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| On Works and Alms.
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Treatise
VIII.3519
| 3519
[Numbered x. in Oxford ed., assigned to a.d. 254.] |
On Works and Alms.
Argument.—He Powerfully Exhorts to the Manifestation of Faith by
Works, and Enforces the Wisdom of Offerings to the Church and of Bounty
to the Poor as the Best Investment of a Christian’s Estate.
This He Proves Out of Many Scriptures.
1. Many and great, beloved brethren, are the
divine benefits wherewith the large and abundant mercy of God the
Father and Christ both has laboured and is always labouring for our
salvation: that the Father sent the Son to preserve us and give
us life, in order that He might restore us; and that the Son was
willing3520
| 3520 A
slight and scarcely noticeable difference occurs here in the Oxford
text, which reads the passage, “that the Son was sent, and willed
to be called the Son of man.” | to be sent and
to become the Son of man, that He might make us sons of God; humbled
Himself, that He might raise up the people who before were prostrate;
was wounded that He might heal our wounds; served, that He might draw
out to liberty those who were in bondage; underwent death, that He
might set forth immortality to mortals. These are many and great
boons of divine compassion. But, moreover, what is that
providence, and how great the clemency, that by a plan of salvation it
is provided for us, that more abundant care should be taken for
preserving man after he is already redeemed! For when the Lord at
His advent had cured those wounds which Adam had borne,3521
| 3521
Portaverat; “had brought” (Oxf. transl.). | and had healed
the old poisons of the serpent,3522
He gave a law to the sound man and bade
him sin no more, lest a worse thing should befall the sinner. We
had been limited and shut up into a narrow space by the commandment of
innocence. Nor would the infirmity and weakness of human frailty
have any resource, unless the divine mercy, coming once more in aid,
should open some way of securing salvation by pointing out works of
justice and mercy, so that by almsgiving we may wash away whatever
foulness we subsequently contract.3523
| 3523
[The beauty of Cyprian’s exordiums and perorations proves
that he was a true orator. “Great and manifold,”
etc., Translators of King James.] |
2. The Holy Spirit speaks in the sacred
Scriptures, and says, “By almsgiving and faith sins are
purged.”3524
Not
assuredly those sins which had been previously contracted, for those
are purged by the blood and sanctification of Christ. Moreover,
He says again, “As water extinguisheth fire, so almsgiving
quencheth sin.”3525
Here also it is shown and proved,
that as in the laver of saving water the fire of Gehenna is
extinguished, so by almsgiving and works of righteousness the flame of
sins is subdued. And because in baptism remission of sins is
granted once for all, constant and ceaseless labour, following the
likeness of baptism, once again bestows the mercy of God. The
Lord teaches this also in the Gospel. For when the disciples were
pointed out, as eating and not first washing their hands, He replied
and said, “He that made that which is within, made also that
which is without. But give alms, and behold all things are clean
unto you;”3526
teaching
hereby and showing, that not the hands are to be washed, but the heart,
and that the foulness from inside is to be done away rather than that
from outside; but that he who shall have cleansed what is within has
cleansed also that which is without; and that if the mind is cleansed,
a man has begun to be clean also in skin and body. Further,
admonishing, and showing whence we may be clean and purged, He added
that alms must be given. He who is pitiful teaches and warns us
that pity must be shown; and because He seeks to save those whom at a
great cost He has redeemed, He teaches that those who, after the grace
of baptism, have become foul, may once more be cleansed.
3. Let us then acknowledge, beloved
brethren, the wholesome gift of the divine mercy; and let us, who
cannot be without some wound of conscience, heal our wounds by the
spiritual remedies for the cleansing and purging of our sins. Nor
let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate
heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the
medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds; since it is written,
“Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, or who shall boast
that he is pure from sins?”3527
And again, in his epistle, John
lays it down, and says, “If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”3528
But if no one can be without sin,
and whoever should say that he is without fault is either proud or
foolish, how needful, how kind is the divine mercy, which, knowing that
there are still found some wounds in those that have been healed, even
after their healing, has given wholesome remedies for the curing and
healing of their wounds anew!
4. Finally, beloved brethren, the divine
admonition in the Scriptures, as well old as new, has never failed, has
never been silent in urging God’s people always and everywhere to
works of mercy; and in the strain and exhortation of the Holy Spirit,
every one who is instructed into the hope of the heavenly kingdom is
commanded to give alms.
