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| Chapter XXXII. After saying what return must be made for the service of the above-mentioned feast, various reasons for repaying kindness are enumerated. Then he speaks in praise of good-will, on its results and its order.
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Chapter XXXII.
After saying what return must be made for the service of
the above-mentioned feast, various reasons for repaying kindness are
enumerated. Then he speaks in praise of good-will, on its results
and its order.
165. It is
therefore a good thing for us to be bedewed with the exhortations of
the divine Scriptures, and that the word of God should come down upon
us like the dew. When, therefore, thou sittest at the table of
that great man, understand who that great man is. Set in the
paradise of delight and placed at the feast of wisdom, think of what is
put before thee! The divine Scriptures are the feast of wisdom,
and the single books the various dishes. Know, first, what dishes
the banquet offers, then stretch forth thy hand, that those things
which thou readest, or which thou receivest from the Lord thy God, thou
mayest carry out in action, and so by thy duties mayest show forth the
grace that was granted thee. Such was the case with Peter and
Paul, who in preaching the Gospel made some return to Him Who freely
gave them all things. So that each of them might say:
“By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace in me was not
in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all.”244
166. One repays the fruit of a service done
him, and repays it, gold with gold, silver with silver. Another
gives his labour. Another—and I do not know whether he does
not do it in fuller measure—gives but the best wishes of his
heart.245
| 245 Cic. de
Off. II. 20, § 69. | But what if there is no opportunity
to make a return at hand? If we wish to return a kindness, more
depends on the spirit in which we do it than on the amount of our
property, whilst people will think more of our good-will, than of our
power to make a full return. For a kindness done is regarded in
the light of what one has. A great thing, therefore, is
good-will. For even if it has nothing to give, yet it offers the
more, and though there is nothing in its own possession, yet it gives
largely to many, and does that, too, without loss to itself, and to the
gain of the many. Thus good-will is better than liberality
itself. It is richer in character than the other is in gifts; for
there are more that need a kindness than there are that have
abundance.
167. But good-will also goes in conjunction
with liberality, for liberality really starts from it, seeing that the
habit of giving comes after the desire to give. It exists,
however, also separate and distinct. For where liberality is
wanting, there good-will abides—the parent as it were of all in
common, uniting and binding friendships together. It is faithful
in counsel, joyful in times of prosperity, and in times of sorrow
sad. So it happens that any one trusts himself to the counsels of
a man of good-will rather than to those of a wise one, as David
did. For he, though he was the more farseeing, agreed to the
counsels of Jonathan, who was the younger.246
Remove good-will out of the reach of
men, and it is as though one had withdrawn the sun from the
world.247
| 247 Cic. de
Amic. 13, § 47. | For without it men would no longer
care to show the way to the stranger, to recall the
wanderer, to show hospitality (this
latter is no small virtue, for on this point Job praised himself, when
he said: “At my doors the stranger dwelt not, my gate was
open to every one who came”),248
nor even to
give water from the water that flows at their door, or to light
another’s candle at their own. Thus good-will exists in all
these, like a fount of waters refreshing the thirsty, and like a light,
which, shining forth to others, fails not them who have given a light
to others from their own light.249
168. There is also liberality springing from
good-will, that makes one tear up the bond of a debtor which one holds,
without demanding any of the debt back from him. Holy Job bids us
act thus by his own example.250
For he that has
does not borrow, but he that has not does not put an end to the
agreement. Why, then, if thou hast no need, dost thou save up for
greedy heirs what thou canst give back immediately, and so get praise
for good-will, and that without loss of money?
169. To go to the root of the
matter—good-will starts first with those at home, that is with
children, parents, brothers, and goes on from one step to another
throughout the world.251
| 251 Cic. de
Off. I. 16, 17. | Having started
from Paradise, it has filled the world. For God set the feeling
of good-will in the man and woman, saying: “They shall be
one flesh,”252
and (one may add)
one spirit. Wherefore Eve also believed the serpent; for she who
had received the gift of good-will did not think there was
ill-will.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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