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Letter CXXX.
(a.d. 412.)
To Proba,2420
| 2420 Anicia Faltonia Proba, the widow of Sextus
Petronius Probus, belonged to a Roman family of great wealth and
noble lineage. Three of her sons held the consulship, two of them
together in 395 A.D., and the third in 406
A.D. When Rome was taken by Alaric m 410,
Proba and her family were in the city, and narrowly escaped from
violence during the six days in which the Goths pillaged the city.
About this time one of the sons of Proba died, and very soon after
this sad event she resolved to quit Rome, as the return of Alaric
was daily apprehended. Having realized her ample fortune, she
sailed to Africa, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Juliana (the
widow of Anicus Hermogenianus Olybrius), and the daughter of
Juliana Demetrias, the well known religieuse, whose taking
of the veil in 413 produced so profound an impression throughout
the ecclesiastical world. A considerable retinue of widows and
younger women, seeking protection under her escort, accompanied the
distinguished refugee to Carthage. After paying a large sum to
secure the protection of Heraclianus, Count of Africa, she was
permitted to establish herself with her community of pious women in
Carthage. Her piety led her to seek the friendship and counsel of
Augustin. How readily it was given is seen here, and in Letters
CXXXI., CL., and CLXXXVIII. | a Devoted Handmaid of God, Bishop Augustin, a Servant
of Christ and of Christ’s Servants, Sends Greeting in the Name of
the Lord of Lords.
Chap. I.
1. Recollecting your request and my promise, that as
soon as time and opportunity should be given by Him to whom we
pray, I would write you something on the subject of prayer to God,
I feel it my duty now to discharge this debt, and in the love of
Christ to minister to the satisfaction of your pious desire. I
cannot express in words how greatly I rejoiced because of the
request, in which I perceived how great is your solicitude about
this supremely important matter. For what could be more suitably
the business of your widowhood than to continue in supplications
night and day, according to the apostle’s admonition, “She that
is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in
supplications night and day”?2421
It might, indeed, appear wonderful
that solicitude about prayer should occupy your heart and claim the
first place in it, when you are, so far as this world is concerned,
noble and wealthy, and the mother of such an illustrious family,
and, although a widow, not desolate, were it not that you wisely
understand that in this world and in this life the soul has no sure
portion.
2. Wherefore He who inspired you with this
thought is assuredly doing what He promised to His disciples when
they were grieved, not for themselves, but for the whole human
family, and were despairing of the salvation of any one, after they
heard from Him that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
heaven. He gave them this marvellous and merciful reply: “The
things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”2422
He,
therefore, with whom it is possible to make even the rich enter
into the kingdom of heaven, inspired you with that devout anxiety
which makes you think it necessary to ask my counsel on the
question how you ought to pray. For while He was yet on earth, He
brought Zaccheus,2423
though rich, into the kingdom of
heaven, and, after being glorified in His resurrection and
ascension, He made many who were rich to despise this present
world, and made them more truly rich by extinguishing their desire
for riches through His imparting to them His Holy Spirit. For how
could you desire so much to pray to God if you did not trust in
Him? And how could you trust in Him if you were fixing your trust
in uncertain riches, and neglecting the wholesome exhortation of
the apostle: “Charge them that are rich in this world that they
be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the
living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do
good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing
to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good
foundation, that they may lay hold on eternal life”?2424
Chap. II.
3. It becomes you, therefore, out of love to
this true life, to account yourself “desolate” in this world,
however great the prosperity of your lot may be. For as that is the
true life, in comparison with which the present life, which is much
loved, is not worthy to be called life, however happy and prolonged
it be, so is it also the true consolation promised by the Lord in
the words of Isaiah, “I will give him the true consolation, peace
upon peace,”2425
| 2425 Isa. lvii. 18, 19, in LXX. version. | without
which consolation men find themselves, in the midst of every mere
earthly solace, rather desolate than comforted. For as for riches
and high rank, and all other things in which men who are strangers
to true felicity imagine that happiness exists, what comfort do
they bring, seeing that it is better to be independent of such
things than to enjoy abundance of them, because, when possessed,
they occasion, through our fear of losing them, more vexation than
was caused by the strength of desire with which their possession
was coveted? Men are not made good by possessing these so-called
good things, but, if men have become good otherwise, they make
these things to be really good by using them well. Therefore true
comfort is to be found not in them, but rather in those things in
which true life is found. For a man can be made blessed only by the
same power by which he is made good.
