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| Chapter XII. Of Prayer.
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Chapter XII.
Of Prayer.
Prayers are those by which we
offer or vow something to God, what the Greeks call εὐκή, i.e., a vow. For where
we read in Greek ἰὰς
ἐυκάς μου τῶ
κυρίῶ
ἀποδώσω, in Latin we
read: “I will pay my vows unto the Lord;”1594
where according to the exact force of the
words it may be thus represented: “I will pay my prayers unto the
Lord.” And this which we find in Ecclesiastes: “If thou
vowest a vow unto the Lord do not delay to pay it,” is written in
Greek likewise: ἐάν
ἐύξῃ ἐυχὴν
τῶ κυρίῶ, i.e.,
“If thou prayest a prayer unto the Lord, do not delay to pay
it,”1595
which will be
fulfilled in this way by each one of us. We pray, when we renounce this
world and promise that being dead to all worldly actions and the life
of this world we will serve the Lord with full purpose of heart. We
pray when we promise that despising secular honours and scorning
earthly riches we will cleave to the Lord in all sorrow of heart and
humility of spirit. We pray when we promise that we will ever maintain
the most perfect purity of body and steadfast patience, or when we vow
that we will utterly root out of our heart the roots of anger or of
sorrow that worketh death. And if, enervated by sloth and returning to
our former sins we fail to do this we shall be guilty as regards our
prayers and vows, and these words will apply to us: “It is better
not to vow, than to vow and not to pay,” which can be rendered in
accordance with the Greek: “It is better for thee not to pray
than to pray and not to pay.”1596
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