God commands and prescribes to Isaiah: “Cry,” says
He, “with strength, and spare not. Lift up thy voice as a
trumpet, and declare to my people their transgressions, and to the
house of Jacob their sins.”3529
And when He had commanded their
sins to be charged upon them, and with the full force of His
indignation had set forth their iniquities, and had said, that not even
though they should use supplications, and prayers, and fastings, should
they be able to make atonement for their sins; nor, if they were
clothed in sackcloth and ashes, be able to soften God’s anger,
yet in the last part showing that God can be appeased by almsgiving
alone, he added, saying, “Break thy bread to the hungry, and
bring the poor that are without a home into thy house. If thou
seest the naked, clothe him; and despise not the household of thine own
seed. Then shall thy light break forth in season, and thy
garments shall arise speedily; and righteousness shall go before thee,
and the glory of God shall surround thee. Then shalt thou cry,
and God shall hear thee; whilst yet thou art speaking, He shall say,
Here I am.”3530
5. The remedies for propitiating God are
given in the words of God Himself; the divine instructions have taught
what sinners ought to do, that by works of righteousness God is
satisfied, that with the deserts of mercy sins are cleansed. And
in Solomon we read, “Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and
these shall intercede for thee from all evil.”3531
And again: “Whoso
stoppeth his ears that he may not hear the weak, he also shall call
upon God, and there will be none to hear him.”3532
For he shall not be able to
deserve the mercy of the Lord, who himself shall not have been
merciful; nor shall he obtain aught from the divine pity in his
prayers, who shall not have been humane towards the poor man’s
prayer. And this also the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, and
proves, saying, Blessed is he that considereth of the poor and needy;
the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.”3533
Remembering which precepts,
Daniel, when king Nebuchodonosor was in anxiety, being frightened by an
adverse dream, gave him, for the turning away of evils, a remedy to
obtain the divine help, saying, “Wherefore, O king, let my
counsel be acceptable to thee; and redeem thy sins by almsgivings, and
thine unrighteousness by mercies to the poor, and God will be
patient3534
| 3534
Some editors read “parcens” instead of
“patiens,” making the meaning “sparing to thy
sins.” | to thy
sins.”3535
And as
the king did not obey him, he underwent the misfortunes and mischiefs
which he had seen, and which he might have escaped and avoided had he
redeemed his sins by almsgiving. Raphael the angel also witnesses
the like, and exhorts that alms should be freely and liberally
bestowed, saying, “Prayer is good, with fasting and alms; because
alms doth deliver from death, and it purgeth away sins.”3536
He shows
that our prayers and fastings are of less avail, unless they are aided
by almsgiving; that entreaties alone are of little force to obtain what
they seek, unless they be made sufficient3537
| 3537
Some have read for “satientur,” “farciantur,”
and others “socientur,” “be filled up,” or
“be associated.” | by the addition of deeds and good
works. The angel reveals, and manifests, and certifies that our
petitions become efficacious by almsgiving, that life is redeemed from
dangers by almsgiving, that souls are delivered from death by
almsgiving.
6. Neither, beloved brethren, are we so
bringing forward these things, as that we should not prove what Raphael
the angel said, by the testimony of the truth. In the Acts of the
Apostles the faith of the fact is established; and that souls are
delivered by almsgiving not only from the second, but from the first
death, is discovered by the evidence of a matter accomplished and
completed. When Tabitha, being greatly given to good works and to
bestowing alms, fell sick and died, Peter was summoned to her lifeless
body; and when he, with apostolic humanity, had come in haste, there
stood around him widows weeping and entreating, showing the cloaks, and
coats, and all the garments which they had previously received, and
praying for the deceased not by their words, but by her own
deeds. Peter felt that what was asked in such a way might be
obtained, and that Christ’s aid would not be wanting to the
petitioners, since He Himself was clothed in the clothing of the
widows. When, therefore, falling on his knees, he had prayed,
and—fit advocate for the widows and poor—had brought to the
Lord the prayers entrusted to him, turning to the body, which was now
lying washed on the bier,3538
| 3538
Other translators read, “in the upper chamber.” | he said, “Tabitha, in the name
of Jesus Christ, arise!”3539
Nor did He fail to bring aid to
Peter, who had said in the Gospel, that whatever should be asked in His
name should be given. Therefore death is suspended, and the
spirit is restored, and, to the marvel and astonishment of all, the
revived body is quickened into this worldly light once more; so
effectual were the merits of mercy, so much did righteous works
avail! She who had conferred upon suffering widows the help
needful to live, deserved to be recalled to life by the widows’
petition.
