Most people consider this exercise a
wearisome ceremony, which they are justified in abridging as much as
possible. Even those whose profession or fears lead them to pray, do
it with such languor and wanderings of mind that their prayers, far
from drawing down blessings, only increase their condemnation. I wish
to demonstrate, in this discourse, first, the general necessity of
prayer; secondly, its peculiar duty; thirdly, the manner in which we
ought to pray.
First. God alone can instruct us in our duty. The teachings of men,
however wise and well disposed they may be, are still ineffectual, if
God do not shed on the soul that light which opens the mind to truth.
The imperfections of our fellow creatures cast a shade over the truths
that we learn from them. Such is our weakness that we do not receive,
with sufficient docility, the instructions of those who are as
imperfect as ourselves. A thousand suspicions, jealousies, fears, and
prejudices prevent us from profiting, as we might, by what we hear
from men; and tho they announce the most serious truths, yet what they
do weakens the effect of what they say.
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