Book I, Part 2, Chapter 10. Of the ninth Privilege of Virtue, viz. that God hears the Prayers of the Just, and rejects those of the Wicked

1. Another extraordinary privilege virtuous men enjoy is, that God hears their prayers, which is a sovereign remed}^ against all the necessities and miseries of this life. To make this the plainer, we are to understand, that there have been two universal deluges in the world, the one material, the other spiritual, but both of them caused by sin. The material deluge, which happened in Noe's time, destroyed every thing in the world but the ark and what was within it, for every thing else was consumed by the waters, so that all the labors and riches of mankind, together with the whole earth itself, was swallowed up by the sea. But the other^ deluge, which was before this, and which arose from the first sin that was committed, was much more terrible and much greater than this was, because it was the ruin not 22 P only of those persons who were alive at that time, but even of all ages past, present and to come. Nor is the hurt it does to the body to be compared with what it does to the soul, which it strips and robs of those graces, that were bestowed on the whole world in the person of our first parent, as we may see in an infant newly born, who comes into the world as bare of all these goods as it is of clothes to cover it.

2. From this first deluge flowed all those miseries and wants this mortal life is exposed to, which are so many and so great, that they have furnished a famous pope and doctor with matter to compose a book solely on this subject: Innocentius de Vilitate conditionis humance. And several eminent philosophers, considering on one side the excellence of man above all other creatures, and on the other, the infinite number of miseries and vices he is subject to, could not but wonder to see so much disorder in the world, though they were not capable of finding out the cause of ■all these miseries, which is nothing else but sin. For they saw that man was the only creature in the world that had such an infinite vanety of carnal delights and pleasures ; that none but he was onpressed with avarice, with ambition, an insatiable desire of life, care and solicitude about a funeral, but most of all, with a concern for that which must follow. They observed, that no other creature had a more frail and uncertain life than man has ; that none had a more inflamed lust, none more subject to fear, and that without any ground, nor any more cruelly angry or enraged than he. They took notice that other creatures spent the greatest part of their lives without sicknesses, or without being troubled with the physicians and medicines. They saw them provided with all the necessaries, without taking any pains or care. But as for unhappy, miserable man, they saw him exposed to a thousand sorts of infirmities, accidents, necessities, misfortunes and pains, not only of the body, but of the soul, and as much disturbed at the miseries of his friends as at his own. They saw him sorry for what was past, afflicted with the present, and painfully solicitous about what was to come; nay, very often toiling and sweating all his lifetime for the poor sustenance of a little bread and water.

3. If we were to count all the miseries of human life, we should never have done. Holy Job says, " The life of a man is a perpetual warfare upon earth, and his days are like the days of a hired servant, that labors from sunrising to sunset;" Job. vii. 1, 2. Several of the old philosophers had such a lively sense of this truth, that some of them said, they could not tell whether to call nature a mother or a step-mother, because she has subjected us to so many miseries. Others, again, used to say, it were better never to be born, or at least to die as soon as we are born : nay, some of them have gone so far as to say, there are but few persons that would accept of life after having made an experimer.t of it, that is, if it were possible to make a trial of it beforehand.

