Note I. On C. Iv. P. 302.
OF PRAYER
[The different tone in which Tertullian speaks on the Shepherd of Hermas and on fasting in the De Oratione, (c. 16. 18.) and in his Montanist works, (De Pudic. c. 10. 20. and De Jej. c. 2.) is decisive that it was written before his fall, (see Lumper. c. 2. art. 3. §. 2. who adds other grounds not so valid; he thinks also that T. calls Hermas “Scripture,” “almost Scripture,” but wrongly, see c. 16.) S. Hilary also speaks of it, as written, while sound in the faith. “On the Sacrament of prayer, Cyprian, of holy memory, has freed us from the need of writing. Although Tertullian also wrote a most suitable treatise thereon; but the subsequent error of the man, deprived of authority even his approved writings.” in Matt. c. 5. init.]
I. THE Spirit of God, and the Word of God, and the Reason of God—Word of Reason, and Reason of Word, and Spirit of both—Jesus Christ our Lord hath ordained for us, the disciples of the New Testament, a new form of Prayer. For it was meet that, in this kind also, new wine should be laid up in new bottles, and a new piece sewn to a new garment. But whatever had been in time past, hath been either changed, as circumcision; or fulfilled, as the rest of the law; or accomplished, as prophecy; or perfected, as Faith itself. The new grace of God hath fashioned anew all things from carnal to spiritual, in bringing in, over all, the Gospel, the abolisher of all the ancient bygone things. In which our Lord Jesus Christ hath been approved as the Spirit of God, and the Word of God, and the Reason of God: the Spirit, by which He prevailed; the Word, by which He taught; the Reason, by which He came. Thus, therefore, the Prayer framed by Christ hath been framed out of three things—the Word, by which it is expressed; the Spirit, by which alone it hath power; the Reason, by which it is conceived. John also had taught his disciples to pray; but all that was of John was a preparing of the way for Christ, until when Himself should have increased, (as the same John foretold that He must increase but himself decrease, the whole work of the forerunner together with the Spirit Itself, should pass to the Lord. And therefore it doth not appear in what words John taught them to pray, because that earthly things have given place to heavenly. He that is of the earth, he saith, speaketh the things of the earth; and He that is of Heaven speaketh the things which He hath seen. And what is there that is of the Lord Christ, as is this instruction in prayer also, which is not heavenly? Let us consider then, blessed sirs, first, His heavenly wisdom in the commandment to pray in secret, wherein He both exacted the faith of man, in surely believing that the eye and the ear of Almighty God are present under coverings, and even in secret places, and required also a modesty in faith, in offering his religious service to Him alone, Who, he trusteth, heareth and seeth every where: next, His wisdom in the next commandment, which though it pertaineth in like manner to Faith and the modesty of Faith, that we should not think that God must be approached with a multitude of words, Who, we are sure, provideth for His own of His own accord, yet is this brevity (and this formeth the third step in the said wisdom) upheld by the support of a large and blessed interpretation, and is as much expanded in meaning as it is compressed in words. For it hath embraced not only the proper offices of Prayer, or reverence of God, or the petition of man, but almost every discourse of the Lord, every record of His rule of life, so that, in truth, there is comprehended in the Prayer a summary of the whole Gospel.
II. It beginneth with a testimony to God, and with the reward of Faith, when we say, OUR FATHER, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN. For herein we both pray to God, and commend the Faith whose reward it is thus to entitle Him. It is written, To them that believed on Him gave He power to be called the sons of God. And, indeed, the Lord hath very frequently proclaimed God to us as a Father; yea, and hath taught us to call no man father upon earth, but Him only Whom we have in Heaven. Wherefore in thus praying we obey also a commandment. Happy they who acknowledge Him as a Father! This it is with which Israel is reproached, when the Spirit calleth Heaven and earth to witness, saying, I have begotten children, and they have not acknowledged me. But, in calling Him Father, we entitle Him also God. This title is one both of affection and authority. Moreover, in the Father, the Son also is called upon; for, saith He, I and the Father are one. Nor is even our Mother Church passed by, that is, if in the Father and the Son be recognized the mother also, of whom it is that the names both of Father and Son exist. Under one kind then, or indeed one word, we both honour God with His own, and remember a commandment, and set a mark upon those that forget the Father.
III. The Name of God the Father had been disclosed to none. Even Moses, who had asked it of Himself, had heard in truth another name. To us it hath been revealed in the Son. For now is the Son a new Name of the Father. I am come, saith He, in the Father’s Name. And again: Father, glorify Thy Name: and more plainly: I have manifested Thy Name unto men. We ask therefore that this NAME may BE HALLOWED: not that it becometh men to wish well to God, as though there were Any Other from Whom it could be wished for Him, or He were hindered of it unless we wished. Meet indeed is it that God should be blessed in every place and time by every man, for the remembrance, ever due, of His benefits. But this too standeth in the place of blessing. And yet when hath not the Name of God been holy and sanctified by Himself, seeing that of Himself He sanctifieth all others? to Whom that company of angels round about rest not saying, Holy, Holy, Holy! In like manner therefore we also, looking to be angels, if we so deserve, even from hence learn that heavenly address to God, the office also of future glory. Thus much as respecteth the glory of God. On the other hand, as respecteth our own petition, when we say, HALLOWED BE THY NAME, we pray that It may be hallowed in us, who are in Him, and at the same time in all others also, whom the grace of God yet awaiteth, that we may in this also obey a commandment in praying for all, even for our enemies. And therefore stopping short in our expression, and not saying, be It hallowed “in us,” we say (in effect) be It hallowed “in all.”
