The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Practice of the Presence of God, 
by Brother Lawrence, edited by Lightheart

** This is a COPYRIGHTED Project Gutenberg eBook, Details Below **
**     Please follow the copyright guidelines in this file.     **

Copyright (C) 2002 by Lightheart

This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.

Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.


**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**

**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**

*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****


Title: The Practice of the Presence of God

Author: Brother Lawrence, edited by Lightheart

Release Date: May, 2004  [EBook #5657]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on August 4, 2002]

Edition: 10

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD ***




Copyright (C) 2002 by Lightheart.



Brother Lawrence's
THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD
JUNE 2002 Edition
edited by LightHeart at
PracticeGodsPresence.com

Includes:
Editor's Preface
Conversations and Letters

Editor's Preface

Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite lay brother, was born Nicholas Herman
around 1610 in Herimenil, Lorraine, a Duchy of France. His birth
records were destroyed in a fire at his parish church during the Thirty
Years War, a war in which he fought as a young soldier.  It was also
the war in which he sustained a near fatal injury to his sciatic nerve.
The injury left him quite crippled and in chronic pain for the rest of
his life.

Experiencing the trouble of mind that often comes at mid-life, he
entered a newly established monastery in Paris where he became a cook
and then sandalmaker for the community which grew to over one hundred
members.

In times as troubled as today, Brother Lawrence, discovered, then
followed, a pure and uncomplicated way to walk continually in God's
presence. For some forty years, he lived and walked with Our Father at
his side. Yet, through his own words, we learn that Brother Lawrence's
first ten years were full of severe trials and challenges.

A gentle man of joyful spirit, Brother Lawrence shunned attention and
the limelight, knowing that outside distraction "spoils all". It was
not until after his death that a few of his letters were collected.
Joseph de Beaufort, representative and counsel to the local archbishop,
first published the letters in a small pamphlet. The following year, in
a second publication which he titled, 'The Practice of the Presence of
God', de Beaufort included, as introductory material, the content of
four conversations he had with Brother Lawrence.

In this small book, through letters and conversations, Brother Lawrence
simply and beautifully explains how to continually walk with God -not
from the head but from the heart. Brother Lawrence left the gift of a
way of life available to anyone who seeks to know God's peace and
presence; that anyone, regardless of age or circumstance, can practice
-anywhere, anytime.  Brother Lawrence also left the gift of a direct
approach to living in God's presence that is as practical today as it
was three hundred years ago.

Brother Lawrence died in 1691, having practiced God's presence for over
forty years.  His quiet death was much like his monastic life where
each day and each hour was a new beginning and a fresh commitment to
love God with all his heart.
- edited by Lightheart at
PracticeGodsPresence.com

CONVERSATIONS

Introduction:
At the time of de Beaufort's interviews, Brother Lawrence was in his
late fifties. Joseph de Beaufort later commented that the crippled
brother, who was then in charge of the upkeep of over one hundred pairs
of sandals, was "rough in appearance but gentle in grace".

First Conversation:
The first time I saw Brother Lawrence was upon the 3rd of August, 1666.
He told me that God had done him a singular favor in his conversion at
the age of eighteen. During that winter, upon seeing a tree stripped of
its leaves and considering that within a little time the leaves would
be renewed and after that the flowers and fruit appear, Brother
Lawrence received a high view of the Providence and Power of God which
has never since been effaced from his soul. This view had perfectly set
him loose from the world and kindled in him such a love for God, that
he could not tell whether it had increased in the forty years that he
had lived since.

Brother Lawrence said he had been footman to M. Fieubert, the
treasurer, and that he was a great awkward fellow who broke everything.
He finally decided to enter a monastery thinking that he would there be
made to smart for his awkwardness and the faults he should commit, and
so he should sacrifice his life with its pleasures to God. But Brother
Lawrence said that God had disappointed him because he met with nothing
but satisfaction in that state.

Brother Lawrence related that we should establish ourselves in a sense
of God's Presence by continually conversing with Him. It was a shameful
thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and fooleries. We
should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God which would
yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.

He said we ought to quicken and enliven our faith. It was lamentable we
had so little. Instead of taking faith for the rule of their conduct,
men amused themselves with trivial devotions which changed daily. He
said that faith was sufficient to bring us to a high degree of
perfection. We ought to give ourselves up to God with regard both to
things temporal and spiritual and seek our satisfaction only in the
fulfilling of His will. Whether God led us by suffering or by
consolation all would be equal to a soul truly resigned.

He said we need fidelity in those drynesses, or insensibilities and
irksomenesses in prayer by which God tries our love to Him; that then
was the time for us to make good and effectual acts of resignation,
whereof one alone would oftentimes very much promote our spiritual
advancement.

He said that as far as the miseries and sins he heard of daily in the
world, he was so far from wondering at them, that, on the contrary, he
was surprised there were not more considering the malice sinners were
capable of. For his part, he prayed for them. But knowing that God
could remedy the mischief they did when He pleased, he gave himself no
further trouble.

Brother Lawrence said to arrive at such resignation as God requires, we
should watch attentively over all the passions which mingle in
spiritual things as well as those of a grosser nature. God would give
light concerning those passions to those who truly desire to serve Him.


At the end of this first conversation Brother Lawrence said that if my
purpose for the visit was to sincerely discuss how to serve God, I
might come to him as often as I pleased and without any fear of being
troublesome. If this was not the case, then I ought visit him no more.

Second Conversation:
Brother Lawrence told me he had always been governed by love, without
selfish views. Since he resolved to make the love of God the end of all
his actions, he had found reasons to be well satisfied with his method.
He was pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the
love of God, seeking Him only, and nothing else, not even His gifts.

He said he had been long troubled in mind from a certain belief that he
should be damned. All the men in the world could not have persuaded him
to the contrary. This trouble of mind had lasted four years during
which time he had suffered much.

Finally he reasoned: I did not engage in a religious life but for the
love of God. I have endeavored to act only for Him. Whatever becomes of
me, whether I be lost or saved, I will always continue to act purely
for the love of God. I shall have this good at least that till death I
shall have done all that is in me to love Him. From that time on
Brother Lawrence lived his life in perfect liberty and continual joy.
He placed his sins between himself and God to tell Him that he did not
deserve His favors yet God still continued to bestow them in abundance.


