and the word in season came from full knowledge of his
flock and from an unmistakably pastoral heart.

[16] Afterwards Rector of Stanhope and Canon of Ripon.

IMPARTIAL COURTESY.

A duty which you will carefully remember throughout your round is that
of quiet Christian courtesy; impartially shown to rich, to middling, and
to poor. I say impartially, with a view to _both_ ends of the scale.
Some men (perhaps not many, but some) seem to think that ministerial
courage and fidelity in dealing with well-to-do parishioners demand a
certain dropping of the courtesies of life; a very great mistake. Many
more men are tempted to forget that their visits to the poorest should
be, in the essence of the matter, as courteous as when they go to the
portal which carries a brass knocker. At the door of the dingiest
cottage, or dingier lodging, never forget that you _ask_ for entrance;
it is your neighbour's castle-door; and you are not a sanitary
inspector. If you happen to come in at the meal-time of the roughest and
dirtiest, apologize as naturally and honestly as you would if you
intruded on the wealthy churchwarden's well-set luncheon. Among the very
lowest, do all you can to honour parents before their children (I know
it is nearly impossible in some sad cases); and always honour old age.

BE NATURAL.

Surely one good maxim on manner with our poorer neighbours is to aim to
address them very much as we would address our neighbours of our own
class. A patronizing manner is most certainly a very great pity, and
almost sure to be resented. But so, too, is the ostentatious
"hail-and-well-met" manner which is sometimes assumed; an over-drawn
imitation, perhaps, of the workman's manner with his fellows. This is a
mistake, because it is almost always unnatural. Few gentlemen get better
at others by ceasing to act and speak as gentlemen. Let us talk quite
quietly and pleasantly, as just what we are, and as those who most
unaffectedly "honour all men," [1 Pet. ii. 17.] and we shall not go far
astray; always supposing that the matter of our talk is sensible, true,
and to the purpose.

THE SICK-ROOM.

To turn aside for a moment to the special and sacred work of Visitation
of the Sick. It is not to be lightly done, as if it were an easy part of
our duty, quite obvious in its aims and methods. The greatest judgment
is often needed in the sick-room. We need quickness to perceive how much
conversation the invalid can bear, if the case is o