The order established for your edification requires that ye learn
first what to believe, and afterwards what to ask. For so saith the
Apostle, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." This testimony blessed Paul cited out of the Prophet; for by
the Prophet were those times foretold, when all men should call upon
God; "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." And he added, "How then shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they
have not heard? Or how shall they hear without a preacher? Or how
shall they preach except they be sent?" Therefore were preachers
sent. They preached Christ. As they preached, the people heard; by
hearing they believed, and by believing called upon him. Because
then it was most rightly and most truly said, "How shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed?" therefore have ye first
learned what to believe: and to-day have learned to call on him in
whom ye have believed.
The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, hath taught us a prayer; and
though he be the Lord himself, as ye have heard and repeated in the
Creed, the Only Son of God, yet he would not be alone. He is the
Only Son, and yet would not be alone; he hath vouchsafed to have
brethren. For to whom doth he say, "Say, Our Father, which art in
heaven?" Whom did he wish us to call our father, save his own
father? Did he grudge us this? Parents sometimes when they have
gotten one, or two, or three children, fear to give birth to any
more, lest they reduce the rest to beggary. But because the
inheritance which he promised us is such as many may possess, and no
one be straitened, therefore hath he called into his brotherhood the
peoples of the nations; and the only son hath numberless brethren,
who say, "Our Father, which art in heaven." So said they who have
been before us; and so shall say those who will come after us. See
how many brethren the only son hath in his grace, sharing his
inheritance with those for whom he suffered death. We had a father
and mother on earth, that we might be born to labors and to death;
but we have found other parents, God our father and the Church our
mother, by whom we are born unto life eternal. Let us then consider,
beloved, whose children we have begun to be; and let us live so as
becomes those who have such a father. See, how that our Creator hath
condescended to be our Father.
We have heard whom we ought to call upon, and with what hope of an
eternal inheritance we have begun to have a father in heaven; let us
now hear what we must ask of him. Of such a father what shall we
ask? Do we not ask rain of him, to-day, and yesterday, and the day
before? This is no great thing to have asked of such a father, and
yet ye see with what sighings, and with what great desire we ask for
rain, when death is feared,--when that is feared which none can
escape. For sooner or later every man must die, and we groan, and
pray, and travail in pain, and cry to God, that we may die a little
later, How much more ought we to cry to him, that we may come to
that place where we shall never die!
Therefore it is said, "Hallowed be thy name." This we also ask of
him that his name may be hallowed in us; for holy is it always. And
how is his name hallowed in us, except while it makes us holy? For
once we were not holy, and we are made holy by his name; but he is
always holy, and his name always holy. It is for ourselves, not for
God, that we pray. For we do not wish well to God, to whom no ill
can ever happen. But we wish what is good for ourselves, that his
holy name may be hallowed, that that which is always holy, may be
hallowed in us.
"Thy kingdom come." Come it surely will, whether we ask or no.
Indeed, God hath an eternal kingdom. For when did he not reign?
When did he begin to reign? For his kingdom hath no beginning,
neither shall it have any end. But that ye may know that in this
prayer also we pray for ourselves, and not for God (For we do not
say, "Thy kingdom come," as though we were asking that God may
reign); we shall be ourselves his kingdom, if believing in him we
make progress in this faith. All the faithful, redeemed by the
blood of his only son, will be his kingdom. And this his kingdom
will come, when the resurrection of the dead shall have taken place;
for then he will come himself. And when the dead are risen, he will
divide them, as he himself saith, "and he shall set some on the
right hand, and some on the left." To those who shall be on the
right hand he will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the
kingdom." This is what we wish and pray for when we say, "Thy
kingdom come"; that it may come to us. For if we shall be reprobates,
that kingdom shall come to others, but not to us. But if we shall
be of that number, who belong to the members of his only-begotten
son, his kingdom will come to us, and will not tarry. For are there
as many ages yet remaining as have already passed away? The Apostle
John hath said, "My little children, it is the last hour." But it
is a long hour proportioned to this long day; and see how many years
this last hour lasteth. But, nevertheless, be ye as those who
watch, and so sleep, and rise again, and reign. Let us watch now,
let us sleep in death; at the end we shall rise again, and shall
reign without end.
"Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth." The third thing we
pray for is, that his will may be done as in heaven so in earth.
And in this, too, we wish well for ourselves. For the will of God
must necessarily be done. It is the will of God that the good
should reign, and the wicked be damned. Is it possible that this
will should not be done? But what good do we wish for ourselves,
when we say, "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth?" Give
ear. For this petition may be understood in many ways, and many
things are to be in our thoughts in this petition, when we pray God,
"Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth." As thy angels offend
thee not, so may we also not offend thee. Again, how is "Thy will
be done as in heaven, so in earth," understood? All the holy
Patriarchs, all the Prophets, all the Apostles, all the spiritual
are, as it were, God's heaven; and we in comparison of them are
earth. "Thy will be done in heaven, so in earth"; as in them, so in
us also. Again, "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth"; the
Church of God is heaven, his enemies are earth. So we wish well for
our enemies, that they too may believe and become Christians, and so
the will of God be done as in heaven, so also in earth. Again, "Thy
will be done as in heaven, so in earth." Our spirit is heaven, and
the flesh earth. As our spirit is renewed by believing, so may our
flesh be renewed by rising again; and "the will of God be done as in
heaven, so in earth." Again, our mind whereby we see truth, and
delight in this truth, is heaven; as, "I delight in the law of God,
after the inward man." What is the earth? "I see another law in my
members, warring against the law of my mind?" When this strife
shall have passed away, and a full concord be brought about of the
flesh and spirit, the will of God will be done as in heaven, so also
in earth. When we repeat this petition, let us think of all these
things, and ask them all of the Father. Now all these things which
we have mentioned, these three petitions, beloved, have respect to
the life eternal. For if the name of our God is sanctified in us,
it will be for eternity. If his kingdom come, where we shall live
forever, it will be for eternity. If his will be done as in heaven,
so in earth, in all the ways which I have explained, it will be for
eternity.
There remain now the petitions for this life of our pilgrimage;
therefore follows, "Give us this day our daily bread." Give us
eternal things, give us things temporal. Thou hast promised a
kingdom, deny us not the means of subsistence. Thou wilt give
everlasting glory with thyself hereafter, give us in this earth
temporal support. Therefore is it day by day, and to-day, that is,
in this present time. For when this life shall have passed away,
shall we ask for daily bread then? For then it will not be called
day by day, but to-day. Now it is called day by day, when one day
passes away, and another day succeeds. Will it be called day by day
when there will be one eternal day? This petition for daily bread
is doubtless to be understood in two ways, both for the necessary
supply of our bodily food, and for the necessities of our spiritual
support. There is a necessary supply of bodily food, for the
preservation of our daily life, without which we cannot live. This
is food and clothing, but the whole is understood in a part. When
we ask for bread, we thereby understand all things. There is a
spiritual food, also, which the faithful know, which ye, too, will
know when ye shall receive it at the altar of God. This also is
"daily bread," necessary only for this life. For shall we receive
the Eucharist when we shall have come to Christ himself, and begun
to reign with him forever? So then the Eucharist is our daily
bread; but let us in such wise receive it, that we be not refreshed
in our bodies only, but in our souls. For the virtue which is
apprehended there, is unity, that gathered together into his body,
and made his members, we may be what we receive. Then will it be,
indeed, our daily bread. Again, what I am handling before you now
is "daily bread"; and the daily lessons which ye hear in church are
daily bread, and the hymns ye hear and repeat are daily bread. For
all these arc necessary in our state of pilgrimage. But when we
shall have got to heaven, shall we hear the Word, we who shall see
the Word himself, and hear the Word himself, and eat and drink him
as the angels do now? Do the angels need books, and interpreters,
and readers? Surely not. They read in seeing, for the truth itself
they see, and are abundantly satisfied from that fountain, from
which we obtain some few drops. Therefore has it been said touching
our daily bread, that this petition is necessary for us in this
life.
