In this second chapter of his Sermon, he controwleth the Pharisees iustice (that is, their
almes, prayer, and fasting) for the scope and intention therof, which was vaine glorie 19.
Their end also was to be rich, but ours must not be so much as in necessaries.
1. TAKE good heed that you doe not your
Iustice.
Good workes iustice.
Hereby it is plaine that good workes be iustice, and that man doing them doth iustice,
and is thereby iust & iustified, & not be faith only. Al which iustice of a
Christian man, our Sauiour here compriseth in these three workes, in Almes, fasting,
and prayers. Aug. li. perf. iust. c. 8. So that to giue almes, is to do
iustice, and the workes of mercie are iustice. Aug. in Psal. 49 v. 5.
iustice before men, to before men, to be seen of them: otherwise reward
you shal not haue with your father which is in heauen.
2. Therfore when thou
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The first worke of iustice.
doest an almes-deede, found not a trompet before thee, as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues and
in the streetes, that they may be honoured of men: Amen I say to you, they haue receiued their reward.
3. But when thou doest an almes-deede, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4. that thy almes-deede may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret, wil
Repay.
Merites.
This repaying and rewarding of good workes in heauen, often mentioned here by our Sauiour,
declareth that the sayd workes are meritorious, and that we may do them in respect of that reward.
repay thee.
5. And when ye
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The second worke of iustice.
pray, you shal not be as the
Hypocrites.
Hypocrisie.
Hypocrisie is forbidden in al these three workes of iustice, and not the doing of them openly
to the glorie of God, and the profite of our neighbour, & our owne saluation: for Christ before
(c. 5.) biddeth, saying: Let your light so shine before men &c. And in al such workes
S. Gregories rule is to be followed, The worke so to be in publike, that the intention remayne
in secrete. Ho. 11. in Evang. c. 10.
Hypocrites, that loue to stand and pray in the Synagogues & corners of the streetes, that they may be seen of men: Amen I say to you,
they haue receiued their reward.
6. But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and hauing shut the doore, pray to thy father in secret: and thy father which seeth in secret, wil repay thee.
7. And when you are praying, speake not much, as the Heathen. For they thinke that in their
Much speaking.
Long prayer is not forbid, for Christ *himself himself spent whole nights in prayer; and he sayth,
**we must pray alwayes; and ***the Apostle exhorteth to pray without intermission; and the holy Church
****from the beginning hath had her Canonical houres of prayer: but idle and voluntary babling, either
of the Heathens to their gods, or of Heretikes, that by long Rhetorical prayers thinke to persuade
God: wheras the Collects of the Church are most breefe & most effectual. See S. Augustine ep. 121,
c. 8 9 10.
*Luke 6,12.
**Luke 18,1. 21,36.
***1 Thes. 5,17.
****Cypr. de orat. Do. in fine.
much-speaking they may be heard.
8. Be not you therefore like to them, for your father knoweth what is needeful for you, before you aske him.
9. Thus therefore shal you pray.
*
Luke 11,2.
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THE PATER NOSTER.
Oᴠʀ ꜰᴀᴛʜᴇʀ which art in heauen, sanctified be thy name.
10. Let thy kingdom come. Thy wil be done, as in heauen, in earth also.
11. Give vs today our
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In S. Luke, the Latin is Panem quotidianum, dayly bread, the Greeke being indifferent to both.
τὸν ἐπιούσιον.
supersubstiantial bread.
supersubstiantial bread.
τὸν ἐπιούσιον. The B. Sacrament.
By this bread so called here according to the Latin word & the Greeke, we aske not only al
necessarie sustenance for the bodie, but much more al spiritual food, namely the blessed
Sacrament itself, which is Christ the true bread that came from Heauen, & the bread of life to vs
that eate his bodie. Cypr. de orat. Do. Aug. ep. 121 c. 11. And therfore it is called
here Supersubstantial, that is, the bread that passeth and excelleth al creatures. Hiero. in.
2. Tit. In 6 Mat. Amb. li. 5 de Sacr. c. 4. Aug. ser. 18 de Verb. Do. sec. Mat. S. Germanus in Theoria.
12. And forgiue vs our
Debts.
Venial sinnes.
These debts do signifie not only mortal sinnes, but also venial, as S. Augustine often
teacheth: and therfore euery man, be he neuer so iust, yet because he can not liue without
venial sinnes, may very truly and ought to say this prayer. Aug. cont. duas. ep. Pelag. li.
1 c. 14 li. 21 de Civit. c. 27.
debtes, as we also forgiue our debtors,
13. And
Leade vs not.
God is not authour of euil.
