III.-CHARITY. Charity is the special lesson of Lent, and charity is love. It is a large and comprehensive grace, taking in many things which do not, at once, appear;-taking in all that concerns our duty to others, and shutting out all that simply affects self. Our Blessed Lord fasted, after this manner, for our example. "He was led by the Spirit," the very Spirit of wisdom and love and discretion; and all His care was for those whom He came to save. 1. Do you take care, at this time, to sanctify your fast with liberality to the poor. That is but a cold abstinence, which is not clothed with charity. If you do not give away that which you forbear, you seem rather to fast for gain, than for the benefit of souls. As the dew falling on the mountains, and pouring down into the valleys, makes the beautiful flowers to grow upon the naked plain; so, the alms of Christians falling on the poor, and pouring down upon the abstinence of the faithful, covers the nakedness of their efforts with flowers of faith and love. You will labour, all in vain, in the rank fields of luxury, breaking furrows with the plough of fasting, and plucking up thorns of self-indulgence, unless, to make a heavenly harvest, you sow the seed of charity. Without mercy there is no truth. In fasting, as in all things else, "mercy and truth have met together," and they may not be divorced. The poor man's hand is the bosom of Abraham, and treasure-house of heaven. That which it receives, Christ accepts; and, straightway, it is laid up "where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.” In every meal, give to the poor in whatever measure you abridge yourself. Take from yourself, and give to them, that they may lay it up for you, against the great supper of that Day, when the Bridegroom Who is now taken, shall return, and shall bring all our store with Him. ye break "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that every yoke? Is it not 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 ?" "If thou draw out thy satisfy the afflicted soul; soul to the hungry, and then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."* "To whom," says S. Augustine, + "wilt thou give that which by fasting thou hast spared from thyself? So fast, that by another's eating, thou mayest be glad that thou hast dined." "That our fasts may be full, let them be fatted with alms-deeds. Let us give our dinner to them that be hungry." "Especially," he says again, "be mindful of the poor, that what you subtract from yourselves, you may lay it up in the treasury of heaven. Let hungering Christians receive that food which the fasting Christian abates." S. Leo also, among many such exhortations, presses this," Let the feeding of the poor give testimony to our fasting." It Mercy and alms, therefore, are the body and soul of that charity which you owe to your neighbour, and which God has raised up and enjoined upon His Church, to smooth those inequalities of rank and lot which His providence has assigned to men. is convenient to remember the division of works which has been received in the Church; although it is safest to consider that wherever there is sorrow and misery in the whole world, there is an object of *Is. lviii. 6, 7, 10, 11. + S. Augustine in Psalm. xlii. vol. 4; also de Temp. Serm. 65, vol. 5; also de Diversis, Serm. 74, 10, vol. 5. S. Leo de Quadrages. Serm. x. F mercy to be pitied, and a work of mercy to be done : 1. To feed the hungry. 2. To give drink to the thirsty. 3. To clothe the naked. 4. To redeem captives. 5. To visit the sick. 6. To entertain strangers. To these must be added, works of love more strictly spiritual, to which you should offer yourself, now especially, under a spiritual guide-the priest of the parish where you live. To teach the ignorant. To admonish sinners. To encourage the good and holy. To comfort the mourners. Το pray for all conditions of men. To redeem fallen women.* Whatever you give in alms, take care that it is your own to give. And give honestly, in proportion to your means, "looking for nothing again," "not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." You may not always know, or have the means of knowing, the fittest objects. Find them out through the pastor of your parish or district; and *It may be hoped that many earnest persons, throughout England, will take advantage during this Lent, of the opportunity now afforded by "The Church Penitentiary Association," for doing something to rescue the tens of thousands of our lost young countrywomen who are in danger of eternal ruin. The writer, who is a member of the Council, will be glad to aid any one who may wish for information. then, do not refuse to visit them,-" to hide thyself from thine own flesh." If you have no money to give away, yet you cannot but have mercy, and pity, and prayers to give. Give them, therefore; and dedicate yourself to the service of the Church, which will employ all you have, gladly, and sanctify it, and restore it to you fourfold, though all you have be but love,-love to Christ and Christ's poor. There is this comfort,—“ a man is accepted according to what he hath, not according to what he hath not. II. The law of Charity will also tell upon your Lent observance, by making your fasting and your alms secret, if they be real. There is no rock so dan gerous as the rock of vainglory. If you strike on that rock, you shall find no other reward. There will arise worldly motives to tempt you far otherwise; but, remember, God delights to have man's heart, simply and unmixedly. He is Himself an invisible Spirit; He hides Himself in clouds and dwelleth in secret,-" covered with light as it were with a garment," that no man may approach unto Him: and even so, He has made the invisible spirit of man to dwell in secret the secrets of the heart none can discover,-save He who searcheth them out. Men are ever most direct, and true, and genuine in secret. In public, they may seem other than they are, and be other than they seen. Let your self-denials, |