Brother Lawrence said that in order to form a habit of conversing with
God continually and referring all we do to Him, we must at first apply
to Him with some diligence. Then, after a little care, we should find
His love inwardly excite us to it without any difficulty.

He expected after the pleasant days God had given him, he should have
his turn of pain and suffering. Yet he was not uneasy about it. Knowing
that since he could do nothing of himself, God would not fail to give
him the strength to bear them.

When an occasion of practicing some virtue was offered, he addressed
himself to God saying, "Lord, I cannot do this unless Thou enablest
me". And then he received strength more than sufficient. When he had
failed in his duty, he only confessed his fault saying to God, "I shall
never do otherwise, if You leave me to myself. It is You who must
hinder my falling and mend what is amiss." Then, after this, he gave
himself no further uneasiness about it.

Brother Lawrence said we ought to act with God in the greatest
simplicity, speaking to Him frankly and plainly, and imploring His
assistance in our affairs just as they happen. God never failed to
grant it, as Brother Lawrence had often experienced.

He said he had been lately sent into Burgundy to buy the provision of
wine for the community. This was a very unwelcome task for him because
he had no turn for business and because he was lame and could not go
about the boat but by rolling himself over the casks. Yet he gave
himself no uneasiness about it, nor about the purchase of the wine. He
said to God, it was His business he was about, and that he afterwards
found it very well performed. He mentioned he had been sent into
Auvergne the year before upon the same account. He could not tell how
the matter passed except that it proved very well.

So, likewise, in his business in the kitchen (to which he had naturally
a great aversion), having accustomed himself to do everything there for
the love of God and asking for His grace to do his work well, he had
found everything easy during the fifteen years that he had been
employed there. He was very well pleased with the post he was now in.
Yet he was as ready to quit that as the former, since he was always
pleasing God in every condition, by doing little things for His love.
With him the set times of prayer were not different from other times.
He retired to pray according to the directions of his superior, but he
did not want such retirement nor ask for it because his greatest
business did not divert him from God.

Since he knew his obligation to love God in all things, and as he
endeavored so to do, he had no need of a director to advise him, but he
greatly needed a confessor to absolve him. He said he was very sensible
of his faults  but not discouraged by them. He confessed them to God
and made no excuses. When he had so done, he peaceably resumed his
usual practice of love and adoration.

In his trouble of mind, Brother Lawrence had consulted nobody. Knowing
only by the light of faith that God was present, he contented himself
with directing all his actions to Him. He did everything with a desire
to please Him and let what would come of it.

He said that useless thoughts spoil all -that the mischief began there.
We ought to reject them as soon as we perceived their impertinence and
return to our communion with God. In the beginning he had often passed
his time appointed for prayer in rejecting wandering thoughts and
falling right back into them. He could never regulate his devotion by
certain methods as some do. Nevertheless, at first he had meditated for
some time, but afterwards that went off in a manner that he could give
no account of. Brother Lawrence emphasized that all bodily
mortifications and other exercises are useless unless they serve to
arrive at the union with God by love. He had well considered this. He
found that the shortest way to go straight to God was by a continual
exercise of love and doing all things for His sake.

He noted that there was a great difference between the acts of the
intellect and those of the will. Acts of the intellect were
comparatively of little value. Acts of the will were all important. Our
only business was to love and delight ourselves in God. All possible
kinds of mortification, if they were void of the love of God, could not
efface a single sin. Instead, we ought, without anxiety, to expect the
pardon of our sins from the blood of Jesus Christ only endeavoring to
love Him with all our hearts. And he noted that God seemed to have
granted the greatest favors to the greatest sinners as more signal
monuments of His mercy.

Brother Lawrence said the greatest pains or pleasures of this world
were not to be compared with what he had experienced of both kinds in a
spiritual state. As a result he feared nothing, desiring only one thing
of God - that he might not offend Him. He said he carried no guilt.
When I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, I am used to
do so. I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself. If I fail
not, then I give God thanks acknowledging that it comes from Him.

Third Conversation:
Brother Lawrence told me that the foundation of the spiritual life in
him had been a high notion and esteem of God in faith. When he had once
well established his faith he had no other care but to reject every
other thought so he might perform all his actions for the love of God.
He said when sometimes he had not thought of God for a good while he
did not disquiet himself for it. Having acknowledged his wretchedness
to God, he simply returned to Him with so much the greater trust in Him.

He said the trust we put in God honors Him much and draws down great
graces. Also, that it was impossible not only that God should deceive
but that He should long let a soul suffer which is perfectly resigned
to Him and resolved to endure everything for His sake.

Brother Lawrence often experienced the ready succors of Divine Grace.
And because of his experience of grace, when he had business to do, he
did not think of it beforehand. When it was time to do it, he found in
God, as in a clear mirror, all that was fit for him to do. When outward
business diverted him a little from the thought of God a fresh
remembrance coming from God invested his soul and so inflamed and
transported him that it was difficult for him to contain himself. He
said he was more united to God in his outward employments than when he
left them for devotion in retirement.

Brother Lawrence said  that the worst that could happen to him was to
lose that sense of God which he had enjoyed so long. Yet the goodness
of God assured him He would not forsake him utterly and that He would
give him strength to bear whatever evil He permitted to happen to him.
Brother Lawrence, therefore, said he feared nothing. He had no occasion
to consult with anybody about his state. In the past, when he had
attempted to do it, he had always come away more perplexed. Since
Brother Lawrence was ready to lay down his life for the love of God, he
had no apprehension of danger.

He said that perfect resignation to God was a sure way to heaven, a way
in which we have always sufficient light for our conduct. In the
beginning of the spiritual life we ought to be faithful in doing our
duty and denying ourselves and then, after a time, unspeakable
pleasures followed. In difficulties we need only have recourse to Jesus
Christ and beg His grace with which everything became easy.

Brother Lawrence said that many do not advance in the Christian
progress because they stick in penances and particular exercises while
they neglect the love of God which is the end. This appeared plainly by
their works and was the reason why we see so little solid virtue. He
said there needed neither art nor science for going to God, but only a
heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him  and to
love Him only.

