Sermon 31: Upon Ephesians Chapter 4

26 Be angry, and sin not: Let not the sun go down upon your anger, 27 Neither give you place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole, steal no more: but let him rather labor, working with his hands in the thing that is good, that he may have to give to him that needs.

We saw the last Sunday, that if every one of us looked well to himself and to his own vices, we should have enough wherewith to stay our chafing and choler, from wreaking our wrath upon such as offend us. For we be so wayward of ourselves already, that a small thing will put us out of patience. And therefore the fault that another man commits against us, be it never so little, will always set us in a chafe. And why? Because we take too much leisure to look upon other men's faults, and in the meanwhile forget our own. The remedy then which is set down here to keep us from being so soon and so lightly offended at other men's faults, is, that every one of us enter into himself, and vex and chafe himself there, when he sees himself so wretched as all of us are.

Now after that Saint Paul has showed that it were much better and more for our benefit to be grieved at our own vices, than at every small occasion, when men behave not themselves to our liking: he adds to that, Let not the sun go down upon your anger. We must not understand by this, that Saint Paul meant to acquit such as are soon angry, and soon appeased: for it is a vice worthy of blame. And although it be more excusable than the feeding of a displeasure which turns to rancor or hatred: yet notwithstanding we cannot be so soon pacified, but that we shall have offended God already with our choler. For we hear what is said even by the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ: namely that if we show any sign of displeasure at all, and it be as it were but by grunting between the teeth, we be already in danger of hell fire before God (Matthew 5:22). We shall not need to have given any blow, nor to have done any open wrong whereby we might be brought before a justice: if we have but only offended so far as to have conceived any grudge, there is no excuse for us. And therefore when Saint Paul forbids us to feed our anger, he does not utterly justify them that are gentle and easy to be reconciled, and will soon forgive: for they be blameworthy already, as I said before. But he proceeds here by degrees, as if he should say, my friends, if every one of us thought upon his own sins, it is certain that we should be moved to dislike of ourselves, because we provoke God's wrath against us: and he that has a lively feeling of his own faults, will arm himself therewith against himself. For we ought to have a zeal toward God, as though we were his attorneys, and that zeal ought to procure us to condemn evil wherever we find it. But anger is always at our elbow, yes and it dwells in us, so as we shall never be so perfect as were to be wished, so long as we be in this world. (Yet nonetheless) however the case stand, let us beware that we suffer not ourselves to be possessed with inordinate passions. For if we conceive any heartburning, and go to bed upon it: surely we shall be poisoned by and by, and the mischief will not be espied so easily. It is all one as if a man that felt himself already attacked with infection of some disease, should linger in his misery, and by all means possible shun the physician, and run as far back from him as he possibly could, if he would offer to come to him: and afterward when he would have remedy, it is too late, because the disease is settled, and has so overgrown him, that medicine cannot stand him in any stead. Even so is it with the man that is angry, and continues in it without purging of the malice from his stomach: certainly it is as if a man had some inward and unnoticed disease, which grows so strong, as afterward it becomes incurable. That is the second degree which Saint Paul has set down here. First he shows us how we may be faultless before God, in respect of anger and choler: that is to say, by thinking every one of us upon our own faults, to condemn them, and to be [reconstructed: sorry] for them, and to feel such anguish of mind for them, that we be as men half in a [reconstructed: swoon]. That is a holy anger, and such a one as God allows of. And yet notwithstanding, forasmuch as we be overweak, if we commit a fault, at least let us not double it: and though we have offended God, let it not make us to multiply choler against him, lest the devil get possession of us, and we cannot afterward abide to be brought back again into the good way, but our passions do so overmaster us, as they make us to follow them without end or measure. In any way let us beware of that.

