CHAPTER XVI.

THIS STATE OF PRAYER NOT ONE OF IDLENESS, BUT OF NOBLE ACTION, WROUGHT BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, AND IN DE-PENDENCE UPON HIM — THE COMMUNICATION OF HIS LIFE AND UNION.

O OME people, hearing of the prayer of silence, have wrongly imagined that the soul remains inactive, lifeless, and without movement

But the truth is, that its action is more noble and more extensive than it ever was before it entered this degree, since it is moved by God Himself, and acted upon by His Spirit. St Paul desires that we should be led by the Spirit of God (Rom. viii. 14). I do not say that there must be no action, but that we must act in dependence upon the divine move-ment. This is admirably set forth by Ezekiel. The prophet saw wheels which had the spirit of life, and wherever this spirit was to go, they went ; they went on, or stood, or were lifted up, as they were moved,