to his soveraign Good If others possess them he unjustly seizes them he covets them criminally if he cannot get them and violates what 's most sacred in Society to enrich himself maugre his Conscience against which he shuts his Ears But it ought to be observed that 't is not so much the Riches inspire this Spirit of Hardness and Injustice as the fixing too great a love on them For Job was Charitable in his abundance his Wealth was so far from being an obstacle to his Charity that it was a means for his better practising it He was as himself says The father of the poor and protector of the afflicted His door was always open to those in necessity and with the wooll of his sheep he clad the naked He was the support of the widow and fatherless the traveller was welcom to his house And he refused nothing to any in want that crav'd his help Besides this good use that ought to be made of Riches according to the example of Job whose life may serve as a pattern to a Christian to dispose his heart to Charity He must likewise to attain this Vertue have frequent communication with God by Prayer and Meditation 'T is chiefly from Prayer these lights take birth in our hearts which are the most pure springs of Christian Charity and love of our Neighbours For the same sighs that form in our Souls the Spirit of Prayer form there also the Spirit of Charity The inward voice of the heart That Voice says St. Augustine which expresses it self by the sighings of Prayer is that which enkindles in us the fervour of this Vertue For Charity becomes cold when the Heart becomes silent says this great Saint Thus one cannot be Charitable without being Devout because Devotion is the most common nourishment of the love of God and our Neighbour This love grows cold by the distraction of Business and is even extinguished by the disquiets of a too busie Life In effect the true source of Charity as Tertullian assures us is renouncing the love of the World and indifference for temporal Goods for transitory Goods weaken the Heart by the confidence they give it in so frail a support as is that of Riches Likewise there is nothing more capable to inflame Charity in the Soul of a Christian then a fervent and lively Faith animated with a perfect Confidence in God For the Fire of Charity kindles it self at the Ardors of Faith which makes a Christian act like a Child of God and love the Poor as his Brother In fine the sure and infallible way to acquire this Vertue is by little and little to accustom our selves to practise Works of it For by visiting the Prisoner comforting the Afflicted helping the Necessitous instructing the Ignorant which are Actions may be done daily and even ought to be performed if one pretends to Christianity he becomes insensibly Charitable and attains that heavenly Wisdom which is the portion of the Humble and which without Study or Reasoning pours into the Heart that interiour Unction of the Spirit of God which teaches to love our Neighbour But it is not sufficient to teach a Christian the Means to become Charitable he must also to encourage him to become so be shew'd his obligation to it by the most pressing Motives CHAP. VII Three very powerful Motives to excite a Christian to acquire the Vertue of Charity THe first Motive is That without being Charitable one cannot be a Christian for it is in Charity alone consists the true Spirit of Christianity Nature teaches Man to live with Man but Grace obliges to love him This is says S. Paul the plenitude of the Law of the New Testament All the Morality of Jesus Christ and all the depth of the Wisdom of the Gospel points only at the practice of this Vertue which alone is the sum and substance of Christian Perfection Without Charity says the Apostle neither Faith nor Hope nor the gifts of Prophecy nor the gifts of Tongues nor Martyrdom nor any other Vertue can be considerable in the sight of God It is Charity perfects Man rectifies his Reason and sanctifies all his Actions This makes humble and unmakes proud because it nourishes Humility and choaks Pride All Vertues become unprofitable and all good Works fruitless to him that is not Charitable 'T is Charity that warms the Faithful that animates his Hopes and that justifies a Sinner One may enter into the Marriage-Chamber of the Lamb without Virginity but not without Charity The ordinary life of a Christian in the exercise of a faithful and perseverant Charity may sometimes be as meritorious in the sight of God as the most heroick Conflicts of the Martyrs because every Action of Charity by the nature of its Motive is a secret Sacrifice of his Interest or of his Pleasure and even of his Honor for one cannot in effect love his Neighbour like a Christian without depriving himself of something either incommodiously or against his Inclination And all the best we do is ordinarily good for nothing but by the influence of this Vertue It is only through Charity that the Works of Piety are Christian This enobles the meanest Actions and the weakest Reasonings become strong when a little sustain'd by it and 't is not the greatness of the things done for God that renders them considerable but the greatness of the Charity wherewith they are done In brief this heavenly Vertue which is the purest food of the Soul sanctifies even natural Defects and the grossest Imperfections and covers that multitude of Sins whereunto Man is subject through the weakness of his Condition as the Apostle says Let us then seek after no other Practice of Devotion since this alone contains all other Practices as St. John instructs us let us not strain our Wits according to the Spirit of this Age with vain Reasonings in quest of new ways to arrive at Perfection Let us content our selves with this the Saviour of the World has marked out to us let us set our heart on this Vertue he most recommends to us let us not stifle in our selves this divine fire whereof Faith kindles the first flames in our hearts Let us love our Brethren sincerely since we live on the same Bread and have all the same Hopes If we cannot contribute our Goods towards succouring the Poor at least let us sigh to God for him and thereby in some manner comfort him what we can for the shame he undergoes to sigh so often to Men imploring their assistance In fine let us not by our hard-heartedness dishonor the holy Name of Christian a Name of sweetness and bounty and since without being Charitable one cannot be a Christian let us be Charitable in effect not to be only Christians in idea The reciprocal need Men have of one another is the foundation of their Society and the natural principle of their Union And shall not Charity be a bond strong enough to unite Christians by the
who have divested themselves of all things to give all to the Poor 'T is read in St. Anselm that Elphegus Archbishop of Canterbury who liv'd in the beginning of the eleventh Age being taken Prisoner by the Enemy chose rather to die then consent his Flock should be overcharg'd for the ransom of his life I say nothing of St. Bernardin of Siena nor of St. Charles who so Christian-like exposed their lives to assist at their death those infected with the Plague I do not mention St. Francis Xaverius who left his Country House and Hopes to run to the utmost parts of the World after Salvages and Barbarians to instruct them in the knowledge of Jesus Christ And amidst the deplorable remisness of the Manners of this Age how many great Interests great Honors great Reputations great Hopes have we seen sacrificed in the generous exercise of Christian Charity How many Persons of Quality how many eminent Wits with sublime Talents how many tender and delicate Ladies have submitted themselves most willingly to the pains of a laborious and obscure life to succour their Neighbours We have seen in the old Age of Christianity and in the corruption of this Age Apostolical Men cross the Seas to go and instruct Infidels and bring them into the right way To conclude this Spirit of the Apostles which God has revived in some measure in these latter Times and this so fervent zeal for the salvation of Souls is so apparently the true Spirit of Christianity and the essential distinction between the Children of the Church and others which are not of it That though it be above an Age since some of our Neighbours who have unhappily left the Faith run into all parts of the World there to plant Traffick and Commerce which flourish amongst them yet there has not yet appear'd any one Pastor of their Communion that has had the virtue and courage to give his life to Baptize one Salvage and Convert one Infidel So true it is that the disinteressedness and purity of Christian Charity cannot