Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/67

Rh of life with integrity and sincerity, as above stated, free from all fraud and deceit, such an one is in the exercise of genuine charity, and all his actions are good works. The exercise of charity, however, or love to our neighbour, ought to be exercised with prudence and discretion, according to the different degrees of goodness, which distinguish different men: for goodness from the Lord is, properly speaking, the neighbour that is to be loved and respected in all. Nor is our charity to be confined to men as individuals only, but ought to extend to the various societies with which we may be connected, especially to our country, to the church and kingdom of the Lord, and above all to the Lord himself, from whom is derived every thing that deserves to be an object of our love and esteem. This law of love and charity is thus laid down in the Gospel: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself," Luke x. 27. And again, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets," Matt. vii. 12.

Charity therefore is an internal affection, proceeding from the Lord as it's proper fountain, and prompting a man to do good, and to act uprightly, from a pure love of goodness and uprightness, without any regard to recompense or reward; for it brings it's own reward along with it, and in it's exercise is attended with the highest and purest satisfaction of life. A true faith, in which is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, points out how such benevolence and good-will is to be directed or performed: and the actual exercise of both, in the just and faithful discharge of all our relative duties, and on every