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The Eight and Thirtieth SERMON. PART. III. (Book 38)
MATTH. VI. 11. Give us this day our daily Bread.
WHat is meant by Bread, and why it is called Our Bread, we have already shewn at large. And in this word NOSTER we found a Goad, to put in the sides of the Sluggard, to awaken him out of his slumber and le∣thargie; and a Chain, to fetter the hands of the De∣ceitful, to keep them from picking and stealing, from fraud and cousenage; and a Spur to our Charity, to make us cast our bread upon the waters. NOSTER is verbum operativum, a word full of efficacie, to open the fountain of our Liberality, and to set up banks to regulate our desires in the pursuit of wealth.
We proceed now to enquire, in the next place, why we are taught to pray for our daily Bread, or what is meant by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: And here, as the streams in which Interpreters run are divers, so the fountain is hard to find out. Some take the word properly, some metaphorically. Some render it Supersubstantialem, as the Vulgar; and so with Tertullian and Cyprian take in Christ, who is the Bread of life: So that to pray for Bread is perpetuitatem postulare in Christo, & individuitatem à corpore ejus, to desire a perpetuity in Christ, and to be united to him for ever. Others make it Sacramental Bread. Castellio expounds 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and then it is supercaelestial or heavenly Bread, by which the Soul is sustein'd; to wit, the Grace of God, by which we overcome and remove all difficulties which stand in our way between us and that happiness which is the mark and the price of the high calling in Jesus Christ. Others, by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, exi∣mium; and call it that bread which is singular and peculiar to us. Others interpret 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that which is profitable and fit to nourish us; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Chrysostom, that bread which is turned into the very substance of our bodies. Others, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. And the Vulgar, which in St. Matthew renders it super substantial, in St. Luke calls it QUOTIDI ANUM, our daily Bread. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as St. Chryso∣stom used to speak: We may embrace all senses. For why should not Righteousness be as our daily Bread, to feed us? Why should we not with joy put it on to clothe us, and make it as a robe or a diadem? Why should we not thirst for that water which is drawn out of the wells of salvation. Why