[Sidenote: Almsdeeds.] Almes-dedes pleseth god very moche, and it is great sygne that thou loueste bothe god and thy neyghboure. And he of whome almes is asked, oughte to consyder thre thynges, that is to saye, who asketh almes, what he 4 [Sidenote: God asketh.] asketh, and wherevnto he asketh. Nowe to the fyrste, who asketh almes, _Deus petit_. God asketh. For saynte [Sidenote: Jerome.] Jerome sayth, _Quia deus adeo diligit pauperes, quod quicquid fit eis propter amorem suum, reputat sibi factum_. That is 8 to saye, bycause that god loueth poore men so moche, [Sidenote: [Fol. 85.]] what-someuer thynge is gyuen vnto them for the loue of hym, he taketh it as it were done to hym-selfe; as it is [Sidenote: Matt. xxv. 15.] sayde in his gospell, _Quod vni ex minimis meis fecistis, 12 michi fecistis_. That thynge that ye gyue or do to the least of those that be myne, ye do it to me. Thanne to [Sidenote: He asks not ours, but his.] the seconde, what asketh god? _Non nostrum, sed suum._ He asketh not that thynge that is ours, but that thynge that is 16 his owne. As saythe the prophete Dauid, _Tua sunt domine omnia: Et quæ de manu tua accepimus, tibi dedimus_. Good lorde, all thynges be thyne, and those thynges that we haue taken of the, of those haue we gyuen the. Thanne 20 [Sidenote: He asks only to borrow, and to repay a hundredfold.] to the thyrde, Where-vnto dothe god aske? He asketh not to gyue hym, but all-onely to borowe, _Non tamen ad triplas, s[c]ilicet, immo ad centuplas_. Not all-onely to haue thryse soo moche, but forsothe to haue an hundred tymes 24 [Sidenote: Augustine.] soo moche. As saynt Austyn saythe, _Miser homo, quid veneraris homini; venerare deo, et centuplum accipies, et vitam æternam possidebis?_ Thou wretched manne, why doste thou worshyp or dreade manne: worshyp thou god and dreade 28 hym, and thou shalte receyue an hundred tymes so moche, and haue in possessyon euerlastynge lyfe, the whiche many-folde [Sidenote: [Fol. 85_b_.]] passeth all other rewardes? Prouerbiorum xiiii. _Veneratur domino,[35] qui miseretur pauperibus_: He worshyppeth 32 [Sidenote: Prov. xix. 7.] our lorde, that hath mercye and pytye on poore folkes. And the glose therof sayth, _Centuplum accepturus_. And thou shalte receyue an .C. tymes so moche. And it [Sidenote: Three kinds of alms-deeds.] is to be vnderstande, that there be thre maner of almes-dedes, 36 that is to saye: _Egenti largire quicquid poteris: dimittere eis a quibus lesus fueris: Errantem corrigere, et in viam veritatis reducere._ That is to saye, to gyue to the nedy what thou well mayste, to forgyue theym that haue 40 trespaced to the, and to correcte them that do amysse, and to brynge them into the way of ryghte. 169. ¶ The fyrste maner of almes.