Petition

“ Having petitioned our law-makers, State and national, for years, many from weariness have vowed to appeal no more; for our petitions, say they, by the tens of thousands, are piled up in the national archives, unheeded and ignored. Yet it is possible to roll up such a mammoth petition, borne into congress on the shoulders of stalwart men, that we can no longer be neglected or forgotten. ”

“ We know how to draw up a petition!"
"And what will King Philip care for your petition? That Sardanapalus! that glutton! that idler! that double adulterer! and what's worse, that dullard, whom the seigneurs, his large vassals, laugh at openly! ”

“ It is, "If an unjust and abandoned judge grants a just petition at last, out of base motives, when it is often urged, to a defenceless person for whom he cares nothing, how much more shall a just and merciful God hear the cry and avenge the cause of those whom He loves?" ”

“ As we progress in this new way of living we find an increasing difficulty in maintaining petition; for on commencing to petition we will almost invariably be instantly lifted up to such a state of adoration that the whole soul is nothing but a burning song, a thing of living worship. ”

“ My Lord,—Being wholly unknown to your lordship, I have only this apology to make for presuming to trouble you with a request, that a stranger’s petition, if it cannot be easily granted, can be easily refused. ”

“ But if we consider the petitioner: then, since man petitions with his mind—for petition is an act of the mind—and since the mind is the noblest thing in man, it follows that by petitioning we submit to God that which is noblest in us, since we use it to ask things of Him, and thereby do Him honour. Thus by prayer we offer our minds in sacrifice to God ”

“ It is also suited to make persons feel, more and more, their own helplessness, and entire dependence on God for the favours for which they petition, of which their praying is an acknowledgment: and therefore tends to enhance them in the eyes of the petitioner, when given in answer to prayer, and make him more sensible of the free, sovereign goodness of God in granting them. ”

“ Petition is definite request of God for something I need. A man's whole life is utterly dependent upon the giving hand of God. Everything we need comes from Him. Our friendships, ability to make money, health, strength in temptation, and in sorrow, guidance in difficult circumstances, and in all of life's movements; help of all sorts, financial, bodily, mental, spiritual—all come from God, and necessitate a constant touch with Him. There needs to be a constant stream of petition going up, many times wordless prayer. And there will be a constant return stream of answer and supply coming down. ”

“ That you would love yourself, and in that love Not unconsidered leave your honour nor The dignity of your office, is the point Of my petition. ”

“ If there were any there, when our petition was expected to be presented, who felt in their hearts to favour it, they dared not open their mouths in favour of its being granted; for if they spoke at all, they must speak according to the popular notions of the people; they must go with the tide of popularity. ”

“ So then we come to this, dear friends, that we fearfully misunderstand and limit the nobleness and the essential character of prayer when, as we are always tempted to do by our inherent self-regard, we make petition its main feature and form. Of course, so long as we are what we shall always be in this world, needy and sinful creatures; and so long as we are what we shall ever be in all worlds, creatures absolutely dependent for life and everything on the will and energy of God, petition must necessarily be a very large part of prayer. ”

“ Petitions.—A petition is a form of open letter, asking a favor, and addressed by a number of people to an authority who can grant the request. There is a form fixed by tradition for the opening of a petition, but the content is varied according to the conditions, and the wording of a petition needs the greatest care. As in any literary exercise, the first thought should be of the essential points you wish to cover, and a brief outline should be made, comprising an exact statement of the concession you wish granted and the best reasons you can give for the granting of it. ”

“ WE BESEECH Thee, O Lord, to hear the prayer which we send up to Thee in honor of Thy glorified servants, the Fourteen Holy Helpers: and as we can not rely upon our own justice, grant our petition through the intercession of those whose merits have made them especially dear to Thee. ”

“ We are all of us soldiers and country gentlemen, and many of us have, perhaps, a certain tincture of belles lettres; but a petition from the whole body of Protestants should be drawn up by some person eminent alike for learning, wisdom, and piety, whose very name may be a recommendation to that which he produces. What say you, then, to request Monsieur Claude de l'Estang to draw up the petition for our whole body. I intend to leave Poitiers to-morrow, and will communicate your desire to him. ”

“ I SHALL, with great pleasure, bring in your petition to morrow, the house of lords not sitting until then; but I find there is a small mistake in point of form, which will be proper to be set right before the petition shall be presented. ”

“ What do we pray for in the first petition?
A. In the first petition, which is, Hallowed be thy name, we pray, that God would enable us, and others, to glorify him in all that whereby he maketh himself known [a] ”

“ My workmen were induced thus to petition, in consequence of the information, which I, their master, had communicated to them; and, gentlemen, why should not your labourers petition in the same strain? Why should you suffer them to remain in a state of ignorance, relative to the cause of their misery? The eyes sweep over in this country more riches in one moment [75] than are contained in the whole county in which I was born, and in which the petitioners live. ”

“ Instead of the petition being offered to God,—‘Lead me in thy truth, and TEACH me, for thou art the God of my salvation,’—instead of relying on the precious promises—‘What man is he that feareth the Lord? ”

“ Such a favor would be, for example, the justification of a sinner without the medium of grace, or of a child without the agency of Baptism. An unreasonable petition deserves no consideration, even if made by a friend. What may be obtained by the merit of good works may be even more effectively obtained by prayer for others. ”

“ The right of petition is an old undoubted household right of the blood of England, which runs in our veins. ”