Fourth Conversation:
Brother Lawrence spoke with great openness of heart concerning his
manner of going to God whereof some part is related already. He told me
that all consists in one hearty renunciation of everything which we are
sensible does not lead to God. We might accustom ourselves to a
continual conversation with Him with freedom and in simplicity. We need
only to recognize God intimately present with us and address ourselves
to Him every moment. We need to beg His assistance for knowing His will
in things doubtful and for rightly performing those which we plainly
see He requires of us, offering them to Him before we do them, and
giving Him thanks when we have completed them.

In our conversation with God we should also engage in praising,
adoring, and loving him incessantly for His infinite goodness and
perfection. Without being discouraged on account of our sins, we should
pray for His grace with a perfect confidence, as relying upon the
infinite merits of our Lord. Brother Lawrence said that God never
failed offering us His grace at each action. It never failed except
when Brother Lawrence's thoughts had wandered from a sense of God's
Presence, or he forgot to ask His assistance. He said that God always
gave us light in our doubts, when we had no other design but to please
Him.

Our sanctification did not depend upon changing our works. Instead, it
depended on  doing that for God's sake which we commonly do for our
own. He thought it was lamentable to see how many people mistook the
means for the end, addicting themselves to certain works which they
performed very imperfectly by reason of their human or selfish regards.
The most excellent method he had found for going to God was that of
doing our common business without any view of pleasing men but purely
for the love of God.

Brother Lawrence felt it was a great delusion to think that the times
of prayer ought to differ from other times. We are as strictly obliged
to adhere to God by action in the time of action, as by prayer in its
season. His own prayer was nothing else but a sense of the presence of
God, his soul being at that time insensible to everything but Divine
Love. When the appointed times of prayer were past, he found no
difference, because he still continued with God, praising and blessing
Him with all his might. Thus he passed his life in continual joy. Yet
he hoped that God would give him somewhat to suffer when he grew
stronger.

Brother Lawrence said we ought, once for all, heartily to put our whole
trust in God, and make a total surrender of ourselves to Him, secure
that He would not deceive us. We ought not weary of doing little things
for the love of God, Who regards not the greatness of the work, but the
love with which it is performed. We should not wonder if, in the
beginning, we often failed in our endeavors, but that at last we should
gain a habit which will naturally produce its acts in us without our
care and to our exceeding great delight.

The whole substance of religion was faith, hope, and charity. In the
practice of these we become united to the will of God. Everything else
is indifferent and to be used as a means that we may arrive at our end
and then be swallowed up by faith and charity. All things are possible
to him who believes. They are less difficult to him who hopes. They are
more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres
in the practice of these three virtues. The end we ought to propose to
ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshippers of
God we can possibly be, and as we hope to be through all eternity.

Brother Lawrence said when we enter upon the spiritual we should
consider and examine to the bottom what we are. We, then, would find
ourselves worthy of all contempt and  subject to all kinds of misery,
and numberless accidents, which trouble us and cause perpetual
vicissitudes in our health, in our humors, in our internal and external
dispositions. Alas, we are persons whom God would humble by many pains
and labors as well within as without.

After this, we should not wonder that troubles, temptations,
oppositions, and contradictions happen to us from men. We ought, on the
contrary, to submit ourselves to them and bear them as long as God
pleases as things highly advantageous to us. The greater perfection a
soul aspires after, the more dependent it is upon Divine Grace.

Being questioned by one of his own community (to whom he was obliged to
open himself) by what means he had attained such an habitual sense of
God, Brother Lawrence told him that, since his first coming to the
monastery, he had considered God as the end of all his thoughts and
desires, as the mark to which they should tend, and in which they
should terminate.

He noted that in the beginning of his novitiate he spent the hours
appointed for private prayer in thinking of God so as to convince his
mind and impress deeply upon his heart the Divine existence. He did
this by devout sentiments and submission to the lights of faith, rather
than by studied reasonings and elaborate meditations. By this short and
sure method he exercised himself in the knowledge and love of God,
resolving to use his utmost endeavor to live in a continual sense of
His Presence, and, if possible, never to forget Him more.

When he had thus, in prayer, filled his mind with great sentiments of
that Infinite Being, he went to his work appointed in the kitchen (for
he was then cook for the  community). There having first considered
severally the things his office required, and when and how each thing
was to be done, he spent all the intervals of his time, both before and
after his work, in prayer.

When he began his business, he said to God with a filial trust in Him,
"O my God, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy
commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech Thee to
grant me the grace to continue in Thy Presence; and to this end do Thou
prosper me with Thy assistance. Receive all my works, and possess all
my affections." As he proceeded in his work, he continued his familiar
conversation with his Maker, imploring His grace, and offering to Him
all his actions.

When he had finished, he examined himself how he had discharged his
duty. If he found well, he returned thanks to God. If otherwise, he
asked pardon and, without being discouraged, he set his mind right
again. He then continued his exercise of the presence of God as if he
had never deviated from it. "Thus," said he, "by rising after my falls,
and by frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I am come to a state
wherein it would be as difficult for me not to think of God as it was
at first to accustom myself to it."

As Brother Lawrence had found such an advantage in walking in the
presence of God, it was natural for him to recommend it earnestly to
others. More strikingly, his example was a stronger inducement than any
arguments he could propose. His very countenance was edifying with such
a sweet and calm devotion appearing that he could not but affect the
beholders.

It was observed, that in the greatest hurry of business in the kitchen,
he still preserved his recollection and heavenly-mindedness. He was
never hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in its season with an
even uninterrupted composure and tranquillity of spirit. "The time of
business," said he, "does not with me differ from the time of prayer.
In the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at
the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great
tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Supper."

Letters

Introduction:
Brother Lawrence's letters are the very heart and soul of what has
become titled 'The Practice of the Presence of God'. All of these
letters were written during the last ten years of his life. Many of
them were to long-time friends, a Carmelite sister and a sister at a
nearby convent, one or both who were from his native village, perhaps
relatives. It is likely that the first letter was to the prioress of
one of these convents. Note that the fourth letter is written in the
third person, Brother Lawrence describing his own experience.

First Letter:
Since you desire so earnestly that I should communicate to you the
method by which I arrived at that habitual sense of God's presence,
which our Lord, of His mercy, has been pleased to vouchsafe to me; I
must tell you, that it is with great difficulty that I am prevailed on
by your importunities. I do it only upon  the terms that you show my
letter to nobody. If I knew that you would let it be seen, all the
desire that I have for your advancement would not be able to determine
me to it.

