provided with an
income more than sufficient for all his wants, he felt that those means
had been entrusted to him, for good uses, and to employ for human help
and to the glory of the Giver thereof. At the foot of a private account,
"to which God and His angels only were witnesses with him," Dr. Donne
computed first his revenue, then what was given to the poor and other
pious uses, and lastly, what rested for him and his; and having done
that, he then blessed each year's poor remainder with a thankful prayer.

Dr. Donne did most of his good in secret, letting not his right hand
know what his left hand did. He redeemed many poor from prison; helped
many a poor scholar; and employed a trusty servant or a discreet friend
to distribute his bounty where it was most needed. A friend whom he had
known in days of affluence, having by a too liberal heart and
carelessness become decayed in his estate and reduced to poverty, Donne
sent him a hundred pounds. But the decayed gentleman returned it with
thanks, saying that he wanted it not;--for, says Walton, in narrating
the event, "as there be some spirits so generous as to labour to conceal
and endure a sad poverty, rather than expose themselves to those blushes
that attend the confession of it, so there be others to whom nature and
grace have afforded such sweet and compassionate souls as to pity and
prevent the distresses of mankind; which I have mentioned because of Dr.
Donne's reply, whose answer was, 'I know you want not what will sustain
nature, for a little will do that; but my desire is that you, who in the
days of your plenty have cheered and raised the hearts of so many of
your dejected friends, would now receive this from me, and use it as a
cordial for the cheering of your own;'"--and upon these terms it was
received.

The truth is, that we very much exaggerate the power of riches. Immense
subscriptions are got up for the purpose of reforming men from their
sinful courses, and turning them from evil to good. And yet
subscriptions will not do it. It is character that can do the work;
money never can. Great changes in society can never be effected through
riches. To turn men from intemperance, improvidence, and irreligion, and
to induce them to seek their happiness in the pursuit of proper and
noble objects, requires earnest purpose, honest self-devotion, and hard
work. Money may help in many respects; but money by itself can do
nothing. The apostle Paul planted the kn