S. Cypr. readeth, *Ne patiaris nos induci. Suffer vs not to be led, as S. Augustine noteth
li. de bo. persev. c. 6 and so the holy Church vnderstandeth it, because God (**as S. Iames
sayth) tempteth no man: though for our sinnes, or for our probation and crowne, he permit vs to
be tempted. Beware then of Beza’s exposition vpon this place, who (according to the Caluinists
opinion) saith, that God leadeth them into tentation, into whom himself bringeth in Satan for to
fil their harts: so making God the authour of sinne.
In Expos. orat. Do.
Iames. 1.
leade vs not into tentation. But deliuer vs from euil. Amen.
14. For if you wil
*
Mark 11,25.
forgiue
If you forgiue.
This poynt, of forgiuing our Brother, when we aske forgiuenes of God, our Sauiour repeateth
agayne, as a thing much to be considered: and therfore commended in the parable also of the seruant
that would not forgiue his felow seruant, Mat. 18.
men their offences, your heauenly father wil forgiue you also your offences.
15. But if you wil not forgiue men, neither wil your father forgiue you your offences.
16. And when you
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The third worke of iustice.
fast,
Fast.
Publike fast.
He forbiddeth not open and publike fasts, which in the *Scriptures were commanded and proclamed
to the people of God; and the Niniuites by such fasting appeased Gods wrath: but to fast for vaine
glorie and praise of men, and to be desirous by the very face and look to be taken for a faster,
that is forbidden, & that is hypocrisie.
*Iud. 20,26. 2 Esd. 9. Ioel 2,15. Ion. 3.
be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appeare vnto men to fast. Amen I
say to you, that they haue receiued their reward.
17.
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The Ghospel vpon Ashwensday.
But thou when thou doest fast, anoynt thy head, and wash thy face:
18. that thou appeare not to men to fast, but to thy father which is in secret: and thy father which seeth in secret, wil repay thee.
19.
*
Luke 12,33.
Heape not vp to your selues treasures on the earth: where the rust and mothe do corrupt, & where theeues digge through and steale.
20. But heape vp to your selues
Treasures in Heauen.
Meritorious workes.
Treasures layd vp in Heauen, must needs signifie, not faith only, but plentiful almes, and deeds
of mercie and other good workes, which God keeping, as in a booke, wil reward them accordingly:
as of the contrarie the Apostle saith: He that soweth sparingly, shal reape sparingly. 2 Cor. 9.
treasures in heauen: where neither the rust nor mothe doth corrupt, and where theeues do not digge through
nor steale.
21. For where thy treasure is, there is thy hart also.
22.
*
Luke 11,34.
The candel of thy body is thine eye. If thine eye be simple, thy whole body shal be lightsome.
23. But if thine eye be naught: thy whole body shal be darkesome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness it self how
great shal it be?
24.
⋮
The Ghospel on the 14 Sunday after Pentecost.
No man can
*
Luke 16,13.
serue
Two Masters.
Meritorious workes.
Two religions, God and Baal, Christ and Caluin, Masse and Communion, the Catholike Church and
Heretical Conuenticles. Let them marke this lesson of our Sauiour, that thinke they may serue
al masters, al times, al religions. Agayne, these two masters do signifie, God and the world,
the flesh and the spirit, iustice and sinne.
two masters. For either he wil hate the one, and loue the other: or he wil sustayne the one, and contemne the other.
You cannot serue God and Mammon.
25. Therefore I say to you,
*
Luke 12,22.
be not
Careful.
Prudent provision is not prohibited, but too much doubtfulnes and feare of Gods prouision
for vs: to whom we ought with patience to commit the rest, when we haue done sufficiently for
our part.
careful for your life, what you shal eate, neither for your body what rayment you shal out on. Is not the
life more then the meate: and the body more then the rayment?
26. Behold the foules of the ayre, that they sow not, neither reape, nor gather into barnes: and your heauenly father feedeth them.
27. And which of you by caring, can adde to his stature one cubite?
28. And for rayment why are you careful? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spinne.
29. But I say to you, that neither Salomon in al his glorie was arayed as one of these.
30. And if the grasse of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the ouen, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O
ye of very smal faith?
31. Be not careful therefore, saying, what shal we eate, or what shal we drinke, or wherewith shal we be couered?
32. for al these thinges the
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They seeke temporal things only, and that not of the true God, but of their Idols, or by
their owne industrie.
Heathen do seeke after. For your father knoweth that you neede al these things.
33. Seeke therefore first the Kingdom of God, and the iustice of him, and al these things shal be giuen you besides.
34. Be not careful therfore for the morrow; for the morrow day wil be careful of it self. Sufficient for the day is the euil thereof.