Page:Withgodbookofpra00las.djvu/17

 came under  his  influence  to  pray  constantly;  "for prayer,"  he  said,  "is  the  strength  which  saves,  the courage  which  perseveres,  the  mystic  bridge  thrown over  the  abyss,  which  joins  the  soul  to  God."

"More things  are  wrought  by  prayer Than  this  world  dreams  of." — Tennyson.

This book  of  prayer  might  also  be  called  "Manna of  the  Soul,"  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  result  of  at  least a conscientious  effort  to  furnish  devout  souls  with  substantial spiritual  nutriment  in  such  abundance  and variety as  to  satisfy  all  reasonable  demands,  but without any  highly-seasoned  condiment  or  sauce  of mawkish  sentiment.

There are  devotions  and  devotions. In regard  to this  we  read  in  one  of  the  Sacred  Heart  League Leaflets, entitled  Points  for  Promoters:

"Are we  drifting  away  from  our  moorings?  Is  it true  that  we  are  abandoning  time-honored  Catholic customs  and  practices?  Are  the  good  old  devotions disappearing,  the  solid  and  enduring  ones  that  inspired the  faithful  for  ages,  to  make  way  for  a  newfangled piety  more  emotional  than  substantial? What  has  become  of  St.  Joseph?

"Even to  St.  Joseph  there  are  devotions  and  devotions, some  of  them  sensible,  a  number  of  them not  very  sensible,  and  it  is  no  wonder,  nor  any  loss, if  the  latter  have  disappeared  as  they  should;  only it  is  a  pity  that  those  who  have  never  practised  solid devotion  to  the  saint  should  be  deprived  of  it  utterly in  every  form  when  they  grow  out  of  the  puerile  and sometimes  unreasonable  practices  they  were  taught  to follow  in  his  honor.

"There is  no  need  of  specifying  any  of  these  prac-