Page:The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe Volume 3.djvu/113



miserable out of his misery: and forasmuch as the misery of mankind is twofold; that is to say, spiritual and bodily, which is the want or taking away of the goods; and the goods of man are either the goods of the soul or of the body: and the goods of the soul are twofold; that is to say, the enlightening of the mind, and the uprightness of affection: the misery of the soul is also twofold; as the darkness of ignorance, and a froward and wilful swerving from the truth. And both the goods of the soul are wont to be comprehended under one title or name; that is to say, 'wisdom:' and both the miseries of the soul, under the name of 'folly.' Whereupon all the whole goodness of the soul is wisdom, and all the whole misery thereof is ignorance. The miseries of the body are lack of meat; that is to say, hunger; and lack of drink, called thirst: and, briefly, all misery is the want of some thing which is desired. Also these are bodily miseries: nakedness, lack of harbour, sickness, and imprisonment. All the miseries therefore being numbered together, are but one of the soul, which is folly and lack of wisdom, and six of the body, which the Lord, in Matthew xxv., doth plainly rehearse. There are also commonly appointed seven bodily alms; that is to say, to feed the hungry, to give drink unto the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to harbour the stranger or harbourless, to visit the sick, and to bury the dead; which all together are contained in these verses:

There be also seven other spiritual alms appointed, which are these: to teach the ignorant; to counsel him that is in doubt; to comfort him who is in heaviness; to correct the offender; to forgive him who hath offended against thee; to bear with those who are grievous; and to pray for all men: which are also contained in these verses following:

So that, notwithstanding, under the same, counsel and doctrine be comprehended, as writeth Thomas in the second part of the second question, art. xxxii. par. 2.

Secondly, it is to be noted that in this present article our intent is only to treat of bodily alms: which, as Thomas writeth in his second part, second question (art. xxxii. par. 1), according to some men's minds is thus defined: "Alms is a work whereby anything is given unto the needy, out of compassion, for God's sake." And forasmuch as this definition serveth as well for the spiritual as for the corporal alms, therefore, to the purpose: alms is a work, whereby any thing is given unto the needy in body for compassion, and for God's sake; or that is given of compassion or pity unto the bodily needy for God's sake.

Whereupon it is manifest that alms, as St. Augustine and other holy men say, is a work of mercy, as also to give alms, as it appeareth by the name; for in the Greek it is derived from this word 'elemonia,' which is 'mercy;' for as in the Latin this word 'miseratio,' which signifieth 'pity,' is derived from 'misericordia,' which is 'mercy;' so this word 'eleemosyna,' which signifieth 'alms,' is derived from the Greek word 'elemonia,' which is to say 'mercy,' and from