Accordingly, we find that the duty of relieving the pour was not neglected by the early Christians (Luke xiv, 13 ; Acts xx, 35 ; Gal. ii, 10). Every individ- ual was exhorted to lay by on the Sunday in each week some portion of his profits, to be applied to the wants of the needy (Acts xi, 30 ; Rom. xv, 25-27 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1-4). It was also considered a duty specially incumbent on widows to devote themselves to such ministrations (1 Tim. v, 10). One of the earliest effects of the working of Christianity in the hearts of its professors was the care which it led them to take of the poor and indigent in the "house- hold of faith." Neglected and despised by the world, cut off from its sympathies, and denied any succor it might have given, the members of the early churches were careful not only to make provision in each case for its own poor, but to contribute to the necessities of other though distant communities (Acts xi, 29; xxiv, 17 ; 2 Cor. ix, 12). This commendable prac- tice seems to have had its Christian origin in the deep- ly interesting fact (which appears from John xiii, 29) that the Saviour and his attendants were wont, not-
withstanding their own comparative poverty, to con- tribute out of their small resources something for the relief of the need}'. See generally Gude, Eleemosy- nm Eccles. Apostolicce ex Antiquitate Saci-a (Lauban. 1728).— Winer, i, 46 ; Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v.
III. Ecclesiastical Alms-giving. — In the early ages of Christianity alms were divided in some provinces into four portions ; one of which was allotted to the bishops, another to the priests, a third to the deacons and sub-deacons, which made their whole subsistence, and a fourth part was employed in relieving the poor and in repairing churches. These alms were given to the poor at their entrance into the church. The reasons assigned for this practice by Chrysostom in- dicate on his part a very defective view of Gospel truth. He says, " For this reason our forefathers ap- pointed the poor to stand before the door of our church- es, that the sight of them might provoke the most backward and inhuman soul to compassion. And as, by law and custom, we have fountains before our ora- tories, that thejr who go in to worship God may first wash their hands, and so lift them up in prayer, so our ancestors, instead of fountains and cisterns, placed the poor before the door of the church, that, as we wash our hands in water, we should cleanse our souls by beneficence and charity first, and then go and offer up our prayers. For water is not more adapted to wash away the spots of the body than the power of almsdeeds is to cleanse the soul. As, therefore, ytu dare not go in to pray with unwashen hands, though this be but a small offence, so neither should you without alms ever enter the church for prayer" (Horn. xxv, de verb. Apost.). The period of Lent was par- ticularly fruitful in alms. During the last week Chrysostom enjoins a more liberal distribution than usual of alms to the poor, and the exercise of all kinds of charity. The reason he assigns is, the nearer men approach to the passion and resurrection of Christ, by which all the blessings of the world were poured forth on men, the more they should feel themselves obliged to show all manner of acts of mercy and kindness to- ward their brethren (Bingham, bk. xxi, ch. i, § 25). At the time of marriage, as a substitute for the old Roman practice of throwing about nuts, the early Christians were accustomed to distribute alms to the poor and to children. The distribution of alms at funerals was associated with the unscriptural practice of praying for the dead. In one of Chrysostom's " Homilies," he says, " If many barbarous nations burn their goods together with their dead, how much more reasonable is it for you to give your child his goods when he is dead ! Not to reduce them to ashes, but to make him the more glorious ; if he be a sinner, to procure him pardon ; if righteous, to add to his reward and retribution." In several of the fathers alms-giving is recommended as meritorious ; and the germ of Romish teaching on the subject of salvation by the merit of good works may be clearly found in them. — Bingham, Orig. Eccl. xiii, viii, § 14; Coleman, Anc. Christianity, ch. iv, § 3; Honing, Lchre d. alt. Kirche v. Opfer. See Almoner.
The order in the Church of England is, that alms should be collected at that part of the communion- service which is called the offertory, while the sen- tences are reading which follow the place appointed for the sermon.
In the Methodist Episcopal Church alms are col- lected at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and at the love-feasts.
On the Christian duty of alms-giving see Taylor, Holy Living and Dying, ch. iv, § 8 ; Saurin, Sermons (Serm. ix); Barrow's Sermon on Bounty to the Poor (Works, ii, (59); Wayland's Moral Science, p. 376 sq. See Charity, and Poor.
IV. Civil. — The poor-laics of modern times have brought up anew the whole question of alms-giving in its relation to Christian ethics, and it requires a