“A riddle put forth by old Honest.
A man there was, though some did count him mad, the more he cast away, the more he had.
Then they all gave good heed, wondering what good Gaius would say; so he sat still a while, and then thus replied—
He that bestows his goods upon the poor, shall have as much again, and ten times more.
Then said Joseph, I dare say, Sir, I did not think you could have found it out. Oh, said Gaius, I have been trained up in this way a great while; nothing teaches like experience. I have learned of my Lord to be kind, and have found by experience that I have gained thereby.
“There is that scattereth, yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” Prov. xi. 24.
“There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.” Prov. xiii. 7.”
John Bunyan in The Pilgrim’s Progress from this world to that which is to come (Charles Scribner’s Sons: New York, 1918) 275-276.