“The charity of a Christian man knoweth no property:
let him love good men in Christ, evil men for Christ’s sake, which so loved us
first when we were yet his enemies, that he bestowed himself on us altogether
for our redemption: let him embrace the one because they be good: the other
nevertheless to make them good: he shall hate no man at all, no more verily
than a faithful physician hateth a sick man: let him be an enemy only unto
vices: the greater the disease is, the greater cure will pure charity put
thereto: he is an adulterer, he hath committed sacrilege, he is a Turk: let a
Christian man defy the adulterer, not the man: He must defy and abhor the
vices, but not the man. Let him despise the committer of sacrilege, not the
man: let him kill the Turk, not the man: let him find the means that the evil
man perish such as he hath made himself to be, but let the man be saved whom
God made: let him will well, wish well, and do well, to all men unfeignedly:
neither hurt them which have deserved it, but do good to them which have not
deserved it; let him be glad of all men’s commodities as well as of his own,
and also be sorry for all men’s harms none otherwise than for his own. For
verily this is that which the apostle commandeth: to weep with them that weep,
to joy with them that joy, yea let him rather take another man’s harm
grievouser than his own: and of his brother’s wealth be gladder than of his
own. It is not a Christian man’s part to think on this wise: what have I to do
with this fellow, I know not whether he be black or white, he is unknown to me,
he is a stranger to me, he never did aught for me, he hath hurt me sometime,
but did me never good. Think none of these things: remember only for what
deserving can those things which Christ hath done for thee, which would his
kindness done to thee, should be recompensed, not in himself, but in thy
neighbour.”— Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic,
teacher, and theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536), The Manual of a Christian Knight
(1501)Sunday, January 8, 2017
Quote of the Day (Erasmus, on ‘The Charity of a Christian Man’)
“The charity of a Christian man knoweth no property:
let him love good men in Christ, evil men for Christ’s sake, which so loved us
first when we were yet his enemies, that he bestowed himself on us altogether
for our redemption: let him embrace the one because they be good: the other
nevertheless to make them good: he shall hate no man at all, no more verily
than a faithful physician hateth a sick man: let him be an enemy only unto
vices: the greater the disease is, the greater cure will pure charity put
thereto: he is an adulterer, he hath committed sacrilege, he is a Turk: let a
Christian man defy the adulterer, not the man: He must defy and abhor the
vices, but not the man. Let him despise the committer of sacrilege, not the
man: let him kill the Turk, not the man: let him find the means that the evil
man perish such as he hath made himself to be, but let the man be saved whom
God made: let him will well, wish well, and do well, to all men unfeignedly:
neither hurt them which have deserved it, but do good to them which have not
deserved it; let him be glad of all men’s commodities as well as of his own,
and also be sorry for all men’s harms none otherwise than for his own. For
verily this is that which the apostle commandeth: to weep with them that weep,
to joy with them that joy, yea let him rather take another man’s harm
grievouser than his own: and of his brother’s wealth be gladder than of his
own. It is not a Christian man’s part to think on this wise: what have I to do
with this fellow, I know not whether he be black or white, he is unknown to me,
he is a stranger to me, he never did aught for me, he hath hurt me sometime,
but did me never good. Think none of these things: remember only for what
deserving can those things which Christ hath done for thee, which would his
kindness done to thee, should be recompensed, not in himself, but in thy
neighbour.”— Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic,
teacher, and theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536), The Manual of a Christian Knight
(1501)
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