and miserable when we forsake Him.  He would teach us, by privation, the value of the blessings that we have slighted.  And shall we not bear our punishment with patience?  Who can boast of having done all that he ought to have done; of having repaired all his past errors; of having purified his heart, so that he may claim as a right that God should listen to his prayer?  Most truly, all our pride, great as it is, would not be sufficient to inspire such presumption!  If then, the Almightly do not grant our petitions, let us adore His justice, let us be silent, let us humble ourselves, and let us pray without ceasing.  This humble perseverance will obtain from Him what we should never obtain by our own merit.  It will make us pass happily from darkness to light; for know, says St. Augustine that God is near to us even when He appears far from us.

6.  We should pray with a pure intention.  We should not mingle in our prayers what is false with what is real; what is perishable with what is eternal; low and temporal interests with that which concerns our salvation.  Do not seek to render God the protector of your self-love and ambition, but the promoter of your good desires.  You ask for the gratification of your passions, or to be delivered from the cross, of which He knows you have need.  Carry not to the foot of the altar irregular desires and indiscreet prayers.  Sigh not for vain and fleeting pleasures.  Open your heart to your Father in heaven, that His Spirit may enable you to ask for the true riches.  How can He grant you, says St. Augustine, what you do not yourself desire to receive?  You pray every day that His will may be done, and that His kingdom may come.  How can you utter this prayer with sincerity when you prefer your own will to His, and make His law yield to the vain pretexts with which your self-love seeks to elude it?  Can you make this prayer—­you who disturb His reign in your heart by so many impure and vain desires?  You, in fine, who fear the coming of His reign, and do not desire that God should grant what you seem to pray for?  No!  If He, at this moment, were to offer to give you a new heart, and render you humble, and willing to bear the cross, your pride would revolt, and you would not accept the offer; or you would make a reservation in favor of your ruling passion, and try to accommodate your piety to your humor and fancies!

SOUTH

THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MAN

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Robert South, who was born in the borough of Hackney, London, England, in 1638, attracted wide attention by his vigorous mind and his clear, argumentative style in preaching.  Some of his sermons are notable specimens of pulpit eloquence.  A keen analytical mind, great depth of feeling, and wide range of fancy combined to make him a powerful and impressive speaker.  By some critics his style has been considered unsurpassed