Chapter II.

5. “Therefore, when thou doest thine alms,” says He, “do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory249    “In the eighth beatitude the other seven are only summed up under the idea of the righteousness of the kingdom in its relation to those who persecute it; while the ninth is a description of the eighth, with reference to the relation in which these righteous persons stand to Christ” (Lange).    Glorificantur; Vulgate honorificentur. The sounding of trumpet is referred by some to an alleged custom of the parties themselves calling the poor together by a trumpet, or even to the noise of the coins on the trumpet-shaped chests in the temple. Better, it is figurative of “self-laudation and display” (Meyer, Alford, Lange, etc.). of men.” Do not, says He, desire to become known in the same way as the hypocrites. Now it is manifest that hypocrites have not that in their heart also which they hold forth before the eyes of men. For hypocrites are pretenders, as it were setters forth of other characters, just as in the plays of the theatre. For he who acts the part of Agamemnon in tragedy, for example, or of any other person belonging to the history or legend which is acted, is not really the person himself, but personates him, and is called a hypocrite. In like manner, in the Church, or in any phase of human life, whoever wishes to seem what he is not is a hypocrite. For he pretends, but does not show himself, to be a righteous man; because he places the whole fruit [of his acting] in the praise of men, which even pretenders may receive, while they deceive those to whom they seem good, and are praised by them. But such do not receive a reward from God the Searcher of the heart, unless it be the punishment of their deceit: from men, however, says He, “They have received their reward;” and most righteously will it be said to them, Depart from me, ye workers of deceit; ye had my name, but ye did not my works. Hence they have received their reward, who do their alms for no other reason than that they may have glory of men; not if they have glory of men, but if they do them for the express purpose of having this glory, as has been discussed above. For the praise of men ought not to be sought by him who acts rightly, but ought to follow him who acts rightly, so that they may profit who can also imitate what they praise, not that he whom they praise may think that they are profiting him anything.

6. “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” If you should understand unbelievers to be meant by the left hand, then it will seem to be no fault to wish to please believers; while nevertheless we are altogether prohibited from placing the fruit and end of our good deed in the praise of any men whatever. But as regards this point, that those who have been pleased with your good deeds should imitate you, we are to act before the eyes not only of believers, but also of unbelievers, so that by our good works, which are to be praised, they may honour God, and may come to salvation. But if you should be of opinion that the left hand means an enemy, so that your enemy is not to know when you do alms, why did the Lord Himself, when His enemies the Jews were standing round, mercifully heal men? why did the Apostle Peter, by healing the lame man whom he pitied at the gate Beautiful, bring also the wrath of the enemy upon himself, and upon the other disciples of Christ?250    Rom. viii. 35.    Acts iii., iv. Then, further, if it is necessary that the enemy should not know when we do our alms, how shall we do with the enemy himself so as to fulfil that precept, “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink”?251    Prov. xxv. 21.

7. A third opinion is wont to be held by carnal people, so absurd and ridiculous, that I would not mention it had I not found that not a few are entangled in that error, who say that by the expression left hand a wife is meant; so that, inasmuch as in family affairs women are wont to be more tenacious of money, it is to be kept hid from them when their husbands compassionately spend anything upon the needy, for fear of domestic quarrels. As if, forsooth, men alone were Christians, and this precept were not addressed to women also! From what left hand, then, is a woman enjoined to conceal her deed of mercy? Is a husband also the left hand of his wife? A statement most absurd. Or if any one thinks that they are left hands to each other; if any part of the family property be expended by the one party in such a way as to be contrary to the will of the other party, such a marriage will not be a Christian one; but whichever of them should choose to do alms according to the command of God, whomsoever he should find opposed, would inevitably be an enemy to the command of God, and therefore reckoned among unbelievers,—the command with respect to such parties being, that a believing husband should win his wife, and a believing wife her husband, by their good conversation and conduct; and therefore they ought not to conceal their good works from each other, by which they are to be mutually attracted, so that the one may be able to attract the other to communion in the Christian faith. Nor are thefts to be perpetrated in order that God may be rendered propitious. But if anything is to be concealed as long as the infirmity of the other party is unable to bear with equanimity what nevertheless is not done unjustly and unlawfully; yet, that the left hand is not meant in such a sense on the present occasion, readily appears from a consideration of the whole section, whereby it will at the same time be discovered what He calls the left hand.

