Grantee

“ See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life—while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.
And you receivers—and you are all receivers—assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father. ”

“ To help God's Kingdom come. . . .
And we— (O God,
Thou knowest why!) who have no sons to give,
We lend our gold that shall be paid again
With interest. So small a thing it seems!
And yet—these are the savings of our life,
And there is nothing petty in Thy sight. ”

“ That you may keep many birthdays of your children with all happiness, the pride of your parents, the darling of the people, the beloved of your friends, worthy of your fortune, your lineage, and your station, gladly would I give my whole life, not that meagre portion of it only that now remains to me, but also what I have already lived, if in any way it could be restored to me entire, and expended as the repayment of a debt for the benefit of yourself and your children. ”

“ Proportion thy charity to the strength of thy estate, lest God proportion thy estate to the weakness of thy charity. Let the lips of the poor be the trumpet of thy gift, lest in seeking applause thou lose thy reward. Nothing is more pleasing to God than an open hand and a close mouth. ”

“ Every man boasted the antiquity of his family, resolved to support the dignity of his birth, and lived in splendour and plenty at the expense of his heir, who, sometimes by a wealthy marriage, and sometimes by lucky legacies, discharged part of the incumbrances, and thought himself entitled to contract new debts, and to leave to his children the same inheritance of embarrassment and distress. ”

“ Observe, She is praised not only for the alms which she gave, but for the alms-deeds which she did. Those that have not estates wherewith to give in charity, may yet be able to do in charity, working with their hands, or walking with their feet, for the benefit of the poor. And they who will not do a charitable deed, what ever they may pretend, if they were rich would not bestow a charitable gift. ”

“ I remit to you, therefore, not merely a token of my approbation, but an acknowledgment of my desire to participate in your charity.
O my child, were my fortune equal to my confidence in thy benevolence, with what transport should I, through thy means, devote it to the relief of indigent virtue! yet let us not repine at the limitation of our power; for while our bounty is proportioned to our ability, the difference of the greater or less donation can weigh but little in the scale of justice. ”

“ I have nothing of myself to offer Thee but what is corrupt and evil, but Thou hast given me by inheritance all the poverty and humility of Thy Blessed Mother, all her sorrows,—and these I offer Thee—Thy gift I give back to Thee. ”

“ Beyond all price indeed is this privilege of quiet inherited from our earnest forefathers, and great the debt of gratitude we owe to those whose wisdom laid, whose courage and patience maintained, its deep foundations. ”

“ Let great men, and men of estates, thus do good, and they shall have praise of the same; and let those who have good done to them look upon it as a just debt they owe to their protectors and benefactors to bless them and give witness to them, to use their interest on earth for their honour and in heaven for their comfort, to praise them and pray for them. ”

“ The pleasure of seeing them on your table, and hearing them talked about, and the donor’s name speculated upon, is often sufficient to induce a repetition of the anonymous deed, or an acknowledgment of it, which is very embarrassing, as you must either break your rule, or hurt the feelings of the donor. Of all the votive offerings made to the young and the fair, flowers are the most beautiful and most unexceptionable. ”

“ A gift, or conveyance founded merely upon a consideration of affection, or blood, or consanguinity, may be set aside by creditors, if the grantor was in embarrassed circumstances when he made it; for a man is bound, both legally and morally, to pay his debts before giving away his property. ”

“ In acknowledgment of the humanity and generosity of the best of landlords, and as a token of his tenants' joy on the birth of a son and heir, who will, it is hoped, inherit his father's generosity, and his mother's virtues, this piece of plate is, with all due gratitude, presented, as a christening basin to all the children that shall proceed from such worthy parents, and their descendants, to the end of time. ”

“ Thou who hast made for us this place of ease and hope, accept and inflame our gratitude; help us to repay, in service one to another, the debt of Thine unmerited benefits and mercies, so that when the period of our stewardship draws to a conclusion, when the windows begin to be darkened, when the bond of the family is to be loosed, there shall be no bitterness of remorse in our farewells. ”

“ Honour and dignity are rated high in the king's books. He does not ask, What reward has been given Mordecai? what money? what estate? but only, What honour?—a poor thing, and which, if he had not wherewith to support it, would be but a burden. 4. The greatest merits and the best services are often overlooked and go unrewarded among men. Little honour is done to those who best deserve it, and fittest for it, and would do most good with it. ”

“ This, sir, said I, is all goodness, unmerited on my side; and makes my obligations the greater. I can only wish for more worthiness.—But how poor is it to offer nothing but words for such generous deeds!—And to say, I wish!—For what is a wish, but the acknowledged want of power to oblige, and a demonstration of one’s poverty in every thing but will? ”

“ Yet the grant is a mere concession, and one which may be withdrawn at any moment. If the son dies it lapses to the father; if the father dies it falls to the heir.
The child, as having no property, cannot give satisfaction for wrongs which he has committed. ”

“ To contract he opposes gift, free-gift, or grace, where there is no mutual transference of right, but one party transfers in the hope of gaining friendship or service from another, or the reputation of charity and magnanimity, or deliverance from the merited pain of compassion, or reward in heaven. ”

“ The hands that have fed, clothed, or shown favour unto the family of thy servant in his absence, or that shall hereafter do so, let them not lose their reward, but let a special blessing rest upon them, and in thy kingdom let them have an inheritance when thou shalt come to be glorified in this society. ”

