leeve; and this fair comrade, I have no doubt, was an angel of
God, that led the brother forth, that he might be about his Father's
business. So I prayed the more earnestly. But when our other brother
rose, I looked up; and I saw that he had been plucked by the sleeve by
a little naked, comely boy, very swarthy of hue, that I saw had no
business among our holy prayers; he wore a mocking smile on his face,
as though he prevailed in evil. So I rose and followed; and just as
they came to the door, I aimed a shrewd blow, for it was told me what
to do, at the boy, and struck him on the head, so that he fell to the
ground, and presently went to his own place; and then our brother came
back to his prayers."

The Prior mused a little over this wonder, and then he said, smiling:
"It seemed to me that it was our brother that was smitten." "Very
like," said the hermit, "for the two were close together, and I think
the boy was whispering in the brother's ear; but give God the glory;
for the dear brother will not offend again."

There is an abundance of truth in this wholesome ancient tale; but I
will not draw the morals out here. All I will say is that the old
theory of prayer, simple and childlike as it is, seems to have a
curious vitality even nowadays. It presupposes that the act of prayer
is in itself pleasing to God; and that is what I am not satisfied of.

That theory seems to prevail even more strongly in the Roman Church of
to-day than in our own. The Roman priest is not a man occupied
primarily with pastoral duties; his business is the business of prayer.
To neglect his daily offices is a mortal sin, and when he has said
them, his priestly duty is at an end. This does not seem to me to bear
any relation to the theory of prayer as enunciated in the Gospel.
There the practice of constant and secret prayer, of a direct and
informal kind, is enjoined upon all followers of Christ; but Our Lord
seems to be very hard upon the lengthy and public prayers of the
Pharisees, and indeed against all formality in the matter at all. The
only united service that he enjoined upon his followers was the
Sacrament of the common meal; and I confess that the saying of formal
liturgies in an ornate building seems to me to be a practice which has
drifted very far away from the simplicity of individual religion which
Christ appears to have aimed at.

My own feeling about prayer is that it should not be relegated to
certain seasons, or