Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Prayer is a mourning, a longing, and a desire of the spirit to God-ward, for that which she lacketh; as a sick man mourneth and sorroweth in his heart, longing for health. Faith ever prayeth. For after that by faith we are reconciled to God, and have received mercy and forgiveness of God, the spirit longeth and thirsteth for strength to do the will of God, and that God may be honoured, his name hallowed, and his pleasure and will fulfilled. The spirit waiteth and watcheth on the will of God, and ever hath her own fragility and weakness before her eyes; and when she seeth temptation and peril draw nigh, she turneth to God, and to the testament that God hath made to all that believe and trust in Christ’s blood; and desireth God for his mercy and truth, and for the love he hath to Christ, that he will fulfil his promise, and that he will succour, and help, and give us strength, and that he will sanctify his name in us, and fulfil his godly will in us, and that he will not look on our sin and iniquity, but on his mercy, on his truth, and on the love that he oweth to his Son Christ; and for his sake to keep us from temptation, that we be not overcome; and that he deliver us from evil, and whatsoever moveth us contrary to his godly will.
Moreover, of his own experience he feeleth other men’s need, and no less commendeth to God the infirmities of other than his own, knowing that there is no strength, no help, no succour, but of God only. And as merciful as he feeleth God in his heart to himself-ward, so merciful is he to other; and as greatly as he feeleth his own misery, so great compassion hath he on other. His neighbour is no less care to him than himself: he feeleth his neighbour’s grief no less than his own. And whensoever he seeth occasion, he cannot but pray for his neighbour as well as for himself: his nature is to seek the honour of God in all men, and to draw (as much as in him is) all men unto God. This is the law of love, which springeth out of Christ’s blood into the hearts of all them that have their trust in him. No man needeth to bid a Christian man to pray, if he see his neighbour’s need: if he see it not, put him in remembrance only, and then he cannot but do his duty.
Now, as touching we desire one another to pray for us, that do we to put our neighbour in remembrance of his duty, and not that we trust in his holiness. Our trust is in God, in Christ, and in the truth of God’s promises: we have also a promise, that when two or three, or more, agree together in any thing, according to the will of God, God heareth us.
Notwithstanding, as God heareth many, so heareth he few, and so heareth he one, if he pray after the will of God, and desire the honour of God. He that desireth mercy, the same feeleth his own misery and sin, and mourneth in his heart for to be delivered, that he might honour God; and God for his truth must hear him, which saith by the mouth of Christ, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” God, for his truth’s sake, must put the righteousness of Christ in him, and wash his unrighteousness away in the blood of Christ. And be the sinner never so weak, never so feeble and frail, sin he never so oft and so grievous; yet so long as this lust, desire, and mourning to be delivered, remaineth in him, God seeth not his sins, reckoneth them not, for his truth’s sake, and love to Christ. He is not a sinner in the sight of God, that would be no sinner. He that would be delivered, hath his heart loose already. His heart sinneth not, but mourneth, repenteth, and consenteth unto the law and will of God, and justifieth God; that is, beareth record that God which made the law is righteous and just. And such an heart, trusting in Christ’s blood, is accepted for full righteous. And his weakness, infirmity, and frailty is pardoned, and his sins not looked upon, until God put more strength in him, and fulfil his lust.
When the weak in the faith, and unexpert in the mysteries of Christ, desire us to pray for them, then ought we to lead them to the truth and promises of God, and teach them to put their trust in the promises of God, in love that God hath to Christ and to us for his sake; and to strength their weak consciences, shewing and proving by the scripture, that as long as they follow the Spirit and resist sin, it is impossible they should fall so deep that God shall not pull them up again, if they hold fast by the anchor of faith, having trust and confidence in Christ. The love that God hath to Christ is infinite; and Christ did and suffered all things not for himself, to obtain favour or aught else; for he had ever the full favour of God, and was ever Lord over all things; but to reconcile us to God, and to make us heirs with him of his Father’s kingdom. And God hath promised, that whosoever calleth on his name shall never be confounded or ashamed. If the righteous fall (saith the scripture), he shall not be bruised; the Lord shall put his hand under him. Who is righteous but he that trusteth in Christ’s blood, be he never so weak? Christ is our righteousness; and in him ought we to teach all men to trust; and to expound unto all men the testament that God hath made to us sinners in Christ’s blood. This ought we to do, and not make a prey of them to lead them captive, to sit in their consciences, and to teach them to trust in our holiness, good deeds and prayers, to the intent that we should feed our idle and slow bellies of their great labour and sweat, and so to make ourselves Christs and saviours. For if I take on me to save other by my merits, make I not myself a Christ and a saviour; and am indeed a false prophet, and a true antichrist; and exalt myself, and sit in the temple of God, that is to wit, the consciences of men?
