Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/66

 to elevate man from the love of evil, and thereby to introduce him into the happiness of eternal life.

IF a true faith be so important an acquisition to the church, equally essential to it is charity, or the love of one's neighbour, which must ever go hand in hand with faith, in order to produce good and useful works, their legitimate offspring. It is a prevailing opinion, that charity consists in giving to the poor, relieving the distressed, providing for widows and orphans, erecting or supporting hospitals and other edifices for the reception of the sick, the stranger, and the fatherless, particularly in contributing towards the building, ornamenting, and endowing of churches, or other places of worship, &c. But these things may, or may not, be acts of genuine charity, according to the motive, intention, and state of life, of the person who performs them. For they may be done under the influence of vain-glory, the love of fame, external friendship, mere natural inclination, hypocrisy, or some other selfish consideration and motive: or they may be performed from a pure and genuine love to society, and the individuals who compose it. Real charity consists in wishing well to others from the heart, and at the same time in acting justly, faithfully, and uprightly, from conscientious motives, in whatever office, business, or employment, a person is engaged, and with whomsoever he hath any dealing or connection. Whether he be a king, a magistrate, a priest, a judge, a merchant, a tradesman, a mechanic, a labourer, a soldier, or a seaman, each one has a duty to perform in society; and whosoever conducts himself in his proper sphere