On the right motive in religious acts — alms, prayer, fasting — and on the Lord's Prayer as the pattern of all true prayer.
Sermon 26 of 44 · 1748 · Matthew 6:1-15
Upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, VI
A passage from the sermon
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them. The intention is what makes the work valuable in the sight of God. If the eye be single — if the heart be aiming only at the glory of God — the whole body, all the actions, will be full of light.
When thou prayest, enter into thy closet. Pour out thy heart to him that seeth in secret. And use not vain repetitions: for thy Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. The Lord's Prayer, given by Christ as the pattern of prayer, is a compendium of all our wants and of all that we owe to God.
The full sermon is in the public domain and freely available from CCEL and other archives.