The account I can give you is: Having found in many books different
methods of going to God, and divers practices of the spiritual life, I
thought this would serve rather to puzzle me, than facilitate what I
sought after, which was nothing but how to become wholly God's. This
made me resolve to give the all for the All. After having given myself
wholly to God, to make all the satisfaction I could for my sins, I
renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He, and I began
to live as if there was none but He and I in the world.

Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet
of his judge. At other times I beheld Him in my heart as my Father, as
my God. I worshipped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind in
His holy Presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered
from Him. I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued
it, notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without
troubling or disquieting myself when my mind had wandered
involuntarily.

I made this my business, as much all the day long as at the appointed
times of prayer. At all times, every hour, every minute, even in the
height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was
capable of interrupting my thought of God. Such has been my common
practice ever since I entered into religion. Though I have done it very
imperfectly, I have found great advantages by it. These, I well know,
are to be imputed to the mere mercy and goodness of God, because we can
do nothing without Him; and I still less than any.

When we are faithful to keep ourselves in His holy Presence, and set
Him always before us, this hinders our offending Him, and doing
anything that may displease Him. It also begets in us a holy freedom,
and if I may so speak, a familiarity with God, where, when we ask, He
supplies the graces we need. In fine, by often repeating these acts,
they become habitual, and the presence of God is rendered as it were
natural to us.

Give Him thanks, if you please, with me, for His great goodness towards
me, which I can never sufficiently admire, for the many favors He has
done to so miserable a sinner as I am.  May all things praise Him.
Amen.

Second Letter:
Not finding my manner of life in books, although I have no difficulty
about it, yet, for greater security, I shall be glad to know your
thoughts concerning it. In a conversation some days since with a person
of piety, he told me the spiritual life was a life of grace, which
begins with servile fear, which is increased by hope of eternal life,
and which is consummated by pure love; that each of these states had
its different stages, by which one arrives at last at that blessed
consummation.

I have not followed all these methods. On the contrary, from I know not
what instincts, I found they discouraged me. This was the reason why,
at my entrance into religion, I took a resolution to give myself up to
God, as the best satisfaction I could make for my sins and, for the
love of Him, to renounce all besides. For the first years, I commonly
employed myself during the time set apart for devotion, with the
thoughts of death, judgment, hell, heaven, and my sins. Thus I
continued some years applying my mind carefully the rest of the day,
and even in the midst of my business, to the presence of God, whom I
considered always as with me, often as in me.

At length I came insensibly to do the same thing during my set time of
prayer, which caused in me great delight and consolation. This practice
produced in me so high an esteem for God, that faith alone was capable
to satisfy me in that point. Such was my beginning. Yet I must tell you
that for the first ten years I suffered much. The apprehension that I
was not devoted to God as I wished to be, my past sins always present
to my mind, and the great unmerited favors which God did me, were the
matter and source of my sufferings.

During this time I fell often, and rose again presently. It seemed to
me that all creatures, reason, and God Himself were against me and
faith alone for me. I was troubled sometimes with thoughts, that to
believe I had received such favors was an effect of my presumption,
which pretended to be at once where others arrive with difficulty. At
other times that it was a willful delusion, and that there was no
salvation for me.

When I thought of nothing but to end my days in these troubles (which
did not at all diminish the trust I had in God, and which served only
to increase my faith), I found myself changed all at once; and my soul,
which till that time was in trouble, felt a profound inward peace, as
if she were in her center and place of rest. Ever since that time I
walk before God simply, in faith, with humility and with love; and I
apply myself diligently to do nothing and think nothing which may
displease Him. I hope that when I have done what I can, He will do with
me what He pleases.

As for what passes in me at present, I cannot express it. I have no
pain or difficulty about my state, because I have no will but that of
God, which I endeavor to accomplish in all things, and to which I am so
resigned, that I would not take up a straw from the ground against His
order, or from any other motive but purely that of love for Him.

I have quitted all forms of devotion and set prayers but those to which
my state obliges me. I make it my business only to persevere in His
holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention and a
general fond regard to God, which I may call an actual presence of God;
or, to speak better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of
the soul with God, which often causes in me joys so great that I am
forced to use means to moderate them and prevent their appearance to
others. In short, I am assured beyond all doubt that my soul has been
with God above these thirty years. I pass over many things, that I may
not be tedious to you, yet I think it proper to inform you after what
manner I consider myself before God, whom I behold as my King.

I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and
corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King.
Touched with a sensible regret I confess to Him all my wickedness. I
ask His forgiveness. I abandon myself in His hands that He may do what
He pleases with me. This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far
from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table,
serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures. He
converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a
thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is
thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence.

My most usual method is this simple attention, and such a general
passionate regard to God to whom I find myself often attached with
greater sweetness and delight than that of an infant at the mother's
breast. If I dare use the expression, I should choose to call this
state the bosom of God, for the inexpressible sweetness which I taste
and experience there. If sometimes my thoughts wander from it by
necessity or infirmity, I am presently recalled by inward emotions so
charming and delicious that I cannot even describe them.

I desire your reverence to reflect rather upon my great wretchedness,
of which you are fully informed, than upon the great favors which God
does me, all unworthy and ungrateful as I am. As for my set hours of
prayer, they are only a continuation of the same exercise. Sometimes I
consider myself there, as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to
make a statue. Presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to make
His perfect image in my soul, and render me entirely like Himself. At
other times, when I apply myself to prayer, I feel all my spirit and
all my soul lift itself up without any care or effort of mine. It
continues as if my spirit were suspended and firmly fixed in God as in
its center and place of rest.

I know that some charge this state with inactivity, delusion, and
self-love. I confess that it is a holy inactivity, and would be a happy
self-love, if the soul in that state were capable of it; because in
effect, while she is in this repose, she cannot be disturbed by such
acts as she was formerly accustomed to, and which were then her
support, but would now rather hinder than assist her.

Yet I cannot bear that this should be called delusion; because the soul
which thus enjoys God desires herein nothing but Him. If this be
delusion in me, it belongs to God to remedy it. Let Him do what He
pleases with me. I desire only Him and to be wholly devoted to Him.

