Chapter,  n.

  1 Pref      |        way to walk continually in God's presence. For some forty
  2 Pref      |       Practice of the Presence of God', de Beaufort included,
  3 Pref      |          to continually walk with God -not from the head but from
  4 Pref      |          anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence; that
  5 Pref      |      direct approach to living in God's presence that is as practical
  6 Pref      |         in 1691, having practiced God's presence for over forty
  7 Pref      |          fresh commitment to love God with all his heart. ~
  8 Conv,  1  |     August, 1666. He told me that God had done him a singular
  9 Conv,  1  |           Providence and Power of God which has never since been
 10 Conv,  1  |    kindled in him such a love for God, that he could not tell
 11 Conv,  1  |        life with its pleasures to God. But Brother Lawrence said
 12 Conv,  1  |        Brother Lawrence said that God had disappointed him because
 13 Conv,  1  |           ourselves in a sense of God's Presence by continually
 14 Conv,  1  |        souls with high notions of God which would yield us great
 15 Conv,  1  |           to give ourselves up to God with regard both to things
 16 Conv,  1  |   fulfilling of His will. Whether God led us by suffering or by
 17 Conv,  1  |  irksomenesses in prayer by which God tries our love to Him; that
 18 Conv,  1  |        for them. But knowing that God could remedy the mischief
 19 Conv,  1  |     arrive at such resignation as God requires, we should watch
 20 Conv,  1  |        those of a grosser nature. God would give light concerning
 21 Conv,  1  |    sincerely discuss how to serve God, I might come to him as
 22 Conv,  2  |      resolved to make the love of God the end of all his actions,
 23 Conv,  2  |        the ground for the love of God, seeking Him only, and nothing
 24 Conv,  2  |          life but for the love of God. I have endeavored to act
 25 Conv,  2  |        act purely for the love of God. I shall have this good
 26 Conv,  2  |          sins between himself and God to tell Him that he did
 27 Conv,  2  |        not deserve His favors yet God still continued to bestow
 28 Conv,  2  |          habit of conversing with God continually and referring
 29 Conv,  2  |           after the pleasant days God had given him, he should
 30 Conv,  2  |      could do nothing of himself, God would not fail to give him
 31 Conv,  2  |           he addressed himself to God saying, "Lord, I cannot
 32 Conv,  2  |     confessed his fault saying to God, "I shall never do otherwise,
 33 Conv,  2  |         said we ought to act with God in the greatest simplicity,
 34 Conv,  2  |      affairs just as they happen. God never failed to grant it,
 35 Conv,  2  |           of the wine. He said to God, it was His business he
 36 Conv,  2  |  everything there for the love of God and asking for His grace
 37 Conv,  2  |      since he was always pleasing God in every condition, by doing
 38 Conv,  2  |           did not divert him from God.~Since he knew his obligation
 39 Conv,  2  |       knew his obligation to love God in all things, and as he
 40 Conv,  2  |        them. He confessed them to God and made no excuses. When
 41 Conv,  2  |           the light of faith that God was present, he contented
 42 Conv,  2  |      return to our communion with God. In the beginning he had
 43 Conv,  2  |          arrive at the union with God by love. He had well considered
 44 Conv,  2  |    shortest way to go straight to God was by a continual exercise
 45 Conv,  2  |          and delight ourselves in God. All possible kinds of mortification,
 46 Conv,  2  |          were void of the love of God, could not efface a single
 47 Conv,  2  |         hearts. And he noted that God seemed to have granted the
 48 Conv,  2  |        desiring only one thing of God - that he might not offend
 49 Conv,  2  |           I fail not, then I give God thanks acknowledging that
 50 Conv,  3  |         high notion and esteem of God in faith. When he had once
 51 Conv,  3  |           actions for the love of God. He said when sometimes
 52 Conv,  3  |   sometimes he had not thought of God for a good while he did
 53 Conv,  3  |  acknowledged his wretchedness to God, he simply returned to Him
