that occasion, that I will conclude this Essay with an extract from the address which he is reported to have delivered to the grand jury.

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'He could suggest no remedy for these evils, except that which he should suggest for all such matters. He would ask what was the only security which could unite the different classes of society in one harmonious bond of union? There was but one answer, the great influence of Christian love, and he feared this principle was wanting

in us.

Supply this influence, and you will apply a remedy for all evils whether political, legislational, administrative, either here or elsewhere.

Society was running into a system of exclusiveness much more than it should do. The rich were farther removed from the poor than they should be; the two classes should be brought nearer. The only thing that could bring the two classes nearer to each other, the only thing that could effect this desirable end, was Christian Charity and brotherhood, and that alone."

ESSAY THE FOURTEENTH.

"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."-St. Matthew 7. ver. 12.

THERE are perhaps few persons in the world, who have not at some time or other, especially in their younger days, been vividly impressed with a strong sense of the love of God towards mankind; as it is manifested in the bountiful provisions which he has made for the well being and happiness of the human race.

Indeed how is it possible that the warm and generous mind of youth can altogether fail to experience the feeling, when the heart is not as yet seared by the pursuit of debasing pleasures or sordid gain; nor hardened by the cold and calculating selfishness of the world?

How can any persons have been always so indifferent, as many people of mature and declining years are now found to be, to the numberless instances of God's loving kindness which are continually exercised towards themselves; as not to have felt in their younger days at least, the bound of gratitude and the warmth of pious devotion, urging them on to make some return, and to offer some acknowledgment to God for His manifold and great mercies? Who is there who cannot look back upon some instances in his past life, when from a deep sense of the goodness of the Lord, he has been enabled to enter into the feelings of the Psalmist when he said, What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits which He hath done unto me? On such occasions the in

dividual will find himself strongly impelled not only to the practice of unfeigned piety towards God; but also to the performance of those acts of charity and benevolence towards his fellow creatures, which a due sense of God's loving kindness towards himself is so eminently fitted to produce.

Even Heathens, who were destitute of express Revelation, have been found to partake strongly of this feeling, and have testified their gratitude to God, not only by the exercise of piety towards Him as far as they knew

how to do so; but also by doing good to their fellow creatures in their day and generation, and by imitating in some measure the Infinite Benevolence of the Deity.

The charity which the Heathens practised, however, was only the result of a sense of the goodness of God as it is displayed in our Creation, Preservation, aud all the blessings of this life; whilst the charity which christianity contemplates is called into action, not only by the former motives, but also by the additional motive of God's inestimable love in the Redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ. The vigorous life which is infused into christian charity by the love of God in Christ Jesus; is that which causes it unspeakably to excel all the most splendid effects of Heathen benevolence.

That charity in its widest sense, includes all the duties which we owe to our fellow creatures, appears from our Blessed Lord's own words; who has informed us in the Gospel that the duties in the second table are briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. In a very limited but common signification however, charity means that benevolence or compassion which manifests itself in doing good to our fellow creatures with a view to relieve their sufferings bodily and mental; to assist them in their difficulties; and to promote to the utmost of our power their temporal and spiritual welfare.

In Ecclesiastical Greek the same word is used to signify compassion and the results of the feeling of compassion, i. e. alms.

It is compassion and its results (both included in the Greek word Eleemosyne) or charity in this restricted acceptation of the term, which will form the subject of the present Essay.

First then let us consider charity as exercised with the view to the relief of the temporal wants of our fellow creatures.

It is the recorded will of the Almighty that the poor shall never cease out of the land, and in obedience to this Divine appointment we find, that no nation has ever existed, how great so ever in power and wealth, which has been able to banish poverty from its coasts, and that not the fewest examples of extreme privation and want, occur in countries like our own, where the rich are very eminent for their selfishness, luxury, and indulgence.

Hence in every land there will always exist abundant opportunities for the exercise of that part of christian charity, which consists in administering to the temporal wants of the poor, and by relieving their necessities to the utmost extent of our means; and by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and afflicted, and administering to the comforts of the prisoner and captive, we may fulfil that part of our duty to our neighbour, which is now under consideration. And let not any by giving way to the sordid spirit of a selfish and money-getting age, withhold of their abundance upon the cold and unfeeling plea, that the poor bring upon themselves most of the evils which they endure. Let none think to shelter themselves from the performance of this most necessary duty by the hard-hearted excuse which is so often alleged, that the sufferers would have no need of charity, if they had been more prudent and circumspect.

All such persons should call to mind that if God had dealt with themselves according to their deserts, their worldly condition would be no better than that of the poorest of their brethren; that a case of charity seldom occurs in which innocent persons are not involved in the misery which one individual has occasioned; and that many an one who is suffering from the effects of his own misconduct may often be reclaimed from the error of his way by the exercise of a well-timed benevolence towards him.

Besides, so far from bodily privation and suffering being always a proof of the displeasure, and worldly prosperity of the favour of God, we often find many a wicked rich man clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day; whilst many a Lazarus, who during his life-time, was so poor as to desire to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, is at death carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The necessity of the due exercise of all the parts of christian charity is most plainly taught in Holy Scripture; as when the fast which God has chosen is said amongst other things to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house; when thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh; as when the benefactions of the faithful for the relief of the necessities of the poor saints, and the garments which Dorcas had made are recorded for our imitation in the Acts of the Apostles; as when our Blessed Saviour says, When thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; and as when St. Paul exhorts all christians not only to do good, and to distribute, but also not to forget to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

But the indispensable necessity of a due performance of all these parts of christian charity, is taught in the most awful manner by our Blessed Lord Himself. The scene depicted is the last judgment; and whilst Our Lord represents Himself as welcoming those on His right hand to His Eternal Kingdom, and acknowledging them as those who have faithfully performed all these good works; He describes Himself as saying to those on His left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked and ye clothed me not : sick and in prison, and ye visited me not.