IV. Next to this clause we add, THY WILL BE DONE IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH: not that any can hinder the doing of His will, and that we pray for Him that His will may have success, but we ask that His will may be done in all men. For, by a figurative interpretation of the flesh and the spirit, we are the Heaven and the Earth. Although even if it be to be understood simply, yet is the sense of the petition the same, that in us, the will of God may be done in earth, to wit, that it may hereafter be done in Heaven also. And what doth God will, but that we should walk according to His rule? We ask therefore that He supply us with the substance and power of His will, that we may be saved both in Heaven and in earth, seeing that the sum of His will is the salvation of those whom He hath adopted. That also is the will of God, which the Lord hath executed in preaching, in working, in suffering. For so hath He Himself declared, that He did not His own will, but the will of the Father. Without doubt the things which He did, they were the will of the Father, to the which, as to ensamples, are we now called forth, that we may both preach, and work, and suffer, even unto death. The which that we may be able to fulfil, we have need of the will of God. Likewise when we say, THY WILL BE DONE, even in this we wish well to ourselves, because there is no evil in the will of God, even though there be somewhat contrariwise inflicted according to the deserts of each. By the very saying of this we premonish ourselves unto patience. The Lord also, when, by the reality of His Passion, He had now willed to shew in His own flesh the weakness of the flesh, saith, Father, remove this cup,—and then remembering Himself—nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done. He was Himself the Will and the Power of the Father, and yet, for the shewing forth of the patience which He owed, He committed Himself to the will of the Father.
V. THY KINGDOM COME, likewise hath the same reference as hath also THY WILL BE DONE; to wit, in ourselves. For when is God not a King, in Whose hand is the heart of all kings? But whatsoever we wish for ourselves, we divine to be His, and to Him attribute, what from Him we expect. Wherefore, if the present coming of the Lord’s Kingdom pertain to the will of God, and to our earnest expectation, how pray some for a sort of prolonging of the world, when the Kingdom of God, which we pray may come, looketh to the consummation of the world? We desire to reign the sooner, and not to serve the longer. Even were it not prescribed in the Prayer about praying for the coming of the Kingdom, we should of our own accord put forth His word, pressing forward towards the apprehending of our hope. The souls of the martyrs cry unto the Lord reproachfully under the altar, How long, O Lord, dost Thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? For doubtless the avenging of these is regulated by the end of the world. Yea, with all speed, O Lord, Thy Kingdom come! the prayer of the Christians, the confusion of the Heathen, the joy of the Angels, for which we strive, yea rather for which we pray.
VI. But how choicely hath Divine Wisdom drawn up the order of the Prayer, that after heavenly things, that is, after the Name of God, the Will of God, and the Kingdom of God, it should give to the petition a place for earthly wants likewise! For the Lord had also declared, Seek ye first the Kingdom, and then these things also shall be added unto you. Although we may rather understand spiritually, GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD. 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 Which cometh down from Heaven. Then again because in the Bread is understood His Body: This is My Body. Wherefore in praying for daily bread, we pray to be perpetually in Christ, and undivided from His Body. But because this word also hath a carnal meaning, this cannot be without a religious regard for a spiritual rule likewise. For He commandeth bread to be prayed for, which thing alone is necessary for the faithful, For after the rest do the Gentiles seek. And this again He impresseth by examples, and treateth of in parables, when He saith, Doth a father take bread from his children, and give it unto dogs? And again: When a son asketh bread, doth he give him a stone? For He sheweth what sons may expect from a father. Moreover also that one, that knocked at the door by night, asked for bread. But with good cause hath He added, GIVE US THIS DAY, seeing that He had said before, Take no thought for the morrow what ye shall eat. To which matter He hath also applied the parable of that man, who, when his fruits were coming in, thought within himself of building greater barns, and of times for long taking his ease: on that very night he dieth.
VII. It followed that, having noted the bounty of God, we should pray for His mercy also. For what will meats profit, if we be reckoned, as touching them, in very deed as a bull for the slaughter? The Lord knew that Himself only was without sin. He teacheth therefore that we pray that OUR DEBTS be FORGIVEN us. Prayer for forgiveness is confession, for he that asketh forgiveness confesseth sin. Thus also is repentance manifested, acceptable to God, because He willeth this rather than the death of a sinner. But a debt is, in the Scriptures, a figure for a sin, because payment is in like manner by just sentence due, and by the same demanded, nor can it evade the justice of the demand, unless the demand be remitted, as the Lord forgave that servant the debt. For the example of the whole parable looketh this way. For, whereas the same servant, when loosed by his lord, doth not in like manner spare his own debtor, and, being on that account accused before his lord, is delivered to the tormentor till he should pay the uttermost farthing, that is, the very least sin, with this agreeth that we also profess to FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS. Moreover He saith also in another place, according to this kind of Prayer, Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you. And when Peter had asked whether he should forgive his brother until seven times, Yea, saith He, until seventy times seven, that He might remould the law for the better; because in Genesis the avenging of Cain is reckoned at sevenfold, but that of Lamech at seventy and seven fold.
VIII. For the completing of this so brief Prayer, that we might pray, not only for the forgiveness, but also for the entire turning away of sins, He hath added, LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION: that is, suffer us not to be led, to wit by him who tempteth. But God forbid that the Lord should be thought to tempt, as though He were ignorant concerning the faith of any man, or were consenting to its overthrow. Both infirmity and malice are of the Devil. For even Abraham He had commanded to make an offering of his son, for the sake not of tempting, but of proving, his faith; that through him He might set forth an example of His own precept, wherein He would afterwards command that not even children must be accounted dearer than God. He Himself being tempted of the Devil, shewed who was the head and contriver of temptation. This passage He confirmeth by His after words, when He saith, Pray lest ye be tempted. And so they were tempted, in forsaking the Lord, who had given themselves to sleep rather than to prayer. With this correspondeth the clause, which interpreteth the meaning of Lead us not into temptation; for this is, But deliver us from Evil.
IX. In the brief summary of a few words, how many sayings of the Prophets, Gospels, Apostles, discourses of the Lord, parables, examples, precepts, are touched upon! How many duties are at once discharged! The honouring of God in the FATHER, the testimony of Faith in the NAME, the offering of obedience in the WILL, the remembrance of hope in the KINGDOM, the petition for life in the BREAD, the confession of DEBTS in the prayer to FORGIVE, the anxious care about TEMPTATIONS in the call for defence. What wonder? God alone could teach how He would have Himself prayed to. The sacred duty therefore of Prayer, ordained by Himself, and animated by His own Spirit, even at the time when it proceeded from the Divine mouth, ascendeth, of its own right, unto Heaven, commending to the Father what the Son hath taught.
