A Short Method of Prayer

This eBook contains the front matter from a combined edition of A Short Method of Prayer and Spiritual Torrents , but only contains the text of A Short Method of Prayer . [p i ] A Short Method of Prayer AND Spiritual Torrents. BY J. M. B. DE LA MOTHE GUYON. Translated from the Paris Edition of 1790 BY A. W. MARSTON. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, & SEARLE, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET. 1875. [ All rights reserved. ] [p ii ] PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY EDINBURGH AND LONDON [p iii ] PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH PROTESTANT EDITION. Some apology is perhaps needed when a Protestant thus brings before Protestant readers the works of a consistent Roman Catholic author. The plea must be, that the doctrine and experience described are essentially Protestant; and so far from their receiving the assent of the Roman Catholic Church, their author was persecuted for holding and disseminating them. Of the experience of Madame Guyon, it should be borne in mind, that though the glorious heights of communion with God to which she attained may be scaled by the feeblest of God’s chosen ones, yet it is by no means necessary that they should be reached by the same apparently arduous and protracted path along which she was led. The “Torrents” especially needs to be regarded rather as an account of the personal experience of the author, than as the plan which God invariably, or even usually, adopts in bringing the soul into a state of union with Himself. It is true that, in order that we may “live unto righteousness,” we must be [p iv ] “dead indeed unto sin;” and that there must be a crucifixion of self before the life of Christ can be made manifest in us. It is only when we can say, “I am crucified with Christ,” that we are able to add, “Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” But it does not follow that this inward death must always be as lingering as in the case of Madame Guyon. She tells us herself that the reason was, that she was not wholly resigned to the Divine will, and willing to be deprived of the gifts of God, that she might enjoy the possession of the Giver. This resistance to the will of God implies suffering on the part of the creature,…