LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
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BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 THE 
 
 Characteristics of True Devotion. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
 241110, cloth, extra, 60 cents. 
 
 " There are twenty-six brief chapters of instruction, re- 
 markable for their direction, thoroughness, and simplicity." — 
 Living Church. 
 
 " A very sweet and fragrant little volume, practical, and 
 well adapted to all classes of Christians." — Morning Star. 
 
 " Excellent little volume, full of sweet, refreshing thoughts." 
 — Advocate and Guardian. 
 
 THOMAS WHITTAKER, Publisher, 
 2 and 3 Bible House, New York. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Sanctified by the Lord's Prayer 
 
 by the author of 
 
 : Hidden Life of the Soul/' "Characteristics 
 of True Devotion," etc. / 
 
 a 7 (Translated from tfjc JFrcncfj 
 
 '2.7 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THOMAS WHITTAKER 
 
 2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE 
 1SS5 
 
^Si 
 
 Copyright, 1885, 
 By THOMAS WHITTAKER. 
 
 ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED 
 BY RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 HIS little work was written during Pere 
 Grou's residence in England, probably 
 about the year 1800. His editor says it 
 was considered "one of the most precious fruits 
 of his life of silence and labor " in that interval 
 of twelve years that he spent at Lulworth. 
 
 In 181 7, fourteen years after his death, an 
 English translation of it was made by a Jesuit 
 father, which, so far as we know, has passed 
 entirely out of existence. 
 
 It might perhaps, at first thought, be deemed 
 unnecessary to publish an exposition of the 
 Lord's Prayer, — that prayer so simple that 
 every child knows it by heart. But when we 
 consider that it has been daily repeated all over 
 
6 Preface. 
 
 the Christian world for nearly two thousand 
 years, and yet it is always fresh ; that nothing 
 has ever been added to it, or taken from it ; that 
 it is the model after which all Christian prayer 
 has been formulated, — must we not admit, 
 that, simple as its words are, it has a fathomless 
 depth of meaning, an exhaustless store of holy 
 treasure ? 
 
 It is only the divers who find the pearls and 
 the buried wealth of the sea : so it is only those 
 who, in prayerful silence and solitude, search 
 out the hidden things of God, who discover 
 and disclose to us truths we should never other- 
 wise have known. Thus Pere Grou has re- 
 vealed in this familiar prayer of our Lord a 
 fulness, a richness, and a profound application 
 to every human life, which gives it new beauty 
 and power. 
 
 The late Rev. Dr Ewer, in the Lent of 1881, 
 examined this translation in manuscript, — it 
 having been then just finished, — and was so 
 much impressed by it, he read it for the instruc- 
 tion at Even Song, using it two special days each 
 
Pi-eface. 7 
 
 week. Many inquiries were made with regard 
 to it, all who listened to it being anxious to 
 obtain a copy. Its publication has been neces- 
 sarily delayed; but we trust that all who love 
 the Lord's Prayer will now welcome this re- 
 markable exposition of its several petitions, and 
 will find it an aid to a higher and holier life. 
 
 ELLEN M. FOGG. 
 
 Boston, Advent, 1884. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Our Father . . . . . . .16 
 
 II. Our Father 29 
 
 III. Who art in Heaven 41 
 
 IV. Hallowed be Thy Name . . . .48 
 V. Thy Kingdom Come 56 
 
 VI. Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is 
 
 in Heaven 70 
 
 VII. Give us this Day our Daily Bread . 81 
 VIII. And Forgive us our Trespasses, as 
 we Forgive those who Trespass 
 
 against us 89 
 
 IX. Lead us not into Temptation . -97 
 X. But Deliver us from Evil . . .103 
 XI. Practical Conclusion . . . -113 
 
THE CHRISTIAN 
 Sanctified by the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 |HE Lord's Prayer is incomparably 
 the holiest and the most excellent of 
 prayers, because Christ Himself is its Author. 
 It comprises every right disposition of the 
 Christian, both towards God and towards his 
 neighbor; every thing which he requires, 
 either for his bodily or his spiritual needs ; 
 and especially the assured means of obtaining 
 the pardon of his sins. It is open to the 
 unlearned and the simple ; yet it has at the 
 same time a sublimity to which the greatest 
 genius cannot attain, a profoundness which 
 
12 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 all study can never exhaust. It is suited to 
 all ages, all times, and all conditions ; to sin- 
 ners who wish to return to God, to penitents, 
 to the pure and the innocent, to the righteous 
 and the most perfect. It is adapted to en- 
 kindle coldness ; to sustain and increase fer- 
 vor ; to inspire both the timid with confidence 
 and love, and those who are mercenary and 
 interested with views free from all self-love ; 
 and to awaken in great souls the most exalted 
 sentiments. The intention of Christ, signified 
 in this prayer, is, that every Christian should 
 offer it every day, and should begin the day 
 with it. There are few, perhaps, who fail in 
 doing this ; but what benefit do they derive 
 from the practice? From the earliest time, 
 and in all liturgies, the prayer has formed a 
 part of the office of Holy Communion ; and 
 the Church has placed it at the head of every 
 other sacred office. Christ has unquestion- 
 ably comprised in this divine prayer, so short 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 13 
 
 and simple, all the points necessary to the 
 sanctification of the Christian. But, that it 
 may produce this effect, it is not sufficient 
 merely to recite it with the mouth, however 
 attentively. It is essential that we compre- 
 hend its meaning, and cherish in our hearts 
 the sentiments it expresses. And even this is 
 not enough : we must also put it in practice ; 
 and our thoughts, words, and actions must be 
 conformed to it. Otherwise, instead of sanc- 
 tifying us, it will serve to our condemnation, 
 when, at the last day, Christ shall ask us if we 
 have lived in accordance with the prayer that 
 he prescribed. 
 
 For how many years have we recited it 
 every day, and how many times a day? Have 
 we ever applied ourselves to meditating upon 
 it, and to understanding it better? Have we 
 deeply penetrated the sentiments it contains ? 
 This point is essential , for God pays no at- 
 tention to that which merely flows out of the 
 
14 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 mouth, and springs not from the heart. In 
 short, are we living in such a manner that it 
 may be said of us, our life is a perfect and 
 habitual practice of the Lord's Prayer? This 
 is what few Christians make any reflection 
 upon. It would seem that their whole duty 
 consists only in pronouncing the prayer as a 
 formula which they learned in childhood, and 
 they do not dream that it is for their contin- 
 ued help in the course of life. Though there 
 are many expositions of it in all languages, I 
 purpose to add another, avoiding equally the 
 making it too long or too short. I shall en- 
 deavor so to write this little treatise, that every 
 community of Christians may accommodate 
 itself to it. To adapt it to the interior state 
 and to the personal need of each, would re- 
 quire as many particular expositions as there 
 are different classes of Christians. But this 
 is the work of the Holy Spirit, to whom alone 
 it belongs to proportion light and affection to 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 15 
 
 the interior character of the faithful. Let us 
 therefore implore the grace He is so ready 
 to grant ; and let me pray you to read this 
 little book with the design of profiting by it. 
 
1 6 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ©ur jFatfjm 
 
 N the various prayers which Jesus Christ 
 addresses to God in the gospel, He al- 
 ways calls Him by the name of Father. This 
 is because He is His Son by nature, begotten 
 of Him before all worlds. God has adopted 
 all of us in His Son. We are by grace the 
 children of God, therefore the brothers of 
 Christ. Before the mystery of this adoption 
 was accomplished and fully revealed, patri- 
 archs, prophets, and the righteous of the Old 
 Covenant, scarcely employed any other name 
 in speaking of God than that of God or 
 Lord ; they spoke of God also by His terri- 
 ble name Jehovah, and with more fear than 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 1 7 
 
 love : but, since the gospel was given, we can 
 and ought to call God our Father. Christ 
 authorizes it : He even commands it. This, 
 He says, is how you shall pray : " Our Father 
 who art in heaven." On every occasion He 
 makes use of this expression, "Our Father in 
 heaven ; " thus placing us in some way on a 
 level with Himself. He says, " My God and 
 your God, my Father and your Father." Of 
 all names, that of "father" is most tender and 
 most sweet ; it is that which at once inspires 
 respect and submission, love and confidence. 
 These feelings are rooted in our nature, and 
 we should be inhuman if we had no respect 
 for our fathers according to the flesh. How 
 much more just is it, that we should have 
 respect for our Father in heaven, the only 
 sovereign Lord and Master of every creature, 
 infinitely adorable, infinitely good, infinitely 
 lovely ! How many titles which may be 
 applied to Him alone ! Is He not indeed our 
 
1 8 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 Father? From Him we have our being : our 
 souls and bodies, with all their varied quali- 
 ties, are from Him. He has made us exactly 
 as it has pleased Him, by a perfectly free 
 volition; and having no need of us, being 
 infinitely happy in Himself, yet by His great 
 goodness He preserves us every moment. 
 Our life is a continual gift of His beneficence ; 
 and, if He should withdraw His sustaining 
 hand for one instant, we should fall into the 
 nothingness from which He drew us. Can we 
 doubt it, we who are not able to promise 
 ourselves one moment of existence ? 
 
 How, then, should we not love, how should 
 we not fear to offend, the Author and Pre- 
 server of our being, who has not only made 
 us for His glory, but has rendered us capable 
 of promoting it ? He has not only given us 
 life, but He sustains it, and supplies every 
 need. The whole universe exists for us only, 
 and is designed for our service. Every thing 
 
by the Lord^s Prayer. 19 
 
 which renders this earth an agreeable abode, 
 every pleasure we enjoy, is a gift from His 
 hand. He permits us to use all, but requires 
 that we should do so according to His re- 
 vealed will, and with the gratitude which is 
 his due. Ungrateful and rebellious children 
 that we are, how dare we turn against our 
 Father His own blessings, forgetting Him, 
 abandoning Him for the vile creatures of 
 earth, and grieving Him by our evil ways? 
 Thou didst foresee this, O God, yet Thou hast 
 never ceased the outpouring of Thy bounty. 
 What earthly father would have done like 
 this ? It is this excess of Thy goodness that 
 renders me the more guilty. Shall I still 
 continue thus, notwithstanding the reproaches 
 of my conscience, Thy voice within me? 
 Ah ! take back Thy gifts, take away even my 
 life, rather than that I should still offend Thee. 
 Thou art my Father by creation, and much 
 more my Father by grace. This temporal 
 
20 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 life which I enjoy for a brief space is nothing 
 compared with the eternal life for which Thou 
 hast destined me, and which is my true end. 
 What, indeed, is that life ? It is a life where 
 I shall " see Thee face to face ; " where I 
 "shall know Thee as I am known ; " where 
 I shall possess Thee, the sovereign good ; 
 where I shall share with Thee ineffable bliss. 
 Yes, the heritage Thou hast reserved for me 
 as Thy child is none other than Thyself. My 
 infinitely great reward for having loved Thee 
 on earth, the real and only happiness of my 
 present state, will be to love Thee forever in 
 heaven, and to be filled with this love. I 
 believe this upon Thy word, but I cannot 
 conceive it \ and it is essential to my happi- 
 ness, that it should be so great I cannot pos- 
 sibly comprehend it. This happiness is not 
 only for my soul, but it is also destined for 
 my body, which will participate in its own 
 way in the glorious qualities with which my 
 
by the Lord^s Prayer. 21 
 
 soul will be adorned. This, O my Father, 
 is what from all eternity Thou hast designed 
 for me. Thou wouldst have withdrawn from 
 me all the evils of this present life, even 
 death itself, had not the disobedience of my 
 first parents placed an obstacle in the way. 
 But this obstacle, insurmountable to all but 
 Thyself, how Thy paternal love has removed 
 it ! This incalculable wrong which they have 
 done me, how hast Thou repaired it ! Ah ! 
 who would have thought it, who would have 
 believed it, if Thou hadst not Thyself revealed 
 it? Thou hast given thine own, thine only 
 Son, in all things equal to thyself. Because 
 Thou didst will it, and He also did will it, He 
 humbled Himself, and was made man, taking 
 our human flesh, that He might suffer and die 
 for the whole human race : for me, in my 
 place, to expiate my sins, to reconcile me to 
 His Father ; to give me the privilege of being 
 called the child of God, of which I had 
 
