T A merciful, as your Father also is merciful be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfecti Refp. How wife and holy are Thy Com mands, O Lord! bare freatly enforced with fit and evident and familiar arg ments Be Thou my Soveraign King, 110 Glorious JESU! be Thou my Souls Directer for ever. Thon telleft me my duty, and enableft me to do it; Thou Jetteft me to work, and promifeft me rich rewards and infallibly wilt per form every title of Thy Word. ) * Be LO Leffon 78. u dwy Take heed you do not your good works before men, to be feen of them! otherwise, no reward fhall you have of Your Father who is in Heaven. There fore, when thou givet Alms, found no Trumpet before thee, as the Hypo crites do, in the Synagogues and in the Streets, that they may be honoured of Men. Verily, verily, Lay to you, they have received their reward. But, when thou givet Alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does! That shy Alms may be in fastets and thy Fas thes ther who fees in fecret thall re-pay thee openly. And, when you pray, you shall not be as the Hypocrites, who love to pray tanding in the Synagogue,and in the corners of the Streets; that they may be feen of men. Verily, I fay to you, They have received their reward. But thou, when thou prayeft,center into thy Clofet, and when thou haft shut the door, pray to thy Father infecret and thy Father who fees in fecret fhall re-pay thee openly. And, when you pray, fpeak not much, as the Heathen do; for, they think to be heard by their much speaking. Be not you therefore like to them for, your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Thus, therefore, fhall you apray: Our Father who are in Heaven. Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Willbe done in Earth as it is Hn Heaven; Give us this day our daily Bread, And forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debters: And lead us not into Temptation, But deliver us from Evil: Amen. For, if you forgive men their offences, your Heavenly Father will forgive you allo your offences: but, if you forgive not men, neither will your Father 7 10 Father forgive you your fins. And, when you faft, be not as the Hypocrites, fad for, they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to faft. Verily, I fay to you, they have received their reward But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face: that thou appea not to men to faft,but to thy Father whe is in fecret; and thy Father, who fee in fecret, fhall repay thee openly. Refp. Wo tothofe Foolish Hypocrites, wh here expect their reward, and blindh neglect their true felicity: What is alas! the applaufe of men, but a little breath which at best is vain, and often unwholfome! No, no, dear Lord, les all our hopes look up towards Thee,and the Eternal Glory Thou referveft for us bert 2 efter. Shall Igive Alms and fast and pray, only to be feen of Men; whe eafily can diffemble in their praises, 5 Ican counterfeit to deferve them? fall I loose all my coft and labour for an empty fhadow, which wifely managed would gain me Heaven it felf? no, dear * No, are Leffon 79. Lay not up for your felves treasures on earth, where moth and ruft corrupt,and where Thieves break through and fteal. But, lay up for your felves treafures in Heaven, where neither moth nor ruft Corrupt, and where Thieves break not through norfteal. For, where your treafure is, there will your heart be alfo.. The light of the body is the Eye: if therefore thine Eye be fingle, thy whole body will be full of light: but, if thine Eyebe evil; thy whole body will be full of darknefs. And, if the light that is in thee be darkness, the darkness it felf how great will that be! No man can ferve two Mafters: for, either he will hate the one and love the other; or hold to the one and defpife the other. You cannot ferve God and Mammon. There fore, I fay to you, Be not follicitous for Your life, what you fhall eat or what You fhall drink; nor yet for your body what you fhall put on: Is not the life more then meat, and the body more then Taiment Behold the Fowls of the Air; they neither fow nor reap, nor gather into barns: yet, your Heavenly Father feeds 4 feeds them. Are you not much bette then they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his ftature And why are you follicitous for raiment Confider the Lillies of the field how they grow they toyle not, neither do they fpin and yet. I. fay to you, that ever Solomon in all his glory was not arraye like one of thefe. Wherefore, if Go fo cloath the grafs of the field, which t day is, and to imorrow is caft into th Oven how much more you, O you little faith? Be hot therefore follicitous faying, what fhall we eat? or what hill we drink? or wherewith fhall we be cloathed? For; after these things the Centiles feek and your Heavenly Father knows you have need of all these things But, feek you firft the Kingdom of God, and His Juftice; and all these things fhall be added to you. Benot, there fore, follicitous for the morrow, for the morrow fhall take care for it felf Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. Refp. Where are you now you Boaters of unprofitable Sciences? what can your learned Follies fhem, compared to thefe divine Conclufions? what can your fines |