Works of Mercy

Treatise VIII. On Works and Alms. Argument.—He Powerfully Exhorts to the Manifestation of Faith by Works, and Enforces the Wisdom of Offerings to the Church and of Bounty to the Poor as the Best Inv

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And that all true saints are of a loving, benevolent, and beneficent temper, the Scripture is very plain and abundant. Without it, the apostle tells us, though we should speak with the tongues of men

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Having heard these things, those virgins went their way; but they profited nothing. And this He saith, either pursuing the parable, and working it up; or also by these things showing, that though we s

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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

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being approved by good works, if she has brought up children, if she has been hospitable to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, and if she has diligently

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Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of mercy which she did.

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I. When any Christian becomes an orphan, whether it be a young man or a maid, it is good that some one of the brethren who is without a child should take the young man, and esteem him in the place of

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Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

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for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in.

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I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’

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“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink?

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I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

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“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

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135. Not without pain is a limb of the body cut off which has become corrupt. It is treated for a long time, to see if it can be cured with various remedies. If it cannot be cured, then it is cut off

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Now then, why, it may be said, doth He threaten them who have not done works of mercy, that they shall depart into the fire, and not simply into the fire, but into that which is “prepared for the devi

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Chapter XII.—Rules for Visits, Exorcisms, and How People are to Assist the Sick, and to Walk in All Things Without Offence. Moreover, also, this is comely and useful, that a man “visit orphans and wi

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How miserable then will it be for the creation which was made for thee to be fashioned “according to the glorious liberty of the children of God,” (Rom. viii. 21) but for us who were made children of

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Moral. Seest thou that a failure in alms-giving is enough to cast a man into hell fire? For where will he avail who does not give alms? Dost thou fast every day? So also did those virgins, but it avai

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Wouldest thou know what a widow is, and what a widow’s dignity, hear Paul’s account of it. “If she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the Saints’ feet, if she h

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These words were spoken indeed to the Jews, but fear there is lest they be suited to us also, that “where He is” we “cannot come” on account of our life being full of sins. For concerning the disciple

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