4. It is true, indeed, that good men are seen
to be the sources of no small comfort to others in this world. For
if we be harassed by poverty, or saddened by bereavement, or
disquieted by bodily pain, or pining in exile, or vexed by any kind
of calamity, let good men visit us, men who can not only rejoice
with them that rejoice, but also weep with them that weep,2426
and who
know how to give profitable counsel, and win us to express our
feelings in conversation: the effect is, that rough things become
smooth, heavy burdens are lightened, and difficulties vanquished
most wonderfully. But this is done in and through them by Him who
has made them good by His Spirit. On the other hand, although
riches may abound, and no bereavement befal us, and health of body
be enjoyed, and we live in our own country in peace and safety, if,
at the same time, we have as our neighbours wicked men, among whom
there is not one who can be trusted, not one from whom we do not
apprehend and experience treachery, deceit, outbursts of anger,
dissensions, and snares, in such a case are not all these other
things made bitter and vexatious, so that nothing sweet or pleasant
is left in them? Whatever, therefore, be our circumstances in this
world, there is nothing truly enjoyable without a friend. But
how rarely
is one found in this life about whose spirit and behaviour as a
true friend there may be perfect confidence! For no one is known to
another so intimately as he is known to himself, and yet no one is
so well known even to himself that he can be sure as to his own
conduct on the morrow; wherefore, although many are known by their
fruits, and some gladden their neighhours by their good lives,
while others grieve their neighbours by their evil lives, yet the
minds of men are so unknown and so unstable, that there is the
highest wisdom in the exhortation of the apostle: “Judge nothing
before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God.”2427
5. In the darkness, then, of this world, in
which we are pilgrims absent from the Lord as long as “we walk by
faith and not by sight,”2428
the Christian soul ought to feel
itself desolate, and continue in prayer, and learn to fix the eye
of faith on the word of the divine sacred Scriptures, as “on a
light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star
arise in our hearts.”2429
For the ineffable source from
which this lamp borrows its light is the Light which shineth in
darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not—the Light, in
order to seeing which our hearts must be purified by faith; for
“blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God;”2430
and “we
know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is.”2431
Then after death shall come the
true life, and after desolation the true consolation, that life
shall deliver our “souls from death” that consolation shall
deliver our “eyes from tears,” and, as follows in the psalm,
our feet shall be delivered from falling; for there shall be no
temptation there.2432
Moreover, if there be no
temptation, there will be no prayer; for there we shall not be
waiting for promised blessings, but contemplating the blessings
actually bestowed; wherefore he adds, “I will walk before the
Lord in the land of the living,”2433
| 2433 Ps. cxvi. 9. In the LXX., εὐαρεστήσω; in Aug., “placebo.” | where we shall then be—not in
the wilderness of the dead, where we now are: “For ye are
dead,” says the apostle, “and your life is hid with Christ in
God; when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with Him in glory.”2434
For that is the true life on which
the rich are exhorted to lay hold by being rich in good works; and
in it is the true consolation, for want of which, meanwhile, a
widow is “desolate” indeed, even though she has sons and
grandchildren, and conducts her household piously, entreating all
dear to her to put their hope in God: and in the midst of all this,
she says in her prayer, “My soul thirsteth for Thee; my flesh
longeth in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;”2435
and this
dying life is nothing else than such a land, however numerous our
mortal comforts, however pleasant our companions in the pilgrimage,
and however great the abundance of our possessions. You know how
uncertain all these things are; and even if they were not
uncertain, what would they be in comparison with the felicity which
is promised in the life to come!
6. In saying these things to you, who, being a
widow, rich and noble, and the mother of an illustrious family,
have asked from me a discourse on prayer, my aim has been to make
you feel that, even while your family are spared to you, and live
as you would desire, you are desolate so long as you have not
attained to that life in which is the true and abiding consolation,
in which shall be fulfilled what is spoken in prophecy: “We are
satisfied in the morning with Thy mercy, we rejoice and are glad
all our days; we are made glad according to the days wherein Thou
hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.”2436
| 2436 Ps. xc. 14, 15, version of LXX. |
Chap. III.
7. Wherefore, until that consolation come,
remember, in order to your “continuing in prayers and
supplications night and day,” that, however great the temporal
prosperity may be which flows around you, you are desolate. For the
apostle does not ascribe this gift to every widow, but to her who,
being a widow indeed, and desolate, “trusteth in God, and
continueth in supplication night and day.” Observe, however, most
vigilantly the warning which follows: “But she that liveth in
pleasure is dead while she liveth;”2437
for a person lives in those things
which he loves, which he greatly desires, and in which he believes
himself to be blessed. Wherefore, what Scripture has said of
riches: “If riches increase, set not your heart upon them,”2438
I say to
you concerning pleasures: “If pleasures increase, set not your
heart upon them.” Do not, therefore, think highly of yourself
because these things are not wanting, but are yours abundantly,
flowing, as it were, from a most copious fountain of earthly
felicity. By all means look upon your possession of these things
with indifference and contempt, and seek nothing from them beyond
health of body. For this is a blessing not to be despised, because
of its being necessary to the work of life until “this
mortal shall have put on immortality”2439
in other
words, the true, perfect, and everlasting health, which is neither
reduced by earthly infirmities nor repaired by corruptible
gratification, but, enduring with celestial rigour, is animated
with a life eternally incorruptible. For the apostle himself says,
“Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof,”2440
because we
must take care of the flesh, but only in so far as is necessary for
health; “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh,”2441
as he
himself likewise says. Hence, also, he admonished Timothy, who was,
as it appears, too severe upon his body, that he should “use a
little wine for his stomach’s sake, and for his often
infirmities.”2442
8. Many holy men and women, using every
precaution against those pleasures in which she that liveth,
cleaving to them, and dwelling in them as her heart’s delight, is
dead while she liveth, have cast from them that which is as it were
the mother of pleasures, by distributing their wealth among the
poor, and so have stored it in the safer keeping of the treasury of
heaven. If you are hindered from doing this by some
consideration of duty to your family, you know yourself what
account you can give to God of your use of riches. For no one
knoweth what passeth within a man, “but the spirit of the man
which is in him.”2443
We ought not to judge anything
“before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.”2444
It
pertains, therefore, to your care as a widow, to see to it that if
pleasures increase you do not set your heart upon them, lest that
which ought to rise that it may live, die through contact with
their corrupting influence. Reckon yourself to be one of those of
whom it is written, “Their hearts shall live for ever.”2445
Chap. IV.
