Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/177

Rh night. When you go to your daily duties, pray that his Spirit may go with you and shield you from the tempter's snare, and keep you diligent and kind and just and faithful, and the coveted blessing will not be withheld. If in your family, your business, or your social relations, you have peculiar trials, pray that the Lord will give you grace to bear them with meekness and patience, and your prayer will certainly be answered. Pray for a blessing on your enemy, if you have one; and the very petition, if sincere and earnest, will soften your heart toward that enemy, and so bring down a blessing on yourself—perhaps on him likewise. Pray for the prosperity of a righteous cause, and your prayer will be answered—in this, if in no other way: It will open your soul to a fresh influx of God's grace, and bind your heart more strongly to that cause. Pray for the poor, the sick, the tempted, the sorrowing, and you will grow more into sympathy with them, and your heart will be imbued with a sweeter, tenderer and broader humanity. Pray for the persecuted, the down-trodden and enslaved, and your prayers, oft-repeated, will open within you the gates of heaven, through which the Lord will pour his grace upon you more abundantly, making you more tender and compassionate like Himself;—making you feel more sensibly the wrongs of others, and nerving you with fresh courage