22 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 become unworthy ; to re-establish me in my 
 right of celestial inheritance, of which I had 
 been deprived. Beyond all this is the super- 
 natural life which I receive from Thee by 
 Jesus Christ ; those graces and means of sal- 
 vation which Thou dost lavish upon me ; that 
 paternal care and tenderness which Thou dost 
 manifest ; that inconceivable goodness, always 
 ready to pardon me when I return to Thee, 
 even after the most grievous sins, a thousand 
 times repeated ; that deep, yearning com- 
 passion, which leads Thee to run after me 
 when I go astray, to recall me, to extend Thy 
 hand to raise me up again, to carry me in 
 Thine arms, and to rejoice at finding me, as 
 if it were a gain to Thee, as if Thou wert 
 more interested in my salvation than I am 
 myself. If God is so loving a Father towards 
 sinners who sincerely return to Him, as so 
 many illustrious penitents attest, and as we 
 have perhaps experienced ourselves, what 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 23 
 
 must He be toward pure and innocent souls 
 who have kept His grace, and have had no 
 other desire than to please Him ? Christian 
 soul, do not limit thyself here to the consid- 
 eration of general benefits, whether natural 
 or supernatural. Consider, as far as thou 
 canst, all that God has done for thee in par- 
 ticular. There is not one instant of thy life 
 that is not marked by some kind of benevo- 
 lence on His part, — some grace of preserva- 
 tion, of protection, of invitation, of warning, 
 of consolation and encouragement, and of 
 sweet communion. 
 
 What has He not done to withdraw thee 
 from evil, and to lead thee to the right, to 
 strengthen thee, and help thee to persevere? 
 He alone knows what He has done for thee. 
 Much of it escaped thy notice at the moment, 
 or has since dropped out of thy memory ; 
 and how much secret grace has never even 
 come to thy knowledge ! But thou knowest 
 
24 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 enough to be filled with love and gratitude 
 to God. What would it be if thou hadst 
 always been faithful to the grace received? 
 Who can tell to what thou mightst not have 
 attained? Dost thou owe Him less for the 
 good He would have done, but which for 
 thine own fault He could not do, than for 
 that He has done ? If He were to show thee 
 now this chain of graces He had prepared 
 for thee, and the high degree of glory to 
 which they might have raised thee, what 
 would be thy surprise, thy confusion, thy 
 gratitude ! Reflect now, and say to thyself, 
 If God is my Father by nature, because He 
 has created me, preserved me, and provided 
 for every need ; and by grace, because He 
 has adopted me in his Son, by the union of 
 the divine and the human nature in Him who 
 is the only object of his complaisant regard, 
 so that He sees me and loves me only in 
 Him, and destines me to the same heritage, 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 25 
 
 the same glory, the same felicity ; if, too, 
 this Father is infinitely lovely, if He unites in 
 Himself all perfection, if He is the sovereign 
 good of every intelligent being ; if, in short, 
 under whatever aspect I view Him, He has an 
 indisputable right to all the affections of my 
 heart, — why am I so cold, so indifferent, 
 when I utter these words, " Our Father"? 
 How is it that so often they awaken no idea 
 in my mind, and excite no feeling? Ah ! it 
 is because I have not meditated profoundly 
 enough upon all that is included in that 
 name of Father \ upon the love it implies, 
 and of which God has given me such mani- 
 fest proofs ; upon the law, as gentle as it is 
 just, which commands me to consecrate to 
 Him all my affections, and to desire no other 
 happiness than that of loving Him, — for really 
 there is not and can not be any other. I am 
 convinced of it now, by the little I have just 
 read. I should be much more convinced if 
 
26 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 I should make this inexhaustible theme the 
 common subject of my meditations ; if I 
 should incessantly ask God for new light 
 upon it ; if I should seek it in the principles 
 of faith, in the mysteries of religion, in the 
 precepts of the gospel, which reduce every 
 thing to the love of our Father in heaven ; 
 in works of piety, whose object is to inspire 
 and nourish the love of God ; in the exam- 
 ples of the saints, who became such because 
 they loved God with all their mind, with all 
 their heart, and with all their strength. Is 
 He more their Father than mine ? Has He 
 done more for them than for me ? Did He 
 demand and expect more from them than 
 He does from me ? My light upon this great 
 subject would increase much more if I en- 
 tered more fully into the practice of it ; if 
 in my devotions and especially my commu- 
 nions, if in my good works and in the accom- 
 plishment of the duties of my position, if 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 27 
 
 in all the commonest acts of life, even such 
 as eating and drinking, I had no other in- 
 tention, no other aim, than to cherish and 
 increase within me the love I owe to my 
 Father in heaven. Am I here, indeed, for 
 any other purpose than to love Him ? Can 
 my happiness on earth, any more than in 
 heaven, be found in aught else than in loving 
 Him? Ah, how foolish and blind I have 
 been ! How little I have known and prac- 
 tised the first and greatest of all my duties, 
 — that of filial love, of entire and absolute 
 devotion to my Father, of obedience to His 
 holy will, desiring to please Him in every 
 thing, and fearing to offend Him in the small- 
 est thing ! Pardon me the past, O most ten- 
 der and best of fathers ! I am resolved by 
 Thy grace to expiate and repair it ; to have 
 no other thought, no other design, no other 
 occupation, than to love, obey, and please 
 Thee. As I can do nothing of myself, I give 
 
28 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 myself to Thee with all the powers of my 
 soul and all the faculties of my body; that 
 all which is mine, and which depends upon 
 myself, may be applied and consecrated to 
 Thy most holy love. Grant me grace that I 
 may never lose sight of this gift that I make 
 to Thee, and that I may never utter the 
 Lord's Prayer without renewing it ! This is 
 my intention, O my God ! Permit me not 
 to wander from it, nor to revoke it by any 
 sin, or by any involuntary unfaithfulness. 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ®ur JFatfjcr. 
 
 E have dwelt upon the name of father 
 in considering God in his relations to 
 each individual Christian only. Now let us 
 consider this title as it relates to the whole 
 body of Christians, composing one single 
 family of which God is the Father, and, 
 therefore, bound together in mutual love. 
 Observe that, in the prayer which our Lord 
 has taught us, we do not say my Father, but 
 our Father ; that we do not address God in 
 our own individual name, but in the name 
 of all Christians ; demanding nothing for our- 
 selves that we do not demand at the same 
 time for them, with the same ardor, the same 
 
30 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 desire of obtaining it for them as for ourselves 
 from our common Father. This implies that 
 we wish for them the same spiritual and tem- 
 poral blessings that we wish for ourselves, 
 that we love them as brethren, and that we 
 are united to them by a pure and sincere 
 charity. This fraternal love is, then, a duty 
 which has its source in the Divine paternity, 
 and in our common adoption in Jesus Christ. 
 By baptism, every Christian is a child of God, 
 the same as myself. He has also, like myself, 
 Jesus Christ for his Brother. He has the 
 same right that I have to the celestial heritage. 
 I ought, then, to love Him because he belongs, 
 like myself, to God the Father and to Jesus 
 Christ, and is beloved by Them as I am. 
 
 We are separated on earth by time and 
 space ; we are, for the most part, unknown to 
 each other : but we have the same faith, the 
 same worship, the same motives to love God ; 
 we have the same destiny ; and, if we fulfil it, 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 31 
 
 we shall be united forever in the celestial 
 country where all will know and love each 
 other, and will be happy not only each in his 
 own personal happiness, but also in that of 
 all others \ where there will be no more mine 
 and thine, no more of self, because " God 
 will be all in all." This is the expression of 
 St. Paul ; the full meaning of which is incom- 
 prehensible to us, it is so sublime : so intimate 
 will be the union of the elect. God wishes 
 that we should serve here below the appren- 
 ticeship of this love, and that the charity 
 which must reign in our hearts in heaven 
 should spring up on earth, and make here an 
 anticipated heaven ; and that it should in- 
 crease in us even to our latest breath. 
 
 Have I rightly understood, do I now under- 
 stand, what that love is which I owe to my 
 neighbor, especially my Christian brethren ; 
 upon what foundation it rests, and unto what 
 it should lead? Have I understood that 
 
32 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 although I do not hate him, yet if I have no 
 affection for him, if I do not interest myself 
 in him as in myself, if his salvation is indiffer- 
 ent to me, and if I do not contribute to him 
 of- my means, I cannot with truth say, " Our 
 Father," nor recite the Lord's Prayer with- 
 out finding in it my condemnation ? I owe 
 it to all men, because they are my equals, and 
 made, like myself, in the image of God, to 
 put myself in their place, and to put them 
 in mine ; to treat them, according to the cir- 
 cumstances, as I would like, in similar case, 
 that they should treat me ; not to do to them 
 what I would think wrong if done to me, 
 but, on the contrary, to do them all the good 
 which I should desire for myself. This is the 
 natural law graven on every heart, which jus- 
 tice and humanity require us to observe, and 
 which we cannot violate without a secret re- 
 proach from conscience. 
 
