PRAYER.

A man may pray night and day, and yet deceive himself; but no man can be
assured of his sincerity, who does not pray. Prayer is faith passing
into act; a union of the will and the intellect realizing in an
intellectual act. It is the whole man that prays. Less than this is
wishing, or lip-work; a charm or a mummery. 'Pray always', says the
Apostle;--that is, have the habit of prayer, turning your thoughts into
acts by connecting them with the idea of the redeeming God, and even so
reconverting your actions into thoughts.


THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST.

The best preparation for taking this sacrament, better than any or all
of the books or tracts composed for this end, is, to read over and over
again, and often on your knees--at all events, with a kneeling and
praying heart--the Gospel according to St. John, till your mind is
familiarized to the contemplation of Christ, the Redeemer and Mediator
of mankind, yea, and of every creature, as the living and
self-subsisting Word, the very truth of all true being, and the very
being of all enduring truth; the reality, which is the substance and
unity of all reality; 'the light which lighteth every man', so that what
we call reason, is itself a light from that light, 'lumen a luce', as
the Latin more distinctly expresses this fact. But it is not merely
light, but therein is life; and it is the life of Christ, the co-eternal
son of God, that is the only true life-giving light of men. We are
assured, and we believe that Christ is God; God manifested in the flesh.
As God, he must be present entire in every creature;--(for how can God,