be so much as counterfeited by Hereticks who impudently boast themselves to inherit the Faith of the Apostles when in reality they have not any mark of their Zeal or sign of their Spirit since they can behold without any concern the People with whom they Traffick continually in a profound ignorance of things necessary to their salvation For what means the indifferency of these false Pastors who without the least compassion see the Flock of Jesus Christ scattered and straying What means this so cold tranquility but what our Lord himself said That the true Pastor whereof himself was the Model is always ready to give his life for his Flock and that the mercenary Pastor concerns not himself for the Flock of Jesus Christ because he is an Hireling It s in Charity then alone consists the true Spirit of Christianity we seek after She is that precious Jewel of the Gospel which must be purchased at any rate to become the truly rich of the new Law Let us then renounce our Interests and Pleasures if they are obstacles to our possessing it But to animate our selves still more to acquire it let us look into its value by considering its nature and qualities It s that must be examined in the following Chapter CHAP. II. Of the nature and qualities of this Charity in which consists the Spirit of Christianity and the Idea of a Christian 'T IS natural for Man to love Man But 't is a great vertue to love him for his vertues sake for love that is founded on honesty wisdom good inclination fidelity or any other real merit is a vertue and 't is laudable to love these qualities which are themselves worthy of praise But after all thus to love is to love but like a Heathen for the Pagans love those that love them and such as have qualities worthy their love What is it then to love like a Christian 'T is to love without hearkening to Nature which wills that we love our like 'T is to love even without consulting our Reason which requires that we love what is worthy to be beloved Nature and Reason do not comprehend this Secret The Gospel must speak and 't is Jesus Christ himself must teach it To love like a Christian is to love that which has nothing amiable 'T is to have a kindness and tenderness for those that have all unkindness and rigour for us In fine to love like a Christian is to desire the good of those that wish us nothing but ill This Vertue was unknown to the Morals of Socrates and Moses to Philosophy and the old Law The Precept to love our Enemies is of the new Law And this so holy Maxim could not come but out of the School of God so much 't is raised above Man 'T is indeed Jesus Christ is the Author of it and himself in Person that instructs us But I say to you love your Enemies do good to them that hate you and pray for them that calumniate and persecute you These are the words of the Saviour of the World Behold our Belief our Gospel our Morality and the true Character of our Religion The other marks of a Christian as Devotion Penance Hope in God Humility and even Martyrdom it self may be equivocal marks 'T is only the love of our Enemies that is not 'T is hereby alone that a Christian can distinguish himself and to embrace the Faith is to embrace the obligation to love the Persecutor in loving the Persecution But how can a man love that which merits his hate when he has scacre power to love that which deserves to be beloved What violence must not he use to himself before he gains that Point He needs not use any for from the instant that he sincerely becomes a Christian he loves his Enemies as really as his Friends And the same Motive that makes a Christian love God the same also makes him love his Neighbour as a Child of God for he sees reflect on him a beam of the same light that makes himself know God Although his Brother be his Enemy from the time that he regards him as a Member of Jesus Christ sprinkled with his Bloud fed with his Flesh enliven'd with his Spirit destin'd to his Glory that he professes the same Law and Religion as he do's that they have both the same Hopes the same Pretensions the same Sacraments and when he considers Jesus Christ in his Neighbour as the motive of his Charity he loves him And Flesh Bloud Nature Reason Interest and Passion are too weak Considerations to disunite Hearts tied together by so holy an Union that is to say by all that is supernatural and divine in Christianity So the motive of the love of our Neighbour being the same with the motive of our love of God as St. Leo teacheth both the one and the other being grounded on the same principle and tending to the same end a Christian cannot be
purely from God But as a Christian prevented by Grace may dispose his Mind to Faith as supernatural as it is by destroying therein obstinacy presumption and adhesion to Error and that natural propensity that leads to Incredulity So may he after the same manner dispose himself to attain Charity if he roots the obstacles of it out of his heart For this Vertue finds very great ones in the heart of Man whereof I will give a touch on the principal without falling on the same Particulars I mention'd in the Illusions the most part whereof are also impediments to Charity The greatest of all obstacles to Charity is that Worldly spirit so opposite to the Spirit of Jesus Christ That Prudence of the Flesh that Pride of the Age and all that vain Ostentation which reigns so much in the Courts of Great men wherein Worldly wisdom teaches these abominable Maxims viz. To destroy by subtle Artifices ones Neighbour's Reputation To discredit him in the opinion of such as esteem him To violate the most holy Rights turn all things topsie-turvy to attain what one pretends to and to aggrandize ones self 'T is by this same Spirit young Gentlemen are taught that Revenge is a Gentleman's Vertue and that it is a piece of Cowardise to pardon The Hatreds Envies Jealousies Intrigues of Licentiousness and Ambition great Interests violent Passions which are the common effects of this Spirit reigns so powerfully in the Great of this World that they leave not room for the least spark of Charity Therefore the Apostle says He that will become a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God There is another Spirit in the World still more opposite to this Vertue the Spirit of Disguise Imposture and Dissembling whose only end is to mischief our Neighbour 'T is this unhappy Policy of the Flesh which only seeks to establish it self by shameful and wicked Treacheries and by all the depraved Maxims of the World I have been speaking of and which render the Life of a Christian a monstrous Life that is full of Passions Animosities Knavery and Perfidiousness These are the Machines Men make use of to perpetuate their Enmities by everlasting Wranglings and to make all Tribunals ring with their Injustices and Violences I 'le say nothing of the Spirit of Obstinacy Contradiction diversity of Judgments and Opinions in matters of Religion nor of all those Factious Sidings which at present afflict Christianity The memory of the Disorders they have caused in the last Age is still fresh enough in this to make us comprehend the importance of it for there is nothing more capable of dividing the hearts of the People then different Judgments in Religion Being given to Pleasures to Delights to dangerous Divertisements to Gaming to Riot and Delicacy is also a great obstacle to this Spirit of Charity we are in quest of These stately Houses proud rich Furnitures sumptuous Tables new Fashions in Clothes which shew nothing but wantonness These Vanities of worldly Ladies this State that environs them these profuse Expences of voluptuous sensual Persons intoxicated with the Delights of the Age do so forcibly dry up in the hearts of Worldlings this holy Unction of Charity that there remains not any sign of it in all those who are plunged in Vanity For how can a Woman that denies nothing to her Pleasure and loves only her self be touch'd with any sentiments of Charity She shuts her Eyes against the poverty of the necessitous she will not see it nor so much as take notice of it that she may not squander the Fund she designs for her Vanity by the Assistance she should be oblig'd to give him that demands it in Gods name And hence it is Jesus Christ so often shakes with cold in the Person of the Poor at the Gate of the Rich without being taken notice of for he is only busied about himself What shall I say of those perpetual Hatreds and inveterate Aversions which Men so scandalously retain they can neither speak to nor so much as look on one that hath affronted them and believe their Resentment just because they have been injur'd What is more contrary to the Spirit