Chapter V.--The Fourth Clause.
"Thy kingdom come" has also reference to that whereto "Thy will be done" refers--in us, that is. For when does God not reign, in whose hand is the heart of all kings? [8790] But whatever we wish for ourselves we augur for Him, and to Him we attribute what from Him we expect. And so, if the 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, [8791] when the kingdom of God, which we pray may arrive, tends unto the consummation of the age? [8792] Our wish is, that our reign be hastened, not our servitude protracted. Even if it had not been prescribed in the Prayer that we should ask for the advent 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 [8793] cry in jealousy unto the Lord, "How long, Lord, dost Thou not avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?" [8794] for, of course, their avenging is regulated by [8795] the end of the age. Nay, Lord, Thy kingdom come with all speed,--the prayer of Christians the confusion of the heathen, [8796] the exultation of angels, for the sake of which we suffer, nay, rather, for the sake of which we pray!
[8790] Prov. xxi. 1.
[8791] Or, "world," sæculo.
[8792] Or, "world," sæculi. See Matt. xxiv. 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.).
[8793] altari.
[8794] Rev. vi. 10.
[8795] So Dodgson aptly renders "dirigitur a."
[8796] [See Ad Nationes, p. 128, supra.]
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 had [8797] withal issued His edict, "Seek ye first the kingdom, and then even these shall be added:" [8798] 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;" [8799] and, a little above, "The Bread is the Word of the living God, who came down from the heavens." [8800] Then we find, too, that His body is reckoned in bread: "This is my body." [8801] 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." [8802] 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?" [8803] and again, "Doth a father give his son a stone when he asks for bread?" [8804] For He thus shows what it is that sons expect from their father. Nay, even that nocturnal knocker knocked for "bread." [8805] 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." [8806] 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. [8807]
[8797] 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.]
[8798] Matt. vi. 33.
[8799] John vi. 35.
[8800] John vi. 33.
[8801] Matt. xxvi. 26.
[8802] Matt. vi. 32.
[8803] Tertullian seems to refer to Matt. xv. 26; Mark vii. 27.
[8804] Matt. vii. 9; Luke xi. 11.
[8805] Luke xi. 5-9.
[8806] 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.
[8807] Luke xii. 16-20.