X. Yet since the Lord, Who foreseeth human wants, after delivering the rule of Prayer, saith separately, Ask, and ye shall receive, and since there are things which be desired according to the case of each, after that the regular and set form of prayer hath been first used, there is a liberty allowed to desires added as it were to the foundation, there is a liberty to build thereupon extraneous petitions, yet with remembrance of the commandments, lest the farther from the commandments, the farther we be from the ears of God.
XI. The remembrance of the commandments paveth the way to Heaven for prayers, of which commandments the chief is, that we go not up to the altar of God before that we undo whatever quarrel or enmity we may have contracted with our brethren. For what is it to retire unto the peace of God, without peace? unto the remission of debts, retaining debts? How shall he appease the Father, who is angry with his brother, seeing that all anger is, from the beginning, forbidden us? For Joseph also, when he sendeth away his brethren to bring their father to him, saith, and fall not out by the way. Verily he admonished us, for our Religion is elsewhere called a way: and again that, when set in the way of Prayer, we should not approach the Father with anger. Next, the Lord, when enlarging the Law, doth in plain words add to murder anger against a brother, alloweth not that it should quit itself even by an ill-word. Even if one must needs be angry, it must not be beyond the going down of the sun, as the Apostle admonisheth. But how rash a thing is it either to pass a day without prayer, while thou delayest to make satisfaction to a brother, or by persisting in wrath, to undo prayer!
XII. Nor ought the intention of Prayer to be free from anger only, but from all disorder of the mind whatever, being sent forth from such a spirit, as is The Spirit to Whom it is sent. For the defiled spirit cannot be acknowledged by The Holy Spirit, nor the gloomy by the joyful, nor the thralled by the free. No one entertaineth an adversary: no one admitteth any, save his own compeer.
XIII. But again what reason is there in entering upon Prayer with the hands indeed washed, but the spirit foul? whereas even to the hands spiritual cleanness is necessary, that they may be lifted up pure from deceit, from murder, from cruelty, from witchcrafts, from idolatry, and the rest of those defilements, which, conceived by the spirit, are wrought by the operation of the hands. This is the true cleanness, not such as most men superstitiously care for, using water before all prayer, even to the washing of the whole body. This when I scrupulously enquired into, and sought after the reason of it, I found it to be a commemoration of the delivering up of the Lord. We adore the Lord, not deliver Him up. Nay, we ought even to act contrary to the example of him who delivered Him up, and not therefore to wash the hands, unless, for conscience sake, we wash away the defilement of the conversation of men.
XIV. But the hands are clean enough, which we have washed once for all, with the whole body, in Christ. Although Israel wash daily in every member, yet is he never clean. Surely his hands are ever unclean, stained eternally with the blood of the Prophets and of the Lord Himself. And therefore sinners by inheritance, through consciousness of their fathers, they dare not so much as lift them up unto the Lord, lest some Isaiah cry out, lest Christ shudder. But we not only lift them up, but even spread them out, modelling them after the Lord’s Passion, and, while we pray, confess Christ.
XV. But since we have touched upon one point of empty ceremony, we shall not think it ill to note the rest also, which may justly be upbraided with vanity, if, that is, they be done without the authority of any command either of the Lord or the Apostles. For such like things are set down not to Religion but to superstition, being affected, and forced, and pertaining rather to an over-curious, than to a reasonable service; certainly to be restrained, if only because they level us with the Gentiles. As for instance, it is the way with some to make their prayer with their cloaks put off, for thus approach the Heathen their idols. Which, were it meet to be done, the Apostles surely, who teach concerning the habit befitting Prayer, would have included, unless any think that Paul left his cloak with Carpus during prayer. God forsooth may not hear men in their cloaks, Who heard three Saints in the furnace of the king of Babylon praying in their coats and their hats!
XVI. Moreover I see not clearly the reason why it is the custom with some, prayer being concluded, to sit down: unless, if that Hermas, whose writing is commonly entitled ‘The Shepherd,’ having finished his prayer, had not set down upon his bed, but had done something else, we might insist on the observance of this also. Surely not: for even here “When I had prayed and set down upon my bed” is put simply in the course of narration, not as a model of discipline. Otherwise one must pray no where save where there is a bed: nay one will act contrary to the writing, if he sit down on a chair or a bench. Moreover seeing that the Heathen do likewise, in sitting down after praying to their puppets, it deserveth to be blamed in us, were it only that it is observed in the case of idols. To this is added a charge of irreverence also, to be understood even by the Gentiles, if they had any understanding. If indeed it be irreverent to sit under the eye, and directly in the eye, of him, whom thou especially reverest and veneratest, how much more exceedingly irreligious is that act under the eye of the Living God, the Angel of Prayer still standing by, unless we are reproaching God for that our prayer hath wearied us!
XVII. But in praying with modesty and humility, we shall the rather commend our prayers unto God, not even our hands being lifted up too high, but being lifted up with moderation and seemliness; not even our face being raised upward with boldness. For that Publican, who prayed humbled and abased, not only in his prayer but even in his countenance, went away justified rather than that most impudent Pharisee. Meet it is also that we do it subduing the tone of the voice: otherwise of what windpipes have we need, if we be heard according to our loudness! But not of the voice but of the heart is God the hearer, as He is the seer. The demon of the Pythian oracle saith, ‘I both understand the dumb, and hear him that speaketh not.’ Do the ears of God wait for sound? How then could the prayer of Jonah from the inmost belly of the whale, through the bowels of so great a creature, out of the very bottomless depths, through so great a mass of waters, make its way to Heaven? What more shall they gain, who pray more loudly than others, save that they stun their neighbours? Nay, in publishing abroad their prayers, what do they less than if they should pray in public?
