_To pray_ is to act towards GOD as the child does to its mother, the poor man towards the rich, eager to do him good, the friend towards his friend, who longs to show him affection. _Prayer_ is the key to all celestial treasures; by it we penetrate into the midst of all the joy, strength, mercy, and goodness Divine, ... we receive our well-being from all around us, as the sponge plunged into the ocean imbibes without an effort the water that surrounds it ... this joy, strength, mercy, and goodness become our own. Oh, yes! if you knew how to pray, and loved prayer, how good, useful, fruitful, and meritorious would be your life! Nothing so elevates the soul as prayer. GOD, so condescending to the soul, raises it with Him to the regions of light and love, and then, the prayer finished, the soul returns to its daily duties with a more enlightened mind, a more earnest will. It is filled with radiance divine, and sheds of its abundance upon all who approach. If you would succeed in your study, with the success that sanctifies, _pray_ before commencing. If you would succeed in your intercourse with others, pray before becoming intimate. Nothing so smooths and sweetens life as _Prayer_. There is the _solitary_ prayer, when the soul isolated from all creatures is alone with GOD and feels thus towards Him: "GOD and I;" _God_ to love; _I_ to adore, praise, glorify, thank. _God_ to bestow, _I_ humbly to receive, to renounce, ask, hope, submit!... Ah! who can tell all that passes between the soul and its GOD? There is the _united_ prayer of two friends, bound together by a holy friendship, their desires and thoughts are one, and as one they present themselves before GOD, crying, "Have mercy upon me!" There is the prayer of two hearts separated by distance, made at the same hour in the same words. Soothing prayer, that each day reunites those two sad hearts torn by the agony of parting, and who in GOD'S Presence, strengthened with the same HOLY SPIRIT, recover courage to tread the road to heaven, each in its appointed sphere. Then there is Public Prayer, that which has the special promise of GOD'S Presence; prayer so comforting to the feeble, guilty soul, who can cry in very truth, "My prayer ascends to GOD, supported by the prayers of others." Oh! if you knew how to pray, and loved prayer, how happy and faithful would be your life! SATURDAY EARNESTNESS You love GOD, do you not, dear one, whom GOD surrounds with so much affection? Yes, yes! I love Him! And how do you prove to Him your love? I keep myself pure and innocent, so that His Eye falling upon me may never see anything that displeases Him. I keep myself calm and quiet, and force myself to smile that He may see I am contented. _That is right, but that is not enough._