Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do [it].
Ver. 27. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due.] Either by the law of equity, or of charity. For there is a debt of love Rom 13:8 that we must ever be owing and ever pay. And as we say of thanks, gratiae habendae et agendae, thanks must be given, and held as still due; so must this debt of love. Quicquid clerici habent, pauperum est, saith Jerome. It is true, in a sense, of others, as well as of ministers. The poor (God's poor) are the owners of that we have; we are but stewards and dispensers of God's bounty to his necessitous servants. Now if our receipts be found great, and our layings out small, God will cast such bills back in our faces, and turn us out of our stewardship. They are fools that fear to lose their wealth by giving, but fear not to lose themselves by keeping it.
When it is in the power of thy hand.] When thou hast opportunity and ability; for we must not stretch beyond the staple; that were to mar all; neither, when "a price is put into our hands," Pro 17:16 may we play the fools and neglect it. But wheresoever God sets us up an altar, we must be ready with our sacrifice of alms, "for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Heb 13:16 See my "Common Place of Alms."