That also is the cause why he says, that we give place to the devil, when the sun goes down upon our anger. It is true, that we have no sooner tripped, but that devil has already had power over us: however he is bridled in such wise, that if we bethink us of our faults, and amend them, God suffers him not to hold us captive as prisoners. But when we be so far overseen as to take offense, and to like well of our own testiness, and thereupon to conceive a number of fancies to rankle inward more and more: (I say) if we be at that point: we have given Satan entrance, he has taken possession of us, and afterward it is out of time for us to wish to return: for the mischief is rooted so deep, and grown so strong, that medicines cannot do any more good, as I have showed already. Now we see Saint Paul's meaning. And therefore let us put this doctrine into practice. The first point thereof is to examine well the evil that is in us, that we may be angry with ourselves, and every one of us be as a foe to himself, as driven by a zeal toward God, to hate and abhor our own vices. Let that be the first thing that we bestow our study upon and then shall we have whereupon to occupy well our chafing and choler, and we shall be no more so hasty to take offense against such as have done us some wrong, but we will rather bear with them that have foully offended us, because we shall have business enough to search out our own imperfections. And (as I said before) we shall the more easily bear with other men's misdealings, when we perceive ourselves blameworthy so many ways, not towards mortal creatures only, but towards the living God. For what are we that we should keep such a stir for every wrong that is done us, seeing we crave forgiveness at God's hand every day (as necessity also constrains us) of the offenses which we have committed against his majesty, and whereby we have broken his righteousness? The very means therefore to appease all wicked and excessive cholerousness, is that every one of us be grieved and angry with himself, because he sees himself subject to so many infirmities, or rather so many sins and vices.

And for the second point, if we chance to stumble and fall through frailty, that we be not so held back by the fear of God, but that we be faulty before him: let us beware that we do not harden and [reconstructed: feed] ourselves in our evil doing, but as soon as we feel any unmeasurable moving in us, let us step before it, and endeavor to repress it: let us use violence in that behalf to subdue our passions that carry us so away, making us to skirmish so against God and our neighbors. Thus must we fight manfully to bridle all our cholerousness. Or else if any excess have escaped us, let us come back again and bethink ourselves better, and let us rid it away quickly, assuring ourselves it is as a disease that requires speedy remedy, or else it will overgrow in such wise, as all help shall come out of season. Let us think upon it.

Now if Saint Paul had said no more but thus: my friends, let not the sun go down upon your anger, for if rancor do once settle, it will not be easily put away: it had been much, and that warning ought to have sufficed us. But the threat which he sets down with it in that he says, Give not place to the devil, ought to make the hairs stand up upon our heads. Some indeed have expounded it to be spoken of the enemies of the faith, which seek occasion of slandering it: but it is easy to be seen by the words themselves, how he intended to warn us of a thing which we ought to be more afraid of, and which will scare us worse: that is to say, that the devil gets as it were the mastery and dominion over us, when we feed any grudge and heartburning against our brethren. Now then, which of us will not quake for fear, when he hears of his subjection to Satan, as if he were in his bonds like a prisoner? And yet for all that we take no heed of the things that are told us here. For Saint Paul has uttered God's sentence, which is, that if we pursue our anger and heartburning against such as have offended us, it is all one as if we wilfully passed an obligation to Satan, to be held as thralls under his tyranny. So much the more therefore does it stand us in hand to bethink ourselves advisedly, that if that vice cannot be thoroughly amended at the first brunt, we may at least be well aware that it do not so settle in us, as that we cannot be set at one again, or that we should pursue our quarrels, or that men should not be able to weigh with us, until we have taken some vengeance. Let us take heed (I say) that we enter not into such bondage of Satan. And even for that cause it is said, that when men do fret and chafe after that fashion, of one devil there are made [reconstructed: twain]. And why? For God is already offended at my neighbor for doing me wrong, and if I also fall to stomaching the matter on my part, and will needs requite him with the like: the devil has won us both. I ought to pity the soul that is after a sort led astray already, and in the highway to perdition: I ought to seek to be at one with him again, and to salve the sore as much as is possible: now if I also do let the reins loose, and cast myself into Satan's [reconstructed: slavery] through the cursed liberty that I take: then gets he the upper hand of both parties. So then, let us bear this threatening well in mind, whereby the holy Ghost meant to wake us thoroughly, [reconstructed: that] every one of us might stand upon his guard, to beware of taking offense or stomach at things, lest afterward we conceive such hatred, as may so harden us, that there shall be no more means to appease us.

