bloud and life It ought to be the most ordinary Devotion of all good people to sigh before God and to offer him vows for the salvation of all men that the Death of Jesus Christ may not be fruitless to them For the true Christian ought not to confine the whole extent of his zeal within the narrow circle of his own perfection he ought to labour for the perfection and salvation of others If his Faith be so fervent and his Prayer so humble and perseverant as it ought to be for so important a subject what fruit may he not hope This every one may practise and the precious Bloud of Jesus Christ which in those Countries where he is not known loses its value well deserves that a Christian zealous for his glory should affect so holy and charitable a Devotion Behold throughout the whole Discourse I have made there 's a large way lies open for Christian Charity to exercise so many different good works as concern it But there remains one work of Charity for a Christian to practise so much the worthier to be recommended to him as no body is aware to think of it 'T is to pray often to God for the salvation of the Great ones and for all those whom Providence abandons to the vanity of worldly Honors and the covetousness of Riches Man being always weaker in elevation and prosperity then in depression and adversity the greater he is the more worthy of compassion For Greatness is a Shelf so much the more dangerous as its appearance is more deceitful It is not the vocation of a Christian to be always happy and successful and it often happens that God through a terrible order of his Providence gives up these worldly happy ones to the wandring of their hearts and by a secret Judgment suffers them to fall into a blindness and obstinacy which renders them insensible of all the motions of Grace and all the inspirations of Heaven If we have Charity let us tremble for those that are in so sad a condition Let us implore Gods mercy upon the misery of those falslly happy ones Let us give the Potentates of the Earth the same counsel as Daniel heretofore gave unto one of the greatest Princes of the World To redeem their injustices by deeds of mercy and to blot out their sins by alms Let us endeavour to make Great men understand that God bestows neither Greatness nor Power on them to live in pleasure and delicacies that their being rais'd to Offices obliges them more strictly to be watchful and laborious that they have no Power and Authority but to assist more powerfully him that is weak and deliver him from the oppression of the strong Let us put them in mind that they are not great in the sight of God but in as much as they are beneficial and helpful to their Neighbours that the lustre of temporal Honors and all these external Greatnesses are but marks of their Servitude and continual remembrances of their Duties That Dignities ought to have no place in Christianity but more to set off the Christian That the Great ones can pretend to Heaven only by their Alms for they are scarce capable of any other good That God who has no exception of persons as the Scripture says will have no respect to their Quality but only to their good works and their Charity when they shall appear before his Throne This is what may in short be said of the practice of this Vertue whose extent is beyond measure But it is not sufficient to know how it ought to be practised unless we also know what method to observe in the practice of it CHAP. IV. In what order Christian Charity ought to be practised AS the whole perfection of Christianity may be said to consist in Charity so this Vertue ought to be the most regulated of all Christian Vertues because this is the Rule of all the Duties of a Christian So there is nothing so essential to Charity as order But there 's nothing more difficult then precisely to establish that order wherein Charity ought to be practis'd For besides that every one in the exercise of Christian Vertue frames several Principles to himself according to his own fancy or reason and that thence comes the great diversity of ways we meet with in a spiritual Life Charity besides of her self in the extent of the divers necessities of our Neighbour obliges a Christian to so many different Duties that 't is difficult to give any exact Rule for distinguishing them justly This Vertue becomes rash and indiscreet if not govern'd by Prudence and Charity without this Prudence which is her principal guide is not a true Charity The more fervent the Zeal is and the more active the Charity the more she needs this science which knows says St. Paul how to husband its heat 'T is for this reason that the Spouse in the Canticles gives thanks to her Bridegroom because he had regulated in her the Duties of Charity Let us then seek out this Rule so necessary to this Vertue to distinguish its obligations and let us examine the order wherein it must be practised that so the essential Duties may not be confounded with those that are not The first draught of this order ought to be taken from the Gospel wherein our Saviour himself has laid the model by his own Example when he forbad his Disciples to go Preach to the Samaritans and Gentiles till they had Preach'd first to the Jews and when he refused that help the Cananean Woman S. Matthew speaks of begg'd of him because she was a stranger and he would reserve his favours for his own People like a Pastor who minds only his own Flock The Apostles did the same there appears a distinction in their carriage They Preach'd not to the Gentiles till the Jews had refused to hear them according as their Master had order'd them and notwithstanding the greatness of St. Paul's zeal to announce Jesus Christ to the whole World yet all the motions of that zeal were regulated He goes not indifferently to all the World his first care was of the Jews whereever he found any of them in all his Voyages and he minded not the Conversion of the Heathens till he had try'd in vain all ways to gain those People whence he sprang This conduct remarks to us in general that there are distinctions to be made in the practice of Charity where three Difficulties may be found The First is to know what side to take when the interest of God and our Neighbour come together The Second is to separate our own interests from our Neighbours The Third is in the different interests of our Neighbour to know which to prefer before the other Behold methinks the order that Charity prescribes in these encounters and the Rules that may be given of it The First Rule which regards the order to be observ'd in the Affairs that concern the interest of God and our
