There be two impedimentes, that lette and hynder prayer, that it maye not be herde. And of the fyrste impedimente [Sidenote: Isa. i. 15.] speketh Ysaye the prophete: _Quia manus vestræ plenæ sunt sanguine .i. peccato, ideo non exaudiet vos dominus_: 4 Bycause your handes be full of bloude, that is to saye, full of synne, therfore our lorde dothe not graciousely [Sidenote: Prov. xv. 29.] here you. And also prouerbiorum tertio, _Longe est dominus ab impiis, et orationes iustorum exaudiet_. Our lorde is ferre 8 fro wycked men, and the prayers of ryghtewyse men he [Sidenote: Bernard.] gracyously hereth. And sayncte Bernarde saythe, _Qui a præceceptis dei auertitur, quod in oratione postulat non meretur_: He that dothe not goddes commaundementes, he 12 deserueth not to haue his prayer harde. The seconde [Sidenote: Anastasius.] impediment, saythe Anastasius, is, _Si non dimittis iniuriam, que tibi facta est, non orationem pro te facis, sed maledictionem super te inducis_: If thou forgyue not the wronge done 16 vnto the, thou doste not praye for thy-selfe, but thou [Sidenote: Isidore.] enducest goddes curse to fall vppon the. And Isodorus saythe, _Sicut nullum in vulnere proficit medicamentum, si adhuc ferrum in eo sit: ita nihil proficiat oratio illius, cuius 20 [Sidenote: [Fol. 81; _sic._]] adhuc dolor in mente vel odium manet in pectore_. Lyke as the playster or medycyne can-not heale a wounde, if there be any yren styckinge in the same, ryghte soo the prayer of a man profyteth hym not, as longe as there is sorowe 24 in his mynde, or hate abydynge in his breste. For [Sidenote: Augustine.] sayncte Austyne saythe, _Si desit charitas, frustra habentur cetera_. If charitie wante, all other thynges be voyde. Wherfore thou muste se that thou stande in the state of 28 grace, and not infecte with deedly synne, and than praye if thou wylt be harde. 165. ¶ Howe a man shulde praye.