of Christianity which cannot so much as suffer coldness or indifferency They flatter themselves too as they frame their Consciences in their Hatreds and Aversions They believe they wish no ill to him that has offended them when any Misfortune befalls him they triumph for joy at it And when they say I wish him no ill but cannot endure to see him nor have to do with him this they call loving like a Christian There is likewise I know not what ayre very repugnant to Charity in the natural advantages of Wit of Conduct of Sence of Ability and in the excellency of other Qualities which if one takes not great care uses to inspire a love and esteem of ones self For 't is natural for him that has received more to undervalue him that has received less But whilst he thinks to distinguish himself from others by these Advantages he corrupts his spirit and in the end becomes utterly insensible of the most tender motions of Charity For the rest as every one has shar'd in the distribution of natural or supernatural Gifts according to the measure of Grace There is no Christian but may take notice of some particular Gift his Brother has received from God wherewith himself has not been favour'd Thus S. Paul considers in S. Peter his Primacy and again S. Peter considers in S. Paul the high Wisdom he had received from Heaven S. Anthony only regards in his Brethren those Vertues himself had not to honor them the more 'T is in this manner that the Christian who has wit esteems one who has Vertue and Goodness The Learned admires the Dispatch of the Man of Business The Man of Business praises the Capacity of the Learned In fine thus 't is that Charity makes the Superior not esteem his own Dignity above others but the Vertue and Merit of those he Commands And whilst he exteriourly Commands them he humbles himself interiourly before them and they on their side respect in him his Power and Authority and kindly submit to his Conduct Lastly it may be said that the greatest obstacle to Charity is the Immoderate love of Riches for this love causes Impurity of Conscience Hardness of Heart Independence Pride Insolence Contempt of the Poor and an entire corruption of Spirit And as this restless care of preserving his Goods poisons the Soul of the Rich so Covetousness is the most abominable of all Vices and most opposite to Charity For the essential Character of Avarice is a false Prudence of the Flesh all whose Designs and Thoughts bound themselves in the Person possessed by it so that his Heart is locked up to all Sentiments of pity for the Wants of the Poor A Man darkens his spirit by the Vapors of so carnal a Passion he fixes his Heart to the Goods of the Earth as
he fears not to have him for his Judge whom he would not acknowledge for his Brother It is a Heart perfectly hardned that being no longer touch'd with any apprehension of fear rebells under the Rod shuts his Ear against the checks of his Conscience and his Eyes against the light of his Reason and becomes insensible of the motions of Humanity 'T is the most rigorous pain wherewith God chastises the rich Man that dies in abundance and leaves vast Wealth to his often unknown Heirs without giving any share to the Poor He thinks not on 't because God gives him not the Grace He might obtain mercy by giving in Alms at least when he 's dying what Death will soon snatch from him But this is a Reflection a rich Man is not worthy of God abandons him to blindness and insensibility at his Death in punishment of his hard-heartedness during his Life to make him feel all the weight of his Justice that regarded not his Mercy which he slighted in slighting the Poor 'T is from this insolent contempt that there arise so many Disorders in Families hence comes the ruine of Houses the Losses the publick Defamations and all the shameful Faults of particular Persons The Providence of God permits to fall into these Misfortunes those who whilst they made profession of Christianity had not any sentiment of love or tenderness for their Neighbour and were Christians but had not the Spirit or Character of a Christian But if the greatness of the Threats of the Son of God is able to frighten us the greatness of his Recompences ought to have much more power over our Hearts to touch them This is the Third Motive In so short a Treatise as I propos'd to my self it would be difficult to comprehend all the Rewards God has promi'sd to Charity the Scripture is full of them 'T is to this Vertue God has promis'd an unconcern for temporal Goods firmness of Faith purity of Manners the comfort of a good Conscience tenderness of Devotion unshakable perseverance in Vertue and the infallible recompence of Salvation God engages himself to pardon every thing in consideration of Charity for it is the ordinary propitiation of Sin One Alms one action of Clemency the pardon of one Injury one work of Mercy is able to hide all the Faults that humane frailty can make us commit Nothing purifies so much the Conscience nothing cleanses more the Mind then Alms-deeds How many simple and humble Persons have render'd themselves worthy to penetrate the Mysteries of the holy Scriptures and enter into the Secrets of God by the light of their Charity It is a sure protection against the frailty of Man and against the occasions of offending God since it resists Sin as the Scripture says It is saith St. Ambrose the remedy against all Disorders Man is subject to This is of all other the most powerful Mediatour to Jesus Christ for it continually solicits this severe Judge who is inflexible to all but Alms. This poor Man whom you have Clothed this sick Man you have Visited this innocent Creature to whom you have given your protection and this afflicted Soul whom you have comforted is Jesus Christ For since Jesus Christ has told us that we do to him what we do to the least of his Servants There is no difference says St. Chrysostom between giving to the Poor and giving to Jesus Christ If then the Poor are Advocates to God if their Intercession is the most assur'd assistance the Rich can expect from their Riches in that dreadful Day of the universal Judgment place your hopes in this Treasure of Gods Mercies where neither Thieves nor Corruption can have access Nay be assur'd that 't is your Charity which will draw upon you the assistance of Heaven in your temporal Occasions and in the afflicting Tribulations whereto the misery of our Condition is so subject For if you are Charitable God will be faithful to the Promises he has made in his Prophet You shall no sooner open your mouth to call him to your aid then he will answer Here I am But what blindness is it in a Christian to have it in his power to merit Heaven by a Glass of Water or a Morsel of Bread given to a poor Man out of the motive of Christian Charity and to refuse it him With what face can he beg pardon of God daily if himself pardons not Would you have others take pity on you take pity on others Do you crave Favours do them your self Do not judge if you will not be judged for as you treat your Neighbour your self shall also be treated After all what Recompence can move a Christians Heart if Heaven cannot that comprehends in it self alone all Rewards and is only promis'd to the Charitable For the Gospel teaches us that the Saviour of the World in that terrible Day wherein he shall Judge the Universe will shew mercy only to those that have been merciful since in opening the Heavens to his Elect he will say to them these words You who have clothed and fed me in the person of the Poor come receive an eternal reward which I have prepar'd for your mercies Behold what the price is of Christian Charity it merits an eternal recompence by a piece of Bread given to a poor Man for the love of Jesus Christ it gains heavenly Goods by earthly ones and for perishable Riches receives those will never perish Behold what Vertue the Spirit of Christianity has in it to produce the solid fruits of Eternity by mean weak and slight Works For how many Christians are there that sanctifie a Life in other respects but ordinary nay sometimes imperfect by the sole exercise of Charity How many Souls have been rais'd to a sublime perfection by the only practice of this Vertue which includes in it self all the perfection of Christianity These are Motives capable to make impression on a Heart that is prevented by the light of Faith and is really touch'd with the hopes of what our Religion proposes to us But since we are in an Age wherein Christian Charity is much cool'd by the nicety of so many new Interests brought into the World which divide Mens minds let us endeavour to reinforce the heat of this Vertue by Considerations still more pressing being its practice is so necessary CHAP. VIII The Conclusion of this Discourse by way of Exhortation to move Christians to Charity IF the Spirit of Christianity be nothing else but the Spirit of Charity as it appears by this Discourse let us see if we are Charitable to judge whether we are Christians For the Law of Charity is the Law of the New Testament written in the bottom of our hearts by the Impression of the Holy Ghost So that it would be strange that Christians instructed in a School of Unity modell'd by the same Maxims redeemed with the same Blood fed with the same Bread that have the same Faith the same Hope and are one