9. You have now heard what manner of person
you should be if you would pray; hear, in the next place, what you
ought to pray for. This is the subject on which you have thought it
most necessary to ask my opinion, because you were disturbed by the
words of the apostle: “We know not what we should pray for as we
ought;”2446
and you
became alarmed lest it should do you more harm to pray otherwise
than you ought, than to desist from praying altogether. A short
solution of your difficulty may be given thus: “Pray for a happy
life.” This all men wish to have; for even those whose lives are
worst and most abandoned would by no means live thus, unless they
thought that in this way they either were made or might be made
truly happy. Now what else ought we to pray for than that which
both bad and good desire, but which only the good
obtain?
Chap. V.
10. You ask, perchance, What is this happy
life? On this question the talents and leisure of many philosophers
have been wasted, who, nevertheless, failed in their researches
after it just in proportion as they failed to honour Him from whom
it proceeds, and were unthankful to Him. In the first place, then,
consider whether we should accept the opinion of those philosophers
who pronounce that man happy who lives according to his own will.
Far be it, surely, from us to believe this; for what if a man’s
will inclines him to live in wickedness? Is he not proved to be a
miserable man in proportion to the facility with which his depraved
will is carried out? Even philosophers who were strangers to the
worship of God have rejected this sentiment with deserved
abhorrence. One of them, a man of the greatest eloquence, says:
“Behold, however, others, not philosophers indeed, but men of
ready power in disputation, who affirm that all men are happy who
live according to their own will. But this is certainly untrue, for
to wish that which is unbecoming is itself a most miserable thing;
nor is it so miserable a thing to fail in obtaining what you wish
as to wish to obtain what you ought not to desire.”2447
What is
your opinion? Are not these words, by whomsoever they are spoken,
derived from the Truth itself? We may therefore here say what the
apostle said of a certain Cretan poet2448
whose sentiment had pleased him:
“This witness is true.”2449
11. He, therefore, is truly happy who has all that
he wishes to have, and wishes to have nothing which he ought not to
wish. This being understood, let us now observe what things men may
without impropriety wish to have. One desires marriage; another,
having become a widower, chooses thereafter to live a life of
continence; a third chooses to practise continence though he is
married. And although of these three conditions one may be found
better than another, we cannot say that any one of the three
persons is wishing what he ought not: the same is true of the
desire for children as the fruit of marriage, and for life and
health to be enjoyed by the children who have been received,—of
which desires the latter is one with which widows remaining
unmarried are for the most part occupied; for although, refusing a
second marriage, they do not now wish to have children, they wish
that the children that they have may live in
health. From all such care those who
preserve their virginity intact are free. Nevertheless, all have
some dear to them whose temporal welfare they do without
impropriety desire. But when men have obtained this health for
themselves, and for those whom they love, are we at liberty to say
that they are now happy? They have, it is true, something which it
is quite becoming to desire; but if they have not other things
which are greater, better, and more full both of utility and
beauty, they are still far short of possessing a happy life.
Chap. VI.
12. Shall we then say, that in addition to
this health of body men may desire for themselves and for those
dear to them honour and power? By all means, if they desire these
in order that by obtaining them they may promote the interest of
those who may be their dependants. If they seek these things not
for the sake of the things themselves, but for some good thing
which may through this means be accomplished, the wish is a proper
one; but if it be merely for the empty gratification of pride, and
arrogance, and for a superfluous and pernicious triumph of vanity,
the wish is improper. Wherefore, men do nothing wrong in desiring
for themselves and for their kindred the competent portion of
necessary things, of which the apostle speaks when he says:
“Godliness with a competency [contentment in English version] is
great gain; for we brought nothing into this world, and it is
certain we can carry nothing out: and having food and raiment, let
us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into
temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition; for the love of money
is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have
erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.”2450
This
competent portion he desires without impropriety who desires it and
nothing beyond it; for if his desires go beyond it, he is not
desiring it, and therefore his desire is improper. This was
desired, and was prayed for by him who said: “Give me neither
poverty nor riches: feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be
full, and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor,
and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”2451
You see
assuredly that this competency is desired not for its own sake, but
to secure the health of the body, and such provision of house and
clothing as is befitting the man’s circumstances, that he may
appear as he ought to do among those amongst whom he has to live,
so as to retain their respect and discharge the duties of his
position.