 This law extends farther still. It is very 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 33 
 
 seldom, even among Christians, that it is faith- 
 fully practised ; that it is not infringed, if not 
 in externals, at least by the disposition of the 
 heart. This is not yet, however, Christian 
 charity, which embraces all the obligations of 
 the natural law, but is not limited to that. 
 It must be supernatural in its principle, which 
 is no other than habitual grace infused into 
 us by the Holy Spirit, and by which we are 
 placed in a state of loving God for Himself, 
 and our neighbor for the love of God ; but, if 
 I lose this habitual grace, I am incapable of 
 exercising this love towards God and my 
 neighbor until I recover it again. It must 
 be supernatural in its motive. If I love my 
 neighbor only because of his good qualities, 
 because of the congeniality of his character, 
 because of the sen-ices I have received or 
 expect from him, this love has nothing in 
 common with Christian charity. It is not 
 meritorious in me. I must love him from the 
 
34 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 motives God has laid down • because he is, 
 or may be, the child of God, and my brother 
 in Jesus Christ ; because God and Jesus 
 Christ love him, and have commanded me 
 to love him. Charity must be supernatural 
 in its exercise ; that is to say, grace must 
 excite and accompany its acts, so that my 
 will may concur with the divine will. The 
 foundation of Christian charity is the father- 
 hood of God. Because he is the Father, and 
 loves his Son, and loves us in his Son, through 
 whom He has adopted us, He desires that we 
 should love each other reciprocally as He 
 loves us ; hence, if we do not love our breth- 
 ren, God does not love us, and we do not 
 love Him. Judge from this how the love of 
 God for us, and our love for Him, are insep- 
 arable from our love for our brethren. To 
 speak truly, it is one and the same love, ap- 
 pearing different according to the subject in 
 which it resides, and the object to which it is 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 35 
 
 applied. In like manner, the Son of God, 
 since He has united Himself to human nature, 
 loves us all in the individual nature that He 
 has taken, and by which He condescended to 
 become like us. Therefore, He commands us 
 to love each other as He loves us ; and He 
 wishes that we should love Him, not only in- 
 asmuch as He is God, but inasmuch as He is 
 man. If we do not love our brethren, it is 
 impossible for us to love Him, either in His 
 humanity or His divinity, either as the Son 
 of God or as our Brother, Thus the love of 
 Christ for man, and our love for Him, are 
 equally inseparable from our love for our 
 neighbor • rather, it is one and the same love. 
 I find a third foundation of brotherly love 
 in the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the 
 Father and the Son eternally subsisting. It 
 is by His dwelling in our hearts that we are 
 truly the children of our heavenly Father, and 
 the brethren of Jesus Christ. Oh, how we 
 
36 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 should love each other, if we were all ani- 
 mated by the same spirit, that is, by the same 
 love ! It is by the Holy Spirit that God is 
 love, and that the Father and the Son are 
 one in the love which they mutually bear each 
 other. It is by Him, also, that all Christians 
 ought to be of one heart and one mind ; and 
 they would indeed be so if He possessed them 
 all. The love of our neighbor is, then, no 
 less than the love of God, the necessary re- 
 sult of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit ; and 
 we banish Him from our hearts when we do 
 not love our brethren. Unto what should this 
 love lead us ? Even to the imitation and the 
 expression, as nearly as possible, of the love 
 of the eternal Father. When we were yet 
 sinners and his enemies, He gave for us his 
 only Son ; a gift which includes and surpasses 
 every thing that an infinitely rich and power- 
 ful God could give. He sacrificed Him to 
 procure our salvation. He desired that His 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 37 
 
 death should be the pledge and the price of 
 our reconciliation. He assured our happi- 
 ness at the expense of what was most dear 
 to Him. This is one example of the way 
 we should love our neighbor. Now let us 
 give another. 
 
 Our love for our neighbor should bear the 
 closest resemblance to that which Christ has 
 manifested for us. It is my command, He 
 said expressly, that " ye should love one an- 
 other, even as I have loved you." M A new 
 commandment I give unto you." The ex- 
 ample of love I present to you to imitate did 
 not exist before I came. My law is the law 
 of love carried to excess, if there can be ex- 
 cess in the love which God commands, after 
 having giving you the example. St. John 
 hesitates not to conclude that this command 
 requires us to give our life for our neighbor. 
 " We know," said he, " the love of God, in 
 that He has riven His life for us. So ouriit 
 
38 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 we to give our lives for the brethren.' ' Pay 
 attention to these words "we ought." It is 
 not counsel, but in certain circumstances a 
 duty, especially when it concerns his eternal 
 salvation. Indeed, this brotherly love should 
 be the faithful expression of the reciprocal 
 love of God the Father and the Son. Christ 
 has declared His intention in this matter in 
 His last prayer before His passion, which may 
 be regarded as His last will. He said, " I 
 pray for them also which shall believe on Me 
 through their word ; that they all may be one ; 
 as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that 
 they also may be one in Us." And again He 
 says, " that they may be one, even as We are 
 one : I in them, and Thou in Me, that they 
 may be made perfect in one ; . . . that the 
 love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in 
 them" (St. John xvii. 21-23, 2 ^)- Consider 
 these words, and implore divine light that 
 you may be able to comprehend them ; for 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 39 
 
 any explanation that we may attempt to give 
 will only enfeeble them. 
 
 My conclusion from all this is, that the love 
 of our neighbor, as well as the love of God, is 
 comprised in these two words, " Our Father ; " 
 that they contain the most pressing motive 
 and the most perfect model of both ; that we 
 can never carry them too far ; that we always 
 live below what the Father and the Son ex- 
 pect and command in this respect ; and that 
 the perfect consummation of this love, one in 
 principle, and double in object, is reserved 
 for heaven, after we have made every en- 
 deavor here to attain to it. How is it with 
 me? Can I reply, with any semblance of 
 truth, that I wish to love, I try to love, and I 
 do indeed love, God my Father, and my 
 neighbor as I ought, always desiring to love 
 them more? 
 
 Finally, it is not by words nor by feeling 
 that I must judge ; but by deeds^ which are 
 
40 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 the true indication of the disposition of the 
 heart. No self-examination is more impor- 
 tant for me than that upon this point; and 
 it should be made with the greatest careful- 
 ness and honesty, since the whole Christian 
 law is contained in these two precepts. 
 
 In order that I may recite the Lord's 
 Prayer, then, with more confidence, I will ex- 
 amine my heart from time to time on these 
 two points. I will pray God to put it, and 
 by His grace I will try myself to put it, in the 
 disposition in which it ought to be. Without 
 this care, it will often happen that the senti- 
 ment of my soul will not be conformed to 
 that which my lips express, and I shall be in 
 danger of being rejected by my Father in 
 heaven. 
 
by the Lord^s Prayer. 41 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 art in l^eabcn. 
 
 SJHE heaven which is the abode of God 
 : I is not the visible, material heaven 
 where the stars shine. That dome was cre- 
 ated for our use ; and before it existed, as 
 after it shall be destroyed, God was and will 
 be forever in the heaven which belongs to 
 Himself; that is to say, in His own immens- 
 ity. He has no other place than Himself. 
 He exists nowhere, neither in the manner of 
 any body, nor in that of other spirit. The 
 Scriptures have represented heaven as the 
 dwelling-place of God only to accommodate 
 itself to our imperfect manner of thinking, 
 to help us understand that His abode is 
 
42 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 where light, order, and purity reign ; but it is 
 a light, an order, and a purity that surpass all 
 our imaginations and conceptions. Whatever 
 may be our notion of the true heaven, where 
 we hope one day to live, our Father is in 
 heaven, and we are upon the earth. Heaven 
 is, then, our true country ; that is, the region 
 where our Father dwells : and the earth is 
 our place of exile, a foreign sojourn, where* 
 we only stop in passing, and where we have 
 no fixed abode. Our Father does not appear 
 to our sight ; we know Him only by His 
 works, and by what faith reveals concerning 
 Him : consequently, we can never be happy 
 till we shall be where we can see Him as 
 He is. 
 
 Heaven, the dwelling of our Father, is the 
 assemblage of all true, substantial, immu- 
 table, eternal good. The good which the 
 world offers has nothing real, except as it 
 concerns the present life, which is only a 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 43 
 
 dream, a vapor which vanishes as soon as it 
 appears. Its good is only a vain appearance ; 
 it has no consistence ; it is passing away, and 
 will some day be destroyed. At the moment 
 of death, it will exist for us no longer. This 
 being so, as we cannot doubt, what folly to 
 attach ourselves to earth, for which we were 
 not made, and which was made only for our 
 bodily needs during the time of our exile ! 
 What folly to seek an establishment here, an 
 enduring fortune, or true happiness, as if we 
 could find them ; to have a longing desire 
 for these things, to be eager and anxious for 
 them ; to form projects, the success of which 
 often only tends to torment us ! What greater 
 folly than to sacrifice conscience and eternal 
 salvation to the acquisition and possession of 
 this false wealth ! How can we be so blinded 
 by our passions? Where is our reason? 
 Where is our faith? Even though all were 
 to be ended with us at death, even though 
 
44 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 we should die without any hope of life be- 
 yond the grave, without any hope of heaven, 
 ought we not, even for our own comfort, to be 
 moderate in desire, and in the use of worldly 
 goods ? Oh ! how is it that we can so debase 
 ourselves? that we can forget, disdain, and 
 trample under foot, our high destination? 
 Our Father has created us only for Himself 
 and for heaven. All that is not God is too 
 small for the vast capacity of my soul. I 
 carry in the depths of my heart a desire for 
 immortality. The very idea of annihilation 
 horrifies me. My dearest and constant wish 
 is to be forever and forever happy. Faith 
 shows me heaven as the place of my eternal 
 felicity; it shows it to me as the heritage 
 which our Father has promised, which His 
 only Son has acquired at the cost of His 
 blood ; to which I have a right by my title 
 of Christian and child of God ; of which I 
 cannot be deprived except by my own fault : 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 45 
 
 yet I do not turn all my thoughts and affec- 
 tions towards heaven ; I do not sigh inces- 
 santly after it ; I do not march to my country 
 by the way Christ has marked out ; I do not 
 remove all obstacles, and surmount all the 
 difficulties which lie in my path. I pause, I 
 turn away, I recoil ; I make little effort to 
 recall to mind the thought of heaven. Too 
 often, alas ! I am occupied only with the 
 world \ I incline towards it like the animals. 
 I become attached to it ; I lose myself in it. 
 I should even be tempted sometimes to sacri- 
 fice heaven, if I might remain always upon 
 earth, although assured by constant experi- 
 ence that I am not, and cannot be, happy 
 here. Is this conceivable ? Yet this is what 
 most Christians do ; perhaps what I have 
 done, what I may do again. Though I may 
 not have carried things to this excess, have I 
 not at least cause to reproach myself for es- 
 teeming and loving this world too much ; for 
 
46 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 taking pride in my wealth, or being ashamed 
 and wretched because of my poverty; for 
 preferring myself to those who are more 
 lowly born, who have less wealth, less honor, 
 less power, less influence, than myself; or for 
 envying those who are superior to me in all 
 these vain advantages ; for thinking more 
 of preserving and increasing them, than of 
 amassing a treasure of grace and glory for 
 heaven? Notwithstanding all this, I still say 
 every day, " Our Father who art in heaven ; " 
 but, in saying it, I have much difficulty in 
 raising my thoughts and my desires to heaven. 
 I aspire very feebly to the happiness of seeing 
 and possessing my Father. I do not lan- 
 guish like the saints in expectation of the 
 moment which will unite me to Him. On 
 the contrary, I am tempted to fear that mo- 
 ment, and to banish it from my remem- 
 brance. Is it that I do not love my Father 
 enough ? Is it that I feel too far removed 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 47 
 
 from the holiness necessary to enjoy His pres- 
 ence? Is it that I do not make sufficient 
 effort to acquire this holiness? Oh, how I 
 should humiliate myself and be confounded ! 
 But, O God, let me not remain in this state ! 
 Let me rather change my heart and conduct. 
 I wish it, and it is Thou who makest me wish 
 it. Continue and finish in me this work of 
 Thy grace ; and, if necessary, plant so much 
 pain and bitterness over the few days I have 
 to pass on earth, that, in spite of natural de- 
 sire, I may be compelled to sigh incessantly 
 after the blessedness of eternity ! 
 
