A Reasonable Mystic

The Second Degree of Prayer

Some call the second degree of prayer, “The Prayer of Contemplation,” “The Prayer of Faith and Stillness,” and others call it, “The Prayer of Simplicity.” I shall here use this latter appellation, as being more just than any of the former, which imply a much more exalted state of prayer than that I am now treating of.

When the soul has been for some time exercised in the way I have mentioned, it finds that it is gradually enabled to approach God with facility; that recollection is attended with much less difficulty; and that prayer becomes easy, sweet and delightful; it knows that this is the true way of finding God; and feels “his name is as ointment poured forth” (Cant. 1-3). But the method must now be altered, and that which I prescribe, followed with courage and fidelity, without being disturbed at the difficulties we may encounter therein.

First, as soon as the soul by faith places itself in the Presence of God, and becomes recollected before Him, let it remain thus for a little time in a profound and respectful silence.

But if, at the beginning, in forming the act of faith, it feels some little pleasing sense of the Divine Presence; let it remain there without being troubled for a subject, and proceed no farther, but carefully cherish this sensation while it continues: as soon as it abates, the will may be excited by some tender affection; and if by the first moving thereof, it finds itself reinstated in sweet peace, let it there remain: the smothered fire must be gently fanned; but as soon as it is kindled, we must cease that effort, lest we extinguish it by our own activity.

I would warmly recommend it to all, never to finish prayer, without remaining some little time after in a respectful silence. It is also of the greatest importance for the soul to go to prayer with courage, and such a pure and disinterested love, as seeks nothing from God, but the ability to please Him, and to do His will: for a servant who only proportions his diligence to his hope of reward, renders himself unworthy of all reward.

Go then to prayer, not that ye may enjoy spiritual delights, but that ye may be either full or empty, just as it pleaseth God: this will preserve you in an evenness of spirit, in desertion as well as in consolation, and prevent your being surprised at aridity or the apparent repulses of God.

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

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