the Wealth which each one possessed This disengagement from all things united them more firmly together They had but one spirit because they had but one interest The first flames of this love broke out at the death of St. Stephen who had the glory to lay his life first down for Jesus Christ Stones flew about him from all parts The Plains eccho'd with the cries of those that encourag'd one another to kill this holy Levite His face was batter'd with blows his ribs broken his breast beaten through his breath e'en quite gone and yet he employed the little strength he had left in begging Gods pardon for those that had treated him so cruelly Lord says he as he was dying lay not this sin to their charge Thus to forget himself and employ his last words and sighs in solliciting God in behalf of a Crime committed upon himself was to tread the very steps of his Master and to be wholly possest with his spirit and to have no thoughts but these of tenderness in the very pangs of so cruel and bitter a death was to die generously like a Christian How pure and holy is the Spirit of Christianity which inspired so much mercy and of how great instruction to Christians the sacrifice of this first bloudshed for the love of Jesus We see in the progress of the same History the Apostles animated by this Spirit to run through the whole World to preach and teach the Gospel to all Nations And that neither the most scorching Sands of Aethiopia nor the Desarts of Africa nor the Frosts of Scythia nor the remotest parts of India nor Seas nor Tempests nor Rocks nor Treasons nor Calumnies nor contradiction of People nor opposition of Laws nor Magistrates nor Governors of Provinces nor all the Power of the World nor Chains nor Prisons nor Gibbets nor even the most cruel Deaths were able to withstand their zeal nor shake the constancy of their hearts Dangers encourage them difficulties animate them and their own weaknesses strengthen them Because the charity by which they are possest renders their own lives inconsiderable when the salvation of their Neighbour is in question The truth is they did miracles which struck people with admiration They commanded the Winds and Tempests Seasons obeyed them and even Nature her self in some sort became their Slave But after all the greatest of their Miracles was their Charity 'T was also this Charity which made them with pleasure sacrifice their honor and life to carry the light of the Gospel to the most remote Nations of the Earth and draw them out of the profound blindness wherein they were This holy Doctrine flew through the World whilst those that preacht it were themselves in Chains and Prisons And nothing perswaded so powerfully the embracing of the Gospel as the Charity of those that publisht it Things in themselves incredible were believed though declared by such as were persecuted by the whole World because they that told them did first practise themselves what they taught others Nor was it necessary they should Preach at all says St. Chrysostom because their life was a continual Sermon 'T is true that the Infidels were scandalized at their Persecutions their Fetters their Imprisonments and their Sufferings But the very Union in which they lived was so powerful that they who most reviled their Sufferings submitted to the Gospel St. Paul likewise inflamed with the same zeal could not behold the reprobation of the Jews a People heretofore so cherisht by God without offering up himself in quality of a Victim and wishing himself anathematized for his Brethren He who had so highly protested that neither Heaven nor Hell nor any thing created should be able to separate him from Jesus Christ now begs to be separated from him for the salvation of his People St. John that beloved Disciple of our Lord had nothing so deeply engraven in his heart as this love for his Neighbour This was the only practice of vertue he preacht to his Disciples as an abridgment of the whole Law of Grace as St. Jerome assures us Love one another says he my dear children 't is the only thing I have to tell you because 't is the only thing needful to be done He of all others speaks most clearly of this Doctrine because he had the advantage of others to sound the Sentiments of his Master by reason of the confidence Jesus Christ was pleased to honor him with above his other Apostles Throughout the whole course of Ecclesiastical History there are found such eminent tracts of this Spirit that it seems as if the Christians endeavoured only by Charity to distinguish themselves from Pagans In their lives there appeared such visible marks of that new fire which Christ came to bring into the World that Christians were known by their Union And this fire wherewith their hearts were full flam'd with such a light that it could not be darkned with Calumny nor extinguisht by Persecution It was likewise that voice of Love and Charity which in preaching of the Gospel was understood by the fiercest and most barbarous Nations and afterwards did chiefly contribute to the establishment of Faith The Heathens said speaking of the Faithful They are obliging charitable always doing good therefore they are Christians for their Belief their Morality and their Gospel is to love their Neighbour and do good to every one They believed this new Religion true because it commanded one Man to love another which is the most reasonable and just Command of all others They became Christians perceiving in how perfect an Union the Christians lived Their meekness goodness affability moderation and inclination to oblige every one more powerfully moved the Heathens to embrace the Doctrine which professed so well-doing a Vertue then all they did And the Faith advanced the faster by the good opinion people had conceived of his holiness who was author of so pure a Law according to the Prayer himself had made to his Father speaking of the Faithful to the end says he they may be united in us and that the world toucht with this Union may believe that it is you my Father who has sent me The Union wherein Christians ought to live is the chief Reason Christ uses to authorize his Mission and excite peoples Faith In effect this Union was so great in the first Ages that St. Clement a Disciple of the Apostles relates in one of his Epistles that he had known divers Christians in his time who themselves became Slaves to free their Brethren out of Slavery and that he had seen others who in a painful and laborious life fed with the labours of their Hands those that were in necessity St. Justin in the Apology he made for Religion before the Emperors to give those Princes a great Idea of Christianity mixes throughout his Discourse the holy Ordinances which Jesus Christ gave the Christians to be charitable and well-doing like their heavenly Father who pours forth his Graces on
