catechisms
particularly to teach prayer, not by reasoning nor by method, for the
simple are incapable thereof; but to teach the prayer of the heart, not
of the understanding; the prayer of God's Spirit, not of man's
invention.Alas! by wanting 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
endeavouring to teach them too refined, too polished a language. Go
then, ye poor children, to your Heavenly Father; speak to Him in your
natural language; and though it be ever so rude and barbarous in the
opinion of men, it is not so to Him. A Father is much better pleased
with an address which love and respect in the child throws into
disorder, because He knows it proceeds from the heart, than by a formal
and barren harangue, though ever so elaborate in the composition. The
simple and undisguised emotions of filial love are infinitely more
expressive than all language and all reasoning.By forming instructions
how to love by rule and method the Essential Love, men have in a great
measure estranged themselves from Him. O how unnecessary is it to teach
an art of loving! The language of Love, though natural to the lover, is
nonsense and barbarism to him who loveth not. The best way to learn the
love of God is to love Him. The ignorant and simple, because they
proceed with more cordiality and simplicity, often become most perfect
therein. The Spirit of God needs none of our arrangements and methods;
when it pleaseth 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 cries 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 the secrets of his kingdom from the wise and
prudent and revealed them unto babes? (Matt. xi. 25).
Posts in this series:Madame Guyon - A Spiritual ReadingMadame Guyon - A
Short and Easy Method of Prayer - PrefaceMadame Guyon - A Short and
Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 1Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method
of Prayer - Chapter 2Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer -
Chapter 3Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter
4Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 5Madame
Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 6Madame Guyon - A
Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 7Madame Guyon - A Short and
Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 8Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method
of Prayer - Chapter 9Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer -
Chapter 10Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter
11Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 12Madame
Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 13Madame Guyon - A
Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 14Madame Guyon - A Short and
Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 15Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy
Method of Prayer - Chapter 16Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of
Prayer - Chapter 17Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer -
Chapter 18Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter
19Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 20Madame
Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 21Madame Guyon - A
Short and Easy Method of Prayer - Chapter 22

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Posted By Mal to a reasonable mystic at 12/06/2008 01:16:00 PM