The Effects of Charity

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 TREATISE XII.18. THE EFFECTS OF CHARITY.I. Self-preservation, or the impulsion towards personal life, or self-love, is the first instinct and law of being. Yet the positive law of God does not lay down this duty of loving ourselves; for 1. our tendency to the maintenance of natural life is already inordinate and excessive ; and 2. the law of maintaining and loving our supernatural life is coincident with, or even identical with the first of all com mandments, the love of God. For God is the source of our life : " in Him we live and move and have our heing " (Acts xvii. 28). The propension towards the Supreme Life is also the propension towards our own life. On the other hand, indifference towards God and adhesion to His contradictory, sin, is identical with cutting ourselves off from life and all its advantages. " He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul" (Ps. x. 6). The sinner hates his own soul as depriv ing it of its true life ; he hates his body as leaving it exposed to eternal torments. The supposed love of self involved in sin is only the kind of love that would humour an infant by giving it an open razor to play with. The real nature of self-indulgence is at present veiled, and is to be known only through faith ; but its effects will one day show that the love of God is the only true and legitimate love of self, and that sin is self-hatred and self-destruction. The love of God is the only form of self-love in which there is no selfish ness, no meanness and narrowness, but only glory to God and benefit to mankindII. Another result of the infused habit of Charity when carried out in action, is that it establishes the intimate rela tion of friendship between the infinitely great and holy and the infinitely small and degraded. It is wonderful that this relation of quasi-equality should be able to exist between the Eternal who fills all space with His immensity, and the miserable inhabitants of this insignificant speck of dust floating in the cosmos. The Almighty lowers Himself towards us and raises us to fellowship with Himself. " I will not now call you servants . . . but I have called you

 TREATISE XII.18. THE EFFECTS OF CHARITY.I. Self-preservation, or the impulsion towards personal life, or self-love, is the first instinct and law of being. Yet the positive law of God does not lay down this duty of loving ourselves; for 1. our tendency to the maintenance of natural life is already inordinate and excessive ; and 2. the law of maintaining and loving our supernatural life is coincident with, or even identical with the first of all com mandments, the love of God. For God is the source of our life : " in Him we live and move and have our heing " (Acts xvii. 28). The propension towards the Supreme Life is also the propension towards our own life. On the other hand, indifference towards God and adhesion to His contradictory, sin, is identical with cutting ourselves off from life and all its advantages. " He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul" (Ps. x. 6). The sinner hates his own soul as depriv ing it of its true life ; he hates his body as leaving it exposed to eternal torments. The supposed love of self involved in sin is only the kind of love that would humour an infant by giving it an open razor to play with. The real nature of self-indulgence is at present veiled, and is to be known only through faith ; but its effects will one day show that the love of God is the only true and legitimate love of self, and that sin is self-hatred and self-destruction. The love of God is the only form of self-love in which there is no selfish ness, no meanness and narrowness, but only glory to God and benefit to mankindII. Another result of the infused habit of Charity when carried out in action, is that it establishes the intimate rela tion of friendship between the infinitely great and holy and the infinitely small and degraded. It is wonderful that this relation of quasi-equality should be able to exist between the Eternal who fills all space with His immensity, and the miserable inhabitants of this insignificant speck of dust floating in the cosmos. The Almighty lowers Himself towards us and raises us to fellowship with Himself. " I will not now call you servants . . . but I have called you