7. Therefore in the Gospel, the Lord, the
Teacher of our life and
Master of eternal salvation, quickening the assembly of believers, and
providing for them for ever when quickened, among His divine commands
and precepts of heaven, commands and prescribes nothing more frequently
than that we should devote ourselves to almsgiving, and not depend on
earthly possessions, but rather lay up heavenly treasures.
“Sell,” says He, “your goods, and give
alms.”3540
And
again: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth,
where moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break through and
steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there will thy
heart be also.”3541
And when He wished to set forth a
man perfect and complete by the observation of the law,3542
| 3542
“When He would show to one who had observed the law how to become
perfect and finished” (Oxf. transl.). | He said,
“If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow
me.”3543
Moreover,
in another place He says that a merchant of the heavenly grace, and a
gainer of eternal salvation, ought to purchase the precious
pearl—that is, eternal life—at the price of the blood of
Christ, from the amount of his patrimony, parting with all his wealth
for it. He says: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto
a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. And when he found a precious
pearl, he went away and sold all that he had, and bought
it.”3544
8. In fine, He calls those the children of
Abraham whom He sees to be laborious in aiding and nourishing the
poor. For when Zacchæus said, “Behold, the half of my
goods I give to the poor; and if I have done any wrong to any man, I
restore fourfold,” Jesus answered and said, “That salvation
has this day come to this house, for that he also is a son of
Abraham.”3545
For if
Abraham believed in God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness,
certainly he who gives alms according to God’s precept believes
in God, and he who has the truth of faith maintains the fear of God;
moreover, he who maintains the fear of God considers God in showing
mercy to the poor. For he labours thus because he
believes—because he knows that what is foretold by God’s
word is true, and that the Holy Scripture cannot lie—that
unfruitful trees, that is, unproductive men, are cut off and cast into
the fire, but that the merciful are called into the kingdom. He
also, in another place, calls laborious and fruitful men faithful; but
He denies faith to unfruitful and barren ones, saying, “If ye
have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to
you that which is true? And if ye have not been faithful in that
which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your
own?”3546
9. If you dread and fear, lest, if you begin
to act thus abundantly, your patrimony being exhausted with your
liberal dealing, you may perchance be reduced to poverty; be of good
courage in this respect, be free from care: that cannot be
exhausted whence the service of Christ is supplied, whence the heavenly
work is celebrated. Neither do I vouch for this on my own
authority; but I promise it on the faith of the Holy Scriptures, and on
the authority of the divine promise. The Holy Spirit speaks by
Solomon, and says, “He that giveth unto the poor shall never
lack, but he that turneth away his eye shall be in great
poverty;”3547
showing that
the merciful and those who do good works cannot want, but rather that
the sparing and barren hereafter come to want. Moreover, the
blessed Apostle Paul, full of the grace of the Lord’s
inspiration, says: “He that ministereth seed to the sower,
shall both minister bread for your food, and shall multiply your seed
sown, and shall increase the growth of the fruits of your
righteousness, that in all things ye may be enriched.”3548
And
again: “The administration of this service shall not only
supply the wants of the saints, but shall be abundant also by many
thanksgivings unto God;”3549
because, while thanks are directed to
God for our almsgivings and labours, by the prayer of the poor, the
wealth of the doer is increased by the retribution of God. And
the Lord in the Gospel, already considering the hearts of men of this
kind, and with prescient voice denouncing faithless and unbelieving
men, bears witness, and says: “Take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be
clothed? For these things the Gentiles seek. And your
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first
the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall
be added unto you.”3550
He says that all these things
shall be added and given to them who seek the kingdom and righteousness
of God. For the Lord says, that when the day of judgment shall
come, those who have laboured in His Church are admitted to receive the
kingdom.
