Formerly when it was believed that poverty was synonymous with vice and laziness, and that the prosperous man was the righteous man, charity was administered harshly with a good conscience; for the charitable agent really blamed the individual for his poverty, and the very fact of his own superior prosperity gave him a certain consciousness of superior morality.
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Gender-neutral version:

Formerly when it was believed that poverty was synonymous with vice and laziness, and that the prosperous person was the righteous person, charity was administered harshly with a good conscience; for the charitable agent really blamed the individual for his/her poverty, and the very fact of his/her own superior prosperity gave him/her a certain consciousness of superior morality.