-Matt, xxiii. g.
5 '' i.e., together with the son and the Holy Spirit " (Oehler); *' His Son and His church " (Dodgson).
9 John xvii. 6 ' the turn of a blessing. Otherwise, when is the name of God not "holy," and "hal- lowed" through Himself, seeing that of Himself He sanctifies all others — He to whom that surrounding circle of angels cease not to say, "Holy, holy, holy?"" In like wise, therefore, we too, candidates for angelhood, if we succeed in deserving it, begin even here on earth to learn by heart that strain here- after to be raised unto God, and the function of future glory. So far, for the glory of God. On the other hand, for our own petition, when we say, " Hallowed be Thy name," we pray this; that it may be hallowed in tis who are in Him, as well in all others for whom the grace of God is still waiting; '^ that we may obey this precept, too, in " praying for all," '" even for our personal enemies. '5 And there- fore with suspended utterance, not saying, "Hallowed be it in tis," we say, — "/» all.^' CHAP. IV. — THE THIRD CLAUSE.
According to this model,'® we subjoin, " Thy will be done in the heavens and on the earth; " '' not that there is some power with- standing'^ to prevent God's will being done, and we pray for Him the successful achieve- ment of His will; but we pray for His will to be done iti all. For, by figurative interpre- tation of Jlesh and spirit, %ve are " heaven " and " earth; " albeit, even if it is to be un- derstood simply, still the sense of the peti- tion is the same, that in us God's will be done on earth, to make it possible, namely, for it to be done also in the heavens. What, moreover, does God will, but that we should walk according to His Discipline? We make petition, then, that He supply us with the substance of His will, and the capacity to do it, that we may be saved both in the heavens and on earth; because the sum of His will is the salvation of them whom He has adopted. There is, too, that will of God which the Lord accomplished in preaching, in working, in enduring: for if He Himself proclaimed that He did not His own, but the Father's will, without doubt those things which He used to do were the Father's will;'' unto which things, as unto exemplars, we are now pro- voked;^ to preach, to work, to endure even '<>Mr. DodRson renders, "next to this clause;" but the"A>'- tiia '' referred to seems, by what 'I'erttillian proceeds to add, v> be what he had said above, " not that it becomes us to wish Clod well," etc.
'7 We learn from this and other places, that the comparative ad- verb was wanting in some ancient _/<>/•;««/<? of the Lord's Prayer. [See Routh, Opuscula I. p. 178.]
'*See note 3.
» Ki)r this use of the word " i)ri>vi>kc," see Heb. x. 24, Ent;. ver.
ClIAl'. VII.]
ON PRAYER.
unto death. And we tiecd the will of God, tliat we may be able to fulfil these duties. Again, in saying, "Thy will be done," we are even wishing well to ourselves, in so far that there is nothing of nnl in the will of God; even if. proportionably to each one's deserts, some- what other' is imposed on us. So by this expression we premonish our own selves unto patience. The I-ord also, when He had wished to demonstrate to us, even in His own flesh, the flesh's infirmity, by the reality of suffer- ing, said, " Father, remove this Thy cup;" and remembering Himself, added, '"'' sb.\€^ that not my will, but Thine be done."* Him- self 7vas the Will and the Power of the Father: and yet, for the demonstration of the patience which was due, He gave Himself up to the Father's Will.
CHAP. v. — THE FOURTH CLAUSE.
" Thy kingdom come" has also reference to that whereto " Thy will be done " refers-^ if/ us, that is. For when does God not reign, in whose hand is the heart of all kings? 3 But whatever we wish for ourselves we augur for Him, and to Him we attribute what from Him we expect. And so, if \):\& manifestation of the Lord's kingdom pertains unto the will of God and unto our anxious expectation, how do some pray for some protraction of the age,-* when the kingdom of God, which we pray may arrive, tends unto the consumma- tion of the age?^ Our wish is, that our reign be hastened, not our servitude pro- tracted. Even if it 'nad not been prescribed in the Prayer that we should ask for the ad- vent of the kingdom, we should, unbidden, have sent forth that cry, hastening toward the realization of our hope. The souls of the martyrs beneath the altar* cry in jealousy unto the Lord " How long. Lord, dost Thou not avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?" 7 for, of course, their avenging is regulated by* the end of the age. Nay, Lord, Thy kingdom come with all speed, — the prayer of Christians the confusion of the heathen,^ the exultation of angels, for the sake of which we suffer, nay, rather, for the sake of which we pray!