Among Christian men love maketh all things common: every man is other’s debtor, and every man is bound to minister to his neighbour, and to supply his neighbour’s lack, of that wherewith God hath endowed him. As thou seest in the world, how the lords and officers minister peace in the commonwealth, punish murderers, thieves, and evil-doers; and how the commons minister to them again rent, tribute, toll, and custom to maintain their order and estate: so in the gospel, the curates which in every parish preach the gospel ought of duty to receive an honest living for them and their households; and even so ought the other officers, which are necessarily required in the commonwealth of Christ. We need not to use filthy lucre in the gospel; to chop and change; and to play the taverners, altering the word of God, as they do their wines to their most advantage; and to fashion God’s word after every man’s mouth; or to abuse the name of Christ, to obtain thereby authority and power to feed our slow bellies.
Now seest thou what prayer is, the end thereof, and wherefore it serveth.
If thou give me a thousand pounds to pray for thee, I am no more bound than I was before. Man’s imagination can make the commandment of God neither greater nor smaller; neither can to the law of God either add or minish. God’s commandment is as great as himself. I am bound to love the Turk with all my might and power; yea, and above my power, even from the ground of my heart, after the ensample that Christ loved me; neither to spare goods, body, or life, to win him to Christ. And what can I do more for thee, if thou gavest me all the world? Where I see need, there can I not but pray, if God’s Spirit be in me.
Alms is a Greek word, and signifieth mercy. One Christian is debtor to another, at his need, of all that he is able to do for him, until his need be sufficed. Every Christian man ought to have Christ always before his eyes, as an ensample to counterfeit and follow, and to do to his neighbour as Christ hath done to him; as Paul teacheth in all his epistles, and Peter in his first, and John in his first also. This order useth Paul in all his epistles: first, he preacheth the law, and proveth that the whole nature of man is damned, in that the heart lusteth contrary to the will of God. For if we were of God, no doubt we should have lust in his will. Then preacheth he Christ, the gospel, the promises, and the mercy that God hath set forth to all men in Christ’s blood: which they that believe, and take it for an earnest thing, turn themselves to God, begin to love God again, and to prepare themselves to his will, by the working of the Spirit of God in them. Last of all, exhorteth he to unity, peace, and soberness; to avoid brawlings, sects, opinions, disputing and arguing about words; and to walk in the plain and single faith and feeling of the Spirit; and to love one another after the ensample of Christ, even as Christ loved us; and to be thankful, and to walk worthy of the gospel, and as it becometh Christ; and with the ensample of pure living to draw all to Christ.
Christ is Lord over all; and every Christian is heir annexed with Christ, and therefore lord over all; and every one lord of whatsoever another hath. If thy brother or neighbour therefore need, and thou have to help him, and yet shewest not mercy, but withdrawest thy hands from him, then robbest thou him of his own, and art a thief. A Christian man hath Christ’s Spirit.
Now is Christ a merciful thing: if therefore thou be not merciful after the ensample of Christ, then hast thou not his Spirit. If thou have not Christ’s Spirit, then art thou none of his, nor hast any part with him. Moreover, though thou shew mercy unto thy neighbour, yet if thou do it not with such burning love as Christ did unto thee, so must thou knowledge thy sin, and desire mercy in Christ. A Christian man hath nought to rejoice in, as concerning his deeds. His rejoicing is that Christ died for him, and that he is washed in Christ’s blood. Of his deeds rejoiceth he not, neither counteth he his merits, neither giveth pardons of them, neither seeketh an higher place in heaven of them, neither maketh himself a saviour of other men through his good works: but giveth all honour to God; and in his greatest deeds of mercy knowledgeth himself a sinner unfeignedly, and is abundantly content with that place that is prepared for him of Christ; and his good deeds are to him a sign only that Christ’s Spirit is in him, and he in Christ, and, through Christ, elect to eternal life.
