I could not otherwise be continent save God gave it, and
this also was a point of wisdom to know Whose gift it was_. Now by
continence we are knit together and brought back into union with that
One from Whom we have wandered away after many things. For he loves Thee
but little who loves other things with Thee, and loves them not for
Thee! O Love that ever burnest and wilt never be extinguished! O
Charity! O Lord, my God, set me on fire! Thou dost bid continence? Then
give me what Thou biddest and bid what Thou wilt! (_Confessions_, X.
xxix.).

_S. Augustine:_ O Lord, my God, listen to my prayer and mercifully hear
my desire! For my desire burns not for myself alone, but fraternal
charity bids it be of use. And Thou seest in my heart that it is so; for
I would offer to Thee in sacrifice the service of my thoughts and of my
tongue. Grant me then what I may offer to Thee. For I am needy and poor,
and Thou art rich towards all that call upon Thee; for in peace and
tranquillity hast Thou care for us. Circumcise, then, my lips, within
and without, from all rashness and all untruthfulness. May Thy
Scriptures be my chaste delight; may I never be deceived in them nor
deceive others out of them. Attend, O Lord, and have mercy upon me, O
Lord, my God. Thou art the Light of the blind, the Strength of the weak,
and so, too, art Thou the Light of them that see and the Strength of
them that are strong. Look, then, on my soul, and hear me when I cry
from out the depths! (_Confessions_, XI. ii. 2).

"Look down from Heaven, and behold from Thy holy habitation and
the place of Thy glory: where is Thy zeal, and Thy strength, the
multitude of Thy bowels, and of Thy mercies? they have held back
themselves from me. For Thou art our Father, and Abraham hath
not known us, and Israel hath been ignorant of us: Thou, O Lord,
art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is Thy
Name."[137]

VI

Ought We in our Prayers to ask for Temporal Things from God?

We have the authority of the Book of Proverbs for answering in the
affirmative, for there we read[138]: _Give me only the necessaries of
life_.

S. Augustine says to Proba[139]: "It is lawful to pray for what it is
lawful to desire." But it is lawful to desire temporal things, not
indeed as our principal aim or as something which we make our end, but
rather as props and stays which may be of assistance to us in our
striving for the possession of God; for by