oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of very smal fayth? 31Be not careful therefore, saying, what shal we eate, or what shal we drinke, or wherewith shal we be covered? 32for al these thinges the [1] Heathen do seeke after. For your father knoweth that you neede al these things. 33Seeke therefore first the Kingdom of God, and the justice of him, and al these things shal be given you besides. 34Be not careful therfore for the morow; for the morrow day wil be careful for it self. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
ANNOTATIONS
Chap. VI.
Good workes justifie.1. Justice.) Hereby it is plaine that good workes be justice, and that man doing them doth justice, and is thereby just & justified, & not by faith only. Al which justice of a Christian man, our Saviour here compriseth in these three workes, in Almes, fasting, and prayers. Aug. li. perf. just. c. 8. So that to give almes, is to do justice, and the workes of mercie are justice. Aug. in Psal. 49. v. 5.
Merites.4. Repay.) This repaying and rewarding of good workes in heaven, often mentioned here by our Saviour, declareth that the sayd workes are meritorious, and that we may do them in respect of that reward.
Hypocrisie.5. Hypocrites.) Hypocrisie is forbidden in al these three workes of justice, and not the doing of them openly to the glorie of God, and the profite of our neighbour, & our owne salvation: 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.
7. Much speaking.) Long prayer is not forbid, for Christ Luc. 6. 12.* himself spent whole nights in prayer; and he sayth, Luc. 18. 1, 21. 36* we must pray alwayes; and 1 Thes. 5. 17.* the Apostle exhorteth to pray without intermission; and the holy Church Cypr. de orat. Do. in fine.* 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.
τὸν ἐπιούσιον11. Supersubstantial bread.) 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 The B. Sacrament.blessed Sacrament itself, which is Christ the true bread that came from Heaven, & the bread of life to us 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.
Venial sinnes.12. Debts.) These debts do signifie not only mortal sinnes, but also venial, as S. Augustine often teacheth: and therfore every man, be he never so just, yet because he can not live 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.
God is not author of evil.13. Leade us not.) S. Cypr. readeth, In Expos. orat. Do.Ne patiaris nos induci. Suffer us not to be led, as S. Augustine noteth li. de bo. persev. c. 6. and so the holy Church understandeth it, because God Jac. 1.(as S. James sayth) tempteth no man: though for our sinnes, or for our probation and crowne, he permit us to be tempted. Beware then of Beza’s exposition upon this place, who (according to the Calvinists 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.
14. If you forgive.) This poynt, of forgiving our Brother, when we aske forgivenes of God, our Saviour repeateth agayne, as a thing much to be considered: and therfore commended in the parable also of the servant that would not forgive his felow servant, Mat. 18.
- ↑ They seeke temporal things only, and that not of the true God, but of their Idols, or by their owne industrie.