' [Something we might think other than good.]
" Luke xxii. 42.
3 Prov. xxi. I.
■* Or, " world," steculo.
5 Or, "world," saculi. See Matt. x.xiv. 3, especially in the Greek. By " praying for some protraction in the age," Tertullian appears to refer to some who used to pray that the end might be deferred (Rigalt.).
* alt art.
* So Dodgson aptly renders " dirigitur a. 9 [See A J NattoHes, p. 128, sr Va.]
. "This is'a slight mistake of Tc.tullian. The words referred to, "Seek ye first," etc., do not occur till the ei>d of the chapter in which the prayer is found, so that his pluperfect is out of place.
CHAP. VL — 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 " King- dom " of God — it should give earthly necessi- ties also room for a petition! For the Lord had '° withal issued His edict, "Seek ye first" the kingdom, and then even these shall i)e added: "" albeit we may rather understand, " Give usthisday 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;"'- and, a little above, " The Bread is the Word of the living God,- who came down from the heavens." '^ Then we Jind, too, that His body is reckoned ir> bread: "This is my body." '•» And so, in petitioning for " daily bread," we ask for per- petuity iUiChrist, 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' /fci^^/ necessary for believers; for " all other things the nations seek after." '^ The like lesson He both inculcates by examples, and repeatedly handles in paral)les, when He says, "Doth a father take zwslj bread from his- children, and hand it to dogs? " '^ and again, " Doth a father give his son a stone when he asks iox bread V ^^ For He /////y shows what' it is that sons expect from their father. Nay, even that nocturnal knocker knocked for ^'' bread." ^^ 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.""' 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 sea- sons of prolonged security; but that very night he dies."* CHAP. VII. THE SIXTH CLAUSE.
It was suitable that, after contemplating the liberality of God,=' we should likewise ad- dress His clemency. For what will aliments '^ I He must have been aware of this: he only gives logfical order to the thought which existed in the divine mind. See note 10, p. 6&z.'\ M Matt. XXVI. 26.
'6 Tertullian seems to refer lo Matt. xv. 26, Mark vi5. 17.
'9 Matt. VI. 34 and Luke xii. 29 si:em to he referred to; but the same remark applies as in note 10 on the preceding page.
21 In the former petition, " Give us this day our daily bread."
» Such as " " daily bread."
ON PRAYER.
[chap, X.
profit us, if we are really cotisigtied to them, ^is it were a bull destined for a victim?' The Lord knew Himself to be the only guiltless One, and so He teaches that we beg " to have our debts remitted us." A petition for par- don is a full confession; because he who begs for pardon fully admits his guilt. Thus, too, penitence is demonstrated acceptable to God, who desires it rather than the death of the sinner.== Moreover, debt is, in the Scriptures, a figure of guilt; because it is equally due to tlie sentence of judgment, and is exacted by it: nor does it evade the justice of exaction, unless the exaction be remitted, just as the lord remitted to that slave in the parable his debt; 3 for hither does the scope of the whole parable tend. For the fact withal, that the same servant, after liberated by his lord, does not equally spare his own debtor; and, being on that account impeached before his lord, is made over to the tormentor to pay the ut- termost farthing — that is, every guilt, how- ever small: corresponds with our profession that " we also remit to our debtors; " indeed elsewhere, too, in conformity with this Form of Prayer, He saith, " Remit, and it shall be remitted you."* And when Peter had put the question whether remission were to be granted to a brother seven times, "Nay," saith He, "seventy-seven times; "s in order to remould the Law for the better; because in Genesis vengeance was assigned "seven times" in the case of Cain, but in that of Lamech "seventy-seven times."* CHAP. Vlll. THE SEVENTH OR FINAL CLAUSE.