"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Is this necessary
except in this life? For in the other we shall have no debts. For
what are debts, but sins? See, ye are on the point of being
baptized, then all your sins will be blotted out, none whatever will
remain. Whatever evil ye have ever done, in deed, or word, or
desire, or thought, all will be blotted out. And yet if in the life
which is after baptism there were security from sin, we should not
learn such a prayer as this, "Forgive us our debts." Only let us by
all means do what comes next, "As we forgive our debtors." Do ye
then, who are about to enter in to receive a plenary and entire
remission of your debts, do ye above all things see that ye have
nothing in your hearts against any other, so as to come forth from
baptism secure, as it were, free and discharged of all debts, and
then begin to purpose to avenge yourselves on your enemies, who in
time past have done you wrong. Forgive, as ye are forgiven. God can
do no one wrong, and yet he forgiveth who oweth nothing. How then
ought he to forgive who is himself forgiven, when he forgiveth all
who oweth nothing that can be forgiven him?
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Will this
again be necessary in the life to come? "Lead us not into
temptation," will not be said except where there can be temptation.
We read in the book of holy Job, "Is not the life of man upon earth
a temptation?" What, then, do we pray for? Hear what. The Apostle
James saith, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of
God." He spoke of those evil temptations whereby men are deceived,
and brought under the yoke of the devil. This is the kind of
temptation he spoke of. For there is another sort of temptation
which is called a proving; of this kind of temptation it is written,
"The Lord your God tempteth [proveth] you to know whether ye love
him." What means "to know"? "To make you know," for he knoweth
already. With that kind of temptation whereby we are deceived and
seduced, God tempteth no man. But undoubtedly in his deep and
hidden judgment he abandons some. And when he hath abandoned them,
the tempter finds his opportunity. For he finds in him no
resistance against his power, but forthwith presents himself to him
as his possessor, if God abandon him. Therefore, that he may not
abandon us, do we say, "Lead us not into temptation." "For every one
is tempted," says the same Apostle James, "when he is drawn away of
his own lust and enticed. Then lust, when it hath conceived,
bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
death." What, then, has he hereby taught us? To fight against our
lusts. For ye are about to put away your sins in holy baptism; but
lusts will still remain, wherewith ye must fight after that ye are
regenerate. For a conflict with your own selves still remains. Let
no enemy from without be feared; conquer thine own self, and the
whole world is conquered. What can any tempter from without, whether
the devil or the devil's minister, do against thee? Whosoever sets
the hope of gain before thee to seduce thee, let him only find no
covetousness in thee; and what can he who would tempt thee by gain
effect? Whereas, if covetousness be found in thee, thou takest fire
at the sight of gain, and art taken by the bait of this corrupt
food. But if we find no covetousness in thee, the trap remains
spread in vain. Or should the tempter set before thee some woman of
surpassing beauty; if chastity be within, iniquity from without is
overcome. Therefore, that he may not take thee with the bait of a
strange woman's beauty, fight with thine own lust within; thou hast
no sensible perception of thine enemy, but of thine own
concupiscence thou hast. Thou dost not see the devil, but the object
that engageth thee thou dost see. Get the mastery then over that of
which thou art sensible within. Fight valiantly, for he who hath
regenerated thee is thy judge; he hath arranged the lists, he is
making ready the crown. But because thou wilt without doubt be
conquered, if thou have not him to aid thee, if he abandon thee,
therefore dost thou say in the prayer, "Lead us not into
temptation." The judge's wrath hath given over some to their own
lusts; and the Apostle says, "God gave them over to the lusts of
their hearts." How did he give them up? Not by forcing, but by
forsaking them.
"Deliver us from evil," may belong to the same sentence. Therefore,
that thou mayst understand it to be all one sentence, it runs thus,
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Therefore,
he added "but," to show that all this belongs to one sentence, "Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." How is this? I
will propose them singly. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil." By delivering us from evil, he leadeth us not into
temptation; by not leading us into temptation, he delivereth us from
evil.