failing in the one without failing in the other since the same ray of Faith which enlightens his spirit to know God ought to enflame his heart to love his Neighbour For with what sincerity can he boast he loves God whom he do's not see and not love his Neighbour whom he sees and who represents to him that same God he boasts that he loves as the Apostle says Behold what 's the nature of Christian Charity that in effect cannot love her Neighbour but with the same love wherewith she loves God which made St. John say That he who has charity is in God and God in him Let us then examine the qualities of this Charity The First quality of this Vertue is that 't is Universal and cannot suffer to be bounded in the extent of its love for it loves the little and the great the poor and the rich the wretched and the happy the peevish and the complaisant the stranger and the domestick him that merits to be beloved and him that deserves not Wherein 't is in some sort like God who shares his gifts to the worthy and unworthy and pours forth his light on the just and unjust In fine this Vertue embraces equally the whole World 'T is an universal spirit that knows none of those carnal and Heathenish distinctions of Engagement Interest Party Cabal of Paul and Cephas which divide at present so many petty spirits in the World For according to St. Augustin To love all men and to pretend to except but one with whom he is not entirely satisfied and not able to bear with for some particular reasons is not to love like a Christian A Christian has an universal love because the motive of it is general the change of Times Places and Circumstances can make no alteration in his love he loves in sickness and health in adversity and prosperity in affliction and joy in humiliation and greatness in dejection and advancement in poverty and plenty to be short he loves in life and in death because he is that sincere Friend of whom the Scripture speaks who loves at all times He fixes his heart on the Persons without regarding the Circumstances unless it be to love after a more disinteressed manner and when necessity more requires it Behold the first quality of Christian Charity The Second is Sincerity Let us love says St. John but let us testifie our love by effects and not by words The Character of humane Love consists only in Complements Civilities tender of Services protestations of Amity strain'd Complacencies false Friendships vain Words deceitful Promises and in all other Dissimulations which are commonly practised by those that lead a worldly life But Christian Charity never counterfeits she speaks nothing but what she thinks she thinks nothing but what she feels she feels nothing but what she would execute her words never belie her actions and her actions are always conformable to her Sentiments for she is essectially sincere and has no other way to explain her self but by her deeds The Third quality of this Vertue is Purity of spirit and a perfect disinteressedness for true Charity respects God alone and studies purely to please him so as she never acts upon those mean and worldly Considerations of Interest and Vanity which set men awork for Men do seldom good to one another but out of hopes of Interest 'T is on these Maxims they would have all the World know when they do their Friend any service they are only officious to gain repute and oblige only to publish it If they are silent 't is for some private reason that they see it fit to hold their tongue Christian Charity has a contrary way of proceeding to this worldly Charity she has no other design or pretension because her motive is pure All her study in doing good is how to conceal her doing it If she gives Alms she hides them in the Laps of the Poor as the Scripture says she draws a Veil over all her good Deeds that they may not be known and she would hide them even from her own self were it possible to entrust them only to her modesty and silence The pleasure she takes in doing good is to her a greater recompence then all the applauses of Men. As she do's nothing but for God so she would have no other witness of her actions He is the sole motive of the good works she do's and it suffices he knows them to be himself their recompence The other qualities of Charity St. Paul explicates in the admirable Elogy he made of this Vertue to the Corinthians Charity says this Apostle is patient is benign Charity envies not deals not perversly is not puffed up is not ambitious seeks not her own is not provoked to anger thinks not evil rejoyces not upon iniquity but rejoyces with the truth suffers all things believes all things hopes all things bears all things These qualities become yet more lustrous in the life of a Christian which is a continual practise and exercise of this Vertue 'T is good to make hereof some Idea only to shew what it is in respect to our Neighbours The lineaments of so admirable a picture which length of time has almost decay'd cannot be well traced over again without gathering thence some profit A Christian is altogether an interiour Man who has nothing of the corruptible Man in us but the outward shape but there appears so much of moderation and wisdom even in his exteriour and Gods Grace has so powerfully destroy'd his natural inclinations to sanctifie all his interiour that he is a pattern to other men because he is more reasonable and better govern'd then other men His chief character is the spirit of Equity And of all Vertues Justice is that which he most accustoms himself to because she always serves him to hold the ballance even betwixt himself and his Neighbour His business is not to raise his fortune but his perfection and to help others to make themselves perfect And his ordinary employment is to instruct help protect and serve his Brethren but he do's it with so much love so much zeal and so much disinteressedness that there is no man loves himself so well as a Christian loves his Neighbour His Neighbours interest is more dear to him then his own and he is less concern'd for his own honour then his Brethrens for he counts their advantages among his own he draws his satisfaction from their pleasures And by an unparalell'd complacency he transforms himself into their humour and assumes sometimes even their spirit He is that universal Man who as St. Paul is every thing to every one He is the comfort of the afflicted the support of the feeble the succour of the needy the refuge of the persecuted and the counsel of all those that want it In fine there is no weakness that he do's not compassionate and no misery at which his bowels are not moved He is so far from desiring what he has
to convert people to Jesus Christ are far preciouser then those which are given for their subsistance and the sweats pains and fatigues of the Missioners who go to preach the Word of God to Infidels in the remotest Countries are of far more value then the Treasures that are sent thither The soveraign perfection of Christian Charity is the fervent zeal of these holy Followers of the Apostles who quit all to seek in the most salvage and barbarous Climates the stray Sheep and to satisfie the thirst and hunger they have for the salvation of so many abandon'd people to make them know Jesus Christ and to bring them back to his Flock In these concurrences of wants Charity ought to dispose of her help according to the different degrees of necessities she finds But when the want is equal in two different persons It is says St. Augustine either Proximity of Bloud or Alliance or Friendship or Neighbourhood or Society or Country or the Considerations of other Ties that must regulate the preference of assistance due to one rather then to another For although Jesus Christ be come into the World to make by the Sword of Christianity division betwixt the Flesh and the Spirit yet he is not come to destroy the Duties of Bloud and to dispence with a Christian for what he ows his Relations because these Duties are grounded on Equity which is their principal foundation Thus what we owe to our Kindred is of a more strict obligation then that which is due to an unknown Person and a Stranger So a Pastor is more oblig'd to his Flock a Superior to those whom God has put under him a Prince to his own Subjects then to all others and in the order of Christian Charity a Friend ought to be more dear then one unknown a Domestick then a Stranger and a Christian then an Infidel and when they are both equally in need you are oblig'd to help the one before the other This Morality is founded on Justice and Reason which orders it thus and on the conduct of our Lord who carried himself after this manner between the Jews and Gentiles St. Paul thus instructs Christians St. Thomas and all Catholick Divines are of this opinion For the rest when the Rules I have establish'd are duly considered 't will be found that our Soul being our Neighbour a thousand times more intimate then our dearest Friends or our nearest Relations our first obligation is to exercise Charity towards her which we cannot do as we ought but by endeavouring her perfection preferably above all things For if we neglect her who will take care of her And if we give all but our selves to God is not that to keep our selves the better share because God will have us our selves and not what is ours as St. Jerome says The conclusion of this Discourse is that extream necessity in temporals and the salvation of a Soul in spirituals ought to have preference in the strictest obligations of a Christian So that the most laudable and holy of all Charities is to provide for spiritual wants as to procure assistance for People who are in a deep ignorance of all things relating to their salvation and without help But in assisting Aliens and Salvages must those be forgotten that live in the midst of us and are in the same wants can we hearken to what 's told us of the