The Christian is not always praying; but within his bosom is a heaven-kindled lovefires of desire, fervent longingswhich make him always ready to pray, and often engage him in prayer.
Our activity should consist in placing ourselves in a state of susceptibility to Divine impressions, and pliability to all the operations of the Eternal Word.
Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door pray to thy Father, which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
That holy, humble, meek, modest, retiring Form, sometimes called the Spirit of Prayer, has been dragged from the closet, and so rudely handled by some of her professed friends that she has not only lost all her wonted loveliness, but is now stalking the street, in some places, stark mad.
Only in the sacredness of inward silence does the soul truly meet the secret, hiding God. The strength of resolve, which afterward shapes life, and mixes itself with action, is the fruit of those sacred, solitary moments. There is a divine depth in silence. We meet God alone.
The Christian life is a long and continual tendency of our hearts toward that eternal goodness which we desire on earth. All our happiness consists in thirsting for it. Now this thirst is prayer. Ever desire to approach your Creator, and you will never cease to pray. Do not think it necessary to pronounce many words.
There are two principal points of attention necessary for the preservation of this constant spirit of prayer which unites us with God; we must continually seek to cherish it, and we must avoid everything that tends to make us lose it.