Matthew 6:2 Therefore when you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets… Ostentatious piety has its own remuneration. There is real happiness in other things besides goodness. There is pleasure in wrong-doing; quarrelsome, destructive, lazy, gluttonous men find a certain kind of enjoyment in these. There is pleasure in the love of praise and pride. But that is all their reward. The gospel points out the great life that lies beyond; it charges man to use himself in this life that he may gain the higher. (Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. |