10. You are afraid lest perchance your estate
should fail, if you begin to act liberally from it; and you do not
know, miserable man that you are, that while you are fearing lest your
family property should fail you, life itself, and salvation,
are failing; and whilst you
are anxious lest any of your wealth should be diminished, you do not
see that you yourself are being diminished, in that you are a lover of
mammon more than of your own soul; and while you fear, lest for the
sake of yourself, you should lose your patrimony, you yourself are
perishing for the sake of your patrimony. And therefore the
apostle well exclaims, and says: “We brought nothing into
this world, neither indeed can we carry anything out. Therefore,
having food and clothing, let us therewith be content. For they
who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many and
hurtful desires, which drown a man in perdition and in destruction.
For covetousness is a root of all evils, which some desiring,
have made shipwreck from the faith, and pierced themselves through with
many sorrows.”3551
11. Are you afraid that your patrimony
perchance may fall short, if you should begin to do liberally from
it? Yet when has it ever happened that resources3552
| 3552 Some
editors read, “the resources of life.” | could fail the
righteous man, since it is written, “The Lord will not slay with
famine the righteous soul?”3553
Elias in the desert is fed by the
ministry of ravens; and a meal from heaven is made ready for Daniel in
the den, when shut up by the king’s command for a prey to the
lions; and you are afraid that food should be wanting to you, labouring
and deserving well of the Lord, although He Himself in the Gospel bears
witness, for the rebuke of those whose mind is doubtful and faith
small, and says: “Behold the fowls of heaven, that they sow
not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth
them: are you not of more value than they?”3554
God feeds
the fowls, and daily food is afforded to the sparrows; and to creatures
which have no sense of things divine there is no want of drink or
food. Thinkest thou that to a Christian—thinkest thou that
to a servant of the Lord—thinkest thou that to one given up to
good works—thinkest thou that to one that is dear to his Lord,
anything will be wanting?
12. Unless you imagine that he who feeds
Christ is not himself fed by Christ, or that earthly things will be
wanting to those to whom heavenly and divine things are given, whence
this unbelieving thought, whence this impious and sacrilegious
consideration? What does a faithless heart do in the home of
faith? Why is he who does not altogether trust in Christ named
and called a Christian? The name of Pharisee is more fitting for
you. For when in the Gospel the Lord was discoursing concerning
almsgiving, and faithfully and wholesomely warned us to make to
ourselves friends of our earthly lucre by provident good works, who
might afterwards receive us into eternal dwellings, the Scripture added
after this, and said, “But the Pharisees heard all these things,
who were very covetous, and they derided Him.”3555
Some suchlike we see now in the
Church, whose closed ears and darkened hearts admit no light from
spiritual and saving warnings, of whom we need not wonder that they
contemn the servant in his discourses, when we see the Lord Himself
despised by such.
13. Wherefore do you applaud yourself in
those vain and silly conceits, as if you were withheld from good works
by fear and solicitude for the future? Why do you lay out before
you certain shadows and omens of a vain excuse? Yea, confess what
is the truth; and since you cannot deceive those who know,3556
| 3556
“Him who knows it,” Oxford translation. | utter forth the
secret and hidden things of your mind. The gloom of barrenness
has besieged your mind; and while the light of truth has departed
thence, the deep and profound darkness of avarice has blinded your
carnal heart. You are the captive and slave of your money; you
are bound with the chains and bonds of covetousness; and you whom
Christ had once loosed, are once more in chains. You keep your
money, which, when kept, does not keep you.3557
You heap up a patrimony which
burdens you3558
| 3558
According to Manutius, Pamelius, and others, “too heavily”
is here added. | with its
weight; and you do not remember what God answered to the rich man, who
boasted with a foolish exultation of the abundance of his exuberant
harvest: “Thou fool,” said He, “this night thy
soul is required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou
hast provided?”3559
Why do you watch in loneliness
over your riches? why for your punishment do you heap up the burden of
your patrimony, that, in proportion as you are rich in this world, you
may become poor to God? Divide your returns with the Lord your
God; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partner with you in
your earthly possessions, that He also may make you a fellow-heir with
Him in His heavenly kingdom.
