4) ALL ARE CAPABLE OF ATTAINING TO INWARD AND SPIRITUAL PRAYER
If all were solicitous to pursue the spiritual path, 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 Creator; the manufacturer, while he exhausted his outward man with labor, would be renewed in internal strength; every species of vice would shortly disappear, and all mankind become true followers of the good Shepherd.
Oh, when once the heart is gained, how easily is all moral evil corrected! It is for this reason, 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 among men; such as drunkenness, blasphemy, lewdness, envy, and theft. Christ would become the universal and peaceful Sovereign, and the hearts of all mankind would be wholly renewed.
The decay of internal piety is unquestionably the source of the various errors that have risen in the world; all of which would speedily be sapped and overthrown, were inward religion to be established.—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.
Oh, how inexpressibly great is the loss sustained by mankind, from the neglect of the interior!
Some excuse themselves by saying that this is a dangerous way; pleading the incapacity of simple persons to comprehend spiritual matters. But Isaiah said, “The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.”(21) And where can be the danger of walking in the only true way,(22) which is Christ? Of giving ourselves up to Him, fixing our eye continually on Him, placing all our confidence in His grace, and turning with all the strength of our souls to His pure love?
The simple, 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 understanding to the simple,”(23) and we are also assured that He careth for them: “The Lord preserves the simple.(24) Christ said, “Suffer little children to come to me, for of such is the Kingdom of heaven.”(25) The simple are incapable of reasoning, teach them, therefore, the prayer of the art, not of the head; the prayer of the Spirit, not of man’s invention.
Alas! By wanting them to pray in elaborate forms, and to be curiously critical therein, we create their chief obstacles.—The children have been led astray from the best of Fathers, by endeavoring to teach them too refined, too, polished a language.
The simple and undisguised emotions of filial love are infinitely more expressive than the most studied language. 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 open the gates, that all may enter in; while “Wisdom crieth, ‘Who is simple, let him turn in hither; as for him that wants understanding,’ she says to him, ‘Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.”(26)
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 the natural and ready process; it is leading the soul to the very source of Grace, in which is to found all that is necessary for sanctification.
O that all would at once put themselves into this way, that Christ’s kingdom might be established in their hearts! 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. And since none can attain this blessed state, save those whom God himself leads and places therein, we do not pretend to introduce any into it, but only to point out the shortest and safest road that leads to it: beseeching you not to be retarded in your progress by any external exercises; not to rest in the shadow instead of the substance. If the water of eternal life is shown to some thirsty souls, how inexpressibly cruel would it be, confining them to a round of external forms, to prevent their approaching it, so that their longing shall never be satisfied, but they shall perish with thirst!
O ye blind and foolish men, who pride yourselves on science, wisdom, wit and power! How well do you verify what God has said, that His secrets are hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed to the little ones – the babes!(27)
21) Isaiah 35:8
22) John 14:6
23) Psalm 119:130
24) Psalm 116:6
25) Matthew 19:14
26) Proverbs 9:3-5
27) Matthew 11:25