But, secondly, christian charity should be considered as it is exercised with a view to the spiritual good of our fellow creatures.

The right and due performance of this part of christian charity consists in teaching the ignorant, advising the simple, reproving the sinner, and comforting the afflicted.

In the holier and better days of the Church, when there was a freer intercourse between the rich and the poor; those in a higher station shone conspicuous in the performance of these spiritual works of mercy towards their poor, ignorant, and afflicted brethren.

Now, however, by the habits of the age, the poor are cut off almost entirely from any such christian intercourse with their betters.

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By the habits of the times the wayward and obstinate are allowed for the most part to go on without a word in season from those whose advice or mild reproof would have great weight.

The employer, in many instances, sees nothing of his work-people, except when they are actually engaged in their labour; and in too many cases cares nothing whatever about their religious or moral condition, so only that he can get his work properly done; and when once he has ascertained that he gives himself no further concern about them. In such a state of society as this then, there is more imperative need than ever for every small parish, and every section of a large one, to have a resident clergyman, who may perform those spiritual works of mercy which consist of teaching the ignorant, advising the simple, reproving the sinner, and consoling the afflicted. And as from the habits of society the majority of the rich have long since ceased to take any part in personally performing these good works towards their poorer neighbours; the least one would think they could now do, would be to give liberally of their abundance, to afford the Church the means of supplying schools and clergymen to those thousands who are now destitute of them.

Undoubtedly then, one of the most important parts of christian charity consists in imparting freely of our substance in order to promote the moral and religious welfare of the poor; and in providing the Church with the means of teaching the ignorant, reproving the sinner, advising the simple, and consoling the afflicted, at a time when a rapidly increasing population has already greatly overpassed the boundaries of her holy and apostolic ministrations.

And how many in these days miserably deceive themselves as to the performance of this part of their duty towards their neighbour.

They are accustomed fondly to think that they have fulfilled this most important duty, if they give a small sum in no way proportioned to their means; a sum which requires no sacrifice, and demands the foregoing of no one article of luxury and extravagance, or the forbearance of one single means of indulgence.

Such persons, however, do not perform the indispensable duties which relate to the spiritual well being of their fellow creatures.

If to promote the spiritual welfare of those who were perishing in their sins, the apostles and their immediate successors were found to desert houses and lands, and father and mother, and wife and children; why then we may say that the cold, heartless, and unself-denied spirit which now goes by the name of charity is falsely so called. For though we are not called upon to make equal sacrifices with the apostles and first christians; yet true charity will always be the same in kind though differing in degree. Hence if their claim to true charity fails who give to God that which costs them nothing, and who make no sacrifices to promote the spiritual improvement of our crowded cities and towns; then doubtless thousands amongst us who think themselves very charitable, are not so in reality. It is true that in some few instances of late, there has been the dawn of a better spirit amongst us. And if the spirit of christian benovolence should increase at all in proportion to the immense wealth of this great empire (and that as yet it bears no proportion to it

may he proved by comparing the present state of things, with the magnificent churches and endowments which were provided by the charity of a people incomparably poorer than the present generation); if that noble bounty which has been manifested by a few wealthy individuals of late, should overcome in any considerable degree that base feeling of sordid selfishness and grovelling attention to present personal interest which is the death of all true charity; if this holv conduct is ever again to triumph over that ungodly feeling, which sooner than deny itself any of the comforts of luxurious ease, would permit thousands to perish for lack of knowledge, and make no sacrifice to send the precepts, rites, instructions, and consolations of our Holy Religion, to those who of all others most stand in need of them; why then we shall have reason to bless God that true charity has once more revived in the land.

But so long as things remain for the most part as they now are, so long as every guinea of superfluous wealth which figures in reports and newspapers is considered to answer these strong claims upon the christian benevolence of the wealthy, and people will consent to undergo no selfdenial; so long, with respect to all such persons, must true charity be considered as extinct amongst us.

If any should doubt whether this be the case, let them consider the wretched, comfortless, and neglected condition of many of our churches; let them regard the spirit which spares no expense in ornamenting and rendering in the highest degree luxurious the private dwellings of the wealthy, but which in most cases grudges to the house of God and the promotion of His true religion and virtue, the money laid out upon their stables and their dog-kennels; let them consider the withered and pitiful economy, with which a wretched pittance is most commonly doled out of the coffers of the rich, when a church is to be built, or restored, or endowed, and then let them say whether, with a few remarkable and noble exceptions, true charity has not ceased to exist in the land?

It could be shewn even on the fashionable nineteenth century principle of expediency that this is a most grievously mistaken economy; since the better subjects and holier men the working population become, the more secure becomes the property of the rich; and on the contrary the more lawless and irreligious the people, the less security is there for the lives, the possessions, and the luxuries of the wealthy.

Nor in performing our duties towards our fellow-countrymen, must we overlook or neglect the duties which we owe to our emigrants and the Heathen among whom they dwell. Let us only act towards them upon the great principle of THE GOLDEN RULE, which stands at the head of this Essay, and then we shall find that Missionary exertions will be far better supported than they are at present.

And now let us examine into the fidelity with which the Church of England teaches the vital importance of the exercise of that charitable benevolence which forms the subject of the present Essay.

In the Offertory sentences, the Church has collected the most remarkable passages of Holy Scripture, which teach the necessity of a due performance of this important duty, and ordains in the Rubric that,

"Whilst these sentences are in reading, the Deacons, Churchwardens, or other