CHAPTER II.

FIRST DEGREE OF PRAYER— MEDITATION AND MEDITATIVE READING — ^THE LORD'S PRAYER— PASSAGE FROM THE FIRST DEGREE TO THE SECOND.

T^HERE are two means by which we may be led into the higher forms of prayer. One is Medita-tion^ the Other is Meditative Reading, By meditative reading I mean the taking of some truths, either doctrinal or practical — the latter rather than the former— and reading them in this way : — Take the truth which has presented itself to you, and read two or three lines, seeking to enter into the full meaning of the words, and go on no further so long as you find satisfaction in them ; leave the place only when it becomes insipid. After that, take another passage, and do the same, not reading more than half a page at once.

It is not so much from the amount read that we derive profit, as from the manner of reading.