miseries of Persons of another World as one may say without beholding what we daily see amongst those we know It is this obliges me to repeat what I have already said and which is so important that it cannot be too often repeated That the greatest Zeal requires the greatest Knowledge That if Christian Prudence ought to be animated by Charity Charity ought to be govern'd by Prudence and justly to discern the order wherein Charity ought to be practised nothing more needs to be recommended to a Christian then what the Apostle recommended to those of the City of Philippi to whom he Preach'd this Vertue That their Charity may more and more abound in knowledge and in all understanding To be neither indiscreet nor rash because the greatest defect in Charity is want of light which renders this Vertue subject to an infinity of Illusions But intirely to purifie its practice 't is best to discover the Illusions that so they may be dissipated CHAP. V. Of the several Illusions to which the Practice of Charity is subject ALL Christian Vertues are in their Practice subject to Illusions through the false Principles every one establishes to himself in the exercise of Piety Sometimes out of conceitedness and oftnest out of weakness and ignorance But after all there is none of them more subject to this then Charity For as this Vertue has much lustre 't is pretended to upon very many occasions chiefly when we think to surprize and dazle Men as is usual enough And it is not to be wonder'd at if the spirit of dissimulation creeps into the exercise of this Vertue which is the most pure and sincere of all others since the corruption of this Age has so powerfully authorised all Artifices and Disguises In effect self-Self-love which always seeks its own interest by so many windings about cannot better conceal it self then under the veil of Charity It is through this Artifice it scrupulously sticks to the Duties of Good-manners to excuse it self from essential Duties It seeks conspicuous Charities to avoid obscure ones 'T is zealous where there should be no zeal and remiss where there should be Thus the falsly Charitable is uneasie to his own Domesticks whilst he is civil and officious to Strangers he grounds a tranquility and satisfaction on the state of his own pretended perfection and is only froward and disquieted at others perfections he is perpetually praising Christianity and quits nothing of his own Rights He gives Alms and pays not his Debts He maliciously praises false Vertues to take occasion to authorize real Vices He justifies his own ill Conduct only by censuring that of others and scattering Flowers over all he would poison he wounds the Reputation of every one under the deceitful veil of charitable and respectful Words But to discover methodically all the Illusions wherewith the Spirit of Charity is so often perverted I reduce them to certain Heads which are as it were their Sources Natural Affection is the First and withal the most ordinary Illusion which creeps into the Spirit of Charity One loves his Neighbour 't is true but 't is only for the good qualities which render him amiable one looks on him but on the most agreeable side and where he is most pleasing It is the wit quality humour and disposition one considers and the tenderer one is to all these Considerations of Flesh and Bloud the more insensible he is to all those of Vertue and Grace One believes 't is loving his Neighbour as he ought and living charitably with him to speak nothing vexatious to any one to be very
they give their Passion the name of Zeal and Charity Such was the Illusion of that Spanish Lady Lucilla mention'd by S. Augustine she was Rich Devout and of Quality and she it was who suffering her self to be dazled with Visions of her own Zeal kindled by the profusion of her Alms and great Repute the first sparks of that fire wherewith the Heresie of the Donatists laid waste the Church of Africa and afterwards spread it self over Spain and Italy Such likewise was the Extravagancy of that rich Merchant of Lyons call'd Valdo who upon a fancy of Reformation foolishly distributed all his Wealth to the Poor whence sprung that cursed Sect of the Valdenses which since has been the source of other Heresies that have infected France Such in fine was the Illusion of the Sacramentarians of the last Age who taking upon them to be Reformers fancied a new Morality to draw peoples Eyes upon their Party and more signalize their Conduct They spoke of nothing but Sweetness Christian Integrity the New Testament and the Gospel My Brethren and my Sisters was the common Language of these Preachers when they spoke to the People In fine at the beginning of this Reformation all places eccho'd with the fair and specious Name of Charity and Union whilst they cut the Throats of Priests broke down the Altars writ most invective Libels against the Divines of the Roman-Catholick Church and rendred all Morals ridiculous to establish that which they vented The Vices of those that declar'd themselves favourers of that Party were Vertues The Vertues of those that favour'd them not were accounted Vices the repute of Vertue and Honesty wholly depended on their breath and none had any Christianity if you 'l believe them but in as much as they embrac'd their Judgments and were their Friends All this Conduct was defective because grounded on a false Principle And these appearances of Charity whereof they boasted were but a pure piece of Policy and a secret Artifice to authorize their Party and make their Error spread the better The Fourteenth is a hidden Vanity that finds its way into almost all Works of Charity 'T is so natural to Man to seek himself in all things even the most holy that he is so much the more subject to this weakness as he is exempt from all the rest It pleases some to Teach Instruct and Direct because thereby they get Credit They love Charities that make a shew because they would be particularly taken notice of They find wants at their Doors and regard them not and send their Alms to the end of the World because that makes a greater noise They pardon an Offence with all the Ceremonies of satisfaction in form to raise a Trophy of their Moderation They exercise out of a false generosity Liberalities disproportionable to their Condition and fail their Brother in his necessity 'T is often nothing but Vanity that makes those famous Wills wherein Friends are so well consider'd they merit much by it in the eyes of the World but nothing in the sight of God It conduces much to the reputation of him that dies and avails nothing to the Expiation of his sins and his Justification At his death he has given his Goods to his best Friends It looks very handsom but it is very Pagan-like herein he considers Friendship and regards not Charity It is not for the love of God that this Lady is Charitable 't is only for the love of her self 'T is out of this Spirit that she is in at all good Works Being vain she is not displeas'd at being thank'd for the good she do's for she do's it only for that end Her Charity being but a pretext to her Vanity she endeavours much more to appear Charitable then to be so in effect but wo to them who give Alms to be seen and so gain the applause of Men For says the Gospel they have already receiv'd their reward And although an Alms given on this account is profitable to the Receiver yet is it wholly unprofitable to the Giver This infectious ayre of Vanity that mixes with it is in it self alone sufficient to spoil the fruit Alms to be Christian ought to be humble and done in private to be profitable to the Doer That our heavenly Father saith S. Matthew who sees in secret may give him his recompence What in this place the Gospel speaks of Alms ought to be understood of all Works of Charity which a Christian ought to do with a pure and sincere intention desiring God only for witness otherwise the worm of Vanity destroys his Works and renders them unprofitable in the sight of God The Fifteenth is a disorderly addictedness to Devotions which gives to God what is due to our Neighbour Some neglect their Families to be more assiduous at the foot of the Altar They wave their Employments to be doing Kindnesses They love retiredness when their Condition obliges them to appear in publick They are silent out of a false modesty when they should speak They meditate when they should act They are in Office and live like private Persons They would have peace with God without caring to have it with Men. This Pastor in his Flock This Superior in his House are Mild Peaceable and Charitable but they suffer themselves to be govern'd by furious Spirits whose Passions they espouse