he well-ordering of
the nation. But peace and rest from faction could be achieved with
certainty only on the conditions of strict justice between man and man,
on the observance of God's commandments.

CHAPTER VII

THE THEORY OF ALMSGIVING

Any description of mediaeval socialistic ideals which contained no
reference to mediaeval notions of almsgiving would not be complete.
Almsgiving was for them a necessary corollary to their theories of
private possession. In the passage already quoted from St. Thomas
Aquinas (p. 45), wherein he sets forth the theological aspect of
property, he makes use of a broad distinction between what he calls "the
power of procuring and dispensing" exterior things and "the use of
them." We have already at some length tried to show what economists then
meant by this first "power." Now we must establish the significance of
what they intended by the second. And to do this the more clearly it
will be as well to repeat the words in which St. Thomas briefly notes
it: "The other office which is man's concerning exterior things is the
use of them; and with regard to this a man ought not to hold exterior
things as his own, but as common to all, that he may portion them out
readily to others in time of need."

In this sentence is summed up the whole mediaeval concept of the law of
almsdeeds. Private property is allowed--is, in fact, necessary for human
life--but on certain conditions. These imply that the possession of
property belongs to the individual, but also that the use of it is not
limited to him. The property is private, the use should be common.
Indeed, it is only this common enjoyment which at all justifies private
possession. It was as obvious then as now that there were inequalities
in life, that one man was born to ease or wealth, or a great name,
whereas another came into existence without any of these advantages,
perhaps even hampered by positive disadvantages. Henry of Langenstein
(1325-1397) in his famous _Tractatus de Contractibus_ (published among
the works of Gerson at Cologne, 1484, tom. iv. fol. 188), draws out this
variety of fortune and misfortune in a very detailed fashion, and puts
before his reader example after example of what they were then likely to
have seen. But all the while he has his reason for so doing. He
acknowledges the fact, and proceeds from it to build up his own
explanation of it. The world is filled with all these men in their
differing circumstances