13. Among all these things, our own welfare
and the benefits which friendship bids us ask for others are things
to be desired on their own account; but a competency of the
necessaries of life is usually sought, if it be sought in the
proper way, not on its own account, but for the sake of the two
higher benefits. Welfare consists in the possession of life itself,
and health and soundness of mind and body. The claims of
friendship, moreover, are not to be confined within too
narrow range, for it embraces all to whom love and kindly affection
are due, although the heart goes out to some of these more freely,
to others more cautiously; yea, it even extends to our enemies, for
whom also we are commanded to pray. There is accordingly no one in
the whole human family to whom kindly affection is not due by
reason of the bond of a common humanity, although it may not be due
on the ground of reciprocal love;
Chap. VII.—but in those by
whom we are requited with a holy and pure love, we find great and
reasonable pleasure.
For these things, therefore, it becomes us to pray:
if we have them, that we may keep them; if we have them not, that
we may get them.
14. Is this all? Are these the benefits in which
exclusively the happy life is found? Or does truth teach us that
something else is to be preferred to them all? We know that both
the competency of things necessary, and the well-being of ourselves
and of our friends, so long as these concern this present world
alone, are to be cast aside as dross in comparison with the
obtaining of eternal life; for although the body may be in health,
the mind cannot be regarded as sound which does not prefer eternal
to temporal things; yea, the life which we live in time is wasted,
if it be not spent in obtaining that by which we may be worthy of
eternal life. Therefore all things which are the objects of useful
and becoming desire are unquestionably to be viewed with reference
to that one life which is lived with God, and is derived from Him.
In so doing, we love ourselves if we love God; and we truly love
our neighbours as ourselves, according to the second great
commandment, if, so far as is in our power, we persuade them to a
similar love of God. We love God, therefore, for what He is in
Himself, and ourselves and our neighbours for His sake. Even when
living thus, let us not think that we are securely established in
that happy life, as if there was nothing more for which we should
still pray. For how could we be said to live a happy life now,
while that which alone is the object of a well-directed life is
still wanting to us?
Chap. VIII.
15. Why, then, are our desires scattered over many
things, and why, through fear of not praying as we ought, do we ask
what we should pray for, and not rather say
with the Psalmist: “One thing
have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple”?2452
For in the
house of the Lord “all the days of life” are not days
distinguished by their successively coming and passing away: the
beginning of one day is not the end of another; but they are all
alike unending in that place where the life which is made up of
them has itself no end. In order to our obtaining this true blessed
life, He who is Himself the True Blessed Life has taught us to
pray, not with much speaking, as if our being heard depended upon
the fluency with which we express ourselves, seeing that we are
praying to One who, as the Lord tells us, “knoweth what things we
have need of before we ask Him.”2453
Whence it may seem surprising
that, although He has forbidden “much speaking,” He who knoweth
before we ask Him what things we need has nevertheless given us
exhortation to prayer in such words as these: “Men ought always
to pray and not to faint;” setting before us the case of a widow,
who, desiring to have justice done to her against her adversary,
did by her persevering entreaties persuade an unjust judge to
listen to her, not moved by a regard either to justice or to mercy,
but overcome by her wearisome importunity; in order that we might
be admonished how much more certainly the Lord God, who is merciful
and just, gives ear to us praying continually to Him, when this
widow, by her unremitting supplication, prevailed over the
indifference of an unjust and wicked judge, and how willingly and
benignantly He fulfils the good desires of those whom He knows to
have forgiven others their trespasses, when this suppliant, though
seeking vengeance upon her adversary, obtained her desire.2454
A similar
lesson the Lord gives in the parable of the man to whom a friend in
his journey had come, and who, having nothing to set before him,
desired to borrow from another friend three loaves (in which,
perhaps, there is a figure of the Trinity of persons of one
substance), and finding him already along with his household
asleep, succeeded by very urgent and importunate entreaties in
rousing him up, so that he gave him as many as he needed, being
moved rather by a wish to avoid further annoyance than by
benevolent thoughts: from which the Lord would have us understand
that, if even one who was asleep is constrained to give, even in
spite of himself, after being disturbed in his sleep by the person
who asks of him, how much more kindly will He give who never
sleeps, and who rouses us from sleep that we may ask from Him.2455
16. With the same design He added: “Ask, and
ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that
seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a
son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give
him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a
serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things
to them that ask Him?”2456
We have here what corresponds to
those three things which the apostle commends: faith is
signified by the fish, either on account of the element of water
used in baptism, or because it remains unharmed amid the
tempestuous waves of this world,—contrasted with which is the
serpent, that with poisonous deceit persuaded man to disbelieve
God; hope is signified by the egg, because the life of the
young bird is not yet in it, but is to be—is not seen, but hoped
for, because “hope which is seen is not hope,”2457
—contrasted with which is the
scorpion, for the man who hopes for eternal life forgets the things
which are behind, and reaches forth to the things which are before,
for to him it is dangerous to look back; but the scorpion is to be
guarded against on account of what it has in its tail, namely, a
sharp and venomous sting; charity, is signified by bread,
for “the greatest of these is charity,” and bread surpasses all
other kinds of food in usefulness,—contrasted with which is a
stone, because hard hearts refuse to exercise charity. Whether this
be the meaning of these symbols, or some other more suitable be
found, it is at least certain that He who knoweth how to give good
gifts to His children urges us to “ask and seek and
knock.”
