Full faith and credit

“ They opened the grounds and obligations of morality so plainly, and set the Gospel scheme of salvation through faith, working by charity, in so full and striking a light, that injured Virtue recovered her ancient honours, and yet was taught to acknowledge a just dependance on saving Faith. ”

“ And so content have we grown with things as they are, that what they might be comes only as a dream that passes away quickly with the night; blind to our appalling money-dependency in modern religion, satisfied that the Kingdom of Heaven is as nigh to us as is possible under present conditions of society, we practically have substituted for the theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity, the ascending degrees of belief, resignation, money. ”

“ Only then, when the true faith and a life of faith are made the standard of public and private merit and ethics, will the temporal, no less than the eternal, welfare of nations and of individuals be assured. ”

“ Thus some make the commandments every thing, and a creed nothing, whilst others exalt the creed above the commandments, and rest their salvation on its pre-eminence. Some again depend on a life of charity separate from faith, whilst others regard faith as the master-key to the kingdom of heaven, and make charity of little or no account. ”

“ Charity is the end of truth." Here is another: "The Gospel is a seal, on which is engraven the portrait, the likeness of Christ. Our hearts are the wax, on which the seal should be impressed, and to which the likeness should be transferred. The duty of ministers and of all religious teachers is to apply the seal to men's hearts, that all may be brought to bear the image, the likeness of Christ."
—I always placed the moral element of religion above the doctrinal; charity above faith; good living above any kind of opinions. ”

“ The truth is, friends, our ecclesiastical, like our political philanthropy, is grounded on faith in men—intelligent, Christian faith in the manhood, capacities and possibilities of men; and when that faith is gone, the bottom is out and we must have new foundations. ”

“ He has given us the opportunity of filling the full measure of our creation with credit to ourselves and honor to His name. And this can be done simply by living our religion, the religion of Heaven. He is inviting everybody who will to come and partake of the waters of life freely, without money and without price. ”

“ The highest display of the power of truth, the brightest trophy to the triumph of grace, is to see some devoted believer holding fast the faith without wavering at the post of duty, alike against the scorn of the money-worshipper and the grossness of the unblushingly profane ”

“ Bear in mind that every one's character is according to the state of his heart or the nature of his dominant love—the ruling purpose of his life.
"Charity constitutes the church, and not faith separate from charity." ”

“ The scholars of St. Victor not only vindicated the true claims of faith, but they sought to prove that faith itself must rest on the foundation stone of charity. They loved to remind their disciples of those words of Our Lord, “If any man will do the will of God he shall know of the doctrine.” Charity, they said, is then the foundation, and Humility the key, to all true science, and we can understand the Truth of God only in proportion as we obey it. ”

“ In God will I praise his word; that is, I will firmly depend upon the promise for the sake of him that made it, who is true and faithful, and has wisdom, power, and goodness enough to make it good." When we give credit to a man's bill we honour him that drew it; so when we do, and suffer, for God, in a dependence upon his promise, not staggering at it, we give glory to God, we praise his word, and so give praise to him. ”

“ It converses with angels and antedates the hymns of glory. To every man this grace is certain that there are glories for him if he walks by faith and perseveres in duty. Faith is a homely, private capital, as there are public savings-banks and poor funds, out of which in times of need we can relieve the necessities of individuals ”

“ I answer and say, that, where true Christian charity and faith prevails, everything that a man does is meritorious and each one may do as he pleases, provided always that he accounts his works as nothing ”

“ But vindicating religion at the cost of our lives will profit nothing if we feel not the power of it; and true charity is the very heart and spirit of religion. If we feel none of its sacred heat in our hearts, it will profit nothing, though we be burnt to ashes for the truth. ”

“ Although the Christian zeal and endeavor of the Church are by no means to be determined by the richness or the hardness of the soil in which the truth is to be planted, still it is cause of great encouragement, and an incentive to higher effort, when we find a people in whose nature there is congruity, so far as that can be in wretched humanity, with the spirit of our Holy Faith, and who desire the possession of it. ”

“ This, then, is the cause of our slight progress in virtue, and of our small success in what concerns the glory of God.----St. Vincent de Paul
St. Anthony and St. Francis arrived at the highest perfection only by confiding obedience to these words of the Gospel: "If thou wilt be perfect, sell what thou hast, give to the poor, and then follow Me."
5. Both for our own profit and the salvation of others, it is absolutely necessary to follow in everything the bright light of faith, which is accompanied by a certain unction secretly diffused in our hearts. ”

“ It is the glory of our faith, that it terminates in charity. Every article of our creed is a fresh incitement to good works: in so much that, he who understands his religion most perfectly, and is most firmly persuaded of it, can scarce fail of approving himself the best man, as well as the best Christian. And this, again, is a consideration, which should affect all those who profess to have any concern for the interests of society and moral virtue. ”

“ And yet if it had once been made manifest the man of the church would have seen as in clear light from the Word, that the Lord Himself has spoken innumerable things of the good of charity, and that this is the chief thing of the church; and that faith is nowhere but in that good. The good of charity consists in doing good from purposing good. ”

“ There is no credit without debt, and no debt without credit. The very words imply a belief of one of the two parties in a commercial promise made by the other, and also an obligation acknowledged by this party as due to the first. There is a basis for credit in human nature. Faith in each other to a certain extent is natural to men. Whatever enlarges the intellectual foresight, and especially the moral character of men, opens a broader and surer field for Credits. Civilization, so-called, and Christianity certainly, deepens and broadens the natural trust of man in man. ”

