The Revd Dr John Wesley (1703-1791)

IN our Gospel this week (The Sixth Sunday After Trinity), Jesus cautions us “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20-26).

SEE, first, that thy righteousness fall not short of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Be not thou as other men are (Lk 18:11)! Dare to stand alone; to be, “against example, singularly good.” If thou follow a multitude at all, it must be to do evil (Lk 17:23). Let not custom or fashion be thy guide; but reason, and religion. The practice of others is nothing to thee: “every man must give an account of himself to God” (Rom 14:12). …

Secondly: let not thy righteousness fall short of theirs, with regard to the ordinances of God. If thy labour or bodily strength will not allow of thy fasting twice in the week, however deal faithfully with thy own soul, and fast as often as thy strength will permit. Omit no public, no private opportunity of pouring out thy soul in prayer. Neglect no occasion of eating that bread and drinking that cup, which is the communion of the body and blood of Christ.

Be diligent in searching the Scriptures; read, as thou mayest, and meditate therein day and night. Rejoice to embrace every opportunity of hearing “the word of reconciliation” declared by the “ambassadors of Christ” (2 Cor 5:20), the “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4:1).

In using all the means of grace, in a constant and careful attendance on every ordinance of God, live up to (at least till thou canst go beyond) “the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.”

Thirdly: fall not short of a Pharisee in doing good. Give alms of all thou dost possess (Lk 11:41). Is any hungry? Feed him. Is he athirst? Give him drink. Naked? Cover him with a garment (Mt 25:31-46). If thou hast this world’s goods, do not limit thy beneficence to a scanty proportion. Be merciful to the uttermost of thy power. …

BUT rest not here. Let thy righteousness “exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.” Be not thou content to “keep the whole law, and offend in one point” (Jas 2:10). Hold thou fast all his commandments, and “all false ways do thou utterly abhor” (Ps 119:128 [Coverdale]). Do all the things, whatsoever he hath commanded, and that with all thy might. Thou canst do all things through Christ strengthening thee (Phil 4:13); though without him thou canst do nothing (Jn 15:5).

Above all, let thy righteousness exceed theirs in the purity and spirituality of it. What is the exactest form of religion to thee? The most perfect outside righteousness? Go thou higher and deeper than all this! Let thy religion be the religion of the heart.

Sixth Discourse On The Sermon On The Mount (Sermon XXVI)

See more by John Wesley.

St Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, India. © Mjanich, Wikimedia Commons. Used under licence.

AT the recent General Election, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York stated,

WE should not forget that, in spite of everything, many in the United Kingdom are still better off financially than they have ever been.  The deepest challenge is how the wealth we possess collectively is to become a real ‘common wealth’, wealth that serves a whole population not just the powerful and privileged. (Read here).

Yet our Divines believed that our deepest challenge was to help individual people care spontaneously about their neighbours.

They did not believe that any Government regulation could meet it. Reginald Heber (1783-1826), Bishop of Calcutta, warned that coercive redistribution of wealth comes a very poor second to the Church’s traditional esteem for private, in-house charity.

And he went on to reassure us – much as Aelfric of Eynsham had done over seven hundred years earlier (see here) – that the act of voluntary, face-to-face giving (in coin or kind, or simply in kindness), as an explicit part of our Christian discipline, is itself a precious gift. It makes us care, it makes us pray, and it binds us into one nation.

ALL these good feelings, and good principles, will soon perish and fade away within us; unless we bring them, into constant application, by acts of daily kindness; by acquainting ourselves with the wants, and distresses, of our neighbours; and, above all, by denying ourselves some portion of our own comforts and pleasures, for their sake, and in order to their assistance.

Not only, are services produced by love; but love itself is yet more certainly produced by acts of kindness and attention. We are always, for the time, well disposed towards those whom we assist. Our interest becomes joined to theirs; and we rejoice in their happiness, because it is, in some measure, our own work and contrivance.

And, accordingly, the more we labour in doing good, the more really kind will our tempers become; and we shall do good, with the greater readiness.

