Now, as I leave Thine altar, I go to encounter temptation.
O Saviour! help me, keep me, and warn me of my danger!
Let me shun all occasions of evil, and if by weakness or allurements I am led into paths of sin, if I fall, oh! rescue me speedily, that I may fall upon my knees, confessing my sin, and imploring pardon.
Sin! this is the evil from which I beseech Thee to deliver me; other [pg 072] troubles that may happen, I accept; they are sent to try me and to purify, and come from Thee; but sin, I have no pleasure in it! Oh! when in the hour of temptation I fall away, Lord, hearken to the cry that I now raise to Thee in all sincerity; I will it not! it is not wilful! I go from Thy Presence, but, Jesus, Thou art with me! In work, in prayer, in suffering, let all be done in Thee!
XXXIII.
"Mother," asked a child, "since nothing is ever lost, where do all our thoughts go?"
"To God," answered the mother gravely, "who remembers them forever."
"Forever!" said the child. He bent his head, and, drawing closer to his mother, murmured, "I am frightened!"
Which of us have not felt the same?