g that the
roasted chicken fly into your mouth: worry and be greedy, and see
whether you will thereby fulfil God's Commandment and be saved!

[Sidenote: Faith the Source of Benevolence]

III. This work faith teaches of itself. For if the heart looks
for divine favor and relies upon it, how is it possible that a
man should be greedy and worry? He must be sure beyond a doubt
that God cares for him; therefore he does not cling to money; he
uses it also with cheerful liberality for the benefit of his
neighbor, and knows well that he will have enough, however much
he may give away. For his God, Whom he trusts, will not lie to
him nor forsake, him, as it is written, Psalm xxxvii: "I have
been young, and now am old; never have I seen a believing man,
who trusts God, that is a righteous man, forsaken, or his child
begging bread." [Ps. 37:25] Therefore the Apostle calls no other
sin idolatry except covetousness [Col. 3:5], because this sin
shows most plainly that it does not trust God for anything,
expects more good from its money than from God; and, as has been
said, it is by such confidence that God is truly honored or
dishonored.

And, indeed, in this Commandment it can be dearly seen how all
good works must be done in faith; for here every one most surely
feels that the cause of covetousness is distrust and the cause of
liberality is faith. For because a man trusts God, he is generous
and does not doubt that he will always have enough; on the other
hand, a man is covetous and worries because he does not trust
God. Now, as in this Commandment faith is the master-workman and
the doer of the good work of liberality, so it is also in all the
other Commandments, and without such faith liberality is of no
worth, but rather a careless squandering of money.

[Sidenote: The Test of Liberality]

IV. By this we are also to know that this liberality shall extend
even to enemies and opponents. For what manner of good deed is
that, if we are liberal only to our friends? As Christ teaches,
Luke vi, even a wicked man does that to another who is his
friend. [Luke 6:32 f.] Besides, the brute beasts also do good and
are generous to their kind. Therefore a Christian must rise
higher, let his liberality serve also the undeserving,
evil-doers, enemies, and the ungrateful, even as his heavenly
Father makes His sun to rise on good and evil, and the rain to
fall on the grateful and ungrateful. [Matt. 5:45]

But here it will be found how ha