For the completeness of so brief a prayer He added — in order that we should supplicate not touching the remitting merely, but touch- ing the entire averting, of acts of guilt — " Lead us not into temptation: " that is, suffer us not to be led into it, by him (of course) who tempts; but far be the thought that the Lord should seem to tempt,^ as if He either were ignorant of the faith of any, or else were eager to overthrow it. Infirmity ^ and malice' are characteristics of the devil. For God\\^f\. commanded even Abraham to make a sacrifice of his son, for tlie sake not of tempting, but proving, his faitli; in order through him to make an example for that precept of His, whereby He was, by and by, to enjoin that ' That is, if we are just to be fed and fattened by them in body, as a bull which is destined for sacrifice is, and then, lilic him, slain — handed over to death f I.uke vi. 37.
'■ Implied in the one hypothesis — ignorance.
" Implied in the otlier— wishing to overthrow faith.
he should hold no pledges of affection dearer than God." He Himself, when tempted by the devil, demonstrated who it is that presides over and is the originator of temptation." This passage He confirms by subsequent ones, saying, " Pray that ye be not tempted; " '= yet they were tempted, (as they showed) by de- serting their Lord, because they had given way rather to sleep than prayer. '^ The final clause, therefore, is consonant, and inter- prets the sense of " Lead us not into tempta- tion; " for this sense is, " But convey us away from the Evil One."
CHAP. IX. — RECAPITULATION.'* In summaries of so few words, how many utterances of the prophets, the Gospels, the apostles — how many discourses, examples, parables of the Lord, are touched on! How many duties are simultaneously discharged! The honour of God in the "Father;" the testimony of faith in the " Name;" the offer- ing of obedience in the "Will;" the com- memoration of hope in the " Kingdom;" the petition for life in the " Bread; " the full ac- knowledgment of debts in the prayer for their " Forgiveness; " the anxious dread of tempta- tion in the request for "Protection." What wonder? God alone could teach how he wished Himself prayed to. The religious rite of prayer therefore, ordained by Himself, and animated, even at the moment when it was issuing out of the Divine mouth, by His own Spirit, ascends, by its own prerogative, into heaven, commending to the Father what the Son has taught.
CHAP. X. WE MAY SUPERADD PRAYERS OF OUR OWN TO THE lord's PRAYER.
Since, however, the Lord, the Foreseer of human necessities, 's said separately, after de- livering His Rule of Pra5'^er, " Ask, and ye shall receive; " '* and since there are petitions which are made according to the circumstances of each individual; our additional wants have the right — after beginning with the legitimate and customary prayers as a foundation, as it were — of rearing an outer superstructure of petitions, yet with remembrance of the Mas- ter's precepts.
'<> i e. no children even. The reference is apparently to Matt. x. 37 and Luke xiv. 26, with which may be compared Oeut. xiii. 6-10 and xxxiii. 9. If Oehler's reading, which I have followed, be cor- rect, the precept, which is not verbally jjiven till aijes after Abra- ham, is made to have a retrospective force on hmi.
" See Matt. iv. 10; Luke iv. 8.
'2 Luke xxii. 40; Matt. xxvi. 41; Mark xiv. 31.
'iRouth refers us to Pc liapt. c. 20, where Tertnllian refers li> the same event. [Note also his reference to Dc Ftiga, cap. ii.l '4 Here comes in the Codex Ambrosianus, with the title, " Here begins a treatise of Tertullian of divers necessiiry things;" and from it are taken the headings of the remaining chapters.. (Sec Oehler and Ryuth.)
«5 See Matt. vi. 8. ■* Matt. vii. 7; Luke «. 9.
CHAT. XV.]
ON rRAY?:R.
