The Parable of the Wicked Mammon, Parable · Part 10 – Part 12
FOr a forder vnderstāding of this Gospell, maye here be made. iii. questions. What mamōn is, wh… it is called vnrighteous, and after what maner Christ byddeth vsus counterfet and folowe the vniust & wicked stuard which with his Lordes damage prouyded for hys owne profit and vantage, whyche thing no doute is vnrighteous and syne.
Fyrst Mammon is an Ebrewe wordeMammon and signifyeth ryches or tēporal goodes, and namelye all superfluitie and all that is aboue necessary yt whyche is not reputed vntounto our necessari vsees, where with a man maye healpe an other, with out vn doinge or hurtinge him selfe. For hamon in the Ebrewe speach, signifieth a multitude or a bundaunce or many
And therehence commeth mahamon or mammon aboundaunce or plenteousnes of goodes or riches. Secūdarili, it is called vnrighteous mammon, not because it is gotē vnrightuousli or with vsuri. For of vnrighteous goten goodes can no mā do good workes, but ought to restore thē whom agayne. As it is sayd Isaias. lxi. I am a God that hateth offeringe that commeth of robbery. And Salo. pro. iii. sayeth, honoure the Lorde of thyne owne good. But therfore is it called vnrighteous, because it is in vnryghteous vse. As Paule speaketh vntounto the Ephesians. v. how that the dayes are euil thoughe that God hath made thē, and they are a good worke of Goddes makynge. Howe be it they are yet called euill because that euill men vse them a mysse, and moche synne, occacions of euill, perrell of soulis are wroughte in them. Euen so is riches called euill, because that euill men bestowe them amisse & misuse them. For where riches is ther goeth it after the cōmen prouer…e. He that hath money hath what him lysteth. And they cause fyghtinge, ste linge, leynge a wayte, lyinge, flatteringe and al vnhappines against a mans neigh boure. For all men holde on ryches parte
But singularly before God is it called. vnrightuous mammon, because it is not bestowed and mynistred vntounto oure neybours neade For if my neyboure neade and I geue him not, nether depart liberal ly with hym, of that whiche I hauehave: than with hold I frō him vnrightuously that whiche is hys owne. For as muche as I am bownden to healpe hym by the lawe of nature, whyche is, what soeuer thou woldest that another dyd to the that do thou also to him. And Christ Mathey. v. Geue to eueryevery man that desireth the. And John in his fyrste pystle, yf a man hauehave this worldes good & se his brother neade, how is the louelove of God in hym? And this vnryghtuousnes in our mammon se vert fewe men, because it is sprituall, and in those goodes whiche at goten most truly and iustly are mē muche begyled For they suppose they do no man wronge in kepinge theim, in that thei got thē not with stelinge, Robbinge, oppressiō, and vsury, nether hurt any man now with them.
Thrydly many hauehave busyed thē selfesWho is the steward in studyenge what or who thys vnryghteous steward is, because that Christe so praiseth hym. But shortely and playnely thys is the answere. That Christe prayseth not the vnryghteous stuard, nether setteth hym forth to vsus to counterfet, because of his vnrighteousnes but because of his wisdome only in that he with vnright so wisely prouldid for him selfe. As if I woulde prouoke another to praye or studie saiyng. The theues watche all nighte to robbe and stele: why canst not thou watche to praye and to studie? Here prayse not I the thefe and murderer for there euil doinge, but for ther wysdome▪ that they so wisely and diligently waite on ther vnrighteousnes. Like wise when I saye mysse women tyer thiem selfes with golde & sylke to please ther louers. What wylt not thou garnysh thy soule with fayth to please Christe? here prayse I not whordome, but the diligence which the whore mysuseth.
Of this wise Paule also Roma. v. likeneth Adam and Christ together, sayenge that Adam was a fygure of Christe, And yet of Adā hauehave we but pure synne, and of Christe grace onelyonly, whiche are out of measure contrarie. But the similitude or likenes stādeth in the original byrth, and not in the vertue and vice of the birth.
