Chapter Three
Chapter Three
For a farther understanding of this gospel, here may be made three questions, What mammon is? Why it is called unrighteous? and after what manner Christ biddeth us counterfeit and follow the unjust and wicked steward, which with his lord’s damage provided for his own profit and advantage? which thing no doubt is unrighteous and sin.
First, mammon is an Hebrew word, and signifieth riches or temporal goods; and namely, all superfluity, and all that is above necessity, and that which is required unto our necessary uses; wherewith a man may help another, without undoing or hurting himself; for hamon , in the Hebrew speech, signifies a multitude or abundance, or many; and therehence cometh mahamon , or mammon , abundance, or plenteousness of goods, or riches. Secondarily, it is called “unrighteous mammon,” not because it is got unrighteously, or with usury; for of unrighteous gotten goods can no man do good works, but ought to restore them home again: as it is said, Esay 61 “I am a God that hateth offering that cometh of robbery;” and Proverbs 3 saith, “Honour the Lord of thine own good.” But therefore it is called unrighteous, because it is in unrighteous use. As Paul speaketh unto the Ephesians, 5 how that “The days are evil,” though that God hath made them, and they are a good work of God’s making: howbeit they are yet called evil, because that evil men use them amiss; and much sin, occasions of evil, peril of souls are wrought in them. Even so are richest called evil, because that evil men bestow them amiss, and misuse them. For where riches is, there goeth it after the common proverb, He that hath money, hath what him listeth. And they cause fighting, stealing, laying await, lying, flattering, and all unhappiness against a man’s neighbour. For all men hold on riches’ part.
But singularly, before God, it is called unrighteous mammon, because it is not bestowed and ministered unto our neighbour’s need. For if my neighbour need and I give him not, neither depart liberally with him of that which I have, then withhold I from him unrighteously that which is his own; forasmuch as I am bounden to help him by the law of nature, which is, “Whatsoever thou wouldest that another did to thee, that do thou also to him;” and Christ, Matthew 5 “Give to every man that desireth thee;” and John, in his first epistle: “If a man have this world’s good, and see his brother need, how is the love of God in him?” And this unrighteousness in our mammon see very few men, because it is spiritual; and in those goods which are gotten most truly and justly are men much beguiled. For they suppose they do no man wrong in keeping them; in that they got them not with stealing, robbing, oppression, and usury, neither hurt any man now with them.
Thirdly, many have busied themselves in studying what, or who, this unrighteous steward is, because that Christ so praiseth him. But shortly and plainly this is the answer, That Christ praiseth not the unrighteous steward, neither setteth him forth to us to counterfeit because of his unrighteousness, but because of his wisdom only; in that he, with unright, so wisely provided for himself. As if I would provoke another to pray or study, saying, The thieves watch all night to rob and steal; why canst not thou watch to pray and to study? here praise not I the thief and murderer for their evil doing, but for their wisdom, that they so wisely and diligently wait on their unrighteousness. Likewise when I say, Miss women tire themselves with gold and silk to please their lovers: what, wilt not thou garnish thy soul with faith to please Christ? here praise I not whoredom, but the diligence which the whore misuseth.
On this wise Paul also likeneth Adam and Christ together, saying that Adam was a figure of Christ. And yet of Adam have we but pure sin, and of Christ grace only; which are out of measure contrary. But the similitude, or likeness, standeth in the original birth, and not in the virtue and vice of the birth: so that, as Adam is father of all sin, so is Christ father of all righteousness; and as all sinners spring of Adam, even so all righteous men and women spring of Christ. After the same manner is here the unrighteous steward an ensample unto us in his wisdom and diligence only, in that he provided so wisely for himself; that we with righteousness should be as diligent to provide for our souls, as he with unrighteousness provided for his body.
Likewise mayest thou soy all other texts, which sound as though it were between us and God as it is in the world, where the reward is more looked upon than the labour; yea, where men hate the labour, and work falsely, with the body and not with the heart, and no longer than they are looked upon, that the labour may appear outward only.
