[! That is, they bought the gross produce of the tribute; and overcharged the people in the collection of it.]
An Exposition of the Sixth Chapter
Take heed to your alms, that ye do it not before men, to be seen of them, or else ye get no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou givest alms, make not a trumpet to be blown before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, to be praised of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou givest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth, that thine alms may be in secret. And then thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
As he rebuked their doctrine above, even so here he rebuketh their works; for out of devilish doctrine can spring BO godly works. But what works rebuketh he? Verily Such as God in the scripture commandeth, and without which no man can be a christian man; even prayer, fasting, and ὡς alms-deed. For as the scripture, corrupt with glosses, is no more God’s word, even so the deeds commanded in the scripture (when the intent of them is perverted) are no more godly deeds. What said the scribes and Pharisees of him (think ye) when he rebuked such manner of works? No doubt, as they said, when he rebuked their false glosses, how he destroyed the law and the prophets, interpreting the scripture after the literal sense which killeth, and after his own brain, clean contrary to the common faith of holy church, and minds of great clerks, and authentic expositions of old holy doctors; even so here what other could they say than, Behold the heretic! and, Did not we tell you before whereto he would come, and that he kept some mischief behind, and spewed not out all his venom at once? see to what all his godly new doctrine that sounded so sweetly is come! He preached all of love, and would have the people saved by faith, so long till that now, at the last, he preacheth clean against all deeds of mercy, as prayer, fasting, and alms-deed, and destroyeth all good works. His disciples fast no more than dogs, they despise their divine service, and come not to church; yea, and if the holiest of all St Francis’ order ask them alms, they bid him labour with his hands, and get his living, and say that he that laboureth not is not worthy to eat, and that God bade that no such strong lubbers should loiter, and go a begging, and be chargeable to the congregation, and eat up that other poor men get with the sweat of
their bodies: yea, and at the last ye shall see, if we resist him not betimes, that he shall move the people to insurrection, as Caiphas said, and the Romans shall come and take our land from us’ As ye see in the text, Luke xxiii. how, when they could not drive the people from him with those pursuasions, they accused him to Pilate, saying: We have found this fellow perverting the people, and forbidding to pay tribute to Cesar, and saying that he is Christ, a king.” Wherefore “thou canst not be Camsar’s friend, if thou let him escape.” But after all these blasphemies, yet must the Holy Ghost rebuke the world of their righteousness, yea, of their false righteousness and false holiness, which are neither righteousness nor holiness, but colour of hypocrisy.
Christ here destroyeth not prayer, fasting, and alms-deed, but preacheth against the false purpose and intent of such works, and perverting the true use; that is to say, their seeking of glory, and that they esteemed themselves righteous thereby, and better than other men, and so despised and condemned their brethren. With our alms (which is as much to say as deeds of mercy), or compassion, we ought to seek our Father’s glory only, even the wealth of our brethren, and to win them to the knowledge of our Father and keeping of his law. He that seeketh the glory of his good works, seeketh the glory that belongeth to God, and maketh himself God. Is it not a blind thing of the world, that either they will do no good works at all, or will be God for their good works, and have the glory themselves?
Concerning blowing of trumpets, and ringing of bells, or making a cry, to call men to fetch alms, (though the right way be, that we should know in every parish all our poor, and have a common coffer for them; and that strangers should bring a letter of recommendation with them of their necessity, and that we had a common place to receive them into for the time; and though also we ought to flee all occasions of vain-glory,) yet while the world is out of order, it is not damnable to do it. So that the very meaning, both that we blow no trumpets, and that the left hand know not what the right hand doth, is, that we do as secretly as we can, and in no wise seek glory, or to receive it if it were proffered; but. to do our deeds in singleness of conscience to God, because it is his commandment, and even of pure compassion and love
to our brethren; and not that our good deeds, through standing in our own conceit, should cause us to despise them. If thou be tempted to vain-glory for thy good deeds, then look on thine evil thereto, and put the one in the one balance, and the other in the other. And then, if thou understand the law of God any thing at all, tell me, whether weigheth heavier. If that that thou doest do tempt thee, then consider what thou doest not. If it move thee to set up thy comb, when thou givest thy brother a farthing or a halfpenny, ponder in thine heart how far thou art off from loving him as well as thyself, and caring for him as much as for thyself. And be sure how much thou lackest of that, so much thou art in sin, and that in damnable sin, if God for Christ’s sake did not pardon thee, because thine heart mourneth therefore, and thou fightest with thyself to come to such perfection. If a peacock did look well on his feet, and mark the evil-favoured shrieking of his voice, he would not be so proud of the beauty of his tail. ius Finally, that many dispute, Because God hath promised to reward our deeds in heaven, that our deeds deserve heaven; and because he promiseth to shew mercy to the merciful, that with our deeds we deserve mercy; and because he promiseth forgiveness of sins to them that forgive, that our deeds deserve forgiveness of sin, and so justify us: I answer, first, there is enough spoken thereof in other places; so that to them that have read that it is superfluous to rehearse the matter again. Furthermore, the argument is naught, and holdeth by no rule. See ye not that the father and mother have more right to the child and to all it can do, than to an ox ora cow? Itis their flesh and blood, nourished up with their labour and cost. The life of it, and the maintenance and continuance thereof, is their benefit; so that it is not able to recompense that it oweth to father and mother by a thousand parts. And though it be not able to do his duty, nor for blindness to know his duty, yet the father and mother promise more gifts still without ceasing, and that such as they think should most make it to see love, and to provoke itto be wiling to do part of his duty. And when it hath done amiss, though it have no power to do satisfaction, nor lust or corage! to come to the right way again, yet their love
[1 Used as in Vol. I. p. 417, not for bravery, but for the inclination]
[of the heart.)]
and mercy abideth still so great to it, that upon appointment mending they not only forgive that is past, and fulfil their promise nevertheless?, but promise greater gifts than ever before, and to be better father and mother to it than ever were. Now when it cannot do that thousandth part of his duty, how could it deserve such promises of the father and mother, as a labourer doth his hire? The reward thereof cometh of the love, mercy, and truth of the father and mother, as well when the child keepeth the appointment, as when they fulfil their promise when it hath broken the appointment; and not of the deserving of the child.
Even so, if we were not thus drowned in blindness, we should easily see that we cannot do the thousandth part of of our duty to God: no, though there were no life to come. If there were no life to come, it were not right that I should us touch any creature of God otherwise than he hath appointed. Though there were no life to come, it had nevertheless been right that Adam had abstained from the forbidden apple-tree, and from all other too, if they had been forbid. Yea, and though there were no life to come, it were not the less right that I loved my brother, and forgave him to-day, seeing I shall sin against him to-morrow. Because a father cannot give his ehildren heaven, hath he no power to charge them tolove one another, and to forgive, and not to avenge one another? And hath he not right to beat them if they smite each other, because he cannot give them heaven? A bondman that hath a master more cruel than a reasonable man would be to a dog, if there were no heaven, might this bondservant accuse God of unrighteousness, because he hath not made him a master? Now, then, when we cannot do our duty by a thousand parts, though there were no such promises, and that the thing commanded is no less our duty though no such promise were; it is easy to perceive that the reward promised cometh of the goodness, mercy, and truth of the promiser, to make us the gladder to do our duty, and not of the deserving of the receiver. When we have done all we can, we ought to say in our heart, that it was our duty, and that we ought to do a thousand times more; and that God (if he had not promised us merey, of his goodness in Christ,) might yet of right damn us for that we have left undone.