8. “Take heed,” says He, “that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.” Here He has mentioned righteousness generally, then He follows it up in detail. For a deed which is done in the way of alms is a certain part of righteousness, and therefore He connects the two by saying, “Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.” In this there is a reference to what He says before, “Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them.” But what follows, “Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward,” refers to that other statement which He has made above, “Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.” Then follows, “But when thou doest alms.” When He says, “But thou,” what else does He mean but, Not in the same manner as they? What, then, does He bid me do? “But when thou doest alms,” says He, “let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” Hence those other parties so act, that their left hand knoweth what their right hand doeth. What, therefore, is blamed in them, this thou art forbidden to do. But this is what is blamed in them, that they act in such a way as to seek the praises of men. And therefore the left hand seems to have no more suitable meaning than just this delight in praise. But the right hand means the intention of fulfilling the divine commands. When, therefore, with the consciousness of him who does alms is mixed up the desire of man’s praise, the left hand becomes conscious of the work of the right hand: “Let not, therefore, thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth;”252    “With complete modesty; secret, noiseless giving” (Chrysostom). No reference to a counting of the money by the left hand (Paulus, De Wette). Luther’s comment is quaint and characteristic: “When thou givest alms with thy right hand, take heed that thou dost not seek with the left to take more, but put it behind thy back.” Trench pronounces this discussion concerning the meaning of the left hand “laborious, and, as I cannot but think, unnecessary;” but it is ingenious and interesting.i.e. Let there not be mixed up in thy consciousness the desire of man’s praise, when in doing alms thou art striving to fulfil a divine command.

9. “That thine alms may be in secret.”253    Pii lucent et tamen latent (Bengel). What else is meant by “in secret,” but just in a good conscience, which cannot be shown to human eyes, nor revealed by words? since, indeed, the mass of men tell many lies. And therefore, if the right hand acts inwardly in secret, all outward things, which are visible and temporal, belong to the left hand. Let thine alms, therefore, be in thine own consciousness, where many do alms by their good intention, even if they have no money or anything else which is to be bestowed on one who is needy. But many give alms outwardly, and not inwardly, who either from ambition, or for the sake of some temporal object, wish to appear merciful, in whom the left hand only is to be reckoned as working. Others again hold, as it were, a middle place between the two; so that, with a design which is directed Godward, they do their alms, and yet there insinuates itself into this excellent wish also some desire after praise, or after a perishable and temporal object of some sort or other. But our Lord much more strongly prohibits the left hand alone being at work in us, when He even forbids its being mixed up with the works of the right hand: that is to say, that we are not only to beware of doing alms from the desire of temporal objects alone; but that in this work we are not even to have regard to God in such a way as that there should be mingled up or united therewith the grasping after outward advantages. For the question under discussion is the cleansing of the heart, which, unless it be single, will not be clean. But how will it be single, if it serves two masters, and does not purge its vision by the striving after eternal things alone, but clouds it by the love of mortal and perishable things as well? “Let thine alms,” therefore, “be in secret; and thy254    Not our Father. Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee.” Altogether most righteously and most truly. For if you expect a reward from Him who is the only Searcher of the conscience, let conscience itself suffice thee for meriting a reward. Many Latin copies have it thus, “And thy Father who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly;” but because we have not found the word “openly” in the Greek copies, which are earlier,255    It is wanting in the Sinaitic, B, D, etc., mss., as also in the Vulgate copies. we have not thought that anything was to be said about it.

