a woman for actually helping his neighbours by acts of charity. He
must till the ground, sail the seas, attend to his business, fight
the Queen's enemies; and the way in which the Holy Spirit of Charity
will show in him will be more in his temper and his language; by
making him patient, cheerful, respectful, condescending, courteous,
reasonable, with every one whom he has to do with: but the woman
has time to show acts of charity which the man has not. She can
teach in the schools, sit by the sick bed, work with her hands for
the suffering and the helpless, even though she cannot with her
head. Above all, she can give those kind looks and kind words which
comfort the broken heart better than money and bodily comforts can
do. And she does do it, thank God! I do not merely mean in such
noble instances of divine charity and self-sacrifice as those ladies
who have gone out to nurse the wounded soldiers in the East--true
ladies, indeed, of whom I fear more than one, ere they return, will
be added to the noble army of martyrs, to receive in return for the
great love which they have shown on earth, the full enjoyment of
God's love in heaven:--not these only, but poor women--women who
could not write their own names--women who had hardly clothes
wherewith to keep themselves warm--women who were toiling all day
long to feed and clothe their own children, till one wondered when
in the twenty-four hours they could find five spare minutes for
helping their neighbours;--such poor women have I seen, who in the
midst of their own daily work and daily care, had still a heart open
to hear every one's troubles; a head always planning little comforts
and pleasures for others; and hands always busy in doing good.
Instead of being made hard and selfish by their own troubles, they
had been taught by them, as the Lord Jesus was, to feel for the
troubles of all around them, and went about like ministering angels
in the Spirit of God, which is peace on earth and goodwill towards
men.

Oh, my friends, such poor women seemed to me most glorious, most
honourable, most venerable! What was all rank or fashion, beauty or
accomplishments, when compared with the great honour which the Lord
Jesus Christ was putting upon those poor women, by transforming them
thus into His own most blessed likeness, and giving them grace to go
about, as He the Lord Jesus did, doing good, because God was with
them!

Then I felt that such women, poor, and worn,