228 Of Brotherly Kindnef and Charity. SERM. it. It is in the reality and truth, not in the IX. meafure of the affection, that felf -love is the ftandard of charity ; and by looking into our own heart, and comparing it with that un- diffembling defire we have of felicity to our- felves, we may judge the fincerity of our love to our neighbour. The proper exprenions and fruits of this inward good affetion in the mind are as va- rious as the necenities of fome of mankind, and the abilities and opportunities of others to relieve them. As our prefent condition is imperfect, one way of fupplying its wants is by the focial and companionate difpofitions God has planted in mankind; fo that the cares of every one are not confined to himfelf, but as parts of the fame fyftem, the fame fociety, or as members of the fame body, which is the fimilitude ufed in fcripture to reprefent the near relation of chriftians, every one fhould be folicitous for the good of his brother, and the good of the whole. The happinefs of the fouls of men, arifing from their integrity and virtue, is the greateft, in its kind, that they are capable of, and the longeft in its duration ; and, therefore, to promote it is the firfi demand of charity. To inftru 1 the ig-
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