48 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ,. ™CCORDING to the order in which 
 Jesus Christ put the petitions which 
 
 compose His prayer, it is evident that the 
 first duty of the Christian is to desire and 
 demand above every thing else that the name 
 of God may be hallowed. This name, infi- 
 nitely holy in itself, is hallowed by Christians 
 when they acknowledge and adore it ; when 
 they glorify it by the worship they render it, 
 and by the tribute of their praise ; when 
 they not only carefully avoid profaning and 
 dishonoring it, but when all their thoughts, 
 words, and actions tend to its glory; and 
 when, in all their conduct, this intention is, 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 49 
 
 as it should be, at the head of all others. 
 What is really my principal end? It is to 
 promote the glory of God. Why did He 
 create me and all other things? For His 
 own glory. Of what is He especially jealous? 
 Of His own glory. He lavishes upon us all 
 His riches, even to wishing to share with us 
 His happiness ; yet what is the one thing He 
 will not, He can not, communicate to us ? His 
 glory. That which contributes in nothing to 
 His glory is lost, and has no merit before 
 Him. That which wounds His glory, in the 
 slightest degree, displeases and offends Him, 
 and can only draw down upon us His chas- 
 tisement, unless reparation is made by a sin- 
 cere repentance. Am I fully persuaded of 
 this great truth, which is the basis of reli- 
 gion and morality, and at the same time the 
 principal source of my happiness ? My first 
 interest being the interest of God, I am sure 
 of all good, in working to glorify Him. The 
 
50 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 idea of His glory is so exalted that it com- 
 prises eminently every thing which is ad- 
 vantageous for this life and the other. In 
 occupying myself with what concerns God, 
 I oblige Him to take special care of what 
 concerns me. What am I doing, then, when 
 in the service of God I am so absorbed with 
 myself as to refer almost every thing to 
 myself? If I do not absolutely peril my 
 salvation, I certainly do hinder my perfec- 
 tion ; beside, I realize very imperfectly the 
 happiness attached to holiness, even here 
 below ; and the reward which is promised on 
 high will suffer a notable diminution. 
 
 It is very important, then, that as many 
 are guided by self-interest, and in their devo- 
 tions and good works are too much occupied 
 with themselves, they should seriously con- 
 sider this. Mingling myself among others, 
 am I not also of this number? Have I 
 sought above every thing and in every thing 
 
by the Lord's Pi-ayer. 51 
 
 the glory of our Father in heaven ? Is it the 
 object which occurs to my mind the most 
 easily and the most frequently? In regard 
 to my sins, is that which afflicts me most, 
 that which excites in me the deepest repent- 
 ance, the thought of having dishonored the 
 holiness of God, and having done what is 
 derogatory to His glory? When I pray to 
 Him, is my first care to praise Him, to adore 
 Him for His perfections, to recount His bene- 
 fits, to offer myself to Him, that I may glorify 
 Him : in short, to abase myself before Him ? 
 Am I occupied in His presence with any 
 thing beside myself and my own needs ? Am 
 I not tempted to fear that He will forget me 
 if I forget myself in order to think of Him ? 
 Does it often occur to me to implore Him 
 that His name may be hallowed, that He may 
 make it known to the unfaithful who are 
 ignorant of Him, that the whole universe may 
 render Him the respect and the homage which 
 
52 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 are His due? Is this the desire which is 
 uppermost in my heart? Am I consumed 
 and devoured with zeal at sight of public 
 scandals, and the progress of impiety and 
 wickedness? Is it the subject of my high- 
 est joy to see or understand the things 
 which contribute to the glory of God, — the 
 propagation of the faith, the reformation of 
 manners, the renewing of piety, the public 
 improvement? If it is true that the glory 
 of the Father is that of the child, can I 
 deceive myself that I am very far removed 
 from the spirit which should characterize a 
 child of God, while I have little love for 
 Him, and am little interested in Him ? O my 
 Father ! change, I beseech thee, my interior 
 dispositions with regard to this great object. 
 Inspire me from this moment, for all the 
 remainder of my life, with a firm, inviolable 
 resolution to hallow Thy name in every thing, 
 — in my thoughts and intentions, my affec- 
 
by the Loi'd's Prayer. 53 
 
 tions and desires, my words and actions ; to 
 hallow it from day to day in the manner 
 which is most excellent and most worthy of 
 Thee ; to endeavor that it may be hallowed 
 by all who depend upon me, and over whom 
 I have authority; to oppose with all my 
 power, at least by my prayers, my com- 
 plaints, and my tears spread before Thee, 
 the torrent of impiety, irreligion, and license 
 which threatens to overwhelm the world. 
 Never, perhaps, have Thy children had cause 
 to pray with more earnestness, that Thy name 
 may be hallowed ; and so great is the evil, 
 that Thou alone canst find the remedy. I 
 unite myself, now and always, with all holy 
 souls who do not cease continually to offer 
 Thee their prayers, communions, fastings, suf- 
 ferings, and even life itself, in reparation of 
 so many indignities. 
 
 That the name of God may be hallowed, 
 is to every Christian a matter of the most 
 
54 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 vast importance ; it embraces, in a certain 
 sense, every moment and every circumstance 
 of life, and the employment of every faculty. 
 It demands of those who take it truly to 
 heart a constant watchfulness over them- 
 selves, great purity of intention, and a con- 
 stant fidelity to grace. Christian soul, if 
 thou sincerely desirest to obtain full success, 
 the best means is to surrender entirely to 
 God, that He may sanctify His name in thee 
 and by thee, according to the design He has 
 formed, and which He will manifest only in 
 proportion as thou leavest thyself at His dis- 
 posal. This consecration is the most perfect 
 manner in which thou canst hallow His most 
 adorable name ; and, moreover, in making 
 God the absolute master of this liberty, thou 
 puttest Him on guard over thee ; thou en- 
 gagest Him to employ thee wholly for His 
 glory. He alone knows in what, how, and to 
 what points He wishes to be glorified by thee. 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 55 
 
 He alone has the means at His disposal. He 
 asks only thy co-operation, which will be full 
 and entire if He holds thee in His hand as an 
 instrument pliable and bending to His will. 
 If thou minglest with His work thine own 
 views or thine own energy, or if thou 
 shouldst attempt to anticipate rather than to 
 follow His grace, thou wilt only spoil the 
 work. In this dependence thou art exempt 
 from all anxiety, from all fear, from all doubt, 
 from all illusion ; thou art secure against the 
 dangers either of cowardice or presumption ; 
 and thou hast the fullest moral assurance of 
 hallowing the name of God as perfectly as 
 thou art capable, for it is He properly who 
 hallows it, and thou only secondest Him. 
 
56 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 &f)2 Ifcmg&om Come* 
 
 [B'SIHE kingdom here desired is not that 
 | |fj§fl of nature, over which God necessarily 
 exercises supreme authority and an absolute 
 independence, as the Creator and Master of 
 the universe. Nobody can wrest this kingdom 
 from Him, nor weaken it, nor share it with 
 Him, nor disturb it, nor suspend its move- 
 ments in the slightest degree. We are sub- 
 ject to it like all other creatures ; and we 
 could not escape from it, whatever desire 
 we might have to do so, or whatever effort we 
 might make. This petition of the Lord's 
 Prayer concerns the moral kingdom in which 
 God rules over our wills, but only with our 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 5 7 
 
 consent ; to which we are entirely free to 
 submit, although we have no right to resist, 
 and which never extends beyond our obedi- 
 ence. This kingdom is glorious for God, 
 because there is nothing forced on our part : 
 it is the result of our own free choice. God 
 proposes that we should accept Him for our 
 King ; He invites us, He urges us, He even 
 commands us ; and He adds to this rewards 
 and threats : but He uses no compulsion. 
 Indeed, what would be the use of constraint, 
 when it is a question of winning the heart, in 
 which violence can do nothing, and which is 
 always master, as is proved by saying, I will, 
 or I will not, have God to reign over me ? It 
 is doubtless supremely just that God should 
 rule over His children. The love they owe 
 Him imposes upon them the law of sub- 
 mission and implicit obedience ; and this 
 law can neither be hard nor oppressive to the 
 true children of God. On the contrary, they 
 
58 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 ought to consider it their glory and their 
 happiness to observe it, and perform cheer- 
 fully all the sacrifices it may demand. Be- 
 sides, the law of God has nothing in its 
 object to which it is not for our interest 
 to submit, it being entirely for our advan- 
 tage ; and He exercises it with so much 
 gentleness, so much wisdom, so much regard 
 for our liberty, that He renders it infinitely 
 agreeable. I say to God every day, "Thy 
 kingdom come." If these are not vain words 
 uttered by the lips alone, without the heart 
 taking any part in them, it is evident that I 
 thereby pledge myself to let Him reign su- 
 premely over me ; also, desiring that He may 
 reign over others, to contribute to that end 
 as far as lies in my power, according to my 
 state and condition in life. Let us see if I 
 fulfil these duties. Does God reign over my 
 spirit? Does He govern all my thoughts? 
 Does He regulate all my opinions ? In every 
 
by the Loi'd's Prayer. 59 
 
 emergency, do I follow the Spirit of God ? or 
 is it not rather my own spirit to which I 
 listen? Have I no regard to what the world 
 thinks, though I know it to be contrary to 
 the thought of God ? If I do not pass lightly 
 over this examination, I shall find much in 
 my life to reform. St. Paul said, "As many 
 as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
 sons of God." So those who are led by any 
 other spirit are not among His children. 
 That sentence of the apostle, which is abso- 
 lute, and admits neither exception nor re- 
 striction, contains a solemn warning. Shall I 
 say, in order to re-assure myself, that I follow 
 the leading of the Spirit of God in all essen- 
 tial things, and that I follow my own spirit 
 and that of the world in all matters of less 
 consequence ? 
 
 It is obvious, then, that in these last things 
 I do not conduct myself as a child of God, 
 and in this respect am unworthy of the title. 
 
60 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 It is, then, no less obvious, that, in following 
 either the spirit of the world or my own 
 spirit in matters which appear non-essential, 
 I am liable to follow them also in things of 
 moment, and to go far astray from the Spirit 
 of God. Let us come to the facts. What 
 are those things which I allow myself to judge 
 according to the ideas of the world and to 
 my own ideas, and not according to the Spirit 
 of God? The world and my own spirit re- 
 ject all the maxims of the gospel, dictated 
 by the Spirit of God, concerning detachment 
 from the riches, the greatness, and the pleas- 
 ures of the world ; concerning self-renunci- 
 ation, and the necessity of bearing one's cross ; 
 concerning the love of God and one's neigh- 
 bor, — even, if it were possible, to the ex- 
 tinction of self-love ; concerning meekness, 
 patience, humility, purity of intention ; con- 
 cerning the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
 eyes, and the pride of life. Dare I say, that, 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 61 
 
 on all these and on other points, I judge 
 according to the Spirit of God, without re- 
 gard to my own judgment or to that of the 
 world? Dare I say that any one of these 
 points is of little consequence to the Chris-., 
 tian, and that he may safely judge of it other- 
 wise than God judges? Dare I assert, as to 
 any one of these points, what is essential, and 
 what is not, and draw the precise limits 
 where, without endangering my salvation, I 
 may differ from God's judgment, and may 
 follow my own opinions and those of the 
 world? Even among those who have em- 
 braced a life of devotion, there are unhappily 
 many who do not permit God to reign in 
 their hearts without hinderance : to regulate 
 their thoughts and their conduct in matters 
 of religion. If they were directed only by 
 the Spirit of God. false and imperfect de- 
 votions would not be so common. They 
 would pray more from the heart than the 
 
62 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 lips ; they would be more earnest in reform- 
 ing the interior than in composing the ex- 
 terior ; in being docile, rather than obstinate 
 and opinionated ; in allowing themselves to 
 be judged by those who direct them, rather 
 than preferring to judge themselves, and per- 
 haps judging their directors ; in concealing 
 their good works, rather than proclaiming 
 them ; in bending their character to grace, 
 rather than in accommodating grace to their 
 character : in short, for this detail would be 
 infinite, they would be careful to examine, 
 condemn, and correct themselves, rather than 
 to observe, censure, and reform others ; they 
 would embrace a more just, more noble, 
 more extended idea of Christian perfection ; 
 they would waste nothing in minutiae, little- 
 ness, and scruples, either in undue severity or 
 indulgence, and all sorts of compromises with 
 nature. The kingdom of God established in 
 our hearts will not permit us to change our 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 63 
 
 plan of action, and pass continually from one 
 method to another : it will maintain in us a 
 uniformity, an equanimity of temper, a peace 
 and spiritual joy, that nothing can change or 
 disturb. Does God reign over my heart? 
 Is He the master of its movements and its 
 affections? Is it He who excites them, who 
 moderates them, who directs them? Do I 
 apply myself, under His direction, to purify 
 myself as much as possible from the leaven of 
 self-love, — that enemy of all charity, — and 
 even of the legitimate and true love that I 
 owe to myself? It is principally by my ear- 
 nestness in discovering self-love, so skilful in 
 disguising itself; by my courage in attacking 
 it, and my ardor in pursuing it ; by my de- 
 termination to spare it in nothing, — that I can 
 decide whether the kingdom of God is estab- 
 lished in my heart.' Although I may have no 
 criminal affections, yet have I no dangerous 
 ones? Have I none that are vain and use- 
 
64 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 less? Have I none that are excessive, how- 
 ever legitimate ? Have I none purely natural, 
 which it is my duty, to sanctify, and which 
 God would most assuredly sanctify if He 
 governed me? 
 
