DIVISION OF DUTIES--GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL MORALITY.
SUMMARY.
=Division of duties.=--In theory there is but one duty, which is to do
right; but this duty is subdivided according to the various relations
of man. Hence three classes of duties: duties towards ourselves,
towards others, towards God: _individual_, _social_, _religious_
morality. We will begin with social morality, which requires the most
expounding.
=General principles of social duties:= to do good; not to do evil.
=Different degrees of this double obligation:= 1, not to return evil
for good (_ingratitude_); 2, not to do evil to those who have not done
us any (_injustice and cruelty_); 3, not to return evil for evil
(_revenge_); 4, to return good for good (_gratitude_); 5, to do good
to those who have not done us any (_charity_); 6, to return good for
evil (_clemency_, _generosity_).
=Distinction between the various kinds of social duties:= 1, towards
the _lives_ of other men; 2, towards their _property_; 3, towards
their _family_; 4, towards their _honor_; 5, towards their _liberty_.
=Distinction between the duties of justice and the duties of
charity.=--Justice is absolute, without restriction, without exception.
Charity, although as obligatory as justice, is more independent in its
application. It chooses its time and place; its objects and means;
_its beauty is in its liberty_.
We have seen that _practical_ morality or _private_ morality has for its
object to acquaint us with the _application_ of theoretical morality. It
bears not so much on _duty_ as on _duties_. The first question, then, that
presents itself to us is that of the _division of duties_.
=17. Division of duties.=--It has been reasonably asserted that there is in
reality but one duty, which is to do good under all circumstances, the
same as it has also been said that there is but one virtue: wisdom, or
obedience to the laws of reason. But as these two general divisions teach
us in reality nothing touching our various actions, which are very
numerous, it is useful and necessary to classify the principal
circumstances in which we have to act, in order to specify in a more
particular manner wherein the general principle which commands us to do
good may be applied in each case.
Human actions may then be divided, either in regard to the different
beings they have for their object, or in regard to the various faculties
to which they relate.
The ancients divided morality particularly in reference to the divers
human _faculties_, and in private morality they considered above all the
_virtues_.
The moderns, on the other hand, have divided morality particularly in its
relations to the different _objects_ of our actions; and, in private
morality, they have considered, above all, the _duties_.
The ancients reduced all virtues to four principal ones: _prudence_,
_temperance_, _courage_, and _justice_. This division was transmitted to
us, and it is these four virtues which the catechism teaches under the
name of _cardinal_ virtues.
The moderns reduced duties to three classes: the duties towards
_ourselves_, towards _others_, and towards _God_. Some add a fourth class,
namely, duties towards _animals_.
That portion of morality which treats of the duties towards ourselves, is
called _individual_ morality; that which treats of the duties towards God,
is called _religious morality_; that which treats of the duties towards
other men, _social morality_. As to the duties towards animals, they are
of so secondary an order, that it is not worth while to classify them
apart; we shall include them in social morality.
Social morality is by far the most extended in precepts and applications,
the various relations of men with each other being extremely numerous. It
may be subdivided into three parts: 1, general duties of _social_ life, or
morality _properly called social_; 2, duties towards the State, or _civil_
morality; 3, duties towards the family, or _domestic_ morality.
We will begin with the study of social morality, social duties towards men
in general, and we will first establish their principles and different
varieties.
Let us in a few pages rapidly take a summary review of the general
principles of _social_ morality.
=18. General principles of social duties: to do good, not to do evil.=--All
human actions, in regard to others, may be reduced to these two precepts:
1, to do good to men; 2, not to do them harm. To this all the virtues of
social morality may be reduced. But before exhibiting these virtues and
vices more in detail, let us explain what is understood by the expressions
_to do good_ and _to do evil_.
In the most general and apparent sense to do any one good would seem to be
_to give him pleasure_; to do him harm, would seem to be _to give him
pain_. Yet, is it always doing good to a person to procure him pleasure?
and is it always doing him harm, to cause him pain? For example, Kant[6]
says, "Shall we allow the idler soft cushions; the drunkard wines in
abundance; the rogue an agreeable face and manners, to deceive more
easily; the violent man audacity and a good fist?" Would it really be
doing good to these men to grant them the object of their desires, what
may satisfy their passions? On the other hand, the surgeon who amputates a
mortified limb, the dentist who pulls out a bad tooth, the teacher who
obliges you to learn, the father who corrects your faults or restrains
your passions, do they really do you harm because they give you pain? No,
certainly not. There are, then, cases where to do some one good is to
cause him pain, and to do him harm is to procure him pleasure.