17. Why this should be done by Him who
“before we ask Him knoweth what things we have need of,” might
perplex our minds, if we did not understand that the Lord our God
requires us to ask not that thereby our wish may be intimated to
Him, for to Him it cannot be unknown, but in order that by prayer
there may be exercised in us by supplications that desire by which
we may receive what He prepares to bestow. His gifts are very
great, but we are small and straitened in our capacity of
receiving. Wherefore it is said to us: “Be ye enlarged, not
bearing the yoke along with unbelievers.2458
For, in proportion to the
simplicity of our faith, the firmness of our hope, and the ardour
of our desire, will we more largely receive of that which is
immensely great; which “eye hath not seen,” for it is not colour;
which “the ear hath not heard,” for it is not sound; and which
hath not ascended into the heart of man, for the heart of man must
ascend to it.2459
Chap. IX.
18. When we cherish uninterrupted desire along
with the exercise of faith and hope and charity, we “pray
always.” But at certain stated hours and seasons we also use
words in prayer to God, that by these signs of things we may
admonish ourselves, and may acquaint ourselves with the measure of
progress which we have made in this desire, and may more warmly
excite ourselves to obtain an increase of its strength. For the
effect following upon prayer will be excellent in proportion to the
fervour of the desire which precedes its utterance. And therefore,
what else is intended by the words of the apostle: “Pray without
ceasing,”2460
than,
“Desire without intermission, from Him who alone can give it, a
happy life, which no life can be but that which is eternal”?
This, therefore, let us desire continually from the Lord our God;
and thus let us pray continually. But at certain hours we recall
our minds from other cares and business, in which desire itself
somehow is cooled down, to the business of prayer, admonishing
ourselves by the words of our prayer to fix attention upon that
which we desire, lest what had begun to lose heat become altogether
cold, and be finally extinguished, if the flame be not more
frequently fanned. Whence, also, when the same apostle says, “Let
your requests be made known unto God,”2461
this is not to be understood as if
thereby they become known to God, who certainly knew them before
they were uttered, but in this sense, that they are to be made
known to ourselves in the presence of God by patient waiting upon
Him, not in the presence of men by ostentatious worship. Or perhaps
that they may be made known also to the angels that are in the
presence of God, that these beings may in some way present them to
God, and consult Him concerning them, and may bring to us, either
manifestly or secretly, that which, hearkening to His commandment,
they may have learned to be His will, and which must be fulfilled
by them according to that which they have there learned to be their
duty; for the angel said to Tobias:2462
“Now, therefore, when thou didst
pray, and Sara thy daughter-in-law, I did bring the remembrance of
your prayers before the Holy One.”
Chap. X.
19. Wherefore it is neither wrong nor
unprofitable to spend much time in praying, if there be leisure for
this without hindering other good and necessary works to which duty
calls us, although even in the doing of these, as I have said, we
ought by cherishing holy desire to pray without ceasing. For to
spend a long time in prayer is not, as some think, the same thing
as to pray “with much speaking.” Multiplied words are one
thing, long-continued warmth of desire is another. For even of the
Lord Himself it is written, that He continued all night in
prayer,2463
and that
His prayer was more prolonged when He was in an agony;2464
and in
this is not an example given to us by Him who is in time an
Intercessor such as we need, and who is with the Father eternally
the Hearer of prayer?
20. The brethren in Egypt are reported to have very
frequent prayers, but these very brief, and, as it were, sudden and
ejaculatory, lest the wakeful and aroused attention which is
indispensable in prayer should by protracted exercises vanish or
lose its keenness. And in this they themselves show plainly enough,
that just as this attention is not to be allowed to become
exhausted if it cannot continue long, so it is not to be suddenly
suspended if it is sustained. Far be it from us either to use
“much speaking” in prayer, or to refrain from prolonged prayer,
if fervent attention of the soul continue. To use much speaking in
prayer is to employ a superfluity of words in asking a necessary
thing; but to prolong prayer is to have the heart throbbing with
continued pious emotion towards Him to whom we pray. For in most
cases prayer consists more in groaning than in speaking, in tears
rather than in words. But He setteth our tears in His sight, and
our groaning is not hidden from Him who made all things by the
word, and does not need human words.
Chap. XI.
