Braxton in good odor with himself.
A man who goes regularly to church, and reads his Bible, cannot fail
to have questions and controversies about truths, duties, and the
requirements of religion. The barest literal interpretation of
Scripture will, in most cases, oppose the action of self-love; and
he will not fail to see in the law of spiritual life a requirement
wholly in opposition to the law of natural life. In the very breadth
of this literal requirement, however, he finds a way of escape from
literal observance. To give to all who ask; to lend to all who would
borrow; to yield the cloak when the coat is taken forcibly; to turn
the left cheek when the right is smitten--all this is to him so
evidently but a figure of speech, that he does not find it very hard
to satisfy conscience. Setting these passages aside, as not to be
taken in the sense of the letter, he does not find it very difficult
to dispose of others that come nearer to the obvious duties of man
to man--such, for instance, as that in the illustration of which, by
the preacher, Mr. Braxton's self-complacency had been so much
disturbed. He had never done much in the way of feeding the hungry,
giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, or visiting the
sick and in prison--never done anything of set purpose, in fact. If
people were hungry, it was mostly their own fault, and to feed them
would be to encourage idleness and vice.
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