The order of love or charity, which some dream, the gospel of Christ knoweth not of, that a man should begin at himself, and serve himself first, and then descend, I wot not by what steps. Love seeketh not her own profit, 2 Corinthians 12; but maketh a man to forget himself, and to turn his profit to another man, as Christ sought not himself, nor his own profit, but ours. This term, myself, is not in the gospel; neither yet father, mother, sister, brother, kinsman, that one should be preferred in love above another. But Christ is all in all things. Every Christian man to another is Christ himself; and thy neighbour’s need hath as good right in thy goods, as hath Christ himself, which is heir and lord over all. And look, what thou owest to Christ, that thou owest to thy neighbour’s need. To thy neighbour owest thou thine heart, thyself, and all that thou hast and canst do. The love that springeth out of Christ excludeth no man, neither putteth difference between one and another. In Christ we are all of one degree, without respect of persons. Notwithstanding, though a Christian man’s heart be open to all men, and receiveth all men, yet, because that his ability of goods extendeth not so far, this provision is made, that every man shall care for his own household, as father and mother, and thine elders that have holpen thee, wife, children, and servants. If thou shouldest not care and provide for thine household, then were thou an infidel; seeing thou hast taken on thee so to do, and forasmuch as that is thy part committed to thee of the congregation. When thou hast done thy duty to thine household, and yet hast further abundance of the blessing of God, that owest thou to the poor that cannot labour, or would labour and can get no work, and are destitute of friends; to the poor, I mean, which thou knowest, to them of thine own parish. For that provision ought to be had in the congregation, that every parish care for their poor. If thy neighbours which thou knowest be served, and thou yet have superfluity, and hearest necessity to be among the brethren a thousand miles off, to them art thou debtor. Yea, to the very infidels we be debtors, if they need, as far forth as we maintain them not against Christ, or to blaspheme Christ. Thus is every man, that needeth thy help, thy father, mother, sister, and brother in Christ; even as every man, that doth the will of the Father, is father, mother, sister, and brother unto Christ.
Moreover, if any be an infidel and a false Christian, and forsake his household, his wife, children, and such as cannot help themselves, then art thou bound, and thou have where-with, even as much as to thine own household. And they have as good right in thy goods as thou thyself: and if thou withdraw mercy from them, and hast wherewith to help them, then art thou a thief. If thou shew mercy, so doest thou thy duty, and art a faithful minister in the household of Christ; and of Christ shalt thou have thy reward and thanks. If the whole world were thine, yet hath every brother his right in thy goods; and is heir with thee, as we are all heirs with Christ. Moreover the rich, and they that have wisdom with them, must see the poor set a-work, that as many as are able may feed themselves with the labour of their own hands, according to the scripture and commandment of God.
