This classic of devotional literature was written sometime in the late seventeenth century. Its author, Brother Lawrence, was born Nicholas Herman, and served as a soldier before becoming a monk in his middle years, some time after receiving a severe wound that left him in lifelong chronic pain. Following a series of spiritual trials, Brother Lawrence discovered a system that allowed him to be conscious of the presence of God on a continual basis, throughout all of his daily life. In this book, (collated by Joseph de Beaufort, counsel to the Archbishop of Paris), this simple, holy man explains the means and practices by which anyone may learn to walk continually in the presence of the Almighty.