, and seeks even the company of those who might be the
object of them. It does not assume the office of reprehending or
warning through a motive of bitter zeal. It seeks to find in
oneself the faults it notices in others, and perhaps greater ones,
and tries to correct them. "If thou canst not make thyself such a
one as thou wouldst, how canst thou expect to have another
according to thy liking? We would willingly have others perfect,
and yet we mend not our own defects. We would have others strictly
corrected, but are not fond of being corrected ourselves. The
large liberty of others displeases us, and yet we do not wish to
be denied anything we ask for. We are willing that others be bound
up by laws, and we suffer not ourselves to be restrained by any
means. Thus it is evident how seldom we weigh our neighbour in the
same balance with ourselves" ("Imitation," i. 16).

X

FIFTH CHARACTERISTIC

_To refuse no reasonable service, and to accept or refuse in an
affable manner_

CHARITY is generous; it does everything it can. When even it can
do little, it wishes to be able to do more. It never lets slip an
opportunity of comforting, helping, and taking the most painful
part, after the example of its Divine Model, Who came to serve,
not to be served. One religious, seemingly in pain, seeks comfort;
another desires some book, instrument, etc.; a third bends under a
burden; while a fourth is afflicted. In all these cases charity
comes to the aid by consoling the one, procuring little
gratifications for the other, and helping another. Without
complaining of the increased labour or the carelessness of others,
it finishes the work left undone by them, too happy to diminish
their trouble, while augmenting its own reward. "Does the hunter,"
says St. John Chrysostom, "who finds splendid game blame those who
beat the brushwood before him? Or does the traveller who finds a
purse of gold on the road neglect to pick it up because others who
preceded him took no notice of it?" It would be a strange thing to
find religious uselessly giving themselves to ardent desires of
works of charity abroad, such as nursing in a hospital or carrying
the Gospel into uncivilized lands, and at the same time in their
own house and among their own brethren showing coldness,
indifference, and want of condescension.

There is an art of giving as well as of refusing. Several offend
in giving because they do so with a bad grace; others in refusing