14. You are mistaken, and are deceived, whosoever
you are, that think yourself rich in this world. Listen to the
voice of your Lord in the Apocalypse, rebuking men of your stamp with
righteous reproaches: “Thou sayest,” says He,
“I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;
and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be
rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness may not appear in thee; and anoint thine eyes
with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.”3560
You therefore, who are rich and
wealthy, buy for yourself of Christ gold tried by fire; that you may be
pure gold, with your filth burnt out as if by fire, if you are purged
by almsgiving and righteous works. Buy for yourself white
raiment, that you who had been naked according to Adam, and were before
frightful and unseemly, may be clothed with the white garment of
Christ. And you who are a wealthy and rich matron in
Christ’s Church,3561
| 3561 These
words, “in Christ’s Church,” are omitted in a few
texts. |
anoint your eyes, not with the collyrium of the devil,3562
| 3562 [See
Tertullian, vol. iv. p. 19; and for men, p. 22. Also,
“eyelid-powder,” p. 23.] | but with
Christ’s eye-salve, that you may be able to attain to see God, by
deserving well of God, both by good works and character.
15. But you who are such as this, cannot
labour in the Church. For your eyes, overcast with the gloom of
blackness, and shadowed in night, do not see the needy and poor.
You are wealthy and rich, and do you think that you celebrate the
Lord’s Supper, not at all considering the offering,3563
| 3563
“Corban.” [The note of the Oxford translation
is useful in this place, quoting from Palmer, Antiq., iv.
8. But see Pellicia, Polity, etc., p. 237, trans. London,
Masters, 1883.] | who come to the
Lord’s Supper without a sacrifice, and yet take part of the
sacrifice which the poor man has offered? Consider in the Gospel
the widow that remembered the heavenly precepts, doing good even amidst
the difficulties and straits of poverty, casting two mites, which were
all that she had, into the treasury; whom when the Lord observed and
saw, regarding her work not for its abundance, but for its intention,
and considering not how much, but from how much, she had given,
He answered and said, “Verily I say unto you, that that widow
hath cast in more than they all into the offerings of God. For
all these have, of that which they had in abundance, cast in unto the
offerings of God; but she of her penury hath cast in all the living
that she had.”3564
Greatly blessed and glorious
woman, who even before the day of judgment hast merited to be praised
by the voice of the Judge! Let the rich be ashamed of their
barrenness and unbelief. The widow, the widow needy in
means,3565
is found rich
in works. And although everything that is given is conferred upon
widows and orphans, she gives, whom it behoved to receive, that we may
know thence what punishment, awaits the barren rich man, when by this
very instance even the poor ought to labour in good works. And in
order that we may understand that their labours are given to God, and
that whoever performs them deserves well of the Lord, Christ calls this
“the offerings of God,” and intimates that the widow has
cast in two farthings into the offerings of God, that it may be more
abundantly evident that he who hath pity on the poor lendeth to
God.
16. But neither let the consideration,
dearest brethren, restrain and recall the Christian from good and
righteous works, that any one should fancy that he could be excused for
the benefit of his children; since in spiritual expenditure we ought to
think of Christ, who has declared that He receives them; and not prefer
our fellow-servants, but the Lord, to our children, since He Himself
instructs and warns us, saying, “He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me.”3566
Also in Deuteronomy, for the
strengthening of faith and the love of God, similar things are
written: “Who say,” he saith, “unto their
father or mother, I have not known thee; neither did they acknowledge
their children, these have observed Thy words, and kept Thy
covenant.”3567
For if
we love God with our whole heart, we ought not to prefer either our
parents or children to God. And this also John lays down in his
epistle, that the love of God is not in them whom we see unwilling to
labour for the poor. “Whoso,” says he, “hath
this world’s goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels from him, how dwelleth the love of God in
him?”3568
For if
by almsgiving to the poor we are lending to God—and when it is
given to the least it is given to Christ—there is no ground for
any one preferring earthly things to heavenly, nor for considering
human things before divine.
17. Thus that widow in the third book of Kings,
when in the drought and famine, having consumed everything, she had
made of the little meal and oil which was left, a cake upon the ashes,
and, having used this, was about to die with her children, Elias came
and asked that something should first be given him to eat, and then of
what remained that she and her children should eat. Nor did she
hesitate to obey; nor did the mother prefer her children to Elias in
her hunger and poverty. Yea, there is done in God’s sight a
thing that pleases God: promptly and liberally is presented what
is asked for. Neither is it a portion out of abundance, but the
whole out of a little, that is given, and another is fed before her
hungry children; nor in penury and want is food thought of before
mercy; so that while in a saving work the life according to
the flesh is contemned, the
soul according to the spirit is preserved. Therefore Elias, being
the type of Christ, and showing that according to His mercy He returns
to each their reward, answered and said: “Thus saith the
Lord, The vessel of meal shall not fail, and the cruse of oil shall not
be diminished, until the day that the Lord giveth rain upon the
earth.”3569
According to her faith in the divine promise, those things which she
gave were multiplied and heaped up to the widow; and her righteous
works and deserts of mercy taking augmentations and increase, the
vessels of meal and oil were filled. Nor did the mother take away
from her children what she gave to Elias, but rather she conferred upon
her children what she did kindly and piously.3570
And she did not as yet know
Christ; she had not yet heard His precepts; she did not, as redeemed by
His cross and passion, repay meat and drink for His blood. So
that from this it may appear how much he sins in the Church, who,
preferring himself and his children to Christ, preserves his wealth,
and does not share an abundant estate with the poverty of the
needy.