Now seest thou what alms-deeds meaneth, and wherefore it serveth. He that seeketh with his alms more than to be merciful to a neighbour, to succour his brother’s need, to do his duty to his brother, to give his brother that he oweth him, the same is blind, and seeth not what it is to be a Christian man, and to have fellowship in Christ’s blood. As pertaining to good works, understand that all works are good which are done within the law of God, in faith, and with thanksgiving to God; and understand that thou in doing them pleasest God, whatsoever thou doest within the law of God, as when thou makest water. And trust me, if either wind or water were stopped, thou shouldest feel what a precious thing it were to do either of both, and what thanks ought to be given God therefore. Moreover, put no difference between works; but whatsoever cometh into thy hands that do, as time, place, and occasion giveth, and as God hath put thee in degree, high or low. For as touching to please God, there is no work better than another. God looketh not first on thy work as the world doth, as though the beautifulness of the work pleased him as it doth the world, or as though he had need of them. But God looketh first on thy heart, what faith thou hast to his words, how thou believest him, trustest him, and how thou lovest him for his mercy that he hath shewed thee: he looketh with what heart thou workest, and not what thou workest; how thou acceptest the degree that he hath put thee in, and not of what degree thou art, whether thou be an apostle or a shoemaker. Set this ensample before thine eyes. Thou art a kitchen-page, and washest thy master’s dishes; another is an apostle, and preacheth the word of God. Of this apostle hark what Paul saith, in the 1 Corinthians 9 “If I preach,” saith he, “I have nought to rejoice in, for necessity is put unto me;” as who should say, God hath made me so. “Woe is unto me if I preach not. If I do it willingly,” saith he, “then have I my reward;” that is, then am I sure that God’s Spirit is in me, and that I am elect to eternal life. “If I do it against my will, an office is committed unto me;” that is, if I do it not of love to God, but to get a living thereby, and for a worldly purpose, and had rather otherwise live, then do I that office which God hath put me in, and yet please not God myself. Note now, if this apostle preach not, as many do not, which not only make themselves apostles, but also compel men to take them for greater than apostles, yea, for greater than Christ himself; then woe is unto him, that is, his damnation is just. If he preach and his heart not right, yet ministereth he the office that God hath put him in, and they that have the Spirit of God hear the voice of God, yea, though he speak in an ass. Moreover, howsoever he preacheth, he hath not to rejoice in that he preacheth. But and if he preach willingly, with a true heart, and of conscience to God, then hath he his reward; that is, then feeleth he the earnest of eternal life, and the working of the Spirit of God in him. And as he feeleth God’s goodness and mercy, so be thou sure he feeleth his own infirmity, weakness, and unworthiness, and mourneth and knowledgeth his sin, in that the heart will not arise to work with that full lust and love that is in Christ our Lord: and nevertheless is yet at peace with God, through faith and trust in Christ Jesus. For the earnest of the Spirit, that worketh in him, testifieth and beareth witness unto his heart that God hath chosen him, and that his grace shall suffice him, which grace is now not idle in him. In his works putteth he no trust.
Now thou that ministerest in the kitchen, and art but a kitchen-page, receivest all things of the hand of God; knowest that God hath put thee in that office; submittest thyself to his will; and servest thy master not as a man, but as Christ himself, with a pure heart, according as Paul teacheth us; puttest thy trust in God, and with him seekest thy reward. Moreover, there is not a good deed done, but thy heart rejoiceth therein; yea, when thou hearest that the word of God is preached by this apostle, and seest the people turn to God, thou consentest unto the deed; thine heart breaketh out in joy, springeth and leapeth in thy breast, that God is honoured: and in thine heart doest the same that that apostle doth, and haply with greater delectation and a more fervent spirit. Now “he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive the reward of a prophet;” that is, he that consenteth to the deed of a prophet, and maintaineth it, the same hath the same Spirit and earnest of everlasting life, which the prophet hath, and is elect as the prophet is.
Now if thou compare deed to deed, there is difference betwixt washing of dishes, and preaching of the word of God; but as touching to please God, none at all: for neither that nor this pleaseth, but as far forth as God hath chosen a man, hath put his Spirit in him, and purified his heart by faith and trust in Christ. Let every man therefore wait on the office wherein Christ hath put him, and therein serve his brethren. If he be of low degree, let him patiently therein abide, till God promote him, and exalt him higher. Let kings and head officers seek Christ in their offices, and minister peace and quietness unto the brethren; punish sin, and that with mercy, even with the same sorrow and grief of mind as they would cut off a finger or joint, a leg or arm, of their own body, if there were such disease in them, that either they must be cut off, or else all the body must perish.
Let every man, of whatsoever craft or occupation he be of, whether brewer, baker, tailor, victualler, merchant, or husbandman, refer his craft and occupation unto the common wealth, and serve his brethren as he would do Christ himself. Let him buy and sell truly, and not set dice on his brethren; and so sheweth he mercy, and his occupation pleaseth God.
