Complete Works of Thomas Manton, D.D., Volume 1

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father, &c.—Mat. VI. 6-8.

I INTEND to go over the Lord’s Prayer; and, to make way for it, I shall speak a little of these foregoing verses, wherein our Lord treats of the duty of prayer, and the necessity of being much therein.

In the beginning of this chapter our Lord taxeth the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, which was plainly to be seen in all their duties their alms, their prayers, and their fasting.

I. For their alms: Christ deals with that in the first four verses. It seems it was their fashion, when they gave alms, to sound a trumpet; and their pretence was to call all the poor within hearing, or to give notice that such a rabbi giveth alms to-day. Now, our Lord showeth that though this were the fair pretence to call the poor, yet their heart was merely upon their own glory, their own esteem with men; and therefore he persuades his disciples to greater secrecy in this work, and to content themselves with God’s approbation, which will be open, and manifest, and honourable enough in due time, when the archangel shall blow the trumpet to call all the world together, 1 Thes. iv. 16, and Christ shall publish their good works in the hearing of men and angels: Mat. xxv. 34-36. Thus he deals with them upon the point of alms.