21. To us, therefore, words are necessary, that by
them we may be assisted in considering and observing what we ask,
not as means by which we expect that God is to be either informed
or moved to compliance. When, therefore, we say: “Hallowed be Thy
name,” we admonish ourselves to desire that His name, which is
always holy, may be also among men esteemed holy, that is to say,
not despised; which is an advantage not to God, but to men. When we
say: “Thy kingdom come,” which shall certainly come whether we
wish it or not, we do by these words stir up our own desires for
that kingdom, that it may come to us, and that we may be found
worthy to reign in it. When we say: “Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven,” we pray for ourselves that He would give us the
grace of obedience, that His will may be done by us in the same way
as it is done in heavenly places by His angels. When we say:
“Give us this day our daily bread,” the word “this day”
signifies for the present time, in which we ask either for that
competency of temporal
blessings which I have spoken of before (“bread” being used to
designate the whole of those blessings, because of its constituting
so important a part of them), or the sacrament of believers, which
is in this present time necessary, but necessary in order to obtain
the felicity not of the present time, but of eternity. When we say:
“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” we remind
ourselves both what we should ask, and what we should do in order
that we may be worthy to receive what we ask. When we say: “Lead
us not into temptation,” we admonish ourselves to seek that we
may not, through being deprived of God’s help, be either ensnared
to consent or compelled to yield to temptation. When we say:
“Deliver us from evil,” we admonish ourselves to consider that
we are not yet enjoying that good estate in which we shall
experience no evil. And this petition, which stands last in the
Lord’s Prayer, is so comprehensive that a Christian, in
whatsoever affliction he be placed, may in using it give utterance
to his groans and find vent for his tears—may begin with this
petition, go on with it, and with it conclude his prayer. For it
was necessary that by the use of these words the things which they
signify should be kept before our memory.
Chap. XII.
22. For whatever other words we may
say,—whether the desire of the person praying go before the
words, and employ them in order to give definite form to its
requests, or come after them, and concentrate attention upon them,
that it may increase in fervour,—if we pray rightly, and as
becomes our wants, we say nothing but what is already contained in
the Lord’s Prayer. And whoever says in prayer anything which
cannot find its place in that gospel prayer, is praying in a way
which, if it be not unlawful, is at least not spiritual; and I know
not how carnal prayers can be lawful, since it becomes those who
are born again by the Spirit to pray in no other way than
spiritually. For example, when one prays: “Be Thou glorified
among all nations as Thou art glorified among us,” and “Let Thy
prophets be found faithful,”2465
what else does he ask than,
“Hallowed be Thy name”? When one says: “Turn us again, O Lord
God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved,”2466
what else
is he saying than, “Let Thy kingdom come”? When one says:
“Order my steps in Thy word, and let not any iniquity have
dominion over me,”2467
what else is he saying than,
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”? When one says:
“Give me neither poverty nor riches,”2468
what else is this than, “Give us
this day our daily bread”? When one says: “Lord, remember
David, and all his compassion,”2469
| 2469 Ps. cxxxii. 1 (LXX.). | or, “O Lord, if I have done
this, if there be iniquity in my hands, if I have rewarded evil to
them that did evil to me,”2470
what else is this than, “Forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtors”? When one says: “Take
away from me the lusts of the appetite, and let not sensual desire
take hold on me,”2471
what else is this than, “Lead us
not into temptation”? When one says: “Deliver me from mine
enemies, O my God; defend me from them that rise up against
me,”2472
what else
is this than, “Deliver us from evil”? And if you go over all
the words of holy prayers, you will, I believe, find nothing which
cannot be comprised and summed up in the petitions of the Lord’s
Prayer. Wherefore, in praying, we are free to use different words
to any extent, but we must ask the same things; in this we have no
choice.
23. These things it is our duty to ask without
hesitation for ourselves and for our friends, and for
strangers—yea, even for enemies; although in the heart of the
person praying, desire for one and for another may arise, differing
in nature or in strength according to the more immediate or more
remote relationship. But he who says in prayer such words as, “O
Lord, multiply my riches;” or, “Give me as much wealth as Thou
hast given to this or that man;” or, “Increase my honours, make
me eminent for power and fame in this world,” or something else
of this sort, and who asks merely from a desire for these things,
and not in order through them to benefit men agreeably to God’s
will, I do not think that he will find any part of the Lord’s
Prayer in connection with which he could fit in these requests.
Wherefore let us be ashamed at least to ask these things, if we be
not ashamed to desire them. If, however, we are ashamed of even
desiring them, but feel ourselves overcome by the desire, how much
better would it be to ask to be freed from this plague of desire by
Him to whom we say, “Deliver us from evil”!
Chap. XIII.
24. You have now, if I am not mistaken, an answer to
two questions,—what kind of person you ought to be if you would
pray, and what things you should ask in prayer; and the answer has
been given not by my teaching, but by His who has condescended to
teach us all. A happy life is to be sought after, and this is to be
asked from the Lord God. Many different answers have been given by
many in discussing wherein true happiness consists; but why should
we go to many teachers, or consider many answers to this question?
It has been briefly and truly stated in the divine Scriptures,
“Blessed is the
people whose God is the Lord.”2473
That we may be numbered among this
people, and that we may attain to beholding Him and dwelling for
ever with Him, “the end of the commandment is, charity out of a
pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.”2474
In the
same three, hope has been placed instead of a good conscience.