One may reasonably reduce all principles of social morality to these two
maxims of the gospel: "Do not do to others what you do not wish them do
to you;"--"Do to others as you wish to be done by." These two maxims are
admirable, certainly; but they must be interpreted rightly. If, for
instance, we have done wrong, do we generally wish to be corrected and
punished? When we are yielding to a passion, do we wish to be repressed in
it, have it repelled? On the contrary, do we not rather wish to be allowed
to enjoy it, and have the free range of our vices? Is not this generally
what we all wish, when the voice of duty is mute and does not silence our
passionate feelings? If this is so, should we wish to do to others as we
wish in similar circumstances, namely, in the gratification of passions,
to be done by? Should we not rather do to them what we should not like
them do to us, that is, punish and correct them? It is evidently not in
that sense we are to understand the two evangelical maxims; for they would
be then no other than maxims of remissness and improper kindness; whilst
they, on the contrary, express most admirably a moral truth; only when
they speak of what we wish, they mean a _true_ and _good_ wish, not the
desires of passion; the same when we recommend men to do good, we mean
real good and not apparent good; as also in recommending to do no harm, we
mean real harm, not the illusory harm of the senses, imagination and
passions.
Thus, to well understand the duties we have to fulfil towards other men,
we must understand the distinction between _true good_ and _false good_.
False good is that which consists exclusively in pleasure, all abstraction
being made of usefulness or moral value; as, for example, the pleasures of
passions. True good is that which independently of pleasure recommends
itself either through usefulness or through moral value; as, for instance,
health or education. The real evils, of course, are those which injure
either the interests of others or their moral dignity, such as misery or
corruption. Apparent evils are those which cause us to suffer but a moment
and redeem themselves by subsequent advantages: as, for instance, remedies
or chastisements.
When we speak of good in regard to others, we should not fear to
understand by that their interest, as well as their moral welfare; for,
though we should not make our own interest the aim of our actions, it is
not so in our relation with others. The seeking of our own happiness has
no moral value; but the seeking of other people's happiness may have one,
provided, we repeat, that we do not deceive ourselves touching the real
sense of the word _happiness_, and that we do not understand by it a
deceitful and short-lived delight.
"To do to others _as we wish_ to be done by; not to do to them what we do
_not wish_ they should do us," should, therefore, be understood in the
sense of an _enlightened_ will, which wills for itself nothing but what is
truly conformable either to a proper interest or to virtue. Thus
understood (and it is their true sense[7]), these two maxims comprehend
perfectly the whole of social morality.
=19. Different degrees of this double obligation.=--The sense of these two
expressions, to do good and to do harm, being now well-defined, let us
examine the various cases which may present themselves, in rising, so to
say, from the lowest to the highest round of duty. Let us first suppose a
certain good or a certain evil, which will not vary in any of the
following cases: this is the scale one may observe starting from the least
virtue, to which corresponds evidently the greatest vice (by virtue of the
principle set forth above[8]), to rise to the highest virtue, to which the
least vice corresponds.
1. _Not to return evil for good._--This is, one may say (all things being
equal), the feeblest of the virtues, as to return evil for good
constitutes the greatest of wrongs. Say, for example, homicide: is it not
evident that the murder of a benefactor is the most abominable of all?
that to rob a benefactor is the most horrible of robberies? that the
slander of a benefactor is the most criminal of slanders? On the other
hand again, not to kill, not to steal, not to slander, not to deceive a
benefactor, is the minimum of moral virtue. To abstain from doing harm to
him who has done you good, is a wholly negative virtue, which is simply
the absence of a crime. We cannot call that gratitude, for gratitude is a
positive virtue, not a negative one; it is all in action, and not in
omission; but, before being grateful, the first condition at least, is to
be not ungrateful. We shall then say that the greatest of crimes is
_ingratitude._ It is by reason of this principle that the crimes towards
parents are the most odious of all; for we have no greater benefactors
than our parents, and without mentioning the crimes nature finds repugnant
enough, it is evident that the same kind of harm (wounds, blows, insults,
negligence, etc.) will always be more blamable when done to parents than
to any other benefactors, and to benefactors in general, than to any other
men.