4. Since, therefore, life has been reduced to this miserable condition b}- sin, and since we have lost our whole stock and substance in this first deluge, what remedy can we expect he has left us, who has punished us so severely ? If a man that is sick and wounded were to be at sea in a great storm, and there lose all he is worth, what could he look for afterwards, having lost both his goods and his health, but beggary and want ? Every man must make this case his own ; for since there is no one but has lost all he is worth in this universal deluge, and is left so poor and naked, how can he help himself, but by crying like a poor beggar at the gates of God for relief and assistance ? The holy king Josaphat taught us this resource when he said, "Since we do not know what we ought to do, we have one remedy left us at least, whkh is to lift up our eyes, O Lord, towards thee ;" 2 Paral. xx. 12. The good king Ezechias has instructed us fully on the same point, when he said, " In one day thou wilt put an end to my life, O Lord ; but as for me, I will cry like the young swallow, and moan like the dove '" Isa. xxxviii. 14. As if he said, I am so poor, O Lord, and have such a dependence on your mercy and providence, that I cannot give myself any assurance of one day's life, and, therefore, all I have to trust in is, to be always moaning before you like a dove, and to cry out to you as the young swallow does to its dam. Thus said this holy man, though he was a great king ; and David, though much greater, made use of this same remedy in all his necessities ; and, therefore, inspired by the same spirit, and enlightened by the same knowledge, says, " I have called upon thee with my voice, O Lord, and with my voice I have addressed my prayer to thee, O my God ; I have sought after God in the day of tribulation, and I have stretched out my hand towards him in the night, when my soul refused to be comforted, and when my spirit failed me" (Ps. lxxvii. 1, 2, 3) ; that is to say, when I look round about me, and see all the passages of hope shut up, when nothing on earth can give me any ease, I immediately seek for a remedy from heaven by the help of prayer, which is the sovereign cure God has given me for all my ills.

5. You wTill ask me, perhaps, whether this is a certain and universal cure for all the necessities of life or not ? This being a secret which depends entirely on the will of God, there is no one can answer it but those whom he has made choice of to discover his will, which are the apostles and prophets ; one of them says, " There is no nation in the world so great, which have their* gods so near them, as our God is near us, when we pray to him ;" Deut. iv. 7. They are the words of God himself, though delivered by the mouth of a man, and they assure us, with all the certainty imaginable, that as often as we pray, though we see no one, and though no one answers us, that we do not speak to the walls or talk to the air, but that God is present with us and hears all we say, that he assists us in our prayers, that he pities our miseries, and prepares the remedy we ask for, in case it be proper for us. What greater comfort can a man have when he is at his prayers than such a certain pledge of Almighty God's assistance ? And if this alone is sufficient to encourage and comfort us, how much more will the words of our Saviour, and those assurances he has given us in his gospel, when he says, " Ask, and you shall receive ; seek, and you shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened to you ;" (Matt. vii. 7.) Can we have a richer token than this ? Can any man doubt of the truth of these words ? Who is there that, as often as he goes to his prayers, is not comforted with the hope of this sacred promise ?

6. This, therefore, is one of the greatest privileges the virtuous enjoy in this life, to know that these promises are made particularly for them. For one of the greatest favors God bestows on them, in reward of their obedience and piety, is, that he will be near them and hear the prayers they address to him. David assures us of it, when he says, " The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears are open to their prayers ;" Ps. xxxvi. 16. And God himself promises us the same by Isaias, saying, " Then," that is to say, when you shall have kept my commandments, " you shall call upon the Lord, and he will hear you ; you shall call out to him, and he will say, behold I am here" (Isa. lviii. 9) ; that is, I am ready to grant whatever you shall desire. Nay, more than this, he promises them by the same prophet to hear them, not only when they call on him, but even long before. And yet, after all, none of these promises come any thing near that which we read in St. John, where our Saviour says, " If you shall remain in me and let my words remain in you, you shall ask whatever you shall have a mind for, and it shall be granted you ;" John xv. 7. But for fear this promise, as being so great, should be more than any man could believe, he repeats it a second time, and affirms it more positively, saying, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that whatsoever you shall desire of my Father in my name he shall give it you ;" xvi. 24. Can there be any greater favor, any greater riches, or any more sovereign command than this is? You shall ask me, says he, for whatever you please, and it shall be granted you. Could any expression better become the person that promises than this does ? Who but God could ever have made such a promise ? Is there any one beside God, that is able to do such great things as these are ? Or is there any one but him, who has so much goodness as to oblige himself to grant such favors ? What else is this but to make man in some measure lord of all things, and to intrust him with the keys of the divine treasuries ? All the other favora of God nave their bounds set them, but this, above all the rest, as being the royal gift of an infinite Lord, carries some degree of infinity along with it. For our Saviour does not determine either this or that, or any particular thing, but whatever you shall desire (provided it be for your eternal good) shall be granted you. Could men but set a just value on things, and give them their true estimate, how great a rate would they esteem this at ? How happy would a man think himself to have so great an interest with his king as to obtain his grant for every thing he should desire ? Now if a man would look on it as so great a happiness to be so much in favor with an earthly king, what must he think it is to have so much interest with the King of heaven ?