 The principal study of the Christian should 
 be his own heart ; but is he capable of it if 
 he is not enlightened by divine light ? And 
 does God communicate this light abundantly, 
 at all times, to all objects, even the most deli- 
 cate and imperceptible, for any but those over 
 whom He reigns absolutely? The principal 
 thing about which the Christian should oc- 
 cupy himself is the reformation of his heart ; 
 but will he have the will to undertake it, and 
 the strength to accomplish it, if God does 
 not constantly supply him with both these at 
 his need ? To whom does He grant this, in a 
 measure sufficient for the consummation of 
 this great work, except to those who have 
 given themselves to Him, that He may reign 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 65 
 
 over them, and make them after His own 
 heart? The success of this work depends 
 doubtless upon ourselves, but it depends 
 much more upon God ; and He works upon it 
 with affection and distinguished care, only in 
 favor of those who oppose no wilful resist- 
 ance. Oh, what a difference in purity of 
 heart there is between him who has made 
 God the Master of his liberty, and him who 
 pretends to dispose of himself in certain 
 things, and up to a certain point, which he 
 cannot fix, and which, if he could fix, it 
 would be very difficult, not to say impos- 
 sible, to hold ! Let God once reign over 
 the heart and will, and He will not delay 
 to reign over the whole being. All will obey 
 Him. Nothing will resist Him. He will easily 
 triumph over the opposition of a corrupt 
 nature, of passions and habits even the most 
 inveterate. What order, what harmony, what 
 holiness, in the interior and exterior life of 
 
66 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 a Christian whom God governs entirely ! 
 Though it is supernatural grace which prompts 
 him, yet he is so easy, so uniform, so un- 
 affected, that he always appears perfectly 
 natural. And this is what I ask of God, for 
 His glory and my sanctification, when I say, 
 " Thy kingdom come." Have I realized the 
 fulness of this petition ? Is it sincere on my 
 part ? No : if I do not give myself to God 
 without reserve, I do not wish its entire ac- 
 complishment. His dominion over me must 
 be the result of my free and entire will ; and 
 I seem often to submit against my will, as to 
 a painful yoke, that I shake off as much as I 
 can. It should be unlimited, and I contract 
 it : I limit it in a thousand things where I 
 wish to preserve some right over myself. I do 
 not offer this petition for myself alone. I 
 must offer it for all Christians and for all men. 
 I must desire that the kingdom of God may 
 extend everywhere ; that there may be no 
 
by the Lord^s Prayer. 67 
 
 reasonable being on earth who is not sub- 
 missive to it ; that true religion, with its dog- 
 mas and its morals, may be known, embraced, 
 and practised in all the coming centuries, in 
 every country, with all the perfection it de- 
 mands, and of which men are capable, — in 
 a word, that the universe may be an assembly 
 of saints, depending for every thing upon 
 grace ; and I ought to do every thing in my 
 power, according to my condition, my talents, 
 and the circumstances in which I am placed 
 by Providence, for the establishment of this 
 kingdom. It is to this end that all authority 
 should be exercised ; that of a sovereign over 
 his subjects, of a magistrate over those sub- 
 mitted to his charge, of a father over his 
 children, of a master over his servants, of an 
 instructor over the youths confided to him. 
 To establish the kingdom of God in the soul, 
 is especially the object of the ministrations of 
 priests ; and they ought to be entirely devoted 
 
68 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 to it. It becomes me, then, to see what are 
 my obligations in this respect; how I fulfil 
 them ; in what I have not performed them, 
 and in what I have performed them badly ; 
 and to think with fear of the rigorous account 
 I shall have to render at the great day. Our 
 Father has promised that I shall reign with 
 Him forever in heaven, if I allow Him to reign 
 over me below, and over others in all that 
 depends upon me. Jesus Christ, seated on 
 the throne of His Father, has promised to 
 share it with me. He says, " To him that 
 overcometh, will I grant to sit with Me in My 
 throne." His word is pledged to it. This 
 reign of God, and of the elect with God, in 
 eternity, is the great object in which this 
 petition of the Lord's Prayer terminates. It 
 is the kingdom to which, for the glory of God 
 and for my own happiness, I must aspire with 
 all my might, carefully fulfilling the condition 
 which assures me the enjoyment of it, and 
 
by the Lord's Prayer, 69 
 
 despising the wealth, the grandeur, and the 
 pleasures of earth, which are nothing in com- 
 parison to it. 
 
70 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 bt Hone on lEartfj as it is in %eatoen. 
 
 IffSS^IE who here teaches us to ask for our- 
 |y.Bg| | selves and others the fulfilment of the 
 will of our heavenly Father is the Son of 
 God Himself, who descended from heaven to 
 do His Father's will, whose life's work was 
 to accomplish that holy will, who devoted 
 Himself to it from the first moment of His 
 entrance into the world, and who did, always 
 and in every thing, that which was agreeable 
 to His Father. If Christ, truly God as He 
 was, was obliged, on account of His humanity, 
 to submit to the will of His Father ; and if 
 He really carried His submission and His obe- 
 dience even to death, and to death upon 
 
by the Lo7-d's Prayer. 71 
 
 the cross, how much more ought we to be 
 submissive to God, — we who are only His 
 creatures, we to whom He who is God of 
 God gave us the example ! And He gave it 
 because He became like us, and represented 
 us. How should we fulfil this divine will? 
 As blessed spirits and saints accomplish it in 
 heaven, — with the same fidelity, the same 
 promptitude, the same love, the same detach- 
 ment from outward things and from all self- 
 interest. The good pleasure of God is the 
 supreme rule among the inhabitants of 
 heaven. When He signifies it to them, they 
 conform to it with perfect exactness : they 
 omit nothing ; they dispense with nothing ; 
 they make no excuse — such a thought even 
 does not occur to them ; they do not stop to 
 reason about the order they have received, 
 but they execute it ; they do not deliberate, 
 they act ; they do not delay, they leave every 
 thing, and go the moment God sends them. 
 
72 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 They not only have no reluctance, but they 
 manifest an eagerness, a zeal, an inexpressible 
 joy ; they obey because they love, and as fully 
 as they love ; and they rest all their happiness 
 on obedience. Their disinterestedness is so 
 pure that they never think of themselves ; and, 
 at the slightest indication of the good pleasure 
 of God, they would be ready to sacrifice their 
 happiness. 
 
 Such is the model that Jesus Christ has 
 given us m this prayer, and that He has Him- 
 self infinitely surpassed. If it is just that the 
 will of God should be the only law of heaven, 
 is it not also just that it should be the only 
 law of earth ? Are we any less PJis creatures 
 than the celestial spirits ? Does not His do- 
 minion extend over us, as well as over them ? 
 Have we rights and privileges that they have 
 not? If conformity to the divine will is the 
 principal source of their happiness, why 
 should it not be also of ours? The only dif- 
 
by the Lord's Prayer, 73 
 
 ference between us is, that we are still on pro- 
 bation, — consequently are left to our own free 
 will to obey or not, as we choose, — while they 
 are at the goal : their condition is fixed and 
 unchangeable ; and they are resolved, in the 
 presence and possession of God, never to 
 deviate from His will. This difference is to 
 our advantage in more senses than one. Obe- 
 dience above is a recompense : here below it 
 is a merit. Our obedience alone can glorify 
 God, because it is free on our part ; while 
 theirs, however voluntary, is still a necessary 
 result of their state. It is true, indeed, that 
 our obedience is painful, it demands constant 
 struggle, it costs sacrifice \ but it is just this 
 that renders it acceptable to God, and pre- 
 cious in His sight. We should like it to cost us 
 nothing but blessedness. But is this reason- 
 able ? Is it consistent with our present con- 
 dition? We have one means of rendering 
 our obedience sweet and easy. Nothing pre- 
 
74 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 vents our using it : rather, every thing encour- 
 ages us thereto ; and that is, to give ourselves 
 wholly to God, that He Himself may accom- 
 plish His will in us, bending ours by the gen- 
 tleness and the efficacy of His grace. The 
 difficulty is, that we always prefer to remain 
 master of ourselves in every encounter ; hence 
 it happens that what God wills, we do not will. 
 Let us renounce this fatal right, which is 
 a veritable usurpation. Let us acknowledge 
 that we hold our free will from God ; let us 
 consecrate it to Him, and use it according to 
 His good pleasure. When we have conse- 
 crated it, love will teach us, as it taught the 
 saints, to rest our glory and our happiness in 
 submission and conformity to His will • there- 
 by we shall attain to the closest resemblance 
 to the blessed to which we can possibly aspire 
 on earth. If obedience is painful, we shall 
 not regard it so, but we shall rather rejoice to 
 make a sacrifice for God. In the various 
 
by the Lord's P?'ayer. 75 
 
 events of life which vex or humiliate or cru- 
 cify us, we shall behold only the good pleas- 
 ure of God ; and this will be our strength 
 and our consolation. If we naturally feel any 
 repugnance, it will be an opportunity to wres- 
 tle and to conquer. Whatever sacrifice it 
 may be necessary to make to the divine will, 
 we shall make it heartily, in the thought that 
 love lives upon sacrifice. On the one side, 
 our courage and our generosity will gradually 
 increase ; on the other, difficulties will disap- 
 pear, and that which seemed impracticable in 
 the beginning will become easy in the end. 
 At last the will of God will become the nour- 
 ishment of our soul ; so much so, that it will 
 not be able to live except by that holy will, 
 as is the case exactly with the angels and 
 the saints, excepting, of course, the difference 
 between their state and ours. How many 
 saints have arrived at this degree of perfec- 
 tion? We say daily, "Thy will be done," as 
 
76 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 they did : but we limit ourselves too often to 
 saying it with the lips, and with little atten- 
 tion, and only formally; while they said it 
 from the heart, with reflection, and by the 
 power of grace. What we are satisfied with 
 often reciting, without making it the rule of 
 our life, they endeavored constantly to put 
 into practice. But we have the same induce- 
 ments which they had ; we are in similar cir- 
 cumstances : not a day passes without pre- 
 senting some occasion to conform ourselves 
 to the divine will, some occasion that vexes 
 and disturbs us ; it may be to correct, or it 
 may be to prove us. But we do not make 
 the same use of these opportunities that the 
 saints did. We rebel interiorly; we mur- 
 mur; we yield to impatience, irritability, 
 discouragement, sadness, sometimes to blas- 
 phemy and despair. What do we gain there- 
 by ? We only increase the trouble ; and the 
 will of God is none the less accomplished, but 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 77 
 
 without comfort, and without merit to our- 
 selves. 
 