2. _Not to do harm to those who have not done us any._--The violation of
this maxim is the second degree of crime and of sin, somewhat less serious
than the preceding one, but still odious enough that to abstain from it
is, in many cases, a rather feeble virtue. Not to kill, not to steal, not
to deceive, not to expose one's self to the punishments of the law, are,
indeed, of a very feeble moral value; whilst their contraries constitute
the basest and most odious of actions.
The kind of vice which injures others without provocation is what is
called _injustice_, and when the pleasure of doing wrong is joined
thereto, it is called _cruelty_. Cruelty is an injustice which rejoices in
the harm done to others; injustice contents itself with taking advantage
of it. There is, therefore, a higher degree of evil in cruelty than in
injustice pure and simple.
The virtue opposed to injustice is _justice_, which has two degrees and
two forms: the one negative, which consists simply in abstaining from
doing _injury to any one_; the second positive, which consists in
_rendering to each his due_. This second form of justice is more difficult
than the first, for it is active. It is more difficult to restore to
others what we hold as our own, or to pay one's debts, than to abstain
from stealing; it is more difficult to speak well of one's rivals, than to
abstain from slandering them; it is more difficult to give up one's
position to another who deserves it, than to abstain from taking his; and
yet there are cases where justice requires one should act instead of
simply abstaining.
3. _Not to return evil for good._--Here we rise, in some respect, a degree
in the moral scale. The two inferior degrees, namely, ingratitude and
cruelty, have always and everywhere been considered as crimes. Nowhere has
it ever been considered allowable to do harm to those who have done us
good. But in nearly all societies, at a certain degree of civilization,
has it been considered allowable, and even praiseworthy, to return evil
for evil. "To do good to our friends, and harm to our enemies," is one of
the maxims the poets and sages of Greece oftenest repeat. Among the
Indians of America, glory consists in ornamenting one's dwelling with the
greatest possible number of scalps taken from conquered enemies. We know
about the Corsican _vendetta_. In one word, the passion of revenge (which
consists precisely in returning evil for evil) is one of the most natural
and the most profound in the human heart, and it demands a very advanced
moral education to comprehend that revenge is contrary to the laws of
morality. Now, as the beauty of virtue is in proportion to the difficulty
of the passions to be overcome, it is evident that the virtues contrary to
revenge, namely: _gentleness_, _clemency_, _pardon of injuries_, are
amongst the most beautiful and most sublime. Already among the ancients
had morality reached this maxim, that one should not do any harm, namely,
even to those who had done us some, as may be seen from the dialogue of
Plato, entitled the _Crito_. "_Socrates_: One should then commit no
injustice whatsoever?" "_Crito_: No, certainly not." "_Socrates_: Then
should one not be unjust even towards those who are unjust towards us."
4. Thus far we have only spoken of the virtues which express themselves
negatively, and which consist especially in doing no harm. Let us now
consider those which express themselves affirmatively, and which consist
in doing good. The first degree is to return _good for good_: which is
gratitude, the contrary of which, as we have seen, is ingratitude; but
there are two sorts of ingratitude, as there are two sorts of gratitude.
There is a negative ingratitude, as there is a positive ingratitude. The
positive ingratitude, which is, as we have seen, the most odious of all
crimes, consists in returning evil for good; negative ingratitude consists
simply in not returning good for good, namely, in forgetting a kindness.
It is not so reprehensible as the former, but it has still a certain
character of baseness. Gratitude is also twofold in its degrees and forms:
it is negative, inasmuch as it abstains from injuring a benefactor;[9] it
is positive, inasmuch as it returns good for good. In one sense, gratitude
is a part of justice, for it consists in returning to a benefactor what is
due him; but it is also a notable part, and one which deserves being
pointed out, for it seems that there is nothing easier than to return good
for good; and experience, on the contrary, teaches us that there is
nothing more rare. [This is certainly too strongly put.]