Now to this Saint Paul adds another warning (as I have declared already,) in which he rebukes the common vices that are contrary to the rule which our Lord gives us, to the intent we should live as God's children, knowing where we are called. And now he speaks of the deceits, robberies, and extortions that are committed, when every man is too much wedded to himself, and has no conscience of other men's harms. Let him then that stole (says he) steal no more: but rather let him labor with his hands to do the things that are good and profitable, and with which he may help such as have need. Now whereas Saint Paul speaks here of theft, he means not such thieves as men punish with whipping or with hanging: but all manner of sleights and crafts that are used to get other men's goods by evil practices, as extortions, briberies, and all other like things. Although then that such things be faced out, or else that they which are most guilty of them, be not accused before men, because they can skill how to cloak their misdoings: yet does Saint Paul call them all thefts and robberies. And why? For the Prophets and Apostles spoke not the ordinary manner of speech that is used in Courts of Justice on earth: but had an eye to the judgment seat of God. For the thing that may be excused, yes and perhaps well justified before men, shall not fail to be condemned there. For God sees much clearer than mortal creatures. Again, favor or partiality may bear sway often in law matters: so as there shall be cloaking, dissembling, and covering, and the judges shall like well enough to have a napkin tied before their eyes, that a man may have some starting hole to escape out at. They may often like well enough of such things: but it is not so with God. Therefore let us mark well, that the forbidding of us to steal, is not as the publishing of some statute law that belongs to temporal policy: but we are called before the heavenly judge, who discovers the things that are hidden from men, and condemns all wicked covetousness, as theft, by which we are moved to seek our own profit too much with the hindrance of our neighbor. To be short, under this word theft or stealing, Saint Paul comprehends all the wicked practices, that are used to deceive other men withal: and also all extortions by which men are fleeced of their goods and bereft of their substance. Now then we see that there are thieves to be found of all degrees. For there is not that man which is not busy in gripping to himself, I mean of them which are not reformed by God's Spirit. Although a merchant man be counted of good wealth, yet will he have store of fetches and policies still, and they shall be as nets laid for the simple sort and such as have no experience, which perceive them not. In like case is it with craftsmen: for they have the skill to counterfeit their works in such wise, as men shall be deceived by them. Again, as touching the price, there is no trusting to them, all is one to them, so they may sell their wares, for they think that all is lawful for them. Likewise do laborers and husbandmen. To be short, there is no state of men wherein there are not infinite faults, and extortions to be seen, so as every man would gain and make himself strongest. If you look upon the rich, and upon such as live of their rents, it is yet worse. For they flay off the skins of the inferior people, and of such as are unable to resist them. And yet before men (as I said,) all of them do justify themselves: howbeit, that is because they know not that God has sounded here his trumpet, to summon them before him, nor consider what manner of perfection and purity must be brought to him. So much the more therefore does it stand us in hand to try, not only all our outward deeds, but also all our wicked affections, by which we are tempted to enrich ourselves beyond reason and [illegible].

And Saint Paul says purposely, that he which has stolen, should steal no more: to show that there ought to appear such a change in our life, when God has once brought us home to himself by his Gospel, as we may no more resemble the wretched unbelievers which walk in darkness, but consider that our Lord's enlightening of us, is with condition, that we should become new creatures. And herewith we see the thing that I have touched already: namely that Saint Paul speaks not of the common thefts that are condemned and punished before the world: for then should it follow, that all had been thieves which had been converted to Christianity. But (as I said before) he uses the word steal, purposely to make us to abhor all craftiness, malice, subtlety, and catching of other men's goods the more. For if it had been said (but thus:) use no more craft to deceive men, nor take you leave to pull the things to you, that are none of your own: he had not touched them so much to the quick, which flatter themselves, and seek to have some covert to cloak their vices withal. But when as he says, steal no more: it is to the end that we should think thus with ourselves: Alas, although I would fain excuse myself, and to my seeming it were not done amiss of me, and men have bleared eyes: yet must I not rest upon that. For in the meantime my faults shall not fail to be registered before God, and I must be forced to yield an account of all things that have not been done according to uncorrupt equity and right, and I must be taken for a thief before God, notwithstanding that all the world have acquitted me.

But now let us see how well this doctrine is put in use. A man shall find that they which are converted to the Gospel, take most liberty to do evil. It should seem that a number have learned nothing else by the Gospel, but to busy themselves about pretty slights to entangle other men's goods. For there are to be seen, which used greater simplicity in the time that they were blind wretches, and knew nothing of God, and of the pure doctrine of salvation, for they had at least some uprightness and plain dealing toward the world. But they have so profited backward in God's school, as they be far wilier than they were before, in making their own advantage, and in taking more liberty, and in convincing themselves that all things are lawful for them. And therewithal they be so shameless in facing and bolstering out their doings, that they do but make a pot at it, and convince themselves that they have great wrong done them, when they be blamed for the things that are apparently known to all men, and whereof even little children may be judges. So much the more then are we to be condemned, seeing that Paul tells us here, that although we enriched ourselves by craft and extortion, and made no conscience to rake other men's goods to us, before we had good teaching: yet at least we should be well advised to walk more uprightly with our neighbors, now that we be enlightened by God's word. You see then that the thing we have to bear in mind upon this text, is, that our Lord Jesus Christ's doctrine ought to rule us in such singleness, as every one of us may forbear his craftiness and subtleties.