XVIII. Another custom hath now gained strength. They that are fasting, having prayed with their brethren, withdraw the kiss of peace, which is the seal of Prayer. For at what time should peace rather be exchanged with the brethren, than when prayer, the rather thereby commanded, ascendeth up, so that they, being made partakers of our deed, may now dare to treat with a brother touching their own peace? What prayer is perfect when severed from the holy kiss? Whom doth peace hinder in rendering his service to God? What sort of sacrifice is that, from which one returneth without peace? Of whatever sort be the action, it will not be better than the observance of that precept, wherein we are commanded to have our fasts in secret. For, by abstaining from the kiss, we are at once known to be fasting. But even if there be any reason in it, yet, that thou be not guilty touching this commandment, thou canst at home, if so it chance, delay thy peace with those amongst whom it is not possible that thy fast should be altogether secret. But in what other place soever thou canst hide thy action, thou oughtest to remember the commandment: so shalt thou satisfy both thy rule abroad, and thy custom at home. So also on the Paschal Day, on which the strict observance of the fast is general, and as it were public, with good cause we lay aside the kiss, caring nothing about hiding that, which we are doing in common with all.
XIX. In like manner also most think, that on the days of stations they ought not to attend the prayers at the sacrifices, because, when the Body of the Lord hath been received, the station must be broken up. Doth then the Eucharist break up a service devoted to God? Doth it not the more bind to God? Will not thy station be the more solemn, if thou standest also at the altar of God? When the Body of the Lord hath been received and reserved, both are saved, both the partaking of the sacrifice, and the fulfilment of the service. If the station taketh its name from the model of war, (for we are also the soldiers of God,) surely no joy, or sorrow, that cometh upon the camp, cutteth short the stations of the soldiers. For joy will the more willingly, sorrow the more painfully, attend to discipline.
XX. But on the single point of the dress of women, the variety of observance maketh me act shamelessly in treating of it—a man, as I am, so utterly of no account—after the most holy Apostle, save that it is not shamelessly, if I treat it according to the Apostle. Touching modesty of dress and ornament, the rule of Peter is also plain, who forbiddeth with the same voice, because with the same Spirit also, as Paul, both the vain glory of apparel, and the pride of gold, and the meretricious pains-taking with the hair.
XXI. But that which is commonly observed throughout the Churches, must needs be treated as a point undetermined, whether virgins ought to be veiled or no. For they who allow virgins to have the head uncovered, seem to lean upon this, that the Apostle hath not particularly specified that virgins, but that women should be covered, not the sex, as though he said ‘females,’ but a class of the sex by saying women. For had he named the sex by saying ‘females,’ he would have laid down the rule absolutely for every woman. Again, when he nameth one class of the sex, he excepteth, by his silence, another. For, say they, he might have named either ‘virgins’ specially, or, by a comprehensive term, ‘females’ generally.
XXII. They who allow this, ought to consider the case of the word itself, what is a ‘woman’ from the earliest writings of the Sacred Records; for they there find that it is a name for the sex, not a class of the sex; if so be that God called Eve, who had not yet known a man, both woman and female. Wherefore Eve, while yet unmarried, was already entitled woman: this title was made common to the virgin also. And no wonder, that the Apostle, moved surely by the same Spirit by Which, as all Divine Scripture, so also that Book of Genesis was composed, hath, in putting woman, used the same word which, because of the instance of Eve unmarried, belongeth to the virgin also. All the other passages moreover sound not like it; for, by the very fact of his not having named virgins, (as in another place, where he teacheth concerning marriage,) he sufficiently declareth that the thing is said of every woman, and of the whole sex, and that there is no distinction made of the virgin: he doth not name her at all. For he, who elsewhere remembereth to make a distinction, to wit when the difference requireth it, (and he distinguisheth each class by denoting them by their proper titles,) where he distinguisheth not, in not naming each, wisheth no difference to be understood. What if it be the practice in the Greek language, in which the Apostle wrote his letters, to call women as well as females, that is γυναῖκες, as θηλείαι. Wherefore if this word be often used for the name of the sex, which is by interpretation used for that which is a female, in saying ‘γυνὴ,’ he hath named the sex. And in the sex the virgin also is touched upon. But there is also a clear declaration: Every woman, saith he, that prayeth and prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head. What is every woman, but of every age, of every rank, of every condition? In saying every, he excepteth nothing of ‘womankind,’ as neither doth he of ‘man’ who is not to be veiled, for he saith in like manner every man. As therefore, in the male sex, under the name of man, the boy also is forbidden to be veiled, so also, in the female, under the name of woman, the virgin also is commanded to be veiled. In either sex equally let the younger age follow the rule of the elder: let the virgin males too be veiled, if the virgin females be unveiled, for neither are these included by name. Let the man and the boy be distinct, if the woman and the virgin be distinct. It is in truth because of the Angels that he saith they ought to be veiled, since the Angels fell from God because of the daughters of men. Who then would contend that women alone, that is already married, and dead to the virgin state, were objects of desire, except it be that virgins cannot excel in beauty and find lovers? Yea, I am considering whether they did not desire virgins alone, when the Scripture saith the daughters of men, because it could have called them the wives of men, or women indifferently. That too which it saith, And they took them for wires, maketh for this, because such are taken for wives, to wit, such as are free: whereas it would have expressed it otherwise concerning such as are not free. They are free then as well through widowhood as through virginity; and so, by calling the sex generally daughters, it hath also mixed together the species in the genus. Also when he saith that nature itself teacheth that women should be veiled, in that it hath given hair to women for a covering and an ornament, hath not the same covering and the same glory of the head been assigned to virgins also? If it be a shame for a woman to be shorn, it is equally so for a virgin. For those therefore, to whom one condition of the head is reckoned, one law also for the head is required, even for those virgins, whom their childhood excuseth, for from the first she is called a female. Finally, Israel also thus observeth the law. But if he observed it not, our law, enlarged and completed, would justify itself in the addition, in imposing the veil on virgins also. Let now that age be excused, which knoweth not its own sex: let it keep the privilege of its simplicity. For both Adam and Eve, when knowledge came to them, forthwith made coverings for themselves, because they had come to know. Yet surely in those, in whom childhood hath passed away, age ought to fulfil its duty, as to Nature, so also to Discipline. For both in their bodies and their functions they are transferred to the class of women. None is a virgin from the time when she is able to marry, since age, in her, hath already married its own husband, that is, time. But ‘some one hath devoted herself to God.’ Forthwith from that moment she both refashioneth her hair, and changeth all her dress to the way of women. Let her therefore assert the whole character, and perform the whole part of a virgin. That which she hideth for the sake of God, let her completely cover over. It concerneth us to commend that, which the grace of God worketh, to the knowledge of God alone, lest we get from man the amends which we hope from God. Why barest thou before God what thou hidest before men? Wilt thou be more bashful in the public way than in the Church? If it be the grace of God, and thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, saith he, as if thou hadst not received it? Why, by vaunting of thyself, dost thou judge others? Dost thou, by thy glorying, invite others to good? Nay, but thou thyself art in peril of losing it, if thou gloriest, and thou drivest others upon the same perils. That is easily plucked away, which is taken up through vain-glorious display. Be veiled, O virgin, if virgin thou art, for thou oughtest to be ashamed. If thou art a virgin, subject not thyself to many eyes. Let none wonder at thy face: let none discover thy feint. Thou feignest well the married woman, if thou veilest thy head. Nay, thou art not thought to feign, for thou hast wedded Christ: to Him thou hast delivered up thy body. Act according to the rule of thy Husband. If He commandeth the married of others to be veiled, much more surely His own. But let no man think that she ought to be influenced by the rule of a predecessor. Many surrender to the custom of others their own sober judgment, and the strictness of it, so far as that these should not be compelled to be veiled. In any case it is fit that they who are so of their own accord be not prevented, who now cannot deny themselves to be virgins, content to be misrepresented in the report of them, through the confidence of their conscience before God. Nevertheless as touching those who are assigned to their betrothed husbands, I can affirm and testify resolutely, above my measure, that they ought to be veiled from that day on which they trembled at the first bodily touch of a man, in the kiss and the right hand. For in them, all hath already married, age through ripeness, and flesh through age, and spirit through consciousness, and modesty through trial of the kiss, and hope through expectation, and mind through will. And Rebecca is sufficient instance for us, who, her spouse being shewn her, veiled herself, married by the mere knowledge of him.
XXIII. As touching kneeling also, Prayer is subjected to a variation in the observance, through certain, a scanty few, who keep from their knees on the Sabbath. Which disagreement being exceedingly criminated in the Churches, the Lord will give grace that they may either yield, or hold their own opinion without offence to others. But we, as we have received, ought, on the day of the Lord’s Resurrection alone, to keep from not only that, but every posture of painfulness, and to forbear offices, deferring even our business, that we give no place to the Devil. Equally in the period of Pentecost also, which is expended in the same solemnity of rejoicing. But on every day who would hesitate to prostrate himself before God at least in that first prayer, with which we enter upon the dawn? But on the Fasts and Stations no prayer must be observed without kneeling, and the other usual modes of humiliation. For we are not only praying, but deprecating, and making satisfaction unto God our Lord. Concerning the times of prayer there is nothing prescribed at all, save simply, to pray always and every where.
XXIV. But how every where, when we are forbidden in public? Every where, he saith, where opportunity, or even necessity, hath given occasion. For it is not accounted an act contrary to the commandment in the Apostles, who in the prison prayed and sang to God, the prisoners hearing them; in the case of Paul, who in the ship celebrated the Eucharist in the presence of all.
XXV. But as touching the time, the outward observance of certain hours besides will not be idle: I mean of those common ones, which mark the divisions of the day, the third, the sixth, the ninth, which we may find more solemnized than the rest in the Scriptures. The first pouring of the Holy Spirit on the assembled disciples was at the third hour. Peter on the day, in which he experienced the vision of every sort of common thing in that vessel, had gone up into the housetop to pray at the sixth hour. He again, with John, went into the temple at the ninth hour, when he restored the paralytic to his soundness. And though they stand simply without any precept for their observance, yet let it be thought good to establish any sort of presumption, which may both render more strict the admonition to pray, and, as it were by a law, force us away sometimes from our business to this service, (even as we read was the custom of Daniel also, according, no doubt, to the rule of Israel,) that so we should pray at least not seldomer than three times a day, we who are debtors to the Three, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, exclusive, that is, of the regular prayers, which are due, without any admonition, at the beginning of day and night. But it becometh the faithful neither to take food, nor to go to the bath, without first interposing a prayer. For the refreshment and food of the spirit must be esteemed before those of the flesh, and the things of Heaven before those of earth.
XXVI. A brother, that hath entered thine house, dismiss not without a prayer. ‘Thou hast seen,’ saith He, ‘thy brother: thou hast seen thy Lord.’ Specially a stranger, lest perchance he be an angel. But neither do thou, when thyself entertained by the brethren, ‘put earthly refreshments before heavenly.’ For straightway thy faith will be judged. Or how wilt thou say, according to the commandment, Peace be to this house, unless thou interchangest peace with those also, who are in the house?
XXVII. The more diligent in praying are wont in their prayers to subjoin Alleluia, and Psalms of that class, in the closing words of which those present respond. And most excellent, surely, is every custom, which by setting God before us and honouring Him, helpeth to bring unto Him, as our best victim, a well-enriched prayer.
XXVIII. For this is the spiritual victim which hath abolished the former sacrifices. To what purpose, saith He, is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs, and I will not have the blood of bulls and he-goats. For who hath required these things at your hands? What therefore God hath required, the Gospel teacheth. The hour shall come, saith He, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For God is a Spirit, and therefore He seeketh such to worship Him. We are the true worshippers, and the true priests, who praying in spirit, in spirit would offer up the prayer of God, His own and acceptable, as that which He hath required, which He hath provided for Himself. This, devoted from the whole heart, fed by Faith, adorned by Truth, through innocence unblemished, through chasteness clean, crowned by Love—we ought to lead up to the altar of God, amid Psalms and Hymns, with the train of good works, for that it shall obtain for us all things from God.
