Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| On the Collections, V.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Sermon
X.
On the Collections, V.
I. Our goods are given us not as our own
possessions but for use in God’s
service.
Observing the institutions of the Apostles’
tradition, dearly beloved, we exhort you, as watchful shepherds, to
celebrate with the devotion of religious practice that day which
they677
| 677 See Serm. IX. n. 6,
and chap. iii. n. 8. | purged from wicked superstitions and
consecrated to deeds of mercy, thus showing that the authority of the
Fathers still lives among us, and that we obediently abide by their
teaching. Inasmuch as the sacred usefulness of such a practice
affects not only time past but also our own age, so that what aided
them in the destruction of vanities, might contribute with us to the
increase of virtues. And what so suitable to faith, what so much
in harmony with godliness as to assist the poverty of the needy, to
undertake the care of the weak, to succour the needs of the brethren,
and to remember one’s own condition in the toils of
others678
| 678 i.e. apparently to
do as you would be done by. | . In which work He only who knows
what He has given to each, discerns aright how much a man can and how
much he cannot do. For not only are spiritual riches and heavenly
gifts received from God, but earthly and
material possessions also proceed from His bounty, that He may be
justified in requiring an account of those things which He has not so
much put in our possession as committed to our stewardship.
God’s gifts, therefore, we must use
properly and wisely, lest the material for good work should become an
occasion of sin. For wealth, after its kind and regarded as a
means, is good and is of the greatest advantage to human society, when
it is in the hands of the benevolent and open-handed, and when the
luxurious man does not squander nor the miser hoard it; for whether
ill-stored or unwisely spent it is equally lost.
II. The liberal use of riches is worse
than vain, if it be for selfish ends alone.
And, however praiseworthy it be to flee from
intemperance, and to avoid the waste of base pleasures, and though many
in their magnificence disdain to conceal their wealth, and in the
abundance of their goods think scorn of mean and sordid parsimony, yet
such men’s liberality is not happy, nor their thriftiness to be
commended, if their riches are of benefit to themselves alone; if no
poor folks are helped by their goods, no sick persons nourished; if out
of the abundance of their great possessions the captive gets not
ransom, nor the stranger comfort, nor the exile relief. Rich men
of this kind are needier than all the needy. For they lose those
returns which they might have for ever, and while they gloat over the
brief and not always free enjoyment of what they possess, they are not
fed upon the bread of justice nor the sweets of mercy: outwardly
splendid, they have no light within: of things temporal they have
abundance, but utter lack of things eternal: for they inflict
starvation on their own souls, and bring them to shame and nakedness by
spending upon heavenly treasures none of these things which they put
into their earthly storehouses.
III. The duty of mercy outweighs all
other virtues.
But, perhaps there are some rich people, who,
although they are not wont to help the Church’s poor by bounteous
gifts, yet keep other commands of God, and
among their
many
meritorious acts of faith and uprightness think they will be pardoned
for the lack of this one virtue. But this is so important that,
though the rest exist without it, they can be of no avail. For
although a man be full of faith, and chaste, and sober, and adorned
with other still greater decorations, yet if he is not merciful, he
cannot deserve mercy: for the Lord says,
“blessed are the merciful, for God shall
have mercy upon them679
.” And
when the Son of Man comes in His Majesty and is seated on His glorious
throne, and all nations being gathered together, division is made
between the good and the bad, for what shall they be praised who stand
upon the fight except for works of benevolence and deeds of love which
Jesus Christ shall reckon as done to Himself? For He who has made
man’s nature His own, has separated Himself in nothing from
man’s humility. And what objection shall be made to those
on the left except for their neglect of love, their inhuman harshness,
their refusal of mercy to the poor? as if those on the right had no
other virtues those on the left no other faults. But at the great
and final day of judgment large-hearted liberality and ungodly meanness
will be counted of such importance as to outweigh all other virtues and
all other shortcomings, so that for the one men shall gain entrance
into the Kingdom, for the other they shall be sent into eternal
fire.
IV. And its efficacy, as Scripture
proves, is incalculable.
Let no one therefore, dearly beloved, flatter
himself on any merits of a good life, if works of charity be wanting in
him, and let him not trust in the purity of his body, if he be not
cleansed by the purification of almsgiving. For “almsgiving
wipes out sin680
| 680 Ecclus. iii. 30. The purifying power of almsgiving
is a favourite thought with Leo: cf. for instance Serm. XII.
chap. 4, and XVIII. chap. 3, where he says, castigatio corporis et
instantia orationis tunc veram obtinent puritatem cum eleemosynarum
sanctificatione nituntur. In several places he compares its
cleansing effect to the waters of baptism: e.g. Serm. XX. chap.
3, in eleemosynis virtus quædam est instituta baptismatis, qui
sicut aqua extinguit ignem, si eleemosyna peccatum—ut nemo
diffidat regenerationis sibi nitorem etiam post multa peccata restitui,
qui eleemosynarum studuerit purificatione mundari: and again
in Serm. VII. he says, unusquisque—in usus atque alimoniam
pauperum de vestris facultatibus conferatis scientes præter illud
regenerationis lavacrum, in quo universorum ablutæ sunt
maculæ peccatorum, hoc remedium infirmitati humanæ divinitus
esse donatum ut si quod culparum in hac terrena habitatione
contrahitur, eleemosynis deleatur. | ,” kills
death, and extinguishes the punishment of perpetual fire. But he
who has not been fruitful therein, shall have no indulgence from the
great Recompenser, as Solomon says, “He that closeth his ears
lest he should hear the weak, shall himself call upon the Lord, and there shall be none to hear him681
.” And hence Tobias also,
while instructing his son in the precepts of godliness, says,
“Give alms of thy substance, and turn not thy face from any poor
man: so shall it come to pass that the face of God shall not be turned from thee682
| 682 Tob. iv. 7 (one of the offertory sentences it will
be remembered in the English Prayer-book). | .” This virtue makes all
virtues profitable; for by its presence it gives life to that very
faith, by which “the just lives683
,”
and which is said to be “dead without works684
:” because as the reason for
works consists in faith, so the strength of faith consists in
works. “While we have time therefore,” as the Apostle
says, “let us do that which is good to all men, and especially to
them that are of the household of faith685
.” “But let us not be
weary in doing good; for in His own time we shall reap686
.” And so the present life is
the time for sowing, and the day of retribution is the time of harvest,
when every one shall reap the fruit of his seed according to the amount
of his sowing. And no one shall be disappointed in the produce of
that harvesting, because it is the heart’s intentions rather than
the sums expended that will be reckoned up. And little sums from
little means shall produce as much as great sums from great
means. And therefore, dearly beloved, let us carry out this
Apostolic institution. And as the first collection will be next
Sunday, let all prepare themselves to give willingly, that every one
according to his ability may join in this most sacred offering.
Your very alms and those who shall be aided by your gifts shall
intercede for you, that you may be always ready for every good work in
Christ Jesus our Lord, Who lives and reigns
for ages without end. Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