Furthermore, forasmuch as a number excuse themselves, saying, How shall I do then? For I have no trade to live by, unless I may follow still my own manner of dealing: Saint Paul says, Let them labor. Let him that would make it excuse, that he has not with which to find himself, except he may deceive and defraud: let him (says Paul) give himself to laboring with his hands. As if he said, that men's dispensing with themselves under color that they should then fast, and endure many miseries and penuries, is a trifling toy before God: all those allegations are neither here nor there before God, says Saint Paul. For if any be afraid that he shall want: let him not forbear to labor. Mark that for one point. And here let us learn to leave these self-soothings, with which a number of folks do bring themselves asleep, who when they have said, what shall I do? Do bear themselves on hand that God's mouth is stopped, and that he dares no more come near them: and they will needs be so privileged, that to their own seeming they be quite and clear, if they can allege for themselves, how then? Of what shall I live? What shall I do, if I follow not my accustomed trade? It seems to us that God is shut out of the gate, and that he has no more authority to condemn us, when we have once alleged those things for ourselves. But that is but folly, says Saint Paul. We should rather scratch up the earth with our nails, than offend God by doing wrong to our neighbors. The thing then to which he sends us back, is, that when a man is grown rich, and has lived a long time at his ease by filching and stealing: that is to say, by pretty fine sleights and conveyances, that are against equity and right: let him not be ashamed to abate his countenance, and to labor for the getting of his living. Albeit that he has before done nothing but sit still, and gotten his living by devising mischief: yet let him not be ashamed to labor and to take pains for his sustenance. To be short, Saint Paul shows us here, that all unlawful gains must be left by such as call themselves Christians, and will be taken so to be. And this warning is as needful for us nowadays, as ever it was for any. For besides that, we must abstain from all subtlety and deceit, when God once calls us to be his children, and will have us to maintain a brotherhood among ourselves: many of us also must give over our trades of living. For what a number of means to live upon, are there in the popedome? But when we come before God, let us always remember this definitive sentence which I have set down: namely that we consider how the case concerns our not answering before an earthly judge, but before him which sees all things, and before whom there is no cloaking of anything. Therefore let us think well upon it, seeing there are so many means excusable in popery, with which as good as a fourth part of the world is maintained, and yet are all of them not only unavailable, but also abominable before God. For first of all there be priests and monks, and all the rabble of cloisterers. Secondly there are there hangers-on which live of them, and are as it were their waged men, which have some gain by them, and do skim off some part of their fat by one means or other: under which cover there lurks a very long tail that is turned in and out like a maze. Again, there are a great sort to be seen, which give themselves all wholly to things that are nothing worth. True it is that in this darkness of theirs men see not very well: insomuch that black (as you would say) is turned into white. But yet however the case stand, there is no placard for men in this behalf, but every man must have an eye to this, that like as until now I have filched and polled to get my living: and have exercised some wicked practice or other, which God condemns by his word: seeing I had defiled myself in eating the bread which came not to me lawfully from the hand of God as it should do, according to my asking of my daily bread of him, but by filching here and there: I must now henceforth change my copy, and learn to labor in such wise, as I may truly say, that the things which I have, do come to me of God's blessing. That is the thing which we have to remember upon this lesson of Saint Paul's. And it behooves us to put it so much the better in use, considering that thievery is more rife nowadays in the world than ever it was, and yet notwithstanding a number of men do flatter themselves still in that behalf, because the belly will needs have the foredeal. When a man has with which to live (say they) and all things necessary besides: it is good reason that he should not exempt himself from God's word: but that we should starve for hunger, what order were in that? What rigor were it? Forasmuch then as we be so inclined to seek to be provided for, by hook or by crook, without regarding what is lawful or unlawful: let us think the better upon the things that Saint Paul tells us here.

