Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

82 ST. MATTHEW.
any thing, but of being obliged not to give, and not
to bestow himself.
"6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy
closet; and when thou hast shut thy. door, pray to
thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which
seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."
The heart is God's peculiar portion: he is the
judge of it: it belongs to him to reward. It is in
this that he will be worshipped and adored. Prayer
is the most secret intercourse of the soul with God,
and, as it were, the conversation of one heart with
another. The world is too profane and treacherous
to be of the secret. We must shut the door against
it, by forgetting it, and all the affairs which busy
and amuse it. Prayer requires retirement, at least
of the heart; for this is the closet in the house of
God, which house is ourselves. Thither we ought
to retire, even in public prayer, and in the midst of
company. What goodness is there equal to this of
God, to give not only what we ask, and more than
we ask of him, but to reward even prayer itself!
What advantage is it to serve a prince, who places
prayers in the number of services, and reckons to his
subjects' account even their trust and confidence in
begffinff all things of him !
" 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions,
as the heathen do : for they think that they shall
be heard for their much speaking."
Prayer requires more of the heart than of the
tongue, of sighs than of words, of faith than of dis-
course. The eloquence of prayer consists in the
fervency of desire, in the simplicity of faith, and in
the earnestness and perseverance of charity. The