Temporary alms better than perpetual: the definitions, and the proof that they are more authentic

From these things it falls [to me] to declare the teachingsentencia: CONTEXTUAL: teaching / sentence which I stated above, namely that temporaryelemosina temporalis / perpetua: temporary alms / perpetual alms human alms would be, other things being equal, more authenticautenticus / autenticacio: authentic / authentication, more meritorious, and on either side more secure than perpetual human alms, both for the clergyclerus; clericus: the clergy; cleric and for the almsgiverelemosinans: almsgiver.¹ 275And lest there be equivocation in the term, let it be supposed that perpetual human alms is bodily alms given by a man without qualificationsimpliciter / secundum quid: without qualification / in a certain respect under the name of perpetual alms, as is often mentioned in the charters of the kings of England. For temporary human alms is alms given by a man without such a titletitulus: title expressed, as so-calledvocatus (vocata bona, vocata ecclesia): so-called movable goods are given to communities or to needy persons.² And the first alms is commonly made from secular revenuesreditus: revenue(s), from the income of churches, or from annual payments assignedlimitare; limites: to assign (an office); limits in perpetuity according to human traditions by a perceptiblesensibilis: perceptible obligatory sign.³ Second, I suppose the positive of each part of the proposed conclusionconclusio: conclusion: for it is possible that a secularecclesia laycalis / secularis: the lay church / the secular church in grace piouslypietas / pie: piety / piously gives such perpetual alms; therefore it is possible that they are authentic, meritorious and secure alms; nor will friend or adversary dispute over the proof of this, since the laws of the church approve perpetual endowmentsdotacio: endowment, foundations and appropriationsappropriare; appropriacio: to appropriate; appropriation made to the clergy. Now they would not so approve that deed unless it were authentic, meritorious and secure; therefore the conclusion.⁴ Hence the adversaries cry out that most justly, most necessarily and most fittingly the church has been so endowed, so much so that it was not lawful for the temporal lordstemporales domini: temporal lords not to have so endowed [it] without excommunication and perpetual damnation. These things supposed, the conclusion is proved by this, that Christ expressly exemplified by deed and taught by word temporary alms, but not the said perpetual alms; therefore the conclusion. Now that which is taught more expressly in scripture, which proceeds more markedly from a more authentic person, and in which the church grows more, has the three conditions recited above.⁵ For it would have been negligence or folly in Christ if he had given a law to govern his church, and had declared more expressly a lowly 276or less necessary rule, but had hidden the more necessary rule; therefore the ancient doctors took it from the faith of scripture that the testament of Christ was given to the churchecclesia: church, both in matter and in form, according as is necessary and more expedient, to direct those on the roadviantes: those on the road along the strait way leading to the homelandvia / patria: the way / the homeland, and consequently to teach how a wayfarerviator: wayfarer is better disposed to acquire blessedness.⁶ And the things on which scripture is silent, such as the name of Tobias’s dog, the day of judgment, and the future persecutions of the world, it is expedient [for us] to be ignorant ofignorare: to be ignorant of in particular. Since, then, Christ and his apostles took from man only temporary alms, and he taught his disciples to receive precisely such, as is clear from Matthew 10 and Luke 10, as was said in the eleventh chapter, on privileges, it seems manifest that Christ gave greater weight in his church, on either side, to that manner of giving and receiving the alms of a creature.⁷

And the confirmation of this is that through those alms the Christian church flourished the more for three hundred years and more. Therefore the privilegesprivilegium / privilegiare / privilegiacio: privilege / to privilege / privileging granted so singularly and markedly by the prince of peace, for which he did not wish his own to contend (as was said at the end of the last chapter), are of more worth than secular privileges.⁸

Now, descending more particularly, the conclusion is proved more specially, part by part; and first, that temporary alms would be more authentic for the secular almsgiver; for such almsgivingelemosinacio: almsgiving would be more like both the work and the verbal teaching of the King of kings; since, then, the activity of a membermembrum: member of the church is the more authentic the more like it is to the headcaput: head, because to that extent it is more approved by its author, the conclusion followssequitur: it follows.⁹ And I speak of the work with its circumstances, according as they tend more toward moral justice (as such), so that of itself it has more of the rightness of a work good in kindbona de genere: good in kind; and this I understand 277by that phrase "other things being equal".¹⁰ But it can happen accidentally that the killing of a man, or his punishment, is more authentic, because more pleasing to God, than a deliverance from death granted [him] or a restoration to prosperity in the goods of nature or of fortune, supposing that it proceeds from greater charitycaritas: charity. Nevertheless, since an activity which in itself and in its circumstances is more like its exemplar in Christ ought correspondingly to be more charitable, I suppose that we are speaking of the authentication of the work (as such); and since every authentication of our work corresponds proportionally to Christ’s approval, the conclusion is clear.¹¹ For no one ought to do a work of mercy except according to the doctrinedoctrina: doctrine he has learned from Christ; now since Christ taught us to give temporary alms and not so perpetual, it follows that temporary almsgiving is more authentic. Again, in proportion as a meritorious activity savours of greater humility, it is more pleasing to God, and consequently more authentic with the master who is meek and humble of heart; now so it is with temporary almsgiving in respect of perpetual almsgiving. Therefore it is more authentic.¹² The minor is proved from this, that it belongs to the lord of time alone, who is God, of himself to grant a perpetual gift; hence (as I have declared elsewhere) it does not lie in the power of man to grant a gift for any time except for the time during which he himself can have it or exercise lordshipdominus; dominari: lord; to exercise lordship / to lord it over it, since God cannot grant a rightius: right / law more extensive or more ample than he himself can have.¹³ Since, then, it is not in the power of a secular lord to have such a gift in perpetuity, it seems that he does not suffice of himself to grant anything so extensively. And the confirmation of this is that a man cannot ratify the perpetuity of lordshipdominium: lordship to his natural heir, to whom he is more attached as to one more capable. How then will he rectify an alms further estranged from Christ’s approval? As, then, Edgar and Saint Edward 278did not have power to give the lordship of our kingdomregnum: kingdom to their natural heirs, as is clear from the conquest that followed, so it seems that they did not suffice to give the accessory to a person so foreign; indeed, just as William the Conqueror was not bound to restore the principal, so neither [was he bound to restore] the accessory.¹⁴

And the confirmation is from this, that he transferred many such alms of the Saxons and brought in monks of Normandy; and if this had been wholly unlawful, the greater part of the possessionerpossessionati: the possessioners clergy in England would be usurping another’s good without title.¹⁵

Again, it seems that many charters of perpetual alms savour of blasphemy and pride on the part of the almsgiver and of the one who interprets [them] wrongly, since many secular lords presume that it is in their power to give without qualification, in perpetual alms, a designated revenue, passing over every condition of the almsmanelemosinarius: almsman; which was declared in the last chapter cannot belong to God, since in 1 Samuel 2:30 we read that God had noted the condition of Heli, so that, notwithstanding any promise, the grantconcessio: grant does not hold unless he performs the serviceservicium: service of God virtuously.¹⁶ If, then, God, who can justify the ungodly and knows the conditions and deserts of the whole line of successors, understandssubintelligere: understand as implied a condition [as implied], it would seem blind presumption in a man, who can neither give for so long a period nor justify any grantee of his, that he should assert that he grants the given alms to anyone of that line absolutely;¹⁷ for in this he implies that he so grants whether God wills or not; which he cannot, since no one can grant anything unless God has first granted it: therefore, by reason of such a lie, many so-called perpetual alms are dissolved.¹⁸