So that as Adam is father of all synne, so is Christe father of all rightuousnes. And as all synnes springe of Adam: euen so all rightuous men and women springe of Christe. After the same maner is here the vnrightuous stuarde an ensample vn to vsus in hys wisdome and diligence only, in that he prouided so wysely for hym selfe, that we with rightuousnes shoulde be as diligent to prouyde for our soules, as he with vnrightuousnes prouided for his body Lyke wyse mayste thou soyle all other texes whiche sounde as though it were betwene vsus and God as it is in the worlde where the rewarde is more lo ked vponupon, then the laboure: yea wher mē hate the laboure and worke falsly with the bodye, and not with the herte and no longer than they are loked vponupon, that the laboure maye appere outwarde only.
WHen Christe sayth Mathe. v. Blessed are ye whē they rayle on you, & persecute you, and saye all maner euill sayinges agaynst you, and yet lye, and that for my sake, reioyse and be glad, for youre rewarde is greate in heauen. Thou mayste not ymagen that oure deades deserue the Joye and glorye that shalbe geven vntounto vsus. For then (Paule saieth Ro. xi.) fauoure were not fauour I can not receyue it of fauour and of the boūteous goodnes of God frely, and by deseruinge of deads also. But beleue as the Gospel▪ the glade tidynges and promises of God saye vntounto the that for Christes bloudes sake only thorowe fayth, God is at one wythe the and thou receyued to mercye and art becōe the sonne of God and heire annered with Christe of all the goodnes of God the ernest where of is the spirite of god poured in to our hertes. Of which thinges the deades are witnesses and certifie oure consciences that oure fayth is vnfained and that ye ryght spirit of God is in vsus. For if I paciently suffer aduersite and tribulacion for cōscience of God only that is to say, because I know God and testifie the trueh. Than am I sure that God hath chosen me in Christe and for Christes sake, and hath put in me his spirit as an ernest of his promises, whose workyng I feale in mine hert, the deades beringe wittnes vntounto the same. Nowe is it Christes bloud only that deserued all the promises of God and that whiche, I suffer and do is partly ye curinge healing and mortifieng of my mēbres and filyng of that originally poyson, where with I was conceyued and borne, that I myght be altogether Christ, and partly the doing of my dutye to my neighboure, whos det ter I am of all that I hauehave receyued of God, to drawe hym to Christe wyth all suffringe, with al paciens and euen with shedinge my bloud for him, not as an offe ringe or merite for hys sinnes, but as an ensampel to prouoke him. Christes bloud only putteth away al the synne that euer was, is or shallbe from them that are electe and repēt beleuing the Gospel that is to saye gods promises in Christe.
AGayne in the same. v. Chap louelove your enmyes, blesse thē that cursse you do wel to them that hate you and persecute you, that ye may be the sonnes of youre father whiche is in heauen. For he maketh his son shyne vp pon euill and on good, and sendeth hys tayne vppon Iust and vniust. Not that our workes make vsus the sonnes of God. but testifie only and certifie oure consciences that we are the sonnes of God and that God hath chosen vsus and weshed vsus in Christes bloude, and hathe put hys spirite in vsus. And it foloweth, if ye louelove them that louelove you, what rewarde hauehave ye? do not the publicanes euen the same? and if ye shal hauehave fauour to your frēdes only what singuler thinge do ye? do not the publicanes euen the same? ye shalbe perfecte therfore as your father whyche is in heauen is perfect. That is to saye if that ye do no thinge but that the world doth, and they whiche hauehave the spirite of the worlde, wherebye shal ye knowe that ye are the sonnes of God and beloued of God, more than the worlde? But and ifThe signe of Gods fauour. ye conterfecte and folowe God in well doinge thē no doute it is a sygne that the spirite of God ys in you and also the fauoure of God, which is not in the world and that ye are enheretours of all the pro myses of God, and elect vntounto the felowshippe of the bloude of Christe.