35. And that which follows concerning birds of the air and lilies of the field, He saith to this end, that no man may think that God careth not for the needs of His servants; when His most wise Providence reacheth unto these in creating and governing those. For it must not be deemed that it is not He that feeds and clothes them also which work with their hands. But lest they turn aside the Christian service of warfare unto their purpose of getting these things, the Lord in this premonisheth His servants that in this ministry which is due to His Sacrament, we should take thought, not for these, but for His kingdom and righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto us, whether working by our hands, or whether by infirmity of body hindered from working, or whether bound by such occupation of our very warfare that we are able to do nothing else. For neither does it follow that because the Lord hath said, “Call upon Me in the day of tribulation and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me,”112    Ps. l. 15 therefore the Apostle ought not to have fled, and to be let down by the wall in a basket that he might escape the hands of a pursuer,113    Acts ix. 25; 2 Cor. xi. 33 but should rather have waited to be taken, that, like the three children from the midst of the fires, the Lord might deliver him. Or for this reason ought not the Lord either to have said this, “If they shall persecute you in one city, flee ye to another,”114    Matt. x. 23 namely, because He hath said, “If ye shall ask of the Father any thing in My name, He will give it you.”115    John xvi. 23 As then whoever to Christ’s disciples when fleeing from persecution should cast up this sort of question, why they did not rather stand, and by calling upon God obtain through His marvellous works in such wise deliverance, as Daniel from the lions, as Peter from his chains, they would answer that they ought not to tempt God, but He would then and then only do the like for them, if it should please Him, when they had nothing that they could do; but when He put flight in their power, although they were thereby delivered, yet were they not delivered but by Him: so likewise to servants of God having time and strength after the example and precept of the Apostle to get their living by their own hands, if any from the Gospel shall raise a question concerning the birds of the air, which sow not nor reap nor gather into stores, and concerning lilies of the field that they toil not neither do they spin; they will easily answer, “If we also, by reason of any either infirmity or occupation cannot work, He will so feed and clothe us, as He doth the birds and the lilies, which do no work of this kind: but when we are able, we ought not to tempt our God; because this very ability of ours, we have it by His gift, and in living by it, we live by His bounty Who hath bounteously bestowed upon us that we should have this ability. And therefore concerning these necessary things we are not solicitous; because when we are able to do these things, He by Whom mankind are fed and clothed doth feed and clothe us: but when we are not able to do these things, He feeds and clothes us by Whom the birds are fed and the lilies clothed, because we are more worth than they. Wherefore in this our warfare, neither for the morrow take we thought: because not for the sake of these temporal things, whereunto pertaineth To-morrow, but for the sake of those eternal things, where it is evermore To-day, have we proved ourselves unto Him, that, entangled in no secular business, we may please Him.116    2 Tim. ii. 4

35. Et quod sequitur de volatilibus coeli et de liliis agri, ad hoc dicit, ne quisquam Deum putet servorum suorum necessaria non curare; cum ejus sapientissima providentia usque ad ista creanda et gubernanda perveniat. Neque enim non ipse pascit et vestit etiam eos qui manibus operantur. Sed ne christianam militiam ad hoc detorqueant ut ista conquirant, hoc servos suos Dominus praemonet, ut in eo ministerio quod Sacramento ejus debetur, non ista, sed regnum ejus et justitiam cogitemus: et haec omnia apponentur nobis sive per manus operantibus, sive infirmitate corporis impeditis, sive ipsius militiae tali occupatione districtis ut nihil aliud agere valeamus.

CAPUT XXVII.

Utendum industria nostra, ne Deum tentare videamur. Neque enim quia dixit Deus, Invoca me in die tribulationis, et eximam te, et glorificabis me (Psal. XLIX, 15), propterea non debuit fugere Apostolus, et per murum in sporta submitti, ut manus persequentis evaderet (Act. IX, 25), sed exspectare potius ut comprehenderetur, et eum sicut 0575 tres pueros de mediis ignibus liberaret (Dan. III, 50). Aut propter hoc nec Dominus dicere debuit, Si vos persecuti fuerint in una civitate, fugite in aliam (Matth. X, 23); quia ipse dixit, Si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, dabit vobis (Joan. XVI, 23). Sicut ergo quisquis persecutionem fugientibus discipulis Christi objiceret hujusmodi quaestionem, cur non stetisset potius, et invocato Deo per ejus mirabilia sic eruerentur, ut Daniel a leonibus (Dan. VI, 23, et XIV, 40), ut Petrus ex vinculis (Act. XII, 7); responderent non se oportuisse tentare Deum, sed tunc eum talia si vellet esse facturum, cum ipsi quid facerent non haberent; cum vero eis fugam in potestatem dedisset, etiamsi per illam liberarentur, non nisi ab ipso liberari: sic etiam Dei servis vacantibus et valentibus exemplo et praecepto apostolico manibus suis victum transigere, si quis ex Evangelio moverit quaestionem de volatilibus coeli, quae non seminant, neque metunt, neque congregant in apothecas, et de liliis agri, quia non laborant, neque nent; facile respondebunt, Si et nos per aliquam vel infirmitatem vel occupationem non possimus operari, sic ille nos pascet et vestiet, quemadmodum aves et lilia, quae nihil operantur hujuscemodi: cum autem possumus, non debemus tentare Deum nostrum; quia et hoc quod possumus, ejus munere possumus, et cum hinc vivimus, illo largiente vivimus, qui largitus est ut possimus. Et ideo de istis necessariis solliciti non sumus; quia cum haec possumus agere, ille nos pascit et vestit, a quo pascuntur homines et vestiuntur: cum vero haec non possumus agere, idem ipse nos pascit et vestit, a quo aves pascuntur et lilia vestiuntur; quoniam nos pluris sumus illis. Quapropter in ista militia nostra, nec in crastinum cogitamus; quia non propter ista temporalia, quo pertinet crastinus, sed propter illa sempiterna, ubi semper hodiernus est, nos illi probavimus, ut ei nullis negotiis saecularibus implicati placeamus (II Tim. II, 4).