And he proceeds yet one degree further in this change, which he enjoins to all the faithful: which is, that he tells them they must not only abstain from defrauding other men, and from stripping them of their goods: but also endeavor to help such as have need. Although it may seem too rough to us to abstain from all evil, and that in the stead of living at our ease, as we have been accustomed to do, and of having many comforts, we should be forced to scratch our living out of the earth with our nails (as they say) and to labor with great pain and toil, yes, and to fare very poorly: if although (I say) that this seems right hard: yet must we go further, that when we have the means to get our living without using wicked practices, we must now and then spare somewhat of that which God gives us through his blessing, to relieve the needy. Therefore let us not look to what we are inclined, but let us consider that by our own nature we are so perverse and wedded to our own profit, that every one of us will always need to be well provided, and that inasmuch as we have so little regard for those who are members of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as ourselves, we must take pains to compel ourselves to do them good: for that is a labor that will lead us to another. We must (I say) compel all our affections, and thereupon employ ourselves earnestly and sincerely, that we may be able to testify that the bread which we eat comes to us from God's hand, and that we are sustained by his goodness, as if it were by a father who portions out to every one of his children their portion. Then let us be at that point. And moreover, let us not think it enough to abstain from all craftiness, and from ensnaring men with our tricks, and from taking other men's goods: but let us labor to do good with the little which we have, and to help such as are in need.

However, Saint Paul adds here yet one circumstance more, which deserves to be well noted: and that is, that he will have us labor in the thing that is good. And why does he add that? Let us consider what a number of trades, crafts, or occupations there are in the world, which serve for nothing but corruption, and to toll in pence, as they say. Truly men are not aware of it. And why? Because all men are contented that such as have the means should be prodigal, to the end that their money may fly abroad. Again, such as (to their own seeming) cannot get their living otherwise, are inventing new devices every day, to angle the money out of fools' purses, and of such as are so given to lightness. Again, they that have the means will needs set out themselves, and be brave to the worldward. And that is the cause why the occupations and trades which serve but for pomp and superfluity, and for I know not what niceness and allurements, and only to provoke folk to lewdness, will needs make men believe that there is nothing amiss in them. But Saint Paul has therefore set down a distinction here. For it is not enough when a man can say, Oh, I take pains, I have my occupation, or I have such a trade: that is not enough: but he must see whether the same is good and profitable for the common wealth, and whether his neighbors may fare the better by it. For ought not this to be the end to which all trades, occupations, and states do tend, and to which they ought to refer themselves: namely, that every man look to employ himself in something whereby he may do good? And for the same cause are we likened to the members of a body. Now then, as who should say, that the hand should employ itself to the delighting of some other member, which notwithstanding should receive harm by it. By that means all the body should go to destruction. So then, inasmuch as we must always have before our eyes, that in whatever calling we live, God must go before us, as if he called us to him, and we follow the way that he shows us by his word: surely he will never allow of any trade or occupation, which is not beneficial and serviceable to the whole common wealth, and redounding also to the profit of all men. Therefore if a man use a trade or occupation which is to no purpose but to breed offenses, or to besot men in their delicate delights, and to mar them utterly, or else to set out pomp excessively, as though men purposed even in despite of nature, to make havoc of the good things that God has given us: it is certain that all those things are without the compass of godly vocations or callings, and that God does utterly disallow them. You may well say, I have labored in this or that: yes, but you have served the devil. For just as the devil has his martyrs, so has he also his servants. We see how such as are given to superstition, do martyr themselves without end or ceasing, and are (as you would say) stark mad upon them, and as good as out of their wits. And oftentimes the scripture also uses the same comparisons, to show how the devil casts men quite out of their bounds, when he once possesses them. You see then that many men torment themselves without reason: yes, but yet are they the devil's martyrs. Likewise there are a great number that shall have taken much pains in some trade or occupation, to get their living: and yet if a man look to what purpose it serves, he shall find it to be nothing but infection and filthiness, and that it serves but to nourish pride and superfluity. To be short, it is an open provoking of God, and a wasting and misspending of the things that God has given, with commandment to use them soberly and steadily. No marvel therefore though Saint Paul has set down this distinction. And therefore let every man look diligently to himself, and when fathers are minded to set their children to any trade or occupation, let them not look (as the common custom is) which may be most gainful: but let them match these two things together, namely, when they have considered by what trade their son may best get his living, and provide for himself and his household, when he comes to be married: (with this let him also look) that he serve his neighbors' turns, and that the use of his craft or trade may redound to the common profit of all men. The thing then which fathers must have respect to in setting their children to trades and occupations, is not to be preoccupied with regard to how they may most gain, but how they may always be held in order, that they swerve not one way nor other. For when our lusts do so carry us away, that we can no sooner spy a little gain, but we be by and by snatching at it: it is all one as if we shook hands with Satan, yes, and these things become as baited hooks that he casts for us.

