the wisest, the most humane, and the most upright, should likewise be the most opulent; that, besides the portion of wealth destined to them by nature, they should also be charged with that of the weakest, to be its depositaries, and to defend it against usurpation and violence: consequently, that they were established by nature itself as the guardians of the unfortunate, and that whatever surplus they had was only the patrimony of their brethren confided to their care and to their equity?
Who, lastly, is ignorant that the ties of religion have still more firmly cemented the first bonds of union which nature had formed among men; that the grace of Jesus Christ, which brought forth the first believers, made of them not only one heart and one soul, but also one family, where the idea of individual property was exploded; and that the gospel, making it a law to us to love our brethren as ourselves, no longer permits us to be ignorant of their wants, or to be insensible to their sorrows?
But it is with the duty of charity as with all the other duties of the law: in general the obligation is not, even in idea, denied; but does the circumstance of its fulfilment take place? A pretext is never wanting, either to dispense with it entirely, or at least to be quit for a moiety of the duty. Now, it would appear that the Spirit of God hath meant to point out to us all these pretexts, in the answers which the disciples made to Jesus Christ in order to excuse themselves from assisting the famished multitude which had followed him to the desert.
In the first place, they remind him that they had scarcely wherewithal to supply their own wants; and that only five loaves of barley and two fishes remained: behold the first pretext, made use of by covetousness, in opposition to the duty of compassion. Scarcely have they sufficient for themselves; they have a name and a rank to support in the world; children to establish; creditors to satisfy; public charges to support; a thousand expenses of pure benevolence, to which attention must be paid; now, what is any income, not entirely unlimited, to such endless demands? In this manner the world continually speaks; and a world the most brilliant, and the most sumptuous.
Now, I well know, that the limits of what is called a sufficiency are not the same for all stations; that they extend in proportion to rank and birth; that one star, says the apostle, must differ in lustre from another; that, even from the apostolic ages, men were seen in the assemblies of believers, clothed in robes of distinction, with rings of gold, while others, of a more obscure station, were forced to content themselves with the apparel necessary to cover their nakedness; that, consequently, religion does not confound stations; and that, if it forbid those who dwell in the palaces of kings to be effeminate in their manners, and indecently luxurious in their dress, it doth not at the same time prescribe to them the poverty and the simplicity of those who dwell in cottages, or of those who form the lower ranks of the people: I know it.
But, my brethren, it is an incontestable truth, that, whatever