XXIX. For what hath God, Who requireth it, denied to the prayer that cometh of spirit and truth? We read, and we hear, and we believe how great are the proofs of its efficacy. Ancient Prayer indeed was wont to deliver both from fires, and from beasts, and from famine: and yet it had not received its form from Christ. But how much more largely doth the Christian Prayer—not place the angel of the moist wind in the midst of the fires, nor shut the lions’ mouths, nor carry over to the hungry the dinner of the countrymen, nor by a deputed grace turn away any sense of suffering, but—furnish with patience men while suffering, and feeling, and grieving; enlarge grace through virtue, that Faith may know what it obtaineth of the Lord, by understanding what it suffereth for the Name of God. Moreover, in time past, Prayer was wont to bring down plagues, rout the armies of enemies, hinder the blessing of rain. But now the prayer of righteousness turneth aside all the wrath of God, keepeth watch for enemies, entreateth for persecutors. Is it wonderful that that knoweth how to wrest the waters from Heaven, which could obtain even its fires? It is Prayer alone which overcometh God. But Christ hath determined that it worketh no ill. All its power He hath bestowed on it from good. Wherefore it knoweth nothing, save to call back the souls of the departed from the very pathway of death, to recover the weak, heal the sick, cleanse those possessed by devils, open the gates of the prison, loose the bands of the guiltless. It is this which washeth away sins, repelleth temptations, quencheth persecutions, comforteth the weak-hearted, rejoiceth the strong of heart, bringeth home travellers, stilleth the waves, confoundeth robbers, feedeth the poor, guideth the sick, raiseth the fallen, supporteth the stumbling, keepeth fast them that stand. Prayer is the wall of Faith, our armour and weapons against man, who watcheth us on every side. Wherefore never let us walk unarmed. By day let us remember our station, by night our watch. Under the arms of prayer let us guard the standard of our Captain: in Prayer let us await the trumpet of the Angel. Even the Angels pray all. Every creature prayeth. The cattle and the wild beasts pray, and bend their knees, and going forth from their stalls and dens look up to Heaven, not listless with their mouth, with quivering effort to move it with their own breath. Nay, even the birds, now as they soar, lift up themselves to Heaven, and stretch out the cross of their wings for hands, and utter somewhat, which may seem a prayer. What more then of the duty of Prayer? Even the Lord Himself hath prayed, to Whom be honour and power for ever and ever.
NOTE H. P. 298.
The Divine Nature of our Lord is called “the Spirit” by many of the fathers, not as confusing Him with God the Holy Ghost, but because “God is a Spirit.” Again, God the Word took unto Him the human nature, and became flesh, through the Operation of the Holy Ghost, so that the man Christ Jesus was born, it may be said, by the Word through the Holy Ghost. Thirdly, we are told in the Old Testament that “the Word of the Lord came” to the Prophets, as well as that they “spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;” and these are both united in the words, “the Spirit of Christ which was in them;” so that the fathers spake indifferently of the Word or the Spirit speaking in or by the Prophets. Fourthly, the word may have been chosen purposely in order to express the Consubstantiality of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. Under some of these heads fall the different passages, in which the fathers speak of the Divine Nature of our Lord being “a” or “the Spirit.”
1. Thus it is used of a “Spiritual Nature,” as opposed to flesh, by S. Ignatius (Ep. ad Smyrn. Init. p. 34. see Bull def. Fid. Nic. i. 2. 5.) “in the immaculate Spirit, the Word of God, greeting,” and S. Hermas, (Simil. 3. §. 5. p. 105. ib. and ii. 2. 3.) “The Son is the Holy Spirit,” [i.e. the Divine Nature,] but the servant [the human nature] “is the Son of God;” and S. Barnabas, (c. 7. p. 21. ib.) “Since He was about to offer up for our sins the vessel of the Spirit,” i.e. His human nature. S. Clement Rom. (Ep. 2. §. 9. p. 187. ib. ii. 3. 5.) “being Spirit, He became flesh.” Tatian, c. 7. “That Heavenly Word, having been begotten a Spirit of the Father, and being the Word from the Power of the Word, made man the image of immortality.” S. Iren. (5. 1. 2.) “For if, not being man, He seemed man, He neither remained what He in truth was, Spirit of God, (Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ) since the Spirit is invisible,” and (§. 3.) “In the end, the Word of God and Spirit of God, united with the ancient substance of the formation of Adam, formed a living and perfect Man, receiving the perfect Father.” S. Athanas. (de Incarn. Christi ap. Præf. Bened. ad Hil. §. 63.) “God the Word is a Spirit,” and the author of the “de Communi Essentia Patris et Fil. et Sp. S. (§. 49. ap. Athanas. T. 2. p. 26. ib.) “Christ Himself calleth the Divinity of the Word Holy Spirit, (as He said to the Samaritan woman that God is a Spirit,) but His humanity the Son of man;” and S. Greg. Naz. (Or. 45. ol. 42. §. 9.) “And God coming forth with that He had taken, was One out of two contraries, flesh and Spirit, whereof One deified, the other was deified:” and S. Hilary, (de Trin. ix. 14.) “Who when He had emptied Himself that remaining the Spirit Christ He the Same might be the man Christ:” and Gregory de Fide Orthod. (c. 8. ap. S. Ambr. App. T. 2. p. 355. quoted by S. Aug. Ep. 148. §. 10.) “when He deigned to put on man, He brought not corruption into His Eternal Nature, so as to change Spirit into flesh.” The author of the de Mont. Sina et Sion adv. Jud. ap. Cypr. §. 3. “On which Mount [Sion] the Holy Spirit, the Son of God.” To this class belongs, in Tertullian himself, Apol. c. 21. and adv. Prax. c. 27. and adv. Marc. iii. 6. “unwilling to admit that heretofore also the Word and Spirit, i.e. The Christ of the Creator, was despised by them.—For if thou deniest not that the Son and Spirit and Essence of the Creator is His Christ,” &c. adv. Prax. c. 14. “For we say that the Son also was in Himself so far invisible, as the Word and Spirit of God:” and c. 27. “Of these Jesus consisted, of flesh as man, of Spirit as God, Whom then the Angel, in that He was Spirit, declared the Son of God, reserving to the flesh to be called the Son of man.—Thou who explainest the Son of God of the flesh, say who is the Son of man: or, will He be Spirit? but thou willest that the Spirit is the Father Himself; because God is a Spirit, as though there were not also a Spirit of God, as God is the Word and there is the Word of God,” de Carne Christi, c. 18. “If He had flesh as well as Spirit, when He pronounces (Joh. 3:6.) as to the nature of the two substances, which Himself also bears, He cannot seem to have ruled as to His Spirit, and not as to His flesh. So then, since He is of the Spirit of God, and God is a Spirit, and He is God, born of God, He is also of the flesh of man, born man in the flesh.” S. Greg. Nyss. also says, (Orat. 2. c. Eunom. t. 2. p. 485. ap. Bull i. 2. 5.) “To the Father and the Son alike is the title both of ‘The Spirit’ and of ‘The Holy,’ adapted by Holy Scripture; for ‘God is a Spirit,’ and ‘The Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord,’ (Lam. 4:20.) and ‘The Lord God is holy,’ and there is ‘One holy, One Lord Jesus Christ,’ “ &c.
