Petitionary Prayer
Paul Johnson, famous English writer and convert to Catholicism, noted that “Origen, following the Stoics, laid down that only spiritual benefits should be sought in prayer. Pelagius, following the Platonists, contradicted him: ‘You cannot pray for virtue.’ Surely St Augustine got it right: ‘It is proper to pray for anything which may be lawfully desired.’” Consider then the prayer attributed to Mr M. Ward, a successful pill-manufacturer of the 18th century:
‘O Lord, thou knowest that I have nine houses in the city of London, and likewise that I have lately purchased an estate in fee-simple in the county of Essex. Lord, I beseech Thee to preserve the two counties of Essex and Middlesex from fires and earthquakes; and as I have a mortgage in Hertfordshire, I beg Thee likewise to have an eye of compassion on that county. And, Lord, for the rest of the counties, Thou mayest deal with them as Thou art pleased.
O Lord, enable the Bank to answer all their bills, and make all my debtors good men. Give a prosperous voyage and return to the Mermaid sloop, which I have insured; and Lord, Thou hast said, “That the days of the wicked are short,” and I trust Thou wilt not forget Thy promises, having purchased an estate in reversion of Sir J. P., a profligate young man. Lord, keep our fund from sinking; and if it be Thy will, let there be no sinking fund. Keep my son Caleb out of evil company, and from gaming-houses. And sanctify, O Lord, this night to me, by preserving me from thieves and fire, and make my servant honest and careful, whilst I, Thy servant, lie down in Thee, O Lord. Amen.’
You may be interested to learn what it was that Paul Johnson prayed for: “I pray for the return of England to the Holy Mother Church, for the end of pop music and TV, for the destruction of Modern Art, Picassoism and all that rubbish, the demolition of Tate Modern (though I’m not sure that is lawful), the collapse of militant Islam, the freeing of China, North Korea and Cuba, and the rescue of England from vulgarity and the European Union.”
“I pray for the return of England to the Holy Mother Church, for the end of pop music and TV, for the destruction of Modern Art, Picassoism and all that rubbish, the demolition of Tate Modern (though I’m not sure that is lawful), the collapse of militant Islam, the freeing of China, North Korea and Cuba, and the rescue of England from vulgarity and the European Union.”
….. can we all pray for that?
If I can add one thing — Modern Times, A History of the World From the1920s to the 1980s is simply one of the great books of the last century.
You speak sooth about Modern Times. Almost as great a book is Johnson’s “Intellectuals”. One may safely ignore some of the work written in his dotage, such as “Heroes” and his short biography of Napoleon.