A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion/Chapter 20
XX. Charity and Good Works.
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 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 sion that arises, according to our ability, and the several states, qualities, and necessities of our neighbour, as before observed, constitutes good works, or the life of charity and faith.
As a further illustration of the true nature of good works, or a good life, it may be remarked, that in the external acts of a man are contained, to a certain degree, all the powers and energies of his body; and these again are put into motion by a concurrence, to a certain degree, of all the powers and energies of his mind, whether they belong to the province of the will, or to that of the understanding. The affection or love first excites the thought; these in conjunction influence the body; and all together produce the external act. So that the whole man, from the first principles of his life to the last effects, is completely represented and seen in his works. If now the first moving affection be that of love to the Lord, and love to our neighbour, this will excite every thing in the understanding capable of promoting it's end or purpose; and these descending together into the body, will enlist into their service all such faculties and powers, as they may there find suitable for bringing them into full exercise and effect. In this case the acts produced will be good works, because they are plainly the result, and as it were the very body, of the benevolent intention, which animates them as their life and soul. On the other hand, if the first spring of action in the will be self-love, and the love of the world, then all the thoughts of the understanding, and all the powers of the body, will concur in giving effect to such love: in which case all the acts produced will be evil works, howsoever they may put on the external appearance of good-will or charity. It is for this reason that the Scriptures so uniformly and constantly hold out to the view of the reader, that every man will be dealt with hereafter according to the nature and quality of his works. "The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works," Matt. xvi. 27. "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and they were judged every man according to their works," Apoc. xx. 12, 13.
We see then how charity and faith are united together, and included in good works. But it must ever be remembered, that in their origin, progression, and final effect, they are still of and from the Lord alone, he being in them as their soul and principal cause, while man is only the instrument, but an organized one, of bringing them forth. Hence it is, that, as all the good, which is done by man, actually proceeds from the Lord, man only co-operating with him apparently of himself, as an organized instrument in the hands of the principal Agent, no idea of human merit can for a moment be admitted; but the inclination, the ability, and the merit, are wholly and solely ascribed to him, from whom flows all that is good in the affection, all that is true in the thought, and all that is beneficial in the act.