 TREATISE XII.18. THE EFFECTS OF CHARITY.I. Self-preservation, or the impulsion towards personal life, or self-love, is the first instinct and law of being. Yet the positive law of God does not lay down this duty of loving ourselves; for 1. our tendency to the maintenance of natural life is already inordinate and excessive ; and 2. the law of maintaining and loving our supernatural life is coincident with, or even identical with the first of all com mandments, the love of God. For God is the source of our life : " in Him we live and move and have our heing " (Acts xvii. 28). The propension towards the Supreme Life is also the propension towards our own life. On the other hand, indifference towards God and adhesion to His contradictory, sin, is identical with cutting ourselves off from life and all its advantages. " He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul" (Ps. x. 6). The sinner hates his own soul as depriv ing it of its true life ; he hates his body as leaving it exposed to eternal torments. The supposed love of self involved in sin is only the kind of love that would humour an infant by giving it an open razor to play with. The real nature of self-indulgence is at present veiled, and is to be known only through faith ; but its effects will one day show that the love of God is the only true and legitimate love of self, and that sin is self-hatred and self-destruction. The love of God is the only form of self-love in which there is no selfish ness, no meanness and narrowness, but only glory to God and benefit to mankindII. Another result of the infused habit of Charity when carried out in action, is that it establishes the intimate rela tion of friendship between the infinitely great and holy and the infinitely small and degraded. It is wonderful that this relation of quasi-equality should be able to exist between the Eternal who fills all space with His immensity, and the miserable inhabitants of this insignificant speck of dust floating in the cosmos. The Almighty lowers Himself towards us and raises us to fellowship with Himself. " I will not now call you servants . . . but I have called you

I. Self-preservation, or the impulsion towards personal life, or self-love, is the first instinct and law of being. Yet the positive law of God does not lay down this duty of loving ourselves; for 

1. our tendency to the maintenance of natural life is already inordinate and excessive ; and 

2. the law of maintaining and loving our supernatural life is coincident with, or even identical with the first of all commandments, the love of God. For God is the source of our life: "in Him we live and move and have our heing" (Acts xvii. 28). The propension towards the Supreme Life is also the propension towards our own life. On the other hand, indifference towards God and adhesion to His contradictory, sin, is identical with cutting ourselves off from life and all its advantages. "He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul" (Ps. x. 6). The sinner hates his own soul as depriving it of its true life; he hates his body as leaving it exposed to eternal torments. The supposed love of self involved in sin is only the kind of love that would humour an infant by giving it an open razor to play with. The real nature of self-indulgence is at present veiled, and is to be known only through faith; but its effects will one day show that the love of God is the only true and legitimate love of self, and that sin is self-hatred and self-destruction. The love of God is the only form of self-love in which there is no selfishness, no meanness and narrowness, but only glory to God and benefit to mankind.

II. Another result of the infused habit of Charity when carried out in action, is that it establishes the intimate relation of friendship between the infinitely great and holy and the infinitely small and degraded. It is wonderful that this relation of quasi-equality should be able to exist between the Eternal who fills all space with His immensity, and the miserable inhabitants of this insignificant speck of dust floating in the cosmos. The Almighty lowers Himself towards us and raises us to fellowship with Himself. "I will not now call you servants . . . but I have called you (Page 181) friends" (John xv. 15). In virtue of this, there subsists between God and the justified soul 

1. a reciprocal love and delight of each in the other ; 

2. a good-will by which God desires to confer infinite benefits on man, and man wishes to do all he can for God; and 

3. a communication of possessions from one to the other: we render to God the service of intellect, will, imagination, senses, action, and He grants us a return that exceeds all measure and desert. "He hath given us very great and precious promises, that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. i. 4). No happiness is so great as this. It is amply sufficient for you in the absence of every other advantage, to know that God is always your firm friend, and that He loves you and accepts your love with delight. Let nothing separate you from Him in life or death.

III. A further effect of the infused habit of Charity is that it vivifies all the other virtues and gives them their supernatural character. The presence of this gift creates a wide distinction between the virtues of the natural and of the supernatural plane, although to our present observation they may appear to be of equal value. The natural virtues possess an intrinsic excellence of their own, and produce their proper good results in the world; but virtue is only perfect when inspired by the supernatural habit of Charity proceeding from God and acting in man; then it is directed by love towards the Supreme Life, and not towards any partial or narrow form of life. Divine love directs all the actions towards God as their end, it makes us carry out all that the will of God requires of us, and the faithful service of God reacts again by leading us to the state of charity with Cod. Therefore it is written that "love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. xiii. 10); and again Christ says, "If you love Me keep My commandments" (John xiv. 15). The degree of your love will be the measure of your service of God, of the remission of your sins and their penalties, of your merit here and the degree of your glory hereafter.