 54 Conv,  3  |          said the trust we put in God honors Him much and draws
 55 Conv,  3  |          impossible not only that God should deceive but that
 56 Conv,  3  |        time to do it, he found in God, as in a clear mirror, all
 57 Conv,  3  |        little from the thought of God a fresh remembrance coming
 58 Conv,  3  |           remembrance coming from God invested his soul and so
 59 Conv,  3  |        said he was more united to God in his outward employments
 60 Conv,  3  |         was to lose that sense of God which he had enjoyed so
 61 Conv,  3  |         long. Yet the goodness of God assured him He would not
 62 Conv,  3  |          his life for the love of God, he had no apprehension
 63 Conv,  3  |       that perfect resignation to God was a sure way to heaven,
 64 Conv,  3  |          they neglect the love of God which is the end. This appeared
 65 Conv,  3  |          nor science for going to God, but only a heart resolutely
 66 Conv,  4  | concerning his manner of going to God whereof some part is related
 67 Conv,  4  |         sensible does not lead to God. We might accustom ourselves
 68 Conv,  4  |         We need only to recognize God intimately present with
 69 Conv,  4  |          In our conversation with God we should also engage in
 70 Conv,  4  |        Brother Lawrence said that God never failed offering us
 71 Conv,  4  |          wandered from a sense of God's Presence, or he forgot
 72 Conv,  4  |          assistance. He said that God always gave us light in
 73 Conv,  4  |        depended on doing that for God's sake which we commonly
 74 Conv,  4  |         he had found for going to God was that of doing our common
 75 Conv,  4  |        but purely for the love of God. ~Brother Lawrence felt
 76 Conv,  4  |     strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of
 77 Conv,  4  |          sense of the presence of God, his soul being at that
 78 Conv,  4  |           he still continued with God, praising and blessing Him
 79 Conv,  4  |  continual joy. Yet he hoped that God would give him somewhat
 80 Conv,  4  |         to put our whole trust in God, and make a total surrender
 81 Conv,  4  |     little things for the love of God, Who regards not the greatness
 82 Conv,  4  |      become united to the will of God. Everything else is indifferent
 83 Conv,  4  |       most perfect worshippers of God we can possibly be, and
 84 Conv,  4  |         Alas, we are persons whom God would humble by many pains
 85 Conv,  4  |          and bear them as long as God pleases as things highly
 86 Conv,  4  |         such an habitual sense of God, Brother Lawrence told him
 87 Conv,  4  |      monastery, he had considered God as the end of all his thoughts
 88 Conv,  4  |     private prayer in thinking of God so as to convince his mind
 89 Conv,  4  |         the knowledge and love of God, resolving to use his utmost
 90 Conv,  4  |          his business, he said to God with a filial trust in Him, "
 91 Conv,  4  |        filial trust in Him, "O my God, since Thou art with me,
 92 Conv,  4  |       well, he returned thanks to God. If otherwise, he asked
 93 Conv,  4  |       exercise of the presence of God as if he had never deviated
 94 Conv,  4  |  difficult for me not to think of God as it was at first to accustom
 95 Conv,  4  |        walking in the presence of God, it was natural for him
 96 Conv,  4  |       different things, I possess God in as great tranquillity
 97 Lett,  Int|       Practice of the Presence of God'. All of these letters were
 98 Lett,  1  |         at that habitual sense of God's presence, which our Lord,
 99 Lett,  1  |     different methods of going to God, and divers practices of
100 Lett,  1  |          but how to become wholly God's. This made me resolve
101 Lett,  1  |     having given myself wholly to God, to make all the satisfaction
102 Lett,  1  |         heart as my Father, as my God. I worshipped Him the oftenest
103 Lett,  1  |        interrupting my thought of God. Such has been my common
104 Lett,  1  |        mere mercy and goodness of God, because we can do nothing
105 Lett,  1  |         speak, a familiarity with God, where, when we ask, He
106 Lett,  1  |     habitual, and the presence of God is rendered as it were natural
