PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

17~ Pecuniary Bounty.
a species of liberaiity, which is not charity in any
sense of the word! I mean the giving of entertain.
ments or liquor, for the sake of popularity; or the
rewarding, treating, and maintaining the compan-·
ions of our diversions, as hunters, shooters, fishers,
and the like. I do not say chat this is criminal; I
only say that i~ is not charity; and that we ar(~ not
to suppose, because we gi~'e, and give to the poor, that
it \vili stand in the place, or supersede the obligation,
of more meritorjous and disinterested bounty.
Ill. The ~fJ'etences by which nzel; -e:(cuse themlelves
ft·onl gi:-viJlg to the poor.
1.. "That they have nothing to spare,"i. e. nothing
for which they have not provided some other
use; nothing which their plan of expense, together
\vith the savings they have resolved to lay by, will
not exhaust: never reflecting \\-hether it be in their
pou:er, or that it is their duty to retrench their expenses,
a!ld contract their plan, " that they may have
tC) give to tllem that need ;" or rather that this
ought to have been part of their plan originally.
2. "That they have falnilies of their own, and that
charity begins at home." The extent of [his plea
,viII be considered, \\·hen we come to explai~ the
duty of parents.
3. "r"l'hat charity does not consi~t in gi\-ing money,
but in benevolence, philantJlrOp)~, love to all
nla!lkind, goodness of heart, &c." l-lear St. Jalnes~
" If a brother or sister be llakeJ, alili J.c3titute of
daily food, and one of )·ou sa~f Ullto tllem, Depart
in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye
giove Ibem not those tbillgs 'Z.obic:b are needful to the b:.·dy,
\vhat doth it pr()fit ?" (Jallles ii. 15, 1 G.)
4. "That giving to the poor i~ not mentioned in
St~ Paul's (icscripti(Jn (Jf cllarity, ill tile thirteenth
chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians." This
is not a description of Ch:ll'ity, but of good-nature;
~lIl(1 it is llot 11CC('~SJry tJlat every (ltlt\' be Inellti()ll:!(i
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