Page:MyPrayerBookHappinessInGoodness.djvu/22

 thereby to  the  profit  of  all  the  rest,  each  by  being what it  should  be,  by  doing  what  it  should  do  — in a  word,  by  its  own  perfection,  perfects  the  whole. So, too,  by  being  and  acting  otherwise  than  it should,  it  injures  itself  and  it  injures  the  whole. Where brain  or  eye  is  diseased  it  ceases  to  live for the  whole  body,  to  be  serviceable  and  helpful; it lives  for  itself,  nay  rather,  it  lives  at  the  expense of the  rest,  seeking  its  own. It begins  to  seek  its own exclusively,  it  ceases  to  co-operate  with  the rest, to  bear  their  burdens,  to  sympathize  with their joys  and  sorrows  —  it  becomes  selfish.

"Here, then,  is  the  true  altruism,  the  Christian conception  of  charity  —  to  seek  ourselves,  our  own things,  for  the  sake  of  others;  to  seek  others  by seeking  ourselves  after  His  pattern  who  said: Propter  eos  sanctifico  meipsum  — 'For  their  sakes  I sanctify  Myself.'  If  we  ourselves  are  what  we ought  to  be,  we  shall  be  to  others  what  we  ought  to be.  And  as  the  higher  and  more  complex  structures of  the  body  are  more  widely  and  eminently useful  to  the  rest,  so  those;  who  are  themselves  nearer to  the  perfection  of  our  blessed  Lord,  the  Head  and Saviour  of  the  Body,  are  so  far  nearer  to  Him  in the  depth  and  extent  of  their  utility  toward  others. He,  as  the  Head  and  Soul  of  the  Body,  is  most intimate  in  His  relation  to  the  very  least  of  the subject  members;  and  the  measure  of  His  love  for them is  the  measure  of  His  own  perfection  and dignity —  the  measure,  moreover,  of  that  most just love  which  He  bears  toward  Himself. For,