When Christ saith, “Blessed are ye when they rail on you, and persecute you, and say all manner evil sayings against you, and yet lie, and that for my sake; rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven;” ( Matthew 5) thou mayest not imagine that our deeds deserve the joy and glory that shall be given unto us; for then, Paul saith, Romans 11 “favour were not favour.” I cannot receive it of favour and of the bounties of God, freely, and by deserving of deeds also. But believe as the gospel, glad tidings and promises of God say unto thee; that for Christ’s blood’s sake only, through faith, God is at one with thee, and thou received to mercy, and art become the son of God, and heir annexed with Christ of all the goodness of God; the earnest whereof is the Spirit of God poured into our hearts. Of which things the deeds are witnesses; and certify our consciences that our faith is unfeigned, and that the right Spirit of God is in us. For if I patiently suffer adversity and tribulation, for conscience of God only, that is to say, because I know God and testify the truth; then am I sure that God hath chosen me in Christ, and for Christ’s sake, and hath put in me his Spirit, as an earnest of his promises, whose working I feel in my heart, the deeds bearing witness unto the same. Now is it Christ’s blood only that deserveth all the promises of God; and that which I suffer and do is partly the curing, healing, and mortifying of my members, and killing of that original poison wherewith I was conceived and born, that I might be altogether like Christ; and partly the doing of my duty to my neighbour, whose debtor I am of all that I have received of God, to draw him to Christ with all suffering, with all patience, and even with shedding my blood for him, not as an offering or merit for his sins, but as an ensample to provoke him. Christ’s blood only putteth away all the sin that ever was, is, or shall be, from them that are elect and repent, believing the gospel, that is to say, God’s promises in Christ.
Again in the same fifth chapter: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do well to them that hate you and persecute you, that ye may be the sons of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun shine upon evil and on good, and sendeth his rain upon just and unjust.” (Matthew 5) Not that our works make us the sons of God, but testify only, and certify our consciences, that we are the sons of God; and that God hath chosen us, and washed us in Christ’s blood; and hath put his Spirit in us. And it followeth: “If ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not the publicans even the same? And if ye shall have favour to your friends only, what singular thing do ye? do not the publicans even the same? Ye shall be perfect therefore, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” That is to say, if that ye do nothing but that the world doth, and they which have the spirit of the world, whereby shall ye know that ye are the sons of God, and beloved of God, more than the world? But and if ye counterfeit and follow God in well-doing, then no doubt it is a sign that the Spirit of God is in you, and also the favour of God, which is not in the world; and that ye are inheritors of all the promises of God, and elect unto the fellowship of the blood of Christ.
Also, “Take heed to your alms, that ye do it not in the sight of men, to the intent that ye would be seen of them; or else have ye no reward with your Father which is in heaven. Neither cause a trumpet to be blown afore thee, when thou doest thine alms, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, to be glorified of the world.
But when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth; that thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” ( Matthew 6) This putteth us in remembrance of our duty, and showeth what followeth good works; not that works deserve it, but that the reward is laid up for us in store, and we thereunto elect through Christ’s blood, which the works testify. For, if we be worldly-minded, and do our works as the world doth, how shall we know that God hath chosen us out of the world? But and if we work freely, without all manner worldly respect, to shew mercy, and to do our duty to our neighbour, and to be unto him as God is to us; then are we sure that the favour and mercy of God is upon us, and that we shall enjoy all the good promises of God through Christ, which hath made us heirs thereof.
Also, in the same chapter it followeth: “When thou prayest, be not as the hypocrites, which love to stand and pray in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, for to be seen of men. But when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and shut thy door to, and pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” ( Matthew 6) And likewise, when we fast, teacheth Christ in the same place, that we should behave ourselves “that it appear not unto men how that we fast, but unto our Father which is in secret; and our Father which seeth in secret, shall reward us openly.” These two texts do but declare what followeth good works; for eternal life cometh not by the deserving of works, but is, (saith Paul, in the sixth to the Romans) “the gift of God through Jesus Christ.” Neither do our works justify us: for except we were justified by faith, which is our righteousness, and had the Spirit of God in us, to teach us, we could do no good work freely, without respect of some profit, either in this world, or in the world to come; neither could we have spiritual joy in our hearts in time of affliction, and mortifying of the flesh.
Good works are called the fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5 for the Spirit worketh them in us; and sometime fruits of righteousness, as in the second epistle to the Corinthians and ninth chapter, 2 Corinthians 9. Before all works, therefore, we must have a righteousness within the heart, the mother of all works, and from whence they spring. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and of them that have the spirit of this world, is the glorious shew and outward shining of works. But Christ saith to us, Matthew “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
It is righteousness in the world, if a man kill not. But a Christian perceiveth righteousness if he love his enemy, even when he suffereth persecution and torment of him, and the pains of death, and mourneth more for his adversary’s blindness than for his own pain, and prayeth God to open his eyes, and to forgive him his sins; as did Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles, the seventh chapter; and Christ, Luke 23.
A Christian considereth himself in the law of God, and there putteth off him all manner righteousness. For the law suffereth no merits, no descryings, no righteousness, neither any man to be justified in the sight of God. The law is spiritual, and requireth the heart, and commandments to be fulfilled with such love and obedience as was in Christ. If any fulfil all that is the will of God, with such love and obedience, the same may be bold to sell pardons of his merits, and else not.
