[570] Consider Phil. ii. 2, where the description of the Christian example and character is prefaced by an impressive appeal for Unity. The moral guilt of heresy partly lies in its being a principle of disunion. Cyp. de Unit. xxvi. complains of particular ways in which disunion injures Christian character.
[571] Bruce (Expositor, No. 50, p. 84). 'God's paternal discipline, our own self-effort, Christ's example, priestly influence and sympathy, all contribute to the same end, persistency and progress in the Christian life.' It is specially instructive to contrast the Christian with the Pagan estimation of Labour, as a factor in the formation of character. See Martensen, Ethics (Social), p. 129.
[572] For what follows, see especially the Lenten sermons of S. Leo. Also a very useful book by Canon Furse, Helps to Holiness.
[573] 1 Cor. vi. 13. See Cyp. de orat. Dom. iv, on the part of the body in prayer.
[574] The particular shape which Almsgiving will assume is obviously to be 'suggested by the special conditions' of the age. See a noble passage in Ecce Homo [ed. 13], p. 184, pointing out the way in which the Christian spirit is likely to regard social problems. Cp. Martensen, Ethics (Social), p. 132. This point seems completely overlooked in the Service of Man, c. vii.
[575] Aug. Enchir. lxxii. 'Multa sunt genera eleemosynarum, quae cum facimus adjuvamur.' See also Cyp. de op. et eleem. xxv. Leo, in Quad. v. 4; de Res. i. 1; de Pent. i. 6, etc. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching, etc., pp. 371-375, has some striking remarks.
[576] S. Luke xi. 41.
[577] Leo, in Quad. xii. 2, 'In caelestibus Ecclesiae disciplinis, multum utilitatis adferunt divinitus instituta jejunia.' Cp. Hooker, Bk. v. § 72.
[578] Ep. ad Diogn. vi. κακουργουμένθ σιτίοις καὶ πότοις ἡ ψυχὴ βελτιοῦται.
[579] Serm. de Pass. xix. 5. Cp. Martensen, Ethics (Indiv.), p. 160; Martineau, Types, etc., vol. ii. 381.