[p i]
A
Short Method of Prayer
AND
Spiritual Torrents.

[p iii]
PREFACE TO THE
ENGLISH PROTESTANT EDITION.

Some apology is perhaps needed when a Protestantthus brings before Protestant readers the works ofa consistent Roman Catholic author. The plea mustbe, that the doctrine and experience described areessentially Protestant; and so far from their receivingthe assent of the Roman Catholic Church, theirauthor was persecuted for holding and disseminatingthem.

Of the experience of Madame Guyon, it should beborne in mind, that though the glorious heights ofcommunion with God to which she attained may bescaled by the feeblest of God’s chosen ones, yet it isby no means necessary that they should be reachedby the same apparently arduous and protracted pathalong which she was led.

The “Torrents” especially needs to be regardedrather as an account of the personal experience ofthe author, than as the plan which God invariably,or even usually, adopts in bringing the soul into astate of union with Himself. It is true that, in orderthat we may “live unto righteousness,” we must be[p iv] “dead indeed unto sin;” and that there must be acrucifixion of self before the life of Christ can bemade manifest in us. It is only when we can say, “Iam crucified with Christ,” that we are able to add,“Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth inme.” But it does not follow that this inward deathmust always be as lingering as in the case of MadameGuyon. 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, thatshe might enjoy the possession of the Giver. Thisresistance to the will of God implies suffering onthe part of the creature, and chastisement on thepart of God, in order that He may subdue to Himselfwhat is not voluntarily yielded to Him.

Of the joy of a complete surrender to God, it isnot necessary to speak here: thousands of God’schildren are realising its blessedness for themselves,and proving that it is no hardship, but a joy unspeakable,to present themselves a living sacrifice to God,to live no longer to themselves, but to Him that diedfor them, and rose again.

A simple trust in a living, personal Saviour; aputting away by His grace of all that is known to bein opposition to His will; and an entire self-abandonmentto Him, that His designs may be worked out inand through us; such is the simple key to the hiddensanctuary of communion.

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