We have said that charity consists, above all, in doing good to men, whilst justice consists in doing them no wrong. It is true, there is a positive justice, as there is a negative justice; and this positive justice consists also in doing good to men, but it is a good which is due them, which belongs to them by right, and which is itself an acknowledgment of that due and that right.
The good done to others in the exercise of the duties of charity is, on the contrary, something we take from our own; it is a gift; whilst the good done in the name of justice, is always a debt.
The lowest degree of the duty of charity consists in what are called duties of kindliness.
60. Duties of kindliness.—The first step to arrive at doing good to men, is to wish them well. Kindliness is the road to benevolence.
Kindliness is that disposition which induces us to give others pleasure; to rejoice over their good fortune, to make them happy themselves, if not by our own kindnesses, if that is not in our power, at least by outward demonstrations of sympathy and affection.
61. Civility.—The lowest degree of this virtue, consists in using gentle and amiable manners in our intercourse with others, in not repelling them by a gruff and unsociable disposition; in wounding no one’s feelings by the affectation of contempt and raillery, etc. This kind of surface-virtue, which is confined to the outward, is what is called civility.
Civility is the ensemble of the forms usage has established to regulate the habitual and daily relations of men with each other. It corresponds in society to the ceremonial of diplomatic life. To avoid the clashes which the rivalries of courts and powers would necessarily carry with them, a code of agreements was established which fix with precision the relations of the diplomatic agents. The same in social life. Civility is composed not of absolute and wholly material rules, but of forms fixed in a general way, yet more or less free in their application, and all the more pleasing as they are the more free. These forms, often laughed at when regarded superficially, have a serious value when we consider that they express the general duty whereby peace is established and maintained among men. (See Nicole, Essais de morale,[45] 1671.)
There is, then, in civility a principle which is essential and a form which is arbitrary. Usage has everywhere established the form of bowing, for instance; everywhere there are conventional expressions wherewith to greet people according to their age, their sex; but these outward manifestations vary according to times and countries.
A distinction has been made between personal civility and the civility of the mind and heart. Civility properly so called is that of the outward manners; but it is worth very little if it is not sustained by the delicacy which says nothing wounding and the true kindliness which seeks to give pleasure: this is what is called civility of the mind and heart.
“The most amiable natural gifts, and the talents made most supple by education, change into defects and vices if they are not inspired by a feeling of kindness. Suppleness, then, is nothing else than perfidy; delicacy nothing else but cunning; this civility lavished upon everybody is nothing else than duplicity.... It is not enough to be a man of the world; one must also be a man of heart.... True civility is that which has its source in justice, in the respect for humanity; it is a form of charity; it is the luxury of virtue.”[46]