107 Lett,  2  |   resolution to give myself up to God, as the best satisfaction
108 Lett,  2  |      business, to the presence of God, whom I considered always
109 Lett,  2  |          me so high an esteem for God, that faith alone was capable
110 Lett,  2  |         that I was not devoted to God as I wished to be, my past
111 Lett,  2  |      great unmerited favors which God did me, were the matter
112 Lett,  2  |        all creatures, reason, and God Himself were against me
113 Lett,  2  |       diminish the trust I had in God, and which served only to
114 Lett,  2  |           that time I walk before God simply, in faith, with humility
115 Lett,  2  |          have no will but that of God, which I endeavor to accomplish
116 Lett,  2  |          a general fond regard to God, which I may call an actual
117 Lett,  2  |        call an actual presence of God; or, to speak better, an
118 Lett,  2  |     conversation of the soul with God, which often causes in me
119 Lett,  2  |        that my soul has been with God above these thirty years.
120 Lett,  2  |          I consider myself before God, whom I behold as my King.~
121 Lett,  2  |      general passionate regard to God to whom I find myself often
122 Lett,  2  |           this state the bosom of God, for the inexpressible sweetness
123 Lett,  2  |       upon the great favors which God does me, all unworthy and
124 Lett,  2  |     Presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to make His
125 Lett,  2  |     suspended and firmly fixed in God as in its center and place
126 Lett,  2  |        the soul which thus enjoys God desires herein nothing but
127 Lett,  2  |     delusion in me, it belongs to God to remedy it. Let Him do
128 Lett,  3  |            Third Letter~We have a God who is infinitely gracious
129 Lett,  3  |     fortitude and bravery of M--. God has given him a good disposition,
130 Lett,  3  |         hope the affliction which God has sent him will prove
131 Lett,  3  |           A little remembrance of God, one act of inward worship,
132 Lett,  3  |   nevertheless very acceptable to God. And far from lessening
133 Lett,  3  |         it. Let him then think of God the most he can. Let him
134 Lett,  3  |          please, that he think of God the most he can, in the
135 Lett,  3  |       very salvation.~I hope that God will assist him and all
136 Lett,  4  |     receives from the presence of God. Let you and me both profit
137 Lett,  4  |        has been to be always with God; and to do nothing, say
138 Lett,  4  |        from that Divine presence, God presently recalls Himself
139 Lett,  4  |    elevation of his heart towards God, or by a meek and fond regard
140 Lett,  4  |          instance, he may say "My God, here I am all devoted to
141 Lett,  4  |     effect he feels it) that this God of love, satisfied with
142 Lett,  4  |        him such an assurance that God is always in the depth or
143 Lett,  4  |         ourselves with so little. God, says he, has infinite treasure
144 Lett,  4  |        Blind as we are, we hinder God, and stop the current of
145 Lett,  4  |           if by misfortune (which God forbid, for it would be
146 Lett,  4  |           the world, but known of God, and extremely caressed
147 Lett,  5  |        not disappoint her. Beg of God that she may make her sacrifice
148 Lett,  5  |          treat of the presence of God; a subject which, in my
149 Lett,  5  |         all other things; because God will possess the heart alone.
150 Lett,  5  |       continual conversation with God. Only those can comprehend
151 Lett,  5  |    principle of love, and because God would have us.~Were I a
152 Lett,  5  |       practice of the presence of God. Were I a director, I should
153 Lett,  5  |           grace and assistance of God, we would never lose sight
154 Lett,  6  |       practice of the presence of God. For my part I keep myself
155 Lett,  6  |          are innocent and lawful. God will not permit a soul that
156 Lett,  6  |      ourselves. No, we must serve God in a holy freedom. We must
157 Lett,  6  |   disquiet, recalling our mind to God mildly and with tranquillity
158 Lett,  6  |         to put our whole trust in God. We must lay aside all other
159 Lett,  6  |       practice of the presence of God we are with Him who is our
