that is guilty, speaks to a judge, when he informs him of his right, and requires a favourable sentence or pardon of his crime. And in this case our colloquy must be accompanied with affection of humiliation, of sorrow for sin, of purposes of satisfaction and amendment; of which we shall see hereafter many examples in the meditations upon the miracles and parables of our Saviour Christ.
Finally, at other times we may speak to God with that spirit that a scholar speaks to his master, requiring of him light and instruction in such things as we know not; or as one friend speaks to another when he talks with him of some weighty affair, asking counsel, direction and aid. And if confidence and love shall so far embolden us, our soul may speak to God as the bride speaks to her spouse in several colloquies, with which the book of Canticles is replenished.
In all these ways we may speak to our Lord in prayer, clothing ourselves with the affections before mentioned, sometimes with one and sometimes with another; for all are fitting to us to use in treating with our God, who is our physician, our judge, our friend and the spouse of our souls. True it is that the greatest certainty in these petitions and colloquies depends principally upon the Holy Spirit, who (as St. Paul says) " asks for us with unspeakable groanings:" [1] for with His inspiration He teaches us, and moves us to ask, ordering our petitions, and stirring up those affections with which they are to be made. To which purpose St. Bernard said that " devotion is the tongue of the soul," [2] which whosoever has is very skilful in talking and reasoning with the Eternal Word. But notwithstanding this, we, for our part, must aid ourselves, and learn to treat and confer with Almighty God, observing the manner and the affection with which men speak one to another in the cases rehearsed.
To which I add, that although prayer is properly a
