still, the hand of the diligent maketh rich, and, other circumstances being equal, in proportion to its diligence.

But to return to the first rich man, whom we left in possession of dependants, and plenty of necessaries for himself and them. A family would not be long in this state, before conveniences, somewhat ornamental and for entertainment, would be wanted, looked for, and found out. And, by degrees, these secondary wants, and inventions for the supply of them, the fruits of leisure and ease, came to employ much of men's time and labour. Hence a new species of riches came into the world, consisting of things which it might have done well enough without, yet thought desirable, as affording pleasure to the imagination or the senses. And these went on increasing till, at length, the superfluities of life took in a vastly larger compass of things than the necessaries of it. Thus luxury made its inroad, and all the numerous train of evils its attendants; of which poverty, as bad an one as we may

account it, is far from being the worst. Indeed the hands of the generality must be employed; and a very few of them would now be sufficient to provide the world with neces

saries; and therefore the rest of them must be called super

be employed about what

may

fluities; which could not be, if these superfluities were not made use of.

Yet the desire of such things insensibly becomes immoderate, and the use of them, also of course, degenerates into luxury; which, in every age, has been the dissipation of riches, and, in every sense, the ruin of those who were possessed of them : and therefore cannot be too much guarded against by all opulent cities. And as men sink into luxury as much from fashion as direct inclination, the richer sort together may easily restrain this vice, in almost what degree they please and a few of the chief of them may contribute a great deal towards the restraining it.-Gladstone, ii. p. 296.

Blessed are they who employ their riches in

promoting so excellent a design. The temporal advantages of them are far from coming up, in enjoyment, to what they promise at a distance. But the distinguished privilege, the prerogative of riches, is, that they increase our power of doing good. This is their proper use. In proportion as men make this use of them, they imitate Almighty God; and cooperate together with Him in promoting the happiness of the world; and may expect the most favourable judgment which their case will admit of, at the last day, upon the general, repeated maxim of the gospel, that we shall then be treated ourselves as we now treat others. They have, moreover, the prayers of all good men, those of them particularly whom they have befriended; and by such exercise of charity, they improve within themselves the temper of it, which is the very temper of heaven. Consider next the peculiar force with which this branch of charity, almsgiving, is recommended to us in these words: He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord;

and in these of our Saviour, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it, relieved the sick and needy, unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Beware you do not explain away these passages of Scripture under the notion that they have been made to serve superstitious purposes; but ponder them fairly in your heart, and you will feel them to be of irresistible weight.--Gladstone, ii. p. 394.

ON CHARITY

The temper and behaviour of charity is explained at large in that known passage of St. Paul Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, thinketh no evil, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things. As to the meaning of the expressions, seeketh not her own, thinketh no evil, believeth all things however those expressions may be explained away, this meekness, and in some degree easiness of temper, readiness to forego

our right for the sake of peace as well as in the way of compassion, freedom from mistrust, and disposition to believe well of our neighbour, this general temper, I say, accompanies and is plainly the effect of love and good-will. And, though such is the world in which we live, that experience and knowledge of it not only may, but must, beget in us greater regard to ourselves, and doubtfulness of the characters of others, than is natural to mankind; yet these ought not to be carried further than the nature and course of things make necessary. It is still true, even in the present state of things, bad as it is, that a real good man had rather be deceived, than be suspicious; had rather forego his known right, than run the venture of doing even a hard thing. This is the general temper of that charity, of which the apostle asserts, that if he had it not, giving his body to be burned would avail him nothing; and which, he says, shall never fail.

The happy influence of this temper extends