[ 1127] Alms-giving, how to be regulated.
SElymus the great Turk,* 1.1 as he lay languishing, (his incurable disease still in∣creasing) leaning his head in the lap of Pyrrhus the Bassa, whom of all others he most loved; I see, said he, O Pyrrhus, I must shortly die without remedy: Where∣upon the great Bassa took occasion to talk with him of many great matters; And amongst others, that it would please him to give order for the well bestowing of the great wealth, taken from the Persian Merchants in divers places of his Em∣pire; perswading him to bestow the same upon some notable Hospital for relief of the Poor: To whom Selymus replyed; Wouldst thou, Pyrrhus, that I should bestow other Mens goods, wrongfully taken from them, upon works of Charity and devotion for my own vain-glory and praise? Assuredly, I will never do it; Nay, see they be given again to the right owners; which was forthwith done according∣ly: What a shame then is this to Christians, who minding nothing lesse then Restitution,* 1.2 make ex rapina holocaustum, out of a world of ill-gotten goods, they cull out some small fragments to erect some poor Hospitall, having cheated Thousands, build Alms-houses for some few, and then set a glorious Inscrip∣tion in the Front; whereas this one word, Aceldama, would be far more pro∣per: But this is not the right way of Alms-giving; Take ••eed how you do your Alms,* 1.3 saith our Saviour; where the word Alms, is in the Syriack, Justice; shew∣ing, that Alms should be of things well gotten, when a Man is able to say, This,* 1.4 by the blessing of God, is the fruit of my own labours: And then too, He that gives Al••s to the poor, must do it with discretion, omni petenti non omnia petenti, to every one that doth ask, but not every thing that he doth ask.