5. _To do good to those who have done us neither good nor harm._ This is
what is called charity, which is a degree above the preceding, for in the
preceding case we scarcely do more than give back what we have received;
in this case we put in something of our own. But to characterize this new
degree of virtue, it is necessary to well explain that the question
relates to a good _that is not due_. For justice, we have seen, does not
always mean to abstain from evil; it even does good sometimes. To restore
a trust to one not expecting it; to do good to him who deserves it; to
elect to a position one worthy of it; or, what is still more heroic, to
give one's own position up to him, this evidently is doing good to others,
and to those who have not done us any; but these are goods _due_, which
already belong in some respects to those upon whom we confer them. It is
not so with the goods which charity distributes. The gifts I make to the
poor, the consolations I give to the afflicted, the care I bestow upon the
sick, all of which take from my time, my interests, and my life which I
endanger to save a fellow-being, are also goods which are my own and not
his. I do not return to him what he would otherwise legitimately possess,
whether he knows it or not. I give him something of my own; it is a pure
_gift_. This gift is suggested to me by love, not by justice. The contrary
of charity or devotion to others is _selfishness_.
Finally, there is a last degree above all other preceding degrees, namely,
_to return good for evil_. This kind of virtue, the highest of all, has no
particular name in the language. Charity, in fact, consists in doing good
generally, and comprises the two degrees: to do good to the unfortunate,
and return good for evil. Clemency may consist in simply pardoning; it
does not necessarily go so far as to return good for evil.
Corneille might as well have called his tragedy of Cinna, the Clemency of
Augustus, even if Augustus had merely pardoned Cinna, and not added: "Let
us be friends!" Thus has this great and magnificent virtue no name, and as
science is powerless in creating words suitable for every-day language, it
must rest satisfied with periphrases. Nevertheless, this sublime virtue
finds nowhere a grander expression than in those maxims of the Gospel:
"You have been told that it was said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor and
hate thy enemy: But I say to you: Love your enemies; do good to those that
hate you, and pray for those that despitefully use you and persecute
you."
=20. Different kinds of social duties.=--After the preceding division,
which answers to the different degrees of obligation which may exist among
men, there is another classification which rests on the various _species_
or _kinds_ of duties which we may have to perform towards our
fellow-beings. Let us first briefly state what will be developed at
greater length in the following chapters.
1. _Duties relating to the life of others._--According to the two maxims
cited above, these duties are of two kinds: 1, not to attempt the life of
others; 2, to make efforts to save the life of others. All attempt at the
life of others is called _homicide_. When accompanied by perfidy or
treason, it is _assassination_. The murder of parents by children is
called _parricide_; of children by parents (especially at the tenderest
age), _infanticide_; of brothers by brothers, _fratricide_. All these
crimes are most odious, and most repugnant to the human heart. Murder is
never permitted, even when the highest interest and the greatest good is
at stake. Thus did the ancients err in believing that the murder of a
tyrant, or _tyrannicide_, was not only legitimate, but also honorable and
beautiful. However, there is to be excepted the case of _legitimate
self-defense_; for we cannot be forbidden to defend ourselves against him
who wishes to deprive us of life. But the _duel_ should not be considered
an act of legitimate self-defense: that is evident in the case of the
aggressor; and, on the other side, there is only the defense that there
has been the consent to be put in peril. As to the question whether an
attack on honor is not equivalent to an attack on life, it cannot be said
that it is false in all cases; but the abuse of the thing is here so near
the principle, that it is wiser to condemn altogether a barbarous
practice, of which so deplorable an abuse has been made. Finally, homicide
in war, within the conditions authorized by international law, is
considered a case of legitimate self-defense.[10]
If murder is the most criminal of actions, and the most revolting to our
sensibilities, the action, on the contrary, which consists in _saving the
life_ of others is the most beautiful of all. "The good shepherd gives his
life for the sheep."
With the fundamental duty not to attempt the life of other men, is
connected, as corollary, the duty not to injure them bodily by blows or
wounds, or by dangerous violence done to their health, and, conversely, to
assist them in illness.
2. _Duties relating to property._--It is evident[11] that man cannot
preserve his life and render it happy and comfortable without a certain
number of material objects which are his. The legitimate possession of
these goods is what is called _property_.[12] The right of property rests
in one respect on social utility, and in the other on human labor. On the
one hand, society cannot subsist without a certain order that settles for
each what is _his own_; on the other, it is but right that each should be
the proprietor of what he has earned by his work; the right of possession
carries with it the right of economizing, and, consequently, the right of
forming a _capital_, and, moreover, the right of using this capital in
making it bear _interest_. Again, the right of preserving implies also the
right of _transmission_; hence the legitimacy of _inheritance_.
Property once founded upon law, it becomes our duty not to transgress the
law. The act of taking what belongs to another is called _theft_. Theft is
absolutely forbidden by the moral law, whatever name it may assume, or
under whatever prestige it may present itself. "Thou shalt not steal."
