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PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER

CHAPTER IV

FOURTH ADVANTAGE OF PRAYER: IT CAUSES THE SOUL TO TASTE SPIRITUAL JOYS INCOM- PARABLY SUPERIOR TO ALL THE FALSE PLEASURES OF THE WORLD.

"How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My heart and my flesh have re- joiced in the living God,"¹ says the royal prophet.

These tabernacles of the Lord are the mystic sanctuary of prayer where the soul holds converse with God, as a son with his father. They are a thousand times more delightful than all the pleasures of the world, for in this converse the soul finds celestial joys which thrill it with delight.

The first of these joys is peace, surpassing all thought and penetrating heart and mind. And the peace of God which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.''² And if you ask the nature of this peace, it resembles in the first place the rest which follows victory: the soul, ¹ Ps. 83: 2, 3. ² Phil. 4: 7.