who do not live up to the Christian rule, I would ask your attention while I endeavour to set before you the subject of almsgiving, as viewed with reference to our Lord's warning already alluded to. The whole passage is as follows. "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. unto you, They have their reward. doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward thee openly."

Verily, I say But when thou

Here, then, we are taught, first, that almsgiving is a Christian virtue, and secondly, that almsgiving is acceptable or unacceptable to God according to the motive from which it springs. Let us enter into some detail on both these subjects.

As to the fact that almsgiving is a Christian virtue, it is indeed altogether unnecessary to say much. If one of the two great commandments of the law be that we should love our brethren as ourselves; if the love which we exhibit towards our brethren will be taken hereafter as the test of our love to God; if

we have the promise that a cup of cold water given to a fellow-creature for Christ's sake shall not lose its reward, there can be no doubt that to help the poor and needy out of our substance is as much a duty as any other point of the moral law. And, in fact, there are multitudes of direct injunctions on the subject. "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away.""To do good and to distribute, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" These, and other texts of Scripture, which the Church enjoins to be read before the collection of alms at the Holy Communion, abundantly prove what I have asserted.

Nor, so far as I know, are persons usually inclined to deny their responsibility in this matter. The question in its practical bearing is not whether we should give alms, but how much we should give. And on this point men in general seem to have satisfied themselves. The rule appears to be to give as little as possible, and this, because giving is rather looked upon as a duty than as a privilege, as a thing to be rather done out of the fear, than out of the love of God. Yet what saith the Scripture? "He that soweth little shall reap little, and he that soweth

plenteously shall reap plenteously. Let every man do according as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." "Charge them who are rich in this world, that they be ready to give, and glad to distribute." "Be merciful after thy power. If thou hast much, give plenteously: if thou hast little, do thy diligence gladly to give of that little.”

And further, by way of warning, we are told of the young ruler, who could not make up his mind that it would be a privilege to sell all he had and give to the poor, and follow Christ, and who thereby lost the honour of being an apostle; and by way of example, we have Zaccheus whose habit it was to give half of his goods to the poor.

It appears, then, that the Christian who is in earnest will give not as little, but as much as he can in the way of alms-deeds. He will lay it down as a rule never to be departed from, that a certain proportion of his income shall be set aside as consecrated, as holy unto the Lord, and to be spent, as unto the Lord, on the poor of Christ. And this he will do whether he be wealthy or the reverse. If he has much, he will give plenteously; if he has little, he will give gladly of that little. Whatever be his means, he will so arrange the disposition of them that there shall be something superfluous, something

which he may offer to God, and be so spent as to bring down God's blessing on the remainder. It has often been said, that if we do not proportion our charities to our means, we are likely to provoke God to proportion our means to our charities, and make us able to give no more than we do. This is of course true, and it is a fair argument to be addressed to those who are indisposed to act upon higher grounds; but he who is striving to serve God faithfully would be glad (if it were possible) to outstrip, with his ready zeal, the commands of the Most High, and therefore to him such an appeal would be unnecessary. There are few, however, who, from their circumstances in life, and the absence of family and other claims, could follow the example of Zaccheus ; hardly any, perhaps, who would do rightly in doing that which was proposed to the young ruler; but all, I should suppose, have it in their power to make some sacrifices, and to forego somewhat in order that they may minister to those who are less well off than themselves. Those who are rich may give largely, and prove that they are giving largely by stinting themselves in the luxuries of their tables, their apparel, their equipages, and so forth. Those who have no money to bestow may give their skill, their time, their ready service to those of their brethren who need them.

I fear, brethren, it is quite impossible to look at the extremes of splendour, and the extremes of misery, which are to be seen in this country, without coming to the conclusion, that we must have adopted a very false notion as to what is required of us with respect to those who are suffering from the evils of ignorance, poverty, and disease. That individuals may be found who are making to themselves friends. of the mammon of unrighteousness, by sanctifying their wealth to Christian purposes, there is happily no doubt; but the mass of us, it is to be feared, have little taste for self-denial, and little desire to acquire such a habit. The proof of this is, that we limit our liberality to the standard adopted by the world around us; whereas, as Christians, we ought to give all we can spare, and, as Christians, we ought to be able to spare all that is not actually indispensable. For all that we have we hold in trust, and for all that we hold we shall have to account hereafter, even to the uttermost farthing.

But it may be said, that although we do not do all that we ought, still a great deal is done, and no appeal is brought before the public which is not immediately responded to.

Now I will grant this for argument's sake: but let us at the same time remember the words of the "Take heed that ye do not your alms before

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