“ What I, however, feel in making a petition is the desire for something, which the other person must lose if I am to secure it. The other person is to love me in order that my self-love may be satisfied, and my weal and necessity be promoted. ”

“ A certain King of Great Britain who spoke broad Scotch, and being himself a man of wit, loved both to hear and speak things that were humorous, had once a petition preferred to him, in which the petitioner, having set forth his own merits, most humbly prayed His Majesty to grant him letters-patent for receiving a shilling from every one of his subjects who should be willing to give so much to him. ”

“ A petition that does not, or cannot, or will not, formulate itself in words, and let the lips move to shape them, and the {44} voice to sound them, and the eye to visualise them on the written or printed page, becomes soon a mere torpor of the mind, or a meaningless movement of blind unrest, or a trick of pretending to pray. ”

“ The hardship is mine. I do not build much on all this, and yet if a regular system of petition was gotten up by many influential parties at once the President might yield. I wish that my friends by a concerted movement, combined with the Archbishops of Ohio and Missouri, R. C., would petition His Excellency. Bishop Quintard, of Tennessee, would, I am convinced, willingly help an old friend and comrade. But, alas! I am in prison and can combine nothing. ”

“ The right of petition, I have said, was not conferred on the People by the Constitution, but was a pre-existing right, reserved by the People out of the grants of power made to Congress. ”

“ She pleads with him until she tires him out; and at last he says, although I am an unjust judge, and fear neither God nor men, because with her continual praying she wearies me, I will grant her petition. Jesus does not say you are to weary God out in order to get your petitions granted, but just the opposite. How much more shall God give good gifts unto those that ask him Read once more that other story of the man who rises at night and goes to a neighbor for assistance. ”

“ We offer petitions, not as supposing we influence the Immutable; but because to petition the Supreme Being, is the way most suited to our nature, to stir up the benevolent affections in our hearts. Christ positively commands it, and in St. ”

“ The petition is drawn up at great length, and sets forth with feeling and eloquence the wrongs of which they complain; justifies their own conduct, and aggravates that of those whom they call their persecutors; and concludes by saying that they see no redress, unless it is obtained of the Congress of the United States, to whom they make their solemn, last appeal, as American citizens, as Christians, and as men ”

“ The following subjects of prayer for 1878-79, found in her Bible, will not only illustrate her method of petition, but will be helpful to other Christians longing to excel in supplication.
"I have greatly enjoyed the regular praying of the Lord's Prayer, and take a petition each morning in the week. Intercession for others I generally make at evening. ”

“ Besides the unimpeachable integrity and piety of many of the promoters of this petition, which render those aspersions as idle as they are unjust, such a way of treating the subject can have no other effect than to turn the attention of the House from the merits of the petition, the only thing properly before us, and which we are sufficiently competent to decide upon, to the motives of the petitioners, which belong exclusively to the Great Searcher of Hearts. ”

“ Many men, partly from good nature and partly from political motives, will sign a petition spiced and peppered to tickle the palate of the House of Lords, who will not move a yard, or sacrifice a shilling, on behalf of the object petitioned for. ”

“ Another petition, presented to Charles I. at Newark, a.d. 1641, closes thus: "And your petitioners will ever pray for your Majesty's long and happy reign over us." Another, from the Mayor and Aldermen of London, in the same year: "And the petitioners, as in all duty bound, shall pray for your Majesty's most long and happy reign." Again, in the same year, the petition of the Lay-Catholic Recusants of England to the Commons closes thus: "And for so great a charity your humble petitioners {597} shall ever (as in duty bound) pray for your continual prosperity and eternal happiness." ”

“ Bliss tells you that we forged petitions, and in only a few moments, as the Court will remember, he had the kindness to say that anybody in the world would sign a petition for anything, and the question arises if people are so glad to sign petitions why should we forge their names. ”

“ The humble Petition of Samuel M‘Pherson, Malcolm M‘Pherson, and Farquar Shaw.
May it please your Grace,
That, whereas your poor Petitioners lie under Sentence of Death for Mutiny and Desertion, and have nothing to hope (under the Almighty) but from your Grace’s charitable Intercession to the Lords Justices on our Behalf, we do most humbly intreat your Grace’s good Offices. ”

“ Assuredly it is in the triumph of virtue that the priest’s petition has its chief success, for he then obtains most when virtue is powerful, his petition must always coincide with the dictates of natural affection. And nature and your son obtained the more fully their request, in that the consideration of requests is usually a brief matter, whereas the habit of virtue is lasting and natural affection permanent. ”

“ The right of petition is justly esteemed an important English right, whereas with us, it may be made the instrument of doing infinite harm, while I question if a single case of its exclusive and particular usefulness, could be cited. ”

“ MR. Chetwood [1] intends to deliver in a petition to the government to day, and entreated me to speak to your grace before he delivered it; which not having an opportunity to do, I make bold to enclose this letter, which your grace may please to read ”

“ I cannot—no teacher could—receive with favor a paper couched in such language as is the one which you have presented to me this morning. A holiday in this school is not a matter of right, but of grace. That must be plainly understood. Petitions must be so worded as to imply authority in the principal; if they are not, they certainly will not be granted; they will not even be considered. More than that, the presentation hereafter of such a petition as the one of this morning [72] will be regarded not only as a breach of courtesy, but of discipline, and will be acted upon accordingly. ”

“ Although you cannot determine the eternal fate of the individual, you may legislate regarding the conduct of the group, for, where two or three of you agree concerning any of these things and ask of me, it shall be done for you if your petition is not inconsistent with the will of my Father in heaven. ”