easy

Last night’s compline prayers included a passage by 17th-century British clergyman Jeremy Taylor:

There is no greater proof in the world of our spiritual danger than the reluctance which most people always have and all people sometimes have to pray; so weary of their length, so glad when they are done, so clever to excuse and neglect their opportunity. Yet prayer is nothing but desiring God to give us the greatest and best things we can have and that can make us happy. It is a work so easy, so honorable, and to so great a purpose, that (except in the incarnation of His Son) God has never given us a greater argument of His willingness to have us saved and our unwillingness to accept it, of His goodness and our gracelessness, of His infinite condescension and our folly, than by rewarding so easy a duty with such great blessings.

I like this because it is so wonderfully expressed–Taylor is noted more for his good writing than for his deep theology–but there’s a lot to think about here. In particular, I’m drawn to Taylor’s definition: read the complete post

Tagged as: blessing, easy, father, gifts, God, Holy Spirit, Jeremy-Taylor, prayer