CHAP. XI. — WHEN PRAYING THE FATHER, YOU ARE NOT TO BE ANGRY WITH A BROTHER.
That we may not be as far from the ears of God as we are from His precepts,' the memory of His precepts paves for our prayers a way unto heaven; of which precepts the chief is, that we go not up unto Ciod's altar = before we compose whatever of discord or offence we have contracted with our brethren. ^ For what sort of deed is it to approach the peace of God * without peace.-' the remission of debts = while you retain them? How will he appease his Father who is angry with his brother, when from the beginning "all anger " is forbidden us?* For even Joseph, when dismissing his brethren for the purpose of fetching their father, said, " And be not angry in the way." ' He warned us, to be sure, at that time (for elsewhere our Discipline is called " the Way"^), that when, set in "the way" of prayer, we go not unto "the Father " with anger. After that, the Lord, "amplifying the Law,"' openly adds the prohibition of anger against a brother to that of murder." Not even by an evil word does He permit it to be vented." Ever if we must be angry, our anger must not be maintained beyond sunset, as the apostle admonishes." But how rash is it either to pass a day without prayer, while you refuse to make satisfaction to your brother; or else, by perseverance in anger, to lose your prayer?
CHAP. XII. WE MUST BE FREE LIKEWISE FROM ALL MENTAL PERTURBATION.
Nor merely from anger, but altogether from all perturbation of mind, ought the exercise of prayer to be free, uttered from a spirit such as the Spirit unto whom it is sent. For a de- filed spirit cannot be acknowledged by a holy Spirit,'^ nor a sad by a joyful,'* nor a fettered by a free. '5 No one grants reception to his adversary: no one grants admittance except to his compeer.
CHAP. XIII. — OF WASHING THE HANDS.
But what reason is there in going to prayer ■ Oehler divides these two chapters as above. The generally adopted division unites this sentence to the preceding chapter, and begins the new chapter with, " The memory of His precepts;" and perhaps this is the preferable division.
2 altare. [Heb. xiii. lo.]
4 Perhaps there may be an allusion to Phil iv. 6, 7.
5 See chap. vii. above, and compare Matt. vi. 14, 15.
'^ " Ab initio " probably refers to the book of Genesis, the init- iutit, or beginning of Scripture, to which he is about to refer. But see likewise Eph. iv. 31, Matt. v. 21, 22. [Gen. iv. 6, 7.]
7 Gen. xlv. 24: so the LXX.
*See Acts ix. 2, xix, 9, 23, in the Greek.
»See Matt. v. 17.
with hands indeed washed, but the spirit foul? — inasmuch as to our hands themselves spirit- ual purities are necessary, that they may be "lifted up pure"'* from falsehood, from murder, from cruelty, from poisonings," from idolatry, and all the other blemishes which, conceived by the spirit, are effected by the operation of the hands. These are the true purities;'^ not those which most are supersti- tiously careful about, taking water at every prayer, even when they are coming from a bath of the whole body. When I was scru- pulously making a thorough investigation of this practice, and searching into the reason of it, I ascertained it to be a commemorative act, bearing on the surrender "' of our Lord. We, ho7iiever,pray to the Lord: we do not surretider Him; nay, we ought even to set ourselves in opposition to the example of His sur- renderer, and not, on that account, wash our hands. Unless any defilement contracted in human intercourse be a conscientious cause for 7vasJmig them, they are otherwise clean enough, which together with our whole body we once washed in Christ.^" CHAP. XIV APOSTROPHE.
Albeit Israel washed daily all his limbs over,, yet is he never clean. His hands, at all events, are ever unclean, eternally dyed with the blood of the prophets, and of the Lord Himself; and on that account, as being hereditary cul- prits from their privity to their fathers' crimes, =' they do not dare even to raise them unto the Lord," for fear some Isaiah should cry out, ^3 for fear Christ should utterly shud- der. We, however, not only raise, but even expand them; and, taking our model from the Lord's passion,^ even in prayer we con- fess "^ to Christ.