And, truly, it is a great temptation, dearly beloved, it is a great
temptation in this life, when that in us is the subject of
temptation whereby we attain pardon if, in any of our temptations,
we have fallen. It is a frightful temptation when that is taken from
us whereby we may be healed from the wounds of other temptations. I
know that ye have not yet understood me. Give me your attention,
that ye may understand. Suppose, avarice tempts a man, and he is
conquered in any single temptation (for sometimes even a good
wrestler and fighter may get roughly handled): avarice, then, has
got the better of a man, good wrestler though he be, and he has done
some avaricious act. Or there has been a passing lust; it has not
brought the man to fornication, nor reached unto adultery--for when
this does take place, the man must at all events be kept back from
the criminal act. But he "hath seen a woman to lust after her"; he
has let his thoughts dwell on her with more pleasure than was right;
he has admitted the attack; excellent combatant though he be, he has
been wounded, but he has not consented to it; he has beaten back the
motion of his lust, has chastised it with the bitterness of grief,
he has beaten it back; and has prevailed. Still, in the very fact
that he had slipped, has he ground for saying, "Forgive us our
debts." And so of all other temptations, it is a hard matter that in
them all there should not be occasion for saying, "Forgive us our
debts." What, then, is that frightful temptation which I have
mentioned, that grievous, that tremendous temptation, which must be
avoided with all our strength, with all our resolution; what is it?
When we go about to avenge ourselves. Anger is kindled, and the man
bums to be avenged. O frightful temptation! Thou art losing that,
whereby thou hadst to attain pardon for other faults. If thou hadst
committed any sin as to other senses, and other lusts, hence
mightest thou have had thy cure, in that thou mightest say, "Forgive
us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." But whoso instigateth
thee to take vengeance will lose for thee the power thou hadst to
say, "As we also forgive our debtors." When that power is lost, all
sins will be retained; nothing at all is remitted.
Our Lord and Master, and Savior, knowing this dangerous temptation
in this life, when he taught us six or seven petitions in this
prayer, took none of them for himself to treat of, and to commend to
us with greater earnestness, than this one. Have we not said, "Our
Father, which art in heaven," and the rest which follows? Why after
the conclusion of the prayer, did he not enlarge upon it to us,
either as to what he had laid down in the beginning, or concluded
with at the end, or placed in the middle? For why said he not, if
the name of God be not hallowed in you, or if ye have no part in the
kingdom of God, or if the will of God be not done in you, as in
heaven, or if God guard you not, that ye enter not into temptation;
why none of all these? but what saith he? "Verily I say unto you,
that if ye forgive men their trespasses," in reference to that
petition, "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors."
Having passed over all the other petitions which he taught us, this
he taught us with an especial force. There was no need of insisting
so much upon those sins in which if a man offend, he may know the
means whereby he may be cured; need of it there was with regard to
that sin in which, if thou sin, there is no means whereby the rest
can be cured. For this thou oughtest to be ever saying, "Forgive us
our debts." What debts? There is no lack of them, for we are but
men; I have talked somewhat more than I ought, have said something I
ought not, have laughed more than I ought, have eaten more than I
ought, have listened with pleasure to what I ought not, have drunk
more than I ought, have seen with pleasure what I ought not, have
thought with pleasure on what I ought not; "Forgive us our debts, as
we also forgive our debtors." This if thou hast lost, thou art lost
thyself.
Take heed, my brethren, my sons, sons of God, take heed, I beseech
you, in that I am saying to you. Fight to the uttermost of your
powers with your own hearts. And if ye shall see your anger making a
stand against you, pray to God against it, that God may make thee
conqueror of thyself, that God may make thee conqueror, I say, not
of thine enemy without, but of thine own soul within. For he will
give thee his present help, and will do it. He would rather that we
ask this of him, than rain. For ye see, beloved, how many petitions
the Lord Christ hath taught us; and there is scarce found among them
one which speaks of daily bread, that all our thoughts may be molded
after the life to come. For what can we fear that he will not give
us, who hath promised and said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you;
for your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things before ye
ask him." "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you." For many have been
tried even with hunger, and have been found gold, and have not been
forsaken by God. They would have perished with hunger, if the daily
inward bread were to leave their heart. After this let us chiefly
hunger. For, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled." But he can in mercy look
upon our infirmity, and see us, as it is said, "Remember that we are
dust." He who from the dust made and quickened man, for that his
work of clay's sake, gave his only son to death. Who can explain,
who can worthily so much as conceive, how much he loveth us?