And when thou receivest money for thy labour or ware, thou receivest thy duty. For wherein soever thou minister to thy brethren, thy brethren are debtors, to give thee wherewith to maintain thyself and household. And let your superfluities succour the poor, of which sort shall ever be some in all towns, and cities, and villages, and that I suppose the greatest number.
Remember that we are members of one body, and ought to minister one to another mercifully: and remember that whatsoever we have, it is given us of God, to bestow it on our brethren. Let him that eateth, eat and give God thanks, only let not thy meat pull thine heart from God; and let him that drinketh do likewise. Let him that hath a wife, give God thanks for his liberty; only let not thy wife withdraw thine heart from God, and then pleasest thou God, and hast the word of God for thee. And in all things look on the word of God, and therein put thy trust, and not in a visor, in a disguised garment, and a cut shoe. Seek the word of God in all things; and without the word of God do nothing, though it appear never so glorious. Whatsoever is done without the word of God, that count idolatry. The kingdom of heaven is within us.
Wonder therefore at no monstrous shape, nor at any outward thing without the word: for the world was never drawn from God but with an outward show, and glorious appearance and shining of hypocrisy, and of feigned and visored fasting, praying, watching, singing, offering, sacrificing, hallowing of superstitious ceremonies, and monstrous disguising. Take this for an ensample: John Baptist, which had testimony of Christ and of the gospel, that there never rose a greater among women’s children, with his fasting, watching, praying, raiment, and strait living, deceived the Jews, and brought them in doubt whether John were very Christ or not, and yet no scripture or miracle testifying it: so greatly the blind nature of man looketh on the outward shining of works, and regardeth not the inward word which speaketh to the heart. When they sent to John, asking him whether he were Christ, he denied it. When they asked him what he was, and what he said of himself? he answered not, I am he that watcheth, prayeth, drinketh no wine nor strong drink, eateth neither fish nor flesh, but live with wild honey and grasshoppers, and wear a coat of camel’s hair and a girdle of a skin; but said, “I am a voice of a crier.” My voice only pertaineth to you. Those outward things which ye wonder at, pertain to myself only, unto the taming of my body. To you am I a voice only, and that which I preach. My preaching (if it be received into a penitent or repenting heart) shall teach you how to live and please God, according as God shall shed out his grace on every man. John preached repentance, saying, “Prepare the Lord’s way, and make his paths straight.” The Lord’s way is repentance, and not hypocrisy of man’s imagination and invention.
It is not possible that the Lord Christ should come to a man, except he know himself and his sin, and truly repent. “Make his paths straight.” The paths are the law, if thou understand it aright, as God hath given it. Christ saith, in the 17th of Matthew: “Elias shall first come,” that is, shall come before Christ, “and restore all things;” meaning of John Baptist. John Baptist did restore the law, and the scripture, unto the right sense and understanding; which the Pharisees partly had darkened, and made of none effect through their own traditions, Matthew 25; where Christ rebuketh them, saying, “Why transgress ye the commandments of God through your traditions?” and partly had corrupted it with glosses and false interpretations, that no man could understand it: wherefore Christ rebuketh them, Matthew 23, saying, “Woe be to you Pharisees, hypocrites, which shut up the kingdom of heaven before men: ye enter not yourselves, neither suffer them that come to enter in:” and partly did beguile the people and blind their eyes in disguising themselves, as thou readest in the same 23rd chapter, how they made broad and large phylacteries, and did all their works to be seen of men, that the people should wonder at their disguisings and visoring themselves otherwise than God had made them: and partly mocked them with hypocrisy of false holiness, in fasting, praying, and alms-giving, Matthew 6. And this did they for lucre, to be in authority, to sit in the consciences of people, and to be counted as God himself, that people should trust in their holiness, and not in God, as thou readest in the place above rehearsed, Matthew 23: “Woe be to you, Pharisees, hypocrites, which devour widows’ houses under a colour of a long prayer.”
Counterfeit therefore nothing without the word of God. When thou understandest that, it shall teach thee all things, how to apply outward things, and whereunto to refer them.