72. IV. THE OBJECTS OF CHARITY ARE THE INDIVIDUAL MAN, A SOCIETY, ONE'S OWN COUNTRY, AND THE HUMAN RACE; AND ALL MEN ARE THE NEIGHBOR IN THE STRICT AND IN THE WIDE SENSE. That man is the neighbor is known. A society is the neighbor because a society is a composite man. One's own country is the neighbor because the country consists of many societies, and is therefore a still more composite man. And the human race is the neighbor because the human race is composed of great societies, each of which is a composite man; and hence it is a man in the widest sense.
The subject shall be explained in this order:
(I.) Every man is the neighbor according to the quality of his good. (II.) A society, smaller or larger, is the neighbor according to the good of its use. (III.) One's own country is the neighbor according to its good, spiritual, moral, and civil. (IV.) The human race is the neighbor in the widest sense; but as it is divided into empires, kingdoms, and republics, anyone of them is the neighbor according to the good of its religion, and according to the good that it performs to the country and to itself.
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