whom he is, is in need upon the earth. He vouchsafes to receive here, what He gives in heaven. Do what some avaricious men are wont to do, make out a conveyance,2834 bestow upon those who are in pilgrimage, what thou mayest receive in thine own country. 12. But now I am not speaking at all of thyself, but of thy child. Thou art hesitating to give what is thine own, yea, rather art hesitating to restore what is another’s; surely thou art hereby convicted, that it was not for thy children that thou wast laying up. See, thou dost not give to thy children, seeing thou wilt even take away from thy children. From this child at all events wilt thou take away. Why is he unworthy to receive his part, because he is living with One worthier than all? There would be reason in it, if he with whom thy son is living, were unwilling to receive it. Rich shalt thou now be for thine house, but that the house of God. So far it is then from me to say to thee, “Give what thou hast;” that I am saying to thee, “Pay that thou owest.” But thou wilt say, “His brothers will have it.” O evil maxim, which may teach thy children to wish for their brother’s death. If they shall be enriched by the property of their deceased brother, take heed how they may watch for2835 one another in thine house. What then wilt thou do? Wilt thou divide his patrimony, and so give lessons of parricide? 13. But I am unwilling to speak of the loss of a child, lest I seem to threaten calamities, which do befall men. Let us speak in some more happy and auspicious tone. I do not say then, thou wilt have one less; reckon rather that thou hast one more. Give Christ a place with thy children, be thy Lord added to thy family; be thy Creator added to thy offspring, be thy Brother added to the number of thy children. For though there is so great a distance, yet hath He condescended to be a Brother. And though He be the Father’s Only Son, He hath vouchsafed to have coheirs. Lo, how bountifully hath He given! why wilt thou give in such barren sort? Thou hast two children; reckon Him a third: thou hast three, let Him be reckoned as a fourth: thou hast five, let Him be called a sixth; thou hast ten, let Him be the eleventh. I will say no more; keep the place of one child for thy Lord. For what thou shalt give to thy Lord, will profit both thee and thy children; whereas, what thou dost keep for thy children wrongly, will hurt both thee and them. Now thou wilt give one portion, which thou hast reckoned as one child’s portion. Reckon that thou hast got one child more. 14. What great demand is this, my Brethren? I give you counsel only; do I use viol- ence?2836 As saith the Apostle, “This I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you.”2837 I imagine, Brethren, that it is a light and easy thought for a father of children to suppose that he has one child more, and thereby to procure such an inheritance as thou 2834 Fac trajectitium. 2835 Attendant. 2836 Guttur ligo. 2837 1 Cor. vii. 35. 780 On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xix. 21,’Go, sell that thou hast, and…