Chapter VI.—The Fifth Clause.

But how gracefully has the Divine Wisdom arranged the order of the prayer; so that after things heavenly—that is, after the “Name” of God, the “Will” of God, and the “Kingdom” of God—it should give earthly necessities also room for a petition! For the Lord had38    This is a slight mistake of Tertullian. The words referred to, “Seek ye first,” etc., do not occur till the end of the chapter in which the prayer is found, so that his pluperfect is out of place. [He must have been aware of this: he only gives logical order to the thought which existed in the divine mind. See note 10, p. 682.] withal issued His edict, “Seek ye first the kingdom, and then even these shall be added:”39    Matt. vi. 33. albeit we may rather understand, “Give us this day our daily bread,” spiritually. For Christ is our Bread; because Christ is Life, and bread is life. “I am,” saith He, “the Bread of Life;”40    John vi. 35. and, a little above, “The Bread is the Word of the living God, who came down from the heavens.”41    John vi. 33. Then we find, too, that His body is reckoned in bread: “This is my body.”42    Matt. xxvi. 26. And so, in petitioning for “daily bread,” we ask for perpetuity in Christ, and indivisibility from His body. But, because that word is admissible in a carnal sense too, it cannot be so used without the religious remembrance withal of spiritual Discipline; for (the Lord) commands that bread be prayed for, which is the only food necessary for believers; for “all other things the nations seek after.”43    Matt. vi. 32. The like lesson He both inculcates by examples, and repeatedly handles in parables, when He says, “Doth a father take away bread from his children, and hand it to dogs?”44    Tertullian seems to refer to Matt. xv. 26; Mark vii. 27. and again, “Doth a father give his son a stone when he asks for bread?”45    Matt. vii. 9; Luke xi. 11. For He thus shows what it is that sons expect from their father. Nay, even that nocturnal knocker knocked for “bread.”46    Luke xi. 5–9. Moreover, He justly added, “Give us this day,” seeing He had previously said, “Take no careful thought about the morrow, what ye are to eat.”47    Matt. vi. 34 and Luke xii. 29 seem to be referred to; but the same remark applies as in note 10 on the preceding page. To which subject He also adapted the parable of the man who pondered on an enlargement of his barns for his forthcoming fruits, and on seasons of prolonged security; but that very night he dies.48    Luke xii. 16–20.

CAPUT VI.

Sed quam eleganter divina sapientia ordinem orationis instruxit! ut post coelestia, id est post Dei nomen, Dei voluntatem, et Dei regnum, terrenis quoque necessitatibus petitioni locum faceret? Nam et edixerat Dominus: Quaerite prius regnum, et tunc vobis etiam haec adjicientur (Matth., VI, 33). Quanquam PANEM NOSTRUM QUOTIDIANUM DA NOBIS HODIE , spiritaliter potius intelligamus. Christus enim panis noster est, quia vita Christus, et vita panis. Ego sum, inquit, panis vitae (Joan., VI, 35). Et paulo supra: Panis est sermo Dei vivi, qui descendit de coelis. Tum quod et corpus ejus in pane censetur. 1161A Hoc est corpus meum (Luc., XXII, 19). Itaque petendo panem quotidianum, perpetuitatem postulamus in Christo, et individuitatem a corpore ejus. Sed et quia carnaliter admittitur ista vox, non sine religione potest fieri et spiritalis disciplinae. Panem enim peti mandat, quod solum fidelibus necessarium est; caetera enim nationes requirunt. Ita et exemplis inculcat, et parabolis retractat, cum dicit: Numquid panem filiis pater aufert, et canibus tradit (Matth., XXV, 26)? Item: Numquid filio panem poscenti lapidem tradit (Matth., VII, 9)? Ostendit enim, quid a patre filii exspectent. Sed et nocturnus ille pulsator panem poscebat (Luc., XI, 5) . Merito autem adjecit: Da nobis hodie, ut qui praemiserat: Nolite de crastino cogitare quid edatis. Cui rei parabolam quoque 1162A accommodavit illius hominis, qui provenientibus fructibus ampliationem horreorum, et longae securitatis spatia cogitavit; is ipsa nocte moritur (Luc., XII, 16).