"_I am the Ground of thy beseeching._" "Also to prayer belongeth
thanking"
After this our Lord shewed concerning Prayer. In which Shewing I see
two conditions in our Lord's signifying: one is rightfulness, another
is sure trust.
But yet oftentimes our trust is not full: for we are not sure that God
heareth us, as we think because of our unworthiness, and because we
feel right nought, (for we are as barren and dry oftentimes after our
prayers as we were afore); and this, in our feeling our folly, is cause
of our weakness.[1] For thus have I felt in myself.
And all this brought our Lord suddenly to my mind, and shewed these
words, and said: _I am Ground of thy beseeching: first it is my will
that thou have it; and after, I make thee to will it; and after, I make
thee to beseech it and thou beseechest it. How should it then be that
thou shouldst not have thy beseeching?_
And thus in the first reason, with the three that follow, our good Lord
sheweth a mighty comfort, as it may be seen in the same words. And in
the first reason,--where He saith: _And thou beseechest it_, there He
sheweth [His] full great pleasance, and endless meed that He will give
us for our beseeching. And in the second reason, where He saith: _How
should it then be?_ etc., this was said for an impossible [thing].
For it is most impossible that we should beseech mercy and grace, and
not have it. For everything that our good Lord maketh us to beseech,
Himself hath ordained it to us from without beginning. Here may we see
that our beseeching is not cause of God's goodness; and that shewed
He soothfastly in all these sweet words when He saith: _I am [the]
Ground_.--And our good Lord willeth that this be known of His lovers in
earth; and the more that we know [it] the more should we beseech, if it
be wisely taken; and so is our Lord's meaning.
Beseeching is a true, gracious, lasting will of the soul, oned and
fastened into the will of our Lord by the sweet inward work of the
Holy Ghost. Our Lord Himself, He is the first receiver of our prayer,
as to my sight, and taketh it full thankfully and highly enjoying; and
He sendeth it up above and setteth it in the Treasure, where it shall
never perish. It is there afore God with all His Holy continually
received, ever speeding [the help of] our needs; and when we shall
receive our bliss it shall be given us for a degree of joy, with
endless worshipful thanking from[2] Him.
Full glad and merry is our Lord of our prayer; and He looketh
thereafter and He willeth to have it because with His grace He maketh
us like to Himself in condition as we are in kind: and so is His
blissful will. Therefore He saith thus: _Pray inwardly,[3] though thee
thinketh it savour thee not: for it is profitable, though thou feel
not, though thou see nought; yea, though thou think thou canst not.
For in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in feebleness, then
is thy prayer well-pleasant to me, though thee thinketh it savour thee
nought but little. And so is all thy believing prayer in my sight._ For
the meed and the endless thanks that He will give us, _therefor_ He is
covetous to have us pray continually in His sight. God accepteth the
goodwill and the travail of His servant, howsoever we feel: wherefore
it pleaseth Him that we work both in our prayers and in good living,
by His help and His grace, reasonably with discretion keeping our
powers[4] [turned] to Him, till when that we have Him that we seek, in
fulness of joy: that is, Jesus. And that shewed He in the Fifteenth
[Revelation], farther on, in this word: _Thou shalt have me to thy
meed_.
And also to prayer belongeth thanking. Thanking is a true inward
knowing, with great reverence and lovely dread turning ourselves
with all our mights unto the working that our good Lord stirreth us
to, enjoying and thanking inwardly. And sometimes, for plenteousness
it breaketh out with voice, and saith: _Good Lord, I thank Thee![5]
Blessed mayst Thou be!_ And sometime when the heart is dry and feeleth
not, or else by temptation of our enemy,--then it is driven by reason
and by grace to cry upon our Lord with voice, rehearing His blessed
Passion and His great Goodness; and the virtue of our Lord's word
turneth into the soul and quickeneth the heart and entereth[6] it by
His grace into true working, and maketh it pray right blissfully. And
truly to enjoy our Lord, it is a full blissful thanking in His sight.
[1] MS.: "_And this in our felyng our foly is cause of our wekenes._"
S. de Cressy: "And thus in our feelings our folly is cause of our
weakness."
[2] "of" = by, from.
[3] "inderly" = inwardly--or from the heart: heartily, as in lxvi.
[4] _i.e._ Faculties.--MS. "Mights."
[5] "Grante mercy" = _grand-merci_.
[6] "entrith," leadeth.