Charity.

CHARITY .

THE season is at hand when the virtue of Charity is either prac tised or assumed . In saying this we have no wish to imply that people exhibit a lack of this virtue at other seasons , but somehow it has grown into a custom that almsgiving , and , generally speaking , goodwill towards our

fellows , should be indulged in more prominently now than at other times . Never a day passes but the papers contain all kinds of appeals to the benevolent to contribute to the wants of their poorer brethren ; and there is hardly a journal which does not contain lists of charitable donations to

this or that Institution or person , or , it may be , to the poorbox , so that our magistrates , before whose notice so many cases of pitable distress are being continually brought , may have funds with which to relieve them . We may regard this custom as essentially Christian , because the birth of

Christ inaugurated a new dispensation of love . We may associate it only with the special rigours which prevail in winter . We may regard it from a business point of view , as marking the close of one year , when we consign all unpleasant memories to oblivion , and the beginning of

another , when we look forward cheerfully , and hope for continued or increased prosperity . At such a time the most selfish person can hardly avoid wishing that others may fare well likewise . However , it matters very little why we are or appear more charitable now than at other

seasons . It is a subject for congratulation that , in this world of care and strife , where people are ever jostling and tripp ing up their neighbours , in the hope of bettering themselves at the expense of others , one period of the year should be specially set apart for the cultivation or exhibition of goodwill .

But while we are grateful for even the smallest of blessings , and the periodical dispensation of charity is a very considerable blessiug , we are ofttimes disposed to ask ourselves whether charity has not grown to be more of a business than it was formerly . We cannot traverse the commercial

portion of the metropolis , or even the one street of a small country village , without noting how careful , how considerate are the preparations for this Christmas charity . We see everywhere announcements of " Christmas Presents , " " Presents for the Million , " comprising almost every

variety of article , from the penny drum or trumpet to the costliest jewellery . And too often people buy these things as a matter of course , and give and receive them as a matter of course , quite as often as for any sense of pleasure that is felt in the giving or receiving . Again , this Christmas

charity is ofttimes a tax upou those whose means are limited . People give without regard to their ability , but simply because it has come to be a custom to give , just as it was the practice , if a man ate a chop in a friend ' s house , to give a gratuity all round to the servants .

Others give from more selfish motives . It has been said that gratitude is a kindly sense of favours to come , and a good many people make presents now in the firm belief that it will be a source of profit to them in the coming year . We may almost imagine there are some people who

keep a set of books in which they record their charitable , as in their business books they record their commercial transactions . Then a balance is struck , and the amount of profit and loss on charity is ascertained . We shall be

told , of course , that in thus estimating the charitable deeds peculiar to this season , we are taking the lowest possible view , that we have in us no sense of charity whatever , or we should not . thus analyse the motives of people in doing

Charity.

good . It is far pleasanter , of course , to look at things from the rosy point of view , and to believe that all the world now and at all times , is animated by the best and purest and most disinterested motives . Were it likely to do good to make this affirmation , we should not hesitate for one

moment to make it . We would far rather think good than evil of other people , but thinking will not alter facts . It is true beyond question—pity 'tis , 'tis true—that people often dispense Charity from a sense of pride , because they will not be outdone by their neighbours , or of ostentation ,

because they love to hear themselves assessed at more than their true value , or from a still less honourable motive , because they look to profit by their good deeds . Equally true is it that Charity is far too often a tax , and people give who can ill afford it simply because it is customary .

Yet good cometh of this evil , and , save in the last case mentioned , some folk benefit by the gifts that are given , be the motives of the donors what they may . Therefore it is , we have said it is matter for congratulation that one season of the year should be specially set apart for the exhibition , or it may be , the cultivation of good will .

Having exhausted , or at all events said all we care to say as to the Charity that is mere counterfeit , having noted that all that is set down as Charity must not bo taken as such ; let ns turn for a few moments to the far pleasanter picture , and consider what is that Charity which is not

counterfeit . Charity is that virtue which all Masons humbly strive to illustrate by every act and deed of their daily life . In fact , Masonic , like Christian , Charity , embraces all the other virtues . It includes , though it is not confined to , almsgiving . But this form of Charity must

not bo exercised either indiscriminatel y or inconsiderately . We must not give to our own detriment . In the bestowal of alms we must discriminate between those worthy and those unworthy to receive , giving what we can afford to give only to the former ; for , as one of the greatest of

ancient philosophers said , " the mis-placing of a benefit is worse than the not receiving of it ; for the one is another man ' s fault , but the other is mine . The error of the giver does oft-times excuse the ingratitude of the receiver ; for a favour ill placed is rather a profession than a benefit . " Nor

is this form to be measured by the extent of what is given . The widow ' s mite which 3 he cast into the treasury was as acceptable as the most lavish of gifts . It is not the value of what is given that we regard , but the spirit of the giver . Ifc Toy no means follows that the rich man who gives his

guineas is a charitable man , yet a poor man who thoughtfully expends a shilling on some worthy object is worthy of the highest praise . But charity , as we have said , is something more than almsgiving . The man who has it is ever kind , without envy , without boastfulness , without

pride . Charity delights in whatever is good and true and beautiful ; it is full of pity for whatever is evil and false and ugly . And though a man possess all the other virtues , yet will they avail him not , if he possess not charity . But perhaps a brief extract from the writings of an eminent

Mason of a day gone by will best illustrate this virtue . " In order to exercise this virtue , " the late Bro . HutchinBon , in his Spirit of Masonry , "both in the character of Masons and in common life , with propriety , and agreeable to good principles , we must forget every obligation

but affection ; for otherwise it were to confound Charity with duty . The feelings of the heart ought to direct the hand of Charity . To this purpose we should be divested of every idea of superiority , and estimate ourselves as being of equality , the same rank and race of men ; in this disposition of mind we may be susceptible to those sentiments