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| To Give Alms Aright, We Should Begin with Ourselves, and Have Pity Upon Our Own Souls.
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Chapter
76.—To Give Alms Aright, We Should Begin with Ourselves, and Have
Pity Upon Our Own Souls.
For the man who wishes to give aims
as he ought, should begin with himself, and give to himself first.
For almsgiving is a work of mercy; and most truly is it said, “To
have mercy on thy soul is pleasing to God.”1241
And for this end are we born
again, that we should be pleasing to God, who is justly displeased
with that which we brought with us when we were born. This is our
first alms, which we give to ourselves when, through the mercy of a
pitying God, we find that we are ourselves wretched, and confess
the justice of His judgment by which we are made wretched, of which
the apostle says, “The judgment was by one to condemnation;”1242
and praise
the greatness of His love, of which the same preacher of grace
says, “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us:”1243
and thus judging truly of our own
misery, and loving God with the love which He has Himself bestowed,
we lead a holy and virtuous life. But the Pharisees, while they
gave as alms the tithe of all their fruits, even the most
insignificant, passed over judgment and the love of God, and so did
not commence their alms-giving at home, and extend their pity to
themselves in the first instance. And it is in reference to this
order of love that it is said, “Love thy neighbor as
thyself.”1244
When,
then, our Lord had rebuked them because they made themselves clean
on the outside, but within were full of ravening and wickedness, He
advised them, in the exercise of that charity which each man owes
to himself in the first instance, to make clean the inward parts.
“But rather,” He says, “give alms of such things as ye have;
and, behold, all things are clean unto you.”1245
Then, to show what it was that He
advised, and what they took no pains to do, and to show that He did
not overlook or forget their almsgiving, “But woe unto you,
Pharisees!”1246
He says;
as if He meant to say: I indeed advise you to give alms which shall
make all things clean unto you; “but woe unto you! for ye tithe
mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs;” as if He meant to say: I
know these alms of yours, and ye need not think that I am now
admonishing you in respect of such things; “and pass over
judgment and the love of God,” an alms by which ye might have
been made clean from all inward impurity, so that even the bodies
which ye are now washing would have been clean to you. For this is
the import of “all things,” both inward and outward things, as
we read in another place: “Cleanse first that which is within,
that the outside may be clean also.”1247
But lest He might appear to
despise the alms which they were giving out of the fruits of the
earth, He says: “These ought ye to have done,” referring to
judgment and the love of God, “and not to leave the other
undone,” referring to the giving of the tithes.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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