*Māmon is reches or aboundance of goodes. and Chryste concludeth with a playne symyli∣tude, that as it is impossyble to serue two con∣trary masters, & as it is impossyble to be retay∣ned vnto two dyuerse lordes whiche are eny∣myes one to the other / soo is it impossyble to sarue God and Mammon. Two masters of one minde and one wyl might a mā serue, for if one wyll, one mynde and one accorde be in twenty then are they all but one master. And two may∣sters where one is vnder the other and a substy∣tute, maye a man serue. For the seruyce of the inferior is the commaundement of the superior As to serue and obey father, mother, husbande master and lorde is Goddes commaundement But and yf the inferyor be of a contrarye wyll to the superyor, and commaunde any contrary thyng, thē mayst thou not obey. For nowe they be two contrary masters,* so God & Māmon are two contrary masters▪ ye two cōtrary Godes, & of contrary commaundementes.

¶ God sayth. I thy lord God am but one, and me shalt thou serue alone, y^t is, thou shalt loue me with all thy harte, or with thy whole harte / with all thy soule and with al thy myght. Thou shalt nether serue, obey or loue any thyng saue the and that I byd the, and that is far & no far∣ther then I byd the.

¶ •nd Māman sayth the same. For Mammon wylbe a God also and serued and loued alone

Page  lxxxvi¶ God sayth, se thou loue thy neyghbour, that thou labour with thy handes to get thy lyuynge and some what aboue to helpe hym.

¶Māmon sayth, he is called thy neyghbour be¦cause he is nye the. Nowe who is so nye the as thy selfe. Ergo Proximus esto tibi, that is loue thy selfe / and make lewde and vyle wretches to laboure dylygentlye to gette the as muche as thou mayst, and some scrappes aboue for them selues. Or wylt thou be perfecte? Then dysgyse thy selfe and put on a gray cote,* a blacke or a pyed and gyue thy selfe to deuocyon? despyce the world and take a couetous (I wold say cō∣templatiue lyfe) vpon the. Tel y^e people howe hote purgatory is, and what paynes there must be suffered for smal fautes. And thē geue mercy fully a thousāde folde for one spiritual, for tē∣poral, geue heuen, and take but house & lande and folyshe temporal thinges.

¶ God saythe, iudge trulye betwene thy bre∣thren / and therfore take no gyftes. Mammon sayth, it is good maner and a poynte of curtesy to take that is offered. And he that geueth y^e lo¦ueth the better then such a churle that geueth the ••ught, ye & thou art more bounde to fauoure hys cause?

¶ God sayth, sel and geue almose. ¶ Māmon sayth lay vp to haue ynough to mayntene thyn estate and to defende the frō thyn enemyes and to serue the in thy age.

For as muche then as God and Mammon be two so contrary maysters,* that who so euer wyl Page  [unnumbered] serue God must gyue vp Mammon,* and all that wyl serue Mammon must forsake God, it folo∣weth that they which are the sworne seruauntes of Mammon, and haue his holy spirite, and are his faythful churche, are not the true seruauntes of God / nor haue hys spirite of truthe in them or can be hys true churche. More ouer seynge that God and Mammon be so contrarye that Goddes worde is dethe in Mammons ear•, and hys doctryne poyson in Mammons mouthe / it foloweth that yf the ministers of Goddes word do fauour Mammon, they wyl so fassyon theyr speche & so sounde their wordes that they may be plesaunt in the eares of Mammon.*

Fynally al only to haue rychesse is not to be the seruaunt of Mammon, but to loue it and cleue to it in thyne harte. For yf thou haue gooddes onely to maynteyne the offyce whiche God hath put the in, and of the rest to helpe thy neybours nede,* so art thou lorde ouer thy Mā∣mon and not his seruaūt▪ Of them that be riche, howe shalt thou knowe the mayster of Māmon frō the seruaūt? verely fyrst by the gettynge, se∣cōdarely when his pore neybour complayneth yf he be Mammons seruaunt, Māmon wyl I shute vp his harte and make him without cōpassyon, Thyrdly the crosse of Christe wyl trye them the one from the other. For when persecucyon ary¦seth for the worde, then wyl the true seruaūt of Christ byd Mammon a dewe. And the faythful seruaūt of Mammon wyl vtter his ypocresy, &c. not only renounce the doctryne of Chryste / but Page  lxxxvii also be a cruel and a sharpe persecuter therof / to put awaye all surmyse, and that hys fydelyte whiche he hathe in hys mayster Mammon, maye openly appere.