Page 271 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

270 TH_IRD BOOK QF
manded to the simple as to the most enlightened: it is the virtue of all men; it is the science of every believer; it is the per ction of every creature.
2. Whoever has a heart, and is capable of loving tbe Author of his being; whoever has a reason ca­ pable of knowing the nothingness of the creature and the greatness of God, must know how to adore, to return him thanks, and to have recourse to him; to appease him when o ended; to call upon him when turned away; to thank him when vourab]e; to humble himself when he strikes; to lay his wants be re him, or to entreat his countenance and protec­
tion. Thus, be ye who you may that now listen to me, imitate the woman of Canaan; be ith l to prayer, and in the ful lment of this duty you 'will nd all the rest sustained and rendered easy. If a sinner, pray; it was through prayer alone that the publican and the sin l woman of the Gospel ob­ tained elings of compunction, and the grace of a thorough penitence; and prayer is the only source and the only path of righteousness. If righteous, still pray; perseverance in ith and in piety is promised only to prayer; and by prayer it was that Job, that David, that Tobias persevered to the end. If. you live amid sinners, and your duty does not permit you to withdraw yourself om the sight of their irregularities and examples, pray; the greater the dangers, the more necessary does prayer become; the three children in the ames, and Jonas in the belly of a monster, found sa ty only through prayer. If the engagements of your birth or of your station attach you to the court of kings, pray: Esther, in the court of Assuerus; Daniel, in that of Darius; the prophets, in the palaces of the kings of Israel, were solely indebted to prayer r their life and sal-