Faith, hope, and charity, therefore, lead unto God the man who
prays, i.e. who believes, hopes, and desires, and is guided
as to what he should ask from the Lord by studying the Lord’s
Prayer. Fasting, and abstinence from gratifying carnal desire in
other pleasures without injury to health, and especially frequent
almsgiving, are a great assistance in prayer; so that we may be
able to say, “In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord, with my
hands in the night before Him, and I was not deceived.”2475
| 2475 Ps. lxxvii. 2 (LXX.). | For how
can God, who is a Spirit, and who cannot be touched, be sought with
hands in any other sense than by good works?
Chap. XIV.
25. Perhaps you may still ask why the apostle
said, “We know not what to pray for as we ought,”2476
for it is
wholly incredible that either he or those to whom he wrote were
ignorant of the Lord’s Prayer. He could not say this either
rashly or falsely; what, then, do we suppose to be his reason for
the statement? Is it not that vexations and troubles in this world
are for the most part profitable either to heal the swelling of
pride, or to prove and exercise patience, for which, after such
probation and discipline, a greater reward is reserved, or to
punish and eradicate some sins; but we, not knowing what beneficial
purpose these may serve, desire to be freed from all tribulation?
To this ignorance the apostle showed that even he himself was not a
stranger (unless, perhaps, he did it notwithstanding his knowing
what to pray for as he ought), when, lest he should be exalted
above measure by the greatness of the revelations, there was given
unto him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him;
for which thing, not knowing surely what he ought to pray for, he
besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him. At length
he received the answer of God, declaring why that which so great a
man prayed for was denied, and why it was expedient that it should
not be done: “My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is
made perfect in weakness.”2477
26. Accordingly, we know not what to pray for
as we ought in regard to tribulations, which may do us good or
harm; and yet, because they are hard and painful, and against the
natural feelings of our weak nature, we pray, with a desire which
is common to mankind, that they may be removed from us. But we
ought to exercise such submission to the will of the Lord our God,
that if He does not remove those vexations, we do not suppose
ourselves to be neglected by Him, but rather, in patient endurance
of evil, hope to be made partakers of greater good, for so His
strength is perfected in our weakness. God has sometimes in anger
granted the request of impatient petitioners, as in mercy He denied
it to the apostle. For we read what the Israelites asked, and in
what manner they asked and obtained their request; but while their
desire was granted, their impatience was severely corrected.2478
Again, He
gave them, in answer to their request, a king according to their
heart, as it is written, not according to His own heart.2479
He granted
also what the devil asked, namely, that His servant, who was to be
proved, might be tempted.2480
He granted also the request of
unclean spirits, when they besought Him that their legion might be
sent into the great herd of swine.2481
These things are written to
prevent any one from thinking too highly of himself if he has
received an answer when he was urgently asking anything which it
would be more advantageous for him not to receive, or to prevent
him from being cast down and despairing of the divine compassion
towards himself if he be not heard, when, perchance, he is asking
something by the obtaining of which he might be more grievously
afflicted, or might be by the corrupting influences of prosperity
wholly destroyed. In regard to such things, therefore, we know not
what to pray for as we ought. Accordingly, if anything is ordered
in a way contrary to our prayer, we ought, patiently bearing the
disappointment, and in everything giving thanks to God, to
entertain no doubt whatever that it was right that the will of God
and not our will should be done. For of this the Mediator has given
us an example, inasmuch as, after He had said, “Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me,” transforming the human will
which was in Him through His incarnation, He immediately added,
“Nevertheless, O Father, not as I will but as Thou wilt.”2482
Wherefore,
not without reason are many made righteous by the obedience of
One.2483
27. But whoever desires from the Lord that
“one thing,” and seeks after it,2484
asks in certainty and in
confidence, and has no fear lest when obtained it be injurious to
him, seeing that, without it, anything else which he may have
obtained by asking in a right way is of no
advantage to him. The thing referred to is the one true and only
happy life, in which, immortal and incorruptible in body and
spirit, we may contemplate the joy of the Lord for ever. All other
things are desired, and are without impropriety prayed for, with a
view to this one thing. For whosoever has it shall have all that he
wishes, and cannot possibly wish to have anything along with it
which would be unbecoming. For in it is the fountain of life, which
we must now thirst for in prayer so long as we live in hope, not
yet seeing that which we hope for, trusting under the shadow of His
wings before whom are all our desires, that we may be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of His house, and made to drink of the
river of His pleasures; because with Him is the fountain of life,
and in His light we shall see light,2485
when our desire shall be satisfied
with good things, and when there shall be nothing beyond to be
sought after with groaning, but all things shall be possessed by us
with rejoicing. At the same time, because this blessing is nothing
else than the “peace which passeth all understanding,”2486
even when
we are asking it in our prayers, we know not what to pray for as we
ought. For inasmuch as we cannot present it to our minds as it
really is, we do not know it, but whatever image of it may be
presented to our minds we reject, disown, and condemn; we know it
is not what we are seeking, although we do not yet know enough to
be able to define what we seek.