18. Moreover, also, (you say) there are many
children at home; and the multitude of your children checks you from
giving yourself freely to good works. And yet on this very
account you ought to labour the more, for the reason that you are the
father of many pledges. There are the more for whom you must
beseech the Lord. The sins of many have to be redeemed, the
consciences of many to be cleansed, the souls of many to be
liberated. As in this worldly life, in the nourishment and
bringing up of children, the larger the number the greater also is the
expense; so also in the spiritual and heavenly life, the larger the
number of children you have, the greater ought to be the outlay of your
labours. Thus also Job offered numerous sacrifices on behalf of
his children; and as large as was the number of the pledges in his
home, so large also was the number of victims given to God. And
since there cannot daily fail to be sins committed in the sight of God,
there wanted not daily sacrifices wherewith the sins might be cleansed
away. The Holy Scripture proves this, saying: “Job, a
true and righteous man, had seven sons and three daughters, and
cleansed them, offering for them victims to God according to the number
of them, and for their sins one calf.”3571
If, then, you truly love your
children, if you show to them the full and paternal sweetness of love,
you ought to be the more charitable, that by your righteous works you
may commend your children to God.
19. Neither should you think that he is
father to your children who is both changeable and infirm, but you
should obtain Him who is the eternal and unchanging Father of spiritual
children. Assign to Him your wealth which you are saving up for
your heirs. Let Him be the guardian for your children; let Him be
their trustee; let Him be their protector, by His divine majesty,
against all worldly injuries. The state neither takes away the
property entrusted to God, nor does the exchequer intrude on it, nor
does any forensic calumny overthrow it. That inheritance is
placed in security which is kept under the guardianship of
God.3572
| 3572
[“The howse shall be preserved and
never will decaye
Wheare the Almightie God is honored
and served, daye by daye.”
This motto I copied from an old oaken
beam in the hall of Rockingham Castle, with date a.d. 1579. In 1875 I saw the householder kneeling
under this motto, with all his family and servants, daily.] | This is
to provide for one’s dear pledges for the coming time; this is
with paternal affection to take care for one’s future heirs,
according to the faith of the Holy Scripture, which says:
“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed wanting bread. All the day long
he is merciful, and lendeth;3573
| 3573 The
original is variously read “fœnerat” and
“commodat.” | and his seed is
blessed.”3574
And
again: “He who walketh without reproach in his integrity
shall leave blessed children after him.”3575
Therefore you are an unfair and
traitorous father, unless you faithfully consult for your children,
unless you look forward to preserve them in religion and true
piety. You who are careful rather for their earthly than for
their heavenly estate, rather to commend your children to the devil
than to Christ, are sinning twice, and allowing a double and twofold
crime, both in not providing for your children the aid of God their
Father, and in teaching your children to love their property more than
Christ.
20. Be rather such a father to your children
as was Tobias. Give useful and saving precepts to your pledges,
such as he gave to his son; command your children what he also
commanded his son, saying: “And now, my son, I command
thee, serve God in truth, and do before Him that which pleaseth Him;
and command thy sons, that they exercise righteousness and alms, and be
mindful of God, and bless His name always.”3576
And again: “All the
days of thy life, most dear son, have God in your mind, and be not
willing to transgress His commandments. Do righteousness all the
days of thy life, and be not willing to walk in the way of iniquity;
because if thou deal truly, there will be respect of thy works.
Give alms of thy substance, and turn not away thy face from any poor
man. So shall it
be, that neither shall the face of God be turned away from thee.
