"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]
DUTIES OF JUSTICE--DUTIES TOWARDS HUMAN LIFE.
=Division of the duties of justice.=--Four kinds of duties: 1, towards the life of others; 2, towards the liberty of others; 3, towards the honor of others; 4, towards the property of others.
=Duties towards human life.=--Avoid homicide, acts of violence, and mutilation. Pascal and the _Provinciales_.
=The right of self-defense.=--Right to oppose force to force. Limits of this right.
=Problems.=--Four very grave problems are bound up in the question of self-defense: 1, the penalty of death; 2, political assassination; 3, the duel; 4, war.
=The penalty of death.=--The penalty of death is the right of self-defense exercised by society: it is just so far as it is efficacious.