Chap. XV.
28. There is therefore in us a certain learned
ignorance, so to speak—an ignorance which we learn from that
Spirit of God who helps our infirmities. For after the apostle
said, “If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience
wait for it,” he added in the same passage, “Likewise the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us, with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit, because He
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of
God.”2487
This is
not to be understood as if it meant that the Holy Spirit of God,
who is in the Trinity, God unchangeable, and is one God with the
Father and the Son, intercedes for the saints like one who is not a
divine person; for it is said, “He maketh intercession for the
saints,” because He enables the saints to make intercession, as
in another place it is said, “The Lord your God proveth you, that
He may know whether ye love Him,”2488
i.e. that He may make you
know. He therefore makes the saints intercede with groanings which
cannot be uttered, when He inspires them with longings for that
great blessing, as yet unknown, for which we patiently wait. For
how is that which is desired set forth in language if it be
unknown, for if it were utterly unknown it would not be desired;
and on the other hand, if it were seen, it would not be desired nor
sought for with groanings?
Chap. XVI.
29. Considering all these things, and whatever
else the Lord shall have made known to you in this matter, which
either does not occur to me or would take too much time to state
here, strive in prayer to overcome this world: pray in hope, pray
in faith, pray in love, pray earnestly and patiently, pray as a
widow belonging to Christ. For although prayer is, as He has
taught, the duty of all His members, i.e. of all who believe
in Him and are united to His body, a more assiduous attention to
prayer is found to be specially enjoined in Scripture upon those
who are widows. Two women of the name of Anna are honourably named
there,—the one, Elkanah’s wife, who was the mother of holy
Samuel; the other, the widow who recognised the Most Holy One when
He was yet a babe. The former, though married, prayed with sorrow
of mind and brokenness of heart because she had no sons; and she
obtained Samuel, and dedicated him to the Lord, because she vowed
to do so when she prayed for him.2489
It is not easy, however, to find
to what petition of the Lord’s Prayer her petition could be
referred, unless it be to the last, “Deliver us from evil,”
because it was esteemed to be an evil to be married and not to have
offspring as the fruit of marriage. Observe, however, what is
written concerning the other Anna, the widow: she “departed not
from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and
day.”2490
In like
manner, the apostle said in words already quoted, “She that is a
widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God and continueth in
supplications and prayers night and day;”2491
and the Lord, when exhorting men
to pray always and not to faint, made mention of a widow, who, by
persevering importunity, persuaded a judge to attend to her cause,
though he was an unjust and wicked man, and one who neither feared
God nor regarded man. How incumbent it is on widows to go beyond
others in devoting time to prayer may be plainly enough seen from
the fact that from among them are taken the examples set forth as
an exhortation to all to earnestness in prayer.
30. Now what makes this work specially suitable to
widows but their bereaved and desolate condition? Whosoever, then, understands
that he is in this world bereaved and desolate as long as he is a
pilgrim absent from his Lord, is careful to commit his widowhood,
so to speak, to his God as his shield in continual and most fervent
prayer. Pray, therefore, as a widow of Christ, not yet seeing Him
whose help you implore. And though you are very wealthy, pray as a
poor person, for you have not yet the true riches of the world to
come, in which you have no loss to fear. Though you have sons and
grandchildren, and a large household, still pray, as I said
already, as one who is desolate, for we have no certainty in regard
to all temporal blessings that they shall abide for our consolation
even to the end of this present life. If you seek and relish the
things that are above, you desire things everlasting and sure; and
as long as you do not yet possess them, you ought to regard
yourself as desolate, even though all your family are spared to
you, and live as you desire. And if you thus act, assuredly your
example will be followed by your most devout daughter-in-law,2492
| 2492 Juliana, the mother of Demetrias. | and the
other holy widows and virgins that are settled in peace under your
care; for the more pious the manner in which you order your house,
the more are you bound to persevere fervently in prayer, not
engaging yourselves with the affairs of this world further than is
demanded in the interests of religion.
31. By all means remember to pray earnestly
for me. I would not have you yield such deference to the office
fraught with perils which I bear, as to refrain from giving the
assistance which I know myself to need. Prayer was made by the
household of Christ for Peter and for Paul. I rejoice that you are
in His household; and I need, incomparably more than Peter and Paul
did, the help of the prayers of the brethren. Emulate each other in
prayer with a holy rivalry, with one heart, for you wrestle not
against each other, but against the devil, who is the common enemy
of all the saints. “By fasting, by vigils, and all mortification
of the body, prayer is greatly helped.”2493
Let each one do what she can; what
one cannot herself do, she does by another who can do it, if she
loves in another that which personal inability alone hinders her
from doing; wherefore let her who can do less not keep back the one
who can do more, and let her who can do more not urge unduly her
who can do less. For your conscience is responsible to God; to each
other owe nothing but mutual love. May the Lord, who is able to do
above what we ask or think, give ear to your prayers.2494
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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