Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/335

326 hit is gecweden on Tobius bocum: Sete ðin win, & lege ðinne hlaf ofer ryhtwisra monna byrgenne, & ne et his nauht, ne ne drinc mid ðæm synfullum. Se ðonne itt & drincð mid ðæm synnfullum, & him selð his hlaf & his win, se ðæm unrihtwisum fultemað, & hiene arað, forðæmþe he unrihtwis bið. Swæ eac manige welige menn on ðys middangearde lætað cwelan hungre Cristes ðearfan, & fedað yfle gliimen mid oferwiste, & bioð ðæm to ungemetlice cystige. Đa ðonne þe hiora hlaf sellað ðæm synnfullum þe ðearfende beoð, nalles no forðæmþe hie synfulle bioð, ac forðæmþe hie men bioð, & ðearfende bioð, ne selð se no synnfullum his hlaf, ac ryhtwisum, gif he on him ne lufað his yfel, ac his gecynd, ðæt is ðæt he bið man swæ same swæ he. Eac sint to manianne ða þe nu hiora mildheortlice sellað, ðæt hie geornlice giemen ðæt hie eft ða synne ne gefremmen þe hie nu mid hiora ælmessan aliesað, ðylæs hie eft scylen dón ðæt selfe. Ne fortruwige he hiene æt ðære ciepinge, ne wene he no ðæt Godes ryhtwisnes sie to ceape, swelce he hie mæge mid his penengum gebycggean, & don siððan swelc yfel swelce hie willen butan ælcere oðerre wræce, ða hwile þe hie penengas hæbben mid to gieldanne. Mare is ðæt mod ðonne se mete, & se lichoma ðonne ðæt hrægl. Ac ðonne hwa ægðer ge mete ge hrægl ðearfendum rumedlice sel, & his mod & his lichoman mid unryhtwisnesse besmit, ðonne selð he Gode ða læstan ryhtwisnesse, & oftihð him ðære mæstan, ðonne he syngað on his mode & on his mægene, & selð ðeah his ælmessan: selð Gode his æhta, & hiene selfne diofle. Ongean ðæt sint to manianne ða þe ðonne giet wilniað oðre men to reafianne, ðæt hie geornlice gehieren ðone cwide

but not to the impious." And again, it is said in the books of Tobias : “ Place thy wine and lay thy bread on the tombs of the righteous, and eat and drink none of it with the sinful." He eats and drinks with the sinful, and gives them his bread and wine, who aids and honours the unrighteous man, because he is unrighteous. So also, many rich men in this world let Christ's poor die of hunger, and support vile mountebanks in luxury, and are immoderately generous to them. Those who give their bread to the sinful who are poor, not at all because they are sinful, but because they are men and poor, do not give their bread to sinners but to righteous men, if they do not love in them their evil, but their nature, that is, their being men as well as themselves. Those who now give away their own generously, are also to be admo-