Poems (Davidson)/Charity (The sacred volume exhorts us)
CHARITY.
The sacred volume exhorts us to Charity. How carefully, then, should we cherish this kindly feeling, this spark from the fountain of life, that it may beam forth undimmed, and, with its pure and friendly light, cast a ray over our many imperfections, in that day when all will stand in need of mercy and forbearance!
It is not the bare distribution of alms to the needy and suffering beggar, it is not the pompous offerings of opulence to the shrinking child of poverty, which constitutes true charity; no, it is to be understood in a far wider sense; it is forbearing to join with the multitude, when trampling upon a fallen fellow-creature. It is the voice of Charity which pleads for the wretched and the penitent, which raises the prostrate, and whispers forgiveness for the past, and hope for the future. It is her hand which pours the balm of consolation into the lacerated bosom of the returning wanderer, who dares not look back upon the past, and whose heart shrinks as it meets the cold and averted glances of those who in the hour of its pride had bowed before it.
We are all liable to err. Let us make the situation of the suffering penitent our own. Where are the friends we had fondly fancied ours? fled, as from the breath of pestilence, and we are desolate; left with the arrow of adversity rankling in our bosoms, like the stricken deer by the selfish herd, to perish in solitude and wretchedness.
There is no heart so hardened and depraved, that it will not, when the soft voice of Charity whispers peace and forgiveness, yield like wax beneath the hand which stamps it. Then is the moment to impress upon it the sacred precepts of virtue, and to place the bright rewards of penitence before it. "Let us, then, do as we would that others should do unto us;" have mercy upon the fallen, and stretch forth the hand of Charity to the suffering and the penitent.
