the reader’s heart may be unaffected with these virtues, nay, may be possessed with feelings opposed to them, nor even once shrink from them so far as to think of expelling them, for which reason his prayer is not turned into his bosom. For by gulping down unchewed all at once food already partially eaten by others, and prepared for the palate and taste of another, he loses its pleasantness of taste, and cannot convert it into the blood and juice that are necessary for his nourishment.
Now for this the only remedy is to utter the holy thoughts expressed in books of devotion, as though they were the spontaneous offspring of the inmost feeling of the heart, and to be affected conformably to them ourselves; to renounce before God the inward affections of our rebellious nature, which we discover to be opposed to them, and to endeavour to subdue and to correct them by his grace.
For this kind of devotion the safest of any is the Lord’s Prayer, since from its adaptation to the wants and condition of all, it cannot but suggest matter for prayer at once suitable and necessary for all classes. Let it not, then, seem strange to thee, good reader, to see in this new Paradise exercises so many and various upon the Lord’s Prayer. But marvel rather with me, that one and so short a prayer should be so pregnant with holy meaning, and furnish us with exercises of devotion in such varied abundance.
But how is this to be wondered at, when the great Master of all petitions in the supreme court has himself arranged it and dictated it to us! The reader may find its eulogies amply and beautifully written by S. Cyprian, S. Augustine, and others; but they are inadmissible within the narrow limits of this work.
We have given several, and indeed new, litanies, but their novelty need offend no one, for they consist merely of words and sentences from Scripture. They represent also the principal attributes, perfections, offices, benefits, praises, and eulogies, as well of the Divine Nature as of the several Persons in the most Holy Trinity; and are really nothing more than devout aspirations, such as any one may frame from Scripture in a sound acceptation of the words.
In these and other devotions, the good reader will, if I mistake not, have abundant matter for pious feelings and holy meditations. If, perchance, any one is wearied by their length, he may try to subdue or to temper this feeling with the love of God; if ineffectually, there is no reason why the
