Let us see how this garden is to be watered, that we may understand what we have to do: how much
trouble it will cost us, whether the gain be greater than the trouble, or how
long it will take us.
It seems to me that the garden must be watered
in four ways: by water taken out of a well, which is very laborious; or with
water raised by a waterwheel and buckets, drawn by a windlass – I have drawn it
this way sometimes – it is a less troublesome way than the first, and gives
more water; or by a stream or brook, whereby the garden is watered in a much better way – for the soil is more
thoroughly saturated, and there is no necessity to water it so often, and the
labour of the gardener is much less; or by showers of rain, when our Lord Himself
waters it, without labour on our part – and this way is incomparably better
than all the others of which I have spoken.
I hope by
the help of this comparison, to explain the four degrees of prayer to which our
Lord, of His goodness, has occasionally raised my soul.