 Is it possible that a way of holiness being 
 open to us, so sure, so short, so simple, so 
 consistent not only with the principles of 
 faith, but with the light of reason ; at the same 
 time so easy, so sweet, so comforting, — and 
 yet we refuse to walk in it ? What does it re- 
 quire ? To wish constantly what God wishes, 
 and not to wish what He does not wish. Our 
 perfection, our present happiness even, hangs 
 only on this point. We cannot doubt it. Let 
 us, then, immediately put our will in this holy 
 disposition, and let us make, by grace, every 
 effort to maintain it there. Then we shall 
 find the peace that we have sought in vain 
 elsewhere, — a peace interior, solid, lasting, 
 sometimes even delightful, in the midst of the 
 greatest afflictions and the most desolating 
 crosses. What is it that God desires only, 
 next to His own glory? Our happiness. 
 
78 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 In the arrangements of Providence with re- 
 gard to us, His end is to conciliate these two 
 things, and to make them always move on 
 together in the front rank. For this He has 
 devised infallible means. It remains only for 
 us to let Him work, and to acquiesce in every 
 thing which happens to us, whether it is di- 
 rectly from Him, or by the intervention of 
 His creatures. In wishing what He wishes, 
 we wish for our own happiness. In accept- 
 ing the means that He employs, we accept 
 that which cannot fail to lead to it. Let us 
 consider, then, what God ordains for us. We 
 shall see that all events, even the smallest, 
 are designed to make us practise some virtue, 
 or to correct some vice ; especially to humili- 
 ate our pride, and mortify our self-love. We 
 know by experience that these are the two 
 sources of all the sins that close the gate of 
 heaven, and of all the troubles which pre- 
 vent our tasting any real happiness on earth. 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 79 
 
 Therefore, in conforming in every thing to the 
 will of God, we exhaust, little by little, both 
 of these sources ; and we secure our happi- 
 ness, as far as possible, both in this life and 
 in the life to come. Let us pray, then, sin- 
 cerely, and with all the affection of our soul, 
 that for the glory of God, for our happiness 
 and that of our brothers, the will of God may 
 be done by them and by us, and in them and 
 in us. Let us pray that we may never raise 
 any obstacle ; and, as this is a daily practice, 
 let us accustom ourselves to being humble, 
 to bending under the powerful hand of God, 
 and to accepting every thing which comes 
 from Him, persuaded that He has in view 
 only our good. In all trying circumstances, 
 let us have on our lips, and especially on our 
 heart, these admirable words of Christ, " Thy 
 will, not mine, be done." 
 
 It may be observed • here, that these three 
 petitions are the best acts of love we can 
 
80 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 make ; and, consequently, fidelity in reducing 
 them to practice is a continual exercise of 
 love, even of the purest love, since God is 
 directly its object, — which does not exclude 
 our happiness, but which assures it. We ad- 
 dress these prayers to God, because He alone 
 can give us the disposition of love which they 
 imply, because we cannot co-operate to per- 
 form them effectually as we ought, without 
 His grace ; and, as every blessing comes from 
 Him, we begin with the prayer which obtains 
 them all for us. 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 81 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 @i\tt us Ojis Bag our Bath? 13rcatJ. 
 
 T is only after having prayed to God 
 about that which concerns Himself, 
 that we are directed to think of ourselves, 
 and to solicit Him for our own needs. In the 
 order of nature, children ask their fathers for 
 their daily food. In this respect, God is in- 
 comparably more our Father than any earthly 
 father can be ; for He, as first and universal 
 cause, provides for the wants of every crea- 
 ture : and under the name of bread is com- 
 prised every thing which is necessary to pre- 
 serve this present life. All men, young and 
 old, rich and poor, great and small, are, as 
 regards temporal necessities, in the condition 
 
82 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 of children, absolutely unable to provide for' 
 themselves unless God furnishes the means. 
 We contribute to it, indeed, by our care, our 
 labor, and our industry ; for, since the Fall, 
 we have been condemned to eat our bread by 
 the sweat of our brow. But our labor and 
 our industry can produce nothing of them- 
 selves : they are only aids to Providence, who 
 is the true support of the human race, who 
 merits on this account all our gratitude, and 
 to whom we manifest our dependence, when 
 we ask Him every day to " give us our daily 
 bread." Since the fall of the first man, he 
 and all his posterity have been obliged to 
 labor in order to live : it follows, conse- 
 quently, that whoever can work, and does not 
 work, has no right to a subsistence ; he has 
 no claim to ask any thing of God, and should 
 not complain if it is refused him. If, however, 
 he neglects nothing which he can accomplish 
 by his own labor, and by the employment of 
 
by the Lord^s Prayer, 83 
 
 his talents according to the command of God, 
 then he may confidently trust that He who 
 feeds the birds of the air will not be unmind- 
 ful of him. It is bread, it is what is necessary, 
 that we ask of God ; what will nourish the body, 
 and not what will encourage sensuality ; what 
 will protect us from harm, not what will keep 
 us in idleness, luxury, and vanity. Our wants 
 supplied, we should be content to rest there, 
 and avoid all excess, which is no less harm- 
 ful to the body than to the soul. 
 
 Let us use the gifts of God according to 
 His intention, and not to offend Him. Let 
 us confine ourselves to their simple use, and 
 not seek indulgences which are unworthy of 
 an immortal soul, and which God forbids. 
 Let us always remember that the present life 
 is only a means of obtaining eternal life ; and, 
 if our present life ought not to be our end, 
 how much less should that be which is des- 
 tined only to preserve it ! If God refused 
 
84 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 temporal blessings to those who abused them, 
 we should never abuse them. Should we be 
 less sober and less prudent because the cor- 
 rection of this abuse is deferred, it may be, 
 to the other life? Let us, then, eat in His 
 presence with gratitude the bread He gives 
 us ; let us eat it with the intention of devot- 
 ing to His service the strength it gives. Let 
 us not be anxious for the morrow. It is our 
 daily bread we ask. Let it suffice that we 
 obtain it, and let us not extend our thought 
 beyond. To-morrow we shall repeat our re- 
 quest for new needs. Has one ever seen him 
 want for bread, who, after taking the pre- 
 scribed measures, leaves the result and re- 
 poses upon God? Why these fears, these 
 forebodings, these precautions, so derogatory 
 to the goodness of our Father? Why are we 
 not like children who prefer to obey and 
 please their parents, and who live without care 
 of that which concerns their life ? Avarice, — 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 85 
 
 disguised under the term economy, — and 
 distrust, anxiety, and all the troubles of which 
 bodily wants are the occasion, are condemned 
 by this petition of the Lord's Prayer ; which, 
 if rightly understood and practised, will ad- 
 mirably regulate our feelings and our conduct 
 with regard to earthly things, will detach our 
 affections, will moderate our desire to acquire 
 and keep, and will elevate us to a noble inde- 
 pendence in the use of that which our neces- 
 sities demand. We do not say, " give me 
 my bread," but, " give us our bread ; " asking 
 our common Father for all His children, upon 
 a principle of universal charity. If, then, 
 some of our brethren are needy, and God 
 gives us an abundance, it is an indication that 
 He wishes we should come to the relief of 
 their indigence, giving them a portion of our 
 superfluity : for it is evident that it is His 
 intention to grant support to all, since He 
 requires we should ask it for all ; but this 
 
86 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 intention would be frustrated if the rich were 
 not the established ministers of His provi- 
 dence in respect to the poor, and if they 
 should not enter into His arrangements which 
 are thus regulated to give opportunity to the 
 rich as well as the poor to exercise many 
 virtues, especially as He is not pledged to 
 provide for the poor by miracle. Hence, we 
 go directly contrary to the will of God, and 
 to the petition He has put in our mouth, 
 when we do not, from our abundance, relieve 
 the poverty of our brothers ; and we deserve 
 to be deprived of the comforts we have the 
 hardness to refuse them. If God does not 
 deprive us of them, it is because He has in 
 reserve for us some greater sorrow. Besides, 
 the bread which God gives you is due no less 
 to the prayers of the poor than to your own 
 prayers ; since they have asked for you as 
 much as for themselves. You owe Him, 
 then, as His portion, what you have above 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 87 
 
 your need ; and He has an acquired right to 
 it. 
 
 According to the explanation of the holy fa- 
 thers, this bread is the Eucharistic Bread, which 
 is the supernatural bread of our souls, which 
 should be no less daily than ordinary bread, 
 and which our Father would be disposed to 
 distribute every day if we were in a condition 
 to eat it every day. We should neither doubt 
 His intention in this respect, nor that of Jesus 
 Christ, who gives His flesh in the eucharist, that 
 we may understand that, as common bread is 
 our daily food, so His body is designed to be 
 the daily nourishment of our souls. 
 
 It is also the wish of our mother the 
 Church, who has declared that she desired 
 the faithful should communicate every time 
 they assist at the Holy Sacrifice, according to 
 the custom of the early centuries ; and cer- 
 tainly, as St. Ambrose said, we ought all to 
 live in such a way as to be fit to participate 
 
88 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 daily in this heavenly banquet. It is at least 
 important that we should not be satisfied 
 with a triennial communion, which the Church 
 makes a rigorous obligation, or even with a 
 monthly communion only ; and that we should 
 never let a long time pass without approach- 
 ing the holy table. Communion frequently 
 received, with the right disposition, is the most 
 effectual means of attaining to Christian per- 
 fection. The Fathers understand also by this 
 bread, the word of God, whether announced 
 from Christian pulpits, or given in books of 
 devotion. Let us, then, be careful to hear 
 this divine word as often as we can, with the 
 desire to profit by it; and let us form the 
 habit of daily spiritual reading. We shall 
 draw from both practices the greatest advan- 
 tage ) and we shall be indeed guilty if we do 
 not make use of the supernatural food which 
 God gives us in profusion, and which He re- 
 quires us to ask of Him. 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 89 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 8n& JFotgtbe us our trespasses, as toe JForgtbe 
 tfjese fofjo trespass against us. 
 
