CHAPTER XV.

PRAYER AND SACRIFICE EXPLAINED BY THE SIMILITUDE OF A PERFUME— OUR ANNIHILATION IN THIS SACRIFICE — SOLIDITY AND FRUITFULNESS OF THIS PRAYER AS SET FORTH IN THE GOSPEL.

TDRAYER ought to be both petition and sacrifice. Prayer, according to the testimony of St John, is an incense, whose perfume rises to God. . There-fore it is said in the Revelation (chap. viii. 3), that an angel held a censer, which contained the incense of the prayers of saints.

Prayer is an outpouring of the heart in the pre-sence of God. " I have poured out my soul before the I^ord," said the mother of Samuel (i Sam. i. 15). Thus the prayers of the Magi at the feet of the infant Jesus in the stable of Bethlehem were sig-nified by the incense which they offered.

Prayer is the heat of love, which melts and dis-solves the soul, and carries it to God. In propor-