But as the World places its Morality in not pardoning by making Revenge a Vertue and the highest pitch of Christian perfection is to love our Enemies Herein it is a Christian ought most to signalize himself Philosophy has not yet been able to reach so far and it is the greatest difficulty in Christianity to practise it But after that Jesus Christ has both by his Doctrine and Example taught us his intentions on that Point a Christian who will live like one ought to lay aside his resentments and weaknesses to pardon any injury done him 'T is confess'd the Heathens have own'd some shadow of this Vertue amidst the darkness of their Morals and there appears some rough draughts of it in their most illustrious actions but after all 't was only out of vanity that they pardoned Their clemency was only a secret pride whereby they sought after applause and reputation On the contrary Christian clemency flies nothing so much as vanity and only seeks the interest and advantage of whom she pardons Besides this there is another sort of Charity to be practised more perfect then the others in regard 't is more pure and disinteressed for it is without hope of any return since it is done for the Dead by assisting with our Prayers those holy Souls which suffer in Purgatory through those painful inquietudes and grievous impatiencies they have to see themselves separated from God These are the Creatures of all the world the most afflicted through the cruel torments they suffer and withal the most worthy to be succour'd for what are not they worthy of that are cherisht and predestinated by God What glory is it for a Christian to be Mediator between God and these holy Souls who cease not to love him though they suffer all the rigor of his Justice and to adore even his chastisements and vengeances 'T is even if we may so say to do God himself a pleasure to succour these Souls because he loves them and his Justice is better satisfied with our Prayers then their Sufferings because our Prayers are voluntary and their Sufferings not And thus the Charity of the Living eases and sweetens the Pains of the Dead But if it be so great a Charity to help the Souls that are but for some time separated from God what will it be then to be assisting to sinners who through their criminal engagements are in danger to be eternally separated from him These wretches do not consider in how deplorable a condition they are and that 't is the greatest madness and blindness to prefer a momentary pleasure before their salvation how great Charity is it to make them comprehend this But what patience sweetness prudence and great circumspection needs there to effect it 'T is a secret spiritual Directors scarce remember to intermix a Fatherly connivance and forbearance with these so necessary medicinal rigors for the cure of a sinner seduced by his ignorance and abandon'd to his weakness One must study the disposition the habitudes the inclinations of his Penitent and observe the way of entring into his heart to exercise there absolutely this charitable severity which cures the Soul But they seldom give themselves this trouble this mixture of authority and love of resolution and compliance of zeal and patience of mildness and austerity are scarce any longer used in Direction the business is precipitated either by composition or by a false principle of rigor to be reputed severe because the World relishes that best This capacity of a Doctor this prudence of a Physician these bowels of a Father and this disinteressedness of a Minister of Jesus Christ are qualities rarely found in one and the same Person to render him a perfect Director In chusing one such as authorize sin by their softness in flattering a sinner by too much compliance and those who by their severities disproportion'd to the weakness of their Penitents serve only to discourage them are alike to be avoided for they are equally dangerous I have stuck a little upon this Point for 't is in this Christian Charity may be best exercised and wherein generally 't is least practised because we are not sufficiently toucht with the deplorable condition of a sinner Although at this day there 's more pretending to Direction then ever yet we scarce see any longer those zealous Directors who are Christianly obstinate to disarm the anger of God against sinners by the austerity of their lives and who draw down the graces of God upon their Penitents by the perseverance of their Prayers and Mortifications 'T is to these charitable Directors we owe those great Conversions which God makes be seen from time to time as striking rays of his mercy These are the ordinary fruits wherewith God takes pleasure to bless the voluntary Penances and Mortifications of those vertuous innocent Souls who in the secret of their hearts deplore the sins of their Brethren which ought to be a great comfort to those Christians whose Retreat deprives them of the other occasions to exercise Charity For a Carthusian a Carmelite a Monk the most retired from commerce with Men may sometimes do as much good at the foot of his Crucifix in assisting his Neighbour by the invisible help of his Prayers as the most eloquent Preachers the most zealous Missioners and and all those whose Profession engages them to serve the Publick in the direction of Souls Besides 't is always less dangerous and often more profitable to speak of Men to God in secret Prayer then to speak of God to Men in the shew and tumult of Preaching I say nothing of that eminent Charity practised heretofore by the Apostles in the primitive Times of Grace which the Saviour of the World prefers before all other Charities because by a generous contempt of death she willingly offers up her life for the salvation of her Neighbour I believ'd I even ought not to speak of it because the exercise of this Chatity is above all Rules and besides 't is one of those extraordinary graces God only bestows on his favourites Not but that in these latter Times some sparks of that sacred fire are seen shining still in Apostolical Men who travel to the farthest parts of the World to water those barren and ingrateful Regions with their sweat and even their bloud to draw down on them the blessings of Heaven and make Christianity flourish there but every one do's not partake of these graces these are the mercies of God and these mercies are great miracles Let us adore the designs of God in those to whom he do's these favours and let us bless him for vouchsafing to cast his eyes on them to allow them the honor to die for him Happy he who in guiding of Souls merits to suffer at least some small persecution though he be not worthy at the expence of his life to serve his Neighbour Happy he who can contribute his tears and sighs to the Conversion of Heathens when he cannot his
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