A Christian therefore, when he beholdeth himself in the law, putteth off all manner righteousness, descryings and merits, and meekly and unfeignedly knowledgeth his sin and misery, his captivity and bondage in the flesh, his trespass and guilt; and is thereby blessed, with the poor in spirit. Matthew 5 chap. Then he mourneth in his heart, because he is in such bondage that he cannot do the will of God; and is an hungered and athirst after righteousness; for righteousness (I mean) which springeth out of Christ’s blood, for strength to do the will of God; and turneth himself to the promises of God, and desireth him for his great mercy and truth, and for the blood of his Son Christ, to fulfil his promises, and to give him strength.
And thus his spirit ever prayeth within him. He fasteth also not one day for a week, or a Lent for an whole year; but professeth in his heart a perpetual soberness, to tame the flesh, and to subdue the body to the spirit, until he wax strong in the Spirit, and grow ripe into a full righteousness after the fullness of Christ. And because this fullness happeneth not till the body be slain by death, a Christian is ever a sinner in the law; and therefore fasteth, and prayeth to God in the spirit, the world seeing it not. Yet in the promises he is ever righteous through faith in Christ; and is sure that he is heir of all God’s promises; the Spirit, which he hath received in earnest, bearing him witness; his heart also, and his deeds testifying the same.
Mark this then: To see inwardly that the law of God is so spiritual, that no flesh can fulfil it; and then for to mourn and sorrow, and to desire, yea, to hunger and thirst after strength to do the will of God from the ground of the heart, and (notwithstanding all the subtlety of the devil, weakness and feebleness of the flesh, and wondering of the world,) to cleave yet to the promises of God, and to believe that for Christ’s blood sake thou art received to the inheritance of eternal life, is a wonderful thing, and a thing that the world knoweth not of; but whosoever feeleth that, though he fall a thousand times in a day, doth yet rise again a thousand times, and is sure that the mercy of God is upon him. “If ye forgive other men their trespasses, your heavenly Father shall forgive you yours.” Matthew in chapter 6. If I forgive, God shall forgive me; not for my deeds’ sake, but for his promises’ sake, for his mercy and truth, and for the blood of his Son, Christ our Lord. And my forgiving certifieth my spirit that God shall forgive me, yea, that he hath forgiven me already.
For if I consent to the will of God in my heart, though through infirmity and weakness I cannot do the will of God at all times; moreover, though I cannot do the will of God so purely as the law requireth it of me, yet if I see my fault and meekly knowledge my sin, weeping in mine heart, because I cannot do the will of God, and thirst after strength; I am sure that the Spirit of God is in me, and his favour upon me. For the world lusteth not to do the will of God, neither sorroweth because he cannot, though he sorrow some time for fear of the pain that he believeth shall fellow. He that hath the spirit of this world, cannot forgive without amends making, or a greater vantage. If I forgive now, how cometh it? Verily, because I feel the mercy of God in me. For as a man feeleth God to himself, so is he to his neighbour.
I know by mine own experience, that all flesh is in bondage under sin, and cannot but sin; therefore am I merciful, and desire God to loose the bonds of sin even in mine enemy. “Gather not treasure together in earth, etc. but gather you treasure in heaven,” etc. Let not your hearts be glued, to worldly things; study not to heap treasure upon treasure, and riches upon riches; but study to bestow well that which is gotten already, and let your abundance succour the lack and need of the poor which have not. Have an eye to good works, to which if ye have lust and also power to do them, then are ye sure that the Spirit of God is in you, and ye in Christ elect to the reward of eternal life, which followeth good works. But look that thine eye be single, and rob not Christ of his honour; ascribe not that to the deserving of thy works, which is given thee freely by the merits of his blood. In Christ we are sons. In Christ we are heirs. In Christ God chose us, and elected us before the beginning of the world, created us anew by the word of the gospel, and put his Spirit in us, for because that we should do good works. A Christian man worketh, because it is the will of his Father only. If we do no good work, nor be merciful, how is our lust therein? If we have no lust to do good works, how is God’s Spirit in us? If the Spirit of God be not in us, how are we his sons? How are we his heirs, and heirs annexed with Christ of the eternal life, which is promised to all them that believe in him? Now do our works testify and witness what we are, and what treasure is laid up for us in heaven, so that our eye be single, and look upon the commandment without respect of any thing, save because it is God’s will, and that God desireth it of us, and Christ hath deserved that we do it. Matthew “Not all they that say unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Though thou canst laud God with thy lips, and call Christ Lord, and canst babble and talk of the scripture, and knowest all the stories of the bible, yet shalt thou thereby never know thine election, or whether thy faith be right.
