Luke 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread. As no part of the body was made only for itself, so no man. We are all one body, whereof Christ is head, and therefore one another's members. As we are all parts of that mystical body, so are we also of a political. Of which body, as the King is the head, and the counsellors the brain, so the rich man is the stomach that receives the good of the land. Now as the stomach receives the meat not to retain it still there, but to disperse it into all the parts of the body, which must be fed by that nourishment, so have rich men their wealth not to hoard up, but to disperse amongst the needy; for dispersit, dedit pauperibus, is the rich man's office and commendation too. Do but observe how God waters the earth by several veins and channels. Shall the channel say to the dry ground, I will retain my waters, and shut up my banks from relieving your barrenness? when the channel is but the conveyance of that blessing to the world. God oftimes reaches unto us His benefits by other's hands. He hath made the rich His almoner, his hand to contribute unto the necessities of his brethren; for per eum qui habet juvat egentem,per eum qui non habet probat habentem. If then he be of such a cruel retention to close and shut up himself against the poor, he resists the ordinance of God, by withholding that good which He intended to convey to others by him. Christ teaches us to say "Our bread" and "Give us." (Archdeacon King.) Parallel Verses KJV: Give us day by day our daily bread. |
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