it earnestly; then you can not fail to win the victor's crown in your conflict with the enemies of your soul.
2. In the happy days of childhood, long since past, scarcely had you given the first signs of awakening reason than you were taught to fold your hands in prayer. From the pulpit and in the confessional, at home and in the church, you are exhorted to pray; the sound of the church bell, the sight of the crucifix, admonish you to raise your heart to God in prayer. It is not without the most weighty reasons that I myself have frequently and urgently encouraged you to pray. It behooves young men especially to follow the injunction of St. Paul: "Pray without ceasing"; for they are so frequently exposed to the fiercest onslaughts of passion. How otherwise could they in their weakness obtain the strength and grace which are needed in order permanently to resist the blandishments of the world and their own evil concupiscence?
Certainly young people must pray, and pray in the right manner, in order to protect and preserve the pearl of virtues; just as the wise Solomon did in his youth, according to his own words: " Because I knew that I could not otherwise be continent except God gave it, I went to the Lord, and besought Him" (Wis. viii. 21).
3. St. Paul points out to us a special method of prayer for the preservation of chastity in the following words: "In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one." By this shield of faith is meant that the truths of our holy religion, more especially serious meditations upon the four last things,