“ IF a true faith be so important an acquisition to the church, equally essential to it is charity, or the love of one's neighbour, which must ever go hand in hand with faith, in order to produce good and useful works, their legitimate offspring. ”

“ Many will acknowledge that faith, baptism, the laying on of hands and the Lord's Supper are according to the law and the testimony; but pride, the love of the world, the love of money, and the love of a good name prevent many from obeying. ”

“ The legends of the Fourteen Holy Helpers are replete with the most glorious examples of heroic firmness and invincible courage in the profession of the Faith, which ought to incite us to imitate their fidelity in the performance of the Christian and social duties. If they, with the aid of God's grace, achieved such victories, why should not we, by the same aid, be able to accomplish the little desired of us ? God rewarded His victorious champions with eternal bliss; the same crown is prepared for us, if we but render ourselves worthy of it. ”

“ The essential superiority of that support which is derived from Religion is less felt, at least it is less apparent, when the Christian is in full possession of riches, and splendour, and rank, and all the gifts of nature and fortune. ”

“ Now, apart from the fact that for us there is no charity without faith, because charity is riches, fruitfulness, fulness of life lived in harmonious communion with the Universal, and that to be such it demands a faith, great, immense, and infinite as God is great, immense, and infinite, we merely reply to you that our tenderness for the unbeliever is not greater than that which we feel for Christ, for the Church, for yourself. ”

“ We are to be the praise of His glory.
Let us learn, then, to respect ourselves. Let us not take the world’s tinsel for wealth, and spend our time, like the man in Bunyan’s dream, scraping with “the muck-rake” while the crown of life shines above our head. The riches of a Church—nay, of any human community—lies not in its moneyed resources, but in the men and women that compose it, in their godlike attributes of mind and heart, in their knowledge, their zeal, their love to God and man, in the purity, the gentleness, the truthfulness and courage and fidelity that are found amongst them. ”

“ Atheists, trained as such, into philanthropists, will be but rarely achieved. And I venture to propound the question to those who point to admirable living examples of Atheistic or Comtist philanthropy,—How many of these have passed through the earlier stage of morality as believers in God, and with all the aid which prayer and faith and hope could give them? ”

“ To promote among all true believers, brotherly love; to lead them to make less of those non-essentials in which disciples differ, and to make more of those great essential and foundation truths in which all true believers are united; to help all who love and trust one Lord to rise above narrow sectarian prejudices, and barriers to fellowship.
5. To strengthen the faith of believers, encouraging a simpler trust, and a more real and unwavering confidence in God, and particularly in the sure answers to believing prayer, based upon His definite promises. ”

“ The kingdoms of this world must be prepared for his coming by the proclamation of the Gospel, or be wiped out of existence.
The whole world have lost confidence in themselves and in their God. How can it be restored? By beginning to serve God, and then trying to induce every man and woman to join heart and hand in this moral reformation. By associating with those with whom you can trust your wealth, honour, good name, virtue and integrity, and inviting all to join you who are full of integrity and honour, and who will treat you as the angels of God would if they were here. ”

“ Nothing strikes a man so much in the reading of the New Testament as the little respect which it pays to riches and the pomp and pride of life, and worldly honours and dignities of all kinds. “How can ye believe who receive honour one from another?” is a sentence that cuts very deep into the connection between the Church and State, which might readily mean the alliance of a secular institution, delighting in pomp and parade and glittering show, with a religion of which, like the philosophy of the porch, the most prominent feature was unworldliness, humility, and spirituality. ”

“ We can praise the people, generally a great deal; we give them credit for considerable good they have done; but we cannot give our brethren and sisters credit for any particular good while following the foolish fashions of the world. The Lord cannot credit them for running after gold and silver and the riches of this world. If they do good, they shall receive credit; if they give alms to the poor, they shall receive credit for it. If they are disposed to do anything for the benefit of the kingdom of God on the earth, they will be blessed and credited for it. ”

“ Then he repeated a description of charity so noble, so full, that methinks all Christian perfection was contained therein—as how a man might give all his goods in alms, and perform miracles, and even become a martyr, and yet be nothing better than a bit of sounding brass. Then showing what made true charity—even kindness, and patience, and gentleness, and humbleness, and thinking no evil, but hoping and believing the best at all times. ”

“ Here, then, is the first duty of the rich—to adopt inwardly, profess openly, and act out consistently the same principles of Catholic faith which are common to all Christians, and to place their glory, their treasure, their heart’s affection, their end in life, their hope of happiness, not in the transitory things of this life, but in the kingdom of God ”

“ He prays that they may be one in him, as he is one with the Father—united by one faith, cemented by one love, incorporated in one body—that thus all mankind may be effectually convinced of the truth and excellence of his gospel. And oh! how important must that be, for which the Redeemer prays! There is nothing else important in the comparison. It is not important that we should be rich: the poor are to possess the kingdom. It is not important that we should be mighty: God hath chosen the feeble for his agents. ”

“ But if you shall complete the work which you have conceived in your mind, study to mould that race to good morals, and exert yourself personally and by such of your agents as you shall find fit in faith, word and living, to honour the Church there, and to plant and increase the Christian faith, and strive to ordain what is for the honour of God and the safety of souls, in such a manner that you may deserve at God's hands a heap of everlasting treasure, and on earth gain a glorious name for ages yet to come. ”

“ Hence, two purposes have been kept in view in the writing of this sketch—to acknowledge, if not to pay, a debt of honor and gratitude the Church owes to a worthy man; and by giving special attention to those personal qualities that make for success always and everywhere, and which were so strikingly exemplified in his character, to preserve the lessons of his life to the present and future generations in the hope that they may thus contribute to the further progress of righteousness. ”