2. The second chief class is where the Word is said to be cause of the birth of the Man Christ Jesus, as Holy Scripture itself says, “The Word became flesh” by taking it, or “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;” and these must be one and the same; whence different fathers suppose that by the “Holy Spirit” in S. Luke also is meant the Word, or by this the Third Person, and the Second by the “Power of the Highest,” our Lord being called “the Power of God,” 1 Cor. 1:24.
Thus Justin M. (Apol. i. 33.) “That Spirit and that Power from God we may not conceive of as any thing else than the Word:” and Hermas, l. c. §. 6. “That Holy Spirit, which was infused first of all in the body, in which God should dwell;” and perhaps S. Irenæus (5. 1. 3.) “not willing to understand that the Holy Spirit came to Mary and the Power of the Highest overshadowed her, wherefore also what was born is holy and the Son of the Most High God, the Father of all, Who operated His Incarnation and set forth a new generation.” Tertullian himself (according to the right reading cum virgo Maria a Verbo Dei prægnans) says, “When the Virgin Mary was found with child from the Word of God,” (adv. Jud. c. 12.) as Zeno (1. 2. Tr. 9. 1.) “Mary conceives of Him Whom she bears;” and (1. 2. Tr. 8.) “the womb of Mary is enlarged not with seed but with the Word;” and on the text in S. Luke, (adv. Prax. c. 26.) “this Spirit of God will be the Word. For as when John saith, ‘the Word was made flesh,’ we understand the ‘Spirit’ also, when the ‘Word’ is mentioned, so here also we acknowledge the Word also, under the Name of the Spirit.” S. Cyprian (de Idol. Van. §. 6. p. 19. Oxf. Tr.) “He enters into the Virgin and puts on flesh, being the Holy Spirit.” S. Hilary, (de Trin. ii. 26.) “The Holy Spirit coming from above sanctified the Virgin’s womb, and breathing therein (‘for the Spirit breatheth where it listeth’) mingled Itself with the nature of human flesh.” S. Gregory, (ap. Ambr. l. c. p. 356.) “Thou seest that the Spirit, i.e. the Son of God, came to the Virgin, and came forth thence Son of God and of man.” The same doctrine (though not in the same words) is contained in S. Athanasius (de Incarn. §. 8.) “He, being powerful and Creator of all, formeth for Himself as a Temple, a body in the Virgin.” Probably from the same passage Theophilus of Antioch speaks of “the Word” being “the Spirit of God, and the Beginning, and the Wisdom, and the Power of the Highest.” (ad Aut. ii. 10.)
3. Justin M. speaks indifferently of the inspiration of the Prophets as derived from the Λόγος or from the Holy Spirit,—the Λόγος Apol. i. 33. and 35, joining ἐμπεπνευσμένοι, and κινοῦντος Θείου Λόγου, Apol. ii. 10. Dial. §. 49. 87. the Holy Spirit, ib. §. 25. 32. 52. 55, &c. In like way Tertullian, adv. Marc. iv. 33. “For since in Esaias even then Christ, being the Word and Spirit of the Creator, had foretold of John,” iii. 6. “We being certain, that Christ always spake in the prophets, being the Spirit of the Creator, as the prophet attests, “the Spirit of His Person, Christ the Lord,” &c. and 16, “For Who spake but the Spirit of the Creator which is Christ?” add S. Cyprian de Orat. Dom. init. p. 177, Oxf. Tr.
4. The title seems to have been chosen to express the Consubstantiality of the Father and the Son. Thus S. Ambrose de Fil. Div. c. 5. (ap. Murat.) “But this is the meaning of the Name, that you may believe an Unity of Substance in the Father and the Son, although you cannot explain the thing itself which is unutterable; so that whether you say Light of Light, or Word of Word, or Spirit of Spirit, or Lord of Lord, whatever you may say of Him, you may believe the Father and Son of One Essence.” And S. Epiphanius (Hær. 73. §. 18.) “Wherefore through the Epistle to the Philippians, he taught us how the Person of the Son is like to the Person of the Father. For He is a Spirit of the Father. Yet not the same but like, because the Spirit, which the Son is, is not the Father.” In like way S. Irenæus (2. 48. [28. 5] ib.) speaks of the title, “the Word,” as in some way belonging to the Father. “God existing all as Mind, and existing all as Word, what He thinks that He also speaks, and what He speaks that He also thinks. For His thought is Word and Word Mind, and the all-containing Mind, that is the Father.” Again, in speaking of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, it is not unusual with them to insist on the title “Spirit” being applied to the Three Persons; to The Father, John 4:24; to The Son, Lam. iv. 40. So S. Cyril, Jerus. Cat. xvii. 34. S. Basil c. Eunom. iii. 3. de Sp. S. c. 19 init. S. Cyril Alex. Thes. xiii. c. 1. Anastas. Sinait. de Rect. Fid. dogm. Bibl. Patr. t. i. p. 298. ed. de La Bigne, quoted by Ruyz, l. c. Disp. 65. S. 2. §. 2.
