their good and for that of
others. In the same way, then, it is lawful to pray for temporal
evils for our enemies to the end that they may be corrected. In
this sense our deeds and our prayers are not in opposition.

* * * * *

_S. Augustine:_ If there were no wicked folk, then for whom could we be
supposed to pray when we are told: _Pray for your enemies_? Perhaps you
would like to have good enemies. Yet how could that be? For unless you
yourself are bad you will not have good people for enemies; and if, on
the contrary, you are good, then no one will be your enemy save the
wicked folk (_Sermon_, xv., _on Ps._ xxv. 8).

"Have mercy upon us, O God of all, and behold us, and shew us
the light of Thy mercies: And send Thy fear upon the nations,
that have not sought after Thee: that they may know that there
is no God beside Thee, and that they may shew forth Thy wonders.
Lift up Thy hand over the strange nations, that they may see Thy
power."[172]

On the Seven Petitions of the _lord's Prayer_.

The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of all prayers, for, as S.
Augustine says to Proba[173]: "If we pray rightly and fittingly we can
say nothing else but what is set down in the _Lord's Prayer_." And since
prayer is, in a sort, the interpreter of our desires before God, we can
only rightly ask in prayer for those things which we can rightly desire.
But in the _Lord's Prayer_ not only do we have petitions for all those
things which we can rightly desire, but they are set forth in the order
in which they are to be desired. Hence this prayer not only teaches us
how to pray, but serves as the norm of all our dispositions of mind.

For it is clear that we desire first the end and then the means to the
attainment of that end. But our end is God, towards Whom our desires
tend in two ways: first, in that we desire God's glory; secondly, in
that we desire to enjoy that glory ourselves. The former of these
pertains to that love wherewith we love God in Himself, the latter to
that charity wherewith we love ourselves in God. Hence the first
petition runs: _Hallowed be Thy Name_, wherein we pray for God's glory;
and the second runs: _Thy kingdom come_, wherein we pray that we may
come to the glory of His kingdom.

But to this said end things lead us in two ways: viz., either
_essentially_ or _accidentally_. Things which are useful for the
attainment of that end _es