You will, however, oblige me in sending me your opinion, to which I
always pay a great deference, for I have a singular esteem for your
reverence, and am yours.

Third Letter:
We have a God who is infinitely gracious and knows all our wants. I
always thought that He would reduce you to extremity. He will come in
His own time, and when you least expect it. Hope in Him more than ever.
Thank Him with me for the favors He does you, particularly for the
fortitude and patience which He gives you in your afflictions. It is a
plain mark of the care He takes of you. Comfort yourself with Him, and
give thanks for all.

I admire also the fortitude and bravery of M--. God has given him a
good disposition, and a good will; but there is in him still a little
of the world and a great deal of youth. I hope the affliction which God
has sent him will prove a wholesome remedy to him and make him enter
into himself. It is an accident very proper to engage him to put all
his trust in Him who accompanies him everywhere. Let him think of Him
the oftenest he can, especially in the greatest dangers.

A little lifting up the heart suffices. A little remembrance of God,
one act of inward worship, though upon a march, and sword in hand, are
prayers which, however short, are nevertheless very acceptable to God.
And far from lessening a soldier's courage in occasions of danger, they
best serve to fortify it. Let him then think of God the most he can.
Let him accustom himself, by degrees, to this small but holy exercise.
Nobody perceives it, and nothing is easier than to repeat often in the
day these little internal adorations. Recommend to him, if you please,
that he think of God the most he can, in the manner here directed. It
is very fit and most necessary for a soldier, who is daily exposed to
dangers of life, and often of his very salvation.

I hope that God will assist him and all the family, to whom I present
my service, being theirs and yours.

Fourth Letter:
I have taken this opportunity to communicate to you the sentiments of
one of our society concerning the admirable effects and continual
assistances which he receives from the presence of God. Let you and me
both profit by them.

For the past forty years his continual care has been to be always with
God; and to do nothing, say nothing, and think nothing which may
displease Him. All this without any other view than purely for the love
of Him and because He deserves infinitely more.

He is now so accustomed to that Divine presence that he receives from
it continual succors upon all occasions. For about thirty years, his
soul has been filled with joys so continual, and sometimes so great,
that he is forced to use means to moderate them and hinder their
appearing outwardly.

If sometimes he is a little too much absent from that Divine presence,
God presently recalls Himself by a stirring in his soul. This often
happens when he is most engaged in his outward business. He answers
with exact fidelity to these inward drawings, either by an elevation of
his heart towards God, or by a meek and fond regard to Him, or by such
words as love forms upon these occasions. For instance, he may say "My
God, here I am all devoted to You. Lord, make me according to Your
heart." It seems to him (as in effect he feels it) that this God of
love, satisfied with such few words, reposes again, and rests in the
depth and center of his soul. The experience of these things gives him
such an assurance that God is always in the depth or bottom of his soul
that it renders him incapable of doubting it on any account whatever.

Judge by this what content and satisfaction he enjoys. While he
continually finds in himself so great a treasure he is no longer in an
anxious search after it. He now has it open before him and may take
what he pleases of it. He complains much of our blindness; and cries
often that we are to be pitied who content ourselves with so little.
God, says he, has infinite treasure to bestow, and we take up with a
little sensible devotion which passes in a moment. Blind as we are, we
hinder God, and stop the current of His graces. But when He finds a
soul penetrated with a lively faith, He pours into it His graces and
favors plentifully. There they flow like a torrent, which, after being
forcibly stopped against its ordinary course, when it has found a
passage, spreads itself with impetuosity and abundance. Yet we often
stop this torrent by the little value we set upon it. Let us stop it no
more. Let us enter into ourselves and break down the bank which hinders
it. Let us make way for grace. Let us redeem the lost time, for perhaps
we have but little left. Death follows us close. Let us be well
prepared for it, for we die but once, and a mistake there is
irretrievable.

I say again, let us enter into ourselves. The time presses. There is no
room for delay. Our souls are at stake.  I believe you have taken such
effectual measures that you will not be surprised. I commend you for
it. It is the one thing necessary. We must, nevertheless, always work
at it, because not to advance, in the spiritual life, is to go back.

But those who have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward even in
sleep. If the vessel of our soul is still tossed with winds and storms,
let us awake the Lord, who reposes in it, and He will quickly calm the
sea.

I have taken the liberty to impart to you these good sentiments that
you may compare them with your own. They will serve again to kindle and
inflame them, if by misfortune (which God forbid, for it would be
indeed a great misfortune) they should be, though never so little,
cooled. Let us then both recall our first favors. Let us profit by the
example and the sentiments of this brother, who is little known of the
world, but known of God, and extremely caressed by Him.

I will pray for you. Please pray also for me, as I am yours in our
Lord.

Fifth Letter:
I received this day two books and a letter from Sister M--, who is
preparing to make her profession. She desires the prayers of your holy
society, and yours in particular. I perceive that she reckons much upon
them. Pray do not disappoint her. Beg of God that she may make her
sacrifice in the view of His love alone, and with a firm resolution to
be wholly devoted to Him. I will send you one of those books which
treat of the presence of God; a subject which, in my opinion, contains
the whole spiritual life. It seems to me that whoever duly practices it
will soon become spiritual.

I know that for the right practice of it, the heart must be empty of
all other things; because God will possess the heart alone. As He
cannot possess it alone, without emptying it of all besides, so neither
can He act there and do in it what He pleases unless it be left vacant
to Him. There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and
delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Only those
can comprehend it who practice and experience it. Yet I do not advise
you to do it from that motive. It is not pleasure which we ought to
seek in this exercise. Let us do it from a principle of love, and
because God would have us.

Were I a preacher, I should above all other things preach the practice
of the presence of God. Were I a director, I should advise all the
world to do it, so necessary do I think it, and so easy too. Ah! knew
we but the want we have of the grace and assistance of God, we would
never lose sight of Him, no, not for a moment.

Believe me, make immediately a holy and firm resolution never more
willfully to forget Him. Resolve to spend the rest of your days in His
sacred presence, deprived of all consolations, for the love of Him if
He thinks fit. Set heartily about this work, and if you do it
sincerely, be assured that you will soon find the effects of it.

I will assist you with my prayers, poor as they are. I recommend myself
earnestly to you and those of your holy society.

