Book of Common Prayer

¹⁹ Therefore, dear brethren, let everyone be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. ²⁰ For the wrath of man does not work that which is righteous before God. ²¹ Therefore lay apart all uncleanness, and all lingering evil and vice, and receive with meekness the word that is grafted in you, which is able to save your souls. ²² And see that you be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves with sophistry. ²³ For if anyone hears the word and does it not, he is like a man that looks at his bodily face in a mirror. ²⁴ For as soon as he has looked at himself, he goes his way and forgets immediately what his appearance was. ²⁵ But whoever looks in the perfect law of liberty and continues in it (if he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work), this one shall be happy in his deed.

²⁶ If anyone among you seems devout, yet refrains not his tongue, but betrays his own heart into mischief, this one’s devotion is in vain. ²⁷ Pure devotion, and undefiled before God the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their adversity, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Of alms, prayer, and fasting. Jesus forbids the care of seeking the things of this life.

6 Take heed to your alms, that you do not give in the sight of men with the intent to be seen by them, or you will receive no reward from your Father who is in heaven. ² Whenever therefore you give your alms, do not make a trumpet to be blown before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets in order to be praised by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. ³ But when you give, let not your left hand know what your right hand does, ⁴ so that your giving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

⁵ And when you pray, do not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, because they want to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. ⁶ But when you pray, enter into your chamber and shut the door to, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

¹⁶ Moreover, when you fast, do not be sad like the hypocrites are. For they disfigure their faces so they may be seen by men, how they fast. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. ¹⁷ But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it does not appear to men that you are fasting, but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.