7. And that you may not think these are only bare promises without performance, do but look into the lives of the saints, and consider what great things they have done by the virtue of prayer What did Moses in Egypt, and during all the time of his travels through the wilderness ? What did not Elias and Ehseus his disciple ? What miracles were not wrought by the apostles, and all by prayer ? This was the weapon the saints fought with ; with this they overcame the devil, with this they triumphed over the world, with this they subdued nature, with this they turned the most violent flames into a gentle dew, with this, in fine, they appeased and quieted the wrath of God, and obtained of him whatever they asked. It is written of the holy father St. Dominick, that he told a certain friend of his he was never in his life denied any thing he had begged of the Almighty ; his friend desired him to pray that one Doctor Reginald, a man famous at that time, might become a religious man of his order : the holy man spent the next night in prayer for him, and the next day early in the morning, as he was beginning the hymn of the first hour, Jam lucis orto sidere, this new morning-star came into the choir, and there prostrating himself at the saint's feet, desired, with a deal of humility, that he would give him the habit of his order. This, therefore, is the reward that is promised to the obedience of the just, and it is their faithful observing the voice of God, that makes him in some manner obedient to their prayers ; and because they answer to the call of God, he pays them again, according to the proverb, in the same coin, by answering them whenever they call on him. And for this reason Solomon says, " That the obedient man shall talk of victories;" Prov. xxi. 28. For it is but just, that God complies with the will of man, when man complies with the will of God.

8. But it happens quite otherwise in the prayers of the wicked : for the Almighty tells them by Isaias, " When you shall stretch out your hands, I will turn my eyes away from you ; and when you shall multiply your prayers, I will not hear them ;" Isa. i. 15. He threatens them in like manner by his prophet Jeremy, saying " In the time of their affliction they shall say, Arise, O Lord, and deliver us." And he will ask them, " Where are your gods, which you made for yourselves ? Let them arise and deliver you in the time of your affliction." Jer. ii. 27. In the book of Job we read these words : " What hopes can the wicked man have, if he unjustly takes away his neighbor's goods ? Can he hope that God will hear his prayer when he shall be in distress?" Job xxvii. 8, 9. And St. John, in his Epistle, says, " My beloved brethren, if our own conscience do not reprove us, we have a confidence in God, that whatsoever we shall ask we shall obtain of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things which are pleasing to his sight ;" John iii. 21, 22. What the holy psalmist say* is to the same effect : " If I have beheld iniquity, the Lord will not hear me ; but because I have not done wickedly, therefore he has heard my prayer ;" Ps. lxxv. 18, 19.

9. There are numberless examples of this sort, in holy writ, to show what vast difference there is between the prayers of the just and those of the wicked, and consequently the extraordinary advantages which the one have over the other ; because the just are heard and dealt with as true children of God, whilst the wicked are treated as enemies. And what wonder is it that their prayers should not be heard, since there are no good works, no devotion, no fervor of spirit, no humility to accompany them ? For, according to St. Cyprian, " It is impossible that a petition should be efficacious when prayer is barren ;" St. Cypr. Orat. Dominica. Though this is generally true, the Almighty's goodness is yet so great, that he sometimes vouchsafes to hear the prayers of the wicked, which, notwithstanding their want of merit, do not cease to obtain their end ; because, as St. Thomas says, " Merit proceeds from charity, but the grant of the petition comes from the infinite goodness and mercy of God, who sometimes hears the prayers of such persons ;" St. Tho. 2. 2. q. 83. art. 15, 16.