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| Chapter XXX. On kindness and its several parts, namely, good-will and liberality. How they are to be combined. What else is further needed for any one to show liberality in a praiseworthy manner.
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Chapter XXX.
On kindness and its several parts, namely, good-will and
liberality. How they are to be combined. What else is
further needed for any one to show liberality in a praiseworthy
manner.
143. Now we can go
on to speak of kindness, which breaks up into two parts, goodwill and
liberality. Kindness to exist in perfection must consist of these
two qualities. It is not enough just to wish well; we must
also do well. Nor,
again, is it enough to do well, unless this springs from a good source
even from a good will. “For God loveth a cheerful
giver.”213
If we act
unwillingly, what is our reward? Wherefore the Apostle, speaking
generally, says: “If I do this thing willingly, I have a
reward, but if unwillingly, a dispensation is given unto
me.”214
In the
Gospel, also, we have received many rules of just
liberality.
144. It is thus a glorious thing to wish well, and
to give freely, with the one desire to do good and not to do
harm. For if we were to think it our duty to give the means to an
extravagant man to live extravagantly, or to an adulterer to pay for
his adultery, it would not be an act of kindness, for there would be no
good-will in it. We should be doing harm, not good, to another if
we gave him money to aid him in plotting against his country, or in
attempting to get together at our expense some abandoned men to attack
the Church. Nor, again, does it look like liberality to help one
who presses very hardly on widows and orphans, or attempts to seize on
their property with any show of violence.
145. It is no sign of a liberal
spirit215
| 215 Cic. de
Off. I. 14, § 43. | to extort from one what we give to another,
or to gain money unjustly, and then to think it can be well spent,
unless we act as Zacchæus216
did, and restore
fourfold what we have taken from him whom we have robbed, and make up
for such heathenish crimes by the zeal of our faith and by true
Christian labour. Our liberality must have some sure
foundation.
146. The first thing necessary is to do
kindness in good faith, and not to act falsely when the offering is
made. Never let us say we are doing more, when we are really
doing less. What need is there to speak at all? In a
promise a cheat lies hid. It is in our power to give what we
like. Cheating shatters the foundation, and so destroys the
work. Did Peter grow angry only so far as to desire that Ananias
and his wife should be slain?217
Certainly
not. He wished that others, through knowing their example, should
not perish.
147. Nor is it a real act of liberality if
thou givest for the sake of boasting about it, rather than for
mercy’s sake. Thy inner feelings give the name to thy
acts. As it comes forth from thee, so will others regard
it. See what a true judge thou hast! He consults with thee
how to take up thy work, and first of all he questions thy mind.
“Let not,” he says, “thy left hand know what thy
right hand doth.”218
This does
not refer to our actual bodies, but means: Let not him who is of
one mind with thee, not even thy brother, know what thou doest, lest
thou shouldst lose the fruit of thy reward hereafter by seeking here
thy price in boastfulness. But that liberality is real where a
man hides what he does in silence, and secretly assists the needs of
individuals, whom the mouth of the poor, and not his own lips,
praises.
148. Perfect liberality is proved by its
good faith, the case it helps, the time and place when and where it is
shown. But first we must always see that we help those of the
household of faith.219
It is a
serious fault if a believer is in want, and thou knowest it, or if thou
knowest that he is without means, that he is hungry, that he suffer
distress, especially if he is ashamed of his need. It is a great
fault if he is overwhelmed by the imprisonment or false accusation of
his family, and thou dost not come to his help. If he is in
prison, and—upright though he is—has to suffer pain and
punishment for some debt (for though we ought to show mercy to all, yet
we ought to show it especially to an upright man); if in the time of
his trouble he obtains nothing from thee; if in the time of danger,
when he is carried off to die, thy money seems more to thee than the
life of a dying man; what a sin is that to thee! Wherefore Job
says beautifully: “Let the blessing of him that was ready
to perish come upon me.”220
149. God, indeed, is not a respecter of
persons, for He knows all things. And we, indeed, ought to show
mercy to all. But as many try to get help on false pretences, and
make out that they are miserably off; therefore where the case is plain
and the person well known, and no time is to be lost, mercy ought to be
shown more readily. For the Lord is not exacting to demand the
utmost. Blessed, indeed, is he who forsakes all and follows Him,
but blessed also is he who does what he can to the best of his powers
with what he has. The Lord preferred the two mites of the widow
to all the gifts of the rich, for she gave all that she had, but they
only gave a small part out of all their abundance.221
It is the intention, therefore, that
makes the gift valuable or poor, and gives to things their value.
The Lord does not want us to give away all our goods at once, but to
impart them little by little; unless, indeed, our case is like that of
Elisha, who
killed his
oxen, and fed the people on what he had, so that no household cares
might hold him back, and that he might give up all things, and devote
himself to the prophetic teaching.222
150. True liberality also must be tested in
this way:223
| 223 Cic. de
Off. I. 17, § 58. | that we
despise not our nearest relatives, if we know they are in want.
