The Practice of the Presence of God

Brother Lawrence is known to a wide circle of English readers by his "Conversations and Letters", and the numerous editions of that collection are a tribute to the appreciation of the deep spirituality of his teaching. It seems strange, therefore, that so little attention has been paid to his other writings. The "Spiritual Maxims", appear to have been almost entirely neglected; so far as it can be ascertained no English translation has been published since one at Edinburgh in 1741. It is to atone in some measure for this neglect that the translator offers this new rendering, in full confidence that the many who know Brother Lawrence through the "Conversations" and "Letters" will find here also exemplified the same deep spiritual insight. The "Spiritual Maxims" were published originally together with the "Letters," the editor of the volume stating in his preface that on running through Brother Lawrence's letters he had found amongst them a manuscript entitled, "Spiritual Maxims, or Means for Attaining to the Presence of God." They deserve attention for two reasons. In a short "Life" of Brother Lawrence, written in 1691, he committed his thoughts sometimes to writing, but comparing what he had written with that which he had just experienced in his soul, he deemed it so inferior and so far removed from the inspired thoughts, with which he had been visited, of the greatness and goodness of GOD-that often parentally the "Maxims" and the "Letters" are the only writings which have survived. But the "Maxims" are important for a further reason. The "Letters" were written merely to deal with particular cases and difficulties brought to his notice from time to time, and they were addressed to the individual recipients alone. The "Maxims," however, are in different category. The careful arrangement adopted suggests matured thought, and the inference is not unreasonable that the intention of Brother Lawrence was to sum up in the "Maxims" his teaching, which in the form of letters was inevitably disconnected, in the hope that his message might thereby gain a wider and more general hearing. The "Character" is a sketch of Brother Lawrence as he appeared to those who saw him in the daily round of life. The author is the chronicler of the "Conversations," probably M. Beaufort, Grand Vicar to M. de Chalons, cardinal de Noailles. As far as possible, he allows his subject to speak for himself. "Nobody can paint the Saints so well as they themselves," he writers; "nothing can bring more clearly before you this servant of GOD, than his own words spoken in all the simplicity of his heart." Under the title of "Gathered Thoughts" the translator has brought together a few scattered sayings of Brother Lawrence which have been collected for the most part from the short "Life" written in 1691. They are only fragments, but well merit being gathered.