 JHE sense of the fifth petition is ex- 
 pressed in these words, " Forgive us 
 our debts, as we forgive our debtors/' Who 
 of us is not indebted to Divine Justice on ac- 
 count of his sins ? We are not only debtors to 
 God, but insolvent debtors. If He did not re- 
 mit our debts, it would be impossible for us to 
 discharge them. His goodness inclines Him 
 to remit them, provided we ask Him ; but, in 
 the prayer He has dictated, He imposes a con- 
 dition so just that we cannot refuse it. It 
 often happens, that, even as we offend God, so 
 our neighbor offends us, and becomes a debtor 
 
90 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 to us, as we are to God. If we forgive our 
 neighbor, if we remit the debt at his request, 
 if we retain no resentment, no ill-will toward 
 him, God, on His part, has promised to grant 
 us the pardon of our qrTences, to remit the 
 debts we have contracted towards Him, and 
 to remember them no more against us. But 
 He has promised it only on this condition ; 
 and He so rigorously requires us to fulfil it, 
 that He has made it a law that we shall not 
 ask the forgiveness of our sins except in pro- 
 portion as we forgive our neighbor's. " For- 
 give us as we forgive : " that is to say, evi- 
 dently, do not forgive us if we do not for- 
 give ; require Thy rights of us in all severity, 
 if we require ours the same. But if we are 
 indulgent, and disposed to pardon ; if when 
 our neighbor expresses his repentance, and 
 begs us to forget the wrong or the trouble he 
 has caused, we renounce all thought of re- 
 venge, all rancor even, and become sincerely 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 91 
 
 reconciled to him, God will do the same 
 by us : He will show Himself an indulgent 
 Father to His guilty children, and will re- 
 store us to His favor. Is not the condition 
 just? Is it not even infinitely advantageous? 
 Our brothers are our equals by nature, but 
 what are we compared with God ? A mere 
 nothing before the Infinite Being. However 
 great may be the offence of our neighbor, 
 what is it compared with that of which we 
 are guilty toward the Divine Majesty? Christ 
 estimated the death of our brother at a hun- 
 dred farthings, and ours at ten thousand tal- 
 ents ; but He made this valuation only to 
 touch our imagination, for there is abso- 
 lutely no comparison between the two debts. 
 Has the resentment, which we pretend it 
 would be just to hold against our neighbor, 
 any proportion to that which God has a right 
 to exercise over us ? Is our neighbor as pow- 
 erless to give us satisfaction as we are to sat- 
 
92 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 isfy the Divine Justice ? What good results to 
 us if God forgives, and what evil if He does 
 not forgive ! Weigh well all these considera- 
 tions, and you will conclude that God could 
 not put our reconciliation with Him on better 
 terms. Do not regard as worthless the con- 
 solation of being able to say at death, I have 
 forgiven, Lord, and I trust, upon Thy word, 
 that Thou wilt forgive me. But the laws of 
 the world, you say, my interests even, are op- 
 posed to my forgiving. Your interests ! Have 
 you any greater interest than that of obtain- 
 ing the mercy of God? ' Were it necessary 
 for that to sacrifice your wealth, your happi- 
 ness, your life even, could you balance it? 
 The sentence has been pronounced, " He shall 
 have judgment without mercy, that hath 
 shewed no mercy." Will you live and die 
 with the assurance of experiencing a like 
 judgment? The laws of the world! What 
 are the laws of the world to the Christian, 
 
by the LorcFs Prayer. 93 
 
 who should recognize no other law than the 
 gospel ? Consider the two precepts of Christ 
 which immediately follow His prayer, " If 
 ye forgive men their trespasses, your heav- 
 enly Father will also forgive you." First 
 precept, infinitely favorable to you. " But 
 if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither 
 will your Father forgive you." Second pre- 
 cept, infinitely terrible to you. Do not al- 
 lege either the world or your own interest 
 as an excuse. The obstacle that hinders 
 is your pride ; and that is the source of all 
 your sins against God. It is that which God 
 wishes to crush, in commanding you to for- 
 give your brother ; it is that which closes your 
 heart against repentance : and it is to soften 
 the heart, to open it to the grace of repent- 
 ance, that God has prescribed meekness, and 
 indulgence towards your neighbor. 
 
 We must not be deceived. Sincere for- 
 giveness of injuries, and cordial love towards 
 
94 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 our enemies, are the most difficult points in 
 Christian morals. But the difficulty springs 
 not from the depth of the thing itself; it re- 
 sults rather from the little care we take to 
 unite ourselves to God our Father, and to be- 
 come like Him. God, though infinitely great, 
 and offended as He is, has no difficulty in for- 
 giving us, in foregoing his own rights. He 
 even anticipates us, and makes the first ad- 
 vances. Alas ! should we ever of ourselves 
 think to return to Him, should we be capable 
 of it, if His grace did not excite us thereto. 
 Yet we who are nothing, to whom in reality 
 nothing is due, we who, strictly speaking, 
 cannot complain of any offence, often have 
 great difficulty in forgiving our neighbor, even 
 when he returns of his own accord, acknowl- 
 edges his wrong, and humiliates himself be- 
 fore us. It costs us still more to make 
 advances, and to invite reconciliation. That 
 is something not to be mentioned. If we 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 95 
 
 have pardoned once, that is a reason for not 
 pardoning the second time, — a certain sign 
 that we have not entirely forgotten the injury, 
 and that there is always remaining in the heart 
 a leaven of hatred. Does God treat us in 
 this way? Do we not find in Him again and 
 again the same clemency, after having often 
 and long abused it? Ah ! " Be ye perfect, as 
 your Father in heaven is perfect." 
 
 It is on the subject of loving our enemies, 
 that Christ gives us this rule. Let us forgive 
 as He does, without bounds and without meas- 
 ure. Let us not fix any limit beyond which 
 grace is not to be hoped from us. In this 
 respect, let us have the same disposition to- 
 ward our brothers that God has toward us. 
 Let us remember from that which experience 
 may already have taught us, that, as there is 
 no torment equal to that which a proud and 
 vindictive soul suffers, so there is no joy so 
 pure as that which one who pardons tastes ; 
 
96 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 no peace like that of a meek and humble 
 spirit, which no offence can irritate ; nor is 
 there any means more efficacious for gaining 
 an easy access to God, for praying to Him 
 with confidence, and obtaining from Him the 
 graces we most need. 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 97 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ILcatr us not into £rmptatton. 
 
 (B'gaBlVERY thing is a snare to us in this 
 |[).iaB| life ; every thing is cause or occasion 
 of temptation. No age is exempt ; no time 
 nor place, no condition of life, no occupation, 
 is secure from it. Temptations from external 
 objects, which flatter the senses, excite the 
 imagination, allure and seduce the soul ; 
 temptations from the world in the midst of 
 which we must live, and whose maxims, prin- 
 ciples, examples, authority even, and tyranny, 
 draw us toward vice, and restrain us from 
 virtue ; temptations from Satan, who never 
 sleeps, who goes about incessantly "like a 
 roaring lion seeking whom he may devour," 
 
98 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 who respects neither solitude nor places of 
 prayer nor the most holy exercises, who 
 stirs up the passions, who spreads a thick 
 cloud over the spirit, who overwhelms the 
 soul with trouble, who violently shakes the 
 will, and excites such delight that it is almost 
 impossible to discern whether we have con- 
 sented or not. Temptations still more dan- 
 gerous spring from our pride, our self-love, 
 our unholy passion, our curiosity, all the vices 
 that we have in embryo, and that age only 
 develops and strengthens. Instead of find- 
 ing in ourselves any resource against the 
 enemy without, we are our own most formid- 
 able enemies. We should have nothing to 
 fear from others if we were not secretly in 
 league with them. Even with a good inten- 
 tion, and after the strongest resolutions, what 
 weakness we show in emergencies ! We are 
 astonished at ourselves ; we could not have 
 believed that we were so frail. If the hand 
 
by the Lord's Prayer, 99 
 
 of God did not sustain us, we should make 
 as many falls as steps. 
 
 Nevertheless, in spite of all their dangers, 
 temptations are useful and even necessary. 
 "What does he know who has never been 
 tried?" He knows not the extent of his 
 misery and corruption ; he foolishly presumes 
 upon his strength ; he has not true and deep 
 humility. He knows not God, nor the work 
 of His grace in guiding souls, nor the perfect 
 confidence they ought to have in Him, nor 
 His faithfulness in helping the needy who call 
 upon Him, nor the invincible power of His 
 protection. The more devoted one is to 
 Him, the more acceptable one is in His sight, 
 the more should one expect to be proved by 
 temptation. To wish to be exempt from it, is 
 to renounce the most valuable thing in the 
 practice of virtue. 
 
 What shall we do, then, and what part 
 shall we take between the necessity of being 
 
i ob The Christian Sanctified 
 
 tempted for our advancement, and the peril 
 of being conquered ? Nothing but to throw 
 ourselves into the arms of our Father, and to 
 implore Him to keep us from falling. Let us 
 call upon Him incessantly. We have no fear 
 of not being heard, and helped accordingly. 
 Let us keep very near Him, and evil will not 
 approach us. His holy presence, if we main- 
 tain it preciously in our heart, will repulse all 
 attacks of the enemy, and will prevent him, 
 notwithstanding all his efforts, from pene- 
 trating into that heart in which God dwells. 
 
 But to be assured that God will not let us 
 fall into temptation, in the first place we must 
 never expose ourselves to it rashly, nor seek 
 occasion for it, but rather anticipate it, and 
 flee from it as far as possible. It has been 
 said, that "he who loves perils shall perish 
 in them." That we may feel under obliga- 
 tion to avoid them, it is not necessary that 
 they should be evidently dangerous : it is 
 
by the Lord^s Prayer. 101 
 
 sufficient that they be suspicious, and that we 
 have good reason to distrust them. In the 
 second place, if the occasions are unavoid- 
 able, or entire surprise, let us not be alarmed : 
 let us have recourse promptly to God, in 
 order that He may sustain us in the trying 
 circumstances in which His Providence has 
 placed us, or that He may withdraw us from 
 the evil into which our own imprudence has 
 thrown us ; and let us not doubt that He will 
 come to our help. In the third place, it is 
 necessary to have an habitual horror of sin, 
 without distinction of its magnitude or light- 
 ness ; so that this impression may be the first 
 we receive at the slightest danger of exposure 
 to it. It is necessary, furthermore, to be so 
 accustomed to prayer, that recourse to it on 
 critical occasions may be the first movement 
 of the soul, almost before any deliberation. 
 In general, distrust of ourselves, and confi- 
 dence in God, watchfulness, recollection, the 
 
102 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 spirit of prayer, fidelity to grace even in 
 little things, will shield us from a great many 
 temptations, or will sustain us in those that 
 God may permit for our spiritual good. 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 103 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 But Bcltber us from £btl, 
 
 IfcWMjdlE must understand here by " evil," what 
 [yiAiy Christ understood, and what He wishes 
 His disciples should understand. In the 
 thought of God, which must be the rule of our 
 thought, there are but two veritable evils, — 
 sin, and hell the eternal punishment of sin. 
 These are the evils that the Christian should 
 fear, and from which he should ask God to 
 deliver both himself and others. While we 
 live, we have always to apprehend lest we fall 
 into sin, and from that into hell. Our per- 
 fect deliverance will not take place till death, 
 if death finds us in a state of grace. It de- 
 pends upon ourselves, with the divine help 
 
io4 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 which is offered us, to preserve sanctifying 
 grace, or to recover it ; but it depends only 
 upon God to establish us forever in that happy 
 state by the stroke of death, which He gives 
 when He pleases. It is this which is called 
 final perseverance, the most precious of all 
 the gifts of God, because it assures our eter- 
 nal happiness. It is a pure gift, that we 
 can acquire only by humble entreaty, as St. 
 Augustine said, and that we should implore 
 absolutely and unconditionally ; for it is not 
 permitted us to be indifferent in this respect, 
 even under any pretext of disinterestedness. 
 No faithful soul either can or should say to 
 God, Deliver us from sin and eternal death, if 
 it be Thy good pleasure ; but, Deliver us from 
 both these because it is Thy good pleasure. 
 As, however, that which merits hell, that 
 which the pains of hell punish sufficiently 
 only because they are eternal, that which 
 directly attacks the infinite majesty and holi- 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 105 
 
 ness of God, is in itself a greater evil than 
 hell, and more to be feared, it follows that 
 sin is the evil that every Christian should 
 fear above all others ; and that he should 
 supremely detest and avoid all compromise 
 with it, because it is an offence against God : 
 and there is nothing a Christian should not 
 choose, nothing to which he should not ex- 
 pose himself, rather than to offend God. 
 Whoever does not think thus has no idea of 
 sin or its malice. 
 