NOTE I. ON C. IV. P. 302.
The fathers, after the Council of Nice also, often speak of The Son as the Βουλὴ, Voluntas, of The Father, chiefly in answer to the sophism of Eunomius, that The Son was begotten with or without the will of The Father; if without, this would subject The Father to necessity; if with, then that will of The Father preceded The Son, and He was not coeternal. The fathers answered (among other things) that Himself was the Will of The Father. Thus S. Athanas. Orat. 2. §. 2. “If the Father hath a will, and His will is effective, and His will sufficeth to the being of things which receive being, but the Word is Effective and Creator, it hath no doubt that He is the living Will of The Father and His Substantial Energy, and true Word, in Whom all things have their being and are well-ordered.” And Orat. 3. §. 61. (ap. Petav. de Trin. 6. 8. 14.) that the Will of The Father is in The Son, according to that, “ ‘Of His will begat He us in the Word of truth.’ Therefore the Will of God, as to all things whether formed once for all or regenerated, is in the Word, in Whom He maketh and regenerateth what He hath determined. And this the Apostle signifies again, (1 Thess. 5:14.) ‘This is the Will of God in Christ Jesus towards you.’ But if His Will also is in Him, in Whom He maketh, how can He Himself also be in will and choice? For if He also, as ye say, is in Will, the Will concerning Him must needs be in some other Word, by Whom Himself also is, for it hath been shewn that the Will of God is not in things created, but in Him in Whom and through Whom all created things are.” And more explicitly §. 63. “Being the Very Word of the Father, He excludeth any act of Will (βούλησις) before Himself, being Himself the living Will (Βουλὴ) of the Father, and Power and Worker of what seemeth good to the Father. And this Himself saith of Himself in Proverbs; ‘Counsel (Βουλὴ) is Mine and safety; Mine is wisdom, Mine also strength!’ For as, Himself being ‘Wisdom,’ in which He ‘prepared the heavens’ and Himself being ‘strength’ and power, (for Christ is ‘the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God,’) He saith here, altering it a little, ‘Mine is prudence, Mine also strength.’ So when He saith, ‘Mine is Counsel,’ it is that He is the Living Counsel of the Father, as also we have learnt from the prophet, that He was called the ‘Angel of mighty Counsel’ (Is. 9:6. LXX) and the Will of the Father.” And S. Greg. Nyss. Or. 12. c. Eunom. t. 2. p. 773, quoted by Petav. 6. 8. 21. “Hath The Father willed any thing, The Son also being in The Father, hath seen the will of The Father, yea rather Himself was the Will of The Father. For He Who hath all the things of The Father in Himself, there is nothing of The Father’s, which He hath not; But if He hath in Himself all the things of The Father, yea rather hath The Father Himself also, assuredly with The Father and the things of the Father, He hath in Himself the whole will of The Father.” S. Aug. de Trin. xv. 20. (ib. §. 21.) “Some, to avoid calling the Only-Begotten Word the Son of the Counsel or the Will of God, have said that the same Word is Himself the Counsel or Will of The Father. Better in my judgment to call Him Counsel of Counsel, and Will of Will, like as Substance of Substance, Wisdom of Wisdom; lest according to that absurdity which we have already refuted, the Son be said to make The Father to have wisdom and will, if The Father have not in His own substance wisdom or will;” which was followed by the Council of Toledo (A.D. 633), who said that “The Son is Will of Will” and that “secundum essentiam Voluntas genuit Voluntatem. Faustinus (c. Arian. c. 1. Bibl. PP. t. iv. ib.) “It is then piously said that the Son is the Will of The Father, as He is also ‘the Wisdom of God’—what is the Will of God, but the Wisdom of God? For in God Will is not one thing, Wisdom another.” S. Cyril Alex. Thes. Ass. 7. t. 5. c. 1. p. 51. “If then the Word Who is in and of The Father is the wisdom and power of The Father, He it is in Whom He willeth, and through Whom He worketh all things, how then was He begotten by will, in Whom the will of The Father is? For we must either feign another Wisdom, as ye say, or if there is no other, but He alone is the Wisdom of the Father, then He is the Will (βούλησις) also. For the Will of God is in Wisdom,” p. 55. (ap. Petav. de Trin. 2. 5. 9.) “He had not then His being by will, as created things, but He was, as the Will of The Father, in Him, being the very Essence of Him Who begat Him;” and de Trin. Dial. 5. ib. p. 555. “If then the will (θέλησις) be in these different things, and no right-minded person could think that it was thus with the Divine Nature, the Father is not Will, but being conceived of in His own Essence, hath His own Son, as His Coessential and Coeternal Will;” add Marius Victorinus (1. 1. adv. Arium. Bibl. Patr. t. 4. col. 200. 212. ap. Petav. 6. 8. 2.) S. Ambrose (de Fide, v. 17. §. 224. ib. §. 21.) prefers the form that the Son hath the Will of the Father; “Neither did Will nor Power precede The Son; for in what is He inferior, Who hath all things which The Father hath? For He both received all things from The Father by virtue of the Generation, and expresseth The Father wholly by the glory of His Majesty.”
Muratori, who cites or alludes to the above, (out of Petavius,) adds S. Clement, Origen, [ap. Pamph. Apol. pro. Orig. t. iv. p. 34. ed. de la Rue.] S. Jerome. Petavius himself cites also Cerealis (lib. adv. Max. c. 9. Bibl. PP. t. 4.) inferring thence, that The Father is neither greater nor anterior to The Son, “since The Father could not be without Will.” Ruyz in 1 S. Thomæ (from whom Petavius drew largely) adds Quæstt. ad Orthod. ap. Just. M. q. 144. (Disp. 8. s. 7. n. 16.) Damascen. de Fide i. 18. (ib. n. 19.) Greg. Bætic. de Trin. (Disp. 58. s. 5. n. 14.)