Obrazy na stronie
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The enemies of God, and his word

are to be hated.

Levit. xix.

Love

Ye have heard, how it is said, Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you,
your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you. Pray for them which do you wrong
and persecute you.
That ye may be the children of
your heavenly Father. For he maketh his sun to arise
over the evil, and over the good, and sendeth rain
upon the righteous and unrighteous. For if ye love
them that love you, what reward shall ye have? do not
the publicans so? and if ye be friendly to your bre-
thren only, what singular thing do ye? do not the
publicans likewise? ye shall therefore be perfect, as
your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect.

This text of hating a man's enemy, standeth not in any one place of the Bible, but is gathered of many places, in which God commandeth the children of Israel to destroy their enemies, the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Amalekites, and other heathen people; as the Moabites, and Ammonites, which sought to bring them out of the favour of God, and to destroy the name of God. The Amalekites came behind them, and slew all that were faint and weary by the way, as they came out of Egypt. The Moabites and Ammonites hired Balaam to curse them, and beguiled them with their women, and made a great plague among them. These and like nations were perpetual enemies to their land which God had given them, and also of the name of God and of their faith. For which cause they not only might lawfully, but were also bound to hate them, and to study their destruction again; howbeit they might not yet hate (of the said nations) such as were converted to their faith.

Now by the reason of such texts as commanded to hate the common enemies of their country, and of God and his law, and of their faith; the pharisee's doctrine was, that a man might lawfully hate all his private enemies without

exception, nor was bound to do them good. And yet Moses saith, Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart. And again, Thou shalt not avenge thyself, nor bear hate in thy mind against the children of thy people. And if thine enemy's ass sink under his burden, help to lift him up again. And if his ox or ass go astray, bring

them home again; which all, no doubt, the pharisees did interpret for good counsel, but for no precepts; wherefore Christ salteth their doctrine, and proveth that a man is bound both to love and to do good to his enemy. And as a natural son, though his brethren be never so evil, yet to love them, and shew them kindness, for his father's sake and to study to amend them. What hast thou to rejoice of if thy religion be no better than the religion of thieves? For thieves love among themselves and so do the covetous of the world, as the usurers and publicans, which bought in great the emperor's tribute, and to make their most advantage, did overset the people. Nay, it is not enough for thee to love thy benefactors only, as monks and friars do, and them of thine own coat, and order, or the brethren of thine own abbey only, (for among some their love stretcheth no farther, and that shall he that is removed out of another cloister thither, well find: yea, and in some places charity reacheth not to all the cells of the same cloister, and to all the monks that were professed in the same place. But lift up thine eyes unto thy heavenly Father, and as thy Father doth, so do thou love all thy Father's children. He ministereth sun and rain to good and bad, by which two, understand all his benefits. For of the heat, and drith of the sun, and cold and moist of the rain, spring all things that are necessary to the life of Even so provoke thou and draw thine evil brethren to goodness, with patience, with love in word and deed, and pray for them to Him that is able to make them better and to convert them. And so thou shalt be thy Father's natural son, and perfect, as he is perfect. The text saith not, Ye shall be as perfect as God; but perfect after his

man.

Publicans, what they

were.

As our heavenly Fa

ther be

stoweth his

benefits upon good and bad, so ought we to love

both friend

and foe.

fect, what it meaneth.

To be per- ensample. To be perfect in the Scripture is not to be a monk or a friar, or never to sin. For Christ teacheth not here monks or friars, but his disciples and every Christian

man and woman. And to be in this life altogether without sin is impossible. But to be perfect, is to have pure doctrine without false opinions, and that thine heart be to follow that learning.

AN EXPOSITION OF THE SIXTH CHAPTER.

Alms.

Deeds com

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 no godly works. But what works rebuketh he? verily such as God in the Scripture commandeth, and withmanded by out which no man can be a Christian man; even prayer, the Scrip- fasting and 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

ture, done

to any other end than they

ought, are no good deeds.

tors.

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 docEven 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 preached 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 bad 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 shall see, ye if we resist him not betimes, that he shall move the people to insurrection, as Caiaphas 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 persuasions) they accused him to Pilate, saying: We have found this fellow perverting the people, and forbidding to pay tribute to Cæsar, and saying that he is Christ, a king. Wherefore thou canst not be Cæsar's friend, if thou let John xvi. But after all these blasphemies, yet must

him escape.

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.

It is the purpose and intent of our

deeds that make or

mar.

Trumpets.

To blow trumpets, what.

Left hand.

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. Vainglory, 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.

a good remedy against it.

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