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PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH PROTESTANT EDITION.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
A SHORT METHOD OF PRAYER.
CHAPTER I. ALL ARE COMMANDED TO PRAY--PRAYER THE GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION
CHAPTER II. FIRST DEGREE OF PRAYER--MEDITATION AND MEDITATIVE READING--THE LORD'S PRAYER--PASSAGE FROM THE FIRST DEGREE TO THE SECOND.
CHAPTER III. SECOND DEGREE OF PRAYER, CALLED HERE "THE PRAYER OF SIMPLICITY."
CHAPTER IV. ON SPIRITUAL DRYNESS.
CHAPTER V. ABANDONMENT TO GOD--ITS FRUIT AND ITS IRREVOCABILITY--IN WHAT IT CONSISTS--GOD EXHORTS US TO IT.
CHAPTER VI. OF SUFFERING WHICH MUST BE ACCEPTED AS FROM GOD--ITS FRUITS.
CHAPTER VII. ON MYSTERIES--GOD GIVES THEM HERE IN REALITY.
CHAPTER VIII. ON VIRTUE--ALL VIRTUES GIVEN WITH GOD IN THIS DEGREE OF THE PRAYER OF THE HEART.
CHAPTER IX. OF PERFECT CONVERSION, WHICH IS AN EFFECT OF THIS METHOD OF PRAYER--TWO OF ITS AIDS, THE ATTRACTION OF GOD, AND THE CENTRAL INCLINATION OF THE SOUL.
CHAPTER X. HIGHER DEGREE OF PRAYER, WHICH IS THAT OF THE SIMPLE PRESENCE OF GOD, OR ACTIVE CONTEMPLATION.
CHAPTER XI. OF REST IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD--ITS FRUITS--INWARD SILENCE--GOD COMMANDS IT--OUTWARD SILENCE.
CHAPTER XII. SELF-EXAMINATION AND CONFESSION.
CHAPTER XIII. ON READING--VOCAL PRAYER--REQUESTS.
CHAPTER XIV. THE FAULTS COMMITTED IN THIS DEGREE--DISTRACTIONS, TEMPTATIONS--THE COURSE TO BE PURSUED RESPECTING THEM.
CHAPTER XV. PRAYER AND SACRIFICE EXPLAINED BY THE SIMILITUDE OF A PERFUME--OUR ANNIHILATION IN THIS SACRIFICE--SOLIDITY AND FRUITFULNESS OF THIS PRAYER AS SET FORTH IN THE GOSPEL.
CHAPTER XVI. THIS STATE OF PRAYER NOT ONE OF IDLENESS, BUT OF NOBLE ACTION, WROUGHT BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, AND IN DEPENDENCE UPON HIM--THE COMMUNICATION OF HIS LIFE AND UNION.
CHAPTER XVII. DISTINCTION BETWEEN EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR ACTIONS--THOSE OF THE SOUL IN THIS CONDITION ARE INTERIOR, BUT HABITUAL, CONTINUED, DIRECT, PROFOUND, SIMPLE, AND IMPERCEPTIBLE--BEING A CONTINUAL SINKING IN THE OCEAN OF DIVINITY--SIMILITUDE OF A VESSEL--HOW TO ACT IN THE ABSENCE OF SENSIBLE SUPPORTS.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE DRYNESS OF PREACHERS, AND THE VARIOUS EVILS WHICH ARISE FROM THEIR FAILING TO TEACH HEART-PRAYER--EXHORTATION TO PASTORS TO LEAD PEOPLE TOWARDS THIS FORM OF PRAYER, WITHOUT AMUSING THEM WITH STUDIED AND METHODICAL DEVOTION.
CHAPTER XIX. AFTER THE PRECEDING WAYS, THERE REMAINS AN AFTER WAY, PREPARATORY TO DIVINE UNION, IN WHICH WISDOM AND JUSTICE MAKE THE PASSIVE PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL, ALL WHICH IS TREATED IN DETAIL IN THE FOLLOWING TREATISE, ENTITLED "SPIRITUAL TORRENTS."