Sixth Letter:
I have received from M-- the things which you gave her for me. I wonder
that you have not given me your thoughts on the little book I sent to
you and which you must have received. Pray set heartily about the
practice of it in your old age. It is better late than never.

I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the
practice of the presence of God. For my part I keep myself retired with
Him in the depth and center of my soul as much as I can. While I am
with Him I fear nothing; but the least turning from Him is
insupportable. This exercise does not much fatigue the body. It is,
however, proper to deprive it sometimes, nay often, of many little
pleasures which are innocent and lawful. God will not permit a soul
that desires to be devoted entirely to Him to take pleasures other than
with Him. That is more than reasonable.

I do not say we must put any violent constraint upon ourselves. No, we
must serve God in a holy freedom. We must do our business faithfully
without trouble or disquiet, recalling our mind to God mildly and with
tranquillity as often as we find it wandering from Him. It is, however,
necessary to put our whole trust in God. We must lay aside all other
cares and even some forms of devotion, though very good in themselves,
yet such as one often engages in unreasonably. Those devotions are only
means to attain to the end. When by this exercise of the practice of
the presence of God we are with Him who is our end, it is useless to
return to the means. We may simply continue with Him in our commerce of
love, persevering in His holy presence by an act of praise, of
adoration, or of desire or by an act of resignation, or thanksgiving,
and in all manner which our spirit can invent.

Be not discouraged by the repugnance which you may find in it from
nature. You must sacrifice yourself. At first, one often thinks it lost
time. But you must go on and resolve to persevere in it to death,
notwithstanding all the difficulties that may occur.

I recommend myself to the prayers of your holy society, and yours in
particular. I am yours in our Lord.

Seventh Letter:
I pity you much. It will be of great importance if you can leave the
care of your affairs to M-- and spend the remainder of your life only
in worshipping God. He requires no great matters of us; a little
remembrance of Him from time to time, a little adoration: sometimes to
pray for His grace. Sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, and
sometimes to return Him thanks for the favors He has given you, and
still gives you, in the midst of your troubles. Console yourself with
Him the oftenest you can. Lift up your heart to Him at your meals and
when you are in company. The least little remembrance will always be
acceptable to Him. You need not cry very loud. He is nearer to us than
we are aware.

It is not necessary for being with God to be always at church. We may
make an oratory of our heart wherein we retire from time to time, to
converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love. Every one is capable
of such familiar conversation with God, some more, some less. He knows
what we can do.

Let us begin then. Perhaps He expects but one generous resolution on
our part. Have courage. We have but little time to live. You are near
sixty-four, and I am almost eighty. Let us live and die with God.
Sufferings will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him. The
greatest pleasures will be, without Him, a cruel punishment to us. May
He be blessed for all.

Use yourself then by degrees thus to worship Him, to beg His grace, to
offer Him your heart from time to time, in the midst of your business,
even every moment if you can. Do not always scrupulously confine
yourself to certain rules or particular forms of devotion; but act with
a general confidence in God  with love and humility.

You may assure M-- of my poor prayers, and that I am their servant, and
yours particularly.

Eighth Letter:
You tell me nothing new. You are not the only one that is troubled with
wandering thoughts. Our mind is extremely roving. But as the will is
mistress of all our faculties, she must recall them and carry them to
God as their last end.

When the mind, for want of being sufficiently reduced by recollection,
at our first engaging in devotion, has contracted certain bad habits of
wandering and dissipation, they are difficult to overcome. Our mind can
draw us, even against our wills, to the things of the earth. I believe
one remedy for this is to confess our faults and to humble ourselves
before God.

I do not advise you to use multiplicity of words in prayer. Many words
and long discourses are often the occasions of wandering. Hold yourself
in prayer before God, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man's
gate. Let it be your business to keep your mind in the presence of the
Lord. If your mind sometimes wanders, and withdraws itself from Him, do
not much disquiet yourself for that. Trouble and disquiet serve rather
to distract the mind than to re-collect it. The will must bring it back
in tranquillity. If you persevere in this manner, God will have pity on
you. One way to re-collect the mind easily in the time of prayer, and
preserve it more in tranquillity, is not to let it wander too far at
other times.

Keep your mind strictly in the presence of God. Then being accustomed
to think of Him often, you will find it easy to keep your mind calm in
the time of prayer, or at least to recall it from its wanderings. I
have told you already of the advantages we may draw from this practice
of the presence of God. Let us set about it seriously and pray for one
another.

Ninth Letter:
The enclosed is an answer to that which I received from M--. Pray
deliver it to her. She seems to me full of good will, but she would go
faster than grace. One does not become holy all at once. I recommend
her to you. We ought to help one another by our advice, and yet more by
our good examples. Please let me hear of her from time to time and
whether she is very fervent and obedient.

Let us thus think often that our only business in this life is to
please God, that perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity. You and I
have lived over forty years in the monastic life. Have we employed them
in loving and serving God, who by His mercy has called us to this state
and for that very end? I am filled with shame and confusion, when I
reflect on the one hand upon the great favors which God has done and
incessantly continues to do me; and on the other, upon the ill use I
have made of them and my small advancement in the way of perfection.

Since by His mercy He gives us still a little time, let us begin in
earnest, let us repair the lost time, let us return with a full
assurance to that Father of mercies, who is always ready to receive us
affectionately. Let us renounce, let us generously renounce, for the
love of Him, all that is not Himself. He deserves infinitely more.

Let us think of Him perpetually. Let us put all our trust in Him. I
doubt not but we shall soon find the effects of it by receiving the
abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without
which we can do nothing but sin. We cannot escape the dangers which
abound in life without the actual and continual help of God. Let us
then pray to Him for it continually.  How can we pray to Him without
being with Him? How can we be with Him but in thinking of Him often?
And how can we often think of Him, but by a holy habit which we should
form of it?

You will tell me that I am always saying the same thing. It is true,
for this is the best and easiest method I know. I use no other. I
advise all the world to do it. We must know before we can love. In
order to know God, we must often think of Him.  And when we come to
love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be
with our treasure.

Tenth Letter:
I have had a good deal of difficulty bringing myself to write to M.--.
I do it now purely because you desire me to do so. Pray write the
directions and send it to him. I am very well pleased with the trust
which you have in God. I wish that He may increase it in you more and
more. We cannot have too much trust in so good and faithful a Friend
who will never fail us in this world nor in the next.