As thou hast, my son, so do. If thy substance is abundant, give
alms of it the more. If thou hast little, communicate of that
little. And fear not when thou doest alms; for thou layest up a
good reward for thyself against the day of necessity, because that alms
do deliver from death, and suffereth not to come into Gehenna.
Alms is a good gift to all that give it, in the sight of the most high
God.”3577
21. What sort of gift is it, beloved brethren,
whose setting forth is celebrated in the sight of God? If, in a
gift of the Gentiles, it seems a great and glorious thing to have
proconsuls or emperors present, and the preparation and display is the
greater among the givers, in order that they may please the higher
classes; how much more illustrious and greater is the glory to have God
and Christ as the spectators of the gift! How much more sumptuous
the preparation and more liberal the expense to be set forth in that
case, when the powers of heaven assemble to the spectacle, when all the
angels come together: where it is not a four-horsed chariot or a
consulship that is sought for the giver, but life eternal is bestowed;
nor is the empty and fleeting favour of the rabble grasped at, but the
perpetual reward of the kingdom of heaven is received!
22. And that the indolent and the barren,
and those, who by their covetousness for money do nothing in respect of
the fruit of their salvation, may be the more ashamed, and that the
blush of dishonour and disgrace may the more strike upon their sordid
conscience, let each one place before his eyes the devil with his
servants, that is, with the people of perdition and death, springing
forth into the midst, and provoking the people of Christ with the trial
of comparison—Christ Himself being present, and judging—in
these words: “I, for those whom thou seest with me, neither
received buffets, nor bore scourgings, nor endured the cross, nor shed
my blood, nor redeemed my family at the price of my suffering and
blood; but neither do I promise them a celestial kingdom, nor do I
recall them to paradise, having again restored to them
immortality. But they prepare for me gifts how precious! how
large! with how excessive and tedious a labour procured! and that, with
the most sumptuous devices either pledging or selling their means in
the procuring of the gift! and, unless a competent manifestation
followed, they are cast out with scoffings and hissings, and by the
popular fury sometimes they are almost stoned! Show, O Christ,
such givers as these of Thine3578
| 3578
Some editors add here, “warned by Thy precepts, and who shall
receive heavenly things instead of earthly.” | —those rich men, those men
affluent with abounding wealth—whether in the Church wherein Thou
presidest and beholdest, they set forth a gift of that
kind,—having pledged or scattered their riches, yea, having
transferred them, by the change of their possessions for the better,
into heavenly treasures! In those spectacles of mine, perishing
and earthly as they are, no one is fed, no one is clothed, no one is
sustained by the comfort either of any meat or drink. All things,
between the madness of the exhibitor and the mistake of the spectator,
are perishing in a prodigal and foolish vanity of deceiving
pleasures. There, in Thy poor, Thou art clothed and fed; Thou
promisest eternal life to those who labour for Thee; and scarcely are
Thy people made equal to mine that perish, although they are honoured
by Thee with divine wages and heavenly rewards.
23. What do we reply to these things, dearest
brethren? With what reason do we defend the minds of rich men,
overwhelmed with a profane barrenness and a kind of night of
gloom? With what excuse do we acquit them, seeing that we are
less than the devil’s servants, so as not even moderately to
repay Christ for the price of His passion and blood? He has given
us precepts; what His servants ought to do He has instructed us;
promising a reward to those that are charitable, and threatening
punishment to the unfruitful. He has set forth His
sentence. He has before announced what He shall judge. What
can be the excuse for the laggard? what the defence for the
unfruitful? But when the servant does not do what is commanded,
the Lord will do what He threatens, seeing that He says:
“When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the angels
with Him, then shall He sit in the throne of His glory: and
before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the
goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them that shall
be on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the
kingdom that is prepared for you from the foundation of the
world. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me to eat: I was
thirsty, and ye gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and ye took
me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited
me: I was in prison, and ye came to me. Then shall the
righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and
fed Thee? thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a
stranger, and took Thee in? naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw
we Thee sick, and in prison, and came unto Thee? Then shall the
King answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Insomuch as you
did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto
me. Then shall He say
also unto those that shall be at His left hand, Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father hath prepared for the
devil and his angels. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me not
to eat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me not to drink: I was a
stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me
not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall
they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or
athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and ministered
not unto Thee? And He shall answer them, Verily I say unto you,
In so far as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not
unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting burning:
but the righteous into life eternal.”3579
What more could Christ declare
unto us? How more could He stimulate the works of our
righteousness and mercy, than by saying that whatever is given to the
needy and poor is given to Himself, and by saying that He is aggrieved
unless the needy and poor be supplied? So that he who in the
Church is not moved by consideration for his brother, may yet be moved
by contemplation of Christ; and he who does not think of his
fellow-servant in suffering and in poverty, may yet think of his Lord,
who abideth in that very man whom he is despising.