and allgo's topsie-turvie sometimes by their Authority whilst they are at the feet of their Crucifix to satisfie the gust of Devotion which some sentiment of Piety or rather love of Ease gives them unseasonably They deceive themselves if they believe they are innocent of the Violences done in their Name for 't is only their Name that authorizes them This is to be but the vain Image of a Pastor says the Prophet or rather 't is to be but Charitable in Idea to have the heart to abandon his Flock to leave the Conduct of it to Pastors foisted in and to intrust with another the Salvation of those for whom himself in person is responsible to God A watchful Superior ought to be like a wise Pilot who has always his Hand upon the Rudder every thing alarms him by reason of the concern he takes in the safety of those he conducts And as they are not in Office but to watch over those they Govern so all the Vertues all the Graces and all the most holy Actions of Superiors are deceitful when they seek more their satisfaction in Devotion then the peace of those they Govern The Sixteenth is self-Self-love This Love includes in it self the interest of all other Passions and almost the universal spring of all other Illusions 'T is through this Principle of Self-love that Men sometimes are not in at Practices of Charity but to manage more dextrously their own Interests They find hereby their Affairs go much the better and that sometimes serves to sustain their Rights more boldly and even more creditably We see in effect Persons of Quality Charitable that
reciprocal obligations they have to assist each other for the Rich ought to help the Poor before Men as the Poor help the Rich before God in that the misery of the one becomes the fountain of the others merit and happiness The Second Motive to acquire Charity is the pain wherewith God so severely punishes him that is not provided with this Vertue In effect as it is to break the Alliance of the New Testament and after a manner renounce the Gospel not to love ones Neighbour there is nothing more terrible then these Punishments wherewith the holy Scriptures threatens them that have not this love And is it not just saith S. Chrysostom that he who does no kindness should receive none But how dreadful a Judgment does the Saviour of the World pronounce against those Scribes whereof St. Mark speaks who devour with such injustice and violence the Goods of Widows What Maledictions against those cruel and merciless Pharisees whereof St. Matthew speaks Virginity how pleasing soever to God through the lustre of its purity is a Vertue reproved in the Gospel when sever'd from Charity The foolish Virgins far from being received at the Nuptials of the Lamb were treated as impudent Women because they took no care to make that provision of this Oyl of the Gospel which is the figure of Charity In vain they renounced Pleasure to embrace Chastity all their Vertues avail them nothing to justifie them to the Bridegroom who spake to them these words full of contempt I know you not Oh! if true Virgins are treated so severely by the Son of God if the wisdom of their Conduct if the command over their Desires if the purity of their Heart if so many victories obtain'd over so frail flesh and so weak a Sex In fine if even the perseverance of their Vertue is fruitless to them What will become of those Virgins that lead such licentious and scandalous lives But with what sharpness do's Jesus Christ condemn his own Disciples because they advis'd him through want of Charity to make fire fall from Heaven upon the Samaritans that would not receive him You know not said he of what spirit you are and how far 't is contrary to mine Is not the punishment of the wicked rich man in the Gospel a most dreadful Example and the Treatment he receiv'd is it not terrible After all what Crime had he committed he had not been Charitable The hardness of his heart says St. Chrysostom was the cause of his loss But O my God how severe and dreadful a Judge art thou for this rich man had done wrong to none he made use of the Riches thou hadst bestowed upon him without doing any Violence or Injustice 'T is true but the superfluities of his Table the sumptuousness of his House his Oppulency as innocent as it is cry for Vengeance before God because he employ'd not his Goods to relieve the Necessities of the Poor Look then to your selves you Great ones of the Earth If prosperity be in your Houses if you live at ease if all things succeed to your desires Tremble amidst these temporal Blessings All your good Fortune is only a mark of your Reprobation unless you are Charitable Power Riches Honours you are but impediments to Salvation if you be not employ'd in assisting the Poor and protecting him that is in oppression For if the Rich could love the Poor he would be saved and his Riches which are true evils would become true goods But can one hear without terror those threatning words of the Gospel capable of themselves alone to make tremble the Great ones that live in all abundance Wo to you rich of the earth And why Because God who is just abandons the Rich to their own Appetites and strikes them with an inward blindness which makes them insensible of all the motions of Grace and all the lights of Heaven This false Tranquility and dangerous Peace they enjoy is sometimes one of the most terrible torments wherewith God punishes their hard-heartedness and 't is an assured sign he leaves them to impenitency But how great will be the confusion and astonishment of the Reprobate when he shall appear before the dreadful Tribunal of the last Judgment to hear this terrible Sentence which an offended God shall pronounce in the fury of his rage and indignation Away from me you cursed into fire everlasting for I was hungry and you gave me not to eat I was thirsty and you gave me not to drink I was naked and you cloathed me not O cruel torments for a Soul to see her self eternally depriv'd of God and abandon'd to her own despair because being Christian she was not Charitable It is not of Impudicity Envy Choler Violence or Blasphemy God speaks in his last Judgment to condemn these Crimes he only speaks of Insensibility towards the Poor And Judgment without mercy to him that shews not mercy as the Apostle assures us It is thus those merciless Souls shall be treated that have not been moved with the miseries of their Brethren But can any one bear in mind the thoughts of this dreadful Tribunal and not be Charitable And what hope can he have of the mercy of God when himself has pity on none 'T is a sign one has no Faith when he is not seis'd with horror at such terrible Menaces and that would make one tremble when seriously consider'd for the Threats of a God are never in vain and he is as dreadful in his Judgments as he is amiable in his Mercies If yet there be any found insensible of these Reasons because their Effects are at a distance let him at least consider after what manner God exercises his Judgments in this Life on such Christians as have not Charity let him tremble at reading in the Apocalyps the thundering Menaces wherewith that dreadful Judge who carries a sharp Sword in his Mouth and holds Death fetter'd in Irons strikes those first Pastors of the Churches of Asia because their Charity the Seal as it were of their Character and Spirit of their Vocation was grown cold Let him behold with trembling the terrible Punishment of that unhappy Saprice mention'd by Metaphrastus who after the Rigors of a severe Prison after the Conflicts he had resolutely sustain'd before his Judge in defence of his Faith lost his Crown at the very point of receiving it and of a Martyr became an Apostate and a Pagan because he would not forgive his Brother an Injury What shall I say of those fearful pains wherewith God punishes in this Life the shameful attash the Rich have to the Goods of the Earth delivering them up a prey to their Appetites and leaving them in an utter forgetfulness of their Salvation For a rich Man says S. Basil by locking up the bowels of Charity against his Neighbour at the same time shuts those of Gods Mercy against himself and by treating so coldly Jesus Christ in the Person of the Poor shews by his hard-heartedness that
