Sermo De Generalitate Eleemosynarum [Incertus]

SERMON ON THE GENERALITY OF ALMS. Published by Sirmond in the Appendix after the forty Augustinian sermons. The Manichaeans deny alms to sinners, and why. Others fear that by giving to sinners they offend God. Alms are to be distributed to all. The just are to be preferred. Enemies are not to be despised. Not because they are sinners, but because they are human beings. Christ did not deny alms to sinners. There are those who think that alms ought to be given only to the just; but that nothing of this kind ought to be given to sinners. In this error the Manichaeans hold the first place of sacrilege, who believe that in any food the members of God are mixed and bound together and held captive: which they think must be spared, lest they be polluted by sinners and entangled in more wretched bonds. This madness is perhaps less worthily refuted than it offends the sense of all sane people, if it is merely set forth. Some, however, feeling nothing of this sort, think that sinners ought not to be fed, lest we strive against the Lord, whose indignation is declared against them: as if from this he could also be angry with us, because we wish to help those whom he himself wishes to punish. They also adduce testimonies from the holy Scriptures, where we read, "Have mercy, and do not receive the sinner," and "To the impious and sinners render vengeance." "Do good to the humble, and do not give to the impious; for the Most High hates sinners, and will render vengeance to the impious" (Ecclus. XII, 4, 6).

These words, not understanding how they are to be taken, they clothe themselves with detestable cruelty. Therefore it is necessary for us, fathers, to address your Charity concerning this matter, lest you consent to a perverse thought contrary to the divine will. That mercy is to be bestowed upon all, the Apostle Paul teaches most openly, saying: "Let us be untiring," he says, "when we have time, let us work good for all, but especially for the household of the faith" (Galatians 6:10). Whence it truly appears sufficiently that in such works the just are to be preferred. For whom else do we understand as the household of the faith, when elsewhere it is clearly set down: "Let us live from faith" (Hebrews 10:38)? Nevertheless, the bowels of mercy are not to be closed to other men, even sinners, even if they bear a hostile mind against us; our Savior Himself saying and admonishing: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (Matthew 5:44). Nor is this passed over in silence in the Old Books. For there it is read: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink" (Proverbs 25:21). Which also in the New Testament the Apostle used (Romans 12:20).

Yet the statements we set forth above are not false for that reason, because both are divine precepts: "Give alms" and "Do not support a sinner." For those were said so that you would not do good to anyone about to sin because he is a sinner, but so that you would do good to one who hates you, not because he is a sinner, but because he is a human being. Thus you will hold both precepts, neither lax in judging nor inhuman in helping. For everyone who rightly rebukes a sinner, what else does he want but that the sinner not be a sinner? Therefore he hates what God also hates, so that what the human being made may be destroyed, and what God made may be set free. For sin is what the human being made; the human being is what God made. And when we say these two names, "sinner human being," they are certainly not said in vain. Because he is a sinner, correct him; because he is a human being, have mercy. Nor will you free the human being at all unless you have pursued the sinner. This duty pervades all discipline, as it is fitting and appropriate to every ruler: not only the bishop ruling his people, but also the poor man ruling his household, the husband ruling his wife, the father ruling his child, the judge ruling his province, the king ruling his nation. All these are good rulers; they certainly wish well for those whom they rule. And servants, according to the power granted by the universal Lord, who also rules the rulers, take care that those whom they rule both be preserved as human beings and that sinners perish.

Thus I fulfilled what is written, "Give alms, and do not support a sinner": lest that in him be preserved which is a sinner. And to the impious and sinners render vengeance: and in this very thing, that they are impious and sinners, let it be destroyed in them. Do good to the humble, on account of the fact that he is humble; and do not give to the impious, on account of the fact that he is impious: because on this account the Most High hates sinners, and will render vengeance to the impious (Ecclus. 12:4, 6). Yet He, because they are not only sinners and impious, but also men, makes His sun rise over both good and bad, and rains upon the just and unjust (Matt. 5:45). Thus mercy is to be closed to no man: the sins of no sinner are to be left unpunished. Hence it is especially to be understood that almsgiving is not to be despised, which is bestowed upon whatever poor by right of humanity; since the Lord relieved the need of the poor, even from those purses which He filled from the wealth of others. But if perhaps someone should say that neither those weak and beggars whom the Lord commanded to be imitated by the powerful, nor those to whom He used to dispense from the purses, were sinners; therefore it does not follow that on account of these evangelical testimonies.

and sinners are ordered to be received or fed by the merciful: let him attend to what I have already mentioned above, that sinners, and especially the most wicked, are those who hate and persecute the Church; concerning whom, nevertheless, it will be said, "Do well to those who hate you" (cf. Lk. 6:44). And this is supported by the example of the Father, who makes his sun rise over good and evil, and rains upon the just and unjust. Therefore, let us not receive sinners because they are sinners; but nevertheless, let us treat them, because they are also men, with human consideration. Let us persecute in them their own iniquity; let us preserve the common condition; and thus, untiringly, when we have time, let us do good to all, but especially to the household of the faith.