Such being the snares and temptations of this world's wealth, and our insensibility with regard to them, it is of His great mercy that our Heavenly Father teaches us from time to time our dependance upon Him, by the heavy chastisement of His hand. Sometimes by loss of property, and yet more frequently by bodily sickness and pain, or by anxiety and care for those whom we love, or by bitter sorrow over their graves, He teaches us that riches are a broken reed, on which if we lean we shall assuredly be pierced through with many sorrows. And hereby He shows the abundance of His long-suffering towards us, and His love," which will not let the sinner lose his soul at ease." For this cause it may probably be, that when He permits that we should be tried by some great accession of this world's goods, He so often sends with them some deeply piercing sorrow, the messenger of His mercy, to humble us and to prove us, that He may do us good at the latter end. But if we would render such loving correction needless (and "He doth not willingly afflict"), or if we would secure that which is perhaps a still greater blessing, the full fruit and benefit of the wounds left by His pruning hands; then must we betake ourselves to that which is the appropriate remedy, the appointed antidote against the deceitfulness of riches; and this is abundant, liberal, self-denying devotion of our worldly substance to Christ's service and the benefit of the poor.

This is the appointed antidote; because it is the only act by which we can practise the blessed habit of dependance upon God, and such habits grow up and are strengthened and matured by acts, and not merely by feelings or by wishes. When by His grace we accustom ourselves to act as if His favour was our only sure and solid happiness, and all worldly things vain and treacherous, as indeed they are, then we cultivate the habit of trusting in Him, and not in them, for our happiness and our treasure. This it was that the young ruler lacked. He trusted in riches, and therefore could not follow Christ. In love then, not in severity, He bade him “Go sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." He desired to lighten him of a load which was pressing him to hell; and knowing all hearts, He saw doubtless that no smaller sacrifice would suffice to wean him from the love of riches, to destroy his trust in them, and to teach him to trust in God-in His providence and His bounty," who giveth to the beast his food, and feedeth the young ravens that call upon Him." And whoever there be who knows the effect of riches in hardening the heart, and how often they become our hope, and usurp the place of our God; and who, knowing this, has a holy fear and jealousy for himself, lest he too come short of the glory of God, let him thank God that the remedy

proposed by Christ to this man is in his own power. Now as then, a man may, if he will, give up his worldly substance for his Lord. Whoever then sees reason to fear that he has suffered, or is likely to suffer, by the deceitfulness of riches, let him try the power of this remedy, let him give largely, profusely, to the utmost limits of prudence, beyond those limits, to his own impoverishment if need be, rather than be contented to trust in riches, and so lose his portion in Christ. Yea, if he should even give all that he hath (although this would very frequently be attended with some neglect of duty, and therefore not being according to God's will, would not be salutary to our own souls), yet if he should have reason to think even this sacrifice necessary, how much more wisely and prudently would he act, than do those who take this young ruler for their example, who are amiable, affectionate, kind-hearted, exemplary in social duties, and who come running and kneeling to Christ, but who fail in the one point of trial, who trust in their riches, who cannot bring themselves to give them up for Him, and so, alas! are not worthy of Him.

Herein, then, the rule of charity proposed by our Lord is opposed to that commonly adopted; it regards the giver, and demands of him something, whether great or small, which shall be to him a real sacrifice and self-denial; and this it demands for the love of Christ, and for the be

nefit of our own souls, and that we may not deceive ourselves with idle professions, and trust in our worldly goods, while we say and think that we trust in God through Christ. But we, on the other hand, have learned to think, that if works of piety or charity be done, it is enough; and therefore we would allure men to give, by contrivances which shall make it easy; by dividing the work between so many, that it shall cost nothing to each; by beguiling them of their money through charity sales and charity balls and concerts; and above all we would lay our hands even on that which is not our own, and give to God that which we have sacrilegiously wrested from its sworn defenders.

Surely when both are presented to our view, there is something in the charity of the world so poor and mean and contemptible, and something in the law of Christ so noble and pure and exalted, that our hearts cannot but burn within us, with an earnest longing to cast in our lot with Him, to be partakers with Him in His sorrow and His joy, in His poverty and in His glory. But here is the obstacle; the cross must be taken up, our own wishes denied, the world cast behind us. And shall we (like the young ruler) leave Him and go away sorrowful, to try whether our possessions can comfort us? Shall we be of those, who "seek excuses to withhold themselves from the favour of GOD, and choose with pinching covetousness rather to lean unto the

devil, than by charitable mercifulness either to come unto Christ, or to suffer Christ to come unto them 1?" God forbid! Let us rather

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lift up our hearts and eyes to Him who has gone before 66 and as us, our forerunner is entered in for us within the veil;" and then surely we shall have neither thought nor sight for the paltry treasures of this fleeting world. For when He calls us to deny ourselves for our brethren, when He bids us take up the cross, and forsake the world, He but bids us follow in His own steps, and go where He has gone before us. “It is reported in the Bohemian story, that St. Winceslaus, their king, one winter night going to his devotions in a remote church, barefooted in the snow, and sharpness of unequal and pointed ice, his servant, who waited upon his master's piety, and endeavoured to imitate his affections, began to faint through the violence of the snow and cold; till the king commanded him to follow him, and set his feet in the same footsteps which his feet should mark for him. The servant did so, and either fancied a cure or found one, for he followed his prince; helped forward, with shame and zeal to his imitation, and by the forming footsteps for him in the snow. In the same manner does the blessed Jesus; for since our way is troublesome, obscure, full of objection and danger, apt to be

1 Homily of Alms-Deeds. Part III.