While
remembering the command to give to those who ask, we must not forget the
prohibition against casting pearls before swine. To give good things
to those we have reason to suppose will abuse them is as wrong as to
withhold our gifts from those who would use them. To give ignorantly,
when we know not the value of the claim upon our benevolence, is at best
but a negative virtue, and we should bear in mind that everything we
bestow upon the unworthy is so much abridged from our means of aiding
the worthy. Many persons seem to suppose that charity consists entirely
in alms-giving, while this is only its lowest form. Kind deeds and kind
words are as truly works of charity as pecuniary gifts, and we do not
lead lives of charity unless we are as ready with those in the home
circle and in our social relations as with these among the poor. God
shows his love to his children by providing them with sustenance for
the body, for the intellect, and for the affections, and if we would
resemble him, we must show our love to the neighbor by being always
ready to minister to the wants of those around us, in whatever form they
may arise.
We are told to give even as we receive, and we are also told that we are
stewards of the Lord; that is, that all our gifts are held in trust from
him; and we must use them in such a way that at his coming he may
find his own with usury. True charity never impoverishes.
Pages:
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120