A Prayerful State of Mind

 

 

In whatever you are called upon to do, endeavor to maintain a calm, collected, and prayerful state of mind. Self-recollection is of great importance. "It is good for a man to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." He, who is in what may be called a spiritual hurry, or rather who runs without having evidence of being spiritually sent, makes haste to no purpose.

— from Religious Maxims (1846), III

Self-Love

Another of the Propensities, which may be regarded as implanted or connatural to us, is the principle of SELF-LOVE; in other words, the desire of our own happiness. It is natural and right to desire our own good or happiness; it is unnatural and wrong not to desire it. But in the natural man, the man who is without true faith in God, this desire is exceedingly apt to exaggerate itself and to become inordinate. 

The man of faith, subordinating all his desires of personal good to that standard which God has established, is willing and desirous to trust all his happiness, whether it relate to the present or the future, with that great and good Being, who never does otherwise than right. He may be a wanderer from his country with Abraham, he may be sold into exile with the young but believing Joseph, he may undergo all the deprivations and sorrows of Job, of Jeremiah, and of Daniel, and yet find a consolation and support in faith, which is as wonderful as on any natural principles it is inexplicable.

He, who has truly resigned or abandoned himself to God in the exercise of faith, will remain calm, peaceful, and thankful, under interior as well as exterior desolation. The common forms of Christianity will, in general, be found capable of supporting what may be called outward desolation, such as the loss of property, reputation, health, and friends. But a state of interior desolation, in which we have no sensible joys, no inward illuminations, but on the contrary are sterile alike of edifying thoughts and quickening emotions, and are beset continually with heavy temptations, (a state to which the people of God are for wise reasons sometimes subjected,) is, generally speaking, far more trying. In this state, as well as in that of exterior trials, the mind that has abandoned all into the hands of God, will wait, in humble and holy quietness, for the divine salvation. Faith remains; a firm, realizing, unchangeable faith. And the language of the heart is, under the keen anguish which it is permitted to experience, “though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

— edited from The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 5.

Marks of True Humility: Calmness in Opposition

The truly humble man is not troubled and afflicted, because in some respects he fails in securing to himself the good opinion of his fellow men. It is true, he attaches a degree of value to the favorable sentiments of others; but as he attaches unspeakably greater value to the favor of God, he can meet their opposition, their rebukes and misrepresentations, with entire calmness and peace of spirit. And hence it is that, in ordinary cases, when he is the subject of such misrepresentation and abuse, he is not particularly solicitous to defend himself, and to make replies. I mean to say, that he does not discover anxiety and trouble of mind in relation to it. He knows, if he acts in simplicity of heart and with a sincere desire for the divine glory, God will so order events that in due time the honor of his reputation will be sustained. So that he is willing, for the present at least, to stand silent in the presence of his accusers, that both he and they may see the salvation of the Lord.

— edited from Religious Maxims (1846).

Curiosity Can Work Against Peace with God

The unrestrained action of the principle [of curiosity] is inconsistent, to a considerable extent at least, with that degree of religious retirement, and with that inward and outward silence, which have so close a connection with the growth of the inward life. It  cannot reasonably be expected, when we consider the natural results in the case, that men, who indulge an excessive curiosity, will find time to be much alone with God, or that they will be possessed of that "quietness of spirit," which the Bible has pronounced to be of great price. On the contrary, they are necessarily compelled to pay the heavy penalty of their unchastened eagerness of spirit, by being withdrawn from the inward to the outward, and by finding it easier and sweeter to their perverted tastes to indulge in the attractions and excitements of the world, than to commune with the calmness and purity of the God of peace.

— edited from The Interior or Hidden Life (1844) Part 2, Chapter 7.

Leave Things in the Hands of God

When in the instruction and admonition of others, we have faithfully done our duty, we shall be willing, if we are in a right state of heart, to leave the event, with entire calmness of mind, in the hands of God. We know not what shall profit, whether this or that; but we may be assured, to say the least, that God will do his part, as well as we have done ours, although perhaps in a different way from what we expected. "I have observed, says Bunyan, "that a word cast in by the bye, hath done more execution in a sermon, than all that was spoken besides. Sometimes also, when I have thought I did no good, then I did the most of all; and at other times, when I thought I should catch them, I have fished for nothing."

— Religious Maxims (1846) LXXXVI.

The Importance of Mental Tranquility

The divine life, which in every stage of its existence depends upon the presence of the Spirit of God, places a high estimate on mental tranquility. It is no new thing to remark that the Holy Spirit has no congeniality with, and no pleasure in the soul, where strife and clamor have taken possession. If, therefore, we would have the Holy Spirit with us always, we must avoid and flee, with all the intensity of our being, all inordinate coveting, all envying, malice, and evil speaking, all impatience, jealousy, and anger. Of such a heart, and such only, which is calm as well as pure, partaking something of the self-collected and sublime tranquility of the divine mind, can it be said, in the truest and highest sense that it is  a TEMPLE FITTED FOR THE INDWELLING  OF  THE HOLY GHOST.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XL.

Delibrate Consecration

The consecration of ourselves to God, which is so inseparable from the progress and perfection of the divine life, should be made DELIBERATELY. — A consecration, made in this manner, viz. with calmness and deliberation, is due to our own characters, as rational and reflecting beings. As God has made us perceptive and rational, he desires and expects us, especially in important transactions, to act in accordance with the principles he has given us. It is not reasonable to suppose, that God would be pleased with a consecration, made thoughtlessly and by blind impulse, rather than by deliberate reflection. Man has deliberately rebelled and gone astray, and it is due to himself and his Maker, it is due to truth and to holiness, that he should deliberately and reflectingly submit and return; that his repentance of sin should be accompanied with a clear perception of his sinfulness; that his determination to do God's will should be attended with some suitable apprehensions of what He requires; and that his fixed purpose of future obedience should be sustained by the united strength of all appropriate considerations.

— edited from The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition, 1844) Part 1, Chapter 4.

Sanctification Diminishes Fanaticism

In proportion as the heart becomes sanctified, there is a diminished tendency to enthusiasm and fanaticism. And this is undoubtedly one of the leading tests of sanctification. One of the marks of an enthusiastic and fanatical state of mind, is a fiery and unrestrained impetuosity of feeling; a rushing on, sometimes very blindly, as if the world were in danger, or as if the great Creator were not at the helm. It is not only feeling without a due degree of judgment, but, what is the corrupting and fatal trait, it is feeling without a due degree of confidence in God. True holiness reflects the image of  God in this respect as well as in others, that it is calm, thoughtful, deliberate, immutable. And how  can it be otherwise, since, rejecting its own wisdom and strength, it incorporates into itself the wisdom and strength of the Almighty.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XII.

An Atmosphere of Calmness

A sanctified state of heart does not require to be sustained by any mere forms of bodily excitation. It gets above the dominion, at least in a very considerable degree, of the nerves and the senses. It seeks an atmosphere of calmness, of thought, and holy meditation.

— Religious Maxims (1846) X.