day to be reunited in the same Glory should not have the same Spirit and love one another But after all how go's it have we Charity one for another The Luxury Self-interest Ambition and general Irregularities of the Manners of this Age have they not spread every where the Spirit of Division and what judgment ought one to make of the Christianity of these later Times wherein Animosities Jealousies Law-Suits Quarrels Envies Calumnies Repinings Injustices and Revenge reign with so much heat Were there ever seen so many Divisions in Families so many Separations in Marriages such Coldness and Indifferency among Relations so little Union in Communities and so many different Opinions in Religion Men have no Charity for those they know how then can they have any for them they know not They love not their Kindred how then can they love others They are rigid to their Domesticks and can they have any tenderness for Strangers Never did Luxury more reign in the World and perhaps the Poor were never less assisted Are we Christians with such languishing Manners Those later Times when Men shall hate one another and the Charity of the Faithful grow so cold Those Times I say foretold by our Lord are they already come However let us tremble if we have not Charity For without it all our hopes are vain and we are degenerated from the Spirit of the first Christians who generously renouncing all the Goods of the Earth only rais'd their Minds to Heaven and made the purity of their Faith shine to the whole World by the ardor of their Charity Let us then not stray out of the sure way of Salvation which they have marked out to us by the exercise of this Vertue they have practis'd with so much perseverance and fidelity Let us not stifle in our selves the sentiments of that Spirit which our Christianity gives birth to Let us examine our selves and see if we have that Seal of our Predestination so distinctly shew'd us in the Gospel Let us be afraid of losing the features of this divine Character for fear we lose at the same time the marks and surest pledge of our Salvation Let us be touch'd with compassion for our Brethren that God may be touch'd with compassion for us Let us assist them in their wants that God may assist us in ours Let us be merciful to them that he may be so to us Let us not judge them for our Judgments must one day be judged or if we judge them let it be without condemning them that we be not condemned for we shall be judged in the same manner we judge Let us not hope God will stretch out to us his helping hand if we refuse help to the Afflicted that ask it What pride would it be to behold with ungrateful Eyes Jesus Christ pouring forth his precious Blood upon the Cross for us and to deny him a bit of Bread which he begs of us by the mouth of the Poor And what unhappiness for us should these Riches that give us nothing but inquietude and which we must one day quit become an obstacle to our Salvation God having given them us only by their means to save us How happy is he who to make a good use of them abandons the love of his Treasures to reserve for himself none but those of the Riches of Gods mercy at the day of his wrath But the Justice of this dreadful Judge has Secrets and Abysses impenetrable to our understanding His Grace is not for the Rich or Great ones of the Earth who through monstrous hardness of heart are become so insensible of the motions of pity that they see the miseries of the Afflicted without the least compassion Alass if this poor wretch that carries sorrow in his Face this poor wretch that is your Brother in fine this poor wretch that represents Jesus Christ in person cannot move you what can If you have been so cruel to shut up your bowels against his wants how can you have the confidence of the truly faithful who place all their hopes in the bowels of their Saviour whence flow those springs of mercy which are the sanctuary of Sinners With what assurance will you appear before the Sovereign Tribunal of the last Judgment to render an account of your Life to that inflexible Judge who will give to every one according to his works if you have been hard and pitiless to all the world But alass how frightful will it be to hear those terrible words of the Gospel Go you accursed and what follows after having neglected to clothe Jesus Christ when he was naked to feed him when he was hungry in those Members whereof he is Head He must be very blind to think himself secure against the Sentence of so severe a Judge that sees all things when one has so contemn'd him in the person of his Brethren But it is a dreadful heedlesness and dismal blindness to which God uses to abandon those that permit themselves to be hardned by covetousness and pride of the Grandeurs of this World and that are so cruel to treat their own Brethren more rigidly then they do the very Beasts they make use of for their Vanity If God will one day call a Christian to account for an idle word what account will he demand of the idle Expences of the most part of the Great ones and of all the Abuses committed in the administration of the Estate he has given them For the Estate which God bestows is no longer his to whom he gives it when he has taken what is needful and seemly for his Quality It is the Poors when the Poor are in want This is the reason why the Prophet calls Alms a piece of Justice not Mercy He distributed says he what he had to the poor the memory of his justice remaineth for ever You possess not your Goods as soon as you are a Christian but to distribute them Give little if you have but little but give much if you have much For what greater Inheritance can a Father leave his Children then the Protection of Jesus Christ whom he has succoured in the Necessitous that had recourse to his assistance Happy he that comprehends this Mystery it is a Secret unknown to earthly Souls that dream not what advantage it is to regard the wants of the Necessitous out of the sincere Motive of Christian Charity Happy he I say that understands it He starts not back at this ignominious out-side nor at the miserable condition of the Poor because he beholds Jesus Christ conceal'd under that mean Aspect and these Rags He minds not the poorness of his Clothes he considers the price of his Soul That ulcerous Body in tatter'd Garments appears to him not unworthy his assistance for he is favourably look'd on by Heaven from the Minute he is truly poor so he receives him as an Embassador sent from God to treat of Peace with him and mediate the Affair of his Salvation He hopes the Alms he gives him will be the cause of his Predestination and source of his Glory Behold what a Christian ought to comprehend when he sees a poor Body and once again happy he that comprehends it If we then are truly Christians as we glory to be let us follow this admirable counsel S. Paul gave to the Colossians to raise them up to the height of that Spirit he inspir'd into them conformable to the Image he had traced forth to them of the New Man he Preach'd to them Put you on therefore as the elect of God that is as Christians put you on says he the bowels of mercy benignity modesty patience supporting one one another and pardoning one another as also our Lord hath pardoned you Our Redeemer wholly clad as he is with our frailty teaches us to pardon our Enemies by his pardoning us who are his We are so nice we cannot bear with those that do us the least Offence and yet we boast we are Disciples of a God who pardons his Executioners dies for those that crucifi'd him and who in spite of our Ingratitude continues to showre down upon us his Favours and the continual marks of his Bounty I do not bid you quit your Estates like the first Christians who went and laid them at the Apostles feet I do not say to you Go affront Tyrants like the Martyrs to make an eminent Profession of your Faith I say not Retire your self into the Wilderness to lead a penitent Life like the Anchorites Sell your Liberties as St. Paulinus did Or cross the Seas like St. Xaverius though God deserves all this and more from you I do not propose unto you the Lives of the Primitive Christians as the most holy Model and true Rule of Evangelical perfection I only say to you Do not tear in pieces your Brothers Reputation Pardon this Enemy relieve this poor Man this is sufficient for you I do not say to you Save so many Souls that perish I only say Save your self your Soul is your next Neighbour lose it not Love those you are to live with but love them with a pure and sincere Charity which neither your own Interests nor the Artifice of Men may ever alter that the Unity of spirit which ought to be among the Faithful may not be prejudiced Let us leave Spiritual Fathers to invent new Methods of Devotion to satisfie the humour of the Age that pretends so much to Curiosity Let us bluntly stop at the practice of this Vertue without seeking after any perfecter way to go to God since neither St. Paul St. John nor the Gospel it self have ever own'd a better In fine let us be Charitable if we pretend to be Christians since Charity is the true Spirit of Christianity FINIS