'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 19-20.
The connection with the previous part is twofold.
The warning against hypocritical fastings and formalism leads to the
warning against worldly-mindedness and avarice. For what
worldly-mindedness is greater than that which prostitutes even religious
acts to worldly advantage, and is laying up treasure of men's good
opinion on earth even while it shams to be praying to God? And there is
a close connection which the history of every age has illustrated
between formal religious profession and the love of money, which is the
vice of the Church. Again, the promise of rewarding openly naturally
leads on to the positive exhortation to make that reward our great
object.
The connection with what follows is remarkable. The injunction and
prohibition of the text refer to two species of the same genus, one the
vice of avarice, the other the vice of anxiety.