If M.-- takes advantage of the loss he has had and puts all his
confidence in God, He will soon give him another friend more powerful
and more inclined to serve him. He disposes of hearts as He pleases.
Perhaps M.-- was too attached to him he has lost. We ought to love our
friends, but without encroaching upon the love of God, which must be
the principal.

Pray remember that I have recommended you think often of God, by day,
by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always
near you and with you. Leave Him not alone.  You would think it rude to
leave a friend alone who came to visit you: why then must God be
neglected?  Do not forget Him but think on Him often. Adore Him
continually. Live and die with Him. This is the glorious employment of
a Christian; in a word, this is our profession. If we do not know it we
must learn it.

I will endeavor to help you with my prayers, and am yours in our Lord.

Eleventh Letter:
I do not pray that you may be delivered from your pains; but I pray
earnestly that God would give you strength and patience to bear them as
long as He pleases. Comfort yourself with Him who holds you fastened to
the cross. He will loose you when He thinks fit. Happy are those who
suffer with Him. Accustom yourself to suffer in that manner, and seek
from Him the strength to endure as much, and as long, as He judges
necessary for you.

The men of the world do not comprehend these truths. Nor is it to be
wondered at, since they suffer like what they are and not like
Christians. They consider sickness as a pain to nature and not as a
favor from God. Seeing it only in that light, they find nothing in it
but grief and distress. But those who consider sickness as coming from
the hand of God, as the effects of His mercy and the means which He
employs for their salvation, commonly find in it great sweetness and
sensible consolation.

I pray that you see that God is often nearer to us and more effectually
present with us in sickness than in health. Rely upon no other
Physician because He reserves your cure to Himself. Put all your trust
in Him, and you will soon find the effects of it in your recovery,
which we often retard, by putting greater confidence in physic than in
God. Whatever remedies you make use of, they will succeed only so far
as He permits. When pains come from God, He only can cure them. He
often sends diseases of the body to cure those of the soul. Comfort
yourself with the sovereign Physician both of soul and body.

I foresee that you will tell me that I am very much at my ease, that I
eat and drink at the table of the Lord. You have reason. But think how
painful it would be to the greatest criminal in the world to eat at the
king's table and be served by him yet be without assurance of pardon? I
believe he would feel great uneasiness, such as nothing could moderate,
but only his trust in the goodness of his sovereign.

So I assure you, that whatever pleasures I taste at the table of my
King, my sins, ever present before my eyes, as well as the uncertainty
of my pardon, torment me, though in truth that torment itself is
pleasing. Be satisfied with the condition in which God places you.
However happy you may think me, I envy you. Pain and suffering would be
a paradise to me, if I could suffer with my God. The greatest pleasure
would be hell to me if I could relish them without Him. All my
consolation would be to suffer something for His sake.

I must, in a little time, go to God. What comforts me in this life is
that I now see Him by faith. I see Him in such a manner as might make
me say sometimes, I believe no more, but I see. I feel what faith
teaches us, and, in that assurance and that practice of faith, I will
live and die with Him.

Continue then always with God. It is the only support and comfort for
your affliction. I shall beseech Him to be with you. I present my
service.

Twelfth Letter:
If we were well accustomed to the exercise of the presence of God all
bodily diseases would be much alleviated. God often permits that we
suffer a little to purify our souls and oblige us to continue with Him.


Take courage. Offer Him your pains incessantly, pray to Him for
strength to endure them. Above all, gain a habit of entertaining
yourself often with God, and forget Him the least you can. Adore Him in
your infirmities. Offer yourself to Him from time to time. And, in the
height of your sufferings, beseech Him humbly and affectionately (as a
child his Father) to make you conformable to His holy will. I shall
endeavor to assist you with my poor prayers.

God has many ways of drawing us to Himself. He sometimes seems to hide
Himself from us. But faith alone ought to be our support. Faith is the
foundation of our confidence which must be all in God who will not fail
us in time of need. I know not how God will dispose of me. I am always
happy. All the world suffers and I, who deserve the severest
discipline, feel joys so continual and so great that I can scarce
contain them.

I would willingly ask of God a part of your sufferings. I know my
weakness, which is so great, that if He left me one moment to myself, I
should be the most wretched man alive. And yet I know not how He can
leave me alone, because faith gives me as strong a conviction as sense
can do. He never forsakes us until we have first forsaken Him. Let us
fear to leave Him. Let us be always with Him.  Let us live and die in
His presence. Do pray for me, as I pray for you.

Thirteenth Letter:
I am in pain to see you suffer so long. What gives me some ease and
sweetens the feeling I have of your griefs, is that they are proof of
God's love towards you. See your pains in that view and you will bear
them more easily. As your case is, it is my opinion that you should
leave off human remedies and resign yourself entirely to the providence
of God. Perhaps He waits only for that resignation and a perfect trust
in Him to cure you. Since, in spite of all your cares, physic has so
far proved unsuccessful and your malady still increases, it will not be
tempting God to abandon yourself in His hands and expect all from Him.

I told you in my last letter that He sometimes permits bodily diseases
to cure the distempers of the soul. Have courage. Make a virtue of
necessity. Ask of God, not deliverance from your pains, but strength to
bear resolutely, for the love of Him, all that He should please, and as
long as He shall please. Such prayers, indeed, are a little hard to
nature, but most acceptable to God, and sweet to those that love Him.

Love sweetens pains. And when one loves God, one suffers for His sake
with joy and courage. Do so, I beseech you. Comfort yourself with Him,
who is the only Physician of all our maladies. He is the Father of the
afflicted, always ready to help us. He loves us infinitely more than we
imagine. Love Him then, and seek not consolation elsewhere. I hope you
will soon receive it. Adieu.  I will help you with my prayers, poor as
they are, and shall be, always, yours in our Lord.

Fourteenth Letter:
I render thanks to our Lord, for having relieved you a little,
according to your desire. I have been often near expiring, though I was
never so much satisfied as then. Accordingly I did not pray for any
relief, but I prayed for strength to suffer with courage, humility, and
love. How sweet is it to suffer with God! However great the sufferings
may be, receive them with love. It is paradise to suffer and be with
Him. If in this life we would enjoy the peace of paradise, we must
accustom ourselves to a familiar, humble, affectionate conversation
with Him.