CHAP. XV. OF PUTTING OFF CLOAKS.
But since we have touched on one special point of empty observance,^ it will not be irk- some to set our brand likewise on the other points against which the reproach of vanity may deservedly be laid; if, that is, they are observed without the authority of any precept '7 Or, "sorceries."
«9 By Pilate. See Matt, xxvii. 24. [N. B. quoad Riiuaiia.']
soi.e. in baptism.
21 See Matt, xxiii. 31; Luke xi. 48.
22 I do not know MU-tullian's authority for this statement. Cer- tainly Solomon diJ^m^e his hands (i Kings viii. 54;, and David apparently his (see Ps. cxiiii. 6, xxviii. 2, Ixii. 4, etc.). Compare, too, Ex. xvii. II, 12. But probably he is speaking only of the Is- rael of his own day. [Evidently.]
»4 i.e. from the expansion of the bands on the cross. 25 Or. " give praise." 26 i.e. the hand-wa.shing.
ON PRAYER.
[chap. XVIII.
either of the Lord, or else of the apostles. For matters of this kind belong not to religion, l)ut to superstition, being studied, and forced, and of curious rather than rational ceremony; ' deserving of restraint, at all events, even on this ground, that they pui us on a level with Gentiles.- As, e.g., it is the custom of some to make prayer with cloaks doffed, for so do the nations approach their idols; which prac- tice, of course, were its observance becoming; the apostles, who teach concerning the garb of prayer,3 would have comprehended in their iris f ructions, unless any think that is was in prayer that Paul had left his cloak with Car- pus! " God, forsooth, would not hear cloaked suppliants, who plainly heard the three saints in the Babylonian king's furnace praying in their trousers and turbans. s CKAP. XVI. — OK SITTING AFTER PRAYER.
Again, for the custom which some have of sitting when prayer is ended, I perceive no reason, except that which children give.* For what if that Hermas,^ whose writing is gener- ally inscribed with the title The Shepherd, had, after finishing his prayer, not sat down on his bed, but done some other thing: should we maintain that also as a matter for observ- ance? Of course not. Why, even as it is, the sentence, "When I had prayed, and had sat down on my bed," is simply put with a view to the order of the narration, not as a model of discipline. Else we shall have to pray nowhere except where there is a bed! Nay, whoever sits in a chair or on a bench, will act contrary to that writing. Further: inasmuch as the nations do the like, in sitting down after adoring their petty images; even on this ac- count the practice deserves to be censured in us, because it is observed in the worship of idols. To this is further added the charge of irreverence, — intelligible even to the nations themselves, if they had any sense. If, on the one hand, it is irreverent to sit under the eye, and over against the eye, of him whom you most of all revere and venerate; how much more, on the other hand, is that deed most irreligious under the eye of the living God, while the angel of prayer is still standing by,^ unless we are upbraiding God that prayer has wearied us!
' Or, " reasonable service." See Rom. xii. i. Or. " Gentile practices.''
S Dan. iii. 21, etc.
*i.e. that they have.seen it done; for children imitate anything and everything (Oehler).
7 1 V'ol. II. p. 18 (Vision V.), this Series. Also, lb. p. 57, note 2. Sec kouth's quotation from Cotelerius, p. i8o, in Volume before noted.]
■< kouth and Oehler fafter Rigaltius) refer us to Tob. xii. 12. Thi*y also, with Dodgson, refer to Luke'i. 11. Perhaps there may be a.-fereiice to Rev. viii. 3, 4.
CHAP. XVII. OF ELEVATED HANDS.
