On Works and Alms.

 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

 2. The Holy Spirit speaks in the sacred Scriptures, and says, “By almsgiving and faith sins are purged.” Not assuredly those sins which had been previ

 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

 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 peo

 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 work

 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 th

 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

 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, th

 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 re

 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, tha

 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 resou

 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 div

 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?

 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,

 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

 16. But neither let the consideration, dearest brethren, restrain and recall the Christian from good and righteous works, that any one should fancy th

 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 wh

 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

 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 un

 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

 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

 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

 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

 24. And therefore, dearest brethren, whose fear is inclined towards God, and who having already despised and trampled under foot the world, have lifte

 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 flour

 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, an

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.”21    Luke xii. 33. 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.”22    Matt. vi. 19–21. And when He wished to set forth a man perfect and complete by the observation of the law,23    “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.”24    Matt. xix. 21. 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.”25    Matt. xiii. 45, 46.

VII. Itaque in Evangelio Dominus, doctor vitae nostrae et magister salutis aeternae, vivificans credentium populum et vivificatis consulens in aeternum, inter sua mandata divina et praecepta coelestia nihil crebrius mandat et praecipit quam ut insistamus 0607C eleemosynis dandis, nec terrenis possessionibus incubemus, sed coelestes thesauros potius recondamus. Vendite, inquit, res vestras, et date eleemosynam (Luc. XII, 33). Et iterum: Nolite vobis condere thesauros super terram, ubi tinea et comestura exterminat, et ubi fures effodiunt et furantur. Thesaurizate autem vobis thesauros in coelo, ubi neque tinea neque comestura exterminat, et ubi fures non effodiunt nec furantur. Ubi enim fuerit thesaurus tuus, ibi erit et cor tuum (Matth. VI, 19-21). Et cum observata lege perfectum et consummatum vellet ostendere, Si vis, inquit, perfectus esse, vade et vende omnia tua , et da egenis, et habebis thesaurum in coelo; et veni, sequere me (Matth. XIX, 21). Item alio loco negotiatorem coelestis gratiae et comparatorem salutis aeternae, distractis 0607D omnibus rebus suis, pretiosam margaritam, hoc est 0608A vitam aeternam Christi cruore pretiosam, de quantitate patrimonii sui dicit debere mercari: Simile est, inquit, regnum coelorum homini negotiatoriquaerenti bonas margaritas. Ubi autem invenit pretiosam margaritam, abiit et vendidit omnia quae habuit, et emit illam (Matth. XIII, 45).