person who does not have a taste for devotional books may come to enjoy
them if he will diligently and prayerfully peruse them.

Spiritual reading invigorates the intellect, warms the affections, and
begets in us a desire for more of God's fulness and for a more heavenly
life. It is especially helpful to prayer. When the mind is dull and the
spirits low and we have no inspiration for prayer, the reading of a
spiritual poem will often so stimulate the mind, raise the spirits, and
animate the soul, as to make it easy for us to pray.

As to what books to read, the Bible, of course, is the best of all. But we
need others. Although no other book can take the place of the Bible and
none of us should neglect reading it, there are many books that can
profitably be read in connection with it.

But whatever devotional book you are reading, do not read too fast. Think
and digest as you go. Let there be a frequent lifting of the heart to God
in prayer. It is not the bee that flies so swiftly from flower to flower
that gathers the honey, but the bee that goes down into the flower. A few
sentences taken into the mind and heart, and dwelt upon until they have
become a part of us, are better than many pages read superficially.




PREFACE.


If the reading of this little book encourages any on their pilgrim way; if
it arouses them to greater diligence; if it creates in them a stronger