ans in every age; the
other closing his treatise on Mortality, one of those beautiful
productions by which, during the plague which raged at Carthage in the
year 252, he comforted and exhorted the Christians, that they might meet
death without fear or amazement, in sure and certain hope of eternal
blessedness in heaven. The sentiments in the latter passage will be
responded to by every good Catholic, whether in communion with the
Church of Rome or {168} with the Church of England; whilst in the former
we are reminded, that to pray as Cyprian prayed, we must address
ourselves to God alone in the name and trusting to the merits only of
his blessed Son.

"He who caused us to live, taught us also to pray, with that kindness
evidently by which He deigns to give and confer on us every other
blessing; that when we speak to the Father in the prayer and
supplication which his Son taught, we might the more readily be heard.
He had already foretold, that the hour was coming when the true
worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth; and He
fulfilled what He before promised, that we, who have received the spirit
and truth from his sanctification, may from his instruction offer
adoration truly and spiritually. For what prayer can be more spiritual
than that which is given to us by Christ, by whom even the Holy Spirit
is sent to us? What can be a more true prayer with the Father than that
which came from the lips of the Son, who is Truth? So that to pray
otherwise than He taught, is not only ignorance, but a fault; since He
has himself laid it down and said, Ye reject the Commandment of God to
establish your own traditions. Let us pray then, most beloved brethren,
as our teacher, God, has instructed us. It is a welcome and friendly
prayer to petition God from his own, to mount up to his ears by the
prayer of Christ. Let the Father recognize the words of his Son. When we
offer a prayer let Him who dwelleth inwardly in our breast, Himself be
in our voice; and since we have Him as our advocate with the Father for
our sins, when as sinners we are petitioning for our sins let us put
forth the words of our Advocate." [De Orat. Dom. p. 204.]

"We must consider, (he says at the close of his {169} treatise on the
Mortality [Page 236.],) most beloved brethren, and frequently reflect
that we have renounced the world, and are meanwhile living here as
strangers and pilgrims. Let us embrace the day which assigns each to his
own h