But, lastly, since the practice of charity, as we have seen, contains within itself so wide a range of duty and behaviour; since it requires, to be perfect, so entire a conquest of some of our strongest natural passions, of our pride, our anger, our idleness, our love of money, and our love of pleasure, how necessary is it to begin, and to accompany, all these endeavours, with unfeigned and earnest prayer to the Almighty author of all good gifts,— that His grace may strengthen our weakness, to those acts of selfdenial which surpass our powers; and that He would pour into our hearts, not only that faith which is the foundation of all other virtues, but that love, which is their ornament, and crown,— that blessed gift of charity, without which whosoever liveth, is counted dead before Him!

Sermon XXVIII: The Sunday After Ascension Day (Part II)

See also Wealth And Poverty, Taxation and Charity.

Bishop Thomas Sherlock (1678-1761)

IN our Epistle for the Sunday After Ascension Day, St Peter urges us “Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:7-11).

Not, said Thomas Sherlock (1678-1761), Bishop of London, that we can trade off our virtues against unrepented, ongoing sins.

THE hopes which men conceive of compounding [i.e. avoiding prosecution for] their sins by the means of charity, are in great danger of being overthrown by this conclusion, that where there is charity, there will not be a multitude of sins; and where there is a multitude of sins, there can hardly be true charity to hide them.

Rather, by forbearing the provocations of our brethren, we not only foster peace in our community and in our own hearts, but also play our part in helping others to turn from sin.

CHARITY, therefore, as it naturally inclines us to overlook and to forgive the offences of our brethren, so it puts us into that state of peace and serenity of mind, which is necessary to enable us to prepare for the reception of our great Judge. …

And what is this but, in the expression of Solomon (Pr 10:12) and St. Peter, to “cover a multitude of sins;” to draw a curtain over the infirmities of our brethren, and to spread our own richest garment over the nakedness of our friends?

Besides, the expression here made use of by St. Peter, “The multitude of sins,” leads to this interpretation. When our Saviour exhorted his disciples to forgive men their trespasses, St. Peter put the question to him, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” Our Lord answered, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven” (Mt 18:21-22).

From which answer St. Peter could not but learn that it was the property of charity to “cover the multitude” of our brother’s sins; to forgive him, not only when he offended against us seven times, but even when he transgressed seventy times seven: a large number; and the larger, because it is not set down to mark the precise number of offences which charity may forgive, but rather to denote that there is no number which charity ought not to forgive. …

But what, you will say, may one man’s sins be covered in the sight of God by another man’s charity? Yes, they may; and in this sense the very expression of the text is made use of by St. James: “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (Jas 5:20).

Discourse XXXVIII: Part II.

For another interpretation, see also Archbishop Thomas Secker.

George Herbert (1593-1633)

IN our second reading tonight (1 Cor 12:28-13:13) St Paul describes to us the true nature of Christian charity.

The Anglican doctrine of charity (see my extracts section) as explored by the Divines faithfully reflects the subtlety of the Greek word αγάπη (“love”, “charity” &c.). I have been particularly impressed by their attention to helping the poor and distressed to take back control of their own lives.

George Herbert (1593-1633) cautions that charity must be used with close attention to individuals, and focused on finding employment, gently weaning them off income support and fostering self-respect and independence (more here).

In the same spirit, social critic and radical Tory John Ruskin (1819-1900) stressed that effective charity rests principally in teaching others the very same skills of self-discipline and domestic management which have led others to settled prosperity and upright living.

ALAS! it is not meat of which the refusal is cruelest, or to which the claim is validest. The life is more than the meat. The rich not only refuse food to the poor; they refuse wisdom; they refuse virtue; they refuse salvation. Ye sheep without shepherd, it is not the pasture that has been shut from you, but the Presence.

He would agree with Hugh Blair (1718-1800):

IN order to fulfil that charity which is the end of the commandment, œconomy, and good order in private life, ought to be carefully studied by all Christians. This is more closely connected with a good conscience, than many seem inclined to admit. Economy, when prudently and temperately conducted, is the safeguard of many virtues.

