ALL ARE COMMANDED TO PRAY--PRAYER THE GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION, AND

Prayer is nothing else but the _application of the heart to God_, and
the interior exercise of love. St Paul commands us to "pray without
ceasing" (1 Thess. v. 17). Our Lord says: "Take ye heed, watch and
pray." "And what I say unto you, I say unto all" (Mark xiii. 33, 37).
All, then, are capable of prayer, and it is the duty of all to engage in
it.

But I do not think that all are fit for meditation; and, therefore, it
is not that sort of prayer which God demands or desires of them.

My dear friends, whoever you may be, who desire to be saved, come unto
God in prayer. "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that
thou mayest be rich" (Rev. iii. 18). It is easily to be obtained, far
more easily than you could ever imagine.

Come, all ye that are athirst, and take this water of life freely (see
Rev. xxii. 17). Do not amuse yourselves by hewing out to yourselves
"broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. ii. 13). Come, hungry
souls, who find nothing that can satisfy you, and you shall be _filled_.
Come, poor afflicted ones, weighed down with griefs and sorrows, and you
shall be comforted. Come, sick ones, to the great Physician, and do not
fear to approach Him because you are so weak and diseased: expose all
your diseases to Him, and they shall be healed.

Come, children, to your Father; He will receive you with open arms of
love. Come, wandering and scattered sheep, to your Shepherd. Come,
sinners, to your Saviour. Come, ignorant and foolish ones, who believe
yourselves incapable of prayer; it is you who are the most fitted for
it. Come all without exception; Jesus Christ calls you all.

Let those only refuse to come who have no heart. The invitation is not
for them; for we must have a heart in order to love. But who is indeed
without heart? Oh, come and give that heart to God, and learn in the
place of prayer how to do it! All those who long for prayer are capable
of it, who have ordinary grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is
freely promised to all who ask it.

Prayer is the key of perfection and of sovereign happiness; it is the
efficacious means of getting rid of all vices and of acquiring all
virtues; for the way to become perfect is to live in the presence of
God. He tells us this Himself: "Walk before me, and be thou perfect"
(Gen. xvii. 1). Prayer alone can bring you into His presence, and keep
you there continually.

What we need, then, is an attitude of prayer, in which we can
_constantly_ abide, and out of which exterior occupations cannot draw
us; a prayer which can be offered alike by princes, kings, prelates,
magistrates, soldiers, children, artisans, labourers, women, and the
sick. This prayer is not mental, but _of the heart_.

It is not a prayer of thought alone, because the mind of man is so
limited, that while it is occupied with one thing it cannot be thinking
of another. But it is the PRAYER OF THE HEART, which cannot be
interrupted by the occupations of the mind. Nothing can interrupt the
prayer of the heart but unruly affections; and when once we have tasted
of the love of God, it is impossible to find our delight in anything but
Himself.

Nothing is easier than to have God and to live upon Him. He is more
truly in us than we are in ourselves. He is more anxious to give Himself
to us than we are to possess Him. All that we want is to know the way to
seek Him, which is so easy and so natural, that breathing itself is not
more so.

Oh, you who imagine yourselves incapable of religious feeling, you may
live in prayer and in God as easily and as continuously as you live by
the air you breathe. Will you not, then, be inexcusable if you neglect
to do it, after you have learned the way?

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