§20Esto potius liberis tuis pater talis qualis Tobias extitit.
rather such a father to your children as Tobit stood forth.
da utilia et salutaria praecepta pignoribus qualia ille filio dedit, manda filiis tuis quod et ille mandauit dicens: et nunc, fili, mando uobis, seruite Deo in ueritate et facite coram illo quod illi placet, et filiis uestris mandate ut faciant iustitiam et eleemosynas et sint memores Dei et benedicant nomen eius omni tempore. et iterum: omnibus diebus uitae tuae, fili, Deum in mente habe et noli praeterire praecepta eius.
Give useful and salutary precepts to your pledges, such as he gave to his son; command your children what he also commanded, saying: "And now, my son, I command you, serve God in truth and do before Him what pleases Him. And command your children that they should do justice and alms, and be mindful of God, and bless His name at all times." And again: "All the days of your life, my son, keep God in mind, and do not transgress His commandments.
iustitiam fac omnibus diebus uitae tuae et noli ambulare uiam iniquitatis, quoniam agente te ex ueritate erit respectus operum tuorum.
Do justice all the days of your life, and do not walk the way of iniquity, because if you act in truth, there will be a respect of your works.
ex substantia tua fac eleemosynam et noli auertere e faciem tuam ab ullo paupere.
Give alms from your substance, and do not turn away your face from any poor man.
ita fiet ut nec a te auertatur facies Dei.
So shall it come to pass that the face of God shall not be turned away from you.
prout habueris, fili, sic fac: si tibi fuerit copiosa substantia, plus ex illa fac eleemosynam.
According to what you have, my son, so do: if you have an abundant substance, give alms the more from it.
si exiguum habueris, ex hoc ipso exiguo communica.
If you have a little, share from that very little.
et ne timueris, cum facis eleemosynam: praemium bonum reponis tibi in diem necessitatis, quia eleemosyna a morte liberat et non patitur ire in tenebras.
And do not fear when you give alms: you lay up a good reward for yourself against the day of necessity, because almsgiving delivers from death, and does not suffer to go into darkness.
munus bonum est eleemosyna omnibus qui faciunt eam coram summo Deo. §21Quale munus est, fratres carissimi, cuius editio Deo spectante celebratur.
Almsgiving is a good gift to all who do it before the most high God." kind of gift is this, dearest brethren, whose exhibition is celebrated with God looking on!
si in gentilium munere grande et gloriosum uidetur proconsules uel imperatores habere praesentes, et apparatus ac sumptus aput munerarios maior est ut possint placere maioribus, quanto inlustrior muneris et maior est gloria Deum et Christum spectatores habere, quanto istic et apparatus uberior et sumptus largior exhibendus est, ubi ad spectaculum conueniunt caelorum uirtutes, conueniunt angeli omnes, ubi munerario non quadriga uel consulatus petitur, sed uita aeterna praestatur, nec captatur inanis et temporarius fauor uulgi, sed perpetuum praemium regni caelestis accipitur.
If in the exhibition of the Gentiles it seems a grand and glorious thing to have proconsuls or emperors present, and the preparation and expense among the exhibitors is greater that they may be able to please their superiors, how much more illustrious and greater is the glory of the exhibition to have God and Christ as spectators! How much more abundant preparation and more lavish expense must be shown here, where the powers of heaven assemble for the spectacle, where all the angels assemble, where not a chariot or a consulship is sought for the exhibitor, but eternal life is bestowed, and not the empty and temporary favor of the crowd is caught at, but the perpetual reward of the heavenly kingdom is received!
so that the lazy and barren, and those who because of greed for money work nothing toward the fruit of salvation, may be the more ashamed, so that the blush of their disgrace and baseness may the more strike their sordid conscience, let each one place before his eyes that the devil with his half-demons, that is, with the people of perdition and death, leaps forth into the midst, and provokes the people of Christ, while He Himself is present and judging in the test of comparison, saying: "I, for these whom you see with me, neither received blows, nor endured scourges, nor bore the cross, nor shed my blood, nor did I redeem my family with the price of my passion and blood; neither do I promise them a heavenly kingdom, nor do I recall them again to paradise, restoring their immortality.
§22Adque ut pigros et steriles et cupiditate nummaria nihil circa fructum salutis operantes magis pudeat, ut plus conscientiam sordidam dedecoris ac turpitudinis suae rubor caedat, ponat unusquisque ante oculos suos diabolum cum semis suis id est cum populo perditionis ac mortis in medium prosilire, plebem Christi praesente et iudicante ipso comparationis examine prouocare dicentem: (ego pro istis quos mecum uides nec alapas accepi nec flagella sustinui nec crucem pertuli nec sanguinem fudi nec familiam meam pretio passionis et cruoris redemi, sed nec regnum illis caeleste promitto nec ad paradisum restituta immortalitate denuo reuoco: et munera mihi quam pretiosa, quam grandia, quam nimio et longo labore quaesita sumptuosissimis apparatibus conparant rebus suis uel obligatis in muneris comparationem uel uenditis: ac nisi editio honesta successerit, conuiciis ac sibilis eiciuntur et furore populari nonnumquam paene lapidantur.
And yet, what precious gifts, how grand, sought with how much and long labor, do they procure for me with the most sumptuous preparations, their possessions being either mortgaged for the procurement of the gift or sold! And unless a respectable exhibition succeeds, they are cast out with insults and hisses, and by the popular fury are sometimes almost stoned.
tuos tales munerarios, Christe, demonstra, illos diuites, illos copiosis opibus afluentes, an in ecclesia praesidente et spectante te eiusmodi munus edant obpigneratis uel distractis rebus suis, immo ad caelestes thesauros mutata in melius possessione translatis.
Show, O Christ, such exhibitors of Yours, those rich men, those abounding in abundant wealth, whether they exhibit a gift of this kind in the church, with You presiding and looking on, by mortgaging or selling their possessions, or rather, their possession being changed for the better, transferred to heavenly treasures.
in istis muneribus meis caducis adque terrenis nemo pascitur, nemo uestitur, nemo cibi alicuius aut potus solacio sustinetur.
In these perishable and earthly gifts of mine, no one is fed, no one is clothed, no one is sustained by the solace of any food or drink.
cuncta inter furorem edentis et spectantis errorem prodiga et stulta uoluptatum frustrantium uanitate depereunt.
All things perish between the madness of the exhibitor and the error of the spectator, in the lavish and foolish vanity of frustrating pleasures.
illic in pauperibus tuis tu uestiris et pasceris, tu aeternam uitam operantibus polliceris: et uix tui meis perdentibus adaequantur qui a te diuinis mercedibus et praemiis caelestibus honorantur. \'
There, in Your poor, You are clothed and fed, You promise eternal life to those who work; and yet those of Yours who are honored by You with divine rewards and heavenly prizes are scarcely equaled to my perishing ones!"