(4.) Making peace (Dib ) between those that are at strife. (5.) Judging charitably of our neighbours' deeds and words. A second kind of charity is that practised only towards the poor. It includes (1.) Alms-giving (PT) for the purpose of temporarily relieving poverty and alleviating suffering. (2.) Assistance given to the poor towards obtaining a livelihood, by procuring occupation for them, or teaching them a trade. (3.) Support to the aged and sick, to widows and orphans. (4.) Helping the poor in the education of their children. (5.) Comfort and encouragement given by kind words. (b.) Special Duties towards our Fellow-men. (1.) Children towards their parents. "Honour thy father and thy mother" is one of the ten words which God spoke to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. We honour our parents by considering them as our superiors, as endowed with authority over us, and entitled by reason of their greater experience to be our guides and instructors; by listening respectfully when they speak to us, and by speaking respectfully to them and of them. The love of parents towards their children should find an echo in the hearts of the latter. Parents spare no trouble and shrink from no sacrifice when the well-being of their children demands it. It is the duty of children to show themselves grateful to their parents and to return love for love. We love our parents By trying to do everything that pleases them, and to avoid everything that displeases them; By willing obedience to their commands ; By exerting ourselves to give them pleasure; By assisting them when, through age, sickness, or misfortune, they are in need of our aid; By honouring their name and memory after their death; and By obeying those appointed by them as our guardians in their absence; e.g., an elder brother or sister, a teacher. (Comp. p. 8.) (2.) Our special duties to other persons may be divided into (a.) Duties towards our equals. (a.) Duties towards our Equals. (1.) Amongst our equals we have some who are closely connected with us by the bond of friendship. Special duties towards our friends are, faith in the sincerity of their friendship for us, sincerity and disinterestedness in our friendship for them, readiness to make sacrifices for them, and genuine sympathy for them in their prosperity and in their misfortune. (2.) Man and wife are united by the holy bond of marriage. They owe to each other love, faithfulness, confidence, and untiring endeavour to make each other happy. We (3.) As citizens of a state we must take our proper share in all work for the welfare of the state. must show our loyalty by rendering complete and ungrudging obedience to the laws of our country. When the state is in danger we must evince patriotism, and must not withdraw ourselves from those duties which, under such circumstances, devolve upon every citizen. All our means, our physical and intellectuai faculties, must be at the disposal of the country in which we live as citizens. (4.) As members of the same religious community, we must join our brethren in their work for the well-being of the entire body. To separate oneself from the com and to abstain from bearing (פּוֹרֵשׁ עַצְמוֹ מִן הַצְבּוּר) munity the common burden has been considered a serious dereliction of duty, and a course of conduct deserving of the strongest condemnation. (5.) Towards members of another faith we have to fulfil all our duties towards our fellow-men as conscientiously as towards members of our own faith. We must show due regard for their religious convictions, and not revile in their presence anything sacred to them. Respect for the religious feelings of others will increase regard for our own religion, and evoke in our neighbours the same respect for our religious feeling. (6.) Between employers and employed, sellers and buyers, strictest honesty must be the basis of all transactions; in cases of dispute a friendly explanation and discussion of the differences will promote the interests of both parties much better than mutual animosity. Each party must bear in mind that its own success depends on the co-operation of the other party and not on its ruin. (b.) Duties to our Superiors. To our superiors we owe respect. Such superiors are Our teachers, who patiently strive to benefit us by their instruction, and whose labours pupils may lighten to their own advantage by due attention and obedience, or aggravate to their own great injury, by inattention and disobedience. Scholars (D), who, if not directly our teachers, in many ways benefit us by their learning. The aged (P): "Before the hoary head thou shalt rise, and honour the face of the old " (Lev. xix. 32). The great and good men of our nation, their works and the institutions founded by them: "Do not despise thy mother, though she hath become old" (Prov. xxiii. 22). The feeling of regard in such cases we call Piety. The Magistrates and Judges, who work for the wellbeing of the citizens. The Head of the state: "Fear the Lord, O my son, and the king, and do not mix with them that are given to change" (Prov. xxiv. 21). (c.) Duties to our Inferiors. We should be kind and charitable to those who are younger than we are, or are less gifted or less fortunate. In our intercourse with them we should show patience, forbearance, and sympathy. Above all, we should try through our words as well as through our example to raise those below us, and improve their physical, intellectual, and moral condition. (See p. 69.) 2. Kindness to Animals. God made man ruler "over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, and all the beasts that move upon the earth.” Man has a right to make use of animals for his benefit. They work for him; they serve him as food, provide him with clothing and other necessary things. But though we make use of them, we should treat them with kindness. It is a necessity to make certain beasts work for us, and to kill certain animals for various purposes. But in doing so we must not cause them more pain than is absolutely necessary. (See page 79.) It is a disgraceful act to give pain to animals merely for sport, and to enjoy the sight of their agony. Bull-fights and similar scenes are barbarous, and tend to corrupt and brutalise the heart of man. The more we abstain from cruelty to animals, the more noble and loving is our conduct to our fellow-men likely to be. The following are instances of kindness to animals enjoined in the Pentateuch : "Ye shall not kill an animal and its young on one day" (Lev. xxii. 28). "If a bird's nest happen to be before thee on the way upon the earth or upon a tree, with young ones or eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the young. Let the mother go away; then thou mayest |