24. And therefore, dearest brethren, whose
fear is inclined towards God, and who having already despised and
trampled under foot the world, have lifted up your mind to things
heavenly and divine, let us with full faith, with devoted mind, with
continual labour, give our obedience, to deserve well of the
Lord. Let us give to Christ earthly garments, that we may receive
heavenly raiment; let us give food and drink of this world, that we may
come with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob to the heavenly banquet.
That we may not reap little, let us sow abundantly. Let us, while
there is time, take thought for our security and eternal salvation,
according to the admonition of the Apostle Paul, who says:
“Therefore, while we have time, let us labour in what is good
unto all men, but especially to them that are of the household of
faith. But let us not be weary in well-doing, for in its season
we shall reap.”3580
25. Let us consider, beloved brethren, what
the congregation of believers did in the time of the apostles, when at
the first beginnings the mind flourished with greater virtues, when the
faith of believers burned with a warmth of faith as yet new. Then
they sold houses and farms, and gladly and liberally presented to the
apostles the proceeds to be dispensed to the poor; selling and
alienating their earthly estate, they transferred their lands thither
where they might receive the fruits of an eternal possession, and there
prepared homes where they might begin an eternal habitation.
Such, then, was the abundance in labours, as was the agreement in love,
as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “And the multitude
of them that believed acted with one heart and one soul; neither was
there any distinction among them, nor did they esteem anything their
own of the goods which belonged to them, but they had all things
common.”3581
This
is truly to become sons of God by spiritual birth; this is to imitate
by the heavenly law the equity of God the Father. For whatever is
of God is common in our use; nor is any one excluded from His benefits
and His gifts, so as to prevent the whole human race from enjoying
equally the divine goodness and liberality. Thus the day equally
enlightens, the sun gives radiance, the rain moistens, the wind blows,
and the sleep is one to those that sleep, and the splendour of the
stars and of the moon is common. In which example of
equality,3582
| 3582
This appears to be the less usual reading, the ordinary one being
“equity.” | he who, as a
possessor in the earth, shares his returns and his fruits with the
fraternity, while he is common and just in his gratuitous bounties, is
an imitator of God the Father.
26. What, dearest brethren, will be that glory of
those who labour charitably—how great and high the joy when the
Lord begins to number His people, and, distributing to our merits and
good works the promised rewards, to give heavenly things for earthly,
eternal things for temporal, great things for small; to present us to
the Father, to whom He has restored us by His sanctification; to bestow
upon us immortality and eternity, to which He has renewed us by the
quickening of His blood; to bring us anew to paradise, to open the
kingdom of heaven, in the faith and truth of His promise! Let
these things abide firmly in our perceptions, let them be understood
with full faith, let them be loved with our whole heart, let them be
purchased by the magnanimity of our increasing labours. An
illustrious and divine thing, dearest brethren, is the saving labour of
charity; a great comfort of believers, a wholesome guard of our
security, a protection of hope, a safeguard of faith, a remedy for sin,
a thing placed in the power of the doer, a thing both great and easy, a
crown of peace without the risk of persecution; the true and greatest
gift of God, needful for the weak, glorious for the strong, assisted by
which the Christian accomplishes spiritual grace, deserves well of
Christ the Judge, accounts God his debtor. For this palm of works
of salvation let us gladly and readily strive; let us all, in the
struggle of righteousness, run with God and Christ looking on; and let
us who have already begun to be greater than this life and the world,
slacken our course by no desire of this life and of this world.
If the day shall find us, whether it be the day of reward3583
| 3583
A more ancient reading seems to be, “of return”
(scil. “reditionis”). | or of
persecution, furnished, if swift, if running in this contest of
charity, the Lord will never fail of giving a reward for our
merits: in peace He will give to us who conquer, a white crown
for our labours; in persecution, He will accompany it with a purple one
for our passion.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
