John Trapp on Matthew 23:14

Verse 14. Ye devoure widdows houses] Though they pretended to be great fasters, Luk. 18. 12. yet. their [illegible: 1 word] prepared deceit, as Eliphaz hath it, Job 15. 35. and their throats (those open sepulchres swallowed up whole houses (such was their covetousnesse) and that of widows (such was their cruelty) and that under a pretence of long prayers, which was their hypocrisie: for while their lips seemed to pray, they were but chewing that morsell, that murthering [illegible: 1 word] that made them receive the greater damnation. Multi in terris [illegible: 1 word], quod apud inferos digerunt, saith Augustin. Many [illegible: 1 word] that on earth, that they must digest in hell, where the never-dying worm will feed greedily upon all such covetous caitiffs, as have the greedy worm under [non-Latin text not transcribed] their tongues, and their ill-gotten goods gotten already into theirLuk. 11. 41. bowels, [illegible: 1 word] these Pharisees had: which therefore God shall fetchIob 20. 15. thence again with a [illegible: 1 word]. Make long [illegible: 1 word]] God takes not mens praiers by tale, but by weight. He respecteth not the Arithmetike of our praiers, how many they are, nor the Rhetorike of our praiers, how eloquent they are, nor the Geometry of our praiers, how long they are, nor the Musick of our praiers, the sweetnesse of our voice, nor the Logick of our praiers, or the method of them, but the divinity of our praiers, is that which he so much esteemeth. He [illegible: 1 word] not for any James with horny knees through [illegible: 1 word] in praier: nor for any [illegible: 1 word] with a century of praiers for the morning, and as many for the evening: but S. Paul his frequency of praying with fervency of spirit, without all [illegible: 1 word] prolixities and vain bablings; this is it that God maketh most account of. It is not a servants going to and fro, but the dispatch of his businesse that pleaseth his master. It is not the loudnesse of a preachers voice, but the holinesse of the matter, and the spirit of the preacher, that moveth a wise and intelligent hearer. So herenot gifts, but graces in praier move the Lord. But these long [illegible: 1 word] of the Pharisees were so much the worse, because thereby they sought to entitle God to their sin, yea, they meerly mocked him, fleering in his face.