A Christian Library, Chapter 37
CHAP. XXXVII.
The next to be considered is, The time when we are to give, and that is two-fold.
First, when an opportunity of doing good offers it se…fe, do it speedily without delay, readily entertain the first …o… on, with-hold not good from thy Neighbour, when it is in thy power to do it. Say not to him that is in present need, goe and …ome again, and to morrow I will give thee, when thou hast it by thee, Prov. 3.27, 28. When Lazarus is in need of refreshment, let him not wait, or lye long at thy door, Luke 16.20.21, 22. For nothing is more tedious, then to hang long in suspence: and we endure with more patience, to have our hopes beheaded, and quickly dispatcht, then to be racked and tortured with long delayes, according to that Prov. 13.12. Hope deferred, maketh the heart sicke; but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. For as one saith, Beneficentia oft virtus que moram non patitur: Beneficence is a vertue which disliketh all delayes. And as Seneca telleth us, Omnis benignitas properat; All goodnesse is quick of hand, and swift of …oot, and hateth aswell the paralyticall shaking, and staggering of those who doubt whether to give or no; as the gouty lamenesse of such, as after they are resolved to give, make but slow hast. The greater speed, the greater love, for love can abide no lingring. Then does a benefit loose his grace, when it sticks in his fingers who is about to bestow it, as though it were not given, but pluckt from him: and so the receiver praiseth nor his Benefactors bounty, but his owne importunity, because he doth not seem to have given, but to have held too weakely against his violen… ▪ These delayes shew unwillingnesse; Et qui moratur neganti proximus est: He that delayes a benefit, is the next door to him that denyeth it: Even as on the other side, a quick ha…d is an evident signe of a free heart. For proximum est libenter facientis cito facere; It is the property of him that giveth willingly, to give speedily. Being of Boaz his spirit, of whom Naomy could say out of a common fame, That he would not be in rest, untill he had finished the good which was propounded to him, Ruth ….18.
And as speed in bestowing graceth the gift, yea doubles it in respect of the giver, so it doubleth the benefit to him that receiveth it. Nam his dat qui cito dat, he gives twice, that giveth quickly; and the swifter that a benefit cometh, the sweeter it tasteth. Present relief to present want, makes a bounty weightier. And he cannot but esteem the benefit, that unexpectedly receives help in his deepest distresse: Whereas a benefit deferred, loses the thanks, & many times proves unprofitable to him that expects it. Ioshuah marches all night, and fight… all day for the Gibeonites, else he had as good have saved his labour. And possibly through these delays, thy almes may …ome too late, like a good gale of winde after shipwracke. When his health is lost for want of relief, or state ru…ned for want of seasonable helpe; and so thy late and untimely almes will do him little good: For it fareth with men in their strength and state, as with a leake in a ship, or a breach of waters, which may be e…sily stopped and stayed at the first appearing: but if l…t alone, will within a while grow remedilesse. There must then be no stay in these actions of beneficence, but onelyonly that which is caused through the receivers shamefastnesse.
But specially we must avoyd delays in giving, after we have granted; for there is nothing more bitter, then to be forced to make a new suite for that which hath already been obtained, and to finde more difficulty in the delivery, then in the grant.