Theft does not consist merely in putting one's hand into a neighbor's
pocket; it includes all possible ways whereby the property of others may
be appropriated. For example, to _defraud_ in regard to the quality of the
thing sold; to practice illegal _stock-jobbing_; to convert to one's own
use a _deposit_ entrusted to one's care; to borrow without knowing
whether one can pay, and after having borrowed, to disown the debt, or
refuse to pay it; there are as many forms of theft as there are ways of
appropriating the property of others.
Regarding the property of others, the negative duty then consists in not
taking what belongs to others. The positive duty consists in assisting
others with one's own property, in relieving their misery. This is called
_benevolence_, which benevolence may be exercised in various ways, either
by _gift_, or by _loan_. It may also be exercised in _kind,_ that is in
giving to others the objects necessary to their maintenance or support, or
in money, that is, in furnishing them the means of procuring them; or in
_work_, which is the best of all gifts; for in thus relieving others we
procure them the means of helping themselves.
With the duty relating to the property of others, are connected as
corollaries, the duties relating to the observance of agreements or
contracts; the transmission of property in society being not always done
from hand to hand, but by means of promises and writings. To fail in
keeping one's promise, to pervert the sense of solemn contracts, is, on
the one side, to appropriate other people's property, and on the other, to
lie and deceive, and thus to fail in a double duty.
3. _Duties relating to the families of others._--We have seen above what
are the duties of man in his family; there remains to be said a few words
touching the duties towards the families of others. One may fail in these
duties either by violating the conjugal bond, which is _adultery_; or by
carrying off other people's children, which is _abduction_, or by
depraving them through bad advice or bad examples, which is _corruption_.
4. _Duties relating to the honor of others._--One may fail in these
duties, either by saying to a man (who does not deserve it), wounding and
rude things to his face, which are _insults_, or in speaking ill of
others; and here we distinguish two degrees: if what is said is true, it
is _backbiting_; if what is said is false and an invention, it is
_slander_. In general one must not too easily ascribe evil to other men;
this kind of defect is what is called _rash judgments_.
The _positive_ duty respecting other people's reputation is to be just
towards every one, even towards one's enemies; to speak well of them if
they deserve it, and even of those who speak ill of us. It is a duty to
entertain a kindly disposition towards men in general, provided this does
not go so far as to wink at wrong. In our relations with our neighbors,
usage of the world has, in order to avoid quarrels and insults, introduced
what is called _politeness_, which, for being a worldly virtue, is not the
less a necessary virtue in the order of society.
5. _Duties towards the liberty of others._--These are rather the duties of
the State than of the individual. They consist in respecting in others the
liberty of conscience, the liberty of labor, individual liberty, personal
responsibility, all of which are the _natural rights_ of man. However,
private individuals may themselves also fail in this kind of duties. The
violation of the liberty of conscience is called _intolerance_; it
consists either in employing force to constrain the consciences, or in
imputing bad morals or bad motives to those who do not think as we do. The
virtue opposed to intolerance is _tolerance_, a disposition of the soul
which consists, not in approving what we think false, but in respecting in
others what we wish they should respect in us, namely, conscience. One may
also violate individual liberty, the liberty of labor, in keeping one's
fellow-beings in _slavery_; but slavery is rather a social institution
than an individual act. However, there may be cases where one may seek to
injure other people's work, in restraining others by threats from work;
which, for example, takes sometimes place in workmen's strikes. There is
also a certain way of domineering over the freedom of others without
restraining it materially, which constitutes real _tyranny_; it is the
dominion which a strong will exercises over a feeble will, and of which it
too often is tempted to take advantage. On the contrary, it is a duty,
not only to respect the liberty of others, but also to encourage it, to
develop it, to enlighten it through education.
6. _Duties relating to friendship._--All the preceding duties are the same
towards all men. There are others which concern more particularly certain
men, those, for example, to whom we are attached either by congeniality of
disposition or uniformity of occupation, or a common education, etc.,
those, namely, whom we call _friends_. The duties relating to friendship
are: 1, to choose well one's friends; to choose the honest, and
enlightened, in order to find in their society encouragement to
right-doing. Nothing more dangerous than pleasure-friends or interested
friends, united by vices and passions, instead of being united by wisdom
and virtue; 2, the friends once chosen, the reciprocal duty is _fidelity_.
