may learn how, after the supreme and perfect good, we are to desire and ask from God our Father those other things which are called goods. With regard to those which are called external goods, and, as it said, belong to the body, such as health, strength, beauty, riches, honours, glory, which often supply matter and give occasion to sin, and which, therefore, it is not always either pious or salutary to ask, they are not to be objects of our prayers without this limitation, that we pray for them, because necessary, at the same time, referring to God the motive of our prayer. It cannot be deemed unlawful to pray for those things for which Jacob and Solomon prayed; " If," says Jacob, " he shall give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, the Lord shall be my God;? [1] " Give me," says Solomon, " only the necessaries of life." [2] Whilst, however, we are supplied by the bounty of God with food and raiment, we should not forget the admonition of the Apostle: " Let them that buy, be as if they possessed not; and those that use this world, as if they used it not; for the figure of this world passeth away;" [3] and again, " If riches abound, set not your hearts upon them." [4] To us, therefore, belong only their use and advantage, with an obligation, how ever, as we learn from God himself, of sharing with the indigent. If we are blessed with health and strength, if we abound in other external and corporal goods, we should recollect that they are given to us in order to enable us to serve God with greater fidelity, and as the means of lending assistance to the wants and necessities of others.
But genius and the acquirements that adorn it, such as erudition and the arts, it is also lawful to pray for, provided our prayers are accompanied with this condition, that the advantages which they afford, serve to promote the glory of God, and our own salvation. That, however, which is to be absolutely and unconditionally the object of our wishes, our desires, our pray ers, is, as we have already observed, the glory of God, and, next to it, whatever can serve to unite us to that supreme good, such as faith, the fear and love of God; but of these we shall treat at large, when we come to explain the petitions of the Lord's Prayer.
The objects of prayer known, the faithful are next to be taught for whom they are pray. Prayer comprehends petition and thanksgiving; and we shall, therefore, first treat of petition. We are, then, to pray for all mankind, without exception of enemies, nation, or religion: every man, be he enemy, stranger, or infidel, is our neighbour, whom God commands us to love, and for whom, therefore, we should discharge a duty of love, which is prayer. To the discharge of this duty the Apostle exhorts when he says: "I desire that prayer be made for all men." [5] In such prayers the spiritual interests of our neighbour should hold the first, his temporal, the second place.
