Patristic A.D. 379
“(reg. brev. ad int. 92.) But some one will ask, upon what grounds ought we to sell that which we have? Is it that these things are by nature hurtful, or because of the temptation to our souls? To this we must answer, first, that every thing existing in the world if it were in itself evil, would be no creation of God, for every creation of God is good. (1 Tim. 4:4.) And next, that our Lord’s command teaches us not to cast away as evil what we possess, but to distribute, saying, and give alms.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 12:32-34
PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