CAPUT II.---5. Cum ergo facis eleemosynam, inquit, noli tuba canere ante te, sicut hypocritae faciunt in synagogis et in vicis, ut glorificentur ab hominibus. Noli, inquit, sic velle innotescere, ut hypocritae. Manifestum est autem hypocritas non quod oculis praetendunt hominum, id etiam corde gestare. Sunt enim hypocritae simulatores, tanquam pronuntiatores personarum alienarum, sicut in theatricis fabulis. Non enim qui agit partes Agamemnonis in tragoedia, verbi gratia, sive alicujus alterius ad historiam vel fabulam quae agitur pertinentis, vere ipse est; sed simulat eum, et hypocrita dicitur. Sic in Ecclesia, vel in omni vita humana, quisquis se vult videri quod non est, hypocrita est. Simulat enim justum, non exhibet; quia totum fructum in laude hominum ponit, quam possunt etiam simulantes percipere, dum fallunt eos quibus videntur boni, ab eisque laudantur. Sed tales ab inspectore cordis Deo mercedem non accipiunt, nisi fallaciae supplicium: ab hominibus autem, inquit, perceperunt mercedem suam; rectissimeque his dicetur, Recedite a me, operarii dolosi: nomen 1272 meum habuistis, sed opera mea non fecistis. Illi ergo perceperunt mercedem suam, qui non ob aliud eleemosynam faciunt, nisi ut glorificentur ab hominibus: non si glorificentur ab hominibus, sed si ideo faciant ut glorificentur, sicut superius tractatum est. Laus enim humana non appeti a recte faciente, sed subsequi debet recte facientem: ut illi proficiant, qui etiam imitari possunt quod laudant; non ut hic putet aliquid eos sibi prodesse, quem laudant.

6. Te autem faciente eleemosynam, non sciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua. Si intellexeris sinistram infideles dici, videbitur nulla esse culpa, placere fidelibus velle: cum prorsus nihilominus in quorumlibet hominum laude fructum et finem boni operis constituere prohibeamur. Quod autem ad id pertinet ut te imitentur, quibus recte facta tua placuerint, non tantum fidelibus, sed etiam infidelibus exhibendum est, ut laudandis bonis operibus nostris Deum honorent, et veniant ad salutem. Si autem sinistram inimicum putaveris, ut nesciat inimicus tuus cum eleemosynam facis; cur ipse Dominus inimicis Judaeis circumstantibus misericorditer sanavit homines? cur apostolus Petrus, sanato eo quem ad portam Speciosam, debilem miseratus est, etiam iras inimicorum in se atque in alios Christi discipulos pertulit (Act. III, IV)? Deinde si non oportet scire inimicum, cum eleemosynam facimus, quomodo cum ipso inimico faciemus, ut illud impleamus praeceptum, Si esurierit inimicus tuus, ciba illum, si sitierit, potum da illi (Prov. XXV, 21)?

7. Tertia solet esse carnalium opinio, tam absurda et ridenda, ut non eam commemorarem, nisi expertus essem non paucos eo errore detineri, qui dicunt sinistrae nomine uxorem significari: ut quoniam in re familiari tenaciores pecuniarum solent esse feminae, lateat eas cum aliquid misericorditer viri earum egenis impendunt propter domesticas lites. Quasi vero soli viri christiani sint, et non hoc praeceptum etiam feminis datum sit. Cui ergo sinistrae jubetur femina occultare opus misericordiae suae? An etiam vir sinistra erit feminae? quod absurdissime dicitur. Aut si quispiam putat invicem sibi sinistras esse; si ab altero ita erogetur aliquid de re familiari, ut sit contra alterius voluntatem, non erit christianum tale conjugium: sed necesse est ut quisquis eorum eleemosynam facere voluerit ex praecepto Dei, quemcumque adversum habuerit, inimicus sit praecepto Dei, et ideo inter infideles deputetur: praeceptum est autem de talibus, ut bona sua conversatione ac moribus lucrifaciat uxorem maritus fidelis, vel maritum mulier fidelis; quapropter non sibi debent occultare bona opera sua, quibus invitandi sunt ad invicem, ut alter alterum possit ad christianae fidei communionem invitare. Nec furta facienda sunt, ut promereatur Deus. Quod si occultandum est aliquid, quamdiu alterius infirmitas aequo animo id non potest sustinere, quod tamen non injuste atque illicite fit; non tamen ipsam nunc sinistram significari totius capituli consideratione facile apparet, in qua simul invenietur quam sinistram vocet.