And just as a hungry fish will soon be taken, and the food that she reached at costs her full dear: so fares it with these enticements of Satan. When men have no further foresight, but thus, oh, such a man gained well by such a trade, and great profit may be made of it: he steps to it at all adventure, and never hesitates to scan or consider whether it is right or wrong: but (as I said before) is choked before he comes to that consideration. So much the more therefore does it stand us on hand to mark well what Saint Paul says here: namely, that when men are desirous to get their living, they must think carefully, and not bear with themselves in doing of things, because they are customarily done by others, and no fault found with them among men: but consider that they have to do with God, and that it is he before whom we must make our account.

Again, let us have good eye to the thing that is told us here, that is to say, to the succoring of the needy. For Saint Paul intended to warn us in one word, that our Lord in setting poor folks before us, intends to try what we be, namely, whether there be kindness in us, or whether we be cruel like wild beasts, and it is a thing also that ought to move us to compassion. And for the same cause, when the Scripture speaks of doing alms, besides that it uses the word mercy, it says also, that our bowels ought to be moved when we see our brethren in need. You see then that the sight of our neighbors' necessities, ought to provoke us to liberality, and to relieve them. Let us not tarry till they cry out for hunger, nor till we be enforced, nor till shame compel us: but let every one of us think, has this man need? Has God [reconstructed: set] him before me? Has he made me to know it? It is enough. For it is even as much as if he summoned me, and sent me his Receivers or Rent-gatherers, to take up his revenues. Like as they that have revenues and rents, send their men to demand them, and gather them up: so our Lord requires of us, that we should pay him his tributes, that is to say, the homage money that we owe him, in acknowledgment that the things which we possess, come from him, and even of his mere free gift. He sends us neither Sheriffs nor Sergeants, but the poor, and that ought to suffice us, for they be his true receivers: and that is, to the end we should not be loath to give them. The cause why their necessity is set before our eyes, is to the end we should be touched with pity and compassion, and thereupon be inclined to do good. So then, let us note that the sum of the things here spoken, is, first that we should forsake all manner of trades to live by, which are not agreeing to God's word: assuring ourselves that we shall always be taken for thieves before him, if we use any wicked trades, and that although we have good assurance that our calling is good and lawful: yet must we use it in such wise, as there be not any ravening, craft, or deceit in it. Note that for one point. Again, let us understand, that there is no excuse for us before God, insomuch that although we allege famine, poverty, or necessity: all that will not serve to acquit us, but that we must set our hand to labor, that we may earn our living lawfully, and forbear to profit ourselves by other men's loss. Finally, besides as it were the binding up of our hands from doing any man wrong, and from using any pretty shifts and slights to get other men's goods: let us have a regard to do good. Indeed and let us have a special care to succor such as want: however so as it be with the things that God has given us of our own. For those are the offerings and sacrifices which we must make to him, in acknowledgment of his benefits. And we know that almsdeeds are called sacrifices. Therefore when we do them, we must protest with an unfeigned and true meaning heart, that we come to do homage to God for the things that we hold of him. And if there be any theft in our hands, it is certain that our sacrifices shall be unclean, and our almsdeeds shall be turned into loathsomeness. Then let every man beware that he do not plunder and extort with the one hand, to give of it soon after with the other: but let every one of us have both our hands clean. Neither let us have a double heart, but labor with all uprightness to earn our living in such wise, that if God send us any profit by it, we may take it as his free gift. And in good sooth, Moses also forbids us to father any piece of our gain upon our own running, or upon the labor of our hands: for God will have us to be beholden to him for all. Therefore when we do any alms, let it be with this protestation, not only with mouth, but also in heart and deed, namely, that according as our Lord has showed himself liberal to us, and bestowed upon us, and given us over and above wherewith to serve our own need, we be willing to do him homage with it: and let us show in deed, that we intend not to keep to ourselves the things that he has given us, but do put them to the use to which he has ordained them, that is to say, to the relieving of those that have need of them.

Now let us fall down before the Majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our faults, praying him to make us feel them better, so as we may be sorry for them, and ask him forgiveness of them, and profit more and more in his fear, that being withdrawn from our fleshly affections, we may continue in his fear and love, to the intent to profit more and more in the keeping of his holy commandments. And so let us all say, Almighty God heavenly father, etc.