We must hinder the wandering of our spirits from Him on all occasions.
We must make our heart a spiritual temple, wherein to adore Him
incessantly. We must watch continually over ourselves, that we may not
do, nor say, nor think anything that may displease Him. When our minds
are thus employed about God, suffering will become full of unction and
consolation.

I know that to arrive at this state, the beginning is very difficult
because we must act purely in faith. But though it is difficult, we
know also that we can do all things with the grace of God, which He
never refuses to them who ask it earnestly. Knock, persevere in
knocking, and I answer for it that He will open to you His graces in
His due time, and grant you all at once what He has deferred during
many years. Adieu.

Pray to Him for me, as I pray to Him for you. I hope to see Him
quickly.

Fifteenth Letter:
God knows best what is needful for us. All that He does is for our
good. If we knew how much He loves us, we should be always ready to
receive equally and with indifference from His hand the sweet and the
bitter. All would please that came from Him. The sorest afflictions
never appear intolerable except when we see them in the wrong light.
When we see them in the hand of God who dispenses them, when we know
that it is our loving Father who abases and distresses us, our
sufferings will lose their bitterness and become even a source of
consolation.

Let all our employment be to know God. The more one knows Him, the more
one desires to know Him. Knowledge is commonly the measure of love. The
deeper and more extensive our knowledge shall be, the greater will be
our love. If our love of God were great we should love Him equally in
pains and pleasures.

Let us not amuse ourselves to seek or to love God for any sensible
favors (however elevated) which He has or may do us. Such favors, no
matter how great, cannot bring us so near to God as faith does in one
simple act. Let us seek Him often by faith. He is within us. Seek Him
not elsewhere. Are we not rude and deserve blame, if we leave Him alone
to busy ourselves about trifles which do not please Him and perhaps
offend Him? It is to be feared these trifles will one day cost us
dearly. Let us begin to be devoted to Him in good earnest. Let us cast
everything besides out of our hearts. He would possess them alone. Beg
this favor of Him. If we do what we can on our parts, we shall soon see
that change wrought in us which we aspire after.

I cannot thank Him sufficiently for the relaxation He has vouchsafed
you. I hope to see Him within a few days. Let us pray for one another.

Brother Lawrence died peacefully within days of this last letter.

---------------------------

Visit:
PracticeGodsPresence.com
Home of Brother Lawrence's
Practice of the Presence of God





*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD ***

*******This file should be named brola10.txt or brola10.zip *******

Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, brola11.zip

We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
even years after the official publication date.

Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
and editing by those who wish to do so.

Most people start at our sites at:
http://gutenberg.net or
http://promo.net/pg

These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).


Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.

http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03

Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90

Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
as it appears in our Newsletters.


Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)

We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
million dollars per hour in 2001 as we release over 50 new eBook
files per month, or 500 more eBooks in 2000 for a total of 4000+
If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
should reach over 300 billion eBooks given away by year's end.

The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion eBook
Files by December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion]
This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.

At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third
of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 eBooks.  We need
funding, as well as continued efforts by volunteers, to maintain
or increase our production and reach our goals.

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.

As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
that have responded.

As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.

In answer to various questions we have received on this:

We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
just ask.

While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
donate.

International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
ways.

Donations by check or money order may be sent to:

Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
PMB 113
1739 University Ave.
Oxford, MS 38655-4109

Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
method other than by check or money order.

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.

We need your donations more than ever!

You can get up to date donation information online at:

http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html

***

If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
you can always email directly to:

Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>

Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.

We would prefer to send you information by email.


**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor**
(Three Pages)

***START** SMALL PRINT! for COPYRIGHT PROTECTED EBOOKS ***

TITLE AND COPYRIGHT NOTICE:

The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
Copyright (C) 2002 by Lightheart


This eBook is distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart through the
Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project") under the "Project
Gutenberg" trademark and with the permission of the eBook's
copyright owner.

Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
any commercial products without permission.


LICENSE
You can (and are encouraged!) to copy and distribute this
Project Gutenberg-tm eBook.  Since, unlike many other of the
Project's eBooks, it is copyright protected, and since the
materials and methods you use will effect the Project's reputation,
your right to copy and distribute it is limited by the copyright
laws and by the conditions of this "Small Print!" statement.

  [A]  ALL COPIES: You may distribute copies of this eBook
electronically or on any machine readable medium now known
or hereafter discovered so long as you:

     (1)  Honor the refund and replacement provisions of this
"Small Print!" statement; and

     (2)  Pay a royalty to the Foundation of 20% of the gross
profits you derive calculated using the method you already use
to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you don't derive
profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are payable to "Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" within the 60 days
following each date you prepare (or were legally required
to prepare) your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.

  [B]  EXACT AND MODIFIED COPIES: The copies you distribute
must either be exact copies of this eBook, including this
Small Print statement, or can be in binary, compressed, mark-
up, or proprietary form (including any form resulting from
word processing or hypertext software), so long as *EITHER*:

     (1)  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
does *not* contain characters other than those intended by the
author of the work, although tilde (~), asterisk (*) and
underline (_) characters may be used to convey punctuation
intended by the author, and additional characters may be used
to indicate hypertext links; OR

     (2)  The eBook is readily convertible by the reader at no
expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form by the
program that displays the eBook (as is the case, for instance,
with most word processors); OR

     (3)  You provide or agree to provide on request at no
additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the eBook in plain
ASCII.

LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
This eBook may contain a "Defect" in the form of incomplete,
inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright
or other infringement, a defective or damaged disk, computer
virus, or codes that damage or cannot be read by your
equipment.  But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund"
described below, the Project (and any other party you may
receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook)
disclaims all liability to you for damages, costs and
expenses, including legal fees, and YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR
NEGLIGENCE OR UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF
WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT,
CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU
GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
receive it electronically.

THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of
implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of
consequential damages, so the above disclaimers and exclusions
may not apply to you, and you may have other legal rights.

INDEMNITY
You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart and the Foundation,
and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
or [3] any Defect.

WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
in machine readable form.

The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
Money should be paid to the:
"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
hart@pobox.com


*SMALL PRINT! Ver.03.17.02 FOR COPYRIGHT PROTECTED EBOOKS*END*