But we more commend our prayers to God when we pray with modesty and humility, with not even our hands too loftily elevated, but elevated temperately and becomingly; and 'not even our countenance over-boldly up- lifted. For that publican who prayed with humility and dejection not merely in his sup- plication, but in his countenance too, went his way "more justified" than the shameless Pharisee. 5 The sounds of our voice, likewise, should be subdued; else, if we are to be heard for our noise, how large windpipes should we need! But God is the hearer not of the voice, but of the heart, just as He is its inspector. The demon of the Pythian oracle says: "And I do understand the mute, and plainly hear the speechless one."'° Do the ears of God wait for sound? How, then, could Jonah's prayer find way out unto heaven from the depth of the whale's belly, through the entrails of so huge a beast; from the very abysses, through so huge a mass of sea? * What superior advantage will they who pray too loudly gain, except that they annoy their neighbours? Nay, by making their petitions audible, what less error do they commit than if they were to pray in public? " CHAP. XVIII. OF THE KISS OF PEACE.
Another custom has now become prevalent. Such as are fasting^withhold the kiss of peace, which is the seal of prayer, after prayer made with brethren. But when is peace more to be concluded with brethren than when, at the time of some religious observance," our prayer ascends with more acceptability; that they may themselves participate in our obser- vance, and thereby be mollified for transact- ing with their brother touching their own peace? What prayer is complete if divorced from the " holy kiss? " '^ Whom does peace impede when rendering service to his Lord? What kind of sacrifice is that from which men depart without peace? Whatever our prayer be, it will not be better than the observance of the precept by which we are bidden to con- ceal our fasts; '* for no7u, by abstinence from the kiss, we are known to be fasting. But even if there be some reason for this practice, still, lest you offend against thi? precept, you may perhaps defer your ^' peace" at home, where it is not possible for your fast to be en- 9 Luke xviii. 9-14.
" Which is forbidden, Matt. vi. 5, 6. '2 Such as fasting.
'3 See Rom. xvi. 16; i Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12: i Thiss. v. 26; I Pet. v. 14. [The sexes apart.]
cnw. xxn.]
ON PRAYER.
tirely kept secret. But wherever else you can conceal your observance, you ought to remember the precept: thus you may satisfy tlie requirements of Discipline abroad and • )1 custom at home. So, too, on the day of the passover,' when the religious observance oi a fast is general, and as it were public, we justly forego the kiss, caring nothing to con- ceal anything which we do in common with all.
CHAP. XIX. — OF STATIONS.
Similarly, too, touching the days of Sta- tions," most think that they must not be present at the sacrificial prayers, on the ground that the Station must he dissolved by recep- tion of the Lord's Body. Does, then, the Eucharist cancel a service devoted to God, or bind it more to God? Will not your Statioti be more solemn if you have withal stood at tiod's altar 1^ When the Lord's Body has been received and reserved,'* each point is secured, both the participation of the sacrifice and the discharge of duty. If the " Station " has received its name from the example of military life — for we withal are God's mili- tary s — of course no gladness or sadness chancing to the camp abolishes the " stations " of the soldiers: for gladness will carry out discipline more willingly, sadness more care- fully.
CHAP. XX. — OF women's DRESS.
So far, however, as regards the dress of women, the variety of observance compels us — men of no consideration whatever — to treat, presumptuously indeed, after the most holy apostle,* except in so far as it will not be presumptuously if we treat the subject in ac- cordance with the apostle. Touching modesty of dress and ornamentation, indeed, the pre- scription of Peter^ likewise is plain, checking as he does with the same mouth, because with the same Spirit, as Paul, the glory of garments, and the pride of gold, and the meretricious elaboration of the hair.
CHAP. XXI. OF VIRGINS.
But that point which is promiscuously ob- served throughout the churches, whether vir- gins ought to be veiled or no, must be treated of. For they who allow to virgins immunity from head-covering, appear to rest on this; ' i.e. " Good Friday,'' as il is now generally called.
- The word Statio seems to have been used in more than one sense in the ancient Church. A passage in the Shepherd of Her- mas, referred to above (B. iii. Sim. 5), appears to make it =" fast."
1 " Ara," not " altare."
* F'or receiving at home apparently, when your station is over.
j.'^ee 2 Tim. ii. i, etc. [See Hennas, Vol. I., p. 33.]