But and if thou feel lust in thine heart to the will of God, and bringest forth the fruits thereof, then hast thou confidence and hope; and thy deeds, and also the Spirit whence thy deeds spring, certify thine heart that thou shalt enter, yea, art already entered, into the kingdom of heaven. For it followeth, “He that heareth the word, and doth it, buildeth his house upon a rock,” and no tempest of temptations can overthrow it. For the Spirit of God is in his heart, and comforteth him, and holdeth him fast to the rock of the merits of Christ’s blood, in whom he is elect. Nothing is able to pluck him out of the hands of God: God is stronger than all things. And contrariwise, “he that heareth the word, and doth it not, buildeth on the sand” of his own imagination, and every tempest overthroweth his building.
The cause is, he hath not God’s Spirit in him, and therefore understandeth it not aright, neither worketh aright. “For no man knoweth the things of God (saith Paul in the first epistle to the Corinthians, in the second chapter, 1 Corinthians 2) save the Spirit of God, as no man knoweth what is in a man, but a man’s spirit which is in him.” So then, if the Spirit be not in a man, he worketh not the will of God, neither understandeth it, though he babble never so much of the scriptures. Nevertheless such a man may work after his own imagination, but God’s will can he not work; he may offer sacrifice, but to do mercy knoweth he not. It is easy to say unto Christ, Lord, Lord; but thereby shalt thou never feel or be sure of the kingdom of heaven. But and if thou do the will of God, then art thou sure that Christ is thy Lord indeed, and that thou in him art also a lord; in that thou feelest thyself loosed and freed from the bondage of sin, and lusty and of power to do the will of God.
Where the Spirit is, there is feeling; for the Spirit maketh us feel all things.
Where the Spirit is not, there is no feeling; but a vain opinion or imagination. A physician serveth but for sick men; and that for such sick men as feel their sicknesses, and mourn therefore, and long for health.
Christ likewise serveth but for such sinners only as feel their sin, and that for such sinners that sorrow and mourn in their hearts for health.
Health is power or strength to fulfil the law, or to keep the commandments. Now he that longeth for that health, that is to say, for to do the law of God, is blessed in Christ, and hath a promise that his lust shall be fulfilled, and that he shall be made whole. “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness’ sake, (that is, to fulfil the law,) for their lust shall be fulfilled.” ( Matthew 5) This longing and consent of the heart unto the law of God is the working of the Spirit, which God hath poured into thine heart, in earnest that thou mightest be sure that God will fulfil all his promises that he hath made thee. It is also the seal and mark, which God putteth on all men that he chooseth unto everlasting life. So long as thou seest thy sin and mournest, and consentest to the law, and longest (though thou be never so weak), yet the Spirit shall keep thee in all temptations from desperation, and certify thine heart that God for his truth shall deliver thee and save thee; yea, and by thy good deeds shalt thou be saved, not which thou hast done, but which Christ has done for thee; for Christ is thine, and all his deeds are thy deeds. Christ is in thee, and thou in him, knit together inseparably. Neither canst thou be damned, except Christ be damned with thee: neither can Christ be saved, except thou be saved with him. Moreover thy heart is good, right, holy, and just; for thy heart is no enemy to the law, but a friend and a lover. The law and thy heart are agreed and at one; and therefore is God at one with thee. The consent of the heart unto the law is unity and peace between God and man. For he is not mine enemy, which would fain do me pleasure, and mourneth because he hath not wherewith. Now he that opened thy disease unto thee, and made thee long for health shall (as he hath promised) heal thee; and he that hath loosed thy heart shall at his godly leisure loose thy members. He that hath not the Spirit hath no feeling, neither lusteth or longeth after power to fulfil the law, neither abhorreth the pleasures of sin, neither hath any more certainty of the promises of God, than I have of a tale of Robin Hood, or of some jest that a man telleth me was done at Rome. Another man may lightly make me doubt, or believe the contrary, seeing I have no experience thereof myself: so is it of them that feel not the working of the Spirit, and therefore in time of temptation the buildings of their imaginations fall. Matthew “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet,” that is, because he is a prophet, “shall receive the reward of a prophet;” and “He that giveth one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward.”
Note this, that a prophet signifieth as well him that interpreteth the hard places of scripture, as him that prophesieth things to come. Now he that receiveth a prophet, a just man, or a disciple, shall have the same or like reward; that is to say, shall have the same eternal life which is appointed for them in Christ’s blood and merits. For except thou were elect to the same eternal life, and hadst the same faith and trust in God, and the same Spirit, thou couldst never consent to their deeds and help them. But thy deeds testify what thou art; and certify thy conscience that thou art received to mercy, and sanctified in Christ’s passions and sufferings, and shalt hereafter, with all them that follow God, receive the reward of eternal life. Matthew “Of thy words thou shalt be justified, and of thy words thou shalt be condemned:” That is, thy words as well as other deeds shall testify with thee, or against thee, at the day of judgment. Many there are which abstain from the outward deeds of fornication and adultery, nevertheless rejoice to talk thereof and laugh: their words and laughter testify against them, that their heart is impure, and they adulterers and fornicators in the sight of God.