Prayer a Universal Characteristic of Man.
By Guizot
Alone of all beings here below, man prays. Among his moral instincts there is none more natural, more universal, more unconquerable, than prayer. The child inclines to it with a ready docility. The old man recurs to it as a refuge against decay and isolation. Prayer ascends from young lips which can hardly murmur the name of God, and from dying lips which have scarcely strength to pronounce it. Among every people, famous or obscure, civilized or barbarous, we meet at every step with acts and forms of invocation. Wherever men live, in certain circumstances, at certain hours, and under the influence of certain impressions of soul, the eyes are elevated, the hands join themselves, the knees bend, in order to implore or render thanks—to adore or to appease. With transport or with trembling, publicly or in the secret of his heart, it is to prayer that man applies as the last resource to fill the void of his soul, or to help him to bear the burden of his destiny. It is in prayer that he seeks, when every thing else fails him, support for his weakness, consolation in his sorrows, hope for his virtue.—Guizot.