8. Cavete, inquit, facere justitiam vestram coram 1273hominibus ut videamini ab eis: alioquin mercedem non habebitis apud Patrem vestrum qui in coelis est. Generaliter hic justitiam nominavit, deinde particulariter exsequitur. Est enim pars aliqua justitiae opus quod per eleemosynam fit, et ideo connectit dicendo, Cum ergo facis eleemosynam, noli tuba canere ante te, sicut hypocritae faciunt in synagogis et in vicis, ut glorificentur ab hominibus. Ad hoc respicit quod superius ait, Cavete facere justitiam vestram coram hominibus, ut videamini ab eis. Quod autem sequitur, Amen dico vobis, perceperunt mercedem suam, ad illud respicit quod supra posuit, Alioquin mercedem non habebitis apud Patrem vestrum qui in coelis est. Deinde sequitur, Te autem faciente eleemosynam. Cum dicit, Te autem, quid aliud dicit, quam, Non quomodo illi? Quid ergo mihi jubet? Te autem faciente, inquit, eleemosynam, non sciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua. Ergo illi sic faciunt, ut sciat sinistra eorum quid faciat dextera eorum. Quod igitur in illis culpatum est, hoc tu facere vetaris. In illis autem hoc culpatum est, quod ita faciunt ut laudes hominum quaerant. Quapropter nihil consequentius sinistra videtur significare, quam ipsam delectationem laudis. Dextera autem significat intentionem implendi praecepta divina. Cum itaque conscientiae facientis eleemosynam miscet se appetitio laudis humanae, fit sinistra conscia operis dexterae: Nesciat ergo sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua, id est, non se misceat conscientiae tuae laudis humanae appetitio, cum in eleemosyna facienda divinum praeceptum contendis implere.

9. Ut sit eleemosyna tua in abscondito. Quid est, in abscondito, nisi in ipsa bona conscientia, quae humanis oculis demonstrari non potest, nec verbis aperiri? Quandoquidem multi multa mentiuntur. Quapropter si dextera intrinsecus agit in abscondito, ad sinistram pertinent omnia exteriora, quae sunt visibilia et temporalia. Sit ergo eleemosyna tua in ipsa conscientia tua, ubi multi eleemosynam faciunt bona voluntate, etiam si pecuniam, vel si quid aliud, quod inopi largiendum est, non habent. Multi autem foris faciunt, et intus non faciunt qui vel ambitione, vel alicujus rei temporalis gratia volunt misericordes videri, in quibus sola sinistra operari existimanda est. Item alii quasi medium inter utrosque locum tenent, ut et intentione quae in Deum est eleemosynam faciant, et tamen inserat se huic optimae voluntati nonnulla etiam laudis vel cujusce rei fragilis et temporalis cupiditas. Sed Dominus noster multo vehementius prohibet solam sinistram in nobis operari, quando etiam misceri eam vetat operibus dexterae: ut scilicet non modo sola temporalium rerum cupiditate caveamus eleemosynam facere; sed nec ita in hoc opere attendamus Deum, ut sese misceat vel adjungat exteriorum appetitio commodorum. Agitur enim de corde mundando, quod nisi fuerit simplex, mundum non erit. Simplex autem quomodo erit si duobus dominis servit, nec una intentione rerum aeternarum purificat aciem suam, sed eam mortalium quoque fragiliumque rerum amore obnubilat? 1274Sit ergo eleemosyna tua in abscondito; et Pater tuus qui videt in abscondito reddet tibi. Rectissime omnino et verissime. Si enim praemium ab eo exspectas qui conscientiae solus inspector est, sufficiat tibi ad promerendum praemium ipsa conscientia. Multa latina exemplaria sic habent, Et Pater tuus qui videt in abscondito, reddet tibi palam: sed quia in graecis, quae priora sunt, non invenimus, palam , non putavimus hinc esse aliquid disserendum.