For it is better for thee to help thy kindred who feel the shame of
asking help from others, or of going to another to beg assistance in
their need. Not, however, that they should become rich on what
thou couldst otherwise give to the poor. It is the facts of the
case we must consider, and not personal feeling. Thou didst not
dedicate thyself to the Lord on purpose to make thy family rich, but
that thou mightest win eternal life by the fruit of good works, and
atone for thy sins by showing mercy. They think perhaps that they
are asking but little, but they demand the price thou shouldst pay for
thy sins. They attempt to take away the fruits of thy life, and
think they are acting rightly.224
| 224 “Et se
juste facere putant.” These words are omitted in many
mss. | And one
accuses thee because thou hast not made him rich, when all the time he
wished to cheat thee of the reward of eternal life.
151. So far we have given our advice, now
let us look for our authority. First, then, no one ought to be
ashamed of becoming poor after being rich, if this happens because he
gives freely to the poor; for Christ became poor when He was rich, that
through His poverty He might enrich all.225
He has given us a rule to follow, so
that we may give a good account of our reduced inheritance; whoever has
stayed the hunger of the poor has lightened his distress.
“Herein I give my advice,” says the Apostle, “for
this is expedient for you, that ye should be followers of
Christ.”226
Advice is
given to the good, but warnings restrain the wrong-doers. Again
he says, as though to the good: “For ye have begun not only
to do, but also to be willing, a year ago.”227
Both of these, and not only one, is
the mark of perfection. Thus he teaches that liberality without
good-will, and good-will without liberality, are neither of them
perfect. Wherefore he also urges us on to perfection,
saying:228
“Now, therefore, perform the
doing of it; that as the will to do it was ready enough in you, so also
there may be the will to accomplish it out of that which ye have.
For if the will be ready, it is accepted according to that a man hath,
and not according to that he hath not. But not so that others
should have plenty, and ye should be in want: but let there be
equality,—your abundance must now serve for their want, that
their abundance may serve for your want; that there may be equality, as
it is written: “He that gathered much had nothing over, and
he that gathered little had no lack.”229
152. We notice how the Apostle includes both
good-will and liberality, as well as the manner, the fruits of right
giving, and the persons concerned. The manner certainly, for he
gave advice to those not perfect: For only the imperfect suffer
anxiety. But if any priest or other cleric, being unwilling to
burden the Church,230
| 230 St. Ambrose,
allowing clergy to retain some of their patrimony so as not to burden
the Church, is less strict than St. Augustine, who would have them give
up everything and live in common. Serm. 355. | does not give away
all that he has, but does honourably what his office demands, he does
not seem to me to be imperfect. I think also that the Apostle
here spoke not of anxiety of mind, but rather of domestic
troubles.
153. And I think it was with reference to the
persons concerned that he said: “that your abundance might
serve for their want, and their abundance for your want.”
This means, that the abundance of the people might arouse them to good
works, so as to supply the want of food of others; whilst the spiritual
abundance of these latter might assist the want of spiritual merits
among the people themselves, and so win them a blessing.
154. Wherefore he gave them an excellent
example: “He that gathered much had nothing over, and he
that gathered little had no lack.” That example is a great
encouragement to all men to show mercy. For he that possesses
much gold has nothing over, for all in this world is as nothing; and he
that has little has no lack, for what he loses is nothing
already. The whole matter is without loss, for the whole of it is
lost already.
155. We can also rightly understand it thus.
He that has much, although he does not give away, has nothing
over. For however much he gets, he always is in want, because he
longs for more. And he who has little has no lack, for it does
not cost much to feed the poor. In like manner, too, the poor
person that gives spiritual blessings in return for money, although he
has much grace, has nothing
over. For grace does not burden the mind, but lightens it.
156. It can further be taken in this
way: Thou, O man, hast nothing over! For how much hast thou
really received, though it may seem much to thee? John, than whom
none was greater among those born of woman, yet was less than he who is
least in the kingdom of heaven.231
157. Or once more. The grace of God is never
superabundant, humanly speaking, for it is spiritual. Who can
measure its greatness or its breadth, which one cannot see?
Faith, if it were as a grain of mustard seed, can transplant
mountains—and more than a grain is not granted thee. If
grace dwelt fully in thee, wouldst thou not have to fear lest thy mind
should begin to be elated at so great a gift? For there are many
who have fallen more terribly, from spiritual heights, than if they had
never received grace at all from the Lord. And he who has little
has no lack, for it is not tangible so as to be divided; and what seems
little to him that has is much to him that lacks.
158. In giving we must also take into
consideration age and weakness; sometimes, also, that natural feeling
of shame, which indicates good birth. One ought to give more to
the old who can no longer supply themselves with food by labour.
So, too, weakness of body must be assisted, and that readily.
Again, if any one after being rich has fallen into want, we must
assist, especially if he has lost what he had from no sin of his own,
but owing to robbery or banishment or false accusation.
159. Perchance some one may say: A
blind man sits here in one place, and people pass him by, whilst a
strong young man often has something given him. That is true; for
he comes over people by his importunity. That is not because in
their judgment he deserves it, but because they are wearied by his
begging. For the Lord speaks in the Gospel of him who had already
closed his door; how that when one knocks at his door very violently,
he rises and gives what is wanted, because of his importunity.232
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