saw we thee a stranger and took thee in? or naked and clothed thee?- or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall they, on the left hand, answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." St. Paul even refers to the temporal blessing which by natural and beautiful consequence is often shed on free and abounding Love,—increasing its basket and its store, so that the generous hand is refilled by God. He quotes a single verse of the 112th Psalm, the whole of which is to the same purport: "He hath scattered his blessings; he hath given to the poor; his goodness shall endure for ever, his horn shall be exalted with honor." 8. Another Rule and Principle of Christian Charity, stated in the seventh verse of the ninth chapter, is, that in these interests the Heart is our Counsellor : "Let every one give as he purposeth in his heart." The instincts of the Heart are to be reverently regarded, and its dictates to be submitted to no revisal, except that of its wiser, purer, and more conscientious self. The Heart to the Christian, is what Genius is to the Intellectual world. It is the inspiration of the Man,- his highest utterance, the very blossoming of our moral Nature, when it is cul tivated, and carefully guarded from external stain and injury. Prudence, Self-interest, calculations of lower Expediency, have no right to revise or reverse its Dictates. Only a higher, wider, and more farseeing Benevolence should control instinctive Benevolence. Only the Wisdom of Love should modify or guide its impulse; and no faculty but that of Conscience is qualified to give a direction to the Heart. If we give under any guidance or revision but that of Love itself, we give grudgingly, — and God loves a cheerful giver, it is the only thing in our work of Charity that He does love, for what in His sight is the outward gift! - 9. (11-15.) And lastly, it is declared to be one of the operations, and beatitudes, of practical Mercy, that it causeth thanksgiving to God; - by our means it makes the wretched feel that God cares for them; it introduces them into His family, and gives them at once Brethren and a Father. In this respect, reversing the sentiment of the Psalm, our Goodness extends to God, as well as to the saints that be upon the Earth. St. Paul trusted that the influence of Gentile Liberality, in this respect, would heal the one great division of the Early Church, that it would reconcile the Jewish Christian to his Gentile Brother,inasmuch as it would show experimentally the blessed fruits that the spirit of the Gospel could produce and ripen, independently of ritual and ceremonial relations:-"By the experience of this ministration, they will glorify God for the subjection which ye profess unto the Gospel of Christ, and for the sincerity of your fellowship with them and with all men ; earnestly longing also after you, in their prayer for you, on account of the exceeding grace of God in you." And thus should all religious divisions be healed, — and thus only can they be healed, — by that unquestionable evidence which the life of Love can give, that through all varieties of form one spirit breathes, that under all outward differences beats the Brother's heart; - and so the excellent bond of Charity take the place of all less universal less spiritual, less essential, affinities between Man and Man, between Man and God. Now "Thanks be to God," says St. Paul, contemplating this its wide and blessed operation, "for his unspeakable Gift!" for this Christian sentiment that makes a human Brotherhood, a Universal Church, identifying general with individual good. There is no unity, no equality, no principle of lasting peace among men, except this. It is that vital Love which, existing in God Himself, gave birth to the Universe, which redeemed it and created it anew in Christianity, and which, in proportion as it spreads through human hearts, becomes the bond and blessing of the world. To have it, and extend it from heart to heart, is our Christian Mission. "A new Commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another." "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be my disciples." 31 |