and hostels, and maintaining them with donations.I support my opinion
as follows: These forms of benefit and aid are public. They are leagues
beyond private giving. In this case, goodwill becomes richer and more
packed with an abundance of good things, and the reward we hope for
on the basis of promises in the Word becomes enlarged—as we prepare
and sow the field, so we reap. Isn’t this a way of giving to the poor and
helping the needy on a large scale? Who would not want glory from the
world as a result, and also praises in the humble voices of the grateful
people we have helped? Doesn’t this lift our heart to its peak, and with it
our feeling called goodwill?
“Rich people who ride instead of walking through the streets have no
opportunity to turn their eyes toward the people sitting against the walls at
the curbs and to hand them coins. Instead they make donations to places
like these, which help many at once. Lesser people, however, who walk the
streets and don’t have these kinds of resources, do something else.”
[ 9 ] Upon hearing this, someone from the same row suddenly drowned
out this person’s voice with an even louder tone and said, “Nevertheless,
rich people shouldn’t value the generosity and excellence of their goodwill
more than a pittance that one poor person gives another, because we know
that all who perform any action do so according to their role in society. A
monarch does something worthy of a monarch, a commander something
worthy of a commander, an officer something worthy of an officer, and an
attendant something worthy of an attendant. Goodwill is not essentially
measured by the excellence of one’s role or of the gift itself, but by the full-
ness of feeling that led to it. Therefore a manual laborer who gives a single
coin can be making a donation with more abundant goodwill than a rank-
ing official who gives or wills an extensive collection of valuables. This fits
the following statement: ‘Jesus saw rich people placing their donations in
the treasury. He also saw a poor widow throwing in two mites. He said,
“Truly I tell you, this poor widow threw in more than all the others”’
(Luke 21 : 1 , 2 , 3 ).”
[ 10 ] Then someone from the fourth row to the left stood up and
said, “My opinion is that goodwill is providing church buildings with an
endowment and benefiting its ministers.I support this opinion as follows:
People who do this have something holy in mind and act on that holi-
ness. They make their donations holy as well. Goodwill demands this
because it is intrinsically holy. All the worship that takes place in church
buildings is holy, for the Lord says, ‘Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, I am there in the midst of them’ [Matthew 18 : 20 ].
§459 goodwill & good actions 545