160 Lett,  7  |          life only in worshipping God. He requires no great matters
161 Lett,  7  |          necessary for being with God to be always at church.
162 Lett,  7  |        familiar conversation with God, some more, some less. He
163 Lett,  7  |          Let us live and die with God. Sufferings will be sweet
164 Lett,  7  |           a general confidence in God with love and humility.~
165 Lett,  8  |     recall them and carry them to God as their last end. When
166 Lett,  8  |           humble ourselves before God.~I do not advise you to
167 Lett,  8  |         yourself in prayer before God, like a dumb or paralytic
168 Lett,  8  |         persevere in this manner, God will have pity on you. One
169 Lett,  8  |       strictly in the presence of God. Then being accustomed to
170 Lett,  8  |       practice of the presence of God. Let us set about it seriously
171 Lett,  9  |         in this life is to please God, that perhaps all besides
172 Lett,  9  |        them in loving and serving God, who by His mercy has called
173 Lett,  9  |       upon the great favors which God has done and incessantly
174 Lett,  9  |      actual and continual help of God. Let us then pray to Him
175 Lett,  9  |        can love. In order to know God, we must often think of
176 Lett,  10 |           trust which you have in God. I wish that He may increase
177 Lett,  10 |        puts all his confidence in God, He will soon give him another
178 Lett,  10 |      encroaching upon the love of God, which must be the principal.~
179 Lett,  10 |    recommended you think often of God, by day, by night, in your
180 Lett,  10 |          visit you: why then must God be neglected? Do not forget
181 Lett,  11 |         but I pray earnestly that God would give you strength
182 Lett,  11 |           and not as a favor from God. Seeing it only in that
183 Lett,  11 |           coming from the hand of God, as the effects of His mercy
184 Lett,  11 |          I pray that you see that God is often nearer to us and
185 Lett,  11 |      confidence in physic than in God. Whatever remedies you make
186 Lett,  11 |     permits. When pains come from God, He only can cure them.
187 Lett,  11 |       with the condition in which God places you. However happy
188 Lett,  11 |         if I could suffer with my God. The greatest pleasure would
189 Lett,  11 |           in a little time, go to God. What comforts me in this
190 Lett,  11 |         Continue then always with God. It is the only support
191 Lett,  12 |       exercise of the presence of God all bodily diseases would
192 Lett,  12 |         would be much alleviated. God often permits that we suffer
193 Lett,  12 |  entertaining yourself often with God, and forget Him the least
194 Lett,  12 |         you with my poor prayers.~God has many ways of drawing
195 Lett,  12 |   confidence which must be all in God who will not fail us in
196 Lett,  12 |           of need. I know not how God will dispose of me. I am
197 Lett,  12 |          I would willingly ask of God a part of your sufferings.
198 Lett,  13 |         is that they are proof of God's love towards you. See
199 Lett,  13 |     entirely to the providence of God. Perhaps He waits only for
200 Lett,  13 |           it will not be tempting God to abandon yourself in His
201 Lett,  13 |       virtue of necessity. Ask of God, not deliverance from your
202 Lett,  13 |            but most acceptable to God, and sweet to those that
203 Lett,  13 |         pains. And when one loves God, one suffers for His sake
204 Lett,  14 |        sweet is it to suffer with God! However great the sufferings
205 Lett,  14 |           are thus employed about God, suffering will become full
206 Lett,  14 |          things with the grace of God, which He never refuses
207 Lett,  15 |                  Fifteenth Letter~God knows best what is needful
208 Lett,  15 |           see them in the hand of God who dispenses them, when
209 Lett,  15 |         our employment be to know God. The more one knows Him,
210 Lett,  15 |          our love. If our love of God were great we should love
211 Lett,  15 |      ourselves to seek or to love God for any sensible favors (
212 Lett,  15 |        cannot bring us so near to God as faith does in one simple