Christian Classics
‹ Spiritual Progress (Fénelon, Guyon, etc.)
Contents
Spiritual ProgressEDITOR’S PREFACE.I. OF THE LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THERE IS IN THE WORLDII. OF THE NECESSITY OF KNOWING AND LOVING GOD.III. ON PURE LOVE.IV. ON PRAYER AND THE PRINCIPAL EXERCISES OF PIETY.V. ON CONFORMITY TO THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST.VI. ON HUMILITY.VII. ON PRAYERVIII. ON MEDITATION.IX. ON MORTIFICATION.X. ON SELF-ABANDONMENT.XI. ON TEMPTATIONS.XII. ON WANDERING THOUGHTS AND DEJECTION.XIII. ON CONFIDENCE IN GOD.XIV. IN WHAT MANNER WE ARE TO WATCH OURSELVES.XV. ON THE INWARD TEACHING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD.XVI. ON DAILY FAULTS AND THE TOLERATION OF OURSELVES.XVII. ON FIDELITY IN SMALL MATTERS.XVIII. ON TRANSITORY EMOTIONS, FIDELITY, AND SIMPLICITY.XIX. ON THE ADVANTAGES OF SILENCE AND RECOLLECTION.XX. PRIVATION AND ANNIHILATION, A TERROR EVEN TO THE SPIRITUALLY-MINDED.XXI. ON THE PROPER USE OF CROSSES.XXII. ON THE INTERIOR OPERATIONS OF GOD TO BRING MAN TO THE TRUE END OF HIS CREATION.XXIII. ON CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.XXIV. THE WAY OF NAKED FAITH AND PURE LOVE IS BETTER AND MORE CERTAIN THAN THAT OF ILLUMINATIONS AND SENSIBLE DELIGHTS.XXV. ON THE PRESENCE OF GOD.XXVI. ON CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD.XXVII. GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR ATTAINING INWARD PEACE.XXVIII. PURE LOVE ONLY CAN SUFFER ARIGHT AND LOVE ITS SUFFERINGS.XXIX. INTERESTED AND DISINTERESTED LOVE HAVE EACH ITS APPROPRIATE SEASON.XXX. ON TRUE LIBERTY.XXXI. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF TIME.LETTER I. The advantage of humiliation.LETTER II. How to bear suffering so as to preserve our peace.LETTER III. The beauty of the cross.LETTER IV. The death of self.LETTER V. Peace lies in simplicity and obedience.LETTER VI. The true source of peace is in the surrender of the will.LETTER VII. True good is only reached by abandonment.LETTER VIII. Knowledge puffeth up; charity edifieth.LETTER IX. We are not to choose the manner in which our blessings shall be bestowed.LETTER X. The discovery and death of self.LETTER XI. The sight of our imperfections should not take away our peace.LETTER XII. Living by the cross and by faith.LETTER XIII. Despair at our imperfection is a greater obstacle than the imperfection itself.LETTER XIV. Pure faith sees God alone.LETTER XV. Our knowledge stands in the way of our becoming wise.LETTER XVI. Those who endeavor to injure us are to be loved and welcomed as the hand of God.LETTER XVII. Quietness in God our true resource.LETTER XVIII. True friendships are founded only in God.LETTER XIX. The cross a source of our pleasure.LETTER XX. The absence of feeling and the revelation of self no sufficient causes of distress.LETTER XXI. The imperfection of others to be borne in love.LETTER XXII. The fear of death not taken away by our own courage, but by the grace of God.LETTER XXIII. Sensitiveness under reproof the surest sign we needed it.LETTER XXIV. Imperfection only is intolerant of imperfection.LETTER XXV. We should listen to God and not to self-love.LETTER XXVI. Absolute trust the shortest road to God.LETTER XXVII. The time of temptation and distress is no time to form resolves.LETTER XXVIII. Who has love, has all.LETTER XXIX. Weakness preferable to strength, and practice better than knowledge.LETTER XXX. Beware of the pride of reasoning; the true guide to knowledge is love.LETTER XXXI. The gifts of God not to be rejected on account of the channel that brings them.LETTER XXXII. Poverty and spoliation the way of Christ.LETTER XXXIII. The will of God our only treasure.LETTER XXXIV. Abandonment not a heroic sacrifice, but a simple sinking into the will of God.LETTER XXXV. Daily dying takes the place of final death.LETTER XXXVI. Suffering belongs to the living, not the dead.LETTER XXXVII. The limits of our grace are those of our temptation.LETTER XXXVIII. Resisting God, an effectual bar to grace.LETTER XXXIX. God speaks more effectually in the soul, than to it.LETTER XL. The circumcision of the heart.THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER I.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER II.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER III.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER IV.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER V.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER VI.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER VII.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER VIII.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER IX.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER X.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XI.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XII.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XIII.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XIV.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XV.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XVI.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XVII.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XVIII.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XIX.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XX.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XXI.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XXII.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XXIII.Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XXIV.On The Way to God · Part 1 · CHAPTER I.On The Way to God · Part 1 · CHAPTER II.On The Way to God · Part 1 · CHAPTER III.On The Way to God · Part 1 · CHAPTER IV.On The Way to God · Part 1 · CHAPTER V.On The Way to God · Part 1 · CHAPTER VI.On The Way to God · Part 2 · CHAPTER I.On The Way to God · Part 2 · CHAPTER II.On The Way to God · Part 2 · CHAPTER III.SPIRITUAL MAXIMS

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Method of Prayer · CHAPTER XVII.

1. On petitions; those which are self-originated cease; and their place is supplied by those of the Spirit of God.

2. Abandonment and faith necessary here.

The soul should not be surprised at feeling itself unable to offer up to God such petitions as had formerly been made with facility; for now the Spirit maketh for it according to the will of God; that Spirit which helpeth our infirmities; “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Rom. viii. 26.) We must second the designs of God, which tend to divest us of all our own operations, that his may be substituted in their place.

2. Let this, then, be done in you; and suffer not yourself to be attached to anything, however good it may appear; it is no longer such to you, if it in any measure turns you aside from what God desires of you. For the divine will is preferable to every other good. Shake off, then, all self-interest, and live by faith and abandonment; here it is that genuine faith begins truly to operate.