 We ask God to deliver us from death, and 
 to preserve us during this life, because our 
 corruption and our weakness are so great that 
 it is impossible for us to be secure without 
 His special protection ; because the circum- 
 stances and occasions to which we are exposed 
 often depend upon His Providence alone, and 
 it belongs only to Him to remove or avert 
 them ; for He is the Master, who only can 
 change the interior disposition which prompts 
 
106 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 us to sin, and He is always ready to hear 
 beyond our prayers, and to second all our 
 efforts. But this prayer is not sincere, if we 
 are not saturated, by meditation and reading, 
 with the great truths calculated to inspire us 
 with the most lively horror of sin ; if, know- 
 ing our weakness by oft-repeated experiences, 
 we do not carefully avoid every occasion of 
 sin ; or if, on the contrary, we seek such oc- 
 casions, and throw ourselves into them with 
 zest and eagerness ; if we presume upon our- 
 selves, or on the help of God, which is not 
 vouchsafed when we voluntarily expose our- 
 selves ; if we live in dissipation and for- 
 getfulness of God, leaving our senses and 
 imagination open to exterior objects ; espe- 
 cially if we do not use the means God has put 
 into our hands to keep us from sin, such as 
 watchfulness, prayer, fasting, and frequenting 
 the sacraments. Let us add, finally, that, to 
 preserve ourselves more certainly from griev- 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 107 
 
 ous sin, we must be determined not to com- 
 mit the slightest fault intentionally, and to 
 correspond to grace with the utmost fidelity. 
 Therefore it is important to be convinced in 
 good time, that, next to mortal sin, the greatest 
 of evils is venial sin in itself, and still more in 
 its consequences, when it is committed delib- 
 erately \ that all voluntary resistance to grace 
 is never free from fault • that it grieves the 
 Holy Spirit, and leads the soul gradually to its 
 downfall. Hence, in order to ask God with 
 perfect confidence to deliver us from evil, 
 and to reckon upon His assistance in our 
 need, let us begin by delivering ourselves 
 from venial sin with the help of His actual 
 grace. The right use of thi sgrace will draw 
 down upon us other graces. Then let us 
 take every precaution and measure that 
 Christian prudence may suggest. Let us 
 watch over every movement of our heart. 
 Let us stifle all our passions at their birth ; let 
 
108 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 us give them no encouragement, and neve* 
 let them gather so much force that we cannot 
 master them. Let us not fail ourselves, and 
 God will never fail us. But to hope that He 
 will deliver us, while we do nothing for our 
 own deliverance, is a gross illusion. God re- 
 quires of us efforts. He places us in a con- 
 dition to make them. He has promised to 
 second them ; and, if we are courageous and 
 faithful, He will crown our fidelity with final 
 perseverance. Concerning temporal evils, 
 whether public, such as wars, famine, pesti- 
 lence, and other similar calamities ; or pri- 
 vate, which attack our property, our health, 
 our peace, or even our life, — these are not 
 properly evils to the Christian, but rather tests 
 which become to him either a blessing or a 
 curse, according to the way in which he re- 
 gards them, and the use he makes of them. 
 Sickness, infirmities, and death are the just 
 punishment of the disobedience of our first 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 109 
 
 parents. In considering them thus in rela- 
 tion to divine justice, let us submit to them 
 for ourselves as well as for those who are dear 
 to us ; let us accept them without a murmur 
 or complaint \ and let us draw from them 
 what God designs we shall draw for our sal- 
 vation. 
 
 There are other evils caused by the injus- 
 tice of man. God does not desire them, but 
 He permits them, and will make them serve 
 His own glory ; His intention being that we 
 should use them to our sanctification. Let us 
 regard them under this aspect, in the order of 
 His providence. Let us endure them, because 
 such is His good pleasure. Let us heartily 
 forgive those who cause them ; and let us 
 pray, as our Lord commands, for those who 
 persecute and slander us. Let us never for- 
 get that the greatest good, the redemption of 
 the human race, was accomplished by Jesus 
 Christ enduring similar evils for us \ and that 
 
no The Christian Sanctified 
 
 the most heinous of crimes has given place 
 to the most sublime of sacrifices. In uniting 
 our cross to His, we are assured of eternal 
 happiness ; and we are indebted for it to 
 what the world considers as great evils. 
 
 Finally, there are evils that we can impute 
 only to ourselves ; our passions and excesses 
 of what kindsoever, which affect our health, 
 waste our fortune, create troubles, and ruin 
 our reputation. These evils are a means 
 which God in his mercy employs to draw us 
 away from our disorders, to lead us to expiate 
 them, and to open to us the way to heaven. 
 They produce this effect, if, after having de- 
 tected and corrected the evil habits which are 
 their source, we accept them in a spirit of 
 penitence, and bless God for having afflicted 
 and humiliated us. The spirit of the Church 
 is to pray God to avert public calamities, or 
 to cause them entirely to cease, in order that 
 Christian people may be less occupied with 
 
by the Lord's Prayer, in 
 
 their own miseries, and may serve Him with 
 more devotion, tranquillity, and spiritual joy. 
 And it is the duty of the faithful to unite with 
 the Church in this intention , but also, while 
 the calamities last, to bear them with pa- 
 tience. God permits us to ask Him for de- 
 liverance from temporal evils, for ourselves 
 and for those in whom we are interested \ but 
 this prayer must be humble, peaceful, submis- 
 sive, and subordinate to His good pleasure, for 
 our own spiritual good and that of our neigh- 
 bor. The faithful are only too much carried 
 away with themselves not to pray in these 
 extremities ; there is no need of exhorting 
 them to that : but it is seldom that they do it 
 with a pure and Christian intention ; nature 
 often has more to do in these prayers than 
 grace. It is necessary, also, that they ask 
 with as much ardor and importunity for de- 
 liverance from their spiritual evils, and for 
 advancement in virtue. The present life, 
 
ii2 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 even, regarded in one sense, is an evil, be- 
 cause of the temptations which beset us, and 
 the constant danger of offending God and 
 losing our souls. It is an evil in that it is 
 an exile, and keeps us banished from the 
 heavenly country and the sight of God. 
 Under this aspect, it is proper to ask Him to 
 shorten our days, yet being willing to remain 
 upon earth as long as it may please Him. 
 The desire for death in good Christians 
 springs from the desire to make their salva- 
 tion sure ; and, in holy souls, it is the effect 
 of divine love which makes them sigh for the 
 moment when they shall be re-united forever 
 to Him they love. May this desire one day 
 be ours ! 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 113 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ISracttcai Conclusion. 
 
 iLa'sdlHIS short exposition is sufficient to 
 I show that the Lord's Prayer includes 
 or implies the principal points of Christian 
 morality, and of our duty to God, our neigh- 
 bor, and ourselves. Each, according to his 
 need and condition, will discover there, on 
 searching, an inexhaustible source of light and 
 affection. But it is necessary to put it in 
 practice. It is useless to read, reflect, and 
 meditate, if we do not resolve to perform. 
 We must also expect to render a strict ac- 
 count to God for the light which has enlight- 
 ened without reforming us. I grant that it is 
 not possible, every time we recite this prayer, 
 
ii4 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 to have distinctly before our minds the detail 
 of all the things contained therein. Neither 
 does God require this ; but He desires that we 
 should be so sufficiently instructed, according 
 to the capacity of each, in the meaning of 
 this divine prayer, as to have in our hearts 
 the feelings which ought to result from it, and 
 to make it the rule of our life. To this end 
 it would be well to read seriously, attentively, 
 and repeatedly the preceding exposition, or 
 some similar one ; permitting grace to act 
 upon our souls, and abandoning ourselves to 
 the holy thoughts and pious affections that it 
 may inspire. It would be still better to take 
 each one of the articles of which this prayer is 
 composed, as a subject of daily meditation, — 
 each one applying it to his own special state 
 and disposition, — and to continue this exer- 
 cise just as long as the soul can find any nour- 
 ishment in it. If one has no facility in medi- 
 tating, it will suffice to put one's self in the 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 115 
 
 presence of God, beseeching Him to instruct 
 one Himself, and to give the understanding 
 and spirit of each petition, with the neces- 
 sary grace to practise it. This prayer, if we 
 will only make it, listening to God in silence, 
 with humility, simplicity, and docility, will be 
 as instructive and useful as books and reflec- 
 tions, though we should never neglect to 
 make use of these when we have them at 
 hand. We should examine ourselves seri- 
 ously, to ascertain if we have lived up to 
 this time, or if we have resolved to live 
 henceforth, according to the spirit of this 
 prayer : for example, if we regard God as 
 a father, and if we have in this respect the 
 disposition He has a right to expect from 
 His children ; if we love other Christians as 
 brothers in Jesus Christ, and if we wish 
 for them all the temporal and spiritual good 
 we desire for ourselves, and do for them all 
 the good we are able ; to examine, also, in 
 
n6 The Christian Sanctified 
 
 what we hallow the name of God, and in what 
 we fail; what we can do more for ourselves 
 and others ; and so on with each petition. 
 
 An examination like this, made in the pres- 
 ence of God, will be of the greatest advan- 
 tage, and will put us in the way of an entire 
 reformation of our principles, our affections, 
 and our conduct. It will prompt us to make 
 upon each point good resolutions, to follow 
 them, and to render a faithful account of 
 them, which is the work of a good will. 
 In thus submitting the plan of life to the 
 Lord's Prayer, we should always have before 
 our eyes one simple object, which should 
 not fatigue the attention of the mind ; the 
 strength of the will should be concentrated 
 upon this single end, and we should consider 
 whether we are making progress, or whether 
 we are going backward. This prayer should 
 be the subject of our daily examination, and 
 it should hold a place as an exercise for Holy 
 
by the Lord's Prayer. 117 
 
 Communion. We should draw from it, dur- 
 ing the day, subjects of meditation and prayer, 
 and a throng of holy thoughts and aspirations. 
 Every thing invites to the embracing of a 
 method so simple, founded upon the authority 
 of Christ Himself; and, by following it, we 
 shall surely attain to a very high perfection. 
 How many good souls have been sanctified, 
 knowing only "Our Father," and having no 
 other teacher than the Holy Spirit ! Though 
 we should possess no other advantage than 
 that of reciting this divine prayer with a 
 recollected spirit, and a heart penetrated with 
 affection, this would be very great, and would 
 draw down upon us the benediction of our 
 heavenly Father. 
 
 St. Augustine said formally, in several 
 places, that the Lord's Prayer, recited as it 
 should be, would entirely efface our daily 
 faults. Is not this a reason for learning to 
 say it well ? 
 
n8 The Christian Sanctified. 
 
 I will end this little work by an excellent 
 precept, which I have insinuated more than 
 once , viz., Give yourself to Jesus Christ with 
 all your heart, that He may instruct you Him- 
 self upon the truths He has comprehended 
 in His prayer, that He may inspire in you a 
 clear perception of them, and that He may 
 grant you the grace necessary to practise them 
 as perfectly as He desires. You will certainly 
 be heard if you desire to be. 
 
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