gles and conflicts. He will show that, if the appetites of corrupt nature are ever reclaiming against, and opposed to the dictates of reason, we are not, however, to yield to any misgivings regarding our salvation, provided the spirit perseveres in the duty and determination of forgiving injuries, and of loving every being stamped with the image of God.
Some, perhaps, there are, who, because they have not yet succeeded in bringing themselves to forgive injuries, and to love their enemies, are deterred by the condition contained in this petition, as already explained, from repeating the Lord's Prayer. To remove from their minds so pernicious an error, the pastor will adduce the two following considerations: first, that whoever belongs to the number of the faithful offers this prayer in the name of the entire Church, which must necessarily contain within its pale some pious persons, who have forgiven their debtors the debts mentioned in the petition; and secondly, that when we offer this prayer to God, we also pray for whatever is necessary to enable us to comply with the petition. We pray for the pardon of our sins, and the gift of sincere repentance: we pray for a deep sense of sorrow: we pray for a hatred of sin; and we pray for the grace of confessing our offences truly and piously to the minister of God. As, then, it is necessary that we pardon those who have done us injury or injustice, when we ask pardon of God, we also ask strength to be reconciled to those, against whom we harbour feelings of hatred. It, there fore, becomes the duty of the pastor to correct the gross and dangerous error of those, who fear that to utter this prayer would be to exasperate the anger of God; an apprehension as groundless as it is mischievous. It is his to exhort them to the frequent use of this prayer, in which they beseech God our Father, to grant them grace to pardon those who have injured them, and to love those who have hated them.
But that our prayer be heard, we should first seriously reflect that we are suppliants at the throne of God, soliciting from him that pardon which he never refuses to the penitent; that we should therefore, possess that charity, and that piety which become penitents; and that it becomes us in a special manner to keep before our eyes our crimes and enormities, and to expiate them with our tears. To this consideration we should add the greatest circumspection in guarding for the future against the occasion of sin, and against whatever may possibly expose us to the danger of offending God our Father. Of these precautions David was not unmindful: " My sin," says he, " is always before me; [1] and again: " I will water my couch with my tears. " [2] Let each one also propose to himself the glowing fervour which animated the prayers of those, who besought God to pardon their sins, and who obtained the object of their earnest entreaties; such as the publican, who, through shame and grief, standing afar off, with eyes fixed on the ground, smote his breast,
