ABSTRACT
In the seventeenth century, possibly in reaction to the "fires and flames of zeal" aroused by the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, both Catholics and Protestants reinvoked the doctrine of worshiping God by serving man. In France the work of Saint Vincent de Paul in forming and organizing charities revived Catholicism. To Penn, charity in its lowest or most basic meaning signified "Commiseration of the Poor, and unhappy of Mankind" and extending them a "Helping-Hand to mend their Condition." In giving to the poor, however, we only return a portion of the bounty with which God has entrusted us. It remained for an American, Cotton Mather, to enunciate detailed and specific suggestions for serving God by minding one's neighbors' material and spiritual welfare. A righteous person was no better than his neighbor, Mather declared, unless he strove to be more excellent as a neighbor.
