Tertullian

“ To one who does not ask, He bids a gift to be given. “Let there be, not,” He says, “a poor man in thine hand;” in other words, see that there be not, so far as thy will can prevent; [31] by which command, too, He all the more strongly by inference requires [32] men to give to him that asks, as in the following words also: “If there be among you a poor man of thy brethren, thou shalt not turn away thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother. But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him as much as he wanteth.” ”

“ If, therefore, [21] one looks carefully [22] into the very grounds for which patience is enjoined (and that to such a full and complete extent) , one finds that it cannot stand if it is not the precept of the Creator, who promises vengeance, who presents Himself as the judge (in the case) . If it were not so, [23] —if so vast a weight of patience—which is to refrain from giving blow for blow; which is to offer the other cheek ”

“ Since, however, the second step [39] in charity is towards strangers, while the first is towards one’s neighbours, the second step will belong to him to whom the first also belongs, more fitly than the second will belong to him who owned no first. ”