“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, … and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” wrote St Paul. Charity as he explains it is really a gift of self, making yourself  – your human skills, your spiritual gifts – available to others and to God, humbly and unstintingly. You can’t give this kind of charity through tax and spend. This is something I think the Anglican tradition used to understand.

Reginald Heber (1783-1826), Bishop of Calcutta

OUR Gospel reading today is St John’s account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand in today’s Gospel (John 6:1-14).

Bishop Reginald Heber (1783-1826) reassured us that just as Jesus’s blessing made the meagre provisions of five loaves and two fish far exceed anything we would expect, so too even the smallest gestures of charity – even those which do not involve money or material goods – can be life-changing.

A SINGLE warm and comfortable meal given to a poor neighbour, in a time of distress, may, by its consequences, be the means of saving a family. It may seem strange; but what if this man were, even then, almost worn out with want and toil, and if such timely nourishment have prevented his falling sick, and preserved him in a capacity to labour; — are not then his own and his family’s lives sustained by it? or what, if such a small relief came at a moment, when his heart was growing hard with distress; and when he was tempted to take to bad courses, for support; — may not a soul have been saved for ever, by our means?

Oh, it will be a glorious sight, hereafter, when the books of Providence are laid open before our eyes; — to see by what secret springs, what humble exertions, what meek and modest charities, the happiness of families, the support of nations, the great machine of the world itself, have been regulated and influenced: — to witness how God’s Providence may have given power and energy to the feeble alms of a widow; or to the silent prayers of those, who had prayers only to bestow; or how a cup of cold water given in the name of Christ, shall, in nowise, lose its reward!

Sermons On The Lessons, The Gospel Or Epistle, For Every Sunday. The Fourth Sunday In Lent.

It would be very satisfying, to win back charity from distant and wasteful governments, and from those who are more interested in the pain it brings to the rich than the relief it gives to the poor.

Heber shows just how very powerful charity is when it is given in kind, in person, and in constant attentive gestures – and above all, when it is given with Jesus’s blessing.

More by Reginald Heber here, and on Charity here. Heber also wrote some well-known hymns.

Eynsham Parish Church. © Nigel Cox, used under licence.

AELFRIC of Eynsham (?955-?1020) is one of the few Anglo-Saxon authors whose works have come down to us.

In his sermon for the First Sunday In Lent (Quadragesima), Aelfric argues that it is the Christian duty of the rich to supply the needs of the poor. It is better to be poor with God’s favour, than rich without it.

GOD gives to the rich wealth in abundance, and takes it away from the poor. Why so? That he may try the rich through the indigence of his poor. God made the wealthy and the needy, and would that the poor should be fed by the rich. God appointed the wealthy a distributer of his goods: why then should he appropriate to himself alone that which is given to both? …

Verily the very land which thou ownest is not thine, but is the Almighty’s, as the prophet said, “The earth and her fullness are God’s.” God will again say unto thee, “My poor will live without thee; live, if thou canst, without me. My poor will have all things, if they have me only. What hast thou, if thou hast not me?”

Sermons Of The Anglo-Saxon Church, Vol II. The First Sunday In Lent.

Wealth is not an offence against God, we notice. It is not a violation of some supposed equality. As Aelfric says, “If all men in the world were rich, then would mercy have no place.”

That all wealth truly belongs to God does not make the rich man’s possession of it wrong. The keyword – as it was for John Wesley (here) – is stewardship. The rich are neither outright owners nor upstart thieves of God’s wealth. They are stewards, whether good or bad.

To be willingly merciful and generous towards the truly needy is part of their spiritual calling, part of their participation in the divine. That is rendered barren and meaningless if the distribution of God’s wealth is done under compulsion by the State through redistributive tax. To teach the rich to be good stewards from the heart is a charge placed on the Church alone.

See more extracts on Wealth And Poverty here.