They should treat each other with perfect _equality_ and with
_confidence_. They owe each other _secrecy_ when they mutually entrust
their dearest interests; they owe each other _self-devotion_ when they
need each other's help. Finally, they owe to each other in a more strict
and rigorous a sense, all they generally owe to other men, for the faults
or crimes against humanity in general assume a still more odious character
when against friends.
=21. Professional duties and civic duties.=--Such are the general duties of
men in relation to each other, when simply viewed as men. But these duties
become diversified and specialized according as we view man either in the
light of the private functions he fills in society, which are his
_professional_ duties, or in the light of the particular society of which
he is a member, and which is called the _State_ or the country, and these
are the _civic_ duties. (See chapters xii. and xiii.)
=22. Distinction between the duties of justice and the duties of
charity.=--We have said above that all the social duties could be reduced
to these two maxims: "Do not do unto others what you do not wish they
should do to you. Do to others as you wish to be done by." These two
maxims correspond with what is called: 1, the duties of _justice_; 2, the
duties of _charity_.
The first consists in not doing wrong, or at least in repairing the wrong
already done. Charity consists in doing good, or at least in giving to
others what is not really their due. A celebrated writer[13] has made a
very subtle and forcible distinction between these two virtues:
"The respect for the rights of others is called justice. All violation of
any right whatsoever is an injustice. The greatest of injustices, since it
comprises all, is slavery. Slavery is the subjugation of all the faculties
of a man for the benefit of another. Moral personality should be respected
in you as well as in me, and for the same reason. In regard to myself it
has imposed a duty on me; in you it becomes the foundation of a right, and
imposes thereby, relatively to you, a new duty on me. I owe you the truth
as I owe it to myself, and it is my strict duty to respect the development
of your intelligence and not arrest its progress towards the truth. I must
also respect your liberty; perhaps even I owe it to you more than I do to
myself, for I have not always the right to prevent you from making a
mistake.
"I must respect you in your affections, which are a part of yourself; and
of all the affections none are more holy than those of the family. To
violate the conjugal and paternal right is to violate what a person holds
most sacred.
"I owe respect to your body, inasmuch as belonging to you, it is the
instrument of your personality. I have neither the right to kill you nor
to wound you, unless in self-defense.
"I owe respect to your property, for it is the product of your labor; I
owe respect to your labor, which is your very liberty in action; and if
your property comes from inheritance, I owe respect to the free will which
has transmitted it to you.
"Justice, that is, the respect for the person in all that constitutes his
personality, is the first duty of man towards his fellow-man. Is this duty
the only one?
"When we have respected the person of others, when we have neither put a
restraint upon their liberty, nor smothered their intelligence, nor
maltreated their body, nor interfered with their family rights nor their
property, can we say that we have fulfilled towards them all moral duties?
A wretch is here suffering before us. Is our conscience satisfied if we
can assure ourselves that we have not contributed to his sufferings? No;
something tells us that it would be well if we should give him bread,
help, consolation; and yet this man in pain, who, perhaps, is going to
die, has not the least right to the least part of our fortune, were this
fortune ever so great; and if he were to use violence to take a farthing
from us, he would commit a crime. We shall meet here a new order of duties
which do not correspond to rights. Man, we have seen, may resort to force
to have his rights respected, but he cannot impose on another a sacrifice,
whatever that may be. Justice _respects_ or _restores_: charity _gives_.
"One cannot say that to be charitable is not obligatory; but this
obligation is by no means as precise and as inflexible as justice. Charity
implies sacrifice. Now, who will furnish the rule for sacrifice, the
formula for self-renunciation? For justice, the formula is clear: to
respect the rights of others. But charity knows neither rule nor limits.
It is above all obligation. Its beauty is precisely in its liberty."
It follows from these considerations that justice is absolute, without
restriction, without exception. Charity, whilst it is as obligatory as
justice, is more independent in its applications; it chooses its place and
its time, considers its objects and means. In a word, as Victor Cousin
says, "its beauty is in its liberty."
Let us not hesitate to borrow from the Apostle St. Paul his admirable
exaltation of charity:
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not
charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal."
"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and
all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."[14]
"And though I bestowed all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my
body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity
vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up."
"Doth not behave itself unseemely; seeketh not her own; is not easily
provoked; thinketh no evil."
"Beareth all things; believeth all things; endureth all things."[15]