“ Systematic benevolence applied to our Heavenly Father. The whole system of our teaching on this subject has been based on “Giving,” everlastingly “Giving.” If this teaching is right we laymen can justly claim the right to give what we please and as we please. Gifts and payment occupy very different standpoints. If I owe a debt, it is a definite amount and I must pay it when it is due, or be branded as a defaulter, but no man owes a gift. ”

“ Secondly, There is enough and to spare, enough for all, enough for each, enough to spare for such as will join themselves to his domestics, enough and to spare for charity. Yet there is room; there are crumbs that fall from his table, which many would be glad of, and thankful for. Thirdly, Even the hired servants in God's family are well provided for; the meanest that will but hire themselves into his family, to do his work, and depend upon his rewards, shall be well provided for. ”

“ The reason he assigns is the debt of gratitude we owe: we are to remember the great good we receive from God in heaven—"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." ”

“ Gentlemen cannot suppose that a grant made by the crown to the ancestor for services rendered or even for affection can be invalidated in the hands of an heir because these services and affections are forgotten, or because the thing granted has, from causes which must have been foreseen, become more valuable than when it was given. ”

“ It is according to Prudence, as well as Nature, to pay that Honour to your Parents that you Expect your Children should pay to you.
Do All the Good you can to All men, but in the First Place to your Nearest Relations, and do no Hurt however, where you can do no Good. ”

“ Master, Lord our God, who biddest everyone according to their purpose to offer unto thee thine own of thine own, and bestowest upon them in return thine everlasting blessings, who didst favourably accept the offering of as much as she could of the widow; do thou now also accept the things offered by thy servant, name, and vouchsafe to lay up the same in thine eternal treasury, and grant unto him abundant possession of thy worldly blessings, together with all things that are serviceable unto him. ”

“ May he not give to what persons he pleases, and in what proportion he pleases; one gift to one man, and another to another; to one more, and another fewer, as he thinks fit? Is he not the best judge how his own purpose shall be served, and his own donatives bestowed? ”

“ In that case, will you please to inform those members that our worldly wealth is great, that the origin of all our property was the generosity of your ancestor, that my grandfather’s wishes are commands, and that there is nothing which we can do for any member of your family, if the opportunity should occur, which we will not do cheerfully and readily. ”

“ When a grant was made to a man and one or more of his sons by name, the sons were originally, at the time of the investiture, capable, or supposed capable, by the lord’s admission, of doing the services of the feud ”

“ Genbrard. in Psal. 126.Children are the Inheritance of the Lord, and the fruite of the wombe is his reward. There is a reward of a debt, such as is due to the workeman for his labour upon desert: and a reward of grace, such as God giveth to them who labour in well-doing according to promise. A reward is given to the worker of free grace, but not for his worke as the procuring or deserving cause. ”

“ But you ought to view the gifts which you bestow as a part of your debt, since you know that what you give comes not from yourself, but from him whose servant both you are and he also to whom you give. And nature herself teaches you to do to your fellow servant, man to man, as you would be done by ”

“ Ah, what good may be done if persons but knew that with thirty or forty francs, which would be scrupulously repaid, if without interest, they might often save the future, and sometimes the honour of a family, whom the want of work places in the grasp of misery and want! ”

“ Now as concerning the little offerings brought by the poor man, and the large offerings of the rich man, when God looked upon them He received them to Himself with equal honour, nay, perhaps He was inclined more to the gifts of the poor man, for He looked upon the willingness in the heart rather than upon the abundance of the things offered. Let the proof of these words, moreover, be to you through the words of the poor widow, who threw two lepta into the treasury, for the honour of this offering was far greater in the sight of God than the gold which the rich men gave. ”

“ But the gift you have to make to the poor, depend upon it, is the greatest of all gifts you can make—that of yourselves, following in your great Master's steps, whose life is the foundation of all charity. ”

“ For they that give gifts do not of their own head give them to the widows, but barely bring them in, calling them free-will offerings, that so thou that knowest those that are in affliction mayest as a good steward give them their portion of the gift. ”

“ As a reward, moreover, for their labour, they may receive for themselves and their brothers the necessaries of life, but not coin or money; and this humbly, as becomes the servants of God and the followers of most holy poverty. ”

“ And together with these, first-fruits, and first born, and other things besides, as, for instance, the offerings for sins, those for purification, those at feasts, those in the jubilee, those by the cancelling of debts, and the dismissal of servants, and the lendings that were clear of usury. But if he who gave the third part of his goods, or rather the half (for [28] those being put together with these are the half) , if he who is giving the half, achieves no great thing, he who doth not bestow so much as the tenth, of what shall he be worthy? ”

“ For, he continued, “it requires no very critical examination of the human mind to enable us to determine that one great inducement to these gifts is the conviction felt by the giver that the disposition he makes of them is immutable. All such gifts are made in the pleasing, perhaps delusive hope, that the charity will flow forever in the channel which the givers have marked out for it. ”

“ That our garners may be full, like those of the good householder, who brings out of them things new and old (those things that are best new he has in that state, those that are best when they are kept he has in that state) ,—that we may have in them all manner of stores, for ourselves and our friends,—that, living plentifully, we may live not luxuriously, for then we abuse our plenty, but cheerfully and usefully,—that, having abundance, we may be thankful to God, generous to our friends, and charitable to the poor; otherwise, what profit is it to have our garners full? ”

“ Those who serve their country ought to serve without receiving gifts, and there ought to be no excusing or approving the saying, 'Men should receive gifts as the reward of good, but not of evil deeds' ”