1. From the same fountain of justice there proceed liberality, beneficence, charity, and other things of this kind, by which men may be helped in manifold ways. Liberality is that which overflows even toward those who seem to lack nothing; in such liberality is placed the abundance of one's household goods. The works of beneficence are many, by which the need of the suffering is mercifully relieved, and from earthly resources the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven is acquired—provided only that the work of beneficence be done without any ostentation, and that no base love of popular glory drive us to the doing of mercy. Indeed there have been found some who relieved the various needs of various people;
but either driven by the desire of gaining reputation, or moved by carnal affection, or constrained by the hope of receiving back what they gave, or by the necessity of repaying what they had received. 2. There are others whom nothing but cunning greed moves to bestow something upon the poor; who dispense something for this purpose, that here they may receive greater things in return; and whatever has been given to them as it were to the shepherds of the poor for distribution, they spend the whole, or nearly the whole, of what they have received upon their own pleasures—while those hungry ones, for whose sustenance they receive it, go unfed; and, what is worse, they shamefully covet to be counted among the generous and merciful, or even to be praised above them.
Far different from all these, and from those like them, are those who desire not themselves but God to be praised in their works; whom the hope of future reward leads to good work; and who wish to have Him alone as the witness of their work, from whom they believe, with the whole firmness of faith, that they shall receive their reward.